"I leave home for a few days, and look what happens." Cortana said, going through files. "This won't take long."
John was still thinking about his conversation with Six. It had only been at least minute since Six ended the talk, but his words were still ringing in John's head. Throughout this entire journey, he had looked at Six in the wrong light.
The man had almost nothing left to lose.
While Cortana finished with activating the overload, Six walked over to the knife that had been in his side. He picked it up and it back into its sheathe, not bothering to clean it. He looked back at John. John saw him looking, and returned his look.
The screen hanging in the middle of the bridge lit up bright. The two Spartans looked towards it, and were greeted with the sight of a thirty minute countdown clock.
"There. That should give us enough time to make it to a lifeboat and put some distance between ourselves and Halo before the detonation." Cortana said.
Suddenly, the door behind them slammed shut. Six grabbed his pistol off of the ground and raised it, unsure of what to expect.
The communication system blared to life, and a very familiar voice spoke.
"I'm afraid that's out of the question, really." Guilty Spark said.
"Oh, hell." Cortana said.
"Not this asshole again." Six said.
"Ridiculous! That you would imbue a warship's AI with such a wealth of knowledge! Weren't you worried it might be captured? Or destroyed?" Guilty Spark said.
"He's in my data arrays, a local tap!" Cortana said.
"You can't imagine how exciting this is! To have a record of all of our lost time! Human history, is it? Fascinating." He said. "Oh, how I will enjoy every moment of its categorization! And to think that you would destroy this installation, as well as this record. I am shocked. Almost too shocked for words."
"And still you talk." Six said, annoyed.
"Tsk tsk... you are all pathetic beings." Guilty Spark responded.
The screen that displayed the countdown clock froze in place, stopping the timer.
"He stopped the self destruct sequence..." Cortana said.
"Why do you continue to fight us? You cannot win! Give us the construct, and I will endeavor to make your death relatively painless and-" Guilty Spark said, but was cut off. The intercom clicked off.
"At least I still have control over the communication systems." Cortana said.
"Where is that Christmas ornament?" Six asked.
"I'm detecting taps throughout the ship, Sentinels most likely. As for the Monitor... he's in Engineering. He must be trying to take the core offline! Even if I could get the countdown restarted ... I don't know what to do." Cortana said.
"How much would it take to crack one of the engine's shields?" John asked.
"Not much. A well placed grenade, maybe. But why..." She answered, turning towards John. He was casually tossing a frag grenade up and catching it, as if it were a baseball.
Cortana looked at John.
"Okay. I'm coming with you." She said.
As he was about to pull her chip out, Sentinels flooded in from above.
"Chief, watch out!" Cortana said. John looked behind him and was hit by a Sentinel beam, draining his shields. Six aimed his pistol with one hand and fired at them, shooting what looked important. John made a grab for Cortana's chip and put it back into his helmet, then began firing as well, bullets flying from the barrel.
The Sentinels were no match for the both of them. After a few minutes, the room was clear.
"Give me a second with these. I'll get them opened." Six said, putting his hands in between the doors. He pulled apart, slowly prying the metal apart. He pushed the doors to the sides, and he made an opening large enough for the both of them to walk through.
"Where is the engine room?" Six asked.
"The ship was heavily damaged when it crashed. Head to the cryochamber. We should be able to get to the engine room through there." Cortana said.
"Alright. Stay behind me." Six said.
"I can lead." John replied.
Six looked at John, then down at his bandages. "Yeah, that probably isn't a bad idea." He said.
John took point as they made their way down the hall.
Six followed John, magnum drawn. The wound in his side was better than before, but his bandages were getting soaked in blood. He was sure that he was fine for now, but until he found proper medical attention, he wasn't going to be good for much aside from his wise mouth. His vision was getting a little bit blurry from blood loss, so that would likely impair his aim slightly, but he had experienced much worse than this before. He heard rustling noises above him, and gunfire in the distance. If he listened closely, he could hear the sounds of Flood, Covenant and Sentinels fighting each other.
It was likely that they were going to come across quite a few of each on their way to the engine room.
"Watch your back!" John said, shooting an Enclave Sangheili that was creeping up on him. Six whipped around and fired at the Sangheili's head, his shaky hand making him miss his first shot. It dropped to the floor, Dead like the others. Six stumbled into the wall next to him, resting.
"Are you okay?" John asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little fuzzy, is all." Six replied. He put his hand to his side and grunted. The Medi-Gel wasn't stopping the bleeding as well as John thought. His once white bandages were now red. Six was beginning to feel a bit light headed, but he wasn't worried about that right now. They were a minute out from the cryochamber, maybe less. If they didn't deal with Guilty Spark, then the galaxy was doomed.
"If you say so. Just stay on your feet." John said, reaching his arm out. Six grabbed John's hand and stood up. They walked down the hall, Six leaning on John.
What Six neglected to tell John was that he was struggling to stay awake. He knew that if he became dead weight, then he would only slow them down. The pain of his knife wound kept his eyes open, but he didn't know how much longer that would last.
He only hoped that he wouldn't get them both killed.
Hello, Wolfgang!
For the past week, I've been helping a very good friend of mine get started on FanFiction. His Pen Name is MrSweatyFupa, and he writes a Dark Souls story. I've been helping with editing, so you might be able to pick up on my style if you go to read it.
I've also posted a new story following the Dark Souls II storyline. Go check that out too, if that's your thing. Priority is my friend though, check his out first!
Have a great day, Wolfgang!
~Husky