Author's note 1:

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!

I'm extremely happy and thrilled to announce that I have officially asked someone with high skills and determination to draw a cover for this fanfiction. It might take weeks, months or whatever, but I'm confident the work shall be done in the foreseeable future and updated without difficulties.

Once the current image is replaced by the cover, I shall direct you to the wonderful Author helping me out. Hopefully he'll be available for more content!

SpoopyTheScout: I'll explain that once CE is done and "thrown aside".

Toalorikan626: Again, hacking in a datapad allows Ghost to access the UNSC network and pull out everything he needs. As for the talk between Keyes and Jake, I have something in mind between two other famous characters. One from Destiny and the other from Halo. For now though, emotional talks are not something I look forward to.

Enjoy!


The dark and grizzy forests of Halo were not that different from Earth's own ones. They weren't enough dark to hide the multitude of Covenant troops retreating in pure fear from something he couldn't see or hear.

Echo-419 slowly descended and retracted the entrance of the pelican. Jake quickly finished his next note.

The AI accompanying Master Chief has discovered something through Halo's archives and it clearly scared her.

I'm not sure what could be worse than the whole united Covenant.

Yet… this is familiar, mirroring the discovery of Siva by my team back home when Saladin summoned us.

I hope Cortana didn't find another virus capable of replicating and transforming anything it touches.

He let Ghost transmatting the notebook back in the deposit and reloaded SUROS Regimen. Jake figured increasing damage and more precision would be useful against the Covenant, especially for their non-possession of any sort of paracausal abilities. He also checked Null Composure on his back and nodded in satisfaction.

"The last transmission from the Captain's dropship was from this area. That was over 12 hours ago… and we've been unable to reestablish contact with him or his team."

"Wonderful start." He deadpanned. "We'll have to search the entire area if he already opened the 'weapon cache' Cortana warned us about."

"Captain Keyes is fully capable of fighting and protecting himself." John tried to hide the small pride in his comment, but after repressing his emotions during missions for so many years, the Titan immediately caught on.

"They might have history together. Who knows."

Yeah, Ghost was right.

"When you locate Captain Keyes, radio in and I'll come pick you up."

Faint background gunfires echoed throughout the entire forests like piercing needles. They immediately perked their heads up and aimed at the source of the sound, but nothing greeted them in return.

"Those were Covenant weapons, right? They seem to be engaging in combat." While walking towards the noise, Jake opened his palm and summoned Ghost. "Are they fighting Keyes' men?"

The little light shook his frame and clicked. "Scans show small human activities beneath one of the ring's structures. Whatever it is they're fighting, it's not Covenant or human."

Rounding the corner, they paused at the amount of dead troops adorning the battleground. Some of them seemed to have been torn apart… from the inside? Ghost gently floated on the body of an Elite and commenced a scan. Jake and John covered him with deep attention to their environment.

"I detected an unknown biological trace. It's organic and seems to be spreading in the body's tissues, altering the subject's DNA. It doesn't show familiar patterns."

He winced slightly at the orange and green pus in the Elite's chest.

"Keep your eyes open, Chief." He opened his hand and let Ghost disappear. "Let's stick together or we'll end up like in a horror movie."

He didn't receive an answer, not that he expected one in the first place.

The Guardian used his double jump to get on a broken tree acting as a bridge for their passage. He turned around and offered his hand. "Come on, Chief." He beckoned the Spartan who jumped in a straight line in the air and caught him. He to admit, if he was either a Hunter or a Warlock, he wouldn't have been able to lift the soldier's weight. He did it without much trouble anyway.

On the other side, they were surprised when a Covenant patrol ran from the entrance of a structure pinpointed by Ghost. Before they could raise their rifles, a big explosion wiped out the aliens, leaving no survivors.

"What the fuck." He murmured in disbelief.

"Uh, there's an elevator leading down where Keyes' signal shut down."

Jake glanced around him, wondering if the Covenant were ambushed by something or someone with higher firepower. He blinked when many humanoid shapes entered his field of vision, watching him on hills.

He tapped Chief's shoulder and nodded towards their direction. "You see that?"

"See what? There's nothing out there."

Confused, he turned around and tilted his head as the shapes disappeared and left no trace of their existence.

"I-I thought I saw something." He left it there, not adding anything else.

The elevator was easy to hack through, Ghost led them deep inside the structure. More dead Covenant greeted them on the lower level.

"I don't like this." John commented.

"Me too, there are no human bullets scattered around. What the hell killed this patrol?"

"Organic material present inside bodies which is highly active and infectious? This isn't merely a virus or a special infection created by someone, it looks like a living organism spreading across bodies…" Ghost switched to a private channel. "…it reminds me too much of SIVA. Keep your eyes open."

Wandering around the facility, they found a special containment chamber with green lights flickering around. Ghost flew towards it and scanned it.

"A research facility perhaps? I'm not sure what these cages would contain but it might be linked to the Covenant dead troops we found. What if they released something housed here?"

It didn't help that he felt watched, and Chief probably had the same impression.

They arrived to another closed door with an item planted on the left corner. It was a hacking device to open sealed passages. Chief approached it to clear a way for the room but they both snapped their attention behind them as slithering noises reached their ears.

There was nothing…

Chief pressed 'Enter' on the device and the door opened.

THUD!

The unconscious body of a marine connected with his chest. "Cover me." He simply ordered. Jake aimed SUROS behind them and slowly advanced in sync to John's pacing, and thankfully nothing attacked them.

"Is he still alive?"

"Negative." Chief grabbed his rifle and scanned the room: blood was splattered around like ketchup and various human equipment was scattered across the space.

The Titan kneeled on the ground and analyzed a helmet with the name 'JENKINS' printed on it. "Hey, Chief! I found this." He waved the helmet in the air.

"Is the chip inside still intact?"

He fumbled with the equipment but then nodded. "Yeah, I see it." He detached the chip and launched it to Chief. Though before he could insert it in his armour, Ghost appeared.

"Might I link the footage to Jake's HUD? You wouldn't want to waste time explaining it, correct?"

Chief thought about it for a moment before shrugging and offering the chip. Ghost used his beam to interface with the technology and successfully uploaded its data to the Guardian's HUD.

Most of the footage simply showed the team's mission and journey throughout the facility. But after they discovered the dead body of an Elite and entered the room they were currently in, that's when it got interesting.

"We got contacts-lots of 'em!" A marine cried over Johnson's comms. "But they're not Covenant-just tearing through us! –NO! NOOO! AHHH!"

"Corporal? Do you copy, over? Shit…" Johnson blinked and shook his head. "…Mendoza, get your ass back to second squad's position, and find out what the hell is going on!"

"But-"

"I don't have time for your lip, soldier! I gave you an order!"

"But Sarge! Listen!" Mendoza pointed his finger to the ceiling and the marines, Keyes too, ceased their whispering to listen to the strange sounds around them. The door leading to their left was suddenly trashed open and out came… something, Jake couldn't describe it.

It all happened fast, but the team was surrounded by those things and Mendoza ran away in fear while Jenkins was attacked by the things and exhaled his final breaths. The footage was interrupted and they were both forced back into reality.

"Oh Traveler." Ghost whispered. "Cortana and I were able to communicate for a moment despite the signal being weak. She sent me a file containing informations on the creatures Keyes' squad encountered. They call them 'Flood.'''

BAM! BAM!

The door at the far side of the room was broken and in slithered the pod infectors of the Flood, there were about twenty of them and all making their way towards them. Mostly likely researching for a host to infect.

"Focus fire." Chief ordered and he didn't need to be told twice.

They didn't use small and contained bursts, but rather big and aimless attacks to eradicate as many infectors as possible. They managed to eliminate the small group before any of them could reach them.

BAM! BAM!

Another door destroyed and more infectors slithered in, but this time they were accompagnied by combat forms of both human and Elite species.

There's too many of them.

CLANG!

Using his light, Jake summoned a hammer made of pure fire, burning as hot as the sun itself, and waved it up in the air. He launched hammer after hammer against the Flood and each time, he used more light to summon another weapon. He heard the shrieking sound sof the mindless beasts in comparison to using bullets and came with one logical explanation.

"Fire and explosion work better against them!" He warned Master Chief before tossing his last hammer and grabbed SUROS as his super died out.

John followed Jake's suggestion and launched a plasma grenade in the mist, the infectors were for the most part annihilated while more combat forms entered the room. Jake attached a fusion grenade against an Elite combat form and watched it explode, taking out a human combat form with it too.

He avoided the strike of two infectors and crushed them under his boots. The Titan cursed by the amount of enemies surrounding them, he switched to Null Composure and charged his whole magazine at the ready.

More and more Flood kept coming.

"We have to retreat, now!"

"The elevator has been compromised by the Flood, we'll have to roam underneath the facility to find another which will bring us to the surface. I marked its location on both of your HUDs."

Fantastic.

BOOM! BOOM!

Jake glanced to his left and blinked. "And where the hell did you find a shotgun?"

"One of these things carried it with them."

Chief mowed another combat form with his new weapon and covered Jake's retreat.

Next time, don't ask stupid questions. You'll never discover a concrete answer anyway.

A door previously sealed beeped with a green light. They fought off what remained of the Flood 'patrol' and rushed for the elevator, it gave them some time to organize ideas.

"So their main weakness is fire and explosions to wipe out as many as possible." He commenced. "One single Flood combat form or infector is not a big danger as their strength resides in numbers. You have enough ammo for a while?" He asked to Chief.

John nodded.

A bridge malfunctioning wouldn't let them proceed towards their destination. Covenant were fiercely fighting the Flood, it looked the parasite's claws were enough to pierce through the Elites' shields.

"Let them destroy each other. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right?"

"I don't think that applies to the Covenant. More like a distraction."

Fair enough.

They dropped from the bridge on the left side of the room and avoided a direct confrontation with both of the groups. They found themselves in another containment room, they used fallen debris to climb on the upper level.

Shrieks of agony and anger alerted them both.

"The elevator is right in front of us…" Flood combat forms and infectors rushed in the room. "…and right behind the Flood." Ghost clicklingly deadpanned.

He acted on instincts, he slid on the ground and summoned a barrier of flames which incinerated the flood. Jake then used two small hammers to directly slam on the floor, the combat forms and infectors exploded in solar light.

"That's effective." John muttered, standing beside him. He simply shrugged and grabbed SUROS from his back.

"This is Echo-419: Chief, Guardian, is that you? I lost both of your signals when you entered the structure. What's going on down there? I'm tracking movement all over the place!"

Jake placed a finger on his helmet. "Echo-419, we found… something down there, it's highly dangerous. We require immediate extraction."

"Roger that! There's a large tower a few hundred meters from your current position. Find a way above the fog and foliage canopy, and I can move in pick you up."

Ghost beeped in answer. "I have updated your HUD with the direction towards our next objective. Let's get out of here before the Flood place their claws on you both."

A squad of marines suddenly approached them, they lowered their weapons. "Sir!" It was Jackson, accompagnied by a beaten up Harrison. "Thank God you're both here! We've been lost out here for hours. After we lost contact with the rest of the mission we headed for the RV point and then… these things ambushed us. We need to get out of here!"

"Alright." Jake scrutinized the exit and the jungle environment around them. "If the Flood got out of the structure, they'll try to ambush us from high positions and exploit the dark. Me and Chief will push forward and take most of the hits while you cover our advance and provide support." He shifted his attention on the Spartan. "You're okay with that?"

"Affirmative. If we manage to reach the tower in one piece, Echo-419 will be there waiting for extraction."

"Let's get moving people!"

They moved in an indian line, infectors and more combat forms appeared as expected from the fog. Master Chief mowed combat form after combat form with his shotgun, while Jake opted to concentrate on the infectors so they wouldn't target the marines and generate more Flood.

Advancing, they reached the tower and found themselves back to wall.

CLANG!

Jake used again Hammer of Sol and threw his projectiles against the Flood, cleaning as much as possible. It was a surprise when small robots descended from above and started targetting the creatures with their yellow laser beams. One of the robots stopped in front of them and stared for a few moments before joining his companions in the fight.

Another big surprise was being teleported on the tower.

"Greetings!" A robot, closely resembling Ghost, chirped. "I am the Monitor of Installation Zero Four. I am 343 Guilty Spark."

They lowered their rifles and glanced at each other. Ghost materialized on Jake's shoulder and let out an inquisitive click.

"A construct? At least I am absolutely sure you Reclaimers are not barbarians! Your level of technology must have reached a decent destination to allow you to come back."

"Oh boy…"

"Excuse me?!" Ghost narrowed his lone eye and flew right in front of Guilty Spark. "I am not a simple construct you cheap imitation! I am a Ghost, not a stupid AI programmed with basic tasks like you are!"

"Fascinating! A construct created with personality. Simply marvelous!"

"You bast-"

"Someone has released the Flood. My function is to prevent it from leaving this installation, but I require both of your assistance. This way, please."

343 Guilty Spark teleported the two warriors and the enraged Ghost with them.

At that moment Echo-419 arrived. "I've lost both of your signals, where'd you go? Chief! Guardian!"


Author's note 2:

Yeah, 343 and Ghost are not the best buddies LOL

Until next time!

Gino out!