I do not own Halo or any of its characters.
A.N.: It took me writing this to realize that the Gagarin mission had a Red vs Blue easter egg.
Idiots and Geniuses
"Awfully quiet down there," Miller reported. "No sign of Gagarin or any hostile forces."
"Yeah, but we know how that always goes," Palmer commented dryly. "Stay sharp, Crimson."
"Maria, mark Gagarin's last known," Ethan instructed as he and the rest of Crimson made their way into the Forerunner facility carefully, Frank trading his sniper rifle for a DMR, due to the close quarters.
Maria marked the location Gagarin was when they had contact the last time, and Crimson moved out instantly. Ethan narrowed his eyes as he led the way into the facility, his Assault Rifle up and his eyes scanning the facility ahead for anything moving. After a few minutes, they reached a massive, open area with plants growing along the edges of the room and along what looked like a tunnel on the left side, and a raised walkway in the middle where a huge, metal sphere floated, revolving in the air. Ethan narrowed his eyes, following the left side of the room to a hallway at the back of the large chamber, the hallway continuing through the chamber and looping back around to the main chamber again. As they followed it, they began to pass crates of UNSC gear and fully-loaded weapon racks. However, there were no scientists. And As soon as they arrived, Miller highlighted a computer for them to search on Palmer's request. Maria hacked herself into it instantly, and Crimson set up a perimeter, aiming down the two hallways.
"Let's see what it recorded from the experiments here," Palmer mused.
"Transferring data now," Maria announced.
"What does this button do?" a voice asked from the recording.
"Caboose, don't touch anything!" another voice snapped.
"But I'm great at buttons," Caboose countered. "Hey, look at that explosion!"
"What kind of idiots was Gagarin made out of?" Ethan asked.
"That wasn't very useful," Palmer acknowledged.
"Commander, Crimson's near something that wasn't active before," Miller spoke up.
"Yeah, and?" Palmer asked.
"Science believes Gagarin team activated it," Miller explained.
"Then Crimson's gonna turn it off," Palmer said. "Get to it."
Miller highlighted a pair of Hardlight control panels, and Jason and Amelia moved to deactivate it. However, no sooner had they done that did Crawlers begin to appear all around them. All of them swore, opening fire rapidly, slaughtering the Crawlers, only for more to charge in from the hallways. Frank turned to one, his DMR firing rapidly, each shot punching into a Crawler's head and destroying it while Ethan moved to the other, combat gliding rapidly as his Assault Rifle fired short, rapid bursts into them, slaughtering them. However, as they got closer and closer, he swapped his Assault Rifle for a Hardlight Magnum in his left hand, forming his Hardlight Sword in his right and charging, rapidly slaughtering everything near him as he ducked and dodged between Hardlight projectiles. Finally, Ethan slashed the last Crawler's head off, everyone looking around.
"I think we're clear," Jason reported.
"Maria?" Ethan asked.
"Negative contacts," Maria reported.
"See, I told you there'd be things to shoot," Palmer said. "Happy birthday, Crimson."
"Shit," Maria swore. "More contacts appearing in the main chamber."
"Move out, Crimson!" Ethan ordered, swapping his sword and pistol for his Assault Rifle again as they all headed back to the main room.
Dozens of Crawlers and Watchers began to appear instantly, and they all ducked into cover just ahead of the flood of Hardlight Projectiles.
"Erin!" Ethan shouted. "Time for your new toy!"
Erin nodded, grabbing her new Railgun, then held it out and fired blindly. A split-second later, a massive explosion ripped through the Crawlers and Watchers, scattering scrap metal all the way down the hallway.
"Time to test our new shields!" Ethan shouted. "Maria, highlight all hostiles!"
"On it!" Maria acknowledged.
Then, as soon as a red outline had appeared around all of the active Prometheans, Crimson all stepped out, sprinting into the main chamber, all of their weapons roaring as they fired, even Frank using an Assault Rifle. Crawlers burst apart rapidly as their Hardlight bullets ripped through them, Frank and Erin focusing on the Watchers.
Jason's shield was the first to go down, and as he dropped into cover, a projectile grazed across the front of his armor's chest, heating it but not getting through. Erin and Frank both had to duck down next, continuing to fire from cover. Then Amelia and Ethan's shields both went down, but they were too far from cover. Instead, Ethan stepped in front of Amelia just as an unmodified Promethean Shield Projector to form its door-shaped Hardlight Shield in front of him. Amelia began to fire around the shield instantly, dropping Watchers and Crawlers rapidly, the others firing from cover as well quickly. However, Ethan's shield was beginning to fail quickly, turning from blue to red and thinning rapidly.
Then, Jason, Frank, and Erin's shields were back up and they were moving again, continuing to rapidly slaughter the Crawlers and Watchers. Ethan and Amelia sprinted for cover as Ethan's Promethean Shield Projector ran out of power. But a few seconds after they were in cover, their shields had finished recharging, and they both returned to the battle. And then, Knights were appearing. One of them grabbed Ethan by the back, only for him to spin, his Energy Dagger removing its arm before he drove the barrel of his Assault Rifle under its head and squeezed the trigger, killing the Knight in seconds. As he turned back around, a Knight leapt at Erin, only for her Railgun to fire a projectile into its face and out its lower back, destroying it instantly before the projectile slammed into the wall of the facility and exploded, killing a third Knight not two seconds after it appeared. Then, as they rapidly cleaned up the last of the Crawlers and Watchers, Miller reported that he'd located another of Gagarin's computers.
"Maria?" Ethan asked.
"On it," Maria said, hacking the computer remotely. "I'm in. Playing recording now."
"Oh, great!" the unidentified voice from before reported, Maria identifying the person as Church this time. "You broke it!"
"Uh, no, the fire broke it!" Caboose defended himself. "Oh see? Oh great, now I'm on fire, too now. Awesome."
"What the hell were they doing down there?" Palmer asked, sounding exasperated.
Just then, a Knight appeared directly in front of Ethan, only for his Energy Dagger to stab into its face.
"More Knights!" Ethan warned the others.
"See, this is why you should make me a Hardlight SAW!" Erin said, opening fire at one of the dozen Knights that had appeared with her Assault Rifle.
"I'll take one!" Jason agreed.
"I want a shotgun!" Amelia called out.
"Cry me a river!" Ethan said, firing his Assault Rifle one-handed, holding his Hardlight Sword in his other hand as Crawlers swarmed toward him.
"I fucking hate Crawlers!" Ethan snarled, charging through the swarm, spinning and slashing with his sword.
He fired a burst into one's head, slashed through the entire front half of another, kicked one in the face and shattered it, drove his Assault Rifle into one and killed it, then fired a long burst, sending its body exploding into another. He stabbed one, slashed another, and then he ducked as Frank and Amelia fired over him rapidly with their DMRs, slaughtering the rest of the Crawlers around him. As they moved to assist Jason and Amelia, Ethan sprinted up onto the raised walkway where a pair of Knights were lining up shots with Incineration Cannons. Ethan slashed through the first as he put his Assault Rifle on his back, then grabbed the Incineration Cannon and dove into a roll away from the other, evading a blast from its cannon before firing his own borrowed one, destroying the Knight. Then, he tossed the cannon aside, putting his sword away before grabbing his DMR and running to the edge of the walkway, firing down into the Crawlers and Knights below him rapidly.
As more Knights began to appear on the walkway, Ethan put his DMR away, grabbing a chaingun from its tripod beside him, kicking the legs off and turning, the chaingun buzzing to life, its bullets ripping into the Knights, ripping two of the four apart before Jason and Erin reached the other two, sticking a Promethean grenade to them before diving away before the grenades detonated, incinerating the Knights instantly.
"Commander, there's a power reading that wasn't there last time Crimson was in-house," Miller announced. "Painting a waypoint on it now."
The waypoint was back in the smaller room where the first computer had been, and they all all headed for it, killing the last handful of Crawlers on the way. Ethan and the others stopped halfway down the hallway, Frank moving to deactivate the terminal with Erin. Then, as they did, dozens upon dozens of Crawlers began to appear all over the main chamber. Maria immediately highlighted them all and they all ducked into cover, firing rapidly with their DMRs, Frank setting up behind them with his sniper rifle as Erin fired carefully with her Railgun from beside him and monitored the hallway behind her and Frank. As they began to clear the Crawlers out, they moved back into the chamber, Frank and Erin switching back to their DMRs as the others switched to their Assault Rifles, Miller highlighted another computer for them, Maria instantly hacking it.
"Let's see what it has," Palmer said.
"Hey Simmons," a new voice spoke up. "What do you think this machine does?"
"How would I know?" another new voice responded. "It's a forty-foot, seamless monolith with one massive holographic button. It could be anything from a giant microwave oven to a weapon with enough power to-"
Someone began to scream in the background, Ethan catching something about fire.
"Hey, is that Caboose?" Simmons asked.
"Probably," the first voice said uncaringly. "He's on fire."
"That's it," Palmer sighed. "Gagarin are a bunch of idiots. Crimson, shut it all down. I'll get a team of professionals to go in and figure out what Gagarin turned on, since you and Maria will be busy."
"Looks like there are four sources of power for this piece," Miller informed them. "Marking them for you now, Crimson."
They moved up to the upper walkway, where all four of the switches were, just as four Knights appeared to defend the switches. However, they took them out in seconds, Frank dropping one with a headshot from his sniper rifle, Ethan killing one with his sword, and the other two dying in a hair of Hardlight Assault Rifle bullets. Then, as they deactivated them, more Crawlers began to appear again.
"Jesus," Ethan groaned, opening fire with his Assault Rifle again. "I can't wait to leave this fucking planet!"
"Agreed!" Erin said. "Requiem sucks!"
And then, more and more Crawlers and Knights began to appear. They fled, scattering in sets of two, except for Ethan who took off alone with his sword and Hardlight Magnum again, spinning and ducking around the Prometheans as he slaughtered them, his shields lighting up over and over, but just barely holding out long enough for him to get to cover, using the pistol to keep the Crawlers at bay until they recharged before returning to killing them all up close. Then, finally, they were finished, Maria and Miller both reporting that they were clear.
"Good work, Crimson," Palmer said. "Fall back to the LZ. Marines are headed your way to hold down the fort until another science team can be brought in."
She disconnected, and they all headed through the tunnel through the trees, which felt like it wasn't even a part of the facility, until they reached an opening in the wall where a Pelican was just arriving to pick them up. Marines offloaded from it as Crimson got on, Ethan flipping the Forerunner Facility off.
"Commander, I've been thinking," Miller spoke up.
"Oh, do tell," Palmer said.
"Maybe the same thing that happened to Doctor Glassman happened to Gagarin Team," Miller said.
"That's above your pay grade, Miller," Palmer said flatly. "And speaking of things above people's pay grades..."
"What is it?" Ethan asked, able to tell from her tone that something was wrong.
"Ethan, I need you up here," Palmer said. "A certain prisoner is about to arrive."
Ethan froze, then clenched his fists. "Tell me that's a joke."
"Unfortunately, it's not," Palmer said, Majestic and I are accompanying Lasky to meet her."
"Crimson is enroute," Ethan said, the Pelican's pilot obediently flying up to the Infinity quickly. "Don't let her off her shuttle until we arrive. I want a clean shot in case she earns it."
"I copy," Palmer said.
After five minutes, they'd finally reached the Infinity, flying into one of the hangars right next to a ship that had just arrived. Crimson offloaded instantly, moving to join DeMarco, Madsen, and Palmer, weapons ready, only for Palmer to set a hand on Ethan's arm.
"Are you ready for this?" Palmer asked.
"I'm ready," Ethan nodded. "Bring her out."
Lasky gave the Marines escorting the prisoner permission to disembark finally, and the Marines marched Halsey off of the ship.
Majestic stepped forward with Palmer, and Jason and Amelia both stepped in between Ethan and Halsey as they saw him tense.
"Doctor Halsey, thank you for coming," Lasky greeted.
"I'm not walking around the ship I built with my hands cuffed," Halsey said, raising her hands.
"I don't remember anyone asking your opinion," Ethan growled, stepping forward, Magnum in his hand.
"Ethan," Halsey smiled. "It's good to see you."
"I don't even want to know how you see things in that fucked up head of yours," Ethan growled.
"Ethan," Lasky said. "Uncuff her."
"Captain-"
"That's an order, Ethan," Lasky said. "We need her."
Ethan grit his teeth, then nodded, extending his Energy Dagger and slashing down the center of the cuffs. "You try anything, and I will kill you. Do not test me."
"Is that any way to talk to your mother?" Halsey asked. "The woman who gave you a second chance at life?"
"Bitch, you are the furthest thing to my mother," Ethan snarled.
"Hm," Halsey hummed disinterestedly. "Show me the artifact."
They all turned, leading Halsey through the ship, Ethan following her and swapping his Magnum for his Assault Rifle again, and keeping it on fire, praying for a reason to shoot her.
"Rather dark for a proper investigation," Halsey commented as they entered the hangar where the artifact was still stuck to the floor.
"We have random fluctuations all over the ship, Doctor," Lasky informed her. "But the power is still completely out at ground zero. I'll get additional lighting set up ASAP."
"No need," Ethan said. "She'll have the flashlights from my helmet and rifle to help her."
"Excuse me?" Palmer asked.
"I'm going to watch her personally," Ethan said. "Crimson can handle their missions without me."
"Have there been any other...reactions since..." Halsey trailed off.
"Since what happened to Doctor Glassman?" Lasky finished. "No."
"I see," Halsey nodded, walking forward and raising her hands.
"Careful," Lasky warned.
"I'm not Henry Glassman, Captain," Halsey assured him.
"Trust me, Doctor," Lasky said. "I know who you are."
"Yes," Halsey mused. "And I see you've decided I rate seven of the new model, plus Ethan."
"You rate a bullet," Ethan growled. "Two at most. The rest of my team is here to keep me from giving you what you deserve, and the two in blue are here as errand boys."
Halsey touched the artifact, sending a pulse of orange Hardlight over its surface before looking up at Lasky.
"What is it, Doctor?" Lasky asked.
"Engine Room," Halsey said.
Ethan's eyes narrowed, but Lasky nodded, leading Halsey to the nearest lift, which they rode in silence.
"Why do they have us guarding some old lady?" DeMarco muttered to Madsen as they rode the lift.
"You seriously have no idea who she is, do you?" Ethan asked.
"She's bad news, man," Madsen said. "Mad scientists stuff."
"She's the worst war criminal the human race has ever produced," Ethan said. "Morals are not even a part of her vocabulary."
"She created the original spartans," Madsen supplied. "Master Chief."
"No way," DeMarco breathed.
"Yeah," Madsen said. "Story goes she kidnapped a buncha kids."
DeMarco snorted. "What would an old lady like her do with kids?"
"She tortured them," Ethan said. "Murdered almost all of them. She mutilated the rest, rebuilt them with machines and genetic modifications. She sterilized them, and they became Spartan Ones. And then when they weren't good enough, she kidnapped more and tortured and mutilated them, too. The technology had improved, but still, out of seventy-five children, only thirty three survived the procedure, with the rest either dead or wishing they were. But there weren't enough, and they were made too slow, so she kidnapped even more and then sent them out with only half of the modifications of the Spartan Twos, and called them Spartan Threes. They were weak, slow, and underprepared. And they were slaughtered. Only one team of them ever survived more than their first battle, but of that team, only one is still alive, the rest all dying on Reach. And then, just before she was finally arrested, she made me."
"You're mistaken, Ethan," Halsey said. "The first thing we taught them was how to be silent."
Ethan snarled in rage, stepping forward, but before he could do anything, Palmer had slapped Halsey hard enough to make her slam her head into the metal wall of the lift and fall off her seat.
"You should learn to be silent yourself," Palmer warned. "You're here to tell us what the artifact is, and for no other reason. If it's not related to the artifact, you don't speak. The next person to hit you is Ethan."
"Roland?" Lasky asked as they reached the engine room.
"Engine room is on lockdown, Captain," Roland reported. "All systems operating nominally. You know, Captain, I can't fly Infinity without human aid."
"Don't worry, Roland, we'll take her off your hands again shortly," Lasky promised.
"And now we're letting the war criminal touch things," Palmer noted as Halsey perused the engine room's console.
"I can type for her, if it'd make you feel better," Lasky said.
"She can't do anything Maria can't," Ethan said. "Maria's standing by to counter any sabotage attempts, by the way."
"Who's Maria?" Halsey asked.
"The AI you gave Ethan," DeMarco said. "Also, I have a question for you. If Ethan's not a Spartan-"
"DeMarco, shut the fuck up!" Palmer, Lasky, Ethan, Madsen, and all of Crimson snapped.
"Ethan is a fully-auton-" Halsey stopped talking as a Hardlight Magnum bullet grazed the top of the console, not damaging it and tearing a slit in her coat without harming her before punching through the window ahead of them and smashing harmlessly against the wall of the engine room.
"Not. Another. Word."
Halsey looked back at Ethan. "Hardlight? Well done. The artifact, Forerunner, is talking to your engines, also Forerunner. But it is also communicating with these other systems as well." She gestured at the computer screens above the console.
"We know," Palmer said. "Maria already explained that. You're not here to fix our ship. You're here to figure out what the artifact itself is."
"Do you know why the artifact is talking to these systems?" Halsey asked.
"Because someone on Requiem is studying our technology," Maria said flatly, appearing on the console, Halsey staring at her in shock. "We've already said hello to them, and they'll be done with our ship soon. The artifact, however, is beyond their control, which is why you're here. Now do your damn job before we fill you full of holes."
"Oh, I see," Halsey said, looking to Ethan. "You're Maria, then. Interesting."
"The next shot is more painful," Ethan warned as Maria disappeared from the screen.
"Alright," Halsey nodded. "Let's get back to the artifact, then."
They all nodded and headed back to the lift, all riding in complete silence this time.
Leave a review.