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.

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James stood in silence as he looked to the armour ahead of him. For the past few days, he had been trying to overcome his fear, but it wasn't as easy as it's made out to be by others. James internally chuckled at his predicament: since when do Spartans fear things? The armour was something he had worn for years now, for as long as he could remember, he had filled the armour and it had filled him with a sense of duty, a mission. Taking a step closer to the shell, James placed his right hand on the chest piece and was surprised to find it moderately warm. Warmth… It seemed even this empty vessel was warmer than James was.

"Spartan B-312, please report to Doctor Halsey's office." A sudden feminine voice came over the loudspeakers within the room and could also be heard out in the corridors. Taking one last look at the armour, for now, James turned and left the room as he made his way to the second level above which held Halsey's temporary office. On the way to the office, James came towards a corner which would bring him to the elevator only to hear some voices ahead, the voices crystal clear to his augmented senses. "You get a look at that Spartan yet?" one of the voices asked, it was rough and had that battle-hardened edge to it reminding James of the many ways war changes a person, not just in the physical, but also in the way a person speaks, how they act and what they do… it all changes. "You mean the one who saved Millie and her team? Yeah, I seen him around, why?" came the second voice sounding younger and less experienced, but still carrying that cautionary tone. "Please, he does one thing to help, and since then what's he done? Nothing. Guy stays here where it's safe while we go out there and scout for anything useful!" The first voice growled back as James decided he had eavesdropped enough and so made his way around the corner giving away his presence, as the two marines took notice and moved on.

Halsey spun a holographic 3D image of an outpost that was captured by Kelly and Fred the last time they scouted the surrounding area. Before she could continue her investigation, the bell for her door sounded and after straightening her lab coat which she was infamously known for always wearing, she made her way to the door and pressed the button next to it as the piece of metal slid open revealing the 6 ft 9 super-soldier as he stood completely unmoving, even as Halsey gave him a humorous look of surprise. "I was requested, Ma'am." Halsey was even more surprised to find the guilty tone of his voice gone, only for it to be replaced by something else, something cold. "Yes, although I did not suspect you would show. Unfortunately, I have no one else to turn to right now as Jun is out scouting and Fred and Kelly are currently defending the nearby frigate from Covenant. As such, my only option is to turn to you, as marines are by no means enough for this." James entered Halsey's office as she walked away from him and over to the holographic image of what looked to be a Covenant outpost. The room spooked James as he stepped into it, however, a wave of something he couldn't quite place washed over him and left the feeling of what James could only describe as nothing. He had heard the rumours of how little Halsey cared about anything other than her research, but her presence alone is why James would forever both hate and respect the woman. "Enough for what Ma'am?" James kept his voice cold and cautious, exactly as he was trained to and didn't let a single crack show in his expression, even as Halsey turned to stare at him. "This."

The Holographic image spread out into two layers: upper and lower. The upper layer consisted of the basics you would expect to find in any Covenant outpost, plenty of Elites, Plasma defences, Vehicles and not much else. The lower layer, however, was made of something far more intricate: different passages that seemed to all lead to one central room that looked to house some form of structure inside it. "Jun found an outpost about 10 klicks from here and I thought its co-ordinates were strange. There are no geographical or tactical advantages to be gained from these co-ordinates was my original thought, but then I ran a scan of the land just as a precaution and didn't expect to find much which is when I came across all this. I believe that the Covenant are building their main operating base here, it is something they do when they plan to use a planet towards their goals." James didn't like what he was hearing at all, in fact, he hated what he was hearing and not for the reasons that would at first seem apparent. "I need you to head out there with Kelly and Fred when they return and destroy the outpost. However, this is a mission you can refuse should you feel you are still not ready to return to the field just yet. After all, I can't have you ruining the reputation of my Spartans, now can I?" Halsey explained as she moved over to and sat on the edge of her desk, watching his eyes, cold and calculating as he continued to stare at the holographic image in front of him. "How long until Fred and Kelly return from the defence of the frigate Ma'am?" James asked, getting straight to the point, it was something a lot of people had come to respect about the man including Halsey… even if that respect was minor in its amount. "Providing their defence is a success, they should return by the end of the day. But I would also like you to consider taking a team of ODST's should they not return when they should." Halsey replied, her words dripping with a persuasion that James was no stranger to. He thought long and hard about how this could play out, especially with his mental state still not anywhere close to being stable, and he dreaded to think about how that could affect those around him on the battlefield, it could very well cost them their lives. "You give me until tomorrow and I will go on my own, less risk of my… weakness affecting those around me." James agreed hesitantly. He would rather not go at all, but he could not hide behind walls forever. Halsey internally scoffed, it was so like a soldier to see mental instability as a weakness and nothing more. Sure, it hindered people, but it is only ever a stepping-stone to strength if overcome. "Deal."

James arrived in the gym, the pungent smell of sweat hung in the air like a fog as both men and women were working out, completing all kinds of exercises that tested both the body and the mind. Blood was also something that hung in the air as it stung James' mind and once more brought painful memories to light. James moved over to one of the idle treadmills and set the pace to a moderate jog. Usually, James wouldn't do cardio since his missions gave him plenty, but right now he simply needed a distraction, something to calm his racing thoughts.

The men and women around him were mostly shocked, anyone who was anyone knew what the Spartans were, had heard the stories of their accomplishments and their abilities in battle. However, seeing this in person was something entirely different, especially if you were seeing it for the first time. James had picked up his moderate pace of around 10 miles per hour to a full sprint at 27 miles per hour which he had also held for two minutes now, only slowing down a to 25 miles per hour before picking his pace back up again. To those around him, he wasn't human, but he couldn't be classed as machine either as here he was, surpassing limits without any mechanical help whatsoever. However, what this made him if he was neither man nor machine was anyone's guess. After the momentary distraction, however, the soldiers around James went back to their own workouts and with only a few seconds of thought, he once more blocked them from his mind with relative ease… he was for all intents and purposes, alone.

"So, Fred, how many did you get?" Kelly asked over the comms as she scanned the surrounding area with her sniper scope. The battle hadn't lasted long at all since their intel of how many Covenant were attacking the frigate was wrong and there weren't even half as many as originally thought to have been. "32 confirmed kills, and a couple of assists from my marine buddies down here." Fred chuckled as he responded whilst simultaneously giving a joyous marine a side fist bump, Fred was disappointed there wasn't more of them for him to gun down, he did enjoy combat to a degree. "You're getting slow Fred, isn't that number supposed to be higher?" Kelly smirked as she teased her friend over an open channel, knowing it would've earned a few laughs around him, she always was one to try and keep the mood bright. Ever since Sam had sacrificed himself, she had learned the valuable lesson that happiness and joy should be cherished whilst it can still exist.

Fred's facial expression changed as his visor picked up a moving object coming down at an alarming rate from the sky, his body tensing and the marines picking up on the sudden shift in the aura, they all readied themselves for another wave. "Kelly, are you seeing this?" Fred asked as he and his squad of marines moved closer towards the canyon which housed the frigate so that they could take advantage of the taller and thicker cover it provided them. "Crystal clear, it looks like… Fred that's a Pelican and a... Longsword!? Coming in fast and from the looks of it they're headed to the outpost." Fred hummed in response but did not feel relieved, only confused. If the UNSC knew there were survivors on Reach, then why had they only sent a single Pelican and a Longsword of all things? There was something else going on and Fred wasn't going to feel relaxed even the slightest until he found out what. "Kelly, we're heading back." A single Elite rose from the ground in a sudden burst of energy as he sprinted towards Fred with two Plasma grenades in hand, prepared to take them both to hell, its mandibles moving fiercely as it roared and snarled at the Spartan. A single shot then rang out and blasted through the Elite's head as it dropped to the ground, the nearby marines taking cover from the explosion that followed, whilst Fred simply stood and watched. "Sounds good to me, I can't stand being on overwatch duty any longer." Kelly sighed in response.

"Chief, we're coming up on the outpost now. You sure you didn't want to stop by that frigate earlier?" Johnson asked as the two air vehicles came closer to the outpost that they had heard was housing some survivors of Reach. "I need to get Linda to a medical team as quickly as I can," Chief responded, his usual calm voice would fool most, but Johnson picked up on the hints of worry and frustration. The Pelican and Longsword landed at the outpost as two four-man ODST squads came to meet the occupants, followed by Halsey and a few marines as the boarding ramp to the Pelican lowered first, allowing Johnson and Cooper to exit the Pelican, with Cooper pushing the floating cryo pod which housed Linda. "Johnson, what happened? Where are the Autumn and her crew?" Halsey questioned, but there was no serious worry in her voice which threatened to break Johnson's control. Calmly walking towards her with Cooper in tow behind him, Johnson let a nearby marine take his rifle and hat from him as he looked Halsey in her eyes. "We had to jump to unknown co-ordinates, but what we found…" Johnson paused as his eyes fell to the ground taking a moment to give thought to his fallen brothers and sisters in arms before once more looking to Halsey. "We were the only ones that survived what happened." Halsey's eyes suddenly widened as a passing realisation became ever clear to her once her eyes fell to Linda's sleeping form in her cryo pod that floated quietly next Johnson and some unknown marine next to him. "Where is Cortana? Sergeant… Where is John?"

As Halsey asked this question the Longswords boarding ramp lowered as a pair of heavily armoured forest green legs stepped down until eventually, Spartan 117 stepped into full view. His armour was broken in certain places and was covered in blood both human and alien from the mix of colours and shades. The paint on his armour was worn and a lot of it gone, revealing the natural grey colour behind it as John stood tall, his strength… his soul, not wavering despite all the evident conflict he had seen recently. Halsey walked towards him, his helmet following her as she got closer and closer until she stood directly in front of him, the almost 2-foot difference in height was seemingly very large as Halsey's neck was fully craned back to be able to look up at his helmet. "You look rough." John looked at her in full detail: her eyes were bloodshot, and she looked very tired, which was a very usual look for his would-be motherly figure. Her hair was lighter now, another effect of high amounts of stress and yet she still carried her usual cold demeanour, hidden beneath it all, however, was the woman who had helped raise him and that was something he hoped she would never lose. "Things got busy." Chief flat out stated as they both nodded to each other before Halsey moved over to Linda. "Have her taken to the med bay and quickly!" Halsey ordered as a team of marines grabbed the pod from Cooper and ran into the outpost with it, as Halsey turned to John. "We can talk more inside." Her emotions hidden once more, and her cold armour had again formed as she strode towards the outpost followed by everyone else.

"How did he go?" Halsey asked sombrely as she leaned back into her office chair as Johnson and Chief stood in front of her desk, debriefing her on the events of the 04 Halo Installation. Johnson sighed heavily while Chief looked on, his helmet now off which left him with a sense of vulnerability as his eyes stared daggers at the wall behind Halsey. "He died bravely," Chief stated, his voice not wavering once. "Ma'am, with all due respect, it has been a tiring past week, I'd very much like to get some rest," Johnson interjected politely as Halsey looked on him with a mutual understanding of what it is like to be utterly drained and still have to keep moving. "Understood Sergeant," Halsey replied earning a nod before he left the office, leaving behind Chief and Halsey. She looked at him and it saddened her to see how tired he was, not just physically, but it had been a very long time since she had even seen John genuinely smile at something, she hoped he could find some small measurement of peace soon, even if only for a fleeting moment in time. "How is she doing? I hope you two are co-operating well." Halsey both stated and asked as Chief's gaze finally shifted as his eyes flicked over to her once more taking in her rigid posture even when she was trying to sit comfortably. Chief took this moment to bring someone else into the room as he took Cortana's chip from his helmet and inserted into Halsey's desk where the small blue A.I. emerged, smiling, and… waving

"I'd say we fit together rather well. His combat effectiveness has certainly gone up ever since he was paired with me and not to mention I finally get to see a lot more than just one of your many offices." Cortana sarcastically spoke as she listed off some of her reasons for enjoying being with John. Halsey did indeed smirk at Cortana's carefree way of explaining things, it was something she had never understood about her, she was everything Halsey was with the added potential to be so much more, and yet her personality was something she had developed all on her own. It was always something she found to be extraordinarily remarkable. "Well, I hope that you will continue to help each other and improve your ratings. John why don't you go and get some rest for a little while, Fred and Kelly should be back soon." John's eyes opened a little more at the mention of his team and he couldn't help but feel a little more elevated than he previously felt as he nodded, saluted and left the office. "So… your impressions?" Halsey asked, her tone sounding very, very intrigued.

James exited the gym, his clothes drenched in sweat which bothered him not because he would have to change, but because he was running out of clothes in his size. Believe it or not, but there aren't many outfits for a 6 ft 9 man whose body stretched clothing seams to their limits just by wearing them. In his musings, James found that he hadn't been paying attention to his surroundings and he would have usually reprimanded himself for such a lack of observation, but in all honesty, he was simply glad his mind was focusing on something else for once. "Ow!" a small voice came from below as James looked down to find Millie Ritz sat on the floor rubbing her ass with a pained expression upon her face. "Sorry… my thoughts weren't… on my surroundings." James quickly apologised; James always had spoken in rigid ways when socialising and at first, he had chalked it up to anxiety, but then as time went on, he came to realise that he just didn't get that many opportunities to socialise within his line of work. "Yeah, you think," Millie replied as she glared at James, weren't Spartans supposed to have heightened senses anyway, there was no way this guy didn't know she was right around the corner from him. "Heading somewhere?" Millie asked deciding that she shouldn't be too hard on a guy who had saved her life and actually given her someone to talk to… even if this was only the third time, she'd seen him at the outpost. "The showers, care to join?" Millie's face scrunched itself into a half confused half-surprised expression and she expected James to do the whole scrambling to find his words to apologise thing, but then realised he wasn't like others and as such he must not have understood how his words sounded to her 'normal' brain.

"Sure."

As Millie and James headed towards the showers, she had found it harder to talk than she usually would, turns out that when faced with the opportunity to talk with a Spartan outside of combat, there wasn't much you could talk about. As she ran through her different conversation starters, she realised that every single one of them wouldn't do much to help her current situation since James' replies were always short, precise and didn't lead anywhere. "How are you doing with those new combat techniques?" James asked which threw Millie into an even bigger heap of confusion than she was already in, how did he know she was trying out new combat techniques? Was he stalking her! "How did you know I was trying out some new techniques?" Millie asked trying to sound confident as James looked at her and remembered she wasn't a psychic and so wouldn't actually know the reason he was asking. "I overheard some of your teammates talking about how you were trying some new techniques." Millie was both relieved and let down. 'I could've so bragged I was being stalked by a super-soldier' was Millie's only initial thought before realising that she had been asked a question. "Oh! Yeah, ever since that encounter with the Elite that you saved me from, I thought I should learn some tricks to help keep my alive should I ever be presented with another situation like that again." Millie explained as she expected a lecture on why she shouldn't even try to take on something she wasn't trained for. She should have just played it off as some extra training to work off some steam, she might've saved herself from a lecture. "Really? I could help you with those if you would prefer?" Millie was left surprised at his offer. After all, it wasn't every day a marine like her is allowed to train with a Spartan. "You've got yourself a deal." She merrily replied as he nodded once before finally, he said his goodbyes and entered the showers.

Fred and Kelly arrived back at base in the early hours of the next morning, heading straight for Halsey's office to both debrief her on their successful defence of the frigate, but also to ask about any possible reinforcements. However, upon arriving at Halsey's office and being permitted to enter they both stopped, their emotions not quite swelling up, but rising as their eyes stayed glued to the small blue humanoid figure as she stood and turned to face Fred and Kelly. "Cortana… Where is Chief!?" Kelly immediately asked as her brain kicked back into focus which also served to alert Fred to her concerns for their brother. "He is here. Getting some rest, although I suspect he is with Linda in the medical facility where James recovered." Halsey explained as once again their shock washed over them to hear that not only had Chief returned but also Linda. Fred and Kelly took one look at each other before nodding to Halsey and leaving for the med bay. "He is lucky to have such a family," Cortana stated before turning back to Halsey.

As Fred and Kelly arrived at the med bay, they opened the door and Kelly almost dropped her helmet once their eyes met. He looked tired, more so than usual and his hair had grown out a little recently, it looked like your standard military buzzcut now. "You look like shit." Fred chuckled as they both stepped towards John as he too stood and embraced them both, placing his arms around their shoulders, their armour only just allowing it if they leaned in enough. "We thought that… well, you're here now," Kelly spoke up as she smiled at him before her eyes moved over to Linda as her body automatically moved without thought as she sat where John had, looking at Linda's sleeping form. "Halsey tells me she can save her, and that I am lucky cryo sleep halts all of the bodily processes otherwise she would have been dead long before I even made it back," John explained, his voice was rugged as usual, but still carried the warm and kind tone his team knew him for. "Where have you two been anyway?" Fred asked after he had taken a moment to be grateful, he still had his team. "After the Pillar picked up me and Linda from the orbital station we were defending, I had Linda moved into cryosleep, and I was too. After waking we had arrived at some alien installation, we learned was called Halo. It was infected by an unknown parasite I have never seen before, and without any time to make a choice we were forced to land on the installation. After days of fighting I escaped with Cortana, Sergeant Johnson, a marine and we picked up Linda on the way." John quickly summed up the recent events as Fred and Kelly listened intently before nodding and understanding John would clearly be tired. "You should get some rest John, you sound rough," Kelly said, making a call back to Fred's first words to Chief. 'Honestly, what is wrong with this guy sometimes?' Kelly mentally asked herself as Chief stood and shared another moment in silence with Fred and Kelly before leaving the med bay.

As Chief made his way through the corridors, he came to the temporary room that had been designated to him before he had made his way to the med bay to look over Linda. He was beginning to feel hungry now that his mind wasn't clouded with combat and other such things. Upon turning a corner to head for a quick bite, he came face to face with someone else. They both stared at each other for a few minutes, Chief would usually just give a quick nod to other military personnel he encountered, but this was different. The man he was facing was only a head smaller than him and Chief was in his armour making him 7 ft 2 as of right now. He had steel-coloured eyes and short brown hair in a buzzcut like Chief and was built surprisingly well. A Spartan? But John knew all the other Spartans and was quite certain he had never seen this man in his life.

"So, You're the Master Chief," James said.

Authors Note: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and finally, the two legends meeting each other at last. From here I can promise you the story is only going to pick up and I hope you will continue to enjoy the future chapters for this story. I also wanted to say thank you to all those of you who have recently followed me and this story and to those who have gone even further and favourited this story. It truly means a lot to me and I know I thank you all just for reading these chapters every time, but it is nice to see others enjoy the work and efforts that I put into these chapters.

Once again, don't hesitate to leave a review or DM me should you have anything to say, or any possible ideas you think might be good to implement into the story. and with that, I bid you farewell.

Walk Tall Spartans!

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