Chapter 22: All-Out War: Part Two
Disclaimer: I Don't Own Halo, Red Vs Blue or Any of their Respective Characters
A/N: Hello and welcome to part two of All-Out War! Also, another Merry Christmas! I hope you enjoyed the first part and I also hope that there was no confusion on the fact that Master Chief was the original Freelancer and that his DNA was reconstructed and he had DNA donors to make him the best on the battlefield. Well, I do hope that you enjoy this chapter! Please follow and favorite the story. And if you want to give me input, than please just submit a review or PM me. So, without further ado, I will now let you read this chapter!
Grif
Blood Gulch
Grif and Simmons were standing on the top of Red Base, keeping watch over the canyon. "Hey." Simmons said. Grif turned to look at him. "Yeah?" he asked. "Do you ever wonder w-" Grif knew what was coming. "Do I ever wonder why we're here? Yeah... you haven't asked that in a long time." he said. "No, no, no. I was going to ask you, do you ever wonder what happened to your sister?" Simmons asked. Grif thought about it for a moment. "You know, she's my only sister. And when we got back to Blood Gulch from Chorus, the one thing in my head was getting over that I had to live in this hell hole again. And a week or so later, Master Chief shows up. So, she was the last thing that i was thinking about." Grif said. "But seriously dude, what happened to her?" Simmons asked. "I don't know man. It was assumed that Lopez had strangled her to death. But when we returned to find her no where and no body, that kind of freaked me out." Before Simmons could respond, they heard something. "Hey, Sparky!" the Master Chief's voice rang out. Grif looked down to the floor of the canyon, to see John-117 walking towards Red Base. "Where the fuck are you?"
Grif watched the Chief as much as he could, before he ran into Red Base. A long five minutes of silence up on the roof passed before anyone spoke again. "What do you think that was all about?" Simmons asked. "I don't know, man." Grif said. "But, it sounded like the Chief is pissed." Simmons sighed. "It's not like that's anything new." he said. Grif just nodded. "This is kind of getting boring." Simmons replied. "Yeah..." Grif said. A half minute passed before Simmons spoke again. "Wanna go slack off?" Simmons asked. "Man, you had me at the mention of slacking off." Grif said. "Yeah, I knew it wouldn't take much to get you off of watch duty." Simmons replied, as the ran down the ramp off of the roof.
John-117
Blood Gulch
"Hey, Sparky!" John called, as he jogged towards Red Base. "Where the fuck are you?" He walked into Red Base, to see 343 Guilty Spark hovering in the corner. "Hey, Sparky!" John said. 343 Guilty Spark rotated to face John. "Ah, hello Sim Trooper!" Spark greeted. "I'm not a fucking Simulation Trooper, you fucking light bulb!" John said. "Okay, calm down, soldier. There is no need for cursing. Or hostility." 343 Guilty Spark beeped. "Next time, don't call me something I'm not. And I won't curse at you." John said. "What do you want today, trooper?" the AI beeped. "I came to you for information." John said. "Of course! What information may I enlighten you with?" 343 Guilty Spark asked. "You were programmed with knowledge on the Flood. Is that correct?" John asked. "That is most correct." 343 Guilty Spark beeped. "Now, you do have access on the files of Infection Forms, Combat Forms and so one. Don't you?" John asked another question. "That is correct as well." 343 Guilty Spark answered. "Okay, very good. Can you tell me about Graveminds?" John asked.
"Of course. What information would you need access to on said category?" the AI asked. "Can you tell me how to kill one?" John asked. 343 Guilty Spark just floated there for a second. "Can you tell me how to-" John began to ask the question again, in an irratated tone, but Spark beat him to it. "The most sufficient way to destroy a Gravemind is to fire the Halo A-" 343 Guilty Spark began to speak, but John interupted, very sick of hearing about the Array so much. John threw a Fragmentation Grenade out the back door of the base and shot at the AI, but around it. "We are not going to fucking fire the Array! Is that clear?!" John screamed. 343 Guilty Spark just hovered in silence for a good ten seconds. "Is that clear?!" John screamed at the AI, threatening to fire at it this time. "Acknowledged. That is clear, but destroying a Gravemind will be most, ah, difficult." 343 Guilty Spark beeped. "I don't care!" John exclaimed. "What can you tell me?" 343 beeped before he spoke. "The anatomy of a Gravemind is a very difficult, complex thing to understand. I hope you can comprehend that." the AI spoke.
"I understand." John replied. "Now what can you tell me?" 343 Guilty Spark hovered there, most likely trying to decide what to say. "Sparky?" John asked. "What. Can. You. Tell. Me?" Spark finally answered. "Before we were forced to fire the Array over two millenia ago, the Forerunners were working on numerous other ways to combat the Flood. Cures, ways to fight physically. One of these created, was to combat a Gravemind." 343 Guilty Spark said. "And there is a catch. Isn't there?" John asked. "Indeed." Spark said. "The Forerunners created a highly effective energy weapon. They thought if they could not directly destroy the Flood, then they would destroy their Hivemind." John liked the idea. "So, this energy weapon, it destroys Graveminds?" John asked. "In theory." 343 Guilty Spark beeped. "What does that mean?" John asked. "The Halo Array fired before the weapon got a chance at field testing. Any remnants of the weapon or it's blueprint, likely do not exist anymore." the AI said.
John let out a sigh of anger. "Well, that's just great." he said. Then, John remembered something. Tucker has an Energy Sword... "Wait, Spark! Have you ever seen a Covenant Energy Sword?" John asked. "Affirmative." 343 Guilty Spark beeped. "Would an Energy Sword be enough to kill a Gravemind?" John asked. "I predict, that if you set the weapon to it's most powerful setting, then it would be very likely that it would mortally wound the Gravemind." the AI said. "But it would kill it?" John asked. "Unlikely." 343 Guilty Spark remarked. "It takes a great deal of damage to destroy such a creature of gigantic proportions." John was disappointed. Even one of the greatest energy weapons that they had would be enough to kill it. "But, could it be killed easily after being mortally wounded?" John asked. "According to my calculations, after one is mortally wounded, a few well placed rockets ought to put it out of commision." 343 Guilty Spark beeped.
"Well, that's it then." John said. "What is?" the AI said, sounding curious. "We are at war with the Flood and it's Gravemind." John replied. 343 Guilty Spark said nothing. "What?" John asked. "Why didn't you say anything before?" the AI asked. "I'm sorry?" John asked. "You said that you are at war with the Flood, correct?" the AI asked. "Yes, I d-" John was about to speak, when 343 Guilty Spark spoke. "This is no laughing matter, Reclaimer! If I cannot fire the Array, then we must hit the Flood at the source! Like bombing the ant colony when a house has an ant infestation." the AI spoke. "That is an interesting analogy. How did you know humans got ant infestions when we lived back on Earth?" John asked. "Curious. But irrelevant. We need to prep our defenses and find out where they are hiding." John pondered it. "That will be a problem." John said. Then, all of a sudden, there was a loud roar or shriek type thing that came from outside. "What the fuck was that?" John asked. 343 Guilty Spark said nothing. "Come on, let's go see what that was." John said, as he ran towards the door. "Affirmative." the AI beeped, as it followed him outside.
When he walked outside, John got the sudden feeling that shit had just hit the fan. He saw something in the sky that looked like it was orbiting in the planet's atmosphere. "What the hell? No, no, no! How is that possible! We blew it up!" John said. "I don't have time for this, I'm being distracted by-" John was speaking when he looked up and then spoke again. "Oh crap, flying Pelican!" he said, as he flipped out of the way. The ship crashed right outside of Red Base. John ran over to the middle of the Canyon, where everyone seemed to be waiting for him. "Chief! What do we do?" Donut asked. "Me? Why are you asking me?" John asked. "Well, when Mendez died, everyone kind of assumed that you were taking charge!" Tucker said. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" John said. "That's bullshit!" All of a sudden, something exploded behind him, back at Red Base. "Son of a bitch!" Simmons said. "Son of a bitch!" Grif said. "Madre de dios!" Lopez said. "Rrrrr." John growled. "That is it! I can't stand that Spanish robot any longer! Lopez, hold still!" John ran over to Lopez and went behind him. "Que? No! Hee-ga-grrr-grrrk!" Lopez's voice crackled, before going out completely. "What in Sam Hill did you do to my robot?!" Sarge asked, pointing his Shotgun at John. "I'm not doing a thing!" John said, ignoring Sarge's threat. "Lopez, just please hold still!" John opened up the electrical panel on Lopez's back and began to press all kinds of buttons and flip a few switches, before effectively flipping the switch he was looking for.
He closed up the panel and stood back up, getting in front of Lopez. "Lopez, speak!" John exclaimed. "Chief, we have Flood inbound!" Tucker shouted. "Hold on! Lopez, speak now!" John commanded. Lopez did just that. "What did you do to me? Wait, did I just speak English? How am I speaking English? What the fuck is going on here?!" Lopez said, in perfect English. "What. The. Fuck?" Grif said. "What did you do to him, John?" Cortana asked. "No time to explain now!" John exclaimed, before turning to look at Cortana. "Cortana, take this Magnum!" John tossed his sidearm to her. "Now go to the Infirmary and hide with Doctor Halsey! Tell her it's code red! Tell her to get her SMG out from under her desk! We are getting invaded! Go, go, go!" John barked his orders. Cortana began to run towards the Infirmary. "And Cortana?" John asked. She turned to look at him. John said the three words he was incapable of saying. "I love you." he said. Cortana smiled gratefully. "I love you, too." she said, before turning and running again. "Alright! Defensive positions people! Let's move!" John said, as he loaded his Battle Rifle.
John ran forward and started to shoot the Combat Forms that came from the crashed Pelican. "Lopez, since you are a robot, I want you to go get the Warthog from Red Base! Is that clear?" John asked. "Yes. I will go do that now." Lopez said, as he ran towards Red Base, gunning down any Flood in his way. John ran forward still and shouted a command to 343 Guilty Spark, as he hovered not far behind him. "Sparky! I need you to utilize your Sentinel Beam now! Is that clear?" he asked. "Affirmative." 343 Guilty Spark beeped, as his Sentinel Beam fired. John tossed a Fragmentation Grenade ahead of him, killing about three Combat Forms when it went off. John flipped out of the way, as a Flood Tank lunged at him. John fired several rounds into the Tank's side, but it did not do anything helpful. The Tank lunged at John again, and it hit him with it's big tentacle arm thing. John went flying, hitting a rock as he landed. The Flood Tank approached John, as it prepared to finish him off. Just then, a firearm from behind the Tank went off, blowing a hole in the thing's rotten skin.
The thing fell to the ground next to Chief, revealing Sarge standing there, the barrel of his Shotgun smoking. "Someone order a fresh round of Sarge?" the Red Spartan asked, chuckling. Sarge offered Chief his hand and John took it gratefully. "Thanks, Sarge." John said. "Lopez should be around any mi-" John was interrupted by the music of a Warthog playing. The Warthog came flying over a rise, with Lopez in the driver's seat, and landed on three approaching Combat Forms, crushing them. Lopez stopped the Warthog, before turning to look at John and Sarge. "Someone order a Warthog?" the robot asked. "Hey, I didn't know you deliver, Lopez!" Sarge said. "You know our motto, old man." Lopez said. "Sarge, get in the Shotgun seat." John said, as he manned the turret. "It's payback time." Sarge chuckled as he got in the passenger seat. "Chief, I thought you'd never ask." Sarge replied, as he cocked his Shotgun. Lopez started up the Warthog again and they were off.
Tucker
Blood Gulch
"Swish, swish, stab, motherfuckers!" Tucker exclaimed, as he stabbed his way through a crowd of Flood Combat Forms. Tucker leaped over a Carrier Form, and tossed a frag behind him. Tucker spotted Carolina and Wash fighting back-to-back, as Flood Combat Forms assaulted them. Speaking of assaulting, I would love to assault Carolina! Bow-Chicka-Bow-Wow! "God damn! I bet she is hot underneath that armor! I wonder what cup size she is?" he asked himself as he sliced through more Combat Forms. "I really shouldn't ask myself things like that." Tucker said. "But I just can't help it!" Tucker began to run towards Carolina and Washington. "How are things here?" Tucker asked, as the last of the Combat Forms were killed. "Things are going fine here, I guess." Carolina said. "What about you?" Tucker shrugged. "I'm just trying to survive." he said. "Well, you two find some more targets. I'm gonna go see what I can do over by Red Base." Washington said, as he ran off. "Wait, don't leave me here with this-" Carolina was protesting, but Washington was already gone. "-pervert." Carolina finished her sentence, as she looked at Tucker.
"Hey Baby, you want to-" Tucker was about to say his daily pervy thing to Carolina, but she interrupted him. "For the love of God, shut the fuck up." Carolina said. "What? Why?" Tucker asked. "Because you always have to hit on me every day!" Carolina said, as she began to fire at incoming Combat Forms. "It's part of my charm! Quit fucking it up!" Tucker exclaimed. "Quit hitting on me, you douche!" Carolina said, as she continued to fire. "You and I are never going to happen!" Tucker was kind of hurt. "But you've never even given us a chance!" he said, as he tossed a Fragmentation Grenade to contribute to the fight. "Get it through your skull, asshole! There is no us! There will never be us! Why do you care about a possible relationship?" she asked. "Because, I could die in this war and I haven't even been laid! I was just all talk and I've never been in a relationship!" Tucker said. " No one cares!" Carolina said, in a very agitated voice and she hit Tucker in the face with the butt of her Battle Rifle. Tucker stumbled and fell down. Tucker slowly got up and took off his helmet. He felt his nose and lips, to feel them to be wet with blood. He looked up at Carolina, suddenly feeling unimaginably angry.
"Let's not-" Carolina began to speak, but Tucker interrupted. "Fuck you, Carolina." Tucker said. "Stop hitting on me!" she screamed. "I'm being serious! Fuck you Carolina!" Tucker said. "What did I do?" she asked. "You are so agressive! You can't just hit anyone because they are like me!" Tucker said. "Why not?" Carolina shouted at him. "Because you just can't!" Tucker screamed. "You can't solve all your problems just by hitting the first person you see!" Carolina hit him in the stomach with the butt of her Rifle, causing him to stumble. Tucker was beyond angry by now. He activated his Energy Sword and started swinging towards Carolina. "Get away from me, you stupid bitch!" Tucker said, as he swung and she backed up. "You don't fucking understand! Being pervy is part of my nature! You are nothing but a stupid bitch who just cannot handle it! So, stay the fuck away from me, don't fucking talk to me and just fucking leave me alone!" Carolina just stood there, staring at Tucker. "Go!" he said in a annoyed tone, as he rolled his eyes at her. Carolina backed up a little bit, before turning around and running away.
John-117
Blood Gulch
Tucker ran up to John and opened fire at the Flood surrounding him. "Why does it seem like we are always fighting for this place, Chief?" Tucker asked. "We fight. It's what we do. If we want the universe to survive this, we will have to fight." John said. "Yeah, yeah. I know." Tucker said. Suddenly, there was another loud roar, just like the one that rang out ten minutes before. "What was that?" Tucker said. "It was that roar again. I wonder who or what is making it?" Simmons asked, as he stopped firing the Warthog's turret beside them. Just then, there was another loud roar and John saw several long tentacles coming from the cliffs outside the canyon. John dropped his Rifle, in confusion and out of fear. "Oh, fuck me." John said, letting out a sigh. His fears were confirmed, as he saw the gigantic fleshy mass come into view. "What. The. Fuck. Is. That?" Tucker asked. Part of the fleshy masses "skin" opened, revealing two rows of fang-like teeth. Then, it spoke. "I am a monument to all of your sins." it said. "Oh, shit. That is the Gravemind from Installation 05." John said. "Fuck!" Grif said, running over next to John. "The Gravemind is here?" John nodded.
"So it appears." he said. "Everyone will stop fighting." the Gravemind said. "If you are so eager to die, you can come to our home base to surrender." John stepped forward. "We are not surrendering!" John said. "We are going to fight to the death if necessary!" The Gravemind seemed to ponder this. "Then you will come to our lair, The High Charity, for your downfall." the Gravemind said. "That's impossible! The High Charity was destroyed years ago!" John protested. "We rebuilt it." the Gravemind continued. "Now that we have got that out of the way, you will go there within a few hours. And if you don't we will be forced to nuke this place from orbit." John was angry. Before John could say a thing, the Gravemind dissapated. "A hologram!" Cortana said, as she ran over to John. "Cortana!" John said, giving her the evil eye. "I told you to stay in the Infirmary!" Cortana looked confused. "But John, all of them are gone!" she said. John looked around the canyon. Cortana was right. "Whoa!" John said, as he realized the canyon was empty, except for them.
John-117
Blood Gulch
Forty-Five Minutes Later...
"Okay, I need suggestions people." John said. "I got one." Grif said. "Also, 'let's not do it' is not an option." John retorted. "Oh, bullshit." Grif said. "Come on! We need to fight them!" John said. Sarge cleared his throat. "This isn't our fight. This is not our war." Sarge said. "It's everyone's war!" John said. "If we lose, then the universe will fall. I can't fight this war alone!" Sarge just stood there. "Alright fine, but we a favor in return!" Sarge said. "What do you want?" John asked. "Chocolate cake." Grif said. "A pedicure!" Donut said. "A big science textbook!" Simmons said. "Can you demote Grif?" Sarge asked. John looked at Sarge. "Done." John said. "Grif, you are now 'Private Grif' again." Sarge grunted. "Do you have a problem, Sarge?" John asked. "Can you go lower than that?" Sarge asked. "Sure." John said. "You are now Junior Minor Negative Private Grif, Negative First Class." Grif sighed. "Oh, god damn it." Grif said. "So, how do we get to the High Charity?" John asked. He turned around and around, to see everyone standing in silence.
"Come on, people! What can we do?" John asked. Just then, he noticed Simmons staring at the Pelican. The Flood Pilot hadn't crashed it after all... He had a feeling that he knew what Simmons had in mind. "Simmons?" John asked. "There's the Pelican Dropship." Simmons said. Everyone looked at each other, trying to process what Simmons was thinking. Grif got the idea first. "Shotgun." Grif said, as he moved towards the Pelican. "I outrank you by at least ten ranks." Simmons said. "Get in the back." Grif growled. "Fuck!" he said. John walked over to Tucker as they all moved towards the Pelican. "Chief?" Tucker said. "Tucker, I have a job for you." John said. "We'll discuss your mission on the way to the High Charity." Tucker sighed. "Yes, sir." he said. "That's the spirit, Private." John said, as they all moved towards the Pelican to get it up and running. Caboose ran over to John. "Mister Chief! We can't find Church!" he said. "We have to find him!" John shook his head. "There isn't time for that right now, Private Caboose. We have to get aboard that Pelican!" John said, as he boarded the ship. Sarge got into the cockpit with Lopez, sitting in the co-pilot seat and said: "Where do you want to go today, Dirtbags?" Grif cleared his throat. "Boo, you suck!" Grif exclaimed, loud enough that Sarge would hear.
John-117
Holy City of High Charity, Flood Outpost
Twenty Minutes Later...
When John first saw the High Charity Flood Outpost, he knew that the Flood had done some work to it. It looked like a fleshy mass. Just like the Gravemind to be precise. If one were to take the original High Charity that John had scene during the war and recontructed it out of rotten flesh and "Flood Parts", that's what it would look like. "That thing is one ugly motherf-" Grif began to speak, but John interrupted. "You're not lying Grif!" John said. "Lopez, get us to one of those docking bays!" John said. "You got it, Chief!" Lopez called from the cockpit, still speaking perfect English. "Chief, you sure that your plan will work?" Tucker asked. "Trust me Tucker. I know that it will work." John said. "Lock and load, people!" John grabbed an Assault Rifle and slammed a new magazine into it. Sarge cocked his Shotgun. Everyone loaded their own weapon. About five minutes later, they landed in the docking bay. The all filed out of the Pelican within a minute of landing.
"All right everyone! I want all of you to be ready for anything!" John barked. "Hey Simmons?" Grif asked. "Yeah?" Simmons replied in return. "So, uh, where's the welcome wagon?" Grif asked. "What do you mean?" Simmons asked. "The Flood!" Grif exclaimed. "They aren't here! It's as if they missed the party! The Flood aren't here!" Tucker looked around the docking bay, checking all they corners. "He's right. They're not here." John said, as he lowered his weapon. "I still want all of you on high alert." All of a sudden, one of the doors opened and dozens of Combat Forms and Carrier Forms plunged into the room. "You were saying?" Tucker asked. "You know," Grif said, as he looked over at Simmons. "One day, I don't know when, I'm gonna learn to shut my fucking mouth." John sighed, as he pointed his Rifle at the incoming Combat Forms. "Weapons free!" John exclaimed.
A/N: So, I hope you guys liked part two of All-Out War! Merry Christmas, yet again! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and if you did, please follow and favorite the story. Also, if you'd like to submit your input, than a review or PMing me would be the way to do that. I appreciate you all for reading so far and until the next chapter today, Merry Christmas!
