Cody-B042

{| style="width:100%; color:#FFF;"

"Be careful when fighting the monsters, lest you become one."

- Friedrich Nietzsche

Cody-B042 otherwise known as Codename: SOLACE was a member of   Beta Company who served through the  until the end of the  uprising. B042 began as little more than an average SPARTAN-III, however in time he grew into one of the more dangerous close quarters specialists out of any SPARTAN generation or class with a penchant for both dealing out and taking unheard of amounts of punishment.

The majority of B042's service was marked by tragedy, with him often becoming the sole survivor of whatever unit he was placed within. This suffering molded him into an effective, albeit dangerously unstable weapon for use by the among others. The rage and anger born of his suffering was something Cody struggled with and at times fully embraced throughout his life, and without the events of the Created Uprising it likely would have been the death of him. Instead, B042 would find some measure of solace amidst all his life's tragedies.

Early Life
Prior to the Covenant attack in 2538, Cody lived a normal life on the outer colony Eirene. Born to farmers the boy was the only child for most of his normal life, with his younger brother being born mere months before the Covenant invasion. As a child he was unremarkable, preforming no feats that truly set him apart from his peers aside from historical knowledge.

In every aspect, the young Cody Owens was seemingly anything but Spartan material. In addition to not setting himself apart, he also had difficulty with social situations, not for lack of trying, but rather for the fact other children largely found his demeanor annoying or awkward. However, the child remained kindhearted and tried with all the effort he could muster to be a good friend and son. Though none of this would matter as in mid-2537 the Covenant located and attacked Eirene. Like many children across human colonies, when the aliens came, he lost everything. His father was cut down by a swathe of plasma fired by an Elite, and his mother followed soon after with needler fire raking her back and then detonating in grisly fashion. Too stunned to form the most basic of sentences, Cody was pushed aboard an evacuation vessel with his infant brother in his arms, watching in shock as plasma tore through another transport attempting to get civilians off world. In that moment, the boy was sure he was going to die, and even as the craft he was aboard jumped into slipspace, he was sure that death was near. But it never came.

Eventually, after nearly two weeks of travelling, the boy ended up in an orphanage on New Constantinople. Almost instantly his brother was taken away, adopted by another refugee who had lost her children in the attack and had nursed the infant for the weeks that followed. Despite his sadness, Cody did not argue, nor did he truly express any sort of emotion, he was simply silent. Around the orphanage Cody was met with equal parts disdain and acceptance, the former coming from orphanage staff who saw him and the other children as little more than more mouths to feed, and the latter from his fellow traumatized orphans whom he developed a reputation for selflessness. He often would give up bits of his own meals to children whom were sick, and spent most of his time trying to help the other children without any regard for himself.

For all his remarkable traits, one thing about the four year old was special in the eyes of some, the Office of Naval Intelligence specifically, his genes. With the loosened parameters of the SPARTAN-III program, Owens was an ideal candidate for the second company of expendable Spartans. Approached by an ONI recruiter several months after arriving in the orphanage, the boy was offered a chance at revenge against the Covenant. Without so much as a moment’s hesitation the boy accepted the man’s offer. In spite of his compassion and selflessness towards the other children the boy still wanted revenge more than anything, though at the time he would claim it was to protect others, which at the time it may have been, though in the end it would boil down to simple desire for revenge.

Training
"You either do it or you don't son, there is no goddamn maybe."

- Chief Petty Officer Mendez to B042 on his feelings of uncertainty in regards to graduating and becoming a Spartan

Whisked away from the orphanage and into a cryotube, Cody awoke from the cold sleep surrounded by hundreds of other children, all of them packed onto Pelican dropships and flown down to the planet known as Onyx. After they were all gathered together, a man, identifying himself as Lieutenant Commander Ambrose, came before them and gave them a speech about how they had volunteered to fight the Covenant, offered them a chance to leave, and then promptly began the first of many tests to come over the following years.

Loaded back into the dropships, each of the children were given an oddly bulky backpack, which they were then strapped into and told the nature of. They were parachutes, and if the children wished to stay and have the chance to fight back against the Covenant, they were going to have to jump. Many were hesitant, Cody was not. They boy, now being referred to by the large bellowing men as Trainee B042, had dreamed of joining the infamous ODSTs before his home was glassed, he aspired to be like those heroes, and that wouldn’t be possible with a fear of heights. In one of the few times he would stand out in early training, Cody jumped first into the cold Onyx night.

After landing, B042 and all others who found the courage to jump were given a meal and sent to the barracks of the massive training facility. The children mingled amongst themselves, exchanging names, and their stories of how they’d ended up here, and who they had lost to the alien scourge. As the children discovered, all of their stories were more or less the same, and they were all here for the same reason; revenge. Over the next few days the children were began the grueling training regimen that they would endure for the next six years, and Cody found himself either dragging behind or somewhere in the middle of his peers in terms of his ability to keep up. As time went on this would change, with B042 working his way into the middle of the pack in PT, however not without consequences.

From the very day after training began, B042 attracted the ire of one Abraham-B138. Abraham was a massive child with an ego, both fast, strong, smart, and incredibly arrogant. When Cody fell behind during one of the runs on the first day, B138 singled him out as a target. Throughout the next several years, B042 was routinely beaten, humiliated, and teased by the larger child whom met all B042’s attempts to stand up to him with brutal retaliation. However, once teams were assigned this lessened, but it was not halted completely by any means. B042 was assigned to Fireteam Bravo, which consisted of three other children: Detrick-B204, Marcella-B029, and Abdul-B213. Instantly Cody became the black sheep, not due to dislike of him, but rather his tendency to mess up seemingly menial tasks, despite this the team never once retaliated against him in anything other than verbal reprimanding and even that was a rare occurrence.

As the Spartan trainees progressed, their training began to incorporate more and more combat exercises. As predicted by Ambrose and the head DI Franklin Mendez, B042 lagged behind his team, dragging them down in the rankings. Cody was perhaps harder on himself than any of the Drill Instructors or other trainees, and was on the edge of giving up until the day the children began training for close quarters. It began when Detrick, whom had rose to become Bravo’s de facto leader, pushed Cody to try the close quarters exercise they were participating in one final time. Urged by his leader to try push on and reassured by his team, B042 proceeded to best the next two opponents he would face before finally being beaten.

As hand-to-hand combat exercises became more intense and close-quarters drills became more frequent, for once in his short life Cody began to show promise. However, all was not well. Abraham, who had only become more menacing over the years also showed remarkable talent in close quarters, had renewed his efforts against the smaller boy. Once again B138 began to humiliate and harass Cody in full force. While Abraham and most other trainees adopted more graceful and acrobatic fighting styles, B042 would come to adopt a more brutal approach that oddly worked well for him in spite of his more frail build, as against B138 any attempts to match him in his own fighting style ended disastrously. But with each defeat, Cody only learned more.

Thanks to the discovery of his “hidden” talent, Cody finally filled a niche within Bravo. Like all of the teams, each member of Bravo filled a certain role: Detrick lead and was their rifleman, Marcella became the expert on explosives and guerilla warfare, Abdul found a gift for long range warfare, and Cody filled the gap with close quarters. Despite the good fortune of the boy becoming competent, there were unintended consequences. Cody gained an unsavory reputation among most of Beta, mostly kept in hushed whispers after his brutal beating of Danica-B263. B263, a close friend of Abraham as well as harboring a crush on him, became the first, and by far most brutalized individual in Cody’s vendetta against B138.

When in a routine sparring match, B042 bested B263, but instead of halting his attack, persisted with greater ferocity, eventually having to be pried off of the girl. While B042 was disciplined, the incident was largely disregarded as it was well known Danica routinely had tormented B042 to impress B138, but it was quite clear the assault and numerous other beatings and cruel pranks were orchestrated by Cody to hurt those close to B138, since Cody could not beat him, yet. In 2545, after years of training, Beta Company was finally underwent augmentations, and arose from the procedures as Spartans. Bravo, along with the rest of the company were given time to acclimate to their now enhanced bodies before being put into a series of competitions prior to their deployment. In team based combat exercises, Bravo faired averagely as usual, losing to Fireteam Tango after the latter executed a brilliant ambush. Surprisingly Bravo as a whole faired extremely well during the hand-to-hand competitions, most surprising of all was B042’s performance.

Despite taking a beating Cody managed to win several rounds against the other Beta’s however he eventually came up against Abraham-B138 to settle the two’s long overdue grudge match. The fight began with Abraham taking the upper hand, relentlessly striking the other Spartan and evading his strikes with ease all whilst verbally harassing B042. However, as B138 became cocky, he became more brutal in his attacks, and sloppier.

In doing so he made two errors which B042 would exploit fully, for one his sloppiness allowed B042 plenty of opportunities to finally land several hits, but more importantly, he began to fight Cody in B042’s own, more brutal style, which the target of B138’s harassment had far more experience. Batting away a lazy uppercut, Cody retaliated with a brutality only years of pent up anger could produce. Quickly B042 drove Abraham to the mat and proceeded to beat the other soldier unconscious and was stopped just short of causing serious injury by Chief Mendez himself.

The entire company was still taken aback at Cody’s display of brutality, Bravo included, and though he was shortly eliminated by one SPARTAN-B312 the following round, he had distinguished himself as the stronger Spartan, and completed the vendetta he’d harbored for so long. Days later, Beta would ship out from Onyx to engage in whatever operations ONI deemed necessary of them.

Operation: CARTWHEEL
"We've earned this moment Bravo, don't waste it."

- Detrick-B204 to the rest of Fireteam Bravo, moments after emerging from their drop-pods

Briefly after the completion of the completion, Beta Company was assembled to raid a Covenant facility on a remote moon. Eager for their first taste of combat, all of Beta, Cody included were on edge. The soldiers could see the parallels to the fateful mission of their predecessors, and were determined to not the same mistakes. Deploying via SOIEV, Beta Company would catch the Covenant by surprise. Cody himself landed slightly off course, placing him a kilometer away from the rest of his team. Armed with an MA5K and a M90 CAWS the SPARTAN made his way towards his comrades, clinging to the foliage and keeping himself focused on moving forward rather than butchering the grunt and jackal patrols. Upon reaching his team, they were remarkably surprised their friend had stayed his hand and Detrick commended him for doing so. Moving with his team they made their way to one of the many Covenant communication relays around the central depot. The majority of Beta would storm the depot, while several fireteams including Bravo were assigned to strike the Covenant’s communications and sever their ability to call for help. As the moon's depot was crucial to the Covenant war effort, the Spartans knew that even with the ability to call for help taken away, their alien foes would take notice of their base suddenly going silent, and as such they would need to move quickly with a single well-coordinated attack.

With the importance of the task at hand weighing down on him, Cody was notably stressed, but maintained his composure. When the time came and the signal was given, Bravo launched their strike. Abdul cut down the snipers that would’ve halted their advance, Marcella moved to and destroyed the ghosts and revenant which offered means of escape, Detrick ran as a distraction to draw out the majority of the defense garrison, and as the garrison moved to strike the Spartan, B042 would retreat.

Opening up with a barrage from his carbine the Spartan III made short work of the grunt infantry and an Elite Minor before being forced into cover as the garrison shifted its attention towards him, only for Abdul and Detrick to utilize the diversion to tear into the aliens. Quickly storming the entrance of the structure alongside Marcella, Cody and his teammate laid into the remainder of the defensive force. B042, after running out of ammunition for his carbine and despite Detrick’s commands, drew his M90 and began to advance further. Blowing chunks of alien across the interior of the facility, B042 began to indulge his anger, and subsequently was hit by plasma rifle fire from one of four Elites who happened to be inspecting the outpost at the time of their attack. Dragged into cover and berated by his team, Cody was consumed with shame and was hampered by his humiliation. As the firefight prolonged due to the skill of the Ultra leading the Sangheili’s tactical prowess, a blast of plasma destroyed Cody’s shotgun, and a grenade wounded Abdul and Marcella.

Now panicking, Cody made a gamble, and rushed the aliens, collecting Abdul's combat knife before drawing his own in addition to his sidearm. Charging a minor first, B042 blasted away its shields with his M6 before tossing the weapon aside and quickly evading a swipe at his head, then proceeded to fatally use it to shield against the blasts of a major whom he then rushed into. Tossing aside the corpse and ramming the Elite, the Spartan yanked the warrior into the path of another’s energy dagger which killed the former instantly, with the latter falling seconds later with a blade in its eye.



Preying on the ultra’s honor, Cody made to engage the veteran in single combat, drawing Abdul's knife in tandem with his own whilst Detrick screamed that he couldn’t get a shot with B042 in the way. When the alien struck out with and energy sword, B042 narrowly avoided death, the blade slicing into his shoulder as he dropped to avoid the strike. Using Abdul’s sniper rifle, Detrick then hit the ultra with a shot, dampening and nearly destroying its shields, which fell seconds later when Cody used one of the fallen Elite’s rifle to deplete them and melt away the alien’s leg. As the Elite sunk to a knee, B042’s animalistic nature kicked in, despite his injuries he slammed the alien to the floor by its throat and stabbed it in the eyes and throat numerous times.

Despite the brutality, and the risk in such an impulsive move which Detrick relentlessly reprimanded him for, Bravo commended their formerly weak link for his skill and his slaughter of the Elites would be one of the many popular stories told that night among the company after they successfully escaped aboard their CALYPSO exfiltration crafts.

The praise brought validation and seeming acceptance from most all of Beta Company, which B042 had craved more than anything since he could remember. While being treated for his injuries, he was surprised that Detrick made a point of visiting him as well as Abdul and Marcella, not sleeping while they were being treated, and sleeping on the floor near their cots once the team was placed together. He refused to abandon Bravo in its entirety, something which B042 had convinced himself would not be true for him personally out of insecurity. Genuinely surprised, and for the first time he could remember since the loss of his home, happy, Cody’s will to preserve the team was amplified tenfold. Finally, he felt he wasn’t an outsider.

Operation: TORPEDO
"Omega three. Execute now! NOW!"

- The end begins

Later on in 2545, Cody and all others of his company were called together and briefed on their next assignment, a daring raid on the Covenant refineries on Pegasi Delta. The mission was to overload the reactors and destroy the shipyards. As the company split off for their individual fire team assignments, Bravo found themselves as one of the several teams tasked with placing the EMP charges on the reactor. B042 was well aware the assignment was one of the most dangerous in the mission, and that casualties were expected. Aboard the All Under Heaven Cody and Bravo would spend their time going over their objectives, and do their best to reassure one another. Detrick would do his best to rouse the team, and to a degree of success riled up his fireteam for the battle to come, but behind B204's bravado was the weight of impending loss, knowing that he very likely would lose someone during this engagement. Only Cody seemed to pick up on this, and believed he was the one Detrick saw as most likely to perish.

When deployment time came, Bravo and loaded into their specialized drop pods, giving each other the infamous "Spartan Smile" before entering their respective pods. Then, for six hours Bravo and the rest of the company would be confined to the pod with nothing but their own thoughts as they neared their target, Operation: TORPEDO had officially begun. As they exited the slipspace rupture and entered the atmosphere the Covenant opened up with anti-aircraft fire.

Upon landing conflict instantly found B042, who was barely able to blow the door on his pod before coming under fire. Taking cover, Cody would utilize the Semi-Powered Infiltration armor’s camouflage systems to flank the patrol of jackals and grunts then tear into them with a barrage of gunfire. Rallying up with Bravo and the rest of Beta Company, Cody charged the facility. When Seraph fighters screamed overhead, Cody watched helplessly as dozens of his brethren were annihilated in an instant, but there was no time to process the loss as the tide of Spartans slammed into the facility. Bravo quickly took up position alongside Fireteam Kilo. For several minutes the Spartan exchanged fire with the Covenant forces, spraying wildly at the aliens and felling several. The battle was heavily in Beta's favor until multiple Covenant warships uncloaked.

Within seconds the Omega Three order followed, and retreat was ordered. With the enemy surrounding them, choices were made. Bravo, Foxtrot, and Golf entered the facility to destroy the generators. As the teams rushed in, Cody would watch three members of Kilo be gunned down within seconds.

With the teams splitting up Bravo neared their target alone, Cody tearing through several Sangheili and numerous other Covenant soldiers who attempted to intercept the team within the narrow confines of the facility. Arriving at the generator, Marcella would attempt to plant the EMP charge, only for her arms to be incinerated, and her torso scorched as they were bathed in plasma as a stupidly brazen grunt fired a fuel rod cannon within the generator area. As Detrick scrambled towards his subordinate a volley of plasma would tear through the screaming Marcella, silencing the young soldier.

Suddenly a trio of Elites were converging on the team, and an enraged Cody sprinted towards them with Abdul in tow whilst Detrick moved to reactivate the charge, firing off round after round from his sniper rifle which the Elites seemed to evade with ease, and as the gap between the two groups closed, Cody engaged his foes.

Instead of blowing through the trio as he was used to, B042 would find himself incredibly outmatched, barely landing a blow as an energy sword cleaved through his chestplate and he was tossed aside and Abdul was beheaded after a short scuffle.

Further angered, B042 tackled one of the three as they neared Detrick, each attempting to mimic a human smile as the closed in on what they perceived to be the last of their prey. As he took the one to the ground, Cody managed to bury his knife in its throat, only to be hurled off of the Elite once again. Quickly scooping up Abdul's fallen combat knife B042 charged again, bounding over the fallen enemy and rushing to aid Detrick who was futily trying to hold his own against the duo of experienced warriors.

Joining his leader in the vicious melee, a signal indicated that Foxtrot had successfully planted their charge, which prompted B204 to shove Cody out of the fight and urge him to flee. Defiant as ever, Cody refused and made to rejoin Detrick in the last brawl of Bravo, but as Detrick was impaled he would freeze up.

With all his comrades dead, Cody felt the same since of dread he'd felt as a child on Eirene, and in his fear, turned and ran as ordered, tearfully cursing to himself as Detrick was beheaded.

Rushing towards the sea, plasma bolt after plasma bolt struck B042 in the back, the intensive pain nothing compared to the fear propelling him forward. Reaching the cliff over the ocean, B042 diveded into the sea, the immense blast washing over the surface as the mangled Spartan made his escape.

Desperately shedding his armor and swimming towards the extraction point, the pain of his extensive injuries finally hit him as he dragged himself onto the sandy beach, Abdul's knife still in hand. B042 ended up collapsing from the exhaustion and trauma, and had Kyle-B115 not found him, he likely would have died along with the others.

B115 moved Cody onto a nearby CALYPSO along with several other survivors, and shortly thereafter B042 slipped into unconsciousness.

Rehabilitation, Reassignment, Rearmament
"Your team is dead, your company is gone, but you can still make a difference."

- Codename: MAGICIAN to B042

Awakening onboard the ONI Cruiser I Am Your Father B042 was almost immediately subjected to a detailed debriefing and a psychological assessment. Throughout the assessment Cody remained silent and void of emotion, fearing that like he was to traumatized to speak, and ONI prepared to take similar action. Only then would Cody speak, first agreeing to work as a field agent, then questioning the whereabouts of his team, and the rest of Beta. The man assessing him, Codename: MAGICIAN would promptly inform him of their fates and use the pain of the event to further kindle B042's rage and devotion to fighting the Covenant.

Three weeks of physical rehabilitation later, Cody was lead off to Reach and run through an intensive training program over the span of three months. The program would acclimate B042 to life as a lone operator and promoted self-sufficiency over team based tactics. For the better half of the first month B042 was battered bruised, and beaten by instructors, constantly caught off guard as he was used to a teammate having his back. However this all changed when one DI, formerly of the SPARTAN-II program attempted to beat Cody with a shock baton. The man had made the grave error of thinking Cody was still a harmless child, and failed to note that the S-III held rank on him. In the ensuing scuffle, B042 killed the instructor and plead self-defense and cited the man’s crime of assaulting a superior.

After the incident Cody began to improve as what could be speculated as being paranoia set in. For two months his skills grew and grew until ONI deemed him ready for action. At this stage, he and two other Beta Company SIIIs were cast into the forests of Reach and ordered to hunt down and subdue each other. Outfitted with a new set of SPI, the IIIs descended upon each other. For nearly three days B042 wandered alone while unbeknownst to him the two other trainees dueled it out. Eventually he would stumble upon an exhausted and watch as TTR splattered across the SIII's helmet. Rushing to cover Cody managed to hold out against his assailant long enough for the SPARTAN's ammunition to run out. When he attempted to flank, his attacker, none other than SPARTAN-B312 managed to get the drop on him.

Being quickly disarmed, Cody once again engaged in brutal hand to hand with the operator who'd so swiftly dispatched him once before. Capitalizing on the other Spartan's exhaustion, B042 managed to draw out the fight with his far superior opponent for nearly twelve minutes. B312 ended the fight when they managed to snag Cody's fallen MA5K and take him out with the last shot in the magazine. Knocked out by the force behind a point blank shot to the head, Cody would awaken later that day and be assigned to Section III Beta-5 Asymmetrical Warfare Division.

Operation:LONG WAY GONE
As the Covenant menace pushed further and further into UNSC territory, the colony of New Llanelli came under siege. Of little importance the agricultural world receive little in terms of support aside from a series of almost completely botched evacuation attempts at evacuation. However Section III had a vested interest in the world.

On the planet an officer known simply as Codename: PAULSON had taken up residence with his family. A decorated veteran of Section III who’d put off returning to service due to extremely old age cut a deal with the office that he would return to service if him and his family were safely evacuated. Cody, under the moniker Codename: SOLACE was deployed to rescue them. Coming in aboard a D77, B042 set down several kilometers away from the large farming estate in which PAULSON had made into his family’s home. Making radio contact with the old officer, Cody managed to coordinate the movement of JOTUN drones to largely hide his advance from the Covenant forces which surrounded the estate.

Utilizing his photo-reactive panel camouflage system, B042 covered the distance from the fields to the walls of the estate in silence. Once inside, the SPARTAN met all forty six of his charges, which consisted of not only the officer’s wife children, and relatives, but their families, and their children’s families. Before Cody could do the math to figure out of if he could possibly take them all, more trouble arose.

Being former ONI, PAULSON had taken large steps to ensure the estates security, including installing several auto-turrets which had scratched several small Covenant squads and in doing so had brought attention to the area. As a team of Brutes smashed through the gate Cody directed the family out the rear of the facility where the still operating turrets would provide protection while he engaged the simian hostiles.



Attacking the brutes with a combination of flashbangs, explosives, and assault weapons fire, Cody managed to take down three of the five aggressors. However his luck ran out there. As the last minor engaged Cody, he found himself caught off guard by the unpredictable nature enraged enemy. Living true to their name, the following assault was wildly brutal, with Cody being smashed through several windows and stabbed with a spiker. Falling back on basic instinct, the SIII retaliated in kind. Smashing a concrete slab over the beast’s head, B042 managed to phase it long enough for him to bury his knife in its stomach and dragging it down, savagely tearing out it’s innards.

Now painted in alien blood Cody ferociously engaged the group’s captain, dodging the beast’s strikes with. Rolling under a strike, Cody slashed through the ligaments in the brute’s left leg, dropping it to its knee and slitting his throat.

Battered and bruised Cody rushed out of the estate to rendezvous with the family. Leading them to the Pelican. Once they arrived, brutes were hot on their tail and there was nowhere near enough room in the Pelican for the entire group. Knowing ONI would abandon them all if he remained behind, and knowing the excruciating pain any who stayed behind would suffer, PAULSON swiftly executed his siblings, and upon their urging, his own children, nieces, and nephews so that their children might survive.

Even as a SPARTAN, Cody was taken aback by the action and utterly horrified. Hiding himself away from his family, PAULSON' left B042 in the craft’s ‘blood tray’ among the rest of the family. The youngest of the children, unable to comprehend what had happened were fascinated with the blood-covered supersoldier after he removed his helmet.

Besides the children, a traumatized girl named Kate no younger than Cody would take an interest in the mysterious boy-soldier. Trying to assure her he was simply plagued with a bad case of being baby-faced, and dodging questions as best he could, he was unable to shake her suspicion about the Spartan’s true nature.

Once aboard the Prowler which deployed him, he slipped away from the girl hoping he’d never have to face her again. After a debriefing, Cody was returned to Onyx at the request of Ambrose himself alarmingly, and prepared for a less combat intensive assignment.

Testbed
Returning ‘home’ to Onyx, Cody would be greeted by, who had dug through several layers of classification to discover his survival. Before telling him the details, Kurt urged Cody to take several days to rest and see Gamma Company train as well as meet several members.

During his time back on the world he’d been trained, he did his best to reconnect with the other members of Beta Company on Onyx, trying to reconnect with the others who had managed to escape the massacre. Brushing off the fact ONI had informed him he was the only survivor as typical of the organization, Cody attempted to find some peace.

Reconciling with his fellow TORPEDO survivors on world, Tom and Lucy, the Spartan would at least somewhat ease his mind's troubles. Both B292 and B091 were relieved to see another survivor and the trio were quick to catch up.

Cody was also greeted by another familiar face, Aspen-B145, who had opted out of augmentations and taken up a position instructing the future medics among Gamma Company.

For a short period he would help Tom and Lucy in training Gamma, instructing many trainees including his younger brother, though both were oblivious to their relation. Cody provided valuable insight into solo operations and how to adapt after so long in a team-oriented environment. After one week’s time, Section III was eager to have their operative returned to them. Knowing they would have Cody back out in the field within days and away from the safety of Onyx, Ambrose finally made his request to B042.

Ambrose planned to add compound 009762-OO, which would alter augmentee’s brains in the frontal lobe, increasing their injury tolerance, strength, endurance, and most importantly aggression within the SPARTANs. But the substance was illegal, and Kurt was unsure about using the drug without already having tested it on SPARTANs.

Before the SPARTAN-II could finish explaining Cody volunteered to undergo the procedure, returning once again to the UNSC Hopeful above Onyx. With none other than Aspen-B145 at the head of the procedure Cody was injected with the experimental drugs by a fellow Beta. In the aftermath B042 would run through a series of tests under Aspen’s supervision which all had nominal results and Cody assured both Kurt and B145 that he would routinely have them updated on his condition.

Saying his goodbyes to the only family he had left, Cody departed the birthplace of the SPARTAN-III program and returned to his Section III handlers, ready to once again to join the fray and bring death to the Covenant.

Operation: LYNCH MOB
Operation: LYNCH MOB marked the beginning of a new chapter in Cody’s life. With the formation of numerous SpecWarCom SPARTAN teams Section III began to take interest in the teams activities. Cody was attached to one such team, FEUDAL, as an ONI liaison.

Joining the team en route to their next mission, the Section III operative did his best to integrate into the team with little luck. With the exception of Hastings-B206, whom Cody had befriended in training, FEUDAL regarded the ONI attaché with disdain, feeling he was present to see if they were up to par and therefore insinuating they were not at present.

The operation they were to undertake was to be Cody’s first counter-insurgency operation, the likes of which the rest of FEUDAL had been carrying out for the entirety of their careers. Frustrated with their unwelcome newcomer’s lack of experience in the field, FEUDAL 1, Dan-A010 would begrudgingly attempt to explain how operations like this required a more delicate approach than the missions he’d been supposedly tasked with prior. Heading towards the Insurrectionist hub of Mamore the team would finish what Alpha Company had started nearly a decade prior, and finish off the crippled rebel movement on the world. Deployed by a stolen freighter, the team were all clad in SPI due to the nature of the mission rather than their MJOLNIR Mark IV, Cody excluded as he was not issued anything other than the semi-powered armor.

The second dock workers opened up the hold of the vessel, Cody moved to incapacitate them only to see them cut down by his new teammates. Angered by the taking of innocent lives, Hastings explained to Cody that if word got out of a UNSC Special Forces presence on the planet during the UNSC’s relief effort, the outrage could potentially spark more conflict. Though upset by the idea, Cody understood.

Moving through the shipyard the team made quick work of any who crossed their path as they worked their way to the offices of port. In a blur of speed and lethality FEUDAL tore through the building’s armed defenders which included several child soldiers, one of whom was Cody’s first human kill and would have a deep impact on the young SPARTAN.

As they cleared the building’s first floor, one insurrectionist managed to get the drop on the team and made to sound the alarm and potentially doom the team, but an astoundingly quick reaction accomplished thanks to additional augmentation by Cody eliminated the threat. At this point, FEUDAL became open to the idea of Cody not being a completely bad person to have on the team.

Proceeding through the base, the team eliminated the rebel presence entirely after acquiring the location of the surviving leadership elements of the now splintered rebel groups on the world. With Eric-B298 providing a scapegoat in the form of a borderline artistic use of explosives, the team pushed the already high tensions between the surviving rebel groups over the edge.

In the massive infighting that occurred in the wake, ONI marked off the world, considering its rebel presence destroyed and the image of the insurrectionist on world destroyed due to the brutal results of said infighting. ONI was wrong, but this would not be seen until the days and months after the end of the devastating Human-Covenant war.

Cody, though still on the outside looking in with FEUDAL, was no longer actively disliked by the team who began to take what he said with some measure of belief, accepting that he was not with them for any reason regarding their skill. However in the weeks that followed, his skills would become crucial to the team’s success as the Beta Company SPARTANs of the team would finally be granted what they’d longed so deeply for, action against the Covenant, and vengeance.

Paris IV
In 2549 the UNSC fortress world Paris IV was besieged by the Covenant. Numerous SPARTAN assets were deployed to the world, ranging from SpecWarCom SPARTAN teams to legendary SPARTAN-II teams, one such instance of the former was FEUDAL team. Given a quick briefing, the team was assigned to defend one of the planet’s many UNSC bases, Fort Patton. Though the team was supposed to report to an ONI operative to receive information packets to refresh the team on fighting the Covenant after years of counter-insurgent, however the team failed to show, they’d been preparing for this moment for a long time with the exception of Dan, Tanya, and Cody.

Gearing up within the armory of the Athens-Class Carrier Hornet, Cody along with the others prepared for war. Even A010, A116, and B042 had only seen action against the Covenant in a special operations role, this would be the first time any of them had been in a total-war scenario. Cody equipped himself with a notably heavier armament than prior deployments, taking a MA5B assault rifle with an under-slung grenade launcher, an M45 tactical shotgun, a pair of M7 SMGs, and for the first time equipped himself with a combat machete that he would make use of for the rest of the war.

Once armed and ready the supersoldiers boarded a pelican and launched alongside the rest of the carriers dropship squadron. Inside the ‘blood tray’ of the dropship Cody and the rest of FEUDAL went over their mission in an attempt to distract themselves from the chaos outside the vessel. As their pelican and the other craft in the unit rushed towards the surface, two squadrons of Covenant fighters moved to intercept them.

In a matter of seconds the Seraphs and Banshees were on the group, tearing through the transports downing five in their first pass. In the wake of the destruction the pilot of their pelican, ensign James Fitzpatrick made a dangerous move; as the hostiles came around for another pass the rookie pilot broke formation.

Rolling out of the flight group and narrowly avoiding a collision with a banshee, the transport sped towards the surface as the remainder of the flight was cut to shreds. Breaking through the atmosphere the pilot’s quick thinking had saved them from death. Landing at Patton the SPARTANs reported to Major Thomas Wright who held command over the Army forces stationed there.

With Dan quickly being filled in on the situation the team leader dived his forces, with himself, Eric, and Tanya taking up positions at the front gate, Hastings guarding Tomas as he got the perimeter defense turrets online, and Cody escorting Abigail as she laid into the Covenant from long range.

With Cody taking point the two SPARTANs moved to high ground roughly half a kilometer from the base and set up a position. While B400 readied the SRS-99AM that she’d taken in addition to her usual loadout, Cody established a perimeter.

For over an hour all was quiet, and command was on the verge of reassigning FEUDAL when a full lance began their assault on Patton. Suddenly swarmed by Covenant forces Abigail did her best to prioritize targets, but the weight of the moment, finally being able to exact revenge, sent the Beta on a killing spree where she began killing the aliens without distinction and in process signaled her location to the Covenant.

The lance’s commander deployed several jackal snipers who would suppress the SIII while the Sangheili ultra personally led a team to eliminate the demon. However, the Covenant warrior was not aware of B042’s presence. As the alien squad rose up towards Abigail’s position an explosive was shot into the center of the formation, blowing apart the weaker members of the contingent. With the help of his armor’s active camouflage systems Cody had successfully flanked the attack group and now laid into them with his MA5B.

Butchering the aliens with a hail of automatic gunfire Cody killed off all but the ultra, who rushed towards Cody with energy sword drawn. With his assault rifle empty B042 tossed aside the rifle momentarily and attempted to cut down the Elite with an SMG, but the warrior had already closed the gap.

Forced into hand-to-hand combat Cody and the ultra duked it out for far longer than even the zealots he’d encountered during TORPEDO had. The difference between the crimson armored aliens and the white one he faced now was that the latter had fought a demon before. Exchanging blows the experienced Sangheili and SPARTAN fought relentlessly, however the odds were clearly tipped in the Elite’s favor. A quick jab of an energy dagger to the abdomen gave the alien an advantage to press, and press it he did. Slashing Cody across the torso with his sword the Elite forced the boy onto his back and moved in for the kill. However, once again the increased reflexes from his additional augmentations saved Cody, allowing him to draw the M45 from his back and pump a shell into the ultra’s now unshielded abdomen. As the warrior staggered back, Abigail finished it off with a shot to the head, and the two SPARTANs fell into retreat.

With FEUDAL regrouping at the main entrance, Abigail and B042 quickly joined the others in holding the line. For the next four hours, the SPARTAN team held the area alone. At nearly ten o’clock in the evening the assault finally ended and the SPARTAN team was allowed to rest, or in Cody’s case, receive medical intensive treatment.

Over the next week FEUDAL would participate in a variety of small skirmishes and large battles, notably spearheading the failed UNSC assault on the Covenant landing site, but inflicting massive casualties on the alien forces. Cody personally would develop an affinity for dual wielding larger weapons, notably his MA5B with a plasma repeater, putting the gifts of each to great use.

Operation: SCREAMING EAGLE
It was only on their seventh day of fighting the team received an official new assignment in the form of Operation: SCREAMING EAGLE, a nighttime drop behind Covenant lines with the goal of cutting the enemy’s supply lines. Paired with Army Airborne units the SIIIs equipped themselves with the already familiar, and deployed under the cover of night.

Landing under fire alongside several paratroopers B042 was directly engaged by a pair of mgalekgolo. Despite his effort B042 was unable to dispatch the hunters before they had killed four of the Army Special Forces operators, all but one of whom had been to busy trying to get out of their parachutes to fight back. After killing the titanic aliens Cody joined up with the nearby Tanya-A116 the two SPARTANs set up a rendezvous point and awaited the arrival of the rest if FEUDAL. While they waited it became evident that unlike the rest of FEUDAL was still not accepting of Cody’s presence, and still saw him as nothing more than an ONI spook.

Despite the hostile attitude from A116 and B042’s response in the form of biting sarcasm, the two worked extremely well together as they mowed down Covenant forces who attempted to storm them as the rest of the team joined them. Once rallied, Daniel took command of the SPARTANs and led them towards the Covenant supply line. Periodically dispatching members of the team to separate from the main group and rally with squads of Army Airborne, then bringing them back, A010 increased his numbers from seven to roughly thirty five.



With the now bolstered force the soldiers launched a guerrilla assault on the supply lines. Ambushing convoys and lacing the path with explosives the UNSC troops inflicted massive damage despite the fact that out of the 1000 Army Airborne troops deployed, only twenty eight survived the first night due to poor planning of the drop. Eventually however their dwindling numbers caught up to them as a series of Covenant counter-strikes cut down the Army operators, eventually claiming the lives of all of them without exception. With only themselves remaining, FEUDAL was recalled by command and were evacuated via UH-144 ‘Falcon’ and returned to the UNSC’s staging ground.

Before the SPARTANs could rest they were once again thrown into the fray, tasked with defending the staging area while command elements intermixed with the wounded evacuated (with the exception of some officers who refused to leave until the mainline troops had as well). Engaging in grueling combat the team and all other defenders were forced into close quarters. B042 and B206 cut a bloody swathe through the alien horde, preforming astoundingly well as a pair as they fought until their weapons and those scavenged from the Covenant ran out of ammunition before relying solely on their blades.

Despite the both of them sustaining serious injuries, both Cody and Hastings survived the three hours of continuous combat even as exhausted army troopers began to break down. On Daniel's command FEUDAL made their retreat, covering the defense force's rear as they all boarded evacuation transports and fled the now burning world after a nearly month long siege. At long last the Beta's of FEUDAL who'd craved Covenant blood had gotten it, as well as numerous injuries, as had the rest of the team. Cody personally would suffer four broken ribs, seven first degree burns, a broken ankle, a broken wrist, and innumerable sprains, pulled muscles and lacerations.

Gamma Pavonis VII
In late 2549 the colony of Gamma Pavonis VII became the site of FEUDAL’s next deployment. For the six base members of the team, Pavonis would be a testing ground as all members were outfitted with early MJOLNIR Mark V, however Cody, who was not an exact match of Halsey’s parameters was not given such a suit, and was left in only his SPI. While the battle above the colony raged, with future heroes such as Miranda Keyes coming into the spotlight, below the colony burned in the wake of a rapid Covenant attack.

Deployed via HEV, the NavSpecWar team was tasked with destruction of the data banks of the planet’s capital city in accordance with the Cole Protocol, the only issue was that the Covenant had an iron grip on the area. Tasked with a simple torch and burn op, FEUDAL packed light on weaponry, taking only small sidearms. They would regret this decision mere seconds after deployment.

Upon landing Cody found himself in the middle of an intersection and came under heavy fire. Unwisely, Cody continued to fight conventionally against the Covenant, despite the innumerable injuries he had sustained in the past. Killing several with his MA5K, Cody was heavily injured when a jackal sniper shot him through the abdomen with a beam rifle. Collapsing in the street, B042 fought in vain to hold off Covenant forces, downing several more of the hegemony’s troops before they closed in on him.

However, the timely intervention of an assorted group of UNSC personnel who’d been left behind saved Cody’s life, the soldiers mowing down the aliens while they were distracted by the injured demon. Remaining silent as the other humans crowded around, Cody treated his injury with biofoam to the best of his abilities and made contact with Daniel and provided his location and current condition.

Despite some brief berating, Daniel and the rest of FEUDAL moved to Cody’s position. Recovering their teammate and the miscellaneous troops, Daniel sidelined Cody for the remainder of the mission. Left in a relatively undamaged building along with Abigail and the troops, B042 would sit in silence as he reevaluated his combat strategy.

For an hour he remained in the building as with the others, however the mission clock hit an hour and thirty minutes, Daniel requested back up from Abigail, and despite her insistence to the contrary, Cody too came. Progressing through the Covenant-infested streets, Cody took a different approach. Hiding, striking, and re-positioning, the young SPARTAN utilized his knack for guerrilla warfare and ambushes.

Twenty minutes after being called, the two Beta Spartans arrived at the rest of the team’s location. Fading into invisibility with the help of the photo-reactive panels of his armor, Cody and Abigail launched their attack on the Covenant forces who were pinning the rest of their team in the data storage facility.

In the ensuing conflict Cody racked up numerous Covenant kills, however in the closing stages, a combination of his additional chemical augments paired with his own blind rage against the Covenant resulted in another injury, this time the form of an energy dagger, several inches into his ribs, and millimeters from his heart.

As his body caught up to him and the adrenaline faded, Cody did what any SPARTAN would do; he pulled the dagger out, filled the wound with foam, and kept going. After destroying the data, FEUDAL was extracted from the city.

Once out of system, Cody and Tomas began to modify B042’s SPI armor, the first order of business being the addition of several systems, seals, oxygen supplies, and an environmental suite to allow for EVA activity.

Phase One
In early 2550 as the Covenant poured into the middle and inner colonies the infamous Prowler Corps discovered choke point in the Covenant supply lines. Within the now destroyed outer colonies lay a gas giant known simply as GB-348 which had been simply passed over in humanity's rapid expansion, however the Covenant found 348 to be the perfect location for a supply junction. Seventy-five percent on the Covenant war machine's supplies passed through this junction, to cripple it would strike a blow against the Covenant the likes of which hadn't been seen since TORPEDO.

As fate would have it, one of the three Spartan teams selected for the operation was FEUDAL. Having deployed several more times since Gamma Pavonis alongside the team, Cody had become fully integrated into the team dynamic, and as such, the thought of losing them all to another suicide mission caused B042 massive amounts of stress.

Put on board a Prowler, FEUDAL and the three other teams shipped out to Minab with the objective of commandeering a Covenant vessel. However, upon boarding their assigned targets, Covenant 'Demon Hunters' revealed themselves to be lying in wait aboard the vessel. Outnumbered and caught in a trap, each SPARTAN team dug in and prepared for a fight. Fighting intensely in close quarters, FEUDAL managed to fend off their ambushers. Both Cody and Hastings took full advantage of the tight halls to dispatch their supposed matches in close quarters, working in near perfect sync. With their respective ships taken, and the initial ambush foiled, the SPARTAN teams were met with the second face of the Covenant ambush.

Almost instantly, the ships housing FEUDAL team, and the three man unit under Nathaniel-A143 came under fire, the third ship however was not fired upon. Thanks to a miscommunication between the Covenant forces, the third team was assumed dead and the ship was not fired upon. This presented the team with one, small chance to escape annihilation and continue the mission, a chance they took.

Boarding the corvette housing the now three strong team who identified themselves as "Sage Team", the SPARTANs then made the jump towards Covenant space, the UNSC Pale Horse in tow. Once the jump was made, Cody made an effort to familiarize himself with the battered team, being all too familiar with the feeling of loss. The leader, who identified as Orson-426, appeared drastically younger, even younger than the SIIIs when they'd entered the field, and were in fact clad in ODST garb rather than SPI.

Fascinated and sympathetic, Cody was rebuffed as Orson put up a figurative wall; refusing to shed light on his origin. In fact he found out shockingly little aside from his name. The boy was disturbingly collected in B042's opinion who saw the lack of grief inhuman.

Phase Two
As the teams reached their destination, it became quite clear to all involved, including B042 that they were pushing their luck if an attempt was made to simply board and clear the station themselves. Conspiring with Nathaniel-A143, leader of Victor-Four, the two SPARTANs came up with a plan. Utilizing the AI Bradley to fool the Covenant and be granted permission to dock, the ship entered position and as it neared its docking point, opened fire and accelerated into the station.

In the ensuing chaos, FEUDAL and the other teams entered the station via phantom. Dividing up once again, Sage and Victor-Four took the HAVOK nuclear device, while FEUDAL held off the brunt of the Covenant force.

Bounding forward, once again B042 and B206 engaged the Covenant in brutal close quarters combat. Utilizing the SPI armor’s chameleon systems, B042 managed to get far closer to Covenant forces while Hastings kept them at bay. Once close, Cody made heavy use of his M45 tactical shotgun and blades.

All progressed well up until a pair of Hunter’s entered the fray. After Erik-B298’s shield’s failed due to a fault in the prototype Mark V, a fuel rod blast detonated meters away, incinerating his right leg to the knee. Then, as Tomas moved to assist, providing cover by activating his prototype “drop shield” to provide cover. However the device failed, and merely dispersed the blast so that instead of suffering a direct hit, plasma instead washed over all of his body, causing severe burns in some areas.

Acting quickly, Cody bolted forward, evading a strike from one of the hunter’s shields before sliding underneath it and cramming a grenade into its back. As it exploded its partner swung at B042, who ducked under the strike as a hail of bullets from an enraged Abigail’s battle rifle carved through the beasts back until it collapsed. Darting back towards his team, Cody bounded cover to cover, suppressing the oncoming Covenant forces with his MA5K. Despite several close calls the Spartan avoided injury as he rushed to regroup with his team. As Dan opened up a line to Victor-Four, he was met with the grisly news that Sage team, with the exception of Orson had fallen, and that Sierra 426 was remaining behind to detonate the nuke.

As FEUDAL hauled back their wounded towards the hanger, they were intercepted by a team of zealots who cornered the Spartans. Attacking the crimson armored warriors with ferocity, Cody’s secondary augmentations kicked in providing the less armored III with the ability to hold his own against the Covenant’s best.

During the ensuing brawl, Cody tackled a zealot to the ground after its shields were shattered with an overcharged burst from a plasma pistol courtesy of A010, and proceeded to stab it to death. However, not before the zealot sliced the B042’s supply of anti-psychotics, dubbed “smoothers” by the young Spartan. While at the present time, it was of little consequence as he bounded forward and continued battling the oncoming Covenant, during the trip back to UNSC space and the classified nature of his additional augmentations, it posed an issue.

Continuing to fight with ferocity, Cody and Dan held back the Covenant forces as they and Victor-Four boarded a Phantom and rushed towards the prowler lying in wait for them. As the station exploded into a ball of fire behind them, FEUDAL finally was allowed to relax. However B042 was very much still on edge, secluding himself from the others, B042 instantly rushed for the cryo pods without warning and arousing suspicion from all involved.

However, en route back to UNSC controlled space, B042 was woken and dosed with anti-psychotics by an unknown ONI agent, debriefed, and resupplied. Cody would remain out of cryo for the remainder of the trip, knowing full and well his actions at the close of the mention would certainly raise questions.

Reach
"We told ‘em we couldn’t do it without you."

- Dan to Cody upon meeting him during the Battle of Viery

Recuperation, Small Ops, and the Attack on Sword Base
After DYNAMO, the battered Spartan Team was taken to reach in order to be treated for their injuries and debriefed. In the months preceding the massive battle to come, Cody specifically was taken to ONI Sword Base to undergo debriefing by Section III and reassigned.

As far as Beta-5 was concerned Cody’s tour with FEUDAL was over, especially after the effects of CHRYSANTHEMUM were displayed to the other SPARTANs, who had begun to raise questions to their superiors including FEUDAL Actual.

As Cody's handler and Beta-5 brass debated what course to take with him, Cody was dispatched on a number of small operations against small rebel cells which had been operating on the planet, especially within urban centers where he stopped three different bombing attempts before they could happen.

However, in July the worst fears of the UNSC were realized when the Covenant discovered Reach. Immediately recalled to Sword Base, Cody found himself standing alongside mainline infantry against the Covenant. As the Covenant assault force attacked, Cody, the base's security detail, and Army troopers took up positions defending the base from its rear. At first anti-air batteries held the Covenant off, however, the ensuing ground assault overwhelmed the outposts and without the UNSC denying them the ability to drop in troops, the Covenant stormed towards the base.

Taking up position outside the walls, B042 coordinated the bases defense against the oncoming horde. Utilizing explosives, heavy ordinance, and several precision airstrikes the group was able to fend off the Covenant for some time before being overwhelmed. As arrived to reinforce the base Cody was redirected from the fighting and sent to provide protection for one  until the other Spartan team arrived.

Battle at Szurdok Ridge
The following day, after reconnaissance by the same Spartan team from Sword Base revealed the Covenant's staging ground in the Viery territory which was now host to a massive Covenant force. B042 was assigned to an element of the 19th Armored Division's 2nd Battalion and deployed alongside the troops in the massive battle.

As the engagement began the 2nd Battalion found themselves clashing with heavily entrenched Covenant infantry in addition to several. B042 assisted the unit by entering and clearing out entrenched Covenant positions in close quarters combat, but as time went on the UNSC forces began to crumble as the marine element assigned to removing Covenant anti-aircraft positions was encountering stiff resistance which left the 2nd without air support. Eventually Cody managed to board and destroy several Scarabs, but another pinned the Spartan down as the Covenant forces began to finish off the human infantry and vehicles. Soon Cody was surrounded and without a method of retreat, but unbeknownst to him the marine element had managed to eliminate the AA and reinforcements were speeding towards the 2nd.

Seconds before the Scarab blasted Cody into nothing having finally knocked him out into the open, another Spartan intervened and deployed a drop shield to protect the two of them. Much to his surprise it was Hastings-B206 who informed Cody that after pulling some strings he was once again assigned to FEUDAL. Together with the rest of the team the Scarabs and Covenant infantry were quickly decimated and the 2nd avoided destruction. With little time for reunions, the team quickly were directed to eliminate one of the many Covenant Spires in the area. Taking the 2nd along with them FEUDAL made its way to the targeted Spire and began their assault. Seven Spartans along with the troops of the 2nd Battalion fought brutally through the defenders of the spire and destroyed the structure with high explosives rigged by a recovered Erik. However the victory was short lived, as a Covenant supercarrier uncloaked and in addition to destroying the UNSC Grafton, the vessel also managed to force the UNSC forces back despite the Covenant infantry being repelled.

FEUDAL and the 2nd managed to retreat amidst a slew of air strikes and the utter chaos and return to UNSC controlled territory, despite the 2nd taking even more casualties in the process in the lengthy journey. Upon arriving back in friendly territory shortly after 0100 hours on August 14th, FEUDAL was assigned to another operation intended to destroy the Covenant ship mere hours later.

Operation: UPPER CUT
The brainchild of a fellow , saw FEUDAL Team split into three separate groups, one of three dubbed FEUDAL 1-1, and two of two, dubbed FEUDAL 1-2 and 1-3. Each was tasked with escorting pilots affiliated the highly classified to their respective launch sites.

Cody was placed in FEUDAL 1-3 and deployed alongside Erik to Launch Site 4. Finding the site already under siege as they had suspected, the Spartans quickly sprung into action and began clearing a path up the shore for the pilot.

Met with heavy resistance in the form of Covenant Drop troops, Seraph strafing runs, and additional troops being ferried in via Spirit Dropship. Utilizing explosives and suppressing fire from Erik to cut down the bulk of the alien infantry, Cody was able to acquire a flanking position and systematically eliminate the Covenant field commanders and any stragglers. In a span of about 10 minutes B042 and B298 brought down roughly two platoons of Covenant troops, and a Seraph fighter, providing the site's defenders with much needed relief.



Once it was reported that some Covenant Elites had managed to breach the facility and were picking off troops one by one, the Spartans prepared to move in and flush out the warriors. However, several more Spirit dropships arrived, deploying troops and a Wraith. When B298 attempted to dispose of the tank with his M41, the weapon malfunctioned and was unable to fire. Acting on instinct, Cody jumped into action and managed to board the vehicle, killing the gunner and driver in short order, only to become embroiled an intense firefight with the counter-attacking Covenant troops. After some debate, Erik relented to B042's demands that he finish the mission and escort the pilot into the facility and kill any Sangheili who remained inside while he and the site's defense compliment held off the Covenant attack.

As the Covenant forces continued to assault the site, the number of defenders began to dwindle while the Sabre continued to undergo the final preparations for launch. Using the SPI's stealth systems Cody kept the tide of enemies at bay, drawing them into the sights of the defending trooper's and their heavy ordinance, but despite the rising Covenant body count the alien menace continued its assault and killed more of the troopers with each successive wave.

Just as the Sabre had launched, Covenant Seraphs launched a devastating bombing run, destroying the site's launch capabilities seconds too late to prevent the fighter's ascent. They did however, manage to cause significant casualties. As Erik lead survivors out of the now smoldering facility, Cody lead the push back down the beach to extraction, making full use of his Spartan abilities to eliminate several Jackal sniper teams in quick succession, killing one group in close quarters, then using their precision weaponry to kill the remaining unit.



Eventually B042 would make a stand near the extraction, fighting tooth and nail to prevent to Covenant from inflicting any more losses. Despite his efforts, the arrival of an additional Spirit's troop compliment nearly on top of B042's position would lead to the loss of several of the site's personnel, which Cody took exceptionally hard despite his ensuing brutal elimination of the unit exclusively with his knife and machete.

Joined by Erik with the wounded that were able to be saved, FEUDAL 1-3 and the survivors were extracted from the launch site. Shortly thereafter, where in spite of the operation's success an entire Covenant fleet arrived, FEUDAL was mobilized for asset denial torch and burn operations, with the targets being a combination of civilian and military laboratories and data centers.

Operation: SAVONAROLA
Following the conclusion of UPPER CUT, FEUDAL regrouped and under orders from HIGHCOM were sent into Quezon in order to destroy several civilian research facilities which had been abandoned during the first attacks on the city. The research, containing the likes of navigational data as well as information of Forerunner sites had the potential to grant the Covenant a swift and brutal victory over humanity as a whole, a fact which all of FEUDAL was aware.

Despite being exhausted from days of constant fighting, the Spartans inserted without incident under the cover of night with the team again divided into groups. Dan, Tomas, Tanya, and Cody himself took on the duty of leveling Gerion Industrial's facility, which as it turned out had been turned into a small Yanme'e hive.

With the facility literally crawling with hostiles, the group were forced to move with caution and utter silence in fear of disturbing the hive. In the tight halls, B042's SPI and blade work were indispensable, serving as the most effective method of eliminating any wandering sentries without raising alarm. After nearly an hour of agonizingly slow infiltration, and numerous close calls, the Spartans managed to reach the facility's databanks, where Tomas promptly corrupted them with a virus of his own design. Unfortunately, doing so set off the building's security alarms, stirring the entire hive.

Now caught in a frantic rush to escape, A010 maintained cohesion among the team and lead them through the swarm, personally shielding B042 with his own body to compensate for FEUDAL 7's inferior armor until the group managed to reach the 54th floor. From there, both Tanya and Cody provided covering fire whilst Tomas redirected a flight of F99's and Dan secured the team an extraction.

Blowing out the window and jumping under fire to a waiting Falcon, the contingent of FEUDAL made a daring escape from Gerion's labs, getting clear of the building mere seconds before the Wombat drones reduced it to rubble. Even as they flew away, several drones attempted to board the Falcon, attempting to throw B042 among other to his death, however the close quarters expert made short work of the insectoids who managed to avoid the craft's machine guns.

Operation: SWORD 52
"S’up to you now, you’re the last knight."

- Hastings-B206’s final transmission

Quickly after SAVONAROLA, FEUDAL was re-tasked to assist with civilian evacuation in Quezon as most other teams on planet by that time. Deployed into the heart of the city, FEUDAL partook in vicious urban warfare over the course of five days. On the third day, B042 found himself cut off from the rest of the team and all other UNSC personnel inside the lobby of a skyscraper, along with a number of civilians.

With the rest of FEUDAL either unable to leave their own position, or repelled when they attempted to reach Cody, FEUDAL 7 was forced to hold the building alone. Employing his guerilla warfare expertise, the Spartan fashioned a number of IED’s to compliment his dwindling supply of explosives and set a myriad of traps as well as making use of the tight spaces of the building for his brutal close quarters fighting style.



For several hours the building went unnoticed, however eventually a group of Kig-Yar would stumble onto the building while looking for a place to make camp and fell victim to one of Cody’s IEDs. The now alerted Covenant forces would attempt to storm the building, closing in on the panicked cries of the civilians.

Instead of easy prey, the aliens found slaughter at the Spartan’s hand. For the next two hours B042 managed to fend off multiple incursions by groups of Jackals and Unggoy, slowly beginning to draw more and more unwanted attention to himself as the body count climbed higher.

Thankfully, just as the Covenant began to mobilize armor to annihilate the building, Abigail and Tanya managed to break through the enemy ranks and evacuate the exhausted Spartan and terrified civilians. Even A116, who maintained a distaste for B042 despite the amount of time the Spartan had been with the team, was notably impressed that Cody managed to keep losses to a minimum.

Two days afterwards, as the evacuation of non-combatants had mostly concluded and the beginning of military evacuation began, things took a sharp turn for the worst. Massive numbers of Covenant reinforcements arrived in Quezon, led by a vicious and skilled commander who began to systematically dismantle the UNSC’s defenses which had held fast over the past few days.

FEUDAL collided directly with this commander, a Sangheili Field Marshal, at a major bridge leading directly to the primary evacuation sites. Despite the Spartan’s best efforts to hold the line, the Covenant forces quickly began to overtake them.

In a desperate attempt to halt their advance, an injured Tomas-B400 broke ranks and attempted to detonate previously placed C12 charges for which remote detonation had proved impossible following Erik being injured and a large amount of his equipment being damaged.

Despite his efforts, Tomas was only able to successfully detonate three of the charges before to the horror of FEUDAL, his sister Abigail in particular, he was killed by the Elite commander. The team, stifling their grief as best as they could, the Spartans continued to fight.

In a horrifying display of skill and tactical genius, the Field Marshal was able to break through the UNSC line once again, personally ambushing Abigail and the injured Erik, killing both B401 and B298 while the rest of FEUDAL could only look on in horror.

Soon after, as the UNSC line began to collapse, the Field Marshal and his entourage of Zealots fell upon Tanya-A116, and despite a fierce fight which claimed two of the Zealots, also fell to the blade of the Marshal.

Increasingly distraught and enraged, Cody tore into whatever Covenant forces he could with unflinching brutality with Hastings close by his side. In spite of their pleas to go after the Elite, Daniel refused, ordering the Spartans to continue covering the retreat of the remainder of the UNSC forces to their transports.

Begrudgingly the two followed their orders, the three Spartans holding out against the Covenant for a half hour before once again, the Field Marshal struck. Cornering Dan, A010 made his final order to his surviving subordinates, commanding them to fall back despite their defiance. This time however, the two refused to comply.

As Daniel was promptly executed by the Field Marshal, the surviving two Spartans viciously engaged the Elites. Fueled by rage and grief, Cody managed to keep pace with Hastings in spite of his inferior armor, the experimental augmentations to his brain taking effect as B042 was repeatedly injured only for him to strike back harder.

Practically tearing apart the remainder of the Zealot cadre, the two Spartans engaged the Field Marshal alone. Despite their numerical advantage, the two supersoldiers would find themselves on the losing end of the engagement. After Hastings managed to remove one of the Elite’s mandibles, it managed to kick away the Spartan and pounce onto B042, slashing deep into the Spartan from his stomach to his face.

While not killed by the injury, even the additional augmentations struggled to keep Cody in the fight. Unwilling to see another one of his comrades die, Hastings shoved B042 into the streets below, knowing B042 would survive the drop and at least have a chance at survival.

Seconds later, B206 would be killed by the Marshal as well, marking the death of FEUDAL Team’s last official member. In addition, Cody and Hasting’s refusal to comply with Daniel’s final orders would see the last of the UNSC personnel at the evacuation site to be slaughtered by Covenant forces.

Hours would pass, and in spite of the efforts of the Field Marshal’s forces, they were unable to locate Cody in the decimated streets, leaving with the assumption that the ‘demon’ had simply crawled away to die.



In actuality, B042 had simply been able to avoid the searchers, a level of fear he had not felt since TORPEDO driving him forward. With his grievous injuries, and the absence of all UNSC forces, Cody accepted that Quezon would be his grave, along with the rest of his comrades.

He took this with a sense of near-relief, with the idea of being forced to live on without FEUDAL as he had been with Bravo mortified him far more than death. Struggling towards the wreckage of a Pelican where he could sit comfortable and look out over Quezon’s bay, the Spartan slipped into unconsciousness as he waited for the end to come.

To his anguish however, Codename: MAGICIAN had no intent of losing his Spartan asset once again and dispatched one of his recovery teams to rescue the dying B042. Making their way to Cody, the team of highly skilled operators stabilized and evacuated Cody without raising any attention from the Covenant and successfully evacuated him and themselves shortly before the glassing of Quezon began.

In spite of all the odds, Cody was the lone survivor of those he had come to see as family once again. For the next month, SPARTAN-B042 would be kept in a medically induced coma while undergoing intensive treatment, awakening weeks before the Covenant would arrive on Earth, far angrier than ever.

Operation: BASTION
B042 was awakened from his coma as the Covenant was descending onto humanity’s homeworld. Following a quick debrief, Codename: MAGICIAN saw to it that Cody was put in command of a small team of SPARTANs and sent to the URNA to defend against the Covenant onslaught. En route B042 made a notable aesthetic alterations to his armor, etching the jaws of a beast onto his helmet.

Arriving in the, Cody would be introduced to the young SPARTANS under his command. They wore ODST battle armor, had strangely high service tags, and even the oldest was several years his junior, he immediately pegged them as the same kind of Spartans that had made up Sage Team during DYNAMO.

Well aware of the poor survival odds of these soldiers compared to the MJOLNIR clad FEUDAL, who had died in spite of their skill and equipment, Cody was furious. In his eyes, he felt that ONI was setting him up for failure and loss by saddling him with responsibility for the young Spartans. Before anything could come of this frustration the Covenant’s assault began and forcing the group, which simply continued to operate under the designation of ‘Khaki Team’, into action. Khaki’s first task in the defense of the massive population center was to assist in halting the Covenant’s advance into the Industrial Zone. The Covenant had first eradicated most resistance, and civilians, with drop troops at their landing site on the outskirts of the zone. Following that, heavy armor including four began the alien’s assault of the area.

Khaki’s primary objective was the elimination of two Scarabs whilst the available UNSC armor engaged the other two, as taking them down from the air posed to great a risk to any surviving civilians. The team were inserted a few kilometers ahead of the Covenant’s spearhead, then went about preparing an ambush.

Cody ensured that they evaded the Covenant’s forward reconnaissance, keeping the team hidden even at the cost of allowing several fleeing civilians to be slaughtered. Though this caused a great deal of tension between B042 and Khaki’s Bashir-501, it in the end allowed them to successfully attack the first of the Scarabs.

Boarding from above, Khaki wiped out the defenders of the massive machine. Cody in particular let loose with a violence that grew close to excessive, but maintained its efficiency. The group then utilized the walker to destroy the group of Wraiths ahead of the Protos’, and the duo of escorting the larger walker before destroying it as well.

Immediately Khaki was picked up and ferried into the path of their next target, however in response to the loss of one Protos to Khaki and another to UNSC armor, the Covenant forces were on high alert and shot down the Pelican carrying the Spartan team.

While Khaki survived the ensuing crash, they were were forced to quickly adapt. Hostile infantry quickly converged on the crash site with the hopes of killing a demon, only for the dropship to violently explode thanks Riley-434’s quick thinking. In retaliation, the Scarab and its escorts began firing randomly into the area near the crash bringing down numerous skyscrapers and kicking up a thick dust.

Amidst the chaos, Khaki picked apart the Covenant forces. In the span of a fifteen minutes, all but the Protos itself and one of its escort Locusts were destroyed. Bewildered, the Covenant forces opted to retreat, likely with the intent of bombarding the area from the air to clear their path. Khaki refused to allow this to happen, utilizing the wreckage of the buildings to gain the altitude needed to board the Scarab.

However, given that the Locust would prevent the team from boarding, B042 ordered the group to divide and conquer. Bashir-501 and Jamal-430 were tasked with the Locust, while Riley joined Cody in assaulting the larger walker.

Descending onto the Protos, the two Spartans CQC specialists reduced most of the defenders to lifeless bodies in moments. That said, the commander of the Protos managed to protect the control room from the two Spartan’s for several minutes alone, keeping them at bay in hopes of continuing his mission. Eventually, the Elite General fell to the Spartans, and soon after the remainder of the crew perished as well. Rigging the walker to explode, Riley and Cody rejoined the rest of Khaki on the streets. Following a quick scuffle with the surviving Covenant personnel the team quickly moved to regroup with UNSC forces.

BASTION was a resounding success, with the Scarab assault halted the Covenant were kept at bay a while longer, allowing for further evacuation of civilians to secure sites. After being dealt such a harsh defeat, the Covenant forces opted to refocus their efforts on more significant and less heavily defended areas, leaving Chicago untouched for the most part for the duration of the conflict.

However, Khaki would quickly be assigned to their next set of operations across, which would take them out of the URNA and into Europe.

Semi-Powered Infiltration Armor Mark II
Utilized by Cody for the near total entirety of the Human-Covenant War, the mass produced armor provided to the mainline equally mass produced SPARTAN-IIIs was extensively modified by Cody throughout its service. Cody’s first set was issued to him days before deployment in Operation: CARTWHEEL, the armor served its purpose until TORPEDO, whereupon the completion of the mission the armor was battered beyond repair. Soon administered a second set, Cody would field the armor in every operation he was dispatched on until Operation: DYNAMO where environmental circumstances dictated that he utilize an armor capable of operating in a vacuum. This second set would undergo numerous upgrades as Cody attempted to keep pace with FEUDAL team’s MJOLNIR Mark V armor, his alterations included upgrades to the electronics suite and HUD courtesy of Tomas-B400, multiple instances of additional plating removed from some areas and being re-installed in other areas to increase protection as well as optimize movement, the addition of vacuum seals and several other components to allow for EVA, as well as the installation of Covenant point-defense gauntlets. In addition to all the practical additions, following the Fall of Reach Cody added several cosmetic features, including painting some sections crimson, as well is introducing a shark-tooth style aesthetic to his visor reminiscent of aircraft nose-art.

MJOLNIR GEN2
Issued to Cody in early 2554, the set of MJOLNIR incorporated a combination of mainline armor sets including SCOUT and VENATOR. Unlike previous armors put to use by B042, the MJOLNIR was not tailored towards the needs of an independent operator, instead favoring someone who worked with a partner, in Cody's case that was Jamison-G144. The suit was put together with close quarters in mind, with the sharp curvature of the VENATOR components allowed for devastating blows to be launched by B042, while the design of the SCOUT helmet gave plenty of protection to the head while still having a multitude of systems integrated to assist in forward reconissance. Cody also had an internal command network and 4th generation update modules installed once he took on the role of leader for Fireteam Stallion.

Weapons
With a skill set focused on close quarters combat and prolonged brawls, Cody has a notable preference towards weaponry with high reliability and close range stopping power. Throughout the Human-Covenant War, Cody would carry a small armory's worth of firearms, blades, explosives, and other tools, constantly relying on the extra firepower to compensate for his lack of MJOLNIR which in turn lead to his increasingly more aggressive combat style. Notably Cody made use of a MA5K carbine which he preferred for his familiarity with the weapon and its combination of reliability and versatility. Another trademark of the Spartan's was a modified M45 shotgun nicknamed "Wrath" which in addition to the installation of an ammo counter, B042 also made modifications to the inner workings of the weapon to allow for faster firing. Aside from the two firearms, the other mainstays of his arsenal are a combat knife formerly owned by Abdul-B213 which he has shown a level of attachment to, and a combat machete specially requested by Cody in order to help him in combating foes like Brutes. In addition, Cody also would carry several explosives and sidearms in addition to his usual gear.

Personality
"B042, always thinking with his gun and not his head."

- Franklin Mendez on B042

Early in life B042 was a meek, nervous, and fearful, while also being exceedingly kind albeit sharp tongued to those around him. These traits made him a friend to many as well as a target for bullies, as seen with Abraham-B138 in training. That said, as time went on within Beta Company's training that the boy nursed a grudge like none other, against the Covenant as well as his tormentors, the latter of which began to suffer the consequences of this far sooner than the former. Early examples were his brutal assault of B263, and the fact he stole a magazine of armor piercing rounds prior to TORPEDO with the intent of killing B138 during the operation. On top of that, Cody often went out of his way to kill as many and inflict as much pain as possible on Covenant forces, Sangheili in particular, going as far as to intentionally fail to stop a Sapient Sunrise nerve gas attack as well as the massacre of Doram keep.

This deep anger defined B042, and calloused over most of his other emotions and his morality for most of his life. This led Cody to not only commit the previously mentioned acts, but to also frequently employ torture as means of gathering information, and a disregard for collateral damage. When this anger eventually faded, Cody was left feeling empty and showed signs of extreme depression as overwhelming feelings of insignificance, and more importantly, guilt would take its place.

This guilt, born of having survived TORPEDO, Reach, Earth, and EPHIALTES while those around and under him did not had a profound effect on the Spartan. While most sentient beings would be wounded by such loss, B042's habit of opening himself to others and bonding with them, only for said parties to be killed shortly thereafter left the Spartan borderline unwilling to bond with his own brother for years. Eventually, one Bailey Keller, a civilian B042 encountered during the Created Crisis would be able to open the soldier up a final time, thus beginning his journey to relative stability.

Fireteam Bravo
"No matter what we come up against, we’ll follow your lead, and we’ll be just fine. WE trust you ‘Deet."

- Cody to Detrick shortly before Operation: TORPEDO.

Fireteam Bravo was the first of many units Cody would come to see as his ‘family’. In the early days Cody lived in fear that his impulsivity, anxiety, and overall mediocrity would turn his teammates on him. Instead, they provided constructive criticism and helped B042 transform from a potential washout into a capable soldier all his own. However, the relationship was mutually beneficial, the four orphans supported and protected each other as if they were flesh and blood almost from the start. Where Abdul helped Cody become a more competent marksman, Cody helped him with his fear of abandonment and refused to let him ever face a punishment alone. Marcella, despite feeding the rage that would grow to define Cody ensured that he was always protected from his usual entourage of bullies, while Cody became the only person Marcella felt comfortable putting aside the ferocious facade she wore and opened up about the guilt she felt for surviving when her family did not. Finally, Detrick refused to allow B042’s self-loathing to consume him never allowed the young Spartan to give up, and Cody became B214’s greatest supporter when he doubted his own leadership. Each member helped the other in a dozen other ways, creating an incredibly strong bond between the Spartans. When they were picked apart in front of Cody during TORPEDO, the pain of his loss and guilt for surviving nearly drove him to suicide multiple times as late as 2551.

Literary Appearances

 * Halo: Capti(Non-Canon)
 * Halo: Nos Venatores(Non-Canon)
 * The Flame
 * Halo: Building Bridges, Burning Boats - Ties in with Operation: LYNCH MOB
 * Halo: Blind Hate - Ties into Gamma Pavonis VII
 * Solace Found
 * Halo: Survivor's Oath
 * Inferno