Chapter 6.- We knew it.

(October 25th, 2558 [Military calendar] - [UNKNOWN TIME] - Mission clock of Fireteam Osiris, General Han Solo, Senator Leia Organa, the astromech droid R2-D2, Chewbacca, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger - Location: Forerunner structure, Apogee Station, surface of Meridian, Hestia system)

Once out of the chamber where they had fought the Warden Eternal, the surprises didn't stop, as they found some kind of floating platforms, which levitated over a lake of magma and formed a path towards some sort of gigantic machine, whose design was very similar to that of the Prometheans and the Warden Eternal.

"The Warden said Cortana and Penelope were calling them to them." Locke snapped. "But they're not here."

"Whoa. They built them big, didn't they?" Buck said. "Figure that's the Guardian?"

"Can't get much by you, huh, Buck?" Ron asked with a chuckle.

Buck just glared at Ron under his helmet as the makeshift team kept their guard up, aiming their respective weapons everywhere, carefully walking across the platforms.

Suddenly, upon stepping onto the last platform on some sort of bridge, Vale disappeared and warped onto a floating bridge on a higher level, causing Vale to turn to the rest of the team.

"Up here." Vale said.

Vale continued to walk over the bridge she was on and heard a teleportation sound, similar to what she had heard with the platform that had warped her there, but instead of coming from behind her, it came from above, so the Spartan looked in that direction and could notice, to her surprise, that a trio of anthropomorphic animals, a skeleton in a pinstripe suit, and Blue Team were materializing on the upper platforms.

"Contact!" Vale yelled before starting the chase.

"Run!" Shouted the Master Chief.

"Move! Contain!" Locke ordered.

Both makeshift teams began running as fast as they could, teleporting between the multiple floating bridges, as a question raced through the minds of Ron, Hermione, Leia, Han, and Chewie.

"Why are we chasing them?!" Hermione asked.

"They're fugitives! They're too linked to Cortana and that calls into question their loyalty to humanity and the UNSC!" Locke explained as he got ahead of everyone.

Hearing this, Hermione frowned and Disapparated, Reapparating a few meters behind Blue Team, then she drew her wand and yelled:

"Incarcerus!"

A chain materialized from the tip of Hermione's wand, shooting toward Kelly's feet, but a blade of blue light cut it in half and knocked it down before she could reach the Spartan.

Seeing this, Han, Chewie, and Leia gasped, but they still kept the chase, while aiming their guns at the skeleton.

The senator and the former smuggler fired, but the skeleton blocked the shots with astonishing ease, while also blocking the multiple spells Hermione was casting against Blue Team and their companions.

Fed up with the attacks, Carmelita raised her shock pistol and fired several times at Han and Leia, but before the shots could even get close to them, Ron drew out his wand and yelled:

"Protego!"

The shots hit an invisible barrier in front of Leia and Han, managing to keep them safe and causing Carmelita to grunt, keep running, and fire more rounds without stopping.

"This is fucking crazy!" Han said.

"Would you shut up and shoot those bastards?!" Buck and Ron snapped.

Meanwhile, Hermione kept attacking Jack with all her arsenal of spells, while the skeleton kept blocking the attacks with his lightsaber without a problem, which disturbed Hermione, because even when he was receiving a storm of attacks of all kinds, the skeleton was capable of blocking every shot and every spell they threw at him with that strange sword of his. On the other hand, Locke simply kept running, being closely followed by Chewbacca, teleporting between bridges until one of the teleporting platforms separated from the bridge he was running on and floated away, so he jumped and fell onto said platform, being quickly followed by the Wookiee, but leaving the rest of the team behind.

Vale, Buck and Tanaka noticed what Locke and Chewie had done, but since the platform was too far away, they had to stop, also stoping and holding Han, Leia and Ron to save them from falling. However, Ron wasn't planning to leave Hermione alone and much less against the skeleton, so he prepared to Disapparate. Unfortunately for everyone, Hermione had thought to cast a stunner spell on Jack, but still showing off his ability, he deflected the spell and sent it against Ron, who received it squarely in the chest and ended up unconscious, being saved from falling into the magma by Leia.

Moments later, Blue Team, Bentley, Carmelita, Murray, and Jack came to what appeared to be a portal and some sort of ledge, noticing that the vast majority of their pursuers were no longer following them.

Unfortunately for them, Locke and Chewie teleported to the other side of the ledge and aimed their weapons at Blue Team, at the same time that Hermione Apparated next to them with her wand up.

"117, stand down!" Locke yelled as he pointed at John. "Sir, you are absent without leave, this is your last chance to come home peacefully."

"It's cute that you wanna stop us, but if you'll excuse us, we're kinda late already." Said Jack. "Guys, you guys go ahead."

Bentley nodded and gestured at Carmelita, Linda, Kelly, and Frederic to follow him, entering the portal.

"Stop!" Hermione snapped.

"And who's gonna stop us?" Murray said in a challenging tone.

Chewbacca simply roared defiantly and aimed at the hippo, which made Murray laugh and reply with a guttural roar of his own as he hit his chest.

However, Jack put a hand on John and Murray's shoulders, tilting his head toward the portal so that they would both brush off their pursuers.

The Spartan and the hippo sighed and nodded, then John looked at Locke and said:

"We have a job to do."

At that moment, Locke scowled under his helmet and tightened his grip on his battle rifle.

"Cortana is our concern now, sir." Locke said as he took a few steps towards the Chief.

Hearing that, John stopped short and felt anger building up inside him.

"Like hell she is..." John said.

In less than an instant, John spun around, grabbed the barrel of Locke's rifle, snatched it from his hands, and hit him on the head with it, an action that destroyed Locke's gun and made Chewie roar angrily and try to pounce on John, but was intercepted and tackled down by Murray.

"Oh no, my furry friend! You're facing The Murray!" Murray yelled.

"Great..." Jack said sarcastically.

Jack tried to speak but was promptly knocked down by a spell cast by Hermione, who quickly pointed her wand at the Spartan-II, but before managing to fire another spell, Jack whipped her hand with his soul robber, making her drop her wand for just a moment.

"That's it!" Roared Jack. "I tried to be civilized but you're just barbaric! And I can only answer something like that in one way..."

At that moment, Jack put away his lightsaber and extended his soul robber, adopting an attacking position, while Hermione hurried to pick up her wand again to defend herself.

On the other hand, Locke had managed to recover from the initial aggression of the Master Chief, managing to dodge two punches that the Spartan-II had thrown and then try to give him a jab to the stomach, but he stopped his fist and gave the Spartan-IV a headbutt to then use his captive arm as leverage to knock him down, slamming his back on the ground. Locke rolled on the ground but recovered quickly and as the Master Chief approached him to continue his assault on him, he jumped to his feet and kneed him, which managed to push him away, followed by a kick to the chest that pushed him further away. Locke rushed to keep attacking, but when he landed a jab to John's stomach, the latter blocked the attack and knocked him down to then try to deliver a powerful punch to his head, which Locke narrowly avoided. The Spartan-IV growled and as the Chief hit the ground, Locke kicked him on the head, making him stumble back so that he could quickly stand up, grab the Spartan-II by the head and kneed him twice, followed by a punch and a backhand with his fist at the visor of John's helmet, making him fall to one knee.

On the other hand, Chewbacca had taken advantage of being taller and having longer limbs to make Murray stumble and easy prey for a powerful kick to the chest. However, the hippo took advantage of the momentum of the Wookiee's attack to use his Ball Form, bouncing off the ground and hitting him in the chest, knocking him down. Murray rolled on the ground at high speed and tried to attack Chewbacca again, but the latter caught him and slammed him back to the ground and then tried to hit him in the face with enough force to knock him unconscious. However, the hippo caught his fist and covered his other fist in flames to deliver a sharp blow to the Wookiee's cheek, scorching his fur a bit. Chewbacca gasped and patted the embers in his fur out, before receiving a combination of two jabs to the stomach, two punches to both cheeks and an uppercut that made Chewie stagger. Chewie grunted as he recovered from Murray's attack, then roared and lunged at the hippo again, landing two blows to his face, another to his stomach, followed by a blow with both fists to the head to stun him, and then he clawed his face, ripping off Murray's goggles, tearing his mask and leaving a couple of bloody wounds on the right side of his face, making the hippo fall flat on his face.

Meanwhile, Jack threateningly approached Hermione, blocking the multiple curses and spells that the witch was casting using his soul robber, and once he was close enough, Jack used his slimy weapon like a whip against Hermione, who narrowly dodged it, responding with a stun spell that the Pumpkin King managed to block with his soul robber, which he turned into a wrecking ball and tried to use to hit and incapacitate Hermione, but Hermione Disapparated at the last moment behind Jack, managing to shoot a Stupefy at his back and knock it down. Jack grunted as he fell flat on his face, but recovered quickly and flung one end of his soul robber at Hermione like a whip, hitting her hand and causing her to drop her wand, which Jack immediately took advantage of to Force choke her, cutting off her oxygen supply and making her kick to break free of the invisible grip. Seeing that, Leia and Han didn't think twice before dropping Ron to the ground and aiming their guns at Jack, shooting him twice in the shoulder, causing Jack to scream in pain as he felt a bullet pierce his shoulder and a hard-light shot cause a burn on his shoulder blade as he released Hermione. The tangled-haired witch gasped a couple of times to catch her breath, then saw the skeleton fall injured to his knees, so she quickly looked around and picked up her wand to cast a spell on the Pumpkin King, who received it in full in the chest and he could feel one of his ribs break as he fell to the ground.

After this, John, Murray and Jack growled and felt furious due to what had happened, as such the three got up slowly and turned again to face Locke, Hermione and Chewbacca, making them notice the injuries that Jack and Murray had received during combat and that John's helmet visor was broken. For their part, John, Jack, and Murray noticed that Locke grabbed an armor restraint device from the back of his armor and activated it, keeping his guard up the entire time.

The king, the Spartan-II, and the wrestler narrowed their eyes, as Jack brandished his lightsaber again and ignited it, at the same time that Murray tore off the remains of his mask and used them to clean the blood that still flowed from the wounds Chewbacca had given him. Afterwards, Locke tried to pounce on the Master Chief to place the device on him, but he stopped him and returned the last attack with which Locke had broken his helmet while they struggled, as Hermione fired several restraining spells at Jack, who blocked them all with his lightsaber and began to walk towards Hermione slowly. On the other hand, Murray used his Ball Form again to roll on the ground and bounce, hitting Chewbacca hard in the torso, suffocating him and making him fall backwards, then, taking advantage of the fact that he was still in the air, he did a turn and made a Thunder Flop, which made Chewie cough up blood and grunt in pain. John then kneed Locke, followed by a punch, which forced Locke to change places suddenly, in a desperate attempt to break free from the Master Chief's grip and be able to place the armor restraint on him. For their part, Leia, Vale, Tanaka and Han aimed their guns at Jack, Murray and John, but Jack noticed it in time and used the Force to snatch them and throw them into the magma, as he defended himself from the witch's spells and kept moving towards her. Meanwhile, Murray picked Chewie up from the ground with a stomp, carried him onto his shoulders, and slammed him down hard on the ground again, but this time, the Wookiee fought back by hitting him in the face to try and get him off him. On the other hand, Locke struggled to free himself from John's grasp, however, John didn't budge and in one quick movement, he gave him a powerful headbutt, which caused Locke to stumble backwards and unconsciously release the device. For her part, a terrified Hermione continued to cast spell after spell against Jack, who blocked them with astonishing ease without slowing his progress, making the witch feel more and more fear with each step he took.

Finally, John quickly took the device that Locke was holding and, reacting before the Spartan-IV could grab his Magnum, the Spartan-II placed the device on his chest, restraining his armor as Murray knocked out Chewbacca with a powerful punch across the face, and as Jack cut Hermione's wand in half with his lightsaber and knocked her down with a Force push.

John, Jack and Murray gasped a bit as they looked at their defeated opponents, then the three of them sighed and entered the Guardian as the cavern and machine began to shake, at the same time as Han, Leia, Buck, Tanaka, R2, Vale and a recently recovered Ron were approaching them.

Locke couldn't help but groan in frustration as Buck walked over to him and removed the retention device from his suit, releasing his body again.

"Ugh, damn it!" Growled Locke.

For his part, Ron quickly approached Hermione and try to cheer her up, but he knew she probably wouldn't make it that easy, considering that being a witch was everything to her, also that they were now in an entirely different world and her defeat at the hands of the skeleton, aside from the fact that the two things that distinguished her, her magical ability and her knowledge, were useless now. Not to mention that without a wand, she was totally defenseless, so the witch could do nothing but take the pieces of her wand and try in vain to hold back her tears of helplessness at the null possibility of repairing her most precious object and the only one that would really be useful in the strange situation she found herself in.

"Hermione, you'll be fine... I'll..." Ron said before the words got caught in his throat.

Hermione simply hugged Ron, seeking emotional support for the helplessness and sadness she felt.

On the other hand, Han and Leia approached Chewie and helped him get back to his feet while the Wookiee grunted in pain and frustration, as it was the second time that day that he had been defeated in a rather humiliating way. In a normal battle, people used to flee from an enraged Wookiee, but the Warden Eternal and The Murray had not, on the contrary, they had defeated him and knocked him out.

At Chewie's expression, Han patted him on the back and said:

-"Don't get yourself sulfured, buddy, you did what you could, we all did, but this is all just... overwhelming."-

Chewie gave Han a hard look at those words, for more than helping, they simply reminded him of how useless he had been in both fights.

"Chewie, calm down, we don't blame you for anything nor think you're weak, I assure you that next time we see them, you'll defeat them without any troubles." Leia said.

Chewie just snorted as the Guardian shook violently, causing the team to panic a bit.

"What the hell is wrong...?" Ron said.

The makeshift team approached the teleporter they had come through, but it had moved away and as soon as they were ready to jump, the teleporter plummeted into the magma, which made them notice from the corner of their eyes that the door they had arrived, had been closed.

"Don't like the looks of this..." Tanaka said.

Suddenly, the machine they were on made a thunderous sound, turning on some kind of deep blue eyes, as Buck gestured to another teleporter.

"Maybe we can get out how they got in." Buck said.

"Go, run!" Locke said.

"There is no time..." Hermione said.

The matted-haired witch clung to Chewie, Leia, and Han, Disapparating back onto the teleporter, while Ron mimicked her, the Spartans ran up to them and Artoo used its thrusters to follow the team flying.

After teleporting to another platform, the makeshift team kept running, having to jump onto another teleporter and then continue running down a platform that tipped to one side and forced them to use their full sense of balance to not fall into the magma.

After that, the team continued to run across the platforms, having to jump onto a platform that passed in front of them and they took one more jump, but unfortunately, Buck and Han landed badly and were a little behind. Still, the team continued their escape until they reached the last teleporter, which was moving away from them, taking a great leap towards him, managing to fall right in the center and disappearing from the place. However, since Buck and Han had gone ahead to make the jump, they both crashed against the edge of the teleporter and had ended up clinging to it with all their strength to avoid falling.

"Ugh, hell..." Buck snapped.

"Definitely not my day..." Han said.

Suddenly, the teleporter began to plummet into the magma, after which they both heard the teleporter activate again and two people grabbed Han and Buck by the arms, being Ron Weasley and Jameson Locke.

"I said run!" Locke snapped.

"I owe you one, redhead!" Han said.

"Shut up and get on!" Ron snapped.

Ron and Locke pulled Han and Buck so they could climb onto the platform and use the teleporter to get out of that place, just seconds before said platform ended up sinking into the river of magma, while the gigantic Forerunner machine moved and shook violently its surroundings.

(October 25th, 2558 [Military calendar] - [UNKNOWN TIME] - Mission clock of Fireteam Osiris, General Han Solo, Senator Leia Organa, the astromech droid R2-D2, Chewbacca, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger - Location: Outskirts of Meridian Station, surface of Meridian, Hestia system)

After a couple of seconds, Locke, Ron, Han and Buck appeared on a teleporter in a place they recognized immediately, the corridor that led to the door of Meridian Station, which looked completely abandoned, save for a couple of fleeing miners hurrying in a Warthog.

"We're on the surface?" Buck asked.

"All shuttles ready to go, move your asses to the evac zone!" Sloan roared into the Meridian Station speakers. "Get to orbit, now!"

"Sloan's giving orders to evacuate." Tanaka said.

"He knows, somehow..." Vale said.

"He knows what...?" Buck asked.

"Look, the Guardian!" Hermione yelled.

"It's moving and something tells me that it would be best to get out of here!" Han said.

The makeshift team nodded and began running to the city's security gate, sighing in relief to see it open.

"Can you transport so many people at the same time to the space elevator?" Tanaka asked.

"No, it's dangerous because we don't know the area of the space elevator very well and because with so many people, someone could get splinched."

"We could see if the Scorpion and the other vehicles we left at the entrance are still in one piece." Buck snapped.

"Or pray that there are enough abandoned and undamaged vehicles to get back to the elevator." Vale said.

Once they reached the security gates of the city, the team sighed when they saw that the vehicles in which they had gotten to that point had been destroyed. However, to their fortune, they managed to spot a couple of overturned Warthogs, along with some kind of truck, all three somewhat beaten but in good condition to be operational. The Spartan-IVs quickly made their way to the Warthogs and put them back on their wheels, much to the surprise of Ron, Hermione, Han, and Leia. Following the Spartans' display of inhuman strength, Ron snapped out of his stupor and used his wand to open the truck door, then ducked under the steering wheel to hotwire the vehicle and smiled triumphantly once the engine started.

"Since when do you know how to do that?" Hermione said.

"George taught me how to do it when I forgot my car keys at his house a few weeks ago." Ron said as he put the wiring cover back in place.

"Just get in the vehicles, I don't want to know what the hell the Guardian is doing!" Han said as he got into the truck.

-"Artoo, Chewie, go with the Spartans, I don't think you'll fit in this thing."- Leia said.

Chewbacca nodded and mounted the turret of a Warthog, as Artoo climbed into the passenger seat of the same Warthog, with Locke as the driver.

"I hope that thing can keep up with the Warthogs..." Buck snapped as he, Tanaka and Vale boarded the other Warthog. "Let's go!"

At that moment, the three vehicles began to accelerate and go down the slope, skidding a little and maintaining a constant speed, trying to avoid the miners, who were also trying to flee, and the Prometheans who were attacking them.

"Hermione, take my wand." Ron said as he extended his wand to Hermione. "And we don't have time for you to refuse, take it and keep it until we manage to fix yours or replace it, you're better than me at spells and I can't leave you defenseless."

"And what about you? How are you going to defend yourself?" Hermione asked as she took the wand.

"I'll think of something, I guess I can keep the rifle I took when we fought the Warden."

"The other colonies Captain Lasky told us about... this is what happened to them!"Vale said suddenly. " Locke, this colony is going to be a crater soon!"

"We can't take anything that flies from these people!" Tanaka added.

"We need to get airborne." Locke snapped.

"The Millennium Falcon is at the top of the space elevator!" Han said.

"And our Pelican's there too." Buck said.

"The other colonies... There are more Guardians." Vale said.

"Maybe it's true but right now I'm just concerned about the one in front of us!" Ron said.

"But why this one? Why is the Chief on this Guardian?" Vale insisted. "I think it's the first Cortana activated on purpose."

"I honestly just want to get as far away from it as possible!" Buck snapped. "Hey, don't get too far behind, redhead!"

"This thing can't go any faster!" Ron claimed.

"Be careful upfront, the McCord River Bridge is destroyed!" Tanaka said.

"Thanks for the warning!"

The team crossed the bridge quickly, hoping to get to the space elevator as soon as possible so they could escape from Meridian, and in the meantime, they heard another thunderous sound, which seemed to come from the Guardian.

"That thing's doing something and I don't like how it sounds!" Leia snapped.

"Can we do autopilot retrieval? Bring the Pelican down to us?" Tanaka asked.

"Mayday, mayday! We're taking fire! We're hit!" Shouted the pilot of a falling transport.

"Not with those ships shooting everything out of the sky." Vale said.

"Yeah, and C-3PO isn't such a good pilot to evade such things..." Han sighed.

After a couple more minutes, Locke's eyes widened and he hit the brakes, skidding a bit and coming to a stop in front of a crashed Pelican right at the entrance to the elevator complex.

However, Tanaka and Ron ended up crashing into Locke's Warthog, snarling from the impact and getting out of their vehicles to continue on foot, grabbing their weapons and leaping over the flaming remains of the Pelican, but they let out a frustrated cry as they noticed the elevator security doors were sealed.

"Governor Sloan..." Locke said.

"Spartan Locke?" Governor Sloan asked.

"We need access to the space elevator."

"Can't do that, Spartans. Got too many people taking refuge inside. They'd be slaughtered."

"Understood, Governor..." Hermione sighed. "Well, I guess we couldn't have waited for a change of routine... Guys, we've work to do."

The makeshift team sighed and split up to grab weapons off the ground and engage in a firefight for the umpteenth time that day, drawing the attention of the Prometheans and giving some miners time to reload and regroup.

"We should reactivate the automated turrets!" Ron said.

"Impossible, they're in pieces..." Vale said.

"If you can give me some cover, I can fix them!" Hermione said while taking cover from the shots of several Crawlers.

"Go fix them up, I'm right after you!" Tanaka said.

Hermione nodded and came out of hiding, firing a pair of curses at two Promethean Soldiers and a Watcher, then ran off to the nearest turret, which was atop the security door behind them. Unable to reach the top by conventional means, the witch raised Ron's wand and yelled:

"Ascentio!"

An invisible force pulled the witch up, making Tanaka seize the opportunity to cling to Hermione's leg and they both reached the top of the door. Then, Tanaka grabbed her Magnum and used the scope to fire at the Prometheans who aimed at them, using her body as a shield from a few shots from a pair of Crawlers, which Hermione destroyed with two curses while Tanaka's shields began to recharge.

After this, the witch pointed Ron's wand at the turret and said:

"Reparo!"

Instantly, the turret began to rebuild and fold back to ward off more attacks, and as soon as it was ready, Hermione smiled and turned to nod at Tanaka, who replied and put a hand on the witch's shoulder and both of them felt a strong tug on their stomaches as they Apparated in front of another turret.

After this, Tanaka switched to her DMR and opened fire on a pair of Watchers, while Hermione destroyed three Soldiers by causing their shots to bounce off them with an invisible barrier that she conjured with magic.

Meanwhile, Chewbacca, Buck, Locke, and Ron shot their way across the battlefield, with Chewie having to change his crossbow for a Lightrifle he had found on the ground.

"How the hell do you reload this thing?" Ron asked.

Chewbacca shot accurately a couple of times at a Knight, destroying his armor, then while Buck and Locke were in charge of destroying the Promethean, Chewie walked up to Ron and made several gestures while emitting several grunts and roars trying to explain to the confused wizard how his gun seemed to work.

."I'm sorry, Chewie, but I honestly don't get any of what you're saying."- Ron said.

"Gimme that!" Buck snapped as he snatched the gun from Ron to reload it. "The ammo is this and you reload it by removing this cartridge, you place it like this and press to secure it."

"Got it. Thanks, Buck."

Ron sighed and came out of hiding, firing at a Crawler, destroying it, while Locke lunged at a Soldier, and while Buck jumped on a Crawler and ripped its head off.

"Redhead, hurry up, the miners, Leia and I aren't gonna last long!" Han said.

"We're on it!" Locke said before ripping a piece from the neck of a Promethean Knight, destroying it in the process.

As Locke provided covering fire, Ron lowered his weapon for a moment and Disapparated, Reapparating near the control console B of the automated turrets. On the other hand, Chewie helped Buck get to console A, propelling him with his hands.

Once the Spartan and the wizard were in front of the consoles, they both searched the battlefield for Tanaka and Hermione, noticing how the witch managed to fix the last turret.

"Turrets ready!" Hermione said.

Ron and Buck nodded, then both pressed the buttons on the consoles, but only half of the turrets started firing. Ron pressed the buttons repeatedly, but nothing changed, the turrets connected to his console remained static.

"What's going on?! Activate the turrets!" Locke snapped.

"I'm trying, but this thing is useless!" Ron replied.

"Something must be wrong with the circuits!" Leia said. "This is bad! And the worst part is that Artoo could help but they don't have connections of its kind here!"

"A connection may not be necessary." Han said. "I could try to wire Artoo to the console and have him control the turrets."

"That could destroy him..."

"And if we don't try it, the Prometheans will tear it apart for sure, so our best option is to take our chances."

"Ron, you take Han to where you are, Tanaka and I will give the robot some cover." Hermione said.

Ron didn't reply and simply Apparated next to Han, grabbed him by the shoulder and Apparated again inside the control console station B, at the same time that Hermione conjured an invisible barrier in front of Artoo, who flew up to where Ron was. Once Artoo found Han and Ron, and while Tanaka and Leia shot all the Prometheans who were trying to attack the astromech.

After landing, Artoo moved quickly towards Ron and Han, who had managed to open the console and uncover the wiring. Once he was close to them, Artoo opened one of his doors and allowed Han to take his cables and begin to join them one by one with the ones on the console.

"Okay, tin friend, I hope this doesn't hurt you..." Han said before connecting the last wire.

Almost instantly, Han let out a cry of pain as he felt a spark come from the cable connection, being sent flying against the wall, while Artoo let out a yelp as he felt the electrical energy coursing through him. But luckily for the astromech, he was able to adapt quickly and reactivate the automated defense turrets to support the rest of the team.

"Nice work, guys." Leia said.

"Let's go, we've gotta help the others!" Buck snapped as he fired back at a Promethean Soldier.

Han and Ron ran out of the place, but both had to take cover against a wall very soon, as several orange beams almost reached them.

"Hermione, cover the window with a couple of protection spells, I managed to see some snipers at the doors and I don't want our metal friend to be charred!" Ron said.

"I'm a little busy with those snipers!" Hermione snapped as she took cover from the shots.

Suddenly, the compound's loudspeakers let out a series of familiar beeps, then the automated turrets aimed at the snipers in front of the elevator door, destroying one of them and receiving several shots in response. Thanks to the distraction, the miners, Spartans, wizards, and rebels managed to seize the compound's manual turrets or reload their weapons, and open fire on the distracted Promethean forces, destroying them all.

At that moment, the makeshift team couldn't help but chuckle and sigh in relief.

"Area secure." Said an automated voice over the loudspeakers. - "Lockdown released."

"Thanks, Artoo." Hermione said. "We owe you one."

"The doors are open, we gotta go." Buck said.

"I'll go get Artoo, you guys go ahead." Ron said.

The miners and the improvised team walked up to the elevator door, while Ron helped Artoo disconnect from control of the turrets. Moments later, all the humans, the Wookiee and the astro droid gathered in front of another security door, which was still closed, while the previous door was slowly closing.

"Spartans, your tenacity outstrips even mine." Sloan said suddenly over the comms.

"Cut the bullshit, Sloan, when did Cortana tell you about the Guardian?" Ron asked.

"I'd…" Sloan sighed. "You're good…"

"Honestly, you're not subtle at all, Sloan, we saw it coming as soon as you opened the doors to Meridian Station." Han said.

"She gave me fair warning, true enough. I was allowed to help my people survive."

"You freaking piece of garbage..." Said an angry Hermione as the second door began to open.

"A change is going to come. For all of us. Human and Created alike." Sloan said as his voice began to falter a bit. "She's bringing a new dawn and I intend to be a part of it. I see my time is up. Good luck to you, everyone. And goodbye..."

With that said, the AI closed the com channel and the doors opened, then the miners rushed into the space elevator, but soon the relief turned to panic as there were Prometheans in the elevator.

"Weapons free!" Locke ordered. "Tanaka, override the security system!"

"Would love to. Delicate work to do while getting shot at, though." Tanaka said.

"I'll give her some cover, you take care of the Prometheans." Hermione said.

"Let's clear the ladies some work space, shall we?" Buck said.

The team and miners quickly split up and opened fire on the Prometheans, managing to destroy several Watchers and Crawlers, while Hermione conjured an invisible barrier to protect herself and Tanaka from enemy fire.

Unfortunately for the humans, the Prometheans managed to finish off several of the miners, but thanks to the Spartans and Chewbacca, the Promethean forces were promptly defeated.

"This area's clear." Locke said. "Tanaka, how do we get this elevator moving?"

"With that control panel over there." Tanaka replied with a gesture.

At that moment, Hermione undid the shield charm and ran to the elevator control panel, activating it and smiling knowing that she would soon be safe in the Millennium Falcon.

"Sloan said a change is coming. We know Cortana contacted him. Is she on the Guardian too?" Buck asked.

"Master Chief seemed to think so." Tanaka replied.

"So if she's there, then where are they going?"

"We'll find out at the Pelican." Locke said.

"All I want to know is what the hell are they up to and what they need such monstrously large machines for." Han blurted out.

"I just hope they're not like the Death Stars, I've had enough of them with just two." Leia said.

"I understand the Master Chief disobeying orders to find Cortana. But why the rest of Blue Team? They didn't know her, and let's not even talk about those anthropomorphic animals and the living skeleton..." Vale said.

"The members of Blue Team grew up together in the Spartan II program. They've registered more operations than any other fireteam in the UNSC." Locke said.

"They are family." Buck said.

"Exactly."

"But where did the others come from? What do they have to do with all this?" Leia asked.

"It's just a guess, but since that Penelope was similar to the girl who shot us, I guess they have to do with her." Han said.

"So they either have the same goal as the Master Chief or seek to stop her." Ron said. "I was about to say that they were just pulled into this like Hermione and I were."

Suddenly the elevator stopped and everyone saw a series of already well-known flashes, from which more Prometheans materialized who immediately began attacking the makeshift team and the survivors.

Chewbacca, who was already fed up with the shooting, lunged at a Promethean Soldier, grabbed him by the leg, and used him to destroy another Soldier and two Crawlers, before watching the machine disintegrate in his hand.

For his part, Ron got tired of the weight of the Forerunner weapon in his hands, so he threw it at a Crawler and Apparated next to a battle rifle, raised it and fired as well as he could against a Watcher, but since he wasn't holding the weapon well, the recoil each time the young wizard pulled the trigger made him lose his aim.

"Hold it like this, boy." Locke said after attacking a Soldier and destroying it. "The butt of the weapon rests against your shoulder, not underneath."

"Sorry, I'm very used to my wand and these weapons are very different from the ones that Muggles I know, have." Ron said as he took the rifle correctly.

Before Locke could ask what the word Muggle meant, the elevator started up again.

"Clear." Tanaka said.

"New Alexandria all over again..." A defeated Buck sighed. "We claw our way here, scratch a life out of the dirt... for what? So we can run? Leave it all behind?"

"There's a difference between running and living to fight another day." Leia said.

"Senator Organa's right. Humanity's at our best when we're making something out of nothing." Locke added. "We're tenacious. We'll rebuild as many times as we have to."

At that moment, the elevator shook again and the team heard the distinctive voices of the Promethean Soldiers again, so they took cover with the closest things they each had and fired at the Prometheans, destroying them all quickly, but unfortunately the remaining miners perished during the shooting.

"Dammit...!" Buck yelled when he saw the last miner die.

Moments later, the elevator started up again, while the makeshift team's communicators picked up a bit of static.

"Hello? Can anyone hear me?" Said a voice identified as a Liang-Dortmund worker named Evelyn Collins. "I'm at Meridian Station. Everyone's dead. Governor Sloan isn't here. I... *Sobs*...please! Is there anyone left here but me?!"

"Sloan just up and abandoned his people?" Tanaka said.

"If Cortana is behind that Guardian moving, she did more damage than him." Buck said.

"We'll find the truth of what happened here. And we'll make certain that those who should answer for it do." Locke said.

Meanwhile, as she listened to Collins, Hermione couldn't help but look around and growl in anger and frustration, feeling a deep hatred at Cortana and Governor Sloan, for they were guilty of everything that had happened to the innocent miners.

The more anger built up in her being, the tighter she squeezed Ron's wand, which the weapon's owner noticed, at the same time Hermione turned around, a goal firmly fixed in mind.

"'Mione...?" Ron said.

"You guys go ahead..." Hermione hissed. "I'll catch up with you later..."

"Hermione, no!"

Before Ron could stop her, the witch Disapparated, Reapparating over the gigantic projector where she had seen Sloan for the first and only time, falling face-first into it. Still determined to save that woman, Hermione ignored the pain she was feeling and stood up quickly as she raised her boyfriend's wand.

"Homenum revelio!" The witch yelled.

A translucent shape formed within one of the multiple containers in the city, making the witch rush up to the shape and inside the room, she found a sobbing woman curled up next to a console.

"Come with me if you wanna live!" Hermione said.

Evelyn Collins looked at Hermione, who was looking at her with determination and concern for her condition, with a hand extended At her. The Liang-Dortmund worker grabbed Hermione's hand and stood up, then the witch put her arm around the woman's waist and said:

"I hope you had a light breakfast..."

With that said, Hermione Disapparated again, returning to the space elevator.

Meanwhile, the elevator stopped again as Hermione Disapparated and a group of Promethean Knights materialized in the area and fired on the group, who barely managed to dodge the rounds of the incinerator cannons carried by the Prometheans.

"I've gotta get Hermione!" Ron said.

"No more stupid and sudden movements, Weasley!" Han snapped. "I barely know her and I trust that she'll come back safe and sound!"

"Han's right, she's more capable than you think." Leia said as she picked up an assault rifle to replace her empty DMR.

"I know perfectly how capable Hermione is, but I'm still afraid of losing her!" Ron snapped furiously as he managed to destroy part of the armor of one of the Knights.

"Take it easy!" Buck said. "If you really wanna do something for her, stay alive, she has gone through a lot today to lose her boyfriend too."

Ron sighed and reloaded his gun, then opened fire and helped Tanaka and Chewie destroy the Prometheans' armor, distracting the machines long enough for Locke, Han and Leia to grab some grenades from the ground and throw them at the Promethean forces, making them explode.

After the Knights were destroyed, the elevator started up again, making Ron feel increasingly restless. However, his unease disappeared momentarily as he heard again the thunderous sound emitted by the Guardian.

"There's that Guardian song again." Vale said.

"What's that about?" Han said.

"I guess some kind of sign." Leia sighed.

Suddenly, the comms received static again, followed by a transmission from Franco Dimezzo.

"Transport 3 to group." Said the Liang-Dortmund worker. "Heads up, that thing's starting to move."

Locke felt somewhat confused by what he heard and what was happening, so he climbed to the highest part and looked through the glass, looking directly at the Guardian.

"I don't know what's going on..." Said the worker again. "Wait, it just stopped… Oh hell! GET OUT OF...!"

"Take cover!" Tanaka yelled.

The elevator stopped abruptly, then it began to plummet until the elevator brakes activated and stopped the fall, making the improvised team to fall and hit the ground, while Hermione and Collins Apparated in front of a box, crashing against it by the movement of the elevator.

The matted-haired witch let out a cry of pain after crashing into the floor, then pulled away from Collins a little and grabbed her arm, feeling how a warm fluid had soaked her blouse, while Collins emptied all of her stomach's contents on the floor.

After a few seconds and wipe the vomit residue with her sleeve, Collins noticed the wounds of her rescuer, so she ran to help her, having to rip and tear the right sleeve of Hermione's blouse, then the miner let out a gasp when she saw a huge wound that ran up the witch's arm from her hand to her shoulder, leaving raw flesh in plain sight, as Ron ran up to them and grabbed Hermione's bag to pull out the bottle of essence of dittany.

"You're almost out of dittany, Hermione!" Ron said as he uncapped the bottle.

"Use it all... or I'll bleed out..." Hermione said between groans.

"You call me an impulsive idiot and you go and get splinched gratuitously!"

"Love you too…"

Ron emptied the vial over Hermione's open wound, causing it to close quickly, to Collins's stunned gaze.

"Everyone alright?" Locke asked.

"Yeah… and apparently, Hermione's back and brought her friend…" Han said.

"Elevator e-brake stopped a total collapse but she won't last out long." Tanaka said.

"Let's obey to the automated voice and go up the stairs..." Leia said.

"Do you reckon the structure is still secure enough to climb?" Buck asked.

"If it's gonna fall, won't be because we're using it as a jungle gym." Tanaka replied ironically.

The team nodded and climbed up the vehicles and containers as fast as they could to get to the top level of the elevator, then Locke used ARTEMIS to find the emergency exit and guided the group to it.

Once outside the corridor of the emergency exit, everyone could see the Guardian in all its splendor, which made them gasp, as it looked larger than inside the cavern.

"There's the Guardian, let's keep going to the Pelican." Locke ordered.

"Pelican's a few more super rungs up from here." Tanaka said.

"How far is that?" Ron asked.

"More than you want it to be but not as much as it could be."

"Then there's no time to waste."

Quickly, the improvised team began to climb the structure, analyzing the terrain and seeing how they could go higher because everything had been damaged and had collapsed in some places.

After climbing to another level, Locke gasped when he saw a Phaeton pointed directly at them.

"Phaeton's targeting our position! Stay mobile!" Locke said.

Hermione, aided by Collins, climbed to the next level, then raised Ron's wand and created an invisible barrier to protect her teammates from the Phaeton's attacks, making everyone run out of its line of fire.

"Can't we go five minutes without getting shot?!" Han snapped.

"At least we're almost at the Falcon!" Leia said.

After climbing to the next level, Locke saw that two other Phaetons were aiming their weapons at them, so the Spartan looked for a way to destroy them. Once he checked his surroundings, he noticed a pair of Hydra launchers, a railgun, a rocket launcher and a Spartan Laser behind some containers, as well as a Forerunner turret next to them, so he ran for cover behind the containers, barely dodging the shots of the Phaetons.

"Hey, catch!" Locke said before throwing the Hydras and the railgun.

Buck, Vale, Tanaka and Ron caught the guns as Locke ran to the turret and kicked it towards his teammates, then the Spartan ran behind the containers again to grab the Spartan Laser.

"Tanaka, Vale, aim for the Phaeton on the left. Buck, Weasley, you guys take the center one." Locke ordered. "Chewbacca, you and I attack the one on the right."

-"Chewie, take the turret and attack the Phaeton on the right."- Han said in Basic.

The Wookiee nodded and the rest of the team raised their weapons, pointing at their respective targets.

"Target locked." Tanaka, Vale and Buck reported.

"I'm not sure, but I think I've my target locked." Ron said.

"Pull the trigger and don't release it, by the way, hold on tight." Locke said while aiming at one of the Phaetons. "Fire!"

Several rockets, a ferric-shelled round, a powerful laser, and several explosive hard-light rounds hit the Phaetons, blowing them to pieces. However, due to the power of the weapon, Ron fell backwards heavily, losing the railgun as he dropped it due to the recoil.

"Darn..." Ron said as he saw the weapon fall.

"Never mind, let's move on before more Phaetons come." Locke said.

Han helped Ron to his feet, then they all kept running up the structure, making it through an entire level without running into Promethean forces.

Unfortunately for him, a hard-light round nearly hit Han, but Chewie managed to see the Soldier before he could pull the trigger, so the Wookiee pushed Han away from the machine's line of fire, while Buck used the rocket launcher to finish the Soldier and two others who were next to him off. On the other hand, Tanaka and Vale opened fire on yet another trio of Promethean Soldiers in front of them, while Hermione used her good arm to cast a spell on a Watcher hovering over the area.

After taking down the nearest Promethean forces, Buck and Locke destroyed two other Soldiers at the bottom of the set of stairs they were on, just before they felt the elevator shook again.

"Think this thing might fall after all." Tanaka said.

"To hell with it. I'm calling in our Pelican now. We'll risk autopilot." Locke said before entering some commands in ARTEMIS.

"Artoo, send Threepio a signal to come get us." Leia said.

The little astromech let out a series of affirmation beeps before extending a small antenna from its top, taking a moment to align itself with the Millennium Falcon's signal.

After a few seconds, Locke received confirmation that the Pelican was landing on a platform not far from them, while Artoo retracted its antenna and beeped.

"Well, I think this is it." Han said. "It was nice meeting you."

"Same here." Buck said.

"Can you take this woman to safety?" Hermione asked.

"Sure, we'll take care of it." Locke nodded.

"Thank you for everything…" Collins said.

"Think nothing of it, don't worry."

"Let's hurry, your ship and the Pelican shouldn't take long." Vale snapped.

The makeshift team simply started running towards the platform where Fireteam Osiris' Pelican had landed, watching as some kind of shockwave threw two heavy containers into the corridor like nothing.

"The Pelican's just outside! Move it, people!"

As they exited the corridor, a shockwave hit the elevator again, knocking the makeshift team down like ragdolls.

"It seems that those noises were some kind of countdown!" Ron said between groans as he stood up. "They're getting closer and closer!"

"And what happens when it reaches zero?" Buck asked.

"I don't want to know, move now!" Locke snapped.

Suddenly, the roar of an engine was heard, one that Han recognized immediately, as it was the roar of his ship's engine. The ex-smuggler jumped to his feet and ran to the edge of the platform, watching with a combination of anger and confusion as the Millennium Falcon just flew by and away from the Guardian, to then enter hyperspace.

"What the hell is that tin idiot doing?!" Snapped an outraged Han.

"The golden robot's quite loyal, isn't he?" Ron said.

Before anyone could say anything else, another shockwave hit them, making them crash hard against the wall.

"Everyone get to the Pelican, now!" Locke yelled.

"Ron, a barrier!" Hermione screamed before handing the wand back to his boyfriend.

Ron caught his wand and quickly pointed at the edge of the platform as everyone ran towards the UNSC ship, and yelled:

"Protego maxima!"

An invisible barrier rose just in time to block part of a new shockwave that shook everyone and halted them in their advance momentarily, but they all retook their way to the dropship.

Seeking to avoid further mishaps, Hermione held onto Leia and Collins and transported them to the Pelican with the Apparition, where the three of them quickly sat up and buckled up, just as another shockwave hit the Pelican, moving it like a toy.

The wave also sent the Spartans, Chewie, Ron, Han, and Artoo flying, making them lose their weapons in the process.

Vale, Buck and Tanaka managed to enter the ship, while Ron grabbed Chewie and Han to Disapparate, Reapparating inside the ship and hitting the ground while Vale jumped on them to reach the cockpit.

On the other hand, the platform finally gave away and the Pelican plummeted as Han and Ron tried to take a seat and buckle up, at the same time as Locke jumped from the elevator and used his armor's thrusters to head towards the Pelican, managing to get inside it while Vale managed to sit in the pilot's seat.

"Vale!" Locke said.

"I'm on it!"

Locke helped Han and Ron secure their seat belts, while Vale started the Pelican's engine in the middle of the fall and steered it into orbit.

As the red-armored Spartan piloted the Pelican as far away from the Guardian as possible, the Guardian released a final shockwave, opening a slipspace portal behind him, then flapping its wings forward and disappearing into the portal, causing serious damage to what was left of the space elevator.

A few moments later, the Pelican entered slipspace, leaving everyone with a bad taste in their mouths from what had happened just before escaping from Meridian.

'What the hell did you do, C-3PO? Because whatever it is, I'm gonna kill you once I see you…' Han growled inwardly.