"That Elite we've got banged is a nutter, punched the Sarge in the gut he did!" the first human spoke in a heavy accent. "Yeah, well, the poor thing was kind of being abused Harry." the second human replied. "'Poor thing'!" the human named Harry exclaimed, crowing with laughter, "that's an Elite mate. They're the enemy, remember?" "Yeah, I know, it's just that it looked so pathetic snivelling and bawling like that. Besides, it says it used to be a Librarian or something." "We're not allowed to drink on duty Richard, remember?" Harry mocked, whilst Zharn drew ever closer to the one named Richard. "I've not been drinking! I'm being serious, jeez man stop being a --" Richard never had a chance to complete his sentence however, for at the moment Zharn struck, landing a heavy blow on the side of the man's head with his plasma rifle. The human collapsed instantly, dead or alive Zharn did not know. The other human, Harry, swore when he saw Zharn's camouflage fade as a result of the attack, but he could not cry for help, for at that moment, Ahkrin sprang into action, jumped upon the human, covering his mouth with one large hand, and, reaching down, broke Harry's neck with one fluid motion. The silent screaming ended. "Nice move." Zharn complimented Ahkrin, looking down at the two bodies. Ahkrin pointed down at the human Zharn had felled; Richard. "Is this one dead?" Ahkrin whispered. "I don't know." Zharn confessed. Ahkrin took one look at the human lying on the ground, raised his plasma rifle, and shot the body twice in the head, melting it into a puddle of fleshy liquid. "It is now." Zharn didn't like the way Ahkrin had handled that. He had no problem killing human, by no means, but killing one in cold blood, whilst it lay on the ground, unconscious; there was no honour to be found in that. Still, they had a mission to complete, and so he forced the unpleasant thought out of his mind. "Where now Ahkrin?" Zharn asked of the other Sangheili, who was checking the corpses for a pulse, just in case. Thorough bastard. "Can you not read the sign above Zharn?" Ahkrin jested, motioning upwards. Human letters were wrote upon a green, luminous board. "Those are not Forerunner glyphs brother." Zharn stated bluntly. "Your point being?" "I cannot understand them." Ahkrin froze in disbelief, and rose up from his corpse checking duties. He turned towards Zharn. "Truly? Gods, what do you learn when you become an officer of the Covenant then? All Stealth Sangheili are taught to fluently speak and read the languages of every known species." "Even that of the Huragok?" "Yes, but it is by far the hardest. Sangheili throats are not made for making all those chirps and whistles. More often than not, we use sign language when communing with them." Zharn scowled, painfully aware that his own education was...lacking. No doubt Sorran was as educated as Ahkrin, being the scholar he was. "We can discuss this later. Tell me what the letters say, and let us be on our way." Zharn ordered, despite the fact he and Ahkrin's rank amounted to the same. "Hmph, very well. It reads "Detention block A", with an arrow pointing down the ramp on your right." "And do you think Sorran could be down there?" Zharn replied earnestly. "It's wholly possible. Come, let us go. Re-engage your camouflage." They both moved swiftly down the ramp, which was painful to traverse with Zharn's hoofed feet. Cameras died as they moved past them, as a result of Ahkrin's jammer. They would have to move quickly, it wouldn't be long until the humans realised something was wrong. They reached a dark corridor at the end of the ramp, where a large steel door barred their path into a room, likely where the cells were kept. "Is it open?" Zharn questioned, knowing the answer already. A quick try of the door and shake of the head by Ahkrin confirmed his suspicions. "Nay, and there are no weak spots either. We cannot blast the door off with a standard rifle. Thankfully, I have with my a set of plasma grenades. Stand back." Ahkrin brought out three plasma grenades, and gently laid them by the steel door. The small explosives were extremely powerful when detonated, in spite of their size. Ahkrin moved away from the door, and hit a switch on his arm. The grenades sparked into life, and began hissing. ************************ "I'm calling it a night Tom, good luck guarding the deadly prisoner." The fair skinned human mocked, closing shut his book. The dark skinned one, Tom, laughed. "Alright Pete, but tomorrow, you're staying up." Tom called as his friend Pete walked towards the metal door leading out of Detention Block A. Those words would be the last words Pete would ever hear. For at that moment, the heavy steel door exploded in a cloud of plasma, incinerating the human named Pete on the spot. Sorran sprung out of his bed at the commotion, and moved towards the cell door. "What the hell?" Tom screamed, firing randomly into the cloud of plasma. Moments later, plasma fire rained back, which Sorran identified to be issued from a standard plasma rifle. The superheated bolts burned through Tom's stomach, and he fell to the floor, writhing in a pool of his own blood and stomach acid. Two tall figures came into Sorran's view, familiar ones. "Ah, Sorran, I trust you've been keeping well." Zharn laughed, gripping the cell door with Ahkrin the Stealth Sangheili, ripping the heavy door from it's hinges, a feat Sorran could have never done alone, especially in his weakened state. "You...came for me?" Sorran questioned, confused that they would so such a thing for him. Him! "We never leave a needy brother behind." Ahkrin grunted, tossing the door away, and reaching out for Sorran's arm, hoisting him onto the floor beside him. Sorran felt a rush of weakness, and nearly collapsed to the floor there and then. Before he did though, Zharn caught him in his hands, slinging the Sangheili Minor over his back. "I see the humans haven't been under feeding you Sorran." Zharn commented wryly under the bulk of his weight. Sorran didn't reply, he was too tired. "We must leave, now. The humans will no doubt of heard the explosion." Ahkrin stated, alert for danger. "Then leave we shall. How do you propose we do this?" Zharn replied, worried. "The back wall looks weak, perhaps we can force our way out." Zharn grunted in confirmation, passing the limp Sorran over to his friend. He then walked to the wall, braced himself, and hurled his weight against it. Cracks were formed. After repeating the process twice, the wall finally gave, and Zharn burst through to the outside. Alarms were now whirring across the human base, and the barks of dogs could distinctly be heard. Escaping wasn't going to be easy.