It took a moment for Elster's internals to flip back to normal as they landed. She rolled forward against the metallic floor of whatever godforsaken Forerunner structure they were in, the Bioresonant screams of a thousand alien beasts sending shivers up her mechanical spine. She straightened up, aimed her rifle around, then looked at the Chief and Guilty Spark.
The floating eyeball spoke, "Welcome to the Library. A true compendium of all information stored on the Ring and home to the Activation Index. If you will follow me to it, Reclaimer and Asset," before he sputtered forward, jovial as ever. Elster and Chief exchanged one glance, then quickly moved to follow, preparing their projectile weapons.
Chief picked up a Shotgun from the ground, noting the dead Flood Form that had been burnt out by nearby Sentinels. He found the ammo in the poor Marine's belt, slid it into pouches, then walked forward. Shepard was not far behind, picking up the Marine's second pistol and making sure her machete was still up to snuff.
"Fuck this place," That certain fun voice in the back of Elster's head spoke. She agreed quietly as she and the Chief pushed past the complicated, shining alien architecture of the place toward the first set of massive doors. Lilith added, "We're in deep shit, Elster. Whatever Tinkerbell wants us to do here better fucking work…"
"Chief," The Replika spoke, turning her gaze to meet that of the Spartan as they approached the door. The two stopped as Guilty Spark began working on the locks and Elster switched off her externals, then transmitted to Chief over single-beam, "Do we even know what the hell we're doing, sir? I have a bad feeling about this place."
"It's a building filled with these parasites, Sergeant," Chief replied, obviously wary, "We grab the Index, get out as fast as possible."
"And then?" She asked, scanning the area behind them. The slithering and warbles of the alien creatures echoed from around them, followed by the massive bulkhead door behind them hissing open, Sentinels flying past them into the room.
The Spartan stared at her and replied, "... Then we fire the Ring, find a ship and go back to Reach."
She nodded. The two then turned about and pushed forward, following Spark toward what seemed to be a massive central chamber. The Library was a sprawling complex, bigger than even the grandest skyscrapers on any Eusan planet, regardless of if it was Imperial or Nation. Both tall and deep and with a central concentric area, it almost glowed gold…
Chief hadn't been distracted, though. When the first ping appeared on their motion trackers, marked red, he called out, "Elster," as he prepared the shotgun. The girl readied her assault rifle, shouldering it and aiming straight for the vent. The first creature to pop up was the mangled form of a Covenant Elite. It dropped too all fours and surged toward them toward them, jumping down from the vent and roaring.
… Then the tide followed, a whirlwind of screams replying to their sibling.
A horde of monsters appeared from all around. Chief called out, "To the door!" before showing Elster to follow. The two fired their weapons on the run, painting the Forerunner alloys below their feet in pus and congealing blood as they did so. The demonic entities trailed them, their wailing screams laying on Elster's Psyche.
The two made it to the door, dodging enemy units and their fire. One charged Elster, cocking back one of its two mangled claw-hands, but the Replika was quicker on the draw, her machete slicing through rotting and decomposing flesh, smearing her left gauntlet with their blood while her rifle barked. She aimed center-mass, right at the infection forms at the heart of it all.
Chief, meanwhile, made short work of the enemy with the shotgun. The eight-gauge soelkraft buckshot rounds ripped through the monsters, biting chunks out of them. Spark commented, "Truly interesting choice of armaments! Combine that with your Combat Skins and you should normally be unable to survive this onslaught of Flood…"
He cast a glance at Elster while working to open the next door. The Synthetic was a strange one, almost familiar, but the AI didn't bother to say anything. If the Reclaimer allowed, he would investigate her at a later date, provided she did not become infected. He hummed a tune, re-tasking a Sentinel force to assist.
The dozen or so drones appeared, firing their energy beam weapons at the Flood forms as they began to swarm again toward Chief and Elster in an almost coordinated way, firing plasma, needles and bullets their way. Elster was picking her shots. Three-round bursts straight to the enemies' infection form tentacles, meaning the infection forms themselves collapsed.
It didn't help, though, when she saw one infection form immediately burrow its way into its dead sibling's place, reviving one of the alien parasite-infested corpses to continue its charge. She swore and said to Chief, "Tactical update, sir! They can revive corpses with the Infectors! Best to blow'em all to bits!"
"Already on it," The Spartan replied almost apathetically as he fired his shotgun, spraying gore and viscera on the monsters behind the one whose torso he took off. He ducked under a swing, slammed the hard butt-stock of his shotgun into the attacker's body, staggering it, then put the barrel of the shotgun against its chest and fired.
He felt two more pounce on him, causing him to lose the Shotgun as both started beating on his shields. Elster was quick to swivel about and aim, firing a long burst across the lateral axis of both alien creatures, destroying their spines and temporarily stunning them. The Spartan immediately punched clean through them with both hands and let the corpses fall before grabbing his shotgun.
The two nodded at each-other, with Lilith quipping, "That's gotta be the fifth time you saved his ass…"
Elster turned, kneed an alien monster, kicked it, then fired a burst right at its infector form. She then replied to Lilith, "He and his Spartans have saved mine enough for it not to count," before she yelped as she took a slash across her back from one of the monsters. She staggered, doubled over and almost fell.
Chief caught her in a surprising burst of speed, then planted a buckshot shell right into the Combat Form's chest, spraying its internals and causing them to go external. The two nodded to one-another, with Lilith snorting as she watched the two go to town on the Flood, firing their weapons. The moment Spark called out, "Lock disengaged. Follow me, please!"
The two nodded and rushed forth, though the Horde behind them trailed ever closer, not to mention more of it appearing from the walls, to the point both were worried they were gonna empty their entire supply of ammo. Though it was impossible, thanks to the Flood-infected humans that were rushing them carrying both sides' weapons, it was still… Worrying.
Chief knelt and pumped three shots into a squadron of beasts, nailing one of the inflated, infection-filled balloons that were carrier forms. Elster beside him dumped a magazine into the beasts that were sent flying by the detonation of the stumpy-legged form with tentacles. Chunks of rotting flesh boiled the moment the Drones overhead fired again, though two of them were immediately sniped.
One Combat Form, an old Marine whose tag was still visible, though fading with his erratic lifesigns on Elster's hud, aimed a Jackhammer rocket launcher. The girl barked, "LAUNCHER!" only to roll out of the way as both rockets from the tube screamed toward them, spraying them with shrapnel at the moment of detonation.
The Spartan and Replika focused it, gunning it down and destroying the launcher. Both primed grenades and hurled them into the horde as they backed toward the massive door, watching it slide open as more Sentinels poured through and beamed the undead, focusing them down by threat level. Chief showed Elster to move, providing her cover with his shotgun.
She nodded and moved back behind the door, taking cover as rounds zipped around them, plasma and kinetic, then barked, "SET!" allowing Chief to turn and run as she laid into the Horde with her rifle. The door began to rapidly close, the multitude of moving Forerunner metal parts sealing shut behind the Chief as they made it into a corridor with strange, blue-glowing shields on the right.
She dropped the spent magazine and spoke to Spark, "You took your god-damned time closing that one," with a huff. The floating eyeball simply let out a short, but spine-chilling laugh as it flew into what looked like a tunnel. She spoke, "I really don't like him," as they walked, with Chief seemingly agreeing via a nod.
"Only have to bear him 'till we get the Index," The Spartan told her, then asked, "Was it Noble that made sure we could get off of Reach?" only to watch the girl pause. He scanned the woman's armor, noting the various plasma marks, the gashes, the damage and black marks, then he looked right into her visor. She nodded, to which he said, "Good to know… I'll thank them when we meet them."
"Sounds good, Chief," Elster spoke, a smile on her face. He really was convinced people had survived Reach, wasn't he? Even after all he'd seen these past twenty-something years of the Covenant burning planets and killing billions. She told him, "Thanks. I think I needed a little boost after…" and she shuddered, motioning to the general direction of the horde as they walked through.
He nodded. He would never say it out-loud, but he was scared, too. The Flood was a new enemy. Something ancient and evil. Something they never should've encountered. Part of him was glad Blue Team was nowhere near this part of the Ring, but he was concerned over their well-being. Alpha Base was, hopefully, safe…
The two pushed on through, Elster a bit more focused. Straggler Flood units ahead of them engaged, firing their weapons one-handed. Still more skittered and appeared from various tunnels beneath or from the same pipes that 343 Guilty Spark had encountered. The Spartan and Elster fought their way through to the best of their abilities, their armors now stained by the marks of pus and gore.
Elster drew her Machete again and cut her way through whatever forms drew closer, feeling their claws and arms striking at her, causing her shields to dip by the slightest percentile. Chief was doing better, though not by much, with the Shotgun giving him an ability to clear pretty decent chunk of the beasts and rip them to shreds.
When they reached the next door, Elster knelt and opened fire toward the horde, sheathing her machete and watching as more and more of those damn things appeared on her Motion Tracker, forming what was basically a gigantic, squirming red mass on the tracker versus two golden dots and a few greys.
When the door opened, the Spartan and Elster stepped through, letting the machines above deal with the hostile threat, before the door shut behind them again. Though it was an unsurprising thing, the two now remained dead quiet as they kept on pushing through the place, encountering more and more hordes.
It seemed as though the Flood, even in as primal a state as they seemed to be, had one focus:Stop them from accessing the Ring's defense systems and wiping them and the Covenant out. Self-preservation instincts for these things were quite high, despite being what felt like hive-minded Zombies from a bad horror flick Ariane would've shown her on the ship.
They were not the stupid undead, however. These things learned how to wield weapons, how to fire them and how to even reload them in some cases. One of the beasts had nearly gotten them with a rocket launcher double-shot, damn near dooming all of humanity in one quick shot. She was sure Chief had noticed it, too, but these things were smart.
The Spartan and Elster stopped in front of the door again as it shut behind them, finding themselves in an enclosed space with two entrance holes and a lot of cover. He ordered, "Reload," as he pulled out several eight-gauge shells and started sliding them into the tube. Elster checked her rifle over, dropped a half-spent magazine and slammed a fresh one home. The counter reset to green, counting sixty.
She heard Guilty Spark speak, "Wait here! I will disengage the lock myself…" only to notice that the door was, in fact, stuck.
She sighed and said, "Ambush?"
"Ambush," Chief confirmed, weapon at the ready as the holes ahead of them started clanging with everything from combat forms to infectors pushing through them. They opened fire the moment the first yellow flesh popped forward, but deep down they couldn't wait to be out of here. Spark was probably genuinely trying to kill them.
Regardless of that, the two fought, gaining a few more superficial marks and blood spatters on their armor to signify the Flood's continuing attacks on them. Plasma rounds burst against the Chief's shields, followed by a volley of automatic rifle fire which Elster quickly returned in kind, cutting down several more of the creatures.
She threw a grenade and watched Chief join her, taking cover beside a pillar supporting the vaulted ceiling near the door as he dumped more shotgun rounds forward. Lilith spoke, "You know, I'm starting to really hate Forerunner Eyeball. Cortana's genuinely cool, but this fucker-ELSTER, WATCH OUT!"
The girl felt the air knocked out of her lungs as the Chief pushed her out of the way of a Spanker missile that flew right where she'd been. He lifted the shotgun and blasted the rocketeer, before running to and grabbing the weapon off the floor. He shouldered it and realized he couldn't fire into the alien crowd without killing both himself and Elster, then slung it on his back and kept pumping Shotgun rounds into what was by now a tidal wave of beasts.
When the door began to open again, the two bolted through, firing whatever was left of their ammo as they moved. Elster, however, lagged behind, feeling her own machine lungs somehow burning like real ones. Lilith once again called to her, but her ears rang now as she felt the weight of something slam into her.
Time slowed as she saw a Flood form decloak, a burly Elite, taller than the others. She skid across the floor, the entire time her ears ringing. When she stopped in front of the pit that lead down to the nothingness of the Halo Ring's internals, time seemed to finally return, that ringing only growing higher in pitch as she saw the alien monstrosity coming at her…
… And for but a moment, she saw a SAPR unit, armed with an autocannon, rushing her…
Only to snap back to reality a second later as a Shotgun blast, then another and another ripped it to shreds, sending it tumbling end-over-end into the pit below. Chief moved over to Elster, grabbed her by the hand and lifted her to her feet, then handed her a plasma rifle and said, "Rifle went down the hole. C'mon," as they moved forward.
She nodded and followed, firing the plasma rifle behind them and making sure the weapon stayed charged. She mumbled, "The fact these fucks can now use active camouflage doesn't paint a pretty picture for our chances of survival, sir," to which Chief simply gave her an elbow in the shoulder, a sign to stay calm.
The two pushed through another door that, this time, Spark had opened surprisingly quickly as the Horde closed in behind them. The tidal wave grew to the point it encompassed most of the motion trackers' screen, so they needed to move fast. The Forerunner Monitor spoke, "We are nearly there…" before approaching an elevator with them.
Clambering onto said elevator, a massive gravity-defying, ornate platform, Spark told them, "Keep the Flood away to the best of your abilities, Reclaimer. You and your Synthetic have proven yourselves quite resilient to these creatures despite the lacking biohazard protection," almost sounding proud of them, somehow.
Freaky little bastard, Elster thought, to which Lilith agreed. The two kept up the pressure, firing at the horde and keeping them away to the best of their abilities, only to stumble as the elevator powered on, dipped a little as the antigrav system kicked in, then moved on and up. As it raised high toward where the Index was held, a beam of azure light descended down the center like a guide rod.
Elster sighed and tossed aside the plasma rifle, which was almost empty, before drawing her pistol. She switched to Single-Beam and told Chief, "He's been testing us, maybe even planning to use us as a backup to contain these things. How do we know this thing will even take out the Covenant, much less the Flood? Especially after all we've seen here…"
"It's our only lead," Chief replied, straight-laced as always, as he checked his shotgun, then tossed it aside. He grabbed the rocket launcher, looked it over and realized that one of the two missiles had been fired. Slinging it back onto his back, he drew his own MA5B, racked the bolt and told her, "And if it turns out to be a dud, we'll figure something out. Spartans adapt, Sergeant."
"I know, sir," She replied, "I'm a Replika, though…"
He shook his head and said, "You aren't any less of a Spartan today than any of us," before shouldering his rifle. She smiled a little behind her visor, then watched Chief check his armors' damage, finding it to be superficial. He then told her, "Now. Get ready. The moment we grab the Index, we book it and find a way to the Control Room."
"Sir," She replied. When the elevator reached the spot, the pair spotted it:The Index. A small device, resembling the hilt of a dagger with a glowing emerald line going down the center. It was locked in a containment device with an active haptic interface of some sort, similar to most Forerunner tech. Chief tapped on it, activating it and unlocking it, several pieces shifting into place.
The moment he retrieved the Index, though, the teleport system activated… And once more, she felt her stomach turn inside out. Though, this time, it wasn't long before they landed with their feet on a familiar, transparent platform which had a holographic ring floating around it. The Control Room lay dead ahead.
Elster and Chief exchanged glances, with Spark stating something. The girl brought up rearguard, pistol drawn, while Chief went on to the control console and put the Index in. It was then that the Ring first screeched to life, its internal reactors seemingly spooling audibly below them… Then it shut off. Spark spoke, deflated, "That wasn't supposed to happen…"
"Oh, really!?" Cortana demanded, seemingly irate. An energy shockwave sent the Monitor flying back, rolling onto the floor before it powered on its engines. Though as Spark sputtered, Elster could faintly make out the trails of Sentinels moving up from below. She took a few steps back, looking at Spark, then gave an elbow to the Chief.
The Eyeball wasn't here just to talk, was he? She spoke, "Chief, we gotta move…"
Only to hear Cortana… "You have no idea how this ring works, do you? Why the Forerunners built it? Halo doesn't kill Flood, it kills their food. Humans, Covenant, whatever. We're all equally edible! The only way to stop the Flood is to starve them to death. And that's exactly what Halo is designed to do: Wipe the galaxy clean of all sentient life. You don't believe me? Ask him!"
She froze, then looked at Spark. Chief swiveled about, shotgun in hand, then asked, "Is this true?" in the most deadpan, Spartan-standard way ever. The damn Ring was a WMD meant to wipe out SENTIENT LIFE and that little piece of shit had left it out. Elster scoffed, preparing to put a slug clean through its eye socket.
Spark hesitated for a second as Elster aimed her pistol. He, however, replied, "More or less. Technically, this installation's pulse has a maximum effective radius of twenty-five thousand light years. But, once the others follow suit, this galaxy will be quite devoid of life, or at least any life with sufficient biomass to sustain the Flood," Then, he paused and asked a calm, "But you already knew that... I mean, how couldn't you?"
"Left out that little detail, did he?" Cortana asked mockingly. Though Spark began to monologue as Chief removed Cortana's chip from the console, Elster spotted something moving in the background. The door to the Control Room seemed to crack open. Cortana told Elster, "Be ready to book it, Els. Figured it's as good a time as any to call for some backup nearby…"
Elster nodded, swallowed empty, then paused as she saw a friendly IFF pop up. A familiar IFF. She heard Spark state, "Save his head. Dispose of the rest," with a cold, calculated tone, as a swarm of Sentinels appeared. Though Spark retreated, the first shot of the battle rang out:A sniper rifle's bark. It was followed by the chatter of automatic rifles and another thunderclap as the Drones' shields failed.
Two familiar members of Blue Team moved forward with a platoon of Marines. Chief spoke, "Linda, James… Just in time," to which the two Spartans nodded, surprisingly cool under pressure. Beside them was a platoon of Marines they'd retrieved, which meant they were not Flood Bait, which also meant they'd be fine moving with'em.
"We have any chance for Evac?" Elster asked, "How's Alpha Base?"
"Flood hit it around the same time you all just appeared on our Radars again, but it's been secured since. Most assets have left, though, with Silva going off on his own," Linda replied, shouldering her sniper, "We should move. Our only Evac's a Pelican off-site, about a click back through the Valley, and I don't think Echo-419 is gonna wait for us long," to which Chief and the Replika nodded.
Elster noticed the scorch marks on their armors and the dents and damage on the guns. One of the Marines' MA5s lacked the ammo counter, the glass having shattered after a needle round had seemingly impacted it. Some lacked armor, others were bandaged up and only biofoam held them together.
Chief rallied the Fireteam up behind him, showing them to follow, with Cortana stating, "I'm afraid we can't depart yet, Blues… Without the Index, the Monitor can't activate the ring from this Control Room. What we need to do is destroy it, obviously, which would require a detonation reaching in the hundreds of Megatons, if not more. A starship's fusion drives."
"The Autumn," James suggested as the team started moving forward, "Last I heard, her engines were still intact."
"Then that's our target. I'm gonna work on locating it on the Ring," Cortana spoke, "Before that? This area contains the Ring's main firing mechanisms, made up of three pulse generators, so I'd like to take those out as well before we move any further…" and she appeared on the TEAMCOM, visible via their HUDs, "Follow the markers I'm placing."
"Echo Four-Nineteen, this is Blue Two. We've located Actual and are on the move. Be advised:Hostile High Value Targets are located in the AO and we're moving to destroy them," Linda spoke calmly, "Take off from current position and orbit the Canyon to the best of your abilities. If the area becomes too hot, depart. We'll find our own way out…"
"... Roger that, ma'am. Godspeed…" Foehammer seemed uneasy to leave them behind… Understandably…
Chief ordered, "Move out."
All of Blue, now reunited and with Reinforcements, gave an affirmative reply, though it was silent. They pushed forward, Spartans and Marines moving together through the massive hallway of the Control Room. Red hostile dots appeared on their Motion Trackers, but they were ready to greet them with bullets. It was gonna be a tough fight.
Least they weren't alone anymore, Elster thought to herself…