Fall of Reach - Chief v ODST

The two men flanking him grabbed John’s biceps. The one behind him tried to slip an arm around his neck.

John hunched his shoulders and tucked his chin to his chest so he couldn’t be choked. He whipped his right elbow over the hand holding him, pinned it to his side, and then straight punched the man and broke his nose.

The other three reacted, tightening their grips and stepping closer—but like the dropped pin, they moved slowly.

John ducked and slipped out of the unsuccessful headlock. He spun free, breaking the grasp of the man on his left at the same time.

Stand down!” A booming voice echoed across the gym.

A sergeant stepped into the gym and strode toward them. Unlike Mendez, who was fit and trim and was always serious, this man’s stomach bulged over his belt, and he looked bemused.

John snapped to attention. The others stood there and continued to glare at John. “Sarge,” the man with the bleeding nose said. “We were just—”

Did I ask you a question?” the Sergeant barked. “No, Sergeant!” the man replied.


The Sergeant eyed John, then the ODSTs. “You’re all so eager to fight, get in the ring and go to it.”

“Sir!” John said. He went to the boxing ring, slipped through the ropes, and stood there waiting. This was starting to make sense. It was a mission. John had received orders from a superior officer, and the four men were now targets.

The big ODST pushed through the ropes and the others gathered to watch. “I’m going to rip you to pieces, meat,” he grunted through clenched teeth.

John sprang off his back foot and launched his entire weight behind his first strike. His fist smashed into the man’s wide chin. John’s left hand followed and impacted on the soldier’s jaw.

The man’s hands came up; John stepped in, pinned one of the man’s arms to his chest, and followed through with a hook to his floating ribs. Bones broke. The man staggered back. John took a short step, brought his heel down on the man’s knee.

Three more punches and the man was against the ropes . . . then he stopped moving, his arm and leg and neck tilted at unnatural angles. The three other men moved. The one with the bloody nose grabbed an iron bar. John didn’t need orders this time.

Three attackers at once—he had to take them out before they surrounded him. He might be faster, but he didn’t have eyes in the back of his head. The man with the iron bar swung a vicious blow at John’s ribs; John sidestepped, grabbed the man’s hand, and clamped it to the bar. He twisted the bar and crushed the bones of his attacker’s wrist. John snapped a side kick toward the second man, caught him in the groin, crushing the soft organs and breaking his target’s pelvis. John pulled the bar free—whipped around and caught the third man in the neck, hitting him so hard the ODST was propelled over the ropes.

“At ease, Number 117,” Chief Petty Officer Mendez barked.

- Halo: The Fall of Reach, Chapter 7