Chapter 4
Master Chief instantly fired his assault rifle at the centaur that had fired the arrow at him, causing it to collapse with a cry.
"Great, now you've done it!" Cortana groaned as the other centaurs roared with fury.
"How dare you kill one of our own! You will die for this!" The centaur in front of Master Chief roared.
"I don't think so." Master Chief said. An instant later, his foot connected with one of the centaur's legs sweeping it under him, causing it to roar in pain. Then, Master Chief grabbed the centaur's chest and twisted the creature around to face the other centaurs as he put it in a headlock onto the ground pinning it there. He pulled his pistol out of its holster with his free hand and put it to the creature's head. "Nice, John!" Cortana groaned sarcastically.
"Any of you move, and he dies." Master Chief said. Then, he pointed his pistol at one of the centaurs and fired it, causing them all to instantly put an arrow to their bows. The centaur that Master Chief had fired at looked down slowly with shock, and then turned to see a bullet hole in the tree next to him.
"Nice shot." Cortana said as John put his pistol back on the centaur's head.
"Thanks." Master Chief said.
"Okay guys, let's just all calm down here. We don't need any more death. Let's all just put the weapons down." Cortana said out loud. Several centaurs frowned.
"I'd listen to the lady, or your leader's brains will be all over this place." Master Chief said. The car behind him honked. Then, he tightened his grip on the centaur's head, causing it to gasp and its legs to flail.
"You have a minute." Master Chief said as he fired a shot into the air.
"We promise, you will let us go, and we'll be on our way. What do you say, boys?" Cortana asked.
"...Fine. We will go. But if we see you again, we will kill you without hesitation." The centaur to Master Chief's left said. Then, the Spartan let go of the centaur, causing it to gasp and stagger several feet forward.
"Go now." Master Chief said as he reloaded his pistol with a loud click. The centaur that Master Chief had had in a headlock glared at the Spartan, before he snarled and took off in the direction that he had come from, quickly followed by the rest of the other centaurs. A few seconds later, the forest was completely deserted except for Master Chief, Cortana, the car, and the corpse of the centaur who Master Chief had shot.
"It's a shame. What a majestic creature." Cortana sighed as Master Chief looked at the corpse.
"Cortana, what did the car tell you before we were interrupted?" Master Chief asked as he reloaded his gun.
"Oh, right, sorry. Well, he's been out here for several years, ever since Nineteen ninety-two. Oh, and Chief, that spider you killed... there's more. A lot more. You don't have enough ammo to kill them all. Get into the car now." Cortana said. (Heh, can you get an image of that? Master Chief in a Ford Angelica? -LordCaldrin45. Yeh ok)
"Great. That car told you that?" Master Chief asked.
"Yeah. Trust me on this, John. I mean, I was right about the solution to the Flood, wasn't I? Do you know what I had to do to send you that message?" Cortana asked. Master Chief glared at the car. Several minutes ticked by. Then...
"Alright. If you trust this thing, then I guess it's for the right reasons." Master Chief sighed
"Excellent! Put me back in so I can tell him the Dawn's coordinates and get the controls. Oh, and John?" Cortana said as Master Chief reached for the computer chip. "What?" Master Chief asked.
"You and I both know that those centaurs couldn't hurt you in the slightest. Thanks for not starting a bloodbath." Cortana said. Master Chief didn't say a word as he yanked the chip out of his head and held it up to the dashboard. The AI leaped onto the dashboard and turned to look at the Spartan outside.
"Oh, I'll get the door for you." Cortana smiled, before touching the wire and vanishing. A second later, the side door of the car that Master Chief was next to swung open. Nervously, Master Chief got inside the car with some difficulty, due to his large size and bulky armor. When the Spartan was inside, the door swung shut. Then, static erupted through the car, causing Master Chief to look at the radio, which seemed to have turned on on its own.
"Joh-bbbbbzzzzz can you bbzzzzzz hea-bbbbbzzzzzz me?" Cortana's voice came over the radio.
"I hear you." Master Chief said as he tightened his grip on his assault rifle.
"Good. I'll fix th-bbbzzz radio in a fe-bbzzz seconds to get rid of this bbbzzzz static. Hang on Joh-bbbbbzzzzz. It might get a bit bumpzzz." Cortana said as the car's wheels started moving, sending it rolling through the trees.
"Good. I wasn't sure that this could work. With our friend's help here, we'll make it to the Dawn in much less time. Not only that, but this car also has some things that I've never seen in any type of vehicle, not even anything from our time." Cortana said.
"Like, this. You might want to hold onto something." Cortana laughed. Then, Master Chief was forced back against the chair as the car's engines roared and the vehicle accelerated. Then, to the Spartan's surprise, the car shot into the air and through the trees! In less than a minute, the car was skimming over the treetops. Now, the Spartan could see the rising smoke from the Dawn's crash site.
"Amazing, isn't it?" Cortana asked. Master Chief bet that if he could see the AI, she would be smiling.
"How did you get the car to do that?" Master Chief asked as he glanced out the window.
"Oh, I didn't. He could already do that. And if you press that button on top of the dashboard, this car will turn invisible." Cortana said. "Impressive." Master Chief said.
"John... what do you hope to find when we reach the Dawn? The best we'll find is a Longsword or a Pelican. That'll get us off the planet, but I don't know if the black hole is still there. And even if it is still there, once we get through it, we're exactly where we left off, trapped in unknown space with a slim hope of rescue." Cortana said. "Cortana, get to the point." Master Chief said as he tapped the dashboard.
"All right." Then, Cortana appeared over the dashboard, about two feet tall and shimmering blue.
"If you have a better idea, tell me." Master Chief said as he looked at the AI.
"Okay. You're going to call me crazy when you hear this, but just hear me out." Cortana said.
"Cortana?" Master Chief asked as he raised his hand.
"Right, sorry. So, when I got into the car the first time, it told me a bunch of things from when it came here. It was a bit jumbled, but I picked up something about someone named Harry Potter, and something called Weasleys. There was also something about a tree." Cortana frowned.
"And this helps us... how?" Master Chief asked.
"No, that's not what caught my attention. The car also told me about a large castle that was supposedly nearby. Needless to say, that got my interest. So, I scanned the area, and sure enough, I found it." Cortana smiled as she held her hand out. An instant later, the blue shimmering image of a gigantic castle appeared above the AI's hand.
"Impressive. Did you learn anything else about this place?" the Spartan asked with interest as he looked at the rotating image.
"Yes. The castle's name is Hogwarts." Cortana said.
"Sounds like a disease." Master Chief said.
"It's not a disease, John. I think that that castle is the source of the signal that I detected earlier." Cortana said.
"So, should we take it out?" Master Chief asked.
"NO! John, I think that there's much more to this castle. I already have its exact coordinates. We should get inside, find out more about it. Maybe there's something inside that we can use." Cortana said.
"Do you think that it's Forerunner?" Master Chief asked.
"I don't think so. The structure and design don't match anything on the ruins that we found on Halo and The Ark, or anything from Dr. Halsey's research. John, this might be something else entirely." The AI frowned.
"How should we get in? What's the security?" Master Chief asked.
"John, let's avoid shooting for the minute. Now, once I found the castle, I extended the scanner. I found several routes that we can take. I'm widening the area margin now." The AI said as the image of the castle shrunk and a green floor formed around it. A minute later, images started forming around the castle, including a lake and part of the forest. "Tell me." Master Chief said as he leaned in to look at the images. Then, the lake glowed green.
"Okay. One of the things that I found when I extended the scan was a large lake, located to the south of the castle. I was thinking that we could do what we did when we were looking for the Silent Cartographer on Halo, and do an air insertion with a Pelican, if we find one. Problem is..."
"That would attract too much attention, and whoever was inside would see us coming." Master Chief said.
"Exactly. I also detected a small town about three miles away to the east of the castle. Not the best place to go if you want to avoid attention." Cortana frowned as a green dot appeared several miles from the castle.
"Cortana, just how populated is this place?"
"Well, Chief, I can't tell you for sure until we get inside."
What other entry points are there?"
"Well, I detected an old railway leading to a station here, about two miles away. I've never seen this ancient type of railway before..." Cortana sighed.
"Cortana, focus. Any chance of that route?" Master Chief asked as the car rumbled softly.
"I'm not sure. The train isn't in, but that won't work. There's a gate at that end. So, that way's out." Cortana sighed.
"So, that means that we've got through the forest again. And we've got to take a Warthog, since a Pelican will be too visible." Master Chief said. "Exactly." Cortana sighed.
"We're here." The AI said softly. Master Chief looked out the window. Below them was the forest floor, with a jagged brown line cutting through the green forest like a jagged knife. Then, the Dawn came into view. The Dawn looked bad. There was debris scattered through the crash site, and the main part of the Dawn was bent in the front part. The half where the ship had been cut after the portal collapsed still had an orange glow, which Master Chief couldn't decide if the glow had been caused by reentry or was remaining from the ship being cut in half.
"It's like the Autumn all over again, isn't it?" Cortana asked.
"Only, we're not going to rig the engines to explode." Master Chief said as the car headed towards the back of the Dawn and coasted towards the ground.
"John, did you just make a joke?" Cortana actually gaped at the Spartan. Master Chief didn't say a word as the car's wheels touched down, causing it to shake.
"Hang on! We'll stop in a minute!" Cortana yelled. Just as the AI promised, the car slowed to a stop in the Dawn's debris trail. Then, the door swung open. "Yank me." Cortana said. Then, the car honked.
"Really?" Cortana asked as she turned and blinked. The car honked again.
"Why, thank you! I didn't think a relic like you had good taste!" Cortana smiled. The car honked again. Master Chief wacked the dashboard.
"Oh, alright." Cortana sighed as she vanished. Then, Master Chief yanked the chip out of the dashboard and put it back in his head. The Spartan quickly got out of the car and slammed the door behind him.
"Thanks for your help. We owe you one." Cortana said out loud. The car honked.
"Oh, I don't know... I'll let you know. See ya around." Cortana laughed. Then, the car started again, and shot into the trees. The rumbling vanished a few minutes later. "He was nice. For an old guy, he's quite polite." Cortana chuckled.
"You understood that?" Master Chief asked.
"Oh yes, I did. Oh, John, there's something you should know." Cortana said as Master Chief started walking towards the Dawn.
"What?" Master Chief asked.
"He wasn't powered by electricity." Cortana said.
"Are you sure?" Master Chief asked with surprise as he looked in the direction that the car had gone.
"Positive. Whatever was powering him also gave him those abilities. And John... I think I absorbed a portion of that energy when I took over his controls." Cortana said. "Are you sure?" Master Chief asked as he reached the Dawn's remains and looked inside.
"I'm sure. I already saved the energy and appropriated it into my data for future categorization. It shouldn't cause any damage to my systems. This energy is... odd. It's similar to the signal coming from Hogwarts." Cortana said as Master Chief turned his helmet lights on and looked around, keeping his gun pointed out in front of him.
"So... what does that mean?" Master Chief asked as he walked through a dark hallway. It was clear that the Dawn had absolutely no power left. No sirens were blaring, and no lights were on.
"This actually works to our advantage. I've already started to incorporate part of the energy into your armor systems and my data. So now, your armor will soon act as a shield against the signal. It won't mess with our system again." Cortana said just as Chief's shields went down and up again with the new shields a deeper, thicker golden color than before.
"Impressive. Now, where's the armory?" Master Chief asked.
Cortana indicating onto the visor with an arrow "It should be... right here."
Master Chief came around the next corner and stopped at a door. He grabbed both sides and forced it open, slowly sliding apart and then smashed against the sides with a crack. Then, Master Chief stepped into the room and looked around.
"John... we just hit the mother lode." Cortana said s Master Chief looked around. Sure enough, the room was packed with all the UNSC weapons, including shotguns, sniper rifles, rocket launchers, even Spartan Lasers.
"Amazing. Johnson must have stocked this room before he flew the frigate to the control room. It's like he's still watching out for us." Cortana sighed.
"That's not all." Master Chief said as he turned to look towards the left. Sure enough, there were some Covenant weapons propped up in a rack. Energy sword hilts, plasma rifles... all there.
"This must have been put in before the Dawn went into the Portal to the Ark." Master Chief said as he picked up a hilt and pressed it, causing a blue blade to snap out. "Amazing... what are you going to get, John?" Cortana asked as Master Chief grabbed several grenades and assault rifle ammo. Then, he grabbed a rocket launcher. "Nice. If a spider shows up, we'll just blow it away." Cortana chuckled as Master Chief picked up a combat knife, and slid it into a case on his left leg.
"How close is the hanger?" Master Chief asked as he grabbed a sniper rifle, and then left the room.
"About one hundred feet in front of us." Cortana said as Master Chief sprinted through several hallways, until he reached a large door. He backed up several feet, and fired a rocket at the door, blowing it open.
"Wow." Cortana said as the smoke faded, revealing the hanger. There were three Pelicans, hooked to giant hooks connected to the ceiling, and three Warthogs. One was flipped, and one was smashed against the wall. The third was, ironically, next to a Scorpion tank. The hanger door to the outside was completely smashed, leaving a gigantic opening. "John, no." Cortana said.
"What?" Master Chief asked.
"While that tank would be useful in clearing a path to Hogwarts, it would make a lot of noise. Whoever is in that castle would hear you coming a mile away." Cortana said. "Fine." Master Chief said as he climbed into the Warthog next to the Scorpion tank and turned the vehicle on.
"Let's go." Master Chief said as he punched the accelerator, sending the Warthog shooting through the hanger and right out the smashed opening. For a minute, the Warthog flew through the air. Then, it smashed into the ground and bounced for a second. Then, the Warthog shot into the trees, and vanished several seconds later.