Chapter 28: Madness of the Mind
June 9th, 3239, 2300 hours
En Route to Dock
The Office of Naval Intelligence

Immediately after the group exited the high-security cells of the ONI base, they knew something was very wrong. They made sure to have their weapons up and made ready to shoot in case they would be fired upon by Agents. Strangely enough, nobody came. The hallway leading back to the main detention center was empty. It was too strange an occurrence to be a coincidence. There were no lucky guard rotations at work. There were no factors of chance nudging them along. This emptiness was deliberate. Rouge noticed it first. Her ears twisted as she tried her hardest to pick up any sort of sound, but she growled in anger.

"What's wrong?" John asked, not even glancing behind him.

"This hallway had people in it when you brought me in!"

"I know." The Spartan said.

"But… where did everyone go?" she tried again to pick up sounds, but her supersensitive ears failed her. "You've got to be kidding me."

Cortana noted this disturbance as well to 117. "You know someone ordered the guards away."

"I never said otherwise." He reassured.

Jackson huffed. "I'm just waiting for someone to say that we're starting to hallucinate."

Chris, who was at her right flank lowered his weapon and made very direct eye contact with her. "The fuck is THAT supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing." Samantha said airily. "Just saying… an empty hallway, nobody around, perfect concoction for a trip-fest."

"I'm starting to get tired of your lip, Jackson." Vennettilli said pointing an accusing finger towards the Mobian. "All you've been doing for the last few hours is bitching and complaining! You know… for a mercenary," he smiled very deliberately, as if to fire her up. "I've never heard anybody complain about their job as much as you!"

If he wanted her angry, he did it.

"You slime!" She hissed. "Everything was going fine until you turned into an alien hard drive!"

"Regardless, you accepted the job."

For mercenaries, there were a series of golden commandments that were honored for thousands of years. Soldiers for hire kept these to heart. Unquestionably the most important of these golden commandments was 'Honor the Contract'. If you take a job, you see it through to the end. Defaulting would be the equivalent to a cardinal sin. Even in a secular interpretation, one would really not want to default.

In the years that Samantha Jackson was at Vanguard Security, she had never defaulted on any contract. Even the small stuff that involved working security at concerts, or hell, she had even served as a rich kid's bodyguard at his 13th birthday!

This was why Vennettilli's remark stung so much. It was a blow against her pride.

What was worse, Allen was on his side.

"He has a point." Roan quipped.

"What?!" Jackson said, maybe a bit too loud.

"We took the job. The deed is done, our signatures are on the paper."

Samantha stopped in the middle of the hallway and looked her partner dead in the eye. "Roan, we are permitted to…"

"See, I know what you're going to do." The mercenary interrupted. "You're going to answer me back with a smart-ass response quoting some bullshit legal clause that would allow us to ditch the contract."

Cortana stepped in, "I understand there's some tension that's unresolved between you and Miss Jackson, but can we-"

"No no. Just give me a second." Allen insisted holding up his hand and focused again on the Mobian.

"Don't deny it. So… you're saying that you're not up for the job?"

"Allen…" she whispered, "…this job is bullshit and you know it."

"No, I don't think I do." The Human said innocently.

To their surprise, Hera spoke with venom, "Did you consider that your client would find you failing their assignment would make them very unhappy?"

"That's a good point!" Allen said with another block of ammunition. "We fail, and our client, who was so nice as to put a good amount of zeros on our contract, will find us. I don't know who this guy is, but he's paying us well to keep the Captain safe."

Chris stood around very uncomfortable as he was able to hear every single word the pair was saying.

"You didn't hire them?" John asked the Captain.

"No. They were hired by someone they can't find the identity to."

"They didn't tell us that in the briefing." He consulted with Cortana.

"Most likely, they didn't even know. The plot thickens."

"They'll never see us coming either." Borne assured. "Aw, let's just leave them behind already."

"That would be quite unbecoming of us gentlemen." Chris responded. "Roan! Jackson! You two done over there?"

"Yeah." The Human called. "I think I am. Oh, and Sam…" he turned to his partner once more. "Just remember this last thing: CEO Gustaff didn't spend a small mountain of credits to give us our tracking devices and not keep tabs on our job performance."

Jackson's jaw slowly dropped. She growled and let her head drop back onto her shoulders. With a final air of triumph, Roan said, "Yeah, you forgot about that, huh? Come on, sweetheart. We've got a job to do."

Sally had never seen a Mobian so angry. If she didn't know any better, she could have sworn that she would have gone feral and ripped Roan's head off. She made it a point to ask Allen as he looked forward smugly.

"Uh… Allen, right?"

"Yup. What can I do for you, Highness?"

"Please… just Sally right now."

"No problem, Sally. What do you need?"

"Um… is she… going to be OK? She looks like she wants to kill you."

As the group got moving again, Allen glanced back at his partner who continued the death glare. "Oh, you mean that? That Princess is the trademarked 'Jackson Contemplating Homicide' stare. You see that twinkle in her eyes there? I've seen that twinkle no less than ten times in the time I've known her."

"Talking about me?" Samantha growled. "Never wise."

"I love you, Sammy."

"I love you too, Alley!"

"She'll be fine. We have our disagreements."

There was silence for an additional ten minutes. The hallway was relatively straight, but they came to a few twists and turns along the way. ONI didn't seem to favor rounded designs on pretty much anything. Wherever they looked, there was only angular designs on the walls, the benches, and the doorways. It was as if they were walking down a modern art exhibit than a military installation. The silence was maddening, because the escapees were expecting something, anything to happen. But nothing came. Ironically, this heightened their adrenaline to peak levels. The only one that wasn't making any sort of sudden movements was the Spartan, who had his weapon lowered down.

"Oh come ON!" Konstantinos said out of anger. "Something happen already!"

"Calm down, Marine." John advised. "If there were anybody coming, I would tell you."

"Alex." Chris said, "We're OK." He smiled warmly.

Konstantinos took the smile with a grain of salt though. Ever since his outbursts got worse, he started to doubt the man he really knew nothing about. But, he gave Vennettilli the benefit of the doubt though and lowered the gun.

Chris was about to give an order, but Sally stopped him. "I think that you should be as calm as possible."

He looked at her with something of a fuss, but gave in.

"OK, you win."

"Get used to saying that, sir!" Borne joked.

Chris flicked his hand forget it. "John?"

The Spartan II tilted his helmet. "Sir?"

"Can you take the wheel for a while?"

"Yes sir."

Now that he was free from command, he whispered to Sally. "Promise that you'll let me win every now and again?"

"After all of our fights?" She snickered, "No, you're doing things the hard way."

"But you cheat!" Chris piped. "Remember Dxun?"

Sally laughed again. "Yeah, I remember Dxun. I remember you slamming your feet on my knees."

"And I remember you using your poor helpless girl routine to get me to lower my guard."

"You heard the Mandalorians. Any way you can get victory, take it."

Chris decided to change the subject. "Borne."

"What about him?" the Princess asked.

"I recall his name."

"Now that you mention it, I do. He applied for OMEGA not long after we had our first real battle a few years back."

"So, he didn't impress you?"

"Back then? No."

SLAM.

Guns were up and everyone took a knee. John, Konstantinos and Reyes formed a triangle surrounding Bunnie and Sonic. They all waited. The corridor behind them had sealed behind a blast door. Its lights were flashing.

John had been in situations like this where the Covenant had tried to box him in. Perhaps he could have broken through the doors, but no. The Lieutenant reasoned that the doors were too thick. "Cortana, what happened?"

"Well, we've been locked out."

"I can see that." The man said. "Why?"

"I can hazard to guess that they really don't want us to stay."

"Why would we want to?" NICOLE entered.

"I'm glad we invited you into the conversation." Cortana sarcastically said.

"You're welcome. Listen, I'm doing security sweeps, but… they've turned off all of the cameras. Seriously, there's no detection coming out for us. No laser beams, no ion trails, no visibility cones from surveillance equipment… they're literally letting us walk out of here."

There was a three second silence. "Why?" Cortana asked out of confusion. "Marshall's spent billions trying to bring you in, and now he lets us walk out of here? This is ridiculous."

"Marshall might be a few carbon molecules short of a protein chain."

While the AI conversation was going on, John waved his hand forward. "Move." He said.

Nobody said anything. They were getting tired of arguing.

Reluctantly, Chris and Sally continued their conversation. "So…" the Human began.

"Yeah…" the Mobian answered.

"Why didn't Borne impress you?"

"He was fresh into the military, and had no prior connection to the Freedom Fighters."

"You guys were an all-inclusive club."

"Not really." She shrugged. Sally pulled out her gun's magazine and counted the ammunition out of boredom. "Anybody who could fight in any way possible could join the Freedom Fighters. Many people were scared."

"Yeah, well, let's not forget we helped finish what you started."

"We had the situation with Robotnik very much in hand before you guys showed up."

"Oh yeah? He stepped up his game the minute news got out the we allied ourselves with your people."

"But anyway…" Sally finished, "We didn't trust Borne could be part of OMEGA. So we tested him."

"You recommended him to the ODSTs. Why?"

She shrugged. "I knew nothing about the ODSTs at the time! How could I have known that they drop from the sky in a one person box?"

"Well, in any case, " Chris glanced to Borne who was up in front glancing with sharp eyes down the hall. "Looks like he passed your test."

"Yes, but now that he's been brought back to mind, I want to check on his record. I think he's more than earned a spot for all that he's done. If not in OMEGA, there are other groups like ours, right?"

"Sure. A lot more now."

Borne must have caught whiff of the conversation and turned his head. "That wasn't the point though."

"Excuse me?" Sally asked.

"The entire reason I wanted in was because I wanted to be part of you guys. What the Freedom Fighters represented all that was right with our world."

"Borne, it wasn't as simple as that."

"I know it wasn't."

"And also know, that you were not the first to want to join us. Thousands of people wanted to do what you wanted to do, but we couldn't accept anyone."

Borne's ears twitched. Sally was aware there was no easy way to say it. The Freedom Fighters didn't want to endanger any more lives than they already were. The smaller the group, the easier to operate."

"Just so you know…" William said walking alongside the pair, "I went to the farthest reaches of space in the hopes that you'd say yes. I've dropped into about fifty engagements saved men on the verge of death, and after every single one, I would sit in front of my computer for hours just waiting. I knew that the news wouldn't make it back home for days at least, but I hoped that I would get something." He took a second to wipe his eye. "You know, just something that would let me know that that this was all worth something."

CLANG!

Another blast door dropped down behind them. Marshall's cronies wanted them to really move along now.

Borne decided to continue his case. "Was I expecting anything like a hero's parade when I got back home? No, of course not. I didn't get one before, why the hell should I get one now since every notable thing I ever did was thousands of light years from home; too far to be worth a damn back on Mobius."

John briefly entered the conversation. "We're turning left here." He pointed in the direction of a coming intersection. "They might… and there we go."

CLANG!

A third blast door fell over the passage continuing forward, only leaving the path to the left as a viable option.

"This is getting a bit suspicious." Konstantinos noted. "'Conveniently' showing us the way to the launch bay, and then woosh, someone pulls a lever dropping us into a rancor pit or something."

Chris shook his head. "Dude, don't even joke about that; it ain't funny."

Konstantinos looked to Reyes, genuinely confused. "What did I say?"

"Don't ask." Rouge advised. "Oooh, My ribs feel like they're tearing apart. How much farther?"

"About a hundred more feet, and then we take an immediate right." Cortana said. "There's an elevator that will take us up to the launch deck."

Chris violently shook his head. "No way. Uh-uh. We're not taking any more elevators!"

Jackson groaned. "You're joking, right? Who knows how long we'd have to walk up the stairs!"

The Captain laughed. A bit too energetically. "Yeah, yeah, sure. All it takes is a flick of the wrist, and oops, a cable comes loose and we all fall to our deaths!"

Sally's eyes shifted. "Boys?"

Konstantinos and Reyes moved.

"GET YOUR HANDS AWAY FROM ME!" The Captain said.

"You know, you're absolutely right." Kapplin's ghost sniggered, "It's just that easy to kill someone. Like a rat in a cage, gassed just to see how it reacts in its death throes."

"I'm not going in that thing! I don't know about you, but I'm walking." He ignored the specter.

Sally tried to calm him down. This time, she was ready to act. "Listen, listen, OK. Maybe that might be the case, but if I go with you, will you calm down?"

Chris was actually breaking out in a cold sweat, but he nodded. "If you come… yeah, OK, sure. I'll go." He breathed deep. "A hundred feet? Sure."


They proceeded down the hall. A massive video screen covered the wall.

"Hey, check out the latest propaganda." Borne laughed.

"Oh, I love this one." Roan said. "Is this the one where they promise you the extra college credits if you join the navy?"

The video played, "The Office of Naval Intelligence understands that education is the key to building a strong intelligence network. Every day, bright men and women realize their dreams to join the most prestigious intelligence agency in Known Space."

"Gentlemen?" Cortana asked.

"Shush." Borne said.

"ONI realizes that your education is the key to the future and we realize that education is expensive. Recruits will not only receive admission to great schools on over thirty worlds, but your credits will work towards climbing the ladder."

"Augh, DAMN! So close!" Roan snapped his fingers. "Thank God I didn't have money on that."

A hundred feet passed in a flash. There indeed was a lift waiting for them. Cortana scanned the lift route and concluded that one of the elevators' floors was where a launch pad was. It was a cargo lift though which could hold a lot more than your average elevator.

NICOLE cracked, "I guess we can even hold the Spartan!"

"Quiet." Sally warned. "No jokes." She patted Chris' shoulder. His forehead was slick with sweat. She wondered what was going on in his head. She wondered what happened to him in the space of an hour or so. What was going on in his head?

"Oh lovely. So we're actually waiting for the elevator."

Go away. You aren't real. You AREN'T REAL.

"Well, look at you, shit for brains. You're trying the old happy thoughts method. Gonna make me explode into unicorns and butterflies, huh?"

It could work.

"You tried the same shit on Talahan and that did jack! You wanna know why? In real life, that doesn't work! Bad shit happens and there's nothing any rose-tinted glasses can do."

You don't think I know that? You don't think I can honestly see that me dying is a possibility here?

"Possibility?!" Kapplin's ghost glided up next to Christopher's face. The Captain could see the cracks in his skull and could see the dim red dots of light in the ghosts' eye sockets. "Your death is guaranteed. You can't fight us forever."

I've fought worse than you, Greg.

"You see, you're wrong again. You're not fighting me. You're fighting you. Fight yourself all you'd like, but in the end, someone's going to lose in that one, and it will ALWAYS be YOU."

The ghost clicked his jaw and straightened his uniform. "You know, here's one for you: why do these guys want you to get into this elevator so bad?"

Sally was trying to say something to him, but he couldn't hear her. He couldn't hear anything but Kapplin.

Because it's the quickest way to get to the launch deck.

"Yeah, elevators fail sometimes. True?"

Sure. He wasn't sure where Kapplin was going with this.

"They fall. The brakes may work, but we know they'll snap, and you'll fall to a mangled death."

You DON'T know that.

"You're right. I may not. But you do. Deep down. Marshall's not letting us go. It's the perfect trap. Surely you're bright enough to see that."

It couldn't have been true. It just couldn't have been. The logic made no sense. Why would people he trusted with his life try to kill him! He trusted them, and they trusted him. But… but did they really? The Mercenaries, who could have been bought out at the last minute… John, whose true emotions were hidden behind that goddamn helmet…, The Marines whom he had never known before now… and Hera, who had been hiding things since this whole thing had started. It had to be true. It just had to be. The logic made perfect sense.

They were in against him.


"I… I'm not going in there." He finally said.

"What?" Sally asked. "But you said you would."

"Well, forget it. I'm not going in that elevator. We're finding some stairs."

Borne walked up to him. "Listen, sir: stairs would work too, but if we can just get you on…"

Chris snapped, and snapped hard. "I SAID I WASN'T FUCKING GETTING ON THAT THING! YOU FUCKERS ARE GOING TO LET ME DIE ON THAT THING!" He plucked the pistol from his belt. "GET BACK! DON'T TOUCH ME!"

Borne's jaw dropped. "Whoa. Whoa! Captain, put it down. Just give me the gun…"

Chris' eyes were glazed over. His reasoning was gone. He was a feral beast. "YOU TOUCH ME AND I'LL BLOW A SPREAD RIGHT THROUGH YOUR CHEST!" Chris backed up until he slammed into the back wall. He smashed through a holoscreen and held his gun in a waving pattern. His finger was on the trigger. He was ready to use it.

John snapped into action. He jumped in front of the group with his arms wide. "Captain! Drop your weapon now!"

Chris' eye twitched, and he held his gun straight without a single wobble.

"You don't think I see what you're trying to do?! You don't think I know that you're going to kill me… or hand you over to them?! All this time I thought you were on my side!"

"Oh shit." Borne said. "He's cracked. He's been possessed by the devil!"

"Borne!" John cracked. "I'm going to ask you again… Captain! Put down your weapon!"

The young man's eyes flared. "STAY BACK!"

John took a step forward, and Chris fired.

Of course, the round didn't even scratch the Lieutenant's armor. The round shattered off the energy shield and made a sharp whine as it ricocheted. John just walked towards him. The insanity-gripped Captain fired again. And again.

Everyone had their guns raised, but nobody dared to make a move.

"STOP!" Sally shouted in absolute anger and terror. "STOP!"

But he didn't stop. John moved calmly towards the captain, who kept on hammering rounds at the Spartan. By the time he was halfway through the mag, John grabbed the gun and twisted his arm.

Chris screamed and dropped the weapon. He grabbed hand with tears running from his eyes. It was twisted far beyond Human capability. In that instant, the spell was broken. The pain and the cloudiness were suddenly gone. He was back, but he was far from comfortable.

"JOHN! STOP! PLEASE!"

But the Spartan either didn't believe him, or didn't care. His armored gauntlet wrapped around Chris' windpipe, closing it off. Chris gripped gauntlet with his left hand, as his right was twisted at a nearly ninety degree angle.

"Stop…! I don't know what… what…" He could barely make the words. No oxygen was getting to his brain. He began to feel fuzzy, and the black crept in around his vision. He didn't so much hear his next words but rather felt the vibrations in his throat. "…What came… over…"

He blacked out.

"NO!" Hera cried.

"What did you do!" Sally demanded. "You didn't kill him, did you?"

John turned around to face her. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking. She could guess at his emotions. He had none. He probably kept a straight face through that. He choked Christopher like the methodical killer that he was. She hated him at that point in time. She didn't even care that Chris had pointed a gun at them all. She knew that wasn't him. She felt nothing but rage.

"I incapacitated him." John replied evenly. "Cortana?"

"His heart rate's definitely slowed, respiration has lessened, but there's a pulse. He's alive."

Sally walked towards him.

"Highness, I wouldn't recommend that." The Spartan advised.

"Please, John." Sally said in a low, tired voice. "Don't take him away. Not now."

Hera was beside herself. "15 years. I spent fifteen years of my life looking for him."

The lift had arrived already, but nobody had cared.

"Why?" Sonic asked. "Why would you spend 15 years looking for this guy?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"You're right." The hedgehog said. "I haven't understood a single thing that's been going on here."


Everyone was downright somber, but angry at Chris as well. His insanity was having an effect on them as well. John picked Chris up and threw him over his shoulder. He also made sure to twist his hand back into its proper position. It was fortunate that the Captain was unconscious. He would have been in terrible pain the whole time. The hand would still need some treatment anyway. "We should move." He said stepping onto the elevator. "The impound dock is right above here."

"Is he worth the trouble?" Jackson asked. "You saw that. He was ready to shoot us."

"Yeah. I did." Roan concurred. "But, this guy isn't right in the head. If I was seeing what he was, I wouldn't be all there either."

"We need him." Sally said. "I love him. I'm not leaving him behind no matter what."

"He's not a bad man, Samantha." Bunnie insisted. "This whole thing's screwed up. We have to save him."

Sally appealed to the mercenary. "If you don't care about him, at least care about getting paid." She said that with icy bite and a look of absolute loathing in her eyes. "Can you do that, Sam?"

"It's not getting easier, Highness. Come on, Allen." She went on the lift with her partner. "Your boyfriend is scaring me more than I've ever seen." She said truthfully. "You know what it's like to protect someone who can very well kill you? I don't think many people do."

Sally asked to speak with John. They were the only ones not on the elevator.

"Please… just don't hurt him. I can't lose him now. We need him."

"I understand, but I can't let him harm you. Your Highness." Sally blinked but made eye contact. She only saw John's visor. "I remember the time we all shared together. The Phoenix, Rhen Var, Malak , Outpost 49. I know this man as well as you do. I need you to know that if he does attack you, I will be forced to act."

"You'll kill him." She whispered.

"If it comes to that."

"Please…"

"I can't promise that, Highness." The laden Spartan entered the lift and waited.

"Come on, Sal." Sonic urged.

Sally looked up and found a camera watching that very hallway.

"I don't care if the cameras are off. I know you can hear me. I will find you." She said with gritted teeth, loud enough for the thing to pick up. "I will find you and make you pay for all you've done. I hope you've been entertained."

Sally said no more and joined the others. The elevator moved a little bit with her added weight, but she didn't flinch. She just wanted to go home and sleep in her bed. She wanted to be alone, but she knew there was nothing that she could do. She needed to be strong and carry on. She wanted to be strong, but one look at the Captain's unconscious eyes rolled up into his head made her feel so weak inside.


What happened?

He was sitting in a chair. He was in a classroom of sorts. He spotted several whiteboards, video screens, hologram projectors, and even some books in shelves. He then spotted some logos on the walls and recognized where he was – Fort New Hampshire, his training grounds before he was shipped to Talahan V. Birds were singing outside, the sun was shining, and Captain Benedict was sitting behind the CO's desk.

But his face was grotesque. His skin dripped, muscle was cooked, and his bones shone among it all. His face was a skull, much like Kapplin's but his jaw was gone.

To his horror, it spoke clearly.

"You were rendered unconscious, I presume."

That was sneaky.

"You will address me as sir."

Not a chance. I made you, and I can destroy you.

"Is that so? So why haven't you?"

Because…

He didn't have a reason.

"Because you can't, can you?" Benedict's empty eye sockets flashed. A class of corpses appeared. Men with various grave injuries sat in the desks around him. "You obviously made these men and women, right?" Benedict's ghost stood up. "You mean to say you conjured Romano there?"

Sid's decomposed corpse smiled. It was a horrible sight to behold.

"You called up Jeff Winston?"

Half of Winston's head was missing as if a round blew through it.

Jeff made it off Talahan.

"Yes, but he was dead to you afterwards. No communications from his ship, disappearance for five years? He's legally dead and you think of him as such. Those men you left behind? They mean nothing to you. Why would you doubt me, when you're really doubting yourself?"

The manipulation won't work.

"But it has. You snapped. Greg is… quite the talker considering he doesn't have any lungs left."

Benedict's specter was right. He did snap. He could have been killed, and then all he would have worked for would have vanished into the ether. But then again, they made it this far. They could make it all the way.

We will find they key to this. I'll get this out of my head, and I'll be rid of you.

Benedict paced around the classroom, chuckling was terrible to see as he had no jaw to move. "You make it seem so easy. No. We won't go anywhere. Even if you do succeed, we're not leaving you. Not entirely." He gestured to the class of corpses. "You'll see us in the corner of your eye. You'll see us in the time it takes you to blink. You'll see us in the shadows, and you'll see us even in the calmness of space." Benedict walked slowly up to Vennettilli, leaned on the table, and looked at him.

Chris was terrified of the ghost. He looked into the skull, and made contact with the glowing pinpricks of the eyes. He was scared, but almost hypnotized by them.

"We'll follow you as you grow old, as you suffer heart attacks, and as those around you wither. In the end, you will die, just as all living things do. And when you do… when you draw your last breath on your deathbed…"

A chorus of the dead called out. "We will be waiting. We will bring you home." He looked around. They were all looking at him. All of them smiling, all without eyes, all of their faces running with blood.

He tried to cry out, but he could not. He could only feel his heart beat in terror. He couldn't escape. He was doomed, even if he won.

He would be back.

He would be damned.

"You are dismissed, son."

Then it was gone. The classroom was gone, the dead were gone, and Benedict was gone.

There was only the black of unconsciousness.

Beautiful silence.