John woke up in cold liquid. He immediately thought it was a test and tried to find a way to the surface. But he couldn't move. He felt an oxygen mask on his face and knew he was in a stasis-observation tube. These were only used for emergencies when mass surgery had to take place, where spilling blood wasn't a preferable option. He also knew that Trojan had failed to revive him completely on the ship. That would be the only logical reason to be in the medical atrium.

John opened his eyes and saw a team of scientists standing on the observation deck. A pang of surprise flooded through his blood.

Doctor Catherine Halsey stood in the window next to some scientists and was gazing down at the Chief with concern playing across her face. The Spartan ripped his gaze from the observers and tried to move.

What the hell was she doing here? It didn't make sense, but it was logical that she might have heard about the new Stargate and the Asguard. And who didn't know about the sacrifice he made for humanity? Besides Cortana, but that was necessary. She couldn't be told. But if Halsey was here, then his plan was falling apart at the seams. She would tell Cortana. And Cortana may try to help the Chief.

And if that happened, they were all S.O.L.

The doctors saw him move and keyed a mike. A splitting headache racked the Master Chief when he heard the harsh voices come over the intercom placed over his ear.

"Chief? Can you hear me?"

The Chief nodded. The headache was getting stronger. So was the Chief's anger.

"Chief, we're going to ask you a few questions…"

The Chief's eyes flashed open and glared at the scientists. The badges on their coats were bearing the insignia of ONI: Section Three. They didn't want to ask him questions.

They wanted to dissect him.

John's eyes grew into the dagger pupils and pierced the faces of all in the room. Halsey winced and put a hand over her mouth.

"…John…" Cortana said, now hovering near his pod. John glared at her. Her hologram disappeared and she transferred to his neural implant. She filled his mind with cold mercury.

"John, please, let me help… please let them all help you…" Cortana whispered, pleading Master Chief.

"Did you authorize this?" he asked.

"Yes, but they promised they would…" She started.

"TRAITOR!"

An icicle stabbed through Cortana's heart.

Cortana had installed a tiny sensor in the Chief's neural implant that monitored brain functions. She had felt abnormally high brain wave patterns when she had been reunited with him. His brain wave patterns spiked to 110 percent. She based this off the normal ten percent used by a normal human brain. She switched it to a normal scan. He now was using 12 percent of his brain. Then it spiked to 15 percent.

His anger raised his power levels.

His brain was filled to the brim with hatred, betrayal, and blind rage. His brain wasn't normal though. He had downloaded the knowledge of the Ancients. The knowledge was both killing him, and forcing Ascension on him.

"John… please…" Cortana pleaded, trying to enter his mind further. The dragon was waiting for her.

"BETRAYAL!" The dragon picked her up and slammed her into the outside world. She reappeared in front of Dr. Halsey in a holo-pad. The Chief began to glow in a fiery light. The pod grew cracks and strained under stress. The liquid under the glass grew to a boiling temperature.

The Chief's eyes flared and the pod exploded. Water and wires mixed with metal spread across the floor. The oxygen mask stayed on the Chief's face. He grabbed it and ripped it off.

"Twenty percent… is rising…" Said the data pad Cortana gave Halsey to monitor the Chief's brain.

John gripped his head in pain with one hand, and the other hand twisted and jerked around. The shadows of the room slithered over to him and clothed his form. An alarm blared. The Chief took a look at his cloak of shadows and felt a trickle of blood issue from an ear. He jumped to the side as a triennium dart of tranquilizer hit the spot where his head once was. He turned.

Four men hefting sniper rifles aimed their guns at him from the top of the atrium, obviously in charge of security. The Chief was on them in seconds. He picked up a gun from one of the hands and wrenched the second man's gun from his grip, breaking fingers in the process. He slammed his fist into the man's face and shot the man's partner. He then turned quickly and fired a couple of rounds into the observation box. Everyone but Cortana and Dr. Halsey were still standing. The Chief was conflicted.

He had been taught that, when preserving a mission, one should always eliminate threats. Cortana and Halsey weren't immediate threats, but they could still do harm. The soldier inside said to take them out, the part of him that was in pain said to preserve them, to keep life.

The Chief dropped the guns and walked over to the combat storage closet and ripped the door open. His armor lay inside, minus the helmet. Oh well, he could manage. He reached out with his hand and brushed the armor. There was a bright flash of light and the armor was covering him. A sledgehammer played around in his brain. He heard Dr. Halsey walk up behind him. He saw a purple light shine on the floor nearby and knew that Cortana had appeared as well.

"John. Your mission is over, so please stop." Halsey said, placing a shaking hand on his shoulder. John suddenly realized that he was on his knees. He slowly got up and turned to the good doctor. Cortana gasped.

His eyes had turned from a cool blue to brilliant glowing silver. He shook his head and two streams of blood came rolling out of his ears. His scar was now leaving a tiny glow in the air.

"My mission will not be stopped. One life for millions, ma'am. I can't refuse." he said, weak enough to cough up a tiny amount of blood.

"John… please…" Cortana started, but the Chief turned and walked to a door. Cortana sealed the door with a hiss and the Chief stood in front of the new wall. He turned to the two women and muttered, "Fire, platform ten." Just then, a radio transmission hissed over the palm pad that Halsey had placed in her pocket.

"Ma'am! MAC platform ten is changing bearings and firing on your position!"

Deep in space, a lone Mac Platform fired its rockets and fired a slug down towards UNSC head-quarters. Alarms blared, but no one could really do anything. The Chief stood silent and staring at the two others in the atrium. Halsey lifted her hand and Cortana sighed in frustration. The door hissed open. The Chief nodded and closed his eyes.

In space, the MAC round tore towards the Earth. There was a bright flash of light, and a hyper-space window opened in front of it. The round disappeared into the purple, writhing mass and the door closed off.

The Chief screamed in pain as even more blood dripped to the floor. Thousands of knives pierced his brain. Dr. Halsey and Cortana drew closer.

The Chief tapped his wrist and the zatn'kitel fell into his hand. He lifted it and fired it into Halsey. She hit the ground, asleep. Cortana cried out and yelled something at the Chief. He winced in pain and fired a round into the overhead holo-gram conduit.

Silence.

Cortana and Halsey would be out of it for a few minutes. The Chief hefted the gun and stood up. His eyes gazed over the destruction. He turned to the door and whispered.

"One for one million… think it through…"