Disclaimer: I own no franchise mentioned in this work. Halo belongs to 343, Overwatch belongs to Blizzard.
When it became clear that their entry would not be met with a hail of bullets, Reinhardt let his arm relax slightly, though not to the point that he couldn't activate his shield at a moment's notice. Seeing that the Chief was still quite alert and ready to kill anything that moved, the Overwatch agent took a second to examine the human remains in more detail.
From the way they were scattered before the door, it was clear that the group had been trying to escape from something further inside the structure. Whatever had attacked them had done so with some form of weapon that utilized heat, as the few clothes still intact showed signs of burn marks. Even with that damage, however, Reinhardt could see the old Omnica Corporation logo in several places. A quick count put this group at about fifteen people, much too small to investigate such an important structure on their own.
After several seconds of waiting, the Chief seemed to make up his mind as he moved forward. Reinhardt trailed behind, doing his best to avoid stepping on the deceased and ultimately failing as several bones were pulverized beneath the armored boots of the two warriors.
The hallway past the entrance remained unchanged for a short ways, with small doors leading off to both sides. While clearing the alien structure would be preferable, the two were forced to forgo that option due to their limited manpower. Neither let down their guard as they advanced, with the Spartan keeping his weapon shouldered and Reinhardt providing the rearguard.
Eventually they reached the end of the hallway, emerging into a massive cavern. The walls that had hemmed them in curved to the sides, leaving only gaping darkness to either side of the path. Walkways crossed overhead and arches supporting the ceiling high above. As before, everything was made from the silverish metal that had first greeted them, making it clear that this place was meant to last.
While Reinhardt was suitably impressed with the architecture around them, the Chief appeared to make little note of it as he continued to advance along the only available route. On one hand, the Overwatch agent suspected that the alien soldier was simply following the path ahead of him, but at the same time it was obvious that he had had experiences with similar structures. Either way, Reinhardt had little choice but to follow and hope that they didn't need to fight their way back out.
Confirmation of the Forerunner structure had been both a blessing and a curse for John. If the Forerunners had been here once, then they had a way to return to the UNSC. Unfortunately, it was also probable that the Monitor of this Installation had gone rampant, judging by the skeletons that greeted them at the door. In the worst case, this Omnica Corporation had released the Flood, though Chief thought that unlikely since they had yet to encounter any Flood spores.
Well, that and the planet hadn't been completely overrun by a Gravemind.
Looking around their current location, Chief was reminded of the approach to the Citadel Control Room on the Ark. If this place followed the same design, then the Control Room, or whatever constituted such, would be at the end of the walkway. This would be fine, except it would mean that it was a straight shot from the front door to the most important area in the installation. As foolish as the Forerunners had been in some regards, that was not one.
Of course, Chief's previous experiences with Forerunner structures had been the Halos, which were designed as weapon installations. It was certainly possible, if not probable, that this was not a structure built by the Forerunner military and thus not designed with combat in mind.
Even as these thoughts went through the Spartan's mind, he continued to scan to either side of the path, along with glancing up to cover every angle he could. So far, there were no signs of a fight, which meant that either the Omnica employees had had no way to defend themselves or this installation was able to enact repairs. Considering the relatively small signs of burn damage on the remains at the entrance, along with their continued existence within the installation in the first place, it was likely the first option.
While making that assumption would be comforting, Chief knew better than to disregard the threat that Sentinels represented. Thus, when the two soldiers finally reached the door at the end of the walkway, the Spartan was appreciative of the blue barrier that his ally provided to protect from any fire.
There was none, however, as the only thing that greeted them was the soft glow of a Forerunner Terminal. A quick glance and several seconds of quick signals made it clear that the Overwatch agent should sustain the barrier as they advanced. This allowed John to focus on clearing the chamber of threats from above them as they made their way into the room at a slow pace. This also allowed him a clear view of the door as it closed behind them, making both soldiers tense for several seconds in preparation for an engagement.
After doing one more scan of the chamber and once again coming up clear, Chief continued forward, keeping his attention on the console in front while Reinhardt plodded on alongside him. As they closed in on the interface, the Spartan kept an eye out for a Monitor dropping in on them.
When that didn't happen, the two humans were left standing by the console somewhat awkwardly. Their current objective reached, Reinhardt let his shield fall as the Chief stepped up to the glowing panels projected in the air.
Before the Spartan could do anything, however, the interface disappeared and in its place appeared the Forerunner symbol for Reclaimer. While obviously foreign to the Overwatch agent, Chief recognized it from multiple encounters on both Halo and the Ark.
Sounds echoed around the room as hidden mechanisms long dormant activated, unnerving the two soldiers as they waited for whatever was to come. Unlike the previous Forerunner Installations that the Spartan had experience with, no glowing orb appeared to harass him about containment protocol or something else similarly inane. Instead, the floor beneath them shifted, separating in the elegant fashion that Forerunner structures seemed to favor. The section holding the two trespassers held its position as this occured, leaving them standing on a small circle of metal amidst the glowing blue of alien technology.
Suddenly, the scene around them changed from drab metal to a sprawling floor of hardlight extending out as far as the eye could see. As Reinhardt shifted uneasily, Chief spoke over their comms, "Hardlight projection, simulation looks like."
The Overwatch agent seemed to acknowledge that, but before he could speak another voice intruded, "A human? Interesting."
"Lovely," Cortana commented sarcastically.
"This facility has been idle for...unknown. Attempting recovery of core processes. Success. Attempting to initiate auxiliary processes. Failed to contact external nodes. Curious. Checking transmission log," the voice continued, seemingly ignoring them for the moment.
Eventually their waiting ended as the air shimmered and a new form took shape. Made out of various shades of hardlight, the figure stood at almost two meters tall, slightly below the stature of the Spartan.
Neither Reinhardt nor Chief took any action against this figure, though they were ready to move if necessary. Knowing that Forerunner AIs were slightly finicky when it came to being held at gunpoint, the Spartan kept his weapon lowered. Considering that the figure was made of hardlight, it wasn't like bullets would do much in any case.
"The last humans that were here tried to force their way into restricted parts of this facility. They were dealt with and your race removed from the visitors log. How were you able to enter?" the being asked.
"Knocked on the front door," Cortana replied from the Chief's speakers.
A slightly irate expression took its place on the hardlight face, but the AI did not respond with violence as it said, "You are human. Humans are not allowed in this facility. The system sees you as Human, yet it calls you Reclaimer. What does that mean?"
Reinhardt looked at the Spartan as well at that, also curious as to what the title implied. Chief had no immediate answer to that question, however, as he had never encountered a piece of Forerunner technology that did not know what a Reclaimer was. Even his understanding of the concept was fragmented, pieced together from whatever Cortana could recover and the nearly incoherent ramblings of Guilty Spark.
Muting his helmet, Chief asked, "Cortana?"
"Apparently this place is older than the Flood, but then...what?" the AI said, obviously trying to piece together this odd puzzle.
"How long ago did the Forerunners disappear?" the Spartan questioned, trying to keep Cortana focused.
"Presumably 99,997 years ago, when the Halo Array fired," she replied. "Might as well ask, though I don't think this Monitor can answer since it didn't know how long it was idle either."
After several seconds of silence from the supersoldier, Cortana eventually spoke up once more as she inquired, "When did you last see the Forerunners?"
"Unknown. Inconsequential. Contact will be reestablished. Why have they labelled you specifically, human?"
"Humanity, our humanity at least, is meant to reclaim the legacy of the Forerunners. At least as far as we understand it," Cortana responded.
That intrigued the Forerunner Construct as it asked, "Our?"
"We're not really supposed to be here," the human AI explained with a bit of hesitation, aware that Reinhardt was listening. "Our ship was diverted in Slipspace while we were en route from a Forerunner Installation."
"My Makers were recalled from this place by the Lifeshaper and have not returned. Tell me, human, what has your race done to earn forgiveness? If you have rediscovered Slipspace then you are obviously more advanced than those who came before you, but the Eucemene would almost certainly not allow a repeat of your crimes," the figure stated.
Chief finally answered, "The Flood."
At the obvious confusion from the Monitor, Cortana expanded, "The Forerunners are gone. They were destroyed along with everything else when they fired the Halo Array, wiping out every sentient thing in the galaxy. That was almost 100,000 years ago."
"What? The Mantle of Responsibility would forbid such genocide," the Construct argued.
Cortana had no reply to that aside from the data from the Halos. She waited as the AI processed the new information, the hardlight figure silent and unmoving as it focused elsewhere. Eventually it concluded, "You do not lie. I am alone."
"There are other Installations," Cortana said slowly.
"I cannot communicate with them. You did not come here on purpose, so you do not know what this place is," the Forerunner Monitor stated.
The UNSC AI seemed slightly amused as she answered, "That is, well, more than accurate. It's been a bit confusing."
A decision seemed to be made by the being as the hardlight figure nodded decisively, mimicking the very human gesture as it declared, "My Makers decided to make you a Reclaimer, to select humanity as the inheritors of the Mantle of Responsibility. I must assist you as I am able. Unfortunately, my ability to do so is severely hampered by the interference of the previous interlopers."
"That is certainly appreciated," Cortana replied with a hint of amusement. "Since you have decided to not attempt to kill us, I suppose it is only polite to ask who I am speaking to?"
"I am Ascending Light, assigned as the Overseer of this facility and the Life Workers who assisted in its operation by the Lifeshaper," the Construct responded.
Cortana let her surprise show as she stated, "Usually Monitors prattle off their service numbers as well."
"If they serve the Warrior-Servants, perhaps, but most Constructs were not built for our military. From your weapons, I assume that the opposite is true," Ascending commented.
"Not entirely inaccurate," Cortana granted. "Humans don't really refer to any AI with their service numbers, though, even in the UNSC. What is the purpose of this facility?"
At that question, the hardlight figure seemed to glow slightly and a sphere formed beside it. From the shape and distribution of detail, it was obviously a model of the Earth, though various points were pinpointed in red. Ascending explained, "This world was created by the Lifeshaper to try and understand Humanity. Your attacks against us were unprovoked, and while there had been some tensions between the Humans and my Makers in the past, there was no true animosity. Suddenly, however, your kind began burning planets, reducing entire systems to nothing but cinders. Even after your defeat, we never knew why that was."
"The Lifeshaper suspected that something else was influencing your actions against us, so she came here with her Life Workers and built this place to see what would happen. Was violence inherent in humans, or did you simply not understand the Mantle of Responsibility? So we experimented, creating as close a replica as possible to your homeworld. I have watched humanity grow, fight, and survive, and yet I still cannot answer the question my Makers asked. Perhaps you may help?" Ascending requested.
"The Forerunners and Humanity were fighting against an enemy known as the Flood. Glassing was used to destroy the parasite, though that was obviously unsuccessful. A superweapon known as the Halo Array was activated as a last resort, killing everything that could sustain the parasite. The Librarian preserved all sentient species in the galaxy on the Ark, but I don't know what happened to the Forerunners themselves," Cortana responded.
A flash of excitement appeared for a second as the Forerunner Construct asked, "You have met the Librarian?"
"No, just recovered the data off the Ark," Cortana said, shutting down the AI's hope.
Disappointment took its place as Ascending stated, "If Humanity was running from the Flood to save themselves, then there is no reason to continue my observations. There is no secret to discover, no hidden motive. When faced with extinction, you fled, and we merely doomed everything by attacking as well."
"From the records we've found," the UNSC AI countered, though it was obviously a half-hearted attempt to shift the blame slightly.
"Your title...Reclaimer. I see why my Makers made their decision, hard as it may have been. Since I have accomplished my purpose, I am without direction. What is your objective here, human?" Ascending questioned.
As both Chief and Cortana tried to follow the jumps in that rambling statement, Reinhardt took the opportunity to ask, "You made the planet?" It was easy to hear the disbelief in the agent's voice, however muffled it may have been by his helmet.
"Yes," the AI said bluntly, obviously not seeing how that was pertinent to anything.
"You watched us fight the Omnics, helped Omnica create them, and yet you did nothing to help?" Reinhardt pressed, the anger in his tone catching the attention of the Chief.
Before the Spartan could interfere, however, Ascending responded, "This is not a combat installation. Contact with auxiliary nodes of this facility has been lost, preventing any assistance on a global scale. Connections with possibly hostile Constructs are not allowed due to lack of cyber warfare capabilities of this facility. Elimination of the interlopers in this facility was the only line of action I could undertake."
The Crusader seemed to back off at that, though he still inquired, "Why did the God programs attack, then? If the Omnica Corporation used you to create the Omnics, then how they become hostile to us?"
"They learned," Ascending answered. "Omnics were deployed in your wars, so they learned that they were supposed to fight. I was not built to manage drones, and since their programming was based off the principles Omnica stole from this facility, they did not function correctly. I was built to watch and learn to understand humanity, your omnics were built to do the same."
"What about the independent omnics now?" Cortana inquired.
Ascending Light gave a small shrug and replied, "Smaller units with the same programming but taught life rather than death."
"These Forerunners..." Reinhardt muttered quietly.
"It's always an adventure when they get involved," Cortana agreed. The human AI then turned her attention back to Ascending, "You mentioned that the Forerunners were able to return back from this place, wherever we are. Can you help us do the same?"
"Absolutely," Ascending responded brightly. She paused for a second before continuing a bit more hesitantly, "It will require this facility to be operational in some capacity, however. Due to the interference of the Warrior-Servants, the Lifeshaper believed that they would attempt to eliminate humanity from this location should they ever discover it. While the Life Workers did not have the capabilities of the Builders, they were still able to construct this single world and encapsulate the system in a Slipspace bubble. To bring this system out of Slipspace, I will require several specific nodes to be operational."
Cortana sounded resigned as she replied, "Of course it won't be easy, it never is. What do those repairs entail?"
"Unknown, contact has been lost with the auxiliary nodes," the Forerunner AI repeated once more. "Critical systems unlikely to be compromised, likely external damage to facility caused lockdown to prevent tampering."
"So how did they enter this building?" Reinhardt inquired.
A bit of embarrassment entered the AI's tone as she answered "I let them in."
"Whoops," Cortana commented.
"Yes, as you say, 'whoops'," Ascending responded with some small irritation.
Chief broke up that conversation as he cut in, "Will you stay here?"
"I cannot leave this facility," the AI told him.
"Would it be possible for you to contact us or our vessel in orbit?" Cortana inquired.
Ascending shook her head slightly and replied, "Not without the external communication node online."
"That is our priority then," Cortana decided before asking, "Why did the Forerunners distribute your functionality so widely?"
This question seemed to give Ascending some pause as she took a second before admitting, "I don't know. Perhaps my Makers were concerned that humanity might try to force their way into a specific facility and utilize it for malicious purposes, or maybe they design all facilities in such a fashion. There is a teleportation grid that can be utilized to change location on this planet, but it is also cut off from me."
"Convenient," Cortana stated with a bit of suspicion.
"Hardly," Ascending countered. "The Lifeshaper was cautious with this experiment. If we were discovered, she would hope to protect her Life Workers from retalition by the Eucemene. Disabling access to facilities is standard procedure for biohazard containment and personnel safety."
A hum of apathy was the only response from the UNSC AI before she said, "Regardless, I assume you have the data necessary to reach and reconnect your various bases?"
"Of course, transfer in progress," Ascending answered.
"We will talk shortly, then," Cortana replied. "Hopefully," she added quietly, though it was still audible to the other three in the room.
With that, the figure in front of them disappeared as the hardlight projection shut down, leaving the usual Forerunner metal in its place. After so long in such a bright blue environ, the gleam of the ageless material seemed dull as the Master Chief led the way back towards the surface. Reinhardt followed behind the Spartan, silent as the halls that they walked through as he digested the information he had just been given in such a short time.
Their arrival on the surface was fairly similar to how they left it, bereft of any other living beings to greet them. Aside from the different position of the sun overhead, nothing else appeared out of place as Chief scanned the area out of habit. A quick glance back was all the communication the Spartan needed with Reinhardt as they began to work through the wreckage to the Pelican.
As they approached the craft, the Master Chief suddenly stopped and drew his weapon. Alert at the change but unaware of what caused it, the Overwatch agent fell back slightly rather than attempting to hide. Being a walking tank did not lend itself to stealth very well, oddly enough. Even with the weight of his armor, however, the Spartan moved without a sound, cautiously working his way around their landing site.
Reinhardt was confused as to what the point of that was until he caught on that it was a misdirection as to where they had been, born of paranoia in protecting the location of the Forerunner site. Considering that entrance had proven impossible until the super soldier had knocked on the front door, as his AI put it, the Crusader found it dubious that anything else could force its way in. Even so, there was no grounds for arguing against caution, so Reinhardt followed for a ways until stopping when he found a good place to charge in if necessary.
The Master Chief glanced back for only a second before understanding his ally's intent and continuing further away. As the Spartan did that, Reinhardt edged around the piece of debris slightly to try and see what had spooked the supersoldier. Once he had a visual on the area, it wasn't exactly hard for the Overwatch agent to notice the massive metal ball sitting by their ship.
Where it had come from or what it was he did not know, but its appearance while they had been away meant that there were other people here. How they could survive the hazardous environment was not a concern, but it did bring up the possibility that the unknowns were heavily armored. Luckily, it did not seem like this was a Talon operation as there were no signs of an ambush anywhere around the ship.
Suddenly, the deep voice of the Spartan came in over the comms, "Moving in."
"Understood," Reinhardt replied as he stepped out of his cover. If anything was a threat here, then it would be far more preferable that it seem him first rather than the Chief. As such, he activated his barrier to catch anything that would otherwise threaten him.
Almost immediately there was a reaction from the metal ball as it began to roll away from the Overwatch agent. Having expected an actual person to appear rather than need to chase down what was apparently some kind of drone, Reinhardt took an extra second to observe the area before lowering the shield. Once he was certain that nothing in sight would be attacking, he hefted his hammer and began to trod after the ball.
Unfortunately for whoever was controlling the weird vehicle, the Spartan had already cut off its planned escape route, leaving the thing stuck between two soldiers and a Pelican.
That proved to be incorrect, however, when a grapple suddenly shot out of the ball and latched onto a piece of rubble. Within a second, the object achieved sufficient velocity to lift off the ground and fling itself out of the landing zone. Lacking any control of its trajectory, a loud crash echoed after a short time as the ball smashed into the wreckage surrounding them. Several loud clangs and thumps later and the Chief relaxed, apparently confident that whatever the thing was was gone now.
Reinhardt was not so confident, but he kept his silence as the Spartan inspected the Pelican. Nothing appeared to be out of place, which made sense considering that a ship capable of entering atmosphere would be fairly difficult to tamper with due to the hardiness needed for such operations.
Cautious after the unexpected encounter, the two wasted no time in loading back into the transport and lifting off. Once they were a ways into the atmosphere and out of the wastelands, Reinhardt finally relaxed and allowed himself to think while the Chief piloted them back to Gibraltar.
Regardless of how advanced they were, it did not seem like the UNSC put much thought into the creation of stealthy vessels for transport. Even the Overwatch shuttle that was used to deploys teams on missions was less obtrusive than the hypersonic brick that constituted a 'Pelican'. Then again, there wasn't a lot to hide from when the craft could outrun almost everything on Earth. From the description given by Tracer of the Chief's vessel in orbit, anything that could follow his transport would be in for a hell of a fight.
Either way, hostility was not Winston's objective as he watched the transport come screaming across the sensors of Watchpoint: Gibraltar. The craft would be picked up by several other sensor systems, but that had already been dealt with by Jack after the first visit. Due to the missions that Overwatch was starting to pick up, trying to remain completely hidden was a lost cause. Even with the devotion of their current members, planes did fuel themselves nor did ammo appear out of thin air. As such, the Overwatch operations on Gibraltar were basically an open secret to the Intelligence community.
Luckily, those funding the operations of Overwatch were willing to turn a blind eye to the Petras Act for the moment in light of the Talon attack on the base. As much as some politicians hated the ideals of the organization, the secrets held by Overwatch would do far more damage than a group of heroes galavanting about the world.
Huffing slightly at the lack of caution but acknowledging that there wasn't exactly a lot that anyone could do about it, Winston turned away from his desk and began making his way down to the landing pad. Since he had actually been watching the sensors this time around, he had been able to track their progress across the world, only losing the ship several times due to its height in the ionosphere.
Several minutes of waiting around let Winston spot the Pelican as it came in for a landing in the exact same spot outside his lab. It seemed like their mission had had no issue, at least from the lack of damage to the vehicle. Whether it was a success, however, was a different question as Reinhardt came walking down the ramp, no worse for wear and unconcerned about the alien human following him.
"Welcome back," the scientist greeted, adjusting his glasses out of habit.
"Back for lunch, even," Reinhardt declared jokingly.
Winston smiled slightly at that and asked, "Mission success then?"
"We found the structure and entered with ease," the Crusader replied. He took off his helmet before continuing, "As for the mission, it was..."
As the giant trailed off, Winston glanced over to see him rubbing his chin in thought. In the silence, the Master Chief simply stated, "Affirmative."
Reinhardt snorted at that before resuming, "It was informative. I think you would have liked it, minus all the radiation, of course."
"Well, I look forward to talking with you about it, then. I know that Angela is eager to check up on your prisoners, however, so we may do that later. We'll be right back," Winston commented to the Master Chief before turning to accompany Reinhardt towards the main base. The Master Chief watched them for a couple seconds before disappearing back inside his transport.
"Am I to follow the doctor, then?" the Crusader inquired.
Winston sighed and questioned, "Do you think you could protect her if he tried anything?"
Reinhardt thought about that for a short time before answering, "The Spartan is a formidable warrior, though his idea of honor may not align with my own. I do not think he harbors any ill will towards us, so long as we do not interfere with his mission to return home. After seeing the capabilities of these Forerunners that he spoke of, I think that is a reasonable request."
"Intriguing," the scientist stated, obviously eager to ask but prevented by doing so as they entered Mercy's lab.
At their intrusion, the Overwatch doctor looked up from her work. Having been expecting their arrival, Angela simply grabbed her bag of medical supplies and headed towards them, ready to go. As she approached, the doctor glanced over Reinhardt and asked, "Wounds?"
"Not anything new," the Crusader responded.
Angela seemed somewhat saddened at that but didn't press it as she replied, "We can do a checkup once I return. Brigette is waiting for you in the hangar to help with your armor."
Reinhardt nodded and split off towards the hangar while Mercy and Winston continued back towards the transport. While they walked, Winston stated, "I still think they should be brought here."
"We are lucky that they are allowing us on their ship at all. I don't think they'll let prisoners go so easily," Angela replied.
"I know," Winston admitted. "There's just nothing I can do here if something goes wrong."
Mercy laughed and replied, "They're an interstellar civilization. We've seen genocide here on our one planet, that they would take prisoners at all after conflict on a far larger scale is a good sign, regardless of their moral shortcomings."
"Just come back safe, we can't afford to lose you," the scientist said.
Wincing slightly at the rather tone-deaf statement but knowing that it was just Winston's way of expressing concern, Angela tried to reassure him, "Lena seemed fairly confident that there wouldn't be any trouble. With her experience in the Slipstream jet and, well, whatever it was that happened after, I'm sure we'll be okay."
Taking the distraction, Winston commented, "I told her to be here. Have you seen her?"
"No," Angela replied, slightly distracted by the Pelican that they were approaching. "For someone with the ability to control time, I would expect her to be on time, yet..."
"Yes, well, I suppose we shall wait for a little bit," the scientist decided.
Fortunately, it was not too long until the time-travelling Brit came running around the corner, obviously well aware that she was late. Seeing her travelling companion and eager to begin the journey, Angela turned to make her way onto the Master Chief's Pelican. Tracer ran past as well, giving the scientist a quick pat on the shoulder before slipping into the closing hatch.
As far as I can tell from what little International Law I read, the UN could not legally enter Gibraltar to arrest Overwatch. Maybe I took liberties, but I am no legal expert so...yeah.
-evevee
