Well, I'm kinda sorta kicking myself right now. Mostly cuz I just watched a Halo 4 ViDoc that covered the design of the Prometheans and, get this, they are NOT robots. I kick myself because they're being used as robots in this fanfic right now. And it's a little late to retcon them out now.
Still, one must wonder, if the Prometheans aren't robots...what are they?
Also, Ranger24's review. Cortana reminded him of the Doctor in that last scene? Weird. I wasn't trying to invoke the Doctor, but now that I read through it, yeah, I can totally imagine her saying all that with a rapid-fire English accent.
And now I'm suddenly imagining Cortana cosplaying as the Tenth Doctor. No disrespect to Matt Smith, but David had a trenchcoat. Trenchcoats are cool. So yeah. Cortana cosplaying as the Tenth Doctor. Someone with a deviantART account, get on that.
Now then, onto Chapter 31, in which I take a page out of Random Equinox's playbook.
...
1306 Hours, March 6th, 2683
Underground Forerunner Complex, Beneath the Surface of Eletania
Hercules System, Attican Beta Cluster
...
The Chief eventually found himself carried into a truly gigantic chamber. The ceiling was easily three hundred feet high, a glowing orb that almost looked like a miniature sun floating near the center of the ceiling, casting a bright light on the whole chamber. On the walls were rows of windows looking into adjacent hallways. There was a row of such windows every fifty feet, dotted by balconies and ledges that looked down on the whole chamber. Massive butresses six feet wide lined the walls, reaching all the way up to the ceiling. The chamber itself was easily as long as three or four football fields and twice as wide as such a field.
Saren had apparently taken advantage of the sheer size of this chamber by using it as a primary command post. The chamber was a flurry of activity as Chief saw Geth troopers, Krogan warriors and Asari commandos on their way to or returning from some location or other, walking in and walking out the many huge doorways that lined the walls every fifty yards.
The Geth carrying him eventually set him down on a table seemingly in the dead center of the whole chamber, right underneath the miniature sun. His visor automatically polarized to counter the blinding light being shone right on his face. Chief turned his head and saw Saren inserting a data crystal, the one containing the information on Halo, into a Geth computer console.
"That data crystal won't do you much good." Chief said. "Files are heavily encrypted."
"I noticed." Saren countered. "That's what this terminal is for. A couple thousand Geth runtimes should be able to crack the code before lunch."
Chief's gaze dotted to one of Saren's pockets. Specifically the pocket that held Cortana's data crystal. He silently made the AI promise. He was going to get her back. And Saren was going to pay for his crimes.
...
"Clear." Garrus said after peaking around a corner and seeing no hostiles. Kaidan walked past the Turian, who then followed the biotic, along with Liara, Wrex and Tali, down the hall.
"Alright." Tali began. "Ignoring the fact that it was an AI that came up with this plan..."
"Thank you for being open-minded, Tali." Cortana quipped over TEAMCOM.
"...Ignoring that, this plan is still crazy." Tali finished.
"Sometimes crazy's the way to go." Wrex stated.
"See? Wrex likes my plan." Cortana said.
"The bloodthirsty Krogan approves of the AI's plan. Oh yes. That makes me feel so much better." Tali sarcastically replied.
Ignoring Tali's comments, Kaidan held up his omni-tool. It glowed blue as Cortana's avatar appeared. "How you holdin' up?" Kaidan asked.
"Your hardsuit's nice." Cortana replied with a shrug. "Though it's not as roomy as Chief's. No offense."
"None taken." Kaidan replied. Before the squad left the storage closet they were holing up in earlier, Kaidan had downloaded Cortana into a spare data crystal he had so that she could physically go with them. She was currently plugged into Kaidan's hardsuit, allowing her to communicate with the squad at will via Kaidan's suit radio.
"We're about seventy yards from our objective." Cortana reported before her avatar shrunk back into the biotic's omni-tool. Kaidan raised N'tho on TEAMCOM.
"N'tho? You find Alpha force yet?" he asked.
...
"Yeah." N'tho replied as he craned his neck around the corner. "About to make contact now, stand by."
Around the corner was the Flood, the most vile creatures ever spawned by evolution. The very nature of their wretched existence made N'tho's skin crawl. The Sangheili shuttered as he watched the Flood carry out their work. Dozens of combat forms and a few tank forms were tending to Flood growth pods that were now growing on the walls and floor of the corridor, which had become thick with Flood biomass. The pods twitched and convulsed with promises of a new wave of filth.
N'tho took a moment to take a deep breath, ignoring the vile stench of the parasites, and summoned all his courage.
He swung around the corner.
"Ding dong! Ding dong!" N'tho cried out. "Lunch is served! Fresh Sangheili burrito over here! Come and get it!"
The Flood forms simply stared at the elite, apparently astonished that this Sangheili would be dumb enough to announce its presence.
One of the tank forms then roared at him.
"...And with that, I suddenly realize that this is the single stupidest thing I've ever done." N'tho quipped before making a u-turn and bolting down the corridor, the Flood hot on his heels.
"Alpha force is on its way!" N'tho reported.
...
With one last shot from its Z-180 close combat rifle, the Promethean knight finished off the odd one-eyed synthetic. The interloper disintegrated into a glowing, amber-colored ash. The knight looked around and found, to its satisfaction, that that was the last interloper. Its fellow knights' weapons smoked from recent fire, the crawlers sniffing the piles of ash that were once enemies. This part of the creators' sanctum was secure, but the infestation was spreading fast. If the Prometheans did not act quickly-
"Hey!"
...
It seemed that Ashley had successfully garnered the attention of the Forerunner mechs, which were called 'Prometheans' according to Cortana, as they all focused on her immediately after she shouted at them.
An awkward silence ensued as the Prometheans stared expectantly at the marine. Ashley realized that this was as far ahead as she planned.
"...Er..." Ashley stuttered. "Oh! Prometheans? More like Pussymetheans!"
The awkward silence returned.
"Pussymetheans? Really?" Cortana asked over TEAMCOM. "That was the best you could come up with?"
One of the Promethean knights, a large one with what looked like orange crystals protruding from its back, roared at the marine, revealing its true face. The other knights did the same shortly afterwards. "Well apparently, it WORKED!" Ashley shot back before turning around and breaking into a run, the Prometheans giving chase.
...
"Bravo force is inbound." Cortana reported as she appeared on Kaidan's omni-tool.
"Are you sure?" Kaidan asked. Cortana snapped her fingers, and Ashley's voice crackled through TEAMCOM.
"FOXTROT FOXTROT FOXTROT SIERRA FOXTROT SIERRAN FOXTROTS FOXTROTTING A SIERRA UP THE DELTA!" Ashley swore.
Cortana snapped her fingers again, turning off Ashley's feed. "Pretty much." the AI smugly said.
"Alright then." Kaidan said. He pointed two fingers at the doorway. "Charlie Team. Let's rock."
...
"Hmmmm..." Saren eyeballed the Geth terminal's screen closely. "Complete encryption is taking a bit longer than I hoped. The Geth have deciphered that there's a ring somewhere in the Attican Traverse, but they have yet to narrow down its location to a star system."
"You don't sound too mad about it." Chief pointed out, still lying limp on the table, unable to do a thing with that damn collar around his neck.
"I'm a patient man." Saren replied. "Besides, now that you've been dealt with, there are no longer any urgencies that require my immediate attention. I'm in no hurry."
"What about the nuke?" Chief asked. "You said it'd be going off soon. Thought you'd want to clear out of here ASAP."
"And you said you had 'guys' working on that." Saren replied. "Apparently they succeeded, since the nuke should've gone off by now. Again, no matter. My Geth will hunt them down, kill them, and once I've got everything I need, I'll turn the nuke back on and-"
It was then that both Saren and the Chief suddenly heard something very odd. The lyrical pluckings of a deeply-tuned stringed instrument that was suddenly being broadcast throughout the facility. It was music.
I dreamt I died and I fell,
A hundred miles straight down to Hell,
Old Nick was waitin' there for me,
He said 'At last somebody I want to see!
You gotta help me keep control,
Why dontcha gimme back some Rock n' Roll?'
Saren was confused by the raspy voice that suddenly rhymed out all around him. "What is-"
As the electric guitar suddenly ripped through the air, one of the Geth exploded, cutting off Saren's confused question. Then, the rogue Spectre and his forces suddenly found themselves showered by enemy fire. Saren instinctively took out his pistol and leapt for cover behind a pile of crates. He looked up and saw the source of the incoming fire. Five assorted individuals were firing down on them from the far side of the room. The Turian raised his pistol and returned fire.
...
Hell ain't hot enough for me!
Hell ain't hot enough for me!
I don't want disco!
Don't wanna rave!
Gimme some psycho-rockin', or I'll keep you in this grave!
Want me to set you free?
Make Hell hot enough for me!
"Why are we playing music?!" Garrus yelled as he ducked for cover behind the half-wall around the balcony's edge.
"Twentieth century rock song. Found it on N'tho's omni-tool playlist." Cortana haughtily replied. "I figured if we were going to start a party, we'd need some appropriate music."
...
I wanna help you baby, don't need no threats,
You wanna rock in Hell, yeah? Well I'm your safest bet!
Stand back a little way, I'll turn it on,
I show you crazy demons how to really get gone!
I got the power for you!
I got the soul!
I wanna give the Devil back the Devil's Rock n' Roll!
If N'tho wasn't so pre-occupied with the fact that eldritch parasites were chasing him and want to eat him, he'd be able to appreciate the Meteors blaring through the facility's intercom system as he entered the huge chamber.
N'tho ran out of a doorway on the far side of the chamber, running past a pair of Krogan warriors. Noticing that a Sangheili just ran past them, the Krogan turned and fired on him. Unfortunately, this left them unable to notice the Flood infection forms pouncing on them and burrowing into their hides, adding them to the parasitic horde. A number of Saren's forces on that side of the room focused their attention away from the small group on the balcony and towards the Flood that began attacking them from that side of the room.
As the Geth began occupying themselves with dealing with the Flood, N'tho activated his active camo and faded from sight.
...
As the guitar solo went on, Ashley Williams ran out of a doorway on the other side of the chamber, opposite from where N'tho came out. The Geth opened fire on her as she ran in, but she activated an overshield, giving her more time to run over to a pile of crates and leap behind it for cover. The Prometheans entered the chamber soon after, only to find themselves suddenly set upon by the Geth. One of the knights roared in fury before raising its light rifle and opening fire on a nearby Geth trooper.
Where's all the dancin' girls I've heard about?
You can't bung 'em all, so trot 'em on out,
Let's stomp the world apart, jump up and down,
And show these suckers who really wears the crown!
Thunderstorm and lightning, earthquakes and freeze,
Let's rock the whole world right down to its knees, oh yeah!
Ashley peeked over the crates to observe the chaos that was now unfolding in the Grand Hall. So far, things were going according to plan. It was crazy, luring both the Flood and the Prometheans to keep the majority of Saren's forces occupied while the squad rescue the Chief. And yet, it was working well so far. With the Flood on one end, and the Prometheans on the other, the Geth were forced to fight a battle on two fronts which, according to conventional military wisdom, was always a bad position to be in. As for the rock music, Ashley figured it was part of the distraction too. Basically, the plan was to start a bar fight and then sneak out back with the Chief while everyone was busy breaking bottles over each other's heads.
The plan was crazy. And unfortunately for the squad, Cortana liked crazy.
Now that the Geth were adequately occupied, it was time for the tricky part; rendezvousing with the rest of the squad below the balcony. Not an easy feet, considering all the Geth, Flood and Prometheans standing between her current position and her objective. Hopefully, the fact that they're as keen on murdering each other as they are her will mitigate the peril involved. Re-activating her overshield, the marine came out of cover and once again bolted.
Hell ain't hot enough for me...
So far, so good. She passed by several skirmishes. A team of Geth troopers ganging up on a Flood tank form (and getting massacred for their troubles), a Promethean knight running circles around a Krogan warrior, a pack of Promethean crawlers tearing into a Flood combat form, all of whom didn't even seem to notice Ashley running by.
It still ain't hot enough for me...
That was when something suddenly hit Ashley hard, sending her flying until she hit the wall. She picked herself back up and saw an Asari commando marching towards the marine with biotics emanating around her arms and murder in her eyes. She was probably the one that smacked Ashley into the wall.
Keep on tryin' to get it fryin'...
Ashley picked up her rifle and fired at the approaching Asari. But it was no use. The biotic commando was wrapped in a biotic barrier and kept on marching, apparently not even noticing the shots bouncing off her barrier. The Asari smirked, apparently amused by Ashley's less-than-effective attempts at killing her, as she raised a fist full of biotic power, intending to unleash it all on the Human before her.
We'll get Nick soon, wait and see...
The malice on the Asari's face was suddenly replaced with pained shock as she stopped in her tracks. It was then that Ashley noticed that the air behind the Asari seemed distorted. Like the light was being refracted. It was then that the silhouette was filled in by a young Sangheili wearing black armor, who then pulled an energy dagger from the Asari's back.
It's comin' to a thousand degrees!
Yeah but, it ain't hot enough for me...
N'tho talked and acted more like a reckless teenager than the well-spoken warriors Ashley thought most Sangheili were like. Indeed, N'tho himself had said that he was pretty much that as far as Sangheili society was concerned; a teenager who, while gifted, lacked battlefield experience. Because of his youth and attitude, it was sometimes easy to forget that N'tho was still a Sangheili, which meant that he was nearly eight feet tall, easily standing a head or two above other species. N'tho looked particularly huge as he stood behind the Asari, towering over her. Once he pulled the dagger free from her back, she fell to her knees. "Here's a move I call the 'In and Out.'" N'tho quipped before delivering the fatal blow. He quickly stabbed the Asari right in the head, and then pulled the energy blade out just as quickly, letting the Asari slump to the ground. Her new head wound smoked as her grey matter was cooked by plasma.
It's gettin' to a thousand degrees!
Yeah but, it ain't hot enough for me...
"Thanks for the save." Ashley said.
"Don't mention it." N'tho replied as he helped the Human back up. "Come on. Rendezvous's just a few yards ahead."
I've got the Devil on his bended knees and he's screamin'
"Hell ain't hot enough for me!"
...
"This is Ashley! Me and N'tho are right below you guys!" Ashley reported over TEAMCOM, the sound of gunfire crackling through the bandwidth along with her voice. "Be advised, Rendezvous point is hot!"
"Roger that, Ash." Kaidan replied. The biotic turned to the rest of the squad. "We're going down, people. Wrex, you're up first. Help Ashley and N'tho clear that area. Garrus, Tali, you two get in position."
The three aliens winked green as Wrex switched out his assault rifle for his shotgun. He then bent his knees low as his whole body glowed with biotics before disappearing into thin air. He reappeared on the ground, ramming into a Promethean knight as he did so, picking off the crawlers with his shotgun while they were stunned and crushing the watcher with a biotic warp.
"Okay. Garrus. Tali. You two ready?" Kaidan asked. The two of them nodded. Kaidan and Liara then warmed up their biotics. Garrus and Tali jumped off the balcony just as Kaidan and Liara each cast a light biotic drift on each of them, slowing their descent to the floor. The two aliens landed on their feet, fifty feet below the balcony, no worse for wear. Kaidan and Liara then cast biotic auras on themselves as they leapt off, lazily floating down to the floor as if they were sinking to the bottom of a very deep pool. Their feet eventually met floor as they raised their weapons.
Cortana slapped an arrow on the squad's HUDs. One that hovered above the Master Chief lying limp on a table in the center of the chamber, dead ahead. "Alright boys and girls, let's keep this party going!" the AI enthusiastically declared.
"Forward!" Kaidan ordered as the squad moved towards their new objective.
...
"Come on, come on..." Saren growled as he glared at the Geth terminal's screen. He would routinely break his gaze from the screen to shoot at an infection form or crawler that would try to sneak up on him before resuming his gaze. He snarled as he kicked the computer. "Come on you worthless runtimes!" he roared.
The Chief was still lying on the table, limp as a ragdoll and unable to react to the conflict around him. His instincts cried out for the Spartan to grab a weapon and get into the fight, but as long as that collar was still around his neck, his body simply could not comply. It frustrated him to no end, since there was little stopping a Flood infection form from just crawling up to him, burrowing through his armor, and infecting him. Or a knight from walking up to him and beheading him with its blade arm. Just his luck that both the Flood and those Forerunner mechs would break into this chamber and start a battle while he could do nothing about it. And then there was the music.
Well I stopped my bike outside some joint,
I liked the sound that I could hear!
Well they was rockin' and a-rollin' and a-rippin' it up,
I thought I'd get myself a beer.
Quite frankly, Chief had no idea why twentieth-century psychobilly was blaring through the chamber's intercom system. Hell, he didn't even know the chamber had an intercom system.
Some guy at the door just looked at me and said 'What the Hell are you?'
Said 'Man, I am a psychokat. And I need to talk to you!'
It was then that the Geth terminal Saren was standing in front of violently exploded, as if hit by a grenade. The explosion took out Saren's shields and knocked him on his ass. "No!" Saren barked, upset that he'd just lost his roadmap to Halo. He looked and saw an approaching group of attackers and fired at them with his pistol. Before he could react beyond that, he was hit by a ball of biotic energy that sent him flying across the room.
"Damn, that felt good." A voice remarked.
"...Wrex?" Chief asked, recognizing the Krogan's voice. He saw a familiar Asari enter his field of view. "Liara?"
Well, the Devil he taught us how to rock,
And then he turned us loose!
"Hold on a moment." Liara said as she fiddled with the neural inhibitor collar around the Chief's neck until it came loose. Suddenly, the Spartan's whole body stopped feeling numb. He could feel everything below his neck again. The shock of all that sensation overwhelmed him for half a second before he immediately sat up and got off the table. He saw his whole squad in front of him.
We ain't quite the same as you,
Yeah but, we got a good excuse!
Kaidan walked up to the Chief and handed him a data crystal that he withdrew from his omni-tool. "I believe this belongs to you." he said as he handed it to the Chief. "This was all her idea by the way." he said with a nod to the crystal.
Her?
On a hunch, the Chief slid the data crystal into the back of his helmet and heard a familiar voice. "See, this is why I thought going after Saren on your own was a bad idea." the voice lectured.
"Cortana?" Chief asked. "You're okay?"
"Yes. Kaidan was a perfect gentleman." the AI quipped.
I ain't got yo' fashion sense,
Well, you sure look swell,
But I can make these monsters dance,
So open up the gates of Hell!
"Attention everyone!" Saren suddenly shouted. He flew high into the air on some kind of mobile floating platform. He pointed at the Spartan. "The Master Chief is free! And he stuck a data crystal in his helmet! A data crystal containing the location to Halo!"
The melee suddenly slowed down to a crawl as all eyes focused on the Chief and his team. Suddenly the squad heard a chorus consisting of the gurgling roars of Flood, the high-pitched screeches of Promethean knights, the robotic stutters of Geth troopers, the blood-howls of Krogan ready to charge, and the warping sounds of Asari warming up their biotics.
"...I hate that guy." Ashley said. As the horde of enemies closed around them, Saren shot the squad one last triumphant smirk before his flying platform zoomed off through a massive doorway on the far side of the room.
"Looks like we're gonna have to fight our way out of here." Cortana remarked.
"That won't be easy." Chief said as he looked around at all the things that suddenly wanted him dead. Even he couldn't fight his way out of this. Not on his own.
But he wasn't on his own.
Well I got me a mean little band, I could show you what we do.
We could really set this place alight!
Chief picked up the light rifle the Geth had confiscated from him earlier while his squad formed a circular formation with him, all of their backs to one another as they pointed their guns at the horde surrounding them.
And if you got the sense, or at least the balls, to put us on your stage,
You would see the wildest thing you've ever seen in your damn life!
The horde of enemies finally grew tired of waiting and charged at the squad from all sides. "Open fire!" Chief shouted over TEAMCOM.
I got me a drummer who hits so hard,
He can knock down fuckin' walls!
Wrex barked out a laugh as he headbutted a husk to the ground and then stomped its neck with his boot, hearing a satisfying crack as its spinal cord broke. He looked up and saw more husks moaning as they half ran, half shambled towards him. He raised his shotgun and gunned all but one of them down. His weapon overheated before he could kill the last one and he simply thwacked its skull with the shotgun butt as it approached, bursting the skull open and spilling a gallon of black ichor on the floor. The Krogan noticed a Promethean knight spawning a watcher as an entourage of crawlers galloped to its side. The Battlemaster grinned, knowing exactly how to deal with the group from watching them on the video feeds as well as from Cortana's tactical advice while they were planning this whole party. Wrex took out a spike grenade, the last one he had, and threw it at the knight. Just as planned, the watcher caught it in mid-air and began twirling it around. The Krogan aimed his shotgun and fired at the grenade, setting it off and sending spikes into the knight, the watcher, and all those little robo-varren. Wrex grinned. This was a good fight.
And a Hellbound slappin' bass player,
That'll shake you to your balls!
Garrus threw a tech grenade at the feet of an approaching team of Geth Troopers. It detonated, burning out not only their shields, but their weapons as well. The Turian followed it up with a series of short, controlled bursts from his assault rifle, each burst neatly drilled into each Geth's chest cavity. One by one, they all fell down in a row, much to the former C-Sec officer's satisfaction. He then noticed a Flood tank form along with a pair of combat forms. Garrus switched to his sniper rifle and aimed down the scope. He killed the tank form with a single headshot. He killed the first combat form with another single headshot. Unfortunately, that was when the rifle overheated, and that second combat form was closing in fast. Garrus then flipped the sniper rifle over in his hands and used it like a club, hitting the combat form across its 'face' with the rifle butt and knocking it to the ground. Garrus switched back to holding the rifle the right way and aimed it at the combat form on the ground. He killed it with a third singular headshot.
Then I'll plug in my old guitar,
Just to make it sweet!
And then we'll play some psychobilly
That'll knock you off your bleedin' feet!
The Chief used the light rifle to gun down Geth after Geth and husk after husk. The scope was odd with its orange borders around its crosshairs, but the Spartan could grasp it easily enough. So far, he had scored twenty-two successful kills with it. He aimed down the scope towards a charging Krogan warrior and pulled the trigger, but got nothing but got nothing but a click. The light rifle's magazine was empty, and unfortunately, Chief didn't know how to reload it. Perhaps it was like the Alliance's new rifles or the old Covenant plasma rifles; the Forerunner weapon didn't run out of ammo, it just overheated. Either way, the warrior was closing fast so Chief had to think of something quick. He tossed the rifle aside and punched the the Krogan right in his face, wrenching away his weapon while he was stunned. A Tornado MK VII. That would do. He unloaded a few rounds into the Krogan's face. It was apparently modded with cryo ammo, as the Krogan's entire upper body soon froze into ice. Chief shattered the ice statue in front of him with a single punch. He then opened fire on other incoming enemies, literally freezing them mid-charge.
We'll fill the place with mutants,
That'll drink the whole place dry!
A Flood tank form charged at the squad, roaring the whole way. Kaidan stopped it dead in its tracks with a biotic warp. Snot-green ichor burst from the tank form's chest cavity as the biotic field shredded its torso. Ashley then tossed a frag grenade at the tank form, right where the biotic warp hit. The grenade actually embedded itself into the Flood's sticky flesh before detonating, sending bits of rotten meat and pale green goo everywhere before the tank form collapsed to the floor in a heap.
Wild and crazy devil girls,
So hot they'll burn your eyes!
An Asari commando biotically charged right into Liara, knocking her to the ground. Seeing that her comrade was in trouble, Tali quickly knelt down, pulled her combat knife from her boot strap, and rushed up to the commando. Before the commando could even see her coming, the Quarian jammed her knife right into the Asari's stomach. After she pulled it out and allowed the Asari to fall over and bleed out, Tali pulled out pistol and put a few rounds in the commando's skull. She then grabbed Liara's hand and helped her up. Liara returned the favor by throwing a singularity at an approaching group of Promethean crawlers that were about to lunge at the two of them while they were distracted.
You won't regret a thing,
Unless your answer's no.
If that's the case, we'll head on out,
And give some other lucky bastard a show!
N'tho had just gunned down three rampaging Krogan warriors when, wrapped in a biotic field of some sort, his minigun was suddenly cracking and crunching. He looked over and saw that an Asari commando had hit his weapon with a biotic warp, apparently in an attempt to disarm him. With a snarl, N'tho whipped out, primed, and then threw a plasma grenade at her. She ducked, the grenade missing her completely. She stood back up and triumphantly smirked at the Sangheili.
Little did the commando know that, while N'tho didn't stick her, he did stick the Geth trooper standing behind her. When the grenade detonated, she was caught in the blast too.
Once that problem was dealt with, N'tho picked his mingun back up and noted it was now in poor shape. The chassis was cracked, there was plasma leaking from the plasma tank, the combustion chamber was messed up, N'tho was worried that the damn thing might explode if he pulled the trigger.
It was then that he noticed a Flood combat form charging in his direction, its weapon firing wildly in all directions and roaring as it came. It lunged at the elite, but N'tho raised his minigun to block the attack. The combat form wrapped it tentacles around the large weapon and tried to rip it from N'tho's grip.
"What the-Hey!" N'tho yelled at the Flood. "My minigun! Not yours!"
The Flood responded by roaring right in the Sangheili's face, blasting his nostrils with the scent of death and decay. The Sangheili coughed and shuttered before resuming the tug of war with a fierce snarl. He couldn't let this parasite take the weapon from him. If it did, it would...
N'tho got an idea.
"On second thought, you can have it." N'tho said as he shoved the minigun into the combat form's grip. "Kaidan! Little help!" he blurted out. Kaidan, sensing what the elite's plan was, biotically pushed the combat form away, sending it flying a good ten feet away. Upon landing, however, the parasite recovered quickly as it stood up with its prize. It gurgled out an evil laugh as it aimed the plasma minigun at N'tho and pulled the trigger.
The minigun then exploded, enveloping the Flood combat form and several nearby infection forms in a brilliant plume of blue fire. "I'm gonna miss that thing." N'tho said to himself as he pulled out his trusty needler shotgun and gunned down the incoming enemies.
We Wanna Wreck Here!
We Wanna Wreck Here!
We Wanna Wreck Here!
We Wanna Wreck Here!
Liara biotically lifted a Promethean knight into the air, then launched a ball of biotic energy at it, igniting a biotic explosion that sent it flying through the air and crashing on top of a Flood combat form upon landing. Tali hacked a Geth juggernaut into taking the squad's side and it helped her mow down an incoming wave of husks. When the hack wore off, Garrus drilled a neat hole into its chest to ensure the juggernaut didn't turn on them. A Promethean crawler lunged at Wrex, but the Krogan caught it in mid-air and threw it at some poor dumb Geth trooper.
That's the only thing we wanna do!
That's the only thing we wanna do!
Yeah, that's the only thing we wanna do!
Hell, that's the only thing we wanna dooo, yeah!
"Wow, Chief." Cortana commented. "Geth, Flood, Prometheans, it's like a mosh pit and everyone who ever tried to kill you was invited. Too bad the Covenant and Insurrectionists couldn't make it."
A Krogan warrior roared as he charged at the Chief. The Spartan stopped the warrior with a shotgun butt to its nose followed by a few shots to its throat. The Krogan turned into an ice statue and fell over, shattering into a million pieces when Chief stomped on the alien with his boot. He then saw a whole pack of Flood combat forms coming so the Spartan knelt down and grabbed a frag grenade dropped from an earlier kill. He then threw it right into the middle of the Flood. The grenade detonated, sending bits of flesh and bone and ichor everywhere. What the Chief recognized as a Flood-infected Krogan arm slowly rolled towards him from the site of the explosion and came to a rest at his foot.
As the song wound down, Chief and his team noted that they were now the only things left standing in the giant room. All the Asari and Krogan were corpses. All the Geth were scrap. All the Prometheans were ash. And all the Flood were piles of body parts and stains on the floor.
"...We won?" Tali asked, apparently surprised that they were all still alive.
"Evidently." Kaidan replied.
Wrex let out a contented sigh. "That was fun." he said.
"And a waste of our time." Chief said as he looked towards the doorway Saren slipped through. "Saren's getting away and he's already got a headstart. Let's move."
...
"Er, guys? We've got a problem." Cortana reported over TEAMCOM as the squad bolted down the corridor. By now, the Chief had pieced together that Cortana had to reveal her existence to the squad so that she could formulate a rescue mission for the Spartan. He had a feeling that there was going to be some fallout to deal with later because of that, but he'd cross that bridge when he came to it. For now, it seemed he had a bigger problem.
"What now?" Chief asked.
"I've been listening in on Promethean communications, and it doesn't sound good." Cortana reported. "They're saying that they've failed to contain the Flood. Network's teeming with reports of Flood all over the facility. Since they can't contain the Flood the old-fasioned way, they're gonna switch to their last resort."
"Halo?" N'tho asked.
"Actually, no." Cortana answered. "They say they need to 'sentence this facility to oblivion.'"
"What the hell does that mean?" Wrex demanded.
"I don't know, but I don't think we wanna hang around to find out." Cortana replied.
"Which is why we need to grab Saren and get out. Now." Chief said. The squad turned the corner and saw Saren and a cadre of standing by a Geth dropship in a massive hangar at the end of the hall.
"Hold on, Chief. I've got an idea." Cortana said. "Liara. Lift him."
"What?" the Asari asked.
"Lift him! We don't have much time!" Cortana urgently pressed. Liara then biotically lifted the Chief into the air. The Spartan then noticed that an overshield was forming around him. Cortana's doing no doubt. "Alright, Liara. Launch him. Aim for Saren. Hold on to your teeth, Spartan. This is gonna be bumpy."
Closing her eyes and probably praying that she wouldn't accidentally kill the Master Chief, she hit the Spartan with a biotic throw, triggering a biotic explosion that sent the Spartan rocketing down the hall, right at Saren. As the squad opened fire on the Geth entourage, Chief saw Saren jerk his head up at the Spartan and widen his eyes. "You can fly?!" Saren exclaimed. Chief held out his arm as he noted that he'd pass right by Saren. As he flew by, he grabbed Saren's collar and then let go while they were both still in mid-air. Chief rolled his body upon landing like he'd been trained to do after falling a ways while Saren tumbled across the floor like a ragdoll. Chief finally came to a stop kneeling on one knee and pointing his tornado shotgun at Saren.
"And for a brick, I do it pretty good." Chief remarked.
Saren rose to his feet with a snarl and lashed out his organic hand, using his bioitcs to 'slap' the shotgun out of the Spartan's hands. The Chief then rose to his feet himself and rushed up to Saren. Saren thrust out his organic arm again to launch another biotic attack, but the SPARTAN-II was quicker this time. Chief grabbed that arm by the wrist with his right hand, yanking it towards him, dislocating Saren's arm yet again. Chief then raised his left arm into an L-shape and slammed his elbow on Saren's outstrecthed arm.
Saren cried out in pain as he dropped to his knees, his synthetic hand gripping and squeezing his newly broken arm. Chief then picked up Saren by his collar with both hands and held him up to his eye level, leaving the former Spectre's feet dangling. "You're coming with me, Saren." Chief icily stated.
A biotic aura surrounded Saren's head. "I don't think so, John." he icily stated in turn. He reared his head back and gave Chief a biotic headbutt, cracking the Spartan's visor. The blow made the Chief stagger back, reflexively releasing Saren from his grip as he did so. He noted that his shields were depleting rapidly and his body was wrapped in another biotic aura. Saren thrust out the arm that wasn't broken, hitting Chief with a biotic throw, triggering yet another biotic explosion. With no shields to protect him, the dent in the Spartan's chest-piece turned into a crack as the Chief flew through the air, his back impacting hard against one of the buttresses on the wall before hitting the floor with a thunk.
Saren turned on his heels and made a break for it. He ran to the Geth dropship's door, gripping his broken arm the whole way, and leapt through it before Chief could recover from the blow. The Spartan shook off the pain welling in his chest just in time to see the door close behind Saren and the dropship take off. After dealing with the Geth bodyguards, the squad rushed over to the Chief's side as Saren's voice broadcasted over the dropship's loud speakers.
"This isn't over, John-117!" Saren declared. "I know Halo is somewhere in the Attican Traverse! I'll find it! You can be certain of that!"
The squad shot at the Geth dropship as it ascended, but its armor easily deflected the small arms fire. The ship ascended higher and higher towards the ceiling, the squad only just then noticing how the hanger's ceiling seemed to go up for miles. The dropship then sped off into a passage-way high above and out of sight. Saren Arterius had gotten away.
The Chief snarled as he pounded his fist against the floor, leaving a noticeable dent.
"Er, Chief? More bad news." Cortana reported.
"What." the Spartan demanded.
"Remember earlier when I said the Prometheans were going to 'sentence this facility to oblivion?' We've got about fifteen minutes until they do that. We need to get out of here." Cortana explained.
"How?" Chief asked.
"I'm accessing the Forerunner network now." The AI went on. "Okay. We can get out of here in just a few teleporter jumps. The first teleporter is just down this hallway." Cortana said as she slapped an arrow in the desired direction on everyone's HUD.
...
"'We can get out of here in just a few teleporter jumps!'" Tali mockingly imitated Cortana as she gunned down another Flood combat form. "Could've told us about THE BOSHING PARASITES ON THE WAY!"
"I did also say that the network's teeming with reports of Flood all over the facility." Cortana replied.
The squad had been running into trouble on their way out of the Forerunner complex. Basically, there seemed to be rampaging Flood virtually everywhere they turned. Making the situation even worse was, of course, the clock. Which meant they had to push on, even through hordes of Flood.
The Chief shot a Flood form with his cryo-modded shotgun, turning the parasitic freakshow into an ice-statue, which he promptly shattered into pieces with his shotgun butt. "That's the last of-"
The Chief was cut off by the tell-tale gurgles and skittering of the Flood. "No it's not." Garrus quipped.
A whole moving carpet of infection forms came around the corner, looking for their next meal. "Oh Keelah, the spidery ones!" Tali shrieked.
"Move! Through the teleporter!" Chief barked before turning around and dashing for the teleporter, the rest of the squad close behind.
...
On the other side of the teleporter, they suddenly found themselves in an oddly familiar small room. Chief looked out the window and saw another familiar room two hundred feet below with a star-shaped hologram on its far wall. This was the small room they were in earlier. "I hacked the teleporter network to take us here. Down this hall is the Planetarium of Ages, and then sweet freedom. Seal up your suits. Move it, people!" Cortana instructed.
The squad didn't need to be told twice as they bolted out the door. The Chief momentarily stayed behind to close and lock the door behind them in an attempt to stall the pursuing Flood. Once the door was locked, the Chief continued his breakneck sprint down the hall, easily catching up to the squad as the pillars that held up the night-sky ceiling seemed to flash by. If he had time to, the Spartan would reflect on the irony of how he was now sprinting down this corridor, as opposed to slowly and cautiously leapfrogging from pillar to pillar like last time. Eventually, the squad found itself in the Planetarium itself. They paused just long enough to make sure their suits were now atmospherically sealed before running through the teleporter.
...
The squad now found itself in the dimly lit cave chamber, where they had orginally entered the complex. Feeling they were now safe, the squad stopped to catch their breaths.
"...Guys." Cortana said over TEAMCOM. The squad collectively groaned in reply. "Eight minutes left on the clock, and I'm detecting large amounts of Cherenkov radiation emanating from the center of the complex. I've crunched the numbers and we are not outside the blast zone just yet."
"You heard the lady, keep running." Chief ordered as he bolted through the doorway out of the chamber and into the cave proper. Somewhat reluctantly, the squad followed.
They arrived at the ankle-deep pond within the cave, only to meet a sheer, eight-foot ledge. Chief easily jumped up and cleared the edge before helping the rest of the squad up the ledge one by one. After quickly navigating the cave, inexorably making their way to the light at the end, they ended up back on Eletania's surface. "Get to the mako." Cortana instructed as she slapped some arrows on the squad's HUD.
"This AI constantly telling me what to do is seriously getting on my nerves." Tali growled.
"Welcome to my world." Chief quipped in reply. With that, he took off in the direction Cortan's arrow pointed, as did the rest of the team.
Every time they reached a spot with Cortana's arrow on it, another arrow would appear, further guiding them to their destination. Some of the squad had trouble quickly navigating the labrynth of rocks and stones. While N'tho and Garrus had little difficulty thanks to the agility inherent to their races, Wrex and Tali were having more trouble. Wrex was nowhere near as agile as N'tho or Garrus, and Tali simply wasn't used to having to run through such rough terrain. She slipped and fell once, but Ashley quickly picked her up and kept the Quarian going.
Eventually, they arrived at their destination; the mako. "Everyone in! Now!" Chief ordered before climbing into the driver's seat. His team piled into the mako and once everyone was inside, all the doors closed and locked. "Cortana?"
"We wasted two much time in those rocks! Two minutes left! Floor it, Chief!" the AI urged.
"Everyone hang on!" Chief announced as he gassed it. The mako flew over the lip of the cliff face that it had scaled hours earlier, falling a hundred feet below and hitting the ground hard. Fortunately, the mako was designed to survive such drops and just kept on driving through the mossy field. "Fifty seconds left!" Cortana reported.
"Giger counter's going nuts!" Kaidan panickly reported from the co-pilot seat.
"And there's a light-show going on behind us!" Ashley reported from the turret gunner position. Chief's eyes dotted to a screen showing what Ashley was seeing. The air itself behind them actually seemed to be bending as blue-white sparks and particles flew through the air. Chief now knew what 'sentence the facility to oblivion' meant. He pressed his weight down on his foot, trying to will the mako to go faster. "Thirty seconds!" Cortana reported.
The mako found itself flying over the lip of yet another cliff and landing in a huge valley. "Ten seconds! Nine! Eight!"
"We get the idea!" Garrus yelled from his seat.
The mako continued to speed further and futher down the valley, the Chief desperate to milk every inch of distance out of every second.
And then, for a brief moment, the entire world was bathed in light. Light shone through the mako's windows, momentarily blinding the occupants. Chief felt the mako's wheels lift up off the ground, even through he didn't hit the jump jets. "Brace for impact!" Chief ordered as the mako sailed through the air. Then, as suddenly as it appeared, the light faded. The Chief heard a banging on the roof of the vehicle as it hit the ground, bounced, hit the ground again, bounced again, and then bounced a few more times. The team felt like they were trapped in a tumbler dryer system. Then, finally, the mako landed on its wheels and came to a rest, next to an idyllic mountain river no less. The team climbed out of the mako as Joker's voice suddenly crackled through the mako's radio.
"Normandy to ground team. Come in ground team. Do you read?" Joker asked. As the team gathered outside, Chief stayed in the driver's seat to answer.
"This is Sierra-117. Ground team is still in one piece." Chief reported.
"What the hell's happening out there?" Joker asked. "We just detected a huge spike of Cherenkov radiation."
"The Forerunner facility was compromised. We just barely got out." Chief said. "Saren got away." he bitterly added.
"Yeah, and it looks like he's back on the Sovereign." Joker replied. "Intercepted radio transmissions and orbital scans are showing that the whole Geth fleet is starting to pull out from the system. They're hauling ass, too. Looks like they're about to make an FTL jump."
Chief balled his fists in anger. Son of a bitch was most likely limping off to the Terminus Systems to lick his wounds. Even if the Normandy picked them up right now and left Eletania's atmosphere, there'd be no way for the ship to catch the Sovereign before it jumped to FTL. Saren slipped right through the Chief's fingers. The Spartan had failed his mission. Furthermore, Saren now knew that Halo was somewhere in the Attican Traverse, and would now be looking for it as well as the Conduit, and Chief still had no idea how the two were connected. Yes, Saren didn't know Halo's exact location anymore than Chief did, so this round was technically a draw. But it still felt more like a defeat to the Spartan.
"Copy, Sierra-117. You say the Forerunner facility was compromised?" Joker asked.
"Affirmative." Chief replied with a sigh.
"...You made the place explode, didn't you?" Joker sardonically asked.
Chief looked out the mako's window and saw what the rest of the squad was gaping at. Where once there was a mountain, now there was a perfectly spherical crater that was easily several kilometers wide and a few thousand feet deep. By a stroke of luck, the edge ended right where the mako landed, the squad standing near the lip of the crater, taking in the destruction that the massive slipspace rupture wrought.
"...I can categorically say no, the place didn't explode." Chief replied.
...
And so ends the Eletania Arc! Now the whole team knows about Cortana's existence. We'll see the fallout of this revelation in the next chapter. Until then, drive safely, folks!
Oh, and the two songs I used for this chapter are "Hell Ain't Hot Enough for Me" and "We Wanna Wreck Here," both by the awesome psychobilly band, the Meteors. I think their music is oddly appropriate for a SPARTAN-II, given how often the Covenant call them "demons.