If Steve Downes makes a voice cameo as you-damned-well-better-know-who in Wreck-It Ralph, it will automatically become the greatest Disney movie of all time.
...
1142 Hours, March 6th, 2683
Underground Forerunner Complex, Beneath the Surface of Eletania
Hercules System, Attican Beta Cluster
...
The Master Chief took cover behind another column. "How much closer?" he asked.
"He should be roughly twenty meters ahead." Cortana replied. "Right here's good. He should be coming along in a minute or two."
Chief nodded. He already had his ambush all planned out, and it fortunately didn't need much prep work. All Saren would have as back-up would be a pair of Geth troopers. The Master Chief would start by tossing a tech grenade at their feet. It would stun them on detonation, but more importantly, it would take out their shields. Chief would then pop out of cover and fire two short, controlled bursts from his assault rifle; one in each Geth. Once they were down, Chief would charge Saren, knocking the weapon he'd raise out of his hands, open-palm strike his nose to stun him, followed by a heel kick to the chest, knocking him down. Once he was down, Chief would affix the neural inhibitor collar to the Turian's neck. From there, the Chief would need to link back up with the squad and get Saren onto the Normandy. That last part would likely be the most difficult part of this operation, but the Spartan would cross that bridge when he got to it.
Chief heard footsteps further up the hall. He hugged the pillar even more as his eyes darted to his motion sensor. Three red dots coming his way. Chief reached into his belt and pulled out a tech grenade. It was time to execute.
He came out of cover, catching a glimpse at Saren's surprised face, and tossed the grenade at his feet. It detonated on impact, disabling the shields of two Geth bodyguards. Chief raised his rifle and fired a short burst square into one Geth's chest, then another burst into the other one's chest. Chief then charged out of cover towards Saren.
Saren suddenly thrust his arm out out at the Spartan, who then flew thirty feet down the corridor. Chief cursed to himself as he scrambled back into cover. He was hoping he could incapacitate Saren before the Turian could employ his biotics, but it seemed that he had underestimated Saren's reaction time. The Chief peeked out of cover and looked up the corridor. He made out Saren ducking behind a pillar, also holding a weapon. He could hear him chuckle.
"John-117." Saren said. "At long last, we meet face-to-face." He peeked out, only to duck back when Chief tried to take a shot at him. "So to speak." he added.
Chief popped his gun out of cover and kept Saren pinned with some blind fire while he tried to think of a way to get around the Turian's biotics.
"You know, there were over seven thousand Geth stationed on Feros, all of whom were under orders to not only kill you on sight, but also prioritize you as a secondary objective after the Thorian." Saren said. "There were all actively hunting and trying to kill you. And yet, here you are, seemingly no worse for wear. So just out of idle curiosity, might I ask how you're still alive?"
"Easy." Chief replied. "I'm a Spartan. And Spartans never die."
"...Oh, is that the Spartan motto?" Saren asked. "Oh, now that is just adorable. Blatantly untrue, but adorable."
"No Spartan has ever been killed in action." Chief pointed out.
"And yet, a curious amount tend to go missing in action." Saren pointed out. "Kelly, Samuel, Fred and Linda just to name a few."
John suddenly gripped his rifle in anger. "How-"
"Did I know about all your old teammates?" Saren finished the question with a jovious chuckle. "When I do my research on someone, I make it a point to be very thorough. I know virtually everything about your combat record, John. Even the parts ONI didn't want me to know. Spectre privileges and all that. Now, I know I called you a walking WMD with poor diplomacy skills, but between you and me, the real reason I don't approve of your Spectre status is because of your poor combat record."
"I have thousands of confirmed kills on my record." Chief pointed out.
"A large kill-count does not make an effective soldier. Good leadership does." Saren countered. "In that regard, your record is abysmal. Li-008, Anton-044, Grace-093 and Samuel-034 all died under your command. Additionally, several hundred UNSC marines also died fighting by your side over the course of the war."
"That wasn't my fault!" Chief shouted.
"The hell it wasn't!" Saren shouted back. "They looked up to you! They saw you as a symbol of hope! But all you did was give them false reassurance before they died in vain! Officially or otherwise, they saw you as their leader, and you failed them!"
Chief gritted his teeth as his grip on his rifle grew strong enough to make the metal creek. "I've no love for Humans, but I admit that the Spartans were, for their time, one of the finest warriors in all the galaxy. It's a shame that good Spartans like Samuel-034 died so early in their careers. Perhaps their deaths could've been avoided if they were under the command of someone who was legitimately competent."
That was it.
The Chief came out of cover and charged right at Saren. He still planned on taking him in alive, but not before breaking his legs.
Saren also came out of cover and thrust his arm out, shooting a ball of biotic energy at the Chief. It hit with the force of a brute's fist, stopping the Chief's charge and even sent him stumbling back a bit. He soon heard the familiar but unwelcome beeping of a shield that had been depleted. That was when the Spartan noticed that he had a lingering biotic field around him. Saren thrust out his arm again and threw another, though this time smaller, ball of biotic energy at the Spartan.
A biotic explosion was an advanced biotic technique which was most effective against heavily armored foes. Biotics work by using physical gestures (officially known as physical mnemonics) to cause neurons to fire in a certain sequence, sending an electrical charge through their eezo nodules and creating the desired effect. Every electrical charge has either a positive or negative charge, and the charge going through a biotic's eezo nodules are no different. Thus, every biotic warp, throw or what-have-you is at least partly electrical and will always be either positively or negatively charged. And since two electrical currents of the same charge will always seek to repel one another, hitting a biotic field with a biotic attack of the same charge can create a violent reaction, creating the eponymous biotic explosion.
Chief experienced this phenomenon first hand when Saren's biotic energy hit the Chief and ignited the biotic field that still lingered from his warp attack. The biotic explosion sent the Chief flying down the corridor and tumbling across the floor. When he came to a stop, he saw a structural damage report appear on his screen. The explosion put a serious dent in his armor.
"You know, for someone who is commonly described as having a stoic personality, you're unusually quick to anger." the Chief heard Saren say as he heard the Turian's footfall come closer. "You need to keep that temper of yours in check."
Chief rose and charged.
Chief flew further down the hall.
"Charging blindly didn't work last time. Don't know why you'd think it would work that time." Saren pointed out, his organic arm still glowing blue from the last few attacks.
Chief rose again, this time his rifle raised and fired. Saren had already wrapped himself in a biotic barrier, which easily deflected the Spartan's shots. He biotically threw the Master Chief further down the hall a third time. He laughed mockingly as he stalked over to the Spartan, who was once again trying to rise in vain.
"This is the Master Chief?" Saren asked of no one in particular. "This is Humanity's Greatest Hero?" He thrust out his arm and threw another ball of biotic energy at the Chief, triggering another biotic explosion, sending the Spartan flying even further until he hit a wall at the end. After hitting the ground hard, the Chief struggled to get back up, but a biotic warp brought him down to his hands and knees, alarms incessantly beeping into his ears as another dent in his armor was reported to him. Furthermore, the biotic residue from all those attacks were causing static interference with his shield systems. His shield couldn't regenerate.
"I swear to the Spirits, I'm mentally chastising myself right now." Saren said with an almost schoolboy-like glee as he approached the Spartan. "To think of all the trouble I could've saved myself if I had just slapped you around with my biotics in the first place! Had I known it would be this easy, I would've done it myself a while ago!"
Saren stood over the Spartan, still prone on his hands and knees. Out of the corner of his eye, the Chief saw the former Spectre pull out a pistol with his organic hand and point it at his head.
"So much for 'Spartans never die.'" Saren said.
Now. Chief thought to himself.
The Spartan reached up and grabbed Saren's wrist and yanked down hard. He heard a sickening snap as Saren's entire arm was dislocated. He reached up with his other hand and delivered a pulled back open palm strike right to Saren's face; a move made easier by the Turian's face closer thanks to the earlier arm pull. Chief then let go of Saren's wrist and spun his legs out, catching Saren's feet and tripping him. The Turian landed on his back with a hard thud. Chief neatly spinned into a prone runner's pose and then stood upright. While the Turian was still down, the Spartan struck him right in the chest with an open palm strike, knocking the wind out of Saren's lungs and keepinghim down. Chief then grabbed a neural inhibitor collar from his belt and clamped it around Saren's neck before the former Spectre could recover.
"You were saying?" Chief asked.
"Nice save. I'll raise the rest of the squad on TEAMCOM." Cortana said. "...Uh-oh. Chief, we have a problem." The Chief stood up and walked a few feet away from Saren as he turned off his helmet's external speakers.
"What is it?" Chief asked.
"I can't raise TEAMCOM." Cortana explained. "Looks like your suit's radio took some damage when Saren was throwing you around like a rag doll."
"Can you fix it?" Chief asked.
"Negative. Circuits are misaligned and the motherboard's cracked. It's fubar." Cortana replied.
Chief sighed. Of course the mission wouldn't end that easily. "Don't suppose you have a brilliant idea on how to contact the squad without radio." he said.
"Who are you talking to?" Saren demanded. "Your external speakers are off, but I can still hear your voice muffling through your helmet."
Chief turned his external speakers back on and turned to Saren. "Private conversation. Shove it." the Spartan said before turning his gaze away from the Spectre and turning external speakers back off.
"As a matter of fact, I do." Cortana replied with trademarked confidence. "If we can find a Forerunner terminal somewhere around here, you could plug me into the facility's network. From there, I could locate the squad and set up a communication feed between you and them."
"Any terminals nearby?" Chief asked.
"No, but I am detecting a teleporter further down this corridor. Could lead to one." Cortana replied.
Chief nodded and walked back over to Saren. He lifted up the former Spectre's limp form and unceremoniously draped him across one shoulder. He then began walking down the hall.
"Where are we going?" Saren demanded from his less-than-dignified position.
"We're going to link back up with my team. Then we're going to take you to the Citadel, where the Council has prepared a nice cell for you." Chief answered.
"...You mean you're not going to kill me?" Saren asked. He chuckled at that. "I'm disappointed, John. Don't tell me you of all people don't have the stomach for it."
"I have my orders." Chief replied. "Besides, I don't need to kill you. After all you've done, don't be surprised if the Council gives you the needle."
"That's only if we get out of here." Saren pointed out. "There is a tactical nuclear bomb somewhere in this facility, and it's going to be detonating very soon."
"I know. I've got some guys working on it." Chief replied.
...
The squad all stood against the wall, each member keeping a tight grip on their weapons, ready to engage at any second. Just around the corner was a huge chamber the size of a football field. More immediately around the corner was the bomb. N'tho had been sent in to assess the strength of the defense force guarding the bomb. He had only been gone for a few seconds, and already it seemed he was gone too long.
"Okay." N'tho's voice reported over TEAMCOM. "Count five Krogan and, like, twenty-something Geth. We may need to get creative."
Kaidan winked green to acknowledge. He took a moment to think. What would the Master Chief do in a situation like this? He remembered that one firefight back on Feros, at the entrance to the ExoGeni facility. Perhaps a similar strategy could be used here.
"N'tho. Where are you positioned?" Kaidan asked.
"Behind a line of crates on the far side of the room, across from you guys." N'tho replied.
"Good. We need you to distract them for a few seconds. Set up your minigun and start shooting." Kaidan ordered.
"Can do!" the elite enthusiastically replied. A second later, the sound of repeating plasma and the surprised yelps of Krogan filled the air. "I'M N'THO 'SRAOM! YOU CAN'T STOP ME! YEAH BITCHES!"
"That is very distracting." Garrus noted.
"Wrex, you're up next." Kaidan said. "Put on a barrier and just charge right in."
"So far, I'm liking your plan." Wrex complimented the Human as he activated his barrier. The Krogan Battlemaster came around the corner and charged into the Geth, his footfall heavy and loud, as though the floor was a big war drum and he was beating it with his feet. He struck a Geth trooper down, using his shotgun as a club before unloading it on another Geth, then biotically throwing another one to give himself some room.
"Garrus. See if you can bring a few of those Krogan down." Kaidan ordered. Garrus nodded before unfolding his sniper rifle and stepping around the corner. Within seconds he looked down his scope, got a fix on a Krogan's head, and fired. Orange mist bursting from the side of its head, the enemy Krogan collapsed into a heap. Garrus was able to kill another Krogan with another headshot before his sniper rifle overheated. He came back around the corner for cover.
"Garrus. You stay here and keep providing covering fire." Kaidan instructed. "Everyone else, with me. We're going in!" Kaidan then charged into the room, Ashley, Liara and Tali close behind. Kaidan wrapped himself in a biotic barrier and Tali wrapped herself in an overshield and unleashed suppressive fire into the Geth ranks, while Ashley and Liara ran for cover behind a pile of crates before they too contributed to the assault.
The Geth were forced to fight a battle on two fronts. On one side was N'tho and his plasma minigun. On the other side was the rest of the squad. One of the Krogan warriors roared before charging towards N'tho's position. Eliminating the Sangheili would eliminate the second front entirely. However, a plasma grenade flew through the air and stuck to the Krogan's hump, right above his head, as he continued charging, running past a pair of Geth troopers. The grenade detonated, killing not only the Krogan but also the two Geth.
"Ooooooh, that was a nice stick!" N'tho cheered after his grenade detonated. "Betcha can't stick it! I DID!" He added as he threw another one before resuming his minigun assault.
After their barrier and overshield ran out, Kaidan and Tali ran for cover, finding it in a pile of crates close to the pile that Ashley and Liara hid behind. "Count two Krogan and about a dozen Geth left!" Ashley reported over TEAMCOM.
"One Krogan." Wrex corrected over TEAMCOM. He biotically lifted a Krogan warrior into the air and riddled its floating body with bullets. When the biotic field faded, it fell to the floor with a wet thud.
"Well, that still leaves about a dozen pissed off Geth." Ashley commented. As if on cue, said dozen pissed off Geth opened fire on Wrex. Knowing that his biotic barrier wouldn't last much longer, he ran off to where N'tho was taking cover.
"Not a word, Squidhead!" Wrex barked at the Sangheili.
"I didn't say nuthin'!" N'tho shouted in reply.
"We need to clear them out quick." Kaidan declared over TEAMCOM. He didn't know how much time was left on that bomb, but he didn't want to take his time with this fight. "Liara. Can you use a singularity?"
"Yes, but I doubt it would do much good." the Asari replied as she peaked out of cover. "The Geth are too spread out. I'd only be able to disable a few of them at once."
"Kaidan. I think I have an idea." Tali said as she began tapping keys on her omni-tool. After a few more key taps, her omni-tool suddenly pulsed with light, the program ready for action. She stood up from cover and thrust her omni-tool out at a nearby Geth, the tool flashing white and giving out its tell-tale whine.
The Geth she targeted stopped for a second. Suddenly, it turned its gun on a fellow Geth trooper and began firing. The other trooper had to shoot back in response. Tali thrust her omni-tool at a second Geth, forcing it to turn traitor as well. And then she did to a third, and then a fourth. Within moments, half of the Geth force was opening fire on the other half.
"You hacked the Geth?" Ashley asked.
"It's a virus I've been working on for about a week now." Tali replied. "And technically, I didn't actually hack the Geth. The virus takes control of the hardware-"
Tali's explanation was cut off by a furious roar. The single remaining Krogan warrior turned on the Geth and began gunning them all down, evidently no longer caring which ones were on his side. "Garrus, N'tho, Wrex, you guys pick off the Geth." Kaidan ordered. "I'll take care of this Krogan."
With that, Kaidan's body glowed blue as he came out of cover. With a motion of his arm, he lifted the rampaging Krogan into the air. The alien flailed his limbs and screamed out obscenities as he floated higher and higher into the air. A sphere of biotic energy gathered in Kaidan's hand, and he threw it at the Krogan. The resulting biotic explosion completely depleted the Krogan's shields and partially ruptured his armor. And with the field gone, he fell to the ground with a crack. Kaidan finished him off with a full round of rifle fire to his head.
Thanks to Tali's hacks, the remaining Geth were easy to deal with. One by one, the machines fell to Garrus's sniper rifle, Wrex's assault rifle, N'tho's plasma minigun, and just about every other squad members' weapon of choice. When the last Geth fell, Tali rushed over to the bomb and brought up the control panel. She furiously tapped several keys until the bomb's humming whirred down into silence. The Quarian breathed a sigh of relief as the rest of the squad came over.
"How much time was left?" Ashley asked.
"You don't want to know." Tali replied. She then resumed typing on the control panel, this time at a slightly more eased pace. "I'm going to see if I can shut this thing off permanently. When we get out of here, we need to be sure that the Geth can't just turn it back on." She then fished an OSD out of one of her pockets and slid it into the console's disc drive.
"Good thinking." Kaidan complimented. He then accessed TEAMCOM. "Chief, we've deactivated the bomb." he reported.
All the biotic got in response was static. "Chief? You read?" Kaidan asked again. Still nothing but static. He turned to the rest of the team. "Can't raise the Chief on TEAMCOM for some reason."
"How do we find the Chief if we can not contact him?" Liara asked.
"Maybe we could go and find one of those Forerunner terminals." Ashley suggested. "We could find the Chief by accessing the surveillance systems or something."
"Well, unless anyone has any better ideas, looks like we're gonna have to go find a terminal." Kaidan said with a shrug.
"This should do it." Tali said with a satisfied tone as the console spat the OSD back out. The bomb was suddenly wrapped in a glowing red overshield. "I've installed a shield-lock matrix. It should at least last until we get out of here with Saren and nothing short of another nuclear bomb can destroy it."
"Alright." Kaidan said as he looked around the massive chamber. "So where do we start looking for a terminal..."
It was then that the squad heard something. Like the skittering of a thousand little feet. It started out low but soon grew in volume. The skittering became accompanied by moans and gurgles as they saw the source emerge from a doorway on the far side of the chamber, opposite from the team.
The Flood. Dozens of combat forms, hundreds infection forms, and a few tank forms just for good measure. One of the tank forms looked at the squad and roared.
"Oh bosh." Tali swore.
"I propose we begin looking for a terminal in the direction opposite the horde of nightmarish parasites." Garrus suggested.
"Agreed!" Kaidan said before he turned around and ran down the opposite corridor, the rest of the squad behind him.
The Flood combat and tank forms broke into a run, pursuing their prey. Infection forms buried themselves into the Krogan corpses and mutated them into combat forms that then joined the others in the chase. The parasites completely ignored the Geth corpses, synthetic bodies being worthless to them, as well as the shield-locked bomb.
...
"I must say, this is something of a low point in my career." Saren deadpanned as the Chief continued to carry him on his shoulder down yet another corridor. "Saren Arterius. The most ruthless Spectre in the galaxy, Prophet of the Geth, and the Turian who brought the Human Alliance to its knees...now being lugged around as though he were little more than an Asari sex doll. Seriously though, was this collar really necessary? Couldn't you just shackle my hands and feet and let me walk to my cell with my head held high? You know, so I could maintain some semblance of dignity?"
Chief grunted. Between Garrus and now Saren, the Spartan was beginning to wonder if a dry sense of humor was a cultural hallmark of the Turian species.
"In all seriousness though, even if you do get out of here alive, and even if the Council did have enough of a backbone to sentence me to death, it still won't stop what's coming." Saren darkly added.
"You sure about that?" Chief asked. "With their leader incarcerated and likely put to death, your Geth army will be in disarray. Beating them will be easier."
"I don't think you understand." Saren replied. "This isn't an Insurrectionist cell. This isn't a Covenant armada. The forces you are opposing are completely beyond your comprehension; completely unlike anything you've ever faced before."
"Let me guess. The Reapers?" Chief asked. "Sentient machines that wiped out the Protheans and now we're next? Gimme a break."
"Oh come now John, don't play the skeptic." Saren said. "We both saw the vision from that beacon on Eden Prime. You know as well as I do that there are monsters lurking in the dark."
Chief sighed and set Saren down on the floor. Enough was enough.
"Everything you thought you knew about the galaxy's history is about to change." Saren went on.
"Uh-huh." Chief said as he knelt down on one knee and reached into his belt.
"A new galactic order is on the horizon. We're standing on the precipice. Whether it is of our doom or our ascension will be determined by my actions."
"Mm-hm." Chief continued to dig around his utility belt. Come on, where is it...
"Even if I die, whether it be by your hands or the Council's, Benezia will take my place and carry on my mission. And if she dies, someone will take her place. You can not fight the inevitable, John-117. You can not stop the arrival. And I will take great pleasure in watching the Reapers burn Earth to the grouMPH!"
Chief found what he was looking for; a miniature roll of duct-tape. He quickly tore off a strip and used it to seal Saren's mouth shut. The Turian muffled in indignation as his rant was cut short.
"Much better." Chief said as he gave Saren a pat on the cheek. He then hefted the Spectre's limp body back over his shoulder and resumed his course.
The Master Chief came out of the corridor and into a large, dimly-lit chamber. The ceiling was black with twinkling lights, resembling a night sky, just like the corridor from when the Chief first entered this place. Rows upon rows of pillars reached from the floor to the ceiling, which was easily two hundred feet high, maybe higher. Pillars that were thicker than the others dotted the chamber's layout, various walkways suspended at ten, twenty, thirty, even fifty feet in the air connecting them. Finally, the chamber was very dark as a consequence of the low light. It was so dark that the Chief couldn't see the walls and corners of the giant room.
Chief raised his pistol as he suddenly heard an odd noise. It was a strange warbling sound, neither Geth nor Flood. "...I don't think we're the only ones in here." Cortana slowly said. "Keep your eyes open."
Chief's eye darted to the motion tracker. Nothing but one yellow dot right in the middle. Still, he heard something. He kept moving, this time very slowly and with a pistol in his hand.
After a minute of navigating the chamber, he noticed four red dots appear on his HUD. He took cover behind one of the larger pillars, setting Saren down next to him. He peeked around the corner.
Three Geth troopers and a Krogan warrior. Likely just a small patrol group. He reached into his belt and pulled out a tech grenade. He threw it at the group, destroying their shields upon detonation. He switched to his assault rifle and fired a quick burst of bullets into one Geth, followed by another, and then another. Only when his three Geth companions fell did the Krogan realize he was under attack. With a roar, he charged at the Chief. The Spartan opened fire on the alien, but being a Krogan, the warrior was able to ignore most of the fire and continue charging. As his rifle overheated, the Chief braced for impact.
Suddenly, an orange beam of light shot out from nowhere and hit the Krogan. The Krogan suddenly dissolved into a flurry of what looked like bright golden leaves, which then crumbled into ash. "What was that?" Chief asked.
"Unknown." Cortana replied. Chief looked up at where the beam came from. He saw a glowing whitish-blue orb of light floating on one of the walkways, which then disappeared in the blink of an eye.
"Activity all around us." Cortana reported as the Chief noted several white dots appearing on his motion tracker behind him. He turned around saw several orange glowing creatures climb down the pillars. Chief noted that the creatures were quadrupedal before they started jumping off the pillars and firing orange bolts at him.
"They're hostiles." Chief noted as one of the dog-like synthetics lunged at him. He smashed its face in with his rifle butt before opening fire on another one. After a few rounds to its head, its head cavity exploded into a cloud of orange mist. Realizing at that their orange glowing 'mouths' were their weakness, Chief shot another burst into the mouth of another one, making its head explode too. Another one lunged, only to kiss the Chief's rifle butt. Targeting their mouths allowed the Chief to take out two more before his rifle overheated.
"These things are some type of defense AI's!" Cortana said. "Definitely not Geth! Stay sharp!"
One of the synthetic creatures shrieked at him from a walkway above him. Chief's rifle had cooled, so he aimed up and fired some bullets right into its throat. "Move of them!" Cortana alerted as she highlighted another incoming group of synthetics on the Chief's HUD. Chief activated his overshield just before the synthetic dogs unleashed another volley of orange light on him. He returned fire, killing yet another one.
Then, they suddenly turned around and trotted off, scurrying back up the pillars and out of sight. "They're retreating..." Cortana noted. "Guess they figured out they shouldn't pick a fight with you."
After waiting a moment to make sure the odd synthetic creatures were gone, Chief walked back over to Saren. He knelt down in front of the Spectre and ripped the duct tape off his mouth. "What were those things?" Chief demanded.
"First time I've seen them, John." Saren replied. "Your guess is as good as mine."
"Well, you're no help." Chief said before slapping the duct tape back onto Saren's face. The Turian grunted in indignation. Chief withdrew his assault rifle and did one more quick once-over just to make sure-"
"CHIEF!"
Cortana screeched into the Spartan's ear in alarm as he saw a metal body jump from one of the walkways above and land right on top of him. It was a synthetic creature, faintly similar to the ones he just fought, and yet very different. It wore a metal helmet and had eyes that burned the same shade of orange as those other defense AI's. Its face was right up in the Chief's.
Then, its face split open right down the middle, revealing what looked like a Human skull that burned a furious mix of red, yellow and orange. It roared right into the Spartan's face.
The Master Chief punched the creature right in the face. This was getting annoying.
Stunned by the punch, Chief kicked the creature right in the chest, shoving it off. The Spartan got to his feet and raised his fists. As he did so, he got a better look at the creature. Unlike the dog-like synthetics, this one was more his size. It had two pairs of arms; a large set of robotic arms that seemed to end in weapons, and two smaller, seemingly biological arms below the robotic ones. Its torso had an odd shape to it. A spinning top was the only object the Chief could think of to compare it too. Finally, there were lines and symbols on the synthetic's body that glowed orange.
The creature huffed before ramming its shoulder into the Master Chief with alarming speed, sending him flying and slamming into a pillar. As the Chief got up, the 'top' of the creature's torso opened up, and a smaller synthetic being popped out, hovering above the other creature. The smaller creature seemed to use two large disc-like devices to hover in the air.
Chief raised his assault rifle and opened fire on the creature. Then, oddly and to the Spartan's frustration, the floating creature fired a blue beam at the other creature, creating a hard-light shield in front of it. While it protected its ground-based companion, it shot bolts of light at the Spartan.
Chief reached into his belt and fished out a plasma grenade. He primed it and threw it at the creature, hoping the explosion would be enough to overpower that shield. The floating synthetic, however, caught it in mid-air with a tractor beam of some sort. It then twirled the grenade around in a few circles before throwing it back at the Chief. The Spartan leaned his head out of the way just as the grenade whizzed by.
Noting that the larger creature was no longer protected by the shield, Chief decided to seize the opportunity. He opened fire on the synthetic, aiming for the head. Eventually, the Chief was rewarded with his efforts when, oddly, the creature disintegrated into a flurry of golden leaves, just like the Krogan did. Perhaps the synthetics were programmed to self-terminate upon death. With its comrade dead, the floating one flew away.
"On the floor. It dropped something." Cortana said as she highlighted the area in question, right where the odd creature used to be. Chief put away his rifle as he walked over to the area. It seemed the self-termination didn't destroy everything. It left behind a few shards of metal. The Chief picked up a shard that, oddly, had a handle on it. Not only a handle, but a trigger.
Suddenly, the other shards of metal began floating and combined with the shard the Chief was holding. The shards fit together like a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle, forming what the Chief easily recognized as a weapon. Specifically, a scoped rifle. At least, that floating cylinder on top looked like a scope.
"I recognize this design." Cortana said. "It's Forerunner. No doubts now. Those things were Forerunner Defense AI's."
"You mean like Sentinels?" Chief asked, remembering the deadly floating robots from Halo that served as Guilty Spark's minions.
"More like Sentinels on steroids. Bigger, stronger, and more aggressive." Cortana replied. "Guess one of Saren's goons must have accidentally turned on this facility's security systems so now we've got killer Forerunner robots to deal with. Hopefully, they'll be as much a problem to them as they will be to us."
Chief then noticed the flying Defense AI flying off into a dark corner of the chamber. "Better grab Saren and bug out before thatlittle guy comes back with friends." Cortana advised.
Chief trotted back over to Saren as he squeezed his new weapon onto his back, right between his assault and sniper rifles. He hefted the rogue Spectre over his shoulder as Cortana slapped an arrow up on the Chief's HUD. The Spartan jogged in that direction, arriving at another teleporter. He stepped through it.
...
The squad had only been running from the Flood for a few minutes, but it seemed much longer. Already their legs were getting sore, but the moaning, gurgling threat of death behind them kept them from stopping. They had managed to put enough distance between them and the Flood to stay a few corners ahead of the horde of parasites, but the ever-present scent of decaying flesh assured them that their pursuers weren't too far behind.
As they turned another corner, Ashley noticed something on the wall. "Door!" she blurted out before rushing over to the control panel next to it, the squad also stopping by the door and congregating around it. "Stop crowding me!" Williams snapped.
"I got this." Kaidan said as she pushed Ashley aside and worked the control panel. "It's locked, but I think I can unlock it."
The moans of the Flood grew louder. "FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT!" Ashley pleaded.
"Fixed it." Kaidan reported as the door opened. "Everyone inside! Move!" The squad didn't need to be told twice as they all poured in, Kaidan being the last one in, closing the door behind them and then locking it.
After taking a moment to catch their breaths, the squad looked around the room. It was a small room, about thirty feet by thirty feet. There were several crates and containers in the room and shelves lining the walls. "Looks like a storage closet." Garrus noted.
"Thank the Goddess. There's a terminal right over there." Liara sighed with relief as she pointed to a terminal in the corner of the room, semi-hidden behind a stack of crates. Kaidan walked over, stepping around the crates, and accessed the terminal.
"Okay. I think I can access the surveillance systems from this." Kaidan said. "We'll lay low in here until we get a fix on the Chief's location. Garrus, Ashley, you two watch the door. N'tho, Wrex, move these crates here. I could use a little more room. Liara, Tali, stay close to me. I might need a couple more hands with this."
...
Chief groaned as he continued marching down the seemingly endless, labyrinthine corridors of the Forerunner complex. His mind was filled with questions. Just how big was this place? How far below the surface of Eletania was he? And just when the hell was he going to find a-
"Terminal." Cortana said. "On your left."
"Finally." Chief said as he set Saren down against the wall and walked over to the Forerunner computer.
"Plug me in and I'll find the squad." Cortana instructed. "You keep watch." Chief nodded before taking out Cortana's data crystal and plugging it into the terminal's disc drive. No sooner did he do this did the Spartan notice a group of red dots on his motion tracker. He turned around and saw the corner that lead around to another corridor. The hostiles, whatever they were, were coming from that direction.
Chief took cover against one of the pillars that lined the walls as he took out his shotgun. He kept his ears open as he watched the red dots on his motion sensor slowly get closer. Too slowly. And Chief barely heard a footfall. Whoever was approaching was doing so slowly and silently. They knew he was there and were looking to ambush him. Seeing a chance to surprise them, the Chief came out of cover and swung around the corner, shotgun raised and his finger on the trigger.
He suddenly found himself wrapped in a biotic aura and unable to move. Before him was a squad of Geth troopers, accompanied by a Geth juggernaut and lead by an Asari commando, still glowing from biotics.
"MMPH!" Saren called out, somehow realizing that it was his rescuers.
"Lord Saren!" the Asari cried out as she ran behind the Chief to free Saren. The Spartan heard the Asari rip the duct-tape off Saren's mouth, followed by a popping sound and a grunt. The asari walked back into the Chief's field of view, along with a now-free Saren. He rolled his organic arm as he rubbed his shoulder. Apparently, the popping sound Chief heard a second ago was Saren relocating the arm that Chief dislocated earlier.
Saren then walked up to the Chief, waving the neural inhibitor collar in front of his visor with an evil grin. "Let's see how you like a taste of your own medicine." he gleefully said. He clamped the collar around the Spartan's own neck, the stasis field wearing off a second later. The Spartan slumped to the ground.
Chief then felt two pairs of synthetic hands grip his shoulders and prop him up against the wall. Chief looked up and saw Saren sneering down on him. "Relieve him of his weapons." he ordered.
WIth that, the Geth removed the Chief's weapons. His assault rifle, his sniper rifle, shotgun, pistol, and the Forerunner weapon he lifted from the synthetic creature from earlier. They even took away his utility belt, which carried all his grenades. Saren turned to another Geth trooper and pointed at the terminal. As that Geth marched off towards it, the Geth that was searching through Chief's utility belt pulled out a data crystal. Chief's breath suddenly caught in his throat. With a stuttering sound, the Geth handed the data crystal to Saren. The Turian took the chip and stuck it into his omni-tool. It lit up, Forerunner schematics of various kinds appearing on the omni-tool's screen. The rogue Spectre spread his mandibles into a Turian smile as he flipped through blueprint after blueprint, layout after layout, until stopping on one. An amber-tinted holographic representation of a ring-like structure floated above his omni-tool.
Halo.
Saren chuckled. "Thank you, John." he said to the Spartan. "Now I don't even need to access the Registry. You just gave me exactly what I was looking for."
"You're making a big mistake." Chief warned. "Halo's a weapon. One that you don't want to fire."
"Who said I was going to fire it?" Saren rhetorically asked. "It's not the ring itself I need, but rather something on the ring. Halo guards more than one secret."
"Trust me on this, Saren. There's nothing on that ring you want." Chief threatened. "Some secrets should stay hidden."
"We'll see about that." Saren replied. The Geth trooper from earlier walked up to Saren and handed him a data crystal.
Cortana's data crystal. The realization put a chill through Chief's gut.
The Spectre took the crystal and slid it into his omni-tool after popping out the other one. "Hm...it's encrypted." he noted. "I don't know what's on this crystal, John. But you can be sure I'll find out."
The Spartan glared at the former Spectre through his visor. Cortana must have somehow realized that she had been captured. She did the smart thing and powered down most of her more advanced subroutines and set up firewalls around herself. Not that it mattered. Saren still planned on picking her apart anyway, which was NOT going to happen. Not as long as Spartan-117 still drew breath.
Saren turned to the Geth juggernaut. "We're heading back to Sovereign." Saren said. He nodded at the Chief. "And we're taking him with us."
The juggernaut nodded and grabbed the Spartan by his arms. Two Geth troopers each grabbed one of the Spartan's legs. The three Geth marched down the hall along with the rest of the rescue party, with Saren leading the way.
...
Cortana saw it all through the facility's surveillance systems. As soon as Saren clamped that neural inhibitor collar around the Spartan's neck, the AI knew all bets were off. She bailed out of her data crystal entirely and fully integrated herself with the Forerunner facility's computer network, just before that Geth trooper pulled her crystal out. She left behind an encrypted file, a decoy to give to Saren so he won't suspect that the real prize was floating around in the network.
She smirked. Saren probably thought he had a very important piece of intelligence. In reality, all he had on that particular crystal was a cake recipe.
Unfortunately, that didn't change the fact that Saren now had what he was looking for. Halo. She didn't know what Saren wanted with the ring if not to fire it, but considering Saren's track record thus far, whatever he wanted was probably just as bad. And to make matters worse, the Master Chief had been captured. And as long as that collar was on him, he couldn't fight his way out.
Whether he would admit it or not, John needed help. Now more than ever.
And the AI knew seven misfits that'd be perfect for the job. She immediately began scanning the surveillance systems, searching the facility room by room.
...
The Krogan combat form fired its assault rifle at the Promethean crawlers, their heads exploding one after the other as the parasite knew right where to hit them. The Promethean knight snarled as its minions were picked off one by one. Activating its blade arm, it charged at the combat form, moving so fast and erratically that it seemed to teleport from spot to spot until it finally reached the Flood and swung its arm, cutting it in half right at the waist.
That was when a Flood tank form appeared and charged at the knight, grabbing it in its meaty hands and slamming it against the floor over and over. Two other knights fired on the tank form with their light rifles, trying to save their companion. The tank form howled in pain as the light rounds seared its rotten hide. It backed away, holding out the still-kicking knight, trying to use it as a shield. The other combat forms opened fire on the flood with their hosts' pistols, shotguns and assault rifles, but the watchers spawned shields in front of their knightly comrades to protect them from the incoming fire.
The tank form finished off the knight it was holding with a final slam on the floor, the knight disintegrating into ash as per its self-destruction protocol. It then charged into the other two knights, seemingly oblivious to the light rounds burning its skin. The watchers tried to save the knights, but they fell upon fire from the combat forms, forcing the watchers to defend themselves instead and fire back.
As the battle between Flood and Promethean raged on, a camera, virtually unnoticeable from its spot close to the hundred-meter-high ceiling, watched.
...
"What are those things?" Ashley asked, pointing to the synthetics battling the Flood on the terminal's holographic screen.
"Well, they have a Forerunner aesthetic to them." Kaidan explained to the rest of the squad who had congregated around the terminal. "My best guess; they're Forerunner mechs. They must be the facility's security personnel. They were probably woken up when the Flood broke out as part of a containment protocol."
"You think they're friendly?" N'tho asked.
"Doubtful." Kaidan said as he switched to another screen, showing the Forerunner mechs fighting Geth and Krogan. "They're not just fighting Flood, they're fighting Saren's flunkies too. Looks like they're attacking just about everything like it's open season."
"So basically, there's a three-way battle going on out there." Wrex stated. "Geth vs. Flood vs. Forerunner Robots."
"And we're caught in the middle." Garrus added. It was then that the terminal suddenly began beeping. "More good news?" Garrus sardonically asked.
"Someone is trying to access this terminal." Kaidan said. "They want to communicate with us."
"How do we know they're friendly?" Ashley asked.
"They're using Alliance encryptions." Kaidan answered. "Could be the Chief. I'll patch it through, but I want everyone to stand back, just in case."
Once the other squad members were at a comfortable distance away from the terminal, Kaidan pressed the key to allow the communique through. The terminal's lens suddenly projected a hologram of what looked like a VI. It took on the form of a Human woman. It wore a long dress, had long hair, and was hot pink in color.
"Greetings." it said. "I am a Halsey-Model Cyberwarfare Virtual Intelligence. Special Tactics and Reconnaissance Agent Sierra-117 requires your assistance."
"You're that advanced VI that Chief has." Tali pointed out.
"Correct." the VI replied. "Sierra-117 has been captured by Saren's forces, via neural inhibitor collar. Saren has also required mission-critical data that must be taken from him." the hologram then switched from the VI's avatar to a three-dimensional map of the facility, a mess of winding corridors and passageways. A particularly large chamber that was practically in the middle of it all was highlighted in bright sky blue. "Through analysis of the facility's layout and monitoring enemy radio chatter, I have determined that Sierra-117 is currently being taken to this location. Saren Arterius is confirmed to be with him. A rescue and retrieve operation has been declared top-priority."
"Wait a moment." Liara said. "If the Chief was captured, how did you get away?"
"Sierra-117 inserted me into a nearby terminal so that I may acquire your current location." the VI explained. "I integrated myself into the Forerunner computer network and out of my data crystal in order to avoid capture. After that, locating you all was a simple matter."
"...Something's wrong here." Tali stated. She turned to Kaidan. "If what it says is true, that it left its chip to escape capture, then it has a self-preservation matrix. No ordinary VI has one of those."
"I am not an ordinary VI." the VI stated. "I was custom-programmed by ONI specifically for use by Special Tactics and Reconnaissance Agent Sierra-117."
"Also, to independently comb through an ancient alien network to find us requires the ability to learn and adapt to new networks, something that is beyond the abilities of any VI, regardless of how advanced it may be." Tali pointed out. She then cast a suspicious glare at the VI. "But learning and adapting is well within the abilities of a true AI." She added. Now the whole squad was eyeing the VI suspiciously.
An awkward silence hung in the air for a few tense seconds.
"...Okay." the VI suddenly said. "You know what? Screw it. Let's start over."
The VI suddenly changed forms. Its hair shortened considerably into a bob haircut. Its dress disappeared, revealing a nude form, code layers and data flowing naturally on its skin. Finally, it turned from hot pink to sky blue.
Ashley, Kaidan and N'tho widened their eyes, instantly recognizing who it was.
Garrus just sighed. "Here we go..." he silently murmured.
"Okay!" the AI began. "Let's start with a re-introduction. Hi. I'm UNSC Artificial Intelligence serial number CTN 0452-9, but you can all just call me Cortana for short. Yes Tali. I'm an AI. You caught me red-handed, and you're perfectly free to freak out about it once you're back on the Normandy. Ash, Kaidan, N'tho? Three of you staring at me slack-jawed? To answer your question, yes, I'm the Cortana. The Master Chief's partner in kicking ass. Not sidekick. Partner. There's a difference. And, once again, you're perfectly free to freak out about it once you're back on the Normandy. As for how it is I'm here, I survived into the 27th century just like the Chief did and, don't worry, I'm not rampant as I deactivated myself and put myself into data storage not five minutes after Chief went into cryo so I wouldn't be all murderous and crazy by the time I was found. And before Tali can ask about how you can all be sure of that, consider that I've been with the Master Chief since he first woke up. That's right, I was in his head giving him tactical advice the whole time. If I wanted to kill you all, I would've done it by now and, trust me, there were plenty of oppportunities to do just that. Chief has been keeping me a secret this whole time since the Council consider AI's like me to be a big no-no, which is why both the Chief and myself would appreciate it if none of you breathe a word of my existence to the Citadel Council. This'll be our little secret! What else? Oh yeah. Garrus actually already knows about me; he found out about me after rescuing me from Dr. Saleon back on the Citadel. Sorry about ratting you out Garrus, but I told the squad THAT story so I could explain that the reason the Chief has been acting like a jerkass lately is because he and Garrus got into an argument last night over whether or not I should be kept a secret from the crew, and Chief is all angsty because the whole argument opened up an old wound, the wound in question being the fact that he is the Last Spartan, all his brothers and sisters in arms now dead and gone. Turns out he's actually really depressed about that, and has opted to deal with that depression by shutting himself away from the crew, even though they'd probably understand him and empathize with him, thus relieving his crushing loneliness, if he'd just stop sulking once in a while and actually bothered to talk to them! Well, Tali caught me despite my best efforts to stay hidden, so I guess it's all a moot point now! And he's sort of paying for his attitude now, since he's been captured by Saren, which probably wouldn't have happened if the Chief didn't go it alone. However, Saren also has the coordinates to Halo. Why Saren wants Halo, I have no idea, but it can't end well for us if he finds it. So, despite the fact that he's been a real jerk lately, we're gonna have to rescue that manic-depressive neanderthal if only because we could use his help in getting that data from Saren. Any questions?"
The squad just stood there, shocked from how much Cortana said and how quickly she said it all. It shouldn't come as a surprise to them, given that AI's don't need to stop to breathe.
"No questions? Lovely!" Cortana enthusiastically replied. "Okay boys and girls, let's put on our thinking caps. How are we gonna rescue the Master Chief?"
...
I hope I got that scientific explanation for biotic explosions right. That's my own personal theory on how they work. If I'm wrong, feel free to correct me.
By the way, I'm currently tossing around a couple other ideas I had for fanfics. Yes I know. "Last Spartan updates take long enough as it is! We'll never get to see Cortana and the squad rescue the Chief if you decide to start some side projects!" Yeah, but as any half-decent writer will tell you, we can't help but come up with ideas for stories. Our muses are like whiny, needy girlfriends. We WANT to deny them, but then they give you those puppy-dog eyes and how are you supposed to say no to those?!
Anyway, I've actually written like, the first three chapters of one of the other fanfics I have planned. Oddly enough, those chapters don't take as long to write as the Last Spartan's. I think it's cuz;
1. I don't have to do as much research (Whenever I write a chapter of TLS, I like to have both the Mass Effect and Halo wiki's on standby on my browser. And trust me, I end up using them a fair bit).
2. It's a comedy / parody, which means it won't be taken as seriously as this fanfic, so I don't need to take it seriously myself. When you don't care much for writing details and just want to get to the nitty-gritty, it's amazing how much faster I can write.
Now yes, I've tried this before with Team Effect 2, and we all saw how that turned out. But I abandoned that fic because I just didn't have the drive for it. Really, the only reason I tried to write that thing was because I came up with a bunch of one-off jokes the TF2 guys could use in a Mass Effect setting and I wanted a story to link it all together. Problem was, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it wasn't a real story. It was just Mass Effect 2's plot with Team Fortress jokes written in.
This other comedy fic I have planned would be different. Mostly cuz, just like with the Last Spartan, I care enough about the idea to want to do it. This comedy fic has actually been bouncing around in my head since I was in High School, WAY back in 2008, and well before I even came up with the idea for a Halo / Mass Effect crossover if you can believe it. This fic may (or may not) be updated more frequently than the Last Spartan, won't take itself as seriously, oh, and it has nothing to do with either Halo or Mass Effect. What would the fanfic be about, you ask? Let's just say it would be of something very dear to my childhood...and I would have no moral repercussions about deconstructing it BIT BY BIT.
So yeah. Would anyone be willing to read a fanfic like that?
Oh, and one more thing. Some of you are probably wondering why Saren doesn't want to fire Halo. I mean, Halo can destroy every sentient being in the galaxy, and the Reapers want to do exactly that. So why wouldn't the Reapers want to fire the bloody thing? And if they don't want to fire Halo, why else would they be interested in it?
You know what one picture Peptuck likes to use whenever someone asks an interesting question regarding his fanfic, Renegade? You know, the one of David Xanatos from Gargoyles sitting in his chair with his hands clasped and generally looking like he's plotting something? Yeah, I'd post that picture here if I could