Ta'ark stood alone in his empty and barren cell, his armour had been stripped away from him and so his honour. The zealot had been stripped of his authority and momentary service due to his actions back at the forerunner site; and as such, he had been confined to the detention cell's under constant watch and jurisdiction.
However something had happened in the past few minutes, the elite guards had left him alone in the cell in order to attend to something more important. Ta'ark didn't care; he was furious over Ya'kai's treatment of such a high rank of Zealot as well as Mort'ang's interruption and reasoning behind his apprehension.
Suddenly, as the Zealot stopped pacing his small cell, Shanghalli warriors entered the detention halls outside of his cell. They were oddly armoured, with salvaged pieces of metal and garments instead of traditional over-coating; 'Storm soldiers' Ta'ark snarled.
They carried in another Shanghalli, a field marshal coated in purple armour; Ya'kai the shipmaster of the Reconciliation of Lies. They tugged on the unconscious elite and placed him in another detention cell, leaving him there.
Ta'ark roared at them to notice him; however they failed to notice him.
"That one may yet be useful to us" A voice drawled out to the Shanghalli, the prophet of Storm hovered forward in his gravitational throne and looked down at the honour lost zealot in something close to pity.
"Who are you!?" Ta'ark roared to the prophet, although ever wary of the power the creature possessed.
Every member of the Storm faction inside the detention centre replied curtly, "We are the Storm, to wash away your righteous sin and wreck the blasphemous lives of humanity."
The prophet nodded to all of them slowly before returning his gaze to the crimson zealot slowly as if he was calculating him, "You still have a side to choose Ta'ark, and before this war is over I must say you should choose the right one"
Confusion filled the Zealot's thoughts as he struggled to remember how this prophet would know his name, but then remembering how his former master had betrayed him; he realised he didn't care anymore. All he cared for was the destruction of man and the protection of his race.
"I will serve the Storm" Ta'ark knelt to the Prophet, swearing his allegiance to the leader.
"Excellent" Storm replied cheerfully, "We have alot of work to do"
Meanwhile
Blue plasma filled the Spartan's screen as the energy bolts flew over his face, not that he could see much anyway; the blood was weeping out of his eye and cheek freely all over his visor and out of the massive crack that had been left behind.
The Harbinger had been driven off by his team-mates, or left by his own record; Lucifer couldn't even tell the difference anymore.
Sounds of gunfire alerted his ears that UNSC soldiers must be nearby, but maybe he was only imagining things; after experiencing a cut to the face even he could fall prey to hallucinations.
A blue grunt to his left fell on top of his shoulder, luminous blood splattering the fallen Spartan IV and covering him in black soil.
Suddenly a familiar figure broke into Lucifer's point of view, a Blue Spartan IV wielding a sniper rifle and firing it upon the ranks of the covenant. A pair of arms grabbed Lucifer's shoulders quickly from behind, pulling him backwards across the soil.
"Pull back!" A Spartan roared to his team-mates, probably Michael by the sound of his voice and tone.
Lucifer felt the strange sensation of his back being pulled onto the bottom of a UNSC pelican, he positioned his head to see a squad of marines firing back at the covenant and helping him onto the vehicle. Raphael and Gabriel jumped onto the pelican as well, escorting the last two scientists into the safe vehicle.
Within seconds the main backdoor of the pelican had sealed shut and the noises of the storm rifles and needlers had ceased.
A long and thin blue streak broke through the glass of the pelican window, hitting the lead scientist in the back of the head in an eruptive blast; the line continued through and cut into the second scientist's lower backbone's vertebrae before ending at the pelican battle frame.
The second scientist fell to the floor in agony, her body crumbling in a heap; her voice gurgled as every limb in her body refused to move at her will.
Michael crouched by the scientist, his heavy armour protecting the civilian as she took her final breaths as a living human.