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Planet Reach, 2525...

His eyes are fixated to a certain house. At first it didn't seem special, but then he recognizes the white painting and brown roof. He would stare at it for awhile. He remembers it very well ever since he was taken. He was unsure about this. He was scared on what could possibly happen once he starts walking in. But he won't honor his best friends wishes if he didn't go through this. If what Daisy said is true, then he will see a very happy Mother. He keeps thinking of his Mom happy, and forces himself to walk back to his home. He prays what may lay in his old house will make him feel safe. He noticed a red car. His Mom's car. He gets cold feet for a second. He decides to check inside the house first. See how much changed while he was gone. But then he saw it. Saw someone sitting on the couch.

The boy tilts his head. "Huh?"

That someone looked like his age. In fact he actually looked like...him.

Shield World, 2530...

In only a manner of minutes, things just got hectic to say the least. Grim and Red Team starts shooting the smaller Flood as soon as they begin noticing them. "The little shits!"

"Get the Warthog! The Sargent needs us!" Jerome orders his Spartans to move out.

Grim knows he can't fit in their warthog, so he looks to find another one. "Hey uh...Robocop? Got any tips on taking these things down?"

"[Most effective way is putting them through extreme temperatures. Although in this case, the only weapon to execute this is flame throwers. I will have Cutter deploy the right men for the job. In the meantime, I can trust you to improvise?]"

Grim goes to a warthogs turret. "Hmph. Alright then. Hey asshats! Anyone like to ride with me?!" The marines overhear this and slowly backs away. "Pussies..." Then tentacles starts appearing behind everyone. The UNSC soldiers begin to scramble around, shooting the threats.

Hauser jumps on to the wheel. "Damn it! Start shooting!"

Grim doesn't hesitate and starts shooting the Flood. "Drive! And don't slow down for anything!" Hauser floors it and they drive off, with the other men fighting or running away from the Flood. "I'm sure they're okay!" The Flood continues to follow them, seeing them as appetizing prey. Hauser then drives the Warthog over an edge and lands hard on the ground. They noticed that they are not followed by the tentacles.

Then Serina can be heard in the comms once again. "[Well that's new, and scary. These organisms are...interesting.]"

Arcade then chimes in. "[The Flood. To put it simply. Parasites that consumes any living creature with sufficient biomass.]"

Grim groaned, still winded from the chase seconds ago. "Oh yeah, that makes things a whole lot less shittier. When's the fucking fire coming?!"

Serina replies the panicking Specter. "[On their way. Your gonna have to handle things I'm afraid.]"

Grim growls more loudly now. "Fine! Gonna get dirty? Then I'll get dirty! He brings out a grenade launcher and shotgun and pumps said shotgun.

Everyone got back to driving and shooting to the destination until Jerome's voice came to the comms.. "Spirit of Fire! This is Red Team! We're a hundred meters from Anders transponder signal!" Then everyone heard a car crash. Eventually, Jerome came back. "...meeting some strong resistance. Seeing some pretty crazy stuff out here. Over."

Cutter responds to the Spartan. "Hold your position Red Team. Reinforcements will come to you."

Arcade speaks to Grim. "[Red Team found some very dangerous resistance. I suggest we go there next.]"

The Specter Spartan would hum in acknowledgement. "Step on it!" He tells demands. They then get attacked by more tentacles from an even larger Flood creature. "Shit!" The panicking Spartan grabs his Shotgun and shoots like crazy. Hauser jumps out of the jeep before the tentacles swipes it away. Grim keeps shooting and running, but nothing seems to make it flinch.

Back with the Red Team, Jerome along with Alice and Douglas. They are beginning to get overwhelmed and then Jerome throws a grenade that hits the source of the tentacles and then all of the sudden the creatures screeched in pain. "What was that?" Douglas asked, noticing the parasites stopping and screeches.

Jerome knows that the grenade hitting what seemed like the source of these creatures can't be a coincidence and opens up his comms to remind everyone. "I'm not sure what just happened, but the large one just shook like it was hurt."

Serina begins to realize what is going on. "[Yes. When the colony was damaged, I registered the large creature creature weakened.]"

Grim replies. "Oh really?" Grinning inside his helmet.

"[I purpose we focus on the largest Flood in the area. If I can check my databanks...it is a Gravemind. At least a prototype Gravemind. Jerome, give us your coordinates.]" Arcade reminds everyone.

"Understood!" The Spartan does so, giving everyone their location.

Back with Hauser, he brings out his Assault Rifle. "We gotta hit that damn thing and hit it fast!" He starts shooting as he rushes back to the upside down Warthog. Grim rolls out of the way and throws a grenade towards the moving in legion of more of the smaller Flood creatures. He hurries to the jeep and flips it back to its tires. "Come on! Come on!" The Sargent goes to the wheel, and Grim goes to the turrets to find the Gravemind.

"Coming for ya ugly motherfuckers!" Grim shouts as he shoots in all directions.

Red Team held off the Proto-Gravemind, until Grim and Forge meets them. "About time you guys showed up!" Jerome shouts.

Grim then jumps out of the turret and brings his Grenade Launcher. "I'm the kind of guy who crashes parties! Now out of the way!" He starts shooting and reloading constantly to the target. More of the UNSC forces enter the fray and everyone starts shooting their more potent weaponry.

Forge catches up to everyone and calls Serina. "Spirit! Any closer on that transponder location?"

"[I am still trying to confirm Professor Anders coordinates. A watched pot and all that. Hm...now I am losing it once we are close to this location. Could the creature be jamming the signal?]"

The marines carrying the flamethrowers show up. "About time you guys showed up!" Grim lets out.

Then the flames are let loose. For extra measure, the rocket launchers are brought out and all fires. All to the shadows where the tentacles are all coming out of. But then the source reveals itself as a huge tumor of flesh. Bigger than the others. It is no doubt the Proto-Gravemind. Everyone starts shooting non-stop until it slowly dies with green ooze coming out of it, and it deflates. Grim shouts. "Yeah! Take that ya fucking zit!" Then the ooze hits some of the marines. "Ha Ha Ha Ha! Aaaaaaaaaaaaw. That's gross."

Serina then informs everyone immediately after the mission was complete. "[Captain, as soon as the creature died, I picked up a new signal just east of here.]"

"[Lets make haste. From the looks of it, this isn't the last of the Flood...]" Arcade is not clearly unsettled.

"[You are very troubled Arcade. What exactly is your history with these creatures?]"

"[I...can't explain everything. This isn't supposed to happen. They...must be stopped. But now we must collect Professor Ellen Anders as soon as possible.]" Grim stays quiet, feeling like Arcade is keeping way too much secrets at this point. He was putting up with this for awhile, but he is reaching his limit here. Little did everyone know, a lone little Flood spawn is hiding in the shadows and follows the UNSC.

Spirit of Fire...

Everyone assembled back to go where the professor is. The Harvest team looks over the windows to see the vast ocean. Hauser looks around the water. "So...what are we looking at?"

"[Serina is probably finding out at this point.]"

Hauser shrugs. "Finding about what?" Growing frustrated.

Grim ignores the Marine. "You said there is a huge center underground right?"

"[Indeed. Lets go meet them.]" Grim then walks up to the control room where the Captain and Forge is waiting.

Hauser watches them leave. "Agh...what have I gotten myself into...?" He misses the simple times already.

Entering the room, Grim and Ralph are noticing the Captain, Sarge, and ships A.I. are staring at the view as well. Cutter speaks up. "What are we looking at Arcade?"

The A.I. replies. "[There should be a door to the innards of the Shield World.]"

"Door?" Cutter raises his brow.

Serina tries to scan for a door. "[Wait...what does 'docking and 'cleansing' mean?]"

Then everyone notices the water beginning to shift around, revealing a hidden door below the waters. Then flying drones begin to swarm in. Forge speaks out. "What are those things?!"

Arcade replies to the Sarge's panicked question. "[Sentries. They attack anything that isn't Forerunner. I'll try to deactivate them. Something is wrong.]"

Grim turns his head impulsively. "What?"

Arcade turns his attention to Serina. "[They only recognize Serina and not me. I have to be a part of the ships mainframe to have them recognize me as one of their own.]"

Cutter is beginning to lose patience. "Why didn't you thought of that sooner?!"

Arcade gives an immediate response. "[Not all Shield Worlds are made to be similar, and with the clear Flood infestation, I do not come here often.]"

Serina turns to the black spartan holding the alien A.I. "[I am a part of the ship. So without me, every part of the ship, along with everyone onboard would fall to our inevitable deaths. Unless that was the plan all along?]"

"[In a manner of speaking. We have to get inside, but we need the ship floating safely. Grim, if you will connect me to Serina's mainframe?]" He gets closer. "[There should be a cord on the back of your helmet.]" He feels a single piece sticking out and pulls out a cord.

"[So you thought of everything. And I thought the 'Flood' creatures were the freakiest part of the day.]"

It connects to an empty slot on Serina's console. After a few moments, Arcade finds himself in Serina's hub. "[Excuse me for intruding without permission.]"

"[Just as long as you don't have any funny ideas.]" Serina said in a slight playful tone.

Eventually the Sentries stop their attack on the Spirit of Fire. Cutter sighs in relief. "Damage report?"

"[The worst we have are a few scratches and bruises.]" Serina mentions. The ship then lowers to enter the large door that leads to a dark area filled with machineries. "[This is part of the plan, right Arcade?]"

"[Indeed. The Covenant is on the other side. So I suggest a plan as of now.]"

Cutter looks at the new, alien area he has never seen before. "This is what the Covenant was trying to find?"

Forge crosses his arms. "We need to focus sir. The enemy is on the other side."

Grim lets out a shrug. "Going guns blazing is probably the only way to do it." Then something shakes the ship. "What was that?"

Serina explains. "[Someone seems to be messing with the engine room.]" The ship shakes again. "[And quite a good job doing it.]"

Cutter growls in response. "Get someone to handle it."

"[Excuse me Captain, but perhaps Grim is best qualified to handle this.]" Arcade chimes in.

Grim is confused in this. "Huh? Why me though?"

"[Trust me Specter.]"

"Kinda hard to do that..." Grim said in frustration. Then the ship moves around again. He groans in response. "I'm doing it! But not because you told me too!" He pulls the cord back to his helmet and hurries out of the room.

"[Isn't he charming?]" Serina quips.

Grim hurries there. "So, any info you like hiding that would help me?"

"[This is not the time for this Specter.]"

"Stop calling me that alright! What even is Specter anyways?! A slave name? Gonna give me another number?"

"[I do not wish to oppress you. I merely need you.]"

"Yeah, Halsey needs me and other kids to do her dirty work."

"[You are acting out of line.]"

"You want out of line?! Just watch! Anyone behind that door is gonna die! No matter who-" Then once he opens the door, a staff member filled with sickly flesh mutated all over his body like pulsating tumors coming out of him. "WHAT THE FU-!" The infected staff member then grabs Grim by the neck, twirls him around back in the room alone to kill this fresh meat. The lost Spartan would struggle against this surprisingly tough parasite. He eventually punches the face, completely blowing half of his face off, but still unflinching. Even Grim is beginning to know the fear of the Flood. But he eventually kicks him off of him. He brings out his knife and stabs the chest of the infected, and opens the stomach wide open, and pulls a grenade to blow it up, knowing busting the body with his bare hands. However before he can plant the grenade inside, the infected staff grabs his hand, preventing him from doing so. The Spartan out of desperation plants the Floods hand onto the wall, deeply rooting it on it, and as a result, accidently pulls the pin and then both get hit by the explosion. Creating a hole through the ship, and pulling both of them off the ship.

"[Specter!]" Arcade seems to be in a panic, which never happens. Grim would then in impulse, punches through the outside of the ship and hanging on for dear life. "[Hang on!]"

Grim then felt something on his leg. "Huh?!" He looks down to see the infected human is hanging onto him. "You gotta be shitting me!" He would try to kick him out, but the G-Forces of the whole battleship is beginning to begin. He wonders what is going on, until he realizes they are going to ram into the closest alien ship. But then the pulsing tumor of a man begins to crawl all around Grim's body and vomits out smaller spores of Flood all over him. "AGH! FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK!"

"[Activate shield override! 100%!]" Then the whole suit glows a bright blue and then, electrocutes all the small spores, blowing them up, and almost sends the original infected off of Grim. Recovering from all of that, the pissed off Spartan then kicks the Floods face hard.

"GET! OFF! SHITHEAD!" Grim screams as he plants his boot deep on its face, making it explode as it falls over, and eventually hits the ships thrusters, completely obliterating it. The augmented one sighs in relief, but doesn't completely calm down, as he is still at risk from falling down from the ships fast flight. "What are they dooooing?!

"[Hold tight Specter. As tightly as possible.]" Having a good idea on what is going to happen next.

Inside the Shield World...

Things were serine in this area. Trees, a large snowy mountain, and bright sky in this hollow center. A Covenant Ship floats around, not worried of any attack ever since they went past the Drones. However, it all changes when all of the sudden, a large human made ship comes out of a hole on the floor. A few of the troops could have sworn they see a small black speck on the ship, screaming.

Cutter see's the alien ship they are about to collide with. "Hard starboard!"

"[Hard starboard, aye!]"

Eventually, both ships hits at each sides, scrapping both ships heavily. Grim felt the ship shake violently upon impact. "WATCH IT COCKBITES!"

Back inside the control room. "[Captain! They are charging weapons!]"

Cutter responds. "Battle stations! Bring weapons online!"

"[Aye sir.]" The firefight begins as the Covenant ship starts shooting the Spirit of Fire. Grim feels more vibration more and more. "[So...am I the only one freaking out by the fact we're inside the planet?]"

Grim tries to crawl his way to the roof so he would have a good footing, trying to fight the G-Forces pushing him. "What's going on now?!"

"[The Spirit of Fire is under siege. Its power core is damaged, so Sargent Forge is handling that. Although from the looks of it, there are bigger problems at hand. I detect Stealth Elites going in the ship.]"

Grim jolts. "Huh?! Seriously?! What if they find Daisy?!"

"[Keep calm. Rushing will ensure falling off the ship. Just crawl close enough to the edge, and on my signal, I'll shoot the thrusters at is maximum output.]" Arcade calmly states.

"Alright alright!" The struggling Spartan punches through the ship, and repeats as he slowly moves upward.

Inside the Spirit of Fire, everyone rushes to their battle stations, only for the violent shakings to put them off balance. Ralph is one of them. "Ugh! Damn it!" He gets up and looks around to see everyone trying to get back to work. But he notices something off. Despite not being a Spartan for years, he still picked up some superhuman perks, such as seeing a lot better than normal humans. His eyes spot some sort of distorted shape on its knees until it stood up. 'Huh?" He follows this invisible force. He notices it was going to the infirmary. "Oh no!" He was about to sneak attack it, but now he rushes in.

In the infirmary, the Elite lets out his Energy Blade, noticing many injured people in beds. All these disgusting humans must die. No mercy. He looks to see who is first, until he notices a blonde human sleeping, unaware of the danger. The Elite notices how tall this one is. Possibly one of those Demons that kill his brothers. Whether that is true or not, he decides she will die first.

"No!" Ralph grabs the invisible Elite, and drags him away from the comatose Daisy. "Grgh! YERGH!" He wrestles around the assassin, until the alien grabs his arm, forces out of his grip, and throws him to a wall that causes the whole room to shake. "GAGH!" He felt his back almost collapse with how much force the killer alien threw him. Ralph looks up to see his enemy over him.

"(Foolish imp! You are barely a demon!)" The assassin raises his sword to finish him. Until he felt something dug onto his spine. "(GAAAAUGH! Who dar-)" He turns around to see how stabbed him, but would only get a pistol straight under his mask and towards his mouth, and then a bullet finds its way through his skull, killing him.

Ralph was startled with this sudden development. But then is shocked to see his savior. "D-Daisy?!"

The once comatose Spartan was breathing heavily, with a pistol on her hand. Even she had a hard time standing as she goes down to one knee. "R-Ralph...you...okay?"

Ralph rushes to help her up. "I am now...thank god you're alright..." He almost started crying.

Daisy would wrap her arm around his neck to get better footing. However it was also a hug for her closest friend. The hug was interrupted by another violent shake on the ship. "What's happening now?"

Ralph refocuses. "We're under attack."

Daisy looks around. "Where's Grim?"

"I heard he was checking on the engine room, but then we heard an explosion, and then a hole was found in the same room. Good thing it was filled by the ships defenses."

Daisy's eyes widen. "Oh no! Did Grim fell off the ship?!"

Ralph is beginning to worry for their friend. "I don't know...Now we need to help the ship though."

Daisy nods, trying her best to focus on everyone in the ship. Although she isn't one hundred percent, and doesn't have her suit now. Its also most likely to be under heavy damage after the needler shot through it. "We need to move."

"Are you sure your alright?" Ralph asks.

Daisy lets out a sigh, still feeling exhaustion. "I'm fine. I need to find out where my armor is."

Back outside, Grim see's the ledge of the ship. "There!"

"[Thrusters overload in 5...4...3...2...1...Jump!]"

Grim lets out a pounce upward, the G-Forces preventing him from reaching the ledge. The thrusters then blasts full power and Grim then completely over shots the ledge and finds himself crashing towards the ships roof. "Oof! Ugh! Dugh!" He bounces a few times until his back grinds on the floor until he stops. "Ugh...That was super close god damn it..." He lets out a huge sigh of relief.

"[Indeed. Although the danger is not necessarily over yet. We are currently under a firefight with a Covenant Ship right next to us.]"

Grim groaned, still recovering from the Flood, the G-Forces, and constant close calls from both. "Alright...I got it...I got it...I'm up...I'm up...phew!" He sits up, and gets up on his feet. He rolls his neck and arms. Finally, he grabs his Assault Rifle and gets ready to kill. He notices a huge firefight going on. Smaller ships flying all around his bigger ship he is standing on, Grunts, Jackals, Elites, Marines, ODSTs, and the Spartans he met are scrambling around, shooting all over the place. In the center of it all, a large construct that is the ships core that is half there is being repaired by multiple mechs. The Specter notices Omega Team currently shooting with unique weapons such as an M319 Individual Grenade Launcher, an M6 Spartan Laser, and an AIE-486H Heavy Machine Gun. Grim couldn't recall the exact numbers, but the M6 Spartan Laser always got his attention from the very beginning. Refocusing, he rushes in the warfare and starts shooting any Covenant he can see. He tries to get inside to defend Daisy, only to get blocked by many enemies. In the end, Grim decides to focus on killing as much Covenant as he can.

It wouldn't be long before Cutter watches the power core back to its 100% state. "Power core is fully repaired. Serina, best speed away."

Serina then calls out on everyone on the roof. "[Attention! The ship will move again in full speed in T-Minus 1 Minute. Come back inside immediately.]"

Grim overhears this. "Oh shit. Not again." He would finish off a downed Jackal with his pistol and rushes in along with the rest of the UNSC. "Coming through!" He shoves some in his way to get inside as fast as possible. Everyone hurries back and locks the Covenant out. The Spirit of Fire then speeds out of the Covenant battleship, with the remaining aliens falling off the ship as it makes a very quick get away.

Everyone hung on to a wall they can grab as the ship moves quick. Grim would stand his ground while the ship is causing everyone to lose their balance one more time. He would look around to see any intruders, but he ends up seeing some dead Stealth Elites with some dead humans. But mostly Elites, which is assuring. Before he can find his old Spartan friend, she finds him. "Grim!" Daisy runs to him, still on her hospital gown, with Ralph behind him.

Grim froze up in shock. "Daisy...?" He looks to her eyes, remembering her blue eyes. "I...your..." Grim stutters, unable to think about what to say.

Daisy smiled. "Its thanks to you."

Grim then shakes his head. There is something he had to say. Something he was holding for a long time. "H-Hold on a sec...you wouldn't need me if you just hurried out..."

Daisy was confused. "Huh?"

Grim's tone became serious, like something itching on his mind that he has to get rid of. "I saw what happened. I tried to get to my Rocket Launcher, but I saw what happened. You pushed some dumbbell out of the way and took the needle to the chest. You almost died because you took a bullet, and would have gotten everyone killed anyways! Like...I don't know what to say...but...are you an idiot?!"

Everyone was in shock to hear a fight going on. Although the most shocked is Daisy. Ralph a close second. "Hold on Grim!" He would get in front of him, and have Daisy behind him. "She did what she did to save everyone! Its what we were to trained to do!"

"So we're just meat shields to these betas?" Grim said, which gets Hauser and the other marines and ODSTs attentions. "They're useless nobodies while we have to do the heavy shit. Like, what do we owe these guys huh?"

Ralph is beginning to get angry. "Shut up! You don't have the authority to say all of this."

"Well I should! They spent tons of money on us, kidnapped us as kids, fucking got our parents fooled by dying clones, and they don't think we deserve some more royalty? I fucking think we do!"

"Grim!" Ralph has enough and grabs his shoulder.

Then the Specter pushes him aside. "Out of the way. The adults are talking here. Daisy, what were you thin-"

"CLANK!"

Then all of the sudden, the blonde punches Grim's helmet face, causing a large clank sound. "WHOOOOOOA!" The spectators collectively shouted in response to this.

Daisy's hand is red from hitting the metal helmet. Although Grim was pretty winded from Daisy letting everything out on that single slap. "Am I an idiot...? Am I an idiot for doing my job? To serve my soldiers? TO HELP PEOPLE?!" She is completely livid. Her eyes are as sharp as knives, and her teeth gritting hard.

Grim looked bewildered. But he quickly recovers. "Was that rhetorical? Cause it seems pretty obvious that YES. YES YOU ARE." He gets on her face. "You're the most expensive and greatest killing machines, and you waste your life on a bunch of betas who can't take care of themselves?"

"HEY!" Hauser shouts.

"SHUT UP!" Grim screams out, making him tense.

Daisy gets on his face next. "What is wrong with you?! You weren't so malicious and egotistical before!

"What is wrong with YOU?! You wouldn't take shit for anyone!" Both of them are face to face.

Sargent Forge barges in. "Alright alright! Break it up!" He gets to both of them. "We're at war against aliens! Not each other!"

Grim then walks back and leaves. But not before shoving Hauser off his feet. Forge shakes his head. "What's with him?"

Daisy was still mad. But eventually cools down and becomes saddened. "I don't know..." The Grim she knew is completely gone now.

To Be Continued...