Delta Halo

by Cossacks250

The war between the Covenant and humanity is reaching It's height. The Covenant have discovered the long hidden location of Earth. When they attack, the fate of the human race in this battle will once again lie in the hands of their last hope. Some OC's.

14. Sacred Icon

One hour later

High Charity. The Covenant holy city. In front of it were the thousands upon thousands of ships, both assault carriers and CCS battle cruisers, that made up the mighty Covenant fleet. When High Charity had arrived at Delta Halo, the entire Covenant fleet came as well. The Covenant were overjoyed to find that they had discovered a new Sacred Ring. Now they could begin the Great Journey.

Several hundred miles above Delta Halo's inner surface, a shape flew towards the ring. It was a phantom. On board was the Arbiter, Tartarus, a squad of Brutes instead of Elites and Wally.

Inside the phantom

The Arbiter was standing in the phantom's main room, holding a carbine. Two rows of Brutes were lined up against both walls. Wally was standing next to the Arbiter with a blank look on his face. But inside, he was nervous. He was afraid that the Arbiter or the Brutes were going to suddenly turn on him. Wally let out his whistle. It echoed throughout the ship. A Brute standing next to the Arbiter growled slightly, which promptly silenced Wally.

"Once the shield is down, we shall head straight for the library." came Tartarus' voice from the phantom's cog pit. "I do not wish to keep the hierarchs waiting,"

"The human that killed the prophet of Regret. Who was it?" the Arbiter asked.

"Who do you think." Tartarus replied.

"The demon is here?" the Arbiter exclaimed, surprised.

Tartarus let out an affirmative snort.

"Why?" Tartarus asked. "Looking for a little payback?"

The Arbiter raised his carbine and began clutching it tighter as if he was trying to break it.

"Retrieving the icon is my only concern," he said, though it was obvious that there was a sense of revenge within him.

Tartarus let out a sceptical laugh.

"Of course," he said, realising that there was more to the Arbiter than retrieving the Sacred Icon.

The phantom flew into the clouds of Delta Halo's surface. They were a dark grey/black colour. Within a few seconds, the craft was over a large wasteland area. It had a large structure so big that it rose over a small mountain in front of it. The structure had a large square based bottom section with four enormous robotic panels shaped like fingers sticking diagonally out of the square base section of the structure before going diagonally back in so they were almost touching each other in mid-air. For miles in all directions in front of the structure were many hills, large holes and structures. What the phantom was flying towards was an enormous wall that must have been well over two thousand feet tall and probably just over half as wide. Above the enormous wall was a light blue haze that made a dome-like shape from the wall to the structure in the background. It must be some kind of shield built to protect this area from any invaders.

The phantom flew towards a small platform in the wall. It hovered over the platform. The large circular hole on the bottom of the craft opened up. The Arbiter and Wally floated down from inside the phantom to the platform. They looked at their surroundings as the phantom flew off and disappeared from sight.

The platform was actually the floor to a large square shaped room with almost all of It's surface coloured chrome, two large pillars, one at both sides of the room, with controls on them and several strange shaped machines. Even along the walls there were controls and small windows. On the walls were hexagon shaped doors with two small light below them. One red and one blue. The blue one was lit up. However, scattered across the floor was blood. It was light blue, black and purple. Wally tapped the Arbiter's side and nodded over to the corner of the room. Three dead Grunts lay there. Next to them was the body of a Jackal.

The Arbiter raised his carbine and walked into the room; Wally followed. With the dead Covenant here, it was obvious some kind of great battle had taken place here. But the question was; who, or what, had killed them? The Arbiter had seen and even fought many old and new enemies on the gas mine and even on the first Halo. So anything could be here that was most likely going to kill the Arbiter on sight.

Suddenly, Wally gasped and pointed behind them. The Arbiter shot round, his carbine raised. He almost dropped it at the sight before him.

An enormous machine had hovered up from below the platform. It was about thirty feet long and about half as wide. The machine had a large, short cylindrical-like main section with two huge back legs shaped like gloves coming off the sides of it. A small magenta coloured eye was on a small rectangular section coming out of the front of the cylindrical section. Below the eye were two huge glove shaped front legs, also shaped like gloves, that also came off the cylindrical section. This robot was a sentinel and known as the Enforcer.

The enforcer robot hovered towards the two. The Arbiter fired two shots from his carbine at the machine. The blasts did no damage at all. The enforcer raised It's front legs, ready to crush the Arbiter into the floor. The Arbiter and Wally began to back away, though they knew this machine was just small enough to fit into the room so they would not escape. The machine hovered closer to the Arbiter. It's legs were raised high ready to smash down on the weak enemy.

Suddenly, a barrage of blasts hit the side of the enforcer, breaking off one of It's glove-like back legs. The enforcer turned to see the phantom fly towards it at full speed. The Arbiter thought the craft was going to crash into the machine. However, the phantom shot past the enforcer and flew off across the landscape. The enforcer flew off full speed after the phantom, determined to destroy the hostile.

"Lower the shield, Arbiter!" came Tartarus' voice. "I'll pick you up when you've finished,"

The Arbiter turned and walked back into the room; Wally followed.

"Do you know where we must go, holy Oracle?" the Arbiter asked Wally.

"Try one of the pillars," Wally answered.

The Arbiter walked over to the room's left pillar. The controls on the pillar consisted of buttons, holographic switches and many scanning devices. He rested his hand on a scanning device in the middle of the pillar's side.

The pillar suddenly rose up into the ceiling. An enormous hole opened up in the floor in front of the Arbiter. Wally walked over and peered in. The hole was actually some kind of chute that turned right and disappeared under the side of the chute's right wall. The Arbiter walked forward into the chute and fell down it. Wally activated his ant-gravity boots and hovered down after him. The hole into the chute closed, sealing the two off from the way they entered the wall.

The Arbiter slid down the chute as if he were on a slide. Wally managed to keep up with him. The chute the suddenly stopped in a flat section and a large square shaped hole opened up in the floor. Below the Arbiter was a large square shaped room with another pillar that the two saw descend into the floor.

The Arbiter jumped down onto the floor. Wally hovered down next to him. The two scanned their surroundings. The room was actually part of a long corridor that carried on in front of them. Along both sides were many small pillars and two long walkways, that were built into the walls, went along both sides of the corridor. However, more Covenant bodies were scattered along the corridor. Many of them were Grunts and there the occasional Jackal. Robot parts were also scattered across the floor.

"What do you think did this?" Wally asked the Arbiter.

"The sentinels," the Arbiter replied. "The holy warriors of the Sacred Rings. I have fought them before on the gas mine. I never knew I would be fighting them again this early after that battle,"

The Arbiter raised his carbine and walked down the corridor; Wally followed. The Arbiter aimed it from left to right every now and then to make sure there were no enemies hiding to side attack the two.

Suddenly, the Arbiter fired a shot ahead of him. It hit the wall about twenty feet in front of the two. Wally stopped dead.

"Stay behind me, Oracle," the Arbiter ordered, pulling Wally behind him.

"Arbiter?" a high pitched voice said.

The Arbiter lowered his carbine as a minor Grunt nervously stepped out from behind the wall. It was armed with a plasma pistol.

"What happened here?" the Arbiter asked the Grunt.

"Big, scary things ambush us!" the Grunt answered. "Me escape! Arbiter help us!"

The Arbiter growled slightly. The Grunt shrunk down in fear. Fleeing Covenant soldiers a disgrace to their comrades and the Great Journey. Fleeing soldiers were executed without hesitation. However, the Arbiter and Wally were new to this place and the Grunt would probably know the way through the wall. So, for now at least, the Grunt's fleeing had saved It's life.

"Take us to where you were ambushed," the Arbiter ordered.

The Grunt nodded. It turned and ran up the corridor. The Arbiter and Wally followed. The three ran to the end of the corridor and through an open doorway into another room. The Grunt screamed and hid behind the Arbiter. Wally yelled and dived to the floor to avoid a laser. The Arbiter growled.

The three were in a large square shaped room with another corridor continuing on to the right. Two of the large hexagon shaped doors were on the wall, the lights below one of them blue. However, a Covenant Grunt and a Covenant Jackal were also in the room. They were firing up at a group of sentinels. Two dead Grunt's lay dead in the corner of the room.

The Arbiter raised his carbine and fired a shot at the nearest sentinel. The round hit the machine. It fell to the floor and exploded. Another sentinel fired at the Jackal, but the Jackal raised It's shield and the laser hit that. The Arbiter fired two rounds from his carbine at the sentinel. They hit the machine and it exploded in mid-air and fell to the floor.

"Arbiter, our saviour!" the Grunt squeaked.

"You can thank me later!" the Arbiter replied sternly. "Right now we must continue on to the Sacred Icon,"

Suddenly, the Jackal screeched loudly and pointed up at the wall. The rest of the group, including Wally who had got up from the floor, looked to where the creature was pointing. One of the hexagon shaped doors opened up and a sentinel hovered out. It turned and fired a laser at the group, narrowly missing the Arbiter and hitting the floor. The Arbiter raised his carbine and fired a shot at the sentinel. The machine was hit and fell to the floor a pile of burning metal.

"We must destroy that sentinel producer," the Arbiter said.

The Arbiter, along with the Jackal and the two Grunts, raised their weapons and fired at the sentinel producer. The blasts did little or no effect. They did not even leave a scratch on it. The Arbiter growled and lowered his carbine, only to fire at the sentinel producer again as another machine hovered out of it.

"How can we destroy these infernal machines?" the Arbiter growled, clenching his hand into a fist.

Wally looked over to the bodies of the dead Grunts. There was something very familiar among them. He ran over to their bodies and knelt down. He picked up a small ball shaped device that was dark blue and had an orange thunderbolt going down the front of the object.

A plasma grenade! Wally thought, remembering what the device was.

He found another one underneath the body of one of the Grunt's. Wally stood up and turned to the Arbiter.

"Arbiter," he said, drawing his attention. "Use these,"

Wally tossed the plasma grenades over to the Arbiter, who caught them. The Arbiter lit one of the grenades and tossed it up at the sentinel producer. The device stuck to the front of the door.

BOOM! An explosion filled the room as the plasma grenade ripped the door off of the sentinel producer and destroyed the lights on the bottom of the producer. Sparks flew from inside the producer onto the floor.

The Arbiter lit the other plasma grenade and threw it at the other sentinel producer on the other side of the room. The device exploded and destroyed the door and light on the machine builder.

"Let us continue on," the Arbiter said.

The Arbiter led the squad out of the room into the next corridor. Like the corridor before, this one was filled with pillars along both walls and had two walkways, one built into each wall on both sides of the room, only this one was completely straight and the end was only about twenty metres ahead. However, there were more Covenant bodies scattered down this corridor. Their blood was sprayed across the walls and the floor along with their weapons and several plasma grenades.

The Arbiter ran down the corridor towards the end. Wally and the other Covenant soldiers followed. As the squad neared the end, the Arbiter suddenly screeched to a halt. The squad did the same. On the wall next to the doorway at the end of the corridor were two more sentinel producers. Thankfully, for the moment, their light were red, meaning they were not activated.

"We must hurry before they activate," the Arbiter said.

The squad ran through the doorway into the room on the other side. The room was a small square shape with another large pillar going up from the floor to the ceiling. Like before, there were controls, buttons, switches and scanning devices scattered across the pillar. The Arbiter approached the pillar and rested a hand on a scanning device.

The pillar suddenly rose up into the ceiling and disappeared from sight. A large hole opened in the floor to reveal another chute that led down and turned right, disappearing under the side of the chute. The Arbiter jumped into the chute and disappeared from sight after going under the side. Wally and the Covenant squad followed.

The Arbiter suddenly came to a stop. This part of the chute ended and entered into another long drop about fifty feet long. The Arbiter peered over the edge and looked down into the hole.

Suddenly, he was pushed forward. One of the Grunts had slid into him. Moments later, the Jackal followed, pushing the Arbiter closer to the edge even more. The other Grunt slid down towards the three at full speed. It hit the back of the Jackal and pushed the Arbiter over the edge into the hole. Wally hovered down after the Arbiter. The Jackal growled and pushed the Grunt in front of it into the hole and then grabbed the Grunt behind it by the head and jumped into the hole.

As the Arbiter hit the bottom of the hole, the floor went flat turned right again. The Arbiter stood up and walked down the path. On the floor ahead of him was a light silver coloured surface. As the Arbiter approached it, a square shaped hole opened up. The Arbiter walked over to the edge of the hole to see another pillar descend into the floor. The Arbiter jumped down the ten foot drop from the chute to the floor. He was in another square shaped room with a small doorway on the wall in front of him.

WHAM! The Arbiter flew to the floor, dropping his carbine. One of the Grunts had fallen out of the hole and landed on top of him. The Grunt got off It's leader. The Arbiter stood up, picking up his carbine, and glared at the Grunt.

"Sorry, Arbiter!" it squeaked, only to be met with a fist in the side of the head.

Wally hovered down from the hole, holding the other Grunt by the arm. He set himself and the Covenant soldier down on the floor. The Jackal landed next to them.

The Arbiter walked through the doorway into the next room. The rest of the squad followed. Wally gasped.

The squad found themselves in a large room with a walkway going around the side of a U-shaped cream coloured wall. Below the walkway the squad were on was another walkway that was about fifteen feet above a large square shaped brown metal floor with many Forerunner markings engraved in it. Four huge cylindrical shaped pillars descended down from the ceiling about two hundred feet up to the four corners of the metal floor. About five hundred feet in font of the platform was an enormous brown door with two smaller silver coloured walls coming out of the sides of the white coloured walls and going over to the door. The room was lit a bright colour, presumably the light was coming from the walls like it was in most Forerunner structures.

"Where are we?" the Arbiter asked Wally.

"You have reached the shield generator," came Tartarus' voice before Wally replied. "Many of my Brutes have fallen attempting to take it down. Let's see if you and your Oracle friend fare better, Arbiter,"

"We must be on the other side of the wall," Wally said. "We will need to find a way through that door,"

The Arbiter nodded and went to jump down from the walkway to the floor below. Wally activated his anti-gravity boots.

Suddenly, Wally froze. The rest of the squad did as well. Hovering about thirty feet above the metal brown floor was a large machine. It was another enforcer, only this time there were two half-circle shaped shield emitting from the two front legs and hovering about five feet from the machine. For the moment, it had It's back turned to the group.

One of the Grunts whimpered.

"Silence!" the Arbiter whispered sharply. "That machine will he-"

"LOOK OUT!" Wally yelled.

The Jackal screeched loudly and dived sideways. Wally pushed the Arbiter to the walkway floor and grabbed the two Grunts by the arms and hovered into the air. A second later…

BOOM! An enormous explosion filled the room. Wally only just managed to hover away from the blast radius. He looked down to see a pillar of smoke rising from the walkway floor. A large charcoal black mark was covering the area of the walkway floor where the Grunts and Wally had been standing just a few mere seconds earlier. The Jackal and the Arbiter were still laying down on the floor.

"Arbiter!" Wally called down. "Are you alright?"

Wally breathed a sigh of relief when the Arbiter let out a slight groan. He stood up from the floor. The Jackal, however, did not. The explosion had killed the creature outright. The Arbiter raised his carbine and fired a shot at the shield hovering in front of the enforcer. The round did nothing apart from make the enforcer fire a wave of razor sharp spikes at the Arbiter. The Arbiter jumped off the walkway to the brown floor below, narrowly missing one spike that almost scraped along the side of his mouth. Wally set the two Grunts down on the metal floor. They took no time in hiding behind one of the massive pillars.

The Arbiter raised his carbine and fired a shot at the exposed machinery parts on the underbelly of the enforcer. The round hit something holding the right back leg onto the machine. A loud metallic growl filled the room and the enforcer pointed down at the Arbiter. A swarm of rockets flew out of the top of the enforcer and flew straight for the Arbiter, who dodged them by diving out of the way.

"Oracle!" the Arbiter shouted to Wally, who was next to the pillar. "I need your help!"

Wally nodded and raised his arm with the bulge. The front of the bulge opened up. A red laser shot out of the bulge and hit the back of the enforcer, tearing off the right back leg. The enforcer emitted another metallic growl and turned towards Wally. The Arbiter saw his chance and fired a barrage of rounds from his carbine at the exposed parts of the enforcer.

BOOM! The Arbiter must have hit something explosive because when the first round hit the enforcer it blew up and broke apart in mid-air. The remains fell to the floor a burning pile of metal.

"Good work, Oracle," the Arbiter said, glaring at the Grunts who cautiously lumbered out from behind the wall. "Now we must deactivate the shield generator and find a way out of this wall."

Wally nodded and rested a hand on the side of the pillar he was standing next to. The pillar rose up from the platform until it was about seventy feet above the ceiling. Wally then hovered over to another pillar and did the same thing.

When all four pillars had been detached from the brown metal floor, a small control panel rose up from the middle of the metal floor. A holographic switch appeared. The Arbiter walked over to the switch and rested a hand on it. A loud unlocking-like sound filed the room. The metal floor suddenly descended about fifty feet from where it was and then began to hover forward towards the enormous metal door.

"Good work, Arbiter," came Tartarus' voice. "You have lowered the shield,"

The sound of large metal moving filled the room. The group looked towards the door to see it moving! A large opening appeared down the middle of the door, breaking it in two. The doors moved inside the walls, revealing the group with an enormous metal floor surface with another enormous wall far ahead of them.

The metal floor began to move forward towards the next enormous wall. As it went through the area where the door was, the group saw that they were outside. The Arbiter looked up to see a blue haze retreating behind the top of the second wall in front of them like some great beast fleeing from a defeated battle but preparing to fight again.

A loud whirring sound filled the air. The group looked up to see the phantom hovering down towards them. It headed straight for the wall. The Arbiter looked ahead and saw another door beginning to break in two.

"I'll pick you up when the platform stops," Tartarus said.

As the enormous door opened, a set of explosions erupted along the top of the phantom. The craft pulled away and fired a barrage of blasts from It's cannons into the room as it flew away. Tartarus growled.

"Blasted machine!" he said. "It's too dangerous, Arbiter. Make your own way through the wall."

The group saw what Tartarus meant by 'blasted machines'. Another enforcer was hovering over where the platform would have to stop. On some kind of pathway that went around the half-circle shaped room were figures firing up at the enforcer. Flying in the air around the room were sentinels, who were firing down at the figures.

The platform entered the room. Almost immediately, the figures began jumping onto it. The two Grunts screamed in terror. The Arbiter and Wally went wide eyed. The figures were humans, but they had small tentacles sticking out of their body and hands. Their heads looked crushed and mutated. All four of the group knew what these figures were.

They were combat forms. The Flood.

"The Parasite?" the Arbiter exclaimed. "What are they doing here?"

"This ring has a library where the Flood are kept, as do all of the Halo rings," Wally explained. "The sentinels are also kept here to monitor them and make sure they do not escape,"

One of the combat forms, unarmed, spotted the group and charged towards them. The Arbiter saw the creature coming and fired a few rounds from his carbine. The combat form was hit and fell to the platform floor dead. Another unarmed combat form near the group also jumped onto the platform only to be met by the same fate.

"AAAAH!"

The Arbiter and Wally shot round to see both Grunts lying on the floor. A sentinel was hovering a few metres above their bodies. The Arbiter raised his carbine and fired a round at the sentinel. The machine fell to the platform floor and exploded.

"We must find a way out of here!" the Arbiter said as the battle around them began to grow more dangerous.

Wally suddenly grabbed the Arbiter's shoulders and hovered high into the air. An explosion erupted below them where they had just been standing. The enforcer went to fire at the two, as they were hovering in front of it, when a combat form on the path way fired a laser, from a sentinel it had destroyed, at the back of the enormous machine. The enforcer turned to fire on the combat form. Wally saw their chance and hovered over to the front of the enforcer. The Arbiter aimed his carbine down at the enforcer's light and fired a round. The enforcer just all of a sudden broke apart and fell to the platform floor.

"Alright, now how do we get out of here, besides the way we came?" Wally asked, scanning the room.

BOOM! An explosion on the wall of the room blew open an enormous hole that led into another room. Almost instantly afterwards, a wave of combat forms charged out of the hole into the fray. Wally hovered to the hole, narrowly avoiding gun and blast fire from combat forms below.

When the two reached the hole, they were revealed with a thin dark silver coloured corridor about fifty feet long. It was dimly lit. At the other end, on the opposite wall, was a small doorway. Along the corridor were several pillars going up from the floor to the ceiling, each casting a large shadow against the walls. Also along the opposite wall was a pathway about ten feet high.

"That will be our way out of this war zone," the Arbiter said. "Hopefully, the Parasite will trouble us again,"

ROOOOAAAAARRRRR!

The loud roar echoed throughout the corridor. Not even a second passed before an enormous group of combat forms charged out of the doorway and ran down the corridor towards the hole. Wally hovered over to one of the pillars and set the Arbiter down. Wally began to shake with fear as the Flood combat forms ran over towards them. One even got within five feet of the two. The Arbiter went to raise his carbine, but Wally grabbed it and shook his head at the Arbiter, though it was doubtful the Arbiter saw him.

Thankfully, the combat forms ran over to the hole and climbed into the half-circle shaped room. Wally breathed a sigh of relief. The Arbiter ran out from the shadows towards the doorway at the other end of the corridor; Wally followed.

When the two reached the end of the corridor, they ran through the doorway into another small square shaped room with another pillar in the middle of the room. The Arbiter walked over to the pillar and rested a hand on a scanning device. The pillar ascended up into the ceiling and a large hole appeared, revealing another chute, that went left, to the two. The Arbiter jumped into the chute; Wally hovered down after him. The two came across a flat floor section of the chute. Another large door opened to reveal another small square shaped room with a doorway on It's left wall. The two jumped down onto the floor and ran through the doorway into another dark silver corridor with pillars and pathway along the right wall leading down to a doorway.

Wally grabbed the Arbiter and pulled him into the shadows.

"Oracle!" the Arbiter growled. "What are you doi-"

"Shhh!" Wally replied, pointing ahead down the corridor.

The Arbiter looked ahead and saw why Wally wanted him to be quiet.

A large group of unarmed combat forms ran out of the doorway at the other end of the corridor. Two large figures with huge head and small legs waddled out after them. Carrier forms. They would carry infection forms which would then infect any nearby host.

The Arbiter raised his carbine at the group of Flood. Wally saw this and tried to push it down but the Arbiter was too strong and pulled his weapon away from Wally and aimed it down at one of the carriers. His finger rested on the trigger. The carrier, the Arbiter's target, just stopped where it as if it had seen something. The Arbiter pulled the trigger.

The sound of a round being fired filled the air in the room. The carrier was hit. BOOM! The creature exploded and threw several nearby combat forms through the air into either a nearby pillar or the wall. A group of five infection forms flew out of the carrier form when it exploded. The group of Flood, as if they had some kind of special power to see enemies in the dark, immediately charged towards where Wally and the Arbiter were hiding.

The Arbiter ran out from behind the pillar; Wally hovered high into the air out of the Flood's reach. The Arbiter fired as barrage of rounds at the group of Flood, killing a combat form and two infection forms. The other carrier form waddled towards him from behind. Wally saw this and raised his left arm. The front of the bulge on his arm opened up. A red laser fired out of it and hit the carrier. The blast was so powerful that it actually eradicated the carrier completely, along with the infection forms inside it.

When the last combat form was gunned down, Wally hovered down alongside the Arbiter.

"I see you have a laser," the Arbiter said.

Wally nodded.

"I never use it much because It's dangerous," Wally replied. "Anyway, we should move on before more Flood show up,"

The Arbiter nodded and ran down the corridor towards the doorway; Wally followed. When they reached the doorway, the two were revealed with a large room that had many lights and controls across It's walls. Several pillars also went along the walls. A large cube shaped object with several small thin cylindrical pillars, with a hand sized ball on top of each pillar, sticking out of the corners of the cube's top. Out of the four balls came a small green light that joined onto some kind of laser that came out from the room's left wall and over a small chasm, that cut the room in two and had a small path going over the middle of it, to the other side where the green laser carried on down some kind of corridor to another room.

The Arbiter and Wally cautiously walked into the room. The Arbiter kept his finger on the carbine's trigger in case any Flood attacked them. The two approached the pathway going over the small chasm.

Suddenly, the Arbiter fired a round up at the green laser. Wally hid behind one of the pillars and poked his head out. The Arbiter scanned the room, his finger tight on the carbine's trigger so he could blast the threat when it appeared again. Wally walked out from behind the pillar and scanned the room.

"What is it you saw?" he asked the Arbiter.

"A small floating machine," the Arbiter answered. "No bigger than the size of your hand,"

Suddenly, the Arbiter fired again. This time, a small object was hit and fell to the floor a burning pile of metal. Wally ran over to the small pile of metal. He knelt down and picked up the small remains. The robot had a small circular shaped body with a large bulge on the front of it. Two small wing-shaped objects stuck out from the sides of the front of the machine. A small green light was visible in the middle between the two wings. It was a Repairer. They were small machines, unarmed but fast moving, that could repair almost anything from the smallest size to something as big as a Forerunner structure. They could even heal Forerunners themselves if they were injured.

The Arbiter walked up to Wally and stared at the small robot in his hands. Wally stood up and threw the remains into the chasm.

The Arbiter suddenly raised his carbine up at the ceiling. Wally looked up and saw a group of repairers hovering down towards them. The Arbiter went to fire but Wally rested a hand on his carbine, stopping him from firing. One of the repairers hovered down to Wally and fired a small green beam at the right side of Wally's chest. That area of the suit then suddenly became transparent, revealing Wally's chest, only it was flesh that was revealed. It was dark silver coloured metal. Wally looked down at his chest and then at the repairer. The green laser disappeared, making the side chest area of Wally's suit opaque again, and the repairer let out a small beep before flying off after the other repairers.

"Why do you have a half-robotic chest, holy Oracle?" the Arbiter asked Wally.

"I…" Wally began. "I… I'm sorry, I do not really want to talk about it,"

The Arbiter nodded.

"I understand," he replied.

BOOM! An explosion erupted on the other side of the room. Wally and the Arbiter shot round to see a large pile of rubble fly through the air off of the wall left of the doorway and scatter around the room, some even going into the chasm. Then, out of the dust cloud came a group of three combat forms. Only one was armed, the weapon being a plasma rifle. The combat forms spotted the Arbiter and Wally and charged towards the two.

The Arbiter raised his carbine and fired at the combat forms, hitting and killing one of them. Another, however, jumped over the chasm and raised It's arm to whack the Arbiter. However, he saw the combat form coming and swung his carbine at the creature. The impact was so powerful that it actually caused the combat form to break apart. The creature's mutated limbs flew across the floor.

Suddenly, Wally pushed the Arbiter behind the cube shaped object and hovered into the air. The reason; a barrage of sky blue blasts had flown at the two. The combat form with the plasma rifle had tried to kill the two. The creature ran over the walkway, determined to kill It's two enemies. However, the Arbiter was waiting for the combat form.

WHAM! He threw a punch at the combat form. The creature flew through the air and falling in the chasm. The Arbiter then ran over the walkway to the other side of the room. Wally hovered after him. The two went down the corridor into the next room, which was exactly the same as the last room, only there was a doorway on the room's left wall on the other side of the chasm. There were several Covenant Jackals and grunts lying dead in piles around the room. Their blood had been sprayed across the floor and walls.

"I think the Flood have moved on ahead of us," Wally said as he set himself down on next to the Arbiter.

"No," the Arbiter replied. "We have only just encountered them so these warriors must have fallen to the sentinels. Stay sharp, they could still be lurking,"

The Arbiter and Wally cautiously walked into the room. The Arbiter kept his finger on his carbine's trigger. Wally kept his arm half-raised. The two knew that some kind of threat was most likely to attack them so they had to be ready for them, otherwise they would be killed.

As the two walked across the pathway that went across the chasm, the Arbiter stopped dead. Ahead of them on the wall were two sentinel producers. For the moment, the lights below them were red, but they would soon turn blue and start spewing out sentinels so the Arbiter and Wally had to be quick in getting out of the room.

The two ran over to the doorway that led into, again, a small square shaped room. As usual, another pillar was placed in the middle of the room descending from the ceiling to the floor. The Arbiter walked up to the pillar and went to rest a hand on a scanning device to open the hole.

BOOM! Part of the pillar seemed to explode. Wally dived to the floor. The Arbiter fell backwards and saw two sentinels hovering in front of the sentinel producers, their lasers aimed directly at their enemies. All they had to do was fire again and the Arbiter and Wally were dead.

Suddenly, Wally yelled loudly but quickly faded away. The Arbiter looked and saw why. The sentinel's laser had hit the scanning device and opened the hole in the floor. The Arbiter scrambled forward and dived into the hole, narrowly missing another laser from the sentinels as they tried to kill him.

The Arbiter slid down the sides of the tunnel as if he were on a slide. He went right underneath the side of the first part of the tunnel and fell into a huge drop. A few metres below him was Wally, who had activated his anti-gravity boots.

"Oracle, watch out!" the Arbiter shouted.

Too late.

The Arbiter hit Wally and the two tumbled down the chute rolling over each other and hitting the metal floor and sides of the tunnel. Finally, and thankfully after a few seconds, the two came to a stop on a flat surfaced part of the tunnel. Wally groaned and rubbed his head as he stood up. The Arbiter shook his head to get his vision back in.

"Sorry," Wally said.

The Arbiter only nodded, but as he turned away, he muttered something under his breath, probably discriminating Wally.

Suddenly, the large hole opened up beneath the two's feet. Wally and the Arbiter moved until it had fully opened before jumping down into the square shaped room. The pillar, which had descended into the floor, rose up and hit the ceiling again as the hole closed. The Arbiter scanned the room. A small doorway on the right wall led into a small corridor.

"Down there," the Arbiter said, pointing to the corridor.

The Arbiter and Wally ran down the corridor towards the end. The Arbiter kept his weapon half-raised in case any enemies attacked them, which was most likely to happen. When the two were about half-way down the corridor, Wally skidded to a halt all of a sudden. The Arbiter noticed this and stopped as well.

"What is it?" he asked Wally.

"Listen," Wally replied.

The Arbiter listened out for what Wally was hearing. He could hear it as well. It was a low rumbling/whistling sound. It sounded like when an airplane went into a dive. The Arbiter's eyes went wide.

"Oracle!" he exclaimed. "Get away from the wa…"

BOOM! The corridor seemed to explode all around the two. Wally and the Arbiter were thrown to the floor. Dust and debris filled the air and partially buried the two. Almost immediately afterwards, gunfire and small explosions. Sentinels and Flood combat and infection forms quickly spewed into the corridor, fighting each other.

The Arbiter groaned as he got up. He quickly came to realise the war zone raging around him. The Arbiter ran over to Wally, who was thrown several feet from the blast, and shook him slightly. He was either dead or was knocked out. The Arbiter picked up Wally's body and placed him over his shoulder before running through the storm of blasts and gunfire towards the new hole in the corridor.

As the Arbiter ran through the hole, he went wide eyed as he came onto some kind of ramp that led up to a large craft. The Arbiter ran up the ramp, punching an unarmed combat form that tried to hit him to pieces, to the top. He went wide-eyed and almost dropped Wally and his carbine.

The craft's enormous wreckage was laid out in front and below the Arbiter. It had a short but wide rectangular shaped floor with two large walls running around the edges. There were several smaller walls going across from one side wall to the other. However, some were stuck against or broken in half by a large rocky surface the craft had crashed into. Scattered around the craft were several group of Flood and sentinels fighting each other. Large fires lit up the dark sky and sent up bellowing clouds of smoke. This was really a war zone.

A stir came from Wally. The Arbiter set him down and Wally stood up.

"What happened?" he asked as he held his head and tried to stand still.

"You were knocked out," the Arbiter answered.

Wally shook his head slightly to get his vision back. It was then he noticed the enormous downed craft in front of them.

"What the hell…?" he gasped. "A sentinel production facility. Is this what crashed nearby?" he asked the Arbiter.

"Most likely," the Arbiter answered. "We must move quickly,"

There was a ten foot drop from the top of the ramp to the war ton metal floor below. The Arbiter jumped down onto the floor. Wally activated his anti-gravity boots and hovered after him, keeping high above the war zone.

The Arbiter ran towards a blown open gap in one of the many middle walls going across the sentinel production facility. A combat form, armed with a battle rifle, fired on him, only to be killed by a carbine through It's head. When the Arbiter reached the hole, a sentinel spotted him and fired a laser, which the Arbiter dodged. The sentinel was then shot down by a combat form that jumped up and whacked it with It's tentacle hands.

The Arbiter looked ahead and saw the next wall also blown apart, but there were large rocks in the gaps. The Arbiter growled. How was he going to get past that wall? The rocks were too treacherous to climb over and he could not stay here either without being ripped apart by the sentinels and Flood fighting around him.

Then, the Arbiter saw a way past the wall. The right end of the wall was pushed against a rock. In that rock was a small cave. Maybe that led around the wall. The Arbiter ran towards the cave as fast as he could, narrowly avoiding stray lasers, blasts and bullets from the fighting around him. The noise of the battle was partially blocked out as he entered the cave. The Arbiter kept his weapon raised as he ran through the tunnel the cave led into. As he neared the end of the tunnel, he could see the edge of the sentinel production facility's wall on a snow/rock covered ground. The Arbiter ran out of the tunnel onto the new ground. Wally hovered down beside him.

"Oracle, where do we go now?" the Arbiter asked Wally.

"We have to keep moving towards the main structure," he answered, pointing ahead at the enormous structure far away ahead of them. "But the problem is; how do we get there? The Flood and sentinels will be fighting on the way there-"

"Arbiter?" Tartarus' voice suddenly erupted. "I have your armour's signal back again. Where are you?"

"We are at the bottom of the second wall," the Arbiter answered. "We do not know how we can get to the icon without help,"

"Do not worry, Arbiter," Tartarus replied. "We have an Elite unit to the north of your location. They have set up a camp. Link up with them and wait for reinforcements,"

The Arbiter ran ahead in the direction of the camp, or where it was supposed to be, with Wally following close behind. As they passed the end of the sentinel production facility, Wally turned his head to look at the downed craft. The wreckage of an enforcer was lying there. Around it were several combat forms firing up at a few sentinels, who were firing down at the Flood. However, this was all out of sight within a few seconds as the Arbiter and Wally turned right into a small cave, only to come out on the other side into a bowl-like area.

A few metres in front of them was some kind of large circular platform on the ground. Around It's edges were several razor sharp shield-like parts of the platform risen up in a triangle formation. Scattered around the platform were several large dark blue metallic pods that had part of their fronts missing.

Suddenly something moved behind one of the shields on the platform. The Arbiter raised his carbine.

"Who's there!" he demanded.

"Arbiter," a voice said.

A figure ran forward from behind one of the shields. It was a minor Elite. It was also carrying a carbine.

"Praise!" another voice said. The Arbiter and Wally looked at a pod right of the platform to see another minor Elite, also armed with a carbine, standing there. "The Arbiter is here! And with the holy Oracle. Now they can guide us to victory!"

"What happened here?" the Arbiter asked. "Are there any more of our forces here?"

"Yes," the first minor Elite answered. "Our commander and several other Elites have landed further in. But with the parasite everywhere, it will not be easy reaching him."

"We need to," the Arbiter replied. "Tartarus will meet us wherever the commander is,"

"Our commander has landed further in," the second Elite piped up. "We must meet him. Follow us Arbiter, we will guide you and the Oracle there,"

The two minor Elites turned and ran in the direction of the back of the bowl-like area, in the direction of the library structure. The Arbiter and Wally followed. As the group came towards the back of the bowl-like area, they saw a small tunnel lead through the rock wall. The group ran into the tunnel. The exit was about forty feet ahead. The group ran down the tunnel.

When they emerged, the group found themselves in another bowl-like area, only it was smaller and there were several large blast doors built into the walls. A small path went along the side of the walls and were level with the doors so anyone could use them. In the middle of the area was a small hill with several more shield-like objects placed around the side of it about two feet from each other. A Covenant shade turret was placed between two of the shields, facing towards the tunnel the squad had come out of. A figure with shiny armour was on it. Another two were hiding behind separate shields, their weapons at the ready.

"Arbiter!" the figure on the turret exclaimed.

The figure jumped off the turret. The Arbiter could see that it was Vadumee. The other two figures stepped out from behind the shields. They were also Elites and were armed with needlers.

"What are you doing here, Arbiter?" Vadumee asked him. "And who's this?" he added, gesturing towards Wally.

"He is the holy Oracle," the Arbiter replied. "We are here because-"

ROOOOAAARRRR!

The Arbiter was cut off by the roar that sent chills down everyone's spines. It came from everywhere.

"Up there!" one of the Elites at the shields exclaimed, pointing up towards the back of the open area, towards the library structure.

The group looked to where the Elite was pointing. Wally began to shake with fear. An enormous group of Flood jumped down from the top of the rock wall and charged towards the camp.

"The parasite is upon us!" one of the Elites exclaimed.

"Hold the camp!" Vadumee ordered. "We must drive off the parasite until reinforcements arrive!"

The squad ran into the small camp. The Arbiter climbed onto the shade turret and turned it towards the wave of Flood. A barrage of red blasts shot out of the cannon and head straight towards their target, each taking out at least two or three Flood forms. The rest of the Flood immediately scattered behind rocks to get away from the deadly blasts.

Vadumee pulled out an energy sword and charged towards two combat forms hiding behind a rock. They saw him coming but before they could do anything, he swung his sword and cut both of the combat forms in two. Another combat form charged up to him from behind. However, one of the Elites armed with a needler fired a few projectiles at the creature.

Wally watched all this from behind one of the shields. The red blasts flew past him like a continuous storm. The other Covenant Elites were scattered around fighting the Flood like a unit ordered to stay behind and fight the enemy to the last man.

A blast hit the front of the shield, nearly hitting Wally's hand.

"Oracle!" the Arbiter shouted. "You must stay behind cover! We cannot risk losing you to the Flood!"

Wally nodded and retreated behind the shield. He felt stray blasts and projectiles hit the other side of the shield. It was best if he stayed out of this battle.

"Look out!" one of the Elites shouted. "The parasites infectors are coming towards us!"

The Elite was right. An enormous swarm of infection forms fell down from the top of the rock wall and moved towards the camp. The Arbiter fired a barrage of blasts at the infection forms. Some were hit and exploded, which caused others to explode, but the swarm just kept coming. The other Elites, who had killed or driven off the combat forms, turned and fired on the infection forms.

Suddenly, one infection form jumped onto the leg of one of the Elites. The Elite screamed in pain and pulled the creature off, only to have two more jump on It's chest. Blood flew from the wounds as the infection forms began to eat away at the creature's flesh. After a few seconds, the Elite fell forward onto the ground, dead.

As the Arbiter fired another two rounds, both took out an enormous group of infection forms, the remaining Flood turned and fled. One of the Elites roared in triumph.

"We have them on the run!" it shouted.

"Stay alert," Vadumee replied. "They will return."

ROOOOAAARRRRR!

The squad shot round to see another wave of combat forms coming towards them. Only this time, they were more of them. They seemed to cover the entire top of the rock wall. The Elites raised their weapons and the Arbiter aimed the turret at them.

"Warriors!" Vadumee declared. "Fight on to the last!"

Suddenly, a loud whirring noise filled the air. The group looked up to see what they had hoped for. The phantom. The enormous craft hovered down above the camp and fired a barrage from It's cannons at the wave of Flood. Each blast took out at least half a dozen combat forms. The combat forms turned tail and fled.

One of the Elites let out a triumphant roar.

"The parasite is no match for our superiority!" it shouted.

The phantom hovered down until it was about ten feet above the ground next to the camp. A large vehicle dropped to the ground. It had a large main section, that was shaped like a futuristic seat, a small platform at the back and two large wing-like sections with the end bent forwards as if someone had grabbed them and bent them in that direction. On the back of the wing-like sections were two small engines. Rising up from the top of the platform was a turret with sharp armour around the sides. A large door, that only covered about half of the front of the vehicle, was easy to make out. This vehicle is usually known as a Spectre. Mainly because, like It's small counterpart the ghost, it can be in one place at one moment and be gone the next like a ghost.

Vadumee walked over to the Arbiter as he got off the shade turret.

"So, Arbiter," he said. "Why are you and the Oracle here?" he asked.

"In the centre of this library area of the ring, there is a Sacred Icon that is critical to the Great Journey," the Arbiter answered. "I must find it,"

"Then we shall cut into the heart of this infestation, retrieve the icon and burn any of the parasite that dare stand in our way!" Vadumee announced.

The group of Elites let out a triumphant roar to show they would continue to the death.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Arbiter," Vadumee said to the Arbiter. "The parasite is not to be trifled with,"

The Arbiter looked ahead to see the only blast door that led in the direction of the enormous library structure.

"Warriors! Mount up!" Vadumee ordered. "Arbiter, you lead the assault! I'll follow when our reinforcements arrive!"

The Arbiter nodded and ran over to the spectre. He climbed into the driver's seat at the front. Two of the other three Elites climbed onto the two wing-like sides of the vehicle and the last got onto the turret.

"Oracle," the Arbiter said. "You'll have to sit on one of the sides. Just be careful,"

Wally nodded and ran over to the vehicle. The Elite sitting on the left wing moved closer to the end to give Wally some room. Wally climbed onto the wing and sat down. The Arbiter pulled down the front hatch of the spectre, which was hovering several feet off the ground, and drove forwards towards the blast door built into the rock wall. Behind the group, the phantom, who had picked up Vadumee, hovered up into the air and flew into the sky.

The blast door opened as the spectre approached it to reveal a light brown/gold coloured corridor, almost the same colour as the skin of the Flood themselves, that was completely straight and about seventy feet long. About half-way down the corridor, the floor went down at a 20 degree angle. Another large blast door was at the end. What was on the other side the squad did not know, but they did know it was not going to be anything good.

The Arbiter drove the spectre down the corridor towards the end. When they reached it, the blast door opened. The Arbiter drove the spectre through the doorway back into the outside world again. The entire group went wide eyed at the sight before them.

In front of the spectre was an enormous area filled with rocks, small mountains and hills, and large holes. Going between or even over some of the holes were narrow rock pathways. Large caves went into the side of the small rock hills and mountains. Far away at the very back was the enormous library structure that seemed to dwarf everything. In front of it was another wall, however it was on fire and crumbling. The group could see why.

Scattered around this enormous area were Covenant vehicles, many of them wraiths and ghosts. They were zooming around and/or firing on sentinels that were hovering above the ground. The group could even see enforcers and several Flood forms as well. This area had literally been turned into a war zone as smoke clouds from raging fires scattered around the area or from the wall filled the air.

"Our reinforcements have run into trouble," the Elite sitting next to Wally said.

"Then we must help them," the Arbiter replied.

"Onward to the sacred icon!" the Elite on the turret declared as if he were commanding an army and leading them into battle.

The Arbiter drove the spectre into the area. Very quickly, they came close to a wraith that was shooting mortar blasts at an enforcer hovering over one of the many holes. BOOM! One of the blasts hit the side of the enforcer. The enormous machine broke apart and disappeared into the hole.

"Noble allies!" the Elite on the turret shouted to the wraith. "We have come for your aid to get to the sacred icon!"

The wraith turned to face the spectre.

Suddenly, Wally dived into the cog pit and pushed the controls forward, causing the spectre to shoot forward towards further into the war zone.

"Oracle!" the Arbiter shouted, grabbing Wally's chest. "What are you doi-"

BOOM! A shot exploded behind the vehicle, cutting the Arbiter off mid-sentence. The group looked to see a blue haze fade away. That haze came from a mortar blast fired from the wraith the group had just stopped in front of.

"Our allies have fired on us!" the Elite on the turret shouted as he turned the turret to face the wraith.

"It's not under your control," Wally said to the Elite. "It is the Flood. They have control of it."

The Arbiter went quiet. The Flood using vehicles. No. This was not good. Not good at all. With this new advantage… they could spread faster and become harder enemies to defeat. But this also signalled something worse. They were learning. They were learning how to use vehicles… now they would be virtually relentless and possibly even unstoppable on the battlefield.

The turret chattered away, snapping the Arbiter back into reality. He drove the spectre forward, narrowly missing another mortar blast from the wraith. The spectre hovered onto an open area that led onto a pathway that went over a large hole. On the other side of the pathway was a large cave that led inside a small hill.

Just as the Arbiter drove the spectre onto the path, Wally suddenly gasped and pointed into the hole. The rest of the group looked and saw the top of an enforcer rise up out of the hole. It's small eye locked onto the Covenant target. It's front legs rose, ready to smash down onto the intruders. The Elite on the turret and the two Elites sitting on the sides of the spectre fired up at the enforcer. They managed to blast off one of the front legs. This, however, barely did anything to the enforcer, apart from making it emit a metallic sound, which Wally took for a growl. The creature hovered after the spectre as it went onto the open area on the other side of the pathway, determined to kill the Covenant.

"ARBITER! LOOK OUT!" Wally yelled, pointing ahead.

The Arbiter, who had looked over his shoulder to see the enforcer chasing them, looked ahead. Charing towards them at full speed was a warthog with a machine gun turret. Driving the warthog, with difficulty as it was swerving and skidding everywhere. The Arbiter grabbed the spectre's controls and swerved left around the warthog. The incoming vehicle hit the spectre's right wing and flipped over. The turret flew off the turret and flew towards the enforcer. The weapon hit the enforcer right in the eye. The machine emitted a loud metallic roar but within a few seconds it fell into the hole, along with the warthog, and disappeared from sight.

Not wanting to attract any attention, the Arbiter drove the spectre on and into the tunnel that led inside the small hill.

"I've just realised something," Wally said. "That's a human vehicle. I've seen it before,"

"The humans cannot possibly be here!" the Elite sitting next to him growled, making Wally shrink in fear. "They would not even survive the enormous Flood and sentinel infested walls!"

"They must have found another way in," the Arbiter replied. "With the vehicles this far, it is possible,"

"Then we must hurry!" the Elite on the turret said in a panicked-like tone. "If they get the icon before us, the Great Journey will be ruined!"

The spectre came out of the tunnel and into a small open area with a pathway that led over another large hole to another open area on the other side. A small path went out of that open area and cut right through the middle of two small rocky hills. On the other side was a large cube shaped structure with many rectangular sections sticking out from the sides and top structure that led to the library structure.

"The icon is in sight," the Arbiter said. "We are almost there,"

He pushed the controls forward to maximum. The spectre shot forward towards the pathway. They Covenant squad had to get to the icon quicker now that they knew the humans were here as well.

Suddenly, a large shape appeared out from the gap between the two small rocky hills. It was a large, bulky rectangular-like shape with a large cannon sticking out from the top of the rectangular shape. Four small metal bars were on the four corners of the main section of the tank for soldier to sit and hold onto whilst firing. It was a scorpion tank.

The scorpion tank drove out into the open area. It stopped all of a sudden ten feet from the side of the hole. The enormous cannon aimed up at towards the spectre. The crew froze.

"Do you think it is humans or Flood controlling that tank?" one of the Elites.

"It does not matter!" the Elite on the turret barked. "We have to find a way to destroy it,"

BOOM! A shot filled the air. The Arbiter pushed the controls to maximum, causing the spectre to shoot forward. An enormous explosion erupted where the vehicle had been just a mere second earlier. The Elite on the turret aimed the weapon towards the tank and fired. A barrage of blue blasts flew out over the hole and hit their target, but with the tank's thick armour, they were going to do little good. Either the group were going to have to find another way around or one of them was going to have to run over to the tank and kill the one driving it.

"Commander, we have found human vehicles here as well,"

"Keep moving, I'm on my way," came Vadumee's voice.

The Arbiter began to zigzag the spectre around the open area to avoid the shells from the scorpion tank. If even one hit their vehicle or hit the ground near their vehicle, they would be blown apart or thrown into one of the hole.

"We cannot keep doing this forever!" one of the Elites sitting on the side of the spectre growled. "The longer we fool around here, the more chance the humans will have getting to the icon,"

"Well we cannot do anything else, though!" the Arbiter replied.

"Oracle!" the Elite on the turret said. "Can you not do anything to help?" it asked him.

"Not really," Wally replied.

Suddenly, the tank fired another shot. Only this time, it was aimed up at the sky. The group looked up to see the phantom hovering about a hundred feet above the ground. Thankfully, the shot missed. The phantom's cannons aimed down at the tank and fired a barrage. Despite repeatedly hitting their target, the Covenant forces were going to need a lot more than blasts to destroy the enemy vehicle. The Arbiter, however, saw their chance.

The Arbiter opened the hatch and ran towards the tank.

"Arbiter, what are you doing?" one of the Elites yelled.

The Arbiter ignored him. He had to destroy this tank now. If they waited too long, then the humans would get to the icon and the dream of the Great Journey would be forever lost.

As the Arbiter reached the tank, the main cannon turned towards him. He froze for a second, but realised that he was too close to the tank it to fire on him. The Arbiter climbed onto the tank and ran over to the hatch. He grabbed it and pulled it open. Inside was a small combat form. The Arbiter raised his fist and brought it down on the form's head. The blow was so powerful that it literally caused the Flood form to break apart.

"Nicely done, Arbiter," came Vadumee's voice as the phantom flew off behind the structure.

The Arbiter nodded and jumped down from the tank. The spectre, which had driven across the pathway, pulled up alongside him. The Elite that was sitting next to Wally got out and went back to It's original position. The Arbiter jumped inside the spectre's driving seat and pulled down the hatch. He hovered the vehicle through the gap between the two small rock hills.

"Look, over there!" Wally exclaimed, pointing over to the side of the open area, which was just outside the small structure.

The group looked. Disbelief filled their eyes. It was the remains of a pelican. Scattered around it were several weapons and ammunition and a dead marine. A warthog was also there, lying on It's side against the small hill.

"The humans have already beaten us here!" one of the Elites gasped. "They have beaten us to the icon."

"Not yet, they haven't!" the Arbiter replied in a voice that made him sound like a warrior who despite having the odds stacked against him, he was not going to give up. "If we are quick, we may be able to catch them before they get to the icon."

The Arbiter pushed the controls forward. The spectre moved towards the structure. A large opening was on the side of the front of the building. It led into a large wide bronze coloured corridor with a large open doorway on It's right wall. The Arbiter drove the spectre into the building and up to the doorway. The group got out and ran through the doorway down a corridor and through another open doorway. They went up a ramp and onto an enormous square shaped platform, with a small scanning device in the middle of the platform, that was hovering between a large outside walkway shaped like a U. Far away to the right of the group was another U shaped walkway with a large square shaped platform hovering between it. Far way ahead of them, through the falling snow continuously coming down from the clouds, was the enormous library structure. There was where the icon lay.

"Arbiter," a familiar voice said from, behind the group.

The group turned to see Vadumee running towards them.

"Good work," he said as he reached the platform. "We almost have the icon,"

Suddenly, a loud unlocking sound echoed filled the air. It came from the right. The group of Covenant turned their heads towards the other U shaped platform. Everything was the same over there.., except. The platform was moving!

"More humans?" one of the Elites said. "They're after the icon. They will get there before us!"

Vadumee was about to reply when…

ROOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRR!

An enormous screech filled the air. It came from the behind the squad. They turned their heads towards the doorway. It was obvious they were Flood, and by the sound of the screech there were lots of them, and they probably were not very far behind.

Vadumee took out an energy sword activator. The deadly energy weapon shot out of the device.

"On your way Arbiter," Vadumee said. "I'll deal with these beasts,"

Vadumee ran over towards the doorway. Within a few seconds he ran down the ramp and disappeared from sight. The Arbiter turned and rested a hand on the scanning device. The unlocking sound echoed throughout the air once again, only this time it was their platform that was moving. The enormous craft jolted slightly before it began to move towards the structure, about a thousand feet away.

As the platform hovered away from the U shaped walkway, a whirring sound filled the air behind them. The group turned to see the phantom hovering not far behind them.

"I see your brave commander did not decide to join you," came Tartarus' voice.

The Arbiter ignored him, though his hand holding the carbine began to shake slightly with anger. Even though Tartarus was on the same side as him, sometimes he just saw him as an enemy and he also sometimes just really wanted to pound his little bear face in. Maybe that would come one day, but now they had to focus on getting the icon before the humans did.

"I'll watch your back." Tartarus said. "We must not let the humans get to the icon. The hierarchs do not grow kindly on failure,"

The platform was now about four hundred feet away from the U shaped walkway. The other platform was slightly further ahead of them. For both sides, it was a race to the ultimate prize, which was the icon. One side was eventually going to win, and, unless either the Flood or Tartarus managed to kill them all, it was going to be the humans that would be walking away with the prize.

One of the Elites growled.

"I grow restless without a target!" it said.

"Keep yourself calm!" the Arbiter ordered. "Besides, you will soon be ripping apart human flesh! Just be patient!"

As the platform was about half-way to the library structure, Wally looked over the edge to see the rocky and metal surface far below them. Even though the distance between the platform and the ground was only about two to two thousand five hundred feet below, it looked like it was a mile below. Wally shivered slightly and moved away from the edge of the walkway. He let out his whistle tune, which seemed to fill the air, turning the heads of the Elite towards him. He probably made them jump.

Just as the platform was about two hundred feet from the structure, a loud electronic whirring sound filled the air. The Covenant looked ahead but it was nothing. Wally looked over to the other platform and saw an enormous circular shaped door opening.

"Look," he said, pointing over to the other platform.

The rest of the Covenant squad saw the human controlled platform hover through the enormous doorway. They only just managed to catch a glimpse of a metal environment on the other side of the doorway.

"The Humans are going faster than us!" one of the Elites growled.

"And they have brought a ship with them as well, look," Wally said, pointing up into the sky behind them.

The squad looked to see an enormous shape hovering not far above the structure. It was the Amber Clad.

"A Human ship," the Arbiter muttered under his breath.

"Should we call in a carrier and have it destroyed?" one of the Elites asked.

"We get the icon first, then we'll deal with the humans," the Arbiter answered.

The electronic whirring sound filled the air once again. The squad looked ahead of them to see the enormous circular shaped door, about a hundred feet in front of them, open up to reveal an enormous circular shaped metal landscape with many walkways coming out of the walls, pillars and metal structures sticking out from the sides and even from the ground. At the end was an enormous wall. Several enormous lights were along the

The platform hovered into the massive cylindrical world. The door behind them closed. Just several hundred feet away to their right were the Elites' rivals. They were at least a hundred feet in front of them. There was one big problem the Elites faced; how many humans were aboard the platform? If there were too many, they may be able to hold them for whoever was in charge to get the icon. The Arbiter raised his carbine and aimed through the scope. Damn! it was too far away to pick let alone see a target even through the scope. The Arbiter lowered his weapon. They were going to have to find another way to kill, or at least beat the humans to the ic-

"Look! Up ahead! The parasite gathers for an attack!" one of the Elites exclaimed.

The Arbiter looked ahead. The Elite was right. On a walkway to the left and about thirty feet above the platform were Flood combat forms. Lots of them. The Arbiter looked through his scope and saw that many of them were armed with various Covenant and humans and possibly even Forerunner weapons. He fired a shot at one of them, but only shooting off part of It's mutated head. That was nowhere near going to be enough to stop the wave of Flood.

As the platform passed underneath the walkway, the Flood combat forms immediately jumped down onto the platform. The Elites fired up at the combat forms, hitting some of them. A few either jumped too fast or not fast enough and fell past the platform to their doom far below.

At once, a gunfight broke out on the platform. Wally dived to the floor to avoid any stray fire. Around him the Elites and the Flood furiously fought each other.

The Arbiter swung his carbine like a baseball bat at a combat form armed with a battle rifle. The weapon easily broke through the Flood's skin and was powerful enough to make the remains fly through the air over the edge of the platform. An Elite, armed with a needler, fired a barrage of purple projectiles at a combat from armed with a plasma rifle. The projectiles embedded themselves into the creature's skin and it fell to the platform floor, dead. The Elite then swung It's needler through the air and hit a combat form, throwing over the side of the platform. The last two Elites stood back-to-back and were mowing down all Flood that tried to attack them, occasionally having to use their weapons or fists to kill a Flood that got too close. The phantom hovering close behind the platform fired a barrage of blasts at the Flood combat forms, each taking out at least half a dozen of Flood.

When the last Flood combat form had been knocked over the side of the platform by the Arbiter, and when Wally had got up from the platform floor, the phantom hovered away from the Covenant platform towards the human platform.

"Humans!" Tartarus growled. "I'll thin their ranks,"

"What courage!" one of the Elites said sarcastically. "Nice and safe in his phantom!"

"And going over to the human platform will only alert them to our presence!" another Elite growled.

"Look on the bright side," the Arbiter said. "If we are lucky that the humans have brought anti-air weapons with them, they'll shoot him down,"

The other Elites laughed at the Arbiter's joke. Like I explained earlier, the Elites and the Brutes really loathed each other. Why was unknown, but what was really a mystery was that the prophets managed to get them to stay in the Covenant. The Elites probably loathed the Brutes even more now because they replaced them as the prophet's noble guards.

ROOOOOAAAAAARRRRRR!

The squad looked up to see an enormous cloud of brown falling towards them. Wally began to shake with fear and almost looked like he was going to pass out. The enormous cloud above them was infection forms.

Before the squad could even blink, the infection forms landed all around them. At once a barrage of blast fire exploded in the air. The Elites fired everything they had at the infection forms but despite cutting through them quickly and killing one ended up killing loads more they just kept coming in an unstoppable wave. Wally scrambled away from a group of infection forms towards the edge of the platform. When he could go any further, he activated his anti-gravity boots and hovered high above the battle. He was safe, as long as no more infection forms fell down from above and no stray blasts hit him.

"AHHHH!"

Three infections forms landed on the chest of one of the Elites. The Elites screamed and tried to pull them off but it was no use. Purple blood sprayed out from the wounds as the infections ate further into their prey. The Arbiter tried to rush over to help but another group of infection forms landed in front of him. Finally, the Elite could no longer stand and fell forward onto the platform floor, dead. Then, the infection forms ate away at the flesh and burrowed inside the creature. The Arbiter knew what was coming but before he could so much raise his carbine, the Elite's body began to wriggle about as if it had been struck by a tazer. Then, large bulges broke through the armour and spread around the outside of the Elite's skin. Tentacles grew out from the creature's face and hands. The creature then stood up. The Elite was now a combat form.

"By the rings!" one of the other Elites said as it fired a shot at an infection form, killing it. "The parasite has evolved further!"

The combat form growled and charged towards the Arbiter. The Arbiter raised his carbine and fired two shots at the creature. It was hit and fell to the floor, dead. The Arbiter then swung his weapon high above his head and brought it down onto the body of his former comrade, destroying it completely.

As the last infection form was killed, Wally hovered down onto the platform. The Elites, however, did not seem to notice him. Instead, they were all glaring at the phantom as it hovered back over to them.

"You could have helped us, Tartarus!" one of the Elites growled. "We lost one of our comrades because you were not here to help! And to make things worse, you've probably now alerted the humans to our presence!"

"Oh shut your jaws!" Tartarus barked. "It was a good thing I went over to the human platform anyway. I have seen the human ship commander and a high ranking sergeant over there on the platform,"

"So there's a human ship commander and high ranking sergeant on the platform,"one of the Elites said. "What makes it so amusing or shocking of however you put it?" the Elite asked.

"Because the demon is over there with them!" Tartarus answered.

At these words, the entire group went silent. Outside they were filled with shock but inside, their anger began to boil over. The Arbiter's hands began to shake with anger. His carbine even almost fell out of his hands. The demon! Here! No! The Arbiter had a score to settle with her. For destroying the Sacred Ring, for making him lose his valuable position in the Covenant and for killing one of the prophets and making the Elites lose their honourable place among the Covenant.

"I will kill her when we stop!" he growled, tightening his grip on the carbine.

Wally, however, was completely confused. Who was this demon they were talking about? Was it a former member of their Covenant? Or was it an old enemy? It was probably an old enemy because he had been told about the war between the Covenant and humanity.

Wally walked over to the Arbiter.

"Um… who are you… talking about?" he asked him.

The Arbiter turned to face him.

"The demon," the Arbiter answered. "You have not heard of her?"

So it was a female they were talking about.

"No," Wally replied.

"The demon is a human female who destroyed the Sacred Ring," the Arbiter explained, adding a low and dangerous tone to his voice as if he were speaking to the demon herself.

"Not only that, she has killed one of our noble prophets and made us lose our honourable place among the Covenant!" one of the other Elites added in an angry tone. "We will make her pay,"

The Arbiter turned away from Wally and walked towards the front edge of the platform. They were now about a hundred feet from the enormous wall. The platform jolted slightly as it began to ascend up some kind of enormous passageway. The human platform was about one hundred feet ahead of them. It was obvious that they were going to get to wherever the stopping point for the platforms was first but would the Arbiter and the Elites be able to catch them in time.

Wally, however, was rooted to the spot. His mind was racing. A human female who destroyed the Sacred Ring! The only ring he could think of was Halo. And the only human female he could remember… was Eve. Oh no! He was with her when they destroyed the ring! They were going to kill her! He had to save her, but how? He could not suddenly fly over to the other platform and warn them because for one thing, they would probably mistake him for Covenant and fire on him. And another thing, the Covenant would kill him. Wally cared little for his own life, just as long as Eve was saved.

As the Covenant platform continued on up the side of the enormous passageway, along with the phantom that was hovering nearby, the human platform suddenly stopped and disappeared behind the top of the enormous wall. The Arbiter clutched his carbine tighter.

They are getting further ahead of us! he thought angrily. But they will not escape!

Wally, on the other hand, was praying that they would either go faster or go slower. Either way would at least keep Eve out of danger for a few moments and, hopefully, give him enough time to warn her. The only problem was her platform was neither going faster or slowing down. Wally began to panic. He had to warn Eve, but how?

A few moments later, the Covenant platform reached the top of the wall and moved forward into another enormous cylindrical shaped world. Several walkways were hovering several metres in the air both sides of the platforms. At the end, about two hundred feet ahead, was another large wall. However. A small pathway was running along the side of it and both ends went into the wall.

A hundred feet to their right ahead of them was the human platform. It was heading towards another pathway further down the enormous wall. The Arbiter growled. His carbine began to shake in his hands. He even raised it slightly as if he was going to be able to shoot the humans even though his platform was too far away. Oh how he wished he could shoot them or at least appear over there. This was personal. He had an old score to settle with the demon and when he got hold of her, he was going to make her pay!

ROOOOAAAAAARRRRR!

The group looked up to see a large group of combat forms falling down towards the platform. They seemed to appear from mid-air, a good way on surprise attacking your enemy. Luckily, some of the combat forms fell down either too early or too late and fell past the walkways to the metal floor that seemed like miles below.

"Ready yourselves!" the Arbiter ordered. "The parasite will not stop us!"

The squad obeyed and quickly checked and/or reloaded their weapons. Moments later, the wave of Flood descended upon them. Wally activated his anti-gravity boots and hovered several feet into the air

The Arbiter was thrown to the floor, causing him to drop his carbine, as an Elite combat form jumped down from the walkway and struck him across the chest with It's tentacle hand. His armour's shield lit up. The combat form raised It's arm to strike the Arbiter again. However, the Elite was quick to react and struck the combat form in the legs The creature fell to the floor. The Arbiter then, quickly, grabbed his carbine and fired two bursts of ammo at the combat form, shooting off the flabby part on the top of It's head and fully killing it.

Around him, the Arbiter comrades were fighting hard as well against the Flood. One of the Elites swung his plasma rifle like a baseball bat at a combat form, smashing the creature's body into a million pieces and throwing the remains over the edge of the platform to the metal floor far below. The other two Elites stood back-to-back and were easily ripping apart any combat forms that attacked them.

Suddenly, a loud THUD drew everyone's attention. A carrier had fallen from above and landed on the platform. What was worse, it had fallen over and was now expanding as if it were being inflated by a bicycle pump. Then…

BOOM! The carrier exploded into a million pieces, throwing the rotten and mutated flesh of the creature across the platform. From the remains came a swarm of five infection forms. One jumped onto one of the Elites that was standing back-to-back. Luckily, the Elite grabbed the infection form and crushed it before It's deadly mouth could break through the Elite's flesh and infect him. The Arbiter raised his carbine and fired two shots from it, hitting another infection form and causing it, along with another, to explode like a balloon. Two light blue blasts from the plasma rifle of one of the Elites killed the last two infection forms.

"The humans are already inside!" Tartarus exclaimed as Wally hovered back down onto the platform.

The group looked towards the human platform. Tartarus was right! The human platform had stopped alongside a pathway that led inside the wall. The Arbiter clutched his weapon tighter ad growled slightly. They had made it to the icon first. No matter. He would get the icon and enjoy ripping apart the humans' flesh, especially the demon.

"Quickly! After them!" Tartarus ordered. "I'll watch the perimeter and make sure the humans do not try to slip out!"

A few seconds later, the platform jolted slightly as it stopped alongside the pathway that led into the wall.

"Behold, the library of our lords!" one of the Elites exclaimed, raising his arms as if he were to embrace the wall.

The Arbiter walked off the platform onto the pathway.

"Stay here!" he said to the group, not turning to look at them. "You must protect this transport."

"But Arbiter," one of the Elites piped up. "You do not know how many humans there are!"

"That does not matter!" the Arbiter replied, still not turning to face the group. "The icon is my responsibility! Only I can bring it back to the prophets. Besides, I have a personal score to settle."

The Elites looked furious. They wanted to be known as the ones who helped retrieve the sacred icon. However, they were not to disobey their commander's orders, even if it was for something incredible. The Elites nodded and spread out across the platform, ready to fend off an attack if one came.

The Arbiter clutched his weapon tightly. He was about to continue when a hand rested on his shoulder. The Arbiter turned to see it was Wally.

"I need to come with you," he said.

The Arbiter pushed Wally's hand off his shoulder.

"You have done enough, holy oracle," he replied. "I must go in alone."

"You cannot," Wally said, grabbing the Arbiter's shoulder. "I need to come with you,"

"Why?" the Arbiter asked.

"Because…?" Wally began but quickly trailed off. He had to come up with an answer quickly. "Because… Because I know… the way to where the 'icon' is… And I know where any sentinel producers will be so I can guide you through safely,"

The Arbiter sighed through gritted teeth. He could not easily argue back with Wally's answer. But it meant the Arbiter would have to protect him. Wally was a holy oracle and if he was killed then the Arbiter, even if he had managed to get the icon, would be executed. He sighed again.

"Very well," the Arbiter said. "You may come," The Arbiter leaned forward so his face was just inches from Wally's. "But you stay near me and you listen to me, understood?" he whispered dangerously.

Wally nodded.

The Arbiter turned and walked down the pathway towards the end; Wally followed. The two turned and found themselves in a narrow pathway that led to a wide open corridor at the end. The Arbiter ran down the pathway to the end, Wally right behind him.

The two emerged from the narrow pathway into the corridor. It was a curved-like room with several large half-rectangular shaped objects along both walls. Forerunner markings were engraved into the floor, walls and the ceiling.

The Arbiter raised his carbine and, cautiously, walked down the corridor; Wally followed. As the two were about to turn into a left curve, the Arbiter suddenly stopped. Wally bumped into him.

"What is it?" Wally asked.

"Up ahead," the Arbiter answered, pointing ahead on the floor.

Wally looked ahead and saw why the Arbiter had stopped. Scattered around on the floor were several bodies, Human marine bodies. Much of the floor around them was covered in red. Their weapons were also scattered across the floor. Each had a pile of bullets on the floor near the weapon. It was obvious there had been a battle here, but who were the humans fighting.

HIIIIIISSSSSSSSS

The Arbiter raised his carbine, keeping his finger just mere millimetres from the trigger. Then, several small shapes moved out from behind one of half rectangular shaped objects towards the two. Infection forms. The Arbiter fired a shot from his carbine, hitting one of the infections forms and causing it to explode. The rest of the swarm quickly followed.

"The Humans must be close," the Arbiter said. "Stay close to me, oracle,"

The Arbiter ran down the corridor; Wally followed. The two ran down the left curve and into another corridor. A wall about fifty feet ahead brought the corridor to an end. The Arbiter and Wally ran down the corridor towards the end.

Wally suddenly stopped. On the left wall next to them was a small diamond shaped doorway that led into a small diamond shaped corridor. At the end was a large room with several large piles of metallic remains scattered on the room's floor.

"The icon must be down there," the Arbiter said.

The Elite ran down the corridor towards the room at the other end; Wally followed. The two emerged from the corridor into a large cylindrical tunnel shaped room with four enormous pillars stretching down from the ceiling, about two hundred feet above them, to the darkness of the tunnel far below them. A small pathway led from the tunnel to a circular shaped platform in the middle of the room. Scattered around It's surface were several enforcer remains. The Arbiter scanned the room, searching for the icon but there was no sign of it.

"I will search for the icon," the Arbiter said. He turned to Wally. "Get down behind that pile of enforcer remains…" the Arbiter pointed over to a small pile of enforcer remains, which was just big enough for someone to hide behind, near the edge of the platform next to the pathway, "And stay there. Do not leave unless I return or I am killed. If I am, then you are to go and get help."

Wally nodded. The Arbiter turned and walked up the pathway towards the platform. Wally crept after him. A few seconds later, he ducked down behind the enforcer's remains and watched the Arbiter as he activated his armour camouflage and disappeared almost completely into thin air.

Wally had now managed to separate himself from the Arbiter. But now he had to find Eve and warn her. The only problem was how was he going to get to her without alerting the Arbiter. If the Arbiter knew he was a friend of Eve, then he would kill him. And Eve would be even more vulnerable and could most likely die! No. Wally had to find a way to save her before the Arbiter got to her first. Right now, her life mattered more than his.

Hovering over the edge of the platform, on the other side of it, was a small black cylindrical object with eight small cubes, four on both sides of the object. Every few seconds, they would move around from one side of the object to the other. A long thin green line went from the top of the object to the bottom, on both the front and the back.

A few feet away on the surface of the platform, a human walked towards the edge. It was a woman with brown hair, brown eyes, soft cheeks and a small nose. She was wearing a silver high ranking UNSC uniform. It was Mary.

Mary had ordered the Amber Clad to be flown directly to the library once they knew what the Covenant were after on this ring. They had fought hard against the Flood and several sentinels and, just a few minutes, had just come off a platform that had brought her and a squad of marines here. Two of her marines, however, had been killed on the platform by Flood and the Covenant phantom. Three more marines had been ordered to stand guard outside in the corridor. Hopefully, neither the Flood or the Covenant, if there were any of them, had not followed them here.

Mary stopped just next to the platform's edge. The object was too far ahead for her to reach out and grab it. She had to find a way to grab the Index. Mary scanned the surrounding piles of metallic waste. Her eyes rested on something on a small pile about three feet from her. It stood out perfectly from the metal. It was a long and thick rope-like thing with a green top and an orangey/red bottom. It looked like a tentacle. If it was then what the hell was a tentacle doing here among this pile of rubble?

Mary shook that thought out of her mind and walked over to the tentacle. She grabbed it and walked towards the edge. It was quite long and might just be long enough for Mary to lean over the edge of the platform and grab the Index.

As Mary reached the edge of the platform, she pressed down with her feet and leant forward towards the Index. She was careful not to lean forward too quickly otherwise she would fall to her death, if the tentacle was not somehow connected to something in the pile it was coming from. Mary fingers were just inches from the object. Okay so far, so good. Just a little more. Mary, dangerously, leant forward further. Her fingertips could just about touch the top of the Index. Almost there.

Then, the cubes around the side of the object suddenly stopped and pushed in towards the middle of the object, making the green line even thinner. A second later, a capitol T-like object, with a thin green line going down both the front and back of it, rose from the top of the black object.

"Gotcha," Mary said as her fingers closed around the Index.

She had the Index. Now all she and the marines had to do was get out of the library and get back to the Amber Cla-

Suddenly, Mary was falling away from the platform. The tentacle! She was still clutching it but it was not connected to anything in the pile it was coming from! It was completely loose! Mary gasped at the sudden fall, knowing that death had come for her at last.

It never came.

Suddenly, Mary halted in mid-air. She looked up to see that she was about ten feet below the platform's edge. Standing on the edge, clutching the tentacle, was John.

"You know, your father never asked me for help either!" he said, grunting slightly as he was having to use all his strength to hold the tentacle and prevent it from falling over the edge.

"Thanks John," Mary said as she placed the Index on a small square shaped device the size of the palm of a human's hand on her belt. A magnetic force pulled the Index onto the square shaped device's surface and held it there. "The Index is secure. Let's get out of here,"

"If I can pull you up, then we can leave," John grunted as he tried with all his might to pull the tentacle onto the platform.

"Good thing you have me here," a woman behind John said.

John looked over his shoulder to see Eve standing a few feet behind him. She set her battle rifle down on the floor and grabbed the tentacle. She and John then pulled with all their might and lifted Mary back on the platform.

"Thanks," Mary said.

John took hold of a radio on his chest and held it up to his lips.

"Perez," he said. "We've got the Index. How's our exit?"

No response.

"You hear me marines?" John said, hoping for a reply.

Still no response. John placed the radio back onto his chest and picked up his battle rifle that he set down on the floor.

"We got trouble," he said to Mary and Eve. "I'd ready yourselves just in case,"

The two girls nodded. Eve picked up two SMG's (Sub-Machine Guns) and handed them to Mary before picking up her battle rifle. The three raised their weapons and walked towards the pathway, with Eve in front, then John and then Mary, that led onto the platform. What the hell had happened to their squad? And if they were dead, who, or what, killed them?

"Who do you think killed them?" Auto asked Eve.

"Probably the Flood," Eve answered. "But that phantom we met earlier means that the Covenant could be here looking for the Index as well,"

"Let's just hope we get out of here before they arr-"

BANG! A burst of ammo exploded in the room. John had fired a burst of ammo at a small pile of enforcer wreckage. Eve and Mary looked but saw nothing.

"What the matter?" Eve asked John.

"I saw something move," John answered.

"What do we do?" Mary asked.

"Split up," John answered, whispering just in case they had been followed. "We'll be a lot harder to kill if we're separated from each other. Yell if you get attacked."

John ran ahead down the middle of the platform towards a small pile of enforcer wreckage. Mary ran left and disappeared behind another pile of metallic waste. Eve ran right behind a long pile of wreckage that was just next to the platform's edge. She was on her own.

"Do you think It's Flood?" Auto asked her.

"No," Eve answered. "If it was, then it, or they, would come charging out after us. It's got to be Covenant. The only question is how many and what aliens are they?"

Eve crept along the edge of the platform. She could see the walkway about twenty feet ahead. Good. Now all she had to do was meet up with John and Mary at the pathway. Eve walked forward towards the room's exit, determined to get out of here as quickly as possible.

TAP! Eve raised her battle rifle and held her finger just millimetres from the trigger. She took a deep breath and cautiously stepped forward. The tap came from somewhere ahead of her. Eve stepped forward again, moving her battle rifle sideways and up to make sure there was nothing waiting to surprise her.

"AAAAHHH!"

Eve screamed and fell to the platform's floor, dropping her battle rifle. A figure fell on top of her. Instantly, Eve pushed the figure into the wreckage next to her and grabbed her battle rifle. She aimed it at the figure, keeping her finger on the trigger.

"Who are you?" she whispered dangerously, pushing the barrel of the weapon against the flesh of the figure.

"Eve?" a voice said from inside the wreckage.

Eve's eyes went wide. The figure knew her name! How? She would find that out in a minute. Eve grabbed the figure and pulled it up from the wreckage slightly. Eve gasped and dropped her battle rifle and Auto whispered "It can't be,"

It was Wally.

Eve just stared at Wally as if he were a ghost. Wally placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Eve," he said. "It's me,"

Before Wally could blink, Eve embraced him tightly. Wally hugged her tightly as well.

Tears ran down Eve's cheeks. She was so happy to see him. He was supposed to be dead. The last time she had seen Wally was when he had thrown her onto the long sword fighter on the Axiom to save her. He had sacrificed his life to save hers and Auto's. But yet, he had cheated death… and lived.

After a few seconds, the two let go of each other.

"Wally…" Eve began, but quickly trailed off. "I… We. Me and Auto… We… We thought you were dead,"

"No," Wally replied. "I still don't know how I lived. But, that does not matter now. You and Auto made it out and your safe. That is all I really need to know,"

"Eve!" someone exclaimed from behind.

The two turned to see John and Mary standing at the end of the pathway Eve had taken along the edge of the platform. They stared at Wally.

"Who's this?" John asked Eve.

"This is Wally," Eve answered. "Remember… He's the monitor I told you about when we were on the Cairo. This is the person who helped me and Auto get off Halo,"

"Oh," John said, lowering his weapon. He tried to smile but it was hard since this strange person had just suddenly shown himself. "Well… Uh, pleased to meet you Wally,"

John walked forward and held up a hand but Wally stared at it.

"Umm… Is something supposed to happen?" he asked in a confused tone.

"Yeah, your supposed to grab my hand and shake it," John answered.

Wally held his hand and grabbed hold of John's hand and shook it.

"There we go," John said, letting go of Wally's hand. "And this Mary," he added, moving aside as Mary walked over to him.

"Hi," Mary greeted as she held up her hand

"Hello," Wally replied as he shook Mary's hand.

Mary let go of Wally's hand.

"So Wally," Eve said. "Why are you here?" she asked him.

"I came to warn you," Wally answered. "The Arbiter, he-"

CRASH! The wall of enforcer remains seemed to explode, throwing large pieces of it everywhere. Wally, Mary and John were quick to dive back out of the way. Eve, however, was hit in the side by a large piece of what may have been part of an enforcer's back leg and fell over the side of the platform. Thankfully, she grabbed hold of the side of the platform. Once the remains had stopped flying, Wally helped Eve back up onto the platform.

"Thanks," Eve said.

"Oracle!" a voice growled.

Eve and Wally looked towards the new gap in the wall of metallic waste to see the Arbiter standing there. He was clutching his carbine in one hand and had his other hand clenched into a fist. He had a furious look on his face. The oracle had betrayed him! Well, to hell with the prophets' orders to protect the oracle! He was going to kill Wally.

Then, the Arbiter noticed the person with Wally and his gaze fell upon her. It was a woman in a white bodysuit. The Arbiter's eyes grew wide as if they had seen something shocking. Then, they narrowed.

"You!" the Elite whispered dangerously. "You, demon, will pay for what you've done to me,"

Suddenly, before Eve could raise her battle rifle, the Arbiter raised his carbine and fired a shot at Eve, hitting her in the stomach. Her shield lit up but even through her protective bodysuit, Eve was winded by the impact. Wally grabbed Eve by the waist and hovered up into the air with her before landing in the middle of the platform.

"You alright?" Wally asked Eve as they set down on the platform's surface.

Eve nodded.

"You saved my life," she said, breathing deeply to try and get her breath back.

"Just like old times," Auto said through his com.

"Are you guys okay?" John asked as he and Mary ran up to them.

"Yeah, we're fine," Eve answered, straightening up.

"Who the hell was that?" Mary asked.

"That was the Arbiter," Wally answered. "He was sent here to get the Index for his leaders known as holy prophets,"

"They must be trying to activate the ring," Eve said. "We need to get ourselves and the Index out of here,"

"AAAHHH!"

Suddenly, John was hurled off his feet and onto a small pile of enforcer remains about twenty feet away. He groaned as he got up. Then, the outline of a figure became visible in front of him. John looked up to see the Arbiter, who was unarmed, standing over him.

The Arbiter grabbed John by the arms and held him up to his face. His face was radiating with anger.

"How you doing?" Johnson asked in a low tone.

The Arbiter growled, knowing that Johnson was mocking him. Then, his head slammed into John's, knocking him out cold. A small trickle of blood seeped from cheek from where part of the Arbiter's face armour had cut into it. The Arbiter dropped the unconscious human on the floor.

"Sergeant!" Mary shouted, causing the Arbiter to turn to face her. Mary and Eve had their weapons raised. "Stay down!"

A barrage of gunfire exploded in the room. The Arbiter's shield lit up. He ran right behind a pile of metallic waste. Eve ran after him. Mary lowered her weapons and ran over to John's motionless body.

"John, are you alright?" she asked as she knelt down beside him. Mary grabbed his shoulders and shook him slightly. "John?"

"Mary, look out!" Wally shouted suddenly.

THUD! Mary's eyes went wide. Someone was behind her! And judging by the loudness of the thud, it was going to be obvious who it was. Mary slowly turned to see the Arbiter standing over her like some sort of feared leader. The Arbiter swung his arm and knocked the two SMG's right out of Mary's hands.

"Give me the icon!" he growled at her.

"Your going to have to kill me first to get it!" Mary hissed back, trying not to be scared but it was hard to hide it.

The Arbiter let out a low chuckle.

"Very well," he said.

Mary gasped and backed away as the Arbiter stepped towards her, only to stop after a few feet by the pile of enforcer remains. The Arbiter let out another low chuckle. He was going to enjoy killing her.

Suddenly, a ball of electricity surrounded Mary. The Arbiter was stunned and stepped back a few paces as he watched the human shake violently as if she were getting an electric shock, which, in a way, she was. Then Mary was lifted several feet into the air and pulled, as if she had been thrown, in the direction of the pathway. There, she landed on the shoulder of an enormous creature with white fur, huge bulging muscles and skin like a rhino. It was Tartarus. In his left hand was the deadly Fist of Rukt he had used to capture Wally.

"Excellent work, Arbiter," he said as he placed his other arm over Mary's unconscious body, preventing any hope of her to escape. "The prophets will be pleased,"

Tartarus set his Fist of Rukt down on the floor and grabbed hold of the Index. He easily separated it from the magnetic device on Mary's belt. He held it up as if it were a gift from the gods.

"The sacred icon is now within our possession," he said. "Now we can begin the Great Journey. I will take this to the prophets when we arrived back at High Charity."

"The icon is my responsibility," the Arbiter growled.

Tartarus chuckled and turned his head towards the Elite.

"It was your responsibility," he told the Elite. "Now it is mine,"

A large figure walked out from behind the piles of metallic waste. A Brute. It grabbed John's motionless body with one hand and dragged him towards the pathway. As he passed Tartarus, he opened out his other arm. The Brute chieftain placed the unconscious Mary on the Brute's shoulder and picked up his Fist of Rukt with both hands. His gaze the fell on Wally.

"So, our holy oracle has made friends with our enemies," Tartarus said. "It's a shame I'm going to have to kill you, oracle. I really wanted to learn more about the rings from one of your kind." he raised the Fist of Rukt, aiming it at Wally. "Oh well, maybe there will be another who will follow his directive in protecting the sacred ring instead of destroying them,"

The Arbiter turned his head towards Wally.

"You helped the demon destroy the sacred ring?" he asked in a hissing voice.

"It is true," Wally replied. "I was not going to let it destroy all life in this galaxy,"

The Arbiter growled and went to walk towards him. He was seething with anger and he wasted to rip Wally apart. He was supposed to be a holy oracle and protect the ring, not destroy them!

"You stay where you are!" Tartarus growled, halting the Arbiter.

"You dare tell me what to do?" the Arbiter growled, turning his head towards Tartarus.

"Silence, Arbiter!" Tartarus shouted. "Or I shall rip in two." Tartarus then turned back to Wally. "Remember my Fist of Rukt, oracle?" he said. "Well, it will be the last thing you ever see. Goodbye,"

"You leave him alone!" a woman's voice hissed.

Tartarus, Wally and the Arbiter turned towards the pile of metallic waste the Arbiter had ran behind moments earlier. Eve stepped out from behind it, her battle rifle raised and her finger on the trigger. She walked over to Wally, keeping her eyes focused on the two Covenant in front of her

"You!" Tartarus growled, turning his weapon towards her. "I'm glad you're here, demon. It will make me more famous in the Covenant when I kill you!"

"You will not touch her!" the Arbiter growled, stepping into the Fist of Rukt's firing path. "I am the one who has suffered because of the demon's actions. I will kill her, not you!"

Tartarus laughed.

"You are just the Arbiter," he said. "If you think killing the demon and getting the icon back to High Charity will win you back your place in the Covenant, you are wrong! The prophets have wanted you dead all along, Arbiter. Take your mission to the gas mine on Threshold, for example. We could have easily blown up the station with one of our ships, but they wanted to send you to kill the heretics but they also hoped you would die in the process. Even your mission here, they have been expecting to receive a report that you have been killed. Do you not see, the hierarchs want you dead! Now if you will move so I can kill the demon,"

"If you know so much about the prophets and their mission to kill the Arbiter, then maybe you could enlighten me on why your coalition has attacked us for no reason!" Eve said.

Tartarus chuckled.

"For no reason?" he repeated to Eve. "We have many reasons for our holy war against your kind, demon. Firstly is because you have desecrated worlds visited by the Forerunners with your filthy footsteps and your pathetic cities and culture. And yet you continued to spread across more Forerunner worlds, no matter what they were. You even changed the landscape of the planets themselves, destroying holy artefacts the Forerunners left behind."

"However," Tartarus went on. "The real reason we want to destroy your race is because shortly before the war with you began, we came into contact with you via one of your resource ships running into a Jackal pirate ship. We agreed to make negotiations on the world what you called Umeda. However, the prophets called for a meeting of all Brute generals and told them that there were beings close to the Forerunners on that world and whilst we were to make negotiations with you, they would find out more about these beings. Then, when we met with your people on Umeda, the prophets alerted us that these Forerunner beings were in fact your kind."

Eve went wide eyed and almost dropped her battle rifle. She was… Was Forerunner? No, it cannot be true.

"As you know," Tartarus continued. "We worship the Forerunners and anything to do with them. However, the prophets saw your kind as pathetic and defiling. So they told all of the Covenant that you were an affront to the Forerunners and you must be destroyed, but kept secret with us Brutes, and us only, that you were the real Forerunner beings. So after the order was issued, we destroyed your people on Umeda and thus began the war." Tartarus concluded.

Eve was filled with shock. So much of it that she actually dropped her battle rifle. She felt like she was going to pass out. Wally was also filled with shock. Eve was a Forerunner. She was what his creators had left behind?

But they were not the only ones who were filled with shock. The Arbiter was completely speechless. All this time they had been fighting the beings the Forerunners had left behind. The Covenant was supposed to worship the Forerunners, but instead they had been killing what they had left behind in the humans.

Then, anger began to fill the Arbiter's heart. But it was not to be directed at Eve or Wally. It was directed at Tartarus, the Brutes and the prophets. The Arbiter turned his head towards Tartarus and clenched his hands into fists.

"The prophets have tricked the Covenant, Tartarus!" he said to the Brute chieftain. "You are one of the Covenant and yet you knew about the humans being Forerunners, but you did nothing and allowed this laughter to continue! My race helped form the Covenant. Were it not for us, you race would still be sweltering on your cesspool planet!"

"Silence, Arbiter!" Tartarus ordered. He aimed his Fist of Rukt at the Elite. "There will be three new kills to me in this very room. And that includes you, Arbiter!"

The Arbiter's eyes went wide. Tartarus… was going to kill him. But his shock was quickly replaced with anger and fury.

"You will not get away with, Tartarus!" he growled.

"Oh, I think I will," Tartarus replied. "You see, Arbiter, your ousting of guarding the prophets has revealed how stressful and threatening you are to the Covenant. So the prophets have ordered us to take command of all fleets and become the new leaders of squads on the battlefield. But in just moments from now, when enough of my Brutes are in position, I will give the signal, which is killing you, to commence the destruction of your council members and your very race!"

The Arbiter growled. Wally and Eve went wide eyed.

"A civil war," Eve whispered. "They're going to destroy themselves!"

"Now even though we're enemies with the Covenant, that's not good," Auto replied.

Tartarus took aim at the Arbiter's heart.

"A bloody fate awaits you and the rest of your incompetent race," Tartarus said. "And I, Tartarus, chieftain of the Brutes, will send you all to it!"

"When the prophets learn of this, Tartarus, they will take your head," the Arbiter said, growling slightly.

Tartarus laughed.

"When they learn?" he repeated. He laughed again. "You're a fool, Arbiter. The hierarchs do not need to learn of this. They already know. In fact, they ordered me to do it,"

The Arbiter's eyes went wide. The prophets were ordering the destruction of the Elites. No this could not be true. It cannot be true!

Before the Arbiter could blink, Tartarus fired a ball of electricity at the Elite. It came so fats that when it hit the Arbiter, he was actually lifted off his feet and hurled over the edge of the platform towards the tunnel's darkness far below.

Eve and Wally watched this in total shock. They turned their heads back towards Tartarus, who now had his weapon aimed at them.

"Goodbye demon," he said.

Another ball of electricity flew out of the Fist of Rukt. Like the Arbiter, Eve was lifted off her feet and hurled over the edge of the platform, following the same fate as the Arbiter.

"NOOO!" Wally yelled as he watched Eve disappear.

Wally went to activate his anti-gravity boots, but another ball of electricity hit him in the back. His eyes went wide and his breathing stopped. Then, he slumped forward onto the platform floor, dead.

Far below him, Eve continued to fall down the tunnel. Within seconds, she disappeared into the darkness at the bottom.