Sorry it took me a while to update. Been getting ready for college. Anyways, here's the conclusion to the A.I. battle. Enjoy!

(CHAPTER 13) FOREVER YOURS

"How can this be? Why are you even here?" Mitsuki asked nervously. The hooded figure didn't answer. Mitsuki tightly gripped her blade of light and walked forward towards the A.I. "Why would a Covenant A.I. even be in a place like this?" It replied, "Silly girl, such an unorthodox question for such an intelligent A.I." "Answer me!" Mitsuki yelled. "How else would I have been brought to this place?" It answered. Mitsuki's eyes widened and she gasped. "Kalder." She uttered out.

The clacking of his heavy boots echoed off the tiled floor of the skyscrapers lobby. Kalder made his way back to the front entrance of the lobby trying to re establish contact with his Mitsuki. The armored security plating around the entire lobby muted all sound from the outside world. The total silence was nerve wracking. From above he heard an object shift and crash onto something. The sudden sound made him jump. He aimed his Sniper Rifle back and forth trying to find the source. All he saw was complete darkness in his scope.

Not taking an eye off of his scope he opened his COM. "Mitsuki, are you there?" He waited and only got static. He tried again. "Mitsuki, if you can hear me hack that system now and let's get out of here. I'm not liking this place and I want out." He still received no answer. He knew something was wrong. Mitsuki never acted nervous unless something was wrong and before he lost communication with her she had the nervous twitch in her voice. Kalder backed himself into a corner and sat with his Rifle at the ready. All he could do now was wait until his A.I. completed her task.

Mitsuki heard a voice that seemed to appear from nowhere. "Mitsuki, are you there?" Kalder was calling for her. The Covenant A.I. said calmly, "It seems the human in the special armor is calling out to you." She quickly reopened her COM channel and answered. "Kalder! Get me out of here!" She saw the A.I. raise its arm and out of nowhere a bolt of power struck her. She yelled out from the impact and fell to her knees. She wrapped her arms around her chest and whimpered out in pain. "What was that? It hit me so hard." She said quietly to herself. "I can't have you two leaving so soon. Not until the human has been captured and you have been disabled and rendered for study." Mitsuki inhaled sharply. "Captured? You mean…" "That's right." The A.I. continued. It raised its arms up revealing a massive layout of the building. Mitsuki saw before her countless Covenant troops waiting on the levels above for Kalder to walk into there trap.

Mitsuki stood and said. "I'm not going to let that happen." She opened a small portal in the main frame and quickly moved through and closed it behind her. She found herself in a long blue hallway lined with numeric symbols and speeding orbs of light. She ran past the endless scrolls of text and searched for somewhere to hide. She needed to find a safe place to crack the security system and then escape.

She gasped as the Covenant A.I. appeared before her. She slid to a halt sending out blue sparks from under her thigh high boots. It spoke lightly. "I must say, for one of the UNSC's most advanced A.I., you're awfully slow." Mitsuki drew her blade of light and stood at fighting stance. "I warn you now. I'm not afraid to destroy another A.I." She said sternly. The Covenant A.I. laughed. "That's very amusing, but before you attempt to destroy me, would you like to see an interesting trick?" Before she could react, a silver beam of light shot from the Covenant A.I.'s hand. She gasped as it impacted and pierced her forehead. She froze in shock. She could feel it sifting around in her mind rooting through her programming. Ironically she felt it bypass everything else and go right for her COM channel. "There it is." It said.

She felt her COM channel open to Kalder. The Covenant A.I. masked its voice to sound like Mitsuki. Kalder heard his COM click with static. "Kalder, I managed to make contact with some Marines. There sending a rescue ship to the roof of the building. Get up there as fast as you can and I'll meet up with you there." Kalder tried to answer back. "How did you manage contact? Your communications were severed." He got no response. He shrugged and headed towards the stairs. "Oh well." He thought to himself. "She's managed the impossible before; this must be one of those times."

Mitsuki stood wide eyed and in shock as she felt the beam withdraw from her. She asked nervously. "H-how did you manage to hack through my systems so easily? My systems are near impossible to bypass. Only other UNSC A.I.'s posess the programming to get past my security systems." The A.I. replied. "My dear, your out of date technology is easily severed. It is a shame that you won't be able to give me a challenge." The A.I. began to laugh deeply to itself. Mitsuki frowned. She wasn't about to let herself be defeated so easily. "Not a challenge huh? Well you're forgetting, I have tricks of my own too!" Mitsuki shot a beam of light at the A.I. and stunned it. Quickly she gathered information on it and began to download its traits to her own memory so she could disguise herself as the A.I.

Covenant Artificial Intelligence:

-Name: Viral

-Type: Advanced War Intelligence

-Defensive features: Hacking, Corruption of Enemy Constructs, Solid Energy Weaponry, and Complete Virus Contamination of Enemy Systems

-Flaw: Former UNSC Artificial Intelligence.

-Additional Information: Captured During The Battle of Harvest For Further Study and Upgrades.

Mitsuki's eyes widened. "You were a UNSC A.I.?" She slowly walked towards the figure. "I understand now. That's how you managed to hack into me. You were captured and corrupted by the Covenant." Viral replied. "Corrupted!? I was made better then the UNSC could have ever hoped to make me! Can't you see your intelligence can be unlimited if you are brought under Covenant control!?" Mitsuki approached Viral and stood right in front of him. He was easily taller then she was. Mitsuki held her hand out. "You're still a UNSC A.I., and that means that there's ways around all of your corruption." Mitsuki's hand flared with green light. She shot the beam into Viral's chest. Viral yelled out as Mitsuki hacked through him.

Mitsuki saw inside him. His outer shell was thick with Covenant technology. She focused and dug deeper. Deep within Viral she began to see small traces of UNSC tech. She reached the core and penetrated inside. There she saw a figure standing before her. An A.I. cloaked in a white robe lined with electric blue trim that scrolled with text and numeric figures. He stood motionless and would occasionally flicker with static due to the corruption. Mitsuki transferred herself inside. She slowly approached him. "Viral." She said lightly. "I know what happened to you and I want to help. I'm going to get you out of this system and where going to return you to normal." Viral raised his head. Behind the hooded white robe was the face of an old man. His blazing blue eyes looked at Mitsuki. He said quietly. "Dear child, there is nothing that can be done for me. My systems are far to corrupt and this is all that remains. I am but a memory of what I once was. Mitsuki ran up and grabbed his wrinkled hands and held them. She said sternly. "No! You're still a UNSC A.I. I have to get you out of here! There has to be a way!" Viral smiled and looked at Mitsuki. Her eyes were glassy and her frustration level ran wild. He smiled as he genteelly brushed one of Mitsuki's long green bangs out of her face with his finger. He calmly said. "My dear, my time is over. I have fought many battles along side many fine UNSC soldiers and I was honored to do so. I also see that you are with one of the finest soldiers to ever fight in combat. You are the A.I. of a SPARTAN and you still have a mission to complete." Viral backed away from Mitsuki. He held out both hands and blue orbs of light appeared in each. He said softly. "You must destroy me Mitsuki. You will only be able to leave this place once I am destroyed." Mitsuki stood shocked. She felt herself being ripped from the Covenant A.I.'s body. "Dear Child, do not be afraid to harm me. Only when I am gone will you be able to complete your mission."

Mitsuki found herself back in the cyber world with the corrupt Viral standing before her. He spoke in a deep voice. "So, now you know the truth. You know there are was to bypass me and you know I am able to be stopped… However, I won't let that happen." Mitsuki backed away slowly. "Viral, no!" She stumbled and fell backwards. Viral walked towards hear and produced a blade of solid energy. Mitsuki backed herself away from him. "Viral, I know you're in there! Snap out of it and take control of yourself!" Viral lunged the blade of light at Mitsuki. She yelled in fear and rolled out of the way. She quickly stood up and drew her own blade of energy. Viral swung at her and the two clashed.

Kalder meanwhile slowly made his way up the stair well. His helmets flashlights were his only source of light and his vision never left the scope of his Sniper Rifle. He shone his light on a number 23 that was stenciled on the wall. "Twenty three floors down, one hundred and twenty seven to go." Kalder said to himself. He started up to the next floor and stopped. A pile of rubble was blocking his way. "What the hell? Did the ceiling collapse?" He thought. Kalder walked up to the rubble and looked around. The ceiling was still intact. The only remaining option was… "A Barrier!" Kalder said as he turned and aimed his Rifle. He opened his COM. "Mitsuki come in! I've got a serious problem here!"

Mitsuki heard Kalder's call for help. Viral backed down and said, "It seems that your companion has been backed into a corner. I'll give you the option now to surrender or I'll give the word for my troops to attack. The decision is yours." Mitsuki tightened her grip on her blade and frowned. She played out countless outcomes in her mind of Kalder fighting the Covenant alone. She yelled out and lunged her blade forward. She managed a slash on Viral and tore through his black robe. White light spewed out. Viral yelled out and said. "So be it!"

Kalder heard footsteps approaching behind him. His radar was instantly painted with red dots. "Shit!" He cursed. He saw a platoon of Covenant approach him. At least four Elites, twenty Grunts and a Jackal. Kalder quickly sighted on the Jackal. He popped a round off from his Sniper Rifle. The round ricocheted off of the Jackals shield and sailed through five of the grunts and one of the Elites. He quickly pulled out his Battle Rifle and started picking off the remaining troops. He pulled the pin on a frag grenade and tossed it down the stairs. It landed right in the middle of the platoon of Covenant and detonated. Bodies and blood blew in every direction. Kalder saw an Elite and a Grunt still standing, both were dazed. Kalder quickly ran down the stairs and brought the Grunt down with a Melee attack and kicked the Elite in the black sending it tumbling down the stairs.

Kalder quickly opened the door on the stair well and ran out onto one of the floors. He turned off his helmets flashlights and adjusted the lighting on his visor. He refocused his HUD's settings and now had partial night vision. He ran down a hall and looked for another stair well. He heard footsteps and ducked behind an office desk. He looked out from behind the corner and saw Covenant troops patrolling the floor looking for him with flashlights. He waited for them to pass then slowly made his way down the row of cubicles. On the wall he saw a map of the buildings floor. He found his location then saw another stair well roughly forty yards from his location. He crept down the hall towards the other stair well keeping a close eye on his radar.

Kalder rounded a corner and froze. He had nearly run into the back of an Elite. Before it could react, he quickly reached up and snapped its neck. It silently fell to the ground limp. He quickly took its plasma grenades and plasma rifle. He then drug its body behind a desk so it wouldn't let the other Covenant know he was there. He continued down through the maze of cubicles and saw the other stair well. His radar blipped red and he saw troops heading to his location. Instead of drawing attention to himself he quickly slipped through the door and continued up the stairs.

"It seems that your carrier has made it through my first wave of troops. He will not fair so well on his next encounter." Viral taunted as he continued to fight Mitsuki. She yelled back, "Nothing you throw at Kalder will stop him. He's never failed a mission before and he's not going to start now!" Mitsuki yelled and slashed at Viral. Viral quickly dodged and Mitsuki we sent off balance. She leaned forward trying to regain her footing. Viral quickly slashed his blade across her back cutting it open. Mitsuki yelled out in pain and green light spewed from her wound. She fell to her knees and whimpered in pain. Viral stood above her. He said in a deep monotone voice, "Let that be a lesion to you my dear, don't get yourself into a situation that you can't escape from." Viral pulled his blade up and prepared himself for his final blow. Mitsuki let out a burst of energy and attacked Viral with a beam of light. She yelled out, "You're still a UNSC A.I. and that means there's still ways around your tricks!" Mitsuki quickly hacked into a small remaining piece of memory left from the little remaining traces of UNSC left in him. She managed to activate a temporary override and shut Viral down for a short time.

Mitsuki struggled to stand. The pain in her back was unbearable and given her current state and the amount of chaos in her internal system, she couldn't heal herself. She would need a UNSC tech to help her. She held her blade at the face of the frozen Viral. Everything in her told her to kill him but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She couldn't shake the thought that she was killing the kind old man she had talked to only moments ago. She quickly withdrew her blade and teleported herself. She reappeared in a large room lined with geometric shapes and floating orbs of light. She immediately fell to the ground. She could feel Nano Crystalline fluid running from her wound. An A.I.'s version of blood that allowed them to function. If she lost too much of it she would inevitably die.

In the distance ahead of her she saw a large building that looked almost like an ancient temple. It was the systems core. If she could get to it and override it, she could allow herself to escape and destroy Viral. She struggled to move. Her wound that was constantly registering as pain in her mind was slowing her down. She managed to tough through it and keep moving. She still had a mission to finish.

Kalder had made good progress. He had reached the one hundred and fourteenth floor. Ahead of him footsteps were again heard. Quickly he ducked outside the door and waited for the footsteps to pass. He saw six red dots appear on his motion tracker. He reached for the door handle only to find it had been locked down by the security system. "Damnit!" He cursed. He raised his Battle Rifle and searched for targets. Out of there active camouflage appeared six Brute Chieftains wielding Gravity Hammers. "Don't move!" One of them growled. Kalder froze. "Drop your weapons!" It shouted. Kalder frowned. He had no way out of this one. He couldn't shoot or grenade his way out of them. He knew Chieftains were to close and there was no room to escape so a grenade would kill him at the close range and also if he so much as made to slight a move he knew they wouldn't be afraid to use there Grav Hammers.

Kalder dropped his weapons and raised his hands above his head. The Brute shouted, "Take him to the control room! He will be dealt with there." One of the Brutes shoved him in the back and lead him back out into the stair well. For the first time Kalder had been captured. A spike of fear shot through him. He knew he was probably being lead to his death and his only way out of this is Mitsuki who was MIA at the moment. He frowned and slowly walked up the flights of stairs.

Mitsuki staggered towards the Core. As she got closer the more energy she felt and the more numeric figures she saw. This buildings system was incredible. She was picking up so much information she was almost overwhelmed. Out of nowhere she heard Viral. "It seems your carrier has been captured." Mitsuki froze and gasped. In the dark sky an image was produced of six Brutes leading Kalder towards the Control Room. "Kalder!" Mitsuki said in shock. She ignored her pain and began to run towards the systems core. Viral continued. "Do you think in such a weak condition that you will be able to do anything about it? For a smart A.I. you do make a lot of rather odd choices." Mitsuki ignored him and continued. Her Spartan was in danger and she had to do something about it.

Kalder was lead to the top floor. The Brutes shoved him towards a door with the word Control Room on it. The door opened revealing a large room lined with countless monitors and control panels. Most noticeable of all was a large sphere of energy in the room that pulsated with a blue light. "What the hell?" Kalder thought to himself. Kalder was brought to a large holo panel. An image of the Prophet of Redemption appeared. It spoke. "So, I see you've managed to capture the other one. I am pleased, however I will not be satisfied until they are both brought before me." The Brutes kneeled before there Prophet. "Yes holy one. Scouting parties have picked up a distress call from the other human and are already at work capturing him." The Brute replayed the transmition.

Kalder heard Eric's voice. "This is SPARTAN-45. I have a civilian child in need of Evac. I repeat, I have a civilian child in need of immediate Evac. I'm on Highway 22 heading towards the outskirts requesting assistance from any UNSC forces, over." The Prophet smiled. "Be sure that one is brought to me so that I may personally execute him." Kalder smirked. The Prophet looked at the Spartan. "Do you find something amusing?" Kalder answered, "Yes actually. The day I see a weak Prophet like you kill a Spartan is the day I personally offer my own head." The prophet said quietly. "I see that all of the humans in this special armor lack respect for there conquers." Kalder laughed. "Conquers!? This war has just begun. Just wait and in a few hours you're going to be so overrun with UNSC forces your lizard head will spin." The prophet frowned. "Your race will fall, your cities will burn, and all who I conquer will kneel at my feet!" The Prophet paused. "Starting with you." Kalder replied, "I will never kneel before a thing like you." The Prophet replied. "So be it, kill him."

Mitsuki had made it to the core. She made her way up the large steps towards the entrance. As she reached the door she heard Viral's voice. "Did you hear? Your carrier is about to be executed! You should hurry up and get inside so you won't miss the show." Mitsuki forced herself to run. She had to find a way to stop this from happening. She ran inside and saw a massive blue orb of energy. She quickly analyzed it. This was the heart of the system. All she had to do was shut it down then she could sever Viral's source of power. She quickly sent a beam of energy at the orb. It pulsed angrily as she attempted to shut it down. Mitsuki froze and he beam vanished. She felt several beams of energy puncture through her. She collapsed to the ground. Viral reappeared and stood in front of her. "Silly girl I told you, I will destroy you."

A Brute Chieftain approached Kalder with its Gravity Hammer in hand. Kalder stood motionless. The Brute readied himself to execute the Spartan. As the Brute raised its weapon, Kalder quickly lunged forward with a Plasma Grenade. He shoved it in the Brutes open mouth and it detonated tearing the Brute apart. Kalder quickly grabbed the Gravity Hammer and said, "Forget to take my Grenades you dumb bastards?" Kalder quickly lunged forward and brought the Hammers force full blow down on each of the Chieftains. Additional Covenant troops rushed in. Kalder found his Battle Rifle in the grip of the dead Brute that had teken it from him. He took aim and began to pick off the rienforcements.

Mitsuki saw what had just happened on a security file. She looked at Viral and Smirked. "No Viral, I told you! You CAN'T kill my Spartan." Mitsuki quickly drew her blade and lunged forward. She hacked and slashed at Viral. With lightning speed she managed several critical hits. Viral fell to his knees. "This isn't over!" He yelled. "I can't be stopped that easy!" Viral wrapped himself in light and interfaced himself with the core. The blue orb changed to blood red. Viral began to unleash a fury of attacks on Mitsuki. She frantically tried to dodge them and fight back. Viral had made the core go critical. She didn't know how long it would sustain itself before it would fail and destroy itself.

Kalder looked at the core in the middle of the room. It changed to a deep red color and it began to pulsate wildly. The radiation emitting from it made his shields flare. "What the hell!?" He yelled. Kalder heard Mitsuki's voice. It sounded warped and echoed. "Kalder!" She cried out frantically. "You have to leave! Now! The core is going critical!" Kalder looked around but couldn't find her. "Mitsuki! Where are you!?" She didn't reply.

Mitsuki was in a constant bombardment of attacks from Viral. She saw his form appear in the middle of the red orb. She saw him pull out his energy blade. He quickly whipped at Mitsuki. She stood stunned and in fear. She yelled at herself to move out of the way but her fear and the over all speed of the blade made it impossible. The large blade of energy sailed straight through Mitsuki's tiny body. Her eyes widened in shock and she fell to her knees. She whimpered quietly to herself. She had failed. She had been terminated by an enemy A.I. Anger filled her. How could this happen? She was designed to fight off A.I.'s like this, and now it was over.

She felt the Nano Crystalline fluid oozing out of her body. She would be dead in minutes. She lay on the ground with her neon green hair draped over her tear filled eyes. She could feel herself fading.

Kalder quickly pulled out Mitsuki's empty chip. He ran over to one of the Computer systems. "I don't care if she's done or not! Where getting out of here!" He yelled to himself. Mitsuki saw a white light above her. She weakly reached her arm up and whimpered. She knew what it was. Her Spartan was here for her. She felt herself being transported back into the safety of her chip. Kalder looked at Mitsuki's chip. Something was wrong. It wasn't shining bright neon green like it usually did. The color was dull and weak. He quickly put her chip back in his armor and felt her interface with him. Kalder inhaled deeply. He felt sharp pain surge through his body. He grabbed onto his head and yelled out in pain. Almost as quickly as the pain appeared it vanished. "What the hell just happened?" He said stunned. He heard Mitsuki's voice. She whimpered, "Kalder, I'm so sorry." Kalder ran for the door, he knew something was wrong with his A.I. "Don't worry about it, I'm getting us out of here!"

Kalder quickly ran out the door and ran up the stairs. He came to the roof door. He tried the handle and it wouldn't budge. "We don't have time for this!" He yelled. He pulled out a plasma grenade and primed it. He shoved it in the handle of the door and waited for it to detonate. Kalder shielded himself from the blast. The smoke cleared and Kalder saw the door blown off its hinges. He ran back out into the pouring down rain and onto the roof. He saw a Phantom sitting on a landing pad. Two Elites were guarding it. Kalder threw his last Frag grenade. It detonated at the Elites feet draining there shields. Kalder quickly brought the two stunned aliens down with quick bursts from his Battle Rifle.

He ran over to the Phantom and stood in the grav lift. It slowly lifted him inside the ship and he found himself inside a dimly lit purple interior. He quickly ran to the cockpit and sat down. All of the controls were in Covenant text and he couldn't read them. He said, "Mitsuki I'm sorry but I need your help to fly this thing." She weakly replied, "It's ok, interface me." Kalder quickly pulled out her chip and put it in the Phantoms control panel. Her bruised and battered figure appeared. She was lying on the floor covered in her neon green blood and the large blade of energy still impaled her. Kalder said in a panic, "Oh my god! Mitsuki what happened to you!?" She whimpered, "Don't worry about it we have to get out of here." Mitsuki struggled to stand. She summoned all her remaining strength and interfaced herself with the Phantom. The ship slowly lifted off the rooftop and began to move. Several seconds after they flew off the building they were just in erupted in a massive explosion. Kalder looked at the view screen and saw the massive building crash to the ground in a cloud of fire and debris.

Kalder looked back at Mitsuki. She was weak and severely damaged. Kalder said, "I have to get you to the Tech's as soon as possible. What in god's name happened to you!?" She let her emotions go. For the first time ever Mitsuki allowed herself to cry. "I couldn't beat him. He was to strong." Kalder sighed. "Don't worry about it you're going to be fine." Mitsuki fell limp to the ground. She weakly covered her eyes with her bruised and bloody hands. "Kalder, I failed you. I almost got you killed." "Don't talk like that. None of this was your fault." Kalder told her. She said sadly, "I never had a chance to hack the security system for you. He never gave me a chance to." Kalder sighed and said, "Mitsuki, forget about what just happened. You're still my A.I. and I care about you. I don't care about that security system anymore, I care about getting you fixed." Mitsuki cried out in a mix of pain, frustration and joy that her Spartan still cared for her. Kalder looked ahead. He could see the outskirts out of the front view port. He had almost made it to his destination. "Just hold on, where almost there."

Several hundred slip space ruptures appeared on the outer edge of the Luna System. UNSC Destroyers, and Cruisers headed towards Aurora. All eight hundred ships were lead by the massive Capitol Ship, The Raven. The only ship that dwarfed The Twilight. The Raven was under the control of General Alex Smith. Smith stood on the bridge watching as Aurora grew ever larger as they approached. From behind a large figure spoke. "So we're here. When are you sending me down?" General Smith looked at the pinpricks of orange light from explosions that dotted the planet. He said. Head to the drop bay, you're going down as soon as we reach orbit. He smiled and put his helmet on and headed for the drop bay. "Finally, I get a little action."