Author's Note: The story ends here, so I won't keep you any longer. Enjoy!
Long Way Home
The Chief was on his back in front of Anakin, waiting breathlessly for what the Sith would do next. If he decided to attack him, he would have no way to defend himself. Anakin stood there for a few moments, but without warning Boss kicked out his leg and tripped Anakin. The Chief immediately got to his feet and ran over to help Boss to his feet. They were only able to make it a few feet before Grievous leaped over their heads and landed in front of them.
"You see, Demon, we never meant to let you leave alive," said Truth, hovering forward on his chair. Several dark bruises were beginning to show on the left side of his face, where the Chief had punched him.
"Kill them," said Truth. When neither Grievous nor Anakin would listen to his command, he turned to glare at them, "Why aren't you listening to my command?"
"We don't take orders from you," Grievous snarled.
"We have an alliance, Prophet," Anakin said, still facing the Chief and Boss, "But that does not mean that we are yours to command."
"Fine," replied Truth, not bothering to hold in his anger, "then kill them by your own terms, it matters not to me."
"Sounds good to me," Anakin replied, but instead of making any move towards them, he instead turned around and thrust his lightsaber through Truth's chest. The Chief stared in astonishment as Truth gave one last shuddering breath before his head fell forward onto his chest and his chair fell to the ground. Anakin raised his hand and used the Force on the chair, throwing it away before the fail-safe went off.
"Now," Anakin said, "We continue with what we originally planned." He then walked forward and hit a button. As soon as he did, a rumbling started around the Ark and suddenly the ceiling opened up, showing the funnel cloud above them. More and more questions erupted into the Chief's mind; did he just activate the Ark? If he did, did that mean he was a Forerunner?
"No, I did not activate the Ark," Anakin replied, and the Chief felt like the Sith had read his mind. With a sick feeling, the Chief realized that he might be able to do that. "But I am able to realize how parts of this structure work." And with that, he hit another button and the now free standing walls around them sunk into the ground, so now only the platform they stood on was open to the ground.
When the walls had completely sunk, he heard a loud noise erupt from behind the pillar and when he looked, he saw thousands of Covenant standing there, all of them chanting a war cry. Not only that, he realized with a sinking feeling, but there were also what he guessed to be droids in their midst from the descriptions Boss had given. Phantoms began arriving and hovering above the platform, ready to deploy more troops. How could he and Boss ever get out of this?
Grievous seemed to guess what he was thinking, as he began laughing, "You have escaped again and again, slipping through our grasp. But now, what are you going to do?" He didn't wait for an answer as he lunged straight at the Chief, who raised his hands feebly to defend himself.
Suddenly, plasma erupted from a turret on one of the Phantoms and landed right in front of Grievous, forcing him backwards. He leapt back with a roar of fury and turned to face the Phantom.
"Who do you think you are?!" Grievous yelled towards it.
"A Spartan." The Chief stared in disbelief, he knew that voice and sure enough a moment later Blue Team headed down the gravity lift and landed on the platform, guns firing at both Grievous and Anakin. They were forced to back away from the Chief and Boss, deflecting the bullets and plasma fire with their lightsabers. Looking at some of the other phantoms, he saw Delta and Omega, the Jedi, Commander Keyes and the Arbiter, everyone that had been stationed at Marine Base Theta was now descending the gravity lifts that had been deployed. More and more Phantoms and even Pelicans arrived at the platform, unloading Marines, Elites, Grunts, and even several Hunters into the fight.
"Attack! Don't let them escape!" yelled Grievous, and the platform suddenly erupted into a battle field, bullets and plasma fire flying across the opening between the two sides as they opened fire unto one another. Fred, Niner, and Obi-wan sprinted forward to help the Chief and Boss, who were trying to make it back to their side.
"Are you all right?" asked Obi-wan, looking over their wounds.
"I'm fit to fight," the Chief answered, "But Boss-"
"I can still fight," Boss cut him off, standing up straighter. At that moment, Anakin came forward through the gunfire and lunged at Obi-wan, who lifted his lightsaber to parry the blow.
"Anakin, what have they done to you?" asked Obi-wan in disbelief, looking over Anakin up and down.
"They have made me more powerful than any Jedi!" Anakin yelled in reply, swinging his lightsaber fiercely, trying to get around Obi-wan's defense. The Chief felt confused about what was happening, but knew right now wasn't the time to ask questions.
"Droidekas!" Boss yelled, looking at something behind the Chief. He turned around to see three droids rolling towards them. Boss, Niner, Fred and the Chief all raised their battle rifles to fire, but before they could, Jusik leaped in front of them and activated his lightsaber.
"We've got this!" Jusik called back to them. The Chief was about to ask who "we" was when suddenly he heard a roar and two Hunters appeared from the fighting. The behemoths raised their massive shields and smashed them into two of the three Droidekas, crushing them so now they were only piles of scrap metal. The last Droideka instantly stopped and unrolled itself so now it was standing on its three legs in a tripod stance, aiming its two guns toward the Hunters. The Chief watched in surprised as an energy shield activated around the Droideka, shielding it from the Hunters blows. The Hunters lowered their own shields to cover their bodies, deflecting the blaster bolts that the Droideka fired.
"Come on, they have this taken care of," said the Chief, and he lead the small group to where most of the fighting was taking place.
"We've got to find Grievous!" Boss yelled. Before the Chief could answer, a Brute sprang at him without warning and punched him in the side of the head, knocking him over. He gritted his teeth in pain as the Brute stepped on his wounded leg and then proceeded to punch him in the visor. Suddenly, he heard the sound of a lightsaber and saw the end of the blue lightsaber plunge through the beast's chest, killing it instantly. The Chief breathed a sigh of relief and pushed the dead Brute off of him. When the corpse was clear, he stared in surprise to see Grievous standing over him.
"You're mine!" he yelled, swinging his lightsaber towards the Chief. He rolled to the side out of the way and used the momentum to roll to his feet, but Grievous was instantly on him, swinging his lightsabers back and forth. The Chief had to use every bit of agility he had to dodge the lightsabers, but it wasn't enough. He stumbled on his wounded leg, slightly off balancing himself for a moment. Grievous didn't waste any time as he thrust his purple lightsaber through the Chief's stomach. He felt extreme pain as the lightsaber burned a hole through his gut and exited through his back before it was pulled out again. The Chief stood facing Grievous for a moment, holding his stomach until Grievous kicked the Spartan onto his back, laughing to himself.
"Get back!" he heard a voice yell and saw both Etain and Jusik jump over him and heard the sound of the lightsabers whirring in front of him as they fought Grievous. It didn't matter now, it was all over for him. His vision was already getting blurry and the pain in his stomach was excruciating.
"Hang on, Chief," he heard a voice say next to him and saw a Commando helmet with a green stripe down the middle. Fixer took something out of his ammo pouch and the Chief saw that it was a syringe. He then had a flash back of when he had first met Delta Squad, and Sev had injected a similar syringe into his broken leg and how it had healed miraculously. He then remembered when Fixer gave Boss a syringe to heal his arm, and had said that he only had one left.
"Fixer, wait, don't use that on me," said the Chief in a weak voice. But Fixer ignored him as he jabbed the needle into his stomach and injected the bacta. The Chief felt the pain fade away as the liquid did its work, and felt his stomach heal and saw that his vision was no longer blurry. The Chief was healed. But, looking over Fixer's shoulder, he saw that Grievous was making his way over to them.
"Fixer, look out!" yelled the Chief as Grievous got closer. Fixer turned around and instantly sprang to his feet, pulling out his battle rifle. But it was no use, using one lightsaber Grievous cleanly cut the rifle in half and using his other, stabbed Fixer through the chest.
"No!" yelled the Chief, and instantly jumped to his feet but knew it was no use. Fixer fell to the ground where he lay motionless. Looking past Grievous's shoulder, he saw that Jusik was lying on the ground without moving, with Etain sitting beside him, trying to heal his wounds. The Chief didn't have the time to prepare himself as Grievous moved straight past Fixer and attacked him. He dodged the first swing and leaped backwards, ready to dodge again when a small, red beam of light started flickering between them. Grievous stopped in place and looked at the light, as did the Chief. When the light started aiming at the cyborg, he instantly moved out of its way and not a moment too soon. A bright, red laser beam shot past where he had been standing a split-second before. Not knowing where the blast came from, Grievous retreated back into the throng of the fight.
"That's right, you'd better run!" yelled Scorch, and the Chief turned to see him running towards him with a weapon held on his shoulder that he had never seen before. The Chief was about to ask what it was when he remembered Fixer and instantly took off to help him, with Scorch on his heels. When they arrived, Chief and Scorch instantly kneeled on either side of Fixer, who still lay where Grievous had left him.
When they were right next to him, Scorch said, "Don't die on me, Fixer. We'll help you out, just hang on." But as the Chief removed Fixer's helmet, he knew there was no hope they could save him, he knew it since Grievous had stabbed the Commando. When his helmet was removed, his face was pale and the life was already draining from his eyes.
"Are you okay?" Fixer asked him, his voice becoming weak.
"Yes," the Chief replied, "thanks to you."
Fixer grimaced in pain, but he turned towards Scorch and continued to talk, "Scorch, watch out for Sev. He's too headstrong for his own good."
"Fixer, stop talking like that," Scorch said fiercely, reaching down and gripping Fixer's hand. "We can help you, we just need Etain and-"
"Scorch, stop it," said Fixer, "there's no point in wasting supplies on me, there's no hope." Scorch didn't reply, remaining silent. The Chief reached forward to rest his hand on Fixer's shoulder.
"We'll win this war," said the Chief, "and we'll always remember what you did."
Fixer managed a weak smile, and turned once more to Scorch, "Tell Boss, I couldn't have served under a better Sergeant, or a with a better squad." And with that, his head fell back and he gave one last breath before he lay completely still, his eyes staring at nothing.
Fixer was dead.
The Chief held his hand on Fixer's armored shoulder for a little while longer until he heard footsteps approaching and turned around to see Etain there, looking at Fixer with a mournful expression.
"I couldn't save Jusik either," she said, her voice thick with grief. He stared at her in disbelief. Jusik was dead too? He felt as if his heart had turned to stone. If this battle didn't end soon, more people that he cared about would die.
With a heavy heart, he replaced Fixer's helmet and stood back up. They wouldn't be able to get his body out, not until the fight was over.
"Scorch, come on," the Chief said, though he still felt sympathy towards him. He knew what it was like to lose a teammate in battle, a teammate that was as close to you as a brother. Scorch didn't move for a little while longer, than dropped Fixer's hand and stood up, hefting the weapon back onto his shoulder.
"When we find Grievous," said Scorch, his voice uncharacteristically cold, "I'm gonna kill him."
Boss fought back to back with Niner, each covering the others blind spots. A whole pile of Covenant bodies and scraps of droids lay around them, building up as the fighting got thicker.
"Boss, we have to move!" Niner called over his shoulder as he dropped another battle droid. "We need support!" Boss knew he was right, but there weren't any places for them to make their escape. Any hole that appeared in the line of Covenant and droids was instantly closed up again as the forces moved in.
"Boss, look out!" he heard a voice call to his right and turned to see Grievous charging at them through the fighting. Boss quickly dove to the side, grabbing Niner by the shoulder and pulling him down with him. Grievous's lightsabers swung wildly over their heads as they fell towards the ground. Boss quickly rolled back to his feet as Niner did the same, the two of them moving backwards out of Grievous's range. The general was about to charge at them again when he turned back around. Looking around him, Boss saw Captain Rogers and Adams standing with their battle rifles firing.
Grievous shifted his attention to the two Marines and charge at them instead. They moved backwards, firing, but their bullets were easily deflected. No matter what the two Marines did, they couldn't get their bullets to hit him as he lunged first at Rogers. The lightsaber went directly through his chest. But, even though he was in extreme pain, Rogers pulled a combat knife he had on his belt and thrust it forward, hitting the General in the stomach. Grievous roared in pain and pulled his lightsaber out of Rogers' chest, leaping back into the fighting before Boss or Niner could do anything.
Adams rushed over to kneel beside Rogers while the two Commandos stood beside them, giving them cover.
"Adams," Boss heard Rogers say. He coughed, then continued, "I want you to help these people who came from the separate universe. Once this battle is over and we have won, they will need our help."
"Sir, wait!" shouted Adams, but it was too late. Roger's eyes had closed and his head sank to the floor. Boss felt grief for the Captain, and wished that he had had more time to serve with him. The mourning didn't last long as a small squad of Jackals was advancing towards them, their energy shields lowered to protect their bodies. Boss and Niner instantly opened fire while Adams grabbed his battle rifle and joined them. Unexpectedly, Adams strapped his battle rifle to his back, grabbed his shotgun, and charged at the jackals, screaming the entire time. The Jackals, who weren't expecting his, immediately seized fire and started scrambling backwards to get out of the way.
Adams didn't hesitate as he kicked one of the Jackal's shield out of the way and unloaded a blast into one Jackal, splattering purple blood onto the floor. Without missing a beat he drove the butt of the shotgun into another Jackal's skull, breaking it. The other two Jackals recovered themselves enough to turn around and fire, but that left their flanks exposed to Boss and Niner, who dispatched of them quickly. Boss quickly ran over to Adams, who was standing there taking deep breaths as he looked at the dead Jackals with a blank look in his eyes.
"Careful, Adams," Boss said as he stood beside Adams. "Using your anger like that can get you killed." Adams' only answer was to nod vaguely, reload his shotgun, and then run back into the fight. Boss was about to follow him, to make sure he didn't do anymore stupid things, when he felt a tap on the shoulder. Turning, he saw Niner standing there.
"Don't worry about him, that Marine knows what he's doing," Niner said.
Boss sighed, "I hope you're right."
The Chief ran through the battle with Scorch right on his heels, looking for Grievous. Once they killed the cyborg, they would have the advantage of winning this fight as the Covenant would only have one leader to command them. He didn't see Grievous anywhere, and knew that the Cyborg had made his way deeper into the fighting. Running forward, he saw Blue Team as they quickly brought down several battle droids and Jackals who had been unfortunate enough to challenge the Spartans. Fred and the others jogged forward to meet him. After such a long period of time, Blue Team was whole again.
"What happened?" asked Fred, his voice thick with concern as he saw the Chiefs new wound in his stomach.
"Grievous," the Chief replied, and then dragged his two forefingers across his faceplate in the usual Spartan greeting. The others Spartans returned the gesture.
"Where is he now?" asked Will, holding his battle rifle casually against his stomach.
"I don't know, we were looking for him."
"I see you've used the spartan laser," said Kelly, looking at the weapon Scorch still had on his shoulder.
"Spartan laser?" the Chief asked, looking at the weapon again, "They get that from us?"
Linda shrugged, "I guess so."
"Are you alright? That wound looks nasty," Fred said.
"I'm fine," he replied, "Fixer was able to heal my stomach." He felt a pang of grief as he mentioned the Commando.
"Where is he?" asked Fred.
"He's dead," Scorch replied, his voice flat. The Chief saw the Spartans become rigid with shock at the news.
"Is that why you're looking for Grievous?" asked Will quietly, the Chief knew they could read him like a book. He nodded in reply, but was interrupted as an explosion erupted next to them and they turned to see several Brutes, Jackals, and Battle Droids running towards them. The Chief instantly fell in line with Blue Team and Scorch, the Spartans firing their battle rifles while Scorch charged his weapon. Within five seconds he shot a bright red laser directly into the incoming hostiles, killing many Jackals and Battle Droids along with a Brute.
"Grenades!" shouted the Chief, and all six of them threw frag grenades right in front of the line, blowing up half of them. There were still several brutes and a few Jackals and Battle Droids as they reached them. One Brute threw itself at the Chief as it went berserk, but he nimbly dodged to the side. As the Brute rushed past him, he drove the butt of his battle rifle into the back of its head. The Brute, slightly dazed from the attack, turned to face the Chief only to receive several bullets to the face, completely ripping it apart. It fell dead as the Chief turned to shoot one charging Battle Droid in the leg and another in the head. Just when they finished off the last Jackals, more Covenant and droids charged towards them. He was about to start firing when he heard a feeble voice over his COM link.
"Chief…help." He instantly recognized it as Scorch and whipped around to see Grievous holding him against the pillar in the center, choking him. The Chief was about to take off to help him when someone called his name behind him and he turned to see Fred on the ground, wounded, with Will standing beside him.
"What happened?" the Chief asked.
"He was hit by sniper fire," Will replied, covering his fallen comrade as he shot at the advancing line.
"Linda!" the Chief yelled, and she paused in her firing and turned towards him. "Take out that sniper!" She instantly took out her sniper rifle and brought it to her shoulder, aiming towards the opposite end.
"Help him!" he ordered Will, "I've got to help Scorch!" He then turned and sprinted towards Grievous, his heart beating quickly in his chest. Grievous was already raising his lightsaber above his head and about to deal the death blow, he wasn't going to make it…
…But Ordo was able to reach Grievous before the Chief, grabbing his arm that was raised above his head. Grievous roared in fury and threw Ordo off, but the Chief was there to jump into the air and dropkick Grievous in the back, sending him flying forward and off of Scorch. Scorch fell to the ground where he lay, catching his breath.
The Chief ran over to him, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah," Scorch replied, breathless, "I just need to catch my breath." The Chief nodded, then got up to stand beside Ordo, facing Grievous. The cyborg climbed to his feet and stared at the two soldiers, absolutely livid. Without saying a word, he lunged at the two of them, who dodged out of the way. Grievous went after Ordo first, cutting him across the chest and causing him to stumble backwards and then turned towards the Chief. He dodged the first two swings but the third connected with his face, cutting diagonally across. The Chief cried out in pain, but luckily the wound was shallow. He no longer could see out of his visor so he ripped off his helmet and threw it to the side.
Grievous stared at him for a moment before speaking, "So you really are human? I had begun to think you were a cyborg, like me."
"I'm nothing like you," the Chief replied, raising his battle rifle. But suddenly, behind Grievous he saw a red light beginning to form and he instantly knew what it was. The Chief dropped to the ground on his stomach, causing Grievous to look at him in confusion before turning around. The Cyborg had no time to move as Scorch finished charging the spartan laser, letting out a beam that exploded on Grievous's chest and stomach, blasting right through him. The Chief rolled out of the way as Grievous fell backwards, almost right on top of him. When Grievous fell, the Chief stared at his corpse for a short while.
He could barely believe the fact that Grievous was dead. He heard footsteps approaching and turned to see Ordo offering a hand, which he took. As the Chief got to his feet he saw that the wound on Ordo's chest was luckily shallow, not deep enough to cause serious harm. He looked over at Scorch, who was holding the spartan laser on his shoulder.
"I told you I'd kill him," said Scorch. But then, a black shape emerged from behind Scorch, and he realized it was Anakin.
Both the Chief and Ordo started forward and yelled, "Duck!" Scorch dropped down instantly, and Anakin missed his swing, which would have decapitated Scorch had he not moved. Obi-wan then came to help, forcing Anakin backwards and away from Scorch. They fought with each other for a short while, each parrying the others blows, when Anakin stepped backward.
"This fight is over, but we will meet again," the Chief heard Anakin say and with that, he leaped away from Obi-wan and disappeared among the fighting.
Obi-wan stood there for a moment, then said, "He's leaving." As if on cue, the droids in the battle stopped fighting, pulling their guns against their chests and deactivating. The Covenant were now confused, with no leadership to guide them they didn't know what to do. The Marines and ex-Covenant wasted no time as they charged forward, taking advantage of the Covenant's confusion. A victorious cry started as the Covenant began retreating, running away from the battle and back out into the field with their enemies in hot pursuit.
The war was over, and humanity had survived.
But at what cost?
Now that the battle was over, the Chief could see past the edges of the Ark and saw how barren the landscape was after the glassing, and everything that had happened in the past few days came crashing on his shoulders. He was so intent on looking at the burnt plains that he didn't notice the Brute coming up on him from behind.
"Chief, look out!" yelled Scorch, and the Chief turned around to see a Brute Chieftain holding a hammer above his head. He had no time to dodge as the hammer connected with his head, and without the protection of his helmet, he fell backwards and lost consciousness.
The Chief blinked open his eyes and a bright blue light made him instantly close them again. Making another attempt to open his eyes, he squinted in the bright light until he could open them fully and he took in his surroundings. He was in a medical wing, but where he couldn't tell. The light had been the ceiling light above his head, and turning his head around he saw in surprise that Cortana was standing on the pedestal.
"Cortana!" the Chief said in surprise, sitting up. But his head began throbbing and he laid back down again, holding his head. "How did you make it back?"
"Since you made an alliance with the Elites, the commander agreed to send a squad after me as the rest of you were too busy protecting the World," she replied, smiling. The joy he felt at seeing Cortana again instantly vanished as he remembered why he was in the medical wing. He threw back his sheets and ignoring the pain in his head, stomach, and leg, he got up and walked out of the room in his black fatigues.
"You should be resting for as least another day," Cortana spoke through the speakers.
"Where is everyone else?" the Chief asked, ignoring her comment.
He could hear her give a sigh of resignation and say, "Head straight and then head down the hallway to the left. They'll be in the end room." He followed her directions and when he opened the door, everyone stared at him in surprise.
"Chief!" said Boss, who had his helmet off, "we thought you'd be unconscious for another day!" The Chief noticed that only Delta Squad, Kal, and Ordo were here.
"Where is everyone?" he asked.
"Well, you already know about Fixer and Jusik," said Boss, and the Chief noticed the raw grief in his eyes, "Fred is still unconscious. He went into surgery as soon as we boarded Cairo Station, and they were able to save him." The Chief breathed a sigh of relief. He had just been reunited with Blue Team, he didn't want to lose any of them again so soon.
"And everyone else is either tending to their wounds or resting," Boss continued.
"As should you be," said Cortana, appearing on the pedestal next to him and giving him a hard stare.
"I'm fine," said the Chief, ignoring the throbbing in his head that told him otherwise.
"Chief, I saw the hit you took," said Scorch, and the Chief was thankful that his voice had regained back it's normality, "I…I honestly thought that Brute had killed you for a moment."
Ordo nodded in agreement, "That beast had busted open your skull."
"Did you kill him?" asked the Chief.
"Oh yeah," Ordo replied in a satisfied tone, "Obi-wan showed the Brute up, he completely decapitated it." The Chief nodded, that Chieftain had been the last bit of leadership the Covenant had. Now, they just had to finish wiping them out.
"Chief, we've got to tell you something," Kal said, scratching the back of his head. "I'm glad we were able to help you out with your war, but our own war is starting back home." The Chief nodded in understanding; they had to go back. They couldn't stay here, though the Chief had privately wished that they would have been able to.
"I understand, you won't be able to stay here," said the Chief. He paused, than gave a sad smile, "But that doesn't mean I won't miss you."
Two days had passed since the end of the UNSC-Covenant war. Boss now stood with everyone in the Prophet's chamber in the base on Jecovah, saying goodbye. Everyone's wounds had healed, and now it was time for them to go their separate ways. He watched as the Chief, wearing his black fatigues, shook hands with Kal Skirata. When Kal walked away from the Chief to talk to Sergeant Johnson, Boss walked forward to say his goodbyes.
"You feeling alright?" Boss asked as he noticed the Chief was still limping.
"You worry too much," said the Chief, hitting his hand on Boss's uninjured arm. "What do you plan on doing when you get back?"
"I don't know yet," Boss replied, looking over at Obi-wan, "Obi-wan will probably give us instructions. We have nowhere else to go except into hiding, and he knows Darth Vader the best." After the battle, Obi-wan had explained to them that Anakin was really Darth Vader, his name having been changed after he turned Sith.
"We owe you so much," said the Chief, "you know where to come when you need help." Boss nodded and was about to reply when Obi-wan interrupted him, "Time to go." Everyone grouped back together, one group being the people who were staying and the other the people who were heading back to their own universe. It was hard to be leaving now, after growing close to the Chief and everyone else here. It was as if they had trained together, and the grief became fresh again as he remembered the two people who weren't going to make it home.
"If any of you need help whooping ass, you know my number," Johnson said, grinning.
"Wait." Everyone turned towards the voice and saw that it was Adams. He walked over to stand beside Boss and said, "I'm going with you."
"What!" said Johnson, surprised. Boss stared at him with equal surprise.
"Adams, you've got your life here-"
"No," Adams said, cutting him off, "remember what Captain Rogers said to me before he died? He told me to help you, and I believe that I can help by coming with you." He looked at Boss with a grim look in his eye, "I know what you're up against."
"Are you sure?" Boss asked, "Our universe is going to be a lot different."
Adams shrugged, "I'll get used to it. It can't be that much different."
"It's your choice, son," said Johnson, "But it's gonna be hard losing your skills here."
Adams smiled at him, then turned to Boss, "Ready when you are." Boss nodded and turned to Obi-wan, waiting for instruction.
"Hopefully, we will see each other again," said Obi-wan as he bowed down, Etain copying his gesture.
"Spartans! Attention!" the Chief barked, and all five Spartans snapped to attention, saluting. All the clones from the separate universe snapped to attention as well. As one, they all dropped their hands, and without hesitating Obi-wan turned around and stepped through the portal. Everyone followed him, stepping through one at a time until it was only Boss and Adams left. Adams went through first, but Boss paused before stepping in, looking back one last time.
"We'll be back," said Boss and with that, he stepped into the portal.
Author's Note: It is DONE! Two years in the making and I have finally finished. There will still be two more chapters, but they will only be one or two pages long, kind of a follow-up thing. They will be posted soon since they are already finished. I really hope you've enjoyed this story as much as I have had writing it, and I can't thank you enough for reading.