Just realized that I made an error last chapter! The Library is not Ten floors, but Four! Silly me. I fixed it in the previous chapter, so it isn't that big of a deal. Anywho, I have some great news!

NicKenny, founder of a forum called The Freelancer Collaboration, a large group which is responsible for a fair share of great Halo Fanfiction about Red vs Blue, has contacted me with the opportunity to write in collaboration with several others to create a fanfic based on the exploits of Fireteam Crimson, the small group of custom Spartans that you and your friends can play as in Halo 4's Spartan Ops mode (Which, I don't mean to brag, I'm pretty damn good at, but that's neither here nor there). This could be the opportunity for me to really shine, and, if I get chosen to write, they will let me create a SPARTAN of my own for the squad. I'm in such a good mood, so I just thought that I would let you all know by giving you this message, and another chapter in the story that caught their attention!

Happy reading, Wolfgang!

~Husky

"You can see how the body has been transformed by the genetic restructuring of the Flood infection." Guilty Spark said, hovering over the corpse of a Flood combat form that John and Six had killed moments before. "The small creatures carry spores that cause a host to mutate. The mutated host then produces spores that can pass the Flood infection to others. It is insidious, yet elegant. As long as any hosts remain, the Flood is... virulent."

"What does that mean for humanity?" Six asked.

"What it means is if we don't stop the Flood here, this war will become three sided." John replied.

"Precisely." Guilty Spark replied.

"How close are we to the Index? This is the third floor, right?" Six asked.

"Yes, it is. The Index is right on top of your current position. You need only to clear the floor above, and nothing stands in your way." Guilty Spark said.

"I don't see why we should put it off, then. Stay close, John. You too, Lightbulb." Six said, raising the shotgun that he had found on the floor below. The two Spartans walked up the stairs side by side as Guilty Spark followed close behind them. When they reached the top, they were greeted by another locked door, this one quite different from the rest.

"It's a holographic lock." John said.

"I used to know a guy who cracked these things all of the time. It took him an hour, when he was at his best." Six said. "Hey, spark plug. You think that you can open this one?"

"It should take no more than thirty-nine seconds." Guilty Spark said.

"Good." Six said.

Thirty-nine seconds later, the rings around the holographic lock's center re-oriented, and the door opened wide. The inside of the room was very dim, the only bright spot being a light at the top of a short staircase on the other side. As they entered the room, Six stepped on something soft and fleshlike. He looked down and noticed that he was stepping on the exposed wormy arm of a Hunter. It's body was hidden in the shadow to his left, and if he focused, he could see it clearly.

"I think turning on night vision would be a good plan." Six said, clicking the button on his helmet to do so. John did the same.

Even with night vision, the room was almost entirely empty, save the Hunter corpse Six had stepped on. Six heard the pattering of miniscule feet, but ignored it. It was most likely more of those Flood spores inside of the vents, a normal sound for the Library. It would only be troublesome if they came down and attacked. One thing that stood out was a large metal box attached to the wall. Six walked to it. He found a latch on the side of the box and busted the lock with the butt of his shotgun. The box contained several grenades of various types. Six grabbed two of each, and closed the box. John found a lightly used energy sword clutched in the hand of a dead Sangheili that had been slouching behind a support beam on the other side if the room. He pulled out his other energy sword and deployed both, one in each hand.

"That looks badass. It suits you." Six said.

"Enough fooling about! My sensors indicate that the Index is just beyond this room." Guilty Spark said.

"Relax. It isn't going anywhere." Six said. "If there were any Flood or Covenant that wanted it as bad as you do, they would likely have it. Besides, you still haven't told us exactly what it does, only hints that it will activate the Halo ring and destroy the Flood. Why-"

"Enough questions!" Guilty Spark said, turning red again. "The Index will end the Flood threat once more, plain and simple!"

Once more?

Suddenly, sickening sounds emanated from behind them. Guilty Spark turned blue again, looking at the source of the noises with intensity. Six and John turned around to see the corpse of the Hunter from earlier begin to move.

"Oh dear." Guilty Spark said.

"Open the door. Now." Six said.

As Guilty Spark went to work, the Hunter's body began to stand. It was twitching and pulsing, Flood spores running under and above its armor. Tentacles wrapped around its arms and legs and dense flesh coated its soft wormlike skin. The strength of the tentacles crushed the Hunter's shield and plasma cannon with ease as they shaped the metal, hardening dead flesh around them and creating enormous blades the size of Six. The end result was a massive creature, twice as tall as either Spartan with two large crushing swords and skin denser than rubber. This was no longer a Hunter. This was something else entirely.

It was a beast. A Goliath.

John looked at the Goliath's malformed blades, then looked at his own.

"Damn." He said.

The Goliath charged with a bellowing roar.

Six and John jumped away from each other in separate directions and Guilty Spark flew upwards, and the Goliath rammed into the door. It turned to Six and swung its right sword at him in a sweep. The flat of the blade struck Six directly in the face, hitting him so hard that he slid at least fifteen feet towards the room's entrance. He felt as though he had been hit by a freight train, but managed to get up. John had inflicted a few deep slices in the Goliath, but nothing mortally wounding.

"You okay!?" John said loudly.

"Yeah, I'm fine! Stay focused!"

John ducked another slash from the Goliath's heavy blades and made a leap for its chest. He landed dead center and buried his energy swords into the beast's flesh, causing it to cry out in anger. John's right hand sword deactivated, out of charge, at that moment. Unprepared, he clutched the energy sword in his left hand as tightly as he could and the Goliath attempted to shake him off.

Meanwhile, Six was executing a plan. He grabbed both of the firebomb grenades from his belt and threw them with deadly accuracy at the Goliath's back. The dead flesh burned like paper as it roared.

"They hate fire!" Six yelled out to John.

"Toss me one of those things, will ya?!" John asked.

Six ran towards the grenade box and pulled out the last firebomb grenade. He tossed it directly at John's open hand, hoping that it wouldn't explode on impact. Thankfully, it didn't, and John caught it perfectly. He armed the grenade, shoved it into the Goliath's energy sword wound and jumped off of it, pulling his still operating sword out before he touched the ground. The firebomb exploded, engulfing the Goliath's torso and underlying soft flesh in napalm. It roared and screeched, trying to stop the flame from spreading to no avail. The firebomb cooked the Goliath from the inside, killing it. It fell to its knees, then flat on its face, shaking the room.

Six walked up to John slowly as they looked at the enormous corpse. For a moment, they just stared.

"Splendid! Now, for the Index!" Guilty Spark said, rushing off towards the door.

"How did he just shrug that off?" Six asked.

"No idea." John replied.

Guilty Spark was floating in front of the door. He had no facial expressions, but Six could tell that he was worried.

"What's the problem?" Six asked.

"It seems that during the fight, that Goliath managed to cave the door in. I cannot open it in the traditional manner." Guilty Spark said.

"Hacking is the traditional manner?" John asked.

"Here. Let me try." Six said.

Six stuck his robotic hand in between a crack in the doors and pushed to the side. He stuck his other hand in and spread them. Instead of forcing the doors open, the metal bent to the sides, creating an opening big enough for the Spartans to enter through.

"After you." Six said to Guilty Spark.

He floated through the opening with the two Spartans close behind.

"There it is." Guilty Spark said. "Reclaimers, you may now retrieve the Index."

Six and John walked up to a large terminal at the other end of the room. Protruding from a square shaped port was a baseball sized metal cube. Six grabbed it and held it up to look at it. It wasn't anything special. Just a metal box.

Suddenly, the cube separated into four pieces, revealing a green glowing item.

The cube was simply a sheathe. This was the true Index.

Six began looking closer into it when suddenly, it wasn't in his hand anymore. Guilty Spark had picked it up and stored it inside of himself.

"Protocol requires that I take possession of the Index for transport. Your organic form renders you vulnerable to infection." Guilty Spark said. "The Index must not fall into the hands of the Flood, before we reach the Control Room and activate the installation."

Six looked at where the Index had been in his hand for a moment, then back at Guilty Spark. "Yeah. Yeah, of course..." Six said.

Guilty Spark lit up brighter. "Oh my! Large numbers of Flood combat forms are converging on this location. The Index can not fall into Flood hands!" He said. "Hurry, Reclaimers!"

He flew out of the room at high speed, and the Spartans followed.

There was something mysterious about the Index. Why would the Flood want it if they could spread the infection through contact? And why the hell was carrying around a cube full of the known universe's deadliest infection the most important part about this mission? Six didn't trust Guilty Spark, not by a long shot, and he wasn't sure if John trusted the little flying menace, either. One thing was certain, though.

Guilty Spark had slipped up earlier, before they had killed the Goliath. He said that the Flood would be defeated once more. If the Flood had already been defeated in the past, then why was there no proof of it ever happening?

And who defeated them?

The Flood Goliath is a creature of my own design. I always thought that the scrapping of the plans for the Leviathan in Halo 2 was a mistake on Bungie's part, and that a large and imposing Flood foe would be nice to battle. However, I know another Halo writer who used the Leviathan in her fanfic, and I just didn't want to be a copycat. Thus the Goliath was born.

So yeah, imagine a fifteen foot tall hulking Hunter Combat form with seven foot swords for arms.

~Husky