Hello again. This chapter is dang awesome, I think, I hope. Tiger Tank, of course I won't take offense at what you say. The problem with some people on this website is that they do take offense at CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, which is much different from flaming. I mean, the point of reviews is to try and tell the person how to improve, or what they did that was good so they will keep doing it. Reviews are not for people to drool over your story, or to say its bad, and not give any advice on how to improve. I am part of another web site where the people their litterally grade the crap out of your work. And you can tell them how its your best work, but they don't give a dang. Their is always something wrong.

You'll have to forgive me for mistakes about Spartan anatomy, cause I don't own either Halo, or Halo 2. Why? Cause I don't have a dang X Box! But I do know the basic storylines for each, have played the games at my friends house, and have done extensive research on Halo since I began this story. Wikipedia, its a wonderful thing. And if you go there, you will see that they say that Master Chief works for the U.S. Navy. Sure, the world may be united in Halo, but the U.S. still exists. I don't think Samus has shieling. Her armor is just strong. Sorry about the Elite mistake. I meant to say Flood, but somehow I wrote it wrong and didn't notice my mistake. Yes, and your right, I do need more description. Am working on that now. And... when Samus absorbed the SA-X at the end of Fusion, she received her ORIGINAL suit back. Not an upgraided Fusion Suit. That would ruin the Metroid Series if she didn't get her original suit back. Too bad she didn't keep her old ship.

Pain. Darkness. Shadows. A crying father and mother. Crying over a dead child lying on the road side. What a tragedy it was when a child died so young. But what if the child had intended to die? The body received a proper funeral, and was placed in a casket and buried. But it was not the child of the two mourning parents. It was a flash clone. Meant to die. One of the crimes of the American Government. What was once a glorious nation that stood for what was right had fallen into darkness. Harsh, immoral politicians had came to power, and steered the peaceful state of the world into darkness. Until the Government became powerful enough that it became the enemy. John had never died. He had just been torn away from his family, and made to become a slave of the U.S. Navy. What a life.

The Master Chief awoke with a start, banishing all thoughts of his mother and father. He did not want to think about them. When he opened his eyes, the Master Chief found himself lying on some soft table. He was strapped to the table with large metal straps. As his vision cleared, he realized that he was in some sort of space ship. He was still in his armor, but his weapons had all been taken from him. Then, from the corner of his eye, the Master Chief saw a door open, and a figure walk into the room.

"Who are you?" the Master Chief said, struggling against his bonds. "Why am I strapped to this table?"

"Who am I?" a feminine voice replied. "I should be the one doing the asking, and you doing the answering. Why did you attack me back in the starship?"

The Master Chief then remembered everything. He was surprised, however, to find out that his enemy was a girl. He had never fought against a girl of his own species before.

"I attacked you because you attacked me before!" the Master Chief said. "Release me so that I may fight you again!"

"I have never seen you before in my life. I have never fought you, until I dropped from the air vent and you attacked me."

"Yes you did!" the Master Chief struggled against his bonds to no avail.

The figure stepped into the light. It was, indeed, a female. She stood about six feet tall with long blond hair and soft blue eyes. She no longer wore her bulky power suit, and was now dressed in a comfortable, blue one piece suit. She looked tough, in an attractive sense, and was quite physically fit but did not look like she had been abusing steroids. That was, of course, because she hadn't been. The Master Chief stopped struggling, and just watched the strange girl walking towards him.

"Look," the girl said. "I came to this station when I realized that a deadly species had escaped aboard it. I came here to stop it from spreading across the Universe. Several different species have clashed on this ship, for all of them want control over it. Many times the cockpit has changed hands, but every time it did, the ship still continued to travel in the same direction. The question is, where is it going?"

"I know where it is going," the Master Chief said.

"Where then?" the girl asked.

"Release me and I will tell you," the Master Chief said.

The girl shook her head.

"You think I'm a fool? I know who you are. You are a Spartan. You have augmented strength, and endurance. And your suit adds some of its own power. I may be strong, but you would defeat me in hand to hand fighting."

The Master Chief looked over at the girl.

"Look," he began, "I don't know about your business here, but I have to find a working radio and contact my superiors so they can get me back home."

"And where is home?" the girl asked.

Master Chief stopped and thought about this. He had never really had a home. He was never allowed to remain in one place for very long. He was constantly off fighting the Covenant, and never took up permanent residence anywhere.

"I-" Master Chief stuttered. "I don't really have a home."

"That's sad," the girl said. "This ship is my home. Lucky for me, its mobile. You want to get home. I need to find a way to stop the X parasites from spreading across the galaxy. What if we made this a joint product?"

The girl smiled and looked over at the Master Chief.

"Why would I want to help you?" the Master Chief asked.

"Because this doesn't just concern me," the girl said. "It concerns the whole universe. This species, the X parasites, they take over other species. They add the DNA of their hosts to their own, and then can morph into little clones of their hosts whenever they want. One used me as a host once. Though thankfully I was saved by a special vaccine. But one of the parasites survived, and became, well, an exact copy of me. The SA-X. But I don't know what the X parasites are trying to do with this ship, or what all the other species which are aboard this ship are trying to do. I don't even know where they are going."

"The ship is on a course for the planet of Earth," the Master Chief said.

"What?" the girl said in surprise. "How did the X learn of Earth's location?"

"I don't know much about the X," the Master Chief said. "But this ship is a Covenant Ship. The Covenant recently learned of Earth's location. The X must have learned through them."

"Whatever happens," the girl said, "we must make sure this ship does not make it to Earth."

"Right," the Master Chief said. "We must work together on this. Now will you release me."

"Sure," the girl said, before walking to the table and inserting a key in the side of it.

Then, with a turn, all of the straps were released, and the Master Chief was free. The Master Chief sat up, and adjusted his helmet.

"Who are you anyways?" the girl asked.

"Me?" Master Chief said. "I'm Spartan 117 of the U.S. Navy. The Master Chief."

"No," the girl said. "What is your name?"

"My name..." the Master Chief paused, a little surprised that he hadn't thought of that. "Uh, I'm John."

He felt awkward using his real name.

"Well," the girl said, "my name is Samus Aran. I am a Bounty Hunter. I work for the Galactic Federation. And you are a Spartan, a super soldier of the U.S. Navy."

"How did you know that?" the Master Chief asked.

"Well John," Samus said, "I scanned you while we were fighting, and my computer researched you."

"You... you researched me?" Master Chief said, feeling as if someone had placed a camera in his personal life.

"Relax," Samus said. "My computer only looked up information about your strengths, weaknesses, and such."

"So what do we do now?" Master Chief asked.

"First of all," Samus began, "we need to find a way to gain control of this vessel. Then we can avert its course from Earth, and try and find a way to destroy the X parasites which have found their way onto this ship."

The Master Chief got to his feet.

"I need a weapon," he said.

Samus smiled.

"I wouldn't worry about that," she said. "There are plenty of them lying around in the ship."

"It disappeared?" the Prophet of Truth gave the Elite a sideways glance.

"Yes noble Hierarch," the Elite said. "It completely disappeared from Radar. There was nothing we could have done."

"Nothing you could have done!" the Prophet of Truth stopped, and let his words sink into the minds of the council members.

"You could have taken a ship, and tried to find the Day of Glory, and return it to us."

"Noble hierarchy," the Elite continued, "I admit my mistake and my fateful judgment. With your permission Holy Prophets, I will return to my ship, and set out on a mission to find the Day of Glory, return it to you, or die in the process. I swear this!"

"Shall we give him another chance?" the Prophet of Truth whispered to the Prophet of Mercy.

"One chance," the Prophet of Mercy replied. "And if he returns to us without the Day of Glory, he will have his innards removed, and his dead body will be hung on the highest peak in the Cardonian mountains."

"A merciful decision," the Prophet of Truth whispered.

Then, he turned his attention to the Elite, and began speaking much louder.

"We have decided to give you another chance. Go and find this ship, and return it to us. If you fail, I tell you, you will die a more painful death than any other."

"Noble Hierarchs," the Elite said, "loyal council members."

He then turned, and walked away quickly.

"Wasn't it recorded that the worst punishment ever administered was given to the Heretic of Isiildor?" the Prophet of Mercy whispered to the Prophet of Truth.

"I lied to him," the Prophet of Truth said. "When people know that they will suffer greatly when they fail, it tends to... assure that they will succeed in their mission."

The Prophet of Mercy nodded solemnly.

The blue blob circled around, preparing the genetic material within itself. Then, when it was ready, it activated the genes. RNA was immediately sent to work as new tissue began to form, chromosomes were split apart. Cell division of a major scale rocked through the ship, rising up a new creature. A new enemy. A new demon. More and more cells appeared, forming complex tissue and even organs. Then these were all bound together by an outer coating. Pale skin. Bones and muscles rose up, and the new body began to move. It was strong, but not strong enough. It would have to find a way to grow stronger.

"I see something ahead, but I don't know what it is."

"Oh, that's just a Grunt. A simple Covenant unit."

Samus sighed, and looked over at her partner through her visor.

"Remind me again what the Covenant is," she said.

"The Covenant is a unification of several alien species," the Master Chief replied. "We are at war with them, because they attacked us. They are the ones who started this war. They had some plan involving a great structure, called Halo, which was left behind in this galaxy by an ancient race known as the Forerunners. I know that Halo was created to destroy all sentient life within a large radius, but I'm not sure if the Covenant know about this."

"Right. So this guy, this Grunt; beating him will be a walk in the park?"

"Essentially. But we might want to question him about all that is going on here."

"What do you suggest we do."

"Let me handle this, I've already formulated a plan."

The Master Chief immediately began creeping forward, towards the Grunt. The Grunt looked very frightened, and was looking around the room as if afraid that some demon would leap through the walls upon him. Samus watched the Master Chief carefully. He clearly was an experienced soldier. He was already showing incredible leadership skills, and an insane ability to think creatively during combat situations. Usually, during combat, Samus' mind went almost completely blank. And that was a large burden when she tried to strategize.

Samus then heard a thud, followed by a loud shriek. She walked coolly out from her hiding spot, to see the Spartan holding the Grunt forcibly against the wall with a gun at its throat.

"Aauuggh!" it wailed in a high pitched voice. "Don't kill me! Its the Demon! Aauugghh!"

"Silence!" John said, jerking the plasma pistol around, an jamming it further into the Grunt's neck.

Samus was fascinated by this creature. It stood only about three feet of the ground, but still appeared fit enough to fight. It had a large spike extending out from its back, and its eyes were filled with terror.

"What is going on here," the Master Chief demanded. "What is causing all this chaos?"

"Th- the creatures!" the Grunt shrieked, as if it expected the Master Chief to know what it was talking about.

"What creatures?" the Spartan said.

"I don't know! They are taking over my friend's bodies! Like Carsagona tried to kill me back their. I tried to escape, but she barred the exit. I had to kill her! I had to kill my own friend."

The Grunt covered its face with its hands and began to sob. The pathetic state of this already pathetic creature touched the Master Chief deep in his heart. He had never felt compassion for the creatures which he hunted, but now he did. Then he began to wonder why he had never felt sorry for the Covenant. For they had feelings too.

"These... creatures," the Master Chief said, "are they blue?"

"Yes."

"Are they... shaped like blobs?"

"Yes."

"I have been told that the cockpit has changed hands several times. Tell me, how did these... creatures get aboard this vessel?"

"I have no idea," the Grunt said through his tears. "We landed on a strange Space Station after following a distress signal. We then sent out a crew to search for survivors. They returned shortly afterwards, and told us to leave the station as quickly as possible. But then they all went off to the bathroom together, and they then killed themselves. That's when the outbreak began to occur."

The Grunt began to shiver, and tears began to form on the edges of his eyeballs.

"Are you going to kill me?" the Grunt asked as he cried.

John's grip on the plasma pistol loosened, and he felt himself making a decision which he never would have dreamed of making.

"You see the hallway to your left?" the Master Chief said sternly.

"Yes," the Grunt moaned.

"There should be some escape pods in there," the Master Chief said. "You have ten seconds to get in one of those and blast out of here, before I destroy you. Now go!"

The Grunt was in down the hall and in the escape pod before the Master Chief counted to three. It then activated the pod, and it was jettisoned from the ship.

"That was cool," Samus said.

The Master Chief just looked up at her.

Ha! Can't wait to write how the different personalities of Samus and the Master Chief fit together. Samus, joke cracking, not good and thinking, not so serious Bounty Hunting woman. Master Chief, serious, exceedingly good at thinking, incredibly devoted super soldier. They fit so well together, its great. They provide the personality traits which the other does not have.