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The hum of the powerful Pelican engines dominated most of Shadow's hearing. The hum calmed him a bit, as he looked about the cabin. He jerked his cast between the Dark Wolves and the Spartans. Even in the many years of knowing their presence, and of having met them and fighting with and against them, Shadow still found the image of the Spartans to be quite impressive. They say that the Spartans resembled the image of the ancient Greek gods. He didn't even know what those gods looked like, but he was sure that they had to be quite intimidating to resemble that of the Spartans.

He reached into his electronics bag, and pulled out a small disk. It was a red disk, its data composure written in green, digital letters across the side. He eyed the disk for a few seconds and slowly clicked it into place on the COM system on his arm. He pulled out another object out of his bag. This time it was a small, black, bean shaped thing. He placed it in his ear and pressed a small little button on the system. It flashed red once, illuminating the semi-transparent skin of his ear, and then flashed off. He pressed a few buttons on his COM system, and all of a sudden a heavy rock band sounded through his mind. (AHHHH!!!! And I'm broken, I know I need you now 'Cause deep inside I'm broken You see the way I live. Cause I'm broken!) He smiled as the music flooded his head. He loved the music. It was mostly ancient music from a thousand years ago, but it didn't matter. Rock had gone out of popularity about 1000 years ago, and most people these days listened to techno and new age music. He didn't understand how it was called new age music. The style was invented a thousand years ago about when rock went down the tubes in popularity. It didn't make any sense to him. Oh well. Even though rock was pretty much an unheard of genre of music, a few companies still sold reprints of the ancient music. All of a sudden, his right ear could sense the voice of someone speaking to him.

"Hey, Dark Wolf, mind turning it down? My enhanced senses can hear it as well as you. I don't know why you Dark Wolves listen to that stuff for entertainment anyway. Don't you want to do something like pushups or sparring?"

It was Linda, he could tell her voice. Cal yelled from the other side of the cabin.

"Yea, how do you listen to that crap?"
"Fuck you Cal. I like this shit. You guys are all wimps listening to that techno shit, and you Spartans don't have a life, listening to jack shit."
"Yea, well you listen to some kind of bullshit that calls itself after some inanimate object."
"Ok, then what the fuck does techno mean then?"

The Spartan beamed in between the fight between Shadow and Cal.

"Hey, Dark Wolf member, are you going to listen to that music during the mission?"
"It helps me get my adrenaline going during near impossible, and critical missions. And James, I have a name you know."
"Why listen to music, won't it make it harder to hear?"
"That's what two ears are for my friend."
"A human simply does not have the complexity and the finesse to - "

Jan interrupted instantly.

"Well, Shadow sure as hell does."
"It's impossible. No human has the..."

Shadow turned the music way up high to drown out that damn Spartans talk. He sure as hell wasn't going to listen to it this loud in the battlefield. The leaking sound would give away his position, and the sound would drown out his ability to hear the sounds of others. Good thing his hearing was beyond most others', or he'd have to go into a difficult mission without his music. A continued to sit in his spot, listening to his music, when Geb interrupted his deep listening.

"Hey, Shadow, I've never heard Rock. Can I hear it for a second?"
"Here."

Shadow pulled the device out from his ear. As he did, the noise coming from the small earphone became louder. He tossed it to Geb. Geb snatched it out of the air, and examined the device for a few seconds. He shrugged and placed it in his ears. He immediately began shaking and moving about as if he was having a seizure of something. His eyes were shut tight, pain seeming to rush through his head. He pulled the earphone off and held it in his hand, looking at the earphone was if it was a bomb about to explode or something. He held his ear, and tossed it back to Shadow.

"Damn, how are you going to listen to that while you're in the mission?"
"I'll turn it down, don't worry."
"That music is horrible...why do you listen to it?"
"Why do you eat?"
"Because it's a necessity."
"Exactly."

Geb looked at him as if he was crazy. But it was true. Shadow really did need his music. He was lucky to have enough time these days to be able to fix that damn thing from constantly going on the fritz. He was about to put the earphone back in when John yelled over everyone. He snatched Jan's COM system and tinkered around with it for a few seconds to display a 3-D map of the city.

"This is the mission, when the Pelican comes to horizontal position, we will high jump from there, and use our MJOLNIR shields to protect us from the fall. From there, we'll secure the area. When all is secure, the Pelican will lower to the ground to land the rest of you Dark Wolves except Shadow. He will stay in the Pelican and will be dropped off at the top of the power plant before any of the enemies troops can respond with anti-air weaponry. The Pelican will retreat to a safe position to pick us up later after the mission is accomplished. From there, Shadow will supply sniper support for us as we make out way into the base. Any questions?"
"Yea, why can't the Pelican just drop us all off at the top of the power plant. Won't it be easier?"
"No, the Pelican would take to long to drop us all off. There is at least a 95% chance that the enemy troops will shoot the ship down before all of us can depart. That's why most of us are being dropped off at a less guarded area, and THEN moving to the power plant as Shadow provides cover. Everyone got it?"

A Spartans gave the proper response to a commanding officer.

"Sir, yes Sir!"

The Dark Wolves on the other hand...

"Whatever."
"Works for me."
"We're gonna die."

The Pelican came to a sudden stop, its engine as full power to keep the hulking machine up. The pilot yelled in from the cockpit.

"Alright Spartans, you're clear to HJ down to secure the area."

The Spartans each quickly jumped out of the wide open cargo doors and fell perfectly, legs first. The Pelican had to be at least 5 stories high. The military forces must have updated the suits' shield system to take high impact like that. He'd never seen them do it before. He jumped out of his seat and put his earphone back in his ear. The music was off, but he'd turn it on when the time came. He leaned on the edge of the Pelican, sniper scope sweeping the area where the Spartans were landing. He watched through the night-scope as each Spartan kicked up a lot of dust as they landed on the streets. Their already gold armor glowed a brilliant bright color as they smacked into the ground. He wondered if they're lack of camouflage would alert the other soldiers. The entire city was abandoned. Guess all the people were in hiding from stray shots between the battle. Smart civilians. There were no enemy soldiers. The Spartans moved into a pentagonal position, making sure that there were no enemies nearby. After a few seconds of staying in position, Shadow could hear a radio transmission from John.

***The area is clear, Jen you have clearance to land.***

The pilot, apparently named Jen, called back.

***Roger that, landing now.***

The Pelican jerked as the thrusters eased of their power, and the Pelican slowly hovered to the ground. They slowly reached ground level and the other Dark Wolves piled out of the ship, eye pieces on and active. Az looked at him carefully, and said something before leaving.

"Don't die Shadow."

He smiled and nodded in response.

***Jen, you are clear for re-takeoff. Good luck Dark Wolf member.***

Shadow assumed that John was talking to him. He stood up in the Pelican as it once again began to rise. He looked down as his baggy pants and loose shirt wavered in the howling, tearing winds. The Pelican once again began moving forward. He continued to stand, watching as the power plant drew closer and closer. With was a circular building, the top having one elevator in the center for going down to the second and first floors of the building. That was his way in once he finished providing cover fire for the team. Finally the Pelican came to an immediate stop.

"Jump. Quickly!"

He nodded and flung himself off the edge of the Pelican. He landed small crunch, and did a small roll before getting up. His legs were still a bit weak from his injuries. But he'd have to bear it out. He pressed a button on his COM system, and the music immediately started up again. He pulled his sniper rifle up and listened to the music while scanning for enemies.

(DROWWWWNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!)

He locked in his sights on the 9 Spartans and Dark Wolves. All of a sudden, two figures came out behind them, sneaking up closely. He smiled as the music came exactly when he fired the two shots.

*FTEW* *FTEW*
(ONE! Nothing wrong with me! TWO! Nothing wrong with me!)

The two shots popped off both their heads, and send them flying backwards. A few of the Spartans looked behind them in wonder at how fast Shadow fired those two shots. But the Dark Wolves kept on running, knowing Shadow's abilities already. Three more were about to snipe the troops from the rooftop.

*FTEW* *FTEW*
(FOUR! Nothing wrong with me! ONE! Something's got to give! TWO! Something's got to give!)

The three bodies slumped over, night-vision highlighted blood spilling out of their guts. The group was almost at the base. All of a sudden, he heard the sliding of the doors of the power plant. He swung his sniper rifle down, and saw nothing. The government forces must have been firing from inside the hallway to prevent sniper fire from hitting them. Smart move. Little did they know that their enemy was right above him. He pressed a button on his COM link twice, and then took out a grenade. One of the figures of the group stopped and motioned for the others to stop as well. Shadow smiled, and turned around, and began walking towards the elevator in the middle of the roof. He pressed the ignition button and carelessly tossed the grenade of his shoulder.

*clink* *clink* *BOOM!!!!!!!*
(AAHHHHH!!! LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOR! LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOR!)

The grenade had hid the ground level right in front of the entrance and had apparently blown the people at the doorway sky high. He smiled as EVA popped up on as a hologram on his COM system.

"You know Shadow, I've been meaning to talk to you."
"Hey, hey EVA. No 'hello's, no 'how ya doing's?"

The AI frowned and raised her eyebrow.

"I assumed that you wouldn't enjoy such tortures."
"You assumed right. We need to work on your sarcasm recognition."

Shadow slowly walked to the open elevator doors and closed them behind him. The hum of the engines sounded as the elevator began its descent. He strapped in his sniper rifle and pulled out his AR.

"Right, well...I've been thinking. Can you give me a different name?"
"Different name? EVA! I'm in the middle of a mission. Mind...just a sec EVA."

He put up his AR, and fired a few rounds in a suspecting guard at the entrance. Those fools. They would at least think to send more than one person to investigate. He looked at his COM, and saw no other human heat signatures in the area. He slowly walked out, AR ready. Two more were in the next room to the ahead and left. He could hear them talking about who was going in first to check it out. He smiled and dove across the doorway, assault rifle at full automatic. The damn, fat fools were unsuspecting and untrained to fight. The government was getting sloppy on who they were hiring. The bullets tore through their skulls and their neck, tearing their bodies as their lives were taken away. He landed on his shoulder. He did a quick flip to get up and silently moved into the room, head down, back arched down to make his already small figure even smaller and harder to hit. No other enemy forces. He looked around a bit more. There were two mainframe computers in the middle and a few side computers to handle the lesser functions of the power plant. He held up his AR, but remembered that the military had sent him on the mission to help take the city back, not disable its power. They had use for the city. He smiled and strapped in his AR, took a seat, and got down to work.

Meanwhile, the Spartans and the rest of the Dark Wolves were moving quickly through the hallway of the base floor. There were 4 rooms. Two on the left, and two on the right. At the end of the hall was the elevator to the second floor. 4 of the Spartans had ARs. Linda had a sniper rifle. Geb and Az had ARs, while Jan and Cal had shotguns. John was leading the group. The Spartans moved swiftly and as a team to investigate the left rooms, and the Dark Wolves split up quickly and efficiently to investigate the right rooms. All four were empty.

"Clear!"
"Hey Spartans, we got nuthin here."
"Lets moves to second floor."
"Cool."

The 9 troops quickly filed into the elevator, Linda taking up the rear, sniper rifle held up. She continued to keep her rifle up until the doors closed. The hum of the elevator made the situation very eerie and discomforting. A few clicks and clangs could be heard from the slight movements of the Spartans' armor. The opened quickly, and the Spartans led the way in. They rushed in with the Dark Wolves, all in the diamond formation. They all sighed and smiled as they saw Shadow sitting there at the computer screen, two guards dead in the base.

"8 for me, 0 for the big guys."
"Shaddap Shadow, you had all the chances, we're just getting warmed up."
"Dark Wolves, what is this you're speaking of?"

Jan explained.

"It's an old tradition. Every member of the Dark Wolves team competes for the highest amount of kills in our missions. So far Shadow is winning 8 to 0, 0, and 0."
"Games? Aren't you fools under the impression that this mission is critical to the survival of the human race?"
"Yes, and getting all jumpy and nervous about it like Jan only makes things worse, doesn't it? We like to keep it cool. We operate much smoother that way."
"I see. So, Shadow, how's the decoding going?"
"I've almost got it. I'm not much of a hack, Jan really should be the one sitting here, but alas, you guys move like snails."

Jan jogged over to the computer to help Shadow out.

"What are you having trouble with?"
"I can't get this damn code to work. I've already hacked it and pulled it out of their file batch in the log security files, but I can't get it to work. It's like their own security key doesn't work."
"You dumb dumb! Here let me sit down."
"By all means."

He stood up, grabbing his AR, and slinging it over his shoulder, watching intently on what Jan was doing. She pressed a few buttons, pulled a few strings, and smiled as the entire room went pitch black.

"How are we going to get out of here when even we can't see?"
"Don't worry, the backup generators will be coming on in 5,4,3,2..."

As she said two, the emergency lights flickered on.

"Damn, off by a whole seconds. Stupid me. So, what do we do now John?"
"We find the resistance."
"Shouldn't be too hard, especially in the cover of complete dark like this."
"Well, lets get moving Spartans...and..er..Dark Wolves."

Shadow lifted and eyebrow and took the rear as they exited the power plant and began phase two of the mission.

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