Twenty-One: Revenge Upon the Doctor

The humans' Pelicans and green Separatist Phantoms flew in an arrowhead formation for three of the towers that held up the barrier protecting the Citadel. There were many more, of course, but all of the generators were emitting blue-white beams of energy that streamed skyward and formed a dome over the structure. The barrier seemed to ripple an iridescent blue as they drew near.

"We hit these three generators, and the barrier will fall?" Miranda asked.

"A small section, yes," was Spark's reply.

"Good enough," Miranda said 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."

Yet even as they flew, an Anti-Air Wraith protecting the LZ swung around and began firing on them, high-powered fuel-rod rounds exploding around them. "Charlie foxtrot! Tower One approach has active triple-A!" Hocus shouted over the COM as she began evasive maneuvers.

Amidst all the chaos, Fred noticed that V and K were playing another game of rock-paper-scissors, but this time their game was interrupted when the AA Wraith hit the Pelican following them. It slammed into theirs, breaking off their Warthog and knocking both K and Tande off their feet. They fell from the Pelican - and plunged into twenty feet of water just offshore. They were alive and mostly uninjured, so Fred turned his concern to his siblings who had been in the other Pelican. He couldn't see them as Hocus put them down on the shore, but Ambi had been with them; he hoped the Lifeworker was all right and that he managed to see to the wounded.

Blue and Green Teams jumped from the Pelican to let Johnson and Hocus head to the third tower with Black and Red Teams. Sam hefted a weapon the Forerunners had given them, an "Incineration Cannon", and took aim at a Shade hosing fire in their direction, while Joseph focused on another.

The Incineration Cannon fired a smaller version of the Forerunner tank rounds and had pretty much the same effect, much to their delight. Both gunners were killed and dissolved, the Shades themselves blasted off their mounts, making them useless, and the Marines and the other Spartans fell back to let them take point, still providing cover fire while they took aim at the AA Wraith.

The Wraith went up in flames, so they advanced further down the beach, where they found the totaled Pelican. All the Spartans onboard and even a few Marines had survived the crash; Ambi was tending to the last few under the shelter of the Pelican's wings.

When the last of the Brutes fell, one of the ODSTs told Keyes that the beach was secured. "Hold position, I'm on my way," she replied, "Shipmaster, begin diversionary bombardment."

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

The Forerunners stayed to hold the beach along with Green Team and the surviving Marines. Tande and K trudged from the water to join their fellows, pulling seaweed off their armor as they went.

Blue Team, meanwhile, sped up the slope to the first tower, taking out some small Covenant outposts guarding the canyon. Fred stopped the Warthog and listened, as did Sam and Kelly on their Mongoose. They all heard the hum of a Wraith below, and Linda swung the turret around to follow the sound as they followed the path down to the valley below. The second the tank came into view and range, Linda squeezed the triggers and started firing short bursts into vulnerable sections of the tank where the armor didn't cover.

While the Warthog took care of the Wraith, Sam and his Incineration Cannon turned their attention to the entrance to the tower. It was filled with Covenant, of course, but not for long. He launched a charge down the hall, destroying the Prowler at the forefront of the pack, but it also took out a number of Covenant further in as well, their bodies vanishing in swirls of golden flakes.

When Kelly swung them back around, another shot took out the Shade in the very back, along with the others around it. The Wraith and another Shade past it went down not too long after, so they all dismounted and entered the tower. There weren't enough Covenant left to be a threat, so Sam switched out the cannon for his assault rifle and joined his siblings in gunning for the survivors.

The central chamber of the tower was filled with more Covenant, Brutes, Jackals, and Grunts alike. Linda and Sam hung back while Kelly and Fred circled around to the sides in a pincer movement, to drive the aliens hiding there into the center of the room to be shot. Once they were dead, the Spartans advanced to the next room, where the aliens had made the mistake of setting up plasma batteries. Kelly darted forward, grabbed one in each hand, and threw them into the upper section of the chamber, where a single burst from Linda's battle rifle was sufficient to detonate the lot and kill most of the Covenant there. The Brutes were tougher, but with their shields down from the blast, the Spartans were able to find gaps in their armor and bleed them out.

When they were dead, Fred and Kelly stepped onto the lift to take them up into the tower, trusting Linda and Sam to guard their backs.

SOMETHING IS WRONG - IT IS MOVING AWAY

HEADING FOR THE LINE [THEY] HOLD IN OUR PLACE

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

THE KEYSHIPS ARE GONE, A SECURITY MEASURE

LEAVING US 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

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

The lift carried them up to the next level, where they encountered a Brute Chieftain and his bodyguards. Linda had the best arm out of all of them, her impeccable aim good for more than just shooting, but she was below with Sam (and his Incineration Cannon). Still, Fred and Kelly were no slouches themselves and primed a plasma grenade in each hand, darting out of cover for just a second to hurl them at the Brutes.

Some adhered and took out the aliens, and others just dropped their shields. The Spartans gunned for them first, and when they fell, it left the Chieftain alone. As long as they kept to opposite sides of the room, he would have to turn his back on one of them in order to attack the other, leaving him open to the first's fire.

Their double-teaming worked to great effect. Kelly double-tapped the Chieftain while Fred ran for the console.

"Hit the switch, Chief, and the barrier will fall," Miranda said over the COM, and Fred obliged her. "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, voice distorted by static and gunfire in the background, "We're pinned down!"

"Hold position," she 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?!"

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."

They turned and ran for the lift. As they descended, though, the Fleet of Shadows came on with worse news. "All UNSC and Separatist personnel, be advised: High Charity has just arrived at the very edge of the Ark's long-range Slipspace sensors, ETA twenty Earth minutes at the outside."

The Spartans heard several creative swears in several human and alien tongues across the line before it closed.

When they arrived at the lower level, Fred and Kelly didn't bother with the ramps, instead jumping down to the very bottom floor to help Sam and Linda mop up the last few Jackals that had come in behind them. Then they charged out of the building, where a Marine met them with a troop transport Warthog. They all jumped in and sped for the beach.

There seemed to have been some action while they were away; there were fresh Covenant corpses scattered around, along with a downed enemy Phantom, but the Spartans disregarded them in favor of the Hornets and Pelican that swooped down to collect them. Fred, Kelly, and Linda jumped on one Hornet, while Joseph, Maria, and Joshua jumped in the other. The rest of them, including the Forerunners, boarded the Pelican.

They all took to the skies and aimed for the third tower, encountering heavy resistance. The Covenant seemed to be fielding all the forces they thought they could afford to send, including two Phantoms and a dozen Banshees. There were an equal number of Phaetons streaking around, firing at both the airborne vehicles and the anti-air Wraiths on the ground.

THE ENEMY'S RAW COMPUTING POWER IS UNBELIEVABLE

THE STRATEGY WE CHOSE 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.)

The Phaetons destroyed the Wraith, then joined the Spartans in attacking the Phantoms and Banshees, shooting them down one by one. The Phantoms were tougher and fell back almost to the third tower before them, firing back as they retreated.

A second fall of the day: a plasma salvo hit the side of Green Team's Hornet. Maria was unhurt, but the Hornet wasn't so lucky; the skid she was standing on melted in the heat and buckled under her weight.

One of the Phaetons immediately broke away to dive after her, and she grabbed onto it - then vanished inside. She seemed to take control of the craft and rejoined her siblings, gunning for the Phantom that made her fall.

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. They had had Black and Red Teams pinned down against the barrier, but once the aliens were down, the Spartans charged up to rejoin their siblings.

The Sangheili - including the Arbiter - joined them on the tower's metaphorical doorstep, and Black and Red stayed back with some of them to guard, while the Arbiter, Blue, and Green went inside. They were momentarily confused about the lack of resistance inside - until a pair of Hunters charged forward, fuel rod guns hot, a swarm of Drones coming down the elevator shaft to aid them.

The other Spartans all covered Sam, who brought his Incineration Cannon to bear on the Mgalekgolo. He only had one more round left, so he had to make it count.

When they were reasonably close together, herded by the Sangheili and the other Spartans, he finally fired. One died with the initial hit, and the rebound did enough damage to the other that they gunned it down within seconds.

The last of the Drones hit the ground not too long after, so they raced ahead. The tower was essentially a mirrored version of the first, complete with Covenant cargo modules, and a handful of Brutes came to meet them, Maulers at the ready. A single shot from one of those could take the Spartans' shields down, so they took cover as quickly as possible and fired on the Jiralhanae before they could do the same.

Even so, they weren't that big of a challenge. The Sangheili's plasma weapons were especially effective against the Brutes' shields, and when they went down, there was little protecting them from the Spartans' bullets.

The Sangheili and Green Team remained below while Blue Team rode the lift up. Yet as they went, the Fleet's COMs officer came over the airwaves again. "High Charity ETA five minutes. All Fleet personnel, battle stations. Shipmaster 'Vadam, please hold position or stand off if you can. High Charity's current trajectory will take it perilously close to the Shadow of Intent."

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

WE WILL SPEND OUR 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 [HIM]

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 US)

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. Again, they hurled grenades into the enemies' midst; two of the Brutes went down with plasmas adhered to unpleasant places, and another one got caught between. Linda and Kelly fired on the survivors while Fred and Sam went after the Chieftain. Even with the plasma turret, the Brute still couldn't fire in two directions at once, and eventually he went the way of his subordinates.

Fred ran for the control panel, deactivating the tower and lowering the barrier.

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

"Shipmaster, stand off! Here she comes!"

A massive and faintly purple Slipspace portal opened above the Ark, and High Charity came barreling almost gracefully through, trailing clouds of smoke and spores. There was debris as well; in its haste, the Gravemind had compromised sections of the station, which now sheared off and rained outward like a meteor shower.

One large chunk broke through the tower glass, unleashing a horde of Infection Pods on Blue Team - and the corpses of the Brutes they had just killed. The bodies were reanimated in seconds and threw themselves at the Spartans, howling. The Spartans cut them down, broke the bodies apart so the remaining Infection Pods couldn't take them back up, then stomped the little bastards to death before running for the lift.

As they descended, they heard sounds of fighting below, and joined their siblings and the Sangheili fighting the few Flood that made it through Black and Red Teams outside. When they emerged, they found that the others had actually only done a little fighting; the Forerunners had taken care of most of them with the vibrant green plasma swords that had made an appearance last time as well. All of them looked more than a little wild, even Ambi, and Tande seemed to be hissing in fury, almost like an Earth alligator.

A Pelican dropped off a Scorpion tank, but none of the Forerunners mounted up, instead sprinting alongside the vehicles like flank guards.

They ran without the slightest whisper of sound, only making noise when they fired on the Covenant.

The convoy mowed through the Covenant in the winding canyon beyond and emerged into the valley that ringed the Citadel. There were more aliens everywhere, of course, and more vehicles, including a Prowler and more than a few Ghosts. There were Shade turrets as well, and Fred took care of them at the helm of the tank, while the Warthogs gunned for the infantry. It felt like it took a perilous amount of time, but finally they cleared the ridge.

Two Hornets landed ahead of them, their pilots jumping out to let Blue Team take control. Fred and Linda jumped into the cockpits, Kelly and Sam joining the Marines on the skids - right as not one, but two Scarabs landed in the valley below.

All of the humans and their allies moved to engage the massive and massively destructive machines. The Spartans stayed moving as much as possible, trying to prevent the Scarabs from getting a target lock on them, while trying to maintain target locks of their own. It was difficult, but they did it, just like they always did. Blue-white explosions lit the canyon, one right after the other, and they turned their Hornets for the Citadel.

"The Flood scales the Citadel's far wall," said the Arbiter as Blue and Olive Teams raced up the ramp to join him, "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 them.

"Do us proud," said Arthur.

"Stop the rings, let him see his plan fail before he dies," Riz said viciously.

There were cries of agreement from the other Spartans as their siblings ran with the Arbiter, his plasma sword glowing blue like the light bridge. In the distance, they saw the Fleet decloaking, firing lasers and missiles and laser-missiles to contain the Flood pouring out of High Charity. Yet there was a single fighter, one of the Phaetons, which streaked for the station and vanished inside.

But then they entered the Citadel and saw no more, the blast doors closing behind them. As they continued running, another copy slipped in and whispered, "It asked... and I answered. For a moment of safety, I loosed damnation on the stars."

The Prophet took over when she finished. "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 vidscreens on either side of the path showed Truth - and a Brute holding Johnson by his throat, the Sergeant Major trying to attack the Jiralhanae in question.

"Spartans, how close are you?"

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

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

The Chieftain snorted, taking offense and picking him up again. The alien roared, but the human didn't seem the slightest bit afraid. "Oh, come on," the man gritted out, "Impress me."

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

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

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

Keyes' Pelican smashed through the rose window overlooking the Foundry, crashing into the platform and ramming two Brutes off the edge. 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.

Unbeknownst to either of them, a specially-made Phaeton followed the Pelican in and hovered over the platform, cloaked from any kind of detection with everything they had.

"Not without you," Keyes replied firmly.

"You delay the inevitable," Truth said as the woman turned to shoot another of the Brutes, sending it staggering even as another approached her from behind. "One of you will light the rings." Miranda 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."

The Phaeton moved at the speed of light, activating the briefest of stunning dazzlers - just enough to make everyone blink suddenly. As a result, they didn't see it pull Miranda up into it - or throw down a near-perfect hologram of her right as Truth fired his Brute spiker. The quills passed harmlessly through, but none of them knew it; the hologram seemed to have taken the hit, and staggered and fell.

"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 and approached the human, signaling the remaining Brutes to take control of him and follow him to the control panel. "I see now why they left you behind. 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 and the unseen Phaeton.

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 - 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, who 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 has set in motion."

Infection Forms scurried out between their legs, heading down the ramp and into the hall. The allies hesitated for a moment, glancing at one another before following at a distance. Those Spartans with long-range weapons stayed 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 on the far end of the first bridge section, fuel rod guns in their tiny claws.

The Gravemind gave something of a thankful hum, then threw its Infection Pods at the Brutes attempting to marshal something of a resistance. They overwhelmed the Covenant soldiers and pushed on through a bottleneck: the first of two rooms where holograms of the Prophet of Truth hovered. The San'Shyuum 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.

There were jump-pack Brutes on the next stretch of the bridge, and they leaped for the Spartans and the Arbiter, firing their carbines as fast as they could. By the time they had landed nearby, Linda's eye and trigger finger had taken down most of their shields. The others took care of the rest, and the Flood took their bodies.

There was a Chieftain with a gravity hammer on the far end, and his bodyguard all had Brute shots. Before they could react, the Chieftain slammed the hammer down and blasted both Tank forms off the bridge, cutting the Flood's fighting force in half.

Both Sam and Oscar-129 had picked up the Grunts' fuel rod guns and used them to great effect, killing the Chieftain and three of his five guards. But the Chieftain had the last laugh - or seemed to: the last swing of his gravity hammer threw Vannak-134 off the edge of the bridge.

Nick-041 and Kelly got there at the same time and just barely grabbed his hands in time as he fell, battle rifle spinning down into the void below. The Spartan spat out a curse and swung his legs up to plant his feet on the side of the bridge, using that to anchor himself and let him walk up the side. He made it back onto the bridge, and all of his siblings breathed out a sigh of relief. They hadn't lost one of their number yet, and they weren't eager to start here at the end of things.

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."

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 across to the platform beyond.

They arrived just in time to see Johnson reach out to touch Miranda's body - only to have his hands go right through her. He pulled back in shock, right before the hologram vanished.

The Phaeton shimmered into view overhead, and it dropped Miranda - living, breathing - practically right into his arms. The sergeant gaped for a moment, then swept her into a fierce hug, protocol be damned. She squeezed him back, then looked to the Arbiter.

Thel approached the crawling form of Truth, his plasma sword off but at the ready. "Can you see, Arbiter?" the Prophet gasped weakly as he stopped in front of 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.

"Your kind... never believed in the promise of the sacred rings," Truth rasped.

But then the Gravemind spoke through him, making 'Vadam activate his plasma sword and draw it back, prepared to strike: "Lies for the weak, beacons for the deluded."

"I will have my revenge," the Elite growled, 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."

Fred approached the control panel. Even as Truth cried, "No!", he pressed the golden bar, and the holographic rings dimmed one by one.

Nick lifted his gun again, and so did Linda. There were corpses beginning to stir.

"I… am...Truth! The voice of the Covenant!" the Prophet shouted, as if it would make a difference.

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 at last.

'Vadam let Truth's corpse fall to the floor, roaring in triumph. Then he deactivated his sword and looked over at the Spartans. Fred nodded, acknowledging him for ending the life of the Prophet who declared war on humanity. They all looked at the sound of footsteps and saw 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 maniacally as the Spartans and Elite stared up at the sickening tendrils made up of others' remains.

Johnson leapt into the Pelican's cockpit and took 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. The Phaeton shot out of the Citadel after them, but it didn't go far.

"Now the gate has been unlatched," the Gravemind rumbled, tentacles waving, "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. "We trade one villain for another."

The tentacles retreated, and the Phaeton returned, launching wave after wave of pulse missiles against the Flood further back in the chamber, letting the Spartans and the Arbiter deal with those on the control platform. But it cleared a path for them even as Johnson shouted over the COM, "We can barely keep hold of her, Spartans! No way we can pick you up! Head back to the lift, find a way down!"

The Flood leaped for the Phaeton, but it was too high up in the chamber; they just fell over the edge into the void below. The Spartans didn't question it, just ran back the way they'd come.

As they did so, another copy found them. "I'm a thief, but I keep what I steal."

The lift seemed to have been deactivated, but there was a flicker of blue light beyond, illuminating another smaller shaft of some kind. One by one, they dropped down it and found themselves in another hall deeper in the Citadel. This was lit only by what seemed to be emergency lighting - and a flickering image of Cortana, running down the hall at about waist-height on the Spartans.

They followed, and found a few Forerunners - not ones they recognized - guarding a small control panel. They watched as the humans and the Arbiter approached, and then one inclined their head towards the control panel. Fred pressed it.

There was a grind of metal on metal, and the blast door in front of them slid up, revealing the Foundry beyond. An incomplete Halo rose from the clouds beyond, surrounding the molten metal moon that had been used to build it, the fog sliding off the ring like water.

"It's here," said Sam, "It really is here."

Spark zipped forward to join them. "I almost didn't dare hope…" He turned to the humans. "What will you do?"

"Light it," Fred growled. Why was that even a question?

"Then we are agreed! A tactical pulse will completely eradicate the local infestation! I will personally oversee the final preparations." The Monitor zipped in an excited circle around them before racing for the ring, still talking. "Though it will take time to fabricate an activation index, I will see to the letter that..."

The Spartans watched him go, then looked to High Charity.

"Come with us," said one of the Forerunners, "We will take you up to the ring. Our Commander will retrieve Lady Cortana."

"That really isn't-"

She waived a hand as if to dispel their protests. "He knows the way to where she is and has the advantage of armor and weapons. You have none of those things, and he is already en route. He will retrieve her, and bring her to us."

"He was in that Phaeton we saw," said Nick, "the one that went into High Charity."

"Indeed. Have no fear, Spartans. The Commander will bring her safely to the Control Room."