<strong>Gladiator0161<br/>Loc: Manhattan, New York, on Tunnel Highway 495 enroute to 40th Street</strong><br/><br/>Gladiator sighed as he was able to relax a little bit, though his fingers still remained near the triggers to the mounted machine gun, he looked up to the dark reinforced concrete ceiling. He felt the subtle drop in temperature and remembered the darkening sky outside just before they'd entered the tunnel, a storm was on the way.<em>I need a vacation</em>he thought as he whirled the gun around to face the front, fairly certain that nothing was going to attack them from behind now that they were out of the buildings and on the main stretch of protected highway. He swiveled the turret in a slow circle, making sure there weren't any nearby Banshees that were going to get the drop on them, and then pulled up the map of Manhattan on his HUD as his helmet connected with the Mega City's AI Traffic controller. The image fizzled a few times but, the information sprang up on his HUD a moment later. The stretch of highway they were on would have a turn-off that went down to 3rd Avenue, where they could take a left to East 34th street, or a right to the much closer East 40th street. Another thing was that East 40th was one of the main roads through Manhattan, and led between the Theatre District and the Garment District and then ended with the Lincoln Highway all of which was South East of Central Park.<br/><br/>Any survivors, and probably a fair amount of soldiers would be there, fighting the Covenant no doubt. He had to marvel at the architecture of the bridge-like tunnel that spanned the expanse between Manhattan island and New York's mainland. Two gracefully curving support struts on either side of the structure stabilized the frame while four support legs held the behemoth up above the water. The body of the structure was enclosed to provide protection from the lightning storms that were common due to the large quantities of metallic substances used to build the mega-city. The walls had large twenty foot view screens that displayed the conditions outside, the images provided by video cameras mounted in the skin of the structure. It was a remarkable, and indeed beautiful feat, if not a bit wasteful and arrogant. Some big wig had had it built practically for fun a number of years ago, rumor had that it had been built to provide people with more hope during the Rebellion. Then Covenant Human War had begun shortly after. It had made local news including some of the planets in the Inner Colonies but, otherwise the man's name had died in the light of more serious matters. Now it was just Tunnel Highway 495.<br/><br/><em>Only the best in technological engineering from the worlds wealthiest</em>Gladiator thought with a wry smile before returning his thoughts to more serious matters<em>hopefully Private Fry, and Addie will be nearby and we can pick them up</em>he thought as he switched his comms to TEAMCOM so that Valkyrie could hear him "Valkyrie, turn right on 3rd Avenue, head to East 40th, if Private Fry and Addie have linked up, they'll probably head there. I'm going to try contacting her again and get a progress report. Over."<br/><br/>"Rodger that" was Valkyrie's easy reply. Not slowing in the least Valkyrie took the turn-off and rounded the winding corner on two wheels, leaving two black marks on the road where there should have been four. Gladiator hung on and even managed a smile underneath his helmet as he found the maneuver a little amusing, and fun.<em>Who needs the Covenant to kill you when Valkyrie's behind the wheel?</em>he thought with a grin as he switched his comm frequency to the one Addie had used before, confident that some of the radio sensors built into the concrete that dotted the ceiling were still in working order. He leaned towards his right to counterbalance the vehicle and help the 'hog settle a little faster. There were a few moments of bouncing and fishtailing but, soon enough Valkyrie leveled the all terrain vehicle out and again they were off at breakneck speeds. Trash and other debris blew past them as the wind started to pick up now that they were out of the bridge-like tunnel.<br/><br/>"Sierra six three six, this is sierra zero one six one. We're going to be a little early getting to the RV point, what's your status?" Gladiator said trying not  to laugh of the image of what he must have looked like with his arms cartwheeling like he'd done when he'd almost been thrown from the Warthog only a few minutes before. He could hear the automatic fire of MK5 series Assault Rifle up ahead, and pulled up the traffic cam feed for East 40th street. There was a squad of ODSTs fighting along side some Army grunts and Marines, they were pinned by the Covenant. Mostly Brutes with their Jackal and Grunt lackeys. What he saw next stole the breath from his lungs. Civilians. There were still civilians in the area being evacuated. If he counted right, the UNSC was defending at least thirty civilians. Why here? What were the Covenant after in New York? and Why hadn't these civvies been evacuated already?<br/><br/>Gladiator looked up as the sun began sinking low on the horizon as an explosion shook the earth somewhere farther up past East 40th. He briefly caught the sight of a fireball rising over the rooftops. He estimated that the explosion had been somewhere between four to eight blocks away from their current position. He went back into the traffic cam network, the mega city's AI helping him locate the source and putting the feed on his HUD. He rewound the video to a few hours before the explosion and saw what looked like a Human girl exit the bunker before the military base went up in flames "What the-?"<br/><br/><strong><em>Lieutenant Joseph Garrison: 123rd Infantry Division<br/>Loc: East 40th street, Manhattan, New York</em></strong><br/><br/>"Goddamn covvies keep blocking us! What the hell are they after?!" Joe yelled to his buddy Diggs over the sound of his unit's combined Assault Rifle fire. "How the hell should I know?!" Diggs shouted back "do they need a reason to kill us? They never have before!" Joe just grunted in response and filled another Brute full of lead, dropping it to the scorched and broken pavement. Crystallic shards from Needler fire, Plasma fire, and metallic fire from the Brute soldiers Spiker weapons filled the air only to be answered by the full automatic fire from the UNSC forces Assault Rifles followed by the dull thumps of their thrown grenades. Both Human and alien cries filled the air as warriors on both sides caught enemy fire and died. Their infantry team was ducked down behind abandoned cars, destroyed alien vehicles, and hastily placed barricades all fanned out in a crooked line.<br/><br/>"A little help here!" Jones suddenly cried to his left forcing the Lt to turn and spray the area in front of the Petty Officer with hot lead, downing two Grunts, and wounding a Brute that had made more progress than it should have. The wounded creature went down to a knee, and Jones popped up at Garrison's nod as he reloaded his weapon, and fired the rest of the clip from his Magnum into the beast's leathery forehead, dropping it for the count. "Getting low on magz!" Hughes cried from his position behind a barricade on the sidewalk. Similar cries came from the other soldiers around them. Suddenly a roar drew his attention back to the battlefield and he looked up into the red eyes of a red maned Brute as it stood defiantly atop the car he'd taken cover behind, it's weight slowly crumpling the roof of the vehicle. Garrison pointed to the Brute with two fingers and yelled "Fire!" the combined fire of eight soldiers toppled the large alien backwards onto the back of the car, raising the front of the car a foot off the ground. The bumper clipped Garrison's chin and he fell back, then shook his head to clear it, and reloaded his weapon. A split second later twin plasma grenade explosions sounded from opposite ends of the street as two pairs of Grunts made a suicide run and crashed against the Army soldier's barricades, destroying the barricades and killing the two soldiers at the opposite ends of the street. All six remaining soldiers refocused their attention on the remaining Covenant preparing to rush their position.<br/><br/>