User:Dragonclaws/Halo2 scene

Chapter 5:

Not long before…

John approached the dying Prophet. A Flood infection form burrowed into its flesh. John felt a twinge of pain on the back of his neck where, only days before, a Flood infection had stabbed him with its needle. He ignored the sensation and, hefting the Covenant carbine, strode forward.

He bent over the struggling form so that the Prophet could see him. “Your pal,” he said, indicating the Phantom with which the other Prophet had taken only moments before. “Where’s he going?”

The Prophet paused in its futile struggle with the Flood, to draw a breath. “Earth,” he answered finally. “To finish what we started… and this time, none of you will be left behind…” The Prophet’s voice faded as the Flood continued its work.

Not wishing to deal with a Flood combat form, John pulled the infection form off and squeezed it until it popped. The Prophet gave one last cry of pain before falling silent. The former Hierarch’s throne flickered as Cortana’s avatar appeared on the arm.

“That structure in the center of the city!” She said, pointing at the large white tower in the distance. Her voice was full of what might have been awe. “It’s a Forerunner ship… and Truth is heading straight for it!” She turned to him and declared, “If he leads the Covenant fleet to Earth, they won’t stand a chance. You have to stop him!”

“That Brute has the Index,” he argued, “And the Commander and Johnson. He can activate the ring.”

“If he does, I’ll detonate In Amber Clad’s reactors just like we did the Autumn’s,” she gestured at the ship crashed into the nearby tower, “The blast will destroy this city and the ring. It’s not a very original plan, but we know it will work,” she added with regard to her ego.

It seemed like a sound plan. John reached for the throne so that Cortana could reenter his cerebral implants, but Cortana stopped him.

“I don’t want to chance a remote detonation,” she explained. “I need to stay here…”

Leave Cortana behind? It was

John barely had time to process this, when a Pelican crashed onto the launch platform. After the dust had settled, Flood forms poured out of it. John wasted no time; aiming through the carbine’s scope, he fired on the hideous creatures. Unlike the other Covenant weapons, the carbine seemed to do greater damage to them. Still, the weapon was running low on ammo. He slung it over his back and picked up a shotgun dropped by a fallen Flood.

“Flood controlled dropships are touching down all over the city!” Cortana was saying, “That creature beneath the Library... that ‘Gravemind’... used us. We were just a diversion. In Amber Clad was always its intended vector. There's a conduit connecting this tower to the ship. Head back inside. I'll lead you to it.”

The entrance to the tower opened and Covenant forces marched out. The Flood ran at them, giving John a chance to slip behind the Pelican. With any luck, both enemies would take out each other.

“We don't have time for this, Chief.” Cortana insisted, “Truth's Phantom is nearing the Forerunner ship.”

John grabbed a fragmentation grenade and hurled it into the crowd. He quickly ran up, firing on his foes to keep them from dispersing. As soon as the grenade went off, he ran through the entrance and through the corridors until he reached a gravity lift.

“I’ll disable this lift after you reach the top,” Cortana said. “That’ll slow them down. I hope.”

At last he reached the height of the lift. Finding himself in a dark corridor, he clicked on his flashlight. Walking towards a door, he found a Jackal corpse next to a rack of particle beam rifles. To be certain the corpse wouldn’t attack him, he ripped it in two. As he exchanged his carbine with one of the rifles, he heard Truth’s voice sound over the loudspeaker.

“Shall we let the Flood consume our holy city? Turn High Charity into one of their wretched hives? No enemy has ever withstood our might. The Flood, too, shall fail.”

Reminded of his task, John hurried through the door to find himself on a ledge in a massive cavern. Above was a large crystal chandelier, and below was nothing but air until what might have been the bottom of the tower. A nearby hovering platform cast an energy bridge onto the ledge, and he made his way out. Seeing a group of Drones fly by, he raised his particle beam rifle and shot one, killing it. The rest of the swarm kept flying as though unaware.

“I’ll do what I can to slow the launch sequence,” Cortana said to him through his COM. “But there’s something inside the ship… a presence that’s fighting back. For a Covenant construct, it’s unusually formidable.” She sounded confused and uncertain. John felt another pang of sorrow at leaving her behind.

He watched as the swarm engaged a group of Flood on a ledge to the left. He peered through the rifle’s scope. When the Drones won the battle, he picked off the winners and stepped onto a glowing circle. With a hum, he was transported to the other ledge. He again stood in another circle. Instead of simply being sent over, several machines hovered over to build another ledge to send him to. When he arrived, he strapped the rifle onto his back and readied the shotgun.

When he opened the door, three Flood combat forms immediately attacked. John fired, bringing the first down. The second snapped its whip-like tentacles into his energy shield, disabling it instantly. Quickly backpedaling, he fired again. Unfortunately, it was now somewhat out of the weapon’s range. The creature jerked from the impact, but growled and ran at him. Another shell and it was down. While hearing the delightful sound of his shield charging, he took out the last one and continued.

He ran through the corridors, fighting both Flood and Covenant. Increasingly, he would notice masses of Flood-like flesh blobs on the walls. Signs the Flood were in fact ‘consuming High Charity’.

“The Flood did not defeat the Forerunners, they shall not defeat us,” Truth’s words of encouragement flooded the halls.

And then, an immense voice shook the building, “Arrogant creature! Your death will be instantaneous, while we suffer the progress of infinity!” John instantly recognized it as the giant Flood creature, the ‘Gravemind’ as Cortana called it.

He thought about that as he sniped a Jackal. Perhaps the data she had gained from the first Halo contained some information on the Flood creature. How else would she have known to call it a ‘Gravemind’?

The two voices spoke up again as he traversed the tower. “Whosoever is gripped by fear, take heed. I am the Prophet of Truth and I am not afraid. Noble Mercy is here at my side. His wise counsel is ever at my aide.” Liar, John thought.

“We exist together now?” the Gravemind rumbled. “Two corpses in one grave!”

Two corpses? John wondered. ''Is Gravemind the first corpse? Who or what is the other corpse?'' It seemed useless to try to understand, and he had worse things to worry about. He swapped the shotgun for an energy sword lying on the ground, and entered a room with another lift. This one, however, was not a gravity lift but a platform. A holographic control panel hovered in the center. Instinctively he stroked a large orb in the display, causing the lift to rise.

“Apparently, these are the Prophet Hierarchs’ quarters,” Cortana noted. “Their inner sanctum.” The lift reached the top level, and John looked around at his surroundings. It was a dark hall, leading to a large door adorned with the image of an Elite’s energy sword. On the sides of the hallway stood six short pillars topped with tall rotating inverted pyramid-shaped structures with small lights glowing from their edges. Between him and the door, he could make out the forms of aliens creeping about.

He crept over to the closest pillar and, raising his particle beam rifle, shot an unwary Grunt in the head. Before general alarm could spread, he sniped a second Grunt and ran toward a third Grunt on his right. He strapped the particle beam rifle to his back, and drawing the energy sword, cut the alien in two before it could throw a plasma grenade. The primed grenade fell on the corpse, and as the Master Chief stepped back, it exploded, destroying one of the pillars.

He snuck back along the left side. Spying a Jackal at the far side of the room, he deactivated the sword, switched back to the particle beam rifle and shot the Jackal in the head before it had the chance to raise its shield.

He had a plasma pistol, and four plasma grenades.

“We’ve got a new contact! Unknown classification!” The distinctly human voice declared through an open COM channel, startling John out of his thoughts. Had the ship broken slipspace and arrived at Earth already? He’d never heard of a Covenant ship being that fast. Although, it is a Forerunner ship, he reminded himself.

He opened a COM channel and said, “This is SPARTAN-117. Can anyone hear me? Over.”

Almost instantly, Fleet Admiral Hood answered. “Master Chief? You mind telling me what you’re doing on that ship?”

“Sir, finishing this fight.”

“Glad to hear it, Chief.” The Fleet Admiral’s voice sounded strained. “Whatever you intend on doing, do it fast.”

“Yes, sir,” John answered. “Over and out.” He hefted his weapon and started walking.

***

Fleet Admiral Harper bit his lip as he watched the unmistakably Forerunner craft exit slipspace and fly directly through the battle-cluster. “Run a scan on that ship!”

“Sir,” called Commander Hartmann a moment later. “Detecting only one CNI transponder. Master Chief SPARTAN-117.”

His mind raced. If only the SPARTAN-II was onboard, it was surely under Covenant command. “Send a status report to Bravo-6 at once!”

“Yes, sir!”