Disclaimer I do not own Halo or Mass Effect, Halo is owned by 343 and Mass Effect is owned by Bioware

Wolf Effect

Ch 24. It Is alive!

Location: Halo

Kaiser's POV

Myself, Liara, Ruby, & the Rookie are checking out where theses idiots kept on getting killed at

But I was also trying not to listen to Liara & Ruby talk about history & stuff since I was basically a soldier & I wasn't trained enough to listen to whatever it was they were talking about

But looking at everyone I saw that the good blue lady has a pistol with her which was probably the upgrades that the rest of the team did for the crew of the Normandy to help out & I saw that the rookie had his shotgun ready, Ruby got her sword on standby, & for myself I had my assault rifle on me

We were seeing less & less bodies on our way to the entrance that these people were trying to get in but when Ruby motion us to stop we crouched down as Liara followed our example as she asks "Is something wrong?"

Ruby pointed to something as I looked I could see some weird green-ish yellow stuff as I looked a bit closer I had a idea on what it was but I didn't answer as Ruby looks at us then says "We have to be very careful now, I'm not sure if it's nothing or it got loose"

When she got up everyone else got up as we walked to the door it opened for us but before we went inside I saw the Prometheans show up & caused nearly everyone except Ruby & Liara to jump in surprise as she looks at them & says "Guessing you guys are coming with us?" One of the crawlers nodded as she pats their head "Ok, let's go"

Us & the 2 watchers & 6 crawlers as we enter then the lights came on & we could see better but we kept on walking in as Liara asked "I'm curious about what we saw when we entered, it was like nothing I ever seen before?"

Rookie sneered that "Well if we're unlucky enough we might find something down here but our main job now is to find the index & make sure that the containment hasn't been breached"

Liara said "Containment? I'm sorry but I'm not sure if I understand what your talking about. I know about the Index thanks to Dr. Halsey explaining to me what the Index was but now about containment?"

I went ahead & answered that "Its to keep a infection from spreading across the galaxy & that's all your going to hear"

That seemed to keep her quiet for now but when we were getting deeper I noticed that the incredible white & blue structure was covered in a greenish yellow stuff just like outside but I could see that there were bodies but they were all in pieces so it's safe to say that someone must of known what was going on

Ruby called out "I see the Index!" She pointed to it & thank god nobody got to it but that didn't mean it was going to be easy but she continued "Now then someone will have to grab it"

Liara said "I'll grab it while the rest of you cover me" I nodded as me & her went over to it followed by 2 crawlers & she flared her biotics & tried to grab it but nothing happened so she went to grab it but it was a little ways away from her so she grabbed my arm to pull me closer to the edge

which I was getting a bit uncomfortable with it but then she finally grabbed it only to get zapped & thrown right into me as I landed on the ground with her on top of me as I said "Next time, let the humans touch the strange Forerunner objects"

She nodded as I went to grab it instead & this time it didn't shock me so I was confused by this but my guess was that I was a Reclaimer as Liara said "I'm still not sure why only your species are picked to be able to use the forerunners technology but I guess they had their reasons"

I nodded & gave it to her which she was hesitant at first but she grabbed it then I saw the crawlers looking at something & my motion tracker was picking it up as we both spun around with our weapons armed to see something in the shadow but my guess was that it was a Turian as Liara sighed in relief as she walks up to it & asks "Thank the goddess. Are you alright? Do you need medical attention?"

The crawlers were priming up their weaponry as my eyes widen behind my helmet I yelled out to her "GET BACK!" I tackled her to the ground as the Crawlers light the thing up as Liara was shocked on what just happened we got a better look to see that it used to be a Turian

Liara & I got up as she covered her mouth in horror as she said "By the goddess..." I looked at it & saw that it was similar to the regular combat forms that the Flood made but from the looks of it it's head looked like it was put on backwards & its hands were claws

I didn't know what to think of it but from my guess this flood was waiting for us to get close enough to infect us or something as I looked at her then said "This is a example of what a combat form looks like"

She looked at me then said "We could of been able to make a cure for him!"

I shook my head "That's what everyone says but trust me, the only good thing you could do for them is put them out of their misery" I started heading back to regroup with everyone followed by Liara & the crawlers but as soon as we got back all of us heard a inhuman scream

Ruby looked at us & said "We got incoming!" She switched her sword for a SAW as we soon saw shadowy figures coming at us but from what I could tell it was a mix of pure forms, combat forms of the dead that tried to enter this place, & others

I was nervous but I heard the rookie say "KILL THEM ALL!" He started firing his shotgun which was hitting a few of those infection forms & the carriers which caused them to explode, Ruby was shooting her SAW taking down the infection forms to combat forms, the Prometheans were shooting at them as well which was a big help, then I pulled out my Incineration Cannon along with my assault rifle as I shot my cannon first taking out some flood including two pure forms that were tanks & fired my assault rifle to help keep them back

I saw that Liara was worried but when one of the infection forms came at her she yelled & fired her pistol 5 times which they all made their mark killing the little parasite then she saw that a few more were getting close to us as she threw in a warp which got about 3 of them but then I noticed we weren't going to last longer so I called out "Fall back!"

Everyone got started on running as I holstered my Cannon & followed as I saw Ruby on comms calling out "Mayday Mayday Mayday, this Wolf-2 is anyone is hearing this, the Flood is out & free I repeat the flood is out!"

Location: Normandy, Com room

Shepard's POV

I was standing in the room with both Captain Cutter of the Spirt of Fire, Admiral Preston Cole of the Everest, & Halsey as they were on my right & when I looked to my left I saw that Vasir was sitting in one of the chairs then when I looked in the middle it was the holograms of the council then when I looked to my sides I saw that Anthony in his armor & Spark were right next to me

Sparatus asked "We weren't aware that another UNSC ship was in the area noir was there a report of the Big Ring being called Halo"

Halsey went ahead & replied "But you were aware of its location & the technology but instead you decided to keep it to yourselves & hiding it from us"

Cutter went ahead & spoke "But I've also got reports that your people nearly killed my Spartans"

Valern replied "That was unfortunate but you would have no trouble on replacing them-"

Anthony was about to blow a fuse if Cole didn't respond to that "These Spartans are already risking their lives & your just calling them expendable? You think we can make Spartans with just the snap of our fingers? Each & every single one of them risked their lives to go help your sorry asses & your taking them for granted"

Tevos stepped in to try & diffuse the situation "Apologizes. We know how deeply you care about your people as do we but with our Spectre's recent action on Halo" she glared at Vasir as she just rolled her eyes "She will be punished but for now we're requesting to pick up our people & the information-"

Spark interrupted her & said "Negative, the information on this installation is not for anyone other then a Reclaimer"

The non UNSC personal looked a little confused then the Salarian councilor asked "Would you mind giving us more details on these Reclaimers?"

Spark looked at him then replied "No. My creators had gone through great lengths to make sure that neither of your species except for the Reclaimers will gain the knowledge & the technology left by my creators. Any other species that attempts to obtain any of it & are not authorized"

Sparatus looked annoyed by this answer so he asked "Well I never heard of these Reclaimers noir have any of us here except for you. Now we need to know who they are & their military"

Spark answered that question "You have already met them"

Soon I saw him look at Anthony as Vasir yelled out "Bullshit! That is just another machine! A grunt! How could that filthy pathetic human be this Reclaimer?!"

Halsey glared at Vasir & responded "My Spartans are the next step in human evolution. Now the reason for the Forerunners choice on Humanity is classified to those outside of the UNSC & ONI. But I can tell you that the reason-"

Joker came on the comms & said [Shepard! We have a problem!]

I didn't know what was going on but i could guess that something was wrong so I answered "What's the problem?"

[I don't know but right now I got a distress signal from Kaiser & his group as well as a vid from his helmet cam]

After hearing that Cutter stood up & said "Put it on screen pilot" a screen pulled up & showed footage from Kaiser's helmet cam as we see them go through the area & I was seeing some weird stuff but then I saw that they found something called a Index as Liara tried to grab it but only to get shocked a little until Kaiser grabbed it, but then when they turned to look I saw a figure that was a Turian but once in closer inspection after being shot down it showed that thing was once a Turian then they regrouped with each other & fired upon a large mass of these... things until we heard Ruby call out [Mayday Mayday Mayday, this Wolf-2 is anyone is hearing this, the Flood is out & free I repeat the flood is out!]

I was horrified by what I saw but I turned to look at Anthony as I look into his eyes to see terror & fear for the first time & he looked pale but once after the message was over the Tevos along with everyone in the room looked afraid as she asked "What... was.. that..?"

Anthony said one word "Flood" then he walked out of the room as it closed behind him

Cutter looked at the council "I will need you to get your people & ships out of this area immediately before they get a chance to spread to your ships"

The Sparatus looked at him like he wanted to say something but didn't as Valern spoke instead "We cannot just abandoned this ring. We spent years of work to try & get through it & now seeing these organisms infecting others, there could be a cure to-"

Halsey interrupted him & said "If there was then my Spartans would have nothing to fear so either call your people out or be held responsible for condemning the lives of everyone in this Galaxy" she walked out of the room along with Cole, Cutter, Sparks, then myself as I didn't need to hear what they were going to say

But I did hear the Sparatus say "Vasir! Get everyone out now & retreats back to the Citadel. Drop what they are doing & leave" I was thankful that they saw reason

-30 minutes later-

Location: outside the airlock of the Normandy

Anthony's POV

I was scared, I thought the nightmare would end but now just seeing the evidence I was terrified, I could barely keep my grip on my BR

I took a breath then made my way to where they were last seen at as Ghost spoke to me "Anthony your sure you want to do this?"

I replied "I don't have any other choice, we need to find them & get them out, I should of been the one to get the Index"

Ghost sighed as she continued "Ok but I sent a message to the others to let them know that your going in, Sparks will be leading them to another spot where it's clear if the flood & hopefully make that as a extraction point"

The Forerunner door slide open as I could see the flood mass on the walls & ceiling as I felt a chill down my spine from seeing it but before I took a step my motion tracker lit up with a few friendlies coming up behind so I quickly

I turned around to see Shepard, Red team, Spark, Halsey, Wrex, Prime, & Ashley came to me as I asked "What are you all doing here?"

Jerome replied "We're going to clear this infestation & get our people out of their"

Prime also added "Plus you wouldn't have made it this far by yourself, further more who would be able to keep Ruby from killing everybody?"

I looked at Halsey as she held up her Magnum "You will need me & Spark for this one & I'm not taking no for a Answer"

Wrex just said "I'm looking to see how strong this Flood is. They probably won't be able to do much to a Krogan. That & I want to go kill something"

I could guess that this was going to be everyone as I said to them "Alright everyone, but the first sign of trouble that we can't handle then we are getting out of here understand?" I saw Red team nod

Spark floated on ahead as I followed along with the group but I knew that Red team have seen the horrors of the flood up close, but having Shepard with me was making me freak out mentally which I don't know why but I just shook my head out of the thought until Ghost came into view in my helmet as she turned the external speakers on & said "Anthony what's wrong?"

I knew that she turned the external speakers off so I replied "I'm afraid. I wasn't able to save many lives back on Halo, I wasn't able to save the lives of wherever the flood went... I'm now afraid of losing everyone here to this parasite..."

She was definitely concerned & I knew she would just want to hold me close to tell that everything was going to be ok but without a body all she could do was try to comfort me with her words as she said "You won't, you've beaten the flood before on many occasions & now you have help so you can beat them again. Besides you even helped me & my sisters achieve Metastability & saved our lives. Right now I need you to remain calm & focus on completing this rescue mission & getting out of here to stop Saren"

That cheered me up to hear that but as of now I was gonna let that sink in for me as I focused on getting everyone out alive & away from this hell

Location: Halo, Control room

Kaiser's POV

I quickly got the doors to close as I was panting heavily & when I looked around I saw that my group was breathing heavily & were exhausted by the nonstop running except for the Promethean's as I could see that we lost 3 crawlers during the chase but thankfully they were revived by our two watchers

Liars then asked "Where are we?" I remember seeing this inside one of the Halo's

Ruby answered Liara's question for me "We're in Halo's control room... with the Index" I couldn't tell behind her helmet but I could instantly tell that she was frighten

I looked at the Index & at the controls as I walked up to it as I look around & the Rookie asks "What are you doing?"

I replied "I'm seeing if we can radio everyone by using the control room as a broadcast & since the first four Wolves were able to give us details on what happened, I'm thinking we could try to-"

Ruby continued for me "-Teleport ourselves out of here?! Kaiser! Your a genius!" She went to help as Liara was a little confused & looked at the room she was in

Liara stood next to us & looked at each symbol & button but to her she barely understood any of it, but to myself & Ruby the AI's were able to help translate for us but we had to get comms up quickly or else everyone will be fighting a large mass of Flood

Tony's POV

I was with my team as we were defending 1 entrance but as we were looking through a hole I saw something coming but my motion tracker was marking it as hostile & Libra said "We got company"

I knew that we would have to hold the line as I saw more red dots coming through the hole as I shouted to everyone "OPEN FIRE!" Everyone started firing into the whole killing the flood before they got close to the hole

I knew we wouldn't be able to hold them back forever but I had to hold out along with everyone else until Anthony & the other grab the Index & get the hell out of here

AN, yeah big surprise the flood has returned but should have expected them to appear in the story, if you want to see more please write a review