Aftermath
"FIRE!"
Master Chief is behind the wall and firing into the doorway.
He hears Cortana sigh heavily. "What?"
Cortana starts to laugh. "How about instead of trying to kill them all, you could, oh I don't know, try to suppress them. They don't need to die! They just want to go home! And besides, maybe there is more of—WATCH OUT!"
Master Chief spots the grenade and runs down the hall to escape the blast. He hears the deafening explosion behind him.
Cortana sighs again. "I'll help them while you try to not get blown up."
Master Chief starts to chuckle. "Alright. Go ahead. I'll go find the Arbiter so he can help us with our problem."
"Is it gone?!"
"Balto, I think we got him."
"Good job. Jakob, help me open this door."
"Oh I don't think that's necessary."
Balto turns his head and sees an AI standing on the main computer.
Balto walks over and growls. "What the fuck do you want?!"
The AI starts to laugh. "I see you're the one with the bad attitude. Anyway, I'm here to help you."
Balto frowns at her. "Why would you help us?"
The AI smiles at him. "Because you might be useful."
Balto starts to laugh. "Oh really? Well we have a thousand soldiers on the other side of that door! And as soon as that door opens, they'll rush right in and kill that…thing out there!"
The AI starts to laugh again. "I like you. You use threats and firepower to manipulate a battle. But I'm an AI and you can't trick me. There are only four soldiers on the other side of that door. Now before you ask how I knew that, I also know this; you were planning on escaping; not fighting here. You and the soldiers in this room have no spirit. You might as well surrender, but I'll let you escape before the Spartan comes here and kicks your ass. Now get going."
Balto hears the door on the right unlock. He turns and sees Hunter, Ryan, Star, and Nikki standing in the doorway.
Balto smiles and shouts out "Pack it and move" before running into the hallway.
Kaltag is running down the hallway as fast as he could. He turns his head to his left and sees Alex is running right next to him. He sees Alex's face. He sees the sadness in his expression.
Alex starts to laugh. "Balto, you may be the fastest, but you aren't one known for sense of direction."
Balto shakes his head. "Shut up! All the doors that lead to the outside are locked!"
Over the intercom, the AI starts to laugh. "The Spartan and the Arbiter need your help. We know what you went through on the other installations, but you can save the whole galaxy if you help us."
Balto growls in anger. "Damn AI creation! Why us?! We didn't do anything to you!"
Kaltag hears the AI chuckle. "Humanity needs you. If you want to survive this place then I suggest that you turn left at the end of the hall."
Balto sighs and he follows the AI's instructions to the letter. As soon as he got to the end of the hall, he made a sharp left turn and the others followed.
After awhile, Balto hears the AI on the intercom again. "Enter the room on the right and wait for the Master Chief and the Arbiter to come in."
Balto stops abruptly and growls. "Who the fuck is this Master Chief?!"
He hears the AI laugh at him. "Why, it's the Spartan."
Balto sighs and starts to run towards the room that is supposedly on the right side of the hallway. After about two minutes, Balto sees a door with a green light above it. He runs towards it and the door opens automatically. He walks into the room and shakes his head.
He walks into the middle of the room and growls. "This is fucking stupid! This is probably an execution."
Kaltag starts to laugh. "Balto, you think everything is an execution. Perhaps this will get us home."
Ryan looks at the door and frowns. "Maybe we should lock the door."
Balto shakes his head. "No, that damn AI…no offense…will just unlock the door and they'll probably come in shooting. So Ryan, shut up."
Ryan shrugs his shoulders and walks away from the door. Kyle keeps watching the door and sees tow figures are on the other side of the door.
Kyle turns to Balto and smiles. "They're here."
Balto smiles at Kaltag. "Flip the tables. We'll use them as cover if we have to."
Kaltag nods his head. "Will do sir."