XD. Great job Rare on Chapter 10.

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] quadpedal You guys messaged me when the next chapters were up, thanks, do you do this to everyone?[/quote]Essentially to everyone that still shows an interest in this series after two chapters, yes. :P [i]Chapter 10: There Will Be Beer[/i] "MacMillan," the Arbiter said, "we're going to freeze to death, if we don't come up with a solution quickly." The Captain paused for a moment, reached into his backpack, then pulled out two pieces of beef jerky. He rubbed the two pieces together, thereby creating a fire. "There- that should hold us for awhile." MacMillan returned. The Captain then took out two bottles of Scotch, handing one to his alien companion. The Arbiter snapped the cork off with his teeth, sitting up against the wall, along with the ghillie-suited Scotsman. "Are you an angry alien, Arbiter?" MacMillan asked. "Excuse me?" said the Arbiter, setting his bottle down. "Are you envious? Do you get envious?" "I don't think so- no." The Arbiter said cautiously. "I have a competition in me." MacMillan continued, "I want no other game to succeed. I hate most games." "That part of me is gone." Arbiter said, "Working and not succeeding. Because of all my failures, I....I just don't care." "Well, if it's in me, it's gotta be in you. There are times when.....I look at [i]Halo[/i] and I see nothing worth liking." "What will you do with the female?" asked the Sangheili. MacMillan took another gulp of Scotch, then weezed, "I don't know. Maybe it'll get better with us. Maybe it'll change." "You told me she had a lover. Where is he?" "I don't wanna talk about [i]those[/i] things." MacMillan replied, "I see the worst in [i]Halo[/i], Arbiter. I don't need to look past that page on Xbox.com to know that it sucks. Having you around gives me a second breath in life, lad." The Captain took his final sip of alcohol (for the day), and before making a fiendish laugh, he said, "I can't keep doing this on my own. With these.....games." Just then, the door that had previously cut them off opened up. And at the entryway stood Big Bird, who, as always, was wearing his black helmet. "Big Bird!" MacMillan exclaimed, as he began to stand back up (thereby extinguishing the fire formed by the two pieces of beef jerky). "C'mon, you two." Big Bird said, motioning his right hand out of the door. [b]Onboard the CH-64 Sea Knight, Big Bird, just outside of High Charity[/b] "Alright, guys," Big Bird said, "Our plan to catch Truth didn't go so well, but I have another one." "Let's hear it then, lad." MacMillan replied. "Ok, Truth's already moved to the front of the ship. He and his crew are about to make a jump. We'll have to move a couple days forward in time. However, that's also when the [i]city[/i] is supposed to be attacked by a group of Half-Life style zombies called the Flood. "They won't be a problem, Big Bird." the Scotsman said, "I own that Gordon Freeman laddie's mother. If I can handle her once a week, these [i]Flood[/i] characters should be a peace o' cake." "Well, sir, I don't see the relation between Go-" "Prepare the jump!" [i]Two hours later[/i] "Hey, mister." Suzy said, entering the cockpit (shut up) of the Sea Knight. "Oh, hello." Big Bird said, as he tilted his head backward, only to notice the young, black-haired girl standing by the steel door. "Whatcha doin'? =D" "What does it look I'm doing?" Big Bird asked rhetorically. "Hm...idk, flying a space ship? :3", Suzy frowned. The pilot sighed, then said, "Shouldn't you get some sleep?" "Like, no way!" she replied, "I'm a night girl! Day's too warm for me. :(" "But that doesn't- nevermind." "Hey, you wanna hear about the dream I had last night?" asked Suzy. "Uh, I'm a little busy." Big Bird returned, "Maybe-" "Alright, so I was at [i]Silver Dollar City[/i], right? I was on the Powder Keg, and golly, it was goin' so fast! I thought my stomach was gonna fly out! Oh, and then...." [b]High Charity, Docking Bay #11[/b] "Truth should be here in a moment." Big Bird informed, looking at the line of five Covenant Phantoms that started just left of the Sea Knight. "Alright, lad. Is there anything else?" MacMillan asked. "Actually, there is." the pilot answered, "The Flood are on their way, and I have some....unfinished business to take care of. Incase something happens to me while I'm gone, I need you and the Arbiter to look after Suzy." "Will do." MacMillan said plainly, "Where is the lass, anyway?" Just then, out of the aisle of the helicopter, came Suzy, equipped with her own M21 sniper rifle, as well as a pistol. Unfortunately, she hadn't a clue on how to use the freakin' thing. "This is [i]so[/i] cool! Ever since I was six, I wanted to be in the army!" the girl shouted, but not before making a seemingly endless round of "pow!" noises. The Captain walked up to his North American companion, giving him a pat on the shoulder. "Take care, my friend. We'll seeya soon." he said. Big Bird smiled softly, as he turned backward and stepped into the aircraft. The Sea Knight lifted from the ground, and as it drifted off into the distance, MacMillan began to feel a very uneasy chill crawl up his spine. "Mercy, my dear, I promise you." The Prophet Truth said, as he and his fellow San 'Shyuum walked down the ramp leading into the docking bay, "You'll feel right at home with my sewing crew!" "Hurry, get down!" MacMillan whispered, forcing both Suzy and the Arbiter into a crouching position. As the two Prophets headed toward one of the Phantom aircrafts, two Flood infection forms sprang from behind, latching onto them by their necks. To make matters worse for the two Prophets (although much better for MacMillan and his gang), descending from a gravlift just a dozen feet ahead of them was none other than the Master Chief himself- the Demon. The Spartan walked forward, stepping both of his armored feet onto the Prophets (both of whom were now lying down). "It's over, you two." said the Chief. But as soon as Truth managed to cough out a laugh, he said, "Not quite, Demon. My [i]Dreadnought[/i] is about to take flight. You'd better hurry if you want to catch Regret." "Thanks for the notice." said the Spartan, "Anything else?" "Y-Y-Yes....." Mercy weezed, "How's about you....suck.....our....di-" And just like that, the Chief shot both of the Infection forms latched onto the Prophets' necks simaltaniously, ending their lives. "Chief!" a female voice shouted, as her small, blue figure emerged from the left arm of Mercy's one-wheeled chair. "That other Prophet-Regret-has the Index. He can activate the ring." the Master Chief said, stating the obvious. "If he does," the holographic woman said, "I'll detonate [i]In Amber Clad[/i]'s reactor just like we did the [i]Autumn[/i]'s. The blast will destroy this city and the ring! Not a very original plan, but we know it'll work." And just before the Spartan was able to reach for the chip containing the AI, she said, "No. I don't want to chance a remote detonation. I need to stay here." "Alright, enough o' this!" MacMillan shouted, as he rose from the lower end of the ramp (with Arbiter and Suzy following his lead almost immediately), "Drop your weapon, Chief!" "Ah, crap." Master Chief whispered, as he ran forward, quickly hopping into the Covenant Phantom through the roof's entryway. Just then, a relatively short amount of static poured through the com link of MacMillan and his crew. [i]"There's the Chief, Captain! After him!"[/i] Big Bird exclaimed, panting heavily through the mic. "Don't worry, Big Bird; we'll get 'im. You holdin' up alright? " MacMillan asked. [i]"Yeah,"[/i] he answered quickly, [i]"Talk to you again soon. Big Bird out."[/i] "Your pilot sounds exhausted." the Arbiter pointed out. "Ah, he's probably just jackin' off." The Scotsman returned, "Lad must get lonely up there, I'm sure." "I see. You will have to explain this concept too me further after this Demon has been dealt with. Quickly, into the Phantom!" the Arbiter exclaimed, as the three of them scurried toward the nearest Covenant aircraft. "Wait!" the blue, holographic woman shouted, her figure brought back to life. "Aye?", MacMillan looked at her, raising his eyebrow. "The Chief- he's not who you think he is." she said. "And just who might you be, lass?" asked MacMillan. "I'm Cortana. Without me, the Chief is hopeless. I am the brain to his brawn; I am the voice of Spartan 117." "And so," the Arbiter said, removing the chip containing the AI from the arm of the metal chair, "You must be silenced!" the Sangheili then resorted to tossing the chip into his mouth, crunching it down for the next ten seconds. "Well done, lad!" MacMillan exclaimed, "Now, to the Phantom!" The three of them lept into the purple-coated ship, with the Arbiter, obviously, as its pilot. Immediately, the vehicle shot out of the docking bay, as it headed toward the triangularly shaped [i]Dreadnought[/i], which was stationed within the center of the "city". "We're almost there!" Suzy shouted, as she peered outside of the Phantom's front window. However, just as they had entered the ship's range, an enormous, squid-like tentacle barged through [i]High Charity[/i]'s interior and into our heroes, sending the Phantom into a downward spiral. [Edited on 05.25.2008 11:23 PM PDT]

Dude. You and Rare should make a MacMillan fanclub. Nao. That would be sheer awesomeness.

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] quadpedal You guys messaged me when the next chapters were up, thanks, do you do this to everyone?[/quote] Yessuh, Rare does that cause he's 1337 and loves all of you dearly. Rare's chapter oughta be up some time tonight... or tomorrow. [quote][b]Posted by:[/b] phax0r_hax0r I love you[/quote] ;>_>

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Uberdawg Oi, lads! I've got the first chapter... if anyone will read it :( [i]Chapter 1: Beginnings[/i] Captain MacMillan sat quietly (as he always was), in the back yard of a home in the suburbs of Chicago. He looked down his scope of his M21 silenced sniper rifle into the back window of the house, watching the family’s two teenagers play split screen Halo 3 on their widescreen 35 inch HDTV. MacMillan watched this calmly at first, but soon, it began to anger him. He took his frustration out by hurling pebbles at the confused family dog, who couldn’t see him in his ghillie suit and couldn’t smell him because MacMillan had evolved past having any scent (except when he wanted to). [i]“Why aren’t these lads playing Call of Duty 4?”[/i] MacMillan wondered to himself. [i]“After all, it’s got more guns, more grenade-whoring and other cheap tactics, but a really fun multiplayer and ghillie suits… best of all, it’s got me in it, oi!”[/i] MacMillan paused from throwing pebbles at the dog to hold his breath, aim and take a shot inside the house. He hit exactly what he intended: the bottom support of the shelf above the TV, which loosed the Call of Duty 4 box. The game box tumbled down in front of the two boys, who didn’t even notice, so intent were they in their saving Earth from the Covenant. [i]“AIOI!”[/i] MacMillan angrily thought. [i]“What are they, blind, deaf Halo fanboys?”[/i] The Captain knew a more drastic measure was necessary: he immediately shot Master Chief’s caricature on the TV in the face, right in the middle of a cutscene. Both boys noticed now, and stared agape at the hole that was where their alien-fighting, butt-kicking hero’s head once was. Before they could turn around, MacMillan was half way up the street in the dark cold of the night. As he stalked (MacMillan rarely walked, but rather loped like a hunting lion, hunched to the ground and eyes roving for prey) along the street, he heard a passing car, driven by a young fellow, blaring Marty O’Donnell’s famed Halo theme song. MacMillan, faster than any snake, spat onto the car out of anger. The spit caught the tail end of the car, instantly burning through its bumper like a knife through butter. [i]“Aye, Halo… it’s everywhere…”[/i] MacMillan made his way to the local Wal-Mart. After breaking in through the air conditioning system, he went towards the hunting gear section, but as he went, a massive “BELIEVE” banner caught his eye. He stalked towards it, and beneath it, looked at the rows of Halo 3 copies that sat muted in their glass cage. His grip tightening on his M21, he heard voices nearing him, and he quickly (and inexplicably) found a way to melt into the rows of music CD’s behind him. Two men came up, both to the game rack. They looked to be in college. “Yeah, I need to pick up a copy of Halo 3 for my nephew,” the first said. “You sure he won’t want Call of Duty 4? It looks pretty sweet…” said the second, as he pointed at the Call of Duty 4 cases. “Are you kidding? Once you get that 3x Frag perk combined with Martyrdom and Sonic Boom, the multiplayer is just a freakin’ grenade-fest. And the single player is only like 5 hours long. Also, I heard that the best character in the game only is in one mission. How crappy is that? One mission!” Little did the first man know, but his last point regarding Call of Duty 4 saved his life at that moment, as MacMillan lowered his M21. After they left, both hefting copies of Halo 3, MacMillan decided to leave the store. He couldn’t take it anymore. After walking past the Halo cups, Halo plates, Halo action figures, and Halo books, he reached the back door, where the janitor was mopping up the floor. MacMillan was looking to find a way to get around him, until he saw the janitor remove a can of Halo game fuel from his pocket and begin to drink it. The janitor was on the floor in less than two seconds in a puddle of game fuel, and MacMillan made his way outside, stalking the streets again. Dejectedly, he kicked at a fire hydrant. His foot didn’t connect, as the hydrant jumped out of the ground and voluntarily flew across the street out of sheer fear. MacMillan’s anger grew and grew upon his realization that this… this Halo game was overshadowing him and his game, Call of Duty 4. Especially angering was its hero, the Master Chief. He hardly said anything, and yet these lads jumped all over him like they wanted his babies. What drew them to him? MacMillan didn’t know. But he knew he had to fix it, somehow. He ran through the options: first off, he could annihilate Bungie and anyone who ever attempted to maintain Halo’s servers again. But that didn’t solve the problem of Halo’s addictive single player. He could destroy all the copies of Halo in the world, but surely he, Captain MacMillan, the most intelligent of all men, could find a more efficient method than that. There had to be a way to prevent Halo from happening altogether… Then MacMillan remembered the Russian time travel machine the SAS had been buzzing about for years. All of the greatest scientists in the Soviet Union and China had been assembled to build the machine, and the CIA and MI6 had been working to get even a glimpse of it. The SAS and Delta Force had both conducted multiple covert raids on heavily secured Soviet scientific structures, all of which had come up empty. MacMillan had heard they were mounting an even more major raid on where the time travel machine was suspected to be, and there was a lot of evidence that it was there. If he could get a hold of this time machine, he could go forward in time and kill them: the Master Chief, the Arbiter, Johnson, Truth, Keyes, Gravemind... they all had to die. He had found his plan. [i]86 Miles Outside Smolensk, Russia[/i] MacMillan stared at the fortress that stood before him. Elite Soviet military units were stationed all around it with guard dogs, spotlights and heavy machine guns covered every facet and corner of the installation, which looked to be mostly underground. Alone, it would be a very difficult task, even for Captain MacMillan. Luckily, he wasn’t alone. A team of 30 Delta Force and SAS operatives were behind him, ready to make the raid. MacMillan had told no one of his ulterior motives in the mission, and they wouldn’t have time to find out, if everything went according to his plan. “Oi, lads, ready on my mark…” he whispered into his headset. “Open fire.” What followed was a hail of gunfire, taking out the guards in immediate site. The special operatives did their job with ruthless efficiency, and MacMillan was sprinting ahead into the base before the last Russian hit the ground. Using a crowbar he carried on his back, he pried the massive steel door open by himself by brute force and leverage, clubbed two Russians and shot three others before they had any idea he was there. The SAS and Delta Force squad filed in right after him. They progressed through the base, wiping out all opposition in their path, and eventually made it to the time machine, which was unmistakable due to its enormous size. A green beam pulsated repeatedly in the middle of massive spinning machinery, gears and other machinations. MacMillan’s team immediately had the scientists unconscious and tied up, ready to be taken back to the West and interrogated for their knowledge. MacMillan slipped to the controls of the time machine, and tuned it to the year 2515. “Well, this is where I break it to you boys, I suppose,” MacMillan drawled in this thick Scottish brogue. The awkward silence was broken when he hurled two flashbangs into the air, blinding the entire room. He sprinted and leapt into the green beam, and was treated to his own blinding white light… … When MacMillan came to, he was laying in a simple green grass field on his back. “Ehh? Whassdis?” he said sleepily. He heard voices not far off. He was instantly on his belly, at the strange voice he heard, and sweeping the area with his M21’s scope, looking for a hostile. Two strangely clad men came walking into the clearing. They were holding what looked like bulky, oversized sci-fi rifles (this didn’t surprise MacMillan at all, as he already knew that all sci-fi rifles are bulky and oversized). They were growing closer to him each second… He sprung up out of the tall grass and waved. At the sight of him, both men clumsily reached for their rifles and pointed them at him. MacMillan could’ve easily killed both, but chose to instead try to get a little bit of information. “Oi, lads! You got a minute?” he motioned to them to come closer. “DROP THE WEAPON!” one shouted, not moving an inch. MacMillan’s M21 hit the ground with a “thud”. “Aye, I’m a bit lost. Mind telling me just where we are?” MacMillan asked them as they approached cautiously, weapons still shouldered. When they got to about 10 feet away, one answered. “You’re about three miles outside Jefferson, Halych. What are you doing out here, anyway?” They both began to relax and lower their weapons, much to MacMillan’s delight, though his ghillie suit concealed his grin. “Not quite sure,” MacMillan said half-truthfully. “What planet is this, lads?” Both looked at each other, then looked back. “Elysium.” “It’s my lucky day! Would you lads like a bit of brandy to celebrate?” MacMillan asked jovially as he walked towards him, pulling a bottle of 1923 brandy out of the folds of his ghillie suit. Both looked at each other again, then looked back. “Ummm, I think we’re go—“ “OI, SUZY!” Before they could react, MacMillan had closed the last 5 feet between them and clubbed both over the head with his bottle of brandy. Not without humor, MacMillan wrote “that’s what she said” on the backs of both of their uniforms. With that, he was off to find his new arch-rival. [/quote] I love you

You guys messaged me when the next chapters were up, thanks, do you do this to everyone?

I need moar to satifsy my craving for Bungie-style humor..

I needs moar! (again)

Very nice! *saves thread*

Captain MacMillan is Chuck Norris's brother I've been led to believe...

This is probably be the best short story I've read! Keep up the good work!

Hey Awesome job Rare and Spartan...I just noticed this thread made it on to the Top Threads list. keep it up.

Oh is that him standing in front of the obstacle course?

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] explosivediahrea Died from radiation? That doesn't make sense, he's in that mission somehow when you have all the airstrikes and you have to fight your way down to the helicopter. Price talks to him he says "Mac, do you see anything?" Then he goes "AH Bloody hell I'm hit." and I found that really weird.[/quote]Mac's a British SAS soldier, and like Gaz, his rank isn't actually shown. I'm pretty sure that you only hear his voice in the [i]Heat[/i] mission. You can spot him outside of the (target practice) warehouse on the training mission, though. ;) [Edited on 05.20.2008 7:22 PM PDT]

Died from radiation? That doesn't make sense, he's in that mission somehow when you have all the airstrikes and you have to fight your way down to the helicopter. Price talks to him he says "Mac, do you see anything?" Then he goes "AH Bloody hell I'm hit." and I found that really weird.

Very nice additions to the fan-fic guys. Sorry I didn't reply sooner but my activity has been on and off.

Thanks for all the positive feedback, folks! And yeah, I kinda improvised with the appearances of Rare's characters (dun sue plz!) cause I needed some Grunts and thought it'd be cool. Apologies if the last chapter was too long, too. I doubt there will be too many more of those, though there may be one or two. [quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Awesomo95 what did really happen to McMillan anyway[/quote] Activision's official explanation is that he died due to overexposure to radiation near the Chernobyl reactor. This, of course, is false: those of us who know anything about MacMillan do recall that he spent a couple of months in Nagasaki soon after the nuclear bomb hit, just to immunize himself to radiation. I confess I don't rightly know, however. My theory is that he's on the International Space Station, just seeing how long he can live up there without anyone detecting him... and seeing how long it will take for the inhabitants to stop blaming space-rats for the missing beef jerky.

what did really happen to McMillan anyway

man this is awesome! Keep up the amazing work!

Good chapter. I liked the Monty Python references before.

Nicely done again..very comedic and intresting.

Great job guys . EPIC WIN! I love how you made the girl (I forgot her name ) in the story start to have a crush on Arbiter. Lol.

You brought Half-Jaw in! *is most pleased* Is the double-length chapter the norm now?

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Sergeant Keslo i like how all your stories interact, lol, now you are even bringing Hackle and Fisca back, what else is next? The grunt sergeant? lol.[/quote]I actually didn't count on Uber including those two. =P However, we'll be sure to have more cameos/parodies in the coming chapters. [Edited on 05.18.2008 9:42 PM PDT]

i like how all your stories interact, lol, now you are even bringing Hackle and Fisca back, what else is next? The grunt sergeant? lol.

I just read the last two. quite liked em. the last one was a bit long for my taste, but maybe that's just me. Keep up the good work, gentleman!