Twenty-Six: The Covenant

The Pelicans and brilliant green Sangheili Phantoms flew in an arrow formation towards the towers holding up the barrier around the enigmatic Citadel, Truth's hiding place. The generators were emitting blue-white beams of light that powered the barrier, the shield itself rippling almost iridescently as they approached. "We hit these three generators," Miranda asked, "and the barrier will fall?"

"A small section, yes," was the reply from the Monitor.

"Good enough," Miranda said firmly as the allied air force swooped in over the outlying islands, "Johnson, drop the Spartans off at the first generator, then head to the third. The Elites will punch right down the middle."

"Roger that."

Just then, an Anti-Air Wraith protecting their destination swiveled to face them and began firing green plasma bombs in their direction. "Charlie foxtrot! Tower One approach has active triple-A!" Hocus shouted over the COM as she began evasive maneuvers. Amidst the chaos, Venera and Kenera were playing a furious game of what the Forerunners called "jankenpon," an archaic version of rock, paper, scissors, to decide whose squads would go with the Spartans and who would be captured with Johnson.

Their game was interrupted when the AA Wraith hit the Pelican following them and caused it to slam into them, breaking off their Warthog and causing Kenera and Lil'Ame to fall out of the Pelican, their eyes wide with sudden shock as they plunged toward the ground. There was a moment of terrified gasps from Epheria and the Infected - before the pair landed in ten feet of water just offshore. 'Commander, I think your luck is contagious.'

[Oh? And that's a good thing, I assume.]

'Oh, very.' The women hid and fired at the Covenant from under the water as Hocus settled down on the far side of the peninsula with a jolt, Blue and Orange Teams jumping down and firing on the Covenant squad holding position between two up thrust boulders. Venera was shouting at her twin in several languages, claiming that she cheated and threatening to do something utterly impossible regarding a turducken and her asshole, but her words lacked any real heat as Hocus, Johnson, and the rest of her squad sped away to the third tower.

Sam and Joseph-122 took cover and switched their battle rifles out in favor of the Spartan Lasers that they had claimed from the veritable treasure trove that the Forerunners had offered them on the way to the towers. Each of the two targeted a different Shade turret on the far side of a tiny, shallow inlet, their brothers and sisters providing cover fire while the weapons charged. Twin red beams of light raced across the short gap, steadily thickening and intensifying until the lasers simultaneously discharged, blowing both Shades off of their mounts and killing the Grunts in the gunners' seats.

The lot of them advanced up the beach even as Sam changed position and fired on the AA Wraith. It was destroyed in a blast of red light as his brothers and sisters circled up around next to the totaled Pelican. The Spartans slew the Covenant there in a brief fit of vindictive rage before searching the wreckage for survivors, if there were any. The Infected that had been onboard the Pelican were fine, just dazed and bruised, already healing at an incredible pace, but no humans had survived the crash.

The Flood wobbled around randomly for a bit, somewhat out of it, while one of the ODSTs called up Commander Keyes to let her know that the beachhead was secure. "Hold position," was the reply, "I'm on my way. Shipmaster, begin diversionary bombardment."

"I will beat the Prophet's shield like a drum. By the time the barrier falls, he will beg for mercy."

The Forerunners stayed behind to hold the beach while the Spartans boarded the Warthog and Mongoose, three of their number forced to jog along behind and collect whatever vehicles they could in the wake of the advance party.

'Hey, Commander! I've been meaning to ask you this. Why aren't our ships going to be out and about before High Charity arrives?' Ursoen asked the Spartan as he made his way to the Citadel overland.

[Because the Gravemind has lost a lot of the knowledge it had on the Forerunners, and more than likely, it knows that it cannot defeat us because of that. It needs to have crashed on the Ark before we reveal ourselves so that it will have cut off its own escape through a calculated gamble.]

Meanwhile, the Spartans were speeding up the slope to the first tower, taking out the tiny Covenant outpost that stood in their way before Linda stopped the Warthog on top of a ridge, just out of sight of the valley below. For a moment, they listened, then heard the unmistakable hum of a Wraith somewhere nearby. Fred, who was on the turret, swiveled the great gun around to follow the noise as they sped down the sloping earth ramp ringing the edge of the small canyon below. The second the blue behemoth came into sight, the Spartan began unloading rounds into its armor, Linda bringing the LRV around to get a line on the reactor cover. The Mongoose and Ghosts that were following it focused their attention elsewhere, namely on the Shade overlooking the valley and the Prowlers that came skidding out of the tower when Fred scored a critical hit on the tank.

They dismounted following the enemy's untimely demise and entered the tower, only to come under fire from a Shade turret inside. With such confined spaces, it was a simple matter for all eight of them to prime a grenade each and hurl them down the short passageway at different times, setting off a chain reaction with the explosives already inside, blowing all of the aliens to hell and destroying the Shade. The room beyond had a guard of Brutes, Jackals, and Grunts, and the Spartans split up to come at their foes from either side of the room, leaving it stained with the blood of their foes as they moved on.

The Covenant in the following room had made the mistake of setting up plasma batteries in the middle of the room; a single burst from Sam's battle rifle detonated them all and killed the Grunt and Jackal patrolling nearby, leaving them free to fire on the aliens guarding the upper level.

The Grunts were easy kills. Headshots were sufficient to take them out of the fight, but the Jackals and Brutes were a little tougher, especially after one of the Brutes used its bubble shield. However, the Spartans quickly came up with a contingency plan; while Blue Team held the aliens' attention, Orange Team circled up on the ramp to their right and flanked the enemy, Kincaid-072 leading the charge. Blue Team stepped out onto the lift once their enemies were dead, Orange Team dropping back down to the lower floor to cover their exit, and Fred touched the panel to take them higher into the tower.

SOMETHING IS WRONG - IT IS MOVING AWAY

HEADING FOR THE LINE THAT THE [CURSED WARRIOR] HOLDS IN OUR PLACE

{/}(IT IS COMING FOR YOU AND ITS [KIN])

THE KEYSHIPS ARE GONE, A SECURITY MEASURE

LEAVING ME ON THIS LOVELY, EMPTY WORLD

{/}(ITS INHABITANTS ARE SPECIAL - WELL FOR THE EFFORT IT TOOK TO BUILD ONE FINAL [GATEWAY])

THE THING IS COUNTERATTACKING, TRYING TO HALT THE GEARS THAT HAVE ALREADY BEGUN TO SPIN

THE [CONTENDER] IS NO LONGER COMMUNICATING WITH US - BUT WE WERE WARNED OF THAT, TOO

{/}(BUT NOW I CAN GUESS WHERE YOU ARE)

The lift carried them upwards into the tower, and on the top level, they encountered a Brute Chieftain and its bodyguards. Sam was still carrying his laser, so he very carefully edge out of cover and drew a line on the Chieftain, dropping to one to steady himself before he fired. The Chieftain was thrown backwards by the force of the shot, and the other Spartans took that as their signal to attack, darting out from behind the barricade and jumping the remaining Jiralhanae, beating down the unaware and shooting everyone else.

"Hit the switch, Chief, and the barrier will fall," Miranda said over the COM, and Fred obliged her, approaching the panel and deactivating the tower. "Good work, Chief! That's one. The Arbiter should be just about to..." In the distance, the beam of light from the second tower suddenly went out. "...that's two! It's all up to Johnson's team now." They watched the third tower for a moment, hoping for visual confirmation of Johnson's success, but the tower remained active. "Get back outside, Spartans," Miranda told them, "Wait for transport.

"Johnson, come in, over."

"Brute reinforcements, ma'am," the Sergeant Major replied amidst the static of the line and the sound of gunfire in the background, "We're pinned down!"

"Hold position," the Commander ordered, "I'm on my way."

"Negative," he managed, "Fire's too heavy. Everyone fall back!"

"Sergeant Major!" Keyes shouted, "Johnson! Can you hear me?!" There was no response. "Spartans, you need to link up with the Arbiter and proceed directly to the third tower. Make your way back to the beach."

The Spartans turned and sprinted toward the lift, jumping up onto it and slapping the controls, sending them down to the lower levels. Rather than waste time circling around to the ramps, Blue Team leapt down to the lowest level, joining Orange Team in fighting off a minor contingent of Grunts and Jackals before charging outside. A pair of Marines drove up in two troop transport Warthogs, turning the drivers' seats over to the squad leaders, and the lot of them sped off toward the beach, encountering no further resistance before they reached the beach the Forerunners still held.

The teams split up between the two Hornets and Pelican that arrived on the peninsula, the Forerunners disappearing into one of their own fish-shaped transports; this one looked like a cross between a catfish and a lobster. Its active camouflage came online as it took off, disappearing into the sky. The Spartans quickly took to the skies and began moving toward the third tower, encountering heavy resistance in the form of numerous Banshees and a Phantom; though there was a small flock of Forerunner fighters helping them clear the area for the Pelicans, it was still very dangerous for the Spartans not actually in the cockpits of the Hornets.

THE ENEMY'S RAW COMPUTING POWER IS UNBELIEVABLE

THE STRATEGY WE TOOK WILL ONLY LAST FOR SO LONG

{/}(IT WILL KILL US AND ENJOY IT)

EVERYTHING THAT WE HAVE CREATED, BUILT, ENJOYED

OUR CITIES POUNDED TO DUST IN AN INSTANT

{/}(IT RENDERS JUDGEMENT ON US AND CALLS IT NECESSITY)

IT WILL TURN BACK THE CLOCK OF PROGRESS

WHAT HAS TAKEN US MILLENNIA TO ACHIEVE WILL BE ERASED IN SECONDS

{/}(WELCOME BACK TO THE [STONE AGE], VERMIN. WELCOME HOME.)

In addition to the Banshees, there was also an Anti-Air Wraith on a spur of rock jutting up from the ocean, but a single pair of missiles in a vital spot was sufficient to destroy it before it took down any human ships. The Hornets then began harrying the Banshees and Phantom, pushing them back towards the third tower and sending some spinning downward into the ocean. By unspoken consent, the two fighters went straight for the Phantom, launching missile after missile at the transport, and it fired back at them.

A second fall of the day; a handful of the plasma salvos from the Phantoms forward gun hit the skid that Maria-062 was standing on, partially melting the metal. With her half-ton weight on it, the metal-ceramic alloy buckled and sent her plunging toward the ocean, only to have her fall brought up short by on invisible something near the surface of the water.

"Hmm," Nep'Thalia said over the COM, "We appear to have picked up a hitchhiker."

Several people began laughing in relief while the Forerunner transport decloaked long enough to bring the Spartan inside before turning invisible again. Now that they were paying attention, everyone could see the surreptitious disturbances on the surface of the water that indicated the presence of the transport as it soared along at a sedate clip below the field of battle. Several Banshees tried to gun it down, but the Forerunners had much more powerful energy weapons than the Covenant did; the foes were taken down in one or two shots.

The Spartans made it to the third tower without further incident, shooting down the Phantom, more Banshees, and the Wraiths and Shades guarding the entrance. The infantry were simple enough to kill through a few strafing runs with the Hornets' heavy machine guns, and the Spartans landed at the tower with ease, the Sangheili following them down. The warriors mowed through the resistance to the door leading to the interior of the tower.

There were both humans and Infected bodies lying all over the place, though there were more of the latter, and they appeared to be serving as meat shields for the humans. The lot of them had put up a very good fight, leaving them mixed in with Brute corpses. They were very careful not to step on any of the bodies, and just as they were about to head inside after decimating the enemy resistance, Nep'Thalia called, "All clear!"

Immediately, the Infected sat up, having apparently been faking their own deaths and having been shielding the humans. While there were some critical injuries that had to be treated immediately, there were no fatalities. The Spartans and Sangheili went on ahead into the tower while the Forerunners stayed behind to treat the injured even as their Commander came over the COM, "Shipmaster, I highly advise not moving any close to the Citadel once the barrier falls; our radar is picking up Slipspace projectiles that are decelerating back into real space in that general direction."

"Understood," Rtas replied, "We'll hold position here."

The Spartans and Elites warily advanced into the tower, momentarily confused about the lack of resistance until a pair of Hunters charged around the pillar in the center of the lowest floor and a swarm of Drones dropped from the upper level, zooming about and harrying the allies. By unspoken consent, the Sangheili left the Mgalekgolo to the Spartans, gunning for the Drones to cover them as they fought to get a direct hit with one of their lasers or fuel rod guns.

Finally, after an almost five-minute fight, Sam was able to score a fatal strike on one of the Hunters. The other want on a rampage, making it much easier to slay, and they moved on through the door that the Hunters had come through. They found themselves in a room that was virtually an inverse of the one they had last been in, complete with numerous cargo modules, but a handful of Brutes charged down the ramp on the far side of the room, Maulers at the ready. A single shot from one of those weapons was sufficient to bring the Spartans' shields down to zero, so they immediately took cover and began to fire on the Jiralhanae in an effort to take them out before they got taken out themselves.

The Sangheili's plasma weapons proved especially effective, as the Brute's armor was meant to withstand the projectile weaponry that humans used, not the plasma attacks of their own kind. There were seven of them, barely a challenge for the allied forces, and the Sangheili and Orange Team remained below again while Blue Team headed up into the tower.

MY WORK IS DONE, AND THE BURIAL MEASURES HAVE ALREADY BEGUN

I WILL SPEND MY LAST DAYS ON ITS SNOWCAPPED SENTINEL

{/}(THIS WORLD IS SO RICH - A SEED FALLS, AND A TREE SPROUTS OR A FLOWER BLOOMS)

WE KNEW THIS WORLD WAS SPECIAL BECAUSE OF THEM AND [THE CURSED ONE]

BUT UNTIL YOU'VE BEEN HERE, YOU CAN'T KNOW [EDEN]

{/}(THE THINKING DEAD ARE LISTENING, LAUGHING THROUGH EVERY CHANNEL THEY CAN FIND)

THE THING DOES NOT SUSPECT

YOU HAVE OUTWITTED IT; NOW YOU CAN DESTROY IT

{/}(BUT YOU CANNOT SAVE ME)

There was a Brute War Chieftain with a plasma turret waiting for them at the very top, along with at least four (would-be) Stealth Jiralhanae. They glanced at one another before taking cover behind the partition dividing the lift from the rest of the room and firing on the War Chieftain; that gave them time to surreptitiously look for the distortions in the air that indicated the presence of a camouflaged Brute.

The Chieftain shot back, of course, as did the attempting-to-be-Stealth Brutes, but the four of them won out and began chasing the invisible aliens, trapping them in corners and ending their lives as quickly as possible. Fred turned and strode over to the control panel, deactivating the tower and lowering part of the barrier.

"Now, Prophet," Rtas growled over the COM, "Your end has come."

"Dammit, Rtas, HOLD POSITION!"

Barely after the Gravemind shouted his warning and the Shadow of Intent halted its advance, a large Slipspace portal opened over the Ark, High Charity gliding through it a second before it closed. John fell to one knee, hands lifting to cover his temples as the enemy Gravemind suddenly bombarded him with images of Cortana injured, dying, crying out for him to save her, sobbing, broken, and alone, but he used the temporary connection to force a single thought throughout the other's entire "network," knowing that even if she couldn't respond, Cortana would hear him -

[I AM COMING FOR YOU]

-and closed his mind to the world at large, only letting his Infected stay connected to him as he advanced over the ridge to see the Citadel before him, the vast moon - the Foundry where Installation 4.2 was hidden - to his right. He took a deep breath and launched himself up and away from the ridge with as much force as he could muster, heading for the Citadel.

-------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, Blue Team was busy fighting with the reanimated corpses of the Brutes they had just killed, as well as a handful of humans and Sangheili. The sudden appearance of the Flood as well as Guilty Spark's panicked words - "The Ark is out of range of all the active installations!" - caused their heart rates to spike into the hundreds' as they wrestled briefly with a primal and instinctual :terror: that gripped them, driving them to put a lot more force behind their attacks than was absolutely necessary.

For a long moment, there was silence following the demise of the last combat and infection forms, a silence in which the Spartans fought to calm their racing hearts. When they finally had themselves under control, they returned to the lift and headed down to the lowest level, joining their brothers and sisters in arms against the Flood beating down their doors. They couldn't help but notice that the Forerunners were more violent than usual. There seemed to be some kind of instinctive :destroy-destroy-destroy: reaction in both the enemy Flood and the Infected; in many cases, combatants of those two classes simply tore into each other with their bare hands and rolled about on the floor like brawlers in a bar, training and fighting styles and skills forgotten in their efforts to simply end one another.

The Infected were the victors, of course, but for several long moments after the fighting had stopped, they were unapproachable, wild looks in their suddenly brilliant green eyes, hands curled into talons scoring the metal floor, green-tinged nerves bulging along their necks and visible parts of their upper arms. They were crouched on the floor as if to protect their vulnerable chests and stomachs from their enemies. Finally, they were able to regain some semblance of rationality back in their actions, and followed the Spartans and Sangheili out of the tower, making not even the slightest whisper of sound as they moved, forcibly reminding all those present that civil and rational though they may have been, they were still :predators:, the things that go bump in the night.

And they were very, very dangerous.

They declined offers to ride in the vehicles that had been dropped off for them, instead simply getting a running jump or a boost up by leaping off parts of the tower and jumping over the short tunnel that had been constructed through a rock wall, running and jumping and leaping along the sheer rock walls on either side of their pathway as the small army advanced. They came across a small outpost and Prowler, and the Gauss cannon took care of the infantry while the tank (manned by Fred, of course) dealt with the Prowler. They steered down through another short tunnel and came out into the open on a ridge ringing the canyon sheltering the Citadel. They fought their way through infantry, Prowlers, Ghosts, Shades, Support Towers, and Wraiths that came up to their eyeballs, but finally they cleared the area and allowed the Hornets to land. The Spartans took the controls and took off - just as not one, but two Scarabs landed in the canyon.

"Oh, boy," someone muttered over the COM. The Spartans automatically began attacking the Scarabs from as many different directions as possible, trying to prevent them from getting a lock on any of the vehicles they were using, and though it took some time, finally dual blue-white explosions lit the canyon. They mopped up the support stragglers and sped over to the projection that had a bridge concealed inside, according to the Arbiter. "The Flood scales the Citadel's far wall. Activate this bridge, Oracle! The Prophet will die by my hand, not theirs."

"If only we had more time!" Spark cried, disappointed, but did as the Sangheili asked, activating the light bridge for the combatants. The Forerunners declined to join them in their assault on Truth, saying that there would be enough conflict as it was; there was no need to throw a hundred-thousand-year-old blood feud into the mix, instead presenting Red, Cyan, and Indigo Teams as suitable replacements. As the Arbiter and five teams of Spartans advanced into the Citadel, the Infected moved off to contain the Flood and halt its advance over the surface of the Ark, leaving the humans to deal with the Prophet of Truth.

The blast door slid closed behind the Spartans and Arbiter, and another Flicker of Cortana slipped into their armor as they sprinted toward the door on the far side of the room, "It asked... and I answered. For a moment of safety, I loosed damnation on the stars."

The Prophet took over after she was done. "My faithful... stand firm. Though our enemies crowd around us, we tread the blessed path. In a moment, I will light the rings, and all who believe shall be saved." The holoprojectors on either side of the path showed Truth and a Brute holding Johnson up by his throat, the Sergeant Major trying to slug the Jiralhanae holding him.

"Spartans, how close are you?"

"Not close enough," Fred growled, looking up through the shaft to the upper floor, the gravity beam shooting up the center.

-------------------------------------------

The Brute threw Johnson back against the steps leading to the control panel for the Halos, and the Sergeant snarled, "That the best you got?"

The Chieftain snorted, taking offense and picking him up again, letting out a roar.

"Oh, come on," the man gritted out, "Impress me."

"Stop!" Truth ordered, "You imbecile! He wants you to kill him. I'd prefer that you didn't." The Prophet turned away to face the control panel, and the Brute Chieftain slammed the human down next to the last leader of the Covenant, forcing his head down against the solid hologram.

"What's the matter, big shot?" Johnson growled as the Brute let him up, "Can't start your own party?"

"I admit," Truth said, "I need your help. That secret dies with all the rest."

The invisible Gravemind-Spartan leapt off of the platform and activated the magnets in his boots, attaching himself to the wall on one side of the room to get out of the way of the Pelican that smashed through the elegant "rose window" at the back of the hall. He heard the Infected moan inside his head at the destruction of the ancient work of art.

Fortunately, Commander Keyes made up for her ruining the window by ramming a pair of Brutes off the platform, making the Forerunners' groans turn to laughter as they plunged to their deaths. Miranda grabbed a shotgun and jumped from the transport, blowing open the Chieftain's armor and sending him sprawling back onto the platform as she called, "Johnson, sound off."

"Get out of here," the Sergeant coughed as John landed silently back on the platform, moving up behind the other Commander as he cued up his armor's external holoprojector.

"Not without you," Keyes replied firmly.

"You delay the inevitable," Truth said as the Commander turned to shoot another of the Jiralhanae, sending it staggering even as another approached her from behind, the invisible Spartan sidling up between them, holding close to the human and using his body as a meat shield for the shots that would inevitably come. "One of you will light the rings." Miranda brushed him as she spun to get a gun on both Brutes. "You cannot hope to kill them all."

"You're right," she said, looking at her pistol, then leveled the muzzle at Johnson.

"Do it," he insisted, "Me, then you. Now."

Suddenly, there was a hand clamped over her mouth, a strong arm pinning hers to her side, and she felt a familiar chest plate - only seen, never actually touched - jerk against her back as a Brute spiker fired somewhere behind her. Before her, a hologram of her - perfectly identical, perfectly solid - crumpled to the ground, spiker rounds in its back. The Gravemind holding her "hostage" backed slowly away, careful to keep some distance between her and him and avoid Truth at the same time.

"Your forefathers wisely set aside their compassion," the Prophet said, carrying the spiker between "thumb" and "forefinger" in disgust, real or imagined, "steeled themselves for what needed to me done." He dropped the weapon next to the hologram, clenched a fist for emphasis, and approached the human, signaling the remaining Brutes to take control of him. "I see now why they left you behind." The Brute holding Johnson followed the Prophet over to the control panel, shoving the human against it once again. "You were weak - and gods must be strong." Truth grabbed Johnson's hand and pushed down the activation panel, the rings spanning the path lighting up one by one right before the enemy Flood attacked, completely ignoring Johnson.

"Can I take my hand away and trust you not to scream, Commander Keyes?" the Gravemind whispered in her ear. Now that she was paying attention, she would hear the subtle crackling of the external speakers. For all of the advancements in technology, there were some things that could not be avoided.

She nodded, and when he did so, she whispered, "You're wearing MJOLNIR armor."

"Yes," he murmured, a slight spike of pain clear in his voice as he used his now-free hand to pull the spikes from his back, having been forced to turn off his shields in order to make the fake look as real as possible, "and the Didact is going to kill me if this armor is damaged beyond repair. It's still a prototype."

"Are you a Spartan?"

"Yes, but don't tell anyone. They're going to find out soon enough." He flexed his shoulders, wincing slightly as he did so, in order wake up the stem cells in the flesh and facilitate healing. The enemy Flood appeared not to notice them, and more than likely did not; the Forerunners built only the best stealth technology into his pseudo-MJOLNIR armor.

"How is this possible?" she hissed at him, still hidden against him inside the active camo field.

"It's a long story, one that I will tell it to you and everyone else after we get back to Earth, I promise."

-------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, on the far side of the hall, the Spartans and Arbiter arrived at the upper level, stepping off of the lift and raising their weapons, preparing for the fight ahead - right before two Tank forms dropped from overhead. Kelly, who had been closest to the Flood pure forms, jerked backwards, almost tripping over the Arbiter. The Sangheili was right behind her and had activated his plasma sword.

"Do not shoot," the Gravemind rumbled through the Tank form, "but listen! Let me lead you safely to our foe. Only you can halt what he had set in motion."

Infection Forms scurried out between their legs, heading down the ramp into the hall at large, and the allies hesitated for a moment, glancing at one another before following at a distance. Those Spartans with long-range weapons crouched at the top of the ramp, providing support for those who advanced with the Flood, namely in sniping the two Grunts perched atop cargo modules, fuel rod guns in their tiny claws.

The Gravemind gave something of a thankful hum, then promptly proceeded to give the Spartans front-row seats to the live infections of the two Jiralhanae attempting to marshal something resembling a resistance before the Flood and Spartan onslaught. They overwhelmed the Covenant soldiers and pushed on through a bottleneck: the first of two rooms where holograms of the Prophet of Truth hovered. He cried, "How could I have known the Parasite would follow?! Undoubtedly this is the Heretics' doing! A final, bitter curse. Clear evidence of treachery long hidden!"

The Arbiter snorted and shut the projector down before moving on, the others following.

It soon became obvious where the Brutes had retreated to: the second segment of pathway, where apes with jump packs leapt at them from the far side of the segment. The long-range warriors' skills proved especially useful, enabling them to take down the jump-pack Brutes' shields before they landed, thus making them that much easier to kill. The Flood overwhelmed more than a few, but the Spartans killed even more as they advanced through the maze on the pathway, encountering resistance in the form of a Brute Chieftain wielding a gravity hammer and his bodyguards with Brute shots.

Before they could interfere, the Chieftain had slammed both Tank forms off the platform, cutting the Flood's fighting force in half. Sam dropped to one knee, hefting the fuel rod gun that he picked up off of one of the Grunts, Kincaid-072 falling in next to him. They both fired their fuel rod guns at the Chieftain and successfully killed him, but not before the by-blow of his gravity hammer sent Joseph-122 flying over the edge. Maria-062, the closest to where he went over, lunged, tried to grab his hand, but he slipped through her grip and went plunging toward the floor hundreds of meters below.

There was a sudden "va-WOOP!" noise, and he reappeared back on the platform, slamming into it hard enough to make the entire thing shudder, despite the gravity beams holding it up. I'm still here, you know, Epheria said with just a slight hint of smugness in her tone, which the Spartans believed was perfectly justified, You're welcome, by the way. Now, shall we?

There was another hologram of Truth in the next bottleneck room, still ranting. "So far are we along the path, that I must strain to hear the clumsy patter of their pursuit. Know this my brothers, they may foul the way with their charred and broken bones, but they will not stop the Journey."

Bullshit, the Tower Guardian grunted.

The Flood had already cleared the resistance on the last stretch of bridge; all the Spartans had to do was activate the light bridge that would take them to the control center, which Fred did by slapping his hand against the panel and hefting his battle rifle. Just as they crossed the bridge and stepped onto the main platform, John lessened his active camouflage field and the hologram and released Miranda. Johnson simply gaped for a moment before sweeping Commander Keyes up in a tight hug, protocol be damned. She squeezed him back while Thel 'Vadam approached the crawling form of Truth, his plasma sword turned off but at the ready.

"Can you see, Arbiter?" the Prophet gasped weakly as he knelt before the control panel, "The moment of salvation is at hand."

"It will not last!" the Sangheili growled, seizing the Prophet by the throat and hauling him up to look him in the eyes even as John and the humans surrounded them.

"Your kind... never believed in the promise of the sacred rings," Truth said right before the enemy Gravemind began to speak through him, "Lies for the weak, beacons for the deluded."

At that moment, 'Vadam activated his plasma sword and drew it back, prepared to plunge the twin blades into his former leader. The Spartans leveled their weapons at Truth, in case he was completely taken over by the Flood. "I will have my revenge," the Elite growled firmly, bringing the superheated plasma blade up next to Truth's face, "on a Prophet, not a plague!"

"My feet tread the path," the Prophet insisted, growing even weaker, laying a hand on the Arbiter's arm as if to push him away, "I shall become a god!" Tentacles began to sprout on the Prophet as the Flood infection progressed further through his body.

"You will be food," the Gravemind rumbled, "nothing more."

The Senior Chief approached the Ark's Control Panel, ready to deactivate it, and Truth gasped, "No!" Fred pressed down on the golden segment of the Ark's Control Panel, and the seven holographic Halo rings stretching across to the far end of hall dimmed one by one. John was the only one to notice an enemy Flood body beginning to stir.

"I...am...Truth! The voice of the Covenant!" The Arbiter turned Truth away from him and grabbed him by the throat a second time. Truth's crown fell off as he gasped for air, trying to grab 'Vadam's hands.

"And so, you must be silenced," 'Vadam hissed before stabbing his sword through Truth's back. It went clean through him; the two points of the Energy Sword poked through his chest as he writhed and screamed in pain, Flood spores escaping his body as he exhaled for the last time. The last of the High Prophets was dead, and 'Vadam let Truth's corpse fall to the floor, roaring in triumph and deactivated his sword, looking over at the Spartans.

Fred nodded, acknowledging him for ending the life of the Prophet who declared war on humanity. They turned to see Johnson carrying a now-shaking Miranda into the crashed Pelican, the Commander suffering from a delayed reaction, finally realizing just how close she'd come to dying. There was a moment of silence before the ground began to tremble under their feet. Massive tentacles shot up all around them from below the platform, the Gravemind laughing manically as the Spartans and Elite stared up at the sickening tendrils made up of others' remains.

Johnson leapt into the Pelican's cockpit and started to take off, Miranda in the co-pilot's seat. The Spartans didn't even bother trying to climb onto the Control Panel of the Ark and jump onto the Pelican's landing gear; there were simply too many of them for the transport to get safely away. Just before the Pelican was out of the hole in the Control Room window that Miranda made, one of the tentacles knocked the side of the transport, sending the transport spiraling out of control. "Now the gate has been unlatched," the Gravemind rumbled, tentacles waving about, "headstones pushed aside...corpses shift and offer room, a fate you must abide!"

Thel activated his plasma sword again as he came back to back with a handful of the Spartans, grunting, "We trade one villain for another."

The tentacles retreated, and some Sangheili combat forms came up from the beyond control panel, leaping at them. The Spartans' muscle memory took over, making them lift their weapons and fire before they had even consciously processed the need for defense. Johnson growled in their ears, "We can barely keep hold of her, Spartans! No way we could pick you up! Head back to the lift, find a way down!"

The Spartans fought their way back across the bridge, encountering the first wave of Flood bound and determined to kill them. Fred was very glad he had picked up a shotgun on the way up; it blew holes in the Flood attackers, but it was then that they noticed some infected Brutes were attacking the other Flood. They turned to look at the hazy figure of the allied Gravemind, who was surprisingly still with them.

"What?"

They passed back through the first bottleneck, several combat forms waiting for the just inside the door. "Get clear," Grace shouted, priming a grenade, and everyone dove out of the way as it exploded, taking out all of the Flood. On the next segment, Sentinels joined them against the multitude of combat forms raised from the Brute corpses, and the warriors helped the Forerunners guards against the enemy Flood, the Arbiter and allied Gravemind's few combat forms at their sides. They swept across the path, cutting and blasting and blowing the Flood apart as they struggled to get back to the lift.

The second bottleneck was empty, and as they prepared to move back out into the open, a Flicker of Cortana whispered, "I'm a thief, but I keep what I steal."

The final stretch of path was laid out before them, and they emerged just in time to see a small flurry of Infection pods jump off of the edge in an attempt to attack a pair of the Sentinels. There were a pair of carrier forms heading their way, staggering the down the ramp toward them, several Sangheili combat forms joining them in their assault.

The Spartans narrowly evaded the exploding pod-spawners and used their assault rifles to pop the pods as they charged up the slope. All but the Spartan-Gravemind stepped onto the lift platform, but John simply continued right on past them, heading toward and dropping down through a gap against the far wall. After they realized that the lift had been deactivated, they followed him down.

He had already moved out of the way and was heading down the hallway, turning the corner and disappearing. The Spartans looked at one another before moving to follow him, the Arbiter trailing behind. The Gravemind was standing next a control panel, watching them as they approached, and Fred looked at him before activating the device.

At the slightly grinding clank, John turned and walked away from the Spartans, toward a blast panel that was sliding up into the structure above, revealing the Foundry beyond. A massive and incomplete Halo rose up out of the thick fog surrounding the superheated metal moon, the fog sliding off of the ring like water.

As it rose up toward space above, 'Vadam turned and looked at the Chief. "A replacement. For the ring you destroyed."

"When did you know?" Fred asked, seemingly to no one, but Spark hovered up from behind the Chief and 'Vadam and came up to the Spartans.

"Just now - but...I had my hopes. What will you do?"

"Light it," the Spartan growled.

"Then we are agreed! A tactical pulse will completely eradicate the local infestation! I will personally oversee the final preparations." The Monitor appeared not to notice the Gravemind as he zoomed enthusiastically around the Spartans and the Arbiter, who looked at one another, and then flew off toward his new Halo, talking to himself. "Though it will take time to fabricate an activation index, I will see to the letter that..." He became too far away for the Spartans to hear him but continued babbling.

"How will you light it?" the Arbiter asked.

Almost as one, the Spartans turned to look at High Charity, knowing that Cortana still had the activation Index from Alpha Halo. "Any volunteers?" Fred asked, not going to order any of his Spartans into the belly of the beast.

"I will go."

The uninfected turned to look at John, who was watching the crashed Flood-infested city. "We appreciate the offer, but it's really not necessary-"

"Yes, it is." He took his gaze off of High Charity for just an instant. "I promised her that I would come for her; you did not. In addition to that, I do not have to worry about dying. I am already dead." John shimmered and vanished entirely before jumping onto the back of the invisible transport in front of the platform, swinging down inside and accepting the weapons held out to him be the Infected as the transport shot towards the "den of evil."

**********

(Why) Looking but never seeing,

(Why) Searching but never finding,

(Why) For the kiss to bring his

Cold dead heart back to life.

-"The Last Cowboy," In This Moment (A Star-Crossed Wasteland)