NH3: Halo 3 is addicting. R&R.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Nazis or racism!
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1200 hours, April 6, 2553 (Adopted Sangheili Time), Phantom(Unregistered) (moon near Installation 06), unnamed location.
It had taken an hour to get everything ready. A full hour in which they could have been attacked and infected. But no such thing had happened to Nico. He was lucky; he had found former heretics who had discovered the ring before he did and had been protecting the Control Room. The Flood almost succeeded in activating this one under Regret's control. Not surprisingly, Regret had escaped again. He was in their grasp but escaped through the teleportation system and disabled it at the same time. Nico's next task lay in front of him: Safety.
"Nico, we have finished," said a heretic Elite. His name was Fual'na. It was the sort of name any Elite should have, but Nico's was human for some reason.
"Good, several Cyber Forms have made an appearance by those hills. About halfway in between, there is a cave. Your scans proved useful: the planet has a system of caves beneath its surface that we can hide in. Like a hive for the former inhabitants, but forgotten by the Flood," Nico said. He was very good at such observations and research.
"We will have to move quickly," Fual'na said. "I will prepare the Sangheili."
"I will scout it out and plant mines for the Flood," Nico said. Fual'na could hardly protest this before Nico ran off. There was no way Fual'na could catch him. The speed was far too great.
It took just under seven minutes for Nico to run the mile to the cave. He panted softly and lay down several mines on the ground beyond the cave. No digging needed for mindless zombies. He turned into the cave, eager to explore.
It was only a few minutes before Nico found that the Forerunners had been tied with this planet also. He felt his legs walking on the circular beam of light with him inside. They connected several tunnels that had been severed at some point. Nico came to a fork, took out a long needle from his Needler, and placed it at the entrance. He walked down, holding up his Carbine, in case any spare Flood would jump at him.
Suddenly, Nico heard a huge explosion. The mines had detonated. Almost instantly, Fual'na and his team ran next to Nico.
"They have our position," he yelled. Nico ran as he saw several Infection Forms trailing them.
"Whatever you do, don't split…" Nico yelled, but it was too late. The group had separated into several groups and gone down different tunnels. Nico and Fual'na were alone. Nico spotted an opening.
"This way!" he yelled. He bashed through the door, slipped, and then slid all the way down a chute. He heard Fual'na behind him, throwing a plasma grenade at the doorway. It sailed through as the door closed. Yellow gore spraying on the windows and the door was disabled. They were safe for the moment.
"More Forerunner remnants," Nico said. They looked around them in awe as the super-hard walls surrounded them. Fual'na was the first to recover.
"Let's see what is further down this passage," he said.
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1220 hours, April 6, 2553 (UNSC Official Time), Phantom (FG-92), (moon near Installation 06),unnamed location.
The Master Chief looked below him at the landscape. There were thousands of Flood, each ambling every which way, sometimes tearing up another for food. They scrambled over the wreckage, exploring it's mechanics to see if they could use it. The Master Chief looked away; the sight looked awful.
He instead turned his attention to the tracking system. They detected Nico's broadcasting tag a while ago. He was underground and his vitals did not show anything to be dangerous. The device gave a rapid beeping as they passed over a spot in the desert.
"Here," he said. The pilot turned the craft and landed. The Flood were a half-mile away, so they had some time. Nevertheless, the Phantom dropped two Ghosts to help fight if they were attacked. After several minutes of searching for an entrance, the Arbiter finally noticed something.
"Look!" he said, pointing. There were faint tracks that resembled Elite feet in the sand. The Master Chief looked on ahead and saw the cave.
"They must be in there," the Master Chief said. The Arbiter quickly called the Phantom to bring the Ghosts back up and also provide close combat weapons. Now the entire party each had an Energy Sword, a Mauler, and a Plasma Rifle. With this new weaponry, they journeyed inside. The passage had several light bridges connecting severed tunnels. It was around this time that they came across the first fork.
"The stench of Flood lies here," an Elite said. The Master Chief agreed; he could smell it too.
"Sangheili, be prepared," the Arbiter called out. They then found the next problem: which path should they take? Nico's position showed him lower, in a location between the fork. That didn't help.
"Wait, what is that?" Cortana said. She put a NAV point to help John find the ammo from a Needler.
"They must have gone that way," she concluded. The Chief agreed. They turned a corner and found gore of Flood and Elites, burns on the walls, and slashes in random spots.
"There was a battle here," the Arbiter said as he looked at tracks heading in all directions. "Is Nico fast?"
"Very," another Elite said.
"Then these must be his tracks," he finished. When the Chief looked, he saw that the tracks definitely looked like someone was running really fast. They lead to a door that was disabled. They quickly pried it apart and slid down. Upon landing, the quietly walked on through several walls and areas. The strangest thing about it was that there wasn't a single battle sign and that everything appeared Forerunner. And it seemed far too quiet.
It was a while before they came close to Nico's position. He hadn't moved this whole time and his vitals were strong. Something was definitely wrong here.
The leading Elites of the team turned a corner ahead of them, froze, and then ducked back.
"Excellency, you might want to see this," one said.
"Our problems have gotten a whole lot worse," said the other.
"Let us see," the Arbiter said, although it seemed quieter. His head poked around the corner, along with the Master Chief's. This view confirmed their new problem.
The Prophet of Regret was sitting on a throne with dozens of Flood around him. And two Elites were held captive by a gravity system. The tracker proved that one of them was Nico.
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NH3: I'm so sorry this one was late! I had so many problems in writing this.