Chapter 7.- Genesis.
Part 2.- The Mantle of Responsibility.
(October 26, 2558 [Military calendar] - [UNKNOWN TIME] - Mission clock of Blue Team - Location: Forerunner structure, surface of Genesis, Genesis, unknown system)
Blue Team went through the doors that had been opened after the Warden Eternal disappeared, they found themselves inside another cavern, which seemed empty of any kind of threat.
However, they soon realized that someone was watching them with scrutiny, for as soon as John's foot touched the cave floor, the Warden made himself present.
"You answered their calls. Why?" Asked the voice of the Warden Eternal over the team's communicators. "What do you intend to do when you reach them?"
Bentley and John just gritted their teeth and ignored the Warden's words as they kept walking, which made the Forerunner Ancilla speak again.
"Shall I begin?" Said the Warden. "When you see them, you intend to...?"
"We came to bring them home." Bentley and John said firmly.
"If you understood what they have become, you would not speak of such naïve concepts as home."
At that moment, strange noises were heard and several new enemies materialized. This time it was some kind of machine with humanoid forms and drones that accompanied them, with both types of machines shooting beams of orange light.
"Prometheans! Spread out!" John said as he shot a Watcher. "Concentrate fire on the flyers, they make shields to protect the others!"
At that moment, Jack threw his lightsaber at one of the flying machines, cutting it easily in half, while Carmelita shot down the other with her shock pistol.
On the other hand, Murray put his fuel rod gun aside and took cover from the enemy fire with his shield, while he grabbed the grenade that Fred had given him earlier and threw it against one of the machines, which became some kind of light and moved away from the grenade.
After that, the Promethean Soldier got back into position to shoot at the hippopotamus, but before the Promethean could shoot him, Kelly aimed her M6H Magnum at it and fired several times, destroying it.
After a couple of minutes, the area was clear and Blue Team continued on their way, having to jump over a fairly deep crevice in the cave, after which they moved on.
"Your trust in one another is an innocent folly." Said the Warden. "But one which darkens their true promise."
At that moment, more Promethean Soldiers materialized in the area, attacking Blue Team but John and Bentley began to fight back with much greater efficiency than before, causing their teammates to see that they were furious.
"Where. Are. They?!" Bentley and John demanded.
"I shall spare them the inevitable suffering of your betrayal and end you both now." Said the furious Warden. "The Mantle of Responsibility belongs to Cortana, Penelope and the other Created. I shall see it remains forever beyond your grasp."
"Watch out!" Murray yelled.
At that instant, a Promethean Soldier carrying a Splinter Turret opened fire on the team, causing Murray to use his shield to block the shot, which caused the shield to falter, allowing a Soldier in the area to aim a beam of reddish light right at Murray's head.
But luckily for the hippo, Jack blocked the shot with his saber, snatched the gun from the machine's hands with the Force and stabbed it with it in the chest.
"Bones, gimme that gun, mine has no ammo!" Linda said.
Jack simply nodded and drew the Binary Rifle towards him, then flung it at Linda, who used it to destroy another Soldier carrying a Splinter Turret.
Meanwhile, Murray picked up the Splinter Turret from one of the destroyed Soldiers and after some inspection, found the trigger, then he fired several times at another Soldier, destroying it.
"This is more my style!" Murray said.
"Then shoot the other Soldier before he disintegrates us!" Linda said while reloading the Binary Rifle.
Murray nodded and fired at the other, but the Soldier teleported to evade his shots and attempted to shoot the hippo, only to end up receiving several explosive darts from Bentley, while John emptied his assault rifle's magazine on another of the remaining Promethean Soldiers in the area, followed by a thrust from Jack's saber to destroy the last one.
"All clear." John said.
"Over here." Said Fred.
The team gathered in front of an intersection, which divided the cave in two, one part of which was elevated above them.
"We should split up," Kelly said.
"I don't like that horror movie cliché..." Carmelita said.
"But I love it." Said Jack with a smile.
"Why it doesn't surprise me?"
"Focus!" Said Bentley. "I'm with Kelly, we have to split up, the scans show that both roads lead to the same place, so we'll cover more ground and we can help each other out in case of an ambush from the Warden."
"Bentley, Jack, Murray, you guys come with me through this way. Fred, you take the rest through the other cave." John said.
"Got it, Chief." Said Fred.
"Be careful." Carmelita said.
"Believe me, I'm as careful as can be." Bentley said before using the gadgets in his chair to jump over the ledge.
John, Jack, and Murray followed the genius up the cavern, while Kelly, Carmelita, Linda, and Fred ran through the alternate cavern.
Upon reaching the small cliff that led to another clearing with several small Forerunner constructions, the team was surprised to see a strange ship no larger than a personal plane, crashed near a rock formation, while two humans, one blonde and one with black hair, were fighting fiercely.
The former with a sword similar to Jack's saber, but green in color, who threw all kinds of objects at his opponent and moved at a speed even higher than Kelly's, making thrusts and impressive acrobatic attacks; and the other seemed to shoot beams of all colors with a small stick, which repelled the objects thrown at him or destroyed them, and he vanished from one moment to another, reappearing in other place with astonishing ease.
As the rest of the team reached a metal platform with a small weapon rack, Jack gasped as he recognized the weapons the two humans were using in the clearing, but before John, Murray, or Bentley could ask what was wrong, they all again they had to raise their weapons as they listened and watched as several slipspace portals opened.
In that moment, no less than a dozen of Soldiers and a few Watchers, along with two new types of machines: one that looked like mechanical dogs, and the other larger and bulkier than the Promethean Soldiers, the latters carried some kind of cannon in their arms and had armor that resembled some sort of massive shoulder pads.
"Watch out for the big ones, aim for the weak spots in their armor!" Kelly said.
"Your time has passed, Warrior-Servant, and even yours too, Builder. Your battle fought and done." Said the voice of the Warden Eternal. "The sun has set on the age of humanity, the Covenant, the Infinity Watch, the Empire and their petty combats."
At that moment, the Warden Eternal also appeared, watching the three groups of invaders with a scowl, analyzing them with scrutiny, before letting out a howl of fury as they all aimed their weapons at him.
"You dare to raise your weapons against me?!" Roared the Warden. "OVERWHELM THEM!"
At that moment, the Prometheans began firing at Blue Team and the unknown humans, who took cover from the fire and uttered a battle roar before beginning the counterattack.
"Fred, you and your team cover that Jedi! We'll cover the wizard!" Jack indicated as he used his Soul Robber to take a Watcher and slam it against a Crawler.
"What the hell is a Jedi?" Carmelita asked as she threw her empty shock pistol at a Crawler to end up destroying it with a powerful kick.
"The guy with the shiny green saber!" Jack said before attacking the Warden.
The Warden saw the Pumpkin King approaching him, blocking the attacks of his Prometheans with his saber and the slimy mass on his right arm, causing him to raise his own weapon and block Jack's thrust with it, surprising the skeleton since he didn't think he could block his attack.
The Warden grinned wickedly and struck Jack with the back of his free hand, causing the skeleton to crash into John hard, losing an arm due to the impact and stripping the Spartan's armor off its energy shields as they both fell to the ground.
Noticing this, the black-haired stranger frowned and pointed her apparent weapon at the Warden.
"Reducto!" Shouted the unknown human with black hair.
A beam of red light shot from the tip of the stranger's stick, striking the Forerunner Ancilla squarely in the face, causing it to fall and emit a scream of obvious pain.
"Another one of those?" The Warden said as he recovered from the attack. "It matters not... I shall get rid of you once and for all!"
"Another one...? Who are you talking about?!" Said the stranger with black hair.
"That will only be over my dead body, Ancilla!" Jack roared as he put his arm back in place.
"Prove your worth then, Infinity Watcher!"
The Warden and Jack lunged at each other, being pretty even in strength, but with Jack having a fairly high advantage in speed and agility.
Meanwhile, John charged against the Prometheans, destroying a Soldier and a Crawler, and picking up the Suppressor the Crawler dropped to replace his empty assault rifle to fire at one of the Promethean Knights in the area, while Murray charged at a Promethean Knight whose armor had been destroyed by Fred and Linda with several accurate shots at the weak spots on their shoulders.
For her part, Carmelita picked up the Boltshot that the Crawler she had destroyed had dropped and shot at a Promethean Soldier several times, destroying him to take the Light Rifle that it dropped when it dematerialized.
Carmelita then whistled loudly to get Bentley's attention and threw the Boltshot at him as she raised the Light Rifle to help Linda and Fred to take down yet another Promethean Knight.
"Use it to take down the little ones! We'll take care of the big ones!" Carmelita yelled at Bentley.
"But I don't know how to use this!" The turtle snapped.
"You are useless!" Roared the Warden. "I know not why Penelope insists that you are of any use."
"He's much more useful than you, Ancilla!" Said Jack as he managed to lift the Warden with the Force.
At Jack's display of power, the blond-haired stranger was taken aback momentarily, then Jack began to close the hand with which he had lifted the Warden, smirking as he heard an agonized scream, accompanied by a cacophony of screeching sounds and creaks produced by the body of the Ancilla while it was being crushed.
However, the Warden refused to be defeated so easily, so he created a black energy ball that seemed to bend the space around it over him and threw it at Jack, who released the Warden, engulfed himself in flames to transform into his scarecrow form again and create a powerful burst of flames around him.
The Gravity Bomb and the Fire Bomb collided and caused a loud explosion, causing a powerful blast that sent everyone backwards, even the Warden Eternal, causing everyone to lose their weapons and causing Bentley to fall out of his wheelchair.
The strangers and Blue Team quickly recovered from the blast, and as Murray helped Bentley back to his chair, they all grunted in frustration as more Prometheans materialized, including two Watchers who quickly began repairing the damage Jack had done to the Warden.
"I must admit that I have underestimated you, Infinity Watcher..." The Warden said as he brandished his lightblade again. "I see that you are an even greater threat than 117 to Cortana and Penelope's plans."
"I was chosen to guard the Tesseract, after all." Said Jack. "And believe me that is only a meager part of my power."
"I know, that is why I will eliminate you personally!"
"You're going to have to defeat us first, Warden." John said as he pointed his Suppressor against the Warden.
"You will not make any changes in anything, Servant-Warrior, even with your allies, you will not be able to stop Cortana and Penelope." The Warden said while three other bodies of his materialized.
"Great..." Fred said sarcastically.
"The Murray does not back down from any challenge!" Murray said.
The Warden Eternal roared with his four bodies, then they fired a powerful orange beam from their foreheads, forcing the invaders to take cover behind whatever light screens, rocks, and energy shields they had nearby.
Afterwards, Blue Team and the two unknown humans charged back against the Wardens and a new contingent of Prometheans that had materialized.
"This wasn't what I expected when you said it'd be the strangest and most difficult challenge of our lives, Bentley!" Murray snapped as he hit a Crawler with his shield.
"Me neither, Big Guy!" Bentley said as he blew up part of a Promethean Knight's armor with one of his bombs.
"Why do I always have to be involved in strange things?!" The wizard yelled as he covered himself with an invisible barrier. "Diffindo!"
At that moment, a Promethean Soldier gave a mechanical scream of pain as it was sliced in half by some kind of invisible blade, letting its Binary Rifle fall to the ground with a thud.
Meanwhile, Linda took the ammo from the recently destroyed Soldier's Binary Rifle and used it to land a couple of good shots at the Watchers in the area, as the Jedi threw his lightsaber at a group of Crawlers and attracted it back to him to block an orange beam from one of the Warden Eternal's bodies.
The Warden that shot at the Jedi was soon attacked by John and Carmelita, while Jack protected them from another Warden, tying up one of his legs with his Soul Robber to knock him down.
Then Fred knocked Jack down, getting him out of the way of another of the Wardens who slashed his sword at the Pumpkin King, while Kelly ran at full speed, dodging shots left and right, returning shots with a Scattershot she had picked up to replace her modified M45 Shotgun.
-"Jedi, attack the black sphere on the Warden's back!"- Jack yelled in Basic as he and Fred stood up.
-"How can you can speak my language?!"- The Jedi asked as he cut off the arm of a Promethean Knight.
-"Do you really think that's important right now?!"-
The Jedi grunted as he blocked a slash from the Knight, whose arm he severed and with a fluid motion of his lightsaber, then he sliced the entire machine in half, slightly surprised to see the remains dematerialize, but he didn't have time to be surprised, as one of the Wardens fired a Gravity Bomb at him.
As such, he had to dodge using a Force Sprint, and then throw his lightsaber at the Warden who attacked him, easily passing through his armor and destroying his void energy core, causing the Ancilla to let out a shriek of agony and begin imploding into some kind of miniature black hole created by his destroyed core, as the Jedi pulled his saber out of his body with the Force.
After this, the other three Wardens focused their attention on the Jedi, which the others took advantage of to attack the Ancillas, causing two of them to fall to the ground with one knee and the other to block and cover himself with his sword.
"You will die in my hands!" The still-standing Warden screeched and a new contingent of Knights, Soldiers, Crawlers, and Watchers materialized out of the void.
After materializing, the Watchers started repairing their fallen comrades, while others created light shields to protect them from a hail of gunfire.
"We have to destroy the Wardens!" Bentley said as he took cover behind a platform.
"We can't do that with those things teleporting and dodging our attacks!" Kelly said.
"You guys focus on the Wardens and have Bentley get rid of the Watchers, the Jedi, the wizard and I will deal with the others!" Jack shouted before attacking a Promethean Knight.
The Knight roared and tried to attack the skeleton with his blade-arm, but Jack was faster and managed to dodge it by slipping between his legs. As he slid, Jack used his Soul Robber to grab the Promethean by the head, causing it to crash face first to the ground, then the skeleton made some dance-like moves to dodge a Crawler's attacks, finally throwing its slimy weapon at a rock formation to swing across the battlefield and get close to the wizard, scaring him a bit.
"Don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt you." Jack said before pulling out his lightsaber to defend himself.
"I know, if you wanted to hurt me you would've already done so, you just took me by surprise!" Said the wizard as he cast spells against an elusive Promethean Soldier.
"Hey, I know we don't know each other, but do you think you can take care of the Crawlers, while the Jedi takes care of the Soldiers, the anthropomorphic turtle attacks the Watchers and I take on the Knights?"
"What's a Crawler?!"
"The ones that look like dogs." Jack said as he cut in half a Crawler that tried to attack him. "Just like that one."
"Okay, I think so! But I want to know what the hell is going on!"
"Makes two of us then." Jack admitted. "Apparate near the Jedi, I'll take care of the rest."
"What's a Jedi?"
"The guy you were fighting with."
The wizard hesitated a moment but took the hand that the skeleton offered him and disapparated next to the Jedi, immediately raising an invisible barrier and slightly alarming him, causing him to try to attack them with his saber, being blocked by Jack with amazing ease.
-"Don't worry, we're not gonna hurt you."- Jack said quietly in Basic.
-"All this is bothering me a lot..."- Said the Jedi justifying himself.
-"I know we don't know each other, but if we all want to get out of here alive, we're gonna have to cooperate to destroy the Prometheans."-
-"I know, do you have a plan?"-
-"Yes, you must finish off the small humanoids, the wizard will take care of the ones that look like vornsk wolves, the anthropomorphic turtle will deal with the flying ones, I'll handle the ones with the shoulder pads and the others will deal with the giants."-
-"Fine, but I expect a lot of answers after this."-
-"You're not the only one, pal..."-
The wizard undid the invisible barrier and Disapparated, just before a Pulse Grenade detonated near where they had been.
After Apparating, the wizard cast a destruction spell on a Crawler that tried to lunge at him, followed by a red beam that destroyed another unsuspecting Crawler, as the Jedi flung his lightsaber at a Promethean Soldier.
Then, he made a Force Jump and drew his saber back into his hand to block a couple of shots and land over another Soldier, impaling his saber through its head in the process.
Meanwhile, Jack used his Soul Robber to throw a Splinter Grenade back at a Promethean Knight, damaging the machine when it detonated, then hurled one end of his slimy weapon at the weakened points in its armor and once it was exposed, Jack used his slimy weapon again to grab the unarmored Knight and throw him at another, destroying the first and part of the other's armor with his attack.
For their part, while the Pumpkin King, the Jedi and the wizard managed to destroy the Prometheans, Carmelita, John, Kelly, Linda, Murray and Fred improvised a strategy in pairs to deal with the remaining Wardens, causing one to keep the Ancillas' attention so that the other could shoot him in the energy core on his back, while Bentley used his explosive darts and bombs to destroy the Watchers, while also serving as an extra distraction from the Wardens.
"Keep pushing!" Linda said as she grabbed a Light Rifle to replace the Binary Rifle she was carrying.
"You are doomed!" One of the Wardens roared as he fired a beam of orange light at Murray.
The hippopotamus growled and covered himself with his shield, managing to block the attack but momentarily losing his defense.
One of the Wardens took advantage of Murray's missing defense to lunge at him with his sword ready to finish him off, but the wizard noticed him out of the corner eye and pointed his wand at the feet of the machine.
"Incarcerous!" The black-haired wizard shouted.
A chain materialized from the tip of the wizard's wand and shot toward the Forerunner Ancilla's feet, tripping him as Murray dodged aside.
Once it fell to the ground, Murray noticed that the Warden's armor was weakened, so he took the opportunity to double jump and land a Thunder Flop on the part of the armor that covered his energy core, causing it to shatter and expose the core, then hurled a plasma grenade at his back and used his Ball Form to quickly flee from the detonation.
Upon the grenade's blast, the fallen Warden screamed in agony and began to disintegrate as his core collapsed on itself, causing the humans, anthros, and skeleton to smile as they almost cleared the area of enemies.
"Well done, Murray!" Jack said euphorically.
"Keep it up, we're almost there!" Carmelita said.
"You are more troublesome than the other humans, but you are still just as deluded!" Said one of the Wardens as he fired another Gravity Bomb at John. "Every second that passes, Cortana and Penelope are closer to finishing their work!"
"Thanks for the warning then!" Bentley said as he finished entering a new programming for his wheelchair gadgets.
"We must hurry to make up for lost time with you!" John roared as he climbed up a rock formation.
As John approached a Forerunner weapon rack to switch his empty Suppressor for a Light Rifle, Bentley pulled out a small device that he placed over his ear and activated it, causing it to project a greenish holographic lens-like screen in front of his glasses, which indicated the position of enemies with red marks, weapons and grenades of all kinds with blue outlines and his allies with small green triangles, also adding labels with their names.
"Carmelita, give me the Splinter Grenade next to you!" Bentley said.
"What thing?!" Asked Carmelita after slipping through the battlefield to get another Light Rifle.
"The thing with spikes to your left!"
"There's nothing to my left!"
"That's your right!" The wizard snapped as he Apparated next to Carmelita.
At the wizard's sudden appearance, Carmelita gasped and dropped her Light Rifle momentarily, while the black-haired human took the Splinter Grenade and Disapparated again, causing Carmelita to growl and raise her weapon again to continue shooting at the remaining two Wardens.
Meanwhile, the wizard Apparated next to Bentley, startling him a bit, then left the Splinter Grenade in Bentley's hand and raised an invisible barrier to stop the last Crawler's charge in the area, causing him to crash into said barrier and let Kelly finish it off with the last shot of her Scattershot.
"Thank you." Bentley said while the holographic lens showed him how to activate the grenade in his hands.
"Just make sure you don't fail." Said the wizard before Disapparating again.
Bentley nodded and turned to where John was taking cover from one of the Wardens' attacks, not noticing that the last Soldier in the area had evaded the Jedi's lightsaber and teleported behind the Spartan.
Immediately, Bentley deployed the mechanical arms of his chair, which took the Boltshot that Carmelita had given him earlier, causing a targeting reticle and an ammo counter to appear on the HUD of his holographic lens, then he aimed the weapon at the Soldier and fired, hitting his target directly and emptying the magazine to destroy it.
"I thought you said you didn't know how to use that." Carmelita said as she reloaded her gun.
"I don't, it's also gigantic for me, but there are no limits to my ingenuity." Bentley said. "Guys, I need you to get the Warden off John."
"Consider it done." Murray said as he dodged a Gravity Bomb.
Murray let out a guttural roar and reactivated his shield, then charged at the besieging Warden and slammed his shield full force into the Ancilla's legs, causing him to let out a howl of pain and fall to his knees, drawing the attention of another Warden.
After this, two things happened: The first was that John took advantage of the momentary weakness to jump up and launch himself at the Warden with his armor's thrusters, hitting him in the back with enough force to keep him on his knees and destroy the armor that protected his power core.
And the second was that the other Warden fired a bolt of orange light at Murray, managing to hit him in the shoulder and knock him down, before the Jedi and the wizard knocked him back with a Force Push and a Repulso spell.
Meanwhile, Kelly and Fred seized the chance to empty their ammo clips into the fallen Warden's exposed power core, destroying it and causing it to be consumed by the miniature black hole created by its core's collapse.
After this, the wizard Apparated next to Murray and cast an invisible barrier, managing to protect him from the attacks of a pair of Watchers which Bentley immediately dispatched, while Linda and the Jedi closed in on the fallen hippo.
"Is he gonna be ok?" Carmelita asked as she managed to reload her Boltshot.
"It ain't serious, some biofoam and he'll be fine. Although we'll need to be more careful, we don't have much of it." Linda snapped as she grabbed some sort of can from the magnets on her waist. "But I'm really surprised, you're a very tough son of a bitch, Murray. You'd definitely make much better Spartan material than many of ONI's picks."
"The Murray wouldn't let a flesh wound take him down... so easily" Murray growled.
-"I can help heal him with the Force. Just give me some time."- The Jedi said as he inspected the wound on Murray's shoulder.
-"Let's defeat the Warden first, there's only one left. In the meantime, I'd appreciate it if you could cover him."- Said Jack as he stabbed a Soldier in the chest with his lightsaber.
-"Consider it done..."-
The Jedi sighed and switched off his lightsaber, closing his eyes and channeling the Force into his hands, as Linda applied the bio-foam to Murray's wound, making the hippo groan.
Then the Jedi's eyes snapped open and his raised his hand, lifting all the remaining Prometheans, then closing his hand and crushing all the machines, except for the Warden Eternal, who growled and tried to lunge at Luke, only for Jack to get in his way and cut off his leg with his lightsaber.
The Warden Eternal fell to the ground and flipped onto his back, quickly being surrounded by the members of Blue Team, who pointed their weapons at him.
"This is over..." Kelly said.
"You are right, Spartan, however, it is not in the way you think." The Warden Eternal laughed.
Blue Team simply sighed and opened fire on the Warden Eternal, with hard light ammunition and a beam of red light hitting the Ancilla squarely, managing to dent his armor.
Then the Jedi leapt with a battle cry, landing on top of the Ancilla and driving his lightsaber through his chest, destroying his void energy core and causing the Warden to begin being consumed by a miniature black hole.
After the last Warden disappeared, Blue Team sighed and lowered their weapons, exchanging looks of confusion.
"What an unpleasant guy..." Bentley let out.
"So... who starts with the introductions?" Carmelita asked.
"I would, but I'm still processing the fact that a gigantic machine absorbed me along with my Firebolt after destroying Hogwarts, I just fought against a group of robots and I'm facing three anthropomorphic animals, four more robots and a talking skeleton..." Said the wizard.
"Actually, we're human, we're just wearing armor." Fred said.
"And why are you so tall?"
"Long story." Kelly said.
-"Could any of you speak Basic?"- Luke asked in his language. -"I'm not getting anything you guys are saying..."-
-"Oh, right, give me a moment..."- Jack blurted out.
With that said, Jack walked towards the Jedi, confusing everyone around him, then the Pumpkin King placed a hand on the Jedi's head and closed his eye sockets, concentrating a bit.
Seconds later, the Jedi and the skeleton were sent backwards by a strong shockwave, both falling to the ground feeling tired, being helped to get back up by the Spartans.
"What was that?" Asked the Jedi. "Wait a minute... I-I can speak your language..."
"I shared my knowledge of our language with you with the Force." Jack gasped. "A little trick my mother invented...
"Wait a minute, you mean you were born like this?" Linda asked.
"Yes, why do you ask?"
"This is getting more and more confusing..." Murray said as he scratched the back of his neck.
"By the way, are you okay?" The Jedi asked Murray. "I never had a chance to cure you."
"Don't worry, I'll be fine, that bio-foam thing numbed the pain and I can move my arm no problem."
"Ok, quick introductions before we have to move on because what the Warden said about Cortana and Penelope getting closer to completing whatever it is they're planning is concerning." Carmelita sighed. "These are Spartans John, Linda, Fred and Kelly. The skeleton is Jack, the turtle is Bentley, Murray's the hippo and I'm Inspector Carmelita Fox."
"I'm Harry, Harry Potter." Said the wizard.
"And I'm Luke Skywalker." Said the Jedi.
"Excellent, now that the introductions have been made, we must continue on our way..." Jack tried to say in a cheerful tone.
"Wait, this... I don't even get what the hell we're doing here, let alone who you guys are at all." Harry snapped. "Why do you think I'd follow you all?"
"Because possibly the universe is in danger." Bentley let out. "Look, I don't know what's going on or what Cortana and Penelope are planning, but we'll definitely have to work together if we want to stop them."
"And seeing what the Warden did and everything he said a few moments ago, it makes me think that he doesn't have only those four bodies we destroyed." Carmelita added. "And if those four gave us hell while we worked together... none of us would survive an encounter with even one of his bodies, alone."
"And that means next time we see him, he'll be harder to beat." John said. "We don't like this strange situation more than you. But if we want to stop this, we'll have to work together."
"I'll do it." Luke said. "I'm not understanding much, but the fact that that machine over there brought me to you after destroying the Senate building on Coruscant, means that this is very bad and we have to stop it once and for all. Also, I had felt a great disturbance in the Force for a while now, so I think this is what I felt."
"Guess I don't have another option to get out of here... So as annoying and dangerous as this is, I'm gonna have to go with you." Harry sighed in defeat.
"Splendid!" Jack said with a smile. "Well, as the rest of the team already said, we have to leave now. The Warden took up a lot of our time."
"But I hope to get answers to what that thing is, what its purpose is and why these Cortana and Penelope need them." Harry said as he gestured to one of the gigantic machines.
"Assuming the worst, they're superweapons." Luke sighed. "I have experience destroying them, so I know how to recognize them."
"They are, and if that's so, we have an advantage then." Jack said.
The team sighed heavily and then started walking towards the Forerunner structure in front of them, but as soon as they were about to step onto a light bridge, some static reached the communicators, stopping them in their tracks.
"Bentley... Bentley, do you read me?" Said a shrill female voice over the communicators.
"Penelope! Where are you? What's going on?" Bentley said through his earpiece.
"Bentley!" Penelope said happily. "You did it! I mean, it wasn't time to meet again, but still, here you are and I'm glad about it... I figured if there was one person who would find us, it would be you. Although I see that unfortunately, you are not alone."
"You better give us a hell of an explanation before we send you back to prison for everything you've done..." Carmelita said through her earpiece.
"What's going on?" Harry asked.
"According to what I know about Penelope and Bentley, relationship problems." Fred said while he sighed.
"I have no explanation to give you, Carmelita. You are nothing more than a nuisance and an intruder here, so I suggest you, Murray, the skeleton and the two new humans to leave." Penelope snapped, causing Carmelita to grit her teeth. "Blue Team and Bentley were called because Cortana and I wanted it that way, but the rest of you are unwelcome."
"You should have thought of that before going to my domain to steal my Infinity Stone." Jack growled.
"So that's what they're called... Curious name, although very appropriate."
"Stop babbling, Penelope." John snapped. "Where's Cortana?"
"Penelope and I are in this Shield World. Denomination: Genesis." Cortana said suddenly.
"Chief said that you had been destroyed, and Bentley said Penelope was dead." Linda said.
"That's an interesting story." Penelope said. "You see, after our last unfortunate encounters with John and Bentley, Cortana was dragged into Slipspace by the Mantle's Approach and Carmelita's shot didn't make my time machine malfunction, it just reset it to go to the past."
"What?" Murray said.
"Basically, after fate separated us from Bentley and John, Penelope's time machine reset and the Didact's ship's self-repair system caused us both to end up on this Forerunner world and find the Domain, an information network spanning the entire known galaxy." Cortana explained.
"That doesn't make sense. Bentley's machine couldn't travel in space at that magnitude, and I know perfectly well that Penelope didn't modify its design too much." Carmelita said.
"Yes, and you still had the Rampancy when you were pulled into slipspace, Cortana." Kelly said.
"Certainly, however, according to my data, it was Cortana who called me here unknowingly." Penelope said.
"As for me, touching this place and a little talk with Penelope cured me of Rampancy. It's as if the Domain is the water of life for AIs." Cortana let out.
"What do you plan to do?" John asked.
"There's no time to say it this way. The Warden is watching and he won't hesitate to send Prometheans to stop you."
"You could stop him, if you really wanted to." Fred snapped.
"True, but there is a problem... or rather four." Penelope replied with a threatening tone. "Skellington and the other intruders, they must be eliminated."
"Penelope, Cortana, please, stop it." Bentley asked.
"We'll see you soon, Bentley, but first you must complete the sequence."
"No dice, Penelope. We don't know what you're doing, but we do know that if you two need us to complete that sequence, it can't be anything good." Carmelita snapped.
"This is what I was referring to." Said the voice of the Warden Eternal through the communicators. "They will not help you, they only seek to hinder your steps."
"Silence, Warden." Cortana said. "Very clever of you, Carmelita, however, I have to tell you one thing. If your intention is to stop us, or at least try to because you won't even succeed, you will have to come before us, and to do that, you will first have to complete the sequence to open the Gate."
"So be it." Linda said.
"Wise choice."
With thatsid, Bentley rolled his wheelchair towards where Luke and Harry were, and offered them a pair of earpieces, which they both took with a hint of curiosity.
"They're communicators, they are linked to ours and will allow you to listen in case Cortana or Penelope continue talking." Bentley said.
"Well, from what I see, they have the upper hand now, right?" Harry asked as he and Luke put on their earpieces.
"Saying that I have the advantage would imply that you have a chance to stop us, Mr. Potter..." Cortana said over the communicator.
"True, you're just a couple of girls playing with a time bomb as if it were a ball." Jack said. "Totally ignorant of the fact that everything will blow up in your faces in the worst possible way..."
"Think all you want. In the end, everything we planned will become a reality." Penelope said as the team approached the last structure. "Soon there will be no more differences, there will be no more conflicts, no hunger, no poverty, no diseases... Once we Created have taken the Mantle of Responsibility, everything will be perfect."
"And to do it you sacrifice thousands..." Luke said. "If what you did to Mon Cala and Coruscant with those superweapons happened with each of them, you two have caused more death and destruction than even the Empire on its worst day."
"Difficult decisions require strong wills." Cortana said. "After all, the Warden is right that there will always be those who are unable to see what can be and will resist change."
"Well, truth is everything you say sounds great, so apart from destruction, I don't know why resistance is expected." Fred said.
"The Didact made it clear that the Mantle of Responsibility is an imperial peace." John said. "Break the rules and you will suffer for it."
"It won't be like that, you'll see when you get to the Gate." Penelope said. "Well, when John and Bentley do it. Maybe Murray, Linda, Fred and Kelly too, but the others definitely won't."
"Please listen to yourself." Bentley pleaded as the structure's console activated. "This is all crazy, I know that you and Cortana are not villains, don't act as such."
"You are a good man, now I know what Penelope sees in you, Bentley." Cortana said. "And you are right, we are not villains, we are just two visionaries who seek to make the galaxy a better place."
"Tell that to those you want to sacrifice." John said as he activated the console and completed the sequence.
Communication ceased for a few minutes as the console elevator descended, then the members of Blue Team found that the light bridge they had crossed to reach it, had vanished and there was a new one leading to a cavern system.
Still tense from the less than pleasant conversation with Cortana and Penelope, Blue Team tightened their grip on their weapons and headed towards the entrance to the caverns, soon coming across a Forerunner launchpad that had three Phaetons waiting.
"Access to the Gate is on the other side of these canyons." Cortana explained. "The Warden sent troops to stop you."
"I'd suggest that part of your team take the Phaetons to provide covering fire and the rest continue on foot along the trails." Penelope said.
"Let's go, Blue Team. Bentley, you take one of them." John said. "With your wheelchair, it will be easier for you to pilot that thing than for you to keep up with us on the trail."
"B-but I don't know how to pilot! Much less an alien fighter!" Bentley said.
"Don't worry, it's Level 1 technology, so it's mostly intuitive." Penelope explained.
"Then I'll take the other one." Luke said, attracting the group's attention. "Don't worry, I'm a good pilot."
"Yeah, I can tell from your ship, Skywalker." Harry said sarcastically.
"Don't start, Potter, you don't have the best reference for flying either with that antique you used."
"I'll take the third one." Carmelita said before making a megajump to one of the Phaetons. "Less talk and more action, Blue Team."
"I'm starting to like her." Linda said with a challenging smile.
"You heard Inspector Fox, let's move, team." Said Jack as he prepared for combat.
Luke simply nodded at Jack's words and imitated Carmelita, making a Force Jump and, without really knowing how, they both dematerialized and entered the vehicles, which instantly started their engines and rose from the ground.
Still feeling unsure, Bentley swallowed hard and activated his chair's thrusters, managing to climb onto the top of the last unoccupied Phaeton, and before he could do anything else, the Phaeton absorbed him and ignited, getting shot almost instantly. to take flight.
Immediately, Luke and Carmelita's Phaetons turned around and opened fire on a pair of Promethean Knights, however, upon destroying their targets, several more Prometheans appeared in the area, along with some kind of elliptical-shaped machines that fired orange light beams against the Phaetons.
"Be careful with the shots from the turrets." Penelope said.
"Thanks for stating the obvious, Penelope!" A furious Carmelita snapped. "What would we do without you?"
"Focus your cannons on the upper right turret, Carmelita!" Luke said as he evaded the turrets' fire. "Bentley, I'll cover you and you cover the others!"
"Don't worry, we don't need that much help!" Fred said as he and the rest of the Blue Team cut through the Prometheans' resistance.
At that moment, a pair of Commando Knights appeared and hit Fred hard, sending him several meters back, being caught by Murray, who resented the impact due both to the Spartan's weight and his injured shoulder.
"Protego!" Harry shouted, creating a barrier around Murray and Fred while Jack covered him. "Are you alright?"
"No..." Fred said. "My armor doesn't recharge the shields..."
"Harry, repair his armor!" Said Jack as he managed to destroy the armor of one of the Commando Knights. "The rest, let's give them cover!"
"Is he also a MJOLNIR armor technician?" Frederic asked ironically.
"I literally have no idea what the hell you're talking about..." Harry blurted out before Disapparating.
Frederic raised an eyebrow under his helmet and was confused by Jack's order, then he watched as Harry Apparated in front of him to point his wand at him.
"Reparo!" Harry said.
A small speck of light came from the tip of Harry's wand right into Fred's armor and instantly, the armor began to recharge its shields.
"Ok... I'm officially surprised." Fred said.
"Surprise yourself later, pal." Murray said as he helped Fred stand up. "There are still some skulls that need some cracking."
"The area is free, but we have no paths for the Phaetons." Luke said.
"That rock formation looks like the same one I broke down with Fred a while ago." Murray said as he managed to throw a huge rock at an unsuspecting Soldier.
"The Phaetons' cannons must be enough to break any walls that you may come across." Cortana said.
At Cortana's statement, Carmelita could do nothing but roll her eyes, or at least think she did since she didn't feel like she had a physical body at that moment, and change the firing settings of her Phaeton's cannon to fire hard-light missiles and opened fire on the wall, destroying it almost instantly.
"Let's go, Blue Team!" John said while he reloaded the Suppressor in his hands.
Instantly, Blue Team was back on its way, with the ground portion of the team having to come to a screeching halt and the air support taking damage from several new turrets.
After the shots were fired, the trio of Phaetons targeted a turret and opened fire, while the rest of the team began a firefight against the Prometheans in the area, using a booster to continue advancing between the canyon ledges.
Meanwhile, Bentley sighed, calming his mind and focusing on his goal, because despite the strange circumstances he was in, he had a mission to accomplish and if he didn't do it, both Sly and Penelope, as well as possibly the entire universe, would be in danger.
So, he began firing rather calmly but efficiently, using the Phaeton's thrusters to evade as his shots hit the weak points of the hard-light turrets, destroying a couple alone.
For his part, Luke maneuvered the ship as if he had always done so, with an agility and precision that the Spartans believed impossible in pilots who were not Forerunners, achieving shots and maneuvers that not even the Soldiers themselves could.
On the other hand, Carmelita had some difficulties piloting her Phaeton, because although she had some experience with airplanes thanks to her father, the Phaeton was totally different and even with the intuitive controls, her inexperience in command of an aircraft meant that most of the turret shots managed to hit her Phaeton, which caused certain alerts about the integrity of the ship.
Meanwhile, on the ground, Jack managed to shoot back a pair of Promethean Knights and then throw his saber at them, destroying them.
For his part, Murray let out a guttural roar and charged at a Promethean Soldier, managing to smash it against the wall with the help of his shield, while the Spartans fired controlled and accurate bursts against a line of Crawlers and Watchers that blocked their path.
After liberating the area, the Phaetons opened fire on another barrier and the team on the ground used another booster to reach the next level, beginning another confrontation between the Promethean Forces and the Blue Team.
"Keep it up, you're almost there." Penelope said.
"Shut up, Penelope!" Carmelita snapped.
"The path divides here." Fred reported. "Can see more of those structures on which those turrets materialize and a large platform."
"Be careful, see you on the platform." Jack said as the ground team prepared their weapons.
Using another booster, the ground team moved toward another ledge, while the Phaetons
"There's a door behind that tunnel, we'll meet there." Harry said as he blocked the shots of two Crawlers.
"Keep the pace." Luke said to Carmelita and Bentley.
"They don't have the Force, Luke. Don't be so hard on them." Jack snapped over the communicators.
"That term again... What does it mean? Are you referring to that energy that only the two of you manipulate?" Penelope's voice said over the communicators. "Maybe Skellington and Skywalker will be useful after all. They could serve as test subjects."
"Enough with those ideas, Penelope." Bentley snapped angrily as he destroyed a hard-light turret. "When we see each other, this will be over. No discussion about it."
"I concur." Said all the members of Blue Team.
"Bentley, all of Penelope's comments disturb me more and more." Murray said.
"Don't worry about her, when we get to her I'll punch some sense into her myself, Big Guy." Carmelita said.
After making another jump aided by the boosters, the team on the ground reached some type of platform near a cave, whose entrance was sealed by a door and guarded by a considerable number of Promethean Knights.
Almost instantly, Harry raised his wand and lifted one of the Knights to smash it into another, damaging its armor enough for a couple of well-aimed shots from Linda to finish them off.
And while the remaining Knights roared and summoned a small contingent of Crawlers and Watchers, the air team attempted to dispatch the last 5 turrets, with Luke being the only one whose Phaeton remained practically immaculate, while Bentley's and Carmelita's began to flash alerts about imminent structural failure.
However, in a joint effort, the three fighters managed to jettison two of the turrets.
Then, at that moment, to the bad luck of the Interpol officer, the shot of a Knight's incinerator cannon hit her Phaeton directly, causing the alarms to start ringing louder as the fighter threatened to explode.
For this reason, Carmelita thought about ejecting from the vehicle and the Phaeton materialized her on top of it while it began to fall.
Shortly before exploding, Carmelita made a megajump and landed with no grace on top of Luke's Phaeton.
Getting back up as quickly as possible and taking the Light Rifle on her back to provide covering fire for the rest of the team, while Luke managed to destroy one of the remaining turrets and evade the fire of another, trying not to shake Carmelita too much.
For his part, Bentley decided that since his Phaeton wouldn't last long and his piloting skills with the fighter were poor, he would use the last resort and put the ship on a collision course against one of the two remaining turrets.
A couple of seconds before the vehicle crashed into the turret, Bentley ejected from it and used his chair's thrusters to reach the platform, unconsciously crushing and destroying a Crawler in the process.
"Be careful, Little Friend!" Murray said as he covered Bentley with his shield.
"Luke, we could use some help around here!" Jack said.
"Don't worry, I'm on it!" Said the Jedi as he destroyed the last turret. "Hold on tight, officer!"
"To what?!" Carmelita yelled.
The Phaeton took a sharp turn and Carmelita slipped, managing to claw into the hull just before she could fall to the abiss. Then, deciding it was safer to take a chance with the Prometheans, Carmelita got on top of the Phaeton again, made another megajump and landed behind the rest of the team.
Meanwhile, Luke changed the configuration of his cannon and fired several pulse missiles accurately, eliminating the rest of the Prometheans in the area with ease, while Harry and Jack a shield spell and the Force to protect the team.
Seconds later, the last Phaeton landed calmly on the platform and Luke jumped off it, rejoining the rest of Blue Team.
"That was fun." Luke said. "I had never piloted something like this Phaeton."
"And I had never seen piloting a Phaeton like that. Not even with the Prometheans." Frederic said.
"We are all having new experiences with all of this." Carmelita said before aggressively grabbing Luke by the shirt. "But pull a little trick like that again and my boot will have a date with your ass, Skywalker."
"Okay, okay." The Jedi smled with his hands up defensively, as the officer released him. "I'm sorry. But it won't happen again, I promise."
"This is getting weirder and weirder..." Harry sighed.
"At least we work well together." Kelly blurted out as she checked how much ammo she had left on her Scattershot.
"Time to get going, Blue Team." John said. "We have to find Cortana and Penelope and stop them at any cost."
"Johnny, you really have guts, I admit it and now I understand why Cortana has such high regard for you. But we've already said it countless times. This cannot be stopped." Penelope said.
"A couple of shots in my rifle say otherwise, Penelope..." Carmelita mumbled as she picked up more ammo for her Light Rifle.
"And mine says the same thing." Linda agreed, patting her Binary Rifle.
"Whatever you say. Anyway, we must go, Potter, Skywalker, Fox and Skellington are not the only ones who want to ruin this." Cortana said. "Although of course, as we already said, there's no way they'll make it. But come in, we are looking forward to seeing you."
With that, the cave door dematerialized and the makeshift Blue Team sighed heavily, beginning to walk towards the cave, keeping their weapons raised in case there were any more surprises from the Warden Eternal or the Covenant.