Chapter Five: Civil War
Seattle, September 5, 2559, 4:49am
"Open fire!"
"Hostiles!" Ginger heard the opposing Spartans shout. They had turned their attention away from theit prisoners, and toward the people who had opened fire. Deland jumped into the taxi and took off, Clone-Palmer with him.
"We're gonna fucking die!" yelled a voice in the distance, presumably the attackers. Ginger recognized the voice, and groaned out loud. The Spartans fired at the attackers, in a much more orderly fashion than their attackers.
Lachlan wasted no time. He snapped the neck of the pink Spartan, and stole her BR55. He was still clad in his armor, save for his helmet which was on the ground a few feet away. He saw a Spartan aim a shotgun at his exposed face. A sniper round echoed in the alley, and the shotgunner flew backward, a gaping hole in the side of the head.
"Holy shit! Tucker! Did you see that? I actually hit him!" A voice called out. Police sirens wailed in the distance, obiviously coming at them.
Ginger picked up the shotgun and fired, impacting a red Spartan, who turned to him, flicking his red-armored wrist, activating dual blades of energy. "Shit," Ginger muttered, as the shotgun jammed.
A teal Spartan landed in front of Ginger, Energy Sword lighting up the alley. "Think you can use a sword?" He taunted the red Spartan. The red swung at him, but the teal blocked, showing some impressive skill as he twisted the handle, sent the other Spartan's sword flying through the air. With a lunge, the teal ran the red through, killing the Spartan. "That's how you use a sword."
Sarge ran out of the cover he was using, BR55 in hand, with his shotgun on his back. "Did we get here in time?"
Ginger looked at the dead Spartans on the ground. "Um...yeah. But what the hell just happened?"
"The captain has an AI slot, and we think that there is a evil AI on the loose," Sarge explained, handing Ginger the Battle Rifle.
"So, the AI somehow took control of Deland, right, causing him to act that way, right?" Lachlan asked, unbelievingly, as Church and Tucker stood next to him.
"Correct. We think the AI is O'Malley, who we beat before. Or it could be one just like him," Sarge reached for his shotgun, relieved to have it back in his hands.
"That sounds crazy," Lasky butted in. "But, can I ask how the hell you had Palmer with you? She's been dead."
"Remember that cloning device that was in my report right after we took Earth back?" Ginger asked. Lasky nodded, putting two and two together. Ginger noted the look of pain in Lasky's face as he thought about her.
"Okay, we need to go after Deland. I left the Master Cheif's blood sample in the taxi, and we need to rescue Palmer," Ginger said, punctuating the sentance by cocking the BR55. "Anyone have a ride?"
"Way ahead of you," Sarge said. "Grif, bring the Warthog!" The headlights of the Warthog lit up the alley as Grif pulled up. It was an old troop transport Hog, without a turrent. It could fit seven people in it.
"Sarge, you take passenger, Grif you keep driving. Lachlan, you and your squad will sit in the back with me," Ginger ordered. The police sirens were getting louder.
"I never take orders from you, but fine," Lachlan jumped in the back, with the shotgun that he had gotten from the dead Spartan. Tucker and Church sat on one side, and Lachlan and Ginger on the other. Lasky sat crouched in the middle of the back, and stolen Magnum in each hand. "Floor it Grif!"
The Warthog tires kicked up dust as it took off, speeding at about 123 miles per hour. "Should I slow for traffic, or just dodge and weave?" Grif asked.
"Dodge and weave!" Ginger shouted over the rippling wind. "Hey, where are Simmons and Caboose?"
"They went to check your hotel room to see if you were there." Church explained, talking over the roar of the wind.
"Can you ask them to get my armor?" Church nodded.
Cars honked their horns as Grif dodged the traffic, going way over the speed limit, and breaking several laws at the same time. Ginger tightened his grip on the metal handles above him, lurching with every turn.
"Wait, so why exactly did you come after us?" Ginger asked.
"We wanted to warn you about the AI. We don't know how dangerous it is. We figured that it would be best to get someone who has fought in a major battle," Grif replied.
"If you beat this AI before, then why can't you do it again?" Lachlan questioned. Tucker and Church looked at each other. "Explain later," Lachlan said. He put his black Recon helmet on, tuning out the rushing of the air.
"What happened down there?" Destinee asked through the comms in Lachlan's helmet. "Do you know what is going on up here?"
"Fill me in."
"Well, Deland ordered anyone who had any form of association with you or Ginger to be interrogated about the cloning tower. They got nothing from any of them, and he ordered some new teams of Spartans to shoot to kill, not wanting to leave any trace of his questioning. A whole war is going on in the Infinity." To prove her point, automatic fire from a SAW echoed in the background, and was silenced when a rocket exploded.
"Um...okay. You lost me after shoot to kill." At that moment, machine gun fire hit the back of the Warthog, a few bullets hit Lachlan's shield. "Got to go!"
Ginger swore under his breath, and used Lachlan as cover as he peeked out. It was another Warthog, filled with enemy Spartans. There was one in the turrent, opening fire, with one with a Brute Shot sitting in the passenger side.
It's been a while since I've seen a Brute Shot. Focus dammit! Focus! Ginger held his breath as he took aim with the Battle Rifle. The jerking motion of their Warthog combined with the other Warthog's motion made the shot impossible. He squeezed the trigger, and the triple round burst hit the windshield of the opposing Warthog, making three holes in it. Church fired his S2 AM at it, putting a hole in the gunner. The passenger returned fire with the Brute Shot.
The grenades impacted on the road, two flipping a car over, and the others hitting near civilians. Ginger could hear the panicking screams of the civilians as they flew by. "Grif! Any sighting of Deland?"
"Nope. Oh shit! Another Warthog in front of us!"
"Go around it! And keep-" Ginger was cut off when the Warthog behind them exploded as a red laser tore through it. A Mongoose was coming after them, with Simmons on the back, Spartan Laser over his shoulder, and a Spartan recruit with standard gray armor with a yellow stripe on the helmet was driving.
"Sorry I'm late," Ginger heard Simmons say over the Warthog radio. He was nearly jerked out of the vehicle as Grif turned to avoid a head on collison with the other Warthog, which wasn't shooting at them. "Caboose should be in that Hog, along with your armor and weapons."
"Okay. Thanks." Ginger jumped out of the speeding Warthog. "Keep going, I'll catch up." He sprinted over to the Warthog, where the blue idiot was standing. The box containing his armor was sitting in the passenger seat. Ginger tore off the lid, and pulled his under suit on over his clothes.
Simmons dismounted the Mongoose, and began to put Ginger's armor leg armor on, while the recruit went for the arms. Within a few minutes, Ginger was back in his blue Recon armor. "Okay, now let's get caught back up with Lachlan. Simmons, you drive." Ginger put the Spartan Laser into a weapon slot on the side of the Mongoose, where it was in easy reach. He pulled the slide on his Battle Rifle.
"No problem sir," Simmons said. "Stevens, Roberts, use the Warthog. And don't let Caboose drive!"
"I call shotgun!" Caboose yelled out in that strange voice of his. "Where is the shotgun?"
Ginger rolled his eyes as he got on the back of the Mongoose. Simmons got on and cranked the engine, getting it started. The recruit that had driven the Mongoose got in the driver seat of the Hog, while another that he hadn't seen climbed up onto the turrent, gripping the handles tightly in her hands.
"Move out!" Ginger ordered. As the Mongoose zipped through the traffic, Ginger noticed something. Their path of travel after the Captain was in a circle. Perhaps Deland was heading to the portal. Deland, or whatever was possesing him knew about the portal, and mostly likely the tower. "Fucking floor it, Simmons!"
Requiem, September 5, 2559, 5:45 pm
The duplicate of 343 Guilty Spark hummed along as he passed over the Promethean Knights. They had reached the old Forerunner facility that was used for cloning ancient humans, and then implanting them with a artificial intelligence construct. These were the first phase of Prometheans.
But then, after only two constructs were made, the Composer was finished, and all work on the facility was abandoned. It was similar to the cloning tower that was made after the Composer's completetion, which the Didact had used to replicate the ancient humans, and then compose them right after. It was quite clever.
But, Spark was here on buisness. It had been brought to his attention that a construct had found a way to escape. The other one had escape several human years ago. According to the report, some humans intercepted it, and used it in some long forgotten project. It was later destroyed by a team of Reclaimers.
Spark approached the entrance to the construct storage chamber, last sealed one hundred thousand years ago.
The Knights stood ready, as the facility was also used to hold the Forgotten, the term used for the the first phase of Prometheans that had been guarding this facility thousands of years ago, and were now rampant, attacking anything in sight. Scattered piles of fragile Forerunner, animal, and ancient human bones had proved that. It appeared that no one had ever entered the chamber in years, as the seal wasn't broken.
It was ominous, but along the wall were rows of hexagons that were supposed to light up with an orange glow whenever there was a construct was inside. None glowed orange. The construct had indeed escaped.
Seattle, ONI HQ, Research Lab 345, September 5, 2559, 4:57am
The legendary Catherine Halsey stood before the table, with ODSTs flanking her. She sighed, hating the life as a captive. On the table were the remains of the supposed Master Chief's armor. It was melted, looking like it was hit by plasma, rather than the Infinity's main cannons.
She ran her hand over it, feeling the lumps of melted metal, and the chest piece's worn out texture. Then, she noticed something. Something that no one else had noticed.
"Can you confirm that this was Spartan 117s?" It was the same ONI man as before, when they were on the Infinity.
"Yes, it is his." Halsey sighed, and backed away. The ONI spook motioned to the door, and the ODSTs escorted her back to her quarters, where there was a massive computer set up. ONI allowed her to continue her research, but had full access to everything on the computer. But, to their dismay, Halsey spent most of her time playing a game from a age old series know as the Elder Scrolls.
Halsey sat down at her computer, and loaded her last saved game. She honestly didn't know why she would waste her time on a video game. The graphis were out dated. The storyline was weird. It contained dragons.
Sighing, she felt a feeling of nervousness inside her. There was no way she was going to tell ONI that it wasn't John's armor...That would tell them that there might be a chance that he was still alive, which Halsey believed.
A/N: Some of you might have noticed that I was accidently putting January in the time bar in the past few chapters, instead of September...I will fix this.