Chapter 6: Reunited and Broken

"How the fuck could you forget me!?" Cortana practically screamed. John's ears rang.

"Sorry, I forgot, I don't how either." John said cooly. "Wait a minute, how did . . did Thirteen . . ?"

"Yeah. That . . black Spartan . . took me from High Charity. I don't know where he took me, or what they did to me exactly. I know they scanned me, they know about you. Everything about the UNSC that I had. All that I knew, now so do they."

"Why the hell would they want any of that?" John wondered.

"Not sure." she sighed. "I'm still a little shaky from the scan though. I tried to protect the information, but whatever they used on me was too complex and powerful to block out."

John looked up and saw something in the distance. The Forerunner Dreadnought slipping in an out of this world. John grimaced.

"What the hell is happening, Chief?"

"I don't know." John swapped the shotgun for the assault rifle. Most of the ammo was still there. "But we're about to find out." he turned around. Samus was still on the ground. She had sat up, but hadn't moved since.

"Hey, Samus right?" he asked. Samus looked up at him and nodded. "Can you stand?" he asked. Samus slowly rose to her feet. "Good. Can you fight?" as if to make a point her arm cannon charged, then stopped.

The Chief nodded then started off to where the Covenant ships were floating. They had been almost directly above a city.

"They've seen us." Chief said.

"Who?" Samus asked. John pointed to the ships.

"Covenant. I'm from a different universe than you. In my universe the humans are at war with a conglomerate of alien races. The Covenant, their leader thinks that activating a set of machines called Halo will make them all gods. Truth is, it would kill everything in our galaxy. Recently their strongest race, the Elites, just separated and joined the humans. And now they've sent someone to kill us."

John could see the city in the distance, and racing towards he and Samus were three ghosts.

"Alright, we can use those to get to that city. So kill the drivers, not the vehicles." Chief said.

"Got it." Samus lifted her cannon.

As the ghosts came within range, Chief let loose with the assault rifle. His HUD guiding his aim. A grunt dropped out of a ghost, the alien vehicle slowed to a stop. The other two opened fire. Samus picked off another grunt. The third made a wide turn around one of the dead ghosts.

"Kill that one." John said. Samus charged a blast and fired. The shot hit the ghost, resulting in an explosion of plasma. John climbed into a ghost and powered it up. "Think you can do it?"

"Seems pretty easy." Samus replied.

"I meant your arm." John said.

"Oh, I can manage." she said quickly. They turned the ghosts around and sped towards the city. In the distance the Covenant ships suddenly seemed interested in something else. For the moment, John couldn't see what.

As they neared the city, John saw a battle in full swing. A small army of armored men with swords were fighting off the Covenant, barely. Swords again? John shook his head.

The Brutes weren't even bothering to hide. John let loose a barrage of plasma from the ghost. The semi-heavy fire cut down a number of Brutes before they hid behind a number of rocks. John jumped off the ghost and pulled out a frag-grenade. He pulled the pin a waited a second before tossing it over the rock.

The Brutes saw it just as it exploded. Killing those closer to it, hurting those a little farther from it. A Brute jumped out from behind a rock and fired his spiker. The white-hot shards of metal buried themselves in the ghost. John ducked away and cut the Brute down with his rifle.

The Chief and Samus went behind a rock. John checked his ammo. Still plenty.

"Um, Chief, was it just me or were those people fighting with swords?" Cortana asked.

"They were." Chief replied. He looked back around the rock. The Brutes were getting brave and started to come out from behind their cover. John leaned out and killed one. He ducked back just as a number of spikes embedded themselves in the rock.

An explosion shook the ground. John moved to the other side of the rock and looked towards the Covenant ships.

"What was that?" Samus asked. She stood and fired on a Brute, her cannon shredded the Brutes shields and armor.

"UNSC, it's the Dawn." John said.

"The what?"

Forward Unto Dawn, it's a UNSC ship. Looks like there's two, no, three Elite ships with it. The Covenant are under attack and they appear to be losing." John glanced up at the Dreadnought. "Lets just hope that stays where it is." There were five Brutes left.

John threw another grenade. This killed two Brutes. John killed one, and a charged blast from Samus took out the last two Brutes. John and Samus walked out from behind the rock and headed towards the city gate. The soldiers stood motionless, all in shock at the sight of the two obviously very advanced people.

"Where are we?" John asked bluntly. His tone revealing his lack of patience.

"The city Rabanastre." the guard said nervously.

"Were those the only ones?" John asked, pointing to the Brutes. The guard shook his head.

"There were more, they came from all sides of the city. We came out here and shut the gate. Then we were cornered by even more of the monsters."

"You mean to tell me you left your people in their to die!" Samus asked, her voice cold.

The guard stuttered, "T . . t . . they aren't our people. We conquered them. They're lower than trash!" Samus started forward, John put a hand on her chest to stop her.

"Let us in there." John pointed towards the city with his free hand.

"You're crazy, you can't possibly take all the . . ."

"You'd be surprised." he said. "Give me one minute, then open the door." the guard nodded then headed toward the door. John went back to where the Brutes lay. He grabbed a spiker and filled it, then collected extra ammo from the guns laying around. He discarded the shotgun and hefted the spiker with ease. Samus gasped when she saw the size of the gun.

"They . . you . . use this as a handgun?" John nodded.

"Cortana, see if you can patch me through to the Dawn."

"On it." The massive doors groaned as the tumblers unlocked them. Samus and John took cover on opposite sides of the large path to the gate, both hid behind stacks of supplies. The Chief's comm crackled.

"Chief, that you?" Miranda Keyes asked.

"Yes Ma'am." John answered.

"Damn, I was beginning to think we were screwed! What the hell are you doing down there?"

"About to take this city back, Ma'am." John answered.

"Godspeed, soldier." the comm clicked off. The massive doors were open and the number of Grunts spilled out. John switched to the assault rifle and let loose a number of short bursts, Samus followed suit. With a number of terrified squeaks the aliens were dead.

"Pathetic little creatures, really." Cortana commented. John grunted an agreement and he and Samus left their cover. As they passed the guards John turned to them.

"As soon as we're in, shut the gates." he said quickly. The guard nodded.

"No problem." he said. Chief and Samus walked further into the city.

"Chief move!" Cortana yelled. John moved just in time as a green explosion charred the wall behind him. "Why the Covenant let Grunts use fuel rod guns I'll never know."

"They just want the little shits to feel loved." John said as he gunned down a Jackal and the three Grunts beside it. Samus knocked two Jackals off the roofs of nearby building. Two more fuel rod blasts hit their position.

"Damned little rodents won't stop their blind fire." Samus said. Three Brutes and ten Grunts charged from a building. They were coming up a sloped ramp. Samus dropped two more Jackals then did something completely unexpected. She collapsed into a ball. The ball then rolled down the incline, dropping a number of glowing spheres on the way. The spheres exploded, killing the Grunts and one Brute. The other two were injured.

John gunned down the last two Brutes with his assault rifle. Samus rolled back up the hill and sprang back to her original shape.

"How did she . . ." Cortana began.

"What are you?" John asked.

Samus shrugged, "A bounty hunter, what are you?"

"I'm a soldier." John replied.

"Ah, two would-be enemies joined together to survive. Poetic, huh?"

"Not really." John said.

"I think it is." Cortana said with a laugh.

"Hmm." John grunted then moved on. After a few minutes John's comm came to life.

"Chief, you still with us?" Miranda asked.

"I hope, Ma'am."

"Well we just found Johnson and his Marines. The Covenant are down to one ship, we're picking up the Sergeant-Major and heading to the city. Once we finish up here we'll provide you with support. The Elites have agreed to supply you with some soldiers too."

"Thank-you, Ma'am."

"Keyes out." John knelt down behind a wall and picked up a fallen Grunt's fuel rod gun. A Brute below them had decided to make use one of their plasma turrets. John put down the spiker and lifted the gun. Samus had his attention. John fired once. Unfortunately, even though a fuel rod gun was stronger than a human rocket launcher, it was slower.

The Brute saw it coming and moved. Samus diverted his attention again, but still he moved. Finally Samus collapsed into a ball, but instead of going down to the brute, making her an easier target, she rolled back and forth between the two buildings. John fired his last shot, this time when the Brute saw it he was too late. The green shot blew him to pieces.

John and Samus hurried down the hill. John hooked the spiker to his leg and picked up the plasma turret. A moment later they heard an explosion from the distance.

"Keyes just radioed in that they're on their way, Chief. It'll be a minute though." Cortana said.

"Good." John said. A ghost turned the corner up ahead. It picked up speed and then slowed to fire. Plasma tore through the rock around them. Samus released a charged blast. The energy nicked it, but still flipped it over. John ran over to the overturned ghost and sliced down with the spiker's blades, embedding them in the Grunt's head. John pulled the blades out and pressed on.

As they progressed they fought off six more ghosts. John's assault rifle was now useless and his only weapons were Covenant. He still had his spiker, which coincidentally had plenty of ammo. His second weapon was a plasma rifle. He had long since used up the plasma turret.

The number of Covenant seemed to be growing the further they went. John ans Samus had just finished off a Brute cycle, John still didn't know why they would bring such a big vehicle into the small streets of the city. They heard something behind them.

A warthog, gauss, made a tight turn around the corner behind them and screeched to a halt. Johnson waved from the driver's seat. He took the cigar out of his mouth and motioned to the Marine on the turret.

"Never let one of these idiots drive." he said. "What you been up to, Chief?"

John motioned to the city around them. Johnson shook his head and then noticed Samus.

"Who the hell is that?"

"Samus. I met her after we were separated. There's more bu, that can wait for a little while longer." John said. The Arbiter walked over to the Chief.

"The people from Spira are with us. You were the only one we lost."

"I think it was intentional." John said. The Elite nodded and then nodded a greeting to Samus. Samus returned the favor.

"Samus, meet the Arbiter." John said.

"Under different circumstances, a pleasure." the Arbiter said. "Our surveillance reports that there is a palace up ahead. That is where the Brutes have gathered. There is a strong resistance there. Maybe an ally." John nodded and headed forward.

The Elite had been right. A fairly large number of Covenant had amassed as the palace. And something was holding them off. Strange beings hovered it place, unleashing deadly bursts of what appeared to be magic.

There is no such thing as magic! John told himself. You are a soldier, not someone who lives in his mother's basement. Magic does not exist. But still, the evidence was convincing. The Marine on the turret of Johnson's warthog let loose with the gauss cannon. The surprised Brutes took a moment to retaliate. By that time, however, the Elites had charged forward with a magnificent battle cry. The Brutes were strong, but the Elites were far better warriors. John and the Marines barely did anything. They mostly watched in awe as the Elites cut down every last Brute.

For them, this was a form of vengeance for what the Brutes had stolen from them.

"Incredible." Samus said quietly. "They looked so . . powerful out there."

"Try fighting them." John said. "They're an even more impressive opponent. Johnson got out of the warthog. He took a long drag from his cigar and dropped it. His boot crushed the stub and he pulled another cigar out of a pocket on his uniform. He walked down to where John, Samus, and the Arbiter were standing, near the palace steps.

"Hey anyone in there?" he lit the cigar and put it in his mouth. "We just killed these shitheads for ya'."

The palace doors opened. Six people walked out. Behind them was a mix of civilians and soldiers.

"We're friends. My name is Sergeant-Major Johnson. This is the Master Chief, Samus, and the Arbiter. We want to help you."

A boy with blonde hair stepped forward, "I'm Vaan. This is Penelo, Ashe, Basch, Fran, and Baltheir." Johnson stepped closer to John.

"What the fuck is it with all these blonde kids and them not wearing their shirts?" he asked.