The banished one
Chapter 10 a promise kept and old hatreds revived

Authors notes I don't own halo bungie studios owns halo

This is set after halo 2 and the plot of halo 3 is thrown out the window in this fanfic and also a warning this is an Arbiter/Miranda fanfic if you don't like that pairing then stop reading this fanfic right now.

There will be some violence in this chapter

I would like to thank my betas l33t elite and LordRevanGrandmasteroftheJedi for helping me with this chapter

"Thoughts

'Speech

This story has now gotten over 2300 hits so I am very happy about that.

Reviewer replies

deadshadow04: i am glad you like it so far and as for that problem i fixed it in the last few chapters.

Paintedbluerose: I am glad you liked chapter 9 and as for the chief well you'll have to wait and see what happens.

LordRevanGrandmasteroftheJedi: the rescue mission will be in this chapter and the aftermath.

Well that's enough of an authors notes here is chapter 10 of the banished one

Forerunner planet of Chan Tel surface
Koren ducked as a tentacle moved to strike him down and opened fired on the new Gravemind. He glanced at Miranda and Rtas and their squad of Sangheili spec ops and saw that their combined weapons fire wasn't even fazing Regret.

Koren then rolled under another tentacle and when it came around for a second attack he slashed it with his energy sword. Koren stood and the tentacle hovered in the air for a second before its front half fell to the floor. Turning, he yelled to his troops 'Use your energy swords!! The tentacles are vulnerable against them!'

Trusting their leader's advice, half of the Sangheili holstered their plasma rifles and ignited their energy swords. They then charged in, hacking and slashing, while the ranged members provided cover. But for every tentacle they cut down, another three took its place.

Seeing the futility of the engagement, Miranda yelled 'Koren!! These tentacles just keep coming! We can't hold Regret off forever!'

Sensing that their prey was weakening, the flood forms renewed their assault and surged closer to the group. Suddenly, several beams of orange plasma stuck Regret. As one, the Flood and Sangheili turned their eyes to the sky and saw an incredible sight.

Above them, floated Guilty Spark, and an army of hundreds, if not thousands, of Sentinels. There was a single tense moment, where both sides stared up, then the gathered machines fired down onto the amassed Flood army. While there was no safe zone, most of the fire was directed at Regret. Regret attempted to refocus his army, but the concentrated volley was beginning to breach his defenses.

Seeing this, Koren rallied his men. 'The parasite is weakening!! Keep firing!!' The Sangheili renewed their assault and more Flood fell. With the renewal of the Sangheili attack, Regret had to split his attention between three areas. Seeing a chance, Koren leapt onto a fallen tentacle, and catapulted himself to the former Prophet's head. Regret turned and stared in Koren's eyes an instance before the energy blade sliced through Regret's head.

With the death of their leader, the Flood stopped all movement, and were quickly dispatched by the Sentinels. Once the last Flood form disintegrated, Guilty Spark turns to Koren, 'I have discovered the location of the Ark, I can show you coordinates into your navigational computers, then we can go there as soon as possible to stop the meddlers.'

Koren nodded to Guilty Spark 'Good work, now let us get off this planet. We'll leave the Sentinels here in case any more Flood arrive to claim the planet'. Once Guilty Spark relayed the orders to his army, the Sangheilis withdrew back to the Sangheilis Fury. The coordinates to the Ark were then input into the navigational computers and the ship entered slip-space. As the Sangheilis Fury plowed through slip-space, Koren murmured to himself, 'I only hope we get there to stop Truth before it is too late.'

High charity orbit of Earth

The Master Chief steeped out of the Pelican with over fifty ODSTS. Their job was to help him take out Gravemind and rescue Cortana. Unfortunately after they entered the first room the rescue team was welcomed by over a hundred flood combat forms and carrier forms. The Chief then yelled at his team 'Open fire!' At his command, the sound of gunfire filled the room.

As Flood forms were torn apart, a voice spoke, 'He has come at last, and now he will die'.

As the last Flood fell, the Chief turned and looked at the survivors. The casualties were high, a fifth of the men were already dead. But they pressed forward, regardless. After a few more engagements with the Flood, the rescue team was finally nearing their objective. As they rounded a corner, the Chief saw someone he was surprised to see on High Charity. ONI lieutenant Daniel Nolan.

Daniel then fired three bullets into a Flood form that had attempted to sneak up on the rescue team. Daniel lowers his weapons and salutes. 'Master Chief , I would like to tag along and help you in your rescue mission.'

The Chief looked at him and then said 'Why do you want to help me rescue Cortana and kill the flood leader Gravemind? I thought you had some very important, very classified mission to do?'

Daniel looked down at the ground when the Chief asked his question, shame passing over his face at his abandonment of his mission. Then he looked up at the Chief and said 'Now that Ackerson is dead, that mission no longer matters. The only thing that matters to me is liberating Earth from the Covenant'.

The chief nods. 'Very well lieutenant, you can tag along. Now come on, we better get moving before more Flood show up'. The rescue team then moved on, quickening their pace as they penetrated the former holy city.

While all this was happening the AI Cortana knew that the Flood form Gravemind was happy that the Chief had fallen right into his trap and Cortana thought to herself "John please be okay, and get me out of here safely".

The Chief and his rescue team then entered another room but this one was different there were no flood there to attack them. But then the flood creature known as Gravemind appeared and said 'did you really think you could save her! You only got this far into the city because I allowed you too get this far! And now you are going to die here in darkness!'

The flood leader then attacked the Spartan who did not manage to dodge Gravemind's tentacles quickly enough. As the Chief was lifted into the air, more of the tentacles appeared and crushed the remainder of his ODST squadron. But Daniel dodged the initial attack, and grabbed a rocket launcher. Taking aim, he fired two rockets at the tentacles holding the Chief. They made contact and were destroyed, freeing the Chief.

Working in together, the Chief and Daniel used their rocket launchers to drive Gravemind back. Once he vanished, they ran into the room ahead of them. When they entered, they holographic image of Cortana greeted them. Daniel turns and stares at the door, ready to provide covering fire. The Chief, meanwhile, walks over to the AI. Cortana looks up and in a broken voice asks, 'John is it really you?'

The Chief knelt down next to the projector and said to her 'Yes it's me. Come on, you know me. And when I make a girl a promise.'

Cortana looked up at him and replied 'you keep it'.

Daniel then said 'Chief I would hate to break up this reunion, but we got company.' After Daniel finished that sentence several flood combat forms entered the room firing their weapons at the two human soldiers.

After the last combat form was killed the Chief inserted Cortana into the AI chip then he inserted the chip into his helmet and he felt the familiar presence of Cortana in his head. Cortana then said to the Master Chief 'Just remember to keep your head down, there's two of us in here now remember'.

The Chief then took out his battle rifle and he reloaded it. When he finished he said to Daniel 'Now lieutenant, lets get out of here.' Daniel nodded and two of then left the room and began to make their way back to the pelican dropships, when Gravemind appeared once again.

It towered above them, tentacles regenerated. 'At last, her secret is revealed. You are a descendant of my enemies. Now I that I no longer need her, I don't care if she dies with you.'

He moved to attack them again but the two soldiers ran back into the room and had locked the door. The chief then said 'Cortana is there another way off High Charity, without going through that room?'

Cortana then replied saying 'One moment Chief, I'm checking the schematics of High Charity for an alternate escape route. Yes, found one. Take the door on your right and then go right for 10k and you're at a hanger bay with a Covenant Seraph fighter, fully functional.'
The Chief and Daniel took the directions that Cortana gave them and they soon found the Seraph fighter in the hanger bay. The two soldiers then got into the Seraph fighter and left the holy city.

After escaping High Charity's airspace, Daniel opened up communications to Admiral Bates. 'Admiral Bates, this is ONI lieutenant Daniel Nolan, I am giving you a priority one order to order the fleet to open fire on High Charity now.'

The Admiral then replied 'very well lieutenant, all ships fire at will on High Charity now'. The UNSC fleet then fired on the covenant holy city and in a matter of minutes the city was torn to pieces under the non-stop firepower of the UNSC fleet. But the fleet didn't notice the escape pod that went into slipspace.

The fleet of destruction orbit of the Ark

The high prophet of Truth looked on as his men interrogated the human prisoner for any information he might have on where the demon known as the Master Chief was.

He then said to his men 'Stop your assault men, now lets see if he's ready to talk'. Truth then looked at Johnson and asked him 'Now tell me, where is the demon?!' The human replied by spitting in Truth's face. For his defiance, the Brutes holding him punched him hard in the stomach, causing Johnson to cough up more blood onto the already bloody floor.

Truth then thought to himself "oh I know you're not going to talk, but I know the demon is your friend, so you are the prefect bait for him. And once I capture him he will light the rings, then the great journey will begin, and nothing will stand in my way."

While the high prophet was thinking of his victory the Sangheili fleet traveled through Slip-space, prepared to stop Truth from activating the halo rings or die trying.

Authors notes well that's chapter 10 completed I had a great burst of inspiration recently that why this chapter has been posted only 1 day after I posted chapter 9 anyway let me know what you think of chapter 10 read and review no flames though okay.