Different Galaxies Same Fighting Hearts

by BeeSamusnChief

After losing Cortana, and gaining his team back. Master Chief would have never thought of himself to become a father figure. Sent to investigate an unkown alien planet, the Covenant have invaded. Chief, and the rest of Blue Team, are put in a situation they've never been through in spartan history. Link to the full cover /art/Different-Galaxies-Same-Fighting-Hearts-Cover-569152729

20. Reluctant Trusting Fear

"I wonder what the Banished are looking for down here."

"Let's go find out." Samus replied, leading Chief up the long sloping corridor. Into a quiet room, where she was met by the body of another deceased Spartan.

"Another Spartan. Get me close." Weapon said as the Master Chief carefully followed the teen up to the body.

Samus's heart was wary, terrified by the familiarity of the Spartan's armour. Chief seemed to have had the same terrified thought, until they got close enough to realize it was not Kelly.

Chief knelt down to investigate, taking the armour upgrade he found on the ground.

"Scan complete. This is Spartan Vedrana Makovich. Armour's been offline for thirteen days. Cause of death is..."

"What?" Chief asked impatiently.

"An enhanced energy blade. Same as Spartan Stone. There's a pattern emerging. Chief, who's doing this?"

Samus shivered, painfully examining the large cut in her left arm's armour. She knew the answer to the AI's question, and had painfully gotten a taste of this Spartan killer's power.

"We're going to find out." John said, getting up from the ground. Leading his teen through a large door. Into rooms full of Banished forces.

Samus engaged the multi raced alien forces, destroying them with ease. Once again barely leaving a single straggler for the Chief to shoot. Her arm may have been injured but her weaponry was still working at full capacity.

"Maybe you should go ahead of her next time, so you can get a kill." Weapon suggested to the Spartan, in her bubbly tone.

"And end up in Samus's, firing line?" The Spartan retorted sarcastically.

"Hmm, perhaps it's best to keep your distance when on the battlefield with Samus." The AI quickly changed her mind.

"Indeed." John said with a hint of proudness. His teen was a force to be reckoned with, injured, or not.

The next room was large, with arch like structures going down the middle. The room was filled with Jackals, Grunts, and Brutes. But it didn't matter as Samus tore apart any alien that pointed a gun at her.

Chief tossed in a few grenades taking out a cluster of Grunts, before firing at two Jackals that coward behind their shields.

Samus grappled one of the exploded Grunts, whipping it into one of the Brutes that was shooting at Chief.

The hit from the Grunt's corpse caused the Jiralhanae to drop his weapon. Chief took the Brute's vulnerable moment to end the alien with a swift headshot.

Hearing enraged screaming rush up from behind, Samus barely had time to turn and see a charging Brute. The large alien tackled the off guard bounty hunter to the floor.

"Chief, Samus!" Weapon warned the Spartan the bounty hunter was in danger.

Master Chief barely had a moment to look over at the girl who was getting attacked. As a hail of pink deadly needles shattered against his shields. Skirmisher's darted in and out of cover around the Spartan, keeping him from reaching the teen.

The teen used her cannon to bash the attacker across the face as they slid across the ground. The Jiralhanae growled loosening his grip enough for Samus to summersault backwards onto her feet. The Brute went to grab the bounty hunter again but was denied as Samus used her flash shift to get away. Giving her enough time to hail a storm of missiles to end the attacking Brute's life.

Samus gave a deep sigh of relief after the Brute's body hit the ground like a sack of bricks. But that relief was quickly vanquished when her left arm ignited with an intense flame of magenta wrapping around her arm. Followed by a surge of excruciating scorching pain, that twisted and contracted Samus's muscles in her left arm. Dropping the teen to her knees as she cried out in extreme agony.

Once the final Skirmisher was dead, Chief rushed over to his crying teen. Placing a comforting hand on his teen's back only caused him pain, as the Chozo armour burned so intensely he could feel it through his armour. "What's happening to Samus?!" Yanking his hand away he questioned the AI for answers.

"Unknown. But whatever is happening, is not fatally damaging her." Weapon replied, wishing she could've gave the Spartan better details.

After 40 seconds of excruciating pain, the burning magenta flame bursted. Ending the teen's intense moment of pain. Samus panted heavily, weakly examining her left arm. There was no more breech in her armour.

"Samus, remove your armour." Chief commanded his teen, as he still could not come in contact with the burning armour.

Samus nodded, dematerializing her armour. Tears poured down her face uncontrollably due to the pain she had received. Her stomach twisted and churned as an intense wave of nausea flooded her body. Samus quickly turned away from the Spartan, vomiting violently.

Chief placed his gun on his back with a heavy sigh. "Echo 216?"

"You're... hard to read... w-what... is it big guy?" The Pilot's voice replied through broken static.

"The excavation site is cleared. I need evac for..."

"Don't you dare, Chief. I am fine." Samus hissed through laboured breaths.

"What's wrong, Chief? Are you there?" Echo 216 questioned impatiently. "Do you need evac?"

"Hold position." John reluctantly replied to the Pilot, before putting his full attention onto his stubborn teenage daughter. "Let me look you over. If I feel you're not fit to continue, you will return to the surface for pickup."

Samus shook her head, sitting on the floor, she allowed her adopted father to examine her.

Chief of course immediately took hold of the teen's left arm. Fearing that the teen's wound had infected her. But to his surprise there was no bleeding, no exposed injured flesh.

"Take your sleeve off." He commanded, and Samus obliged with ease showing no signs of pain. Examining the well muscled arm up, and down. Left, and right. There was no major sword wound. Only a wicked bruise and scars remained. "Samus your wound..."

"It's gone..." Samus replied, she was just as shocked, yet calmer about the discovery then Chief.

"How's that... how?" The Spartan questioned how such a painful event could heal his teen.

Samus put her arm back into her shredded sleeve with a shrug. "I'm assuming it's an aggressive healing response that happens when I'm in immediate danger." The bounty hunter explained, figuring it was due to the Metroid. She had witnessed it with Metroids, multiple times. Metroids that were able to evolve with special genetic codes, were able to mutate, and heal aggressively in the middle of a battle.

Chief stood up as Samus did the same, he was suspicious. He had never witnessed that aggressive healing process with his teen.

"Let's continue." Samus said as her body was engulfed by her violet armour.

"Hmm... seems like the Banished are trying to stop us moving forward." Weapon thought aloud as they approached a deactivated door.

"Can you open it?" Chief asked as they stared at the door.

Weapon probably would've shrugged at the Spartan if she was visible. "Of course... if you can magic up a terminal of some kind. Or find alternative power source to get this door open."

Samus rolled her eyes, walking up to the deactivated door, as Chief searched for either of the mentioned power sources. Placing her hand onto the offline door, a magenta hue illuminated her hand. Feeling the pour of energy drain from her, as the door eagerly absorbed the transferred power. Activating the door's functionality.

"And it's open." Weapon said being first to feel the energy change in the room.

"What?" John turned around to see Samus waiting for him by the newly opened door.

"Come'on, I'm not waiting all day for you two." Samus groaned, exiting the room through the door she had just opened.

"I agree. Let's go before the Banished get really creative." Weapon added, as Chief entered the dark corridor with Samus.

"I don't want you to be expending your own life force needlessly." Chief warned his helpful, yet over generous, adopted daughter.

"It takes a lot out of me. But it can easily be replenished." Samus replied, although she had her own uncertainty hidden within her reply.

"Conserve your power while you can. Remember you're still learning it." Chief reminded the girl.

"I'm figuring it out. It's pretty straightforward. Siphon energy, give energy." The teen shrugged, leading the Spartan through the next room.

Master Chief shook his head with a sigh. "Samus, I really don't believe it's that simple. You're a..." Following Samus deeper into the Conservatory, as they walked down an incline that led to a fork.

"Wait, do you hear that?" Weapon asked, diverting the two's conversation, as the stepped into the middle of the fork.

There was a pinging coming from up ahead. "It's coming from up ahead." Samus pointed out, leading Chief over to a terminal.

There was a massive blast shield that was shut in front of the terminal, and it needed to be opened, to locate this sounds source.

"Open it." Chief allowed the AI to interact with the terminal.

The shield barely opened when robotic cries for help alerted the two warriors to the presence of a frantic Monitor.

"Help me! Help me!"

Samus immediately took aim at the sputtering floating ball. She had met a Monitor before, with Spartan team Osiris. Though she was still very unfamiliar with the important little robots.

"This installation... the Harbinger... exile was absolute. How did she return? It's impossible. This cannot be. I need to go back. Find out what happened."

Samus kept her aim on the floating robot on the other side of the glass. But something told her that this shear panic they were witnessing needed to be addressed. "We should help her."

"Maybe." Chief glanced at Samus, keeping Weapon in his peripheral vision, she seemed to have given his teen a nod in agreement.

"No! She is correct. I request your assistance!" The monitor begged as the Spartan took aim at her.

"Who are you?" Samus lowered her cannon, approaching the massive window.

"Samus..." John called his teen, in hopes she would take a cautious step back.

Samus ignored John, standing directly in front of the glass. "What's your name?"

Chief gave an audible groan of irritation, marching forward towards his defiant teenager, with his gun aimed at the Monitor.

"I am Despondent Pyre. Monitor of this installation, this is my Conservatory. My Conservatory. This is not right. Perhaps you could..." The frantic monitor introduced herself, but was cut off by a pack of odd flying creatures. "Oh no!" The monitor ducked and swooped trying to evade the attacking aliens that grabbed her and attacked.

Samus aimed her cannon at these new aliens switching to her wave beam. She fired at the creatures, killing one, and injuring another, as dove down with the captured Monitor.

Chief spun Samus around escorting her away from the window. "Let's go."

"Where?" Weapon asked as the two approached the terminal. Samus being clearly annoyed broke free of Chief's grasp.

"Down there." He replied retrieving the AI. Leading Samus through the door to the left.

"What were those flying things?" Weapon asked curiously.

"New. Dangerous." Chief gave a vague response as they jogged down a small incline that led into another room.

"And Desperate Pyro?" Samus added getting a confused what from Weapon, and a sigh from Chief.

Chief ignored correcting his teen's mispronunciation of the Monitor's name, unsure of whether she was making a joke or not. "New. Potentially dangerous."

"See, you can be optimistic." Weapon commented, making Samus chuckle.

The room was filled with Banished forces, energy barriers scattered defensively across the room. Samus's hand ignited, her body hungry to replenish the energy she had put into powering that door.

Chief held out his hand, going into the room first to make sure those flying creatures were not present. They were unknown and hostile, he was sure Samus could take care of herself, but he was uncertain.

When a Jackal sensed the two approaching from behind. It growled turning around opening fire on the Spartan.

Samus shot the Jackal dead, alerting the rest of the Banished in the room. Leaping past the Spartan as the Banished forces shot at them both, Samus continued to shoot what she could before her Metroid instincts got the better of her.

Chief fired back at the hostiles. Tossing grenades into a group of Grunts and Jackals. Caused the injured Brutes to leap out from behind the squads they were hiding behind. At this point Samus had found the large targets and eagerly siphoned the life from them before the Spartan could even pull the trigger.

There was still bullets flying throughout the large long room, but Chief had lowered his weapon. Casually walking through the chaos until he reached the other side of the room.

"You must be able to save a lot of ammo with her around." Weapon said as Chief watched the teen finish of the enemies in the room.

If the UNSC had Samus at the helm of their operations. He was sure at this point forced retirement would've been catching up to him. Samus was agile, deadly, and successful with almost every impossible task given. Although Samus would never admit it, she was becoming the better soldier. Almost an unstoppable force. But John knew that despite all of the bounty adventures and suicidal missions Samus had accomplished. Throwing herself into battle after battle. Battles against monsters Chief would never imagine surviving against. Samus, proving her strength can surpass his own. Despite living through war her entire life, Samus was still new to playing the game of war. He had decades of experience over the galactic bounty hunter. With his experience and her unique combat abilities, they were an unstoppable force.

"Go! Don't wait for me, that floating light bulb needs help!" Samus yelled at Chief as she took down another foe.

His teen's shouting brought the Spartan out of his thoughts. With a reluctant nod he continued on into the next few rooms, closely followed by Samus, they breezed through the rooms with ease. No Banished stood a chance against them. Moving further down into the Conservatory they could hear Despondent Pyre's cries.

"The ring must not be compromised!"

Samus panted as she entered the next large room with Chief. Scanning the quiet area there was a large blue forcefield encasing some sort of massive blue vortex. Rounding the corner suddenly an unknown voice echoed through the conservatory.

"You do not understand what you're hiding. What you are. What compromise means." The new sinister voice echoed hauntingly, followed by the pained screams of Despondent Pyre.

Samus gazed over her shoulder locking eye contact with Chief. "Who the hell was that?"

Chief or Weapon had no time to reply, as the voices continued to argue.

"I will not relinquish to you the location. The endless can never return!" Despondent spat.

"We are blameless. The Forerunner's set this in motion. I am ending it." The strange voice retaliated.

Following Chief through the massive room, Samus winced as another agonizing scream echoed from the Monitor.

"Quickly Samus, let's move." John said, jogging into the next few rooms with Samus in tow. Any enemy that shot at them was immediately put down. Everything was quiet as they found a narrow energy bridge in a massive room.

"Oh no, we're too late!" Weapon gasped, across the bridge lay the Monitor, torn apart, and dismantled. "Something awful happened here. Plug me in! We'll figure this out."

Holding his hand out to the terminal. Weapon hopped off of Chief's hand into the terminal.

Samus walked over to the dismantled Monitor on display. She was disappointed they couldn't help the Monitor. Something barbaric had done this, and it didn't sound like it was the Banished.

The room darkened a blueish purple hue illuminated from the dismantled scene.

"You know what I want." A holographic display of Cortana speaking to Despondent Pyre appeared next to the young teen.

"Alas I do, Cortana, and my mind has not changed. This instillation's weapons may be yours. But it's secrets are not." The Monitor replied, disappointing the rogue AI. "It... protected. The containment facility in particular."

The purple AI's sinister smile chilled Samus to her core, as she watched the holographic memory continue.

"Containment? The Flood? Why would I... you and I both know there are worse things than the Flood within this ring." Cortana scoffed, as a small hologram of the Infinity appeared.

"No. There is no way you could know..." Despondent Pyre said defeatedly.

"So you've come for me at last." Cortana turned her full attention to the Infinity. "Why are you doing this, John? Why don't you understand?"

Samus gazed over at her adopted father who continued to watch with little emotion showing. She wondered how he truly felt hearing his former friend talk about him.

Despondent Pyre floated in front of the AI, blocking her view of the Infinity. "The seal must not be broken. The punished cannot be freed. This can never be negotiated. There is no other choice."

"Reconsider." Cortana turned away from the Monitor.

"The consequences of your request..."

"Back to your Conservatory, Monitor." Cortana snapped her fingers teleporting the Monitor back to the Conservatory. Just before she walked through a portal herself.

The hologram disappeared, Samus stood in front of the dismantled machine, staring at Chief who stared back at her. "What does that mean?" Samus asked, walking back to the silent Spartan.

"What could be worse than the Flood?" Weapon asked curiously.

"The X parasite infecting the Flood..." Samus thought to herself as she scanned the room that was illuminated by golden rays of light.

"Nothing good." Chief replied emotionlessly.

The flying creatures from earlier, gurgled and chirped as the descended from high above. Samus aimed her cannon at the hostile winged creatures.

"Find us a way out." John requested as he put the aliens at gunpoint.

"On it." Weapon replied as Samus opened fire on the ugly creatures.

The creature was easily destroyed by a simple missile. Chief fired his rifle, taking out the other two aliens that blocked their path.

The room was locked down, more of the flying aliens dropped down from above swarming the two warriors.

Samus used her screw attack to destroy the flying aliens, as Chief grappled nearby fusion coils, tossing them into the swarm of flying aliens.

"Hey, you remember when you said new and dangerous?" Weapon said as Samus landed next to Chief.

"Uh huh..." Master Chief fired his rifle taking out two more of the freaky aliens.

"You were right!" The AI chimed, making Samus laugh, and Chief roll his eyes with a sigh.

"Don't give him too much credit, or he'll start claiming that he's always right." Samus jokingly said to the AI.

John continued to fire his weapon. Beginning to truly feel like he was babysitting two teenage girls at this point.

"Hostile reinforcements inbound!" Weapon alerted the two as more of the flying creatures flew in with Banished forces.

"What's your status on our exit, Weapon?" Samus asked, using her storm missiles to destroy the swarm, as Chief fired at the Banished Brutes.

"This is taking longer than I thought. Something is taking control of local systems." The AI replied with bad news.

The Brutes were easy to take out. But the flying aliens swarming through the air were becoming overwhelming and annoying.

"Where are all these Skimmers coming from?" Weapon asked as Chief tossed another fusion coil into a swarm.

"Is that what we're calling them?" The Spartan questioned as he jogged across the room with Samus.

"Well, it's a lot easier than saying flying octopus monkeys." Samus scoffed as she fired another storm of missiles.

"W-why... how..." Chief narrowed his eyes in confusion, as he shot down a Brute.

"I was also considering that name suggestion!" Weapon playfully mentioned to the teen.

"Skimmers it is then." Chief sighed with a head shake.

"More reinforcements inbound!"

At this point Samus wished she could use her power bombs to destroy all the enemies in the room. But she continued to settle with using her wide plasma beam, and storm missiles.

"The door?" Chief asked impatiently, even he seemed to be getting annoyed with their situation.

"I know! The code is being rewritten. Altered using a Forerunner routine." Weapon replied equally frustrated and annoyed.

After a few more moments of destroying the Banished, and Skimmers, Weapon finally gave the two good news. "I'm done! Come get me!"

Chief and Samus eagerly returned to the terminal as they got a small break in the battle. As Chief collected the AI, Samus took note of his crackling depleted shields.

John glanced over his shoulder as he felt a small hand lay against his back. His shields began to rapidly replenish as magenta energy waves swirled over his armour and visor. "Samus, I told you..."

"Not to expend my life forces needlessly. I know. And I'm not. Pretty sure you're a necessity." Samus scoffed as they made their way through the recently unlocked door. "Not to change the subject abruptly. But..."

"What happened back there?" Chief finished the teen's question.

"When I interfaced with the cradle... It unlocked something. Something important. Cortana was here six months ago. I could feel what Cortana felt when you arrived." Weapon replied to the Spartan's question. "It was joy, fear, and pain."

John had no comment, he had mixed emotions. In a way he had felt the same way when they arrived here. Assuming Cortana was captured for deletion, not killed.

Leading the way, Samus was aware of her adopted father's sorrow. But she had other things on her mind. Like who did the strange voice belong to, what was Cortana attempting to unleash, and who were the endless. She began to think there was a possibility the X parasite existed on this ring. Rounding the corner the teen came across another tragic battle scene. Finding another deceased Spartan.

"Chief, is that another...? Something big went down here." Weapon said as they approached the dead Spartan on the floor.

"Spartans don't go down easily." Chief knelt down to examine the Spartan's body. Finding another armour upgrade.

"They do... Spartans do..." Samus muttered to herself, as Chief and the Weapon went over what happened to the dead Spartan. Not because she could over power any Spartan out there. But because she witnessed the horrific deaths of many Spartans during her six months of torture.

"Spartan Theodore Sorel. Special weapons expert. Died thirteen days ago, like Makovich." Weapon informed.

"The assassin?" Chief asked staying knelt next to the lifeless body.

"Brutes. More than one. Whoever they are... they're proficient. Well trained." Weapon replied to which Samus mumbled something under her breath.

"Samus?" John turned to his muttering teen.

"I know who did this..." Samus replied, stepping away from the corpse.

"Who?" Chief followed his teen through the room of death.

"Tovarus, and Hyperius. They're two highly trained Brutes. Spartan killers..." the teen stopped in her tracks with a deep sigh. "They're the ones that..."

Chief cupped a comforting hand on the girl's armoured shoulder. Knowing those Brutes must've been the ones that helped torture Samus.

"Once the Spartans aboard the ship were killed. They were constantly being hailed to the surface of this ring. I'm assuming to help with murdering these Spartans..."

"We've got a score to settle." John said guiding his teen through the next rooms.

"Yes. Yes we do..." Samus agreed as they entered a massive room guarded by two heavily armed Brutes.

As soon as the two entered, a platform activated and lifted, while both Heavily armoured Brutes opened fire on the Spartan, and bounty hunter.

"Chief! That platform! We're too late!" Weapon gasped.

Chief squeezed his gun's trigger hitting one of the Brutes with a peppering of bullets. "Not yet."

Samus returned fire on the two ape like aliens, her weapons burning and charring their armour, making the two Heavily armed Brutes furious.

Ducking behind cover as the heavy bullets from the Brute's turret hit him, Chief groaned as his ammunition began to dwindle.

"There's an ammunition cache across the room." Weapon marked the ammunition recharge station.

Master Chief knew he wouldn't reach it without getting hit by the firing Jiralhanae.

Samus could see that Chief was being pinned down. Using her flash shift to cross the room, diving next to Chief behind cover. "What's wrong, is your gun jammed?" Samus peeked over the cover firing a few missiles at the turret wielding Jiralhanae.

"No, I'm out of ammunition in both guns." Chief replied.

"Give me one of your guns, I can refill it. There's also a cache of weapons over there. Grapple it while I distract these morons." Samus said taking the battle rifle off of Chief's back.

"No." John grabbed his empty weapon back from the girl. "Distract them, I'll use the weapons in that cache you pointed out."

Samus nodded running through the middle of the room. Immediately drawing all the gunfire onto her. Jumping into the air, she used her space jump and flash shift to evade the gunfire.

Master Chief quickly grappled the weapon cache Samus had pointed out to him. Arming himself with a needler. He pelted the closest Brute with a spray of deadly needles, exploding on impact, destroying the damaged Brute. Quickly jogging over to deceased Brute, Chief picked up the hand held turret and fired at the remaining Jiralhanae. Drawing it's attention away from the bounty hunter.

Samus took the opportunity to fire a super missile into the ape like aliens back. Killing the Brute.

"They were persistent..." Weapon commented as the second Brute hit the ground dead.

Chief dropped the turret, walking past the dead bodies to the ammo refuelling station. "Did they kill Spartan Sorel?"

"Negative. His killers are still active."

"Da... Chief, there's an elevator here!" Samus called the Spartan from across the room.

Replenishing his weapons with ammo, Chief stepped onto the massive elevator platform. Approaching his adopted daughter that stood next to the activation terminal.

"Can I press the button!" Samus asked as Chief reached for the activation button.

John snorted with an inaudible chuckle. Taking a step back with a nod, gesturing for the teen to activate the elevator. He missed these innocent moments with Samus. The cute quirky moments of course faded away as she matured. Being replaced by sarcasm and attitude. But every now and again, Samus's youthful personality jumped out to put a smile on the aging Spartan's face.

"Hmm... this elevator is taking us back to the surface." The AI announced to the father daughter duo.

"It doesn't make sense. Why come all the way down here... just to kill the Monitor?" Samus thought aloud.

"The Monitor's purpose is to protect the ring." Chief explained, knowing it was both ladies first time on a Halo ring.

"But why kill her?" Weapon questioned.

"No idea." The Spartan replied with a hint of suspicion in his tone.

Samus stepped off the elevator as it reached the top. Surprised to find an active door. "Hey look, a door we don't have to unlock."

"Moving forward." Chief gestured for his sarcastic teen to continue through the door.

Samus did as she was told entering the massive room. Illuminated by the sunlight, as it was now daytime. The sun shone brightly as giant pillars in the room shifted around them.

"Show yourself. I know you have been following me." There it was, that strange voice. Except this time there was a being behind it.

Samus aimed her cannon at the strange floating alien in the middle of the room.

"We are not enemies."

"Despondent Pyre?" Chief threw the name of the deceased Monitor to this new possible foe. Sidestepping out the way of rotating pillars to keep an eye on this strange alien.

Samus stepped directly into the middle of the room, where the female alien floated. Keeping her cannon locked on the alien.

"She had something I required." The alien replied, projecting a small hologram of something. Drilling it into the table like platform below her and directly in front of Samus. A shockwave of blue locked the Spartan's armour.

"I know of you Reclaimer..."

"Samus..." John hissed through a whisper, trying to get his teen to fallback, as the armour lock did not seem to effect the Chozo armour.

"But hear this." The female alien flash teleported directly in front of Chief. "You are not the future."

"You okay, Chief? I'm trying to get your armour unlocked." Weapon asked the Spartan as she worked to free him from immobilization.

The hostile alien looked over her shoulder at the teen, who now had her cannon charged.

"Try harder!" John replied, his heart racing with concern for his adopted daughter's safety.

The alien suddenly flashed across the room, behind the teen. Samus spun, following the alien with her cannon.

"The Forerunner's lies are at an end. I am the Harbinger of truth."

Samus released the charged shot, missing the Harbinger as she flash teleported back in front of the helpless Spartan.

"The Endless will be found. They will ascend."

"Now would be good." Chief mentioned to the AI.

"I know! I know! Three..." Weapon began a countdown.

"Let him go!" Samus finally spat, charging her cannon again.

The Harbinger once again glanced at the teen with interest. Before turning back to the Spartan. "The Reformation begins."

"Two..."

Hearing the countdown nearing the end Samus withheld her urge to release her cannon's charge in fear of mistakenly shooting Chief.

"One!"

The Harbinger teleported just as Chief was released from his immobilized prison. Chief charged at her but it was pointless as the Harbinger continuously teleported. While the room shifted, pushing the Spartan off course. Unable to gain a clear shot of the threatening alien.

The glass bay doors split, opening to the outside as Samus opened fire on the teleporting alien, using her flash shift to exit the shifting room.

Master Chief climbed over every obstacle thrown at him. Leaping off the middle platform Chief attempted to take down the Harbinger to no avail.

The Harbinger dodged the Chozo warrior's every shot, teleporting rapidly, and out of sight. As the Master Chief finally regained himself.

John held his gun at the ready, frantically scanning for any trace of the threat. The sound of the teleportation popping behind him, caused Chief to snap around to face the Harbinger behind him. Ducking quickly as he avoided her first lunge attack. He did not expect the Harbinger to preform the same attack twice. Caught off guard, the Harbinger struck the Spartan with a powerful shockwave. Propelling Master Chief off the platform.

"Chief!" Samus cried, releasing her charged shot.

The Harbinger cried out in pain as the burning plasma ran up her back. Whipping around to face her attacker she teleported over to the teen who in turn flash shifted away from her. An awkward dance of flashing teleportation between the two erupted momentarily, before Samus fired a super missile at the hostile alien.

The Harbinger hissed in pain, throwing a shockwave out in defence as the missile hit her. "You... are no Reclaimer!"

Samus flew back, flipping through the air, she used her screw attack to regain herself. Upon landing, the Harbinger teleported, appearing in front of the bounty hunter.

The green Spartan smashed through a tree. Violently hitting the ground, rolling into a boulder so hard that the impact shattered pieces off the boulder.

"You are not even Chozo!" The Harbinger once again attempted to lock the bounty hunter's armour, to no avail.

"Not even what?!" Samus hissed through heavy breaths. Incredibly confused by the Harbinger's words. Trying to keep her aim on the rapid moving alien.

"No. You're something different..." Weaving left and right the Harbinger scanned the being inside the Chozo armour. "An impurity..."

"The Chozo had failed to contain them. Weak, like the Forerunner's. You are no match for the Endless!" The Harbinger shouted as she threw another painful shockwave at the teen, before teleporting away for good.

Samus slid across the platform from the shockwave attack. Lowing her cannon the teen turned in the direction Chief had been thrown.

Unfazed by being thrown through a tree and into a bolder. John leapt to his feet with his gun ready, scanning the area with his eyes.

"Dad!" Samus leapt over to her adopted father's side. "Are you alight?" She asked with concern.

Chief gave a small nod as a sonic boom sounded from behind. Turning around the duo watched as a massive spire transformed and activated.

"I shouldn't have hesitated to take the shot. You could've been killed!" Samus mentally beat herself up for not taking the first risky shot.

"No, it was my fault, I took to long." Weapon blamed herself for taking too long to unlock Chief's armour.

"It's okay you two. You both saved us." The Spartan reassured the two as he continued to keep his gaze fixed on the spire.

Samus shook her head in disagreement, following Chief down the cliff they stood on.

"That structure." John changed the subject as they approached a dirt road.

"Yeah... do you know what it is?" Weapon replied curiously.

"No." Chief wasn't expecting that reply. Hoping the AI would know what it was.

"The Harbinger said the Endless will be found. Maybe they're inside that thing." The AI wondered.

"Only one way to find out." Master Chief said, walking in the direction of the spire.

Samus followed Chief, she usually would've taken in the beautiful scenery, despite the dire situation they were in. But their encounter with the Harbinger plagued her mind. What did she mean by the Chozo failed to contain them? Was the Harbinger saying that the Chozo tried to aid the Forerunners with containing the Endless? What were the Endless? For some reason Samus believed there was more than just the threat of the Endless on this ring.

After fifteen minutes of silence, John felt an uneasiness. His daughter was being unnaturally quiet. Usually Samus would've been either beating herself up further for not saving him. Or furiously cursing the strange alien that had just attacked them. "You're quiet."

Samus didn't reply, figuring Chief was speaking to Weapon. Thinking it was pretty funny coming from the usually quiet Spartan.

"Samus?" John called looking over his shoulder.

"Sorry... I was thinking." Samus replied, jogging up to her adopted father's side.

"Should I be worried?" John sarcastically replied.

The teen rolled her eyes behind her visor. "Funny... I'm just trying to figure out what the Harbinger meant."

John was a bit confused, the Harbinger gave them little information. Only claiming that they would fail, and the Endless would be released. "None of us are sure what the Endless are, Samus."

"I'm not talking about... The Harbinger, said that the Chozo, had failed to contain them." The girl sighed.

"The Chozo?" Chief repeated, confused. "What were the Chozo, doing on Halo?"

"Your guess, is as good as mine. The question is whether they were actually here." Samus shrugged, though she had a hunch. "Maybe the Harbinger knows of them because of something else... But..."

"What is it?" John asked as they continued to cross the beautiful plain.

"What if the Flood, isn't what the Despondent Pyre, was referring too." Samus thought aloud.

Master Chief cocked his helm curiously. "I'm sure she was referring to the Endless. The Harbinger made it clear she was going to be release them."

"What are the Endless? What if there's something worse than the Flood, like Cortana, said?" The teen threw out two questions that could not be answered by the Spartan.

"Uncertain. I don't know what could possibly be worse than the Flood." Chief scoffed, as Samus kicked a stone across the dirt.

"The X parasite." The teen threw her arms up with a shrug.

"The X, seem to share similarities with the Flood. I can't see how they are any worse." The Spartan replied hoping to ease the girl's concern, though neither parasites were preferred.

Samus scoffed shaking her head in disbelief. "Oookaaay..."

"You disagree?" Chief cocked an eyebrow behind his golden visor.

"Okay, what's a Chozo? And what's an X parasite?" Weapon finally joined the confusing conversation.

"Samus related stuff." Master Chief replied bluntly.

"Is that what you're calling anything that has to do with what I've seen and dealt with?" Samus scoffed putting her hand on her hip.

John didn't know exactly how to reply to that question, so he stayed quiet as they passed through deadfall.

Samus shook her head with a groan. "Well, maybe if I explain what an X parasite is to Weapon, she'll understand the ominous situation." The teen retorted leaping over the burnt dead trees.

"I'm happy to listen." Weapon replied in her usual bubbly tone.

John exhaled deeply, gesturing for his teen to explain herself to the AI. Truly believing that there was no actual difference between the two parasites.

"Well, I had lots of time to review the UNSC files on the Flood. And Chief, here, told me lots of horrific stories about them. Great bedtime story choices by the way." Samus began, of course with a heavy amount of sarcasm towards the Spartan.

"Deadly parasites as a bedtime story?" Weapon repeated, confused.

"I didn't tell them to you at bedtime, Samus!" John of course took the bait, making Samus laugh at him.

"You're so easy to get." The girl shook her head with a chuckle. "Anyway, Weapon, I am sure you've already reviewed those exact files in the UNSC database."

"I did try after Cortana, mentioned them. And from what I gathered, they're truly nightmarish." Weapon replied.

"They really are. I have never encountered them personally. But I have spent my entire life battling parasites." Samus mentioned as Chief reloaded his weapon as they walked.

"You being one of them..." John muttered under his breath, receiving a sharp glare from his teen.

Samus took a furious deep breath before continuing on with her explanation, ignoring Chief's comment. "The X. Being one of the parasites... My last mission I defeated them once again, but their true fate is unknown. As I believed some escaped before I obliterated ZDR. I believe the X parasite had spread to other worlds prior to those events..."

"What are these X parasites?" Weapon asked as she listened intently.

"Like Chief, mentioned, they share similarities with the Flood. Except they're gelatinous creatures. The X take on a host, attacks their nervous system, and destroys the host from the inside." Samus glared at her adopted father for a second, before scanning the dead fall for hidden enemies. "They retain your memories, and abilities. After they absorb their host, leaving nothing left. They can almost perfectly mimic a previous host. Which makes it incredibly difficult to tell if the creature, or human, they've possessed, is actually the X parasite."

Weapon mentally cringed at the bounty hunter's explanation. "A shapeshifting parasite? Sounds... dangerous..."

"It is... they can take over almost anything, making it stronger, learning it's hosts secrets, and using them. Their ability to mimic, is the most successful way they spread to infect. Which is why I am so concerned as to what the Endless are. And why the Harbinger knows the Chozo!" The teenager frustratedly explained to the AI. Though she was truly trying to get Chief to understand the imminent danger the universe could be in.

"Okay, I completely understand your concerns about that. I mean if any of those parasites infected the Banished, or the Endless. Whatever the Endless are..." Weapon thought aloud with a shiver in her tone.

"Are you suggesting the Endless are the X parasites?" Chief asked, finally joining the pressing conversation.

"I'm not saying they are. But I'm not saying that they're not." Samus replied, which only seemed to annoy the Spartan.

"Samus..."

The teen was getting flustered, beginning to regret even voicing her thoughts. "What? What do you want from me, Chief?!"

Chief holstered his gun on his back. Gesturing with both hands, for the teen to calm down. "Easy... I want to know why you believe the Endless, could possibly be the X parasite?"

"I don't know if it's a different name for the X parasite. They basically are endless chaos! Causing endless death!" The bounty hunter sputtered, unsure of where her original conversation was going. "But whatever the hell the Harbinger is, is probably what the Endless are. So I don't know! They're just theories. I am mostly concerned because she knows about the Chozo!"

"Those are all very valid points, Samus. I don't think we should be jumping to conclusions until we get more information." Master Chief replied calmly, reminding his teen that they needed to gather more information.

"Information, yes." The AI agreed, letting a moment of silence happen before asking her next question. "What's a Chozo?"

"You don't have to answer that if you don't want to, Samus." John told the hesitant girl, while they continued on towards the spire.

"Oh no, am I digging into something personal. I'm sorry, I don't mean to impose." The AI quickly apologized to the teen.

"No, it's fine. The Chozo, are a peaceful ancient alien bird race, that raised me, and gave me this armour." Samus replied softly surly confusing the AI further.

"Intriguing! But I thought Chief, was the one who raised you?"

"I was. Samus was raised, and trained, by the Chozo, for seven years. Before we rescued her from that planet." The Spartan answered the AI's confusion.

Weapon mentally nodded in understanding. "I see now. Are these Chozo, what you're crossbred with?"

"Crossbred?" Samus snorted with a laugh at the AI. "I was infused with DNA from two different Chozo tribes, which gave me a few different unique abilities."

"You mean like the ability to siphon the life force from your foes?"

"No..." Samus wriggled her fingers, lifting her left arm as she examined her deadly hand. "That's a completely different strand of DNA..."

"Hmm... It did say in your files that you were a DNA cocktail. But I won't ask anymore questions." Weapon replied, sensing that this topic was beginning to make the Spartan and bounty hunter uncomfortable.

"There's no more time for questions. We're here." John said, as they approached the spire.

"This is weird. What the hell is this spire for?" Samus asked as they climbed into the base of the spire.

Before Chief or Weapon could reply a large blast of green flew past the Spartan, nearly hitting the bounty hunter.

"That's not the answer I was looking for." Samus sarcastically remarked as her and Chief returned fire on the two massive blue aliens.

"Who are these guys?" Weapon queried as the two opened fire on the large aliens with shields.

"Hunters." Master responded, reloading his weapon.

"Hey, I'm the only Hunter here." The teenager scoffed, firing missiles into one of the Hunters.

"You have these in your DNA too?" Weapon thought aloud making Samus laugh.

"Nope, it's just a name my enemies give me." Samus explained flash shifting over to the Spartan's side.

"And what do these Hunters do...? Don't answer that. It looks like there's some sort of entry their guarding. Get rid of them so I can get us in." Weapon said as Chief and Samus continued to dodge the fuel rod cannons.

"Do you wanna play Kelly, again?" Samus asked after tackling Chief to the ground to dodge the incoming fire.

Chief gently moved Samus off of him, checking over his low ammo supply. "Let's make this quick."

Samus nodded in understanding transforming into her morph ball, allowing Chief to pull all the attention onto him.

"Watch it Chief, there's not a lot of spare weapons kicking around here." Weapon warned the Spartan of his low ammunition.

"It'll be fine." The Spartan reassured the concerned AI. Tossing a grenade in between the Hunters, caused both massive aliens to growl in pain, firing back at the Spartan.

Samus rolled around the two clueless Hunters, planting a cluster of bombs around the two.

Transforming back the teenager fired a storm of missiles into the Hunters backs. Causing one to drop dead, while the other searched around for the murderer of his partner.

John leapt and rolled out of the way as a deadly ray of green shot at him. Firing his last few bullets at the charging Hunter, John quickly switched to the half empty Needler he had from earlier. Firing the entire magazine in seconds.

A large explosion from behind the Hunter caused it to drop, flopping towards the Spartan who leapt out of the way.

"Took your time with that one..." Master Chief glared at the bounty hunter.

"Okay, next time I won't worry about which one of my weapons is safest to use with you in close proximity." The teen retorted as the Spartan brought the AI to a terminal.

"Or you could've evaded the charging Hunter." Weapon added.

Samus chuckled at the AI's added comment. In Adam's absence she thoroughly enjoyed Weapon's company. But every time they chatted the teen had noticed Chief seemed to be bothered by how well her and Weapon got along.

"I could've tried, yes." Chief sighed, shaking his head.

"He was pretty big and clunky. If you evaded him like Samus you could've gotten out of the way just fine!" Weapon cheerfully pointed out.

"I can't contort into ball. Nor would I want too." The Spartan sighed, as Samus continued to giggle behind him. "Can you activate this?"

"To get in we need to activate the gravlift."

Samus rolled her eyes behind her visor. "So many gravlifts, seriously."

"Can you activate it?" The Spartan repeated placing the AI onto the terminal.

"Hmm... The protocol is not Banished in origin. It's... sturdier than I expected." The blue female AI mentioned as she worked.

"Problem?" Chief asked after nothing happened for a moment.

Weapon smiled up at the Spartan as she snapped her fingers, activating the gravlift. "No problem here."

Samus watched as Chief took a step toward the loud gravlift.

John leapt back from the gravlift in surprise as a plasma shot prevented him from stepping into the lift. "Samus?!" He hissed seeing his teen's cannon cooling from the shot.

"Are you forgetting something?" The brightly armoured teen gestured to the ammunition station that sat next to her.

Chief gave an annoyed sigh as he walked towards his sassy daughter. "You do know how to use your words, right?"

"They wouldn't have gotten your attention fast enough." Samus shrugged.

"Yes, they would've. We don't need to gain any unnecessary attention from nearby enemies." Master Chief reminded the teen they were in the wide open at the moment.

"Hey, don't scold me. I don't even rely on ammunition, and I'm keeping track of your ammo. I'm just trying to keep you stocked up. Sorry for being concerned." The teen replied to her adopted father with a heavy attitude.

"Thank you. Now lose the attitude, and move." The Spartan spun the teen guiding her into the gravlift.

It was a long float up to the top of the spire, Chief was sure Samus was mouthing off at him under her breath. Their little quirky arguments seemed to entertain the Weapon. Samus and the AI had seemed to bond quickly, they were getting along as if they were best friends. Chief was concerned that Samus was getting too attached to the Weapon. They almost shared the same personality.

"We're in." Weapon announced after they stepped out of the garvlift.

Chief looked around before deciding which door to go through. There were three doors for them to choose from. Samus didn't wait for someone to point. Walking into the right hand door, with Chief in tow.

"Wow, this place is... exactly what you'd expect." Weapon admired the area as the two came upon a large window.

"What does it do?" Master Chief questioned, scanning the area with his eyes.

"Unknown. Get me somewhere to plug in and I will try to figure it out." The AI replied as the teen led them up a ramp.

"Well, if the Harbinger, is trying to release something it's probably some sort of portal, or a piece of one." Samus thought aloud as they entered the upper floor. "There's a terminal. And another locked door."

"Plug me in. I'll see what I can find out." Weapon said as the father daughter duo approached the terminal.

Placing the AI onto the terminal, Chief was hoping his teen was wrong. Though he knew she was probably correct.

"Interesting. This structure has been activated using a protocol that's far older than anything I've ever seen."

Samus tilted her helmet in concern as she watched the AI's body language change. "What's wrong?"

"It... It knows we're here." Weapon turned her head to the Spartan and bounty hunter.

"Welcome, welcome." A brightly lit monitor suddenly appeared in front of them.

"Holy shit!" Samus aimed her cannon up at the glowing sphere in surprise.

"Oh, hello." The Monitor greeted the surprised teen and AI. "I am Adjutant Resolution, sub monitor of this installation, loyal servant of Despondent Pyre. Who must be indisposed if I have been activated. Have you seen her?" The large monitor introduced himself to the trio, wondering where Despondent Pyre was.

"Kinda... do you wanna to tell him?" Weapon replied, looking up to the two humans.

"Tell me what?" Adjutant asked curiously.

"The Monitor is gone." John answered bluntly.

"Gone, gone, gone?" The sub Monitor repeated in shock.

"It wasn't us." Weapon quickly defended.

"Are you sure?" The flustered monitor questioned a bit suspicious.

"We didn't do it, you over grown lightbulb." Samus told the suspicious sphere.

"She's a little rude, but she speaks the truth." The AI quickly mentioned as the Spartan elbowed his teen.

Adjutant Resolution glared at the bounty hunter before agreeing to believe the trio. "Good, good, good. I was worried perhaps you were unfriendly. As you can see, this spire has successfully been deployed. This way, I presume you wish to see the observation platform." The Monitor said unlocking the door form them.

Chief retrieved Weapon from the terminal and followed the Monitor with his adopted daughter.

"See? He seems friendly." The optimistic AI said as they approached the door.

"We'll see." John replied, glaring at his teen from over the shoulder.

"Did you say something? No? Then come, come. There is much to see." The Monitor said as he unlocked the door.

As the Monitor floated ahead of them in the corridor, Chief turned to the bounty hunter jogging next to him. "You could've played that a little better!"

"I'm sorry, I thought we were being straightforward, and calling things as we see them. You know, like when you called me a parasite?" The teen retorted, before jogging ahead of the Spartan.

John mentally punched himself for saying that aloud, he was no better than Kelly in that situation. He had no idea what compelled him to call his teenager a parasite. Especially since Samus had always struggled to understand what she was to the universe.

"I did find it strange that you called her a parasite. Unless you were just stating that because it's the other half of her DNA? Which in that case, it would make sense." Weapon commented.

After hearing the AI's comment, Chief thought for a moment. Maybe he was just lashing out so that Weapon would ask his daughter more questions that would push the teen away. Hoping to halt Samus from creating a relationship with the AI.

"This way." The Monitor's voice brought the Spartan out of his thoughts, leading the two warriors up to a deactivated portal. "Oh, this portal should be activated. One moment."

As Master Chief stood next to her, Samus kept her line of sight away from him, while the Adjutant Resolution activated the portal in front of them.

"Please, step into the portal." The Monitor invited the two into the portal.

Samus was the first through, closely followed by Chief. Silently walking down the long beautifully designed corridor. The Spartan didn't think his teen was so bitter about the subject, she had been so caring moments before they arrived up in the spire.

"So what's the plan if this thing turns on us?" Samus asked as the Monitor waited for them at the end of the corridor.

"We neutralize, and continue on." Master Chief replied, he expected the Monitor to turn on them. Now recognizing that Samus was clearly upset with him. Chief now understood she was hiding her anger from him, only allowing it to escape in small outbursts.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that." Weapon said as the massive doors at the end of the hallway opened into a humongous room.

Adjutant Resolution flew across the massive space. Samus voluntarily followed the Monitor by using her screw attack. "Hey, is there something missing here? Chief can't fly across like we can." She asked after landing on the platform across the room.

The Monitor spun around seeing the Spartan waiting across the room. "Oh yes a bridge! One moment."

Watching the Monitor conjure up a bridge, Weapon had a though cross her mind. "Maybe the UNSC should consider copying some of Samus's technology so you can expand your abilities."

"That's not exactly possible..." Chief replied as he walked across the bridge. "It would require technology we don't have access to, and specialized training that would take several more years to master."

"Oh, that's unfortunate. Samus, is so efficient with all her abilities." Weapon sighed a but disappointed.

"You seem quite eager to show us the observation platform. This seems almost exciting." The teen conversed with the floating Monitor.

"It is very exciting. Soon the sequence will be sent, and the reformation can begin." Adjutant Resolution replied excitedly.

"Reformation?" Samus curiously thought aloud, watching as the Monitor hovered above a terminal.

Chief halted next to his teen just as the Monitor activated the lift platform. Glancing over his shoulder, he could see Samus's curious eyes following the Sentinels that were flying around in the distance.

"Chief, what are those things?" The girl leaned over to the Spartan.

"Sentinels, can become hostile if things go south." The Spartan warned his teen as they ascended into the observation platform.

"Why so cynical? This could be a good thing." The AI tried to get the Spartan to see things with a bit more optimism.

John had plenty of bad experiences dealing with monitors, to back up his reasons for being so cynical. "Not Cynical, just wary."

"That's practically the same thing..." Samus retorted as the lift reached the observation platform.

"Here we are. As you can see we are ready to progress as soon as..." The Monitor paused in the middle of the platform. "Please excuse me. I shall return." Adjutant Resolution said before teleporting elsewhere.

Samus took in the gorgeous view, walking to the edge of the platform she found a terminal. "There's a terminal here."

"Get me to that terminal." Weapon whispered to the Spartan, feeling they had to be secretive for some reason.

Master Chief did as he was requested, placing the AI onto the terminal the teen stood next to.

Weapon immediately pulled up codes to read. "Oh... That's not so bad. This structure's purpose is simple, rebuild the Ring." She explained as both Chief and Samus looked around, peeking over the edge of the platform. "Well... more specifically, create the materials needed to repair it."

"Not gonna happen." Chief said, guiding Samus away from the edge, returning to the terminal.

"Why?" Both girls questioned the Spartan's negative reply to Ring's rebuilding.

Weapon sighed. "It's so beautiful..."

"I guess we probably shouldn't let the Banished, reign over a fully operational Ring." The teen thought aloud before Chief could explain why it was bad.

"Sorry. Got distracted there for a moment. There's so much to learn here." Weapon apologized.

"So much to learn..." Samus agreed with a deep sigh.

"Shut it down. Permanently." Chief commanded the AI.

"No, no, no!" The Monitor suddenly reappeared in a displeased panic. Firing his laser in the direction of the terminal and the bounty hunter.

Chief quickly stepped in front of the Monitor. Blocking both ladies from the laser as he took the full hit from the laser.

"Fuck, this light bulb has perfect timing." Samus hissed, aiming her cannon at the furious Monitor, while Chief grabbed Weapon.

"What are you doing? This is not acceptable!" Adjutant Resolution sputtered flying away from the two.

"What the fuck is that?" Samus questioned as the Monitor entered some sort of battle suit.

"A bigger problem." Chief replied firing at the armoured Monitor.

"You said you were friendly." The Monitor complained as he shot at the Spartan from his new battle armour.

Jumping behind a pillar, avoiding the now enhanced laser while his shields recharged. John searched for where Samus went.

Samus scanned Adjutant Resolution's armour immediately finding the weak points. "Chief, I know this may sound a little egotistical. And I definitely not wanting to be. But I need you to stay out of the way. I can make very quick work of this abomination. If I can keep his attention."

"Samus, we work together to bring threats like this down." Chief reminded his adopted daughter as he fired at the threat.

"Trust me on this, I've fought many enemies just like this. This is just on a smaller scale." The bounty hunter confidently replied, firing at Adjutant Resolution, hoping to gain his full attention.

"Samus..." The teen wasn't wrong, it definitely sounded like she was flexing her ego. Master Chief jumped out of, cover firing at the machine, once again drawing the attention onto him.

"Chief, you just have to let me do this. If you want to progress quickly. You have to give me a chance!" The teenager begged her adopted father to allow her to do what she was trained for.

"Do it." John replied, leaping behind cover after the laser hit him depleting his entire shield.

"Okay... don't be afraid to throw a few grenades in here and there." Samus exhaled with relief, charging her storm missiles as the Monitor attempted to search for Spartan. "Hey, mutant lightbulb! I'm going to destroy this whole instillation. And you with it!"

"H-how dare you! How dare you!" Adjutant Resolution gasped in disbelief, opening fire on the teen. "You dare to taunt me while threatening my instillation?!"

Samus released her missile charge blasting all four of the Monitor's weak points. Leaving the Monitor completely vulnerable in the middle of the armour.

"She's very efficient. Do you think Samus is still mad at you?" Weapon commented as Chief tossed quite a few grenades under the weakened machine.

"Undoubtedly." The Spartan replied sprinting across the room.

Weapon thought it was a bit funny and intriguing that Samus was able to stay consistently angry, while being incredibly protective and caring. "She's good at hiding it."

"Sometimes." John replied rolling out of the way of the deadly laser, as Samus regained the Monitor's attention. Throwing two more grenades into the centre of the Monitor, shattering and cracking the metal plating.

"Either that or she's taking her frustrations out on Adjutant Resolution." The AI remarked as Samus leapt on top of the hovering machine, firing multiple charged plasma shots into the Monitor's socket until it bursted into flames.

Master Chief didn't verbally comment although he was sure Samus was taking some of her frustrations out on the hostile machine. "Good work, Samus." He praised as the girl walked back with him to the terminal.

"Like I said, I deal with those kind of enemies constantly. I could've taken that guy offline in my sleep." The teen scoffed trying not to sound like she was boasting although she was sure Chief already thought she was.

"I know. I should stop trying to underestimate you." Master Chief surprised the girl with that reply. He knew his adopted daughter was more capable than he thought. He just had a difficult time showing it...

"You don't underestimate me. You know exactly what I'm capable of. You're just terrified of the unknown. You know, unknown, like my parasitic abilities. Right?" The teen folded her arms with a glare.

"If I remember correctly you, fear yourself as a parasite, more than I do..." Chief just kept digging that hole by continuing to agree that Samus was a parasite.

Samus narrowed her eyes behind her visor. Even though Chief was unfortunately correct, she was now considered a parasite. It still hurt to be seen as one by the only person she was close to.

"Hey guys, look the terminal's clear!" Weapon quickly cut the tension by reminding the two of the terminal in front of them.

John could feel Samus's glare burning through his armour. Placing the AI onto the terminal, allowing the uniformed blue AI to begin her work. Turning around he continued to have a stare off with his pissed off teenager.

"Uhh... I've got good news. And bad news." Weapon announced.

"How many?" The Spartan asked without turning around.

"Okay, straight to the bad news. A lot. I count nine... no, ten spires. More being deployed all the time." Weapon announced, as Samus brushed past Chief to the edge of the platform behind the terminal.

"Active?" Chief finally spun to face the AI.

"No... not yet at least. They seem to be waiting for an initialization sequence. Something is flooding the network trying to start it. But there's resistance.

"Why?" Samus asked finally breaking her silence.

"The protocol that triggered all this wasn't exactly correct. It worked... well it started the process.." the blue AI turned to the Spartan. "There's more bad news. I can't shut it down exactly. But I can remove it from the network." She sighed as the Spartan stepped next to his daughter. "Of course. I can find the source of the attack I just need to..."

"Wait!" Chief caught both girl's off guard. "Is it safe?"

"Come'on. It's me. An infiltration program designed to..." before Weapon could finish her sentence, something interrupted her. Causing both warriors to take defensive positions.

"Who are you?" The Harbinger's voice demanded.

"Oops. I think she knows I'm..."

"How are you doing this?" Once again the Harbinger interrupted the AI.

"Disconnect." John turned back to retrieve the AI.

"Give me one second to get it..." Weapon quickly worked with the controls.

"Now!" Chief sharply demanded, making both Samus and Weapon jump.

"It's done." Weapon held up her hands to the Master Chief. "Why don't you trust me?"

That's a great question..." Samus retorted with a scoff.

Before Chief could reply, the entire spire quaked, diverting their attention from the AI's question.

"What was that?!" Chief asked as the sound of machines shutting down filled the air.

"Maybe taking it offline wasn't such a great idea." Weapon thought aloud watching as the spire shook itself apart.

"We need to get the hell out of here. Like now." Samus said gesturing for Chief to collect Weapon.

"Immediate extraction on my location." Master Chief called the Pilot as he followed Samus to the edge of the observation platform.

"Oh god. It was you wasn't it?" The Pilot replied.

"Now!" The Spartan snapped, backing himself up with Samus.

"I'm coming. I'm coming!" The Pelican could be seen flying in hot on their position.

Samus quickly glanced up at the ceiling that began to lower, if they didn't go now they would be crushed.

"Ready?" John looked over at his teen.

Samus nodded. Running of in sync with the Master Chief, both of them leapt off the Spire earning a groan from the Pilot.

"Oh, come'on..."

Samus hadn't realized how high up they were until they jumped. It was a breathtaking view, and yet a deadly one if they didn't somehow slow down their free falling.

Chief glanced behind him to see the Pelican diving past the bounty hunter. "Open up!" He commanded, once the Pelican kept a steady pace in front of them.

The Pilot popped open the back hatch, causing all the loose equipment inside to fly out of the Pelican.

Samus got pelted by a couple of the flying items. Just as Chief dove past her.

John was able to grab one of the first handle bars he could reach inside the hatch. Looking behind him Samus was behind by a few seconds. "Samus, grab onto me!"

The brightly armoured teen pinned both her arms against her sides increasing her velocity. As she closed in on Chief, she reached out her left hand to grab the Spartan's boot. Against her will her hand lit up with an intense sickly glow, causing Samus to instantly retract her reaching arm.

"I need to pull up!" The Pilot said yanking back on the controls.

"Samus!" John cried out as the Pelican began to tilt.

The teen activated her flash shift darting right up to the Spartan as the Pelican began to tilt. Getting as level as possible with the open hatch, Samus used her boosters to jump in. Tumbling past the Spartan straight into the closed cockpit door.

Once completely level Chief planted his boots on the floor as the hatch shut behind him. Turning immediately making his way over to his teen. "I told you to grab onto me!"

Samus groaned as she got up to her feet. "I made it, that's all that matters."

"You took an unnecessary risk." The Spartan continued to scold the bounty hunter.

"I saved your life..." Samus bared her hand that was glowing an intense magenta.

"Upload the spire locations." Chief commanded holding out his hand for the AI. Turning away from his argumentative teenager.

"All of them?" Weapon gazed up at the emotionless Spartan.

"All of them." Chief nodded.

"Coordinates received." The ship's AI replied as a holographic map appeared in the middle of the Pelican.

"Umm... it looks like someone marked 42 new locations, which would be crazy right?" The Pilot's voice came through the comm.

Weapon pulled one spire from the group of them, setting it in front of them.

"This one?" Chief asked.

"It was the source of the attack." The blue AI replied as Samus tried to extinguish her glowing arm.

"Attack?" The doors to the cockpit swished open. "What's she talking about, Chief? Is everyone trying to kill you?"

Weapon glanced over at the deadly teen with an uneasy smile, before gazing back up at the Spartan. "It kinda seems like it."

Samus laughed at the AI's lack of understanding for sarcasm. Easing the tension in the atmosphere.

"Oh wait... you're being sarcastic! He's fun, I like him!" Weapon chuckled gesturing to the cockpit.

The lighthearted moment was short lived when alarms began to blare. The Pilot began to ramble. "Am I dead already? I-I must be. I mean this is punishment, right?"

Both Samus and Chief entered the cockpit as the ship's AI screamed out warnings. Flying through a canyon, explosions erupted everywhere as the Pelican headed straight into the path of an anti air cannon.

"Yup, this is death." The Pilot said as he tried to steer clear of the massive cannon.

"No! No! No! No-no-no!" The scruffy man desperately attempted to regain control after the Pelican was struck by the cannon.

Trying to steady herself Samus placed her hand on the dashboard, draining all the power out of the Pelican.

"Fuck, no!" Samus gasped as Chief yanked her away from the controls.

"This isn't happening!" Echo 216 panicked, trying to pilot the power drained Pelican as they got struck by another AA cannon. "I'm going to have to make an emergency landing! Hold on, Chief!" The man said as they crashed into the ground, splashing through a shallow lake of water as they skipped violently across the ground, crashing to an abrupt halt.

Chief held Samus with his arm wrapped around the teen's waist. Releasing her after they had come to a violent halt. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine..." Samus exhaled heavily, turning to the unconscious Pilot. "Hey..." she reached to check on the Pilot but stopped herself as her hand continued to burn a sickly magenta. "Is he okay?"

John reached his hand, cupping it onto the unconscious Pilot's shoulder. Leaning the man back in chair woke the scruffy Pilot.

Echo 216 woke up with a panicked gasp. Looking up to see Samus standing right next to him. "No! Get! No! You. I can't, stand this! Oh, you are..."

"Breath." John instructed the terrified Pilot.

"No! You don't get to tell me what to do!" Echo 216 waved a finger at the Spartan behind him. "You don't get to tell me anything! We're..." The furious man glared up at the Spartan who was staring out the window with the bounty hunter. "Are you even listening?!"

"I count 3 AA cannons." Samus mentioned, exiting the cockpit.

"Three what?!" The Pilot gasped.

"You'll be safe here." Following his adopted daughter out of the cockpit, Master Chief assured the Pilot.

"Oh, I'll be safe?" Echo 216 scoffed jumping out of his seat. "Safe?"

Both Samus and Chief turned to see the Pilot stomping after them.

"I haven't been safe since I found you! I found you, remember?" Echo 216 hissed at the Spartan. "You were out their on your own. And still would be if not for me!" The man glared at the alien armoured teen with the sickly glowing arm. "Then you found her. Some sort of mutant Spartan from hell. That takes a Pelican offline, right in the middle of evasive maneuvers! Effortlessly, with a simple touch?! Are you even human?!"

Samus winced as the Pilot insulted her out of frustration. Shamefully hiding her uncontrollable glowing arm behind her back.

"I thought I was going home." Echo 216 exhaled angrily.

"There won't be a home if we don't stop the Banished." Master Chief sternly told the frustrated Pilot.

"You keep saying that. We're outgunned. Outnumbered. I know I saw Condors over there. I'm going to dig through them and find one with a working slipspace drive, and when you're done with this war, we'll get away from here." The Pilot told the Spartan, as the back hatch opened. "Far away."

Samus eagerly exited the crashed Pelican. Chief following her shortly after telling the Pilot to stay put.

"Whoa, please!" Echo 216 grabbed Chief's arm halting the Spartan on the ramp. "Let me see what I can find."

"Cannons first. Then when I get back..." John turned his gaze to his adopted daughter at the bottom of the ramp. "We can look... Together."

Echo 216 sighed deeply, closing his eyes momentarily as he gave a reluctant nod. "Okay, big guy." He said retreating back into the cockpit.

Samus already received a waypoint for the AA cannons. Following it back up the massive hills they had gotten shot in.

"Samus, slow down." Chief grabbed Samus by the shoulder to stop the girl.

Samus stopped dead, waiting for Chief to get next to her.

Master Chief reloaded his weapon, standing next to the girl. "These hills are crawling with Banished forces."

"Did you really mean that back there?" The teen asked following the green Spartan up the incline.

John was surprised that Samus was avoiding the fact that she took the Pelican offline, and that the Pilot had called her a mutant alien Spartan. "I'm sorry?"

"Are you really going to help Echo 216 search for ship parts?" The teen rephrased.

"Yes." John replied, he was trying to reignite his human side. Ever since Weapon had been activated and deployed. His humanity that Samus had unlocked years ago, had retracted, getting locked away. Replaced by stress, frustration, and constant worry that the AI could betray them and cause more universal chaos. In all of his stress, and frustration, he had managed to hurt his adopted daughter.

"Are you, okay. You've been acting weird lately. And that's saying a lot, especially coming from me. The weirdest out of the two of us." Samus snapped the Spartan out of his thoughts with that question.

"I'm... okay." John replied hesitantly, as they scaled the side of the hill.

"It's just, you freaked out at Weapon, when we were in the spire. And you've been on edge every time I strike up a conversation with her." Samus pointed out. Unknowingly catching onto Chief's games of him trying to keep her separate from Weapon. "You've been kind of..." The teen stopped herself from full on calling out the Spartan for being a little tense and abrupt.

"We'll talk about this later. We're approaching the first cannon." Master Chief said crouching down as they snuck up on the Banished forces.

"Okay, then let me push through these Banished forces. And don't hold me back. I'll clear a path for each of the cannons, and you can deactivate them. Deal?" The bounty hunter set up a plan as they crested the hills holding the three AA cannons.

"Fine. Let's make this quick." Master Chief reluctantly agreed.

With Samus at the helm of this operation, the two made quick work getting to the first AA cannon.

"Plug me in and I'll take care of the cannon." Weapon said as they approached the first cannon's control terminal.

Chief placed Weapon on the terminal, as Samus swept the large control area for enemies.

"They call this security. Please. Just give me a second." Weapon scoffed with a laugh. Entering the controls to have the doors suddenly lock down around them as a hologram of Escharum appeared.

"The UNSC lost this war months ago. Your people are broken. Scattered. Hunted. Defeated. By me. I wish I could tell you it was difficult." The War Chief's hologram turned to the bounty hunter. "But you witnessed, that it wasn't."

The War Chief's sinister chuckle shook Samus to her core. Escharum's booming voice making her jump as he spoke.

"We are one step ahead. Always. The Ring is already under our control. Soon the Auditorium as well. The Harbinger and the Banished share the same goal. We fight together to honour the will of Atriox!" The hologram Brute fixated his attention back onto the teen, glaring into the acid green visor. "But... without challenge. I grew weary. Lost. Alone."

Chief walked around the terminal stopping next to Samus's side, letting her know that she wasn't alone.

Escharum smirked venomously at the Spartan. "But, here you now stand. This is my last fight. A true test of legends! Our story will out last us both!"

"Set a fire in your heart Spartan!"

Samus winced as the War Chief roared a challenge to Master Chief. She didn't fear the Brute, she feared what he was capable of doing to her adopted father.

Chief cupped a reassuring hand on his uneasy daughter's shoulder as Escharum continued to challenge him.

"Bare your fangs! Fight hard! Die well..." the hologram finally disintegrated, giving the AI back the controls.

"Thank you. Chief?!" Weapon nervously said goodbye to the War Chief.

"That word. The Auditorium. What is it?" The Spartan asked fast walking back up to the terminal.

"I was hoping you'd know the answer to that one. I'm new. Remember?" With a quick snap of her fingers Weapon exposed the first AA cannon core. "Okay, I'm done here."

Master Chief retrieved Weapon, while Samus shot the exposed core. Causing the AA cannon to begin a self destruct sequence.

"Okay, let's get out of here before the fireworks start." The AI said as explosions bursted around them. Leaping out of the AA cannon the two pivoted to watch the massive gun explode.

"The Banished are mobilizing in a big way. Clock's ticking. Chief, how much longer?" Echo 216's voice came through their comlinks.

"One gun down. Two more to go." The Spartan replied as Samus walked in the direction of the next cannon.

"We're running out of time." The Pilot reminded the three.

"The Harbinger, and the Banished, share the same goal." The AI repeated what Escharum had said earlier.

Master Chief knew exactly what that meant. "Rebuild the Ring."

"But why?" Samus questioned curiously.

"Maybe they want to go home too." Echo 216 retorted.

"Let's shut the rest of these cannons down." Chief gestured for Samus to go ahead and take out the Banished forces.

"There's a gravlift that needs to be powered. To be able to gain access to this cannon." Weapon announced as they approached the second cannon.

"Take care of the stragglers. I'll power the gravlift." The violet armoured teen said as she made her way to the gravlifts power source.

Chief did as his teen said, destroying what stragglers remained from her attacks. While Samus used her unique powers to power the gravlift.

"The second cannon's open for business. And when I say open for business I mean..."

"Let's go." The Spartan interrupted the AI from finishing her sentence, as he went up the gravlift with his teen.

Once in the AA cannon's control systems Weapon warned Chief that the lockdown will most likely trigger again. "I'm on it. The lockdowns probably going to trigger again. But don't worry, we'll be out of here in no..."

"How many Spartans remain. Do you even know?" Escharum spoke to the Master Chief. "Your mutant should know..." once again the War Chief addressed the bounty hunter. "There would have been 50 at Laconia Station. Maybe more. Such a loss. Do you feel it in your heart? Does it leave a hole?"

Samus really really did feel a hole, and Chief did as well, especially not knowing where the rest of their team was. At this point Samus was ready to blow up the AA gun, tired of listening to the War Chief's monologue about Atriox.

"It is why I created the Hand Of Atriox. I found the best. The cruelest. The most efficient killers in the universe... and taught them how to be better. My Spartan killers are coming for you. It is your time to rise!" Once again the hologram dissolved, this time leaving a massive amount of fear and panic in the bounty hunter's heart.

"Spartan Killers, really? Everyone is trying to kill you." The blue female AI shook her head. "I'm done here. Now it's your turn." She said as Chief collected her.

Master Chief didn't bother moving to destroy the core, walking to one of the exit doors he waited for the pop of the core, and the explosive rattle of the self destruct sequence activating. But it never came.

"Core's exposed. Feel free to destroy it, we're running out of time." Weapon announced.

"Samus?" John pivoted to see his teenage daughter standing frozen in the middle of the control room. "Samus, destroy the core. Now."

The sound of Chief's boots stomping towards her snapped the bounty hunter out of her trance. "Sorry, I'll get it." Samus apologized firing a single missile into the core.

"Let's get to the last cannon, quick." John said as they both leapt out of the exploding AA cannon.

As soon as the two began to make their way over to the last cannon Weapon alerted the Spartan that they were being contacted. "Chief, we're being contacted on UNSC channels. Comm signature belongs to a Spartan Theodore Sorel... The one that we found... Dead."

"Put it through." Chief replied right away.

"Spartan... Spartan... I know you can hear me. Will you die with honour?" The familiar sinister voice froze Samus in her tracks.

"I doubt it. You are human. Weak. Pathetic. I will crack your armour. Peel you from your shell. It will not be my first Spartan blood. But it will be the sweetest."

"They're sending a Spartan Killer? Chief. This is crazy. This is crazy. We gotta get out of here. We gotta move." Echo 216 warned the Spartan of the dire situation.

John knew that wasn't a possibility until the last AA cannon was down. "Not yet. Hold position."

"When this goes bad... it's on you, Chief. Remember that."The Pilot's words were not very positive, but John understood the pressure of the situation.

On the way into the last Cannon, the Spartan was growing concerned. Samus had gone mute since the threatening call. She continued to clear the way to the cannon, but said no taunts, curses, or playful sarcasm. Like she usually did. Chief had to look behind him constantly to make sure his teen was still with him.

"Last one. And cue the lockdown..." Weapon sarcastically said as she entered the control systems. But no Escharum appeared. "Huh, no Escharum? I'm almost disappointed." The AI's comment was something that Chief would've expected Samus to say, word for word. Weapon quickly finished exposing the core for the two to destroy. "Almost. All set. Let's get back to the Pelican."

Chief destroyed the exposed core this time. Escorting Samus off the AA cannon.

Walking through the forested valley, the Spartan made Samus walk next to him. "Samus, I'm sorry I called you a parasite. It was wrong of me to say. Because I know it's not true."

"It is true though... it's just a part of me. But it hurt hearing you think of me as just a parasite." Samus replied, her voice barely audible.

John felt horrible for using that as a ploy to demolish the ever growing relationship between his teen and AI. But he was trying to keep Samus's safety and heart in mind. It would be a difficult moment for the teen when the time to delete Weapon came.

"There's a repeated message across all Banished frequencies." Weapon announced before the Spartan could continue the conversation. "The first part is the Hand Of Atriox."

"And then what?" John asked as Samus tightly clenched her cannon.

"Deploy."

"Chief, where are you?" Echo 216 called.

"Hold position. We're on our way." Chief responded to the Pilot.

"I'm sorry, Chief. I can't stay."

"I've lost his signal." Weapon announced after Echo 216 cut out. "If the Spartan Killers find him..."

"That won't happen." Master Chief assured the Weapon. As he and Samus began sprinting back to the crash site.

"How can you be so sure?" Weapon questioned the Spartan.

"Because they'll have to go through me first." Samus answered the uncertain question. She knew Chief felt the same way. But in her mind he was included in that protection statement.

Approaching the crash site was literally hell. There were Ghosts and Choppers, along with Banished forces scattered all around the Pelican.

"Chief, we've got... Well, a lot!" The said as shots began to rain down on them from every direction.

Samus was able to take down the enemies that had opened fire on them. In the midst of it all she locked her eyes onto two very familiar faces. Hyperius, and Tovarus. Spartan Killers.

"See that Chopper, I guess that's one of the Spartan Killers. Oh, and there's the second one." Weapon pointed out as the second assassin dropped from an orbital drop.

"Deal with the ones depleting our shields, as these assholes approach." The teen told her adopted father to take out the Banished forces around them.

"You're not taking them down by yourself." Chief replied as they ducked behind the Pelican.

"Chief, I..."

"You don't want me to get killed. I understand..." The Spartan replied firing at a Skirmisher that charged up to them. "But if they're as dangerous as you're saying, you're going to be put at risk as well."

"I'm not giving you a choice. When you have clear shots take them, they'll be heavily shielded." The teenager said, leaping over the Pelican.

As soon as his teen left the Spartan's side, gunfire erupted from every direction. Revealing the Banished forces around the crash site.

"Hmm. She really doesn't listen. But maybe we should listen to her this one time. We need to lessen the amount of heat on her." Weapon said as Master Chief began taking out the Banished forces surrounding them.

"What I'm doing isn't enough. I need heavier weapons." John hissed, as he crossed the battlefield, taking down two Elites.

"There, in that crash site. There may be some heavy weaponry." The AI quickly marked a piece of the crashed UNSC vessel.

Samus rolled out of the way of the Chopper that attempted to mow her down. She released a storm of missiles shattering the passing vehicle. Samus yelped as she was hit by explosive bullets from above, Tovarus had opened fire on her as she attempted to battle against Hyperius.

"You!" Hyperius screamed at the girl. "We will break you down, and make you witness the legend of the Master Chief die!" The Spartan Killer challenged the teen.

"Not this time..." Samus charged her cannon while once again she was shot at.

Hyperius charged the teen, only to be lit up by a spray of bullets from a turret. The hail of bullets shredded the Brute's shields as Samus also opened fire while dodging being shot from above. Unleashing multiple ice missiles into Hyperius, the burn from the ice and bullets causing the Spartan Killer to scream in agony as he was finally shredded apart.

With a satisfying splash from the deceased Spartan Killer's body hitting the ground. Staring at the body Samus took note of the very recognizable black and blue Spartan armour being worn on Hyperius's armour like it was a trophy. Samus looked in the direction of the turret, locating Master Chief on the back of a Warthog.

"Chief, look out!" Weapon cried out as explosive rounds fired at the Warthog.

Master Chief leapt into the drivers seat backing the Warthog away from the incoming bullets. Driving out into the middle of the shallow lake. "Get in" He yelled as he drove up to the bounty hunter.

Samus smirked leaping on top of the Warthog to Chief's surprise.

"Samus, what are you doing?!" The Spartan hissed as he drove evasively to avoid Tovarus's deadly bullets.

"I can get better shots from up here." The teen replied as the gunfire from above halted.

"He's retreated back inside. I'm going up there." Master Chief said, hopping out of the Warthog, using his grapple to reach up into the piece of ship the Spartan Killer hid in.

"No, he's just trying to lure you!" The teen panicked.

Master Chief was well aware of that, and that was why he hurled an insane amount of grenades and explosives onto the tower platform. Smoking the Brute out of his hole. Chief used his grapple to hook the Spartan Killer, using the butt of his rifle to strike the Brute in the face. Knocking Tovarus's helmet off. Tovarus grabbed the Spartan's chest plate attempting to rip the Spartan to the ground. Dropping his gun to one hand Chief punched the ape like alien straight off of him and the platform.

Tovarus hit the ground next to Samus. His shields broken. The Spartan Killer was weakened, and vulnerable. Perfect prey...

"He's all yours." The Spartan told the teen below. Kicking the Brute's helmet off of the platform he stood on.

Watching Samus's left arm ignite a burning magenta, Weapon gave the Brute some useless advice. "You might need that helmet..." The AI's voice spoke through the Chief's helmet.

Tovarus jumped up to his feet roaring furiously at the Spartan, as his helmet landed next to him.

"Though... it'll be basically useless for the suffering you're about to endure." Weapon's bubbly sarcasm taunted the Spartan Killer, as Chief leapt down.

Tovarus charged for Master Chief, before he could reach the Spartan, Tovarus was tackled to the ground hard, by the mutant teen. Both of them sliding and tumbling through the shallow water until they reached the green Spartan's boots.

"I will kill you. Shred you to pieces, until you're nothing but bone!" Tovarus punched Samus away from him. But the girl was unfazed pinning him to the ground before he could attempt to get up.

Master Chief, unfazed by the Spartan Killer cursing him on the ground. He watched with his gun relaxed in his arms. As Samus viciously pinned the large Brute, latching onto the Spartan Killer's head with her illuminated arm.

"NOOOO... AGH!"

Samus knew the death of these Spartan killers, would not bring back the lives they had cruelly taken. But something about the agonizing cries of Tovarus made her satisfied. Siphoning the life from Tovarus, until he was nothing but blackened dust. A well suited death, for someone who had wrongfully siphoned lives from the innocent and defenceless.

"Huh, well... That seemed pretty easy. But what if Escharum sends more?" Weapon thought aloud, as Samus got off the ground, closing her fist to sheath her deadly powers.

"Let him." Chief replied, giving Samus a nod of approval. "Echo 216?" He called out, approaching the Pelican.

After a few moments of silence Weapon, did her own research. "Nothing. But I think I can... yes! Comms are still offline. But I was able to activate his tracking beacon remotely. He's... out in the open. The UNSC ship graveyard..."

Samus cringed at that announcement. "I hope he's alright."

"I marked it for you. It's a bit of a distance from here." The AI told the two warriors.

"We can take the Warthog. Get in." Samus replied hopping in the driver's side.

"You are not driving with one arm. Move over." The Spartan immediately pointed his teen to the passenger seat.

"Oh come'on, pleeeeassse?" Samus whined, trying to convince her adopted father to let her drive.

"You've never driven a land vehicle before. Absolutely not." Chief refused to give in to his teen's whining. "Do you even understand the driving mechanics?"

Samus did a quick scan of the complicated dashboard, and the pedals at her feet. "Uuuuh..."

"Move." The Spartan gentle shoved the girl until she reluctantly climbed into the passenger side.

"Ugh, why the hell is there six pedals, for something that only goes four directions?" The bounty hunter grumbled as she plopped herself into the passenger seat.

"I'm not going to teach you how to drive right now..." starting the Warthog Chief replied as Samus reached over him, causing him to lift his hands up, as she reached for the steering wheel. "What are you doing?"

"Can I honk the horn. Pleeeeassse..."

John rolled his eyes behind his visor, leaning back in his seat with a groan, as his teen happily honked the horn once. "Okay, thank you for giving away our position. Now let's get to Echo 216."

"Giving away our position, really? I'm pretty sure our gunfire an explosions from five minutes ago would've done that already." The bounty hunter scoffed.

Driving through more Banished forces. The girl fired her weapons obliterating a pursuing Ghost with a super missile. Samus hadn't been on a lot of Warthog rides, if any. She thoroughly enjoyed the ride as Chief took some jumps over small hills and bumps.

Master Chief drove with urgency, even though he knew Echo 216 was most likely laying low somewhere in the ship graveyard. Although in this urgent drive he did take quite a few unnecessary bumps and jumps. Hearing thrilled giggles emit from his adopted daughter every time they got air, he couldn't help but crack a smile behind his golden visor.

"There. That Condor." The AI marked the downed aircraft straight ahead of them.

Samus leapt out as the Warthog skidded to a halt. Chief followed her into the Condor's open hatch. Finding the Pilot crawling out of the floor with a helmet.

"Animals. Chief, my eyes didn't deceive me back there." The scruffy man said as he passed by the two.

"We need to go." Chief told the Pilot, who spun around to face him.

"Three UNSC Condors. Seeing one is rare. Finding three is a miracle." Echo 216 said walking towards the destroyed ships. "I should've known better. Torn apart. Completely gutted. Slipspace drives obliterated."

"We don't have the time." Master Chief watched as the frustration in the man boiled over.

"Over there is another. Shattered and cratered over a kilometre." The Pilot turned to point out the final destroyed Condor. "And there. The last one. All of it. Crushed. Broken. Beaten! Useless!" The man spat angrily at the Spartan.

"Enough!" John warned Echo 216.

"When? When is it enough Chief?! When we're in there?" The frustrated Pilot gestured to the crashed ships with deceased soldiers. "Because that's where I belong. In there, with them." Echo 216 threw his helmet at the Pelican in a fit of rage.

Samus leapt out of the way of the flying helmet. Moving out of the way as Echo 216 picked up a scrapped panel and tossed onto the ground.

"Worthless junk!"

The man was so scared it was coming out as anger. Samus recognized that. Because Chief tended to act like that when he was scared.

"Not this." Echo 216 walked back up to the Spartan. "I'm not you." The Pilot nearly took a swing at the Master Chief. Before defeatedly turning away. "I'm not a mutant sidekick!" He gestured to Samus. "I'm not a pilot. I'm not even a soldier, a marine! I'm a fraud!"

Samus took no offence to the man's frustration towards her, he was right they had lost. But they were still fighting for redemption. John turned following the Pilot's movements. As the scruffy man continued to voice his fears.

"I stole that Pelican. I stole it!" Echo 216 hissed. "You want to know why?!" The Pilot glared at the Spartan with a head shake. "Of course you don't. Have you ever been scared? So scared that you..." The man couldn't even finish his sentence. Walking away from the Spartan, he fell to his knees sobbing. "I'm worthless."

"You should just leave me here with the rest of the garbage." Echo 216 sobbed as Chief kneeled next to him.

Master Chief had left the teen's side, to comfort the Pilot. Digging into his humanity to help this scared soul through this stressful time. "We all fail. We all make mistakes. It's what makes us human."

The Pilot continued to sob, shaking his head in disbelief. "I'm sorry, Chief. But how have you ever failed?"

"I should've protected Cortana. Stopped everything from going wrong. I failed her." John replied. It was the first time he had admitted out loud.

Samus knew this was exactly the conversation Chief wanted to express earlier when they were on their way to the excavation site. But something had refrained him from doing so. Non the less it was interesting for her to see Chief show this much open empathy towards a stranger. Showing his human side. Samus peered down at her left hand, watching her armour dematerialize around it.

"I will not fail you." The Spartan sternly reassured the broken down Pilot. Hearing footsteps approaching, Chief looked over his shoulder to see Samus approaching them in her torn bloody zero suit. He supposed it was her way of showing she was human, and that she shared empathy with him and Echo 216.

"We... we're going to make it." Samus assured, kneeling on the other side of the Pilot.

Echo 216 was surprised that Samus looked human, but did not comment. "I... This is all I got." Echo 216 sighed.

"It's all we need. The only way home is straight through the heart of the Banished.

"Chief." Weapon called so the Spartan could present her on his hand. "We need you." She looked straight into Echo 216's eyes.

The man looked away from the AI still uncertain about all of this.

"We can fix this." Chief said closing his hand as Weapon vanished from it.

"Together." Samus gave the Pilot a warm encouraging smile. While Chief got up to his feet, holding out a hand to help the Pilot off the ground.

"Of course we can." Echo 216 agreed, taking the Spartan's helping hand to heft himself onto his feet. "Together." He nodded at the blonde teenager next to them. Taking a deep breath Echo 216 placed both hands on his hips. "So. What's the plan? Let me guess. It's dangerous, and probably going to get us killed?"

Before Samus could make a sarcastic remark, a sonic boom echoed in the distance with a blue flare of light travelling into the air.

"Well. I guess I have my answer." The Pilot sighed with a nervous laugh. "Let's do this."