Chapter Four: Infinity

John heard the words, and tensed up. His mind flashed back to what Cortana had said aboard the Mammoth so long ago...

...They don't care about you! They replaced you!

Without saying anything, John continued to pull the clips out of various weapons that were in the pile. Cortana was on the comm screen hand over her mouth in shock.

"Nothing to say?" Loren asked, putting her helmet back on. "Now if you'll excuse me, the bridge was over run and Captain Del Rio wants me to get it back." She turned and ran off, putting her shotgun on her back.

John glanced up as he took the last clip for his assault rifle, and saw the looks on the other Spartans faces. Palmer had come over after deciding that the tank was un-salvageable, and her mouth was slightly open as if she was going to say something, but was hesistant. Phil was in downright shock. His jaw was dropped in realization of the person in front of him.

"You're...him," Phil managed to say. John nodded, and silently stood up, drawing to his seven foot height.

"I'm going to the bridge," John informed them, turning in the direction that Loren had gone off in. "You can come if you want."

"You know, I'd always thought that you'd be taller, Chief," Palmer said as she put her white Scout helmet on. She almost seemed unfazed by the fact that the living legend was living again.

"I've heard that before," John replied.

Phil picked up a DMR from the pile, and took several of the clips that John had set aside. "Are you heading to the bridge to show Loren up again?" He asked as he put his helmet on.

"That's the plan."

It wasn't the plan. John was going to go to the bridge to change the Infinity's course so they wouldn't reach Requiem. They were going home, back to Halsey so Cortana could be fixed.

Despite the fact that the ship was being boarded, it seemed to be empty, which made their progress to the Infinity's bridge much easier.

"Does anyone else think that there should be more enemies if we're being boarded?" Phil asked. "I mean, that would actually make some sense."

Palmer shrugged. "Perhaps the marines are actually doing their job right." She motioned to the dead human bodies scattered around the hallway. "There's some dead ones here."

John picked up a BR85HB SR from a dead marine, looking over the silver weapon as he remembered the fights with Prometheans and Covenant he had had with one of them.

Phil broke out into a sprint down an empty hallway. "We really need to hurry. Del Rio will be pissed if we lose the bridge. She can be quite the bitch sometimes."

"She?" John asked, before he could stop himself.

"Yep. Is that a problem?" Palmer asked, in a slightly condescending tone.

It took him a second, but John made up a pretty good lie. "No. I've met a Captain named Del Rio before, execpt he was a guy." Well, it wasn't really a lie.

"Oh," Palmer replied, not even close to convinced about that.

John noted that he would have to be more careful of what he said, and play along like he knew what was going on. He raised his rifle as he entered a mess hall with some pinned marines and for once it looked like they were actually holding some ground.

The marines were stuck behined several tables turned onto their side, dotted with black plasma burns. "Palmer, take the left," Chief ordered, "you take the right," he said to Phil. "I'll go straight through the middle of them."

"Since when did you get to make the orders?" Palmer asked, but following them none the less. She was skilled with the pistols, and managed to drop two elites before having to reload.

Phil, on the other hand, wasn't that great with his DMR. His shots went wide, and heavy plasma fire forced him back into cover behind a pillar.

Chief drilled away with his BR85, dropping one elite after another. In moments, the mess hall was cleared.

"How much farther to the bridge?" Chief asked, loading a new clip into his rifle.

"Just down the hall," Palmer answered. "Let's go."

The bridge hadn't changed. It was still the exact same as it was when Chief had first set foot on it back in the past. Marines were dragging a dead elite out of the room when the Spartans arrived, and immediantly dropped the body at the sight of Chief.

It wasn't something that anyone was expecting, seeing the long dead legend suddenly walk into the bridge. Commander Lasky looked up, but said nothing. Del Rio turned around, staring Chief straight in the visor. "Well, I'll be damned," she muttered. "If it isn't the Master Chief."

Yes ma'am," John replied, saluting. "Permission to speak freely?"

"Go ahead."

"Once the ship is cleared of Covenant, we should head back to Earth." At these words, Lasky perked up, seeming more interested. "There's nothing out there, where ever you're going."

"Oh really?" Del Rio retorted. "Doesn't matter. We're continuing our course as per our mission objectives. In fact, our scouts have already confirmed the exsistance of a Forerunner Shield World ahead of us."

"John...I told you I saw one," Cortana stated. "Why did you lie to me? What were you trying to accomplish?"

John ignored her. "With all due respect ma'am, all I want to do is get some rest in human controlled territory. You can drop me off, and then come back."

"Out of the question," Del Rio snapped. "In fact, I think you're trying to hide something. I've made some of the hardest Spartans on this ship crack, so it's only a matter of time until I find out what."

She turned her attention back to the console. "The Covenant are in full retreat," she said, observing the reports from various squads. "Lasky, show Master Chief to his new quarters, in the brig if you will."

"The brig?" Palmer asked, taking a step forward. "What did he do, other then come back from the dead? You want to throw him in the prison?"

"You're speaking out of turn, Commander," Del Rio warned. "I only want Chief in a place I know he won't get out of, so I can question him later."

"...yes ma'am," Palmer muttered, leaving the room.

"And I'm confiscating Cortana for question, understood?"

Chief immediantly wanted to protest, but then he realized that the AI would only constanty interrogate him about the Forerunner planet. He hesitated, but finally handed her the chip.

"So Chief," Lasky said, as he led the Spartan to his room, which was actually a cell. "You said you wanted to turn the ship around. Why? Afraid of the Forerunner planer?"

"Sir, I just want-"

"You and I both know what happened on Requiem the first time," he said. "You got shipwrecked, and then the Infinity showed up. There was the Didact, then then you lost Cortana. Am I wrong?"

Chief was stunned. He was actually expecting someone else to have any knowledge of the past. "You know, sir?"

"Of course I know. Roland does too. I went into cryo-sleep just after you did, and bam, I wake up here. I don't know about Roland," Lasky explained. "I guess this time we're going to set things right? To alter the past."

Chief nodded. "We're going to rewrite history."

Sorry for the uber long delay. I just started writing it at a bad time, and now I'm back. I hope have the next chapter up soon. This chapter might've been bad, but it was written a while back, before I actually improved any of my writing. The next chapter will be better, I guarantee. So yeah, over 40 followers by chapter 3. Not bad, not bad at all. I'm flattered. I never thought that this would actually be so popular. So thanks for the support and the patience!

-Habes Non Vita