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Heart of Iron

Chapter 11 :Unbroken

Callie and Felina walked together out of the front doors to the enforcers headquarters. They both had spent the last two hours getting chewed out by an irate Feral. He was not pleased to hear that they had allowed the unknown vigilante to caper off, with the Swatkats no less. They had tried to defend themselves, and the other officers that had been present put their own thoughts in to, thankful for Six's help. But Feral would not have any of it. He had threatened to have Felina's badge taken and to throw Callie in jail. It was the testimonies of the other officers that saved them from the fire. So instead, Feral had put Felina on probation and gave Callie a stiff warning. It was after that that they found themselves.

"Sometimes my uncle can be a real ass." Felina muttered angrily, tail flicking with visible agitation. The dusty brown kat stood at the curb outside the building, arms crossed, as she cooled down in the cold December winds. The other pedestrians gave the intimidating kat a wide birth.

Her uncle was a sore subject. At times he could be a decent kat, but he could also be a pompous ass. It was hard for her at times to distinguish between whether he was pampering her because she was his brother's daughter, or if he was being harsh on her because of that.

Callie, who had been standing a few feet away, pattered over and put a friendly paw on her friend's shoulder. "It's alright, I'm sure he'll cool down in a little while. Besides, there is a good thing about your probation." The tawny kat suggested.

"Yeah, what's that?" Felina inquired with an interested and sarcastic pull of her muzzle, displaying a single fang. That was Felina's version of a smile.

"You have some time to hang out with your best friend!" Callie declared happily, causing the other feline to chuckle.

"You got me there Callie. So then, best friend in the world, what do you suggest we do?" Felina demanded.

Callie tapped her fuzzy chin as she tried to find out what to do. Soon, her eyes lit up with inspiration and she shook a clawed digit at her friend. "I know! How about we go to the mall? I could use some more clothes."

Felina blanched at the idea, she may be Callie's friend, but there were limits. "Maybe some other time, how about we go eat instead?" She asked quickly, not wanting her shopping enthused friend to have the thought burrow into her mind and take root.

Callie hummed as she considered it. "I suppose I could get something to eat. Where do you want to go?" She inquired, looking around the area to see if there was any places close by.

"We can always head down to Katline's Diner, she makes a mean burger." Felina suggested.

"I like the sound of that." Callie agreed. With their choice of venue selected, the pair of females headed to the best diner in town. As they walked along the crowded streets, they could not help but think about the one who had started this crazy spiraled track of change. "Where do you think Six is? Do you think he is okay?" Callie asked as she looked to her friend.

Felina had been staring ahead absentmindedly as she walked, with the same train of thought chugging though her head. Surprised to hear it come from her friend, she turned to respond. "Well he was with the Swatkats so I would have to hazard a guess that he is with them still. If that's true then he'll be fine. They are alright, even if they are a little boastful, not to mention I seriously doubt there is anything on this planet that could pose a threat to him." Her answer was confident and thoughtful.

Callie nodded in agreement. "That makes sense, although I wish he was here with us right now." The tawny well-dressed sighed wistfully. Six had become a constant in her life of uncertainty, it seemed as if he was a barrier to the change that surrounded her, ironic considering he was the one who sparked it. The kat had never even seen his face! She suddenly had the extreme desire to find him and tear his helmet off, finally seeing what lay behind the veiling helm.

"Yeah, he is a pretty interesting guy to have around." Felina established in agreement. She also found herself missing the armored gentleman. She had known him for a considerably less time than Callie, but he had the presence about him. It spoke of wisdom and experience, the only kind one earned from years of suffering and hardship His quiet and thoughtful demeanor and selfless actions likewise endeavored to endear the spartan to the kat. All her life, Felina had to deal with the type of men who gave the word men a bad name, and now there was Six, the mysterious man with the even more mysterious past. It also might have something to do with the fact he cut quite the impressive figure in his ebony armor. "I wouldn't mind some alone time with him." Feline remarked offhandedly.

Callie bristled and looked to her friend in indignation. "Felina! How could you say that?" She demanded, tan fur tinted a lite shade of pink. She was surprised to hear her usually tight lipped friend speak that way. And she would be lying to herself if she denied that a small part of her felt the same way.

Felina shrugged, unbothered by her friend's sudden outburst. "It's true, you can't deny that there is something about him that makes you want to hear his whole story, besides the fact he is from another planet. And, he is an honorable guy, kinda reminds me of the stories of the Megalith knights."

She did have a point Callie conceded. Six was a lot like a knight...a giant knight in ebony armor protected by a shield of pure energy. Callie spent the rest of the walk to the diner thinking about what Felina said. And she also was curious if Six was thinking about her as much as she was about him.

Megakat City Scrapyard, Mid-afternoon...

Six sat inside the Swatkats secret hanger, going over his armor for the hundredth time. After his meal, the spartan had retreated to the familiarity of the workshop below. It reminded him of the USNC. The equipment, while foreign, was recognizable and helped him deal with his current problems. In the past he had spent all of the little free time spartans were gifted, in the less crowded places of any UNSC installation, garages, store houses, or a few klicks into the forest nearby if there was one. Those were the few places he could go to get away from it all, the pressures of war and the dread of the Covenant and their religious annihilation, places he could be himself, no prying eyes judging him, no one to control him.

The spartan's determination had been rekindled. He had what he had been searching for since he arrived here...a purpose. Without purpose a spartan was useless, a waste. Six brushed a gauntlet across the newly shaded foregrip of his assault rifle, the spartan had decided to paint it black, having found an excess of the dye inside a storage locker. After that he had repainted everything, his armor and all his weapons. He had covered up every insignia on his armor, hiding them under the fresh coat, until he had need of them again.

As much pain as it brought him to accept, at this moment in time, he was no longer a member of the UNSC. But within that pain was excitement, anticipation. He was his own man now, the past fifteen years of his life he had been a resource, a tool. Now he was just Six, a spartan...a man.

Freedom....something he had only considered loosely in his service, was now his. It was a little overwhelming, and even frightening. He had no idea what he wanted with his accidental personal sovereignty. But he was sure that after the thought sat in his brain long enough he would begin to truly grasp it. And in doing so, figure it out.

Six sighed and leaned back, the heavy steel he leaned against groaned mightily under his armored weight. What he needed at the moment was a fight to distract him.

"Having a little trouble?" A voice inquired behind him.

The spartan shifted his helm to the speaker and saw Jake. The Kat was in a greyish blue jumpsuit that had a tool belt stitched on the waist, leaning on the wall close by. He was looking at the spartan with a growing grin. Six chuckled at the irony of the question. "Quite the opposite, not enough."

The dark brown kat laughed softly and crossed his furry hazel arms, looking at six as his grin shifted into a smirk. "The good guys are supposed to enjoy the lack of trouble."

"Spartans are different. We were raised to be warriors, without a fight, we have no idea what to do." Six replied, giving Jake a rare view into spartan psyche. It was true, most if not all spartans lacked a certain...humanity, ironically. War was their life, and they did not handle peace well.

He frowned and flicked his tail. "Really?"

Six nodded and crossed his own larger plated arms. "Yeah, the last true game I played, or even what you consider normal fun, was fifteen years ago. And I can barely remember any of it."

Jake shook his muzzle in disbelief. "Kats alive, you missed out on a lot. Having fun is a key component of life."

The spartan felt a small prick of sorrow. If that was true, then was he really living? Or was he just a flesh and blood automaton as the regular humans thought. It was an unpleasant thought.

The kat picked up on Six's silence and realized he had made an error. "Not that you are missing on life or anything!" Jake added quickly.

Six just nodded again silently as he looked to the far wall, retreating a little back into his shell.

Jake had the urge to hit himself. He had not intended to make the spartan miserable, or to upset him. He was just trying to make conversation, to get a little information on his new friend. And now he screwed up. The kat furrowed his brow as he tried to find a remedy for this new situation.

If Chance was feeling low, he would take him out into the city. But as Jake gazed at the large spartan, he knew that such an option probably did not fit for this particular issue. Then he had an idea, the spartan had a jet, he had seen it. Perhaps he could use picking it up as an excuse to get out of the hanger, surely once they were in the air, he would think of something. "Six, you had an aircraft right?"

The spartan turned his helmet to look at Jake. "Correct."

"Do you want to go retrieve it? I'm sure wherever you have it stashed; this hanger will be a better place for it." Jake suggested hopefully. Perhaps this plan would work.

Six was silent as he debated and came to a decision within a moment. "That would be productive. Yes, I would like to get my ship and the rest of my gear as well. It would be good to have them closer at hand."

Jake nodded enthusiastically. "Perfect! Let's get going, unless you want to wait?"

"No the sooner the better." Six affirmed, standing up, much to the steel's relief. "What's the plan?"

"Well, I'll get chance, and then we can head out. All you have to do is tell us where you placed your jet and we can fly you over there as long as you don't mind flying coach, again?"

Six thought it over. It was not all that bad. The benefits outweighed the small discomfort. "I'll live." He replied.

"Perfect, I'll go grab Chance and we can get going now." Jake informed, turning to the ladders that would take him up to the top.

Six watched him go before turning to his gear. It matter not if they were just going to go on a quick run, he would still bring everything. With one last look at his newly colored rifle, he magnetized it to his back, laying it to rest alongside the shotgun. The spartan walked over to wait next to the jet, unsheathing his knife as he moved in order to check on it. He gently ran a gloved thumb over the edge of the blade. It was getting dull. Not even the space-age metal could go on forever. Deciding to be productive while he waited, he reached into his one of the containers on his waist and pulled out the sharpening block. It had to be specialized; combat knives were made of super sharp and durable metals. This required a material that could sharpen without being worn down. With a firm and gentle motion, he ran it at an angle over the midnight blade, sharpening its dull edge and breathing new life into his implement of death.

He was just finishing up as the kats came down and began to switch into their pilot outfits. Once they were done they walked over to the jet where the waiting spartan stood. Six focused his helmet on the newly keened blade and tested it by running down the shoulderplate of his armor after temporarily shutting down his shields. It left a small scratch and a grating noise; he nodded in satisfaction, running the block over the blade a few more times before sheathing the weapon.

"Are you ready to go?" Jake inquired as he picked at his uniform, trying to get comfortable. It could chaff in the worst spots. Chance gave the spartan a wave and began to climb into the cockpit.

"Ready and waiting." Six replied solidly, backing up a margin so that Jake could open the bay doors.

"So, where are we going?" Chance inquired from the cockpit. He knew that it was in the forest, but not where exactly.

"There's a clearing a few kilometers from the city, head south west and you should spot it." Six explained as he watched Jake open the bay. Now that he was going back, he was about as eager as a spartan could get.

Once the kat had finished, he climbed into the hold for the second time that day. He maneuvered until he reached some level of comfort. Settled, he gave Jake a nod.

Seeing that, he pressed the button and six was once more sealed up inside the jet. It was a very inconvenient way to travel, and that made him doubly glad to be retrieving his fighter.

As the jet prepped for launch, Six used the time to think. He wondered what Callie and Felina were up to. They were the first people...Kats...whatever, that he had interacted with here. Six did not really ever care for others, or form attachments. So the fact that they had somehow imprinted themselves on him was quite peculiar. Sure they were people that looked like earthen cats, but Six had dealt with monstrous aliens for years, so the fact that they looked different was not the deciding factor. He supposed that it was just something about them, on the inside. They were certainly an interesting pair. Those two were quite important to him.

Six shook his helmets head and tried to clear his thoughts. He had no idea how to address these feelings swirling in his head. They were foreign to him; these things troubled the spartan so he buried them under layers of mental fortitude. He would seriously consider them another time. He knew it was not wise to put off anything, but he could not handle it at the moment.

******

Jake and Chance, or now Razor and T-bone, sat in the Turbokat as it soared out of the hanger. They had a mission, find the spartan's base camp and help him retrieve his gear. It was actually nice to be taking the jet out for a spin without it being a terrible emergency. Not often did they get a chance to do that. "This is kinda nice." T-bone voiced his opinion as he piloted the jet to the forest just outside the city. "No evil villains, monsters, doomsday weapons, robots, plants, or sorcery, just a little milk run."

Jake had to agree with him. "Yeah, I hope it stays this way at least for a little while. I'm starting to get a little overwhelmed. But if there is trouble, we have Six, he could stop anything."

"With a hand tied behind his back no less. With him, we have a chance to really strike back at these bastards. We can do a lot of good." The tabby kat agreed. It was good to have him here; the only sad thing was that he appeared to be stranded. They had let the Pastmaster get away, and in doing so, stopped any chance of him returning home, at least until they got their hands on the diminutive undead sorcerer.

"Although, I do feel a little sad for him, he has no means of getting back home. And even if he did, from what he told us, it's not exactly a great place to be at the moment." Razor added glumly.

"Well we can't do anything about that, so we shouldn't let it get us down." T-bone wisely stated. "We need to focus on the here and now. We have our own people to worry about. Besides, Six is tough, I'm sure he'll be okay."

At that moment, the Turbokat glided into the outskirts of the forest with the screaming of its afterburners. Conversation stopped as both pairs of feline eyes wandered the lush woodland scape, looking for any place that could fit a fighter.

The search took longer than they had expected, around a good half hour. But finally, Jake's sharp eyes spotted the glint of shining metal in the distance. He pointed it out to T-bone and the Turbokat flew over to the source of the reflection. As suspected, the familiar outline of the spartan's fighter started to take shape as they neared the newly discovered location. Once they were close enough, T-bone landed the Turbokat adjacent to the larger craft.

Their cockpit opened the hiss of pressurized air and the duo quickly climbed out. T-bone jumped to the forest floor and slowly walked over to the ship, whistling to himself, impressed. The jet was bigger than the Turbokat and had a strange design to it. The engines were actually not in the back, but they were on the sides. The chassis of the jet was almost triangular and tapered in the front to make the cockpit. On the sides were the long perforated barrels of heavy machine guns and the missile pods were on the top and bottom, built into the plane itself. "Damn, this thing is a work of art." He claimed, brushing a dark yellow and brown striped paw across dark steel side of the jet he was facing. T-bone loved planes, and this one had rocketed into his top picks.

Razor only shook his head amusedly and went to open the bay doors to release Six. He tapped the button and the bottom doors slid open with a clang. A profound thud later and the spartan emerged from underneath the plane. After making his way out from under, he rose back up to his hull height, turning to the kats. "Are we here?"

"Yep, I doubt there is anyone else with a plane like this." T-bone remarked from his place near the right turbine of the Sabre, patting the cold alloy of the silvery chassis.

Six shifted his gaze from the tabby to the jet. It looked fine, unaffected by its current neglect. But the hut had seen better days, it was not meant to be a permanent shelter, and it showed. The roof sagged and seemed about ready to collapse. The spartan stared at the wooden building with a mix of feelings. It was not long ago that this was his home, nut now it was a stepping stone on his way to whatever lay ahead in his future. Razor and T-bone walked off to the side, giving the spartan time alone. However short a time it was, this place had been his home and they assumed he would like the privacy.

Six's boots thudded softly as he traversed the short distance between the parked jets and the hut. He stopped at the mouth of the entrance and after a brief almost unnoticeable pause, entered. The spartan stood inside and stared at all of his worldly possessions, the duffels of gear and the chest. This was everything he owned...it was not much, and it was all used to wage war. Spartans did not keep personal effects, at least none he had ever met.

With a shrug Six grabbed the duffels and slung them over one armored shoulder, taking the loop at the top of the chest in the other empty hand. Not giving anything a look back he exited the place he had used for shelter and headed to his Sabre. He dropped the bags and chest with a thump and the crackle of dry grass. Wasting no time he opened the large compartment built into the hull of the jet, he placed one of the duffels inside and paused, remembering the picket of sensors he had assembled on the outskirts of his little abode.

In a half hour he retrieved the network of small devices and stacked them in orderly rows in the large chest, keeping the smoked deer meat separate. With that last detail taken care of, he placed the trunk inside the Sabre and went to the duffel bag he left out.

Something crossed the spartan's mind, something he had forgotten about. He unzipped the bag and reached inside. With the utmost care and grace as a spartan could possess, he lifted the hilt of an angular blade and brought it into the afternoon light.

Emile's Kukri...

He had taken it off the spartan's body when he retrieved his fallen brother's dog-tags. Previously, he only wanted to keep it as a personal keepsake, a private commemoration for his silent comrade and his sacrifice. But he now felt that he could do good with his brother's weapon, besides, Emile would be furious to find out that his prized weapon would be neglected.

Six attached the bowed blade to his left shoulderplate using the magnetized metal sheathe. Then, he grabbed the hilt and slowly drew the weapon, revealing it to the open air. He rotated it in his gauntlet, staring at the long angular death bringer. His armored reflection gazed back at him from the polished steel, a black helmet shining in the light. With a groan he fell to his knees and the kukri slipped from his grip to hit the grassy ground with a soft thump.

******

With an ear splitting roar, the pelican crashed into the platform and ponderously skidded off into the canyon below, metal screaming in anguish as it was dragged forcefully by unbending gravity.

Six picked himself off the floor, slightly disorientated. The spartan heard the sound of plasma fire and rolled out of the way as the molten orbs rained round him, only barely touching his shield and draining it down to 50%.

The phantom gunship hovered over the cannon Emile was using, expelling a pair of Elite Zealots. The first one jumped onto the control station for the massive defense gun and received buckshot to the chest for its arrogance, buckling its shields in a bright blue burst of visible energy.

Emile climbed out of the gun's control station, pumping the action for his shotgun and delivering a finishing discharge to the elite's mandibled cranium, blasting it into mist. "Who's next?" He snarled angrily, blind to the monster emerging behind his back.

Six was about to call out a warning when the elite rammed its superheated blade of magnetically contained plasma into his brother's chest, overwhelming the shields and carving through the heavy armored plates as easily as one pierced a thin film of paper, as the beast lifted the spartan off his feet to dangle in the air, the spartan roared out in rage and agony.

The elite ripped him off the crackling blade and as it flipped him around, he snarled out "I'm ready, how about you?" Then he grabbed the kukri from his shoulder and stabbed it into the unsuspecting alien warrior's head, brining it and himself to the floor and out of Six's line of sight. But he did not need to see him to know he was dead. The small light at the top right of his HUD, for Noble-4, turned a solemn crimson. The only one still glowing the bright green of life was Noble-6, himself.

Six's heart dropped, the last member of his team was gone, and he was once more a lone wolf.

"Lieutenant! Get aboard! We gotta get the hell outta here!" A marine bellowed as the pelican containing Keyes and the objective that was so vital for humanity's continued survival.

Six looked to the soldiers in the pelican, their waiting and anxious faces. These men were terrified, Reach had fallen and their boat was the last one out. If they didn't make it, everything Noble had worked for until this moment, all the sacrifices they had made, would have been for nothing.

Six could not, and would not, allow that to happen. Besides, noble stayed together until the end. If they did not leave Reach, neither would he.

"Negative." He replied, beginning to back up slowly. "I have the gun....good luck sir." The lone spartan started the march away from extraction, knowing that this was the end.

Keyes frowned softly and answered quietly and gravely. "Good luck spartan." The pelican ponderously drew itself up and began to fly back to the Pillar of Autumn. This would cause a spiral of events that would ultimately lead to the end of the human-Covenant war, and the spartan and his team who had made it possible, would never know.

_ ******_

With a soft shuddery exhale of beaten breath, he climbed back to his boot clad feet and returned the weapon to its rightful home. The flashback had been sudden and intense, and it was hard to believe that it had happened only a few days ago. With a heavy intake of breath replacing the carbon dioxide he expunged, the spartan resealed the duffel and tossed it in with the rest of his gear.

As he was about to turn around, he felt something land on his shoulder. The spartan almost lashed out but managed to suppress his instinct, its usual restraint weakened by the nerve wracking haunting remembrance.

"Are you alright?" He rotated his helm to the right to see Razor staring at him intently, eyes displaying concern. It was strange, that this alien would care about his wellbeing.

"I'm still functional, just...the past." Six responded, slowly moving his shoulder to subtly get the kat's paw off of it, uncomfortable with such familiarity. "There's nothing left for me here...let's go." He tossed the kat a small piece of paper with something scribbled on it. "That's my suit radio's frequency. Use it to contact me once you are in your own jet."

Six left the kat standing there and climbed on top of his Sabre, opening the cockpit with a few buttons pressed into a rectangular pad on the hull near the canopy. Razor watched the spartan as he prepped his jet for launch, unable to see what he was thinking do to the concealing nature of his armor. With a sad shrug he turned to walk away. There was nothing he could do for the spartan. He knew little to nothing about what troubled him; all he did know was that the man had been a child soldier and fought a genocidal alien race for the majority of his life.

Razor climbed into the Turbokat, where T-bone had been waiting. "What happened out here?" The large tabby asked curiously. All he had seen was the spartan collapse.

"Nothing, at least that's basically what he told me." Razor replied as he belted himself into his seat. "I suppose we just head back now." So far this outing had not gone as Razor had hoped.

The Turbokat's engines howled as they ignited, only to be almost canceled out as the engines of Six's own fighter started, the much more powerful futuristic drive outclassing the other. Razor switched the radio to the channel that the spartan had given him. "Are you ready to go Six?"

"Affirmative." The spartan replied simply, the engines of his craft flipped to point down, raising it up off the forest floor and scattering the forest's debris.

T-bone followed suit, soon both vehicles were hovering in the sky. Once they were both airborne, T-bone took the lead. Six followed after the Turbokat in his Sabre.

The spartan was preoccupied, still stuck in the past. Strangely, he began to wonder what his life would be like if the Covenant had never invaded. Would he have had a normal life? Where would he be at this moment in time? One thing he knew for certain was that he would not be here. And at the moment he was unsure if that was good or bad.

The flight back to the Swatkat's hanger began smoothly. And the spartan was utilizing the time to run a systems check on his Sabre. He was at midway for fuel levels and his munitions were still somewhat full. The shield emitter was functioning normally and the Sabre had been recently refitted before the invasion had begun so it was okay as well.

As he was about to run another check out of boredom the comms light had begun to beep softly. He flipped the switch under it and spoke. "Six here."

"We have a problem." T-bone's voice came over the channel.

"What?" Six demanded, already subconsciously warming up the cannons and shifting power to the emitter.

"There is trouble at the Megakat City botanical gardens. The plants are being mutated, no doubt by Dr. Viper." T-bone explained over the radio as the jet changed directions to head over to the city.

Six shook his head in confusion. Plants mutating? "Repeat that?"

"Yeah that's right, Dr. Viper, he's a kat who suffered from a mutation after an accident. He wants the whole place to turn into one massive jungle." T-bone replied without any semblance of a joke.

Six just shook his head in bewilderment; this world will always surprise him. And it took a lot to surprise a spartan. "Understood, what is the plan?"

"Well, you think you're up for a little mission?" The kat responded with a chuckle.

"I am always ready to fight." The spartan retorted seriously.

"Right then, follow me." The jet in front of him banked to the right, flying towards the city with a screech.

Six twisted the joystick, angling his larger craft after the other. The Turbokat had quite a lead on him, but the Sabre was much more powerful, catching up in the tine it took for T-bone to level out his own plane.

The flight was rushed, they had heard about the attack from the radio they had aboard the Turbokat, the one specifically set up to alert them if keywords were heard over the channels. The device had picked up gardens, Dr. Viper, and plants. That could only mean that he was up to no good once more.

Eventually, the gardens came into sight, at the heart of the city. Both groups in their jets could see massive moving green shapes as they neared. Once they could see with clarity, what was there, Razor gasped. "Crud, it looks like he managed to stir up the octopus plant!"

Indeed, a titanic plant was swirling its tentacles inside the garden, much to the displeasure of the innocent bystanders trapped inside the park. Dr. Viper himself was standing beside the mutated creature. When he saw the Turbokat approaching, he shook his scaled paws at them angrily. "Swatkatsss!"

"Yeah hello to you too ugly!" T-bone retorted before dodging a disgruntled tentacle from the beast. "Hey, watch where you're swinging that!" He hissed indignantly.

Six saw the creature and snorted it was just an overgrown plant. The spartan cared little for introductions or who his enemy was; all he knew was that this plant wanted to hurt people, so he was going to hurt it.

The spartan closed his gloved trigger finger around the activator for the machine guns and the vibrations from the duel barreled cannons rattled the cockpit. The high velocity rounds peppered the vegetative hide of the plant beast and it let out a monstrous groan. Six was momentarily surprised to find that it could make such a noise.

Still, despite his attack, the creature was not injured in any way that he could see. Instead, it tried to smash his craft out of the sky. With his enhanced reflexes, he managed to pull up, barely dodging the deadly tentacle sent soaring over to him.

Just as another was about to slam into his jet, a missile sporting a sawblade at the tip sliced it in half, of which the separated limb fell to the ground with plop. Six turned his helmet to see where the missile had come from to see the Turbokat fly by. "We got you covered Six." Razor's voice came in over the radio.

"Your support is appreciated." The spartan replied distantly. It seemed that they had saved his ship from an early grave. But he could think about that after the battle, for now he had a score to settle with this overgrown fern. Six brought his jet around in a wide turn, prepping a deadly surprise of medusa missiles. Once he had the beast in sight, the homing tone turned on and a red circle slowly formed around the center of this monster. Underneath his helmet, Six's face was contorted into a silent snarl as he pressed the button atop the joystick and sent a quartet of deadly missiles towards this creatures newly revealed maw.

The deadly rockets flew directly into the creature's maw, ad it then exploded in a flash of light and sound that disoriented all but the spartan. The air was filled with white plant juices and the beast's body was turned into a biological rain.

Even as the Swatkats cheered for their victory, Six looked for the perpetrator of this attack, the Dr. Viper. He spotted the mutant feline as he climbed up from the floor, having been knocked down due to his proximity to his creation. He centered the cannon's targeting reticles on the villain's chest and was about to depress the trigger when he bolted, making way for a sewer grate nearby that had been left open.

Six chased his retreating figure with a line of 30mm cannon rounds. But just as the puffs of dirt reached the kat, he dived down the grate and avoided his death. With a disappointed growl, Six banked his fighter back up and towards the direction of the Swatkats.

"Good work there Six, you took that beast down hard!" T-bone cheered.

The spartan simply replied with. "It was a threat, so I eliminated it."

"In any case, we should probably scram before Feral and his goons get here. He tends to not like it when we save the city." Razor suggested.

The Turbokat turned to head back in the direction of their base and Six followed after. They soon arrived back at their base, and after a little maneuvering, Six managed to get the Sabre inside, next to the Turbokat.

The spartan climbed out of the jet and onto the pavement. He waited as the two other pilots climbed out of their own ships and headed over. "Great job out there today Six, with you around, the bad guys don't stand a chance!" T-bone congratulated as he patted the spartan's shoulder, much to his discomfort.

"It was what I was born to do." He responded with a shrug.

"Yeah well this kat was born to eat!" T-bone said as he began to walk away in search of something to eat.

Razor followed after the other kat shaking his furred head in disbelief and muttering something about endless and black hole. Six watched them go and was surprised to feel a smile gracing his features. These two were quite amusing.

But a small grumble in his stomach alerted the spartan to something.

HE was quite hungry as well.