Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Halo Universe and all the Halo franchise is property of 343 industries. I take credit only for my own ideas that I bring to life in this story. This story is simply for entertainment purposes of the FanFiction audience.
Disclaimer: I do not own the cover image for this story. I have been granted permission to use it and this permission does not go to anyone else unless you contact the artist and speak to them yourselves. You'll find their Instagram name at the bottom of the chapter.
Cooper's breathing came out rapidly and raspy as he blinked away the tears, furiously attempting to keep his vision clear as he ran as fast as he could, past the trees and shrubs in this dense forest. Looking back for just a second, he caught glimpse of whatever these foul creatures were that he had first run from. Small in size, he had assumed a couple of bullets would do the trick on the obvious hostiles, and whilst this worked just fine on a few of them, they had soon overwhelmed him forcing him into retreat. "Jesus Christ, what are these things!" Cooper growled out in pain as he clutched his now burning chest.
Coming over to a tall rock formation, Cooper took his opportunity and threw his rifle up to the peak before pivoting almost instantaneously on his left foot as he pulled his Magnum pistol out and shot at two of the closest aliens before holstering his gun and climbing to the top of the rocks. These things were a type of parasite, that much was obvious after having seen what they did to his squad; tasked with guarding the entrance to the structure that Sergeant Johnson and Captain Keyes had entered, everything was going just fine until these things showed up! Cooper took aim and opened fire upon the small creatures as one by one they burst into pieces until eventually, finally, there were none left around him.
Dropping his gun to his feet and collapsing to his knees the adrenaline began to wear off as Cooper's lip trembled in fear. "I'm never going to get out of here!" Cooper started crying as he shook his head in despair as the tears came rolling down his cheeks in waves. His sanity was beginning to waver, he could feel it; the slow seductive voice of death telling him to give up, to let go and give in to it all. "I just wanna' get out of here… please… someone help me…" Cooper's head snapped to attention as he grabbed his MA37 Assault rifle and aimed towards the direction of the noise he heard in the nearby bushes. Nerves calming, eyes narrowing, and hands steadying as Cooper took his breaths in a slow and deep rhythm before slowly realizing it may very well have been the wind. However, just as he lowered his gun he watched as an Elite, a Minor, came into the clearing hysterically, reminding Cooper of what he must've looked like a few minutes beforehand.
Time seemed to stop as Elite stared at Human and Human stared at Elite before they both raised their weapons in perfect sync, one growling with anger, the other groaning in pain. It seemed to go on forever as the two didn't move an inch in their dramatic facedown, one would have to die here, right now. So then why did Cooper find himself lowering his weapon before simply sitting again, staring at the Elite as it stayed, alert and combat-ready? "You wish to die?" the Elite spoke, well barely grumbled is more accurate. "What's the point in fighting you? I'll only die soon in a few hours anyway." Cooper sighed as he slowly felt the despair once again creeping upon him. As the Elite after a few more seconds lowered its own weapon before looking around the small clearing they both found themselves in.
The wind breezed by in gentle waves as both Human and Elite merely waited in silence, trying to enjoy the brief pause in chaos and hysterics, although what they were waiting for, neither of them knew. It wasn't long however before Cooper decided that if he was going to die, it would be fighting and not snivelling in fear like a coward. He was a soldier, a marine and he was going to act like one. "Where were you heading?" Cooper asked as he slid down from the rock eliciting the exact reaction from his enemy he had expected as the Elite very quickly raised his weapon once more. Cooper's jaw-length hair blew in the wind since he had long lost his helmet, and his hair tie wasn't exactly helping at this point either. "I was heading nowhere… Just escaping." The Elite responded in much more clear English as he once more lowered his weapons aim. Nodding solemnly to himself Cooper leaned his weapon against the rocks as he untangled his hair from the hair tie and began to run his fingers through it. "I'm not dying here, not in some forest. I wager you won't either," Cooper stated as his assumptions were confirmed by the sudden nod from the Elite as he finished tying his hair behind him in a tight bun. "then we stick together at least until we can both find our way to our own forces?" The Elite was visibly confused by this proposition. After all, this was the enemy, and he must have already figured out that the Elite had killed many of the human's kind, and yet here he was offering temporary peace for the bigger goal of survival. The Elite was smart enough to understand that petty rivalries only ever hindered you, and so with a quick nod, the Elite walked over to the human and repeated the same action he had come to understand as an agreement as he held his hand out. "Let's go then," Cooper smirked as he took the Elite's clawed hand and shook it.
Master Chief rolled away and immediately turned before blasting a group of Flood away with a single spread shot from an M45 Tactical Shotgun he had recently picked up. Cocking the gun, Chief stood and looked towards Guilty Spark 343 as he nodded and then proceeded to follow the small robotic A.I. towards the Index, which he had generously explained as to how they could use Halo against the Flood leading Chief to believe in its use against the Covenant, despite Cortana's protests. They had been inside this strange structure for a good while now as they had traversed all the way to its third floor just to achieve this… Index. Chief was beginning to run out of ammo here and that was something every soldier dreaded with all their heart and soul.
"I would conjecture that the other species currently on the installation are responsible for releasing the Flood. They seem most persistent in their attempts to access restricted areas." Chief simply listened as he and 343 travelled along very similar hallways as the ones they had been passing through ever since they entered this structure, which had led the Chief to the conclusion that without this little floating robot, he would be without a doubt lost. "Why naturally the Flood is simply too dangerous to release, and mass sterilization protocols may again need to be enacted. Of course, samples were kept here after the last catastrophic outbreak… for study. It seems… that decision may have been an error." If Chief wasn't so busy consistently scanning for hostiles, he would've scoffed at the ridiculous statement that was just made and so he made do for mentally face palming instead. "The Installation was specifically designed to study and contain the Flood. Their survival as a race was dependent on it. I am grateful to see that some of them survived to reproduce."
As the doorway to the next hallway opened, Chief's reflexes wasted no time kicking in as he was shooting down the flood before the door had even fully opened. It was a short skirmish as Chief made quick work of the small group of aliens before he and 343 continued, deeper into the belly of the beast. Pretty soon, the two had made their way to a platform that, once both were on, lifted them the fourth floor of the structure. Chief's mind once more wandered to his team and not for the first time in his life he found himself thinking if he would make it out of this alive. Such is a soldier's life. "It would seem that the Flood are wasting no time in repairing your vessel. Its parasitic nature belies the Floods intelligence." 343 merrily chimed in as Chief finished up the elimination of several more Flood forms before turning to 343 and following him over a bridge, as they finally reached the Index platform. "The energy barrier surrounding the Index will deactivate when we reach the ground floor." And with that Chief jolted as the platform suddenly began descending towards the bottom floor.
It was a slow ride to the bottom floor and just as Chief had expected they were attacked by a lot of Flood and even with the Sentinels help, which 343 had described as security measures for this structure, it was a daring fight that left the Chief in momentary tiredness. Eventually, however, they did reach the ground floor, and just as 343 had stated the energy barrier protecting the Index dissipated allowing for the collection of the Index. The Chief slowly approached the Index, which upon closer inspection appeared to be held in some sort of sheath. As Chief's hand got within reach of the Index, certain sections of the sheath began to move in and out of itself in a form of mechanical release and before Chief knew it, the Index had been released into his grip as his fingers reflexively wrapped around the object. However, before Chief even had a moment to inspect the Index, it was zapped from his hand as 343 then placed it into a sort of trans-dimensional pocket.
"Protocol requires that I take possession of the index for transport. Your organic form renders you vulnerable to infection. The index must not fall into the hands of the Flood before we reach the control room and activate the installation." Loud hissing sounds then emanated from all around the Chief and 343 as Chief raised his weapons and waited for the first sight of the creatures, but he was interrupted as the golden circles that he had come to identify as a teleportation method began to surround him. "The Flood is spreading! We must hurry!"
Cooper looked to his left and watched for a few seconds as the Elite he was travelling with ducked under a branch that was blocking his path. Standing next to an Elite without the threat of combat was an experience to be had. Standing at around 7 and a half feet tall these things were certainly big, it was a miracle at all they could be fought and now Cooper had a temporary truce with one. Looking away he decided to just keep his focus up and continue. The Elite had a few of his own thoughts on the human beside him. He was small, and it would not take much to pin him down for a quick and easy kill, yet the Elite found himself honouring the short peace they had established with each other. Still, not all was bad about this human and it was not hard to tell he would be reliable in a fight.
"So, what happened to you? Why are you out here on your own?" Cooper asked as he brushed some shrub aside with his gun; the Elite struggling to find his words at the sudden question after walking in silence for so long. "My brothers caught off guard by those strange aliens whilst I and two others were out scouting for you humans." The Elite responded, pronouncing the word with obvious disgust, although it seemed to not bother the human. In fact, it elicited a smirk from the small being which provoked a nasty growl from the Elite as he stopped to stare at the weakling. "Something is funny, human!?" Cooper stopped and raised one of his brows at the alien beside him. 7 foot something tall, big build, weapon at the ready… nothing too scary. "I was laughing at the irony of the situation we find ourselves in. You so obviously dislike my kind, yet you travel with one of us. You don't find that even a little funny?" The Elite fell back in to step beside Cooper and scratched its chin a little before looking once more to Cooper and nodding eliciting once more a humorous smirk.
After a further few minutes of walking, Cooper stopped and took cover behind a tree as the Elite followed in suit using the tree next to him as cover. Both peeked around their respective covers and saw a group of UNSC marines as the Elite looked to Cooper with the assumption of a fight, but Cooper looked on at the marines and frowned before eventually finding the source of his suspicion as one of the Marines turned around revealing them to be infected with those alien parasites. "Infected and I can assume they know how to use those weapons in their hands still, so be prepared." The Elite looked at Cooper in slight shock as he hadn't even hesitated to make his decision once he was sure of the situation and that honestly scared the 7 ft alien. "You would so readily kill your brothers?" Cooper stopped and honestly pondered the question for a minute. What would the Chief think of such an act, what would his family think, and his superiors… Cooper looked to the Elite and with a stern glare, "Yes."
Cooper and the Elite engaged the enemy without another word as the two pushed forwards, choosing a fallen tree trunk as cover for their skirmish. The Parasites for all their chaotic nature were very efficient in combat once they had found a host, which was evident in the accuracy of the bullets flying back at Cooper and the Elite from the now-dead squad of Marines. Cooper peeked his head over the trunk and fired two quick bursts of 7.62 bullets and watched as both bursts hit their intended marks, dropping two more of the parasitic marines. The Elite was just as accurate in combat and without failure, blasted holes in three of the marines before they could get too close. Deciding now was the time, the Elite rolled out from behind the trunk and chucked a plasma grenade at the marines as they were all thrown to the ground ending the battle.
"You fight well human!" the Elite chuckled as he finished off a crawling marine. "You too, nice timing on that grenade." Cooper praised as he reloaded his MA37 rifle and walked into the small camp that the marines had set up. Cooper began to collect any ammo he could salvage from the dead marines and looked around for any radio equipment that wasn't damaged, fortunately coming across a radio. Picking the small mechanical box up, Cooper chuckled at the outdated thing which was only used in serious situations where modern comms was down. "This is Private Michael Cooper, does anyone read me?" Cooper waited for a short minute before once more, "I repeat, this is Private Michael Cooper, does anyone read me?" Nothing.
"I say we head for-" Cooper rolled behind an empty weapons crate as plasma fire soared past him and into some nearby trees. He should've seen it coming, these damn bastards couldn't be trusted. "Some truce huh!" Cooper called out as he realized, he had left his weapon by the area he picked the radio up from. "My people are not far from here, I can see their ships, this truce is over!" the Elite growled back as he yet again began firing on the position where he knew the human was hiding. Suddenly, a twig snapped from his left side and upon turning the Elite was greeted with a rock hitting him in the face, giving Cooper just enough time to get to the Elite where he drove his knife into its abdomen over and over again until the Elite fell to its back. "You dumb bastard!" Cooper took his magnum out and aimed it at the Elite's head who wordlessly tried to beg to no avail as two loud shots rang out through the trees.
"Is anyone there?" Johnson's voice came through over the radio as Cooper quickly jogged over to where he left the radio and picked it up. "Sergeant! This is Private Cooper, what's your situation?" Cooper responded with as much relief as his voice would give away. "Private, good you're still with us. I got dragged down by these things with Keyes, I escaped but I fear our Captain is long gone by now. Where are you trooper?" Johnson explained as Cooper did a quick once over of the camp just to be sure none of the nearby Covenant was here. "I have arrived at one of the camps set up around the structure you entered. I've just had a run-in with an Elite and some infected marines. Had to put em out of their misery sir." Cooper holstered his magnum and knelt to pick up his MA37 as he stood back up and began to move around the camp, nothing good ever came from staying still. "Alright trooper, can you make it to my position, sending you co-ordinates now," Cooper confirmed receiving them and agreed to meet the Sergeant there. The only issue, he had to go through the nearby Covenant to get there.
"Man, this shit never gets any easier."
"I really cannot believe you just trusted him like that!" Cortana lectured as Chief ducked and pivoted around to dodge a barrage of incoming laser fire from the sentinels of the Halo Installation. It had come to light that by activating the ring as 343 had asked, Master Chief would be condemning the entire galaxy to death. Firing his gun, Chief took care of the final few Sentinels that 343 had summoned to kill him. "He was very convincing," Chief responded bluntly as he reloaded his weapon whilst realizing that this was his last magazine after this, the battle was going to get a lot harder.
"You do understand that by activating this one, a signal would be sent out to the other halo installations that we have just learned of. The entire galaxy, gone! Wiped out in mere hours…" Cortana rambled on as Master Chief walked over to the main console and once again plugged Cortana into the mainframe. "Be that as it may, how do we stop him?" Cortana sighed and threw her arms up around her in a dramatic show of exasperation before turning and bringing up multiple holographic panels in front of her. "There is a way, we destroy Halo from within, but that would require an explosion big enough. Lucky for us, the Pillar of Autumns fusion reactor core is still active. Still, with sparky flying around he's more than guaranteed to find a way to fire this thing even without the index, the only thing I can do to slow him down, is damaging the central generators which I've done already."
The golden circles once more began to surround Chief pushing him into combat alertness as he scanned for 343 but only became confused upon realizing that the A.I. was nowhere to be seen. "Try not to worry big guy, the circles are me. I've hacked his systems from within and downloaded enough classification to teleport us. However, it requires massive amounts of energy which I must borrow from your suit, safe to say we should only do this once." Chief nodded in understanding and grabbed Cortana just as he was shot into interdimensional travel and within a few seconds, opened his eyes to find himself- BANG! "Oh… I see the coordinate data needs to be…" Chief whacked his helmet with his fist, shutting Cortana up as he stood up and grabbed his gun.
Chief was in some form of Covenant Cruiser, a damaged one all things considered. Some distant shots could be heard ahead and so Chief did what Chief was good at, he moved forwards and prepared to engage hostiles. After getting a few meters down the corridor Chief heard some static coming through on his comms before eventually the all too familiar voice of the Captain broke through. "Chief…Don't be a fool… Leave me…" He sounded weak and broken, whatever happened to him after contact was lost, it wasn't good. "Captain? Captain?! I've lost him…"
Chief made his way through the many winding corridors, the purples, blues, and pinks of the ship radiating off his armour due to his helmet lights shining on the walls and floors. Making his way towards the Hangar Chief stopped and grabbed on to the wall to pull himself back as he looked down and became very aware of a large hole in the ship blocking him from reaching the hangar. "Analysing damage… This hole was caused by some kind of explosive. Very powerful if it tore through a ships hull. All I detect down there are pools of reactor Coolant. We should continue our search somewhere else."
Chief turned around and saw the Flood rushing towards him like an ocean and yet he didn't fire, remembering he had one magazine left and he had a feeling he was going to need it. "Chief no, I haven't measured-" Chief turned and jumped out of the ship as he rocketed towards the pool of coolant below and caused a huge ripple of waves as he crashed through the surface. Luckily due to the incessant fighting between the Flood and Covenant, he wasn't noticed… even as Cortana lectured him on stupid decisions and their consequences. "We need a way back inside the ship Chief… Go!"
Cooper sat in complete stillness as two Elites passed by the bushes that he had ducked into as they had neared. They were bigger than the Minor he killed earlier, their armour marked them as Ultras, but Cooper wasn't bothered by this; what he was bothered by was the two Zealots who seemed to be in charge here as one of them laughed whilst skewering an already dead marine on his energy sword… it boiled Cooper's blood to see such disrespectful notions towards his fallen brothers. Moving from the bushes he made his way behind some weapons crates that had been set up just a few metres ahead, he had to get out of here.
"Who you!" a squiggly little voice came from behind him. Turning around Cooper immediately grabbed the little Grunt by his mask and drew it in close as he drove his knife deep into its neck whilst stopping its screams from escaping past his hand. Squeezing the ugly little creature until he felt all movement stop in his arms. Dropping the creature, he turned back around to see one of the two Zealots cautiously walking over to his position. "Shit!" Cooper groaned under his breath as his eyes frantically searched for an option to escape, and that was when he saw them…
The Zealot Elite moved ever closer to the weapons crates that he had seen the Unggoy trooper disappear behind. His senses had picked up some muffled voice and he didn't like it. It sounded human, it sounded dangerous… Before the Elite could reach the weapons crate his eyes caught two blue lights flash up into the air and behind him, as they successfully caught his attention. The Elite's head slowly turned to watch the two blue lights fly towards the fuel tanks they had been gathering and that was when realisation dawned on the poor creature. "NOOOOOOO!" His scream was cut off short as the two plasma grenades blew, taking the fuel tanks with them and pretty much three-quarters of the camp and Covenant forces.
Cooper darted from his hiding place as soon as the shockwave from the explosion had passed, his gun firing as he tore through a group of Jackals before their shields could be activated. Turning quickly, he saw some Elites led by the Zealot chasing him as he smirked in confidence, and after turning back to face forwards he chucked one final grenade behind him hearing the satisfying screaming of burning Elites. Dashing into the trees, Cooper was getting closer and closer to the Nav point set by Johnson and it wasn't long afterwards that he caught the sight of an opening into the clearing that he was supposed to meet Johnson at.
"Trooper, good timing there's been an explosion and… Wait where have you just come from?" Johnson asked interrupting his previous statement as he looked suspiciously at Cooper who was drenched in sweat and some purple blood on his armour. In fact, now that Johnson thought about it, Coopers look was completely different to almost a few hours ago: His hair was dirty and roughly pulled back behind his head, his armour was damaged and bloody with both red and purple covering the once clean surface. His breathing was raspy and sounded as though he was a chain smoker. "Covies' Sir… Camp of em back there, and they ain't' so happy I just blew them all to hell." Cooper briefly explained as Johnson burst into laughter at the bluntness of the fact that Cooper had just brushed over how he had effectively blown up a Covenant camp on his own and escaped with his life. "Well come on, I say we hop in this warthog I found and make our way over to the Pillar, she ain't too far from here and with luck… We might just get off this ring." Cooper nodded and followed the Sergeant as they both hopped into the nearby Warthog, their final objective: Escape.
Chief ran along the right side of the narrow canyon he now found himself in as he dropped to his knees and let himself slide off the ridge, he was stood on to avoid being hit by the incoming laser fire of two Elites. Landing on his feet, the super-soldier launched himself into a CQC fight with the enemy as he picked one of the Elites up by the throat and kicked the other square in the chest, sending him to the ground as he snapped the neck of the first Elite. "Demon!" the second Elite cried out before he too was killed as Chief used its own weapon to blast holes into its chest. "Chief we're nearing the gravity well, but the crash has done more damage to the ship than I realised, and the reactor will be going critical very soon. We need to hurry!"
Chief picked up his assault rifle and rushed forwards towards the gravity lift; the light blue that created the spherical shape of the lift was flickering and fading, clearly proving that it wouldn't be operational for much longer. Grunting in frustration as he grabbed one of the flood mid-air before it could latch onto him, he crushed the creature and continued. "The Captain?" Chief bluntly asked as he grabbed a rock with his left hand, and with his left foot, threw himself into the air and landed on the ridge that would lead up to the gravity lift. "I've been trying to reach him, but there is some kind of interference and I don't think it's the Covenant," Cortana responded; her voice held a tone of urgency which only urged Chief to move quicker.
Leaping into the gravity lift, Chief shot upwards as he moved closer and closer to the second half of the crashed Covenant Cruiser only to feel his body revert to its usual weight as he slowed to an agonizing stop. "Chief!" Cortana gasped as the Spartan's armoured hand came scarcely close enough to grip the edge of the entrance to the cruiser as he dangled 50 metres above the ground. Grunting as he pulled himself into the ship, Chief stood and scanned the room only to be left in shock as no Covenant attacked him. "We should be able to get to the ships control room from here…" Cortana absentmindedly commented as she stared at the many dead bodies around them both.
Chief had roamed the empty corridors of the Covenant ship with growing unease as not once had they yet come across Covenant or Flood since re-entering the ship and it was beginning to make Chief uncomfortable. As he came to an unlocked door, he saw the growing amount of the strange substance which marked the Floods presence as he once more made a mental note of his low ammo capacity. "The Covenant Battlenet is a mess. I can't access the ship's schematics. My records indicate that a shuttle bay should be… here." A nav point appeared on Chief's HUD as he then switched direction to west, proceeding towards the approximated point of escape. However, it was not a pretty sight that awaited them at the Nav point… It was Cortana who first pointed it out: The Flood was gathering all the dead bodies whether they be Covenant or dead infected. "Just a Cargo Bay. Hang on one second… Here!" Cortana once more chirped up as she labelled a new Nav point for Chief.
"I… gave you an order, soldier! Now pull out!" Captain Keyes once more demanded through the comms before again cutting out and once more leaving Chief and Cortana in the eerie silence that had consumed the Cruiser. "He's delirious! In pain! We have to find him!" Cortana exclaimed as Chief nodded and aimed his gun around the corner before finally, entering the shuttle bay where one final Nav point appeared on his HUD, directing him to the third level of the Cruiser. Eventually, Chief's uneasy feeling was released in one swift turn of events as he came upon a group of Grunts and two Jackals who a few, literally jumped in shock before they opened fire on him. Chief rolled towards one of the Jackals and picked it up, holding it in front of him forcing the Jackal to use its shield to protect them both from the plasma fire. Using his new meat shield, Chief managed to get close enough to the enemy as he dealt with them one by one, still deciding it wasn't the right time to use up his last magazine. "AH!" Chief blurted out as an energy sword grazed past his shoulder just as he dealt with the last Jackal in his grip, before rolling away from the enemy as it made itself visible to him. "Chief we don't have time!" Cortana urged as he ducked under another swing before uppercutting the Elite and running in the opposite direction.
"Left! That should lead us to the control room!" Chief moved closer, and closer to the door that would take him into the control room only for his comms to give way to the tone of voice that he had heard from many before him, the tone of voice that signalled one final act of defiance. "AHHHHHH! Come on then! You won't… take me… Without a Fight! AHHHH!" Chief burst through the door that took him into the control room, only to be greeted with the horrifying reality of what had come to pass… "No human life-signs detected." Cortana began as both she and Chief stared in horror at the massive Flood-like being sat on the command centre of the bridge. Captain Keyes' face sticking out of the front as his body dangled below… broken and deformed. "The Captain! He's one of… them. We can't let the Flood get off this ring! You know what he would expect… What he'd want us to do." Cortana's voice changed to a mere whisper as she uttered those last words in sadness and regret, as Chief moved over to the Captain and punched a hole into his skull to retrieve the neural implants that, after cleaning and inserting into his helmet, gave Cortana the necessary access code she needed. "I have the code. Let's go." Cortana stated as she brought up a Nav Point for the Shuttle bay they had come across earlier.
However, as soon as Chief stepped back into the previous room he was greeted by a horde of Flood as they quickly converged on his position and forced him to engage each of the ugly little bastards. It wasn't long until Chief used up his final magazine, just as one of the smaller Flood forms launched itself towards him only to be smacked away violently by the side of Chief's rifle before he rolled his last grenade into the midst of the swarm, the aliens piling themselves on top of the foreign object giving Chief the satisfaction of blowing almost half of them to hell. And yet, before Chief could plan his next move his adrenaline once more spiked as his pupils dilated and time began to slow; the Spec-ops Elite attempted to decapitate Chief only to swipe in vain at the space where he previously stood. Chief, still using the momentum from dodging, bent his spine to move forwards and dropped to his hands and toes, allowing him to move like a feral beast as he swung his body and positioned himself just behind the Elite, kicking the beast into the depths of the still swarming Flood.
Picking up the dropped Plasma rifle, Chief inspected it quickly before firing upon the flood as each one of them began to eviscerate under the deadly blasts of heat, clearing a path for the ever-weary soldier to run through as he dived and rolled out of the door that served as his escape route, before quickly pivoting, and blasting the door controls, trapping the Flood inside and buying himself time… for now. Turning once more, Chief wasted no time in moving as his heart rate slowed to an even pace at an astonishing rate and his oxygen intake lowered to that of an Olympic runner taking a light jog; Chief's suit's HUD alerted him to incoming enemies and based on the movement pattern he could easily conclude it was the Covenant since it wasn't a giant red blob with chaotic spurs of movement.
"Chief we've got company!" Cortana exclaimed as a Covenant dropship moved into the hangar. Chief watched as some Hunters, Grunts, Jackals and Zealot class Elites hopped out of the transport to fend of the Flood and the newly discovered Demon. The transport itself also stayed to provide air support which had put Chief at a serious disadvantage. "Chief, those escort Banshees are low enough for you to attempt a hijack." Cortana stated as though it were the simplest thing in the galaxy… 'It was going to have to be' Chief internally told himself as he threw the now empty Plasma Rifle at a nearby Elite with enough force to knock it down to the first floor of the Shuttle Bay. Reaching the edge of the walkway, Chief contracted his muscles tightly and leapt off the edge as he seemed to soar for a moment before crashing heavily onto one of the escort Banshees, before reaching for the top half of the machine and ripping it open with enough care to not rip the entire top half off. "AH! DEMON!" the Elite inside roared before Chief grabbed its legs and dragged it out of the Banshee, tossing it to its death below. Once inside Chief expertly took control of the machine from experience and boosted out of the Covenant Cruiser, heading away from the fighting, and towards his salvation.
Chief and Cortana both remained silent as they soared past the harsh looking dunes that seemed to glow golden under the burning sun above, as its rays reflected off of the glassy surface below them. Their shadow broken and marred, seeming to reflect the broken and pitiful state which was the Banshee they had commandeered. However, it was nowhere near as pitiful as the Pillar of Autumn: the once stoic and powerful image the ship used to portray, now replaced by a seemingly empty, and dead shell. Before anymore thought could be put into the state of the ship, the Banshee's alarm systems blared to life as Cortana relayed to Chief the cause of the alarm to be a blown thruster and the left-wing tearing off due to damage and pressure. "This thing is falling apart!" Cortana panicked as Chief shook his head and pulled the nose of the machine up a notch. "It'll hold." Chief calmly replied which did nothing to calm the A.I. which seemed ironic that she was the one panicking. "We're not going to make it!" "We'll make it." Chief let the Banshee drop as he prepared himself, although for what he was preparing for, was anyone's guess. "Pull up! Pull up!" Cortana urgently shouted as the Banshee dropped just shy of one of the docking bays exploding below as it crashed into the side of the ship…
"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Cortana sardonically asked to which Chief gave no reply, except for a sly smirk under his visor before his face fell neutral once again as he quickly picked up a nearby M392 DMR Model, checked it's magazine before picking up some extra ammo and moving on. "We need to get to the bridge. From there, we can use the Captain's neural implants to initiate overload of the ship's fusion engines. The Explosion should damage enough systems to blow it to destroy the ring." Chief simply hummed in response as he noticed the badly damaged and broken stairway ahead and so, with a few swift movements, magnetically sealed the DMR to his back and proceeded to run towards the nearby wall, propelling himself upwards as he successfully scaled the wall and found himself at the top of the stairway, nodding in satisfaction.
"Hear th-" Cortana was cut off as the door in front of Chief shot open and an infected Elite burst out, immediately charging towards Chief who simply rolled out of the way and watched the foul creature run itself off the edge and down the almost 6-metre drop. Chief turned and engaged the other Flood forms that followed, but it wasn't too much trouble considering most of them were the small, weak forms and not the huge, infected ones. The fighting wasn't over yet, as Chief ducked and rolled away from two Minor Elites who were most likely already tired as their movements were slow and sluggish. Snapping the ankle of one with his right leg, Chief brought the same leg up and kneed the other Elite in the stomach, winding it before killing the first with a strike to the head with his gun as he then shot the other once through the chest. "Seeing such monstrous beings get tired like that… makes you think, what if-" Cortana was cut off by the Chief "We should be nearly there." Chief knew what she was trying to ask, what she was trying to say to him… What if he should get that tired? What if his movements and reflexes fail him? What if he fails to defend himself and falls? But Chief couldn't afford to think about what-ifs, he had a mission, a duty to follow through on… that was all that mattered.
"The Bridge, we made it… Chief!" Cortana hadn't needed to warn him, but as always, the gigantic soldier appreciated the concern as he took a single step back, bringing him just out of range of the swiping Energy Sword from a Spec-ops Elite whilst two more of the same class Elite fired Needler rifles at him from further away. Striking the closest Elite in the stomach with the butt of his DMR, Chief forcibly turned the enemy around and used him as a meat shield, "No wait! WAIT!" moving forwards even as the Elite screamed as its brothers fired on it hoping to kill the Demon. Once Chief reached the other two Elites, he made quick work of them and then returned in his final few steps, eager to complete and finish the mission. "I need you to upload me into the control systems. The terminal is located next to the main view screen." Chief didn't waste a second as he took Cortana's chip from his helmet and inserted it into the cylindrical terminal near the front of the bridge, Cortana's avatar appearing only seconds later above it.
"I leave home for a few days and look what happens. This won't take long." She said sarcastically before getting to work, as the holographic keys in front of her all whizz around in spectacular motions before finally the main screen flickers to life, as too did a warning in big, bold, red letters reading 'WARNING, SELF DESTRUCT SEQUENCE INITIATED.' Followed by a countdown just shy of an hour. "There. That should give us enough time to make it to a lifeboat and put some distance between ourselves and Halo before the detonation." Cortana cheerily stated, hoping Chief didn't pick up on the sorrowful and meek undertone to her voice that she had failed to hide. He did but uttered not a single sound in response.
Right as Chief turned to grab Cortana and take her from the mainframe, he was stopped by the all-too-familiar sound of Guilty Spark 343 through his comms. "I'm afraid, that's out of the question, really." Came the sadistic, robotic voice as Chief turned in a perfect pivot, aiming his DMR to fire, only to find once more, nothing around him. "Ridiculous! That you would imbue a warship's A.I. with such a wealth of knowledge! Weren't you worried it might be captured? Or destroyed?" Chief turned around again to face Cortana; even with that visor on, she could still imagine the look of urgency. "He's in my data arrays, a local tap! Hold on… Got him! Engine room, accessing ship's commands from there!" Cortana cried out as Chief nodded and took Cortana out before plugging her back into his helmet. "You can't imagine how exciting this is! To have a record of all our lost time! Human history, is it? Fascinating. But Reclaimer… Why do you continue to fight us? You cannot win! Give us the construct, and I will endeavour to make your death relatively painless and-" 343 was cut off as Cortana hummed pleasantly to herself in satisfaction… "At least I still have control over the comms."
"What's the plan?" Chief asked as he moved towards the exit door only to be stopped by a group of Sentinels as they descended all around the shattered windows of the Bridge, causing Chief to roll into whatever cover he could find and use as their emitter beams began to slice through the room. "If he has frozen the timer on the countdown to the explosion, which let's be honest we both know he has, then we'll have to detonate remotely by causing a delayed reaction," Cortana paused as she ran some calculations whilst Chief stood and expertly triggered three quick shots, hitting three Sentinels in their beam cannon causing them to explode. "got it! If we can blow the main fusion reactor, then we'll be able to do so once we get past the engine's shields and from there, we can blow the reactor." Cortana finished explaining, just as Chief ducked under the beam of the final Sentinel before sliding on his knees and coming to a stop right underneath it, where he sent four bullets flying through it and out the other end. "Alright, calculate our escape route from the main fusion reactor… We're still getting off this ring." Chief firmly stated as he made his way towards engineering.
"Cooper, you good?" Johnson asked as he scanned the corners of the junction they came to. Ever since they had arrived at the Pillar of Autumn, they had come across little enemies, but they had still encountered some Flood and two floating robots… the enemies they faced mattered little, just so long as they stayed alert and made it to one of the few Pelicans still docked in the Shuttle bay, then they'd be fine. "Fine sir!" Cooper bluntly responded as he one more matched Johnson's pace as they headed for the Shuttle bay, only for the ship to groan, before a sudden boom alerted the pair to an explosion somewhere deeper in the ship, as the entire structure shook violently, throwing the two over. "That came from deeper below, soldier. We gotta' move!" Johnson ordered as he helped Cooper to his feet before the two began running towards their escape.
3 minutes earlier
Chief took the Plasma grenade he had picked up from a dead Elite and stuck it to one of the larger Flood forms that had managed to get too close to him before he grabbed it by its sides and planted his foot against its mid-section, which sent the parasite soaring towards the swarm behind it as the grenade detonated and took them all with it. "We're here! Wait… the Monitor has disabled all command access. I can't rig the Reactor to explode, and the only other way would be to detonate it manually, but we don't have the firepower to do so!" Cortana began to lose composure as she slowly realised that she was running out of options. However, before she could say anything more, she was cut short as Chief slowly walked over to the edge of the platform he was stood on which gave his full view of the main Fusion Reactor. Gently tossing a single fragmentation up and down; Cortana could tell he was thinking on something… or preparing, but either way, she wished he'd hurry. "Give me distance and travel time to the right coupling link for the main Reactor." Chief asked as Cortana wordlessly began to run some numbers, and in just a few short seconds… "65 metres ahead, with a travel time of 3 seconds. Chief, this won't work, it won't blow in time and it won't stay close enough for the coupling to-" Chief pulled his arm back and launched the grenade as he then took his DMR and waited… And waited… And waited…
BANG!
Chief let out a single bullet aimed just below where the grenade currently was as it violently smashed through the shrapnel filled ball, letting go the explosion as it tore the coupling link apart. "I wasn't aiming for it to blow on its own." Cortana couldn't believe this bonehead had just completely disregarded what she was saying and threw the damn grenade anyway. "Well, that worked… Now what?"
"Run."
The Coupling gave way as the Reactor fell to the bottom of the massive engine room, seeming to go in slow motion as it rocketed closer and closer to its own destruction until eventually, it collided and broke. Chief was thrown straight over as the explosion's shockwave rushed past him and outwards as it shook the entire ship with a great rumble. "Well… That did it. The Engine is going critical thanks to that, and we've got about 15 minutes to get to extraction. MOVE!"
Chief ran towards a nearby elevator that he remembered being able to take him to a service corridor above him, if he had any chances of escape, he'd have to start there. Chief made it to the service elevator but was ambushed as soon as the elevator doors closed, by more Spec ops Elites… he was really getting sick of these guys showing up. Deciding to go with brute force as per usual, Chief tackled the nearest Elite by wrapping his bulky arms around the beast's abdomen and dragging it down to the ground where he engaged in a violent grapple with the Elite. Whilst Chief was engaging with the enemy Cortana had her own tasks to get on with. "Cortana to Echo 419, come in Echo 419!" it was a few daunting seconds that seemed like long minutes to Cortana before a response came through as her digital shoulders released the tension upon hearing the voice come through. "Roger, Cortana. I read you, 5 by 5." Cortana winced as Chief took a nasty hook to his chin, but it didn't stop him from kicking the Elite in the jaw as he fell back. "The Pillar of Autumn's engines are going critical, Foehammer! Request immediate extraction! Approach the crash site and be ready to pick us up at external access junction 4C as soon as you get my signal!" Cortana once more focused on Chief as she waited for those brief few seconds to pass by… he really was one of the most resilient soldiers she'd ever seen. "Affirmative. Echo 419 going on station."
Chief snapped the neck on the final Elite before huffing in exhaustion; his mind drawing in blanks as he attempted to calm the dizziness he was feeling. Chief's mind thought back to his training days, to the time he spent with Mendez and Halsey. Spartans they called us: invincible machines built to be weapons that would turn the tide of war and bring about the end of the pain and suffering of humanity… Machines weren't supposed to get tired he reminded himself as he stood tall once more and prepared himself for his escape. As soon as the elevator doors opened, he flew out and into a sprint as he ran towards a nearby Warthog station he had seen out of the corner of his eye. "Echo 419 to Cortana. Things are gettin' noisy down there. Everything okay?" Cortana quickly put the holographic keyboard in front of her as she looked through her 'window' and saw they were nearing the Warthogs. "Negative, negative! We have a wildcat destabilization of the ship's fusion core. The engines must have sustained more damage than we thought!" Cortana quickly took her voice off comms to alert Chief they had six minutes remaining. "Echo, we don't have much more time before the fusion drives detonate. We need to evac now!"
Chief literally leapt into the Warthog driver's seat without even touching the vehicle whilst he was mid-air. "Activating final countdown timer on your HUD. When it reaches zero, the engines will detonate. The explosion will generate a temperature of almost 100,000,000 degrees. Don't be here when it blows." Cortana emphasised on those last few words as Chief gave her his usual stoic response, and to be honest… she didn't know what else she expected from him. "Understood." Chief threw the Warthog into 3rd gear to give himself a slight kick as he stepped on the gas, launching the vehicle into a start before he eventually switched into higher gears to accelerate. As he soared down Autumn's corridors, explosions rocked all around him due to the incessant fighting everywhere by the Flood, Covenant, and Sentinels as each gave their all to overpower the other two. "Chief, watch it!" Cortana exclaimed as Chief neared a gap in the platform he was driving on and having no other choice, he tore the steering wheel to the left which caused the Warthog to turn and roll due to the high speeds it was moving at, as they bounced slightly allowing them to only just cover the gap. However, Chief's stunt also caused the Warthog to crash as they came to the outside junction where they would be meeting Echo 419.
"Chief, get out!" Chief put his feet against the frame of the Warthog and pushed away as he landed on the platform, but the vehicle fell to the depths below as Cortana merely let out the metaphorical breath, she didn't even know she was holding. "Alright, this is where Foehammer is picking us up. Hold here." Though what they saw as Foehammer flew around the corner of the ship and into sight, only served to distress Cortana even more as she immediately began running calculations. Foehammer was burning up as two Banshees tailed her whilst attempting to shoot her down. "Cortana to Echo 419! Two Covenant Banshees are approaching on your six! Evade! Say again, evade!" Suddenly, an explosion lurched Foehammer as her starboard wings dipped, ablaze, and Foehammer yelled out into the comms just as she passed under the platform Chief was stood on. "I'm hit! Mayday! Mayday! Airfoil structures have been shot to hell! I can't hold her! I can't hold her!" came the panicked screams as Foehammer fell further and further away from Chief and the platform before colliding with the Pillar's hull as she exploded… her screams audible till the end.
"She's gone. Calculating an alternate escape route. The ship's inventory shows one Longsword fighter still docked in Launch Bay 7. If we move now, we can make it!" Cortana's dedication to escaping only spurred the Chief on more as he burst into one final sprint, one final dash of hope, to escape and live to fight another day. Still, obstacles blocked Chief from his destination as a gigantic gap in the trench prevented Chief from moving any further and even, he felt the nerves creeping upon him as the timer reached 2 minutes and only ticked on even as he stopped in his tracks, trying to think… Anything! "Chief, you can't clear that gap, even your augmentati-" Cortana stopped talking as Chief moved back a few paces to pick up a single plasma grenade before looking over to a fuel cell near the edge of the gap. "Chief…" the 7-foot soldier wasn't listening, just focusing on the task at hand. Bursting into movement he threw the grenade ahead of him and counted as he remembered how long these things took to explode. Placing a foot on the fuel cell, Chief leapt away as far as he could, so as not to get caught too deep in the coming explosion. "Oh god!" Cortana shouted through gritted teeth as the grenade exploded and coupled with the fuel cell, launched Chief across the gap and consequently threw him into a wall which dented the damn thing!
"Chief! Get up, the ship is right there move, move!"
Chief pushed his legs further and further as he reached the boarding ramp for the ship, not even bothering to wait until the ramp had fully closed as he hopped into the pilot's seat and quickly activated all switches and buttons to activate the engines, and without a second's notice, he flipped the switch for the afterburners to activate as the ship throttled with the sudden explosive burst in speed. The Longsword slowly rose above the platform as Chief pulled more and more on the controls, just hoping it was enough, that all of it was enough. The Pillar's outer shell began to crack under the pressure and soon after explosions began to shoot outwards into the sky, growing in both size and ferocity as the golden flames continued to burn brighter until eventually, the entire ship blew and with it… the surface of the ring.
"Cutting it kinda' close don't you think?" Cortana chuckled as she and Chief sat and rested for a moment whilst they floated in space, the explosions of the ring audible but too far to worry either of them. "Did anyone else make it?" Chief asked as he removed his helmet breathing heavily as he was finally able to feel the cool filtered air against his skin. His face was slick with sweat and he had more than a few cuts and bruises, particularly around his cheeks and jaw. "Scanning. Just… dust and- Wait! There is one ship carrying three lifeforms! It's a Pelican, and the signatures appear to be human." Chief took the initiative immediately as he flew the Longsword towards the co-ordinates Cortana provided him. It didn't take long for Chief to find and reach the Pelican either and as soon as he got closer the Longswords comms blared to life. "Who goes there!?" Came the rough and veteran voice of Sergeant Johnson as Chief smirked to himself only to remember what had happened to Johnson on the ring. "Johnson how are you alive, I saw the recording?" Chief asked only to hear the soldier laugh in response. "You think that would be enough to take me out? Please Chief, give me some credit." Johnson continued to speak between the laughs
Flying alongside the Pelican now, another voice cut in over Johnson. "Hey Chief, glad to see you made it out of that mess." Cooper gleefully cheered as Chief saw him through the pilot's windows of the Pelican. Chief genuinely smiled at that moment as he felt a sense of relief wash over him that he hadn't even felt for himself when he escaped. "Good to see you, Cooper." However, just as Chief was about to continue talking, Johnson cut back in. "We picked up your Spartan pal, Chief. Linda, right? She's safe here with us so don't worry." And once more a breath released from Chief as his shoulder dropped with his head, his eyes facing his feet, though his mind focusing only on the fact that Linda was safe and well… he honestly hadn't known what he would have done should she have been found dead. "Alright then, what's say we get out of here then?" Chief saw the two men roar in response. "I need to regroup with my team on Reach and I hear Halsey is there as well, so we should head there," Chief informed as Johnson and Cooper voiced their agreements with the new plan.
Chief nodded once more before he focused on flying away, Reach's co-ordinates punched into the Longswords navigational pad as the two ships flew off into space, their pilots desperate to see some more friendly faces… and some food. However, as the ships increased their distance from the wreckage of Installation 04, they also increased their distance from a certain A.I. as its shell glimmered from the sun's light. 343 flew through space, his voice sounding broken and scarred, as though it was… Corrupted.
"Reclaimer!"
Captain Jacob Keyes - His Final Hours:
"I forgot something... What did I? My name... I forgot... Oh! er... Keyes, Jacob, Captain, Service Number: 01928-19912-JK." Keyes' voice was weak and half-broken inside his head. His eyes fumbled around in his skull as memories of times past raced about in his mind... there was so much chaos, so much confusion. "What is that noise? What is that damned noise!?" Keyes's voice was now a mere whimper as he tried to resist the white noise that was causing so much pain in him.
Keyes was now standing amidst the fog, the smoke and the clouds as the wind rushed by him. He stood ever so still, saluting and simply waiting. "Where am I?" He asked, his voice sounding repaired and healthy. But the noise... it was getting louder... Gunshots! He could hear gunshots! And... screams.
Gasping loudly, Keyes' eyes shot open as he tried to breath, to clear his lungs but it only led to more pain as the raspy noises came out quick and loud. He tried moving his head but found his movements to be restricted and difficult. "Covenant captured me, didn't they... I can't... I... I can't remember." Keyes let his memories once again flood his sight as he saw himself still standing, still saluting... still waiting.
"Keyes, Jacob," Keyes suddenly screamed in pain as his saluting arm morphed, twisted and broke into something causing him searing pain. It was horrifying, he had to escape, he had to... "OH, GODS IT HURTS!" Keyes picked up his gun and opened fire on the enemy, how did he get here? What was he shooting? It didn't matter, just keep pulling that trigger. "This will never work you Covenant bastards! I'll never lead you to Earth!"
The memories came back again, this time he was in a fleet, ships surrounded Earth as he looked upon the beauty of home. He pictured places he had seen on Earth... Roads and deserts, as his memory again faded to black. "Keyes... Jacob... Captain... Service Number: 01928-19912-JK!" Keyes both whimpered and snarled at the same time as his voice began to make sounds he had never thought possible before. the pain was growing, GOD SO MUCH PAIN!
"Oh, God! You don't want Earth, you want everything." Keyes realised as he began to fight back once more, he would not let these bastards win Covenant or not, He won't let them win! "Get out of my head!" Keyes became very away that he was attached to something, something big. It was this that was restricting his movements... He had to escape, to... Keyes screamed in pain as whatever was attached to him forced him back into his memories.
"Miranda, is that you?" Keyes asked as a young woman whom he recognised appeared in his mind. She had shoulder-length black hair and a beautiful face, all dressed up in her uniform... he was so proud of her. "Forget Everything!" came a loud and bellowing growl as it shook Keyes to his bones. "No, please... don't let me forget."
His memories were coming in slower now... so much slower, with less to see and nothing to hear. What was happening to him!? "Keyes... Jacob... Captain, Service Num... ber: 01928-199...12-JK!" Keyes spoke, he had to remember, had to make sure he didn't forget... Don't forget. "No more! What you were... Memories... Emotions... All is now Ours!" the bellowing voice once again growled out as Keyes violently tried to shake himself free... he was trapped.
"Keyes! Jacob! Captain! Service Number: 01928-19912-JK!" Keyes knew it had to be now! this was his final push to fight against these demons, these parasites. Fight back! "You... Will not... Have me!" Keyes forced himself back in control. He had done it! He had won! Just... Had to free... Himself...
"We already do!"
Author's Note: Hello there. It has been a little while since I last uploaded to this story I know, and I would first like to apologise for taking so much time to give you chapter six. The only real reasons I have taken so long to upload come in two parts: First, I have just started my new job and it can be pretty taxing on me since I am working all day, on the days I am in, plus my Job requires me to travel between cities and so obviously by the time I get home I am usually left knackered out and completely drained. The second reason is that I needed to take a small break from writing because I was losing motivation for this story simply because I was getting bored of writing it as I was writing almost every day and spending too much time on my computer. I just needed a break.
However, I'd also like to point out that we have nearly hit 1000 views on this story which is just mind-blowing to think about. I hope that the majority of you are enjoying this story and with the reoccurring numbers on each chapter I am assuming most of you are, however, as always do not hesitate to PM me or leave a review with your suggestions or fixes that might have for me. Providing this is done maturely.
This chapter is nearly 10,000 words long which I know is a definite handful, but I wanted to make this chapter special. I promise my longer chapters won't all be this long, this was done as both a returning gift to my faithful readers, but also because we have now come to the end of the events for Halo: Combat Evolved and so it deserved a longer chapter. I do hope you enjoyed this ending chapter and I hope you are eagerly awaiting the next chapter because it will be coming much quicker than you think, so get ready for Chief and James to finally meet. To be honest, I pretty much covered all I wanted to say at the very top of this chapter and so once again I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you all for nearly 1000 views on here, I truly appreciate it!
Farewell Spartans.
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