The Earth Empire
11:20 PM
Thorne and the others walked across the sand dunes, gaining distance between them and the mountains where Zaofu was located. The frigid night air of the desert and the pale moonlight only gave our heroes cold comfort in their current situation. Asami aimed her M6C Magnum towards the direction they were coming from while slowly following Thorne's lead as he carried the wounded Avatar turned Spartan on his back. Mako and Bolin, an ODST and a mover star in full Marine BDU pressed forward half a klick from Thorne and Asami. Bolin always ready to earthbend boulders below the sand or whip out his sidearm when needed. Mako always vigilant had his Battle Rifle out and ready, but doubts began to flare up inside his head.
Maybe he should've brought his ODST squad with him, Lima-Bravo, or perhaps he should've followed Korra. Such thoughts began to collect inside the Orbital Drop Shock Trooper's mind by the minute, but he didn't allow them to distract him. "Almost near the navpoint." Thorne told Mako and Bolin via comm. As Mako and Bolin moved up over a dune they noticed a very familiar structure in the next sand valley. A Forerunner temple.
The team gathered in front of the gates of the temple, it wasn't much besides the sand that had mostly covered its gray exterior walls. "How do we get inside?" Bolin asked.
"Forerunner structures and devices tend to interact with human touch, do they not?" Asami has had limited interaction with Forerunner technology, mostly dealing with Promethean weaponry. Thorne motioned to Asami to go forward and open the gates. "Oh, okay."
Asami stood face to face with the gates, they looked dead, without power. No pulsating lights or low hums, just dead silence. She placed her right hand over the metal gate, it was cold to the touch. They waited for five seconds but nothing happened. "Something must be wrong." Mako said.
"Maybe power's out?" Bolin proposed.
"This entire planet is Forerunner, it can't be out of power." Thorne began to get frustrated by the recent turn of events. With Korra still on his arms, Throne kicked the metallic door as hard as he could. Even with his superior strength he didn't even put a dent on the Forerunner alloy. "You've got to be kidding me…"
"Let me try it again." Asami said, this time slowly passing her soft hand over the cold metal, trying to find a holographic panel of some kind. Her hand passed over a Forerunner glyph inscribed over the gate, the glyph pulsated into life with pale blue light. Asami's smile confirmed that the temple was active once more. "Come on guys, let's get inside!" The temple's gates began to open allowing the team to get shelter and safe place to camp. But as they entered, Mako turned around to look at the sand dunes again.
That's when the young ODST noticed something over the dunes, light reflecting off something. He furrowed his eyebrows, still equipping his helmet, Mako activated VISR mode allowing the software to highlight and analyze his surroundings and even distant objects in his direct vision. An outlined appeared over where he had seen the reflection…and the helmet analyze the object. SRS99-S5 AM…Sniper Rifle…Mako's eyes widened as soon as the VISR system told him what it analyzed. When his eyes moved to once again look at what most likely was the sniper's scope reflecting off the moonlight, in a full single motion, ducked onto the sandy metal ground as a high velocity anti-materiel bullet ripped through the air, missing him, and hitting the Forerunner floor behind the ODST. "Sniper!" Mako yelled, running towards cover behind a column. The rest of team gasped, surprised that they had been followed. Asami quickly ran back to the gate, this time on its interior side, and placed her hand over it.
"Come on, come on!" She said as sniper shots bounced off the gate, the sniper was trying to rip her to pieces. The gate acknowledged her command once again, closing itself. "Faster!" But then it stopped, "Huh?!" It wasn't open enough that it allowed the sniper clear shots towards them, but it was opened so that a person could still get inside.
"Why isn't it closing?!" Mako yelled.
"I don't know!" Asami responded as she slammed her hand over the glyphs trying to get the gate to close. That's when an armored hand grasped her arm by the wrist stopping her attempts to close the gate. Frightened, Asami turned her head to see who it was. Spartan Andrews, the close-quarters specialist of the now Imperial Fireteam Horus stood over her in silence. Asami saw her face reflected off the Spartan's inhuman visor. He threw Asami away like as she was a paper airplane, she grabbed her right wrist in pain. The Spartan was outfitted in full MJOLNIR GEN2 HOPLITE armor, an imposing figure that brought not only a sense of ancient duty but also fear upon others. The loud steps of the Spartan's boots echoed across the empty dark hall of the temple's entrance.
Andrews approached a still hurting Asami on the floor, his shadow stood over her. She took out her pistol with her left hand, but the Spartan kicked it away, "Say goodbye, princess." He prepared to stomp her but Mako emerged out of cover and tackled the bigger man away. They crashed into a column, Mako grunted as he was punched away by the Spartan. The punch cracked Mako's helmet, making the VISR system malfunction.
"Agh…!" He took off his helmet and threw away, it was of no use now. Mako was ready to fight but before he could react a flurry of punches overwhelmed him, Mako fell on the floor feeling as if every bone in his body had been pulverized into dust. Agonizing, Mako tried to crawl towards Asami, "Pass me your gun!" He yelled. Asami quickly turned around where her pistol had fallen to, she quickly went for it, but a bullet ripped through the magnum, almost harming Asami's hand.
"None of that." Andrews said holding onto his own Magnum/SOCOM with a smoking barrel, "I want to teach this Helljumper a valuable lesson when it comes in fighting a superior being."
Before he could beat Mako into a pulp several pistol rounds struck his energy shields, Andrews turned to see Bolin coming towards him unloading his magnum on the Spartan's shields. Laughing, Andrews approached Bolin and grabbed his hands and pistol. "This is a peashooter, boy." He lifted Bolin into the air with a single arm, "Should've gotten an older model."
"BOLIN!" Mako yelled at his brother, his bloody lips and black eye and beaten body preventing the ODST from helping his endangered sibling.
Then Andrews felt someone tapping his shoulder, "Hey bud…" He turned his head, he had been so preoccupied that he forgot to keep an eye in his motion tracker. "How about you bully someone your own size?!"
Another armored fist crashed against Andrew's helmet, making the rebel Spartan let go of Bolin. Andrews was dazed, he had been taken off guard and now was seeing stars in his vision. "Who…?!"
"A real Spartan." Thorne replied, grabbing Andrews by the torso and suplexing him into the floor. The loud impact of Andrew's head striking the hard metal floor rumbled through the temple. Before Andrew's legs fell onto the floor, Thorne grabbed one by the hands and spun the rebel Spartan in a circle and with all his force threw him into a wall. This time the force and mass were strong enough to dent the metal, Andrews fell into the ground this time, motionless.
Thorne walked towards the Horus member, crouched in front of the unmoving Spartan, "Your boss had a lot of faith placed into you and that sniping coward outside. I'm sure they're listening in on your radio signal right now so…Kuvira and Donar, allow me to tell you that you failed the very moment you took Zaofu."
Mako being helped by Bolin to walk and Asami approached Thorne, "Every nation of the world is now against you, and so is the might of the United Nations Space Command Defense Force. Enjoy what little time you have left."
Thorne stood back up, lifted his right leg, and then in one stomp crushed Andrews' head in immediately killing the traitorous Spartan. "One down, three to go."
"Was that really necessary?" Bolin asked.
"He was going to kill us, Bo." Asami responded still feeling her injured wrist. "It was him or us."
"The other one is still outside, you three get deeper inside, Korra is over there. I'll stay here and watch your backs." Thorne said, "The sniper and marksman are coming soon."
"Thorne, you sure about that? You'll be outnumbered two to one." Mako said.
"Then it's an even fight." Thorne smirked, "You know your roles, go!" The trio nodded in agreement and ran, as quickly as they could, deeper inside the temple. Thorne walked towards Mako's Battle Rifle that he had left on the floor. He grabbed it and looked at the ammo counter, 25. "Enough."
The whistling of the cold air slipping between the metal gates alongside the hint of moonlight heralded a battle to the death. "If you could only see me now, DeMarco. You wouldn't even last a second here." He remembered his old team and fireteam leader, "Come on, ya traitors! Show me what you got!" Shadows then appeared coming out of the metal gates' opening… "Because I'm sure as hell going to show you what I got."
The trio appeared to enter a cathedral, passing through the final portal at the end of the entrance hallway. The entrance behind them closed leaving them locked inside, "There!" Mako spotted Korra. She had been left on top of a metal half wall. Bolin helped Mako to get a good footing, Asami walked towards Korra. She looked at her unconscious friend, "Yeah, she's okay. Well…as okay as being bullet wounded can be." She informed them.
"What is this place?" Bolin asked while he looked around, the blue lights giving warm light over them, through the angular structure of the Cathedral. "Looks really really nice despite being covered in sand."
"Seems to me that it's a religious place." Mako said while tending to his left black eye, "Didn't know that the Forerunners were the type to worship anything."
"Who knows." Asami said as she approached a physical panel, a rarity when it came to Forerunner tech. She approached a nearby weapon stand and pulled out a Suppressor. "But we have to dive deeper into this place and find a back exit."
"Sure, but who's carrying Korra?" Bolin asked.
The structure shook, the blue lights illuminating the section of the Cathedral blinked. "I don't like the feel of that!" Bolin said, Mako ran towards the locked gate that sealed them away from the entrance and tried to hear any sounds from the other side.
"Can't hear a thing, something bad must've happened." Mako stated, "Ok, Bo, you and I are carrying Korra. Asami, you'll have to scout on ahead of us. Here." He threw a flashlight at her. "That Suppressor isn't going to be of any good if you can't see. Area ahead is dark."
"Ok." Asami nodded, "If you guys hear shooting…well…at least tell my Board of Directors that they're fired."
"Don't worry Asami, you'll be fine!" Bolin reassured her, she smiled and ran towards the unsealed gateway leading to dark corridors.
Slowly walking through the tight hallways of the buried Forerunner Cathedral Asami held unto her flashlight, shining its light at every intersection she came across. Most of the gates leading to other rooms were locked red, not allowing her access. 'Huh…weird.' Asami wondered, normally Forerunner constructs would obey human touch, but this place seemed to be completely locked in many areas.
Still, besides it being dark, Asami thought to herself that there was nothing in here. It was an abandoned temple, that's all. 'But why would they abandon it? And why have it outside the inner layers of the planet?' She kept thinking, this wasn't adding up. The hallways seemed endless, she hoped that Mako and Bolin were near behind her, but she couldn't hear any of their footsteps. No sounds besides her own leather boots tapping on the hard metal floor and her own heartbeat.
Asami turned around and looked at the hallway she had come from, shined the flashlight towards it. Nothing but walls. "Mako..Mako…!" She called onto the darkness. No response. "Bolin…!"
Clack! Clack! Clack! She quickly turned her head forward, the loud clacks froze the young businessowner in place, chills running down her spine. Her fine hair spiked upwards in fear, Asami knew of the Flood. She had seen what the parasite could do, and the thought of a Flood containment area being built-in into this place gave her great dread. 'Oh no…oh no…' Asami slowly followed the sound of the clacks and found yet another locked door. She sighed, she approached the sealed door and placed her hand over the control panel but this time it obeyed her. The door opened revealing another 'church' chamber.
Asami entered, this chamber was much bigger than the previous one. A great hologram lightened the great room, the image of a Forerunner construct. She had never seen one like it before, the closest structure that she could compare it to was the War Sphinx but this thing dwarfed it.
"Incredible." She whispered to herself. Then the sound of static came into the radio strapped to her hip, she had forgotten she had it on hand. "Mako, is that you?" Asami asked.
"Asami…listen to me…" It was Bolin who was whispering, "The door behind us was blown up from the other side…and Mako just accessed a terminal we found in one of the locked rooms. He says that this place's security measures were activated by it."
A cold feeling rushed down Asami's body at the realization, "We don't know what was released." Mako then said through the radio, "But its hunting us, if you hear anything, and I mean anything, don't follow it. It might not even be a Sentinel or a Promethean. Be careful. We'll be moving ahead, meet us at the end of the maze."
"Yeah…yeah." Asami replied, the signal ended. She held up the Suppressor in her hands upward, the light given off by the hologram of the odd Forerunner 'vehicle' only lighten so much of the chamber. The dark corners, the places where whatever this thing could be hiding and watching her, could be. Asami exited the chamber, relocking the door behind her. 'I have to find the exit. Find the exit. Find the exit!' She gave herself confidence, enough to run back into the black hallways.
Outside of Zaofu
Varrick took off his welding goggles and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He turned to Zhu Li, "Alright…I think we're about done here." He told her as he placed the last energy canister in place. The orange glow reflected off the silvery metal of the device he had constructed. "And it only took us the better part of three days. Are we geniuses or what?!"
"Can't argue with the results sir, but…of its use…" Zhu Li commented.
"There's nothing we can do now, Zhu Zhu. Its all in the hands of Kuvira, and we better get the hell out of Dodge when she aims this puppy towards the poor sod that makes fun of her eyebrows!" Varrick took off his working apron and threw it at a nearby trash bin.
"Dodge…sir?"
"It's a figure of speech I learned from my stay on Earth, Zhu! Sorry you weren't able to come along, they only wanted dignitaries, assistants not wanted." Varrick approached the intercom next to the exit. "Hey, Mr. Bossy Pants, your thingamajig is ready!"
"You better be telling the truth, Varrick." Baatar Jr replied from the other side.
"Oh, you'll find it surpassing your expectations." Varrick responded.
"Thingamajig, sir?" Zhu Li once again questioned Varrick's choice of words.
"Its another figure of speech Zhu Li, keep up!"
Baatar Jr came in running, excited to be the first one to witness the activation of the great weapon. He breathes in and out, catching his breath, he looked up to see the weapon still covered in darkness from the poorly lit up laboratory. "Yes…yes!" He salivated this triumph as he walked towards Varrick and Zhu Li. "Turn it on."
"No drum roll? No grandiose speech?" Varrick questioned Baatar Jr's overenthusiasm. He received a death glare from the Imperial Lieutenant. Varrick sighed and pulled the activation lever. What lights were still up alongside the computers and monitors exploded as the surge of power was too great for mere electronics. The weapon's eyes lit up red, as its gears began to turn, and pistons came to life.
"Ahahahaha! Yes!" Baatar Jr maniacally laughed. "Behold the weapon that will allow us to take back not only the lost lands of the Empire but also punish those who dare to oppose us!"
Varrick looked at Zhu Li, "I think this guy is a bit nuuuuts." He whispered to her, she nodded in agreement as they tensed up as Baatar Jr kept laughing.
"Stand great weapon! Stand and serve our Empress! Take flight, our Earth God!" Baatar Jr exclaimed as the immense mechanical monstrosity activated its Promethean Core. The red lights of the supposed 'Earth God' changed color, turning reddish orange, a very telling color.
"I have been awoken on a grand station of the Forerunner Ecumene" Its voice boomed, the mechanical beast turned its head downwards to see the three small humans beneath it. "I supposed that you are to thank for my release into this new robot shell. I appreciate it."
"It speaks!" Baatar Jr said in surprise.
"Yeeeeah…well remember that Core you brought for me to use? Well, it was more like an egg…than a power supplyyyy…. yeah." Varrick said while rubbing the back of his neck.
"WHAT?!" Baatar Jr angrily yelled.
"Well you told me to either use or off was with my head, jeez!" The scientist replied. Kuvira and Donar alongside several Earth Empire Soldiers came running out of the booming voice echoing into the steel walls of Zaofu.
"Baatar, what the hell is that thing!?" Donar asked in awe, "Is this…"
"Hm, more humans. Unexpected. It is a surprise to see you all after so many millennia asleep. You may refer to me as the Grammarian, a Lord General of the Ecumene." The great mechanical colossus said, in a surprising and perplexingly friendly way.
"You…you're not trying to kill us." Kuvira said.
"Ages I have slumbered in the canals of this shield world, Requiem. I was transformed into digital code after our leader, the Didact, used the Composer as last resort against the Parasite in the waning years of the Great Cataclysm, before the firing of the Array." It explained. "I was entombed by the Librarian alongside my brethren Prometheans, but unlike them I mastered my current form after deep mental meditation within my rather peculiar Cryptum that now rests within this chassis."
"That still doesn't explain your friendliness towards us…Forerunner constructs aren't the most cooperative things." Kuvira replied, walking closer to it despite Donar's silent reprehension. "I suspect that you don't share the same feelings that the Didact had on our race."
"I had always opposed Didact's stern hand, more so after the drastic measures he made in countering the Parasite. I do not hate your species, humans, but neither am I a…fan, as you could understand. But answer me this, why have you unearthed me from my eternal rest?" Now the great Colossus asked, feeling curious on the current circumstances.
"I seek a weapon to liberate my people from tyranny and superstition!" Kuvira answered. "I come to you for help."
"Kuvira…?" Baatar Jr saw how his leader, the Empress, bow downed before the Colossus. The immense Promethean had a puzzled look on its mechanical face.
"Once again you surprise me." Grammarian said, "I am no weapon you can direct commands to. But this world has fallen to disrepair, there's a disturbing odor in the air and a twisting feeling bringing disgust to my non-existent stomach."
"Help us to bring law and order to our people, and we'll help you access the Dyson Sphere." Kuvira gave her proposal, "Allies?"
"Hmm…very well. I shall aid you, although my offensive capabilities are limited in my current position. This weapon, this cannon, is very crude but its energies are appropriate. It is Forerunner. I deduce that your people have explored more than just the innards of this planet." Grammarian looked at his arm cannon, it was a proper cannon but the energies coming out of it were different, stranger, but as the Colossus had stated…very Forerunner.
"We can upgrade you in due time, Grammarian. Donar!" Kuvira turned to her Spartan, he saluted. "Commence preparations for Phase 2 of Operation: Revelation, and Baatar…show Grammarian the way to the trainyard, we'll need him to be ready for transport."
"As you wish, Empress!" Baatar Jr nodded and ran out of the entrance.
"And Varrick…" She approached Varrick and Zhu Li, he recoiled at the call of his name in Kuvira's cold and logical voice. "Once we get going, I want you inside the train overlooking maintenance of Grammarian's chassis. No fooling around, are we clear?"
"But…but…I was promised…" He tried to stand clear with their previous arrangement.
"You will go free ONCE we get the colonies back. Are. We. Clear?" Kuvira insisted.
"Like…crystal." Varrick knew when he was beaten, there was nothing he could do against Kuvira and her overwhelming personality.
"Good." Kuvira smirked, pleased that her planned final solution would soon be a reality, although a bit different from what she predicted.
'The Cathedral'
Somewhere in the Earth Empire
11:45 PM
Asami held onto her Suppressor tightly, journeying through the black Forerunner hallways with only a simple flashlight lighting her way. Radio frequency was sketchy, but good enough for small updated between her and both Mako and Bolin. They still had an unconscious and very heavily armored Korra with them, so they would take longer in reaching the exit out of this place than Asami would. If she made it first there she would need to hold it…since they were all being hunted by a Forerunner security instance. According to Bolin it wasn't a Sentinel or even a Promethean of any variation, it was different somehow.
The young woman was understandably afraid of whatever it was, it had been a while since she's had to deal with automated security drone inside derelict tombs of a long dead civilization in the middle of nowhere. 'Should've stayed together…' She thought to herself, Asami wasn't someone to get easily scared or jumpy, she's fought her fair share of monsters, but there was always something about the dark that irked her. Something primal that rose up through her spine, towards the base of her head, giving out that old familiar feeling. That cool, but uncomfortable feeling, that only darkness and silence would give to a person.
What's fascinating about humanity is their ability to not only overcome challenges, and adapt to them on a moment's notice, but their insistence on not leaving things well enough alone. Nevertheless, it has a common trait that all members of mankind share, and at this moment, Asami is currently feeling a deep sense of regret of entering here. She would've preferred trekking the vast desert instead.
Dim blue lights began to lead the way, Asami noticed, as she made a turn right at an intersection. It's not like she had a map of the Cathedral, but the lights pulsated towards to what she believed to be the east…or west…she wasn't sure, but they were surely going somewhere. Electrical pulses that would need to be vented out, like a Halo's pulse towers that vented out excess energy out of the Halo's deeper sections. This place may work the same, if it was big enough. Asami followed the pulsating lights down the corridor.
As she went from room to room, each one as grandiose and empty as the last ones, Asami noticed a pattern. The Forerunner glyphs on the walls were different each time. She had studied or at least tried to study on Forerunner language, the glyphs over Forerunner artifacts and dig sites. These were numbers, they had to be, and the glyphs were going counter-clockwise meaning that she was going at the right direction. She smiled, 'Asami, you've done it again!' She praised herself. Walking towards the exit of the grand hall, she heard a loud PANG. She turned around to see the entrance of where she had walked from close and the door turning red, locked.
Another loud PANG! Asami quickly reached for her radio, "Bolin…did the doors around you close and locked themselves?" She asked.
"No…we're still on our way to the exit. We're following these funny lights." Bolin whispered. "Wait, did the doors lock around you?"
"Yes…" She replied.
"Asami…get out of there. Now." Bolin said in a very serious tone. Asami didn't respond, her green eyes looked forward…on the other side opposite to her, where the locked door was, stood whatever had been awaken from the interloping of the enemy Spartans outside. It looked bestial as it looked mechanical, its sheen metal exterior was smooth and untouched by time. Orange lines decorated it, resembling elegant stripes, going all around its silvery body…its silvery feline-like body.
"Intruder." It said as it slowly approached Asami, "Scanning presence, determining menace level."
Asami walked backwards slowly, trying to make the least amount of sudden movement as possible. "Weapon detected. Scanning threat-level. Z-130. Threat-level: minimal. Menace level of intruder: insignificant. Entering guard mode. Intruder state your business."
"Uh…um, my friends and I got lost here trying to get away from our enemies." She replied.
"Confirming. Security scanners state that the southern exit of the Cathedral was destroyed by 'unknown subjects' as several heat signatures entered deeper into the complex. This confirms your situation."
"Have you been following us?"
"Analyzing inquiry. Negative, this unit had been originally awakened to inspect damage and intruder threat-level to facility. Intruder might've come to the presence of another unit, a stalking-unit."
"Is it…bad?"
"The stalking-unit has scanned you, intruder. Communicating. Awaiting response. Response completed. Intruder deemed inoffensive but preferred to be watched. Unit-434 sent to investigate and detain. That is this unit."
The locked door's red light turned green and opened, Bolin stepped in alongside Mako carrying Korra on his back…while her metal feet scraped the floor. "Asami!" Bolin excitingly yelled…before fear overcame his face at the sight of the Forerunner metal beast in front of Asami.
"Bo, what's…" Mako said as Bolin dropped Korra's right arm into the ground thus increasing the weight on Mako. The firebender looked at the mechanical beast as well, fight or flight kicked in…fight took over. The ODST armed himself with his empty hand, firing his magnum in an instant.
"No!" Asami yelled but it was too late, the bullets struck the cat-like guardian. It recoiled at the gunfire and ran away towards cover. Bolin and Mako carried Korra towards a nearby wall and placed her there. "Why did you shoot?!" Asami asked as the brothers joined her.
"What do you mean why did we shoot?! It's a giant metal panther!" Bolin responded, taking fighting stance.
"No, you don't get it, this is just a recon unit!" Asami clarified. "It's going to call the stalker-unit now!"
"The what?!" Mako was interrupted with a loud alarming sound filling the chamber, the panther-sentinel came out of hiding.
"Threat-level reconfigured. Menace: Significant. Stalker-unit…Strike mode activated. This unit is now retreating." The panther-sentinel jumped into one of the vents adorning the chamber as the loud alarm continued.
"Alright we gotta the hell out of here before the big one gets here." Asami said running towards the door exiting the chamber.
"Bolin let's get Korra here now!" Mako said, Bolin nodded and the two went back to retrieve the Avatar. Asami looked at the control panel for the door, she rushed through its menu to locate an override code to open the door. There was a description of this chamber; it said that it was a sort of lobby or grand entrance to something. Asami continued speed reading as the noise continued around her.
On the other side of this chamber lied the Amphitheater, a Forerunner war room essentially, were members of the Ecumene would gather and discuss matters of the military. Luckily enough, the Amphitheater also connected to what seemed to be the backside entrance of the Cathedral; back to the desert most likely. Asami smiled as the button for 'open' lit up, she pressed it and the door opened. "Okay its open, let's get in!" She yelled at the others who quickly carried Korra with them. The group entered the room and the door closed back shut behind them.
As soon as they made it to the other side, the door was dented outward with a huge bang scaring the team. Another bang! The door took the punishment, denting but not breaking open. An annoyed roar was heard from the other side, then silence…the alarm noise stopped as well.
The trio sighed in relief, they turned to gaze upon the Amphitheater. It was massive, circular rows of seats, fifty rows in total, surrounded a spherical center. The sphere in the center was holographic, projected from a metal base with blue lights. The hologram was that of Requiem itself, idly moving in its place resembling the planet's movement on its axis. "So, this is what a Forerunner war room looks like." Asami curiously said. "Expected it to be larger."
"Maybe for Chiefs of Staff only?" Mako proposed as he and Bolin carried Korra towards the center close to the hologram, the blue steady glow of the holographic world relaxed them. "It would make sense."
"Probably." Asami said as she placed her hand over the hologram, it was hardlight and warm to the touch. "This must interface with Forerunner combat skins, and not really programmed for human hands like the other pieces of tech."
"Yeah, I noticed too. Some of the doors just don't work when we touched them." Bolin said.
Asami walked towards one of the computer terminals of the many rows of the chamber, it was off, but she tried to turn it on. Nothing. "This entire complex must be really, really, old. Like older than the reconfiguration given to Forerunner tech that allowed us to interface with it. This must first era."
"First era?" Bolin asked.
"It's a fancy term archeologist are dating Forerunner devices." Mako replied.
"We catalogued Forerunner eras according to the age of the things we've found in this world and compared them to the data other teams have found offworld and on the Halo. We've come up with four defined eras; Pre-War, War, Post-War, and Monitorial. This place is definitely pre-war; way before war with the Flood." Asami explained, "It must've been abandoned once the Didact composed his chiefs of staff."
"But why all the way out here and not inside?" Mako asked.
"I don't know…it's weird for me too." Asami answered, "But anyway, this place is dangerous." She ran towards the gate with the Forerunner Glyph detailing that it was indeed the exit. She opened it and smiled towards the brothers. "Let's get out of here."
Exiting the Amphitheater into the desert, the cool wind of the night brought solace to the team. Asami smiled as she allowed the breeze to go through her long black hair, "Finally, some fresh air." She said.
"Signal should be good again." Mako said looking at his SRT UGPS wrist attachment, "Still works."
"I like how you have two pads for each wrist, really busy." Bolin joked, Mako sported a TACPAD on his right wrist and the aforementioned UGPS device.
"Hilarious, bro." Mako replied looking at the GPS getting signal back to the orbiting satellites. "Ah, here we go. We just appeared on the radar, back-up should be coming any time now."
"Wait hold on." Asami interjected.
"What?" Mako replied.
"Is the signal secure, like exclusive for ODSTs?" Asami asked, her tone shifting from relax to worried.
"No, the UGPS signal is visible to anyone in the UNSC that has one." Mako answered. "Oh…you got to be…"
A flashbang exploded in front of them before Mako could finish his sentence. "Ah damn I can't see a t…!" Bolin was punched in the face, falling on the sands, Mako was slammed into the cold sand and Asami was grabbed by the shoulders and pinned to the ground as well. Korra's body fell limp.
The team regained their vision, three big figures held them down, "You!" Asami exclaimed.
"Yes, us." Donar walked towards them, "Real dumb of you to use your UGPS around people wearing UNSC power armors."
The traitor Spartan leader knelt before Asami, "You'll gave us a heck of a time back at Zaofu. Luckily for me, after Kuvira told me to prepare for the endgame, I took the opportunity to wipe off you gnats once and for all personally."
"What did you to Thorne!?" Mako yelled.
"Currently some of our boys in Mechs and one of my own Spartans is dealing with him." Donar responded, standing back up and walking towards the unconscious Korra. "Ah, long time no see, Avatar."
"Don't touch her!" Asami shouted.
"Relax, I ain't going to do a thing to her here." Donar replied, "I'm not, but this here…"
He took out a SOCOM Magnum, "This bad boy will."
"I swear if you even dare aiming that gun at her I will…!" Mako struggled, the grip of the traitor Spartans not giving in.
"You will what, Helljumper?! That's what I thought, nothing." He aimed at Korra's head, "Say night, Avatar."
BANG!
A sniper bullet thundered through the air, the helmeted head of Spartan Wulf exploded like a smashed watermelon alongside the instantly popped energy shields. "What the?!" Donar jumped into the ground. "What's going on?!"
The other two treacherous Spartans let the captive Asami and Mako go, taking out their guns and panicky looked for the source of the sniper.
BANG!
Another of the Spartan's heads exploded. The last Spartan-IV besides Donar also jumped onto the ground beneath a sand dune. "Spartan Jonesy, what the in the ever-living fuck is going on?!" Donar demanded again.
"I…I…" Spartan Jonesy didn't know what to do, she peeked over the dune but instead of the glare of a sniper scope in the distance below the bright full moon a sage metal boot stood in front of her visor face. "Oh…no…"
The traitor Spartan Jonesy was kicked in the face at speeds never seen by a Spartan-IV, shattering her shields and visor in a swift kick. Her armored body slid down the sands, Donar saw her motionless body lie before him. What remained of her face having been caved in. He shifted his gaze forward to see a goliath in sage green MJOLNIR Mk. VI armor.
"Master Chief…" Donar said in his breath. "No…no…"
Asami and Mako smiled at the sight, they were saved.