Chapter 10: Monument
The following battle was one that would haunt the Chief's sleep for the rest of his life. Above, the Covenant were at war with the UNSC and the Elites. The battle consumed the skies an no one seemed to be gaining the upper hand in the extraterrestrial war.
Below, a monster was on the rise. Gravemind, the Flood's hyper-intelligent critical mass had infected Sin, the most powerful creature in Spira, and was on a rampage. Hundreds of scales flew off of the monster, these exploded, sending infection forms flying over the beach below.
"Sarge . . wha . . what the fuck is that!?" Horowitz gasped. Before the Sergeant-Major could answer, something else did. A deep, rasping voice boomed across the basin and up onto the cliff like a shockwave, radiating the pure malic and hatred of the creature that had spoken. The icy voice seemed to kill all hope that was left in the people of Spira who had gathered to watch Sin die for, what they thought was, good.
"I . . I am the monument to all your sins!" the Grave mind said slowly from somewhere within the now mutated Sin.
"Ironic." Johnson said.
"Ominous." John said while observing the scene silently.
"I think he really likes repeating himself." Cortana said. Chief nodded and walked back away from the cliff.
"Wha . . where the hell are you going?" Samus called after him. "Are you really going to try and kill that . . that . ."
"Grave-Sin." Johnson chuckled.
"How is this funny?" Samus asked.
"It isn't." John answered for the Sergeant-Major. He turned slowly. Samus tried to see through the visor, but to no avail. She knew that, even if she could, his face would show no sign of what he was thinking. The silent Spartan.
"What are you going to do?" she asked.
"I'm going to end the infection before it gets out of hand." John said. He turned to Johnson. "I need a battle rifle, and the laser." he said. Johnson turned to Horowitz.
"Give Chief your gun and ammo, take his rifle. Then go and fetch the Chief's toy." Johnson ordered. After a quick exchange, and after Horowitz had raced towards the Pelican, John turned back the Johnson.
"My toy?"
"Well, it hasn't been used too much. It's mainly here for you to try out. So, it's your toy."
"It's a gun, a weapon. A very deadly one." John said. Johnson shrugged.
"Can't take a joke." he muttered. Horowitz returned with the Spartan Laser. John attached the green weapon to his back and quickly checked the battle rifle. Satisfied, he sat off towards a sloping path that would lead him closer to the basin. Johnson and a portion of the marines followed.
Samus moved up alongside John. They reached a point where a large hole provided excellent coverage of the beach. Johnson pointed to the hole as they passed. Two marines stopped and waited by the opening.
The Flood had already consumed most of the soldiers on the beach. The remaining few fought for their lives against the mutated bodies of the very people they were ready to fight alongside with. John knew what that felt like.
He moved slower when he reached the path that actually dropped off to the sandy hell. The Flood had spread to the path before him. Priests and other people were fleeing for their lives. Amidst the carnage John saw elderly, even teenagers being taken over by the parasitic creatures. John stopped dead and leveled the battle rifle.
He pulled the trigger and felt the gun vibrate as it released three simultaneous shots into the infected.
Johnson stepped up beside the Chief and cupped his hands around his mouth, his cigar in between two of his fingers, "Everyone run this way now. Do not stay where you are, you will die." John moved almost mechanically, clearing a path for the uninfected while the marines pinned their fire on the infected on the beach.
John glanced towards the beach. The Grave-Sin loomed before the beach. Shooting out continuous waves of scales. He knew what would happen if they let this area fall. Gravemind would have won a huge battle. He refused to allow it.
After the tiny infection forms were gone the uninfected raced passed them and up the cliffs. John and the others moved onto the beach, where the bigger threat lay. The last of the soldiers were fending off the combat forms, but John had his eye on something else.
Three juggernaut forms were moving slowly through the swarm of Flood towards them. John switched to his laser and aimed. The laser sight, a foreshadow of what was to come, blinked slowly then quickly. The gun dispelled a large blast of red energy. The attack hit two of the three juggernaut forms, blowing them to pieces. Rotting flesh scattered over the beach where the Flood has once been.
Samus, Johnson, and the marines were dealing with the swarm. It was slow going. The Flood would never cease in their unstoppable onslaught. The combat forms leapt over the smaller Flood and aimed their assaults at the deadliest foe they could see: Samus. John saw it. They were headed towards her.
Damned arm cannon.
John used the battle rifle. The powerful three-shot burst blew the fragile combat Flood to pieces. The soldiers from the basin moved back, closer to the marines. Their swords now seemed to be useful.
At such a close range, the could expertly cut down a combat form or eradicate a number of infection forms with one swing.
They had seen what the tiny creatures had done to their fellow soldiers. They understood the severity of the situation, and they wanted revenge.
John grabbed a combat form as it leapt at him, they were finally back to treating him as the more dangerous enemy. He brought the butt of the laser down and crushed the Flood form.
Using the now semi-useless body, John smashed it down on top of the infection forms, crushing them under the weight. He pulled the battle rifle out and, using precision marksmanship, began the process of wiping out all other combat forms on the beach. Once they were gone, the infection forms would fall even faster.
But as long as the Grave-Sin kept launching his apparently limitless supply of scales they would get nowhere. But maybe he would just shoot so many scales that he'd shrink to the size of a regular fish and then they could just shoot him. John shook himself.
Finally, the combat forms were all gone. The last died when it made a desperate attempt at a flying tackle. What it got, was an armored fist to its mid-section, crushing it.
John then aimed at the infection forms. As he surveyed the numerous numbers groaned at the thought of having to kill every last one of them. Suddenly he realized something. He looked back up at the cliff. What if the infection forms climbed up the rocks?
He sighed with relief when he saw the remaining marines ans a few newly arrived Elites burning or shooting the few stupid enough to climb the rocky overhang.
Out of the corner of his eyes, John saw a flash of light. He looked up to see a large red-colored bird flying around the Grave-Sin. It began to shoot beams of energy out of its mouth at the Grave-Sin. The attacks had no effect, seeing as by now the shields were back.
Johnson called out, "Where the hell is Horowitz?"
"Here, Sergeant-Major!" John stamped his foot down, crushing a small number of infection forms with his foot, before looking back.
Horowitz jumped down to the beach. In his hands he held the perfect object for handling the swarm: A flamethrower. He held out the object, the picture of eyes and a large gaping mouth filed with teeth painted on the sides. A sea of fire danced out from the barrel. The flames licked greedily at the sand, consuming its prey. Smoke rose up like a cloud into the cloudy sky above.
"What made you think of that?" Johnson asked.
"Well, I couldn't let those guys up an the steal my thunder."
"Say wha . . awe, shit! We're gonna die." Johnson said with a chuckle.
John looked up to see two marines hefting rocket launchers. They aimed, and fired. The rockets sped into the basin and hit the sand with two resounding explosions.
Samus jumped back when the rockets exploded, "Holy!" she cried in shock. Many of the Flood perished in the attack. Sand and smoke carried by the wind moved in their direction. Finally John moved over to Johnson.
"This is getting us nowhere, we need to . ." his comm crackled to life.
"Chief, if you need any assistance, we're clear up here." Miranda said from above.
"We could use some help with the Grave-Sin." John said. The comm was silent for a moment.
"Clear the basin, the Elites have agreed to give you some assistance." she said. The comm clicked off. John, Samus, Johnson and the marines rushed back up to the cliff. They gathered by the edge to watch.
A Covenant warship dipped low into the atmosphere. It hovered over the Grave-Sin and then a monstrous plasma beam fired down onto the Grave-Sin. The shields exploded, and the beam stopped. The ship dipped away and John looked up.
A UNSC destroyer was pointed straight down at the basin. John nodded. The ship fired a single MAC round. The high velocity chunk of iron connected with the Grave-Sin. Being half rotted, the round dug a huge crater in it, but did not stop. It went straight through to the basin floor, full force.
The result was a massive shockwave. It swept up the cliff and hit those gathered there. They were thrown back from the edge, all stunned. A deep roar resounded from the basin.
"Reclaimer!" Gravemind roared from below, "You and your race will suffer greatly for what you have done!" John watched as the Grave-Sin sank back beneath the waves. The MAC round had shredded the basin. A huge crater now collected much of the water, exposing more of the sand that used to hide beneath the surf.
Yuna turned around, her eyes searching for something. They settled on a man wearing blue robes who had hair to match. He stood, completely dumbfounded. She pointed at him, tears streaming down her face.
"You this was all your idea!"
"How can you blame me? I had now idea ths would have happened. That thing cam from their world!" he argued, pointing at the marines. He was about to say something else when a white flash hit him square in the chest. He flew backwards, slamming into a wall of rock. A large hole had ben burned into his chest, cauterizing all blood. John could see the rock behind the man through the large hole.
He slowly slid down, slumping onto the ground. John whirled around, looking up. The blast had been sloped downward, so where did it . . .
John's fists tightened. Standing high above them was Thirteen. His brown cloak was tied around his neck, fluttering in the wind. His hood was not covering his helmet. The arm weapon slid shut, he was staring directly down at John.
Not yet, Spartan. Not yet.
John jolted. He had heard the voice in his head. He looked over at Samus who, by the way she was staring at him, had heard it too. When John looked back at the cliff, Thirteen was gone.
"Alright people, back to the Pelican. We're heading for the Dawn. Keyes just called in, they're getting those strange energy readings again. That means its go time!" Second Pelican had flown down to pick up those who had originally traveled with the marines from Spira. Johnson and the marines piled into the other Pelican.
John went with Johnson, while Samus opted for her ship. They lifted off and cleared the atmosphere. After docking in the Dawn John headed for the bridge. Miranda was sitting in the captain's chair.
Yuna was staring out the from window, crying. John stepped up beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder. He could see the three burn mark on the planet below.
She pointed to the three, "I can tell . . its Bevelle, Luca, and . ." she shuddered, trying to catch her breath, " and Besaid." she gasped on the last one. Apparently it held deep sentimental value.
"Populated?" John asked. Yuna nodded.
"Luca has the most people in Spira, and Besaid . . is my . . my . . home." John winced.
"I'm sorry." he said. Yuna looked up at him, his helmet faced the planet below, golden visor shining in the light from the sun.
"They will be punished for their sins." a voice said beside them. John turned. The Arbiter was looking out of the window. His eyes hard as stone. He looked at Chief, "What we have done to you, I don't expect you'll ever forgive us."
John turned back to the window, "I don't think we will."
"Even so, Truth and the Brutes will not go unpunished. They will pay for attacking this world, and your worlds. It is the least we can do." he said.
"Energy readings growing!" Miranda said. A white bead of light formed in the distance. It quickly grew, racing towards them. The blast hit with extreme force. The ship shuddered, throwing some of the marines onto their backsides.
"That smooth ethereal terrain, huh Chief?" Cortana asked dryly.
"Yeah, real smooth." he answered. John watched the void waiting for the pinprick of color that would foreshadow their exit into the next dimension.
Wherever they were being taken . . .
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Author's Note: This chapter sounds awesome while listening to "Reclaimer," by Martin O'Donnell. For any still reading, the Grave-Sin idea was the result of a collaboration between Cortanas-7hrD-L0veR and myself. The use of the Halo 2 quote was the idea, though, of Cortanas-7hrD-L0veR. Be on the lookout for Chapter 11: Home, Sweet, Home!
End of Chapter 10-
