Author's Note

Here we are, sorry for the wait, life has gotten so busy for me lately. I won't bore you the details, but I'm no longer single, so I'll leave it at that. That being said, I've been left with far less time for this little side hobby of mine, so please excuse the longer waits.

On that note, I'm thinking that this story is actually close to wrapping up, at least it's story anyway. There's no reason I couldn't continue writing it after the main plot ends, you know? As for how many chapters are left, I'm not sure of the specifics, but likely less then ten.

Anywho, here you go.

Uploaded

07/25/2023

LEGEND BELOW

"Chief, that's not a good idea..." = Normal speech.

''You're you, don't let it control you...'' = Normal thoughts/Receiving coms.

Chapter 23

Back from the Grave

Rated-M

M rating for blood, and language.

Music of the day

Halo 4 - Wreckage

"Chief… They're requesting you on the bridge…"

He didn't move, staring silently out the reinforced starship grade window, the synthetic sun that cast its rays across the surface of Requiem sitting comfortably on the horizon, hidden by a thick fog of synthetic clouds that threatened to bring the war torn world a cold uncaring rain.

They'd done it, brought down the gravity-well that had been threatening all their lives, freed the Infinity from the clutches of the planet, and were now preparing for an all out attack against the Didact. Everything had gone to plan, and through sheer skill, luck, and maybe, even just fate, they all made it through the other side alive…

Well…

All but one.

He still remembered reaching out to her, telling her that he had her, that they'd made it.

He still remembered how her blood splattered all over his body, staining his battle armor. Her dismembered arm cannon slamming into him, dropping lifelessly to the ground…

He'd seen a lot of people die in his life, especially because of his line of work. It was to be expected that the people you were talking with only hours ago could forever be taken away from you at a moment's notice. That trooper you had a casual conversation with ten minutes before your deployment could die to a plasma mortar a moment into the battle.

But they were Spartans, and as the stigma went, Spartans never died.

That saying or general belief was built upon the backs of stories and legends, that no one had ever seen a Spartan fall in combat. When a battle was going down, and troopers were falling by the dozen, morale was at its lowest. But when a Spartan rolled into the field, they felt like they were invincible.

Spartans never die, they just go missing in action. Spartans don't fall in a war zone, they disappear in the night, alone and without backup.

The only ones who ever witness Spartans die, were Spartans. After all, as strong as they were, as powerful as they could be, and as well equipped they were for any mission, they were merely human at the end of the day.

On his first mission as a brand new Spartan II, he had to witness as his dear friend and fellow Spartan sacrificed himself just so that he and the rest of his team could live to fight another day.

It hurt, knowing that he was leaving him to die, that Sam would never witness the end of the war.

But it was an eventuality that he was prepared for, that they all were.

Even now, he would go into battle alongside these new Spartan IV's, knowing damn well that even they had the potential to fall during the next mission.

It was an eventuality, something he knew was one hundred percent possible in their line of work. They were mortal, super humans turned into fighting machines capable of insane acts.

But they were still human.

That's why he was so utterly unprepared for her to go out the way she had.

She wasn't human, wasn't Covenant, wasn't anything he'd ever seen before. She'd defied death again and again, taken so much damage that it would've put any Spartan to shame, and had even gone so far as to bring him back from beyond the very grave with her supernatural powers.

That's why he still couldn't get over the fact that she was gone, still didn't believe it, even now.

True, he had not known her for long, a few weeks at most. But, in his mind she was this invincible person that wouldn't go down no matter what was thrown her way, even a Covenant Corvette crashing on top of her while the entire cave collapsed.

Perhaps that's why he still believed that she was out there, despite the overwhelming evidence to support the claim that she had been lost. He'd seen things that she'd done that no one else in the UNSC had, supernatural feats that would send Doctor Halsey into a fit just trying to figure out how her technology worked.

"John… We have to go…" It was Cortana's voice in the back of his head that seemed to finally break him from his stupor, pulling his attention away from the window. "The Captain is requesting us on the bridge… It seems that his engineers have been successful in repairing Adam, and he wishes to speak with you." The blue woman explained quietly, the man gaining the impression that she was clasping her hands together nervously behind her back.

"Understood." The Spartan muttered blankly, moving to make his way to the bridge.

His voice was typically monotone, blank of emotion to most people. But she knew better, and right now, he was eerily quiet.

It didn't make her feel good at all.

The giant green man was silent as he walked through the halls of the Infinity, soldiers and other Spartans nodding to him as he passed. Almost lifelessly, the three floating Metroids that had been by his side ever since the last mission followed after him, stuck to his side like glue.

The sound of his footfalls seemed to echo so much louder then the rest, the white noise in the back of his head screaming loud.

Eventually he was knocking on the doors to the bridge so to speak, finding himself once again in the presence of the captain.

Only this time he was alone.

The captain was stood over the center holographic display terminal, a tense look marring his aged features. When he heard him enter, he shook his head, before facing him.

"Master Chief, good, you're here." Del Rio said lightly, but his voice was drained.

No doubt the entire ordeal that he and his crew had been going through since their arrival on Requiem had been extremely taxing on him. After all, they did have to wage a war against an ancient enemy and without the full military might of the rest of the UNSC to back him up.

"Your… A.I. here has been expecting you." He nodded, tilting his head towards the newly refurbished storage device responsible for containing Adam.

"Adam?" The Chief muttered as he approached, standing over the artificial intelligence's small box body. To better allow Cortana in on the conversation, he inserted her data chip into the terminal to allow her to appear physically.

"Master Chief, I have been brought up to speed on such events that have transpired in my absence, but I still have questions for you that your Captain is unable to answer to a satisfactory degree." The robotic voice spoke up, the container glowing a dull blue as he spoke.

"I have been informed of Samus's birth to the three infant Metroids. What is their status?" Adam asked.

As if to answer, the three large floating Metroids that loyally and quietly followed after him came forward. "They are with me now, they refuse to leave my side. I do not know how to communicate with them, only- Samus knew how to." He informed blankly, a small almost unnoticed pause in his voice as he spoke of her.

"I see, that is good. They are the last of their entire species, you must not allow them to perish." Adam muttered. "I have been informed of Samus's disappearance in during her last mission. Do you still not have the information of her whereabouts?" He asked robotically.

"She's been deemed KIA. All that survived was her right arm." He responded sharply.

"Do you have her arm?" Adam asked, nonplussed by his statement.

"I do. What does that matter? She can't regrow her body from just her arm." He responded lowly.

"What is the condition of her arm?" Adam persisted anyway, poking the Spartan for information.

The Chief shook his head, before reaching back and procuring a large cylindrical storage device that had been magnetized to his rear armor plate. The sides of the container were made up of a translucent material, allowing all to see inside. Floating within a strange liquid was her arm, specifically her weapon arm, still covered with the bio-mechanical super suit's weapon system.

"What is the condition of the arm?" Adam asked.

"What do you-?"

"Is the Power-Suit still active?" Adam cut him off quickly. "Or is her arm unarmored?"

"Her power suit?"

"If her Power-Suit were to fail, or she had truly fallen in combat, the suit would subsequently dematerialize into nonexistence to prevent her enemies from capturing and reverse engineering her equipment." He explained.

The Spartan was quiet for a long moment, eyes widening slightly behind his helmet. "What are you trying to say?"

By now even Del Rio was deeply interested in what the artificial intelligence had to comment. Coming to the same conclusion that the Spartan assuredly had as well.

"If her suit is still active, despite such grievous damage, then she is still alive. If she had fallen victim to her wounds, then her arm cannon would've vanished instantly, yet you still have it with you."

"She was buried underneath an entire mountain, a Forerunner facility collapsed in on top of her, and an entire Covenant Corvette sealed her in an ocean of magma." Cortana snarked sharply, completely unbelieving of the other A.I.'s words. "You're trying to say that she somehow survived that?" She naked blue lady questioned sharply, arms crossed underneath her breasts. "We don't need unnecessary hope right now. Wake up, this is the real world, not whatever fantasy you think you're living in. She's not coming back!" She snapped uncharacteristically aggressively.

"Cortana." The Chief grunted sharply, yet, worried by her sudden outburst.

The A.I. had the decency to look embarrassed by her odd outburst, but she still believed what she said.

There was simply no way that Samus could've survived what had happened, she'd done the math, done every hypothetical scenario, and ran a million simulated scenarios in her mind and they all came back the same.

However, Adam's silence felt as if he was judging her instead of agreeing with her. She gained the odd impression that Adam was quirking an eyebrow at her in question, even though he was without a physical or digital body.

"Are you suggesting that you, someone who holds little information on Samus compared to myself, knows more about her in such a situation than I? Such an assumption is highly illogical, and purely speculative on your part." Adam quipped robotically, although for some reason his monotone voice seemed to make the statement just that much sharper. "But I do not blame you for such a simple line of thinking, it is to be expected."

"I-I-!" Cortana practically squeaked indignantly.

"As it stands, I have more then enough proof to provide to prove her continued existence. We must track her down immediately, because her condition could be serious. If we have lost contact with her, we must reestablish it as soon as possible." Adam stated. "Has anyone attempted to contact her?"

"Yes. But the planet has systems in place to prevent most outgoing communications. The Infinity's comms array is strong enough to send out messages over long distances, but no one else has a relay strong enough to respond through the heavy interference, if they received the message at all." Del Rio jumped in, bringing the attention to him. "If she's out there, she's on her own until we can figure out some way of communicating with-"

However, the man was cut off. One of the comms officers suddenly stood up from his station, a PDA in his hands. "Excuse me Captain, but I've got something approaching on the radar. It's not Covenant."

Del Rio sighed, standing back up. "Alright son, let's hear it." He said, crossing his arms.

The young soldier nodded. "Yes sir. We didn't notice their approach until they arrived just inside the kill zone. They were completely cloaked until about a few moments ago, we just picked them up."

"What?! Are you trying to tell me Infinity's systems couldn't detect them until they were right on top of us?" He questioned sharply.

"Y-Yes sir, but that may have something to do with their ship. Our sensors are designed to find Covenant and UNSC ships, Forerunner too. But-" The lieutenant tried explaining, but he was cut off.

"Captain, I'm getting an incoming transmission. Should I let it through? They wish to speak with you." Aine, the Infinity's shipboard main A.I. appeared suddenly, standing beside Cortana on the terminal.

"Let's hear it." He sighed, standing up, hands clasped behind his back.

All those in attendance stood patently waiting for the connection to be made, a holographic display appearing a few moments later.

The image that faded into view was of what appeared to be a heavily armor human wearing some sort of advanced power armor, something akin to Spartan armor, but drastically different. The figure wore a gray powered armor suit, a large blue glowing visor obscuring their face.

"To whom am I speaking with? Identify yourself." Del Rio spoke sharply, aged gaze firmly locked onto the mysterious figure.

"I am Commander Exeter of the Galactic Federation Task Force Herakles, I presume you are Captain Andrew Del Rio of the United Nations Space Command's flagship Infinity?" The man apply named Exeter introduced, before questioning Del Rio in return.

Del Rio glanced down to Aine in question, but she shook her head negative. "I've never heard of the Galactic Federation before. Whose side do you play in this war?" He asked lowly, more than a bit curious.

"I do not blame you, Captain Del Rio. However, perhaps you'd rather speak to a familiar face. As for whose side we align ourselves with, well, let's just say that we're more than happy to help." The man in gray commented, before stepping out of shot.

Almost immediately, a familiar green helmet and red visor stepped onto screen. "Hello again Captain. I apologize if my absence has caused any undue distress." Samus commented, visor depolarizing to allow them better access to see her face.

"My god… How the hell are you alive?" Del Rio barked in surprise, flabbergasted. "The reports said you were buried underneath a literal mountain of rubble, how did you manage to escape?" He questioned in stunned shock.

"That is a long story, and it's probably better I explain in person." The Bounty Hunter sighed tiredly. "Do we have permission to come aboard?" She asked in return.

"Permission granted, now get the hell on this ship so we can take the fight to that damn ancient bastard…

Docking bay five was quiet, the landing pad set for incoming ships. But all ships were currently boarded, leaving the bay empty save for the men and women stationed there.

Among those who worked in the bay, Spartan Fireteam Castle had made the area their unofficial gathering place in moments of downtime. Most other Spartans were inside the armory, the repair bays, or anywhere else.

However, due to Samus's involvement, not only had they made it through the last mission alive, but they'd barely suffered any injuries or damage to their armor. They had her to thank for that, and so much more, but, having lost her in their previous mission, the team had been quiet.

That was, at least until they'd received a message from the Captain himself.

Well, those working the landing bay did.

"Bay five, I'm authorizing landing access. Samus Aran will be joining you shortly. Give the Bounty Hunter your full attention."

The new command rang out like a gunshot, the crew springing to life to abide by their orders.

"What?!" Estey exclaimed in alarm, sitting up from her position atop an unmarked ammo box.

"There's no way, she died…" Casillas muttered quietly, standing a little straighter from where she'd been before, standing beside her companion Estey.

"That's insane… I don't believe it…" Lincoln breathed in disbelief, having already moved to stand at attention. A hand landed on his shoulder, Tashi standing by his side.

"If there was anyone that could've survived that shit-show, it's her." Tashi commented. "She did kinda bring you guys back to life…" She whispered, knowing it was something the alien woman wanted to keep a secret.

A secret to those outside of the Fireteam of course, but those on said team all knew. It would've been hard to hide the fact that some of them had seen their comrades fall in action, only to reappear untouched a minute later.

Explaining that one away to command was difficult, to say the least…

"Oh, so we believe in magic now…" Dunlap added, but from his tone it was apparent that he wasn't asking a question, but stating the truth simply. "That makes things way easier." He grunted, arms crossed over his metal armor.

"Focus up team, she's here." Ernst spoke up, standing at attention in front of his Fireteam.

The Infinity bay doors opened, revealing the strange looking starship that hovered just outside. It certainly wasn't Forerunner, nor Covenant. It was decidedly human, but not UNSC either.

The ship's engine hummed lowly, blue exhaust fluttering out from the thrusters as it maneuvered the ship inside. The marines on deck flagged the ship down, clearing the way for it to land. A few moments later saw it landing with a loud yet dull thud, the engine winding down.

The Spartan's of Fireteam Castle stood at attention to greet their guests.

The side of the ship hissed as it opened up, popping out slightly before it slid open to reveal those inside.

However, they had not been expecting to come face to face with armored super soldiers that stood in stark contrast to the Spartans currently aboard the Infinity.

Yet, standing at the front of the platoon of unknown soldiers stood Samus, dawning her hyper advanced biological power armor that continued to dwarf anything that humanity could ever hope to recreate. Even without her arm cannon, the weapon that could turn hordes of Covenant into a scarred graveyard, she could still easily tear apart an entire Spartan Fireteam and come out on top.

That thought alone was terrifically sobering…

The landing ramp lowered, giving the one armed Bounty Hunter easy access, something she used almost immediately to depart from the ship. Ernst found about a hundred questions floating around his head in that moment, all things he wanted to ask, wanted to know, things that only the mystical woman in front of him could answer.

But, instead he settled for greeting her return. "Welcome back Samus. I'm glad to have you with us again." He said, trying to keep the relief out of his voice.

She walked up to him, glancing up to him seeing as he, like all Spartans, was taller than her. "How are your Spartans?" Samus said, inquiring about the status of the man's squad.

Let it not be said that she knew that they were like family to the man, and her questioning about their health showed in her own awkward way that she cared.

Ernst could've sighed, glancing back to his soldiers that stood at attention a small distance behind him. "Thanks to you, everyone made it out alive." He explained in a terse yet almost jovial way, turning his attention back to her.

"And what of John?" Samus inquired lightly, her tone and nonchalant almost monotone attitude making it seem like she didn't care. It might seem cold and indifferent, but Ernst could pick up on the small tell of her tone, and the fact that she referred to the Master Chief as John showed just how she felt about him.

"Him too. Last I heard, he was on the bridge with the Captain. Your… kids haven't left his side since we were all separated." The Spartan team leader explained lightly.

Almost if on cue, the doors to the bay opened in the distance, the green Spartan himself stepping onto the deck. Before the Spartan could even visually track her down, the three Metroid's that followed him sped across the entire deck, scaring the life out of half the crew in the process.

But they didn't care…

Their mother had returned!

The Federation Troopers struggled to not flinch at the presence of the life sucking creatures that in any other circumstance wouldn't hesitate to slaughter their entire platoon. But they took Samus's words on it, and didn't raise their weapons…

Despite a few of them heavily struggling to fight the urge.

Samus held out her hand to them as if beckoning them to her side, and she wasn't afraid to smile a little once they had returned to her care. The Metroid's themselves all cooed loudly in glee, swarming around her and nuzzling her with their large bodies, sending gleeful, joyous emotions her way.

Despite herself, her stature as a woman of few words, a warrior that showed no mercy in battle, and a silent light in the darkness of a tormented world, she couldn't contain the little laugh that escaped from her lips at the emotions that swirled around her, caught up in the moment as her children didn't hesitate to show her their love and affection.

Seeing the three creatures that most of them had all at one point battled against, or seen slaughter hordes of Space Pirates in their own fortress, swirling around the green armored Bounty Hunter that now shared the same blood, was a bit of a culture shock.

Anthony shook his head, stepping up closer to the shorter woman. He couldn't contain the jovial laugh of his own, especially at seeing the woman he'd known to be so restrained actually lighten up a bit. "I'm sorry Princess, but this is something I'm going to have to get used to seeing." The big man laughed lightly, patting her on the back.

Before Anthony could say more about the situation, he was suddenly overwhelmed as the Metroid's swarmed him, flying around him in glee, almost as if they recognized him. The big man looked a bit spooked, but the casual look Samus threw his way seemed to convey whatever it needed to, and the man laughed nervously as her alien children cooed happily around him.

"Geez, you weren't kidding, this is definitely the oddest family reunion I've ever seen…" Smythe added, laughing nervously.

"No kidding, and here I thought seeing all those Luminoth wake up was the strangest thing. Do you remember when they tried to thank us, but it was kinda weird…?" Grippe spoke up beside the gray armored trooper.

"They were like, thirteen feet tall, of course it was weird…" Benet grunted, sounding as if he was rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, you say that, but don't pretend like we didn't see you looking as if you were on the verge of bailing out the second they all came to you…" Brode mocked, eyebrows raised behind his visor.

Ignoring the bickering behind her, Samus instead turned to face the Master Chief as he approached.

"Hello, John." Samus said, voice more gentle than anyone there had seen for a long time, eyes gazing up at the mountain of a man.

The Chief didn't say anything for a moment, face hidden behind his helmet. Then, after a moment, the tension in his shoulders lessened. "Welcome back… Samus." The man in green muttered in that low guttural tone of his. She felt as if there was so much more that he wanted to say to her, but the man wasn't known for his long winded speeches. "The Captain would like to see you on the bridge. Your Commander too." He added, throwing a glance at Exeter.

The Federation Trooper in question nodded as he moved to follow Samus.

"Exeter, your troopers will stay here for the time being. It will be too crowded on the bridge." Samus said, glancing at the bickering soldiers behind her.

"Understood, Ma'am…" Exeter nodded sharply, signaling for his troopers to stay behind on the loading bay and wait for new orders.

Chapter

23

End