May 10th, 2549. The Battle Of Harmony.

Sunset plunged her combat knife through the jaw of an ODST, ducking under his body for cover as a barrage of 7.62x51mm rounds flew downrange at her. She threw the body down, firing a dozen three-round bursts from her BR55HB in quick succession. The hostiles dropped.

Sunset slid the empty magazine out and fished around in her ammunition pouches, until she found a half empty mag. The UNSC personnel in the corridors all had M6C/Gs, M90 shotguns, M7 SMGs or MA5C Assault Rifles, leaving her no reliable source for the 9.5x40mm rounds that her service rifle fired, aside from the armory. Sunset maglocked her BR55HB to her back in exchange for her MA5C. She proceeded to look herself over for wounds.

Sunset was suffering from minor cuts, scrapes, two bruised ribs, several bullet wounds, a few major lacerations from knives, and a gaping wound in her forearm from where she shielded her face from an explosion.

She grumbled about it, as if it were nothing. Sunset slumped down against one of the concrete walls behind her and looked around.

The room was in hexagonal shape, the walls making a nice little edge in the middle where they met. Sunset saw a steel electronic door on either side of the room, which was a bit over thirty meters in length, barely three in width, and a bit under three in height. The doors to her left were jammed open by a crate, which she had put there, then slid under the door and killed the ODST.

Sunset pushed herself up onto her feet and shouldered her MA5C. She rolled her shoulders and tightened her grip on the rifle.

Just gotta get this done... then I can get out... possibly die on a grassy field somewhere... who knows. Sunset shook her head of the thoughts and let her rifle hang from it's sling at her waist. She gripped her fingers into the groove between the sealed bunker doors and began prying them apart. She felt blood start leaking from the wound on her forearm, but Sunset ignored it, and continued pulling at the doors.

Grrrrroooaaaaaannnn...

Sunset felt them quickly loosen and ram into the ports in the wall. She huffed angrily and grabbed her rifle. She quickly ducked behind one of the concrete-steel bulkheads as gunfire began tearing through the air. She looked up at one of the security cameras and saw the reflection of an ODST in bulky armor lugging an M247H, slowly pushing forward, discharging his weapon, spewing 12.7x99mm High Velocity Explosive rounds in her direction.

Sunset laid down on her stomach and crawled over to one of the corpses. She removed a fragmentation grenade from their waist, primed it, and slid it across the floor. She rolled back behind the bulkhead as the grenade went off. Sunset ducked out of cover, MA5C drawn.

The heavy was missing their legs, and had a single, large shard of metal driven through their visor. Sunset stood up and limped out of cover. She flinched and looked down at the source of the pain.

She had several large gashes in her leg, likely from the hailstorm of bullets. Sunset knelt down, removed some gauze from her CLS kit, and wrapped her leg. She stood up and limped down the corridor, rifle loosely sweeping over each corner. It was beginning to start ramping downward. There were little platforms built into the top of the ramp, with a solid railing that acted as cover.

Sunset slowly began traversing down the ramp, hoping she wouldn't have to deal with much more...

Forty five minutes pass.

Sunset spat blood and slumped down to the floor. She was now in the main complex, which made it all the more difficult, as there was an absolutely hellish amount of ODSTs, ONI personnel, and even a few Hellbringers... the damage they inflicted on her was brutal.

Sunset's entire left arm was just bodysuit at this point, scorched and torn in a few places, though the tears would begin mending, the only armor plate was on the back of her hand, and even that was in poor condition at this point. Her right leg was missing the thigh, shin and calf armor, while the boot was barely holding together. Her abdominal armor was missing completely, while the breastplate/upper chest armor was somewhat still intact, though covered in deep dents and nasty scratches. Her right arm's plating was, for the most part intact. She had a long, long wound that had grazed her head, with bandaging over her head, soaked with her blood.

Her left leg still functioned to the commands she gave it, so she was able to move... limited, of course.

"There's no fucking way I can clear out this entire goddamn fort... adding the fact that I'm alone helps not, either..." Sunset thought aloud. She closed her eyes and rested for a moment... then it hit her.

I've got to blow this place. Sunset limped over to a terminal that rested on a pedestal across from her. She fumbled for a bit, her hand shaking intensely still, but she was able to pull a data chip out of a pouch at her waist. She slid it into the port on the terminal and downloaded the schematics to the base to the chip. Sunset waited for it to finish, then inserted it into a port in her armor.

She marked the three key locations, as well as the armory and medbay. The Armory first, as it was closest, then to the medbay so she could patch herself up a bit, then to the armory for C-7 Foaming Explosive, and C-12 Shaped Charges. possibly a few Thermite-Carbon Cords to cover her escape...

Sunset looked down and sighed. She realized how little there was a chance that she'd be getting out of this. The idea of using TCC as a cover, was probably the only remote thought that suggested she planned on getting out alive. She did not. Living would be a privilege.

Sunset limped forward, an M6C SOCOM magnum in her right hand, her left limply hanging at her side. She could do this... hopefully.

Sunset marked a route to the armory and began limping down the bloodied corridor ahead. She heard boots, and quickly ducked behind a bulkhead, watching a patrol of three UNSC marines move through, wearing gas masks or EVA gear. She waited for them to pass, then moved down the corridor, M6C sweeping over every surface.

She arrived at the Armory, a good forty minutes later. It was being guarded by a fireteam of ODSTs, assembled around a card table, playing poker with bullets instead of chips. Sunset adjusted the leather jacket upon her shoulders and went prone on the ground. She took a deep breath and entered SPARTAN time.

She fired three rounds in quick succession, killing each of the Shock Troopers. Sunset ducked down and knocked on the armory door.

"I'm coming!" someone yelled from inside. Sunset stacked up against the door, loosely holding her combat knife. She watched the seals in the door release, and as the door creaked open...

revealing a trail of smoke leaking out. A marine stumbled out, a blunt pressed to his lips. Sunset drove her knife into his throat, hand over his mouth, and placed his body off to the side, giving his head a light kick for good measure. She crouched down low and closed the door behind her. There was sped-up rave music playing in the background, while, what Sunset believed to be marijuana, filled the air.

She saw a bunch of people in their undergarments, hell, even a few ODSTs wearing their helmets, and nothing else, besides boxers, stumbling around...

Shaggy, this isn't weed... Sunset stood upright and drew her M6S, pointed to the floor. There were nine hostiles... well, more-or-less they were all passive at the moment—Beyond the point. Sunset quickly fired each round in succession, silencing each of the stoned UNSC personnel... How this was allowed was far beyond her. Sunset counted the bodies, and frowned when she noticed one of them was gone. When she got a look at him, first glance, she swore she saw his eyes glowing red... Doesn't matter now.

Sunset turned the music off. She grabbed a duffel bag, and began carefully placing each of her desired explosives in the bag—

"Hey, I think I heard a gu-" a marine stood in the doorway, frozen at the sight of Sunset. He glanced at the alarm button to his left, then back to Sunset.

"I-I'll press it!" he stuttered when Sunset reached her hand to her M6S.

"I'm going to blow this base to oblivion, no matter if you press that button or not. You'll have one chance to live, right here, right now. You'll escort me to the med-bay, help me get patched up, then you'll leave the base through the bunker in the corridor beside the garage. Then, you will hold up a white flag, or you can press that button, and I'll knock you unconscious and use you as a human bomb. When your allies find you, they'll check to see if you're alive, only to get blown to pieces by an array of-"

"O-Okay! I-I get it... W-Wait, you're one of those V-VDF people..." the marine held his hands up submissively as Sunset lowered her M6S, though right in his line of sight.

"Get moving. Put that duffel on." The marine, a private from what she could tell, found himself with no other options, and slung the duffel, taking Sunset's MA5C. She was a good foot taller than him, even without the added height from augmentation. Sunset took off his radio and smashed it within her good hand.

"Try anything, and you're dead. Understood?" The marine nodded fearfully. He hesitantly held her wrists together and they began their trek to the Medical Bay.

They had minimal problems on their way, besides a few sideways glances at Sunset, or a few blows to her wounds. Sunset made a mental note to kill them first. Sunset stopped the marine.

"We're at one of the main supports... Give me the duffel and tell me if anyone's coming." The UNSC marine nodded and gave her the bag with a shaky hand. Sunset got to the tedious job of setting up a good enough amount of explosive.

"I expected a little more resistance, to be honest..." she said to the marine. He chuckled and scratched the back of his neck.

"H-Heh... I-I never really wanted to be here. Not much for me, but it's a tradition in the family to join up in the military... I-I personally thought it'd be safer for my family if I joined the Vs, but that only started an argument..."

"You don't join the Vanguard." Sunset replied, linking two wires to a glob of C-7.

"W-Wait, what?" the marine glanced around.

"You're recruited in, or enlisted, or a decorated soldier recommends you, and if you're not a six-year old or younger, you'd be enlisted into the Army Corps." The marine furrowed his brow.

"S-Six or younger? W-"

"Classified." Sunset finished up and slid the duffel over to the private.

"S-Sorry for asking." he picked up the bag and slung it, giving Sunset a confused look as she smashed a keypad for one of the bunker doors.

"We're gonna seal the sections off after we're done. It'll give me a chance to detonate each of the explosives." Sunset limped out of the excessively short section, more-or-less just two doors with a thick bulkhead in between, and smashed the keypad. The marine stepped out quickly and escorted Sunset... Though, it was more the other way around.

Sunset arrived in the Med-Bay, and the private talked to one of the medical troopers while Sunset sat on an examination table. The young UNSCMC private walked in, a corpsman alongside him. She was a short brunette, with a young face, similar to the private, who was a short, scraggly redhead.

"So, you want me to clean and patch up all of your wounds... right?" the corpsman asked, worry in her voice.

"I'd do it myself... but... yeah." the corpsman chuckled and got to work. Sunset made sure she didn't poison her, keeping her M6S in her lap, while she looked over each piece of equipment that the corspman had, until she opened up Sunset's CLS kit and removed the can of Freezerburn and bio-medical-foam.

"What's this...?" she examined each canister.

"Biomedical foam, standard issue Wound Sustaining Gel, or Freezerburn." The corpsman put them back and finished up patching up Sunset's more major wounds.

"I never thought I'd be helping the enemy... You're gonna get arrested, you know that, Rye?" the corpsman said to the scraggly private, who sighed and nodded.

"You will too... unless you come with us. She's gonna blow up the base—"

"Killing so many people, innocent people!" Sunset stood up and stared the corpsman down.

"If you didn't know the effects of war, you shouldn't have joined the navy." Sunset slung the duffel onto her back and turned to "Rye".

"Thanks for the help." Sunset quickly raised her magnum and silenced him. She swiftly turned to the corspman, and put her hand over her mouth, firing several rounds up into her skull, letting her body down to the floor. Sunset carefully stacked their bodies, rigging an explosive underneath them.

"May your souls rest when you arrive to Valhalla..." she whispered, then carefully made her way out of the medical wing, camouflage enabled—

Suddenly, the alarms began going off. Sunset picked up the pace and started running to the second marker. She suddenly ducked behind a bulkhead as a barrage of gunfire went downrange.

Damn it... She poked out and fired a few bursts, then took cover once more. Several rounds slammed into the bulkhead. Sunset pulled out a fragmentation grenade from the duffel, primed it, and threw it out into the corridor.

Kaboom!

Sunset quickly ran past the writhing bodies on the ground, and began making her way down the corridor, only to get knocked flat on her ass by a close-ranged blast from an M90. Her chest armor blew apart, and clattered to the floor, leaving Sunset unprotected. She looked up, and saw an ODST standing over her. The shock trooper raised his M90, pumping it. Sunset quickly swept his legs out from under him, unsheathed her knife, and plunged it into his eye socket. She removed it and got back up, wincing. She was bleeding again.

She growled and started limping down the hall, the ODST's shotgun now in her open arms. She reached the second marker and shot one of the keypads, pressing the other to seal her in the room, barely four feet wide.

Sunset listened to the sound of boots that approached the broken hatch to her left whilst she worked at priming the next charge.

Ding!

She smiled to herself and unlocked the second door, only to have several firearms pointed at her. Sunset swore under her breath and dropped her weapons at the two UNSC marines standing before her, MA5Cs cradled within their arms.

"Don't move—" Sunset interrupted him by lunging forward, grabbing the handle of his MA5C. The two struggled for a moment, before Sunset made the soldier shoot his comrade in the skull.

"You made me kill Kenny! You bastard!" the marine roared, only to receive a burst of 7.62x51mm NATO rounds to the brain. Sunset weakly threw his body to the ground and spat blood, looking down at herself. At some point, she got hit, as there was a sizable hole in her abdomen.

"Oh, shit." she muttered. Sunset quickly removed her can of Freezerburn from her CLS kit and placed the tip to the wound, filling it with the chilling gel material that hardened soon after being sprayed. Sunset shouldered her MA5C and flinched as the Freezerburn began freezing the wound.

Sunset limped down the hallway, growling. She was on her last legs here. The chance of her surviving were lowering, the more damage she took. Were it not for the adrenaline in her system already, and the adrenaline being pumped into her, she'd have collapsed a long time ago. The Freezerburn struck a few of the wounds she'd obtained earlier, and she swore. Sunset now had a chance to die of freezing to death in sixty-two degree Fahrenheit weather. That's why Freezerburn is so rarely used. If done wrong, you could freeze most of your internal organs without realizing it, killing you from the inside. It was normally used for treating burns, but Sunset had run out of Biofoam, and it was a quick decision. She needed to hurry.

Sunset still needed to rig the third support, as well as rig the generator—

She was now at the third support. Sunset knelt down and carefully pulled the duffel bag off. She clipped the grenades she'd taken to her hip, and got to work planting the explosive.

Let's see... C-7 there... C-12 charge there, coat the corners... Wire correctly... done. Sunset stood up and glanced around. The alarms had stopped. Sunset growled and began limping out of the base.

Swwoooooooosh, Kaboom!

The lighting flickered and Sunset tripped, swearing as it opened up several of her wounds. She began crawling forward down the hallway, blood dripping from her wounds and onto the clean, concrete floor. Sunset looked up to see a boot slam into her stomach, knocking her onto her back. She coughed up a torrent of blood.

"Look what we have here..." A SPARTAN-III, wearing a suit of MJOLNIR armor. He picked Sunset up by the throat, and forced her into the wall. The lance corporal's left hand loosely patted and tapped against the augmented soldier's arm at her throat, whilst her right worked at the knife in the sheathe at her waist.

"Theo, call it in." An ODST behind him nodded and was about to activate his radio, when Sunset spat blood at the SPARTAN's visor and plunged her knife into his arm, twisting it. The SPARTAN screamed and threw Sunset off to the side, trying to pull the blade out. That bought Sunset enough time to draw her M6S and shoot the three ODSTs behind the SPARTAN-III.

The augmented soldier finally removed the knife and let his dominant arm fall limp at his side. He roared in agony and slowly pushed over to Sunset, despite the rounds impacting his shields. Sunset took down his shields, and fired the last round of her magazine right into the SPARTAN's visor, blood and skull matter splattering as the 12.7x40mm round blew out the lights. He stumbled, his arms flailing for a minute before he crumpled to the ground.

"Sumbitch..." Sunset got up and limped over to the III's body, spitting on his chest. She picked up her MA5C off the ground, her left arm hanging limp at her side. She clicked a button on the side, and the body shifted back, as well as the barrel and individual pieces in front of the ammunition counter, shortening the weapon, effectively. Her little touch.

The young Lance Corporal stumbled down the corridor, deciding against the generator. She felt the base shake as the time limit on the first explosive went off, causing the lights to dim for a few minutes. Sunset ducked behind a bulkhead, 9.5x40mm and 7.62x51mm rounds flying past her. She ducked down, watching the lights dim. She used the time of confusion and poked out, firing two quick three-round bursts, silencing two marines and another shock trooper.

Red emergency lights lit up the corridor as Sunset moved through the corridors. Her vision faded to black occasionally, blurred images of gunfights filling the blanks. She blinked a few times, shaking the dizziness away... attempting, to, and failing to.

Sunset felt her vision return, and she saw the tunnel entrance. She was so, so close...

Then she felt a large heat strike the side of her head, as well as the feeling of liquid soaking her head. She pulled her shaky hand to her head, and came back with blood. She turned around and saw the SPARTAN-III, his face torn up and ripped apart.

"You're not getting away that fucking easily!" He discharged one more round from his M6G, and Sunset was sent tumbling down the staircase. She saw a blood pool forming, and got to her knees, crawling over to a large vent. She shakily pulled her knife out, undoing each screw. The III's footsteps closed in, and she pulled the last screw out. She threw the knife into the vent and climbed in, placing the grate back. She laid down on her back and awkwardly maneuvered around until she was on her stomach, facing the shaft. Sunset clasped the knife's blade within her teeth as she crawled through the shaft slowly. She reached a bend, taking a left, when she heard groaning.

Oh, FU—

The ventilation shaft collapsed, and she screamed as she hit the ground. She vomited blood and backpedaled out, getting to her feet. Her vision was immensely blurred, and she couldn't tell left from right by how much her head spun and hurt. She stumbled forward, seeing a staircase. Rain began pooling at the bottom—

The surface! Sunset quickly stumbled forward and tripped, landing in the mud, splattering her wounds. It stung, but she ignored it and started climbing, slowly. The III roared from somewhere behind her.

"Not yet, you bitch!" he screamed with an almost inhuman voice. Sunset's arms were giving, and she felt fatigue start to set in. She...

She wasn't going to make it...

Sunset closed her eyes and sighed. Anyone would've felt like they've done enough, and just laid down and died, just let the insufferable pain coursing through them die out, along with them...

No. She is Sunset. Mother. Fucking. Shimmer. Not in a million years would she go down like this. Sunset didn't have the strength to scream, or yell, so she just kept climbing, despite the approaching bootprints from behind. A few more steps...

The rays of the sun hit her face and she felt... better, somehow. It was one of those days, where the sun was out, and it was raining. Sunset could've, would've enjoyed it, if two explosions suddenly rocked her world so hard that it knocked her onto her side, into the mud that splattered her bodysuit. Sunset didn't have the strength... All she could do, was lie down and die...

She groaned and pushed herself. Her muscles burned, and her body screamed at her in protest as she began crawling out of the trench. She heard voices, and saw soldiers wearing Argus Armor approaching her—

Her leg was tugged back, and she was on her back, the III now straddling her, knife held above his head...

Ka-Boom.

His brains, and the remains of his helmet were now gone. The sound was like a cannon, Sunset's ears rang, and she the last thing she saw before she blacked out, was the face of that Major...

"Come on, don't die on me, marine..." his voice started fading...

Sunset felt satisfied, and let unconsciousness overcome her.

Author's Note

I checked the views for The Outcast, and it went from zero to a hundred-sixty in like... seven-eight hours. That made me feel good, so either the views reset to what it was before I deleted this, or one-hundred and sixty people saw that this story is no longer on Hiatus, and checked it out.

Hope ya enjoyed! Now, if you'll excuse me.

*faceplants into computer and snores*