First Contact

The armory was a memory of my first appearance after the SPARTAN surgery. It seems that other SPARTANS had similar situations happen to them. I had been at the armory and prepping a new training scenario when a group of the ODST came in to join me. I wasn't really paying attention to them, not expecting anything and when I got shoved while also getting my head phones taken from me I just reacted.

In three seconds flat four ODST marines were on the ground with broken bones, contusions, internal bleeding and open wounds. All dead. No fire arm used.

You can understand my shock when I was nervous shivering reck when Rodriguez came in. felt as my hard work in the last years were for nothing and I was going to be ejected either from the military or the airlock for what I did. I was leaning towards the latter as it would keep me from feeling the regret of my actions. Rodriguez looked at the ODST marines then to me and my shaking figure that was trying to hold at attention. After giving a look around then at me he ordered me to wait for him in my cabin. I saluted and rushed to my cabin two levels up. When I got there I summarily puked my guts out. My whole body burned from the inside. My healing wounds felt like they were splitting open again.

I had never killed anyone before.

Creatures?

Animals?

Insects?

You bet.

But I never killed a person before. Let alone four.

Four highly trained drop troop marines. What made it worse still was that they were military personnel like me. People who were standing for the same thing I was. I knew that conflicts could happen between military personnel but rarely does it get to the point of death. Maybe blood and some broken bones but hardly ever death.

And I had just participated in one such case. I was sick with myself and the situation as a whole.

As my cabin door opened I stood from my bed shakily. I saluted Rodriguez. He stood there for a moment. I felt the world crash around me at his hesitation. Did that mean I was going to be kicked out for what I had done?

A second later he returned the salute. I fell into an at ease position after he motioned for it.

"You know what you did, right SPARTAN-55?" Rodriguez asked me in a conversational tone.

Looking upon this scene from an outside perspective I only now came to realize how scared Rodriguez was of us SPARTANs. We were the fabled dream of militaries for centuries. The super soldier that would take the from lines and signal handedly win battles. Rodriguez and many others who had similar positions were all worried they would be left high and dry after we were implemented into the military on a larger scale. The fear of knowing there wasn't anything you could do to win over your super advanced soldier counterpart. Rodriguez was good at keeping his emotions hidden away from a young teenage boy. But I was a teenage SPARTAN.

I saw the hesitant stance, the quick breath when nearby us. The eye contractions he got when we did something he could not respond to.

But after decades on the battle field I saw the hints of it in his eyes and posture as he walked in a circuit in front of my past self. His fear though masked was evident. It blatant for anyone to see from the outside.

My past self nodded his head before saying, "Yes, sir. I do sir."

Rodriguez stopped front of my past self and spoke, "You and the others are different SPARTAN-55. You, your brothers and your sisters are a newly created weapons. You are all an unknown. You don't have a safety and we don't have any way to dismantle you to make you safe. Save for the permanent option. Which is off the table until you do something truly destructive and harmful to the UNSC. Now you are off the chopping block for this case due to the ODST's being the first to throw the punches. But tell me why didn't you just disable them? Why kill them?"

I stood frozen as I reanalyzed the fight. Thats right the ODST who had pulled be back was in the process of throwing a punch. My past self slumped a little at this news as I knew he had thought it was our reaction that caused everything to go down. But then a shiver ran down my past self's spine as he spoke to Rodriguez. "Sir. I did try to disable them. I didn't mean to kill them. They....they were just too weak. By the time I realized they were on the floor...dead."

Rodriguez looked at my past self with some skepticism but after a few seconds he nodded after looking into my eyes. He knew it was true. He knew it was true because he had to deal with multiple situations like this over the past couple of days. Some of the Navy and Marines decided to pick fights with the SPARTANS, the test tube soldiers as they called them. They found them lacking in what it meant to be human, while the SPARTANS found themselves lacking only in control.

"None the less, you killed four military personnel." Rodriguez stopped as he looked at one of the walls with his back to me. "For the action you should be Court Marshaled and sent to the brig and thrown out of the service. But due to your and the others circumstances... allowances have been made. You are cleared of any malicious accusations. Self defense at its deadliest." Rodriguez sighed as he looked to the floor.

With trepidation I asked Rodriguez the question that had been haunting me. "Sir?"

"Yes SPARTAN-55?" Rodriguez asked as he turned to look at me.

With a pain filled face I asked, "What were their names sir?"

Rodriguez froze at my words. He looked at me with new eyes as I looked at him with pain evident on my face and in my eyes. "Jim Lowery, Justin Delous, Austin Sparrow, and Chris Gustavo."

I looked down as I memorized their names. I moved my lips repeating their names over and over before I stopped and looked up at Rodriguez. "If it wouldn't be too pertinent sir could I ask to give any medals or accolades I receive in the future to them? As well as the planet and locations of their closest relatives so that I may pass on my regrets for my actions? I do not have any money for recompense."

Rodriguez's eyes seemed to mist over as his face flushed from my new perspective. From my old it looked like he was getting angry at my words. I realized then how Rodriguez had come to love all of the SPARTANS he trained. Seeing us grow into fine men and women as well as the greatest soldiers he had ever seen led him to love us like his children even if he couldn't ever show it. Even if we scared him, we were still his students.

"No. To all of your requests no. You are a top secret project. You do not have the right to do such a thing. For that reason I will be sending the letters. But I will put in a preemptive action that will give any medals or accolades will be given to these four in the future. It will make it easier to explain their death in the line of duty." Rodriguez turned to face me. "You will be on triple duty for the next five months. Be prepared."

"Sir yes sir! I will do everything I can to make up for my actions. Jim, Justin, Austin, Chris." The last I said in lower voice while looking at the floor.

"You do that." Rodriguez said as he turned away. "Muster is at 0500. Don't be late."

I stood to attention and saluted. "Sir, yes sir!"

I watched on as the whole scenario played out. It was how I remembered it. As I reminisced a new memory appeared and played out in front of me. We were at the amphitheater that housed us SPARTANS in our final day of training. Standing on the center stage was Rodriguez. He walked back and forth as he looked at everyone of us.

"What is a weapon?" Rodriguez asked.

"A tool made to defend oneself for survival." Every one of us SPARTANS' called out.

"What is a weapon to a soldier?" Rodriguez asked.

"It is our constant companion. Our life line. Our means of defeating our enemies that threaten our family, community, country and way of life." We chanted.

"When should a weapon be used?" Rodriguez asked.

"To defend ourselves and those we protect!" We chorused.

"Remember this SPARTANS. You are weapons. That is what you have been forged into. But it is not all that you are. You are the culmination of humanity's will to survive in this universe. You are a more perfect human than others but this does not change who you really are. You are humanity in all its glory and brutality. From this point on you will live and die by this creed. 'To Protect and defend. My shield and spear ready. None shall pass. For I am a SPARTAN!'"

We cheered wildly at this. This chorus would follow us into every battle we fought in the future. We went silent a minute later.

Rodriguez went on as he spoke, "Remember it. For it will be all you have for the rest of your lives. Because you are the greatest weapons made by man kind. You are SPARTANS!" Rodriguez said as he smartly saluted all of us. We stood resolutely as we returned the salute. We kept up our salute even as Rodriguez turned and began marching off the stage. We continued to salute as we watched our long time instructor leave.

"'Weapons are tools used for war. And tools that collect dust when there is peace.' But what no one talks about are the weapons that are in constant use to protect that peace. Because no real freedom is ever free of bloodshed. So we become the greatest weapons. Ever vigilant, ever fighting, ever moving forward. Never to be defeated. We are SPARTANS." I said to myself.

As I spoke these words the whole armory flashed. The gated off sections holding the ammunition and weapons stood silent. A few moments later a horde of Marines and Navy flowed past my form to enter the room and arm themselves for the battle for freedom. The battle to live. The battle to preserve life.

I smiled sadly as I turned away and headed to the final location I had to clear. The Bridge of the ship.

The memory that changed my future actions in the war. The point where I decided to end the Covenant with every trick and play in the book as well as the Hail Mary's that I came up with. I paid blood for blood for each world they turned to glass, my team and I made it our mission to wipe out the Covenant in all the sectors we could find them.

All our work was like flea bites to the Covenant as they were spread hundreds of times further than humanity across the galaxy, meaning they had thousands of more worlds under their control compared to humanities few hundred. But we succeeded in enflaming the rivalry and hatred within the Covenant allowing humanity to survive for two decades. Otherwise the might of the Covenant fleets and tens of billions of warriors would have obliterated humanity in its entirety within a few years.

We followed the creed we had seared into our hearts.

'To protect and defend. My shield and spear ready. None shall pass. For I am a SPARTAN!'

Thanagarian space:

Batman looked at Superman and said, "It's time."

Superman nodded with a serious face as he walked out of the command room. Aquaman and Wonder Woman stood behind Batman with the Flash beside him. The Flash was the first to speak up.

"Will this work? Will the big man be alright? I mean this fleet has a lot of fire power." The Flash said as he looked at the screen that showed the thousands of ships surrounding the planet.

"He will be fine. He spent two whole days close to the sun before we headed here. He may be stronger than he has ever been." Batman said as he turned from the observation port they were standing in front of and headed to the control center.

"Oh. Wow. That is pretty scary to think about honestly. I remember how strong the other Kryptonians were when they showed up a couple of years ago. And that was only a few days in the sun." The Flash said as he looked at Aquaman and Wonder Woman with a hint of fear in his eyes.

"He will be fine." Wonder Woman said as she looked over at Batman's back. "I'm more worried what he has planned after Superman shows off."

"Yeah. Bats seems to always have a plan even in the most dire situations from what I have seen. But this seems a little out of all of our depth." Aquaman snorted at his own pun.

"Just be ready to take action." Wonder Woman said as she loosened up her body getting ready to fight in case it was needed.

The Flash was tapping his foot so rapidly that it sounded like a constant thrum across the area. Aquaman leaned against his spear and looked like he would fall asleep any second. This was a mask to hide his vigilant eyes towards the entire room.

Walking up to the bridge area Batman steadily walked until he could see the milling people around the entire command center. With a click of a button in his hand the lights flickered before returning to their normal brightness. Batman was the center of attention as he spoke across the people gathered. The admiral was about to walk up to Batman before he was stopped by John Stewart who shook his head and said, "Let him speak. Otherwise nothing will get done and we will fail our mission."

"The Justice League will be the leader of this extermination mission. Now not all of you will agree to this suggestion so we have decided on a show to prove our ability. If you would all look to the hologram you will see one of my colleagues. He is currently in space without a mask or any protection. Now I have given out orders through your fleets systems to attack him in ten seconds. After this is over think it over and you will come to the right conclusion." Batman stood in place and watched as the fleet was amazed, horrified, and terror stricken as the next few minutes.

The whole fleet attacked Superman with one of each of their weapons. In a cascade that allowed all the attacks to hit at once Superman was bombarded with missiles, beams, lasers, plasma, torpedoes and railgun cannons. There was an explosion the likes of which very few of the fleet had seen before.

A few seconds later the light disappeared and Superman was found in the exact same spot with not a scratch on his body or suit. Batman flickered the lights again and spoke up again at the clamoring crowd. "Now let me slow this video down so you can all see what happened." As he said this he created a close up of Superman when he was about to be struck by all the weapons. At the last moment Batman slowed the screen down to micro seconds, which was shown on the screens across the fleet. Even with this speed nearly every frame was a blur as Superman punched and kicked all around him.

The fleet watched in horror as the man wiped out every attack the whole fleet sent out at him. After a few minutes of pure pandemonium the fleet calmed down as they waited for Batman's next words.

"You will all follow our orders to the letter or you will be detained and charged with treason by the Green Lantern Core. This is not a game. This is not a competition. It is a fight for the very survival of the galaxy and even beyond. For that reason my team and I will now allow you to threaten the moves and actions we take to win this war. I am sending all the first actions to the entire fleet. Prepare and in half a rotation of the planet we will begin the operation. Prepare yourselves. This will likely be the worst fight you have ever seen. But if you follow our orders you will have a far higher chance of survival than you would otherwise." Batman said as he walked away from the admiral's chair and headed to his team.

"All of you go to your designated ships and make sure they are moving in the way we need them to. Once you are done Manhunter come back to my location and we will start the invasion. The rest of you follow the orders I have given you. We will keep you updated with comms, telepathy or other means. Keep in contact. Keep a sharp eye out. But most importantly keep yourselves safe. You are the most important pieces on the board." Batman stared at each of the Justice League members. They all nodded solemnly as they had seen the plans that Batman had drawn up before coming here.

Their actions would play a massive role in the upcoming battles. If they failed then much of the fleet's armed forces would be decimated. The heroes would be pushed to their limits and past in this war. But they were all resolute in their hearts ready to fight.

"Good now go. Prepare. Suit up and get ready for the long slog." Batman said as he headed back to the commanders of all the ships in the fleet and all their assistants. He had a lot of explaining to do before everything was ready. Best to start immediately.

Half a cycle later

Superman, The Flash, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Hawkgirl, John Stewart, Hal Jordan and the rest of the Green Lantern Corps were all in their drop ships. They were backed by armor suited aliens from many different races. All of the marines were ready to go and prepared to take back the planet from the Flood.

Over comms Batman's voice entered their ears. "Drop in 10, 9, 8...2, 1. Drop, Drop, Drop!"

The drop ships of the whole fleet were shot out and sent towards the corner of the landmass that had the Flood.

The peninsula was an empty environment. It was a plain that had little vegetation but a city nearby to the sea. The drop ships would surround the city and allow the marines and army to take a foothold on the continent.

The first to land was the Flash. He was covered in armor that covered his whole body with no openings. It was specially devised to allow his electricity to flow and cycle keeping him protected from everything that was thrown at him by the Flood. As the door of the drop ship was opening Flash disappeared with a massive bag on his back.

Shortly after Batman and the command center began to receive information from the beacon scanners that Flash planted all over the peninsula. As the information was coming in the fleet operations watched even as the ships landed that a wave of contacts was rushing towards the locations of the ships and the army setting themselves up.

"Incoming! Incoming! A wave of contacts heading your way from the center of the continent! Smaller wave coming from the City!" One of the Intelligence officers called out to the boots on the ground.

"Justice League." Batman said as he looked at the screens. "Step one; start."

On the surface the heroes all started rushing to the incoming wave of monstrosities. Tentitcles punched out of the bodies of the infected. Carapace, claws, fangs, fluid sacks on backs, shoulders, and arms and other monstrous features. Things from the deepest depths of nightmares were running right toward the food that had invaded.

"Oh God! Those things are right out of Lovecraft's dreams!" Flash said as he raced around finishing his first objective. Once the scanners were down he could enter the battle. For now he had to escape and finish placing the scanners. In a flash of lightning the surrounding flood were sucked into the spot the Flash just left before they were blown away in a shockwave that came from the Flash's movement. Normally Flash didn't affect the atmosphere when he moved but he had been training and learned he could do this if he created a big enough vacuum around himself before he took off. He did this by vibrating at a synchronized manner to the surrounding air and pushing away the molecules and atoms within the designated space then taking off letting the air pressure equalize. This effect was like a bubble under the water that was popped, in a much more explosive manner.

The flood that were caught up were liquified and crushed, while others were broken to pieces by the shockwave that came after.

Superman in his full body armor rushed forward to the flood and began a one (super)man rampage. Superman had been resistant to let himself go thinking there was some way to save the infected people. But after everything he had learned saw and heard from the Thanagarians, the A.I. Valkyry, Batman and J'onn, there was nothing left of the original owners of the bodies. Their minds were gone, eaten by the creature leading this force. This being the case Superman finally let the restrictions he placed upon himself go. He let his full Kryptonian might show itself. The wave of the flood than came crashing down upon him was obliterated by Superman's wave of an arm turning the enemy force into weapons themselves. Now with some room to work Superman sped up to speed close to the Flash before he started dismantling the Flood in his sector.

The Green Lantern Corps looked upon the enemy with stoic expressions before they all held out their body parts holding a ring and let fly a gigantic trash shredding compactor. Within the flood hit the walls and bounced off. In some places the bigger flood bodies hit and fractured the green light barrier. Those that were pushing energy into the area flinched at the impact before recovering and pushing forward with more will power fixing the cracks. In a second thousands upon thousands of blades began to spin shredding the armor less flood as well as the lightly armored groups. The blades took damage when they went up against the more hardy of the flood but the Green Lanterns pushed harder and slowly but surely cutting them down. What was left was a mass of greenish brown liquid that was the remnants of the sector of the flood wave that was the Green Lanterns area.

"Napalm! Toss now!" One of the Green Lanterns said to the army following behind them. The army pulled out their napalm grenades and threw them into the compactor. As they flew some Green Lantern members opened up spots for them to fall in and let a air in. And explosion of fire came from the openings burning away the flood infection. Seeing it was done a portion of the Green Lanterns went off to the sides past the city and formed walls in a curving manner leading more of the rushing flood into the the inferno that was quickly growing. If the plan went well this area would turn into a wall that would protect the army until they got a foothold on the continent. The Green Lantern Corps along with the Justice League would drive more an more flood bodies into the pit of fire until there were no more coming.

Aquaman was staying on the side of the peninsula using his power over water as well as his spear to crush and cut apart the flood that came towards him. He couldn't do anything to big like wash the flood away with the ocean waters as they do not know enough about the flood reactions water. So for now he was making giant holes that he filled with the flood filled water. He really wanted to go all out but until he knew it was safe Aquaman wouldn't take chances. Tapping his metal suit covered shoulder with his trident Aquaman walked forward to the on rushing Flood.

"It really is a fitting name for them." He thought as he swung his trident splitting two massive flood bodies into four pieces. He continued his grizzly work as he kept walking forward drawing the attention of the flood away from the army behind him.

Wonder Woman was in her element. She was spinning, sweeping, leaping and cutting like a tornado of blades. As she moved the full body armor suit flickered with lightning in the form of multiple pillars, fire that surrounded her in a wall of flames, winds that picked up and cut apart everything in their area, and high pressure water that spun like blades cutting and grinding everything within reach. When she stomped the ground spikes of earth would shoot up impaling the flood in a wide area. Even with all of his current abilities Superman could not stand up to the extensive wide spread destruction of the fully equipped Wonder Woman. She was a scythe through wheat cutting down and burning away all the flood that stood before her. Hephaestus had gone all out in his work with the danger of this threat. For that reason each of the pieces of equipment that made up Wonder Woman's full suit of armor were magically enchanted to hold one aspect of each of the gods.

She was personifying both Ares and Athena in her tactical and strategic skill on the battle field. For all intents and purposes: Dianna Prince, Wonder Woman, was a goddess descended. And she was here to wipe the flood from this world.

Across the continent deep within the earth the Hive mind of the Flood shivered as it felt the powers and abilities of the enemies attacking it. All of them powerful. It had much to do if it wished to survive in such a hostile world. The hive mind turned to the feathered food that can into its home not too long ago. After seeing them fight the hive mind had decided they would be the ones to bring down the special ones. Once they did the hive would become even stronger and leave this weak planet.