Purpose Of Existence Chapter 40: A Way Home
It was almost an hour later till they pushed their way back inside the Control Chamber. Even with the help of Biases maps, the flood was everywhere and they just wouldn't give up, no matter what they tried.
So it was decided that they would collapse the hallways behind them, effectively sealing them inside the chamber, but also sealing the flood out. The Gatekeeper was their only access to outside world now and if she refused to communicate or saw them unworthy, well then this mission just got a lot more interesting.
"It wasn't this dark when we left".
Palmer gave Buck a deadpan look "No shit, the flood must have fried the rooms circuits, trying to vent us to death".
Chief pushed a ruined table out of their way. "The flood must have carried it around in their bloodrage"
"Yeah... Can you tell if the Gatekeeper is still here, or if she even survived?"
"This sections systems are too damaged to give any reliable information but as far as i'm aware, the flood does not know about the existence of the Gatekeeper, and so it should remain, she is too valuable piece of our history to lose now".
"I'll take every precaution available to prevent that". Chief could now see the floating pearl, it was closed again. probably to prevent the flood from detecting what laid inside it.
Once again Chief approached it, standing next to it, spreading his hands and pushing them inside the black slowly moving object…
And nothing happened.
Damn.
Chief pulled his hands out "Bias?"
"It would seem that the flood were curious of what we were doing with this object. They tried to pry it open by force, and paid dearly for it".
Suddenly all the lights around the room came back on.
"I have managed to partially restore power to this sector, perhaps this will help in our container dilemma. I believe tha..." Bias continued but Chief was no longer listening, his attention was focused on the thousands of dead floodforms lying around them, previously hidden by the darkness, now revealed to them.
"Jesus Christ".
"Yeah"
"And here I thought Christianity was a disappearing religion Spartan Locke". Palmer raises an eyebrow. Then quickly sobers up and turns back to the carnage around them. "But in all seriousness, this is not natural, whoever did this, is not natural".
"A necessary sacrifice, these abominations were standing in the way of this galaxys future and I will defend myself until my role is completed". A booming voice spoke from behind them. Chief whipped around, pulling his rifle faster than any ordinary man could and showed it to the offenders face…
Only to notice the exotic but beautiful features of the Gatekeeper, her large slightly narrowed eyes were inspecting him, like a scolding mother would do after her son had done something bad.
Her hard features turned to address the rest of the group "I suspect me dealing with your enemies is not going to be a problem?"
Locke had pulled his helmet off and stared at the exotic creature standing in front of them. If he had taken a mirror with him, he could have swore his jaw was hanging slightly.
After a few intense moments Palmer broke the ice.
"Of course not, we just simple assumed that you couldn't… You know…"
Seekers eyes instantly softened "interact with your world you mean?"
"Yeah… Something like that." By now the spartans had holstered their weapons, Palmer being the only one who still gaped at the mysterious creature.
"I was once part of the world, just like you are now...I can still interact with it, but this is not where my destiny lies… No my path is elsewhere. It was my final duty to ensure your save departure of your once upon a time, brightest beacon of hope".
Now the pearl started to open more, drawing power from the giantic pylons surrounding it. The Gatekeeper turned to her gaze back to the Master Chief. "The pylon needs a few moments to charge, I will teleport you and your friends back aboard your flagship. After this I will open up a new portal, one that will return you back to your home".
A orange countdown timer popped up on a console next to the party. It said "00:05:00"
Suddenly I loud bang threw the groups attention. It came from the opposite side from where they blockaded the flood.
Fred gave a sideways look to Chief "No way the flood cleared the wreckage that fast, this is something else".
"Agreed, be ready for anything".
Without warning multiple shielded turrets rouse from the ground, the shielding paneling made way for these machines of death and turned into a miniature bunker surrounding the turret. "I have activated the last remaining defences in this sector, they will assist you until complete destruction".
When the doors blew apart, they didn't get the giant horde of flood they were expecting, instead thought charged 2 massive hunters, followed by a lance of elites and even more grunts. Their objective was quite clear as without any warning or last words, the small army started rampaging their way towards the small group.
Immediately upon entering their range, the turrets opened fire, clearly controlled by Bias as they were ignoring the heavily armored hunters and focusing their fire on the grunts and elites instead.
The first wave fell down quickly and efficiently. The hunters might be powerful but they aren't smart, both of them fell down to a simple flanking maneuver. The grunts took the brunt of the turret damage, giving the elites a few more seconds to try to get to melee range, yet even the legendary sangheili carapass can they so much damage.
The second wave was very much the same, yet bigger. Holding more hunters and even more elites. This time Gerome took a minor hit from a covenant plasma grenade, hurt like hell, but wouldn't be fatal, if treated correctly of course.
"More elites coming from the upper floor!"
"Need help here, think they are trying to crush me under their bodies!"
"Hunters incoming!"
And then… It stopped. Complete utter silence. Nothing. Only the sound of the charging energy pillars and the countdown clock.
Then a lonely grunt ran from the hallway, only to stop almost immediately after exiting the door.
The grunt was about to say something when a large mechanical hand grabbed his head, pulling him up and throwing its small body against the hard metallic wall behind it. After that a red eye emerged, and finally the rest of the large brute body.
"I have waited for this moment for a long time human. Thank you, for finding my people a way back to our galaxy. This scenery was getting quite dull". Then the brute turned his head back towards the large dark passageway and calmly said:
"The green one is mine".
And then there was chaos.
oooOOOooo
A day late but oh well i'm a busy man. I'm not happy with the ending, but I was running out of time and needed to get in done, might change it in the future.