"Theology is never any help; it is searching in a dark cellar at midnight for a black cat that isn't there. Theologians can persuade themselves of anything."
-Robert A. Heinlein
It appeared as though they were spiraling into the tunnel in search of nothing. Just continuing to center downwards for no apparent reason but- that wasn't right. They were here to search for the control room as Charles had explained to them the further they traveled down the tunnel. Lower they reached, the stronger his signal became. Quite a strange thing for tunnels. 15 men dormant aboard that Pelican; fourteen were ODST. John rechecked his rifle, routinely adjusted the settings on his HUD. He made a count of all of his current weaponry adding in two plasma grenades to the mix after his third stock check.
Lids swayed heavily under the masks of those men whose feet tapped to unknown rhythms whose hands shuttered at the habit of erratic gunfire. They weren't sure what they'd find if they ever encountered it.
"Ah, now that I'm done running diagnostics and keeping that head case the fuck out of my way, we can talk properly."
Charles found managed to interrupt his meaningful line of thought.
John rolled his eyes out of habit at this point. "The Covenant?"
"Not at all," the A.I. muttered thoughtfully. "Forerunner, believe it or not. And incredibly annoying."
"Then we'll need to get to you as fast as possible. What's your location?" Cortana informed him that Charles had already sent coordinates and placed a marker using his HUD. John notified Echo then briefed the rest of the crew in the cabin. "This is a recon-free op. Eyes on at all times, stick together." Each soldier saluted, shouted a 'yes sir' then reloaded their weapons. He felt restless during times like these as he settled into his seat and just… felt. The last time he did that he was in the midst of Spartan training attempting to get back to camp using an A.I. to fly their pelican. His mind drifted to Reach, to Blue Team, to Halsey, to...the Lieutenant. They had left on awkward circumstances, leaving themselves with bitter tastes in their mouths and he couldn't understand why.
Did her sudden change in attitude truly have to do with his concern for her? All he had honestly tried to do was make sure that she was up to top speed and she lashed out- quietly and quickly, but lashed out nonetheless. John hummed, bringing up schematics for his suite temperature. Thinking better of it, he closed the options and leaned into his seat as the pelican began to rapidly descend. A platform slowly rose to greet them, housing two turrets and an entire barrage of grunts sans elite towering above them. The grunts scrambled- naturally- and John stood, signaling to the Helljumpers to follow him. He jumped from the open hatch to land on the platform some mere few feet below, his league of soldiers following suit.
"Weapons free!" Chief ordered managing to gun down the aliens that didn't run into the door built into the granite wall.
"All right, give me a second to ask Charles about this compound's layout. In the meantime, head through that door."
"On it."
. . .
They scoured for hours through a terrain of forgotten complexes, ice, snow, and Covenant, to get to this point. Valor assured the Chief he could hold position at the base of the mountain with those who remained until evac arrived. John didn't argue, instead moving to help the men build a small defensive position with what turrets remained. Valor nodded off, handed John a couple of grenades and a health pack and turned back to manning the perimeter until Echo showed up. Now he was patiently climbing an elevator shaft entirely too narrow with Cortana and Charles a washed out murmur in his ears. His ears perked up when Charles shared new intel.
"...been trying to reach the Captain. What is is about the word 'urgent' that suddenly makes everyone not answer?"
"Have you tried backup channels?"
"Two steps ahead of ya, blue. Backup channels, the backup for backup channels. Nada." He paused here as if to considering. "I could try the Covenant Battlenet. An amusing option-"
"-But is it necessary? Keep hailing him, Charles. We're almost there."
"I know, I can see your progress! There's this thing called administration permission that just works wonders, you should try it. Might improve that dour mood of yours."
"Cortana, out."
"Love you too-"
"First the Lieutenant and now the Captain. You don't think-"
"No. There has to be an explanation for this," John muttered as he stepped out of the lift and proceeded into the larger portion of the building. He meticulously mowed down every Covenant presence inside, all the while listening to Cortana cut through the CBnet's chatter to find anything useful. She shared tidbits here and there about something being unleashed and then contained. Processing new data, she listed off transmissions of a 'demon searching for the Forerunner's demise'. From context it seemed as though they were talking of the Lieutenant, but no word on Keyes. John stumbled out onto a bridge stretched over the matrixed metal at least 20 stories below him. He stared for a moment at the architectural beauty illuminating through the thin veil of swirling snow. In awe he began to ask the most obvious question.
"Welcome to the Control Room, lady and gent. If you would so kindly get your asses in here- that'd be great."
Cortana locked his HUD onto the Banshee several yards from his position, "Good luck fighting for it."
. . .
"We're clear, open the doors," John barked, his back to the control room, visor swooping the top of the citadel from left to right to ensure that no one else could get inside. The doors jolted into motion as the green drab of armor slipped inside, securing his battle rifle as he glanced at the structure within. It was enormous for lack of better vocabulary. His feet echoed across pale cyan, translucent glass inevitably reminding him of the Lieutenant.
"This is…" Even Cortana had to pause. A once in a lifetime moment.
He smirked, picking up the pace once he saw the larger doors at the end of the hallway. "Don't get comfortable."
"Oh, I won't. Still. Not a bad place to be for a millenia. If the Forerunners even had that long to busy themselves."
"They built this," he offered, gesturing about him. "Must have some sort of time on their hands." At the mention of hands he extended his fist to knock twice on the metallic entrance. The doors slide open to reveal this statue-sized image of Charles looking...menacing. He shook his head as he looked through John.
Master Chief froze glancing behind him at the open doors, "Charles-?"
"The Lieutenant, the Captain- All in the same place, all at the same time. If you can hurry- Damn it! No, we'll have to sort for hard transfer. We need to leave, now."
"Easy, just start from the beginning...What's wrong?"
"When the Lieutenant went on a hunt for Keyes, they- she- Chief-"
"Okay, alright, we go now. We need coordinates and a briefing...And escort."
"On it, Chief. Cortana to Echo 419, we going to need evac…"
"You're taking me with you, Spartan. You'll my help seeing as I have access and directions. Leave Cortana here, she can keep things running while we're gone."
"Charles, I don't-"
"It's probably for the best, Chief. If this is as urgent as he's making it to be, then you'll need all the guidance you can get. Let's hurry."
Truthfully he felt a bit disoriented to have things simply decided for him like that, moving at snail's pace as he replaced Cortana's chip with Charles'. He hesitated momentarily before sliding the disk into the back of his helmet a hiss escaping him at the burning sensation that mirrored the pain of a migraine. Charles' snort echoed around him. His HUD flashed red as the AI adjusted itself in his suit muttering about how Cortana had no decency to clear the clutter she left behind in people's storage units.
John could not muster the courage to ask.
"Echo's eta is in 10, Chief. You'll have time for a short briefing with Silva, a meal, and then you can go hunting."
Spinning heel, he trotted down the long hall to doom hearing Cortana shout something behind to which he ignored as Echo arrived a full seven minutes early.
"Oh man, you and I are going to have a story to tell after this, Wonder Boy."
"I won't hesitate to kick your ass."
"Pink Floyd Greatest Hits, it is!"
. . .
A/N: I just have it in my head that John begrudgingly accepts Charles' presence in his head and when John starts to threaten him, Charles will just play 21st century music on blast and absolutely not give any fucks- per his usual. To clarify some plot knots (kinky); this is simply a filler chapter, I did not feel it necessary to the story to list the entire Assault on the Control Room to detail. I'm sure that many of us have played that mission more times than we can count (I know I have). We might see more of the Lieutenant, Rdvas, and maybe some heavy Keyes/Halsey angst in the next chapter (Keyes/Halsey angst is my only kind of angst) and… I have no idea how I'm going to write the Flood. Because the Flood will show up (already have) and it will be super tedious and annoying for everyone to fight. OH, and Spark is bound to pop up too! So, there's all of that to look forward to or to dread (whichever is your preference). Until next chapter : )
