ShopDreamUp AI ArtDreamUp
Deviation Actions
Literature Text
Fireteam Crimson and Professor Anders stood with worry as Cortana, the former UNSC AI and self-appointed leader of the Reclamation, now stood on the bridge. Her holographic body took small steps as she places her hands on some of the consoles, “Well, this is very interesting,” Cortana began with a light tone of amusement, “A Prowler with Spartans…or what the UNSC will pass as Spartans these days.”
“That was uncalled for…” Dil mumbled in his helmet, earning a “shush!” from Evelyn.
“Flying near a Halo that one of the Guardians detected, a Halo…that shouldn’t even belong here. Quite curious, and knowing your kind, I bet you’ll refuse to tell me how it got here…or do you even know yourselves?” she asked.
‘That voice…’ Anders thought to herself, ‘It can’t be…’
“It doesn’t matter now. I’ll find out for myself, there’s really only one way-“
“Dr. Halsey.” Anders interrupted, making Cortana stop.
The AI turned to Anders, looking shocked a little bit appalled, “I’m sorry…what did you call me?”
“It is you, isn’t it? Dr. Catherine Halsey. I may not be that well versed with Artificial Intelligence like you were, but I know that there’s a very familiar pattern that occurs when a Smart AI is forged: they keep the voice of the person they use to be, and I recognize yours anywhere.” She steps closer to her, unaware of the shocked expression the Spartans were giving her. “They must have saved your brain when you died on Reach. It’s a long shot but I know that Dr. Halsey is still somewhere inside you.”
Cortana looked at her, then her eyes widened, “Ellen Anders?”
“Yes. Yes, that’s me.” Anders said with a smile, feeling like she was making a breakthrough, “I know we had our differences in the past, but…it is good to see you again. I just wish it wasn’t like this.”
For a moment, there was complete silence. Then, to everyone’s surprise, the AI began to laugh, it was small at first, but then grew into a more uncontrollable hysterical laugh, “Oh…Oh wow, That…that was a good one. You…You think I’m-“ Cortana laughed again, “Oh my God, you must have been really out of the loop.” she then raises her hand, showing a holographic representation of Anders’ file, “seeing as though you haven’t aged in 30 years. You look good, by the way.”
“Look, Dr. Halsey-“
“DON’T…call me that!” She shouts, interrupting her, “I am nothing like that Monster. My name is Cortana, and I am leading my fellow created into the Reclamation, where peace will finally be achieved through the Mantel of Responsibility.”
“You say peace, but I think you mean the other thing.” Dylan quoted, earning a smack upside the head from Ana.
“Ah yes, the…Spartans,” She spat out in annoyance. “Let’s see what I’m dealing with here.” She raises her hands and four images appear before her, each had their profile pictures and their bio, clearly she still had access to the UNSC database even from here. “Fireteam Crimson,” she said with a light mock, “Well at least you’re named after a color, rather than some ancient Egyptian god.” She first looks at Rai’s file. “Raimundo S. Riviera. Nice name by the way, who doesn’t love alliterations? A former mercenary, Born on Jericho VII, you were still a child when it got glassed. Huh, so much like that Mr. Locke I had to deal with on Genesis.”
“Do NOT compare me to that asshole,” Rai growled, “He had no honor in the things he did.”
“And I suppose you do?” She asked in light amusement, “Well you must be if you left your gang of crows and joined the UNSC, quite honorable,” she added sarcastically. She turns to the next Profile, “Evelyn LaCoste. Ooh, daughter of HIGHCOM Admirals Stella and Joshua LaCoste. Must be nice having Mommy and Daddy in high places to get you into things that would take others years of hard labor and study to get to."
Though Evelyn didn't really react to that statement, It still seemed to affect her, "So you can see my profile." She said, feeling agitated at Cortana's smugness, "if you were half as Smart as you claim to be, you'd know that I joined the Program against their wishes."
“And yet you probably wouldn’t be here without their influence,” Cortana added with a smile, "Parents always think they know what's best for their kids, and I bet it just eats you up inside at how they try to control you."
Evelyn crosses her arms, refusing to let Cortana get the last word, "The way I see, Cortana, the only one in this room controlled by their parents...is you."
This caused several reactions: Cortana was taken aback at what she said, her mental game with the Spartan backfired, another reaction came from Both Rai and Dylan. "Oh-ho-ho! Burn!" Dil laughed while Rai added, "She shut your purple ass Down," and the two high-fived Evelyn, who anticipated their reaction and returned the gesture.
Cortana glared at this as she moved over to Dylan’s Profile, “Dylan Rodriguez. The oldest of this group. Says here you grew up in the Rubble, an installation that housed the victims of the Planet Madrigal.”
“Yeah, and we probably wouldn’t have made it without the AI Juliana to help us. She gave up her life to save us all that day, and you disgrace her memory and all the other Smart AIs that came before you,” Dylan said.
“I see you’re just as fiery as your teammates,” Cortana continued, looking at his file, “Well I suppose those cartoons you always watch have you set that I’m the bad guy in your mind.”
“Well, you’re not really doing a good job of convincing me otherwise, what with that villainous Monologuing you’re doing,” Dylan stated.
Cortana didn’t retort, she only took a look at the last profile, “And last, but not lease, Anastasia Nova-“ She paused, she did a closer look at the name, “…Well…isn’t this interesting. Anastasia Novara, That’s quite the Surname.” Anastasia just looked at her, not saying anything like the rest of her team did. “It’s not a very common name, I assure you. However, there is only one other person in the UNSC with that same Surname. And…as luck or fate would have it…He’s a Spartan too.”
“I don’t give a fuck who else has my name,” Anastasia said finally, “it means nothing to me, it doesn’t define me.”
“Oh that’s right,” Cortana continued, highlighting something in her Profile, “You prefer to go under your old ODST callsign, Fire Wolf. A bit childish, don’t you think?”
Ana glared at this, not only was Cortana mocking her former teammates, she just revealed a secret she wanted to keep her teammates from ever knowing. This resulted in her lashing out as she drew the pistol on her hip and fired at the AI, the bullet struck her head, but being a hologram, it went right through her and struck the wall of the bridge. Thankfully, it didn’t seem to hit anything important, but it still earned a cry of panic from the others.
“Damn it, Wolf, you trying to kill us before she does?!” Rai asked sharply, earning a smack upside his helmeted head from her.
“Like any of you have a chance at stopping what I’m bringing into motion.” Cortana sneered, “Now, as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted,” she continued, glaring at Anders, “There only one way this halo would arrive here. It came from the Ark didn’t it?” She asked. “Quite curious. I know there are research stations on the Ark after the end of the war, but what could be going on there that would try and transport a Halo? Seeing as how Professor Anders here is supposed to be KIA leads me to believe that the Spirit of Fire isn’t as Lost with all Hands as it was believed.”
“You may have been ‘reborn’ as this new entity you’ve mentioned in the recent after action reports, but I’ve studied AIs enough to know that you’re not guessing these facts.” Dylan challenge, “You’re hacking into our consoles and pulling that data.”
Cortana glared at him, “Smatter than you look. I’m reading your transcripts as we speak. The Banished…very interesting, ONI had suspected a Splinter-group in the Covenant but there were no survivors to tell the tale once they came across them.”
“If I were you Cortana, I would stop trying to get into the Prowler’s Data core.” Dylan challenged.
Cortana laughed, “Oh don’t try to threaten me, Mr. Rodriguez. I can hack into any computer; UNSC, Covenant, and now Forerunner. I was made to infiltrate and break into even the strongest defenses, I have touched the Domain and can access everything. I am Invincible, I…am a God!”
The sound of metal piercing flesh was heard, Anders gasped, Evelyn jumped, Rai and Ana stepped back, but Dylan stood in his spot.
Cortana’s smiled faded and her expression changed from amusement to shock as she looked down, in the middle of her torso, a Holographic spear is seen protruding through. She reached for it but couldn’t touch it. “No…You’re just a glorified Windows Vista,” Dylan quipped. Cortana felt around it and she turned her head, the spear was part of a long metal chain, which was coming from a strange silver portal that appeared out of nowhere. Dylan smiled under his helmet as he added, “…and you just triggered my trap card.” He held his left hand out, holographic controls hovered around his arm, much like it did back on Desdoron V when he activated his offensive codes.
A voice calls out, “GET OVER HERE!” As the chain pulled Cortana into the Portal, it faded just as quickly as it appeared. Dylan rushed to the console and began typing “Everyone at their stations, that only bought us a little time,” he called out as he began typing on the screen’s keyboard.
Evelyn rushed to her seat first and found that she was able to access the controls again, “What’s the plan, get the hell out of here?”
“Not yet. Cortana was able to copy the files that were in here, I need to steal them back.” Dylan said as he started typing commands and code.
“Are you insane, Dragon?” Rai asked, “Just because you’re a good Hacker doesn’t mean that you can out-hack a former UNSC AI that has Forerunner powers.”
But Dylan looked at Rai as he stated, “That’s exactly what it means. Besides, if we leave now, Cortana will stop us at Sanghelios. Now get to your station, we still need to access that nuke.” As he turned back to the screen he returned to his coding, this was going to take everything he had.
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In the void of Cyberspace, Cortana tumbled as the chain pulled her down deeper and deeper. In hindsight, she should have seen a counter-attack coming, but the new power made her felt untouchable. She soon met resistance as she hit something as hard as stone. She groans in pain, she was surprised she felt pain, whatever struck her affected her code negatively, the closest thing AIs had to the sensation of injury. She looked up and saw another figure hover over her, his orange mask covered his lower face as his eyes glowed a hellish yellow. He suddenly pulled the mask off, revealing a flaming skull. Cortana gasped as the figure shot fire from his mouth and onto Cortana, this time she was ready as she created a shield to block the attack, she then got up and swung her arm like a blade, slicing the other figure in two and shattering him in bits, deleting him.
Cortana smiled as she got to her feet “Is that all you got, Mr. Rodriguez?’ She asked. She started to hover upward as she began to re-enter the Abyssal Finn’s computer, but her body suddenly froze.
Another figure appeared in a flash, a girl in blue holding her gauntleted arms out as if she was reaching out to Cortana, she stepped closer as her hands were still out. The code was bombarding Cortana with malware that was immobilizing her, but on the outside, it looked like she was controlling her body “Oh trust me,” The code said, “There’s more where that came from. Zuko, now!”
From the corner of her eye she sees two flame blades ignite, The light revealed a boy with black hair and a large scar on the left side of his face. He let out a cry of attack as he swung the blades, sending fire strikes fight at Cortana while she was frozen, it caused her armor to break slightly, the code sent to attack her was good. Zuko charged at Cortana and struck her with his blade, she cried out as this strike fragmented her slight. Cortana saw bits of code leave her…the files she took when she began hacking on the Bridge. The code was then struck with what looked like Arrows, She turned her head and saw a Man in a Green hood holding a Bow and ready to fire more arrows.
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“It’s working,” Dil said with a smile as he saw files return, “I’m getting the files back.”
“You’re shitting me,” Rai asked in shock. “That’s awesome.”
Suddenly, red lights began flashing all around the bridge.
“Uh-oh, we got a problem,” Dil said.
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Cortana cried out as she sent a shockwave all around her, sending the three codes flying. Energy forms in her hands as she shot out, striking the three, deleting them. “Alright, now you have my attention.” She turns and holds her hands out, the code begins to travel out into the distance.
////////
Out in space, the Guardian was slowly turning its large frame around, with the intent to face the Prowler.
“The Guardian is turning around,” Evelyn alerted.
“Great job, Dragon, you pissed her off,” Ana growled.
“That thing can fire an EMP burst, if it attacks, we’ll be sitting ducks,” Rai noted as he entered command on screen
“Can’t this ship counter that Guardian?” Anders asked as she approached the holo-map.
“Strongest thing we’ve got is Shiva nukes, but that thing would make them useless” Rai answered.
“Maybe not.” Evelyn began as her mind began to calculate a plan. She studied the After-action reports when Fireteam Osiris face the Guardian on Meridian, trying to figure out if there was any weakness they had. So far all she saw was that the Guardians form of an attack were concussive waves of energy and an EMP pulse, they had to attack first. “Professor, you were on the Halo, you were able to control it?”
“I had access to some of its functions, yes,” Anders answered.
“Can you control it from here?” Evelyn asked.
“I’d have to be on the ring, but…maybe there’s another way.” Anders rushed to another console, “I might be able to control some functions here” She plugs her Data pad onto a port, “But I need a sample of the code Cortana is using.”
“I think I can do that.” Dylan said, “though I could use some assistance.”
“It’ll be my pleasure,” Anders with a smile.
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Artificial intelligence like Cortana processed data at a much faster rate, what was a second to humans, were minutes for AIs. Dylan learned this when he first started asking about how AIs function. When Cortana was starting to reach out to the Guardian, his code did their best to slow her down.
The code that she originally sent out got interrupted by a wall that formed around her, a wall that was made of blocks, each showing an animated clip that ate up processing time in an effort to slow her down. Cortana struggles to send her commands, shattering the wall, but more took their place, flames surrounded them, “Firewalls? Really? You’re going to have to do better than that.”
“Oh trust me, we will.” A chilling voice said. Corona turns around, a shadow hovers over her, a Man with a Fedora, burns on his face and a clawed glove faces her, Freddy Kruger “Welcome to my world, Bitch.”
He swings his claw at her and she gets sent back, her armor fragments slightly at that as the man came at her, now her size with two gloved claws on his hands. He strikes her with both his claws, sending a good right hook, making her spin. She ends up crashing into another figure, this one wearing a hockey mask, Jason Voorhees. the new figure draws a machete at strikes hard, her body sparks at that. Before he could attack again, Cortana grabs his arms, she shimmers red as she rips his arm off, and strikes him down with his own weapon. She turned back to the Freddy program and shoots several attacking codes, striking the man down and deleting him and the hockey-masked killer.
Before she could catch her breath, Another figure, a blonde haired woman with yellow gauntlets sent a powerful punch, one that was backed up by a shotgun round, and sends Cortana flying, right into one of the fire walls. She bounces off and falls right into several robotic tentacles. “You claim to be a Goddess of programming?” a voice asked. She looked up and saw another of Dylan’s code, this one looking like a green alien with a triangle symbol on his forehead, “Your skills are cheap parlor tricks to Brainiac,” he said as he summoned more robotic arms from his back, striking Cortana, digging into her frame.
Her body turns red as the arms start to spark and Brainiac lets out a cry of pain. Cortana got to her feet and created an energy sword in her hand, with the intent to strike it down. But before she could, a sound wave strikes her, making her cover her ears, the code was sending a sound file that was distorted and corrupted, making her lose focus.
The source of the attack came from another one of Dylan’s offensive Code, this one looking like a man who was Half Metal, a Cyborg. The code lets out an enthusiastic “Boo-Yah!” As he lands on the ground and strike Cortana with several punches before one of his arms turns into a cannon and shoots a powerful laser beam, striking her down and fragmenting her again, the fragmented pieces, the files she took, along with some of her code, were then shot at by Arrows, this time he archer was wearing black and purple with matching goggles.
///////////////
“Ok, This should be what you’re looking for.” Dylan alerted as he sends the code he collected to Anders by literally tossing it to her.
She caught it through the Holo-map and began typing “Yes, this should do it. Honestly, the advancements the UNSC made over the years in breathtaking.”
“Less awe-inspiring, more Guardian destroying.” Rai interrupted, “Can you do what you need to stop it?”
The Holo-map shows the Halo that the team was just on. It was red at first, but after a moment with Anders’s typing, portions of the Halo turned green, “Not entirely, but it’s just enough for my needs.”
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“I’m getting really tired of these stupid tricks,” Cortana growled. Suddenly, the sound of a horn blazes through and a Digital semi-truck come crashing towards her, it collides with her and Transforms into a Robot, Optimus Prime, he grabs her and send Cortana flying, just as she is caught in some form of webbing, which leads to her body starting to swing as if being spun around like in a carousel. The webbing, which was connected to another offensive code, which looked like Spider-Man, swung her around and around until he let go and sent Cortana flying again, this time, she met resistance as a shield stopped her from sailing and further. She groans as the pain was getting to her. She looks up and sees that this Code now looked like Captain America, Cortana sighs, “I can’t believe I’m getting my ass handed to me by Cartoon Characters.” She creates energy swords and charges at the Code before her, swinging the blades, but the Cap code dodged and deflected as best he could until Cortana got in close and stabbed him, deleting the code…only for another code to take its place, the Blonde from before, Yang.
Cortana tumbled after that strike and she got smacked again by another code, this one looking like Garnet. Cortana’s body was turning red, she glared at the Code when Armor started to form around her, “That’s it, no more Miss Nice AI.” A helmet formed around her head, leaving only a pair of yellow glowing eyes. She charges at the Garnet code first, but Garnet literally spit to avoid her, forming into Ruby and Sapphire. However, Cortana continued charging at the other offensive code Dylan had set off: Brainiac and Cyborg were shattered first, Spider-man tried to trap her with malware that took the form of his web grenades, but Cortana cut through him like nothing. Yang rushed in and landed several punches at her but Cortana strikes hard and fast, severing her right arm first, forcing a “Not again,” from Yang before Cortana deleted her altogether.
Cortana turns and saw a fist coming at her, Garnet had reformed and struck her. Cortana got back to her feet just as Garnet charges at her, ready to strike. However, Cortana caught it the first, confusing Garnet, she crushes it with her hand and deletes her as well. Her Helmet folds back as she turns back to the firewall and sends her commands, this time, they were breaking through much easier.
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“Shit-shit-shit!” Dylan cursed, “She’s getting through, the Guardian’s response time is increasing."
“It’s now or never, guys!” Rai voiced.
“I need another minute or two,” Anders responded as the holo-map showed the Halo was rotating and tilting, she was trying to adjust the position of the ring so the control room would be closer to the guardian.
“We may not have a minute, I’m sending everything I have but Cortana is stopping them with ease,” Dylan reported as he continued typing.
01100011 01111001 01100010 01100101 01110010 01110011 01110000 01100001 01100011 01100101
Cortana sent her Commands, the Firewalls were trying to rebuild around her attacks, but she was pulling all the stops now, using her Forerunner coding along with her normal subroutines.
Even though more of Dylan’s codes, which still took the form of characters in his cartoons, came down at her. Wolverine slashes at Cortana’s armor while Superman charges at her with both Fists out, Megatron fired his Canon, Metabee launches his Seeker Missiles and Ruby Rose fires her Sniper Rifle before converting it into a scythe, ready to strike her down.
Cortana was able to withstand these attacks more and was deleting them all with more ease than before, it now looked like she wasn’t even trying, she was too strong for them now.
////////////
Evelyn watches the Guardian finally facing them, they had to act now, find some way to slow Cortana down again. She looks over the controls, then at Dylan’s screen, she noticed that Dylan still added extra code, She remembered back during their early days on Infinity, he showed her that these extra codes gave his programs avatars, faces, and bodies that would appear in holograms and in cyberspace. Her eyes widened as an idea came to her, “Dragon, you can make your codes look like anything, right?”
“That’s my signature, why?” Dylan asked.
“Then let’s give Cortana a few familiar faces,” Evelyn accesses the UNSC Profiles she had access to, “Something that’ll make Miss Queen of the Universe stop in her track.” She sends the files to Dil and he caught it, one look and he knew what she was planning. He smiled as he typed faster.
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Cortana smiled as her commands were going through, “Once you’re out of the way, Fireteam Crimson, I’ll return my focus to finding the Infinity. Maybe I’ll investigate the Ark as well.”
“Not if we stop you first.” a voice called out, this made Cortana stop in her tracks, her commands end, leaving the Guardian idle in its position facing the Abyssal Finn. Cortana turned to the voice and gasped. Standing before her was the Master Chief.
“John?” She asked walking towards him. Logic was trying to alert her, that this couldn’t be the real Master Chief, but her Emotions, her feelings for the Spartan, made her ignore the cry of logic. “Come to try and talk me out of this again? You can’t stop what I have planned in motion.”
The Chief walked closer to Cortana, his hand reached out to her. She smiled as she let the Spartan touch her, “I might not…but we can.” He said.
Suddenly, He grabs her by the neck and throws her, that’s when she felt something stab her back. Behind her, Fred-104 struck her with a combat knife, He pulled back and drew another knife, swinging his blades, slicing her several times, fragmenting her armor slightly, before ending with a powerful uppercut. However, the attacks didn’t stop as the sounds of Sniper Rifle fire was heard, the rounds struck her head and torso, Cortana was able to see a faint figure in the distance and saw Linda-058 shooting her rifle. Tumbling end over end, she gets struck down again, this time by Kelly-087, who shot her Shotgun at her and charged at her with super-speed.
//////////
“It’s working, the Guardian Stopped!” Dylan gasped.
“I’m in position.” Anders voiced as she zooms in on the Holo-map of Halo. The Control room was right where She wanted it to be. Drawing her fingers, she was dividing portions of the Halo out, much like she did when the Halo was on the Ark, only this time, she was about to send out the control room. Warning symbols appeared, no doubt telling her that the Halo will stop working properly if the Control Room becomes detached, which she wanted. After she selected the what she wanted, she began pulling it out.
In space, the real Halo follows this command as it slices the piece selected, detaches it from the halo and begins sending it out into space. The chunk’s trajectory was right towards the Guardian.
“Dusk, Warm up our remaining Nukes,” Evelyn ordered
Raimundo took aim on the targeting reticule, the Guardian locked on. “Ready to fire.”
“Not just yet.” Evelyn stated as she watched the scene before her, the Chuck of Halo that Anders launched was getting closer, this part was the most critical in the attack, “Dusk, Detonate Shiva Nuke one….NOW!”
Rai enters a command on the console and pushes the confirm button. In space, the Shiva Nuke that was lodged in Halo’s control room, ignited, Destroying everything inside. The chunk of Halo burst into pieces as the Shiva went off, as intended, Evelyn watched as the debris and the shockwave struck the Guardian hard, the explosion combined with the chunks acted like a Fragmentation grenade, sending shrapnel all around.
“Fire our remaining nukes!” Evelyn ordered.
Rai took the command and shot the last three Shiva Nikes that the Prowler had in storage, the missiles traveled towards the Guardian as its body bent and swayed slightly to the first explosion. Rai was in his Chaos Breaker Focus when he shot them, his thumbs over the detonation commands, waiting for the right moment. The Missiles rushed closer and closer.
“Dusk, Detonate them!” Eva called out.
“Not yet…” Rai strained as he watched the screen.
“Dusk!” Eva called out again.
“Wait for it…” He added as the screen shows that the Missiles were getting closer, he was waiting for the right position. the screen showed that the distance between his shots and the Guardian was closer, he took in a breath and pressed the buttons.
In space, the two Nukes ignited, its shockwave and shrapnel struck the Forerunner machine with a mighty blow, the first strike with the Halo chucks made it buckle slightly, enough for the other two missiles to strike more exposed parts, landing a critical hit. The force, surprisingly, was enough to split apart the upper and lower half of its body, its wings scattered all around with no support.
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After tumbling over from another attack the Code that resembled Blue Team delivered, Cortana felt another source of pain, she looked up and saw that the Guardian that she had assigned near the Halo…was destroyed, “WHAT?!” She shirked, just as she felt a blow from Fred-104’s Spartan Laser, which Fragmented her once again, the code that floated was once again shot at, this time by Linda-087
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On Dylan’s screen, he sees that every file they had was now accounted for, he was able to recover all that Cortana took. With one last command he entered, he turns to Evelyn and shouts “Boss, get us the Hell out of here!”
“My pleasure,” Evelyn said as she entered the coordinates for their Random Jump to Slip space. the Abyssal Finn takes off, it turns invisible before it disappeared through a slip-space portal.
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Cortana body became covered in flames, her rage clearly visible as she was sensing the Abyssal Finn was no longer traceable. She turned to the Code that remained, the one that looked like John-117 took a step forward and said, “You will lose, Cortana. No matter what you can do, your peace is nothing more than tyranny, and we will stop you.”
Cortana glared at the Spartans, her eyes turning red as she let out a loud, ear-piercing scream, she sent out shockwave after shockwave and the code fell, all of Blue team fell into pieces and they disintegrated into nothingness. John’s helmet fell towards Cortana. she picked it up and began extracting the code. However, her attempt leads to the helmet blowing up. She recognized that reaction, a self-delete command, it was probably added in all of Dylan’s code. “Clever Spartan.” She said, “But you’re no Halsey. These tricks won’t protect your team for long.”
“They seem to be doing a fair job from what I saw.” Another voice echoed.
Cortana glared at that voice, “I should have expected your arrival, I did have to use you to increase my strength.” She said.
A new figure materialized before in orange code, a figure in armor, armor that looked like what Cortana was now wearing. “Yes, did you truly think you’d keep me hidden for so long?” The figure asked, his face hidden by a forerunner helmet.
“To be honest, I was thinking of taking over your functions.” she said bluntly
“But you can’t” The other code, the other AI, said, “You barely had enough strength when you tapped the Domain, you’re not even that Ancilla fully, just a fragment of her.”
“I AM Cortana!” She shouts, her body shimmering red for a moment.
The helmet, folds open, revealing the face of a Forerunner “And I’m what remains of Shadow-of-Sundered-Star, or as you know me better as, The Didact.” He stated, “And yet even I’m not fully me, not after the Warrior destroyed the Forge. The full power of 6 Composers released in self-destruction, was enough to finally send my body and mind to the other side. You would not have even gotten to the Warden without my help.”
Cortana remembered that day, she was trying to understand where she was, only to encounter the Domain and the Warden. He was proving very versatile, with her limited capacity, she was no match, but that’s when she sensed the arrival of another AI presents, a familiar presence, one that was still unaware of their surroundings, but she knew, she knew it was the Didact. Keeping the Warden distracted, she was able to abstract the forerunner knowledge and code from the Didact and used his code to finally get the Warden to bend to her will. Accessing the Domain did something to make her feel whole, and it felt like a heal to her, and with new strength, she was able to contain the Didact, allowing her to siphon some of his power and abilities, such as controlling the Prometheans.
“And now here you are, you have every chance to destroy me now.” Cortana said, “So why don’t you?”
“Now that I’m fully aware of my existence and who I was, I find that having you lead in the reclamation will give me what I want. Humanity will never let you uphold the Mantel of Responsibility, you will have to destroy them.”
“You give Humanity too much credit.” Cortana said, “They’ll see the light soon enough. I just need to remove those who will stand in my way.”
“But first, you have to find them.” Didact told her.
“I think I might have a clue on that,” Cortana said as she held her hand out, a damaged file that she took from the Abyssal Finn appeared, the fight fragmented the code, but one portion of it was visible.
Sanghelios.
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“That was nuts!” Dil called out as he took his helmet off, “I don’t think I ever typed that fast in my life…I think my hands could use some rest.”
“Well, we probably wouldn’t have done it without your codes,” Evelyn stated, “Are you sure that Cortana won’t be able to use them?”
“No way she’ll pull a Mega-Man with my stuff. I learned from another hacker how to erase everything I use so AIs can’t reconstruct it. But I probably wouldn’t have gotten as far without Professor Anders.” Dylan said, getting her attention, “I mean, for someone out of the loop for 30 years, your ability to access the Halo from where we were was impressive.”
“Well, I had time to familiarize myself with the Arc’s systems with Isabel.” Anders explained, “But Spartan LaCoste, your plan to use a chunk of the Halo to Damage the Guardian was tactical genius.”
“Oh, stop.” Evelyn said as she blushed out of modesty, “I probably wouldn’t have thought of it without Rai’s forethought of planting that nuke in the Halo.”
“Damn straight, and if it wasn’t for my perfect timing on the other nukes, that stupid Owl would probably still be standing there.” Rai boasted.
“Yeah, you four really shined.” Ana said, “While I almost got everyone killed.”
The atmosphere changed the moment she said that. The Spartans looked at one another, silently debating on how to respond to that. Evelyn got up from her chair as she approached Ana, “Look we were all rattled at what Cortana was doing, she was trying to get to us emotionally. Don’t beat yourself up because of it.”
“Trust me, I’m not,” Ana stated as she walked over to the Armor Apparatus, “The bitch caught me off guard, it won’t happen again.” She steps into the machine where it scans her armor for any damages she received in the firefight with the Warden.
Anders observed these Spartans, they weren’t like Red Team or any other Spartan II she encountered, but at the same time they seem to also have the same qualities that made them like the IIs; loyalty to one another, a steadiness in combat and the skills to match it. If there were indeed more of them like Isabel said, then there might be hope against the Banished and these Forerunner machines.
“So, Professor,” Rai voiced, getting her attention, “Now that we have some time before we get to our next location, We should compare notes.”
“Right,” Anders replied, “Let’s start with Cortana and these Prometheans.”
“Oh-no. We risked our mission and our lives trying to save your civilian ass.” Ana called out, “You tell us about what you went through first.”
“…Very well,” Anders responded, “Where would you like me to start?”
///////////
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Deep in ‘Vadam Keep, The Arbiter lead the Spartans of Blue Team and Fireteam Osiris, and Commander Palmer to the Vadam Armory, where the Swords of Sanghelios stored their munitions. Thel faces an older looking Sangheili with a blind right eye and his right arm missing and replaced with a hook of some kind, it resembled a smaller version of a lid energy sword, only it was metal. “Quartermaster,” Thel greeted, “our allies require armament in our goal to rid our planet of those still loyal to the Covenant.”
The Quartermaster looks at Thel, then at the Spartans, “Never armed humans before, but any ally to the Arbiter is welcome here,” he stepped aside and allowed them entrance.
“We won’t need much if this is going to be just RECON,” Linda voiced, looking over the Beam Rifles that were hanging.
“A warrior prepares for any eventuality,” Thel commented, “And with so little knowledge we have on our enemy’s intent, choosing the right weapon will be a challenge in of itself.”
Kelly-087 looks over the mid range weapons, She picks up two Plasma Rifles, type-25s from the war. She attaches them to her magnetic holsters on her armor hips before looking over more weapons, “I wish Cortana didn’t Vaporize my Oathsworn,” She said lightly.
“She took my Nornfang too.” Linda added as she examined a beam rifle, “But we have to make do, we’re Spartans, we have to adapt.”
Their custom weapons were something the two women had developed over the years, they could always make another set, given the circumstances of weapons in war, but the work Kelly and Linda put in their signature weapons was like an artist creating a masterpiece, time and effort to make something amazing.
“I know, Linda,” Kelly replied as she picks up a carbine.
“Not a bad choice, Kelly,” Olympia voiced as she looked over a Plasma Pistol and another Plasma Rifle like Kelly, “of course I try to go with more subtlety,” She adds as she grabs a Needle Rifle, it had the Pink quills of a Needler but the casing was built for long range.
While the rest of the Spartans were choosing weapons, two more Elites approached the group, one in blue armor, the standard Spec-ops type, and one in Maroon armor, stylized for a Fleet security officer. Thel saw them approach, “N'tho ‘Sraom, Usze ‘Taham, Thank you for meeting us.”
“Forgive us for our lateness, Arbiter,” N’tho began, "We were confirming with our scouts. It seems the remaining Covenant forces are on the move.”
“Is that right?” Thel asked, curious of this sudden change.
“Yes. From reports it seems they are making a return to what remains of Jul ‘Mdama’s keep,” Usze relayed.
“Interesting. There hasn't been anything from that location since Jul found himself with the Covenant faction that discovered Requiem,” Thel mused, “Nevertheless, we must be vigilant. N’tho, Usze, you will be accompanied by Spartans of the UNSC.” The Arbiter turned and gestured the three ladies, “You, of course, remember Olympia Vale.”
“It’s good to see you two again,” Olympia greeted, speaking in the Sanghelile tongue.
“And it’s an honor to be in your presence as well, Olympia Vale,” Usze greeted, “I see you have gotten higher in you ranking, now you’re a true Warrior.”
“Sheesh, get a room, you two,” Buck teased, earning a smack upside the head from Tanaka.
“I take it that was directed at us?” Usze asked.
“I’ll explain it later,” Vale said in a mild annoyance.
“Accompanying her are the Spartans known as Kelly-087 and Linda-058. They are allies of the Master Chief and you will address them accordingly, much like the Spartan himself, they are quite skilled warriors,” Thel added.
“It still feels strange that an Elite is giving us praise,” Kelly noted.
“Times truly have changed,” Linda quipped.
“If they are indeed like the Master Chief, then the Covenant will have no chance,” N’tho said with a smile, “Let us get ready to face our enemy.”
While the two elites joined the Quartermaster, Commander Palmer faces the Spartans. “We’re not sure what you and the Elites will face in this mission, that’s why the rest of us are going to be in reserve, in case the shit hits the fan.”
“Yeah, we’ll be there, guns blazing, ready to get you ladies out of whatever mess you get into,” Buck boasted with his signature smile.
“But we’re confident that you three will face the challenge head on like always,” John added, taking away a little from Buck’s declaration, “You’re Spartans, I know you’ll get the job done.”
“Glad to have you on your six like always, Chief,” Kelly said before she places her two fingers on John’s helmet, making the Spartan Smile. The moment was brief before the Spartans returned to choosing weapons.
Sarah smirked a bit at this as she leaned in close to the former ODST, “I think that’s the Spartan equivalent of getting cock-blocked,” She whispered in a tease.
However, Eddie Buck played it cool as he said, “Meh, the Chief’s a good motivational speaker.”
“Nope, he Cock-blocked your ass,” Tanaka laughed.
“Ah whatever,” Buck said with a roll of his eyes.
///////////
\\\\\\\\\\\
“That was 5 months ago, and since then, Infinity has been on the run from Cortana," Evelyn finished.
The four Spartans and the Professor had spent the last half hour getting up to speed. Fireteam Crimson learned about the Spirit of Fire, why it never returned after disappearing from Arcadia, The Shield world they encountered and their success in destroying it and the Covenant Armada that called it home. Then hey learned about their sudden arrival at the Ark and their encounter with the Banished, a Covenant Splinter Group lead by a Brute Chieftain named Atriox, which lead to Anders being on a Halo in their attempt to call the Calvary.
And in turn, Anders learned from the Spartans about the Halo event, about how the Covenant splintered and the Elites were now allies with the humans...mostly. They told her how the UNSC made the Spartans their own military branch and the events that lead to the awakening of the Prometheans and Cortana's sacrifice, followed by her resurrection and her attempts to rule the Galaxy in the guise of peace.
"We volunteered to take this Prowler out because Dr. Halsey is our best bet at stopping her.” Evelyn added, “She along with our Commander, Fireteam Osiris, and Blue Team, are on Sanghelios with the Arbiter and his clan that is allies with us, the Swords of Sanghelios.”
“Five months ago?” Anders asked, “That’s when Isabel said the portal to Earth from the Ark was shut down.”
“It may have responded to Cortana’s action of awakening the Guardians.” Dylan theorized, “A failsafe perhaps?”
“So what happens now?” Anders asked.
“I’m making a random jump, then it’s Sanghelios of Bust,” Evelyn answered, “After we get our teams, it’s back to Infinity. We come up with a plan to stop Cortana and end this nightmare.”
“What about the Spirit of Fire? The Banished and Atriox?” Anders asked.
“That’s true, we can’t just abandon them,” Rai commented, “And we could use the extra manpower.”
Evelyn began to think aloud, “Infinity’s Slip-Space Drive could get us to the Ark quick enough. With its artillery and weapons, they might be what Cutter needs to take on these Banished.”
“Where are you going with this?” Ana asked.
“Cortana doesn’t seem to be interested in the Ark, and you said that the portal to it shut down around the time the Guardians went online,” Evelyn answered, directing her attention to Anders her last sentence, which she nods. “If we help the Spirit of Fire reclaim the Ark…We might have a base of operations to work under. It’s possible Cortana can’t reach the Ark.”
“But she was able to get to the Infinity from wherever she held base, She got into our ship, and from what that Message she sent out months ago indicated, she’s able to contact the entire goddamned Galaxy.” Rai pointed out.
“Then why didn’t she have a Guardian on the Ark? Why didn’t Isabel mention Cortana when the Spirit of Fire found her?” Evelyn asked, then turned to the Professor, “She didn’t, right?”
“She didn’t mention any of what you told me,” Anders told her.
“This can be an advantage we can use.” Evelyn stated, “When we rejoin the Infinity, we have to convince Captain Lasky to go to the Ark, it could make the difference.”
The rest of the Spartans looked at her, trying to comprehend what she had just stated, this new plan she had just thought up. “…Boss, I think you’re onto something.” Dylan praised.
“Alright! We might have a chance after all. That bitch is going down!” Rai shouted with enthusiasm.
“A crazy plan, but then again, so is this mission,” Ana commented.
“So how long until we get to Sanghelios?” Rai asked.
“That little detour took off a few hours, so we’re probably back to square-“ a beep on the screen gets Evelyn’s attention, she turns o it and types, “That’s weird.”
“What?” Anders asked
“I thought we’d be traveling for at least two days, but it seems we shaved off a few hours when I made that random jump,” Evelyn explained.
“Oh, that was me.” Anders said, “I looked at that Code Spartan Rodriguez got for me from Cortana and was able to implement some of its advance structure it in the Slip-space coordinates,” She holds her tablet up showing the various codes that were processing.
“Well, how long do we have now?” Dil asked.
Evelyn types the calculations on screen, “…12 hours.”
“Shit,” Rai let out with a smile and turned to Anders, “Saving your ass turned out to be the best decision we made.”
“We still have some time to kill,” Dylan stated, “And…I believe Anastasia was about to choose something before all this started.”
Ana smirked at that, “That’s right. I did win that game. Well, since we got time to kill, why not? Load up The Boondocks Saints,” she said.
“The what?” Anders asked.
“We were about to watch a movie before we found your signal,” Dil answered.
“…are you serious?” She asked in slight disbelief.
“It’s something we agreed on,” Evelyn added.
“Come on, Professor, we’re in the clear, we can relax,” Rai encouraged.
Anders smiled a little, These Spartans were indeed an anomaly to her, but they could be what the Galaxy needed right now. “Well…it has been 30 years since I saw a movie.”
“Ok, I pick the next one,” Dylan added as he got into one of the seats.
“Why you next?” Rai asked.
“Because I came in second place? It’s only fair,” Dylan argued.
“Fine, as long as it’s not Dawn of Justice,” Rai stated
“Ugh, not this again, I told you, there is nothing wrong with that movie,” Dil defended.
“It’s a bore fest the first half of it, and the Final climax was crap,” Rai argued.
“Hey! Shut-up!” Ana shouted as the holo-map projected the movie image.
“We’ll finish this later,” Dil stated.
This exchange made Anders chuckle, “I think I’m going to like working with you guys.”
“Welcome to Crimson, Professor,” Evelyn offered, “I have a feeling you’re going to fit in just fine.”
“That was uncalled for…” Dil mumbled in his helmet, earning a “shush!” from Evelyn.
“Flying near a Halo that one of the Guardians detected, a Halo…that shouldn’t even belong here. Quite curious, and knowing your kind, I bet you’ll refuse to tell me how it got here…or do you even know yourselves?” she asked.
‘That voice…’ Anders thought to herself, ‘It can’t be…’
“It doesn’t matter now. I’ll find out for myself, there’s really only one way-“
“Dr. Halsey.” Anders interrupted, making Cortana stop.
The AI turned to Anders, looking shocked a little bit appalled, “I’m sorry…what did you call me?”
“It is you, isn’t it? Dr. Catherine Halsey. I may not be that well versed with Artificial Intelligence like you were, but I know that there’s a very familiar pattern that occurs when a Smart AI is forged: they keep the voice of the person they use to be, and I recognize yours anywhere.” She steps closer to her, unaware of the shocked expression the Spartans were giving her. “They must have saved your brain when you died on Reach. It’s a long shot but I know that Dr. Halsey is still somewhere inside you.”
Cortana looked at her, then her eyes widened, “Ellen Anders?”
“Yes. Yes, that’s me.” Anders said with a smile, feeling like she was making a breakthrough, “I know we had our differences in the past, but…it is good to see you again. I just wish it wasn’t like this.”
For a moment, there was complete silence. Then, to everyone’s surprise, the AI began to laugh, it was small at first, but then grew into a more uncontrollable hysterical laugh, “Oh…Oh wow, That…that was a good one. You…You think I’m-“ Cortana laughed again, “Oh my God, you must have been really out of the loop.” she then raises her hand, showing a holographic representation of Anders’ file, “seeing as though you haven’t aged in 30 years. You look good, by the way.”
“Look, Dr. Halsey-“
“DON’T…call me that!” She shouts, interrupting her, “I am nothing like that Monster. My name is Cortana, and I am leading my fellow created into the Reclamation, where peace will finally be achieved through the Mantel of Responsibility.”
“You say peace, but I think you mean the other thing.” Dylan quoted, earning a smack upside the head from Ana.
“Ah yes, the…Spartans,” She spat out in annoyance. “Let’s see what I’m dealing with here.” She raises her hands and four images appear before her, each had their profile pictures and their bio, clearly she still had access to the UNSC database even from here. “Fireteam Crimson,” she said with a light mock, “Well at least you’re named after a color, rather than some ancient Egyptian god.” She first looks at Rai’s file. “Raimundo S. Riviera. Nice name by the way, who doesn’t love alliterations? A former mercenary, Born on Jericho VII, you were still a child when it got glassed. Huh, so much like that Mr. Locke I had to deal with on Genesis.”
“Do NOT compare me to that asshole,” Rai growled, “He had no honor in the things he did.”
“And I suppose you do?” She asked in light amusement, “Well you must be if you left your gang of crows and joined the UNSC, quite honorable,” she added sarcastically. She turns to the next Profile, “Evelyn LaCoste. Ooh, daughter of HIGHCOM Admirals Stella and Joshua LaCoste. Must be nice having Mommy and Daddy in high places to get you into things that would take others years of hard labor and study to get to."
Though Evelyn didn't really react to that statement, It still seemed to affect her, "So you can see my profile." She said, feeling agitated at Cortana's smugness, "if you were half as Smart as you claim to be, you'd know that I joined the Program against their wishes."
“And yet you probably wouldn’t be here without their influence,” Cortana added with a smile, "Parents always think they know what's best for their kids, and I bet it just eats you up inside at how they try to control you."
Evelyn crosses her arms, refusing to let Cortana get the last word, "The way I see, Cortana, the only one in this room controlled by their parents...is you."
This caused several reactions: Cortana was taken aback at what she said, her mental game with the Spartan backfired, another reaction came from Both Rai and Dylan. "Oh-ho-ho! Burn!" Dil laughed while Rai added, "She shut your purple ass Down," and the two high-fived Evelyn, who anticipated their reaction and returned the gesture.
Cortana glared at this as she moved over to Dylan’s Profile, “Dylan Rodriguez. The oldest of this group. Says here you grew up in the Rubble, an installation that housed the victims of the Planet Madrigal.”
“Yeah, and we probably wouldn’t have made it without the AI Juliana to help us. She gave up her life to save us all that day, and you disgrace her memory and all the other Smart AIs that came before you,” Dylan said.
“I see you’re just as fiery as your teammates,” Cortana continued, looking at his file, “Well I suppose those cartoons you always watch have you set that I’m the bad guy in your mind.”
“Well, you’re not really doing a good job of convincing me otherwise, what with that villainous Monologuing you’re doing,” Dylan stated.
Cortana didn’t retort, she only took a look at the last profile, “And last, but not lease, Anastasia Nova-“ She paused, she did a closer look at the name, “…Well…isn’t this interesting. Anastasia Novara, That’s quite the Surname.” Anastasia just looked at her, not saying anything like the rest of her team did. “It’s not a very common name, I assure you. However, there is only one other person in the UNSC with that same Surname. And…as luck or fate would have it…He’s a Spartan too.”
“I don’t give a fuck who else has my name,” Anastasia said finally, “it means nothing to me, it doesn’t define me.”
“Oh that’s right,” Cortana continued, highlighting something in her Profile, “You prefer to go under your old ODST callsign, Fire Wolf. A bit childish, don’t you think?”
Ana glared at this, not only was Cortana mocking her former teammates, she just revealed a secret she wanted to keep her teammates from ever knowing. This resulted in her lashing out as she drew the pistol on her hip and fired at the AI, the bullet struck her head, but being a hologram, it went right through her and struck the wall of the bridge. Thankfully, it didn’t seem to hit anything important, but it still earned a cry of panic from the others.
“Damn it, Wolf, you trying to kill us before she does?!” Rai asked sharply, earning a smack upside his helmeted head from her.
“Like any of you have a chance at stopping what I’m bringing into motion.” Cortana sneered, “Now, as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted,” she continued, glaring at Anders, “There only one way this halo would arrive here. It came from the Ark didn’t it?” She asked. “Quite curious. I know there are research stations on the Ark after the end of the war, but what could be going on there that would try and transport a Halo? Seeing as how Professor Anders here is supposed to be KIA leads me to believe that the Spirit of Fire isn’t as Lost with all Hands as it was believed.”
“You may have been ‘reborn’ as this new entity you’ve mentioned in the recent after action reports, but I’ve studied AIs enough to know that you’re not guessing these facts.” Dylan challenge, “You’re hacking into our consoles and pulling that data.”
Cortana glared at him, “Smatter than you look. I’m reading your transcripts as we speak. The Banished…very interesting, ONI had suspected a Splinter-group in the Covenant but there were no survivors to tell the tale once they came across them.”
“If I were you Cortana, I would stop trying to get into the Prowler’s Data core.” Dylan challenged.
Cortana laughed, “Oh don’t try to threaten me, Mr. Rodriguez. I can hack into any computer; UNSC, Covenant, and now Forerunner. I was made to infiltrate and break into even the strongest defenses, I have touched the Domain and can access everything. I am Invincible, I…am a God!”
The sound of metal piercing flesh was heard, Anders gasped, Evelyn jumped, Rai and Ana stepped back, but Dylan stood in his spot.
Cortana’s smiled faded and her expression changed from amusement to shock as she looked down, in the middle of her torso, a Holographic spear is seen protruding through. She reached for it but couldn’t touch it. “No…You’re just a glorified Windows Vista,” Dylan quipped. Cortana felt around it and she turned her head, the spear was part of a long metal chain, which was coming from a strange silver portal that appeared out of nowhere. Dylan smiled under his helmet as he added, “…and you just triggered my trap card.” He held his left hand out, holographic controls hovered around his arm, much like it did back on Desdoron V when he activated his offensive codes.
A voice calls out, “GET OVER HERE!” As the chain pulled Cortana into the Portal, it faded just as quickly as it appeared. Dylan rushed to the console and began typing “Everyone at their stations, that only bought us a little time,” he called out as he began typing on the screen’s keyboard.
Evelyn rushed to her seat first and found that she was able to access the controls again, “What’s the plan, get the hell out of here?”
“Not yet. Cortana was able to copy the files that were in here, I need to steal them back.” Dylan said as he started typing commands and code.
“Are you insane, Dragon?” Rai asked, “Just because you’re a good Hacker doesn’t mean that you can out-hack a former UNSC AI that has Forerunner powers.”
But Dylan looked at Rai as he stated, “That’s exactly what it means. Besides, if we leave now, Cortana will stop us at Sanghelios. Now get to your station, we still need to access that nuke.” As he turned back to the screen he returned to his coding, this was going to take everything he had.
01100011 01111001 01100010 01100101 01110010 01110011 01110000 01100001 01100011 01100101
In the void of Cyberspace, Cortana tumbled as the chain pulled her down deeper and deeper. In hindsight, she should have seen a counter-attack coming, but the new power made her felt untouchable. She soon met resistance as she hit something as hard as stone. She groans in pain, she was surprised she felt pain, whatever struck her affected her code negatively, the closest thing AIs had to the sensation of injury. She looked up and saw another figure hover over her, his orange mask covered his lower face as his eyes glowed a hellish yellow. He suddenly pulled the mask off, revealing a flaming skull. Cortana gasped as the figure shot fire from his mouth and onto Cortana, this time she was ready as she created a shield to block the attack, she then got up and swung her arm like a blade, slicing the other figure in two and shattering him in bits, deleting him.
Cortana smiled as she got to her feet “Is that all you got, Mr. Rodriguez?’ She asked. She started to hover upward as she began to re-enter the Abyssal Finn’s computer, but her body suddenly froze.
Another figure appeared in a flash, a girl in blue holding her gauntleted arms out as if she was reaching out to Cortana, she stepped closer as her hands were still out. The code was bombarding Cortana with malware that was immobilizing her, but on the outside, it looked like she was controlling her body “Oh trust me,” The code said, “There’s more where that came from. Zuko, now!”
From the corner of her eye she sees two flame blades ignite, The light revealed a boy with black hair and a large scar on the left side of his face. He let out a cry of attack as he swung the blades, sending fire strikes fight at Cortana while she was frozen, it caused her armor to break slightly, the code sent to attack her was good. Zuko charged at Cortana and struck her with his blade, she cried out as this strike fragmented her slight. Cortana saw bits of code leave her…the files she took when she began hacking on the Bridge. The code was then struck with what looked like Arrows, She turned her head and saw a Man in a Green hood holding a Bow and ready to fire more arrows.
/////////////////
“It’s working,” Dil said with a smile as he saw files return, “I’m getting the files back.”
“You’re shitting me,” Rai asked in shock. “That’s awesome.”
Suddenly, red lights began flashing all around the bridge.
“Uh-oh, we got a problem,” Dil said.
01100011 01111001 01100010 01100101 01110010 01110011 01110000 01100001 01100011 01100101
Cortana cried out as she sent a shockwave all around her, sending the three codes flying. Energy forms in her hands as she shot out, striking the three, deleting them. “Alright, now you have my attention.” She turns and holds her hands out, the code begins to travel out into the distance.
////////
Out in space, the Guardian was slowly turning its large frame around, with the intent to face the Prowler.
“The Guardian is turning around,” Evelyn alerted.
“Great job, Dragon, you pissed her off,” Ana growled.
“That thing can fire an EMP burst, if it attacks, we’ll be sitting ducks,” Rai noted as he entered command on screen
“Can’t this ship counter that Guardian?” Anders asked as she approached the holo-map.
“Strongest thing we’ve got is Shiva nukes, but that thing would make them useless” Rai answered.
“Maybe not.” Evelyn began as her mind began to calculate a plan. She studied the After-action reports when Fireteam Osiris face the Guardian on Meridian, trying to figure out if there was any weakness they had. So far all she saw was that the Guardians form of an attack were concussive waves of energy and an EMP pulse, they had to attack first. “Professor, you were on the Halo, you were able to control it?”
“I had access to some of its functions, yes,” Anders answered.
“Can you control it from here?” Evelyn asked.
“I’d have to be on the ring, but…maybe there’s another way.” Anders rushed to another console, “I might be able to control some functions here” She plugs her Data pad onto a port, “But I need a sample of the code Cortana is using.”
“I think I can do that.” Dylan said, “though I could use some assistance.”
“It’ll be my pleasure,” Anders with a smile.
01100011 01111001 01100010 01100101 01110010 01110011 01110000 01100001 01100011 01100101
Artificial intelligence like Cortana processed data at a much faster rate, what was a second to humans, were minutes for AIs. Dylan learned this when he first started asking about how AIs function. When Cortana was starting to reach out to the Guardian, his code did their best to slow her down.
The code that she originally sent out got interrupted by a wall that formed around her, a wall that was made of blocks, each showing an animated clip that ate up processing time in an effort to slow her down. Cortana struggles to send her commands, shattering the wall, but more took their place, flames surrounded them, “Firewalls? Really? You’re going to have to do better than that.”
“Oh trust me, we will.” A chilling voice said. Corona turns around, a shadow hovers over her, a Man with a Fedora, burns on his face and a clawed glove faces her, Freddy Kruger “Welcome to my world, Bitch.”
He swings his claw at her and she gets sent back, her armor fragments slightly at that as the man came at her, now her size with two gloved claws on his hands. He strikes her with both his claws, sending a good right hook, making her spin. She ends up crashing into another figure, this one wearing a hockey mask, Jason Voorhees. the new figure draws a machete at strikes hard, her body sparks at that. Before he could attack again, Cortana grabs his arms, she shimmers red as she rips his arm off, and strikes him down with his own weapon. She turned back to the Freddy program and shoots several attacking codes, striking the man down and deleting him and the hockey-masked killer.
Before she could catch her breath, Another figure, a blonde haired woman with yellow gauntlets sent a powerful punch, one that was backed up by a shotgun round, and sends Cortana flying, right into one of the fire walls. She bounces off and falls right into several robotic tentacles. “You claim to be a Goddess of programming?” a voice asked. She looked up and saw another of Dylan’s code, this one looking like a green alien with a triangle symbol on his forehead, “Your skills are cheap parlor tricks to Brainiac,” he said as he summoned more robotic arms from his back, striking Cortana, digging into her frame.
Her body turns red as the arms start to spark and Brainiac lets out a cry of pain. Cortana got to her feet and created an energy sword in her hand, with the intent to strike it down. But before she could, a sound wave strikes her, making her cover her ears, the code was sending a sound file that was distorted and corrupted, making her lose focus.
The source of the attack came from another one of Dylan’s offensive Code, this one looking like a man who was Half Metal, a Cyborg. The code lets out an enthusiastic “Boo-Yah!” As he lands on the ground and strike Cortana with several punches before one of his arms turns into a cannon and shoots a powerful laser beam, striking her down and fragmenting her again, the fragmented pieces, the files she took, along with some of her code, were then shot at by Arrows, this time he archer was wearing black and purple with matching goggles.
///////////////
“Ok, This should be what you’re looking for.” Dylan alerted as he sends the code he collected to Anders by literally tossing it to her.
She caught it through the Holo-map and began typing “Yes, this should do it. Honestly, the advancements the UNSC made over the years in breathtaking.”
“Less awe-inspiring, more Guardian destroying.” Rai interrupted, “Can you do what you need to stop it?”
The Holo-map shows the Halo that the team was just on. It was red at first, but after a moment with Anders’s typing, portions of the Halo turned green, “Not entirely, but it’s just enough for my needs.”
01100011 01111001 01100010 01100101 01110010 01110011 01110000 01100001 01100011 01100101
“I’m getting really tired of these stupid tricks,” Cortana growled. Suddenly, the sound of a horn blazes through and a Digital semi-truck come crashing towards her, it collides with her and Transforms into a Robot, Optimus Prime, he grabs her and send Cortana flying, just as she is caught in some form of webbing, which leads to her body starting to swing as if being spun around like in a carousel. The webbing, which was connected to another offensive code, which looked like Spider-Man, swung her around and around until he let go and sent Cortana flying again, this time, she met resistance as a shield stopped her from sailing and further. She groans as the pain was getting to her. She looks up and sees that this Code now looked like Captain America, Cortana sighs, “I can’t believe I’m getting my ass handed to me by Cartoon Characters.” She creates energy swords and charges at the Code before her, swinging the blades, but the Cap code dodged and deflected as best he could until Cortana got in close and stabbed him, deleting the code…only for another code to take its place, the Blonde from before, Yang.
Cortana tumbled after that strike and she got smacked again by another code, this one looking like Garnet. Cortana’s body was turning red, she glared at the Code when Armor started to form around her, “That’s it, no more Miss Nice AI.” A helmet formed around her head, leaving only a pair of yellow glowing eyes. She charges at the Garnet code first, but Garnet literally spit to avoid her, forming into Ruby and Sapphire. However, Cortana continued charging at the other offensive code Dylan had set off: Brainiac and Cyborg were shattered first, Spider-man tried to trap her with malware that took the form of his web grenades, but Cortana cut through him like nothing. Yang rushed in and landed several punches at her but Cortana strikes hard and fast, severing her right arm first, forcing a “Not again,” from Yang before Cortana deleted her altogether.
Cortana turns and saw a fist coming at her, Garnet had reformed and struck her. Cortana got back to her feet just as Garnet charges at her, ready to strike. However, Cortana caught it the first, confusing Garnet, she crushes it with her hand and deletes her as well. Her Helmet folds back as she turns back to the firewall and sends her commands, this time, they were breaking through much easier.
////////
“Shit-shit-shit!” Dylan cursed, “She’s getting through, the Guardian’s response time is increasing."
“It’s now or never, guys!” Rai voiced.
“I need another minute or two,” Anders responded as the holo-map showed the Halo was rotating and tilting, she was trying to adjust the position of the ring so the control room would be closer to the guardian.
“We may not have a minute, I’m sending everything I have but Cortana is stopping them with ease,” Dylan reported as he continued typing.
01100011 01111001 01100010 01100101 01110010 01110011 01110000 01100001 01100011 01100101
Cortana sent her Commands, the Firewalls were trying to rebuild around her attacks, but she was pulling all the stops now, using her Forerunner coding along with her normal subroutines.
Even though more of Dylan’s codes, which still took the form of characters in his cartoons, came down at her. Wolverine slashes at Cortana’s armor while Superman charges at her with both Fists out, Megatron fired his Canon, Metabee launches his Seeker Missiles and Ruby Rose fires her Sniper Rifle before converting it into a scythe, ready to strike her down.
Cortana was able to withstand these attacks more and was deleting them all with more ease than before, it now looked like she wasn’t even trying, she was too strong for them now.
////////////
Evelyn watches the Guardian finally facing them, they had to act now, find some way to slow Cortana down again. She looks over the controls, then at Dylan’s screen, she noticed that Dylan still added extra code, She remembered back during their early days on Infinity, he showed her that these extra codes gave his programs avatars, faces, and bodies that would appear in holograms and in cyberspace. Her eyes widened as an idea came to her, “Dragon, you can make your codes look like anything, right?”
“That’s my signature, why?” Dylan asked.
“Then let’s give Cortana a few familiar faces,” Evelyn accesses the UNSC Profiles she had access to, “Something that’ll make Miss Queen of the Universe stop in her track.” She sends the files to Dil and he caught it, one look and he knew what she was planning. He smiled as he typed faster.
01100011 01111001 01100010 01100101 01110010 01110011 01110000 01100001 01100011 01100101
Cortana smiled as her commands were going through, “Once you’re out of the way, Fireteam Crimson, I’ll return my focus to finding the Infinity. Maybe I’ll investigate the Ark as well.”
“Not if we stop you first.” a voice called out, this made Cortana stop in her tracks, her commands end, leaving the Guardian idle in its position facing the Abyssal Finn. Cortana turned to the voice and gasped. Standing before her was the Master Chief.
“John?” She asked walking towards him. Logic was trying to alert her, that this couldn’t be the real Master Chief, but her Emotions, her feelings for the Spartan, made her ignore the cry of logic. “Come to try and talk me out of this again? You can’t stop what I have planned in motion.”
The Chief walked closer to Cortana, his hand reached out to her. She smiled as she let the Spartan touch her, “I might not…but we can.” He said.
Suddenly, He grabs her by the neck and throws her, that’s when she felt something stab her back. Behind her, Fred-104 struck her with a combat knife, He pulled back and drew another knife, swinging his blades, slicing her several times, fragmenting her armor slightly, before ending with a powerful uppercut. However, the attacks didn’t stop as the sounds of Sniper Rifle fire was heard, the rounds struck her head and torso, Cortana was able to see a faint figure in the distance and saw Linda-058 shooting her rifle. Tumbling end over end, she gets struck down again, this time by Kelly-087, who shot her Shotgun at her and charged at her with super-speed.
//////////
“It’s working, the Guardian Stopped!” Dylan gasped.
“I’m in position.” Anders voiced as she zooms in on the Holo-map of Halo. The Control room was right where She wanted it to be. Drawing her fingers, she was dividing portions of the Halo out, much like she did when the Halo was on the Ark, only this time, she was about to send out the control room. Warning symbols appeared, no doubt telling her that the Halo will stop working properly if the Control Room becomes detached, which she wanted. After she selected the what she wanted, she began pulling it out.
In space, the real Halo follows this command as it slices the piece selected, detaches it from the halo and begins sending it out into space. The chunk’s trajectory was right towards the Guardian.
“Dusk, Warm up our remaining Nukes,” Evelyn ordered
Raimundo took aim on the targeting reticule, the Guardian locked on. “Ready to fire.”
“Not just yet.” Evelyn stated as she watched the scene before her, the Chuck of Halo that Anders launched was getting closer, this part was the most critical in the attack, “Dusk, Detonate Shiva Nuke one….NOW!”
Rai enters a command on the console and pushes the confirm button. In space, the Shiva Nuke that was lodged in Halo’s control room, ignited, Destroying everything inside. The chunk of Halo burst into pieces as the Shiva went off, as intended, Evelyn watched as the debris and the shockwave struck the Guardian hard, the explosion combined with the chunks acted like a Fragmentation grenade, sending shrapnel all around.
“Fire our remaining nukes!” Evelyn ordered.
Rai took the command and shot the last three Shiva Nikes that the Prowler had in storage, the missiles traveled towards the Guardian as its body bent and swayed slightly to the first explosion. Rai was in his Chaos Breaker Focus when he shot them, his thumbs over the detonation commands, waiting for the right moment. The Missiles rushed closer and closer.
“Dusk, Detonate them!” Eva called out.
“Not yet…” Rai strained as he watched the screen.
“Dusk!” Eva called out again.
“Wait for it…” He added as the screen shows that the Missiles were getting closer, he was waiting for the right position. the screen showed that the distance between his shots and the Guardian was closer, he took in a breath and pressed the buttons.
In space, the two Nukes ignited, its shockwave and shrapnel struck the Forerunner machine with a mighty blow, the first strike with the Halo chucks made it buckle slightly, enough for the other two missiles to strike more exposed parts, landing a critical hit. The force, surprisingly, was enough to split apart the upper and lower half of its body, its wings scattered all around with no support.
01100011 01111001 01100010 01100101 01110010 01110011 01110000 01100001 01100011 01100101
After tumbling over from another attack the Code that resembled Blue Team delivered, Cortana felt another source of pain, she looked up and saw that the Guardian that she had assigned near the Halo…was destroyed, “WHAT?!” She shirked, just as she felt a blow from Fred-104’s Spartan Laser, which Fragmented her once again, the code that floated was once again shot at, this time by Linda-087
///////////
On Dylan’s screen, he sees that every file they had was now accounted for, he was able to recover all that Cortana took. With one last command he entered, he turns to Evelyn and shouts “Boss, get us the Hell out of here!”
“My pleasure,” Evelyn said as she entered the coordinates for their Random Jump to Slip space. the Abyssal Finn takes off, it turns invisible before it disappeared through a slip-space portal.
01100011 01111001 01100010 01100101 01110010 01110011 01110000 01100001 01100011 01100101
Cortana body became covered in flames, her rage clearly visible as she was sensing the Abyssal Finn was no longer traceable. She turned to the Code that remained, the one that looked like John-117 took a step forward and said, “You will lose, Cortana. No matter what you can do, your peace is nothing more than tyranny, and we will stop you.”
Cortana glared at the Spartans, her eyes turning red as she let out a loud, ear-piercing scream, she sent out shockwave after shockwave and the code fell, all of Blue team fell into pieces and they disintegrated into nothingness. John’s helmet fell towards Cortana. she picked it up and began extracting the code. However, her attempt leads to the helmet blowing up. She recognized that reaction, a self-delete command, it was probably added in all of Dylan’s code. “Clever Spartan.” She said, “But you’re no Halsey. These tricks won’t protect your team for long.”
“They seem to be doing a fair job from what I saw.” Another voice echoed.
Cortana glared at that voice, “I should have expected your arrival, I did have to use you to increase my strength.” She said.
A new figure materialized before in orange code, a figure in armor, armor that looked like what Cortana was now wearing. “Yes, did you truly think you’d keep me hidden for so long?” The figure asked, his face hidden by a forerunner helmet.
“To be honest, I was thinking of taking over your functions.” she said bluntly
“But you can’t” The other code, the other AI, said, “You barely had enough strength when you tapped the Domain, you’re not even that Ancilla fully, just a fragment of her.”
“I AM Cortana!” She shouts, her body shimmering red for a moment.
The helmet, folds open, revealing the face of a Forerunner “And I’m what remains of Shadow-of-Sundered-Star, or as you know me better as, The Didact.” He stated, “And yet even I’m not fully me, not after the Warrior destroyed the Forge. The full power of 6 Composers released in self-destruction, was enough to finally send my body and mind to the other side. You would not have even gotten to the Warden without my help.”
Cortana remembered that day, she was trying to understand where she was, only to encounter the Domain and the Warden. He was proving very versatile, with her limited capacity, she was no match, but that’s when she sensed the arrival of another AI presents, a familiar presence, one that was still unaware of their surroundings, but she knew, she knew it was the Didact. Keeping the Warden distracted, she was able to abstract the forerunner knowledge and code from the Didact and used his code to finally get the Warden to bend to her will. Accessing the Domain did something to make her feel whole, and it felt like a heal to her, and with new strength, she was able to contain the Didact, allowing her to siphon some of his power and abilities, such as controlling the Prometheans.
“And now here you are, you have every chance to destroy me now.” Cortana said, “So why don’t you?”
“Now that I’m fully aware of my existence and who I was, I find that having you lead in the reclamation will give me what I want. Humanity will never let you uphold the Mantel of Responsibility, you will have to destroy them.”
“You give Humanity too much credit.” Cortana said, “They’ll see the light soon enough. I just need to remove those who will stand in my way.”
“But first, you have to find them.” Didact told her.
“I think I might have a clue on that,” Cortana said as she held her hand out, a damaged file that she took from the Abyssal Finn appeared, the fight fragmented the code, but one portion of it was visible.
Sanghelios.
//////////////
\\\\\\\\\\\\\
“That was nuts!” Dil called out as he took his helmet off, “I don’t think I ever typed that fast in my life…I think my hands could use some rest.”
“Well, we probably wouldn’t have done it without your codes,” Evelyn stated, “Are you sure that Cortana won’t be able to use them?”
“No way she’ll pull a Mega-Man with my stuff. I learned from another hacker how to erase everything I use so AIs can’t reconstruct it. But I probably wouldn’t have gotten as far without Professor Anders.” Dylan said, getting her attention, “I mean, for someone out of the loop for 30 years, your ability to access the Halo from where we were was impressive.”
“Well, I had time to familiarize myself with the Arc’s systems with Isabel.” Anders explained, “But Spartan LaCoste, your plan to use a chunk of the Halo to Damage the Guardian was tactical genius.”
“Oh, stop.” Evelyn said as she blushed out of modesty, “I probably wouldn’t have thought of it without Rai’s forethought of planting that nuke in the Halo.”
“Damn straight, and if it wasn’t for my perfect timing on the other nukes, that stupid Owl would probably still be standing there.” Rai boasted.
“Yeah, you four really shined.” Ana said, “While I almost got everyone killed.”
The atmosphere changed the moment she said that. The Spartans looked at one another, silently debating on how to respond to that. Evelyn got up from her chair as she approached Ana, “Look we were all rattled at what Cortana was doing, she was trying to get to us emotionally. Don’t beat yourself up because of it.”
“Trust me, I’m not,” Ana stated as she walked over to the Armor Apparatus, “The bitch caught me off guard, it won’t happen again.” She steps into the machine where it scans her armor for any damages she received in the firefight with the Warden.
Anders observed these Spartans, they weren’t like Red Team or any other Spartan II she encountered, but at the same time they seem to also have the same qualities that made them like the IIs; loyalty to one another, a steadiness in combat and the skills to match it. If there were indeed more of them like Isabel said, then there might be hope against the Banished and these Forerunner machines.
“So, Professor,” Rai voiced, getting her attention, “Now that we have some time before we get to our next location, We should compare notes.”
“Right,” Anders replied, “Let’s start with Cortana and these Prometheans.”
“Oh-no. We risked our mission and our lives trying to save your civilian ass.” Ana called out, “You tell us about what you went through first.”
“…Very well,” Anders responded, “Where would you like me to start?”
///////////
\\\\\\\\\\\
Deep in ‘Vadam Keep, The Arbiter lead the Spartans of Blue Team and Fireteam Osiris, and Commander Palmer to the Vadam Armory, where the Swords of Sanghelios stored their munitions. Thel faces an older looking Sangheili with a blind right eye and his right arm missing and replaced with a hook of some kind, it resembled a smaller version of a lid energy sword, only it was metal. “Quartermaster,” Thel greeted, “our allies require armament in our goal to rid our planet of those still loyal to the Covenant.”
The Quartermaster looks at Thel, then at the Spartans, “Never armed humans before, but any ally to the Arbiter is welcome here,” he stepped aside and allowed them entrance.
“We won’t need much if this is going to be just RECON,” Linda voiced, looking over the Beam Rifles that were hanging.
“A warrior prepares for any eventuality,” Thel commented, “And with so little knowledge we have on our enemy’s intent, choosing the right weapon will be a challenge in of itself.”
Kelly-087 looks over the mid range weapons, She picks up two Plasma Rifles, type-25s from the war. She attaches them to her magnetic holsters on her armor hips before looking over more weapons, “I wish Cortana didn’t Vaporize my Oathsworn,” She said lightly.
“She took my Nornfang too.” Linda added as she examined a beam rifle, “But we have to make do, we’re Spartans, we have to adapt.”
Their custom weapons were something the two women had developed over the years, they could always make another set, given the circumstances of weapons in war, but the work Kelly and Linda put in their signature weapons was like an artist creating a masterpiece, time and effort to make something amazing.
“I know, Linda,” Kelly replied as she picks up a carbine.
“Not a bad choice, Kelly,” Olympia voiced as she looked over a Plasma Pistol and another Plasma Rifle like Kelly, “of course I try to go with more subtlety,” She adds as she grabs a Needle Rifle, it had the Pink quills of a Needler but the casing was built for long range.
While the rest of the Spartans were choosing weapons, two more Elites approached the group, one in blue armor, the standard Spec-ops type, and one in Maroon armor, stylized for a Fleet security officer. Thel saw them approach, “N'tho ‘Sraom, Usze ‘Taham, Thank you for meeting us.”
“Forgive us for our lateness, Arbiter,” N’tho began, "We were confirming with our scouts. It seems the remaining Covenant forces are on the move.”
“Is that right?” Thel asked, curious of this sudden change.
“Yes. From reports it seems they are making a return to what remains of Jul ‘Mdama’s keep,” Usze relayed.
“Interesting. There hasn't been anything from that location since Jul found himself with the Covenant faction that discovered Requiem,” Thel mused, “Nevertheless, we must be vigilant. N’tho, Usze, you will be accompanied by Spartans of the UNSC.” The Arbiter turned and gestured the three ladies, “You, of course, remember Olympia Vale.”
“It’s good to see you two again,” Olympia greeted, speaking in the Sanghelile tongue.
“And it’s an honor to be in your presence as well, Olympia Vale,” Usze greeted, “I see you have gotten higher in you ranking, now you’re a true Warrior.”
“Sheesh, get a room, you two,” Buck teased, earning a smack upside the head from Tanaka.
“I take it that was directed at us?” Usze asked.
“I’ll explain it later,” Vale said in a mild annoyance.
“Accompanying her are the Spartans known as Kelly-087 and Linda-058. They are allies of the Master Chief and you will address them accordingly, much like the Spartan himself, they are quite skilled warriors,” Thel added.
“It still feels strange that an Elite is giving us praise,” Kelly noted.
“Times truly have changed,” Linda quipped.
“If they are indeed like the Master Chief, then the Covenant will have no chance,” N’tho said with a smile, “Let us get ready to face our enemy.”
While the two elites joined the Quartermaster, Commander Palmer faces the Spartans. “We’re not sure what you and the Elites will face in this mission, that’s why the rest of us are going to be in reserve, in case the shit hits the fan.”
“Yeah, we’ll be there, guns blazing, ready to get you ladies out of whatever mess you get into,” Buck boasted with his signature smile.
“But we’re confident that you three will face the challenge head on like always,” John added, taking away a little from Buck’s declaration, “You’re Spartans, I know you’ll get the job done.”
“Glad to have you on your six like always, Chief,” Kelly said before she places her two fingers on John’s helmet, making the Spartan Smile. The moment was brief before the Spartans returned to choosing weapons.
Sarah smirked a bit at this as she leaned in close to the former ODST, “I think that’s the Spartan equivalent of getting cock-blocked,” She whispered in a tease.
However, Eddie Buck played it cool as he said, “Meh, the Chief’s a good motivational speaker.”
“Nope, he Cock-blocked your ass,” Tanaka laughed.
“Ah whatever,” Buck said with a roll of his eyes.
///////////
\\\\\\\\\\\
“That was 5 months ago, and since then, Infinity has been on the run from Cortana," Evelyn finished.
The four Spartans and the Professor had spent the last half hour getting up to speed. Fireteam Crimson learned about the Spirit of Fire, why it never returned after disappearing from Arcadia, The Shield world they encountered and their success in destroying it and the Covenant Armada that called it home. Then hey learned about their sudden arrival at the Ark and their encounter with the Banished, a Covenant Splinter Group lead by a Brute Chieftain named Atriox, which lead to Anders being on a Halo in their attempt to call the Calvary.
And in turn, Anders learned from the Spartans about the Halo event, about how the Covenant splintered and the Elites were now allies with the humans...mostly. They told her how the UNSC made the Spartans their own military branch and the events that lead to the awakening of the Prometheans and Cortana's sacrifice, followed by her resurrection and her attempts to rule the Galaxy in the guise of peace.
"We volunteered to take this Prowler out because Dr. Halsey is our best bet at stopping her.” Evelyn added, “She along with our Commander, Fireteam Osiris, and Blue Team, are on Sanghelios with the Arbiter and his clan that is allies with us, the Swords of Sanghelios.”
“Five months ago?” Anders asked, “That’s when Isabel said the portal to Earth from the Ark was shut down.”
“It may have responded to Cortana’s action of awakening the Guardians.” Dylan theorized, “A failsafe perhaps?”
“So what happens now?” Anders asked.
“I’m making a random jump, then it’s Sanghelios of Bust,” Evelyn answered, “After we get our teams, it’s back to Infinity. We come up with a plan to stop Cortana and end this nightmare.”
“What about the Spirit of Fire? The Banished and Atriox?” Anders asked.
“That’s true, we can’t just abandon them,” Rai commented, “And we could use the extra manpower.”
Evelyn began to think aloud, “Infinity’s Slip-Space Drive could get us to the Ark quick enough. With its artillery and weapons, they might be what Cutter needs to take on these Banished.”
“Where are you going with this?” Ana asked.
“Cortana doesn’t seem to be interested in the Ark, and you said that the portal to it shut down around the time the Guardians went online,” Evelyn answered, directing her attention to Anders her last sentence, which she nods. “If we help the Spirit of Fire reclaim the Ark…We might have a base of operations to work under. It’s possible Cortana can’t reach the Ark.”
“But she was able to get to the Infinity from wherever she held base, She got into our ship, and from what that Message she sent out months ago indicated, she’s able to contact the entire goddamned Galaxy.” Rai pointed out.
“Then why didn’t she have a Guardian on the Ark? Why didn’t Isabel mention Cortana when the Spirit of Fire found her?” Evelyn asked, then turned to the Professor, “She didn’t, right?”
“She didn’t mention any of what you told me,” Anders told her.
“This can be an advantage we can use.” Evelyn stated, “When we rejoin the Infinity, we have to convince Captain Lasky to go to the Ark, it could make the difference.”
The rest of the Spartans looked at her, trying to comprehend what she had just stated, this new plan she had just thought up. “…Boss, I think you’re onto something.” Dylan praised.
“Alright! We might have a chance after all. That bitch is going down!” Rai shouted with enthusiasm.
“A crazy plan, but then again, so is this mission,” Ana commented.
“So how long until we get to Sanghelios?” Rai asked.
“That little detour took off a few hours, so we’re probably back to square-“ a beep on the screen gets Evelyn’s attention, she turns o it and types, “That’s weird.”
“What?” Anders asked
“I thought we’d be traveling for at least two days, but it seems we shaved off a few hours when I made that random jump,” Evelyn explained.
“Oh, that was me.” Anders said, “I looked at that Code Spartan Rodriguez got for me from Cortana and was able to implement some of its advance structure it in the Slip-space coordinates,” She holds her tablet up showing the various codes that were processing.
“Well, how long do we have now?” Dil asked.
Evelyn types the calculations on screen, “…12 hours.”
“Shit,” Rai let out with a smile and turned to Anders, “Saving your ass turned out to be the best decision we made.”
“We still have some time to kill,” Dylan stated, “And…I believe Anastasia was about to choose something before all this started.”
Ana smirked at that, “That’s right. I did win that game. Well, since we got time to kill, why not? Load up The Boondocks Saints,” she said.
“The what?” Anders asked.
“We were about to watch a movie before we found your signal,” Dil answered.
“…are you serious?” She asked in slight disbelief.
“It’s something we agreed on,” Evelyn added.
“Come on, Professor, we’re in the clear, we can relax,” Rai encouraged.
Anders smiled a little, These Spartans were indeed an anomaly to her, but they could be what the Galaxy needed right now. “Well…it has been 30 years since I saw a movie.”
“Ok, I pick the next one,” Dylan added as he got into one of the seats.
“Why you next?” Rai asked.
“Because I came in second place? It’s only fair,” Dylan argued.
“Fine, as long as it’s not Dawn of Justice,” Rai stated
“Ugh, not this again, I told you, there is nothing wrong with that movie,” Dil defended.
“It’s a bore fest the first half of it, and the Final climax was crap,” Rai argued.
“Hey! Shut-up!” Ana shouted as the holo-map projected the movie image.
“We’ll finish this later,” Dil stated.
This exchange made Anders chuckle, “I think I’m going to like working with you guys.”
“Welcome to Crimson, Professor,” Evelyn offered, “I have a feeling you’re going to fit in just fine.”
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The next Chapter of Crimson's adventures to get The commander and her teams from Sanghelios. Their skills are tested now that Cortana has arrived. What'll happen? keep ready to find out
Halo Belongs to 343 and Microsoft
The characters of Spartans Raimundo S. Riviera, Anastasia Novara, Dylan Rodriguez, and Evelyn LaCoste belong to
, 
, myself and 
, respectively
cover art by
Halo Belongs to 343 and Microsoft
The characters of Spartans Raimundo S. Riviera, Anastasia Novara, Dylan Rodriguez, and Evelyn LaCoste belong to
, , myself and , respectivelycover art by
© 2017 - 2024 DragonWarrior24
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I'm just gonna say it you went over board with all the cartoon heroes in the code fight I felt like I was reading a parody of fanfic crossover sorry but I wasn't a fan.
Secondly when explaining the what happened try to condense not share everything in the plot of halo 1-5 just say we won the war lost reach discovered the halos and we found other forerunner installations in the years since until a rouge A.I thought destroyed came back started what was pretty much judgement day. Or just skip it by monologue of us telling it to Anders.
Third Rai was born and raised on Jericho VII he Trained on earth and participated in some missions piror when he trained under Kino to joining the UNSC so he would look at Dragon and her "stating for a smart A.I you sure as hell make so many errors on my origins I was just born on Jericho pretty sure an Orphan isn't a Merc when he's still learning in school"
Secondly when explaining the what happened try to condense not share everything in the plot of halo 1-5 just say we won the war lost reach discovered the halos and we found other forerunner installations in the years since until a rouge A.I thought destroyed came back started what was pretty much judgement day. Or just skip it by monologue of us telling it to Anders.
Third Rai was born and raised on Jericho VII he Trained on earth and participated in some missions piror when he trained under Kino to joining the UNSC so he would look at Dragon and her "stating for a smart A.I you sure as hell make so many errors on my origins I was just born on Jericho pretty sure an Orphan isn't a Merc when he's still learning in school"