Disclaimer: I own no franchise mentioned in this work. Halo belongs to 343, Overwatch belongs to Blizzard.

Bit late on this one, apologies. Got busy, such is the way it goes.


Mercy didn't bother with admiring the hangar around her as she marched off the Pelican, fully intent on attending to the prisoners on board. No matter their evils as Talon operatives, needless suffering through neglect was unacceptable to her morals.

As eager as she was to ask about her soon-to-be patients, Angela had held off since the answer would almost certainly irritate her. That was especially true since she would not be able to do anything about it until they arrived on board the ship itself. What she did inquire about was what medical facilities were on board the vessel, to which Cortana had informed her that their supplies were quite limited and the only other personnel on board was the alien who had accompanied them in Sydney and he was hardly capable of medical procedures.

It only took her a second to realize that she would need some guidance to wherever the two prisoners were being held as a maze of hallways instantly greeted her. Before she could turn to ask, however, Cortana's voice emanated from above as the AI guided her.

While she was walking, Mercy inquired as to the condition of the two so that she could know what to prepare for. Cortana began with Sombra, who had apparently found and subsequently tried to hack the observation equipment in her cell. That had, rather predictably, turned out rather badly considering that even the Talon agent would never be able to challenge an Artificial Intelligence, especially in its own system. After the administration of a rather unpleasant shock in retribution, the hacker had been unresponsive but was showing no signs of critical failure.

In regards to Widowmaker, the situation was somewhat more complicated. Angela had expected the sniper to be the lesser issue since she hadn't faced interrogation by the Chief, perhaps only needing to tend to some small physical problems from the fight to capture her. Any mental work would need to come later, when there was more time and she had more reliable access to the patient. As Cortana described her condition, however, Mercy became significantly more worried about how to approach treatment.

There had been no indications of concern from the Talon sniper, no attempts to escape or even investigate her cell. She had been nearly catatonic, leading the AI to run a vitals scan that came back as slightly abnormal but not concerning considering the alterations that Talon had made.

Several hours previously, however, Widowmaker had suffered some sort of seizure. Since she was currently a prisoner on a warship that was distinctly lacking in any professional medical personnel, there was no one to gather information as to what had triggered the episode. Aside from securing the sniper to the bed, the alien on board had done nothing, unwilling to waste supplies on a hostile that had been doomed to die in any case.

Ignoring the blatant violation of sentient rights for the moment, Angela turned to Tracer and stated, "I'll need you to administer sedative to Sombra while I deal with the other."

"You got it," Lena replied, chipper as ever.

Even though she suspected the answer, Angela addressed the Chief, "We may need better medical facilities than a prison cell. Do you have a-"

"Our supplies are insufficient to their injuries, even if our technology is capable of doing so," Cortana repeated before the doctor could finish.

"Somewhere sterile at least if I need to operate?"

The AI had the gall to scoff at that before she answered, "After handling casualties from several battles? No, at least not without a lot of work."

Pushing aside her annoyance with experience borne from a lifetime of practice, Mercy inquired, "If necessary, could you prepare your transport to take them to the surface?"

"They aren't the only Talon agents out there. We've gotten the information we need from them, far as I'm concerned we can get whatever you want from them and dispose of what remains," Cortana commented.

"Or we could heal them and try and help rather than propagate suffering," Angela responded. "I would think an interstellar civilization would have some idea of morals, even during war."

There was a pause in the conversation before Chief's voice suddenly declared, "Permission granted."

Glancing back in slight confusion but continuing towards the prison, Mercy listened as Cortana explained, "In our war with the Covenant, there were few prisoners. They wanted to destroy humanity, and we didn't want to be destroyed."

"We had a similar conflict with the Omnics yet basic principles were not discarded," Angela replied.

"Omnics couldn't destroy entire planets last I checked. The Covenant could, yet they refused to take any prisoners until towards the end of the War. Death was a mercy compared to being tortured and then fed to the Brutes. What few prisoners the UNSC took were interrogated before being forced into manual labor or used to experiment with weapons to save the human species from extinction."

Angela was silent for a short time before she asked, "And before your war?"

"The Insurrection detonated a nuclear weapon in a major city on an Inner Colony, commonly used suicide bombers, and generally descended into autocracy if they took a planet. Any prisoners we took were handed over to ONI for interrogation. Most died when the Covenant invaded."

"Must violence always be the solution?" Mercy lamented.

"When faced with extinction, every alternative is preferable," Cortana stated.

Frowning at that but unable to argue after her experience in the Omnic crisis, Mercy finally reached the door to the ship's brig. As it opened, the doctor came up a little short as she noticed the massive alien standing off to the side watching a monitor. At their entrance, it looked over to them before focusing on the Spartan.

Mercy pushed aside her initial surprise and quickly walked past the creature, who was clomping back to the Master Chief. As she approached the cells, a nearly inaudible hiss sounded as the massive metal doors slid out of the way.

After watching Lena disappear into Sombra's prison to try and alleviate the pain the hacker was inevitably feeling from her injuries, Angela hurried towards her other patient. Before she entered, the doctor glanced back to watch the Chief talk to his ally. Behind them, the door to the brig had already closed, probably a security precaution considering the soldier's paranoia.

Bringing her attention back to the task at hand, Mercy moved towards the figure strapped to the bed inside. Even from here she could see Widowmaker straining, though it was clear that the sniper was unconscious and oblivious to the approaching doctor.


Chief kept his attention on the Overwatch agents as they made their way to the cells holding the Talon prisoners as the Arbiter approached. As the Sangheili reached him, the Spartan stepped forward and out of the way of the door behind him so it could close. Unlikely as it may be, he wasn't going to risk one of the prisoners escaping just because they couldn't be bothered to close the door to the holding area.

"Spartan," the Arbiter greeted.

Nodding back, Chief asked, "What happened?"

"I do not know. Attempts to find out have been unsuccessful," the Elite replied. "Your mission?"

"Found the structure," the Spartan answered bluntly.

Suddenly, Cortana's voice interjected, "Before you ask, it isn't a weapon. Good news, it can get us home. Bad news, we have some errands to run before that can happen."

"Were it so easy," Thel muttered resignedly. "What must be done?"

Taking the initiative, the AI began, "We need to establish a stable line of communication between the Monitor and the ship. After that, it sounded like there will be several other Forerunner installations that need to be fixed in some form. What that entails, we don't know."

"The relics were damaged?"

"This isn't a military installation, it's some kind of experiment by a class in Forerunner society that was interrupted by the Flood. Apparently these people were here before humanity was given the status of Reclaimers, at least according to the Monitor. It was created to watch over them and it has for the last hundred thousand years, though it does seem to have memory loss for some reason. I believe that interference from the organization that created the Omnics caused the damage to the structures," Cortana stated.

Thel processed that information as he turned to watch the human medic work, his time as a Fleet Admiral showing as he considered all the implications. Eventually he inquired, "Where do we go next then, Construct?"

A rendering of the planet appeared on the display that Thel had been examining earlier as Cortana replied, "To a pleasant little country on the northern portion of the Korean peninsula that is currently dead, at least according to the data I could find on it. They were attacked in the Omnic Crisis and, being isolationist, were annihilated without much fight. Omnics built up a presence within the area and used it as a launchpad for attacks against the entire eastern seaboard of Asia. Overwatch infiltrated and shut down the facilities at the end the crisis, but there are multiple reports of continuing attacks on the southern tip of the peninsula from an operational Omnium in the East China Sea."

"They will oppose our mission, then," Thel concluded.

"Most likely, but at the same time it seems that something is slightly off with the situation," Cortana replied. "South Korea, which is still populated, investigated the ruins when the attacks against them continued. They reached the same obvious conclusion as myself, that these attacks had to be based out of the ocean as all other Omniums that could be propagating the conflict were confirmed to be inactive or destroyed. Nothing was ever found, obviously, else they'd have destroyed it. What confuses me about this, however, is that the Omnics have never been reported in the North."

"If they were truly hostile, then it would be easy enough to gather forces and mount an assault from both directions, pinching the defenders between their forces and the ocean. Currently the bulk of human forces are focused on the southern tip to defend against the constant attacks from the East China Sea. Since that has not happened, there are only several options that I would consider likely."

The screen flashed back to the display of Widowmaker's cell as the AI stated, "First, whatever is in the north does not have the production capabilities to create a force that could assault South Korea. Second, the Omnics are building up a force capable of mounting an assault, though keeping such an army hidden would be nearly impossible with their technology. The most likely is that the Omnics are not hostile and have hidden themselves somewhere in the country, only attacking the south to keep attention away from the north."

Chief stayed silent as the Sangheili considered, "An army or nothing, then. Is there any way for this ship to scan the area?"

"Not from our current position, there's a moon in the way. We could move to orbit above the drop zone, but being seen is almost a certainty at that point," Cortana responded.

"If we begin investigating installations then our presence will be discovered in any case. Our actions on the surface must have drawn some attention already," Thel countered

Cortana couldn't deny that, so she didn't bother as she simply asked, "Chief?"

The Spartan was silent for several seconds as he watched Mercy rush out of Widowmaker's cell and over to Sombra's, Tracer in tow. Turning his attention back to the AI, he replied, "Do it. We'll need the firepower in a fight."

Nodding in understanding at the unspoken request, the Arbiter said, "My blade stands ready for battle."

"We'll deploy to Gibraltar first to drop off our guests," Cortana noted.

"They could still be of use," the Elite commented.

There was little doubt in the AI's tone as she countered, "Not if they're dead. Even with the doctor here, the vitals of Blue are fluctuating. I would guess some sort of chemical imbalance with her augmentations, but I can't say for sure. As for the other, she seems to have entered neurogenic shock after messing with the surveillance equipment."

At the slight questioning turn of the head from the Spartan, Cortana defended, "She had a slowed heart rate, it was possible she was unconscious. I don't exactly have a lot to work with here, it's a prison cell, not a medical unit."

"Understood," Chief granted.

"I'll let them know that we're approaching the planet," Cortana stated. With that, the two soldiers retreated from the area once it was clear that the Overwatch agents were not about to be overwhelmed.


There was something to be said about the skill it took to pilot a Pelican from orbit down to the surface of a world, mostly along the lines of letting autopilot handle the descent angle so that the craft didn't end up on the wrong continent. As for the rest of the operation, it was fairly standard with turbulence rocking the transport and flames licking the nose as the Pelican decelerated from orbital speeds. It was something that the Chief had plenty of experience with after more than thirty years of war.

The current situation was significantly less familiar to the Spartan as he heard Mercy struggle to continue working as they bounced around. On a usual flight, the only people on board a Pelican would be the Master Chief, the rest of Blue Team, and sometimes a pilot. Anytime there were non-Spartans on board, it was almost certain that the return trip would feature that many less bodies.

A particularly strong jolt rocked the Pelican, causing an audible swear from the troop bay. Oddly enough, doing precise medical operations while ing orbit was difficult even for highly experienced medical workers. Whatever the doctor was doing, however, was not his concern as Chief followed the flight plan given to him by Cortana.

As irritating as it was to make a stop halfway around the world from their destination, the idea of leaving unauthorized individuals on board a UNSC ship with no personnel to monitor them did not appeal to the Spartan. Regardless of what protocol dictated, the truth was that the Forward Unto Dawn was their only vessel capable of slipspace travel and thus their only way to return home. Anything that could compromise its functionality would be removed one way or another.

After deciding to move the Dawn into orbit around Earth instead of keeping it hidden behind the Moon, the Arbiter had been more thoroughly informed of the situation. From the intelligence gathered by Cortana, they had determined that if there were Omnics at or near the Forerunner installation, then it was certainly possible that they would need heavier firepower than the Pelican could provide. As such, the Sangheili had suggested using the human MAC if they needed overwhelming force. While hesitant about ordering an orbital bombardment on a human planet, Chief had begrudgingly admitted that the idea held some merit.

With the relatively massive form of the UNSC frigate now visible to those looking, the concern about staying hidden had basically been tossed out the window. Dropping MAC rounds on the planet, however, went from being visible to the possibility of being mistaken for attackers. If the UN had wanted to bring them in for suspicion of being Overwatch operatives, then they would probably want the two aliens dead if fire rained from the sky.

If they were fortunate, it would be a last resort that never had to be utilized. Then again, the Chief fully expected it to be insufficient given his prior experiences with Forerunner installations.

Blasting through the atmosphere as they were, it only took a short time for their destination to appear on the horizon as the Pelican descended. Once they had landed, the Overwatch doctor rushed off the ship to retrieve assistance in offloading her patients.

While waiting for her to return, the talking monkey that ran the operation walked up to the Spartan and stated, "You plan on activating these, eh, Forerunner facilities."

As weird as it was for the Chief to talk to a gorilla of all things, he recognized the unasked question and bluntly responded, "Affirmative."

"Reinhardt recognized many of the locations as former Omniums. Even after Overwatch deactivated them, they can still be dangerous. Would you like some assistance?" From the hesitant tone of voice, it was fairly obvious that Winston was not enthusiastic about sending agents on this particular mission.

Cortana was the one to speak up as she replied, "The offer is appreciated, but a larger group would just draw more attention to us. We need to move fast and Forerunner installations can have some unpleasant surprises."

"Understood," Winston said, watching Mercy hurry back into the Pelican with several agents in tow. The group emerged several seconds later with the prisoners, hurrying off towards the medical unit. Before he followed, the leader of Overwatch glanced back and warned, "Careful of Talon. They're mad after losing two agents and they have the resources to do something about it."

Master Chief nodded in appreciation of the warning before marching back into the UNSC craft as it flared its thrusters in preparation for take off. With that errand complete, the two alien warriors were on their way to begin the first of many such trips to allow them passage back home.


Having already announced their presence rather loudly with the visits across the globe, Cortana was not particularly concerned with plotting a stealthy flight path to their destination. Since the subtropical jet stream was just north of Gibraltar, it made sense to utilize that to speed up their arrival.

Even with that advantage, however, they were still flying a quarter of the way around the planet, a trip that took several hours to complete. While they could have gone faster, exiting and re-entering atmosphere with ease was fairly noticeable. Bold as they were being at this point, there was no reason to draw that much attention to themselves.

As had been expected, the response to their flight varied with each country they passed over. Several sorties were detected by Cortana, but none were able to intercept them due to their speed and height.

Disregarding the attempts to interfere with their mission, the Master Chief concentrated on their flight as they broke out of the jet stream and turned south. Within minutes they had crossed into the deserted land that was formerly North Korea, different from before the Omnic Crisis in that there was no longer an oppressive government ruling over its people. As far as Cortana had been able to discover, the area had remained largely abandoned due to the stigma surrounding the country along with the numerous devices left in the wake of the regime's attempts to survive the assault.

Since Ascending Light had already given them a target, they fortunately did not have to worry about traversing the unknown landscape. Unfortunately, they did have to worry about Omnics since, to no one's surprise, Omnica had built their facilities on top of the Forerunner Installation.

After taking some time to visually scan the impressive complex from above, Chief brought the craft to a lower altitude to allow Cortana a chance to scan the area with the Pelican's detection instruments. Nothing came up on the motion trackers nor in visual observation, though that didn't mean much beyond the fact that enemies weren't in the immediate vicinity.

Far into potentially hostile territory, the Master Chief didn't even attempt to land the Pelican, instead deploying alongside the Arbiter in much the same way they had back in Australia. Once they had dropped from the transport, Cortana remotely directed it into a holding pattern above the complex, ready to come in for a quick exfil if necessary.

Due to the size of the building and the lack of any blueprints as far as Cortana could find, their first objective would be to secure some sort of computer or other item that might allow insight into a path to their objective. From analysis of other Omniums that had been mapped out much more extensively, the AI directed the two warriors through the winding halls to various locations that might hold the information they were looking for. Nothing bothered them on their search, leaving only the dust and walls to keep them company.

It took several hours to find a map of the facility, yet even then it was only a very simple schematic inside of what looked to be a control room of some sort. Simple as it may have been, the map was detailed enough that the two now had a solid idea of where they needed to go.

Guided by Cortana, it was only a short time later that they approached the Forerunner structure. Unlike the installation in the Outback, the facility was much closer to the surface, though it was difficult to tell how much Omnica had excavated the area. By Chief's estimate, they were only several dozen meters beneath the surface, though the cavern that encompassed the ruins had obviously been dug from above as evidenced by the concrete roof.

Much like the Halo rings, the structure showed no signs of damage. Surrounding the entrance were several machines, but it didn't look like anyone had managed to open the passage. A quick visual scan of the building showed no other doors, prompting the Chief to begin clearing out the equipment that blocked their way. Most of it seemed to be associated with material analysis and was fairly small, probably brought in when Omnica realized that removing sections of the structure would be impossible.

The only piece that would cause any trouble was a large drill that had been set up right at the entrance. Unsurprisingly, the bit head was destroyed while the door was only marred by scuff marks. With the Arbiter's help, however, the piece of machinery was shoved onto its side and out of their way.

As with the installation in the wastes of Australia, the Master Chief was able to open the door with little more than his presence. Walking inside, it was instantly apparent to both the Sangheili and Human that this place was far, far smaller than most Forerunner buildings. Rather than dropping down into a larger area or anything clever such as that, there was only a single room with several stations. All of them were idle, the only things crossing the displays being motes of dust let in by the open door.

Fortunately, this meant that the facility had power, eliminating many of the serious problems that they would have otherwise faced had that not been the case. Cortana was quickly able to access the system once Chief had found a port, leaving the Arbiter to his own devices for the moment. Once that was done, it only took several short minutes for the AI to rescind the lockdown that had been initiated when Omnica had tried to force entry.

The silence that had been keeping the group company throughout their exploration ended as Ascending Light finally made contact, "I have access to the facility, Reclaimer."

"Finally," Cortana replied. "Security was a bit tighter than expected. Do you have our next target?"

"I have been able to contact several locations, but others still present problems," Ascending stated, seemingly ignoring Cortana's question. "Most important among these is the energy cell, which is required to provide power to generate the portal into the slipstream. I will assist as I can."

There was a short pause before Cortana responded, "Well that will be interesting." Chief tilted his head, prompting the AI to explain, "Coordinates for the next facility are in Russia, which is currently in the middle of a civil war against Omnics. Before you ask, apparently their Omnium was reactivated, somehow."

Chief didn't have anything to say to that, merely accepting the explanation and focusing on how they would achieve their next objective. The Arbiter, however, grumbled, "The day has come where I would be glad to have Sentinels by my side."

A short glance at the Sangheili was all the Spartan needed to do to convey his agreement before both soldiers moved to exit the facility. After they had exited, the duo paused for several seconds to allow Cortana a chance to make sure that the front door was locked, as it were. Once that was done, the journey out was almost the same as coming in, just without the need to wander around.

This held true up until they encountered the door to the outside of the complex, which had most certainly not been shut on their arrival. Instantly alert at the change, Chief shouldered his rifle and questioned, "Cortana?"

"System is giving me trouble, port on your HUD," the AI responded.

Confident that the Arbiter was more than capable of holding watch, Chief fell back to the waypoint and held up Cortana's chip to the marked interface. It didn't take long for the center of the chip to light up once more as Cortana stated, "Open now, but there was something trying to fight my overrides."

"Anything on sensors?" the Spartan asked.

"Pelican isn't picking up anything, nor is your suit. The Dawn is orbiting on the other side of the planet, so I only have local channels for any further information. At this point, I'd recommend leaving as quickly as possible."

Ignoring the cheeky comment, Chief addressed the Arbiter, "Let's move."

The Sangheili had no issues with that as the Spartan led the way towards their exfil point. Above them, the UNSC transport circled several times while descending, though there was still no sign of movement on the trackers. Once it landed, the two warriors wasted no time in boarding as Chief took control and brought them into a steep climb.

As they levelled out, Cortana suddenly stated, "Multiple contacts inbound from the east, about two minutes out, airborne. Multiple reports of activity south of the peninsula."

"Threat?" the Master Chief asked bluntly.

"To us, not much. The locals call them Gwishin and deal with fairly regular attacks. Origin is an Omnium in the East China Sea, so we don't have a direct method of attack on that right now. Threat to civilian populations is fairly high, though, especially due to casualties in current forces," Cortana answered.

Thel interjected, "They are Constructs themselves, are they not?"

Needing no further explanation of the Arbiter's idea, Cortana countered, "Each one of them is an isolated unit, no remote communications that I can detect or use. If I had direct access I could try, but without that we'll just have to shoot them down."

"Cortana, markers on hostiles and waypoint to report location," John said.

"On your HUD now. Planning on dealing with both?"

Chief took a second to reply, "We can try to draw them off the civilians." No further words were needed as the Spartan focused on flying, turning away from the incoming contacts for the most part and towards the waypoint marking the attack against South Korea.

Fast as the Omnics may have been, they were no match for a craft designed to exit the atmosphere. Even so, their direction of approach meant that they would still be able to intercept the Pelican before it arrived to assist against the other hostile force.

Several minutes before engaging the inbound elements, Cortana spoke up, "More information from sources near the attack, confirmed sightings of the 'colossal omnic'."

"Colossal omnic?" Chief asked with slight confusion.

"Just what it sounds like. Think a scarab I suppose," the AI explained.

The Arbiter voiced the obvious, "We do not have the forces to challenge such a foe."

"Can the Dawn move into position?" the Master Chief questioned.

"She's on her way around but will have to drop further down to take a shot. You want her in atmosphere?" Cortana replied.

It took a second for the Spartan to decide, "Orbital shot if possible."

"Can do, but that's showing a lot of our hand, Chief," Cortana pointed out. "The damage from a MAC round will be significant. I should be able to land it and avoid collateral damage, but if this thing moves wrong, that may no longer be an option."

Thel interjected, "Would our allies be able to assist?"

"Possibly, but they are a long ways away. The primary defense force is a Korean program called MEKA, but several of their pilots are out of action after a recent battle against this same enemy. If we engage, the Omnics may concentrate on us rather than an attack on the mainland," she responded.

"Understood," the Spartan stated before turning his attention back to the control panel. By that point the incoming omnics had appeared on the Pelican's motion trackers. Rather than turning away to avoid them and risk being flanked from behind, Chief faced the hostiles head on.

Eventually the strange, squid-like forms of the Gwishin were visible on the horizon, closing extremely fast as the Pelican rocketed towards them. Unwilling to meekly sit in the back of the craft but also unable to fit in the small copilot seat, the Arbiter braced himself against the doorway and watched as the Spartan took the fight.

While not designated as a combat craft, the Pelican was still several hundred years more advanced than anything on this planet. Equipped with simple yet effective weapons, it was more than capable of dealing fatal damage to small airborne attack craft if given the chance.

The Gwishin learned this quite quickly as the Spartan opened fire with the chin mounted machine gun, taking out two of the seven attackers very quickly. Surprised by the effective assault, the remaining omnics broke off from their direct attack, splitting to try and coordinate a pincer.

Having fought against much more intelligent enemies in the Covenant War as well as in simulations of historical battles, Chief showed no hesitation in chasing one of the individual craft. The Omnic may have had time to process and react to the action due to its computerized nature, but its body was not agile enough to avoid the pinpoint fire that severed its propulsion unit.

Seeing their opportunity, the other Gwishin turned back towards the Pelican and tried to attack from behind. With a twist of the controls, the transport turned sharply to the side before ascending rapidly.

Unable to replicate the maneuver, the Omnics continued forwards in an attempt to exit the firing envelope of the UNSC craft.

Noticing that the hostiles were not following, Chief looped around and began to dive straight towards the last four enemies. Two more went down to another burst of fire.

Finally realizing that they couldn't avoid the Pelican, the last two Gwishin turned straight towards the transport and began to fire what they could. Several shots landed on the armored hull but failed to penetrate the titanium, giving Chief the opportunity to finish the fight. With the last of the hostiles finally out of the way and only superficial damage to the craft, the Spartan turned back towards the real fight.


Not much to say here. Sorry for the delay, doubt that the next chapter will be up on time but it may happen. Will see how it comes along.

-evevee