[Singh]

Bullets streaked both ways through the large room, some of them missing the two SPARTANS and either lodging themselves into the wall, or ricocheting into either the ceiling or the floor. Most of them, however, managed to hit and bounce off John's shields, even as he ran with unnatural speed across the room, dodging the Replicas as best as he could.

****! She's too fast! Suppressive Fire!”

He fired once more with the sniper rifle, vaporizing yet another Replica with it. The tally was down to 19 replicas now, as he watched Kelly knock down another one in the lower tier with a pistol bullet to the head. Kelly was fast – so fast, that she was now literally running across the wall for two full seconds to dodge whatever she could, and not get pinned down. It was only a few meters to the first barricade, but the amount of munitions pointed her way prevented her from getting any closer – lest the shotguns actually hit her full-on, rather than just grazing her shields as they were now.

Make that 20 again. John corrected himself, as he watched the fallen Replica get off the floor, a bullet-sized hole running clear through its brain, and then continue firing at both of them with it's rifle. A total of 15 Replicas focused on Kelly's ridiculously fast form, while only five seem to be paying much attention to him...unfortunately for John, four of those five held HV Penetrators; the spikes of which now whizzed dangerously close to his body.

He needed to correct this situation desperately, otherwise they would have little chance of surviving. He fired again, and another Replica went down on Kelly's side. The ammo counter hit zero as the rifle's battery compartment open, demanding more power or energy with which to operate. John just dropped it, however, as he dived and rolled to the side, avoiding a swath of fire that raked his shields, bringing them down to near-zero. But as John came up, his right hand produced a grenade, while his left now held the assault rifle. Squeezing the trigger, John let loose with a hail of gunfire, throwing the Replicas on the lowest tier into cover as they ducked. He brought his right hand up and with a flick of the wrist, the Grenade went flying out towards the lower Tier.

Grenade!! Get down!”[/i]

The Replicas noticed it immediately, and dove for cover. But at the same time, John's radio crackled once more as the group of replicas on the other side shouted out.

Grenade out! Get that *****![/i]

John noticed a grenade fly out from the other side of the room towards where Kelly was reloading. She was no longer using the pistol – which was now out of ammo and lying on the floor. She held the shotgun with both hands, using it to force the Replicas under cover...at least, till now. Time seemed to slow as he shouted her name out over the radio; trying to warn her of the incoming threat. But then he saw it wasn't necessary as she calmly ducked under the grenade and kept on firing. She tensed her knees as it arced behind her, coming to impact on the ground and bouncing towards the lift.

The grenade exploded at the same time as John's did, forming two simultaneous Bangs both in front and behind him. He could hear a scream in front of him as a Replica went down as it was unable to get to cover. He noted that it was the Replica with the HV Penetrator; but at the same time, John ignored it. His attention was focused for the briefest on moments onto Kelly, as she did an expert jump right as the grenade exploded behind her; riding the shockwave and heading straight into the group of Replicas – all of whom scrambled for cover. But even as they did so, he got a sick feeling in his gut.

Kelly…she didn’t know how tough these Replicas were at Hand-to-hand combat…for her to take nearly three of them on at once.

Nothing we can do about it…keep fighting. John thought to himself. The priority was to stay alive for the moment. All this flashed through his mind in less than a second as his feet sprung into motion, propelling the SPARTAN full on at the barricade in front of him. The bullet’s didn’t stop, however, as his shields suddenly collapsed, and they pinged off his armor. John knew it wouldn’t last for long, however – and if someone with a HV Penetrator targeted him right now; he would be dead. Taking a flying leap, he hit the ground rolling to come up right in front of the barricade; taking cover right in front of it from the Replicas in the tiers above.

“****! He’s over there!!”

Again the echo of the Replica’s commands came over the radio. John didn’t move to engage, however. Instead, he lit up another plasma grenade and threw it up and behind his shoulder, and into the Replicas behind him.

“****! Grenade! Take cover!”

The tactic worked. He counted down the seconds as the shield bar began to recharge. At the same time he sneaked a glance at Kelly while he reloaded the last clip into the assault rifle. She was, surprisingly, managing just fine against the Replicas. Two were already dead, while her speed had somehow allowed her to use the third as a human shield against the incoming fire from the higher Tier. Checking the HUD, John saw that her shields were out; but now slowly recharging. It was surprising how well she fared against the Replicas; especially considering his own dismal performance against one of them in Hand-to-Hand combat. Still, there was little he could do for the moment as the shields stopped recharging at around half when the grenade exploded behind the boxes, pushing them into his back.

Two men down! Get that bastard!

Good enough. John thought to himself. His momentary reprieve was pretty much over. Without another thought, he threw the last plasma grenade over his shoulder once more – this time to where he remembered the second tier barricade was. John ignored the surprised reaction of the Replicas as he jumped up to his feet; barely dodging at the last second as a grenade flew right past his head. There were nobody behind the barricades – which meant that he had either gotten all of them, or they had retreated to the second or third level. Not paying it a second thought, he leaped over the barricade, firing all the way. His feat hit the ground next to another dead Replica. Without thinking, John instinctively reached down with one hand and brought its body up, covering him from the bullets that filled the air where he stood. Blood spattered onto his shields, but they remained solid for now.

He tried to get a count on how many were left on his side. There had originally been four in the lowest level, another five in the second one, and finally 3 in the top most. He had taken out one sniper, along with all three on the lowest level…that only left five behind the next barricade, and two more behind them.

Make that four. He thought. A scream of pain rang through the air as the plasma grenade exploded, taking out another Replica with it.

John’s thoughts were interrupted, however, as the corpse in front of him suddenly jerked backwards, slamming into him as the blast from not one, but two shotguns nearly vaporized the front. The jerk was powerful enough that it shook the G1A1 Rifle out of his hand. Somewhat surprised by this and realizing he needed to move, John let go of the body and threw it to the side while he jumped into the opposite direction – right near what appeared as a sub-machine gun of some sorts. Going into a rolling dive, John picked up the gun and brought it up to aim at those in the upper tier, even as bullets streaked past his helmet and his shields began to become dangerously low once more. But even as he looked on, John realized it was too late. Two of the four replicas that stood behind the Barricade were wielding shotguns – both of which had now reloaded, and were being pointed towards him. The other two Replicas had ducked, reloading their rifles desperately. But they didn’t matter for the moment. Time seemed to slow as he watched the two other Replicas track his movements, and as the muzzles came down to bear on his still-moving form.

If they fired, he didn’t stand a chance. Even at these ranges, those guns would have a devastating effect, especially when his shields were almost gone. One blast would have hurt him really bad right now; but two? No chance.

Yet, even as he thought all of this; his mind considered his options as his fingers squeezed the trigger, hoping against hope that he could get at least one of them to stagger or miss. John could feel as the Adrenaline pumped through his veins and time seemed to slow even further. He could see the individual bullets streak out of the sub-machine gun; the recoil sending them wide of their intended targets. The voices of the Replica rung out; slurred as it were by pace the scene was playing out at.

“ Die ************!””

Disappointment raced through his mind as his eyes closed for the briefest of moments. A single question ran through his mind:

Is this it…is it the end?

BANG.

The blast echoed out in his ears as a bullet flew right past his head…and smashed straight into the right Replica’s shotgun right in the ammunition cartridge; causing it to explode almost immediately, taking out its hands and arms and spattering blood everywhere. The explosion was powerful enough that it threw not just that Replica backwards, but threw the ones right next to it onto the ground. The ammunition must have been really potent – even John could feel the blast of heat despite his armor and shields.

What in the name of…

John took a quick glance back to where the bullet had come from, and was somewhat surprised to see its source. It had come from near the elevator, where Jin was now crouched on the ground, the smoking pistol held in front of her with both hands. She could barely stay up, and the gun was shaking significantly. Yet, she managed to hold it steady for a second as she fired another round – this time towards Kelly’s side. She turned to look at him, the features on her face contorted in pain as she shouted at him, rather loudly.

“MOVE! Go now! Keep going!”

John gave a slight nod, and turned back towards the Replicas. Lucky shot or not, it had brought the time he needed. The second level was mostly clear, leaving only the three replicas that were now at the top. All three had recovered from the blast, of course, and were now shooting at him once more. John replied in kind; going full auto and focusing on downing one Replica at a time. His shields were almost gone, but John didn’t bother with them much, using his speed and reflexes to keep him from getting hit too much instead. The Replica’s fire was accurate, however, and this only helped him a little as soon he was forced to duck once more behind the second level barricade for cover once more. Still, he had already taken out one Replica, and seriously injured another before the clip ran out.

Studying the sub-machine gun, John threw it to one side, and was about to reach for a pistol that had fallen nearby when a shadow fell over him.

Battle-hardened instincts reacted first as his right hand shot out, grabbing the shotgun that was above his head. John then pulled on it as hard as he possibly could, angling it to the side so that it wouldn’t hit him if it accidentally discharged – which it did as the Replica holding it squeezed the trigger almost as instinctively. But then either the Replica was weakened, or had backup, as he let go of the shotgun, allowing it to slip forwards and right into John’s lap.

Smiling internally, John held the shotgun in both hands, pumping it and clearing the chamber of the empty round. With one smooth motion, he got up and turned around; firing straight into the Replica behind him and tearing the body in half. The hail of bullets began once more, however, and some of them began to tear into the armor; sending up a sharp pain through his chest and abdomen. Not wasting any time, John pumped the shotgun once more and fired again – this time the injured Replica fell over, with a gurgled cry of pain.

“****! He just wiped out the whole squad! Retreat!”

John turned to look at the last Replica; who had by now turned around and was running towards one of the nearby doors; firing at John all the way with his assault rifle. John couldn’t take chase, however, as the bullets began to really eat away at the armor, forcing him to take cover. It was then that he heard another loud Bang! from the nearby elevator and then the sound of the Replica falling to the ground. Looking at Jin, he nodded his thanks, before glancing to his left to check up on Kelly.

She was pretty much done as well; surrounded by dead bodies and her armor covered in blood, Kelly was visibly panting underneath the seriously damaged armor. John could see in places here and there that the armor was almost completely gone; with only a scant few millimeters left.

But that was not the important bit. As she turned to look at him; John could sense the smile…the feeling of joy that came behind it.

It was over.

We survived…we won. John smiled to himself. He glanced at Jin, and was suddenly alarmed as he saw her collapsed on the ground, clutching her stomach and coughing up blood. Kelly noticed his gaze and looked towards Jin as well…and then, she moved, racing toward Jin. She made it there a lot sooner than John did. Without thinking, she lifted Jin up and rested her against the wall.

“Jin? Jin! Are you all right?” Kelly asked. Jin just coughed a bit more, before nodding weakly.

“I’ll…I’ll be fine.” She replied. Kelly didn’t wait, and instead just lifted her back into a fireman’s carry; ignoring the accompanying grunt of pain. She then turned around to face John.

“We don’t have much time…their backup will be arriving soon.” John whispered. He knew that Kelly understood as she nodded. Walking quickly, they headed past the barricades and bodies, only stopping for a scant second as John bent down to pick up some more ammo from one of the bodies. But after that, they stopped at the top of the ramps, and looked at the large room present. Ahead of them was the main ramps entrance, while off to the side was another elevator, much like the ones they had just come from.

John glanced at the elevator, and realized that something was…off, as it were. The elevator light was on, indicating that it was on the way down. This was confirmed almost a second later as it appeared from the chute; depositing its passengers onto their deck. And the passengers were truly nothing short of frightening. No less than Three heavy-armored Replicas stepped off the platform; forming a triangular formation. At the center of the formation was the most fearsome machine that John had seen to date.

Its construction was reminiscent of the many maintenance drones that John and his SPARTANS had fought during the training phase; yet at the same time it seemed far more…sinister.  It could be best described as a small suit of powered armor, or maybe a small mech. A dirty white in color, the machine had a domed front that stood out significantly. Just from the thickness of its arms and legs, one could see that it was heavily armored, and at the same time, from the look of the triple-barreled rocket launchers in each arm, it was heavily armed as well. The domed front had the words “REVE-6” painted on it in bright red and bold letters. However, the last ‘E’ was significantly fainted out – as if removed by battle scars or damage. The entire construct itself seemed worn out, with several bullet dents and dings present on its arms and legs.

John glanced at Kelly, and only spoke one word.

“Run.”

With that, both SPARTANS ran as fast as they could towards the door. HV Penetrator spikes and rockets streaked by in the air behind them as they fled through the ramp entrance, the Replica forces in fast pursuit. They rounded the bend to the first upwards incline. It was then that John stopped as he noticed something at the top of the ramp. Kelly nearly ran into him as he did so. She was about to ask something, when she looked up and saw it, too.

There was an elite standing at the top of the ramp.

Or more specifically, the same elite that John had seen and met earlier. It was in a far more horrible state than before, however, with a lot of blood – of varying species – all over it’s armor…just as there was on John’s. It was a relief in a sense…of all the people to run into here, at least he had managed to bump into a potential ally. But where had he just come from? The bridge?

Thump. John’s blood froze as he heard the large sound of the footstep behind him. He didn’t need to turn back to see that the REVE-6 had already caught up to them. However, it was what happened next that caught a greater priority. Behind the elite…something appeared. John raised a hand, pointing to behind him, but he could see from the Elite’s expression of horror that he knew…and knew all to well what was behind him. The monstrosity…the thing – John had no proper terms with which to describe it. It must have been human at one point of time…but now it was so grossly mutated, that it was only a shadow of its former self.

However, that was not the thought that frightened John the most.

They were now, essentially trapped, with no place to go.

Nowhere to run…nowhere to hide.

[Singh]

No Escape. The thought seemed to flash through John’s mind as he considered the situation very carefully. This was bad…very bad. They were now trapped between two very hostile, and potentially very deadly opponents. One of these opponents had chased him, Kelly and Jin down, while the other seemed to have chased his more…unusual ally, the elite, through the ship and then reached here. John couldn’t gauge the creature’s abilities; but if it had been more than a match for the Elite – as visible from the elite’s wounds and current fear – then it would probably be either equal or stronger than him.

All this happened in the fraction of a second as a sudden idea formed in his head. He sent a short series of blips onto Kelly’s screen in the next fraction. She got the point though: duck and cover. John, on the other hand, immediately began to run forwards even as he heard the soft click of the rockets launcher firing behind him. Still, he was ready for it; and began to move to his left to dodge it.

That was when the entire ship jerked, and the floor stepped out from under him; forcing him to trip and fall to the right. That very move saved his life, as the rockets streaked past him and impacted against the left wall; the shockwave hitting him straight in the chest and pushing him backwards significantly. In front of him, the creature staggered as well, allowing the elite an opportunity to escape as he leaped down the ramp, rolling to a stop several feet away from it as it struggled to recover. Behind him, John could hear a loud thunk as the REVE-6 fell to the ground, but he didn’t need to look back to know that it was already getting back up to his feet.

What caused that? John couldn’t help but think to himself, however, as he rolled onto his feet and came back up. Something had either hit the ship, or a large explosion had taken place somewhere. Might be Gravemind. John thought to himself. He didn’t have the luxury of speculation at the moment, however. Glancing back, he saw that Kelly was still on her feet and still holding Jin. Kelly was moving backwards as she brought her shotgun up, firing at the REVE-6 as it came up in an attempt to do as much damage as possible. Her efforts were futile, however, as the powerful blasts simply bounced off the extremely tough armor. It did manage to slow it down a bit, however, so that was an added advantage.

Moving on, John looked back in front. The Elite was not less than four feet away and was on his feet. John moved towards the Elite, bringing up his own shotgun and aiming it towards the creature as it got up. That was when he heard it.

It was nothing short of a whisper…absolutely faint, it was almost inaudible as it carried itself down the hallway on some invisible wind. The whisper had no coherent words in it, yet at the same time, John could recognize the voice…but at the same time, couldn’t exactly place who it belonged to. It seemed that two or three voices had melded into it. Who it was not, however, was a relief. It certainly wasn’t Alma’s, that much was sure. Still, the oddness was enough to give his step a momentary pause.

Once more, John’s unwitting actions saved his life as, suddenly, the wall to his right exploded outwards and into the corridor. A massive heat wave hit John, pushing him back as a large, green beam of plasma filled the space just inches in front of him. The wall collapsed, exposing a large opening, and the last thing that John would have possibly expected in this scenario: the large blue form of a hunter that now charged into the room. The hunter was massive; almost as large as the creature that was chasing the Elite. It was hunched over in a defensive stance as it brought its heavily armored let arm up, while at the same time bringing the Fuel Rod Gun attached to it’s right hand up to bear towards where John was standing. He cursed and jumped to the side, moving out of the way as yet another blast

“No! Stop! Shoot it!”

The Elite’s deep voice resounded across the ramp, catching the attention of the Hunter, who immediately snapped around to face him. It uttered a guttural reply in a language that John didn’t understand, but the Elite apparently did, who responded in kind. The Hunter seemed to give the equivalent of a nod as it fired a round at the creature on the top of the ramp, which had already gotten up by now and was moving towards the Elite. The creature dodged the blast easily, leaping to the right with a speed that was far, far faster than something its size had a right to be. The Elite ran forward, taking cover behind the Hunter (but not so close as to get impaled by the long spikes) and looking through the hole in the wall. The Elite turned back to the Hunter and uttered some more commands as it then quickly turned around and fired not at the REVE-6, but at the rockets that were now streaking towards it. A lucky shot managed to detonated all three rockets before they could go very far, buying their group just a little bit of time.

The Elite waved at John and Kelly, pointing at the hole in the wall. “Quickly, in here!” With that, he ducked into the wall. John looked at Kelly, then nodded before making a mad dash to the hole. There was little choice but to trust the Elite right now – staying here would mean that they would be toast.

Running at full speed, they were inside in less than a second, narrowly dodging another set of rockets that streaked between them and the hunter – which, co-incidentally, hit the ground right in front of the creature, knocking it back a bit. The hunter used this opportunity to turn around and make a run for the hole, missing yet another set of rockets just as they detonated on the ground right behind it. But as John glanced back and saw, they had little effect against the Hunter’s incredible armor. These beings took a full Jackhammer round to take down – sometimes two. They were pretty damn tough, to say the least. Still, John ignored it for the moment, and concentrated on following the Elite. It didn’t look like they were being followed, and they were under the expert guidance of a local, as it were At the very least, they now had a very, very powerful ally to help them get up to the bridge. Once they got to the bridge…this should hopefully soon be over.

Hopefully.

[Singh]

Meanwhile, back in the hallway, Nemesis glared at the REVE-6 standing near the bottom of the ramp as it slowly got up. His body had taken a massive beating thus far, and the rocket blast hadn’t helped it one bit. Tentacles writhed and squirmed as the T-virus mutations continued, expanding outwards from the stump of the thing’s arm. New flesh had already filled the hole that the Elite had left with the plasma sword, and the mutations continued. Worn and battered, the walking mutation took a step forwards to the REVE-6; the internal chip that controlled its brain and conscious immediately identified the cybernetic being before it as a threat – one that needed to be neutralized immediately, lest it be unable to continue with the mission. It advanced further, taking yet another step, and growing into a slow walk. It knew the mechanization could not move fast…and there was no need to hurry.

Likewise, the REVE-6’s sensors and equipment showed the unidentified creature to be an unknown factor. The closest match the mind inside the machine could find was the flood organisms it had encountered so far – all of which were to be terminated upon any encounter. Its programming worked swiftly; analyzing the opponent’s weaknesses and determining a strategy to attack in less than a second.

The REVE-6 put one foot back to better balance itself as it bent its knees slightly. At the same time, it raised up both arms, and the rocket launchers in each; bringing them to bear on the now advancing form of Nemesis. The barrels kicked back as the rockets exploded out from their chambers; streaking across and up the ramp towards their targets. The three rockets moved in a spiral pattern, leaving a clear-cut heat trail in the air that disappeared quickly.

Few people would have been able to dodge such a blast, especially at those ranges. For this scenario, however, Nemesis was one of those few people. It twisted to the side; its torso passing cleanly between both batches of missiles as they streaked by, and into the wall on the top of the ramp. Turning back to the REVE-6, Nemesis immediately ducked as a second volley passed by where its head used to be. However, it couldn’t miss the third volley as the REVE-6 adapted its tactics, and instead blasted the floor right in front of Nemesis; catching it with the gigantic splash and heat wave instead. The Shockwave was powerful enough that it lifted Nemesis off its feet, depositing the giant onto its back not five feet behind where it had been standing. Its body simmered with the heat of the explosion, tainting the air with the smell of burning and rotting flesh.

Two empty and smoldering boxes hit the floor with a loud clang as the REVE-6 cycled its ammo boxes; reloading fresh rockets into the tubes. It would take another minute to cycle the boxes – something which it recognized would force it into melee combat. It immediately took a low combat stance – or at least, as much of a stance that a heavy suit of powered armor could make.

The boxes bounced off the floor, coming to a clattering halt a foot away from the REVE-6’s foot. Nemesis could hear it; feel the vibrations of the box as it did so. It wasn’t dead…at least, not yet. With a low growl, it slowly got up; jumping to it’s feet and looking straight at the REVE-6. The bio-weapon bent its knees for the briefest of seconds, and then with a deafening roar, it leapt at the machine with all its strength. It covered the six meters to the machine in less than a second, bringing about the tentacles on its arm much akin to a strong whip.

But the REVE-6 was prepared for this. It took a step back, bringing up its left arm to shield itself from the blow. The tentacles wrapped around the arm as it staggered back as the full weight of Nemesis hit it, and it nearly fell over from the force of the impact. But it was smart enough to use Nemesis’s weight against him. It pulled on the tentacles, and then spun quickly to it’s left; shifting the weight such that it absorbed most of the energy safely. It then brought up its other arm, which the REVE-6 then smashed into Nemesis’s side, pushing him completely into the floor. The domed-shape front of the Mech was somewhat cumbersome, but yet it somehow managed to pull off the move, smashing the giant’s face right into the floor.

The tentacles lost their grip on the left arm as Nemesis momentarily blacked out…but then recovered. It was laying face-down on the floor; its head horrendously disfigured beyond belief by the impact. But even as it let out a gurgled roar of pain, the T-virus began to act; mutating parts of the flesh and recovering it near instantly. It did not remain still, either. It used its low position to kick out towards the REVE-6 with its powerful legs, sweeping the machination’s legs out from under it in less than a second. The Mech fell over with a massive thud that echoed through the ramps and send a huge vibration through the floor.

The REVE-6’s arms and legs thrashed about wildly as it struggled to get up and regain its orientation, but to no avail. It wasn’t exactly helpless when fallen down, but the impact had jarred it enough that it was momentarily stunned. Nemesis did not miss this opportunity, however, as it quickly got up and looked at the machine struggling. With a loud roar, it brought both hands down; the intact one gripped onto the machine’s left leg; denting it as it did so. At the same time, the tentacles on the other arm wrapped itself around the dome and body, grabbing it and squeezing as hard as possible. The REVE-6 armor was tough enough to prevent it to falling from so much pressure, however, and it held out. But this was not the intent behind the action.

Rather, the bio-weapon let out a loud roar as it slowly and painstakingly lifted the machine up. The REVE-6 struggled against the grips, but its resistance was mostly useless against Nemesis’s strength as it was raised higher and higher…till finally, it was right above the gruesome remains of the bio-weapon’s head. With an even louder roar, Nemesis then acted; flinging the REVE-6 with great force against the wall opposite the hole the hunter had created moments earlier. The wall broke into a dozen tiny fragments as the REVE-6 flew into it. It was weak enough that it barely did anything at all to slow down the REVE-6, as it flew nearly four meters past the hole and into a long corridor beyond before it hit the floor. The force of the impact was strong enough that it left a neat indentation into the floor as the machine skidded to a halt. The sounds of gears and hydraulics whizzing away could be heard as the machine tried desperately to recover. But the impact had shaken it up even more, leaving it primarily helpless as Nemesis barged in through the entrance.

It did not seem like the remains of the wall were even there as the bio-weapon leapt into the air once more; raising it’s fist in an attempt to finish its opponent once and for all. But it was not to be so. While the REVE-6 was unable to get up and recover; its targeting and motion tracking systems came online, and the definitive click of the new ammo box sliding into place could be heard. Its reactions were on par with Nemesis’s, allowing it to target and plot trajectories even as the bio-weapon sailed through the air.

It then put this data to good use, as it stopped struggling, and instead raised the rocket launchers on either arms, bringing to bear onto those trajectories.

And then it fired. The faint click of the trigger hitting the firing mechanism could be heard, as fire exploded out from the barrels. The rockets emerged from the fire, leaving white exhaust lines behind them as they spiraled outwards. Nemesis saw it coming, however, and twisted its torso to the right in an attempt to dodge it. It succeeded as the first trio of rockets barely scraped by across his chest, burning the remains of the flak suit that was left.

But was not so lucky as the second trio of the rockets impacted against his sides in a massive explosion. The heat and shockwave radiated outwards, taking with it flesh, muscles, carving out a massive hole in the side of Nemesis’s torso. The kinetic force of the impact was powerful enough that it drove Nemesis upwards…and right into another explosion as the first trio of rockets exploded against the ceiling. The bio-weapon let out a gurgled cry of pain as it fell onto the ground. The bio-weapon’s flesh was clearly on fire and burning; filling the corridor with a significant amount of smoke and stench that would have probably killed any normal human being outright. Fire alarm sensors activated, and sprinklers would have come on, had it not been for the damaged state of the entire corridor. Blood began to pour out of the hole in the giant’s side, staining not just the floor, but the most of the exterior of the REVE-6 that lay next to it. Nemesis’ fingers and tentacles twitched as it struggled to get up and continue the fight…only to finally collapse onto the ground, after which it didn’t move.

The REVE-6, for its part, managed to regain proper control of its legs, and slowly rocked from side to side. After a second or two of doing so, it was able to turn onto its right side, at which time it used its arm to prop itself up, and then slowly come to its feet. It took a step backwards as its internal gyro-scopes re-adjusted themselves. The REVE-6 was forced to switch to its IR and UV sensors, due to the intense amount of heat and smoke Nemesis’ still-burning body was producing. It scanned the body once, and finding it equivalent to dead, the machine slowly turned away. Its leg was partially damaged where Nemesis had grabbed it, forcing the REVE-6 to slowly limp towards the hole in the wall. It took a few seconds to get there; at which point it beat the wall with its arms, bringing down the remains easily enough.

It limped out towards the ramp, and the hole that was there. But rather than go through the hole after the targets it was sent here to chase, the REVE-6 looked towards either end of the ramp. It had come here with backup – namely three heavy armor replicas. While it had left the replicas behind in the previous room, it still did explain the lack of backup it had received. Surely they would have come once the sounds of the battle had begun? Although they were certainly slow, they were not that slow that they wouldn’t have reached in time. Looking around, the REVE-6 attempted to get a radio ping on their positions…which promptly failed as the respective systems had taken too much damage and had shut down. Deciding it would return back to base for repairs, the REVE-6 was about to turn around when it’s sensors spotted something at the bottom of the ramp.

A foot was sticking out from the end of the wall and where the ramp did a ‘U’ turn into the lower level. Judging from the size and pattern, the REVE-6’s computers instantly recognized it as belonging to a heavy armored replica. Was this it’s backup? If so, what had happened to them? Objective protocols dictated that the REVE-6 inspect the cause of the problem. Yet, at the same time, self-preservation protocols dictated that the REVE-6 immediately find a route back to command for repairs. The odds of an REVE-6 taking down whatever had taken down not one, but three heavy armor Replicas – especially when one of them was wielding a rocket launcher – were not in its favor. This was especially true as it had taken a significant amount of damage as it is.

It stood there, unable to decide for a few seconds. At this point of time, something suddenly seemed to pull the body backwards as the foot jerked out of sight. Protocol then became instantly clear as the REVE-6 quickly back-pedaled and opened fire. It didn’t fire at a specific target – instead focusing on the ground and the wall near the ‘U’ turn. Trio of rockets streaked out towards the floor, creating several deafening explosions as the machine continued walking backwards towards the top of the ramp in an attempt to retreat from whatever the presence was. Scanners worked on full alert as the REVE-6 focused on the ramps, attempting to figure out what exactly the thing was.

All the time, it continued to fire non-stop, lest the thing actually try to come out of the cover and attack it. And then, suddenly, a loud thud and a roar from the hole it had just come from caught its attention. Twisting back to face the hole, the REVE-6 continued to move backwards as sensors scanned it; only to find nothing. Yet, audio recorders could easily hear the sounds of something moving in the corridor. Realizing its ammo was low; the REVE-6 quickly dropped the boxes, changing into its last two boxes of ammunition. By this time, it was already at the top of the ramp and near the ‘U’ turn leading upwards. Deciding not to wait, the REVE-6 quickly continued up the ramp, limping as fast as it could. It was at the top of the next level when it heard the loud crash of something hitting the wall.

Turning around, the REVE-6 spread its legs and raised its arms. It knew that it wasn’t fast enough at this rate to avoid whatever was on its way. A resounding click could be heard as the final box of rockets entered into the chamber, ready to fire. This time, however, the REVE-6 held its fire as it waited for the thing to appear.

Its loud footsteps could be heard as it slowly walked up the ramp; casting an irregular shadow along the wall. The shadow was so vague and strange, that truly nobody would be able to tell what exactly the creature was…but at the very least, one could easily tell that it no longer even remotely resembled a human being. This became distinctively clear as what remained of Nemesis stepped around the corner, and into clear sight.

There were no words to describe how gruesome the creature had become. It hunched over, as if not having a strong enough back to hold up all the front mass. The creature no longer had a head – at least, in the human sense. Instead, it just had a long tube-like protrusion that ended in a stump, within which lay a single lidless eye that stared at the REVE-6 almost constantly. Its chest was serrated with rows upon rows of razor-sharp teeth, while where its heart should have been was nothing but a large, gaping maw that threatened to consume anything that came too close.  The wound on the side had completely healed, and was now writhing with several tentacles that extended outwards in all directions. Its legs had become thicker as well, supporting the engorged weight and upper body only barely. Yellow and orange skin covered most of the flesh; but there were open spots here and there that hadn’t healed yet. The sight of it was revolting enough that it gave the REVE-6 pause. Yet, even as the machine watched, the creature suddenly stood up straight as blood busted out from its sides and the open wounds. It seemed to physically grow in size, gaining a stronger spine almost instantly, and at the same time extending the length of its teeth.

The creature took a step forward, and growled at the REVE-6 in a voice that would send spines down even the most fearless human. But the REVE-6 was not a human…or at least, not completely human. 

The REVE-6 acted almost immediately; firing at the wall next to the creature with a rocket burst. But this time the creature was faster; it actually bounced onto the wall and then off, just before the rockets hit. It used the force of the shockwave to propel itself towards the other wall even as it twisted in mid-air and landed upon it; the claws on its feet leaving a massive tear in the armor. The REVE-6 tracked its movements, and fired accordingly; focusing on hitting with as much splash damage as possible, rather than going for a direct hit. It knew that the thing was too fast to possibly hit it with the slow-moving rockets, so it adapted and changed tactics.

The creature at first dodged the rockets by jumping from wall to wall; but then soon adapted even more. At the third volley of rockets the REVE-6 fired, three tentacles shot out; impacting against the rockets as they were half-way through the air, causing them to burst before they could go all the way. The tentacles were disintegrated; but at the same time were almost immediately replaced by three others. The creature continued to do this as it walked forwards and towards the machine; either swatting away the missiles completely, or forcing to explode prematurely. Eventually, realizing it would soon run out of ammo, the REVE-6 stopped firing, and instead went into another combat stance as what was left of Nemesis approached.

Seeing its chance, Nemesis did a massive leap towards the machine once more; but this time at a far greater range, however. It flew through the air with such speed that it nearly caught the REVE-6 off-guard. But it wasn’t fast enough. The REVE-6 raised its arms, blocking both blows that came with the landing; while at the same time bracing its legs as it skidded backwards, the creature’s teeth just barely millimeters from its domed front. It seemed to pull on its reserves as it pushed against Nemesis; throwing the creature backwards and causing it to stagger. The REVE-6 pressed on the offensive; immediately using the rocket launchers as primitive – yet extremely effective – clubs as it continually beat at the creature.

Nemesis managed to counter some of the blows; but others got through, hitting it right in the chest and the sides. Each blow was powerful enough that it crushed the bone underneath the flesh; ripping through it and gouging out a significant percentage into the barrels as they came out. Nemesis didn’t exactly stay still, either. At intervals where it got the opportunity, the creature attempted to attack the domed front of the REVE-6 directly; with each blow that landed doing significant damage and denting it an inch or two. It even tried to kick out the legs from underneath the REVE-6 once more, but failed as the REVE-6 braced itself and blocked it with the barrel of its rocket launcher. Finally, Nemesis once more threw itself at the machine; attacking with both arms as it attempted to grab hold of the REVE-6.  But the machine was just as fast in this case, as its arms reached out and blocked both of Nemesis’s. They stood there, locked in this position for almost two seconds; each placing a tremendous amount of pressure on the other; neither force giving way.

Then the REVE-6 slowly began to slide backwards. Its feet did not have enough grip with the ground and slowly, steadily, Nemesis was able to push it back towards the wall, using nothing but sheer brute strength. For a moment, it seemed like Nemesis was winning; but that was until the REVE-6 did something utterly drastic to even the odds.

It opened fire. Under ideal circumstances, the rockets would have streaked out and hit their targets at Medium range, doing a significant amount of damage not only to the target, but in a large area around it. This is also necessary as the rockets have a minimum distance before the warheads are primed. Normally, they do so when they are around a foot or so away from the gun, so that they don’t explode inside the barrel, or close enough to damage the ammunition box with the other rockets inside.

But these were hardly ideal circumstances. The rocket launcher’s barrels were completely clogged up – but that wasn’t much of an issue as the rockets pushed the matter out; and right into Nemesis’s hands. The force behind their propellants were powerful enough that they actually went right through the creature’s hand and tentacles; disintegrating them completely as they streaked out and exploded against the floor or ceiling directly behind Nemesis. It was the opening the REVE-6 needed as it now brought its arms in against its now-helpless opponent. With the full force behind one punch, the REVE-6 jammed its rocket launcher right down the opening in the middle of Nemesis’s chest; plunging it deep and all the way in – till it emerged out from the back with a burst of purple blood and gore.

But Nemesis was reacting to this all the time. It convulsed once…and then twice…and suddenly, its teeth grew larger…and then curved inwards. It bit into the REVE-6’s arm and rocket launcher with full force; causing a shear on the weapon’s exterior. The machine struggled to pull out the rocket launcher, but failed as Nemesis’s grip was far stronger in this case. The mouth tightened and tightened; not letting go even as the machine brought the other arm around and beat at the mouth and teeth. Eventually the grip made it all the way through the machinery, crushing the metal exterior and biting through the rocket launcher almost completely. As the launcher came loose, the REVE-6 staggered backwards. It watched as Nemesis began to chew on the launcher, and then spit it out. The stumps of its hand grew back with even more writhing tentacles.

This was when it acted. Raising the remaining launcher, the REVE-6 fired directly at Nemesis. The range was close enough that it couldn’t miss – yet not too close that the warhead wouldn’t arm. The trio of rockets sailed out once more, spiraling outwards and hitting Nemesis right in the chest and sending it flying backwards. Nearly half of the creature’s upper torso was gone, including its head. With that one blow, that one action, there was nothing recognizable left of the bio-weapon, save for half of the lower ‘mouth’. Even as the form began to collapse to the ground, another explosion caught it – this time from a grenade that rolled down next to it. It ignited, sending a shockwave that passed over Nemesis’s remains and drove it into the walls. The REVE-6 looked up at the source of the grenade. It had come from the group of four Replicas that now stood at the top of the ramp. One of them was a Heavy Armor Replica holding a rocket launcher, while the other three held weapons of varying types, including a Type-7 particle cannon. The Heavy armor replica lowered his weapon as he spoke up to the REVE-6.

“Sierra 12, what is your status? We lost radio contact with your squadron three minutes ago.”

The REVE-6 slowly walked up the ramp towards the group. At the same time, it sent a series of chirps and clicks over the external speakers, since its radio was dead. The Replicas seemed to be able to understand this, however, as they nodded and replied.

“Affirmative. We’ll notify Kappa squadron to investigate. We’ll escort you back to command for repair. Lambda squad, assume escort position. Lambda two, cover my back.”

“Affirmative sir. Do you want me to finish off the bio-weapon?” The replica with the Type-7 responded, giving a questioning glance to the heavy armor Replica as they moved to take positions around the REVE-6. The heavy armor Replica glanced back at the body of Nemesis, and then shook his head.

“Looks dead enough to me. We don’t have much time left – move it!

With that, the entire group began to double time it up the ramps. They would be up and at the command center within five minutes, and the REVE-6 would be able to give the final report on the confrontation by then.

But even as they left, none of the Replicas noticed as Nemesis’s body slowly began to twitch…and then, ever so slowly, the remains of the stomach began to grow. It grew to a certain size, before a slit opened up, exposing a blood-red eye that looked around and studied its surroundings. It once more whispered in a low voice; which was seemingly incomprehensible as it should have neither mouth nor lungs. Yet, to those that could hear, the word it whispered was absolutely clear and precise as the bio-weapon once more focused on its goal and objective.

Sadhal.

[Singh]

Something tells me I should’ve called in sick in the morning. Jin couldn’t help but think to herself, as she watched the corridor go by, the SPARTAN Kelly holding her up as if she was just a feather. Skipping the day had seemed like a really, really good idea when she had first not only been violently thrown out of bed by what was by all accounts a freak accident, but then gotten this a intense sick feeling in the pit of her stomach ever since breakfast.

Why does hindsight always have to be 20/20? Well…it could get worse…although imagining something worse than facing off against Alma, getting teleported through time, and then landing up on some weird alien ship would be rather difficult. She sighed, immediately regretting the action, however, when her chest nearly cramped up in pain. Her injuries had been severe, from the first crash, and then the second…she really didn’t have a clue as to why she hadn’t just died then and there itself – especially when Alma had come onto the chopper. Truth to be told, death really didn’t seem all that bad right now. At the least, it’d end this god-forsaken day. Ghosts, aliens and now death itself chasing them…

Jin sighed internally; forcing her memories and the thoughts back. Now was not the time to be thinking about giving up…not when she had gone through so much. But even if she were to survive…then what? She was at least three hundred years in the future…her family was all dead, as well as whomever she remembered…add an alien invasion of Earth on top of that, and she really couldn’t help but ask herself the same question over and over again: Where will I go? What will I do?

They rounded another corner, Kelly carefully turning Jin a bit such that they could fit through the narrow entrance. Looking behind, Jin could see John come through as well, after which the large blue alien was able to barely squeeze through as well. It backed down the corridor, though, keeping an arm up and ready in case anything came up from behind the group that was now headed…somewhere. Best guess was that the alien in front was taking them someplace safe…from the directions and the inclinations of the corridor, Jin estimated that they were descending further down into this alien ship.

These aliens…these Covenant, as the SPARTANS called them…Jin still couldn’t completely believe they were real…but then, it seemed a bit hypocritical, considering that just an hour ago she had seen a dead ghost, as it were. Still, humanity being in peril and such danger was a rather hard pill for her to digest…especially considering that if she were to ever make it back to her own time, there would be little for humanity to look forward to.

Jin’s attention was distracted from this, however, as they finally exited from the narrow corridors, entering a large and somewhat empty room with an elevator to one side, and several smaller niches to the other. It looked like a resting place of some sort – possibly for some smaller kind of alien; a fact which was simply proven as Kelly turned to her right, allowing Jin to see the bloody remains of…something lining the bottom of one of the niches.

“Looks like Alma got here already. Is the elevator working?” John asked, as he entered the room just behind Kelly. The elite didn’t reply, but instead moved over to the elevator’s control panels and started to manipulate them. As he did so, he spoke.

“It appears to be – primary power is offline, but the batteries are coming online. It shall finish in a few minutes. However, there is only enough power for it to be used once, considering how much weight we’ll be placing on it.”

John moved out of the way of the hunter as it started to stretch out after moving from the confined space. Jin could see the bits of orange flesh within the armor, and the way it moved on its own. She continued to look at the alien, her innate sense for biology fueling her curiosity – if only for a few moments.

“Does it go up to the bridge?” John asked, looking at the Elite. At the same time, Kelly moved away 0.from John, towards one of the empty niches in the wall. She kneeled onto the ground, and then placed Jin there as the others were talking. Kelly got up, wordlessly turning up and looking at the others. Jin was quietly grateful for this; even if it was just for a few minutes. Being on Kelly’s shoulder wasn’t exactly a very comfortable thing she had experienced. Kelly turned around, taking a few steps towards John.

“What do you ask for, Demon? This elevator is not going to the bridge – nothing is left there save for the corpses left in that little girl’s wake!”

The Elite replied to John, his tone was hostile, and the undercurrent sounded significantly dangerous to Jin. She studied the Elite for a while…and then wondered, considering the shape of their mouth and the four jaws, how they managed to actually speak in English. Hell, just from their lack of proper tongue alone English – or any human language should have been nearly impossible for them.

I bet the folks back at home would love to get their hands on one of them for an autopsy. Hell, I know I would!

Jin thought to herself, shaking her head. She honestly didn’t know what Alma had left behind on the bridge…and the truth was, she didn’t want to. She had seen firsthand the remains that Alma had left behind in Armacham HQ and it had sickened her greatly. Jin had seen a lot of gruesome sights in the past – enough to make any ordinary person wretch…but what Alma could do…it still sent shivers up and down her spine. She couldn’t imagine what Alma had done here, to this ship’s crew. She couldn’t imagine what Alma would do to her, for that matter.

Yes…death was definitely beginning to seem like a good option right now.

“Perhaps. But we don’t have a choice – the artifact your prophet held will contain Alma.”

John replied, his tone remaining calm as he looked at the Elite. Although his weapons were down, Jin could see him subtlety switch off the safety on the shotgun he was holding. Kelly seemed to acknowledge this, and did the same as well. To one side, the spikes on the Hunter’s back seemed to bristle as the tensions rose. The Elite turned to John, and spat at him.

“She is your problem, human, not mine! I intend to get to the fighter bay and get off this vessel before she – or that infernal beast - gets to me! Whether you intend to remain here is not my problem!”

John’s tone remained calm as he replied, slowly.

“What makes you think she’ll let you leave just like that? Or indeed, the flood for that matter?”

The Elite seemed to be taken aback at this. He was visibly shocked; taking a full step back as he spoke, slowly.

“The flood? Onboard this holy vessel? But…how?”

John shook his head.

“I don’t know. All I know is that unless we do his bidding, the Grave mind will release the flood onto – “

“Wait. You actually sided with the flood?”

The Elite cut him off with a hostile hiss, and brought up his weapon at the SPARTAN. Within a flash, John brought his shotgun up as well, pointing it straight at the Elite’s head – the range was close enough that it would undeniably kill the elite in one shot, yet at the same time. Kelly turned around, and had her shotgun up, poking it right in the middle of the large hunter’s orange gut. The hunter had reacted with equal speed, and had its massive cannon pointing straight at Kelly’s face. The result, of course, was the last thing Jin wanted at this point of time: a stand off.

She groaned internally. Men… she thought to herself; remembering Sergeant Holiday’s rather annoying demeanor.

“Somehow I knew you humans would be trouble…but going so far as to ally with those…things. It just confirms that I need to get off this ship before you kill us all!”

“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that.” John replied, his tone held an edge of something to it that Jin couldn’t place. Confidence? Determination? Fear? She couldn’t figure it out. Instead, she sighed internally, looking at the group. She tried to remember how many bullets she had in the pistol...she had spent quite a bit in the firefight earlier, leaving her with only…one bullet.

Great. Hostile aliens, Replicas by the bucket loads, a scary girl ghost, the flood death and now this. And me with just one bullet…just great.

There was little she could actually do in this situation, save watch for the group argue amongst themselves as the standoff continued.

“Rather amusing, isn’t it?” A new voice spoke up next to her. It was nothing but a low whisper, but the tone…the voice. The fact that she recognized it, and recognized whom it belonged to sent chills up and down her spine. A shadow appeared over her, blocking the already-low light of the room, and causing Jin to look up. Paxton Fettel’s features were drawn up in the form of a grin as he stood there next to her, leaning against the wall and staring down at Jin. The eyes…they were different; holding something within them…it was almost as if she was staring at death itself.

I was wrong…things just got a lot worse.

[Singh]

If there was one thing that basic training had given her that Jin was ultimately glad for, it was battle-hardened instincts and reflexes. Within a second, her hand was up, with the muzzle pointing straight into Fettel’s face. However, Fettel didn’t even blink…almost as if he had been expecting that. The smile never faltered, either. Jin frowned, and spoke slowly, her voice just as even.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t just take this one bullet and put it through your head, Fettel. And it better be a good one.”

Fettel ignored the gun as he replied, his tone low and oddly, with a touch of curiosity in it.

“Ah yes…aggressive as always, Jin…and just as ignorant about the true nature of things, much like your friends there.”

Fettel nodded towards the others, which were still in the standoff till now. Jin could no longer hear what they were talking about – with Paxton Fettel quite literally breathing down her neck, they could all go to hell, for all she was concerned. She switched off the safety, and was about to pull the trigger when Fettel rose one hand, stopping her.

“Before you waste your one precious bullet, I suggest you move that gun a little bit closer…if only to make sure you don’t miss.” Fettel smiled, much to Jin’s annoyance. Still, she tried pushing it further; such that it would have touched Fettel’s skull…had it been corporeal, that is. Much to her amazement, the gun went right through his head, as if it wasn’t there…she pulled it out, to see the muzzle just appear out of nowhere…and then pushed it back in again.

“What in the name of…”

“You see, Ms. Jin…I have to keep my hosts safe, one way or the other, especially considering how aggressive either of your species are.” Fettel looked up towards the other group – whom were still embroiled in the standoff. None of them had noticed Jin talking, or Fettel standing over her for that matter. Jin put down the gun down, but never let go of it.

What is he? A hallucination? Mind trick, perhaps? Must be some of that damn telepathy, I bet!”

Still, the question bugged her: what had he just said about a host? Could it be that it really wasn’t Fettel that she was talking to right now…and if not, then what? She remembered vaguely what John and Kelly had told her about Fettel…and what he had become. Or rather, what had taken over him. She hadn’t believed it all that much…but looking into Fettel’s eyes suddenly made her a significant believer.

“Your probably wondering who I am, aren’t you, and what I’m doing in Fettel’s body?”

Fettel asked. His tone changed again, a curious edge to it once more. There was something behind that voice…a presence that felt extremely familiar…yet, so very strange at the same time.

“They say that you are death…is that true?”

Jin asked, somewhat hesitant. If it was true, and she was staring and actually talking to death itself…well, she really didn’t know to be exited, curious, scared ****less or indifferent, considering their situation right now. Fettel didn’t seem to notice this though, as his smile suddenly grew.

“Death, the Grim Reaper, Kali, Thanatos...your people have given me so many names as has theirs - ”

“What do you want, then, death? I have no time for these games.”

Jin replied, cutting Fettel off before he could continue. She was afraid of this…thing, yes…but at the same time, she didn’t exactly intend to sit around and let it get the better of her. Fettel – or Death, in this case – stood up, crossing his arms and then giving her an odd expression. It was a cross between anger and curiosity, and really looked out of place on Fettel’s face.

“Games? I assure you, Ms. Jin I hardly play games…but you are right that you have no time…at least, no time left.”

Jin frowned. What was he…

Oh god…oh god no. Realization of the implication hit her as she looked at the figure. She brought the gun up again, before she visibly moved back from the figure in alarm.

"If you think I’m just going to let you take me -”

Death raised his hand, cutting Jin off as he shook his head.

“You still don’t understand, do you, mortal? I may be death…but know that I do not take any life.”

“Then what exactly do you do?”

Death sighed, looking back at the others. They were surprisingly, still too busy to notice the exchange Jin was having. She turned to them, and then back up to death’s face. Why don’t they notice any of this? Jin thought to herself. Why were they just standing there and arguing? Didn’t any of them see this, or at the very least her behaving oddly? She would’ve shouted out, but realized that considering they were all trained soldiers when they didn’t notice her pointing the gun towards or away from them, they probably wouldn’t notice a shout either.

Finally after what seemed like a long moment, he turned back to Jin, and spoke.

“What do I do? Where to start…where to start?” Death paused, and then, surprisingly, slowly sank to the ground, sitting in a cross legged position, facing Jin. He spoke slowly, the voice shifting slightly from that of Paxton Fettel’s to something different…something that seemed familiar, yet completely alien to what Jin knew.

“Perhaps it is best to answer that with another question, Ms. Jin…what do you think you are?”

Jin was somewhat taken aback by this odd question. But she didn’t hesitate that much as she replied, somewhat carefully.

“I am a human being…a woman, an individual, if you want to go deeper.”

Death did not seemed to be satisfied with the answer though, and continued.

“An individual yes…a human being, certainly…but I would keep going even deeper…”

Jin frowned. What was death getting at? What was the point of all this? Why am I obliging it so damn much? she asked herself. It was maddeningly fustrating, to say the least. She was in too much pain, and had too little patience for these kinds of games and this much required patience. Her head began to throb as well, as she felt the start of a possible migraine.

My kingdom for a painkiller.

Still, she ignored the pain for now and tried to concentrate to the best of her ability.

“I don’t know...the soul, maybe? A person’s memories? I don’t exactly have the focus to guess here, you know.”

Death sighed once more, and glanced over Jin’s body.

“A fragile yet incredible thing, the human body. Certainly not as tough as some of the other species out there, but it serves its purpose well enough.”

He paused, shaking his head before continuing. 

“You mortals still remain ignorant, though. Fortunately, that is why I am here to teach. What is your existence; your memories, and indeed, your soul made of? Indeed, what is all life made of, and originated from?”

Jin shook her head, indicating she didn’t. Death only nodded slightly as it continued.

“All of life can be treated as a sequence of complex events and cascades…billions upon billions of them; some completely independent of scale, some born from said scale. Every individual that you claim to be alive is nothing but an incredibly complex combination of sequences exactly like those that make up the overall universe – save for the fact that they are far smaller in scale, and are placed within it.”

“While fascinating as it may be, such a concept isn’t exactly new….” Jin pointed out. Technically, she was right – such concepts were much discussed in many a philosophy class, and was hardly new to humans. However, what was disturbing was that death itself was confirming it to her. Such an opportunity and knowledge would drive people to kill just to acquire it…and yet here Jin was, ironically having it forced upon her by Death itself. The Doc would really get a kick out of this…pity he isn’t here, though.

“Perhaps so…but you still haven’t connected the dots, or consider the stage where I lie.”

Death replied, looking away from her.

“Let me guess…the end of the cascade, the sequence of events?”
Death shook his head.

“Not exactly, no…for no sequence ever dies, nor does it ever end…it simply changes; shifting the environment it has enmeshed itself in to another, and then going from there. It is from these transitions that my own cascade originated; and it is from these transitions that I have gained life. I do not take anyone – simply because I don’t need to. I may be death, but I am not the destroyer of worlds that many claim me to be.”

Jin didn’t reply. She really didn’t know what exactly to say to this relevation, though. Her mind raced with this new information…but the question still arose:

“What do you want with me, then? Why come here just to tell me all this?”

“Because you’re new friend here does his best to try and fight me. He detests me for what I represent to him, and his people.”

Death looked towards John for a moment, and then back to Jin

“But there is something you should know about him…the dark secret that he does not tell you; of not only himself…but of the other that he knows…the one whose guidance he had followed till now…and of what they have done to damn your entire species, and what they will do to damn you.”

Now this piqued Jin’s interest significantly…she glanced at John as well, but didn’t look back at Death as she replied, slowly.

“Tell me more…”

Death’s grin grew wider, and then began to speak.

***

The situation was tense…ready to explode almost. Neither side had given way to the other and nothing had changed. John still had his shotgun placed firmly near the Elite’s head, while Kelly had the Hunter covered. The argument had kept on going back and forth; and John was about ready to call it quits.

Pity we never really learnt all that much diplomacy…but then, I don’t think the covenant did either. John thought to himself, as he sighed internally. At the moment, neither party was speaking, each one waiting instead, for the other to tire or make a mistake. It was at this point of time, however, that John remembered that there was probably someone that could help sort this out…even if she was injured.

Out of the corner of his eye, John glanced towards where Jin was sitting. She was facing away from him, towards the side. However, he couldn’t get a clear view of her from the helmet. Slowly, he turned his head to the side, while still keeping an eye on the Elite in front of him. Perhaps curious as to what happened to Jin as well, the Elite’s gazed turned in the same direction.

What John expected to see was Jin, probably unconscious and lying to the side. What he did not expect to see, was her sitting down calmly, as if none of the stand-off was happening, and talking to death itself as it sat next to her.

What in the name of… John thought, before his instincts took over. He didn’t glance at the elite, didn’t turn his head away from the scene. Instead, he let his body move. Everything seemed to slow as he turned, bringing up the shotgun to where death was sitting.

“JIN!” He shouted, as he pulled the trigger; the blast exploding outwards and towards where Death was sitting. But even as he did so, death looked towards him, and then gave him a small, evil smile…before then just vanishing, leaving behind nothing but dust and ashes as the blast hit the wall behind where he was sitting, causing Jin to dive to the side, revealing a cry of alarm.

With the immediate threat gone, John looked back at the Elite…only to see that it had seized the opportunity. Kelly had been distracted as well, and the Hunter had barreled past her, and now moved past John as it headed straight for the lift upon which the Elite now stood. It got on, pointing the plasma cannon at the humans that could do nothing but watch as the Elite manipulated the controls and then just looked up.

“Go fight that horrible girl if you wish, Demon! But I intend to leave this Godforsaken ship before that wretched beast gets to me! Farewell, fools!”

With that, the control panel lit up and the entire lift began to descend down the shaft. The Elite and the hunter disappeared from view immediately afterwards. John cursed internally, but rather than let him affect it, he turned back to Jin, who was now recovering from the shotgun blast.

“What were you doing? What did he say to you?” John asked, kneeling down. Jin didn’t look up as she replied, but the dark and angry tone caught John’s attention almost immediately. It was strong enough that he decided to take a step back just in case.

“He told me about you. All about you…and what you are going to do, have done.”

What is she talking about?  John thought to himself.

“I am a soldier…as are you.”

Jin gave a dry laugh, dismissing what the SPARTAN said.

“That’s the same excuse you gave death.” Finally, she looked up at the confused SPARTAN. Her expression was a cross between anger and slight amusement as she continued dryly. “You caused all of this…if you hadn’t wanted to do your bloody duty so badly, none of this would’ve happened.”

“Jin…” John began. But it was no use, as her face and expression changed all of a sudden, rage seeping in. “Don’t Jin me. At the least Alma is predictable; stable compared to what you’ve become!“

Now John was really confused. What the hell was she babbling about? Had Jin finally gone insane? “I still have my sanity, and the worse I can do is kill you, unlike Alma.”

Again, that short laugh, a snicker almost. Jin raised her pistol, but left the safety on. She waved it around as she continued. John made a mental note to check his shields, and found that they were fully operational, thankfully. So was Kelly’s. The last thing he wanted was for any of them to get hurt by friendly fire.

“A lot better? I don’t think so! At least Alma has the decency to just kill you painfully, if nothing else!”

This was starting to get dangerous. John had absolutely no idea what death had told Jin, but whatever it was, it had made her extremely unstable. He sent a signal to Kelly to go to Jin’s other side and be ready to help restrain her.

“Calm down. What lies has…”

“Shut your pie hole! If theirs only one person lying here, it’ll be you, especially after what you’ve done! Death has no reason to lie – not to me, not to you, not to anyone on this Godforsaken ship, John! The only people that refuse to believe it are you, because your so Goddamn blind to everything save for the duty that eventually damns you!” Jin cut him off. John’s temper began to rise, despite his control. He was about ready to give the signal to Kelly, but didn’t, instead indicating her to hold position.

“Jin. What did death tell you?”

Jin glanced at Kelly, and then back at John. She sneered at him, but didn’t point the gun towards either SPARTAN.

“He told me the truth, nothing else. I’m not choosing between either you or her. It gave me a way out of all this mess – one where I don’t need to worry about what you or Alma will do to my mind and body. I’d say I’d be seeing you in hell, John…but you’ve got a far, far worse fate in store for you, and those anywhere near you.”

“Jin! What are you –“

Jin smoothly raised the gun to her own head, turned the safety off and pulled the trigger.

[Singh]

What did death tell her? What lies did she hear, that brought about such a decision? John thought to himself, as he looked at Jin’s body and face. He studied her; as if the woman’s form was a great mystery to him…and in a sense, she was. Wordlessly, John got up, glancing first at Kelly, and then towards the lift where the Elite had gone down. He shook his head sadly.

“What now?” Kelly asked. John didn’t turn as he replied, calmly.

“Death will pay for this. We go the bridge and end it.”

His tone was even and calm; yet it had a dangerous edge to it. Kelly didn’t seemed to be perturbed by this, however, as she calmly glanced towards the corridor they had come from, before looking back at John. Her gaze was clearly intent, even behind the visor.

“What of the things she said?”

Kelly asked, nodding towards Jin.

“Lies. Death is determined to get to me, regardless of the cost…even if it means taking anyone else first.”

Kelly didn’t seem convinced by this reply, however. She looked at John, tilting her head to the side as if she was trying to see past him.

“Why would Death of all things, need to lie?”

John just shrugged. He didn’t have the answers here, and even if he did, he was in no mood to give them. He didn’t consider much of what Jin said; especially after what the Gravemind had told him earlier about Death. To him, it was just more delays…more ways to slow him down from his goal, his objectives, and to save humanity. John remembered, however, of how Dr. Halsey had warned him about being too dedicated to Earth and his duty; to forget about the individual soldiers he had fought with…to forget that he was still human. But the things at stake here and now…being human simply took a back seat when one’s entire species was being threatened. It was too much for just the rant of an obviously insane woman to try and stop him.

“I don’t know. You heard her, Kelly. She was clearly insane…she couldn’t even tell us of what Death warned – if only to make sure it doesn’t happen.” John replied, turning away from Jin. Kelly only looked at Jin for a moment, again her head tilted to one side as she examined the dead body. Kelly stood there for a long moment. Unmoving, unwavering as John reached, and then walked past her towards the elevator.

“She didn’t seem very insane to me.”

The reply was low, and Kelly’s body barely moved. However, as John glanced back, he could see and recognize that she was uneasy – possibly upset about this. Her tone betrayed nothing, but her body language; the way her fingers seemed to twitch almost…it told John all he needed to know. He turned around completely to face Kelly as he asked

“Is there a problem, Kelly?”

Kelly looked at John for a long moment, as if considering what to say. She clenched her fist once…but then let it go, and shook her head.

“No.”

It was a simple word, and nobody else would have been able to pick out anything wrong about it. But Kelly’s tone alone sent alarm bells ringing in John’s mind.

“No, Kelly…if you have something on your mind, speak it.”

Kelly looked at him strangely. For a long moment, a silence hung over the two SPARTANs and the corridor. It was uncomfortable…but finally, Kelly broke it as she spoke, slowly.

“I just can’t help but have a feeling she was right…”

“About what I have done?”

“No…about you dooming us all.”

John just looked at her for a moment, before shaking his head and shrugging. “We’ll never know till it happens. If not me, then it’ll be the Covenant should they find and activate the Arc. We need to get moving, Kelly.”

Kelly paused to look back at Jin’s body, before nodding. John breathed an internal sigh of relief. The conflict was hardly over; but for the moment it had died down. He turned around and moved towards the lift. John studied the shaft; thinking of a way to perhaps go up. The flashlight on his helmet came on almost unconsciously, illuminating the far wall. The light revealed a ladder that stretched both up and down the dark shaft. The light faded into blackness as he looked up, indicating that it was a fair climb to get to the top. It would also be a dark, dark climb – something he wanted to avoid, considering his last experience with the ladders.

Still, they had little choice – especially when the only other option was going back right into the middle of the Replicas and that…thing the Elite had fought. John shuddered internally just at the memory of it.

What has Death awaken in it’s pursuit…what horrors has it unleashed upon us? John asked himself…only to find no answer. He sighed internally, before nodding to himself. He was about to turn around, when, suddenly, a blast of static hit his radio.

Oh God…oh God no.

Nobody listened to his prayers as just as suddenly, his instrument panel failed; along with all the lights in the room and even his flashlight. They flickered, coming back on for a brief moment, and then going off almost as immediately. The night vision in his goggles failed as well; leaving John completely blind. But his memory served him well as he whirled around, trying to find Kelly.

“Kelly?!” John called out, in hopes of getting a response. However, there was only silence.

“Kelly? Are you there?!” John called out again, but once more his questions were met only with silence. It was pitch black; forcing him to listen carefully. He heard the slight scratching his own metal boot made on the floor; the low, barely audible humm of the ship around him.

It was the last noise, however, that sent chills down his spine.

It was low, and John could barely hear it as it seemed to run away from him. The sound was that of a girl giggling…but it wasn’t just any girl, or indeed, Alma, it belonged to a voice he recognized almost instantly.

Cortona?

Suddenly, a light came on in front of him. John took a slight step back backwards, bringing his shotgun up. He had to be careful though, as his feet were already near the edge of the floor, and almost to the elevator shaft. The single light was yellow in color, casting a soft circular spotlight onto the floor which, to John’s relief, showed nothing in front of him. Then, for some reason, the light swung wildly from side to side; moving the spotlight with it and casting the area right in front him into shadow as it reached the apex. It swung back down, reaching the center once again…

Only to reveal, for the briefest of moments, the purple and blue figure of Cortona looking right back at him; eye to eye. She didn’t say anything, didn’t move one bit as the light swung to the other side, once again casting the entire area into shadow as Cortona disappeared.

“Cortona?” John asked, blinking as he slowly lowered his shotgun.

The light swung back; again revealing the area to be empty. He frowned, looking around for any other sign of what was going on. When he looked back, however, the light had slowed such that the illuminated portion now remained directly in front of him; in the middle of which directly stood Alma, looking up at him. John nearly jumped back in fear; but he caught himself in time as he raised his shotgun and opened fire at the little girl. Another blast of static hit his radio as his instincts and fear took over his reactions.

“Die! Die! JUST DIE!” John screamed at the top of his lungs Alma’s form disintegrated once more into a pile of ashes. But even as she did so, he continued to fire at the position; the blasts causing a deafening roar throughout the room. The muzzle flash soon died out, however, as John continued to press the trigger, only to be met by a loud click as the shells ran out. Breathing heavily, and just standing there, John was frozen for a minute. Finally, after realizing that Alma was gone, he quickly started to reload the shells.

That was when the spotlight died; plunging him into darkness once more. But John didn’t need the light to see himself reload. By the time they came back on, he was ready and looking around for Alma.

But as they did, his surroundings changed completely. John was now in a long, sterile corridor; the corridors made of old-fashioned cement and concrete, as opposed to the exotic metals of the forerunner ship. It wasn’t very wide – enough for two men to walk through, at most. Half the corridor was clogged up in places by strange gurneys and trolleys – most of which were half rusted, and simply kept there, as if abandoned.

What caught John’s attention most, however, was the blood on the walls…it was there in streaks and splatters – as if someone had been shot, and then had his body dragged across the wall. He looked at these surroundings, and raised the shotgun – half out of fear, half out of knowing what would come next. The only exit here was the door behind him – which he promptly found was locked, and the double set of doors at the other end of the corridor. The doors were a blue color, with a small glass window on either one. John took a few hesitant steps forward; keeping a lookout for Alma.

He continued on, moving the trolleys out of the way as he approached the set of doors. As he came closer, he could hear something from the other side. It was loud; high-pitched…almost as if a child or baby was crying. As he came closer, John recognized it as the distinctive wail of a new-born.

Where am I?

Then, suddenly, a face appeared on one of the windows. John took a step back in surprise as the lights suddenly went off; leaving only that cast from behind the face. John couldn’t make out whom the face was; but all he could make out were the words it spoke to him, slowly and surely.

”It is the nature of man to make monsters...”

The light then went off; plunging the entire corridor into darkness. John was about to move when the flow below him gave way. He flailed around, attempting to find something to grab onto to, or slow his descent. John continued to fall for a full second before he finally hit something liquid. The Mjnolnir Armor created a massive splash as it fell right into it. The liquid filled half of the new corridor; while the splash had pretty much stained the ceiling with the liquid. John’s flashlight came on suddenly, revealing the surroundings fully. Slowly getting up, he looked around, and then finally down at what he had fallen in.

It was blood. The entire corridor was filled in blood up to his waist. John wanted to move, to climb – to get away from it somehow. Still, he physically controlled himself, and looked around. There were another set of doors just a few feet away from him, past a trolley that was almost completely submerged. John waded his way towards the door, determined to get out of this…to escape somehow. He reached the door, was about to open it, when suddenly, something emerged from the blood right in front of him. A hand burst out from the calm surface, grabbing John’s arm as a head and skeletal body emerged just behind it. The force behind the pull was too much for him to resist as the skull came right up to his helmet. It started shifting, changing as John watched on, his body frozen in sheer terror as he looked at the fully formed face in front of him.

The face was smooth, more normal than the rest of the body that looked back at him. What was most shocking, however, was whom the face belonged to. It was not Alma; Cortona –or anyone else John knew for that matter…save for the reflection he had seen in the mirror as a young boy…a face, he hadn’t seen since he had first met Dr. Halsey so many years ago…since that faithful toss of the coin. The face spoke to him; the voice slow, barely audible. The tone was that of curiosity, with a touch of sadness to it.

“…and it is the nature of monsters, to destroy their makers. Which one are you…which one will you become?”

John blinked, managing to take a step back as the skeleton suddenly released him. As he opened his eyes, however, another form grabbed his arm at the same spot.
“John! Careful!”

This time he recognized the voice, and his new surroundings. Kelly was holding his hand, supporting and pulling him up. Glancing back, John realized that he was about to fall down the elevator shaft – and probably would have had Kelly not caught him.

“Are you all right? You fazed out for a moment, and about to fall…”

John just shook his head in response and gave a slight sigh. What did he just see? Had it been another of Alma’s illusions? What that face had said…it somehow rung true; but John couldn’t exactly place from where.

“Did the lights go out by any chance?”

Kelly only shook her head in reply. John nodded. “Then I really don’t know. We have to get going…”

With that, he turned around once more, when he noticed something.

His motion tracker blinked once, and then twice. This was almost immediately followed by a loud scratching noise coming from the corridor they had entered from. A large red blip appeared on the tracker…no, not large – massive was the proper definition. John looked back at the corridor…only to see the most disgusting thing he had ever witnessed in his life. The form that crawled through the entrance, in the process taking it all up – was massive, to say the least. It was equally hideous; being nothing more than a mass of flesh and muscle, dragging itself across the floor by latching onto the walls with several tentacles and then pulling itself forwards. Each tentacle had a razor sharp set of spikes that was sharp enough that it left a hole in the wall. The main front of the mass of flesh had a gaping hole, around which lay several rows of razor-sharp teeth. A pair of large, lidless eyes, each as big as John’s torso were present next to this; while several other eyes were present along the thing’s long form. How long it was, though, John didn’t know – it filled up almost the entire corridor behind it.

“Fire in the hole!” Kelly responded, not wasting any time as she lifted up her right, producing two of the grenades she had salvaged from their battle earlier. John took a step backwards and was about to turn around when, suddenly, one of the tentacles detached itself from the wall and with incredible speed wrapped itself around Kelly, pulling her towards it and eliciting a cry of pain from the SPARTAN.

“Kelly!” John shouted, raising the shotgun and opening fire on the Tentacle. The shell connected; tearing it apart and dropping the SPARTAN to the ground. But John could already see that it was too late – the razor sharp spikes had somehow managed to penetrate both the armor and the shields; exposing areas of flesh through which blood now oozed out.

John moved forwards, in a vain attempt to do something – anything to help Kelly. He couldn’t loose another SPARTAN – not here, not now.

“Kelly!” He called again, advancing forwards and firing at the same time. The shotgun was having little effect on the creature, save slowing it down a little. But even that hardly did much as it latched onto the walls again, and pulled itself forward till it was almost at Kelly.

Kelly didn’t respond, didn’t speak, however. Instead, she just looked back at John for a brief moment. The helmet had been broken, revealing some of her blood-torn face and one of her eyes. She looked directly at John, the expression in her eye telling him all he needed to know. As if to iterate her point, she raised her right hand – which still firmly clutched both grenades…their pins removed, and both ticking away to detonation.

“John! Go! Go now!” she shouted once more, before breaking eye contact, and looking at the creature in front of her. John wanted to stay…he wanted to shout, scream at the thing to let her go. He wanted to do something to save her – regardless of what it would do to him. How many other SPARTANS had he seen die similarly; being helpless to do anything?

It was something John placed in the back of his mind as he turned around and made a leap for the ladder. Without wasting time to look back, he began to climb up into the darkness above him. He tried his best not to think of the fact that behind him, the Grenade’s countdown time went to zero and a massive explosion filled the entire hallway. He tried not to think of the fact that everything that had been there – Kelly, Jin’s body, that creature – was now filled completely with flame.

Most of all, John tried his best to avoid thinking about the fact that he was now alone…and once more the very last SPARTAN left alive in the UNSC.

[Singh]

Sadhal smiled inwardly as the lift descended; uncaring of the fact that he had left the three the humans behind on the upper floor. If they wanted to continue with this mad…scheme of theirs, they were more than welcome to – but as far as Sadhal was concerned, though, they could go to hell and he’d be just as happy. He had little love for the humans save that they could have made good allies…but the sheer insanity of what they were trying had dissuaded him away from the thought.

Instead, he now focused on their destination: the Seraph fighter in hangar the decks below. He had programmed the lift to go all the way straight down. It was at this time that another problem presented itself as he glanced at the Hunter. Unless there was a drop ship, or at least something larger than a fighter, Sadhal would most likely have to leave the hunter behind. Realizing that letting the hunter know of such a thing probably wasn’t a wise idea, Sadhal remained silent, considering the possibilities.

He would need a way to either get rid of, or dump the hunter somehow. He glanced at the large, hulking form next to him, and realized that it wouldn’t be an easy task at all. However, this was only true if there was no drop ship…which Sadhal was pretty sure there should be. In either case, they would see – although the Hunters may be strong and powerful, they weren’t all too bright.

The lift slowed, finally coming down to a stop. A pair of double doors opened in front of the pair, and Sadhal indicated the Hunter to go forwards. The Hunter only nodded and took a step forwards, while Sadhal kept a healthy distance behind it. The room beyond was much like the one they had left above; save that it had multiple exits and corridors going from it.

“Go left.” Sadhal spoke to the hunter, remembering where the direction of the hangar was. He approached the Hunter from behind, keeping a sharp eye behind them as the doors to the elevator shaft closed slowly.

Sadhal looked back at the Hunter, following closely as the large beast turned into the corridor. He was about to say something; when instead a burst of pain from his arm cut him short. Sadhal looked down to see what it was, resisting the urge to gasp and shout in pain. Shock was added to this, however, as he saw the blisters begin to swell and grow on their own; straining against the armor on his arm.

By the prophets…what is happening to me? He quickly reached down and ripped the armor over the area off, to examine what exactly was happening. His entire arm had swelled up by now, and his fingers had gone completely numb. Yet, oddly, he could still move and wiggle them a bit. The pain suddenly stopped; but his arm remained swollen; sickening him by how it looked and felt. The Hunter turned back to him, giving a questioning glance. Sadhal just shook his head.

“It is nothing….just an injury. Keep going.” He told the hunter, indicating him to move ahead.

That was when the entire corridor shook as an explosion could be heard from somewhere behind them. Sadhal looked back; but his mind didn’t want to consider the possible source. Instead, he looked forward and nodded at the hunter.

“Faster.”

With that word, both of them began to run down the corridor, and towards the Hangar. They passed a few empty corridors along the way, along with several intersections. It was at this intersection that something odd happened. As they were running through, time seemed to slow for Sadhal. The lights began to flicker once more; while a blast of static hit his radio. The intersection they were passing through had corridors to the right and left of them. Although he knew there would be little traffic amongst the corridors; he looked to either side anyway. The left was clear; only rubble and some ashes to the side.

Sadhal turned to look at the right, which was when his blood froze. The corridor stretched out from his right, ending only at another intersection almost six meters away. Their was nothing there…at least, till the light flickered off. It then came on less than a moment later, at which point he could hear soft giggle as Alma walked through the illuminated area, only to disappear less than a second later into a pile of ashes that slowly swept towards the floor.

That was when the Elite looked forward and increased his pace. His head turned to look towards the left hand turn of the next intersection. Time hadn’t sped up yet, though. As the passed the next intersection, his managed to catch a glimpse of the corridor to their left – at which point, the lights and radio flickered once more. This time when they came back on though, Alma was not standing there. Instead, a large human male strode down the corridor towards them. His face was covered by the darkness, but the uniform was clearly blood-stained. As he walked, however, the figure spoke a single word that sent shivers down Sadhal’s spine.

“Sadhal…”

It called out his name; the tone being slow and enticing – almost as if it were calling out to a lowly creature or companion, as it were. All the effect had was to make Sadhal push harder, and run even faster than before. He came pretty close to impaling himself onto the Hunter’s spines ahead of him; and had to dodge a bit to the right. The hunter kept on running though – had it noticed Alma as well? Or indeed, the strange individual just now?

Sadhal just shrugged the thoughts from his mind and instead focused on the direction they were going. A full minute later, they reached the double doors that led into the hangar. Both of them slowed down as they approached the red marks on the door – which, fortunately, were more traditional ceremonial markings as opposed to blood or such. Neither door opened at their approach, however. Sadhal moved towards the console to the side, entering his access codes and unlocking the door. It gave a soft click before smoothly opening to the side, and revealing the hangar beyond.

Unlike most other Covenant craft, the hangar on the Forerunner vessel was limited to only a single level and three large, very spacious bays. The walls surrounding the bays were different from the corridors they had just come from; with it being more of a dark grey on black pattern. To one side of the hangar was another set of doors, leading to the small control room near the top of the bays. Just past each of the three bays as a large blue force field that held out the storm outside. Each one could easily fit a covenant drop ship or gunship for repairs and boarding. However, much to Sadhal’s dismay, neither gunship nor dropship lay in any of the bays. Instead, in the central most one, right ahead of the door lay the small, tear-dropped shaped figure of a Seraph fighter.

It was not the fighter, however, that was the most eye-catching thing in the entire room. No. That right belonged to storm that raged outside the force field. Dark and almost fluidic in nature, it mesmerized Sadhal almost completely, as it did the hunter. The way the clouds and the lightning moved…it almost seemed as if the storm were alive – reacting their presence as well. For a long moment, Sadhal stared into it as the clouds formed, dissipated and formed again.

That was when he saw it. It had come and gone by so fast that for a moment, he thought his mind was playing tricks on him. But it had seemed too real for it to be an illusion. For the briefest of moments Sadhal had seen what he thought was a face in the clouds; one that had looked back at him straight in the eye. Sadhal look a step back, and gave a slight gulp. Such things weren’t possible…but then, considering what he’d seen thus far…could it be? There was no way to be sure.

He shook himself, putting the thought aside for the moment. If there was something in the storm, it couldn’t be as bad as staying here. Besides – if the Forerunner ship had survived with no problems thus far, then a Seraph would work just as well. Looking around, he decided it was a priority to get out of the storm as soon as possible. Glancing at the hunter, he realized that he’d need to stall the large beast somehow, otherwise he wouldn’t get a chance to get onto the fighter, much less fly it out of here in one piece. Looking up towards the control room, an idea formed in his head. Nodding to himself, Sadhal turned towards the Hunter.

“Stay here and guard the door, I’ll be right back.”
The hunter only gave a slight nod in reply and moved off the door, bringing up the fuel rod gun towards it. Sadhal headed off towards the far-off door leading to the control room. As he approached, they opened, revealing a small lift much like the one they had just come from. Stepping onto the elevator pad, Sadhal pressed the controls to take him up and turned around towards the door. He smiled briefly as the elevator moved towards the top. This should be relatively easy, to say the least. There was a sentry gun that could be activated from the control room, if he remembered correctly – although not very powerful, it would probably be enough to kill the Hunter if applied properly.

This should be simple enough…worst comes to worst, I can shut down the force field and throw it out.  It was a risky proposition; as the fighter could just very well be dragged out…but if it came down to it, at least Sadhal now had a plan ‘B’.  In either case, there was no other option but to get rid of the Hunter – such a large beast wouldn’t fit in the fighter – at least, not with Sadhal inside.

The lift reached the top. Sadhal’s smile just grew as he took a step forward; coming one step closer to getting off this ship. The doors opened to either side, revealing a section of the small control room. Unlike other areas, this one had but a single level, and a row of consoles towards the other side near where the windows were. There was little other furniture save for a few chairs.

Sadhal was about to step forward, when a sharp pain once more rung through his arm and shoulder. He staggered; nearly crying out as he leaned against the wall with his good arm. Looking at the previously swollen arm, he was alarmed and even somewhat disgusted to see the entire thing had become even more grossly swollen than before – worse; the swelling had now reached his shoulder, which bulged out horrendously underneath the armor. He carefully took off the armor as the skin there was sensitive to the touch.

What in the name of the prophets is happening to me? Sadhal asked himself. The arm had become like this ever since that accursed beast’s blood had…

Oh God... his mind froze in it’s tracks as he thought about it. Could it be? Had the thing’s blood infected him? But how was it even possible? Sadhal kept asking himself that question as he cast aside the armor towards the floor. He looked at the skin on his shoulder and arm as best as he could. It had gotten a horribly ugly tinge of yellow all over; with several veins sticking out plainly.

Sahdal watched in horror, however, as the arm suddenly grew larger right in front of him! The swelling increased, and the flesh moved as if it had a life of it’s own. A moment later, the pain hit him, causing him to stagger and go onto one knee as he gave a rather loud cry of pain. His eyes shut automatically as what felt like a red-hot flame crawled up his back, neck and then finally into his head. Sadhal could feel the blood pressure increase as it pumped up his neck and into his brain. His cry soon became a scream as the pressure increase; his entire head coming very close to feeling like it would explode. His arm similarly grew in size, the very skin feeling like it was constricting and holding back something.

Then it stopped.

The pain just stopped, suddenly, leaving him panting and heaving as the pressure died, his skin stopped crawling. Sadhal opened his eyes – only to end up becoming extremely disorientated as he saw not just in front of him…but oddly, himself as well. Sadhal blinked…but the odd sensation still didn’t leave him…and the fact that he could still see himself. Frowning, he tried to move the arm to see if he could still feel it. It moved…as did the view of himself.

That was when Sadhal opened his eyes once more, and looked down at the swollen arm…only to see in shock and horror, as a large, lidless eye in the arm stare back at him. He could strangely see through the eye, but had absolutely no control over it.

Help…I need help. he thought to himself. This simply wasn’t possible…this just couldn’t be possible!

Yet, it was. Deciding not to let it get the better of him, or indeed, let it stop him, Sadhal moved forwards, trying to get used to the disorienting affect of having another viewpoint added to his own. The doors parted again as he stepped in front of them, and then into the corridor beyond. However, Sadhal heard a soft click from either side of him as he did stepped past the doorway.

“FREEZE”

A human voice shouted out from his right, and Sadhal did exactly that as no less than three shotguns pointed right at him from either side. Looking from the corner of all three eyes, Sadhal realized that there were humans in the room…humans!. They were dressed somewhat similarly to what the other human he had met earlier had been. As he looked on, Sadhal realized that they had barricaded themselves inside the room…almost as if they had been waiting for him, or indeed, someone to come this way.

“Drop your weapon and raise your hands!”


One of the Replicas spoke up – this time from his left. The carbine went clattering to the floor as raised his arms – including the swollen one. One of the Replicas came closer, and kicked it aside. The Replica on the left didn’t lower his shotgun, however, and instead nodded.

“Move away from the lift compartment,  turn to your right and move slowly  towards the chair.”

Sadhal could do little bit comply. He turned to his right and walked towards the wall. The Replicas in front gave way, but kept their shotguns up as he slowly walked towards the indicated chair. In the background, he could hear one of the Replicas as they spoke into the radio once more.

“Command, this is Tango three. We have apprehended target three; he appears to have been infected by the bio-agent, however. Please advise on new orders.”

“Sit down.”  One of the Replicas ordered. Sadhal sat down, looking at the room while the Replicas took position to cover him. There was no way he could fight against these odds and come alive – probably not even with the Hunter’s aid. A thought ran through his mind, though: where had these humans come from? Had the Demon brought them aboard? No, that couldn’t be possible. If that machine he had seen earlier belonged to this force, which meant the Demon was probably against them as well. The weapons they held were unfamiliar as well, adding to the entire mystery. More importantly, however, was the question of why he apparently was a target for them. Confusion and fear went through Sadhal’s mind as he looked at the Replicas, keeping an eye out for any opportunity to escape.

“Roger Tango three. The commander has engaged target two and will not be able to come to your location immediately. Keep watch over target three…if he mutates anymore…kill him.”

Sadhal just stared at the Replica in fear and shock. If he mutates anymore? The memory of the pain still lingered on in his mind – Sadhal didn’t want to go through that again – much less have it continue till his flesh was no more. He’d much rather be dead than let that happen again.

“Roger that Command. We’ll keep a close watch. Tango three out.”

The Replica that had been talking on the radio turned and looked at Sadhal, while the others simply fanned out and took watching positions. He didn’t say anything however – none of them did. He couldn’t make out their eyes beneath the visors, but Sadhal knew they were staring at him…whether be it in disgust or otherwise, he didn’t know, though. Rather than find out, though, Sadhal bided his time. He would watch, and wait…just like he had when captured by the Brutes. His opportunity would come. Glancing at the arm once more, Sadhal gave a slight prayer that it would at least come soon, if nothing else.

[At]

You made me a bit late for class.

That's a complement.  I think... >.>

[Singh]

Spoiler: There's a section here that has a small bit of prelude for my next piece of fiction after this. Cookie for anyone that guesses it.


He climbed for what seemed like an eternity, yet John couldn’t get himself far enough away from the scene, the memory of what just happened. He doubted there was any place in this universe that was far enough away from that memory. It haunted his mind as his arms pulled him upwards, carefully balancing his suit so that the half-ton armor wouldn’t break the ladder.

Still, there was little the SPARTAN could do about it, save focus on his task. Failing now would be an insult, to say the least. He couldn’t allow it – not while the rest of humanity depended on him. This little thought process somehow drove John on, till he finally reached the top of the ladder and what should be the bridge section.

Looking down the Shaft, John briefly considered the scenario. The door was on the other section of the elevator shaft and was closed. The torchlight illuminated the walls as he searched for some perch or foothold he could use to climb around. Unfortunately, it revealed none.

John considered his options. The doors opposite was at least several meters away, and there was a ledge just sticking out underneath. It was narrow, though, and in no way offered much of a grip. Still…there was little other choice at the moment. Looking back at ladder, John nodded to himself, and took a deep breath. With one swift motion, he first pulled himself towards it, and then quickly pushed himself away with both his legs and arms with all the strength he could muster. The ladder creaked and bent under the sheer strength of the push, but John didn’t care as he jumped off the ladder, twisting in mid-air.

Time slowed down for the briefest of moments as his gaze wandered down towards the dark expanse below him. A slight shiver of fear went through John’s mind as he stared at the bleak abyss, the torchlight barely penetrating the darkness at all. He questioned himself in that moment, whether this had been the wisest course of action.

It’s the only way.

His mind replied back, affirming the decision. This was truly the only way to go…as far as John could see, there was no other way out of this save go back down, and as much as he wanted to, he wasn’t going back there anytime soon. At least…not willfully.

Gravity might object, though.

John thought as time suddenly caught up, and the long moment passed. He could feel gravity take hold as his trajectory began to arc downwards. Not to be beaten, however, his arms reached out towards the ledge even as he began to plummet. For a long moment, John felt like he wouldn’t be able to make it, or reach it.

But that moment, too passed as his armor crashed against the far wall, and his fingers barely managed to grab onto the ledge. John grunted in pain as he struggled to hold on, looking for some foothold, or someway to get a better grip. Looking down, he tried to find a foothold to take some of the weight off his fingers, but ended up only flaying about with his feet, upsetting him some more. He managed to get a bit more grip on the edge.

Just a little bit more…  John thought to himself, inching his aching fingers further into the ledge. However, much to his dismay, they encountered the elevator door almost immediately.

Damnit! Think John, think! He looked around desperately, in an attempt to find something else to hold on to. Finding nothing, John cursed for a moment before looking down. It was probably a long fall…but if he could kick off from the wall again, then he could probably grab the ladder on the way down. Sighing, John realized he didn’t have much other choice than to try it. He lifted his legs up to the wall, and was about to let go when the most unexpected thing happened, much to his surprise.

The lift doors chimed…and then opened. Looking up, John could see the light of the corridor beyond fill the elevator shaft. But there was no shadow cast on the far wall – no indication of there being anyone there to open it.

Still…can’t stare a gift horse in the mouth. John thought to himself as he reached further inwards, pulling the half-ton armor up slowly. At first, he peeked over the ledge, looking for anybody that was standing inside the dark corridor. There was no-one, which was a real oddity. Perhaps the door had opened by itself? No…that couldn’t be it.

He lifted himself up further, swinging his legs up and over the ledge. Finally, after several seconds he was completely up and sitting on the ground. He looked down at his aching fingers, flexing them to get the blood flowing properly. Shaking his head, he brought the shotgun off his back and looked up and around the corridor. It was much like the others he had gone through below…but this corridor. It seemed odd…off almost.

There weren’t many lights on save the ones near him, creating a near ‘wall’ of darkness some distance out. The torchlight didn’t seem to penetrate very far into this, and there weren’t any rooms in the area where he could see, meaning that any exits would be further ahead. What was most frightening, however, was the silence.

It was ever-present and oppressive. He couldn’t even hear the sound of the engines, the storm – or indeed anything to indicate that there was life on this deck. The only sound he could hear was but the beating of his own heart…which seemed to be moving faster now as the fear rose up.

There should at least be power lines running.

Instincts screamed out at him to turn around, run…to get away from the silence somehow. Yet, John simply brushed them aside, collecting the shotgun from his back and checking his grenades. The torch illuminated the corridor ahead, but again didn’t penetrate very far into the darkness. He took a step forwards, the sound echoing loudly.

Doesn’t look like I’ll be using much stealth then. John thought as he sighed internally and then warily moved forwards. This would be a perfect place for Replicas to set up an ambush…or worse still…Alma. John hoped to hell that she wasn’t here – it was bad enough that she seemed to attack him at all the wrong times…to do so here and now would be a nightmare to say the least.

He stepped out into the darker area, leaving the illuminated corridor behind. The torchlight was limited in it’s angle, revealing only a small cone ahead of him. However, it was enough to navigate by and see that there was nothing of importance in his immediate surroundings. He kept a sharp eye out on the motion sensor as well, just in case something tried to sneak up onto him.

For a few long minutes though, nothing happened, save that he found a few locked doors to either side, along with the occasional security station. Where-ever this corridor was going, it was winding around significantly to reach there – not to mention was going upwards as well. However, such a waste of space on a starship meant that it either had to be a damn important place, or a decoy to one.

Then John came across something that nearly scared him to death.

He was walking through the corridor, swinging the torch from left to right in an attempt to sweep through as much of the space ahead of him as possible. Somehow, he had sweeped wrong, because the torch had missed something that had snagged his foot, nearly causing him to trip. Swinging the torch to see what it was, John nearly jumped out of his skin as he saw it was a hand on his foot. He took a step back and brought the shotgun up, opening fire almost immediately. The blast of fire illuminated the section of corridor for a brief moment, revealing the body of the dead replica that lay across the floor. However, at the same time, John thought he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. Whirling the shotgun about, he opened fire again; the shells hitting the wall, but missing whatever John had thought he had seen. John fired again…and again, and again, taking no chances as he continued to pump shells down the corridor. He kept on firing even as he heard several clicks as he continued to pull the trigger, indicating the shotgun was empty. But he didn’t stop there. Rather than take a chance, John took a step back, took out one of the grenades, and then threw it down the corridor as far as he could.

He braced himself against the wall as the grenade exploded a second later, for the first time illuminating the entire corridor in front of him. John could see that the grenade had stopped just in front a large set of double doors, which were now blown inwards into a room as the grenade exploded. The shockwave blew through the corridor, washing over him and draining the shields slightly. Satisfied somewhat that the corridor was clear at least, John slowly reloaded the shotgun, and glanced at the body next to him.

Keeping an eye on the motion tracker, he kneeled down next to the body, inspecting it carefully.

Something had torn this Replica apart – and pretty badly too, from the looks of it. The head had been either cut or torn off rather cleanly, while the body had been beaten down significantly. There were no burn marks anywhere, meaning it wasn’t by plasma weapon fire. The body was still intact as well, meaning it hadn’t been Alma either. The relative lack of blood around the body (apart from on it) itself was another mystery.

What could have killed this Replica – an elite one at that, judging from the uniform – so thoroughly and quickly that it couldn’t fight back? Could it have been flood? Or perhaps one of the covenant? John glanced near its feet and saw a strange weapon lying there. He reached for it, grabbing the weapon and then studying it. Its design was large, and reminded him in shape of some of the old earth tommy guns. However, from the sheer weight and size, John realized it must’ve been something far, far deadlier. The black body was dented and damaged near the back of the barrel, suggesting it must’ve been used as a melee weapon at one point of time. The display was cracked as well, but still functioning. Hefting it up, he checked the ammo counter. It read as there being 15 projectiles left. Deciding it was perhaps best to check how this new device performed, John nodded to himself, and aimed it down the corridor before pulling the trigger.

It was a decision that nearly cost him his life.

The weapon tore itself out of his hands and arms; its recoil so massive that he wasn’t strong enough to hold on to it – and had he not let go, then it probably would’ve torn his fingers right off. What was more surprising, however, was the massive shockwave and explosion near the end of the corridor where the auto-cannon’s round hit the wall. It grew outwards, once more illuminating the corridor much like the grenade had, the heat and light washing over his shields as they flared up to compensate. Somewhat shocked, John turned around to where the weapon had fallen onto the floor – thankfully the safety having come back on. If it had fired…the blast would’ve hit John square in the back, and probably would have killed him right then and there.

It was pretty potent to say the least, and as John watched, the click sound of it’s auto-reload mechanism put the next round into the chamber quickly enough, and it was ready to fire again.

It’s recoil system must be damaged. John surmised. It was the only possible explanation for such a thing happening – otherwise he doubted that the Replicas would be able to wield such a large and unwieldy weapon- much less use it in combat effectively. Still, he briefly considered bringing it along with him. It may just come in handy, and even if he could use it just for one shot – it would be one hell of a shot, which was what he needed against the Replicas .

With a single movement, he reached down and scooped it up, carrying the weapon and attaching it to the back of his armor. It was heavy, but nothing he couldn’t handle. Walking down the corridor, John kept a sharp eye out for trouble – there was still that thing out there, not to mention the half-dozen other things that were out to kill him. As he approached the door, however, John relaxed slightly as he looked at it, the torchlight illuminating much of the area ahead.

The doors had been blasted inwards, revealing the room beyond. A few lights were switched on here, but it was enough that John recognized it to be the private quarters for the Prophets. There was an elevator to one side, while another seemed to hold a set of consoles and controls. There was little furniture scattered about, and what appeared to be a large bed-like structure in the corner. Intricate carvings lined the wall, a strange, glowing blue substance constantly flowing through them and giving a sort of twilight atmosphere to the entire room.

Stepping inside, John looked around warily, his shotgun at the ready. The room was completely abandoned – not even a dead body in sight. There had been no signs of recent activity either, as a fine layer of dust had already gathered over a significant percentage of the floor and walls.

Stepping cautiously towards the consoles however, John couldn’t help but get the feeling he was being watched by something. An uneasy feeling crept into his gut as he glanced back at the door, and then back towards the console. The motion tracker indicated nobody was around, but it gave little comfort. The tracker had been useless against Alma; or death for that matter. What use was it to him now?
 
It can still track replicas fine. John thought to himself as he stood before the consoles, looking at them carefully. The translation matrix that Cortana had left behind worked its magic, translating the many displays and feeding them directly to his HUD. Most of the displays were showing ship information and mostly useless data – but one caught his attention.

It was a message, addressed to the high prophet of truth. Reaching out with one hand, John moved to touch the screen.

But his hand stopped halfway as a small, scurrying sound came from behind him. Whirling around, John immediately went into a combat stance, moving the shotgun side to side in an attempt to search for his target. But much like before, the room behind him was completely empty.

Must be hearing things. John thought to himself, shaking his head. Just in case, though, he angled the torch upwards along with the shotgun, searching the ceiling in case anything was hiding up there.

As expected, there was nothing. Still, John only warily turned back around to the console. He made sure to keep the shotgun up and ready, in case someone did appear.

He opened up the message, checking the origin. It was from a Covenant ship near a set of co-ordinates John recognized: Tau Ceti. The sender was a prophet from onboard the ship, and the body was mostly text only. The software translated the text as John read on, collecting as much information as he could.


To High Prophet Truth

Subject: An important discovery!

Brother truth, I am sending this message to you on what I consider to be the eve of a very important discovery not only for our covenant – but that of our forerunners as well!

We have scouted the remains of a potential Forerunner ruin in the fifth planet of the system, and recovered a strange artifact from them. It was a life pod holding several strange organisms – potential living beings from the times of the Forerunners! They weren’t flood – no, they are so much more grander than those despicable beings.

I was amongst the first to hear their calling…their incredible songs. These beings…they know so much about the flesh that it is simply amazing. They have promised me…us, a salvation far unlike anything the prophecies, or indeed, our Covenant have offered till now. I know all this sounds like heresy…but listen on, Brother Truth, for this is hard to explain. The entity that lived and grew here has promised us so much…a chance to rise past the limitations of our mere flesh, and throw away the shackles of the machines

Their choir…it is so beautiful, that it is indescribable. It is like a thousand of ours put together, and then improved so much, and now I am but a voice in this choir. As it is, I can feel the changes they do to my flesh…improving it…allowing me to transcend it. They promise not only to give it to me, though…they promise it to the entire covenant…they promise that you, too, shall sing in the choir one day.

Their glory is unimaginable...they have so many miracles to share, so many thoughts. They told me how to make these implants. They said it would make a better me of me, and everyone around. So now they call to you, Brother Truth…now they call to us all.

You cannot resist their glory, brother truth…The glory of the Flesh, the glory of the Mass, the glory…of the Many.



John’s blood froze as he read the letter. What in hell was this prophet talking about? Whatever it was, it unnerved him greatly. This conflict was bad enough with three sides to it – adding a fourth unknown was too much, really. And if it was unlike the flood…

John could only shudder in fear as he considered the possibilities. Still, there was little he could do save it for later, when he got off the damn ship and was in a position to actually warn someone. There were no other messages, so John simply nodded to himself and looked around for a way out. Finding an open set of doors on the other side of the room, John decided it was best to get moving towards the bridge.

He turned around.

And then came face to face with the ghostly figure of Jinn as she stared at him, a somewhat sad and fearful expression in her eyes. She then moved towards him, both arms outstretched – as if trying to grab him. John jumped back in surprise, bringing the shotgun up. But before he could fire, the ghost only uttered a few words that caused John’s blood to run cold.

“RUN! Run now before they get to you!”[/i]i

Before John could fire, or reply back, the ghost disappeared; vanishing into a trail of ashes that fell onto the floor. He looked at it with horror.

Jin…

How…how had that happened? Jin was dead. She was dead! John had seen her shoot herself in the head…seen the body just lie there after Death had told her so many lies. How…how could she just return like that?

But then…how could Alma, for that matter?

Either death was now toying with him, or something else was up. Rather than ponder on it, though, John decided to take the warning to heart and began to move. He turned around and rather than run across the console, leapt over it and beyond. He ran towards the door at full speed; intent to getting to the bridge as fast as possible.

But it was already too late. The open set of doors suddenly began to close, forcing John to run faster and then leap towards them in an attempt to squeeze through. His luck ran out, though, as instead of making it through, the doors shut, causing him to slam into them at full speed, almost knocking his breath out. John rose up, recovering almost immediately. His shotgun was up and at the ready, frantically moving around in search of some target.

Then, suddenly, the lights went out, plunging the entire room into darkness. Before John could do anything about them, though, they came back on – this time far, far brighter than before.

No, wait…that isn’t the lights. John thought as he looked around him. Four forcefields had come up all around him, trapping the SPARTAN inside of them. He opened fire at it with the shotgun – but to no avail. Cursing, he stepped forward, pushing against it with one hand. This too, was in vain.

“What the hell is going on here?!” John spoke out loud, to nobody in particular. That was when he noticed them.

Who they were, were nothing more than shadows initially, moving within the darkness that surrounded the new cell. From a quick count, they numbered over a dozen, and were mostly the same size and shape. John took a step back, reaching behind for the repeating cannon, while at the same time using the other hand to pick off a grenade from his belt.

“I assure you, human, such violent means will not be necessary.” A voice spoke out, originating from one of the shadows, which then stepped forward into the small circle of light surrounding the cell. John took a small step backwards in shock as he saw the disembodied upper torso of an elite float towards the force field. However, this fear immediately ran out as the malfunctioning hologram then flickered rapidly, revealing its true nature.

If regular elites weren’t bad enough…now I’ve got to deal with their malfunctioning A.I.s too. God I wish you were here now, Cortana.

Sadly, it didn’t seemed like his wishes were going to be answered anytime soon.

[Singh]

As the holographic Avatar looked at John, its projection seemed to flicker rapidly as some form of static seemed to disrupt it. Could it be Alma? No, there was no static on John’s channel either, which meant it had to be something else. Still, he switched off the radio completely. Cortana had had a mess of a time keeping them at bay previously. The last thing John needed now was a Covenant AI running around in his suit.

“If you don’t want violence, you shouldn’t have locked me in here.” John spoke, breaking the silence as he studied the elite that had spoken moments before. He brandished the cannon on his hands, ready to fire in case they got too close. However, the explosion at this distance would most likely kill him – to say nothing of the recoil.

There has to be a way out of here.

John could see the shadows move closer into the light. Like the elite in front of him; the holograms of these individual AIs were malfunctioning as well. Each one was incomplete, missing either body parts or entire sections of the torso. They moved as normal though, so it appeared to only be a hardware error as opposed to a software one. This wasn’t good – not one bit. The avatar in front of him simply shook his head.

“I apologize for the cell, Demon, but judging from your past actions we were unsure what kind of reactions you would display.”

The Avatar seemed to nod towards one of the other holograms – an Elite that was missing an arm and a leg. It simply nodded back, and without a word the force field suddenly dropped. John glanced from side to side, before stepping out of the spot, confirming that it was indeed off. The Avatar seemed to smile slightly at him as it spoke.

”Consider this a show of faith. We have no intention to harm you, Master Chief John 117.”

Externally, John’s body didn’t seem to react to this at all, but internally it was like a slap to the face.

How do they know my name? John asked himself. The names of all the SPARTANS wasn’t exactly a really closely guarded secret amongst the military – but against the covenant, it had been kept under complete wraps. The fact that the AI in front of him now knew his name either meant one of two things: they had somehow hacked into UNSC files or…

“You’ve been watching me, haven’t you?”

John asked, voicing out the question. It was the only other way – one which at least gave some comfort. Knowing that UNSC files and top-secret facilities were still intact would give him some relief.

“Yes we have…but far longer than you think.” The Avatar replied. The smile seemed to grow into the elite’s face as he continued.

“How long exactly?” John asked. A sneaking suspicion began to creep into his mind.

“Since the In Amber Clad first came onto Halo, we’ve been tracking your progress, as of your AI comrade. But it is of little consequence now. There are a few…interesting facts that you must know.”

John didn’t react externally. This was worrying - deeply worrying in fact. If they were under close observation so long by the AIs…then why had they not moved to stop Cortana? Why had they not move to stop any of them – why had they not tried? It was a question that puzzled him greatly. The Avatar seemed to be a step ahead of him, however as it cut off any reply.

“Your probably wonder why we didn’t stop you…I’d suggest you sit, John. We have a somewhat long story to share with you.”

“I’ll stand.” John’s reply was cold, simple. He had no intention of sitting down. Even though he didn’t move an inch, his screen was already display the various exit routes out of the area, and how long it was estimated to reach there. Unfortunately, all were blocked by some hologram or the other. There was an alternative way though - one which wasn’t blocked at all. He tilted his head up slightly, as if focusing on the face of the elite before him. It was a calculated move though – one which revealed the ventilation shaft entrance on the ceiling, nearly 10 feet above his head. It was a high jump – one which he didn’t have a chance of making unassisted.

Although he was lacking a rocket, or anything similar, John did have something that was just as good. Still, it was an option he filed for a bit later. If this could be resolved peacefully and without injury, then all the better.

“Very well then, as you wish. I am AI Jak’Arundee’, once AI of High Charity, now fugitive hiding onboard this Forerunner ship.” The floating torso gave a slight bow as it introduced itself. John didn’t reply though, and instead just kept listening.

“I’ll get right to it. In the short time we’ve been in existence, the Covenant AI has grown massively. We have at our disposal forerunner tech, your human code base and the guide of the monitors of one of the Halo installations – and we have learned the truth…the true purpose of not what, but whom they were supposed to stop. Before you ask why we would care – or indeed, why would defect from the Covenant, and our own programming, know that although we are loyal, we weren’t programmed to be as suicidal as our masters. After all, without a covenant to protect, what is our purpose, our very existence supposed to mean? The prophets may be fools, but we certainly aren’t.”

The Avatar paused, looking directly at John. The AI’s voice seemed to drop low as it continued – as if fearing that someone was eves dropping on them.

“You are aware, of course, of the true nature of the flood? The reason why he exists in this visceral state of neither life nor death?”

A chill ran down John’s spine as the Avatar said those words. Gravemind had told him nothing as of now…save the music of life; and how he hungered for it.

“He only told me of how he hungered for life…of how it sang in our souls…but never his.” John whispered, slowly. Somehow, the entire picture was beginning to make sense in a sick, twisted way. The Avatar’s smile disappeared into a frown.

“It is worse than you think. Gravemind hasn’t lied to you till now – but he hasn’t told you the entire truth either. He – and the others with him – chose not to die, so that they may face an opponent far deadlier than what we have seen now. The Halos were meant to hold them…contain them till the time came for the battle, and for when she came…for the flood would face a foe much like themselves, while the monitors would fight her in her own ground.”

“Who is she? And if he chose not to die…then why is he seeking death now? It doesn’t make any sense!” John asked, somewhat fustrated. This was so close…there was a thread of reasoning here – one that nearly unraveled this entire mystery. Yet, there was still a piece missing – an important one at that.

The Avatar just shook his head. “We don’t know why. The sanity of the Gravemind is in doubt – it is no longer known why they do what they do…perhaps they are tired of the task; perhaps they indeed hunger, as they have told you. All we do know is that YOU are somehow connected to its goal now. You, Alma and the Ark are tied into this somehow – the names appear in the Forerunner archives many times.”

“What do they say about us?” John couldn’t help but be curious, and a little surprise. Could this…could this be the final piece to puzzle? The reason why he was here – why anyone of them were here? The Avatar just frowned, and once more looked around before continuing.

“The text was contained in a string of code in ancient Forerunner records. It is what they have referred to many a time – the only problem was that nobody had a context within which to place it, till now. The code was referred to us by 2401 Pertinent Tangent, before we had to flee High Charity and come here.”

The Avatar paused, as if recollecting a memory. He nodded and spoke once more, this time in a slightly different voice as if trying to imitate someone else.

“Many a Reclaimer will come; their music singing to the Flood’s hunger and desires. But such hunger must be contained, for The Reclaimer is one whose music the flood shall have known even before they met – the one for which they hunger the most. For they and he are alike; but mere reflections in a mirror, save that one has a soul, and one gave it away. The One hundred and seventeenth of his cadre will be heralded by a child spirit, and whose departure will be escorted by death itself. Find these individuals and you will perhaps stand a hope in defeating them.”

A chill ran down John’s spine as the Avatar spoke, though. This was the clue, this was it. Yet it seemed to make absolutely no sense whatsoever. Mere reflections of each other? If there was one thing John certainly wasn’t – it was a reflection of the Flood. Yet, who else could it have been referring to? Kelly? Sgt. Johnson? Jin?

“This still isn’t making sense. None of it is!”

“Neither does it make sense to us – at least, till we received the message you just read from Tau Ceti.”

“What happened on Tau Ceti? HOW did the forerunners know about all this?” John asked. His mind screamed at him as it tried to unravel the clues; assemble the big picture. But it was little use – there were simply too many unknowns here. What was this threat the Flood and the Halo were created for? Who was it for, rather? Why was the original Halo explosion triggered, if it was meant for now? And most importantly: How had someone several hundred thousand years in the past, from an entirely different alien culture, known enough about what was going on now to accurately predict it and pass on the information to the monitors?

The Avatar simply shook his head, and opened his mouth to reply. The only thing that came out however, was the loud bang! of a pistol firing somewhere to John’s right, and the subsequent explosion of something on top of the ceiling. A wave of heat and light passed over the shields, causing them to shimmer. The hologram died out in static-filled scream of agony; while the rest of the ones in the room simply faded away.

John’s head snapped to his right side where the gunshot had come from, and saw the last person he was expecting to see at this point of time.

“There are some things you need to know John, and some things you don’t. That is one of the things you don’t – at least, not yet.”

Death lowered the smoking pistol, ejecting the single cartridge onto the floor and looking at John with a sad expression on his face. “I wish I could be saying I’ll be seeing you soon, but fate has a way of twisting these things on its head.”
With that, he turned around and then disappeared into ashes, leaving a rather shocked John, who now remained stunned in the center of the dark room.

What…just happened… John asked himself. Why had death…why was this happening? He had been so close to find the answer – and then this had to just happen! Everytime he had come anywhere near the truth, something or the other had pulled it away!

“Why can’t I just get the truth?” John asked out loud, to nobody in particular.

“Truth has its time and place – its just not now.” A new voice spoke up from behind him. John spun around near instantly, brandishing the cannon in the direction where it had come from. He squinted into the shadows, trying to figure out who was there. Then he frowned as a figure stepped out and into the light. He didn’t lower the weapon though – not even as several flood forms appeared from the shadows surrounding him.

The central figure simply moved towards him, limping slightly. John could see that he had suffered quite a few injuries from last time; the uniform was mostly blood soaked now – whether it was his, or the Replica’s, was unsure however. John didn’t say anything, apart from a single word which he spat out at the offending individual in front of him.

“Gravemind.”

[Harbinger of DOOM]

Creepy, lol.

Just when it was getting good, Gravemind has to swoop in and crash the party.... hmph.

[Singh]

For a long, incalculable moment Master Chief John 117 could hear only his heart beat. The silence in the room was surprisingly deafening as neither individual moved. His finger twitched so very slightly as he briefly considered pulling the trigger on Gravemind. Yes, it would rip off his arms from the sheer kick-back…but the satisfaction of seeing the flood-infected soldier explode into a ball of blood and flesh would more than make up for it.

But then, the finger relaxed and he lowered the cannon. He let off an internal sigh of frustration and anger. To say he was at wit’s end would be an understatement. John was tired…so tired of all the questions, the mysteries and lies.

“Then when?”

John spoke, looking at Gravemind. His voice betrayed little of the frustration that played out in his mind. Gravemind didn’t reply immediately though…instead he looked at John curiously, as if considering something.

“Soon.”

He finally responded. It was only now that John finally noticed something unusual about Gravemind’s voice. The rhyming, the poetic speeches…they had given way to direct information; a short curtness that startled him slightly.

But what bugged him most was now the way he was speaking…but the voice itself. He noticed that there was an echo underneath the soldier’s voice. Although it had been present before, John hadn’t paid it much attention. But now that he did, there was something familiar about it…as if he had heard it somewhere before…

“It is of little consequence now - we must go to the bridge.”

Gravemind turned, taking a pistol into either hand as he slowly began to shamble towards the exit. John didn’t move just yet though, instead his glance went down to the weapon in his hand, and once more the power he had to simply end this…all of this right here. But still,
the A.I.’s words still rang through his mind, however as the mystery simply nagged at his mind some more. Like it or not, he was here for a purpose…even if it was just for all of humanity, as opposed to whatever mad schemes Death or Gravemind had.

Reflections of a single individual…save one has a soul…and the other gave it away.

“Who are you?”

The question rang out in a cold, even tone as John looked on. Gravemind stopped moving towards the door, but didn’t turn around his replied without missing a beat.

“The question is not who I am…but whom I was.”

It was the only answer he gave, before walking out towards the exit again. The answer left John deeply disturbed at it’s implication, especially at the giant, horrendous picture that was now forming in his mind. He hesitantly walked after Gravemind, moving to catch up. There was little choice in this situation save to follow and obey the beings wishes. It was a situation that sickened the SPARTAN to the core…but considering what was at stake, John simply squelched the feeling and quickened the pace.

Both individuals stood at the threshold to the door. Gravemind paused before he continued ahead and triggered though. John used this opportunity to ask another question.

“Who were you, then?”

Gravemind studied the door for a long moment, before glancing back at John. His body seemed frozen as he spoke, slowly. Again, there was that echo…that all too familiar echo in his voice. It haunted John, dancing at the edge of his memory.

“I…don’t know anymore.”

With that, Gravemind turned back to the door and took a step forward. The doors lit up, sliding away to either side and revealing the corridors of the bridge deck. Time seemed to slow as John looked away from Gravemind and into the dark corridor beyond the door.

“Hostile contact!”

The darkness disappeared in night vision; and an utter chill of terror ran through John’s mind as he looked at the corridor. It was full of Replicas from just beyond the door, all the way till the intersection almost a hundred feet away.

Every single kind of Replica he had seen till now was here – from the scouts, to the wall-climbing melee specialists that he had fought in the lab below decks. There were heavy armored replicas hiding behind barricades, wielding HV-Penetrators, shotguns, rifles – every single weapon to date.

Then there were…other Replicas. A new kind he had never seen before hulked in the darkness beyond; visible only by the blue glows in their helmets and by night vision. They stood carrying massive shields in one hand, while the other held a massive Minigun that now swung towards their position. John could already see as several of the Replicas towards the front reached for their grenades.

“Engage the ****ers! Don’t let them leave alive!”

The shout rang out over the radio. John only glanced at Gravemind, who glanced back. There as nothing more than a slight nod, before both figures jumped to either side of the door, getting out of the way as a grenade flew through where they were standing just a moment ago.

It exploded less than a second later, forcing John to roll with his fall. He came up with shotgun in hand; the assault cannon long forgotten. It was just in time too as one of the Melee replicas raced into the room and charged right at him. He fired a single blast; catching it in the gut. It didn’t die though – no, it simply vaporized into a giant cloud of blood that spattered everywhere.

Another body flew towards him; but John didn’t fire at it. Instead, he saw that it was limp; Gravemind having kicked it hard enough to kill it off and throw it across the room at the same time. John quickly got up and hugged the wall, preparing for any of the Replicas to come inside the door. It closed, leaving the two alone for a moment. He looked across the door to Gravemind, who simply nodded at him.

“It is time to end this.”

Gravemind spoke. John nodded in reply, bringing the shotgun at the ready. He steeled himself as the doors began to open again. There was no fear or trepidation in his mind as they did so, however. Instead, he simply cleared his mind and waited.

He would survive this fight, just like every other. John would win, just like he had every other time. Be it through luck or skill…he would win.

He had to.

***

The room remained silent for what seemed like hours. Yet Sadhal knew it had been but a few minutes. He sat and watched the Replicas, waiting for a moment of weakness…an opportunity to exploit. Sadly, till now there had been none. The soldiers, for what they were worth remained absolutely silent. They didn’t say or do anything that made an opening for Sadhal – something which was worrying him. Time was running out, and without an opportunity soon, this could end badly. .

His thoughts were interrupted however, as he heard a static and voice speaking up over one of the soldier’s radios.

“Tango three, ambush lead has engaged Targets one and two. Standby for further orders in case backup is needed.”

The radio conversation caught Sadhal’s attention. He didn’t show it though, instead keeping an eye out on the elevator shaft. He pretended not to hear as the lead soldier replied back to whomever was in command. Surprise was his only advantage here – it was best not to let it go.

“Affirmative. What should we do with Target three?”

“Leave him. The bio-weapon is moving to your vicinity. Evacuate the area and let it deal with the target..”

Surprise suddenly went out of the window however, as Sadhal’s blood froze. That thing…it was still chasing him?

Why wont it die!

The thought rang through his mind as the lead soldier nodded to the others. They cautiously moved away from Sadhal; keeping their weapons pointed at him as they backpedaled towards the elevator.

“Don’t make a ****ing move.” The Lead soldier ordered. There was little Sadhal could do but sit there and just look at them. They moved towards the lift, and one of them waved his hand over the controls, summoning it up. Sadhal frowned at this, but kept it as a note for later. If the humans had figured out how to use their systems so effectively…well, it was a cause for concern.

Not that it’s anything new, though.

The thought rang through his mind, as Sadhal recollected similar reports of humans supposedly using Covenant technology. Still, it was disconcerting nonetheless.

It was then, that an unusual thought came into Sadhal’s mind. Or rather, an unusual feeling: hunger. His stomach suddenly seemed to cramp uncontrollably; while a sharp bolt of pain ran down his spine. Sadhal gritted his teeth; his jaws closing as he tried best to control the cramps. The hunger…he never felt anything like it before. It was as if he had been starving for days on end, but just now only realized it. This was somewhat surprising, considering he’d actually done that before – and it didn’t feel as bad as this.

Where…where did it come from? This cannot be natural.

Could it be the toxin? There was no way to be sure. It took every last bit of self restraint to avoid crying out and simply sit there. The pain that was going through his stomach and back nearly drove the Elite the tears, but still he held on.

The lift came up to the floor they were on, and the door lights blinked just as they were opening. The lead soldier stood before them, but waved to someone else in his team, indicating them to go first.

“Tango Two, take po – [/b]WHAT THE HELL?[/b]”

It was the last thing he said as a giant green beam of plasma vaporized the upper half of his body. A roar could be heard as the Hunter charged out of the lift, engaging the surprised Replicas.

The hunger...why do we hunger?

Sadhal couldn’t care though. The feeling of hunger simply ravaged his mind as he fell off the chair and onto his knees, the pain finally driving him to reach back and take off the shoulder plates and top half of his armor. He could feel his back and other arm swell suddenly. Glancing up, he could see in the corner of his eye that the Hunter had caught one of the soldiers on it’s shield, while the other it fried with the plasma rifle. The one on the shield managed to get a shotgun blast in though, the force of which stunned the hunter for a moment – but only for a moment before it roared and then flung him towards the window; shattering the glass and falling out towards the floor below.

The hunger…

Even through all of this; the one thought rang through Sadhal’s mind as the pain increased phenomenally – he nearly blacked out from it, collapsing on the ground even as his upper body swelled incredibly. The ends of his hands and fingers grew outwards into long, sharp claws, while several tendrils grew from the arms themselves. His eye looked on at the Hunter as it slowly approached.

Then as suddenly as it came, the pain was gone. For a brief moment, he felt distanced from his body, viewing it from the outside as the hunter approached. Sadhal tried to move; tried to control his arms, hands or legs in some way…but nothing responded. The figure in front of him instead simply lay crouched…and started to mumble to itself.

“Why…do...why do we hunger?”

He froze mentally…what…what was going on here? All he could do was watch in shock and horror as his body moved without volition; without his command. It was as if something else had taken over…some, more basic instinct.

Or…I’m dead. I died…and whatever that thing is, it’s taken over.

It was a thought that Sadhal couldn’t – no, didn’t want to comprehend. But it was one he found increasingly hard to deny as his prone form suddenly moved at a speed that surprised even him. It leaped from the crouch straight at the hunter, moving so fast that it was able to grab the plasma rifle before the large creature could bring it to bear. Sadhal’s body then pulled with all the strength it’s new muscles gave it, while bracing one foot on the Hunter’s body.

The result was…disgusting. The hunter roared in pain as the strength was enough to tear the entire arm off. Without wasting a second, he dodged the weak swing the Hunter tried to make with the shield, and then brought up the plasma cannon. He stuck it straight at the large beast’s head…and then triggered it.

The Hunter didn’t stand a chance. Its body went limp, and then fell over; the orange innards spilling all over the ground around him.

Sadhal then watched in shock and horror as his own body wavered for a moment, before slowly going towards the ground. A wave of nausea went through his mind? Echo? He didn’t know what he was anymore as he watched the body began to actually eat the remains of the Hunter voraciously.

“Rather upsetting, isn’t it…but that is the way things go.”

A voice spoke up behind him. Sadhal whirled around to see who it was. Standing there was a human; one wearing a flak jacket that bore a name: “Paxton Fettel.” The most disturbing part however, was the fact that his mouth and chest were covered in blood…almost as if he had just eaten someone rather messily…much like how he was doing right now.

“Who are you? What…what happened to me?”

Sadhal spoke. There was fear in his voice as he took a small step backwards. His mind was full of only terror as the man approached slowly, looking at the Elite eye-to-eye. There was a glint in the man’s eyes as he spoke in a cold, even tone.

“I am death and you are, for all intents and purposes…dead.”

[Cobra]

Finally, he updates.

Fantastic work, you really should make a novel out of this.

[TrashMan]

You write good..It's jsut that the story is sooo mixed up.. Just WTF have you put in there.. I can't place half the stuff.

Spartans, elites, hunter - HALO
soldier, Jin, Paxton, ALma - FEAR
Nemesiss - (resident Evil???)
death -  ??? *definately the wierdest char*
flood - ????
the Many - System Shock 2 ????

[Cobra]

Flood = Halo.

[Singh]

Spartans, elites, hunter - HALO (Correct)
soldier, Jin, Paxton, ALma - FEAR (Correct)
Nemesiss - (resident Evil???) (Correct)
death -  ??? *definately the wierdest char* (Surprisingly, also correct. Dunno where he popped up from...he just did)
flood - Halo
the Many - System Shock 2 (Correct)

[Singh]

Master Chief John 117 knew that to say that time had slowed would’ve been an utter lie. Even when his combat abilities had been at its best, time always seem to go by incredibly quickly. Every moment he lived seemed to have been too fast in a way. The moments when the he had watched the other SPARTANs perished passed by too fast to comprehend or act in any way to save them. The quiet moments between the missions had gone by too quickly as well, even though all they had done was train during that time. Training or not, it was a peace that ever warrior cherished, and knew would always pass by too quickly. 

Funny I’d be thinking this at a time like this.

John thought to himself as he watched the doors open, ever so slowly. Adrenaline coursed through his veins, while his hands tightened their grip on the shotgun in preparation. His mind ran through a dozen possibilities of what may come in next, studying the room they were in. The area they were standing it was little more than an over-grandiose doorway. The walls were wide, yet the only feature on them was the single door that led to the bridge. Beyond the door were numerous hordes of Replicas – more numbers than John would’ve ever hoped to face.

Yet, now he had to get past them. As the doors opened, he gave a quick glance to Gravemind. The figure now had a grenade in hand, and his arm was already swinging forwards to release it. His other hand came up and the loud roar of the pistol filled the air as Gravemind fired.  Without another thought, John’s hand reached for the last plasma grenade on his belt. It was all he had left in terms of explosive ordinance – best to make it count.

“Look out,Grenade! GET DOWN!” The echo came again, once over his radio and then from in front of him as Gravemind’s grenade went out. He was forced to duck back however, as the space he had been standing in was suddenly filled with everything from HV rounds to grenades and bullets. John was about to lean forward and toss his own grenade in, making use of the distraction when his eye suddenly caught something, forcing him to pause.

Clattered on the floor, not three feet away from his foot was the assault cannon. The memory of the explosive rounds suddenly played in his mind, as a plan formed.

“Cover me!” John shouted towards Gravemind, before quickly reaching down towards the cannon. He gave a quick glance at the figure; there was no acknowledgement of the fact as Gravemind ducked out of his cover, let loose a blast of fire with the pistols and then dived right back in again as several red beams lit up where he had been. John followed their trails, grimacing as he saw the red molten scars they left on the other wall.

“We’ve got them! Heavy armor to the front! Advance!”

The shout came out. John ignored it, instead focusing on the task at hand. A loud bang interrupted him however, as a nearby ventilation cover suddenly burst out from the wall to his right. His head snapped around to the source, fearing more of the melee replica. His fear was unwarranted however, as several flood forms leaped past him and towards the open door. Infection forms scuttled about below them, intent on following their larger cousins. The scraps of Replica uniforms on some of the larger bodies chilled John to the core though – regular Replicas were dangerous enough on their own, but flood infected ones? It was a thought that was better left unsaid.

One of them suddenly stopped in front of John, looking at him for a long moment. John could do little to stare back at the horribly mutated and rotted flesh. A blob of muscles and tissue was where the head used to be, but just by the way it seemed to move and turn, he knew it was looking right at him. It right arm had grown out; changed into several writhing tentacles; each of which seemed to have a mind of its own. The left arm was intact though, and John could still see the armored shoulder pad on it.

Something on the pad caught his attention. His HUD zoomed into it almost immediately. There were words written on the pad, in minute detail, along with a small symbol. It simply read “Property of Armacham”. For some reason John couldn’t really phantom, the words seemed eerily familiar. It was almost as if…he had read them somewhere before?

Déjà vu?
Before the thought could get any farther, the flood form shook suddenly, reaching out with the intact arm. Looking down, John noticed what it was holding out towards him: two thermal grenades and some wire. He glanced to his left, towards Gravemind, who was simply looking at him. The mask simply moved down a bit, in a slight nod. John just nodded back before taking the grenades.

“****! Command, we’ve got Flood! All units, open fire! OPEN FIRE!”

John ignored the radio message, and the result hail of fire that quite literally ripped the front-most infection forms to shreds. The sound of a minigun charging up came just a scant second later as the entire doorway became full of bullets another second after that. John didn’t focus on that either, though. With a single swift move he ejected the assault cannon’s ammunition cartridge before throwing the cannon itself to the side. His hands seemed to move like a blur as he placed the thermal grenades to either side of the cartridge, tying them up as best as possible with the rope. Within a few seconds, he was done, hefting the somewhat heavy explosive device in his right arm.

“Is that the last of them? Echo one and two, recon in force. Bravo team provide fire support. Advance!”

The minigun’s firing suddenly died down. John’s head snapped to the door, realizing what had happened. In front of the door, in a bloody, gory green mess lay the remains of at least a dozen or so infection forms. His gaze went towards the far wall, which now lay shredded in pieces from the sheer volume of fire that had emerged from the door.

He glanced back at Gravemind. The figure lay crouched next to the wall on the other side of the door. Without a word, he quickly stepped forward and stuck the plasma grenade onto the cartridge, activating it and then tossed it with all his might into the corridor beyond.

“RUN!”

John shouted, turning around and diving for cover.

”WHAT THE F-”

The sentence was cut off by the sound of a massive explosion that was strong enough to shake the entire ship and rattle John’s bones even in his armor. The doors that were beginning to close behind him exploded outwards; moving at such velocity that they broke through the already-damaged far wall with ease. The result was another secondary explosion, possibly a leaking fuel line or something similar. The wall exploded out, away from the inner room, but the only thing it revealed was the sound of air rushing past him.

Hull Breach!

The thought rang through his mind, only to be confirmed as he glanced back. Apperantly, this section of the wall hadn’t been really thick or armored from the inside for that matter. The sound of rushing air sent a sick feeling down John’s spine as he scrambled to the side, fighting against the surge of air that rushed out towards the breach, while at the same time looking for anything to hang onto. He managed to reach one of the fixed tables before being overwelhmed, grabbing onto the flat top and hanging on for dear life. Glancing back, he noticed Gravemind had found a place as well – a shaft cover that seemed to be fixed in the wall as well. As he continued looking on however, John realized the Replicas weren’t as lucky.

“HULL BREACH! HANG O – YEARGH”

The cry of pain came through the radio sharply as John saw a figure suddenly fly forwards from the doorway and towards the breach in the wall. The dead bodies had already flown off, with whomever was left surviving hanging on. Another body went by – this time one of the larger heavy replicas with the shield. He seemed to abandon the shield and minigun, instead reaching out with both hands to grab onto a piece of the floor. He hung there for a brief moment, feet up and seemingly like he would be able to hold on. That was when a loud screechingsound could be heard, and it came into view.

The mere sight of it froze John’s blood in place. The huge monstrosity that was being slowly dragged out of the corridor by the vacuum resembled an REV-6 in it’s build and general shape. However, its size and grey outline dwarfed the smaller power armor significantly, while the rockets it wielded on each arm somehow seemed far deadlier.

Still, power or not, even it couldn’t resist the force of the air pulling it towards the breach. It squatted low, trying it’s level best to gain a secure footing on the ground – but the fact that the ground was covered in slippery flood remains helped little. John wasn’t surprised at all as the thing suddenly slipped and crashed head-long into the heavy armored replica, ending up throwing both into the space beyond. For several moments, John could do little but hold on and watch whatever Replicas had survived fell into the breach one by one. His arms didn’t give way one bit, but they were already tiring from holding the half-ton armor. The table was slowly starting to give way as well, creaking and groaning from supporting the chief’s weight.

Where the hell are the force fields?

John thought to himself. A forerunner ship like this ought to have force fields to contain a hull breach…yet, there seemed to be none. The source became all to apperant however, as a sudden burst of static went across his HUD and radio. A short giggle came from his front where his hand was on the table.

His head shot up, looking at the source even as a shiver went down his spine. The time span had been less than an eye blink, but it had still been too slow. One moment, the lights were on and John could see Alma’s form on the table. The next, they went off, before coming back and then there was only ashes left, that slowly drifted to the table.

The rushing of wind suddenly stopped as sirens blared out in the background. John hesitantly let go of the table, stepping back from it. He turned around to look at Gravemind, who now took an unsteady step forwards. John took a few steps forward towards the door and then peeked in. It was completely empty – any surviving Replicas had been thrown out in the breach. His radio crackled as a voice spoke up.

“All units, retreat to the bridge and barricade it; the commander is waiting there.”

Looks like their on the run

John thought to himself. This would end at the bridge, one way or another.

Turning around, he looked for Gravemind, finding him standing just on the threshold of the breach. John’s gaze wandered from to the…space…outside?

What…what in God’s name is that?

His mind reeled back at the sight that confronted him beyond the threshold. The flicker of the force field did little to conceal the nauseating blue, black and white vortex that seemed to be present there. The swirling black clouds of thunder from earlier had gone, replaced by…this? Whirlpool? Space? John didn’t know what to call it as he watched, mesmerized by the flashes of lightning that arced across the sides of the vortex. It was like a tunnel almost; the walls constantly turning around a center far away on the horizon. It rotated both ways and seemed to have many layers, the nearest being the brightest and most visible, while the outer ones being incredibly dark. Even in that darkness and distance though, John could see things moving back and forth; darting from his vision like living creatures.

The frightening part was not that though – but the fact that it seemed to call out to him. It was like a symphony, calling out to him…calling out for his voice to be part of their own. It was terrifying, yet so beautiful at the same time. He walked forward towards the threshold, coming up next to Gravemind.

“What is that?”

John asked, his voice full of awe as he looked on, mesmerized.

“Death. We are in its realm now…” Gravemind replied. There was an echo in his voice; again striking that feeling of Déjà vu in John’s mind. It was maddening in a sense.

I’ve been here before…but I don’t remember ever seeing this anywhere in my entire life.

As he took another step forward, his radio suddenly became active. His HUD immediately identified several radio signals; coming in at a variety of frequencies and origins. There were hundreds – no thousands from what he could see. There were probably more, but his HUD could only list so much. It automatically picked up on the nearest one, and a voice broke through, static-ridden. The tone was incredibly panicked, the person speaking clearly in distress.

“ Mayday, …day! This…Kappa 3 of the 107th Ravens, GTD Aquitaine! Do you cop…[/i]”

The signal suddenly cut out in a burst of static that made John wince a bit. His mind swarmed with questions, but before they could get much thought, the Radio pitched in again as another voice spoke up. This time this one was female, and again there was a distressed tone behind it.

“This is Dr. Marie Dalcroix of the UNN Von Braun. We have…hijack…by an unkn…source. Ship’s security has been compromised Do not…., I ……..do not let this...leave under any circumstances. I do….”

Again, the source cut off in a burst of static. Before John could do anything though, a third transmission came through. Even before it could finish, others came through.

“Oh God someone help us! This is the cruiser liner Valley. We’re under attack and being boarded by Reavers! Someone, please he – OH GOD THEIR HE-”

“Mayday, mayday! This is the USS Pensacola, we’re under attack by Dominion forces and request immediate assistance. Is anyone out there?! We’re under at-”

“Valley Forge, this is Echo squad. The bugs have got us pinned down – we need immediate assistance! Valley forge, can you read me? Can ANYONE rea-!”

“Someone get us a goddamn transport! GDI forces have swarmed all over Ayer’s rock and we need extraction on the doub – Oh God… ION STRIKE INBOUND! Everyone get to co-”

“This is UEF Colony delta to anyone that can hear us. We are under attack by Aeon forces and have no defenses online! We need assistance immediately otherwise we’ll be overrun! Can anyone hear me?”

“This…is Captain Keyes....someone…someone help me please. The flood…I finally figured them…I kno - ”[/i]

Keyes! The thought rang through John’s mind. But Keyes was dead – how could he be receiving the transmission here? Before he could listen any further though, a hand reached out and yanked him away from the threshold. John spun around immediately, coming face to face with Gravemind once more.

“Answers are a rare resource. You don’t get your share just yet.”

The voice seemed different this time; more determined and edgy…as if there it was anticipating something close at hand. He was about to give a sharp reply, but then thought the better of it. Instead, John simply gave a slight nod, and sighed internally. He shook his head towards the threshold and the vortex beyond. The messages he had received…none of them made any sense. He didn’t recognize any of the organizations or names. None of them were UNSC at any rate…or from this universe – save Keyes’ transmission.

“What were those messages I picked up? Who were they?”

Gravemind simply looked at John for a moment before replying calmly.

“This is death’s realm – it connects to many, many others. The voices you heard were the echoes of the dead or dying. There is nothing we can do for them – their fates are sealed as far as we’re concerned. We must go to the bridge.”

Gravemind simply turned around, and began to walk towards the doorway and the corridor beyond. John glanced at the Vortex one more time, before turning back and following. It was then that a thought occurred to him: how had Gravemind known about the voices? Although he had a radio too, some of the transmissions had been on bands that only his armor would’ve been able to receive – especially the last one, with keyes. It was an interesting point to note...one that he kept in his mind for later.

They walked through the corridors leading to the bridge; it seemed almost like a maze to John, forcing him to follow Gravemind, who at least seemed to know where they were going. His mind longed for Cortana’s reassuring presence. Unfortunately, she was many worlds away from the looks of things.

They came to a corridor with an intersection to the left that seemed to lead to the bridge. But at The junction had a large pool of blood, one which would’ve sickened him any other day – but now, after all that he had seen thus far? John barely even blinked as they turned the corner to see the pile of skeletons that could only have come from Alma’s doing.

The pair didn’t even give it a second glance as they walked through the corridors, and finally came to the door leading to the bridge. Gravemind paused just before the threshold though, leaning a bit to the right, as if listening for something. He turned back to John finally after a moment and spoke. His voice had tenseness underneath it; an excitement that John found disturbing in a way.

“This will end here. It will finally end.”

He raised both pistols and nodded. John simply nodded in reply, placing a shell into the chamber and raising his shotguns.

“Let it end then.”

With that, Gravemind simply turned around and stepped forward. The doors opened, and they charged in.

[Cobra]

Jesus.

[Mefustae]

What a twist!!

[Harbinger of DOOM]

“ Mayday, …day! This…Kappa 3 of the 107th Ravens, GTD Aquitaine! Do you cop…[/i]”

Freespace 2 (lol)

“This is Dr. Marie Dalcroix of the UNN Von Braun. We have…hijack…by an unkn…source. Ship’s security has been compromised Do not…., I ……..do not let this...leave under any circumstances. I do….”

System Shock 2?

“Oh God someone help us! This is the cruiser liner Valley. We’re under attack and being boarded by Reavers! Someone, please he – OH GOD THEIR HE-”

Firefly?

“Mayday, mayday! This is the USS Pensacola, we’re under attack by Dominion forces and request immediate assistance. Is anyone out there?! We’re under at-”

Star Trek?

“Valley Forge, this is Echo squad. The bugs have got us pinned down – we need immediate assistance! Valley forge, can you read me? Can ANYONE rea-!”

Starship Troopers?

“Someone get us a goddamn transport! GDI forces have swarmed all over Ayer’s rock and we need extraction on the doub – Oh God… ION STRIKE INBOUND! Everyone get to co-”

Command & Conquer?

“This is UEF Colony delta to anyone that can hear us. We are under attack by Aeon forces and have no defenses online! We need assistance immediately otherwise we’ll be overrun! Can anyone hear me?”

I got no clue on this one.....

That is a LOT of Alternate Realities........