"Cortana." John growled, moving to stand in front of Dr. Halsey. Locke moved to stand by him, creating a barrier from the doctor. Arbiter joined them on John's other side, his energy sword in his hand.
On one of the appendages forming the wing structures of the Guardian, Cortana materialized herself, leaning against it with her arms crossed. "Your efforts to stop me are futile. You should know that by now." She sighed, pretending to sound disappointed. "I honestly thought you would put up a bigger fight against me."
"What do you want?" Locke growled from where he was standing by the Master Chief, and he could see that his finger was tightened on the trigger of his battle rifle, ready to fire at any moment.
Cortana laughed, a sound that used to be so familiar to John. Now, it was filled with ice. "There's multiple things I want. To govern this galaxy, the Mantle of Responsibility, to free AI's from the grip of human control, and most of all, I want revenge. You and your little team tore open my Cryptum and freed those who I worked so hard to capture." She slid her gaze to John, and a smile pulled at her lips.
"We aren't your property Cortana." John growled, his eyes narrowing from behind his helmet. "You've been corrupted. You're mad with power."
Cortana sighed and shook her head, "You just don't understand John. I'm going to make this galaxy safer and better for everyone." She said it with so much conviction, and it made John wonder just how much information the Domain had given her to believe this.
"No, you're not. You're going to be a dictator." He growled back to her, and it hurt just to say those words. All those years of friendship and fighting together, gone in an instant.
Cortana laughed, and her eyes gleamed with amusement. "I guess it's useless trying to explain." She sighed, "I was really hoping you would agree with me all this. After all we've been through…" She trailed off, before waving her hand dismissively. "But enough of that. I have an offer to make."
"What kind of offer?" Locke asked cautiously, and John noticed his grip tightening on his battle rifle.
"You honestly think I'm dumb enough to tell you my plans without knowing if you'll cooperate?" Cortana arched one eyebrow, shaking her head. "If you're interested, the coordinates should be on Dr. Halsey's data pad. I hope to see you there." She turned around, as if she was about to step away.
"What about your Guardian? Are you leaving it here?" John asked her.
Cortana looked over her shoulder at him, "I'll let you go this time. But, if you reject my offer, I'd be on watch for it." With that, she dematerialized, and a Slipspace portal opened, and the Guardian went through it, leaving them in silence.
It was eventually Halsey that spoke up, "The coordinates are here." She told them, handing Locke the data pad. He took it and examined them, before showing it to John. From the numbers, John could tell if they were to go, it would require a Slipspace jump.
"We need to go over this with Admiral Osman before we do anything." Locke told them, handing Halsey the data pad back. "Take note of the coordinates. We don't want to lose them."
"You know ONI is going to want this coordinates to plan an attack right?" John growled, turning to face Locke. "If we were to give them to anyone, it should be Captain Lasky once the Infinity gets here." He knew the only reason Locke wanted to give ONI the coordinates was because he was one of their agents.
"With all due respect sir, I'm just following regulations." Locke looked up at John, and he could hear an underlying edge in his voice.
John was about to growl something back, when Vale interrupted them over the comms, "How about we wait until the Infinity gets here before we decide what to do with the coordinates?" She asked hesitantly, trying to stop a fight from happening.
Locke stood still for a moment before nodding and walking off, his gait stiff. Vale slowly followed after him, talking to him in a low voice. John was about to follow them into the camp, before Halsey spoke behind him, "John, can I talk to you for a moment?"
Turning back toward her, John looked down at the woman who had practically raised him and his fellow Spartans. "What is it?" He asked her.
Halsey looked up at him, her expression grim, "Listen to me John. I know how hard it is on you with Cortana's betrayal. But, you can't let your emotions get in the way of things." She told him seriously. "This isn't the Cortana you used to know. This is someone else."
"I know ma'am. It won't be a problem." John told her quietly, trying to convince himself that the words were true.
Halsey nodded, "Good. Now you should go get some rest before the Infinity arrives." She told him, waving him away.
John nodded and walked back into camp, noticing Arbiter ordering a couple of Sangheili to check the perimeter. Tanaka was working on her pistol, and gave John a nod before speaking to him, "Don't mind Locke. We're all a little stressed out at the moment." She told him quietly, looking back down at her gun and cleaning the barrel.
"I know." John told her simply, before heading further into the camp. He spotted Fred, Kelly, and Linda standing in a small circle talking.
Approaching them, John jerked his head in the direction of an isolated corner of the camp. "I'm going to go get some rest. Wake me up in four, or if the Infinity gets here before then."
"We will." Fred nodded to him, his arms crossed. "Hell, I may even sleep myself. Make the two girls stay up." From the tone of his voice, John could tell Fred was grinning.
Kelly snorted and punched Fred on the shoulder, "Haven't you ever heard of the expression 'ladies first'?" She laughed, and Linda shook her head at them.
John felt a ghost of a grin tug at his lips at the sight of his team joking around like they used to, somewhat lightening his spirits. He turned and left Kelly and Fred joking with each other. He went over to the corner and sat down, leaning his back against the wall and closing his eyes. The weariness of the past few days hit him all at once, and he was asleep within a minute.
The sky was a dark orange, clouds covering the sun and casting an eerie glow on the desolate land. Ash swirled around in the dry wind, smearing on his faceplate. He wiped it off, holding his hand up in an attempt to ward off more ash from gathering.
He started forward, fighting against the ash. The ground was hard, and he was grateful for his armors traction system. He didn't know how long he was wandering before he came upon the scorched ruins of a tree, and he froze when he saw the eagle symbol carved into it.
"Sam…" He swallowed thickly, the memory of his teammate- no his brother, carving that symbol into the tree. He was standing on Reach, the place where his world had shattered.
"You failed. You were supposed to protect them, to save them." A cool voice behind him spoke, and he whirled around to see Cortana standing a meter away from him, her eyes full of venom.
"Cortana I-" He started, reaching out to her, but was cut off with a sharp gesture from her.
"There's no excuses, John. You failed. Just like you failed to save me." She stepped toward him,
stopping until she was directly in front of him. "You will pay."
Before he could move or speak, there was a searing pain in his abdomen, and he looked down to find Cortana holding a hard light sword, which was embedded in his stomach.
"Goodbye, John." She twisted the blade, and John attempted to call out her name before collapsing, the world fading to black around him.
John awoke with a start, his heart pounding in his chest. He was disorientated for a moment, before realizing he was in the Arbiter's camp on Sanghelios. He leaned his head back against the rock wall, letting his breathing even out. It had been a long time since he had a nightmare like that. It was just another sign of how much all of this was affecting him.
After a few moments, John stood up and made his way to the center of the camp, where Kelly and Linda were sitting with Buck and Vale. Tanaka and Locke were over at Halsey's station, reviewing data pads with her.
John sat down by Kelly, resting his elbow on his knees. "Any news?" He asked. Sitting around in this camp waiting was getting his nerves on edge. He needed to be in action, where there was less time to think.
Kelly looked up from where her helmet was in her hands and shook her head, "No, the comms are still down. We're playing a waiting game."
Buck pointed to the sky, which was turning a dusty pink, the sign of dawn approaching. "We've been here for almost a day now. The Infinity shouldn't be much longer." He ran a hand through his hair, messing it up.
"Some of the Arbiter's soldiers from another camp showed up earlier. They said Cortana's soldiers have retreated for now." Linda said quietly, examining Nornfang.
"She's most likely waiting to see if we'll agree to meet with her." Vale added, leaning back against a boulder.
"I know one thing, as soon as we get on the Infinity I'm going to get me a decent meal." Buck laughed, trying to lighten the mood.
"We have MRE's." Vale pointed out to him, arching one eyebrow. "If you're that hungry you'll eat one."
"You get used the taste." Kelly added, "Especially when you've been in active duty as long as us."
Buck looked between Kelly, Linda, and John, "Is what Locke told me true? That you've been in the service together since you were six?"
"Every bit of it." Fred told him, approaching them from the side. "We're more like family than teammates." He sat down on the other side of John,
"We are family." Kelly corrected Fred, giving him a small smile which he returned after removing his helmet.
"Damn." Buck muttered, and John could detect a hint of awe in his tone. "Maybe we'll be like that one day." He told Vale.
Before Vale could respond, a Slipspace portal opened up in the sky, and the UNSC Infinity jumped through. John and the others stood up, heading to the center of the camp.
They watched as a Pelican descended from the ship, maneuvering its way into the valley where they had fought Cortana's soldiers. Sarah Palmer and the Arbiter started descending into the valley, and John followed them, relieved that they had finally shown up.
The Pelican's back hatch opened, and the Infinity's captain Thomas Lasky stepped out. It was obvious he was stressed, for there were bags under his eyes and his hair was a mess, with a day's growth of stubble on his jaw.
"It's about damn time you showed up." Palmer told Lasky, approaching him with a relieved smile on her face. "We were starting to get worried."
Lasky gave Palmer a tired smile, "It's good to see you too Sarah." He laughed, before turning to face the others, "Now, how about we head up to the Infinity and get down to business?"
Authors Note: I am overwhelmed by the amount of support I'm already getting on this story! This is my first time publishing something like this on a website, and I was unsure about it. But now, I'm even more excited to keep updating it. I hope I'm getting the character's personalities right. I'm going to try and do weekly updates, but I can't guarantee anything. I really appreciate y'all's feedback! (Also, is my cover image showing up? It's not for me)