Updated (3/12): Author Notes: This is the completely new section. Read and enjoy! :D :D
It took another twenty minutes, but, with Cortana's directions, they had finally reached the library basement. John took point as the others followed him. The dim lights allowed him to turn off his helmet's as they made their way down the long corridor.
Suddenly, a deep voice cut through the air. "He is moving too slowly, Vadam! We are running out of time."
John froze.
A calm voice responded, "If this building had been infiltrated, we would have been alerted to their presence by the others. I trust that he is working as fast as he is able." The voice turned away from where they were standing. "How much longer?"
Another voice, much more nervous than the first two, stuttered, "It will take another thirty minutes to decrypt the data and another fifteen to upload it."
"Very well."
John looked back at Keyes. He was looking at Cortana questioningly. There were times such as these when her ability to rely a transmission over their comm channels wordlessly was a valuable asset.
"Based on the video feed I'm getting, there are only three Covenant on this level," she said over the team's comm. "I would suggest we allow the Chief to handle them."
"Agreed," Keyes whispered. He faced John. "No lethal force. I want their sorry asses dragged out of here and back to High Command to find out what the hell they are doing there."
"Understood."
He crept along the poorly lit wall, silently stalking his prey. Once he reached the corner, he stepped from the shadows and grabbed his assault rifle. He slowly moved forward until he was able to see his targets. The three of them were standing close together, making it impossible for the Spartan to go undetected.
He considered the three men in front of him. Two of them were Elite soldiers; their gold armor shone in the light. Each was armed with a plasma rifle. The other man, however, held no weapon and seemed terrified; even from across the room, John could see his hand trembling.
Suddenly, the Elite on the left turned around and began walking in a tight circle. John tucked himself back in the shadows and waited for him to have his back turned.
When the Elite had moved into position, John turned into a blur of motion. He ran to the soldier and slammed the butt of his gun on the back of his skull. Before the unsuspecting Elite hit the ground, John spun around and slammed his gauntlet into the other Elite's jaw as he was reaching for his weapon. The Elite staggered back several steps, but had not fallen. John rushed him and smashed his fist into his jaw, knocking him to the floor unconscious.
The man at the desk cowered in fear. "Please! Don't hurt me, I'm unarmed," he said in the Covenant dialect.
John hesitated.
Keyes and the others stepped into the room. "Hold on, Master Chief." The captain strode across the room and plucked the transmitter from the man's ear. "We wouldn't want anyone to know that we're here, would we?"
"No!" the man replied.
"He certainly doesn't seem like the typical pain in the ass Covenant we're used to," said Johnson.
"I am not a soldier. My homeland was taken over by the Covenant nearly 25 years ago. They make those of us who are good in the sciences to work for them," he spoke in broken English.
"What are you doing here?" Keyes demanded.
The man didn't answer right away. John took a step forward.
"All right, we were looking for the technology of the Ancients! We believe there is a database here in the archives." He looked at Cortana. "Please, if I don't retrieve the data, they will kill my wife and daughters."
"No they won't. Your bodyguards didn't do their job," Keyes replied. Then he nodded to John.
John hit him on the head and the man slumped to the floor.
"We'll finish setting up the charges and find another way back to the command post," Keyes said.
Cortana spoke up. "Sir, if there is Forerunner technology here, I should attempt to recover it before it gets destroyed."
Keyes frowned. "My orders are clear, Cortana. So are yours. We are to blow the hell out of this place, making sure that the Covenant don't have any reason to come back here."
"I only need fifteen minutes, sir. If some Covenant scientist can hack into the database then so can I," Cortana retorted.
John stood in between them as they faced off.
The fact they were still outnumbered weighed on his mind. Insuring their safety while completing their mission was going to be difficult to do without the added objective of Cortana decrypting the Forerunner data. Halsey and her uncharacteristic request flittered through his mind.
He opened his private comm channel to the AI. "Cortana, we shouldn't stay. The captain is right. We need to finish the mission."
Her lips pressed together, the only outward sign that she had heard hm.
"Yes we should. What we shouldn't do is destroy any Forerunner data."
John was accustomed to Cortana's stubbornness; he had come to appreciate it over time. This was something different. She had never argued a direct order from High Command before.
"There will be others."
"Sir," Cortana said, ignoring John. "I can download the contents of the files while the Chief and Johnson set up the charges."
When Keyes swore under his breath, John knew Cortana had gotten her way. "You've got ten minutes." She flashed John a smug look before sitting in front of the computer.
"Chief, Johnson...you know what you need to do." Keyes handed Johnson the sack with the explosive charges on it. "It's up to you two to find an escape route."
"Understood, sir."
The two men left Keyes and Cortana behind, despite John's unspoken concerns. He knew the captain was a skilled soldier; he and Cortana would be prepared if something went wrong.
He and Johnson moved stealthy through the ancient library. Methodically, they avoided the Covenant patrols and planted the explosives throughout the building. When Johnson set down the final charge, John glanced at the timer of his HUD: Cortana and Keyes had less than a minute before they should be leaving the basement area.
Tense, he straightened as he waited for Cortana to contact him. He was tempted to reach across their link himself and "see" through Cortana's perspective, but decided against it. He knew her migraines were still a threat and wouldn't risk doing anything that would jeopardize her well-being.
Less than a minute later, he was contacted not by Cortana, but by Captain Keyes. "Chief, you and Johnson need to get to our position. Now."
The fact that the captain was speaking to him meant one thing: Cortana was in trouble.
His promise to Doctor Halsey replayed in his mind. He nodded in the direction of the basement. "Time to move."
"Damn," Johnson swore. "I knew this was too easy."
John nodded curtly as they retraced their steps. As they were getting to the underground wing of the library, John heard a very familiar voice carry over the air. "...you sure you want to do that? If anything happens to either of us, I will erase all of the data."
"How do you know that you have the data?" questioned one of the Covenant soldiers.
John led Johnson into the small passageway. It led to a large room where Cortana and Keyes were surrounded by nearly a dozen Elites. They had their weapons aimed at her; she and Keyes were standing back to back, each brandishing a pistol.
"Cortana."
"It's about time you got here. I don't know how much longer I can hold them off," she transmitted.
"What do you want me to do?"
"A distraction would be nice."
John could do that. He pulled out a frag grenade. If he lobbed it just right, he could knock out several support columns on the other side of the room, causing enough of a distraction to allow Cortana and Keyes to escape.
He pulled out the pin and hurled it across the room. Seconds later, the explosion shook the ground and the Covenant soldiers turned from their prisoners.
John took advantage of their confusion and took aim at one of the the Elites while Johnson fired at another. Just as John hit his target, Cortana shot the soldier standing in front of her as Keyes did the same. A smattering of shots hit his armor; his shields lowered dangerously.
When he tucked behind a large bookcase, he saw Cortana and Keyes run in the direction of the passage. John gave them covering fire as they made it safely inside. Johnson was close behind them. Once John was convinced the other three had enough of a head start, he pulled out his only plasma grenade and threw it in the midst of the surviving Elites.
John activated the remote timer for the explosives, not wanting any of the Covenant forces to escape.
They had five minutes to get out of the building.
The four of them ran down the corridor to the library's main structure. They stayed in the shadows, knowing that the Covenant wouldn't stop chasing them.
They ran through another wing and Cortana nodded to a plain door. "It's a fire access hallway. Should keep us out of the Covenant's view."
Should be. John would have liked something a bit but reassuring, but they are few options.
She turned the knob but it didn't move. John stepped beside her and kicked in the door.
3:46
It was pitch black.
He turned on the flashlight on his helmet and took point. A steep set of stairs was in front of them. Without wasting a moment, John climbed the stairs, three at a time.
When they got to the top of the stairs, there was another door waiting for them.
2:51
The door opened to a large room full of ancient books and parchments. There would be time to mourn the loss of human history, but not until after they weren't being chased by the Covenant.
They were halfway across the enormous room when a bolt of plasma sailed over his head.
"Where's that luck of yours?" Cortana grumbled.
"Go," John said. "I'll take care of him."
The three of them exchange a look with each other. Keyes nodded slowly. "Let's go."
John stopped running and scanned the room. For seven precious seconds, he couldn't see anyone in the room. Then, as he leaned to the left, he saw the light bend in an unnatural way.
There.
He grabbed his pistol and barely lined up the shot before firing twice. Each bullet hits its target and the Elite crumbled to the ground.
1:16
The rest of his team had made it out of the main reading room. He sprinted to the end of the room and turned the corner. Johnson and the others were approaching a group of ODSTs at the end of the hall.
When he caught up to the others, the group of UNSC soldiers ran through an emergency exit to the outside.
0:32
The building was surrounded by Bumblebees, Scorpions and Pelicans, all ready to take out any Covenant that tried to escape. In the distance, John saw a very familiar four-person team: his former Blue team.
0:00
The ground shook as the explosions detonated. The building spewed dust and debris as it shuddered at the impact.
Keyes looked at Cortana with a slight frown. "Was it worth it?"
"I think we both know the answer to that, sir."
"Is this seat taken?"
It wasn't often that Cortana emerged from her lab to the mess hall but with everything that happened since their return to Reach, she wanted to avoid the ONI building. And Halsey in particular.
The doctor has been livid when she had found out that Cortana had put up a fight to collect the Forerunner data. "You were reckless. You could have gotten yourself killed. If you had just wiped the mainframe when you found it, you and Jacob would have never been in that situation," she had seethed. "Your actions not only endangered you, but affected others."
A wave of guilt had washed over Cortana. Captain Keyes had received an official reprimand for defying a direct order from High Command.
"I know," she had said quietly.
"And now, my hands are tied." Halsey had gestured to the tablet on her desk. "High Command is forcing me to upload this protocol into your system."
Cortana had been aware of the command. The protocol -GOLD MINE-was designed to override any of her subroutines if she was in the middle of completing a direct command from High Command. Everything, including her alpha-priority commands, would be subjugated by the protocol if it was activated.
"High Command sees you as their tool, Cortana. There are some of us who feel otherwise," the doctor had said pointedly.
That time the shame had become too overwhelming. Cortana had excused herself while Halsey worked on the final programming for the protocol and escaped from the ONI building.
John looked up from the empty table and shook his head. He didn't seem surprised to see her there.
Cortana sat down in front of him with a cup of coffee in her hands. "I never got a chance to say thank you for saving my life. Again."
It could have been the lighting in the room, but she swore she saw a faint blush color his cheek. "I was following orders."
It didn't sound as noble - or as significant- when he put it that way.
She swallowed a swig of coffee. "You were right," she forced out.
This time, John was surprised. His eyebrows rose at her statement.
"I shouldn't have pushed the issue with the database. Based on the preliminary analysis, it doesn't look like there is anything significant on it." She looked away. "Captain Keyes got a reprimand because of his actions," she confessed.
John picked up an orange segment and ate it before replying. "I know. I was in the waiting room when he came out of his debriefing. He told me to watch my ass."
"Did you..." she trailed off as she accessed his CSV. Surely Catherine would have told her had John been punished for his involvement.
"No," he said as she accessed the debriefing notes.
"They are adding a new protocol to my programming," she admitted. "I'm becoming too much of a free thinker."
John's brow furrowed. "What does this protocol do?"
She shook off his question. "It's nothing. In fact," she smiled a little too brightly, "you'll probably enjoy the 'improvement'."
"I like your programming just the way it is."
It was the most overt compliment that John had ever given her. Despite the mirth it produced, it was overshadowed by the guilt that she was dealing with. "I don't. I didn't fully analyze about the welfare of the team. Captain Keyes would have gotten killed when he was protecting me when I was in the system. You and Johnson risked your lives coming back for us. If I had-"
"Cortana," John interrupted. "Don't."
"It's alright, John. What Catherine told me was the truth." She lifted her head and jutted her jaw forward. "I'm sorry." She drew in a long breath. "I won't put any of you in that position again. The risks I take will be my own." She reached across the table and gave his hand a brief squeeze. "I promise."
John just looked at her.
She didn't take offense at his silence. She knew she had thrown a lot of emotional issues at him during their brief conversation. Cortana stood up. "I should go find the captain and apologize."
As she began to turn around, John called her name. She looked at him questioningly.
"I overheard him say he was going back to the Autumn," he said awkwardly.
They both knew that wasn't what he was going to say, but Cortana was content to let the issue go. She had more pressing things to deal with, though her subroutines were already trying to determine what John was going to say.