Halo: The Crimson Arc, Rings

 The Abyssal Finn floated in space, it’s cloaking systems online and thankfully, making it blind to the Guardian that was before them. The Forerunner construct’s back was facing the Prowler as it seemed to focus on the Larger Forerunner Construct: a Halo, one of the 7 Ring worlds created by the Forerunners in a means to stop the flood by destroying all life in the Galaxy.

The Spartans of Fireteam Crimsons were anything but relaxed at this new development, "Fuckin' Owls," Raimundo cursed as he rushed to the Armor Apparatus, ready for a fight, "Can we ever get a break?"

“Ok, Hot Pocket, why the fuck haven’t we gotten out of this system right now?” Anastasia asked with an edge in her voice, she was not happy about this current situation at all.

“I’m kinda more concerned that there’s a Guardian right near a freakin' Halo ring,” Evelyn argued, her voice just as agitated and nervous. “What’s it doing? Is Cortana going to activate the Halos?”

“It wouldn’t make sense, she wants to rule the Galaxy,” Rai voiced, “Would she really clear the decks like this?”

“I think the bigger question is what’s a Halo doing here?” Dylan asked as he looked at his Datapad.

“It’s a Halo, Dragon,” Ana argued, “Halos are scattered throughout the goddamn Galaxy.”

“That’s my point,” Dylan replied.

The three look at him with confusion, “Um…you might want to go into better details, Dragon.” Rai stated as he finished getting his armor on.

Dylan places the tablet on the Holo-map, “Here is the Milky Way Galaxy, our Galaxy.” He began as a holo-map came into view. “This is the Sol System where Earth is,” He highlighted, turning the area blue, “the Urs system, home of Sanghelios,” said system turned red, “And here is where we are.” He highlights a section in green to represent themselves. “Now, this map is up to date, and the UNSC has managed to find the remaining Halos and made research stations, which gives us their locations.” On the holo-map, six Halos appear at the edges of the Galaxy, just as the Ark said they would be when the UNSC visited the Ark near the end of the war, “Notice anything wrong?”

The three weren’t sure what he meant, but Evelyn gasped, seeing it before anyone else, “There are no Halos where we are now.”

“Are you blind? It’s right there.” Ana voiced, pointing outside.

“But it wasn’t on the map.” Rai realized, “which means…this Halo doesn’t belong here.”

“More to the point, this is the 7th one.” Dil added, “Master Chief destroyed the first one, and there are six full Halos on the map. This is a new Halo.”

“How do you know Cortana didn’t just move a Halo here?” Ana asked

“Cortana may act like this queen of the galaxy, but she’s still an A.I. If she WAS going to use the Halos, she would have them in their original positions, where they’d do the most damage, which would be the most logical choice.” Evelyn estimated, “This Halo is in the middle of nowhere, not even close to the first one's original position. And that signal we picked up is coming from the installation, it’s on a UNSC frequency. There must be survivors of a research base on the ring.”

“Or it could just be another trap.” Ava voiced, “Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t these Halos only work with a Reclaimer, I.E., a Human? Maybe all the humans there died and Cortana is faking a signal.”  

“If that was the case, wouldn’t the Guardian be out of sight? I mean this thing just screams ‘Cortana is here’” Raimundo argued. “If I were her and setting a trap, I would leave no trace of myself.”

“Then it looks like we have to Investigate,” Dylan stated.

“Forget it!” Anastasia called out, “Our mission was to head straight to Sanghelios, we’re not making a detour.”

“But what if there are humans on the ring? We can’t leave them behind.” Evelyn reasoned.

“And what if it’s a trap? Then we’d be dead and this mission goes down the crapper.” Ana argued.

“I hate to say it, but Wolf has a point,” Rai agreed, “this can still be a trap.”

“Well, I can’t just think about ‘What if.’ We should find a way to at least see what is going on in that ring.” Dylan countered.

“The Prowler is equipped with recon drones.” Evelyn brought up, “We can send one to the ring. However, we still have to at least enter the Halo’s atmosphere to stay in range.”

“And…I suppose as long as the cloaking is still on, that Guardian can’t see us.” Rai agreed.

“We can keep out of its sight, The rings rotate to achieve their gravity. We can basically stay in one place if we need to and let the Halo move for us.” Dylan explained.

Anastasia sighed loudly at this “…Fine. But I’m not getting off this bird.”

“I’d rather not land on this ring either, so you’re in good company.” Rai agreed.

///////////

After a half hour to get everything ready, the Abyssal Finn entered Halo’s atmosphere, Their placement on the ring was well past the Guardian’s line of sight, they were just above the top of the Halo. Coincidently, it was also the same location as their Starting point in their search: Halo’s Control room. Though not all control rooms were in the same place on every Halo, they did have similar footprints as to where certain rooms were, such as the Cartographer; the map room, The Library, where a Halo Index would be found, and of course, Halo’s main control room.

Once they were over an important looking structure, Evelyn launched the first Drone from the Prowler, a new type of surveillance equipment for Recon Missions: Sleek and subtle, it starts out shooting like a rocket before the outer shell opens up, revealing a smaller design. As it gets closer to the ground, the drone started to change its shape, transforming into something that resembled a quad-blade helicopter, only the blades were really antigrav technology the UNSC developed long after the war. The head was still intact as it housed the camera Fireteam Crimson were now looking through.

“Ok, Looks like a successful launch of the Drone,” Dylan said.

“According to the specs, this type of drone is dubbed the Dragonfly,” Evelyn noted.

“Not a bad sounding name,” Ana commented, “Though I would have gone with Finch.”

“Alright. According to records, we should be near what should be Halo’s control room” Evelyn said as she took over the Finch’s controls manually. The Small machine began to hover over forerunner structures and walkways, its camera observers all around, recording everything it sees. “Wait, what is that?” Evelyn asked as she focuses on something.

“I don’t see anything,” Dylan said.

“The camera is equipped with VISR technology, hold on,” Evelyn said as she enters a command.

The Visual Intelligence System, Reconnaissance, or more commonly known as VISR, is a Data Management system that provides tactical data in real time as it is broadcast through the Spartan IVs helmets. They were first tested with the ODSTs and some of the early Spartan IIIs had the tech added into their helmets, but since the IVs were created, the technology was vastly improved, now useable weapons were highlighted along with Allies and Enemies. When Evelyn switched the VISR on, what she saw was now highlighted: Bullet casings, Chucks of metal and parts from UNSC vehicles…along with the familiar scatter of Covenant weapons, but these were red instead of the more common purple.

“…looks like a battle took place here,” Rai noted.

“Thanks, Eagle Eye,” Ana said with a light tone pf annoyance at Rai’s obviousness.

“This ring is giving us more questions than answers.” Dylan voiced in annoyance.

“Wait, I think I saw movement,” Evelyn said as she moved the drone to another area, what appears to be the main entrance, She gasped as she saw that it wasn’t deserted. Idling glancing around and scouting were the Prometheans, the Forerunner machines created by the Didact when he was resurrected on Requiem. There were 5 of the Crawler variety, three Soldiers, two Watchers and one Knight.

“Well, this was expected,” Dylan said, breaking the tension.

“What are they doing?” Rai asked.

“They seem to be…waiting for something.” Evelyn theorized, “But for what I’m not sure.”

“Could this be where that signal is coming from?” Rai asked.

“Let's find out,” Evelyn said as she entered commands. The Dragonfly opens its communication channel to detect any and all signals and broadcast. That’s when the same 6-tone sound they heard before played.

“The fact that this is one huge trap keeps looking more and more possible.” Ana voiced.

“If that was the case, then why would there be Prometheans out in the open?” Evelyn asked, “They’d stay hidden.”

As the Dragonfly moved in closer to examine the area, one of the Crawlers looked up, its head glowed as a ring formed around its head and it let out a shriek.

“Shit, it has a mouth,” Ana called out, earning a glare from Dylan. When they were on Requiem on one of their missions, Dylan was pinned down by Crawlers, one of them had the modification of seeing through walls and was equipped with a disintegrating Binary Rifle, when he called out to warn his team, his attempt to say, “They have disintegrating laser mouths” came out as just, “It has a mouth.” Earning him ridicule from his team, Ana especially. Now she uses it every time they spot a Crawler with those specifications, to both alert her team and to annoy Dylan.

The Crawler opened its mouth and fired…right at the Dragonfly, destroying it completely. All Crimson saw now was static. “…I vote to get out of here now.” Ana said, breaking the silence

“No. Guys, we didn’t really see anything, we have to get a closer look,” Dil suggested.

“I told you, Dragon, I am not getting off this ship just to spring a trap we know is down there.” Anastasia defied.

“Then don’t.” Dylan countered, “I’ll go down there.”

“Dude, no,” Rai stated.

“Look, so far the only threat is the Prometheans, we take them out, we’ll be safe,” Dylan argued.

“Why not just do it from here?” Rai asked, “the Abbysal Finn has plenty of weapons.”  

“If there ARE humans down there, we risk injuring them.” Evelyn countered.

“There are no humans down there!” Ana objected.

“I refuse to believe that, Ana.” Dylan lectured, “And if none of you are willing to take the chance, I’ll do it.”

He heads towards the Apparatus with the intent to armor up. “Dil wait,” Evelyn called out, stopping him. He turns to her, wanting to hear what she has to say. “…I think I can help you take them out.” She turns to the controls, “I can load weapon drops right over the area, the concussive force should be enough to disorient them so you can finish them off. But it means you’ll have to jump from the ship to surprise them.”

“You are not serious about this,” Ana said in disbelief looking at Evelyn.

“I’m sorry, but Dil’s right. I can’t live with myself knowing that there might be humans down there and we did nothing. Our Mission, as Spartans, is to save as many lives as possible, and this is a possibility we have to take.”

The tension was back again and thick, the four Spartans seem to be at a stalemate at what should be done. Dil was still near the Apparatus, Ana at his right, Rai at his left and Eva at the controls.

Rai was the first to speak, “If you’re serious about this, then I’m going with you.”

“I’d like that, but in all honesty, I’m gonna need you at the controls with Boss. between the both of you, you’re the best backup to have above us.”

“Damn, I was hoping to shatter a few of those tin cans.” Rai voiced in mock disappointment.

“If you think I’m going to come with you-“

“I don’t expect you to.” Dil said interrupting Ana, “though if you can suggest a few weapons to take with, I’d be grateful.”

Ana looks at him, crossing her arms, “If you want to end things quickly, bring the heavy hitters you're used to.” She suggested, “I can load them into the weapon drop pods.”

“Thank you.” He said smiling.

///////////

Dylan was now fully armored as he stood just outside the bay doors of the Abyssal Finn. He checks the guns he was taking with him: a standard DMR what hung on his back, on his hip holster were both an SMG and a Magnum, something he often paired together back in his Hell-jumper days.

“Ok, Dragon, we’ve loaded a SAW and a Rocket Launcher into the Weapon Drop pods” Evelyn reported, “We’ll fire halfway through your decent, since you’ll be controlling your fall, they’ll most likely hit the ground first. This timeframe should be enough to surprise them before they can counter or call for help.”

“Roger that,” Dil replied.

“Remember, you are to make landfall, take out the targets and investigate that control room.” Rai added as he sat at the weapon controls, “We’ll provide backup if things go south. the main objective is to make sure they bite it before they can call for backup.”

“If it’s a trap, Run the opposite direction and we’ll get you,” Ana added.

“And if it isn’t?” Dylan asked.

“…Then get those people out of there as best you can. We won’t leave them behind.” she answered.

Dylan smiled at this, “Ok, we’re over the LZ, Opening the bay doors now.” Evelyn announced.

The door opens, air starts billowing in and out as the Prowler continued its speed. Dylan took a deep breath. “Time to Swoop down and Bring Devastation.” He said to himself before running out of the doors and jumping.

Even in full armor, one wrong move and Dil could end up dying from the fall. Thankfully, Spartan Training included exercise like this to help Spartans drop in hot when needed, they had to develop a Landing Strategy so they would take minimum damage. Dil went in face first, pointing straight down, being as narrow as possible so his speed would increase, his armor’s retro-rockets propelled him quickly as he soon saw his target: the entrance to the Control room.

Back on the ship, Evelyn looked over his trajectory that Dil was creating, “Ok, Dusk, Fire the Drop pods….Now!” She commanded. Rai took aim and launched. The two pods shot out from under the Prowler and right towards Dil’s location.

As Dil got closer, the Rockets on his armor start to turn in front of him to slow his decent, he still had to maneuver his body so his landing would have him ready. His helmet detects the pods coming his way and he maneuvers around them just in time.

On the ground, the Prometheans continued their watch, to see if the doors to the Control room will open, the target inside couldn’t stay hidden forever. Then, in a flash, they were attacked. One of the Drop Pods that the Prowler shot down struck a Soldier and Watcher, destroying them while the second one strikes near the Knight, sending it flying towards the wall. The remaining Prometheans turned upward and saw Dylan come at them, they fired but Dil manages to shock them by performing a Ground Pound, sending a shockwave all around and disorienting them, allowing Dil to attack. He draws his DMR first, firing at the first Crawler that turned to him, he got three shots in before it blew up. He turns to the Solider on his left, he holsters the DMR and drew his SMG at the same time, firing at his head and chest, denting and breaking the armor, it roars at him before de pulls his Magnum out, firing at his head and shattering it.

“Dragon, Watcher at 4 o’clock!” Rai called out. He turns and saw the second watcher beginning its resurrection of the Crawler he shot down. He holsters both SMG and Magnum and tosses a grenade. The watcher shot a tractor beam and caught it, spinning it around and ready to throw it back, but Dil drew his DMR again and fired at it, the Grenade was a distraction so he can shoot the Watcher with ease. The final shot blows the Watcher to bits as it drops the grenade, it goes off, hitting the third Soldier. Dil fires, but sees that the clip was empty. He switched to his SMG and Pistol, pulling the triggers hard as he destroyed the soldier.

A roar was heard and he sees the three watchers shooting at him. He runs towards one of the Drop Pods and pulls the weapon, a Rocket Launder…Specifically, the High-Five. This type of Rocket Launcher was created in a means to merge the Hydra’s multi-shot capabilities as it fires a shell that split into 5 Rockets. Dil took aim, the Smart-Scope locked onto the Crawlers and fired, The shell flew at them, it splits into 5 Rockets and rains down on the Prometheans, shattering them to bits. He smiled, “Boo-Yah!”

“Dragon, Knight on your six!” Ana called out. Dil turned and saw the Promethean Knight jump and charge at him with its bladed arm. He jumps, his suits thrusters helped him dodge the strike.

Dil realized he was too close to fire the High-Five at the knight. Thankfully, he ended up near the second Drop Pod, and it's loaded weapons. He sees the Knight aim at him, he sees its a Scattershot, a Shotgun-like Promethean weapon. He grabs onto the pod with one hand before jumping, the thrusters elevating him upward more, allowing him to flip completely over the pod. he grabs the SAW that was inside, he smiled, it was The Answer, The SAW variant that he was looking at before all this started. He jumps upward, high into the sky and locks onto the knight, he pulls the trigger and sends a volley of mini-explosives at the Knight, showering it with bullets, striking the large carapace from the front, shattering the shell-like armor, exposing its inner core, making it roar in pain and exposing its innards more, destroying it after a full clip.

Dil paused as he caught his breath, “All targets eliminated.” Evelyn said through the coms, letting Dil sigh in relief.

“Hey, Cripple, before you continue, reload your guns,” Ana added, making Dil chuckle. He changed the magazines on all the weapons he had. He leaves the Rocket Launcher into its Pod as he puts The Answer on his back, the DMR in his arms was fully loaded as he approached the entrance to the control room.

“Ok. Now…how the hell do I open this?” Dylan asked, mostly to himself.

“Dragon, I’m looking through your HUD.” Evelyn pointed out, “On your right looks like a lock of some kind.”

He turns and notices a small orb-like device, covered in hexagonal glyphs. “Hmm…it looks like one of the control screens on Requiem, Only the Orb thing is bigger.”

“You’ve seen one forerunner Lock, you’ve seen them all. Just touch it, these things react to humans.” Rai pointed out.

Dil approaches the orb, he reaches it with one finger first, it rotates as his hand moves closer. He then opens his palm wider as the orb spun faster and stopped, he places his hand on it and it glows. He hears the door unlock and readies his DMR, in case after everything, this was indeed a trap.

The door parts open slowly as the entrance became more visible, a large hallway leading inward. “Scanner on.” He said as he places a finger over his scanner's side, his HUD glows as he looks into the hallway, That’s when the scan detected something “uh…guys, are you seeing this?”

///////////

“We are,” Evelyn gasped, “a UNSC Friend or Foe tag.” On Dil’s HUD they saw an Arrow pointing down at something, above it was a UNSC tag, meaning that whatever was in there was friendly.

“Stay your guard Dragon, it can still just be bait,” Rai added with nervousness in his voice.

////////////////

“Roger that,” Dil replied as he cautiously entered. he took slow steps, looking all around, the scanner helmet searches for anything that might be considered an exploit: Lose floors opening into a trap door, defensive structures like turrets, anything at all. He approaches another Orb Lock and places his hand over it. It reacts to him and suddenly he felt the ground descend downward, the platform was a lift. When he reaches the bottom, he sees an image that he saw in the early Halo Records that Master Chief reported: The Control room. He took a few steps in, carefully entering and scanning the area.

///////////

Evelyn, Anastasia, and Raimundo watched with bated breath as Dil approach the Control panel, that’s when they heard the sound of a gun getting cocked, “Dragon, your Six!” The three shouted at the same time. 

/////////////

Dil turned with great speed and fired, earning a shriek from the one that surprised him, thankfully Dil missed. The shot only went over the person’s head. “Watch it!” The person, who was now visible, shouted. A human, female, her black hair tied in a bun with two large hairpins holding it in place. She appeared to be of Asian decent and her Battle Dress Uniform looked outdated, nothing like what he saw the men and women wear on infinity. Dil saw in her hand was a UNSC pistol, specifically an M6D, that was curious as those types of pistols were only seen in the War Games files, they stopped being made near the end of the war.

“You tried to shoot me, so excuse me if I’m jumpy. Identify yourself.” Dil ordered. The woman looked at Dil, she looked conflicted, unsure whether to trust the Spartan or not. Dil made a gesture of pointing his rifle down to ease her worry, “I’m not a threat, I’m one of the good guys.”

“You’re a Spartan.” She said in a tone of realization, then smiled. “Boy, Isabel was right, You new guys are pretty flamboyant with your armor.”

“Ooh, that’s a burn on you, Dragon.” Rai laughed through the com.

“I’ll let that slide for now,” Dil grumbled in annoyance, “Now are you going to tell me who you are?”

“Right, Sorry. Professor Ellen Anders, Civilian Consultant 500493.” She stated.

“Where is the rest of your team?” Dylan asked.

“Technically speaking…on the Ark, fighting the Banished.” She answered, looking worried.

/////////

“What the hell does that mean?” Rai asked, “Who are the Banished?”

“And what did she mean by the Ark?” Anastasia asked, “She came from the Ark and ended up on a Halo? I don’t buy it.”

“This might make it even harder to believe.” Evelyn said in a light tone of disbelief, “I did a search of her numbers in the UNSC Database, This Ellen Anders was a consultant for the UNSC about 30 years ago.” She projects a file with Ellen’s Bio. She then places it near the Ellen Dylan was looking at.

“Holy crap, she doesn’t look like she aged a day,” Rai stated in surprise.

“She must have been in Cryo for some time.” Ana guessed.

“It gets weirder.” Eva added, “the records state that she went KIA when the ship she was on was declared Lost with all Hands.”

“What was the Ship’s name?” Rai asked.

Evelyn read the name and gasped, “It can’t be!”

“Can’t be what?” Ana asked.

Evelyn turned to the two, her eyes wide, as if she saw a ghost, “…the Spirit of Fire.”

“…No…fucking…way…” Rai gasped.

“That’s Impossible! We thought the Spirit of Fire was out there before, but it turned out to be a trap by the NCA.” Ana said in disbelief, bringing up the Mission that almost destroyed the Infinity.

Evelyn played something on Anders’ file, her voice reciting her name and serial number. She then took the recording of this woman saying the same thing, the computer compared both voice samples, then turned green, “A perfect match…That’s her.” Evelyn said, sounding shocked herself.

/////////

Dylan overheard all of this and was just as surprised, “You came from the Spirit of Fire?” He asked.

“That’s right.” Anders said, “And yes, I know that the UNSC thinks we all died, Isabel debriefed us when we found her.”

“Isabel?” Dylan asked.

“A Logistics A.I., she was left behind when her research team got killed by the Banished, a Covenant Splinter Group we came across,” Ellen explained.

Dil looked worried under his helmet when he heard her say A.I., “This A.I., she didn’t mention anything about the reclamation, the created, or serving Cortana did she?”

“Who’s Cortana?” Anders asked.

Dil sighed at that, “Ok, good. Listen, it’s not safe on this ring. I’m going to get you out of here.”

“Is that giant Forerunner bird thing still out there?” Ellen asked.

“It is, but we’re far from its sight, so we should be safe. And it’s called a Guardian. You need to be brought up to speed.” Dil explained.

Ellen nods, she gets her Datapad from the floor, checks her Magnum before she follows Dil out of the control room. “So what’s your name?”

“Spartan Dylan Rodriguez, I’m a member of Fireteam Crimson,” Dil answered as they took the lift back up the corridor.

"Dragon, once we pick you up, I'm firing a Nuke right into that Control room," Rai reported.

"I'm sorry, what?!" Dil asked, sounding surprised.

"What is it?" Anders asked.

"My Teammate wants to Fire a Nuke into this place," Dil answered

"What? What for?" She asked.

"You have COMs?" he asked, She nods "Get on this Frequency."

Dil gives her the Frequency Crimson uses, "Professor Anders, can you hear me?" Rai asked.

"Loud and clear, who is this?"

"Spartan Raimundo Riviera, callsign Dusk. Listen, the fact that the Guardian is near a Halo is bad news for us. We can't let it fall into Cortana's hands." He explained.

"Because it can wipe out the Galaxy, Isabel told us. But I disabled this Halo's weaponry." Anders countered.

"It doesn't matter," Rai argued, "Whatever you did, she could undo. We have to make this ring unusable."

"This Cortana sounds like a huge threat, is she Covenant?" Ellen asked.

"Let's get to the ship first, then we can talk," Dil said. They reached the front entrance leading to outside when the air started to get clouding and a familiar transporting sound was heard “Oh Shit, Anders, get down!”

Ellen takes cover behind the door as Dylan readies his rifle. The glowing got darker and brighter as a form teleported in front of them…a large Forerunner Construct appeared and toward over Dylan, glowing bright blue in orange-colored metal stood a figure that Crimson has faced in the War Games Firefights, The Warden Eternal. “…Oh…Fuck me gently with a chainsaw.” Dylan swore in a deadpan tone, quoting a line from an old movie he once watched.

/////////

“It’s the Warden!” Evelyn gasped, “The Warden Eternal is here!”

“Oh Fuck! Dragon, Close the door!" Rai called out as he armed the Pulse-Laser Turrets on the Abyssal Finn.

"What are you doing? If we fire, we'll be out of our cloaking! He'll see us and alert Cortana!" Eva shouted

"Dragon can’t take him on by himself!” Rai shouted back, “He's died more times than any of us when facing him in the War Games!”

“Calm the fuck down, both of you!” Ana shouted, getting their attention, “Boss, tell Dragon to stay alive down there and don’t try to be a badass.” She ordered as she marched towards the Armor Apparatus, “Dusk, get on Weapons and get me a Blazes of Glory and the Arclight Railgun.”

“Where are you going?” Rai asked.

The armor came together around herself as she answered him, “I’m going to give Dragon a hand.” The helmet slides on her head and she steps out of the Apparatus, "Boss is Right, we can't reveal our position, but Keep the guns hot. Don't Fire until I tell you to." she leaves the Bridge after that, Rai and Eva look at one another before turning back to the controls.

"Dragon, we're coming down, keep him distracted and make sure Anders stays behind the doors," Evelyn reported.

"And for the love of God, don't die," Rai added. as the two lowered the Prowler closer to the ground.

///////////

Dylan looked up as the Warden looked down on him, “This is what the Guardian detected? This one lone Human warrior?” He asked, then laughed, “It doesn’t seem worthy of my time.”

“Well if that’s the case, what the hell are you doing here?” Dylan asked in a sharp tone, hiding his fear. He already signaled Anders to close the doors, but he stood in front while Anders was behind.

Warden glared at him, or what looked like a glare with his glowing eyes and shifting face, he didn't seem to care that the door to the control room was closing. “I stand in service to Cortana, as you humans should. Perhaps if you explain how this Halo came to be here, I might spare your life.”

“Like I’m going to believe that for a second.” Dil countered, “How about, you get your shiny metal ass out of here before you embarrasses yourself in front of your Queen. Speaking of which, is she even here? I doubt it as you seem to be an embarrassment to her cause, how does it feel to know you lost to Spartans so many times?” Dil taunted, hoping to get him into a blind rage, something that he could use to his advantage. It seemed to work as Warden’s glare changed as his face opened up, energy began charging. “Oh, Shazbot,” Dil stated as the Warden fired. Dil held his Arm out, summoning a Hard Light Shield, he managed to bring the Armor Ability with him before getting off the ship, he fired and the shield took most of the damage. He ran and switched to The Answer, sending a Barrage of small rocket fire at the construct, enveloping him with flames and shrapnel.

However, the rounds seem to not cause as much damage as Dil had hoped, the Warden shook them off before shooting more beams of energy in his direction, but Dylan managed to take cover and dodge the fire. He reloads The Answer before he jumps out of cover, runs, and fires again, this time, he managed to get some of his armor chipped off. Warden roared in pain, but then swing his arm around, the metal behaves like a whip as he sent a wave of energy all around, sending Dil flying. He lands on the ground and takes aim, but this time, there were no rounds in the gun, he ran out. “Uh-oh. No more Buwwets,” he said in an Elmer Fudd voice.

“You will fall, like the rest of your species,” Warden said as he changed the whip into a blade. he got in close and swung hard. Dil used his thrusters to get away from his strike, that's when he notices the other pod with the High-Five he left inside. Dil took out another grenade and threw it right at the warden before running, “Foolish Human, your primitive weapons can’t harm me like that.” He boasted as the grenade went off.

“Maybe, but it’ll distract you enough for this!” He said as he grabbed the High-Five and emptied the large magazine, sending two Rocket, which split into 10 rockets and enveloped the Warden in fire and Shrapnel.

The Warden roared in pain before firing energy beams all around. Dil ran for cover, but he got hit, his shields took most of the damage, shattered them. He fell to the ground and tumbled end over end. his rocket launcher breaks in two as he landed on it, thankfully there were no rounds in it. “Like the rest of your species, undisciplined. If this is Humanity’s best, then they will not last long during the Reclamation. So human…any last words?”

Dylan looked up at him but noticed something else. Behind the Warden was a light ripple in the air, The Abyssal Fin, still invisible. It wasn't too close, and far away enough that its engines couldn't be heard by the Warden. His scanner zooms in closer and sees that Anastasia had climbed on top of it. She looked Armed for Combat with her Shotgun in her hands and a Rail Gun on her back. After a moment she took a sprint and Ran off the front and into the air. He could see that the way her thrusters were charging she was preparing a Ground Pound. Dil smiled under his helmet and the moment she was propelling downward, he said, “Yeah…Here come the Fire Wolf.”

Warden noticed that Dil wasn’t looking at him directly, instead, he was looking past him. Warden turned and saw Anastasia coming in fast. Before the Warden could counter, Ana made contact, Striking the Warden’s head and toppling him. She hits the ground and gets on her feet before turning and Firing the Blades of Glory, a Modified Shotgun that fired Hard Light rounds like a Scattershot. Warden got to his feet and swung his blade at them, the two jumped out of the way.

Dil drew his DMR and fired at the Warden “Hey, welcome to the Party.” He said to Ana through the COMs.

“I knew you wouldn’t last long,” She said as she switched to the Arclight Railgun, she let it charge before it struck the Warden, making him stumble as more armor chipped off.

The Warden turned to Ana and fired at her “Hey Megatron, over here!” Dil shouted, switching to his SMG, getting the Warden’s attention, “Wolf, get him, just like in the War Games.” he told his teammate.

"His core isn't exposed enough." Ana said as she fired another Round from her Arclight, which did little damage, "Dusk, now! Don't spare the ammo!"

///////////

With this command, Raimundo took aim and Fired. The Abyssal Finn lost its cloaking as it fired it's Laser Turrets at the Warden, The two Spartans on the ground were far away enough that they wouldn't get it, Warden cried out as the lasers showered him, striking his armor and the internal structure. Rai pulled the trigger down, laughing as he did so "Chew on this, you Transformer wannabe!" He continued firing at him until he heard the Warning signal that the guns were overheating. He stopped firing, but the turrets reached the danger zone where they became inoperable until a few moments, "Wolf, Guns are overheated, I can't shoot."

///////

"You did more than enough, we got this," Ana said as she got into position and ran towards Warden. While The Warden was distracted by the Prowler, Ana made her move, she started striking the Warden’s leg, chipping away at what seems to represent his Achilles Tendinitis, one good punch, and the warden fell. He tumbled and saw Ana, he swung his arm at her but she ducked and slides away, the way he did that made him expose his inner core, his center. Drawing her combat knife from her forearm, Ana leaped into the air, screamed as she brought the knife down, stabbing his Core and making his body unstable. He cried out in pain as he started to get sucked into his own core, the strike was causing an implosion. She jumped out of the way and ran back, Dil joined her and watched as the Warden collapsed into his own body and blew up.

“YES!” Dil cheered, “Damn fine work, Wolf.”

“Well, you and the Idiot soften him up before I got him,” Ana said, smiling under her helmet at the victory.

“Is it safe to come out?” Anders called in their COMs.

“Yes, Professor, he’s gone,” Dil called back.

The main entrance opened again and Ellen Anders carefully walked out into the battlefield, “Damn, you new Spartans can fight,” She said looking at the carnage left behind.

“That’s what we were made for.” Dil pridefully stated, “Now let’s get out of here before the Warden comes back in another body.”

“Boss, Dusk, bring it down,” Ana commanded. After a moment, the Abyssal Finn appears and hovers over them. The bay door opens and the ramp comes down, Ana picked Anders up and carried her over her shoulder as she and Dil ran up the ramp, “Ok, we’re clear!” Ana said.

"Ok, I'm launching the nuke. It's on a detonator, it'll go off only when I hit the button," Rai reported. The Prowler hovered over the entrance before it shoots a long missile right into the corridor leading down into the Control room, Ellen went to her datapad, she was still connected to the Halo, so she was able to open it more for Missle to get in with better ease. The Missle collided, but thanks to the Shiva Nuke's casing, it was still in one piece, only when Rai activates the detonator would it go off. Once it fired, the Prowler lifts off and shoots out into the sky before turning invisible again.

////////////

Dil and Ana lead Anders into the Bridge “How are you holding out, Professor Anders?” Dil asked.

“I’m fine, Spartan. and Thankful for the rescue.” She answered before turning to Ana, “And Thank you for coming in when you did, you must be part of Rodriguez’s team.

“You could say that. Spartan Novara at your service.” Ana introduced.

“Pleasure is all mine,” Ellen said offering her hand to shake, Ana was reluctant at first but took it in a light shake. “I would assume you all have Questions, I do as well.”

“We can bring you up to speed in a sec. Right now, let’s get the hell out of here.” Rai said, then turned to Eva "One you set the coordinates, I'll detonate the nuke."

“Right. Recalculating course. I'll initiate the Cole Protocole and make a random Jump before heading towards Sanghelios,” Evelyn said as she typed in a few commands.

“Sanghelios?” Ellen asked.

“We were on a mission when we came across that sound you broadcasted.” Dil explained, “Which reminds me, that was you sending it right?” Ellen nods at that, “What kind of signal was that? It’s not on any UNSC code book.”

“Well, it's not supposed to be. I was given that code by a Spartan II, Jerome-092 of Red team.” Anders explained, “He said to use that code as only a select few members of the UNSC, Specifically Spartans IIs and anyone they were close to, knew about that code. It would be the ultimate proof that I wasn’t a threat.”

“Um…guys…” Evelyn called out, however, the rest of the Spartans wee focused on Anders.

“A Code only Spartan IIs would know?” Rai asked.

“Or anyone the Spartan IIs were allied with.” Anders clarified, “I would assume Dr. Halsey would know it…if she was still alive. Records state that she died on Reach.”

“Guys…” Evelyn called again.

“I think that’s why that Guardian found you.” Dil said, “That code was something Cortana knew because she was originally made for the-“

“GUYS!” Evelyn shouts, getting their attention.

“What?!” The three asked.

“We have a Problem!” Evelyn explained.

“What problem?” Ana asked.

“The controls are not responding to my commands.” She explained as she typed on the screen but kept getting an error sound.

“What the fuck does that mean?” Rai asked.

“It means I can’t work the controls! I-I’m locked out!” Eva called out in worry.

Rai tries to detonate the nuke, but the detonator isn't responding either. Dil walks up and tries to work it, but there's no response, “Uh…Guys, I think-“

Before he could finish, the screens and console sparked, Eva pulls Dil out of the way as the four Spartans look on in fear. “What’s happening?” Anders asked.

“There’s only one reason for this." Dylan answered, a tone of fear in his voice, "…She found us.” 

Another spark formed and a figure now stood before the 5 humans: Blue and indigo, her body covered in codes, armor-like apparel and the Forerunner Symbol of the Mantle of Responsibility. There was no question in Fireteam Crimson’s mind who this was, The new threat to Humanity, the leader of the Reclamation and former UNSC A.I....Cortana.