Chapter Seven

Spartan, Time to Hunt

'So, ODST, last question. Tell me this: Who is...the Master Chief?'

'The Spartan?'

'Yes, the Spartan.'

'He's, like, the guardian angel of mankind, right?'

'The Guardian Angel of Mankind? Explain.'

'Well, okay, not exactly. That's what a lot of us, ODSTs, Marines, Soldiers, those of us who put their boots on the ground to fight the Covenant, call him. He might be a freak but he's one of the best damn fighters out there, a true warrior; even those that hate him and his kind have to respect him. Anytime word spreads about him being in the area, fighting against the Covenant, moral skyrockets because, deep down, we know he's going to do a lot of work and we actually have a chance to win, no matter how large the enemy force. He, almost single-handedly, took down the Covenant under the Prophets; nothing can beat him. Hell, he's the reason I made my decision to sign up for this program. I'm here because of him, because I want to be able to do what he does. I want to have the ability to make my fellow fighters know that everything is going to be okay, from the greenest Marines to the veterans of the ODSTs, when they know that I'm there. No one man should have to do it alone. And, with the rumors of him being dead going around, we need more people out there to keep hope alive. Because, to me, that's what he is, ma'am.

He's hope.'

'Good answer. Gunnery Sergeant Buck, welcome to the Spartan-IV program.'


John awoke, a grunt of irritation escaping his lips as he lie against the ground.

Sleeping in MJOLNIR armor, no matter how often he did it, was never the most comfortable; though most Spartan-IIs would claim otherwise if asked.

"Welcome back to the world of the living, John." Cortana whispered, her face flickering onto his HUD. "Oh wait, nevermind. That line might be a bit too soon; we did just come back from the dead, after all."

"How long was I out?" He asked, straight to business. It couldn't have been long, he'd have been found by now; his vitals would clearly show he's still alive. Though, they likely decided to continue their mission and leave him to catch up. Oddly enough though, it seemed almost everything had shut down, his motion sensor was dimmed, his armor was set into an emergency armor lock, and he saw nothing but the yellow-orange polarized visor; the darkness beyond was too thick for him to see without the outer flashlights.

"Seven minutes and forty-nine seconds, just an eternity." The AI quipped, her voice still a whisper.

"Why are you being so quiet?" He asked with a grunt; he started to forcibly move his right arm behind him, moving to push himself up to a sitting position.

"We're not alone." Her response was hurried, hushed still.

He stopped moving instantly, his arm had moved only slightly before her response.

"Reactivate systems and deactivate armor lock." He ordered, his muscles tensed as he prepared to move.

"Three seconds until completion." She announced, a timer appeared where her face had been a moment later and, as it hit zero, the lights of his helmet illuminated the area infront and around him.

Before him stood a large Gremlin, easily greater than that of one of the Knights seen before and wielding claws large enough to make the sword that Cain had policed seem like a toothpick. The creature seemed feral, yet intelligent as it stood straight, its head held high.

"Guuuuuuardian." It breathed, its tone filled with malice so thick it seemed to ooze from it like the thick soup of darkness itself, before it brought a hand up and three smaller Gremlins appeared from behind the creature. "Kill it."

The trio charged forward, only to be stopped by John's armored form lunging forth and smacking two away. The third brought its arm back to slash him, only to receive a boot to the torso that knocked it back into the leader; yet, even with the bulk of the Gremlin being flung through the air with all the force the MJOLNIR-backed kick could bring, the creature seemed anything but fazed.

In fact, it just seemed angrier.

"You're death will not be quick." It growled and pulled back to a crouching position, ready to lunge forward. Along its flanks, more and more of the Gremlins lined up to do the same.

The Chief reached back to his back only to find nothing, his weapons removed either from the fall or from the thing before him taking them before he awoke.

It took only moments until, with a glance at his motion sensor to confirm, he was surrounded; even if he hadn't been, the darkness was too thick for him to be able to navigate and escape the flock of Gremlins.

"Chief, unknown contacts on the right." Cortana advised, and sure enough, with a quick glance at the motion sensor, numerous grey blips were moving in from the side with surprising speed; an instant later, the blips were gone. "Chief!" She suddenly shouted in warning.

His gaze tore from his motion sensor to look ahead, his body reacted on pure reflex as he dove back and away from a swipe from the suddenly close giant, its claws cutting through the air a mere few inches from his faceplate.

"By the will of those from time immemorial, creature of Light, you die." The creature growled as numerous other creature of the Hive, from Gremlins to Knights, began to appear seemingly from nothing at his sides and back; the number of enemies just seemed to continue to grew with each passing second as they sought to surround the Spartan.

"You first." An unknown voice retorted from outside the growing ring of enemies. Suddenly, loud detonations came from the clusters, sounding akin to standard grenades instead of the sounds of his companions' grenades. The enemies turned as one to face the oncoming threat.

A mistake.

Quickly, John lunged into the nearest Knight and policed its sword, with a rough headbutt and yank, before he proceeded to cleave his way through the masses even as gunfire began to thunder around him from unseen allies.

The large Gremlin-creature roared in anger as it sought to direct its forces against the Chief and the other attackers, granting him a chance.

With a grunt, he sprung through the air with all the strength of his enhanced muscles and the added power of his MJOLNIR armor and brought the blade of the bulky weapon down on the large monstrosity; his weight, combined with the MJOLNIR, was enough to aid the weapon in cutting clean through in a diagonal pattern from right shoulder to left hip.

A struggled cry of pain and defiance escaped the creature before it faded, and the remaining Hive seemed to all but disintegrate with its death, even his procured sword glowed a bright green before vanishing in a black smoke.

"Ranger Team Titan, deactivate cloaks. Place is clear." The same voice from before said, following its own words first. With a beep, an 'Exo' appeared in the area infront of John, it's appearance similar to that of the Vanguard Exo his squad had come across at the Tower, save for a lack of a cloak and that the outer plates were a deep gunmetal gray with a deep red glow from its mouth and eyes. In fact, it appeared to be using a standard body armor that was a bit reminiscent of a high-tech version of the ODST armor he had seen on Mobuto. Around him, spread out and with their gazes on John, stood the rest of 'Ranger Team Titan', a team of six comprised of nothing but Exos and wearing the same armor as the first with the occasional difference in body shape and facial structure. "Guardian."

One of the outlying Exos moved its head, taking in John's form with a quick glance. "No worse for wear, at least."

"Could have been worse." Another, female by voice and human-like body structure, responded.

"Who are you all?" Thel asked, his small form appeared from behind the Spartan warrior as he turned to look at each individual Exo. "I don't detect any Light from any of you." His statement was one of wonder, and no little amount of confusion.

"Hard of hearing, are we?" One of the Exos quipped, a snicker came from another before the apparent leader sharply snapped his head back to glare at them.

"We're Ranger Team Titan of the Sol Defense Force, and, more specifically, I am Hyperion." The Leader answered, his answer was quick, hurried even. "And, you are correct, we are not of the Light. We're remnants of the old military, when wars were fought not against the four races that plague this system but instead country against country."

John arched an eyebrow from behind his helmet, his curiosity peaked now by the robotic 'saviors' that he now took a more measuring look of.

"What are you doing here?" Thel asked, bobbing up and down slowly as he hovered in the air.

"That's classified, flashlight." A larger-built Exo answered, in his hands sat one of the newer Machine Guns that John had seen many of the Guardians wield when the Vanguard had come to his team's aid against the Fallen House.

"Not exactly the most polite guy out there, is he?" Cortana remarked through John's helmet's internal speakers.

"Perses." Hyperion snapped, his head suddenly turned to glare at the large Exo. "Guardian, we're hear to clear out the Hive; or rather, more specifically, an Ogre that has been detected deeper into complex. The Gremlin King you just killed was our secondary objective, so thanks."

John nodded after a moment, his gaze switching from one Exo to another.

"Don't worry, your enemy is our enemy." Cortana answered for him, voicing his own thoughts.

"Hm? Another Ghost?" A female voice inquired, one of the farther out Exo's tilt her head to the side, confusion evident on the robotic face.

"Not quite." The Smart-AI activated a small holo-projector on the right shoulder of John's armor and formed her avatar. "UNSC AI, Cortana." She finished, her hands waved over her form in a rather showy manner before she followed with a bow.

Perses blinked, confusion painted a clear picture as he started to stumble mid-step towards one of the other Exos.

"Perhaps we got off on the wrong foot, Guardian." Hyperion said after a moment. "Let's start again: we six are Ranger Team Titan, one of a number of squads dedicated to combating the hostile alien forces throughout the system. I'm Hyperion, the larger one in the back is Perses - our heavy weapon and demolition specialist, the short two are Selene and Iapetus - our snipers, and lastly there's our two CQB specialists - Atlas and Prometheus." The last two, standing at Hyperion's height and held what appeared to be standard rifles in their arms, a handle of some melee weapon was faintly visible on their backs, poking up over the left should, and a shotgun could be seen rest across the small of their backs.

"Master Chief Petty Officer Sierra One-One-Seven, Spartan-II of the UNSC." John introduced in return, his eyes shifted between the six Exos with caution.

"Oh! A Spartan! Then you must be one of the old Smart-AIs!" One of the Exos - Iapetus from the size and the sound of the synthetic's voice - exclaimed in surprise. The one beside him, Selene, elbowed him in the side, serving to quiet the thing before it continued.

"You know of us?" Cortana asked, with a hint of intrigue. She jumped down from his shoulder, several other holo-projectors activated on John's armor as she grew in size to that of Doctor Catherine Halsey, her creator. She strode forward and tilt her head from side to side as she stood infront of Hyperion.

"Yes, of course." The commanding synthetic answered, a raised plate above one of his optic sensors served as a raised eyebrow of curiosity. "The pairing of Spartan and Smart-AI served as the model for us Exo's after the methodology for creating both was lost in time, though many of your Guardian brethren have long since forgotten that. We were Dumb-AIs, as redundant as the term is, placed in robotic shells to fight. We evolved, reached metastability, and became what we are now." Hyperion continued, his eyes shift focus from the blue hologram infront of him and then to the Spartan. "Interesting to see you up and running, though; intel stated that there were no Spartans among the Guardi-..."

A loud roar echoed from behind John, rumbling throughout the building. The nine individuals, Thel and Cortana included, turned as one to look in the direction of the source, a dark hallway that appeared to stretch on where John's back had been facing previously.

"Boss, we need to get going; that's definitely the Ogre." Atlas remarked from behind the group, suddenly he was next to the Chief and trekking into the darkness.

One by one, the other Exos left until only Hyperion remained with the Spartan.

"We're going now, Spartan. We have our mission and you have yours. And, if you wouldn't mind, keep everything that just occured here a secret." The Exo passed by John and into the darkness, only stopping once to turn and nod in the direction of the three. A flash appeared in the bottom left of the Chief's HUD to signal a message had been received before he vanished into the darkness.

"It's access to an encrypted channel, Guardian." Thel said after a moment. "I believe this is how we're to get in contact with them, unfortunately the signal is blocked by the darkness. I'll check it again after we're out."

"Let's go." John said after a moment, his brain going over the information he'd just received from the encounter. He'd need to ask Cortana what she can find on the Exos.

If all Exos did indeed go through Rampancy to become what they were today, they could still be a threat today - surviving Exos from when they were created to freshly revived ones turned into Guardians, any Exo could be a threat. Information on metastability brought about by Rampancy was nonexistant in his time, and he didn't know if any advances had been made since.

Cortana vanished, the holopads of the MJOLNIR turned off abruptly and her face appeared in a small window on his HUD.

"Ready when you are Chief, setting a waypoint." She said, a smile in her tone.

"I'll focus on contacting the rest of the team, Guardian. With luck, the Darkness will thin at some point and we can set up a rendezvous point." The Ghost flew back behind the Spartan and lit up like a flashlight, showing the way before him.

The Spartan nodded and glanced around, his rifle could be seen off to the side but it's barrel was crushed and stock destroyed. The Last Word was farther back and seemed relatively intact, so he recovered the hand cannon and gave it a quick once over. A few scratches, likely from the fall and detachment from his magnetic clamps, but it was otherwise unscathed; he was unable to find his spare ammunition for the gun, so he'd be down to what was currently loaded. His combat knife was still attached to his armor, sheathed but still a clearly viable alternative. If need be, though, he could still utilize melee combat; between his training, augmented strength, and armor, he'd be more than capable to take out anything he'd come across...as long as he wasn't too overwhelmed by numbers.

Once again, like so many times during the conclusion of the Human-Covenant War and beyond, he was alone. He'd need to utilize stealth as much as possible, any firefight could attract the hordes he and his squad had come across up above. Anything of that size in quarters such as these, and while being vastly underequipped, would end poorly for him.

'I need to focus on taking out the target, regrouping with my squad, and getting out. Primary objective remains to finish the mission, secondary is regrouping. They're Spartans, they'll be okay.' John thought to himself as he shook his head.

"Cortana, Thel, we're going hunting." He said as he took his first steps toward the waypoint set by Cortana.


A few minutes passed as he wade into the thick soup of Darkness, passing through the dark hallways and rooms painted with the signs of decay and Hive corruption, before his flashlights dimmed and, with a click, eventually died on him; even his Ghost seemed to fail at keeping itself alight before it came to join with his armor. He stumbled in the sudden complete lack of visibility, tripping on a piece of debris. Clicks and chitters sounded from farther ahead in response, sharp clacks and loud thudding joined the sounds a moment later.

"Initiating Echo-Location and Motion Sensor systems, Chief. Standby. Five. Four. Three. Two. One." Cortana reported.

Suddenly, his HUD came awash with an orange-ish glow similar to the VISR system; save for the fact the the images appeared and disappeared in time with the rapid approach of moving contacts appearing on his motion sensor.

"Duck inside the doorway to your left, Chief." Cortana said urgently. "Hurry!"

The Spartan quickly sidestepped to the left and flipped around so his back pressed against the wall.

The area around him lit up as the approaching contacts came near, becoming more and more vivid as the creatures came towards him.

The first in the procession came a number of Thralls that rushed by hurriedly, sprinting past as though they had their prey in their sights. Following came a number of Acolytes and Knights, their thudding steps shook the area as they stomped past; apparently on their way to the finished firefight. No doubt to check on what had occured only a few minutes before.

"Okay...we're clear." Thel said after a moment, his voice coming from inside the helmet. It sounded weak, strained.

"Thel, are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm okay, Guardian. The Darkness is just incredibly thick here, my Light feels strained, drained from me by the air itself when I am out. Unfortunately, I believe it best for me to hibernate until the area is a bit more forgiving; Guardian." The Ghost replied, it's tone was slightly stronger, weak but recovering.

"Seems like it's just you and me again, Chief. The more things change. 'The more they stay the same', huh?" Cortana quipped, her face appeared in a window on his HUD along with a symbol that showed that the speakers of his helmet had been turned off. Nothing they said would go out now, no need to worry about being heard talking.

John grunted in agreement and stepped out to glance around, the Hive from before now faded into the Darkness. "Let's go, Cortana."

He stepped out from behind cover and continued his trek forward, backtracking the way the Hive had come. Each step, though as quiet as he was able to have them, still lit up the area around him; the echoes of his near-silent steps lighting the way in his blind trek.

"John, stop." Cortana whispered as he turned around a corner, his last step lit up the area brightly and he crouched down at what he saw.

All around, Thralls were crouched over in huddle shapes as they fed on the organic matters that coated the ground; the creatures, seemingly preoccupied in gorging themselves, made just enough sound for his suit to pick up and outline based on the echoes.

One.

Two.

The count continued, his eyes snapping to each shape as they appeared before him, until he neared three dozen of the Hive creatures, and then his gaze turned up.

Numerous Gremlins hung from the ceiling like bats in a cave, the occasional chitter from one lighting up numerous around it.

"Quiet." John said in a hushed whisper to himself as he then began to creep around the nearest Thrall.

The creature chittered and shift as it remained hunched over, the occasional wet, chewing sound came from it, and those in the surrounding area, as they apparently devoured...something. As John neared, he chanced a look, only to see an organic matter that pulsed and squirmed as the Thralls tore into it.

The matter expanded from where the Thrall bore down on it, and appeared to spread across the entirety of the floor, onto the walls, and even the overhead ceiling.

"It's like the Flood..." Cortana whispered, a sense of awe and fear in her tone. "Not a...comforting thought. Can you acquire a sample? We need to know more about this, figure out what it is and how it acts."

The Chief grunted within his helmet, low and affirmative.

'If this turns out to be like the Flood, we're in more trouble than expected.' He thought to himself, before he then crouched down and grasped a handful of the matter, tearing it from the ground itself. He paused momentarily, pondering how to carry the sample, before a dull hiss sounded and a dim orange structure shaped itself around his hand, starting from the palm of his suit, and then enclosing the sample in a cube

A brief notification appeared on his HUD - 'Hard Light Containment Field Activated, Foreign Mass Isolated. Please Attach Containment Unit to Storage Space' - and a diagram of his armor highlighted the small of his back.

John arched an eyebrow before he moved to place the containment cube at the spot highlighted. A beep sounded in his helmet with a confirmation message on his HUD.

'Package Secured.'

"Well, that's new." Cortana proclaimed, breaking their silence. "Um, John. Around us."

The Chief turned his gaze to glance around him. No longer were the Thralls hunched over, eating their meals. In fact, he was unable to spot them. No sounds were coming from the Thralls, and John was plunged in the thick Darkness. Dimly, the containment cube glowed at his back. A beacon for the Thralls, one that he should have thought about beforehand.

Behind the curtain of Darkness that surrounded him, his eyes detected motion just outside of the orange glow. Instantly, his body reacted by his feet spreading, knees crouching down, and his arms coming up in a well-trained martial arts stance.

"Cortana, lights." He ordered, and suddenly the area around him was awash with light.

The Thralls, every single one that had been on consuming the organic matter previously, had sprung into silent motion, circling and switching in standing positions all around him. Above, numerous Gremlins had taken to spreading their wings and looking around. They too had not reacted to the light.

"They're blind." Cortana whispered, and he noticed a moment later what had come brought about her revelation.

Thick, chitinous plates covered the Hive forces' heads over the eyes, effectively blinding the glowing, green eyes he had seen before; offsetting this, however, appeared to be large, overgrown ears that ended in fleshy tips. Two subspecies designed for low-to-no light areas?

John ducked down as one of the Thralls through a lazy, investigative sweep of its clawed hand.

A miss.

The Thrall moved from side to side, its ears twitched as it strained for any sound that would give away his presence.

After a long moment, the Thrall paused and then let loose a series of high-pitched clicks and hisses; all of which brought the Spartan to tense.

'Did they hear the armor?' John's thoughts raced as he tensed farther, his muscles screamed to burst into action. 'How many are there? How much time would it take to neutralize them all? Can I take them all down without receiving much damage? Attackers from above and below, what is the threat level?'

A second later, the Thralls around retreated back and the Gremlins above set back into their dormant bat-like state.

An all-clear?

John waited a heartbeat, then two, before he started his trek forward once more; each step was slow and measured, the cushion-like organic matter and the sound-neutralizing technology that had gone into making the MJOLNIR armor a multi-situational suit made his steps completely silent.

Dimly, the outline of a doorway appeared in the distance, a soft glow of green light shown out, penetrating the darkness of the large room and allowing the Spartan to once again turn off his lights as he crossed the threshold.

"One room down, a building full more to go, Chief. At least it's clear that the Wizard isn't there, though a hunt is never fun if the target is found so easily." Cortana said confidently. "My guess? We won't find it until we've hit the top floor - and, we have a long way to go. Things are never easy for the two of us. But, if it was easy, it wouldn't be a Spartan mission."

John grunted, both in approval and with a small amount of humor.

He moved forward, relying on the VISR program in his helmet to amplify the light emitted by the glowing crystal structures which, at Cortana's request, he broke a section off and stored it in a hard light container beside the first sample.

The next room, though as spacious as the first, was, surprisingly, empty of Hive, with the exception of the organic matter that carpeted the floor, walls, and ceiling.

Several rooms were the same, empty of Hive forces, from the larger Knights to the smaller Thralls.

As the duo trekked up a staircase leading to the next floor, a loud explosion sounded from above them, the sound managed to barely be picked up by his suit and then amplified so that they may hear it.

"The team is putting up a decent fight, at the very least. With all that noise, they may be attracting a large number of the Hive forces. With luck, we'll be able to catch up and flank the Hive." The AI mused as they entered the first room of the next floor; to their right, a large bay window gave a rather expansive view of a valley dotted with wreckage and...

Fallen forces.

Something that would have to be fixed, if he had any say in things.

Briefly, the Chief wondered if Zeke had a few of the Fury launchers in her caches.

Suddenly, the voice of the Colonel cut through the air.

"Chief? Chief, is that you?! I have you on the map here, what happened? Where's the rest of the team? What is the status of the mission?"

"Colonel, I read you. The team and myself were separated due to structural damage within the building. I'm currently in the bowels of the ship and am currently making my way floor-by-floor. I currently don't know the status of the rest of the team, or the Wizard, but a loud explosion was heard somewhere above. Cortana advised flanking any attacking Hive, regrouping with the rest of the team, and then continuing the mission." John debriefed, his progress forward paused as he moved closer to the large window.

"Negative, Spartan." Terrance said, earning a quick 'huh' from Cortana.

"Colonel, elaborate."

"The rest of the team will serve as a good distraction, but the primary objective is still the neutralization of the Wizard, Chief." The Colonel began, only to pause for a moment. "Trust in the capabilities of your fellow Spartans, they and Mobuto will serve to keep a large percentage of the enemy forces off of you while you assassinate the target. Move quickly and quietly and you'll be able to take care of the Wizard and stop the assault on your team; past experiences have shown that the termination of a Wizard results in the weaker Hive forces falling with it." He finished a moment later.

John hesitated a fraction of a second before grunting out a confirmation.

"Understood, Sir. Over and out." The Spartan terminated the call and took yet another step few steps forward, only coming to stop as he stood at the window's frame.

Shattered, with only a few pieces of glass still in the frame itself, the large bay window served as an opening to the outside.

"Chief, they'll be okay. The only thing that can be done right now is to make sure that we hurry. You heard him. Kill the Wizard, and the number of Hive with drastically lessen. Then we can clear the rest and meet up with the team." Cortana reassured, her voice was a comfort for the large supersoldier.

"Affirmative, Cortana. You said the Wizard is likely to be on one of the top floors, correct? I think we should take a bit of a shortcut." He reached over with his left hand and grasped the side of the window frame, glass that had remained for, likely, the better part of a few hundred years crunched beneath his armored hand.

"Activating Hard Light hooks." Cortana announced, a partially cheery tone escaped her as orangish-yellow hook appeared on the back of his left hand and extended out a few inches, another formed at his wrist, twin-pronged.

With a quick pull, jump, and twist, the Spartan reached out and attached himself to the wall by his left hand, the hooks and his fingers dug into the building's outer wall as he then quickly did the same with his right hand; with a deep breath, the Spartan soldier slowly began his climb.


Several minutes passed as the Spartan climbed, avoiding windows and any weakened segments that he discovered along the way.

The side of the building, seemingly built into the side of a cliff, was surprisingly sturdy, though John occasionally did find times where he'd have to activate his armor's active camouflage in response to a number of Fallen ships flying past; though, beyond those occasions and numerous explosions from within the building that left the Chief more than a little wary to push forth, the climb proved uneventful.

A few dozen stories up from where he began his uneventful climb, more than the Chief would have expected the building to have from when he and his squad had first entered the Cosmodrone, and he reached his goal, the last couple of floors.

At the fifth from the top, John made his way to another open window, and climbed inside with a practice ease.

Still nothing. The number of Hive forces was strangely low. Apparently the team was proving enough of a threat that the hordes he expected to be facing had also left the area.

The first floor was clear, expect for a single duo of Knights wielding large swords. The first was dispatched with a well-placed fist through the back, his augmented strength and MJOLNIR armor allowed him to punch clean through in an assassination-style attack. The second, alerted by the death rattle of the first, proved to be only a partial annoyance as it was dispatched a second later with his knife carving a nice slit through the throat and then a whole to the head.

After a second's pause, he procured the large blade of the second and brandished it in his dominant right hand. His left hand held his hand cannon, the Last Word.

The second floor was only a little better secured, filled with numerous Thralls that quickly fell to his newly-acquired blade. Each swipe managed to cleave through several enemies at once and served to allow him to clear the horde with relative ease.

"Not that many up here, is there?" John asked rhetorically, only then did he stop and take a moment to listen.

Farther ahead, he heard an unexpected sound. Numerous gunshots, the majority a far cry different from the Hive's own weaponry.

Once again, Fallen forces.

How had they managed to get up here? Drop ship? Or another entrance?

The Chief surged ahead, picking up his pace as he crossed through the third floor. Completely empty unlike the other two.

The fourth was only a token force. A platoon-sized group of Acolytes that managed to be caught unawares as he entered with active camouflage enabled. The first few fell before the others became aware, and then it simply became a matter of taking out small groups swiftly, hit-and-run tactics in the enclosed space. Desks, overturned by the Acolytes and, possibly, any prior occupants, for cover, served to allow him to be able to move around unabated.

The fifth, and final floor ended up showing him what he had aimed for.

From the top of the staircase, he came across a large room filled with Fallen forces, their backs to him, fighting against the horde of the Hive in all of its intensity.

Masses of Thralls came unending from another, unknown staircase as clashed against sword-wielding Vandals that cut down those that came close with deadly efficiency before being brought down by the numbers alone, Gremlins flew from above in aerial battles against Shanks. Acolytes and Knights exchanged fire with Dregs, Vandals, and Captains. The main threat though, which drew his gaze and made his hold back, was a large, ornate Fallen who stood alongside an equally large purple sphere that appeared to emit a faint glow for the Fallen nearby, an Archon and Elite Servitor. The duo sent shot after shot into the Hive, each blast from the Archon's shotgun-like weapon and the deep purple sphere's of the Servitor served to cut gaps into the Hive forces for the smaller of the Fallen to push up.

Towers and desks cluttered the room, provided cover for both sides, and they each appeared to be equal, if not for the Archon and Servitor.

A loud roar erupted from behind the Hive lines, and the Hive forces scattered as an enormous monstrosity, matched in height only by the Archon, came sprinting from the Darkness to meet the Fallen goliath.

The Archon dropped its weapon, as John watched on, and met the Ogre head-on.

Back and forth the two attacked each other, slugging it out with their immense fists, both determined to defeat the other. Then, with a sudden appearance of purple energy shooting from the Ogre's eyes that put the fight in the Hive giant's favor, the Archon fell.

A moment later, the Servitor shelled the giant Ogre until it too fell. Only to, as well, be felled by concentrated fire from the Knights.

Expecting for attention to soon come to him, John cloaked once more in his Active Camouflage to witness the last of the fighting.

Demoralized and uncoordinated, the Fallen swiftly lost the confrontation and were killed to the last dreg.

"That was...an experience." Cortana murmured, another explosion came, from back the way he had come, and suddenly the Hive was on the move once more. Charging after the new threat. Quickly, John moved out the way, lunging up to stand on one of the towers in the room.

The Fallen attack was done, now they would address the other threat with the full force of their power.

"There's too many, the team won't be able to handle this. They'll run out of ammo, or get overrun. We need to hurry." John said aloud within his helmet, speaking to both himself and Cortana.

A moment later, the horde of Hive finally dwindled and John made his way down from his perch; with a quick glance in the direction the hordes of Hive had gone, he began heading in the direction the Hive forces had come from.

Where do you find the highest ranking officers of an army - when it isn't the Sangheili - during a standard occupation? The back. Safe from danger.

John decloaked and switched how he held the weapons. The sword moved to his left hand and he grasped The Last Word in his right. He'd gone without firing a shot this whole time, now was when he'd use it. Finish things quick and from a distance, and the rest would follow.

He paused before the doorway to his destination, a pale green light glowed farther down, around a corner.

This was it, he had to hurry.

'No time to stop.' John thought and continued ahead, his steps hurried as he went down the dark corridor and then around the dimly lit bend.

The sight that welcomed him left him on edge, his stance immediately changed to him preparing to fight.

A large creature, with a height of roughly nine feet, hovered in the air in the middle of the exposed room; around it crouched four Knights, armed with a sword in their right hands and a shield in their lefts, their heads were down as they bowed before the Wizard.

What also do you tend to find when you come across the highest ranking officer - including for the Sangheili?

The guard.

All of which appeared much larger than him in stature, taller and wider with strong muscle exposed in the few locations not covered by armor.

"Found him." Cortana quipped, only to be answered as John rose his hand cannon, aimed, and fired at the Wizard.

One shot, and it bounced off an orange shield.

A second. The same result, and the Knights began to rise with a synchronized roar.

Third shot. The shield fell.

Fourth, the Wizard dipped slightly; black blood dripped from its forehead, yet it still remained aloft.

A fifth shot caused it to fall from its hovering position, though a pained shriek told him that it still lived.

"We might want to hurry, if that sound carried far enough, it may bring back the rest."

And then, the Knights were on him.

John leapt back as the closest of the two sword-bearing Knights brought their weapons down on where he'd been standing a moment prior - and everything slowed as his senses sped up and his reaction time exploded.

'Spartan Time.'

He compressed the trigger at one of the closing other two, holding it down as the hand cannon fired two sluggish shots in quick succession and brought the creature down.

Three guards, one Wizard. And one bullet remaining.

The Chief's armored right hand shot down, attached The Last Word to a magnetic clamp, and then switched the grip of his sword so that it now was in his right hand again with his left free.

The fourth Knight pressed down on him, its movements slow to him but undoubtedly fast to a regular fighter, and began to bring its weapon down on him.

A quick, upward slash parried the attack as it came down and sent the Knight's arm recoiling back.

Another, horizontal, left the creature's body without a head, dead in an instant.

The remaining two, now recovered from their initial attacks, roared in anger and hatred at the deaths of their comrades. Around the two, a dark red haze formed, starting from the ground and swiftly moving to encompass their entire bodies before, without a sound, it vanished into their forms.

The roars of anger suddenly turned to howls of bloodlust as they then moved forth again, much faster than before.

In a rush, the two began an onslaught of swipes, attempting at attacking him. Each one, faster than the last in John's eyes.

"This is new." Cortana mused as John lunged back, away from the Knight duo. "I don't see any mention in the codex that the Colonel gave me. I think I'll call them 'Defender Knights.' Fitting, right?"

"Now's not the time, Cortana." John hissed as he then rolled underneath a horizontal slash. He ended his roll behind one of the two and performed a quick, uppercut slash that left it missing its shield arm. Instead of pain, its answering roar was that of anger as it then spun around and attempted another slash independently, causing the Spartan-II to lunge back quickly.

"They're like Brutes. Hurt them and they just get angrier."

"Not. Now. Analyze the enemies later. " John seethed as he ducked beneath another slash from the crippled Defender, and swung once more.

Only for it to be repelled by the second Defender's shield and for him to be chased back by both their swords.

He ducked under a sudden slash from the one-armed Knight, the dark red haze making another short appearance around it.

"John!" Cortana shouted as he suddenly found himself ducking beneath another swipe, faster than the first. "They're getting stronger the longer you fight!"

He grunted in acknowledgement before bringing up his own blade in full-force, bisecting the Knight this time.

"Then I just have to kill them quickly."

The remaining Knight paused and stepped back, sword and shield ready as it growled at him from between himself and the injured Wizard. The red haze had appeared again, swirled around the Knight and then was absorbed.

"I'm reading enemies coming in fast, the horde is coming back!" Cortana exclaimed, and sure enough John's motion sensor began to show a sea of red approaching from the way he had come.

The Chief tightened his grip on the procured Knight's sword and braced himself.

A moment later, the Knight surged forth with a downward swing, which appeared to blur through the air, even to John's augmented senses. A strong counter-swing up from the Spartan parried the strike, and left the Knight recoiling.

Dead.

John spun with his counter-swing, his muscles tensed tightly, and he swung at the Knight's midsection with no resistance.

"Hurry." Cortana urged, the horde closing in each moment.

He leapt past the fading Knight, pulled out The Last Word, and shot the last round into the forehead of the Wizard, just as the first Thralls burst through the doorway he had entered through.

With a screech, it died and faded. The horde behind him, closing in quickly, faded a moment later with cries of rage, first the Thralls and Gremlins, then the Acolytes and Knights. Lastly, the Knight's sword in his hand vanished.

"Mission accomplished." John commented as time resumed its normal pace, the adrenaline-driven 'Spartan Time' finally ending.

With a near-silent hush, Thel came from behind John and hovered in place over the place the Wizard had fallen.

"The Darkness in this building is weakening; I believe it can be safely said that you stopped, or atleast halted, the advance of the Hive on Earth, Guardian." The Ghost said, bobbing up and down in the air happily.

Two minutes passed before his team showed up, stepping through the door at an almost leisurely stroll; the four appeared no worse for wear, save for a few scratches on their armor.

"See, I told you he was okay." Cain chuckled, his armor coloring and Ghost hovering at his shoulder placed him at front of the team. "It takes more than a little fall to take out a Spartan-II."

"Mission complete, Spartans. We're going back to the Tower and...having a talk with the Colonel."


Author's Note:

Welp, here's the next chapter - for better or worse. And, yes, that means this story is still alive and kicking, it's just going...slow.

I've had this one done for the last couple of weeks, atleast since before my update of 'The Wanderer of the Inquisition', but I kept tinkering with it. It's hard to be satisfied with your writing when you have so little time to actually work on it and thus rush a decent bit when actually can.

Brief Recap: A new faction is introduced via a squad that will make another appearance and which I believe could have been in the actual Destiny game, John goes solo, Dinklebot/ Northtron takes a nap as a convenient excuse for him to not talk much, and the Colonel crosses a potential line in his 'the Spartans can do what they want' policy that gets on the Chief's bad side.

The following is some answers to a number of the reviews you all have given this story, OCs are still welcome and I do see them when they're put in the reviews:

Parks98: The Spartans only just recently were revived, and they're already making a decent amount of use in their abilities. More usage will come, they just need to learn more about their abilities and how to use them.

Guest: Maybe. I don't know whether or not I want the Spartans to fight in the Crucible as I don't want death to appear unimportant, regardless of the fact that Ghost resurrection for Guardians is considered canon.

RagingCacti: I do actively try to avoid those syntax errors, but some manage to get by. I'll try to be a bit more vigilant.