TIME FRAME: This chapter took place on the level Halo 2: Uprising and gradually towards the end.
Chapter 12 Familiar Faces
Standing tall within a beautiful valley was Delta Halo's Control Room. The control room looked very similar to the one on Installation 04, just in a different environmental setting.
Up on a high ledge 6 forms of gold rings sprouted out of the air, letting Zen, Stahn, Nira, Z'jo, Zide and Thel to drop to the ground. The group stumbled slightly as they hit the ground unexpectedly. Thel rubbed his arm and looked at Z'jo. Z'jo looked back at him. Thel exhaled.
"…I'm sorry… for everything." Thel couldn't find the right words to say. Z'jo bent down and took a plasma rifle on the ground.
"It's alright father, we forgive you for your ignorance." Z'jo said to him. And to Thel's surprise Z'jo, Nira and Zide suddenly ran up to him and the 4 did a group hug.
"Oh, I love it when people get reunited." said Stahn rubbing his eye with his right, arm. Zen looked at him and then he noticed his hand. He eyes widen as he realized Stahn's hand had been sliced off and was just sealed with biofoam.
"Stahn! What the heck happen to your hand?!" exclaimed Zen. Stahn looked at him and then to his hand and said with a sheepish smile,
"Oh, this?" Zen nodded stiffly, expression still the same.
"It's nothing." Zen was about to argue with him but he countered, "Look you've been through worse, this is nothing compared to you being stabbed." Zen unknowingly grabbed the part of his chest in which the blades came out.
"Look, if it makes you happy, I'll go to a medical bay ASAP." Zen sighed, seeing there was nothing he could do about his hand.
"So… who's he?" asked Thel as the 4 released from their embrace. "They never told me there was another, Demon." Nira looked at him like she was offended. He just called her mate a demon.
"Father, the Master Chief is not a demon, he is a Spartan. He-"she pointed to Zen "-is not a Spartan. He is the Creator." Thel just gave her a baffled expression.
"Hey Zen, can you come over here please." requested Z'jo.
Zen approached the family with Stahn following curiously behind.
"Ok, what is it?" asked Zen.
"Father, what do you want?" asked Zide. Thel was surprised at the question.
"Um… Sorry what?" Nira just gave a chuckle and inconspicuously moved towards Zen.
"Let me rephrase that. What kind of weapon do you want to have now?" asked Zide. Thel, raised an eyebrow and replied,
"An energy sword would be great, right now." Zen shuddered discreetly.
"Think you can do it?" asked Z'jo looking at Zen.
"Yeah, I think, I know what it looks like anyway." Zen held out his hand, palms opened. Silence filled the group, Thel nervously looking at Zen to his hand and back.
Then there was a flash and everyone was temporarily blinded and Zen felt something dropped to his palm. He opened his eyes and there, on his palm, laid an energy sword. Zen grabbed it and gave it to Thel, whom accepted it with cautious and wide eyes.
He took it and gripped it. With a flick of his hand and a press of a button, the blade erupted to life. He looked at it, like he couldn't believe his eyes. He swung it to the nearest tree and it got cleanly sliced, the tree falling on the ground. He turned back to see his children smiling at him. The only thing he could say was,
"Now I think I've seen everything." he said turning off the sword and clipping it to his belt.
"Oh, you haven't seen everything yet; particularly about him"-he nodded to Zen-"and a very particular her." Thel just shook his head.
"I'm not interested about the Creator's love interest." Zide just smirked at him.
"Oh you will, you will." he glanced at Z'jo and both of them chuckled. Nira just blushed, but luckily her father didn't notice.
"Please don't call me Creator, I'm Zen Black." said Zen giving out a hand. Thel looked at it warily and seeing no harm he took it.
"I'm Th-"he stammered. He quickly realized he had no name, now that he had been stripped of his rank. But then he remembered he was a heretic now and Covenant rules no longer applied or was he bounded by it.
-"Thel Vadam." and from behind Stahn introduced himself to Thel.
The group headed down the path. The path led to an area where an apparent fire fight was happening. Plasma bolts and detonating Brute Shot grenades exploding in the distance.
"What's happening?" asked Z'jo, who was not aware of what the Prophets had done.
"A civil war between Sangheili and Jiralhanae; the Prophets betrayed us." Thel told him.
"You mean they betrayed you." Z'jo replied. Thel sighed.
"Yes. That."
"Z'jo!?" asked a new voice. The entire group turned around and pointed their weapons at him. The marine held up his arms in a sign of a friendly. Stahn looked at him and immediately recognized him as the Medic that "temporarily" fixed his hand.
"Hey you're that medic that helped me!" exclaimed Stahn. The medic turned his head and looked at Stahn, his expression changed to wide eye.
"Stahn? Wow you're still alive!" Stahn just nodded at him in acknowledgement.
Zen looked at the medic; he seemed somehow familiar to him. He's memory quickly brought out the right memory and he realized he was the same medic that had scolded him when he first arrived on Cairo Station.
The medic looked at Zen and his jaw dropped.
"Zen, you're still alive after being stabbed?!" Zen just smiled. The medic looked at the Sangheili and quickly composed himself.
"I'm so sorry, I haven't even told you who I am yet." he said to the Sangheilis.
"I am Medical Officer Frank "Doc" DuFresne; you can call me Doc."
"Well, we wasted enough time already, let's go." said Stahn.
They continued heading down the path then they heard Brutes shouting up ahead. They slowly advanced and saw from their position one Brute shoot a dead Sangheili in the head. One other Brute Minor and a Captain were standing by.
"Weaklings." said the Minor kicking the head of a dead Sangheili.
The group then charged in killing the brutes with no problem whatsoever. A few moments of walking down the path then some Sangheili Orbital Drop Shock pods landed a ways from them with a tremendous crash. Out came two Minor Sangheili and one Zealot. Then a Heretic Phantom came down and started dispersing troops. A gold elite came out and Zen recognized it as Novi.
"See I told you, they were still alive." said Doc to Novi. He smiled and said,
"Yes it would seem." then he walked up to Thel and the two stared hard at each other.
"I'm sorry…" said Thel. Novi reached out and placed his hand on his shoulder, "And I owe you an apology for hijacking the Shadow of the Colossi, which is in space, ready for us to leave." Novi told him. Thel smiled.
"Glad to hear it."
"So this is how it is." said the Novi walking up to the group of Heretics and Humans. He looked at the Arbiter "And your children were right about the rings...meaning it was good that you let Installation 04 be destroyed."
"Apparently they were." said Thel replied in half humor, half seriousness.
"But now the Brutes have claimed the Control Room and have the Icon. We'll need to hurry if we are to stop them." said one of the Minors. Zen smiled behind the visor of his helmet.
'Don't worry, I got that fixed.' he thought chuckling to himself. Then the group continued.
The group went through the last doors to the outside world. They were just behind the Control Room structure. They tensed and backed up cautiously as a Wraith rounded a corner and slowly advanced on them. But it did not attack. It stopped and out the hatch popped Rtas Vadumee.
"By the rings, Arbiter!?" he exclaimed. He had heard that he had died. "The Councilors! Are they-"
"Murdered. By the Brutes." Thel said in sadness.
"Vile, disloyal beasts! ...are those your children?" asked Rtas noticing Z'jo. Then he spotted Zen, Stahn and Novi.
"I see." Rtas said. "You were right, young one. The Covenant was wrong...and the Great Journey...a lie. Than that means-"
"We must stop the activation of the ring." Novi finished for Rtas. All of a sudden, two Phantoms soared over their heads and to a higher level on the pyramid structure. One Phantom went away while the other landed on a ledge. The gravity lift dispensed two Brutes, one being Tartarus, Guilty Spark under one arm, and Miranda by the shoulder of his other hand. He paused as he came to the door. He sniffed the air. The faint smell of Sangheili floated in the breeze. But he continued into the control room.
Rtas Vadum looked at the warriors rounded up. The Creator, the Arbiter's children, the Arbiter, and a Supreme Commander were the best warriors here, while the other marines...well... the more the merrier.
Behind Rtas' Wraith, two Spectres parked, the only men on them were the drivers.
"We're short on hands." called one driver. "We can't break into the Control Room on our own." The Arbiter and Z'jo took the turrets on each Spectre. Doc and Stahn boarded one Spectre and Zide and Novi boarded the other. Well all of them boarded up Z'jo asked, "Hey what about Zen?" Zen just crossed his arms on his chest and replied,
"I got my own ride." and with that he turned around and held out his hand.
He immediately started visualizing his vehicle, a motorcycle, but pimp it out with designs taken from the Covenant vehicles and the Human vehicles. There was a bright flash and a loud thud; in front of him stood his vehicle.
It was sleek, and was downright sexy. It was the motorcycle of the future. Its wheels were off-road designed. It had curved mufflers. Its handle bars featured a screen which showed the speedometers, gas as well as the ammo for the guns it had mounted on the back. It featured a machinegun, 2 plasma shooters to its side and Stinger Missile Launcher (SML). Its color was faded cobalt.
Stahn's jaw dropped at the sight of the magnificent vehicle. Zen looked at him and asked, "Like it?" and Stahn replied, "Like it? I love it, its drop dead gorgeous." and he finished it with a wolf whistle. "Thanks." said Zen and approached the vehicle. He slung his feet over the seat and sat on it.
"Let's see what this baby can do." then he placed the key on the ignition and turned it on. The engines roared to life but not surprisingly loud as one would expect. The screen flickered on and showed the gas meter and ammo which were full. The speedometer showed that it could do up to 120MPH. He twisted the handle bars and the engines growled. Zen found a small spot on the side which showed as a USB slot, which he designed so that he could play songs on the Motorcycle. He quickly created himself a USB, filled with all his favorite songs, and plugged it in. The screen analyzed it for a millisecond and showed a player. He pressed the play and it read, Now Playing: Red Alert 2 OST Destroy. He turned his face to the others who had an unfathomable expression which he assumed was for the music he was playing. He ignored it and said, complete with Terminator accent,
"All right, let's do this thing."
Author's Note: For those of you who don't know 'Doc' he is a character from the RvB series. He just makes a cameo appearance in my story so he's not a permanent character. But it may seem that he has potential to become a contributing character.
I recommend you listen to the song which was played on Zen's motorcycle. It clearly fits the mood and everything. You can easily search it on Youtube.
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