a/n: I have this over at the site that should be in my profile [don't remember, but haven't worked on it until now. I may work on it some more, but that can always come later whenever I finish it.

Rise or Fall

PROLOGUE

1725 Hours, November 6, 2552 (Military Calender) / Entrance to Forerunner structure / New Mombasa

Behind the spartan was a young private who he found outside of the structure. The private was hiding from a trio of Brutes that killed his squad before the Master Chief arrived, and John fought them off with the marine's help; but barely. Those Brutes were stronger than the ones he faced on High Charity. He didn't know what to make of it so far – possibly another group? Before the two entered the structure, they gathered as much ammo and grenades they could carry from the dead.

John slapped in a fresh clip of ammo for his shotgun, and checked the display on his HUD before strapping the weapon against his back to check his other two weapons; the MA5C assault rifle and his standard issue P6G pistol he strapped around his left thigh.

"Carry what you will need, marine," said the Master Chief. The private nodded silently while he picked up ammo for his SMGs and battle rifle.

John turned around to face the stairs that went into the underground structure, but glanced down as he waited for him He watched as the marine shakily took away the dog tags of his fallen comrades. He winced, regretting that he showed up late to help them out.

"You don't have to follow me if you don't want to, Private Matthews." He said with a slight hesitation in his voice. "There's an LZ just south-east from here, and it is safely guarded by other marines and ODST."

Private Matthews slowly stood after he dropped the dog tags into a pouch strapped to his belt, and looked up at the spartan. He said, "No, sir." He gripped the battle rifle tightly as he looked down at his dead friends for a moment. "You helped me live, so I should return the favor as long as I can." His eyes fixed on the Spartan's visor. He stood in attention to salute him.

John cocked his head a little as he watched him from the corner of his eye, turned around and returned the salute. He lowered his arm to his side, followed by Matthews. He admired the young marine's courage and persistence to move on even though his squad was annihilated, and wondered if Matthews wanted to follow him into the structure for some sort of atonement from the expression he was reading on the private's face.

"Ready when you are, Chief."

The Master Chief nodded and headed down the ancient steps toward the Forerunner building. As they walked down, he remembered when he was on Installation 04 where he first encountered the Flood because once they were inside, the look was similar to the other.

"Stay alert," barked John quietly. He pointed to the opposite side of the large lift in the center of the room. "Go that way. We'll meet near the controls to the lift."

Matthews nodded. "Understood, sir."

He raised his battle rifle to his shoulder, and walked to the opposite side while the spartan aimed the MA5C, and silently moved around the other side. Once the two confirmed there were no forms of threats, such as camouflaged enemies, they met over by the lift. The marine stepped onto the lift, glanced down, and jumped back a bit.

"What?" The Master Chief looked at him and then down at the clear glass platform. "Oh, don't worry, it's solid."

"Oh..." Matthews trailed off, and slowly walked onto it. "Damn, that freaked me out. Sorry sir."

John couldn't help it, but he found what he said about being freaked out amusing. 'There are far worse things to be freaked out in these places.' He thought.

He stepped near the controls, and pressed on a green symbol illuminating on the clear control panel and heard a click. The lift shuddered up somewhat and then went down the long tunnel where the fighting will continue as he searched for the prophet.

The Master Chief turned his attention to Matthews and said to him, "Once we near the bottom, quickly head over to the side of the lift over to the left of you. There should be a pillar you could take cover behind." On his HUD, he noticed red blobs starting to appear as they approached the end of their ride down.

"What are you going to do?"

"Neutralize the threat below."

Private Matthews smiled as he nodded. Spartan-117 took three steps over to the right, and waved his hand at the marine, who took the signal to move to the far left, and then jumped off when the platform was a foot off the ground. He hid behind the pillar and watched quietly as the Spartan jumped down and headed over to where the enemy was located behind a barrier.

John leveled the assault rifle at chest-level and cautiously approached his multiple targets.

CHAPTER ONE

D + 05:57:19 ( SPARTAN-117 Mission Clock) Inside Forerunner structure

John leveled the assault rifle at chest-level and cautiously approached his multiple targets. Careful to not allow himself to be given away to the enemy, the Spartan inched toward their location, did a quick peek around the corner and moved back against the wall before any of them spotted him. There were four Jackals and three grunts guarding the hatch that led to another section. He imagined whoever was leading them was on the other side, and he would have to make this quick, if not quiet enough so they wouldn't signal to their leader about his presence. He lowered his assault rifle to his side, and with his free hand the Master Chief banged a fist hard a couple of times against the wall. Not a second after, scared yelps from Grunts followed then a harsh demanding tone from one of the Jackals.

The Master Chief glanced over at the marine, raised his arm and clutched his fist as a signal for Matthews to get ready. Private Matthews returned the signal, crouched down, and aimed his battle rifle. A lone Grunt walked out where John stood in a crouching position, and slowly gazed at the Spartan. It let out a short gasp and jumped in surprise. John swiftly grabbed the alien by it's mask, and picked the Grunt up to swing him at the other aliens. The mask snapped apart from its wearer's face and the alien fell into it's squad members as it struggled to breathe. The Spartan took several long steps back away from them, aimed his MA5C, and fired about thirty rounds into the surprised crowd.

A Jackal tried to escape out of the raining automatic fire, but was met with Matthews burst of fire in the process. It staggered back, and then fell once it's shield depleted. He slowly stood and started over to the far end of the room when the Chief finished the rest of the Jackals off with several short bursts, and then silence.

'Damn. Someone on the other side had to have heard the fighting in here.' thought John when he expected some reinforcements to burst through the hatch.

Matthews approached the Spartan, and paused on the other side of the hatch with his gun at the ready. He looked up at the Spartan, thinking the same thing.

"Stay here." ordered the Master Chief. After a reluctant nod from the marine, he carefully moved through a short ten foot tunnel when the hatch opened. He came into a well-lit room and looked at his motion sensor. Nothing. He moved forward to a group of stairs to the lower section, and found a couple of dead Elites. One was by the stairs that fell face forward with the handle of the energy sword help limply in its hand while the other was over by another door.

What happened? Did other marines fight them? No, they wouldn't be able to take an Elite Ultra down; much less an Elite with a sword. He gradually moved down the steps, knelt by the dead Ultra, and surveyed the body. The wounds weren't from plasma fire but ones created by weapons Brutes used. The fighting between the Brutes and Elites have found its way down on Earth perhaps?

The Spartan opened his Com-channel to the private. "It's all clear, Matthews." He whispered.

"Roger."

Private Matthews entered and paused at the top of the steps when John stood. He asked the Spartan, "What happened to the two split-lips, sir? Friendly fire?"

"I doubt it." He gazed over at the other Elite that was slashed by the blade of a Brute Shot, and then nearly had it's head decapitated as it hung nearly off of it's shoulders. He turned to the curious marine walking down the stairs with a paled expression.

"Oh man," murmured the marine, "I can't stand the sight of blood..." His gloved hand pressed against his stomach as he started to become a bit sick.

The Master Chief pointed his assault rifle back up the stairs at the door. "There's still time to go back to the surface and hide somewhere until I finish my mission."

The marine straightened. "Chief, just because I can't stand the sight of blood, doesn't mean I can't stand shooting these Covenant bastards."

John narrowed his eyebrows, and took a step toward the marine. "Are you sure?" He questioned. Giving him another chance to turn back, but he found Matthews to be a persistent young man.

"Y-yes, sir." The marine replied with a nervous gulp.

"Fine. Reload your weapon, and keep yourself alert at all times as we move further in, Private," The Spartan responded. "Lets get going."

Private Matthews quickly nodded and reloaded his weapon with a fresh clip of ammo, and followed the Master Chief toward the door over by the dead Elite. As they passed by, Matthews uneasily gazed at the corpse with a pang of fear.

'I hope to God that I don't end up like him.' he thought. 'No way do I want to end up like that. No way!'

Just like other Forerunner doors, the hatch sensed him and the marine, slid open, and the moved in single file with caution. The Spartan held his MA5C as they entered into another room, but it was filled with glowing machinery humming at a low volume.

There was a noise at the corner to the right of them, and the two spun on their heels, and aimed at a seriously injured Elite covered in blood. It coughed violently as it weakly held its hand over what was left of it's stomach – Half of it was burned from hot plasma fire. Heart racing, the Spartan assessed the injured Sangheili as he kept his weapon trained on the alien.

"Chief," Matthews went up the the Elite, and aimed his BR at the head. "Let me kill him for ya!"

"Stand down, marine." barked the Master Chief.

Matthews stared back at Spartan-117. "But, sir-"

"I said, stand-down." John repeated with a growl. Without lowering his weapon, he slowly approached the Elite.

The private unwillingly moved back to give the Master Chief some room, and glared at the Elite's glossy eyes.

John crouched a few inches away from the Sangheili, who turned it's head to gaze as him.

"De...mon..." it struggled to say. The Elite painstakingly tried to sit up, but failed. "What...do you...want with...me?" He demanded hoarsely.

"I want to know where Truth is in this place." The Spartan said. "Where is he?"

"Truth...?" The Elite clicked its mandibles together quizzically. "He is...below." He growled painfully. "With the others."

"The others?" John asked, "With other Elites or the Brutes?"

"No..." Blood splattered from his mouth as he coughed up another amount of blood. "Not my b-brothers...those damned...beasts are...with him...down below."

John studied the dying Elite as the two became silent. Matthews watched the Spartan and Elite converse with little interest. His finger twitched nervously over the trigger as he fought the urge to shoot the Sangheili dead.

The silence was then cut off by a plea by the Elite. "Kill me..." He looked at John as an equal. "Kill me...demon...then I may join my fallen brothers in peace."

The Master Chief stood up straight while he kept his intent gaze on him. He grabbed for his handgun, aimed it at the alien's unprotected head with a slight sense of hesitation but fired one shot. The body went limp. He could've sworn the Elite smiled when he ended his life.

Matthews glanced at the Chief. "Never knew you were a type of guy who would do an enemy a favor." He spoke.

"It wasn't a favor." John whispered softly.

The Private slowly nodded, trying to figure out why the Spartan killed him instead of leaving the alien to die slowly. "Oh..." Was the way he was able to respond to the Spartan's answer.

The Master Chief returned the pistol into his thigh holster, and together they continued further into the structure.

a/n: okay, you know what to do. I thrive on feedback...no matter if it's good or bad.