Disclaimer: I'm not a trickster. I'm not a phantom. I'm a monk!
A/N: To the reviewer who made the Doctor Who connection: The basic inspiration came from there yes. However, they've got different motives and origins to the Doctor Who version. And to the one who asked for more Forerunner-y stuff: I'm going one better than the Forerunners. And finally, to x kyuubi z: single and double apostrophes are both acceptable as speech marks. Single is more British English, and double is more for American English. There are a lot of acceptable styles to write in.
Halo: Revelations
Chapter III - The Descent
16:12 07/07/2557 Military Standard Calendar
Inside Unidentified Forerunner Installation
The Warthog's powerful 12-litre hydrogen-injected ICE engine pushed the vehicle across the terrain at speeds upwards of 60 mph. John had fallen into a thoughtful state as he drove on, making minute corrections when Cortana told him to.
He was, once again, thinking about the five years he had been in cryo. What had happened? Did the UNSC win? Did they lose? Was the war still going on? And those were just the little questions. He thought of the Spartans he knew -or hoped- were still alive. Fred, Linda, Will. Were they still alive? He didn't have a clue about Kelly- Doctor Halsey had absconded with her for some unknown reason. He thought about all the Spartans that had died in the War, all the way back to Sam.
The Spartans were his family, and it had only ever gotten smaller. One by one, they had fallen in defence of humanity's colonies.
'Chief.' Cortana interrupted his musings. 'You need to alter your heading by about twenty-four degrees.'
Not even really paying attention, he adjusted the direction and didn't bother to answer. 'What's wrong?' Cortana asked.
'I don't even know what happened to the rest of the Spartans.' He answered sombrely. 'We'll find out as soon as we reach Human space.' Cortana promised.
'I don't even know what I'll do when we get back.' He continued quietly. 'All my life I've been fighting. Rebels, the Covenant, the Flood. What do I do now?'
'Whatever you want, Chief.'
'But I don't know what I want. I want to find my Spartans.'
Cortana didn't reply, as if mulling over something. 'John, what if I told you about all the Spartans. All of them.'
That was enough to pique John's interest. 'What do you mean?'
'Your class of Spartans wasn't the only one. Just the only one relatively unclassified.'
'How do you know-never mind. I can guess.'
Cortana giggled at that. 'You know me so well. I pulled some of it from Reach, and the rest just before Regret's fleet arrived at Earth.'
'Did Halsey know?'
'She knew there was Spartans that weren't hers. Heck, a team of them got me off-planet to the Pillar of Autumn before it left Reach. They're really the reason that any of this happened at all.'
'Who were they?' John pushed. Cortana continued on. 'It was called the Spartan-III program, head by Colonel Ackerson. Stupid bastard.'
'He died defending Earth.' John lightly reprimanded. 'He deserves respect for that at least.'
'Under his orders, three battalions of Spartans were trained. Three hundred-strong each.'
Now John was confused. How the hell hadn't he known of this? On more than one occasion, Blue Team had engineered the destruction of entire Covenant armies. How could the War have been as bad as it did when there was more than 900 of them in the fight?
'How come I never heard of this?' John asked.
'Because Ackerson was an idiot. The majority of them were poorly equipped and deployed in suicidal battles in high-priority targets that while successful, did next to nothing to stop the Covenant. A few lucky ones were pulled and put into more traditional SpecOps units.'
John's blood ran cold. His family had grown incredibly and died without him even knowing.
'I'll tell you more later, we're about to arrive at the structure.' Cortana promised him.
'I'll hold you to that.'
16:21 07/07/2557 Military Standard Calendar
Forerunner Installation "Sigma-7", Office of Naval Intelligence Knight Base
Acolyte Miriam ran through the massive, but cramped and hectic space of Hanger-9. In her hands she clutched a data pad, the contents unknown to her. She knew only that she had to deliver it.
All around her, technicians were working on starfighters and other craft, but she wasn't interested in those. She was interested in a specific group of armed Clerics-twelve in total-along with Bishop Octavian, who was giving a rousing speech near the Pelican they were due to depart on. She stopped herself from interrupting and stood awkwardly to the side, waiting for him to finish.
'Clerics! You have been given a most important task: the retrieval of Spartan-117.'
Miriam gasped. The Master Chief was here? On Sigma-7? Instantly her mind flashed back to the day he and his other Spartans had saved her family's lives.
The Covenant soldier- an "Elite", as the Newsvids said- stood before the family of five. Mum, Dad, herself and her two brothers. The youngest was crying, and Mum was desperately trying to shield the three children as Dad stood defiant against the stuff of nightmares.
'Leave them alone, you squid-faced freak!' Dad yelled, but there was little strength in his voice and the hands holding the metal bat were trembling.
The Elite merely smirked-at least, that's what she thought it was- and grabbed Dad by the throat, and ignited a wrist-mounted Energy blade. 'Your…destruction…is the…will of the Gods…' It snarled in its guttural voice, its mouth ill-suited for such pathetic human words. '-and we…are…their instrument!'
Just as it was about to end Dad's life, a voice rang out. ' Let him go.'
The Elite snapped to the source of the voice and snarled when it saw a seven-foot tall knight clad in green armour. A Spartan! Dropping Dad, it turned towards the new threat, and hissed something in its alien tongue. She thought she might've heard the word "demon".
Then it charged. The Spartan simply raised his rifle and opened fire, but the Elite's shields flared before smashing into the supersoldier like a freight train, knocking them both to the ground. The Spartan didn't give up even as his rifle was knocked away, simply opting to grab the bladed wrist and punch the Elite in the face.
Three other Spartans entered the ruined house and took in the scene. 'I've got this.' The Master Chief called out. The three other Spartans nodded, before taking the terrified family and leading them outside to a waiting Pelican.
They told her the Spartan's real name.
John-117.
Miriam was pulled out of her memories as Bishop Octavian continued. 'He is to be unarmed if at all possible, but if he or his AI construct attempt to harm us, put him down.' Miriam's eyes widened. Put him down? They couldn't kill him, he was a hero. Her hero.
Just then the Bishop noticed her. 'Yes, Acolyte?' Startled and nervous, she nevertheless strode forward with as much confidence as she could muster and handed him the data pad. 'Bishop Luke asked that I give you this.' She informed him quietly.
He glanced at it once, then nodded. 'Clerics!' He called. 'Prepare for departure, you depart for Site-Twenty-Seven. Retrieve the Chief, and see if he is any use to us in bringing about the Second Cleansing!'
16:27 07/07/2557 Military Standard Calendar
Inside Unidentified Forerunner Installation
Déjà vu is the feeling of having experienced something before, be it a location, a food or a sound. And, as John stared at the entrance to the structure ahead, he was certainly feeling it now.
'It does look a lot like the Cartographer on Alpha Halo, doesn't it?' Cortana mused. John nodded in agreement. 'Still, at least I'm detecting nothing dangerous inside.'
John leaned back against the Warthog and took in the scene before him. Cut into the rock face was a sliver metal door, with faint glyphs glowing all around, but revealing none of the secrets that lay within. It reminded John of the "Mines of Moria" , from Lord of the Rings, a classical novel Doctor Halsey had given to him back on Reach.
'Probably lots of tight corridors inside. Better break out the shotgun.'
He unfastened the large duffel from the passenger seat, opened it up and pulled out a pump-action, 8-gaugue M90A CAWS shotgun, and a bandolier of spare shells. He would've loaded them into the suit's Digital Storage System, but the nature of the ammunition required easy access, so he fastened it over his armoured chest.
He checked his weapons, and his armour to make sure everything was at peak efficiency before asking: 'Ready?'
Although Cortana no longer had an avatar, he knew she would be grinning. 'Always.'
John marched up to the door, which promptly slid open for him. He scanned the first area with his shotgun, making sure there was no enemies hiding in a nook or cranny. Nothing. He ventured in a little further. The door closed and all light went out.
Unconcerned, he activated his suit's VISRA system. Basically a night-vision system and combat-aid rolled into one, it highlighted the nearby environment in yellow, and the Chief's own arms in green. As an afterthought, he activated his suits active camouflage as well, and his body and weapons faded out of sight.
'Someone's being cautious.' Cortana noted. 'We don't know what's in here.'
'Good point.'
A/N: Wow. Chapter 3 already. If there's any spelling or literature mistakes, let me know in a review and I'll fix them. Peace out.
