Chapter VIII

Remnants

"Please, follow me, Reclaimer," the Monitor cheerfully hummed as it sped out of the Pelican's troop bay. Miranda Keyes sighed; why, out of all the Marines, Covenant, did this precocious little machine choose her as the "Reclaimer"? Why her, and not someone else, like that elite, the "Arbiter", or Johnson? Miranda looked up; a large pyramid, covered in snow, dominated the face of what looked like a large cliff. A large bump in the snow that looked like the remnants of a Wraith mortar tank stood behind them. Miranda shivered and began to march up the slopes of the pyramid, towards the Control Room.

It seemed that bad things ran in the family. Her father had discovered the first Halo ring. His ship, the Pillar of Autumn, had been destroyed when the Master Chief escaped and destroyed the ring. From the Chief's report and Cortana's databanks, Miranda learned the fate of her father; after hearing that the Pillar of Autumn had fled the carnage at Reach, she had kept optimistic about her father's mission and his survival. Unfortunately, when only the SPARTAN super soldiers and Sergeant Johnson returned from the first Halo, she knew that her father was dead. The terms of her father's demise, however, were nothing short of horrible.

Based on the Chief's records and the data extracted from Cortana, her father had been in constant pain before he died. He had become the central brain of the parasitic entity called the Flood, a new kind of parasite that dominated a host body, and then turned it into a mindless zombie form that attacked anything it came across. Unfortunately for her father, the Flood obviously knew that Keyes was important. So they assimilated him into their most important Flood form, the Brain Form. This thing, based on the Chief's camera feeds, was huge, about two times the size of a normal human. It was large and puffy, and upon close examination, had also consumed the ranking Covenant officer, as well. Sapping Keyes of his strength until he died, the thing learned how to take the Autumn's core offline- the Monitor had gotten to it first, though.

The Arbiter, the massive blue elite that stood before her now, had told stories of an even bigger Flood form, lurking inside of Delta Halo's Library. It had called itself "Gravemind", and when the Arbiter had gone into the remnants of High Charity to extract Cortana, the thing had been there, too. The Arbiter had boasted that he killed it, but Keyes was uncertain; the Flood were very resilient, she could give them that. When she and Johnson had stormed the Library, Keyes had unloaded an entire clip of SMG ammunition into a charging Flood form to make it collapse. Still, the idea of another Flood form greater than the one that had been her father…at least the Flood were stuck on High Charity, she was sure of that. That ship was not going anywhere.

"Active Camouflage will not work against the parasite, warriors. They can see right through it; we are in their hive" the Arbiter said. It was true; the Monitor had led them into the remains of the Control Room of Installation 04. So far, the Flood were nowhere in sight, but that did not mean that they were not lurking…waiting…for the right moment to strike. Keyes gripped her SMG's in anticipation, her eyes darting back and forth, watching the shadows. Her father's fate would not befall her.

The soft blue glow of the Monitor was a stark contrast to the blinding white light of the Marine flashlights. The Elites had borrowed some Marine flashlights; Johnson and Miranda, being the "Reclaimer" and all, were the only humans to accompany the Elites on this trip; the energy shields of the Elites would protect them from Flood spore forms. Humans were vulnerable, though; Johnson and Keyes were in the center of the group, protected by a circle of Elites. The Elites nervously flexed their fingers around their Plasma Rifles, Needlers, and Carbines, mumbling battle hymns and poems. The Arbiter had chosen an odd assortment of weapons; his traditional Plasma Sword at his waist, a human shotgun at his back, and a Covenant Carbine in his arms. Normally, it was an unspoken rule between all armed forces to never carry more than two weapons, but the Arbiter was prepared for whatever the Flood would throw at him in the darkness of the devastated Control Room.

"Hmm hmm hmm. Ahh, the Sentinels have still not repaired the damage done by the last Reclaimer" the Monitor hummed as it passed over a large mass of bodies. Keyes noted the massive holes blown in several of the more human looking forms, and the plasma burns and shrapnel imbedded in the others. Spent shotgun shells littered the floor; the amount scattered was a testament to the sheer tenacity of the Flood.

"Ahh, the last Reclaimer was most uncooperative. He failed to follow containment protocol, and almost let the Flood escape this installation" the Monitor sighed. Keyes smiled; the Chief had done a number on the Flood here. Plasma burns, thousands of empty brass cartridges that looked like they came from the archaic M5AB Assault Rifle and larger shells from an M6D Pistol lay next to a large, smoking crater, where a discarded Rocket Launcher lay empty. Flood goo and a small bloodstain decorated the wall behind them. Keyes shuddered and followed the Elites forward.

"We are near the central complex. When we reach it, I will be able to access this Installation's databanks" the Monitor reported.

"Good. Let's go" Keyes said.

Footsteps began to echo behind them. The Elites noticed it first; the last Elite turned, his dual Plasma Rifles held at head height, ready to severely maul anything that decided to follow them. Nothing. The hallway was empty.

"Keep moving. It is probably the parasite, trying to ambush us. Keep your weapons at the ready" the Arbiter snarled, gripping his Carbine tightly. Keyes nodded and followed the Monitor.

Eventually, the central platform drew into view. It was not unlike the one in Delta Halo, the same platform where the Arbiter, Johnson, and Keyes had united to defeat Tartarus, the Brute Chieftain. The central console was still intact- a massive holoprojection showed the damage done to this Halo. It would never fire again.

"Ahh, I am a genius. Ha, ha, ha!" the Monitor hummed as it floated over the center console. After a moment's silence, the machine shouted angrily,

"Oh, of all the…the Installation has locked me out of the archives! Without the Index, I cannot access these files!" the Monitor cried angrily.

Keyes suddenly felt a warm glow in her front pocket. Extracting the glow's source, she discovered Cortana's data chip, all but forgotten. Remembering that Cortana still had the Index, Keyes stepped forward and inserted the chip into the glowing terminal- it morphed and pulsated for a moment, and Cortana's hologram appeared above them.

"Well, I'm back" Cortana said smoothly. The Monitor seemed a bit agitated that Cortana was required to find the Arc- Keyes knew their past together, when the Chief had escaped Installation 04.

"Just get us the coordinates of the Arc and let's go" the Monitor huffed. This was extremely out of character for the little blue orb- it was usually talkative and annoying. Now it was terse and angry. It really had to hate Cortana to suddenly change personalities. Keyes chuckled slightly; AI constructs certainly were characters.

"Scanning. Searching…I…I don't believe it. Of course, it makes absolute sense…why didn't I guess this before?" Cortana asked, thinking out loud. Keyes piped up;

"Cortana. Where is the Arc?" she asked.

"You're not going to believe this, ma'am, but it's Sol. Earth" she said, her eyes flashing red. Keyes gasped; the Arbiter shook his head in confirmation.

"I had guessed this was Regret's true reason for attacking your home world so quickly, humans. We must make haste to your home planet and rally all forces loyal to the Sanghelli and take down Truth" the Arbiter said. The Elites growled in approval.

Suddenly, as the Elite on point turned to leave, it screamed in pain. Writhing and thrashing, the warrior was lifted into the air by an unseen force, and then flung sideways, like a discarded toy. He lay there, still breathing, for several moments before his eyes glazed over in death.

The Arbiter roared a challenge and fired his Carbine into the air. The green-yellow munitions sped through the air, impacting the walls and the floor. A low, gurgling chuckle came from the other side of the room, as three points of glowing red light focused on the Arbiter's helmet. Sensing what was about to happen, the Arbiter dodged out of the way as a flash of blue light whizzed by his helmet, impacting the terminal. Keyes grabbed Cortana's disc and fired her SMG's. There was the sound of bullets piercing flesh, and an unearthly roar echoed through the Control Room.

Johnson fired his weapon and roared,

"Let's rock!"

Screaming maniacally, he fired at the source of the loud yell, and was rewarded with the sound of bullets impacting metal. A trail of what looked like green blood seemed to appear out of thin air, trailing across the ground. Soon, all the fire from the Elites, Johnson, Keyes, and the Arbiter was aimed at this moving…thing, stalker, whatever it was. Keyes snarled as the thing quickly changed course, throwing her aim off.

Another blue flare rocketed across the room. The Arbiter took this one in the chest. He grunted and flew backwards, off the sides of the platform, into the sheer drop towards the bottom of the Control Room! Keyes watched in horror as the Elite flailed and tried to grab onto the side railing as he went over; he missed. Keyes' head snapped over as an Elite gurgled; it's head bent backwards at a 180 degree angle. A horrible snapping noise was heard as the warrior's spine bent backwards, and the body was thrown sideways as the invisible warrior turned towards Keyes.

Horrified, Keyes depressed the triggers of her SMG's, only to find them click empty. Dropping the second weapon and reloading the first, Keyes desperately backed up, biding for time. The invisible stalker was following her, she could sense it. A low shimmer gave the creature away. It was only a few paces away from overtaking her.

Keyes' back hit the door of the Control Room. The thing kept coming closer and closer, soaking up her SMG bullets like a sponge soaks up water. Screaming, Keyes held her weapon in a death grip, even after the bolt snapped open and the weapon clicked. It was empty. Reaching into her pouch for another clip, Keyes' eyes widened as she didn't find one. This was the end; she was going to die, like her father before her.

As if to mock her, the creature in front of her de-cloaked as it neared her. It was a massive beast, hulking and tall. Several bullet wounds sprayed green blood, and a metal mask obscured the creature's face. The shoulder cannon didn't fire; instead, the creature sunk into a low battle stance, extending a long pair of wrist blades. It let out an odd gurgle/ chuckle, before saying, in a synthesized voice,

"Hasta la vista, baby".

Suddenly, the creature roared in pain. Keyes jumped sideways as the long point of a Plasma Sword severed the creature's arm with the wrist blades attached. Turning, Keyes saw it was the Arbiter! He looked somewhat spent, but was in a low stance, with his ceremonial Plasma Sword drawn.

"Fall back, human!" he cried. Keyes scrambled backwards, her eyes never leaving the strange creature. The thing turned and punched the Arbiter in the face, causing the Elite to curse in his native tongue, and recoil. His Plasma Sword tumbled out of the Elite's arms, and it hit the floor, snapping off on contact. The energy cell instantly discharged all of it's energy upon contact with the ground; it was now unusable.

The Arbiter struggled, trying to kick the creature away. The stalker had the Elite by the throat, and the Arbiter looked on the verge of faint.

A loud BANG rang through the halls as the white trail of a human sniper rifle passed through the stalker's head. Twitching for a second, the thing slumped to the ground, dead. Sergeant Johnson whooped and yelled,

"OH YEAH, BABY! HEADSHOT!" he cried triumphantly. The Arbiter, coughing up purple blood and holding his chest, slowly staggered to his feet. Two of the remaining Elites rushed to his aid; the Arbiter pushed them away.

"We need to leave. If your construct had the data, we must escape. More of those stalkers are coming, and the parasite cannot be far" the Arbiter coughed. Scooping up his useless sword, the Arbiter once again took point, Shotgun at the ready. The Elite was hiding it as best he could, but Miranda could see that he was exhausted. From the stories told by fellow Elites, the Arbiter had been fighting nonstop for several days, only being crowned "Arbiter" two days previously. He had fought with a "Heretic" leader one day previously, and had met the Chief today, courtesy of Gravemind.

The Pelicans were still waiting for them at the base of the pyramid. The group eagerly sprinted down towards them, eager to escape the carnage of the Control Room.

A gurgle to the left. Johnson wheeled in time to see a Flood combat form jump into the air, right at him. He fired two sniper rifle rounds into the creature's chest, but the thing kept coming. The Arbiter turned, drew his shotgun, and blew a massive hole where the Infection form resided in the zombie's chest. The creature continued on its flight, though, and landed with a dull splat against the pyramid wall.

The Pelicans hovered, waiting. The Marine pilots turned in their seats and yelled;

"Hurry up, everyone! Radar shows a massive column of vehicles heading this way!"

The Elites scrambled aboard the dropships. Keyes and Johnson hopped aboard the second one as it lifted off, just in time; a massive horde of Flood Combat and Carrier forms emerged, crawling like bugs out of the woodwork. Johnson tossed a frag grenade out of the side of the Pelican, and it blew, with a loud whoosh that momentarily deafened Keyes and blew a good chunk out of the attack force. The remaining troops, however, fired their weapons at the dropships. Crystalline needles, superheated plasma, and bullets whizzed past the open door of the Pelicans as they took off for their ship in orbit.

The back doors slammed closed as the Pelicans burned ground fast. Below them, hordes and hordes of Flood fired various weapons, including several rockets and Fuel Rods, at the slow, cumbersome, Pelicans. The pilots were able to nimbly dodge these shots, however, and kept the dropships on a steady path towards the orbiting cruiser.

A loud whistling whine filled the air around the Pelican. Keyes' eyes widened in fear; it was the sound all Pelican pilots had learned to fear. The approaching whine that unmistakably belonged to Covenant Banshees.

Two Banshees appeared over the horizon. The Pelicans split up and put their ships into a spiraling roller coaster ride as the lead Banshee opened fire.

And to make matters worse, a large shell barely missed hitting the starboard wing. Glancing out of the back viewport, Keyes spied a Scorpion MBT perched below in a ravine. It was right in front of some kind of odd dam- it kept lobbing shells as the Pelicans whooshed by.

Three more Banshees appeared on the Pelican's radar, only twenty clicks away. Keyes saw them as tiny black dots on the horizon, approaching quickly.

"Open fire! Take em' down!" the pilot of the Pelican yelled. The copilot nodded and toggled the safety for the 70 mm chain gun on the Pelican's nose. The gun began to automatically track and fire on the incoming Banshees. The first two assailants went down in a blaze of smoke and fire as the chain gun turned them into Swiss cheese. The three new Banshees, however, had already closed the distance, and were opening fire with their Fuel Rod Cannons. The green blobs of energy tracked the Pelican as the pilots jinked and swerved to avoid them, a narrow miss saved them. The munitions harmlessly impacted a low ridge as the Pelican flew overhead.

Johnson was searching the weapons locker of the Pelican. Eventually growling happily as he extracted his prize, Johnson yelled to the pilot;

"Pilot, lower the back hatch. It's time to give our tail some sting!" he yelled, hefting the massive M19 SSM Rocket Launcher. The words "SPNKr" glowed in the semi-darkness of the Pelican's main hold. A breath mask also adorned the Sarge's face. Miranda wondered why he was wearing one- the air was fine enough to breathe. The back hatch opened, revealing the three Banshees hot on the Pelican's tail.

"Smile, you SOB's," the Sarge smiled as he fired off two rockets. The first Banshee was too slow to react, and was blown to smithereens, almost taking the second down with it. The second Banshee swerved to avoid the falling wreckage of the first Banshee, and realized too late that it had been set on an irreversible crash course with a cliff wall. The third Banshee dodged the rocket, and sped up, gaining on the Pelican. It was gonna ram the Pelican!

Sergeant Johnson dropped the rocket launcher and grinned.

"Ever since I saw the Chief do this, I've always wanted to try it" he said, leaping out the back hatch of the Pelican. Miranda gasped, thinking he had fallen. Instead, the third Banshee rose into view, with Johnson straddling the top of it! He flashed a thumbs up at Miranda as he hauled the cockpit canopy open, threw out the Flood Combat form within, and hopped in, sealing the cockpit behind him. The Banshee fell into escort formation with the Pelican. The back ramp closed as the Pelican entered outer space.

The Sergeant had been planning that little stunt all along; that was the reason for taking the breath mask! Miranda chuckled at the Sergeant's ingenuity as the Pelican floated into the Pious Inquisitioner's docking bay.

An Elite ran up to the lead dropship and whispered something urgent to the Arbiter. The Arbiter looked at the Elite, and growled in his native tongue before stalking over to Miranda. Sergeant Johnson fell in behind her, after exiting his Banshee. A massive grin adorned his face as he held his breath mask; he was obviously very happy.

"Humans. Come with me. There's been a new development on that warrior with the thing on his face" the Arbiter reported.

"Why? What is it?" Keyes asked.

"The thing is gone. He's in med bay now; we must go see him" the Arbiter said. Keyes felt an odd feeling of premonition in her gut- something was wrong, very wrong, with the entire thing, but Keyes shrugged, decided it was merely stress, and followed the Arbiter as he stalked out of the docking bay.