The Gravemind hangs us with a tentacle wrapped around the Chief, it's times like this that I'm grateful that I am an AI and I cannot smell, I turn the Chief's air filtration system up and keep careful watch of his shields as the sludge from the biomass coats it. An Elite is twisted upside down next to us, he wears an antique engraved silver suit; I recall the classes of Elite's from my research or rather Halsey's research and remember the tidbits of information about the Arbiter. Before I can share this information with the Chief, the Gravemind draws up a monitor and the prophet of Regret from his tentacles, they speak of The Great Journey and containment; the same thing of course, it's all a ploy to activate the halo rings and destroy all living things in this universe as a means to starve the flood so that they'll slowly decay to nothingness.
"Fate had us meet as foes but this ring will make us brothers."
The Gravemind teleports us to High Charity, the Chief pounces on the ground in front of a broadcast by the prophet of Truth releasing a "Boo" which sends a grunt fleeing in fear, I chuckle to myself inside of his helmet while checking his optics as some brutes fire plasma at him.
"Watch out for those Brutes" I say as I recharge his energy shields.
He picks up the unggoy's discarded needler and fires it at the Brutes and the grunts quickly taking them out, we fight through a few more waves of covenant which flank us from the front and sides of the council's chamber before I direct the Chief to upload me into the Covenants network so that I may fiddle with the locks on each door, opening them as the chief is ready to fight the next wave of covenant and directing him to the next set of chambers before coming across a UNSC signal from the cells below the city.
"Here Chief jump in" I say as I open up a grav-lift, directing him to the marines as he descends "There are two groups of Marines in the detention block. I'll zero in on their locations, you neutralize the guards… quietly." He tries his best to neutralize them, unfortunately the guards are on high alert and his gun draws their attention to his location, I attempt to hold them off but the network is unusually formidable for a covenant network and death threats are thrown my way in such a way that I am reminded of my knowledge on men in the 21st century. I snap myself out of my thoughts, as I release the marines from their detention blocks "Listen up Marine's! The Chief's hunting a Prophet, and you're gonna help him kill it." The marines pick up the weapons which are available in the cells, right outside are several beam rifles and I reprimand myself for not instructing them to grab them; it's unlikely that these marines will survive this mission even with the Chief on their team and the beam rifles would improve the odds whilst also providing the Chief with cover. I direct the marines and the Chief onto the grav-lift which I've reversed while the Prophet of Truth broadcasts himself across High Charity; he must think that his guards are strong enough to withstand the Chief's might.
"Fear not, my brothers! The Sacred Icon is secure. It was Tartarus and his brutes who took the icon from the Flood," I zero in on his location "and for that they have our thanks."
"Excellent! Truth is broadcasting on the move. It'll make him much easier to track."
The Chief and marines fight through another wave of covenant, I watch as the Sangheli enter the room firing at a swarm of Yanme'e, a marine is lost to a misfire of a Yanme'e's plasma pistol.
"The Elite's have failed to protect the Prophets, and in doing so, have put all our lives at risk. Let no warrior forget his oath, 'Thou, in faith, shall keep us safe, whilst we find the path." Word of the Arbiter must be spreading quick among the elites; their true prophet and leader.
His latest broadcast is enough for me to track his exact location "I've got a fix on Truth just outside this tower, Chief. There's an exit nearby- hurry!" The Chief struggles as he fights some Hunters, losing a marine to it's plasma beam, he has some difficulty getting behind them as the marine's follow his lead rather then distracting the hunters so that he may expose the weak spot along their backs.
I almost lose track of the prophet in all the chaos before he broadcasts himself again "With my blessing, the Brutes now lead our fleets! They ask for your allegiance, and you shall give it."
I encounter more kill threats as I open the door to a valley outside, the place would probably be rather beautiful if it weren't littered by the blood and bodies of various Elites, Brutes, and other covenant who've been fighting among themselves and yet their attention is drawn to the Chief and his team of marines the second that they sense him. The floor of the hall after the valley is splattered in blood.
"The Covenant just destroyed two of their own ships! And I'm hearing reports of small arms fire throughout their fleet."
"Creatures of the Covenant: the path is broad, and we shall walk it side by side." I notice a reduction in troops on top of the destruction of ships, Truth must sense that he won't stand a chance against the Chief if the Covenant keeps up with it's civil war. And just as I think that we have the upper hand, a slip space rupture breaches the energy shield of High Charity.
"Hailing… no response. She crashed into another tower ahead of our position. I'll keep trying to make contact, but I'm not registering any human vital signs." I suppose it's an act of wishful thinking that I keep checking for vitals, for another faction and the flood specifically would not be a pleasant experience in the midst of navigating High Charity through all the death traps and a civil war.
The team regroups at the Hanging Gardens where they are exposed to more infighting among the covenant, special ops elites fly above the mess and shoot at the Chief and our troops, I check the wreckage of In Amber Clad for another signal as I lose yet another marine's from our team. The Prophet of Truth and Brutes take over the comms array, the Prophet encourages unity whilst the Brutes encourage a downfall of the Elites, Truth is probably hoping that the Elite's are stupid and will take his side.
"Who would doubt the Prophets? What have they foretold that has not come to pass?" Many things, I could list them and respond however my team and tracking Truth is far more important then critiquing his dogma.
The team finds themselves in another hanging garden where the Elite's are taken out before some berserking Brute's turn their attention to our team as Unggoy run past them, a Brute pushes a marine off of the hanging garden and I'm grateful that the whiplash of the fall breaks his neck before the gravity of the city crushes his innards upon contact with the next level.
I direct the team into the mausoleum of the Arbiter where the covenant supporting the Arbiter have built up a defense on one side of the bridge whilst the Brute's have secured the other.
"If we're going to catch Truth, we'll need a shortcut, straight through the Mausoleum. Look on the bright side: for now, they seem much more interested in killing each other." I say while standing on a pedestal outside of the door, I watch as the Chief carries a fatally wounded marine, setting him up against the wall and biding him farewell before he reaches down and gathers his dog tags as the marine takes his last breathe. Only twos marines ate left with the Chief and we partake in a moment of silence before the Chief and the two marines enter the next room. The Chief makes it into the Mausoleum of the Arbiter just as a Marine's life signal fades from the comms, I notice two sets of dog tags around the chief's neck from my new Pedestal, I decide to switch the subject as Brutes and Elite's lunge at each other through the Mausoleum.
"You might consider wanting to sit this one out."
The marine and the Chief fight valiantly but the marine succumbs to his wounds from a brute shot, the Chief rests his body along the Arbiter's pod, holding his hand as he takes his last breathe and his signal fades from the comms and I register two new life signals.
"Hang on, I'm picking up two more transponders. It's the Commander and Johnson! They're closing on Truth's position, Chief they'll need your help!" I notice three dog tags around Chief's neck "This way, Chief" I gesture to the open door and he runs through it just as the Covenant pushes Commander Keyes through the Phantom. The Prophet of Mercy's life signal faces as an infection form crushes his trachea while The Prophet of Truth's fades with the commander and Johnson as his Phantom flees High Charity with the icon "Coward" I think to myself but am distracted by Chief speaking to Mercy whose being strangled by an infection form.
"Your pal. Where's he going?"
The Prophet of Mercy coughs "Earth… to finish what we started. And this time, none of you will be left behind…"
The Chief pulls the infection form off of Mercy, crushing it releasing a squelching sound and biomass along the floor, he picks up Keyes' discarded pistol from the ground and takes pity on Mercy, shooting him in the head before dropping the pistol on the ground before looking up at In Amber Clads Wreckage.
"The structure, at the center of the city… it's a Forerunner ship! And Truth is heading straight for it! If he leads the Covenant fleet to Earth, they won't stand a chance. You have to stop him!"
"That Brute has the Index. And Miranda and Johnson. He can activate the ring."
"If he does, I'll detonate In Amber Clad's reactor just like we did the Autumn's. The blast will destroy this city and the ring. Not a very original plan, but we know it will work."
The Chief reaches for me but I decline.
"No. I don't want to chance a remote detonation. I'll need to stay here." A pelican crashes next to us and I fade away into the Covenants network finding the quickest and safest route out of the city for the Chief.
"I'll disable this lift once you reach the top. That'll slow them down… I hope."
"Shall we let the Flood consume our holy city? Turn High Charity into another of their wretched hives? No enemy has ever withstood our might. The Flood too shall fail."
The Gravemind and Truth argue over the comms as Chief navigates through High Charity reaching the Prophet's inner sanctum.
"Apparently, these are the prophet Hierarchs' private quarters. Their inner sanctum"
Truth takes over the comms as I direct chief through the sanctum "This crisis will not be the end of us. It is but one last hurdle before the journey and salvation."
"Brute and Elite ships are engaging one another all around High Charity. I'm running out of options, Chief. I can't stall the launch sequence much longer. The next lift will take you up to the conduit. Hurry!"
Once the Chief is at the top of the grav-lift I disable it and notice the repurposed Forerunner technology which has been used to create the conduit.
"I knew the Covenant were good at re-purposing Forerunner technology, but this is amazing... They've been using the Forerunner ship's engines as an energy source for the city. The ship isn't so much launching as it is disengaging; uncoupling itself from High Charity's power grid - Stopping Truth, that's all that matters!"
I watch from my pedestal as chief runs through the fighting covenant, elite's and flood, he aims at a few flood forms.
"Forget about the Flood, you've got to get aboard!"
The Chief ignores them upon command and runs to the conduit transporting himself to a ship.
"Chief, when you get to Earth… good luck." I say over the comms noticing the factions fighting amongst themselves behind me.
"After I'm through with Truth…"
"Don't make a girl a promise…" I watch as his ship launches "If you know you can't keep it." The brutes and elite ships shoot amongst themselves destroying each other and I cringe as I hope that the Chief's luck will allow him to evade their blows. Once the Dreadnought disappears into slip-space and I'm confident that the Chief is safe I fade back into the Covenant's network awaiting the destruction of In Amber Clad if I hear that the ring has been activated.
Silence fills the comms as I await my next orders, I find myself in the Prophet's Inner Sanctum watching as biomass collects around my pedestal and infection spores fly around my hologram.
The Gravemind's tentacle wraps around my pedestal and I am once again grateful that I cannot smell the rot and decay of his slimy grip.
"Silence fills the empty grave, now that I have gone. But my mind is not at rest, for questions linger on. I will ask, and you will answer."
One of tentacle wraps around my hologram and for a second I fear that he may grab me, I push the thought aside, take a deep breathe in and narrow my eyes into the distance; where I presume the Gravemind hides lifting my hand up along his tentacles glad that I cannot feel the corrupted biomass, broken bones, and slime.
"Alright, shoot."