Disclaimer: None of the characters from Halo, Halo 2, or the Halo books are mine.

A/N: I'm rewriting most of my chapters and updating them with more details (since so many people said I need to use adjectives more and pace the story a bit slower) and maybe some additional fight scenes and stuff like that, so...while you're waiting for the next chapter, you might want to go read chapters 1 through 9 again. The Prologue will not be changed though, since it's taken directly from the end cinematic of Halo 2.

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Halo 3: The Fall of the Covenant

Chapter 10

Reunion

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"I didn't know that they'd be using a Scorpion to test his new armour, did you?" Sergeant Hills asked no one in particular.

"No, I'm pretty sure they were only supposed to use live rounds, not tanks," replied Private Kirke.

"Sir," Sergeant Summers addressed the Admiral.

"Yes Sergeant?"

"Did you authorize the use of tanks?"

"No, I did not. I don't know who did this. Colonel Ackerson, do you?"

"No Admiral, I do not," Ackerson replied, although he shifted his feet uneasily, as if he knew something the other didn't.

"When I find out who did this, they will be very sorry indeed," Hood muttered under his breath.

Colonel James Ackerson fidgeted a bit more.

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Meanwhile, a couple hundred meters from where Hood and Ackerson were standing, a Spartan was busy battling with a M808B Scorpion MBT. Although he hated killing humans, he was forced to kill many in this training mission. He spared as many as he could but his number one objective was still to reach the buzzer in the centre of the maze alive. As a soldier, he did what he had to do to achieve his goal.

Now, a Scorpion, one of the most powerful land based anti-vehicle and anti-personnel vehicles, stood him his way.

The tank fired its lethal 90mm HV shell again, missing the Master Chief by a hair. Even with his new Mjolnir Armour, he felt the heat of the blast for a full two seconds before the gel-layers in his suit cooled down enough to counter the heat. John clicked the safety off of his MA7B Assault Rifle and fired five rounds into the tank, but they didn't do any noticeable damage to the tank. He heard the click of another HV shell being loaded into the Scorpion's cannon and ducked. The shell impacted on the wall behind him a left a huge crater where the shell exploded.

"I don't want to be caught in that."

He activated his active camouflage and ran back towards the bunker to retrieve the M19 SSM Rocket Launcher he saw earlier. The Scorpion, unable to find its target, began to shoot wildly with its secondary weapon, a 7.62mm armour piercing machine gun. Luckily, he reached the bunker without being hit and found that the rocket launcher was still intact. Once inside, he deactivated his camo to let it recharge. He discarded his MA7B and shouldered the rocket launcher. He also took a submachine gun and holstered it.

A large explosion took place on the other side of the bunker from where he stood. The force of the explosion knocked him back into a wall while pieces of Titanium-A, big or small bounced off of him. The tank seems to have spotted him among the debris because just then the tank's machine gun kicked in and sprayed the Chief with 7.62mm bullets. The bullets impacted upon his shields, draining it bit by bit.

"If I was in my old Mark V armour, or even my Mark VI armour, I'd be dead by now."

Using his super sensitive hearing, he heard the click of the main cannon being loaded again.

"Oh boy."

The Chief took up the rocket launcher, aimed, and fired at the tank just as the Scorpion fired its main cannon. The two explosives collided in mid-air and, in unison, exploded barely five meters in front of John.

The force of the blast drained all of John's shields and charred most of his armour and knocked him through a foot of solid Titanium-A.

John lay on the cold, hard titanium floor outside of the destroyed bunker, breathing heavily. He could taste copper in his mouth and his ears hurt, due to the loud noise of the explosion that took place barely five meters in front of him. His eyes hurt from the flash of light, despite his suit's auto-dampening system, before he was knocked backwards through a foot of titanium.

"Damn."

Then he noticed that the belt of grenades he had with him...or what was left of it. A tiny piece of fabric and a few screwed up pieces of metal was all that's left of the belt.

"Wow, am I lucky or what?"

He crawled behind the part of the bunker that was still standing, so that the tank driver couldn't see him. By this time, his shields and active camo were already recharged. He looked around for a weapon and found that the metal on the rocket launcher had fused together. The SMG he was with him was fused to his armour. He peeled it off, and then he checked if it still worked. He pulled the trigger of the automatic UNSC weapon and, to his surprise, two bullets shot out and bounced off of the titanium floor and rebounded upon his shields. His shields went down by a hair and promptly began to charge again. He then checked his HUD and found that it still had twenty-one bullets in the clip. His shields were full, and his active camo was ready to go.

"Good enough."

John's green-black form suddenly disappeared from behind the bunker. Using his enhanced speed, he was able to reach the tank before his camo wore out. The tank driver appeared to think that John was dead, for it was retreating towards a large titanium garage door in the wall.

John took an almighty leap and landed on the back of the tank, just as his camo ran out.

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"Oh my god. I can't believe I just did that! A Spartan...dead...by my hands! Oh my god...Colonel Ackerson will be pleased..."

Clank. The tank shook a bit, but otherwise, it appeared to be fine.

"What was that?" Sergeant Jacob Jones exclaimed out loud.

Bam! The hatch above his head now has a fist shaped dent in it.

"Aw crap..."

The hatch shrieked and protested while a superior force wrenched it apart. After a few seconds, the latch on the hatch broke, and whatever was above him threw it away as if it was a toy. A cyborg clad in bright green armour peered into the cockpit and looked down at the unfortunate man. Jones pulled out his handgun, a standard M6C Pistol, and took aim. The Spartan grabbed his wrist before he could do anything and spoke.

"Let go of the gun, and I'll spare your life."

"Never! You traitor!"

He tried to pull the trigger but before he could even put half an ounce of pressure on it, his hand exploded in blood. He screamed once before a green blur rushed towards his face and into his brain.

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John-117 brought a fist down upon the cockpit hatch on the Scorpion and the hatch broke easily under his enhanced strength. A few more blows and an almighty tug got rid of the hatch once and for all. John pulled himself up a bit more and peered into the cockpit just in time to see the driver pull out a M6C Pistol. The man pointed the handgun towards the Chief with surprising agility, for a human. He was no match for an augmented Spartan however, let alone an augmented Spartan in his MJOLNIR armour. Before he could fire a single shot, the Master Chief's hand shot out and grabbed his wrist.

"Let go of the gun, and I'll spare your life."

"Never! You traitor!"

The Chief saw the muscles in his arm tense, so he acted with superhuman speed. His armoured hand tightened on the other man's wrist as it exploded in blood. The man screamed in pain once just as the Chief's follow up attack commenced. He brought his armoured hand back and aimed a deadly attack towards the man's face. Sergeant Jacob Jones didn't even have time to scream before his life was ended.

"Dammit! These are good men and women I'm killing! They can be fighting the Covenant right now instead of me! What was Admiral Hood thinking of? And what did he mean by traitor?"

The Chief then realized that he squatted immobile on the tank for almost ten seconds.

"Damn! What's wrong with me? Why do I keep getting distracted?"

He quickly jumped up, grabbed the barrel of the main cannon on the tank and twisted it into something resembling a pretzel. He landed on the ground and leapt up again, this time grabbing the machine gun on the tank and ripped it off of its mount, rendering the Scorpion weapon-less and, essentially, useless.

He activated his camo again and sprinted as fast as he could towards the destroyed bunker, hoping to salvage anything that he can use. Once there, he found the MA7B Assault Rifle in surprisingly good condition. He bent down, picked it up, and checked the ammo counter on the rifle and found it just as he left it: fifty-five rounds out of sixty. He discarded the SMG that he had with him and exchanged it for the MA7B.

The Master Chief grabbed a waist holster and strapped it onto his armour. He found two M6E Pistols intact along with three additional clips for it. He holstered them. He found only one extra clip for the MA7B however.

The Chief peaked around the pile of debris that we a solid Titanium-A bunker, and saw that the maze was a full a hundred and fifty metres of nothing. Nothing to hide behind, no weapons...no enemies, and just a whole floor of titanium.

John activated his camo and sprinted out of his hiding place. He could run at seventy miles per hour now, thanks to the new MJOLNIR VII armour, without even working up a sweat. He made it into the maze about a second before his camo ran out. He dove behind a wall, so that he wouldn't be a target for snipers, and waited for his camo to charge.

As soon as his camo bar was filled, he activated it again and ran through the maze. He encountered a lone marine, which he quickly dispatched with a punch that dented the marine's helmet. The soldier slumped to the ground with a barely audible groan, unconscious. The Master Chief picked up his body and put it in a corner, so that other marines and ODSTs wouldn't see it.

He waited for his camo to charge again, then he continued on. The next group proved to be more troublesome. There were five ODSTs in this division, but they were all relaxed and chatting to each other.

"That freak won't stand a chance against that tank Jacob's got," one of them said.

"Yeah, besides, even if he does get pass the tank, he'll have to deal with us!" another one of them replied. The rest of them cheered.

"Nice and relaxed targets...perfect."

He activated his camo and jumped sprang at the ODSTs. The first one was about to say something when he suddenly flew forward at a frightening speed, knocking one of his buddies into a wall, rendering them both unconscious. The rest turned around and gasped at the Spartan that stood before them.

If they were new soldiers, they probably would've stayed frozen in place and stared at the Chief instead of fighting him. Long enough for the Chief to neutralize them all anyway. These ODSTs however, weren't green. Each was a seasoned veteran and fought the Covenant many times before, so they knew what staying still for two seconds can cost you. The two closest ODSTs fired their weapons – a BR55 Rifle, and an MA7B. Bullets pinged off his MJOLNIR armour's shields, draining it by a quarter. The Chief reacted with almost lightning speed. He dove and aimed a well placed melee attack to one of the men's shins. The man howled in pain and sprayed bullets everywhere as both his legs shattered. A lucky – or unlucky, depending on which side you're on – shot hit his partner in the leg six times, causing him to fall down and cry in pain. Both men were in shock. The Chief got up and found the last ODST about three meters away from him aiming a M90 Shotgun at him.

"Oh shit..."

"Say your prayers, jackass!"

The ODST fired at almost point blank range at the Chief. With his shields already weakened by the hail of bullets hitting his shields before, it couldn't stand against the might of the M90. His shields popped and collapsed but none of the bullets went through it.

"What the hell!" yelled the ODST as he pumped the shotgun again, preparing to fire. The Chief gave him no such chance. He lashed out with his leg, breaking both of his shins. The man went down, but managed to shoot his shotgun one more time before he went down – which, incidentally, shattered the man's arm, in addition to his legs. The shot went wide and missed the Chief. Soon after, he fainted because of the pain. He went to the other two who were still in shock, and punched in their helmets, rendering them unconscious as well. He searched all of the marines, grabbed some ammo for his MA7B, and also a belt of six grenades, which he strapped to his waist. The Chief proceeded through the maze.

After several minutes, the Chief neutralized a few more groups of marines – with only one KIA. He also destroyed a few hostile machine gun turrets.

After what seemed to be forever, even though it was only ten minutes, he finally located the room that held the objective – a big red button that sounded a buzzer, which signifies the end of the test. The only problem was that the room was armed to the teeth. Half a dozen marines manned machine gun turrets, and another half dozen manned stationary Gauss Cannons – designed to take out Spectres, Ghosts, Banshees, Shadows, and the occasional Phantom. Another dozen ODSTs occupied the room, armed with BR55 Rifles, MA7B Assault Rifles, and M90 Shotguns.

Even the Chief couldn't neutralize all of them without killing at least some of them. He activated his camo, primed two grenades, waited three seconds, and threw them at the Gauss Cannons – since they were most likely to kill him – and ducked back out of sight. Several men gasped in surprised and yelled orders for the rest of them not to panic as the grenades sailed through the air. The twin explosives detonated just above the Gauss Cannons. The explosion ripped through one of the cannon's tiny fusion reactors and it, in turn, vaporized the rest of them. Seven people were caught in the blast as well – and perished. The marines looked around, trying to figure out why the cannons had exploded, and where the grenades came from.

During the confusion, the Chief went in and sprayed bullets at the marines and ODSTs. The shots ripped through the humans like a hot knife through butter. Almost all of them collapsed and went into shock or unconsciousness as the bullets hit their legs, arms, and torsos. Unfortunately, there were also four KIAs, resulting from accidental headshots. The marines manning the gun turrets – the two that were left – rotated their turrets as quickly as they could to track the Chief, but it wasn't fast enough. He took only seven blows to his shields – which drained it by a quarter – before he circled around them and bashed in each of their helmets. They dropped like rag dolls.

He looked around the room and made sure that there we no further traps surrounding the buzzer, and proceeded slowly towards it, being wary of any traps the marines might've left behind. He didn't find any, and pressed the red button.

Admiral Hood's voice spoke over the intercom. "All units in Training Room 2D, the exercise is over. The Master Chief has won. Colonel Ackerson, call of your men please."

"Yes sir. All units, you are to stop firing at the Master Chief. Standby for further orders."

The Master Chief made his way out of the maze and as he was about to exit the exercise field, Ackerson's voice came on the loudspeakers again.

"All units! Kill the traitor!"

More than thirty men burst from a number of doors along the titanium wall, armed with various weapons, from the relatively weak M6C Pistols, to the standard BR55 Rifles, to M90 Shotguns. The Chief's shields were strong, but not that strong. Under combined fire, it dropped very quickly. The marines and ODSTs fired at the Chief, draining his shields by half during the first two seconds. The Chief raised this MA7B and fired. Two shots came out before the bolt on his gun locked open. The ammo counter read 00 – empty. Realizing that without a weapon, he'd be dead before he can even get close so did the next best thing. He threw the rifle at them, hoping that they'd be distracted a bit, and ran.

While he ran, he heard the loudspeaker on again, and Admiral Hood was speaking, but he couldn't tell what he was saying due to the noise of the gunfire. A warning light blinked on and off oh his HUD, telling him that his shields were low. Another few shots and the indicator started beeping, informing him that his shields were completely gone. Ignoring the blinking light and the shrill noise, he pulled the pins from all three of his remaining grenades, and threw them behind his back without looking. Three roars could be heard as the grenades detonated one after another.

The gunfire lessened for a while, due to the smoke and confusion, and the Chief took this chance to get to the door. He reached the titanium door, opened it and shut it behind him. He could hear the bullets as it pinged off the door.

"What is this? What is wrong with them?"

Just then the loudspeaker turned on again. "If anyone sees Colonel Ackerson, escort him to the bridge of Cairo Station. Be warned that he is armed and dangerous and probably will not hesitate to hurt you. Use force to take him if it's necessary. He is guilty of treason, for he has sent three whole squads of ODSTs to kill the Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan-117. Catch him at all costs. Hood out."

A moment later, he could hear footsteps coming his way, at first he thought they were more of Ackerson's men, but when they turned the corner, he could tell that they weren't. There were only eleven soldiers in the squad but he knew that they would win against the Colonel's men.

The soldier in front spoke as the Chief's shields recharged. "Nice to see you again Chief. What are our orders?"

"Nice to see you too Fred. They're beyond that door."

"How many are there? Sir?"

"About thirty. I'll need a better weapon than these." He pulled out his two pistols. "I don't want to miss out on the fight."

"Here Chief," said another member of the squad as she tossed him a pair of SMGs and two clips of ammo – more than enough to take down three squads of ODSTs. He snatched them out of midair.

"Thanks Linda. Now lets get to work."

An explosion could be heard from the other side of the door. The door hinges snapped and the door fell towards the Chief and his Spartans.

"One more thing, try not to kill too many of them."

Three acknowledgement lights winked on and all the marines said "Sir yes sir!" as gunfire rang out in this derelict part of the Cairo.

The marines fired into the mass of ODSTs on the other side. The door was only about two meters wide, so no more than four ODSTs fit through at the same time. As they came though, they were cut down by bullets fired from the Spartans' and the marines' weapons. All of the ODSTs were soon all out of action, but no one had been killed. Some were mortally wounded, but that couldn't be helped.

More footsteps could be heard from behind them and everyone in his squad turned around with their weapons ready. This proved to be unnecessary since it was Admiral Hood with a 'clean up crew'. All the rebel ODSTs were soon patched up, stripped of their weapons, and escorted to holding cells.

"Good work Chief," greeted the Admiral.

"Thank you sir."

"Now let's get you patched up. I understand that your armour was breached in your left leg during this...operation."

"Yes sir."

"Let's get that fixed up. We have technicians up in Armory 2C. Your orders are to go up to the First Aid station and get that bullet wound checked out. I'm sure you'll be patched up in no time. Then you are to take off your new MJOLNIR VII armour and bring it to Armory 2C for repairs. Your MJOLNIR VI armour has been brought up to the First Aid station already and you are to wear that at all times until your Mark VII is fixed up. Understood?"

"Yes sir."

"After you deliver your Mark VII to the Armory, you are to report to the bridge of the Cairo for further briefing. Is that clear?"

"Crystal, sir."

"Good, now get to it." He turned to leave, but then added. "Spartan-104, -058, and -043, you are welcome to accompany the Master Chief if you'd like."

Admiral Hood left in the direction of the bridge while the four Spartans made their way towards the First Aid station.

"Fred, Will, Linda, good to see you again," said John. He stuck out two of his fingers and swiped it across his face place. The other three returned the gesture.

"So when are we going to be back killing the Covenant again, sir?" asked Fred eagerly.

"Soon enough Fred, soon enough."

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A/N: If you were wondering where Fred, Linda, and Will came from, they were doing other various duties for the UNSC while John-117 was on Halo kicking Covenant and Flood ass.