Ch. 4 - Reckless Abandon
"Ar-er? -iter!" the sound was almost incoherent. The Arbiter's eyes opened. There was an unbearable ringing in his ears. As he regained consciousness he winced at the noise. The one calling his name was Vse, who, at the last minute, had saved the doomed Elite.
"Y-You...You disobeyed orders." he answered, jokingly.
"I'm sorry, sir." Vse said. The Arbiter looked around the room. Rtas was talking with Ralos & Saros, assessing what had happened after he had taken refuge in the hanger. Vse headed over to where Tsu, the burned Minor, & Spec Op were. Siya & the Major where observing the Arbiter's wounds. He had suffered several burns from the explosion.
"You only survived because of your shield, however, it will be about 2 days until you can successfully wield your sword." Siya said, motioning to the Energy Sword hilt at the wounded Arbiter's side, his Carbine was set up against the wall next to them.
"How long before the Parasite gets in here?" the Arbiter asked.
"We're not sure." said the Major, grimly. The Shipmaster noticed the Arbiter's reawakening. He & the 'Redar brothers came over to the battered & bruised hero.
"Saros & Ralos told me that you've talked with the Oracle, is this true?" Rtas asked, as they made it the the make-shift bed.
"This is true." the Arbiter answered.
"What did it tell you?"
"It told us all about the facility; how it managed the Parasite, how long it's been since an 'outbreak', & such."
"Well, it seems it isn't very good at its job. Did it tell you a possible way to destroy this facility?"
"No," then a thought occurred in the Arbiter's mind, "wait, it did show us where the core of the facility is."
"Excellent! Could you overload it?"
"With several grenades, & maybe 1 or 2 shots from Avo's cannon."
"Fantastic! Arbiter, the only question now is, do you think you can overload it?"
"Yes." answered the Arbiter. He struggled to sit up, but the pain was too much.
"You can't sit up, let alone, overload the facility's core in this weakened state!" said the Major, helping his injured ally.
"He won't be going alone." said Avo, walking over to join the conversation. The 'Redar brothers nodded in agreement.
"You don't understand, he can't move in his weakened state, his shields haven't even fully recharged yet!'' the Major said. What he said was true, the Arbiter's shields had been sparking the entire time.
"I will do it." the Arbiter said, trying to move again, but wincing in pain.
"Our brother is right, you must rest & recover your strength, but as soon as you do, we, all of us," Rtas said looking at the Major, "move in to overload the core."
Several hours later, the Arbiter was standing again, using his Carbine as a crutch & leaning against the wall. He could feel his shields trying to become fully charged, but they had only become 60% charged. The 'Wetums were standing guard, chronically alerting the others to the situation outside the Forerunner hangar. Avo & the burned Minor had discovered many of the parts & pieces that make up the Enforcers.
"Our Lords really knew how to make some monsters..." sighed the Minor.
"Indeed." agreed Avo. He then preceded to kick the mechanical giant's "head", the shield flickered on, then died. This startled the other Elites. The Arbiter looked at the Major. He knew that their hero eagerly wanted to wield his sword once again.
"Arbiter," said the Major as he walked over to him, "here, your sword." The Major handed the Arbiter his weapon back. The Arbiter thanked him. He had had the very same sword during the Schism. He looked around. Siya, Vse, & Crae were trying to disassemble the Enforcer's Heavy Needler. Tsu & Saros were mocking them.
"You're never gonna get that off." called Tsu.
"Be careful, you might activate it." said Saros sarcastically. Rtas was rubbing his amputated mandibles, most likely remembering his first encounter with the Parasite. Relos & Avo were discussing the amount of ammo that was left, & the Major was inspecting the burned Minor's wounds. It seems that it was instantly cauterized & there was no pain. A thought came to the Arbiter's mind. Could the band of 9 Elites really be able to destroy the facility. Surely they could. He had stopped a Heretic uprising, helped kill Tartarus, taken his revenge on Truth, & even stopped the Parasite before with the help of the Spartan. Even before his reign as the Arbiter he had had countless victories against the Humans. But now he questioned his abilities.
"I think it's time," Said the Shipmaster looking at the Arbiter. His shields were now at 70%, they would have to do. The others grouped around the two veteraned warriors, "the time has come for us to complete our work. When we go out there, & are overrun by the Parasite, don't let the fear we all share overcome you, for it will be your last. Never hesitate, if even for an instant, be sure on your actions. We will cut through this infection & destroy this installation." The others let out roars of eagerness, in truth, they could not wait any longer for the next conflict.
The survivors had trekked on for hours with only a few skirmishes, & the Arbiter's shield were now back to 100%. The screeches & moans of the Parasites' deadly forms echoed throughout the halls. A few of the Elites shivered from the moral shattering noises. Night must have fallen now, as they could see their breaths.
"We need to move faster," said Crae, "our plasma weapons will be slower to fire now that it's colder." He was right, a couple of them rubbed their rifles to keep the plasma batteries warmer. Suddenly, loud bang happened above the squad, & the lights flickered on & off, then shut off completely.
"Keep quiet & keen." ordered Rtas. As they followed orders they heard the rustling of some unspeakable creature moving about. A spark light the room only for a short second, but it was enough. Siya had seen it, a Carrier had made its way close to the Elites.
"Run!" he said pointing at the monstrosity. The group ran as fast as they could, as a Carrier Form is never alone, there are always at least 3 plus the Combat Forms that protect them. They ran for what seemed like an eternity, but it was not enough, the screeches told them that the Parasite had found them. So, onward they ran, their stamina never ceasing. The lights soon came back on, the sign of infection was incredible, Parasite biomass had formed on many of the walls, the floor, & even the ceiling. This was not a good sign, they were running out of time.
A few more hours of running & the Elites came to a huge set of doors.
"Siya, Crae, open this door!" the Shipmaster ordered. They did as they were told. "We need to make sure nothing happens to them while they work." As if on cue, a roar came from down the hall. A Combat Form had found them & was alerting its twisted & mangled allies of the situation.
"How could this possibly be any worse?" cried Vse. Again, on cue, several Sentinels appeared, it seemed that the Parasite had tried to merge with them as there was biomass on parts of them.
"You just had to ask!" said Tsu panicking. "Flare!" he cried as he threw a Plasma Grenade at a Carrier that had wobbled to the front of the Parasite's line. It stuck & obliterated the surrounding Combat Forms, although its deadly cargo was perfectly fine. The Infection Forms quickly scurried towards the defenders with their nasty intent. They were stopped dead in their little tracks. Avo destroyed one of the Infested Sentinels, this seemed to anger the Combat Forms, as they screeched & roared more ferociously now & their attack became even more powerful.
"It's a good thing I kept this!" yelled the Major as he threw down a Deployable Cover. As the Parasite attacked the plasma shield they cried in pain, as if the shield was burning them. An Infested Sentinel tried to fire its beam but it malfunctioned & sparked, sensing its end, it tried to kamikaze, but in vain, it shortly exploded, damaging its mutated fellows. The other Forerunner/Parasite hybrids left the battle, making more room for the twisted Parasite forms. Then, a beeping sound occurred.
"Finally!" exclaimed Crae, the doors had opened & the Elites hurriedly entered the room. Siya locked the doors behind them. This was absolutely perfect timing as the Deployable Cover disintegrated under the Parasite's constant attack.
"No way..." said the burned Minor.
"Wha-" Saros began to ask but was cut off by the horrid sight that had befallen him.
"That...That can't be possible!" cried Tsu in terror. As the rest of the room lighted up, allowing the others to see the nightmare. A Proto-Gravemind had been formed, but at the middle of it was the Oracle.
"We-ell, hel-hell-o, bip-ped-ds." it said, its voice had twisted into the horrible mixture of its original & a Gravemind. This explained the Infested Sentinels & the Parasites' anger at their destruction. The Parasite had accomplished a great task, fusing organism & machine. The Oracle-Gravemind had formed itself around the core of the facility. Now the Elites' task had become much harder, they not only had to destroy the facility to stop the Parasite's expansion, but now they needed to kill this monstrosity. The Major started to assaulting with a volley of plasma bolts from his duel Plasma Rifles, but the Oracle's shield had covered the entirety of its being. The creature responded with a blast of its own, killing him almost instantly. The burned Minor lobbed a grenade at the horror, but it bounced off & exploded on the ground a foot away.
"A-ah! Th-at hu-urt? But-t h-how?" cried the Oracle. The explosion had burned some of the biomass, the shield had failed as the monster attacked leaving itself open. It had clearly grown angry at the new experience of pain. It fired its beam at the Elites, however they had taken cover. The 'Redars took advantage of the anger & blasted it with their commandeered Sentinel Beams. Chunks of biomass fell to the floor, smoking & charred.
"A-a-h! D-am-n yo-u, bi-pe-ds-s! W-o-ow, I-I didn-'t kn-ow tha-at cu-rs-sin-g w-as in-n my vo-cab-ul-lary." it said as pain became more & more real to it. Several more blasts came from it, these were answered by grenades & a few blasts from Avo's Fuel Rod Cannon. "I-I'm dy-ying!" it cried as it began to explode. The explosion of the terrible creation as it died triggered an explosion in the core that it had wrapped itself around. The Elites had completed both tasks at once.