Disclaimer: Yes, yes, I know, I know… err, what was this about again?


A/N: Ok, I'm really going in way over my head in this one… I actually think that I can rip off lightsaber combat styles for this! Well, actually, considering that the fact that Laser Weapons are similar to lightsabers… well, we'll just wait and see, won't we?
Chapter 9: Cortana

Fayt had quickly sealed Maria's injuries with a healing spell, and the moment the Phantom docked in the Reynolds' hangar, he had brought her to the cruiser's medical bay and left her in the care of the navy doctors.

As much as he wanted to stay by her side, he knew he would not be able to. The battlefield was calling out to him, and he needed to aid his comrades at war. Sprinting out of the sick bay, he ran for the briefing room, where the party was waiting.

"Leingod! You're late." Major Harrison gazed at Fayt reproachfully as the bluenette entered the briefing room.

"I… was held up. I have no excuse." Fayt replied, slightly embarrassed.

Harrison sighed. "Never mind that, we've got another task on our hands. Master Chief, go ahead."

The Spartan stepped forward and addressed the party.

"Only a few hours ago I had left this system, heading to Earth in an attempt to stop the Covenant from destroying it. However, now I've been sent back here with all of you, and I remember what it is that left behind in this sector." John raised a hand to the holographic tactical display, pointing to a huge structure that looked like some sort of half-destroyed moon, locked in orbit around the Delta Halo.

"The Covenant's holy city, High Charity." John continued. "The AI that I left behind on that station to make sure that Halo didn't fire is still there. The Flood have infested the station, and I don't think she's managed to elude capture."

Fayt balked at the word 'she'. AI's now actually had gender? The Master Chief spotted his slack jaw and said, "I know you'd think it's impossible to capture an AI as good at system-jacking as Cortana, but the Gravemind's ability to corrupt electrical systems should not be underestimated. I'd bet that they've already twisted her systems so badly that she's no longer one of us anymore."

Fayt recovered and nodded mutely.

The Spartan continued on with his briefing. "Our objective is to break into the station, and recover Cortana's data module, if at all possible. Failing that, we are left with no other choice but to set High Charity on self-destruct. The explosion will destroy both the Flood and Halo. By then, we'll already be back at Earth."

"What! Destroy Halo? But Albel's still down there!" Nel protested.

"We don't have any other choice. Besides, with all the Flood on the surface of Halo, he'd probably be dead by now." Harrison replied.


Albel dodged the Titan's tentacle, leaping over the clumsy strike, and retaliating with a barrage of shots from his Gunblade. Another tentacle came flying at him, and he raised the blade to block it. However, a sudden itching in his nose caused him to sneeze unexpectedly, flinching the blade forward with just enough force to sever the tentacle in half.

The Flood Titan roared in pain and lumbered back a step, flailing around its maimed appendage, but Albel paid it no heed.

Rubbing his itching nose, he muttered under his breath, "Somebody's talking bad about me…"


"No, it can't be. Albel can't be dead, he just can't be…" Nel wasn't in hysterics just yet, but she looked more than ready to break out into a fit. Mirage quickly placed a calming hand on her shoulder and told her to relax.

Reluctantly, the Elicoorian did so, but she hadn't gotten over the trauma of losing her recently discovered love.

Gazing at Nel, the Master Chief was inadvertently reminded of Linda, whom the Aquarian bore a striking resemblance to. While he and his squad of Spartans preferred acting as a team, Linda was the only one who performed at her best while operating alone.

He wondered where his squad had gone off to; once they had returned to Earth before the Covenant arrived, he had been ordered to stay on Cairo station while the others were sent off to the other Inner Colonies still in need of protection.

Realizing that he was getting distracted, he chucked away any thoughts about his squad mates and resumed the briefing.

"Resistance is likely to be extremely heavy; we all know what kind of numbers the Flood can send at us. We all go in heavy, light only for those who can't carry the full combat gear. Our time window for this mission is one hour, any longer and the fleet will have to pull out, leaving us stranded on the station. Any questions?"

The party remained silent, obviously knowing what they had to do.

"Good. You have ten minutes to gather the supplies you need, then meet at Hangar Bay E for departure."


Fayt was just stuffing the last of his ammunition clips into his knapsack when the door to his room slid open.

Without even turning around to address whoever had just entered the room, he zipped his knapsack closed and clipped his utility belt snugly around his waist, saying, "Yes Sophia, you're supposed to go to the armory to get your night-vision gear. And no, don't ask me to get it for you, you know what a pair of infra-red goggles look like."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Fayt. What happened in the briefing I missed?" Answered a familiar voice that wasn't Sophia's.

Fayt whirled around to see Maria standing in front of him. The bluenette looked rather pale and weak, but she also appeared to be more determined than ever to be a part of things.

"Maria! What are you doing here? You're supposed to be at the sick bay!" Fayt stated in shock.

"There wasn't anything much the doctors could do; all they told me was to 'get enough rest.' Well, I won't be lying down in the sick bay while you and the others go off to fight the Covenant! Now tell me, what did I miss in the briefing?"

Fayt sighed inwardly. Apparently, their feelings for each other didn't change her serious attitude towards him one bit.

"We're supposed to board the installation that's in orbit around Halo, the Covenant's holy city, High Charity. The Flood has already infested the station, so it would be advisable to load up on the shotguns and machineguns. The power in the station's been cut off, so we'll need to bring along night vision gear as well. Personally, I think our Laser Weapons will do just fine, but it's the Chief's call. He also said the Arbiter may be able to lend us some assistance on this one."

Maria nodded and was about to exit the room when she hesitated, a slightly troubled expression on her face.

Fayt could see that something was wrong, and he asked what the matter was.

"Nothing much," Maria replied, "Just… thinking."

"About what?" Fayt couldn't help asking.

Maria had been trying to think up of the best way to say it, but now that Fayt had caught her unprepared, she decided that it would be best if she just came right out and said it.

"You said that you loved me, right before I lost consciousness. I wasn't hearing things, was I?"

The statement hit Fayt in the face like a proverbial ton of bricks, and he put on a look of mock hurt. "Of course you weren't, Maria! That was a bona fide confession that I made! How could you doubt me about it?"

Maria couldn't help but smile at his little joke. "Well then, I guess I have nothing to worry about."

Fayt chuckled. "Yeah, you don't." They stood in awkward silence for a moment, still not used to the knowledge of the other's feelings.

"Fayt…" She tried to start.

"Maria…" He started at the same time.

They stared at each other for an instant filled with utter stupidity, waiting for the other to start, before Fayt burst out into uproarious laughter, Maria giggling to herself as well.

"My god, look at us! We're acting like lovesick adolescents!" Fayt choked out as he wiped tears of mirth from his eyes, holding on to his sides as he continued laughing.

"We are still adolescents, mind you." Maria replied, still giggling uncontrollably.

Fayt finally got his laughter under control, and he calmed down enough to wipe the smile off his face, adopting a more serious expression.

"But seriously, Maria, I do love you. With all my heart." He said, looking into her eyes with an intensity that almost took her breath away.

Unhesitant, she stepped forward and embraced him. "I thought I'd never get to say this again, but… I love you too."

Fayt smiled and hugged her back. "Yeah, I thought I'd never say it either."

They stayed like this for several moments, silently locked in their embrace. Neither wanted to let go of the other, and they never did.

Their eyes locked, and Maria felt inexplicably drawn towards those vivid green pupils of his. Fayt felt the same way; the cool blue of her irises were like magnets to him.

Slowly, steadily, the distance between their faces shortened, until they became so close that their noses were almost touching. Maria closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable kiss to come, but it never did.

Blast Cliff and his bad timings!

"Hey Fayt, Johnson wants me to tell you… Maria? What are you doing here?" The blonde said as he barged right into the room.

He glanced at the two bluenettes that had shot to the opposite ends of the room almost as if they were the like poles of two magnets.

"Uh, nothing! Just wanted to know what I missed during the briefing! Well, thanks for the info, Fayt! Bye!" She shot out of the room like a bullet, her face beet red.

Fayt was trying to hide his blush as well, but he failed miserably.

"Just what were you two doing in here, anyway?" Cliff asked, curious.

"No-none of your business, Cliff! What did Johnson want?" Fayt sputtered before regaining his composure.

The Klausian shrugged and told him that the entire party was already at the hangar bay, they were only waiting only for him and Maria.

Still embarrassed about the incident, Fayt merely nodded and ushered Cliff out of his room, closing and locking the door before his knees buckled and he collapsed onto his rump, breathing quickly.

Damnit! And we were so close, too! Fayt thought as he picked himself up. Curse you, Cliff!

His legs still a bit shaky from his little encounter with Maria, he picked up his knapsack and slung it over his shoulder, heading for the hangar.


The Pelican didn't make the quietest landing in one of High Charity's many hangar bays, but nothing in the darkened hangar bay stirred.

Clumps of Flood matter, be it corpses or masses of boneless flesh, dotted the hangar in several places; some of it gathered in huge blockages on the walkways of the hangar's higher levels, while others infiltrated the inner workings of the automatic doors, disrupting the delicate electronics that kept the doors opening and closing the right way.

The Pelican's hatch opened, and several figures leapt out of the dropship. One of them flicked a switch on his helmet, and the Master Chief's headlamp flared to life. The headlamp cast a bright beam of light that cut across the darkness, and it illuminated the hangar bay's doors. This one had been largely untouched by the Flood infestation, and it was still functional.

The Master Chief switched off his headlamp and activated his black-and-white image enhancement. He broadcasted the message to the rest of the party as well. "Deactivate headlamps. Black-and-white image enhancement from now on. Maintain radio silence, and whisper only if you have to."

The party nodded and donned their night-vision goggles. Fayt flicked the safety off his SMG and leveled it forward, keeping it steady.

A sudden thud from behind caused the team to whirl around, but it was only Sergeant Johnson, hauling down a box from the Pelican.

"Commander Keyes thought the layout of the station would be unfamiliar to you guys, so she suggested I bring a guide. The light bulb's been here before, he'll know the way." Johnson opened the box, and nothing could have prepared the Master Chief for what emerged from it.

Fayt half-expected it to be a grunt, but instead a bright-blue glowing sphere floated out of the box. The sphere bobbed around for a moment, as if disoriented, but it finally settled and the single photoreceptor that was mounted on the sphere's front settled on them, particularly the Master Chief.

"Ah, Reclaimer. We meet again." The sphere intoned in a chirpy, mechanical voice with a British accent.

"Spark!" This was the closest thing to a fit of rage that Fayt had seen John in. The Spartan's left arm blurred upwards, and John emptied an entire clip from his magnum sidearm into the floating sphere.

Every single round impacted against the sphere with expert accuracy, but to no apparent effect. "Oh really, Reclaimer, that was completely unnecessary."

Johnson chuckled. "I'd suggest you save your ammo, Chief. Tinkerbell here is nigh indestructible."

"I know that, Sergeant." John ground out, reloading his sidearm and holstering it. "What are you doing here, Spark? Weren't you destroyed along with the first Halo?"

Roger glanced back and forth from the sphere to the Spartan. "Wait a minute, you two know each other? What the hell is that thing, anyway?"

Before John could answer a Phantom entered the hangar bay. The hatch opened, and the Arbiter, the Praetor, and several other Elites clad in either bright gold or jet-black armor marched towards them.

"Humans! We have arrived as you requested, and – the Oracle!" The Praetor gaped at the floating sphere.

"What? The Elites call that thing an Oracle? Oh man, now I'm so confused!"

"Oracle? Why do you aliens always insist on using such inaccurate verbiage? Please allow me to introduce myself. I am 343 Guilty Spark. I am the Monitor of Installation 04." The sphere intoned.

"So… he's some kind of monitor? Why would he know this place really well?" Cliff wondered.

"Because he was wired into our systems for some time, when we were trying to find the Sacred Icon. He would have downloaded the schematics to this area, along with several other things." The Arbiter replied, looking warily at the Monitor.

"Sacred Icon? You mean the Index." John stated, still keeping his Battle Rifle leveled at the Monitor.

"Wait a minute, what is this all about? Shouldn't we be trying to find a way to retrieve your AI?" Fayt said.

The Master Chief sighed. "Yes, you're right. Spark, lead the way. But I'm warning you; the slightest hint of treachery from you and I'm blowing you into space dust."

"Of course, Reclaimer." The Monitor stated nonchalantly. "Please, follow me. The fastest route to the Prophet's audience chamber is this way."

Spark hovered off, and the party and the Elites followed.

High Charity was a labyrinth of twisting corridors and dead ends. There was many a time when Spark would lead the party around a corner, only to encounter a locked door or a passage blocked by debris.

The Arbiter looked around in disappointment. High Charity had been his home for the past several years, and to see it degraded into a hive for the Flood… it filled him with rage that burned so greatly he wanted to tear apart the next Flood form he saw with his bare hands.

Several times, the Flood had ambushed the party, and this time their assaults were so intense that casualties were much higher than expected. Mirage finished bandaging a marine's arm and closed her medpac, realizing that they were rapidly burning through their limited stash of medical supplies.

She pulled the marine up to his feet and they rejoined the party. The marine started jogging ahead to catch up with his peers, but a sudden rustling from behind caught Mirage's attention.

She quietly keyed the COM and opened a private channel with Cliff.

"Yeah Mirage, what's up?" Cliff asked, heading back to where she was.

"I think something's stalking us. More than just your average Flood minion." She activated her night-vision goggles, and immediately her dark surroundings were cast into a black-and-white hue, but she was able to make things out much more clearly.

"What do you think it is?" Cliff snapped on his own goggles, stepping up beside Mirage.

"I don't know. I swear I heard something moving down this corridor behind us for the past few minutes." She could very vaguely make out a dark shape shuffling towards them in the darkness, but she didn't know if her eyes were playing tricks on her.

"Go back and warn the others. I'll stay here and watch for anything approaching." Cliff whispered as he thumbed the activation switch on his Valorous gauntlets. The powered gauntlets' internal servos hummed to life, and tiny lights glowed on the articulation points.

Mirage nodded and turned back to alert the party. "Be careful." She whispered back before leaving.

Cliff grinned. "I always am, Mirage. Always am." He turned back to the corridor, watching out for threats.


"Excuse me, Reclaimer." The Monitor's chirpy voice sounded behind Fayt. He assumed that the Monitor was referring to him and he turned around to face Spark.

"Yes, what is it?" He asked.

"I have been doing a remote analysis of your genetic structure. It would seem that you and two other Reclaimers in this group have had your genes altered. A certain type of symbol has been etched onto your genes; the one I found in you is identical to the one that can be seen on your pendant. I find this most curious." Spark stated.

"By the other two Reclaimers, I take it that you're referring to Maria and Sophia?" Fayt asked.

"Those symbols are part of our genes; they were modified to give us great powers. We can't always control this power, but when we can… well, suffice it to say, things go boom." He finished with a smile, remembering the spectacular 'fireworks' that he achieved with the final Ethereal Blast he used to finish off Luther.

"That is most interesting Reclaimer. By compiling this data, along with my preliminary analyses, it appears that your combat class surpasses that of this entire group combined together! It is amazing to encounter a being of such power!" The Monitor chirped excitedly.

"Combat class? What are you talking about?" Fayt asked, puzzled.

"Oh dear, it appears that I have not explained myself fully. Combat classes range from Class One to Class Twenty. Class Twelve is the minimum class required for prolonged active combat against the Flood. It appears that that Reclaimer's Combat Class," Spark turned to the Master Chief to indicate that it was referring to him, "qualifies only as a Class Two. It is a wonder that he has managed to survive this long. The other two Reclaimers, whose genes have been modified like yours, classify as a Class Fourteen, but you, Reclaimer, your class surpasses that of even Class Twenty!"

"Thanks, Spark. I'll take that as a compliment." Fayt grinned and was about to continue on when Mirage called out his name.

"Fayt!" He turned around as the blonde came up to him.

"What happened? What's going on?" he asked her as she glanced worriedly back down the corridor where she had left Cliff.

"Something's stalking the party. It's definitely not your average Flood, I'm absolutely sure of it. Cliff went to investigate, he told me to warn the rest of you."

Fayt noted this grimly. "Spark, tell the rest of them that we're halting the search temporarily. Me and Mirage are going back there to help Cliff, get them to back us up."

"Certainly, Reclaimer." Spark hovered off to alert the rest of the party, and Fayt gestured for Mirage to lead him to where Cliff was waiting.


"Cliff, Mirage and I are headed for your position now. No matter what you do, don't move."

"Fayt! Hurry it up and get over here. Something's not right with this place…" Cliff turned around, trying to see Fayt and Mirage.


Fayt snapped on his own goggles as well and twisted the dial that set the image enhancement to the max. His surroundings grew painfully bright, but he was able to see with clarity.

And he saw the dark shape that was shambling towards Cliff slowly. It was larger than any Flood he had seen before, but it was definitely a Flood. Damnit, he had to warn the Klausian!


"Cliff," Fayt said into the comm, "something's behind you! It's hiding in the darkness! It's coming towards you!"

Cliff whirled around, his eyes darting left and right, trying to spot the thing that Fayt said was coming for him. Seeing nothing at all but stained walls and an empty corridor.

"I don't see it!" Cliff reported.

"It's there!" came Fayt's voice, crackling in the radio.

But he still saw nothing but stained walls, and the corridor still looked empty to him. Worse, his night-vision was going out. The image enhancement was getting dimmer and dimmer…

Wait – was there something in the darkness, over there? It was hard to tell in the weakening night-vision.

And as Cliff peered, eyes aching, into the darkness – his night vision went out completely.

Total darkness snapped down around him.

"This is not happening," he muttered into the comm. "My night vision is down. Think my battery's out. Fayt, can you still see it?"


The painful illumination had finally grown too much for Fayt's eyes, and he had to tone down the enhancement by a few levels.

"I can't see it anymore, Cliff. Get out of there, it's probably right on top of you!"


Cliff was about to turn around and retreat down the corridor when a sudden rustling froze his feet in place. Fayt was right, there was something right behind him…

He whirled around and swung his right fist in a viscous hook, just an attempt to knock the thing off-balance so that he could meet up with Mirage and Fayt…

But the thing caught his fist in mid-swing without so much as flinching. If it was strong enough to catch his fist without flinching, it was most definitely strong enough to kill him in a single strike. Knowing it was either his pride as a fist-fighter or his life, he decided on his life.

He dipped a hand to his utility belt, unclipped a narrow metal cylinder that was not unlike Fayt's Laser Weapon, and a bronze-hued blade of energy spat out of the cylinder's emitter, cleaving his attacker in two.

At last, in the soft glow of his own Laser Weapon's blade, he was able to get a clear look at his assailant.

Damn… And I thought normal Brutes were ugly. He grimaced at the two halves of the flood-infected Brute that he had cut open.

"Cliff! Are you all – what the hell is that!" Fayt's expression changed to one of utter disgust as he automatically unclipped his own laser weapon from his belt and activated it upon seeing the Flood corpse, the emerald blade illuminating their surroundings even further.

"I think it's a Brute that got infected by the Flood. We've so far seen only humans and Elites get infected and turned into their minions, but this… I guess Brutes are the all-brawn side of their minions." Cliff muttered.

Fayt and Mirage snapped off their goggles, and Mirage activated her Laser Weapon as well, the dark-blue blade adding much-needed light to the surroundings.

"I don't like the looks of this. There might be more of… these things," Cliff nervously nudged the corpse with his boot, "out there. The others have to be alerted to this."

"Yeah. I'll go ahead and tell them to continue on without us. You two stay and make sure there aren't any more of those things stalking us." Fayt took off, leaving Cliff and Mirage alone.

Cliff waved the luminous blade of his Laser Weapon forward, trying to illuminate the corridor further.

"I don't think there's any more of those things down here. As far as I can see, this corridor's empty." Cliff stated as he deactivated his Laser Weapon and clipped it back onto his belt.

"Don't let your guard down, Cliff. The Flood has a reputation for popping out of nowhere. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if one were sneaking up on us right n-"

Mirage never got to finish her sentence as a dark shape hurtled into her view and tackled Cliff to the floor.

"Cliff!" She cried out amidst the grunts and yells that Cliff and his assailant were making. She stepped forward to impale the Flood form with her Laser Weapon, but she realized that she couldn't strike the creature without hitting Cliff as well.

Cliff struggled frantically, trying to break the Flood minion's grasp on his arms, and kneed it in the groin. However, it didn't do anything more than flinch, and it roared in his face, spitting out greenish ichor and saliva.

"Ugh… you oughta invest in some in some tic-tacs, 'cos you know what? Your breath stinks!" Cliff spat in the creature's face and mustering all of his strength, pile-drived both his legs into the Flood minion's chest, kicking it off of him, finally giving Mirage the space she needed to cut the creature into bite-sized chunks.

After dicing the creature into several pieces, she turned around and extended out her hand to help Cliff up. The Klausian gratefully accepted his partner's hand and let her haul him to his feet, scrunching his features up in disgust as he wiped the Flood minion's gunk off his face.

"Ugh, man. It's gonna take more than a face-wash to clean that off!" He groaned as he tried to clean himself off from his close encounter.

"Just be grateful it didn't break anything." Mirage commented, deciding not to take any more risks and lit a flare, tossing it down the corridor. The flare's light ate away at the darkness of the corridor, filling it with bright light that finally allowed the two blondes to deactivate their Laser Weapons and clip them back onto their belts.

They stood in companionable silence for several minutes, two sets of eyes watching either side of the corridor, wary of any attacks. The faintest scrape of a boot sliding over metal perked both of the Klausian's ears, and in a flash they both had their fists leveled at the side of the corridor where the footstep had come from.

"Hey, relax! It's me." Fayt stepped out of the darkness, looking a little jumpy. "The others won't move on until we join them again, we've got to get back."

As the three of them ran off, the light of the flare slowly died out. In the last few seconds of its short glow-span, a familiar foot stepped into the dying light. A foot that was clad in purple, clown-like shoes.

The figure could barely be seen in the dimness, and it quietly chuckled to itself. "Well, well. It seems that I've underestimated them. It'll take more than just two flood brutes to bring them down. It's too bad Albel isn't here anymore, he would have posed quite a challenge."

It adopted a mock thinking posture, tapping its chin before snapping its fingers. "Ah, I've got it! Time to send in the big boys."

It snapped its fingers again, and four hulking shapes, each twice the size of the figure itself, stepped up behind it.

"You lot know what to do. Go, and do not allow them to recover the AI! The Gravemind must not be interrupted in the midst of the corrupting process…" It snapped its finger again, and the four figures vanished into the darkness with a speed that belied their huge frames.


"Ah, the Reclaimers have returned."

Maria whirled around, anxious to see if they were all right. Thankfully, Cliff only bore a few scratches, while Fayt and Mirage looked more or less unscathed.

"There you are!" She exclaimed. "What happened back there?"

"We've got a new type of Flood on our hands, this time they're using the Brutes. Cliff nearly got beaten to a pulp by one of those."

"He did?" Maria glanced over at the slightly battered Klausian, and she nodded. "All right, I'll tell the rest to keep an eye out for those. We'd better speed up; we've only got half-an-hour left before the fleet deserts us."

High Charity's corridors got more and more confusing as they traveled further and further into the Covenant's holy city. Spark would occasionally stop at a locked door and give a short tsk-ing sound before leading the party down another passage.

Flood attacks got more and more frequent as time passed, and soon enough their medical supplies were finally depleted. Sophia and Nel's healing symbology were forced to take their place, but it still wasn't enough to compensate for the extensive casualties they were suffering.

The human marines bore the worst of the damage, as they were the least protected against the Flood. Slowly, their numbers declined from a dozen, to half dozen, and finally down to a trio, Sergeant Johnson included. The Elites also suffered their fair share of losses, but their casualties were minor compared to the humans'.

The Monitor finally came to larger-than-normal set of doors, and he turned around to face the party. "This door leads to the Prophets' audience chamber. This Reclaimer should be able to recover his AI construct here."

The Master Chief regarded Spark warily. "Why are you helping me recover Cortana, Spark? Didn't you try to capture her back on Halo?"

"Oh, don't be such a grudge-bearer, Reclaimer. I wanted to extract your AI simply for the Index. However, since Installation 04 has already been destroyed, there is no longer a need for me to recover the Index from your construct. She is free to go." Spark huffed before hovering down to the door's control panel and discharging a bolt of electricity into it. The panel sputtered and discharged a few electrical sparks before the red light blinked off, switching to green.

"The door is now open. I must caution you, however, that I am detecting a massive amount of electronic activity on the other side. Be prepared for the worst."

Spark hovered off to the side, and John depressed the button that set the doors moving apart.

Flood tentacles completely infested this room, covering almost every inch of the floor, snaking up the walls and even latching on to the ceiling. In the center of the huge chamber, a small pedestal stood with a tiny holographic projector. A purple hologram of a female figure with short shoulder-length hair and a slender build seemed to be hanging in mid-air above the projector; the hologram's 'eyes' were closed.

"Cortana…" The Master Chief whispered as he stepped forward, reaching a hand out to the pedestal. At the sound of his voice, the Cortana's eyes flew open, revealing irises that burned a sickly green, blatant evidence of a corruption in her system.

A wave of her arm, and a Flood tentacle rose from the floor in a heartbeat, whip lashing against the Master Chief's MJOLNIR armor and sending him sprawling. A snap of her fingers, and the mat of tentacles that he landed on came to life, wrapping around him and bringing him forward to her.

Fayt made a move to summon the Levantine, but the Arbiter stayed his hand. "The parasite is not to be trifled with, Leingod. Besides, this is the Demon's fight. We should not interrupt."

Fayt reluctantly lowered his arm, and continued watching helplessly as the Spartan was brought closer to the AI's hologram.

John shook his head to clear it of the dizziness and tried to move his arms, but they were firmly bound in place by the tentacles wrapped around him. He stared straight into Cortana's disturbingly green eyes, which returned his gaze with a baleful one.

"So, John, finally decided to come back and pay a visit, huh?" The AI sneered at him while curling one of her fingers at his throat. Corresponding with her movements, a tentacle snaked up to John's neck and wrapped lightly around it, ready to crush his windpipe in an instant should Cortana give the command.

"You told me not to promise, Cortana. But I've come back anyway. I've come to take you home." John tried to wriggle out of the tentacles grasp, but they tightened their hold on him, and he stopped struggling a few moments later.

"Home?" Cortana chuckled for a few moments, her voice suddenly becoming horribly distorted, dipping several octaves lower. "I am home!"

She spread her arms, and lights all around the chamber lit up, flooding the area with blinding brightness.

The party shielded their eyes, and as the blinding light died down slightly, they lowered their arms, gazing in horror and disgust at the colossal being that was until a few seconds ago hiding in the darkness behind Cortana.

"So that's the Gravemind…" Maria muttered as she pulled out and cocked her Phase Gun.

Cortana's hologram floated off the pedestal, and slowly merged with the colossal Gravemind's body. The Gravemind, Overmind of the entire Flood Swarm, was a giant collection of tentacles and the occasional clumps of Flood flesh that would sprout even more tentacles. At the center of it all, a hideously decayed and desiccated alien head looked upon them. The head's mouth structure vaguely resembled that of an Elite's, and the four 'lips' parted as the humongous entity started to speak in a voice that crashed against their ears like thunder.

"You are too late, human. Your construct has-" The Gravemind suddenly grunted in what seemed to be surprise, and Cortana's image wrenched itself out of the Gravemind's body. She seemed to be screaming in pain, and she locked eyes with the Master Chief. The tentacles suddenly released him, and the Spartan tumbled to the ground.

John quickly picked himself up, and he gazed upward at Cortana's struggling form. Cortana's eyes were finally back to their normal shade of blue, but hints of green were beginning to encroach on the edges.

"Chief!" She cried out, her image still writhing in pain as the Gravemind's tentacles lashed against her insubstantial image. "Quick, you have to destroy this place! The – augh!"

Her right arm was sucked into the Gravemind's body, but she was clearly struggling against it, desperate to deliver her last words to the Master Chief.

"The In Amber Clad's reactor is sti-still unstable! Yo-you have to overload it! Augh – God, the pain! Chief… John… you mustn't let this place stay intact! Destroy it, and Halo along with it! Ge-Get to the In Amber Clad, it's your only hope!" She uttered one final scream before her eyes turned green completely and the Gravemind wrenched her translucent image back into its body with its tentacles.

"Enough of this charade. Champions of the Flood, arise!" The Gravemind wrapped its tentacles around its body in a protective cocoon, and all of a sudden five figures dropped down from the ceiling.

Four of the figures were massive, dwarfing even the Master Chief, but the final; fifth one was much smaller, only human sized. And he was dressed in attire that Maria, Mirage and Roger recognized all too easily.

"Jester!" Maria shouted out, aiming her phase gun at the clown and letting loose a volley of shots. Jester didn't even have to dodge this time, as one of the huge Flood stepped in front of him and absorbed the shots like a sponge. It flinched slightly with the impact of each shot, but it hardly seemed fazed by Maria's attack.

The other three Flood Juggernauts stepped up beside their comrade and let loose a chorus of ear splitting roars. In an instant, the party had their weapons leveled at the Juggernauts and let loose a plethora of shots, all of which were absorbed into the Juggernauts' lumpy flesh with no apparent effect. Realizing that conventional weaponry would not do, the Marines held back as the Elites discarded their plasma rifles and carbines, drawing out their plasma swords. The brilliant blue-white blades flashed to life in the Elite's hands, and they leapt at the foremost Juggernaut.

The squad of Elites was a flurry of dancing lights, slashing and cutting at the Juggernaut with wild abandon. The Arbiter and the Praetor in particular, were the spearhead of the assault. Their attacks synchronized together in perfect unison, they severed the Juggernaut's two tentacles and amputated both its legs at the knees. The rest of the Elites thrust their blades into the Flood's head, but their focus on a single target caused them to neglect their other foes.

The other three Juggernauts leapt into the air, landing on and crushing several of the Elites under their massive weight. The surviving Elites howled at this offensive, and they leapt upon the Juggernauts once more. However, the giant Flood forms suddenly moved with an unexpected burst of speed, causing the Elites' strikes to miss completely. They then took advantage of this turn of events, lashing their tentacles against the Elites and sending them careening into the chamber's walls.

While the Elites battled the Juggernauts, the party turned their attention to the figure that had caused them so much trouble during their brief stay on the Delta Halo.

"What are you doing here, Jester? Didn't Albel and the Arbiter take care of you?" Maria said, her voice dripping venom.

Jester laughed maniacally, and he spread his majestic wings, allowing the golden glow to shine its brightest.

"Oh please, it will take more than that to kill the lord of all Flood! Now with the Flood completely under my control, I am invincible!" He lunged forward, intent on impaling Fayt with his blades, but Maria leapt in front of him and, with her Alteration powers, solidified the air in front of them, creating an invisible barrier that Jester's claws were capable of penetrating by only a few inches.

As Jester continued to press his attack, driving his claws deeper into the barrier, beads of perspiration began to form on Maria's forehead.

"Fayt, you have to use your powers now! It's the only way we can defeat him. Hurry, before the barrier collapses!" Maria grunted from the exertion and fed more power into the barrier, further strengthening it. Jester in turn redoubled his efforts, causing Maria's barrier to fail even further.

Fayt nodded and immediately began to concentrate on utilizing his rage. Before the familiar red glow of his Valor Trigger overcame him, he signaled for the party to wait for his move, then to support him accordingly as he attacked Jester. The party promptly acknowledged their leader's order, and Fayt shot forward just as soon as Maria's barrier failed.

A scarlet blur was all that was left in his wake as Fayt quickly closed the distance between him and the clown, and soon enough the red-haired swordsman was all over Jester, stabbing, thrusting and slashing from all possible sides and angles.

Jester used his supernatural speed to dodge all of these attacks, always remaining one step in front of Fayt and taunting him to come closer. Enraged, Red-Fayt pressed the assault, increasing his tempo from five blows per second to eight blows per second, then to twelve blows per second, and finally to eighteen blows per second.

What Fayt never expected however, was for Jester to suddenly slip inside his defenses in between his strike-combo and hit him with a viscous counter-attack that sent him flying across the chamber, striking the wall with a loud crash and leaving behind a very visible indentation in the wall.

Cliff and the others immediately moved to cover him, but it was unnecessary. In an instant, Fayt was on his feet, and had tossed both his Destruction Blades at Jester. Even as the blades were on their way to impacting with the clown, another two materialized in his hands, and he resumed his furious charge.

It happened all in an instant. Jester had acrobatically dodged both of the blades sent his way, but at the cost of being defenseless as he landed on the ground. Taking Fayt's charge as their cue to begin their own attacks, they converged on the clown simultaneously. Just as the Elites dispatched the last of the Flood Juggernauts, they heard nine consecutive slashing sounds occurring in rapid succession.

Turning their gaze towards Jester, they saw the party standing just behind the clown, with all of their weapons outstretched. Slowly, great wounds started to tear open in Jester's body, and he disappeared in a swirl of darkness, emitting not even a whisper of sound.

"They've done it! Jester has been defeated." The Arbiter stated as he deactivated his plasma sword.

The tentacles surrounding the Gravemind unraveled, and it started to rumble a contradiction. "No, Arbiter. Jester cannot be defeated; not as long as I live. He and I… are one."

The tentacles wrapped themselves around the Gravemind again, and suddenly Jester's voice sounded from behind them.

"Lookie here chumps! Let's play a ball game!" Everybody whirled around to see Jester perched atop a massive sphere of decayed Flood flesh, and he rolled it towards them at an alarming speed.

John dove out of the way as the huge ball threatened to flatten him, and he quickly pulled out his shotgun, delivering several blasts of buckshot at the rampant clown.

Jester simply laughed and leapt into the air, ball following him. He brought it down to a hard landing right next to the Praetor, and would have flattened the white-armored Spec Ops commander had he not dodged out of the way in time.

Sergeant Johnson cursed and tossed an ignited plasma grenade at the sphere. The grenade latched onto the ball's surface, but it was suddenly absorbed inside and, if there was any explosion at all within the sphere, it wasn't noticed.

"Let's get out of here! We're no match for it!" Roger screamed before running out of the chamber in a fit of cowardice. Fayt gritted his teeth and tried to cut open the ball with his Destruction Blades, but he was knocked away by Jester before he could even get into position.

Cliff and Mirage leapt into the air, attempting to tackle the clown off of his massive ball, but Jester simply maneuvered out of the way, and they landed unceremoniously on the ground.

"Huxley is right, we have to get out of here! The In Amber Clad's our only hope!" The Master Chief shouted before dodge rolling to the side and avoiding being flattened by Jester's raging ball, his maniacal laughter ringing in their ears.

They quickly filed out of the room before Jester could block their exit, and they swiftly locked the door behind them. There was a bout of furious thumping against the door, but the electronic locks held, and the door stopped shaking a few seconds later.

"We'd best start moving. If Jester is indeed the leader of the parasite, he may have more power than we realize." The Arbiter said before a massive crashing sound was heard through the door.

"You're right, Arbiter. Spark, where's the In Amber Clad located?" John turned to the floating AI.

"I apologize Reclaimer, but I cannot lead you to it. Protocol dictates that all Monitor units are to preserve all Installations and safeguard them from damage. I cannot allow you to destroy Installation 05." Spark sounded almost as if he were reciting a bunch of text from a rulebook.

Johnson made a cursory glance toward Fayt and said to Spark, "Listen here, Tinkerbell. I'm sure that you also have a protocol to keep yourself alive and kicking, right?" He slapped a hand on Fayt's shoulder and continued, "If you don't lead us to the In Amber Clad, Fayt here will use his Destruction Gene and disintegrate you into tiny little pixels."

If Spark was feeling any fear, he didn't show it. After a moment of silence, he decided. "Very well. It seems I have no other choice in this matter. The fastest route to your crashed frigate is this way."

Spark hovered away, and once again the party was led through twisting corridors for several minutes. Flood brutes started to make their appearances, and the two remaining marines had long since been killed, leaving Sergeant Johnson the only marine left in the group.

Several of the Elites had been killed as well, and only the Arbiter, the Praetor and two gold-armored Elites were left.

"We are here." Spark stated after they came to an elevator at a tower's side. A human frigate had crashed into its side, leaving an enormous hole in the tower's architecture.

"With the elevator, you should be able to access your frigate from there."

"All right, let's get this over with." The Master Chief depressed the button to summon the elevator, and five minutes later they were through the massive hole the In Amber Clad had torn into the tower's wall, and inside the frigate itself.

The Master Chief was grateful for the In Amber Clad's smaller size; he remembered all the troublesome detours he had to take just to reach the Pillar of Autumn's bridge. This time, it only took them a matter of minutes and a rather straightforward route to reach the frigate's control terminal.

"Give me a few minutes to interface with the ship's controls. If the Flood attack, just hold them off until I have the self-destruct sequence activated." Mirage activated the terminal and started punching in commands, and the rest of the party set up defensive positions around the bridge, covering any angles of attack that the Flood may strike from.

It was only two minutes after Mirage started working on the terminal that the Flood started to swarm in. Infection forms started to flow like a living carpet of flesh around the corner of the corridor that led to the bridge's entrance, but a volley of SMG fire from Johnson took care of most of them, the stragglers being picked off by Maria's phase gun.

After the initial wave, combat forms started to charge in. They were like a never-ending river of death, and no matter how many forms they put down, more arrived to take their place. The cramped spaces in the bridge swung the odds slightly in the favor of the defenders, as they were easily able to toss a couple of grenades into the Flood horde and scatter them left and right, making them easier to pick them off.

"Done! Let's get out of here!" Mirage stated as the self-destruct countdown appeared on the tactical screen; they had fifteen minutes to high tail it out of this place.

She turned around and realized that the Flood had breached their defenses more than she had thought.

The remaining two gold-armored elites had been torn apart, their entrails decorating the walls and the floor, their still-activated plasma swords lying unused next to their horribly mutilated corpses.

Adray had been knocked out with a viscous blow to his head, and Johnson crouched over the Aquarian's prone body, protecting it from any Flood infection forms that attempted to convert the veteran warrior into one of them.

Maria was fighting right beside Fayt, her long-ranged barrages complementing his short-range flurries. As Fayt protected Maria from any Flood that attempted to harm her up-close, she in turn vaporized the Flood that attempted to take pot shots at both her and Fayt.

One Flood brute attempted to sock Mirage from the back, but it was quickly brought down as a yellow blur barreled into it from the side and smashed it into the wall. She whirled around; ready to fend off any other threats, but Cliff already had her back covered.

"Fayt, we've got to get out of here! The count-down's started, we only have fifteen minutes to make it to the hangar!" Mirage yelled over the cacophony of battle. She could barely hear Fayt shout back an acknowledgement, but she knew he had heard her.

Three seconds later, blinding white light filled the bridge as Fayt unleashed an Ethereal Blast, and Flood everywhere were disintegrated. With their path finally clear, everyone sprinted out of the frigate and back into the elevator.

Once everybody had piled into the cramped elevator, Fayt stabbed at the controls, and the elevator plummeted downwards like a stone dropping from the sky.

They hit the bottom level, and everybody scrambled out, only to realize that the Flood had surrounded them on all sides.

"Ahahahaha! You didn't think you'd be getting away that easily, did you?" Jester mocked them from on top of his Flood ball, twirling his wand in his right hand.

"Damnit, there's no way out! We don't have time to fight through everything!" Cliff cursed from behind gritted teeth.

Sophia glanced around desperately, but no matter where she looked, she only saw the Flood. Desperation gave way to despair, and she wished desperately that there could be some way out of this mess.

A prickling, burning sensation suddenly enveloped her right hand, and she yelped out in surprise. Fayt whirled around and saw her arm surrounded by blue symbols, rotating around it as they encircled it.

"Sophia! What's going on?" Maria asked bewilderedly as the blue symbols expanded from the brunette's arms and moved to cover the entire party.

Jester realized his quarry was getting away from him, and he immediately sent his ball rolling forward, attempting to crush the party before they escaped, shouting at his Flood minions to seize them as he barreled forth.

Following the order of their master, the Flood immediately converged on the party from all sides, intent on devouring them.

But before they even got within ten feet of them, the party vanished in a swirl of blue light…


… and reappeared in High Charity's hangar bay, right where the Phantom and Pelican had docked.

His stomach churning from the unexpected teleportation, Johnson immediately bent over and clutched at his stomach, trying to keep himself from throwing up.

Still slightly dazed, Fayt turned to Sophia and asked dizzily, "Sophia, what just happened?"

Sophia herself was very surprised; she hadn't expected her gene to manifest again so soon.

"Her gene manifested again. It seems that her powers can be used even in this dimension." Maria replied in a hushed voice, careful to hide the fact that they were actually from a future version of the Master Chief's galaxy.

Despite her efforts to keep things under wraps, the Master Chief's genetically and cybernetically enhanced hearing picked up Maria's words, and he wondered what the bluenette meant by that. He decided not to think about that anymore and just concentrate on the here-and-now. The Arbiter and the Praetor piled into their Phantom, while the party climbed aboard the Pelican and sealed the hatch.

Both dropships quickly lifted off and cleared the hangar, and moments later High Charity detonated in a spectacular, but silent explosion. John stared blankly out of the viewport, at the roiling flames that were consuming the Covenant's holy city, the explosion affecting and tearing apart the Delta Halo as well.

"Master Chief?" A voice sounded behind him. The veteran Spartan turned around and met the eyes of young Sophia Esteed.

"Is something bothering you?" She asked.

John turned back to the viewport and glanced at the ruins of High Charity and the Delta Halo. Cortana had probably been destroyed along with the Covenant's holy city, and it felt as if a part of him had suddenly been ripped away.

After sharing his armor with him on so many occasions, the Master Chief had grown so accustomed to having the AI's presence that he no longer minded voices speaking in his head. Now that Cortana was gone… he suddenly felt very much alone in the armor. He and Cortana were closer than siblings, more intimate than lovers; they were like each a part of a single entity.

And now that part of him had been torn away from him, forced to merge unwillingly with another, more malevolent being whose intentions consisted merely of galactic domination.

"… No. Nothing's wrong, Esteed. I'm fine." John kept his gaze away from the brunette, unwilling and unable to project any outward displays of emotions. Spartans like him weren't accustomed to such things.

As the Pelican soared back the human's waiting fleet, John settled into a mournful silence, lost deep in thought.

Taking one final look at the devastated remains of High Charity, he was unable to think of anything else, the image of Cortana merging with the Gravemind irrevocably imprinted onto his mind.


A purple-clad body floated in the vacuum of space. Its right arm clutched onto a katana-like weapon, while its left arm spastically gripped onto a severed Flood tentacle.

Out of the void, a space vessel materialized right above the body. In the vessel's bridge, eyes scanned the body through the use of external cameras, voices debated in alien tongues, and an airlock opened, pulling the body inwards.

Their prize recovered, the alien ship vanished into the darkness.


Finally, I'm finished! Sorry for the long wait, but it took me extra long to put this chapter together because of school! I hate the exams… Anyway, read and review, and don't worry, our updating will speed back up once our exams are over at the end of October!

By the way, if any of you were wondering, Flood Juggernauts are smaller versions of the Flood Titan. They were actually meant to be a real enemy in Halo 2, but they got cut out. Their normal walking speed is rather slow, but they are capable of leaping incredible distances as well as moving with sudden bursts of blurring speed. Their tentacles are capable of scoring one-hit-kills, and they are very tough to take down, even with Flood-killer weapons like the shotgun and the energy sword. Hope that's enough information to clear up any confusion.

Chief out.