Fifteen: Regret

The Spartans didn't waste any more time lurking inside the structure, making for a stone door set into one of the walls. It slid open as its proximity sensors detected their approach – just as some Drones dropped in through the open ceiling and an Elite charged through the door. The warriors didn't even stop to think, simply shot, covering the Marines as they quickly scuttled through the door while Blue Team covered them. "You know," Cortana said as the last of them passed through the hatch, "I think the Forerunners built these new structures around the old to protect them, honor them. Pure speculation, mind you; I'd need to make a thorough survey to be sure…" She subsided into muttering to herself as the Spartans headed out onto a structure that was almost the Forerunner equivalent of a wrap-around porch, wide bridges connecting the various structures to one another, and the AI's nav point directed them further along the "porch," as the bridge to their right had collapsed sometime in the past.

The next bridge had not yet fallen but was guarded by an Elite and a handful of Grunts, the latter of whom had bunched up and were therefore easy to take out with a frag grenade. The Elite swiftly fell under the combined fire of the humans, letting them move further onto the bridge, where an Elite Minor wielding a plasma sword charged them, aiming straight for Fred. The Senior Chief dodged and clothes-lined the alien as its forward momentum carried it past him, the force behind the abrupt halt sufficient to snap the enemy's neck.

Water from a recent rainstorm had pooled in a dip in the center of the bridge, not yet drained away, and they splashed through it, almost carelessly gunning down the Jackal that waited for them on the other side and following the Grunts that they killed back to their source: a doorway on the left hand path, guarded by an Elite. A soon-to-be-dead Elite, and the Spartans passed the corpse by, following that hall around to a circular courtyard open to the sky, pillars of tan stone lining the outer edge of the walkway that ran the courtyard's circumference. The place was filled with Jackals and Grunts, but even with their leader, they would have stood no chance against one Spartan, much less four.

The humans moved around the edge of the room after the demise of the aliens holding it, slipping through a door-less doorway into a space that appeared to be a locker room.

What?

A groan of ancient machinery caught their attention; a concealed exit opened up before them, the immense panel of stone sliding upwards, revealing another walkway around the edge of the building, leading the humans to an open platform similar to a three-hundred-and-sixty degree amphitheater with a small, temple like building in the center, surrounded by a shallow ring of rainwater. There were Covenant already there, naturally, and they had apparently called for reinforcements; barely thirty seconds after the last Jackal screamed and died, one of the Marines alerted them to a Phantom on approach.

Its cargo was not what they expected but a welcome challenge: a pair of Hunters with new and improved fuel rod guns fused to their arms. The worm colonies were dropped virtually on top of them as the Phantom provided cover fire, and they unhesitatingly charged the Spartans and Marines, firing long streams of green plasma from their weapons. The humans scattered before the beasts, and the Spartans brought their weapons to bear on the creatures as they ran by, their mass and forward momentum such that they could not stop fast enough. The bullets they unleashed on the creatures pinged off their navy blue armor, confusing the enemy enough to where they could circle around and fire at its unprotected back.

They lost only one Marine in that brief firefight, a woman who was crushed by one of the Hunters when it landed on top of her, and one of her squad mates had collected her dog tag when Miranda came over the line; "Cortana, the Covenant's getting nosy. I don't want to give away my position, so I'm rerouting a few stragglers back to you. I apologize; these Pelicans are all the support you're going to get."

"Understood, ma'am."

After a few beats of relative silence, Cortana spoke up, "A gondola's launching from the far tower. Big surprise, it's full of Covenant reinforcements." Out on the lake, some strange transports which had previously been stopped next to one another were moving apart, one to the structure that they were headed to and the other in their direction, both no doubt packed with enemies as the construct had said. The Pelican arrived with their reinforcements just in time, dropping off both people and weapons canisters for the Spartans. The aircraft made good its escape before the gondola docked with their tower, the warriors using their battle rifles to pick off the Grunts stupid enough to move out into the open with "Demons" out and about. As the docking clamps unfolded and locked into place, the Elites still on the gondola ducked out of cover and into range, bringing with them a pair of Jackals and a slightly more intelligent Grunt.

All of which died, of course.

"Well, they were nice enough to bring us a ride."

The gondola was started toward the opposite tower, all of the humans on board, and shortly after the disembarked, another flock of Yam'ee buzzed into range and began firing on them with plasma pistols, forcing the humans into cover while they fought back. Invariably, they continued on mostly unscathed, Cortana muttering in the back of Fred's mind: "This lake couldn't have been formed by volcanic action; it was either build this way on purpose or was created by some other cataclysmic event. –Sorry. Were you trying to kill something?" she asked as they drew alongside the other gondola, filled with Covenant soldiers that were a simple matter to dispatch. The moment their enemies were dead, their transport resumed motion, heading toward the other tower.

They came under fire from Covenant weapons emplacements on top of the docking stations the moment they were in range. A pair of Grunts manned the turrets, while Jackals with beam rifles assisted them, but there was one fatal flaw in their plans: they were out in the open.

Linda's expert ability with her sniper rifle sent neon blue and violet ichor splattering across the once-pristine Forerunner structure, letting them enter the structure without being harmed further, the docking clamps pulling their gondola up into position for disembarking. The blast door protecting the structure's internals slid open at their approach, spilling still more enemies out into the line of fire, which was fine with them; the Jackals were swiftly cut down in sprays of violet blood. Inside, there were still more Jackals lurking around what appeared to be several crisscrossing walkways that led further up into the building.

There was also a deep shaft in the center of the room that ended in water, presumably down at the surface of the lake. After a moment, Cortana said, "Ah, now I see. There's a submerged section that connects these towers to the outlying structures. Looks like we're going down. Unless you'd... prefer to swim."

"Full car, coming up," a Private cried in warning, the Spartans moved around to what Cortana told them would be the side they would exit and enter from. The transparent steel doors slid open, and Fred did the only logical thing he could, knowing how resilient the Forerunners' technology was: he tossed a grenade inside the car.

While the explosion left unsightly blood smears all over the inside of the car, it saved ammo. After everyone piled in (with some squeezing required due to the Spartans' size), Fred activated the docking clamps, sending them into a controlled drop to the water below.

There were lights throughout the dark water, illuminating a hundred enigmatic ruins below the surface of the lake, and even the Spartans themselves were unable to resist peering out at the ancient rubble. As the lift carried them through the dim water, Cortana piped up, "I've intercepted a secure transmission from Regret's Carrier to the something called High Charity. It seems to be a formal apology to the Prophets of Truth and Mercy. Apparently, Regret jumped the gun when he attacked Earth. He's asking the other Prophets to 'forgive his premature arrival', arguing that 'no human presence was foretold.' That explains why there were so few ships in his fleet. But it's odd that a Prophet would have such bad intel about his enemy's home world."

For some reason, she did not seem at all surprised by this fact; if anything, she was just relaying to them the fact that Regret's attack had apparently been "accidental." They pondered this briefly as their car wove through ancient canyons and ruins of once-magnificent structures of the Forerunners. There was one thing about their surroundings that threw them off for a moment before they remembered that there would be no sea life on Halo; the rings' very purpose was to annihilate it.

The car halted below an opening virtually identical to the one that they had fallen through, and the gravitational docking clamp pulled them up to the main underwater complex. They came to a stop in a relatively low-ceilinged room with only one exit, an intricately detailed doorway that led to a ramp leading further up into the new complex. They followed it to a triangular hall walled with transparent metal, ramps leading down into it from either side and three, square, pylon-like objects in the exact center of the path. Everything, even the Covenant soldiers that seemed not to have noticed their presence, was bathed in a pale blue, watery light from the sun filtering down from overhead.

Though many ordinary people would have wanted to linger to study the incredible detail of the Forerunner structure, the Spartans were by no means ordinary, and they gunned down the enemy before proceeding up the opposite ramp into the next antechamber. There were two exits from there, and though they knew it would lead to the same place, they wanted to have all the bases covered and so split up to catch any foes by surprise. There were none, just more ramps leading up, up, up into the next (and much larger) hall, where an immense hologram of the Prophet of Regret floated off to one side of the main path.

"And they say I've got a big head," Cortana muttered.

This room, too, had transparent steel windows giving them an excellent view of the lake bed, and of course there were plenty of enemies. Though the Hunter pair was a bit of a challenge in the confined space, they and the enemies in the following hall were slain handily, despite the fact that the next room had sprung a leak somewhere and was under about a foot and a half of water.

The next area was identical to the one that they'd entered the underwater complex through, leading them to another car that would take them further along in the tower string. The car dropped into the water and began propelling itself along a preset path to the next structure, hopefully one that would take them back to the surface. Once again, they wove though the pillars of ancient ruins, listening to Cortana talk. "Regret's carrier just received a response from High Charity," she told them, "A very well encrypted message from the Prophet of Truth. Listen to this: 'Your haste has jeopardized the fulfillment of our Covenant, threatened our grand design. That you shall be spared a public display of our contempt is thanks only to Mercy and his wise counsel.' Truth, Mercy, Regret. Three Prophet Hierarchs. Killing Regret should shake up the Covenant leadership, but frankly, it sounds like you might be doing Truth a favor."

Their car docked with the tower and was pulled up into it by the powerful gravitational docking clamps, letting them out into a room. Even through the filters in their armor, the Spartans could smell the fresh air, could almost taste the freedom from the confined spaces of the submerged complex, and they sped up a little, intent upon reaching their goal as fast as possible; none of the Honor Guard were able to stand up to their combined might for long.

And then they froze the moment they exited the last of the towers.

Up above them, balanced perfectly on a rock spur, was the thing from Alpha Halo. He was still the same tall figure whose full appearance remained unseen beneath the haze of his active camouflage.

Kelly recovered first from the shock, lifting her weapon to fire at him, but he was already gone, leaving naught but a stirring of dust in its wake, along with the bodies of two Elites and some Drones. Internally, Cortana was squealing like a little girl; John was here, which meant that everything was under control.

That reminded her; she pinged his radio, he couldn't have gone far.

"Yes?"

"I have a message for you from 'the Shard.'"

"Shard as in the freaky floating crystal thing from Reach?"

"Yeah. She wants to speak to you, and hopes you'll at least hear her out, but I don't think you're going to get a chance to talk to her one-on-one until this 'Halo Campaign' is over with."

"Hm. I'll do what I can."

"Thank you!~" She cut the connection as the Spartans topped the rise and emerged into another series of ruins that were held by the Covenant; though they slew all of the aliens, the appearance of the creature from Alpha Halo had shaken them to the point that a couple of them came away from the mini-firefight with plasma burns.

The Pelican pilot came over the line; "This is my last run, Senior Chief! I'm nearly out of fuel. We've secured the first tower cluster, so I'll set down there. Call when you're ready for evac." They heard the thuds of some weapons canisters hitting the ground and moved forward to collect the ammo before the Pelican slipped away, a Phantom's inbound vector forcing the pilot to get out of there fast, but not before some fresh soldiers replaced the injured: Red Team joined them on the battle field.

"How's it going, you all?" Commander Keyes asked over the COM.

"So far, so good. We're approaching the main temple now."

"Roger that. I'm as close to the Library as I can get. There's some sort of ... barrier. We're trying to find a way around it. I'll keep you posted."

The two teams of Spartans boarded the gondola that would take them across to the temple where Regret was hiding, slaying the Jackals and Grunts that were guarding it and activating the gondola's gravity beams. A pair of Banshees attempted to intercept the eight warriors, but to no avail; Sam had picked up a heat-seeking rocket launcher and fired twice, destroying both of the obnoxious vehicles, as well as the airborne jetpack-Elites that came across in the other gondola.

Linda and Jerome, meanwhile, were picking off the Covenant that had just darted out from the large doorway in the final tower, clearing the platform for the new arrivals before the docking clamps had even extended. They stepped off the transport and onto the main entryway to the temple -

Just as there was the tell-tale sound of a Slipspace rupture high overhead.

The Spartans looked up; one, ten, a hundred, a thousand - it was impossible to count the number of ruptures and ships that exited from Slipspace, followed closely by a jellyfish-like ship that could only be High Charity. "That's the largest Covenant fleet I've ever seen, the largest anyone's even seen," Cortana whispered in amazement, "Get inside the temple and kill Regret before it can stop us."

Together, the teams moved to the door just in time to surprise a troop of Jackals and their Elite leader as they came around the steel partition immediately beyond the door; the aliens weren't able to react fast enough to prevent themselves from getting shot. Once they assured themselves that there were no other threats in the immediate vicinity, they huddled up to plan.

"Alright," Fred growled, "So who's killing Regret, and who's providing the cover for the person killing Regret?"

Though all of them wanted to be the one to murder one of the Prophets that had essentially condoned the mass-genocide of the human race, only one person would truly be able to take the final shot, and all of them designated him to be the one to land the final blow. With this plan of action set, they proceeded further into the temple, being met by a trio of Elite Minors investigating the disturbance that they cause, and they charged up the central ramp into the main chamber.

The room was incredibly spacious and elegantly designed, ornate pillars lining the walls and twin rows of what looked like Japanese stone lanterns in twin rows on the floor below their mini-balcony. Regret was on his throne before an immense waterfall on the far side of the room, and for the briefest of instants, they thought the saw the hazy figure moving behind the water. He was no threat to them right now, and was gone a moment later, so naturally they assumed that they had imagined it.

Fred didn't even bother with the ramps to either side; he vaulted over the balcony railing and charged Regret, trusting the other Spartans to cover his back. The sounds of human gunfire and the screams of dying aliens reassured him that his brothers and sisters were looking out for him, and he leapt on Regret's throne without any hesitation at all, trying to hit the Prophet at the proper angle to snap his neck. The hover chair moved jerkily and unpredictably, though, throwing off his aim, but eventually the sheer amount of damage he was able to do killed the alien. The Spartan dropped to the floor, satisfied.

"Bad news," Cortana said suddenly, "the Phantoms are turning around. The fleet is preparing to fire on our position. We need to get out of here."

At her words, all of the Spartans dropped everything and ran for the door, exiting just in time to see one of the Covenant ships firing up its weapons to destroy the temple; they bolted for the corner, swinging themselves around it and jumping a short railing to drop to a lower level. The eight of them sprinted along the platform, the energy beam right behind them, and when they reached the end of the road, they didn't even have to think, simply jumped into the water below and trusted it dampen the heat, protect them from the high intensity laser.

All of them hit the water and disappeared under it at roughly the same time, large chunks of rock and steel drifting down around them, and after a moment, they felt what seemed to be ropes looped around their midsections, a voice whispering in their heads, "This is not your grave... but you are welcome in it."

**********

Long ago it came to me

And ever since that day,

Infected with its rage

But it ends today.

-"It's the Fear," Within Temptation (The Silent Force)