- Rare_Spartan
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Chapter 14: The Lord Hates a Quitter
When the Grunt Sargeant respawned, he found himself standing in a pool of cold, merky water, surrounded by foliage. However, there was no sign of either of his men.
"Hello?" the Grunt Sargeant shouted, "Is anybody there?"
Just then, another Unggoy-in black-shaded armor-crept from behind the canopy, and said, "Oh, hello, sir! What can I do for ya?"
"Listen, son, you wouldn't happen to have crossed paths with two other grunts a second ago, would ya?" asked the crimson-armored Unggoy.
"Nope. Me all alone. On way to see Prophets! Hope me not get stepped on like grunty brothers!"
"Even better! Mind if I tag along?"
"Me not mind at all!" the grunt cheered, "Was getting lonely anyway."
The Grunt Sargeant nodded, as he and his newfound companion escaped through the nearest opening. From what the Unggoy could see, the ceiling was extremely high, with an enormous opening in the middle of it. Below the white space, however, is what really caught the sargeant's attention, for there stood the tall, angular structure of Dreadnaught- a Forerunner ship. The Grunt Sargeant had made it back to High Charity- to his home, though did not feel as much without the company of his squad.
"What you staring at, grunty brother?" the Unggoy asked, as the Grunt Sargeant stared awe struck toward the ship. He then snapped out of his trance and turned back toward his comrade.
"Oh, it ain't nothin', son! Let's keep movin'."
The two of them pressed onward, until they came to a corridor, with three Brutes marching on the ends.
"Camo time, friend." said the black-armored Unggoy.
"Why?" asked the sargeant.
"Brutes be baddies now. Elites no longer part of Covenant."
"Huh? How in the world did that happen?"
"Me don't know. Shackle read from papers."
The Grunt Sargeant nodded yet again, then activated his camouflage cloak. He and Shackle then waltzed right through the beastly duo, standing just above a gravlift. The two grunts slipped into the small opening, and descended onto a Phantom launch bay. The first thing they noticed, however, were two humans being pushed by Brutes (one of which was holding 343 Guilty Spark) who appeared to be wearing the same attire as the Elite Honor Guards.
"Split them up, one in each Phantom." said Tartarus, who had just walked past the two Unggoy. When they reached the two aircrafts, there were the two, leading Prophets of the Covenant: Truth and Mercy.
Truth held the Sacred Icon before a kneeling Tartarus and said, "The hopes of all the Covenant rest on your shoulders, Chieftain."
"My faith is strong." said the white haired Brute, "I will not fail."
Approaching the small crowd, the black-armored grunt said, "Listen, Sarge, I don't think I've been completely honest with you."
"Whadd'ya talkin' about son, and how do ya know my nickname?"
"It's me. Hackle."
"What?" asked the Grunt Sargeant, "But you can't be Hackle. He's-"
"Yeah, dead! That's exactly what the fellas thought. Now, those Brutes will tear you apart unless you decide to 'em right here, right now. Live or die, Sarge. Make your choice."
"I think the answer's pretty obvious. I don't think I can join y'all, though. As a matter o' fact, you're still part of my squad, remember?"
"Not anymore, I'm not." said Hackle, "I belong to the Covenant. You, my friend, are a heretic. Nice knowin' ya." The black-armored Unggoy took out his fuel rod cannon and pointed it straight toward the Grunt Sargeant. But before he could act, his attention was drawn toward the cries of pain and aggony coming from Mercy. The Prophet was being attacked by a flood infection form, feeding off of the elder's neck. As more of the little blighters arrived, the two, heavily armored Brutes began mowing them down, one by one. Tartarus rushed to Mercy's aid, though quickly halted by Truth.
"Let him be." the Prophet ordered, looking down upon Mercy, "The Great Journey awaits for no one, brother. Not even you."
"Sorry, brother," said Hackle, "But we'll have to settle this another time. See you on Earth!" The grunt winked at his former commander, as he followed the Prophet of Truth onto his Phantom. Within moments, all three of the aircrafts had taken off. There was Truth's, which was heading toward the Forerunner ship. And then there were the two Phantoms holding Sargeant Johnson and Commander Keyes, which were on their way to the Halo construct just outside of the city. The situation was, to say the least, grim.
The Grunt Sargeant rushed toward the Prophet of Mercy, panting heavily.
"Don't just stand there like....like a fool." Mercy coughed, "Help me!"
"Well, I don't think I'll be able to save your life, but I still might be able to help ya out a bit." answered the Grunt Sargeant, who turned toward the Honor Guard pike to his right. The Unggoy used all of his might to pick up the staff like object. He then pushed the less decorative end of the stick onto the infection form, popping it. The Prophet, however, was, as expected, dead.
The Master Chief descended onto the landing pad. As the Demon approached the Grunt Sargeant, he watched the Phantom make its way toward the Dreadnaught. He then turned toward the crimson-armored Unggoy and asked, "That Prophet. Where's he going?"
"From what my friend told me," the Grunt Sargeant replied, suprised that the Demon did not simply shoot him on sight, "They're headin' to your place. Earth, right?"
The familiar hologram of Cortana appeared on the armchair, and said, "That structure at the center of the city. It's a Forerunner ship....and Truth is heading straight for it! If he leads the Covenant fleet to Earth, they won't stand a chance. You have to stop him!"
"That Brute has the index." said the Spartan, "And Miranda and Johnson. He can activate the ring."
"If he does, I'll detonate In Amber Clad's reactor just like we did the Autumn's." replied Cortana, pointing toward the ship impaled within the wall of the city, "The blast will destroy this city and the ring. Not a very original plan, but we know it'll work." The Master Chief reached for her, but stopped when the AI said,
"No. I don't want a chance of remote dotanation. I need to stay here."
Just then, a UNSC Pelican crashed onto the platform, with flood-infected humans rushing out of the fighter.
"I'll find my own way outta here." said the Grunt Sargeant, "I'll meet ya on the ship."
The Chief could not find any words to say to the Unggoy, and therefore simply nodded. The crimson-armored grunt peered toward the other side of the platform. The side that was crawling with parasites. With no other options, the Unggoy activated his "camo", and waltzed through the legion of flood, trying as he might not to bump into any of them. Luckily, being much smaller than each of them, the sargeant was successful, as he entered the one remaining Phantom.
The Unggoy was just about to enter the pilot's seat, but found that it was already accompanied by another grunt- female, with blue-shaded armor.
"Ah, what the hell!?" barked the grunt, "Whadd'ya doin' here, missy?"
"I'm not letting Hackle get away, this time! He's making a big mistake."
"Wait! How do you know about Hackle?"
"Because, I'm his mate." said she. The Grunt Sargeant could not believe his ears. Chrille, Hackle's mate, was last seen giving the former squad member a hug, as he left for the Hunters' homeworld (although that trip was a mistake, entirely). However, the fact that she was still alive to day made absolutely no sense, unless she, too, was exposed to the time shift that led the five grunts to the Pillar of Autumn.
"I'll explain later." said Chrille, blankly, noticing the wide, flabbergasted expression on the Grunt Sargeant's face. And with that, the Phantom took off, and within approximately ten minutes, they arrived at the only visible entrance on the ship's front side. They had arrived just in time, as the doors of the ship were now closing. As the aircraft entered the ship, however, so did the Master Chief. The Spartan soared through the opening, but also crashed onto the backside of the Phantom.
"What the hell!?" exclaimed the Grunt Sargeant, "Did something just hit us?" The two Unggoy entered the ship's gravlift, and descended onto the tube like passageway from within the Dreadnaught. The crimson-armored grunt stared at the flatened Chief, sighing.
"Good lord, where's a clean-up crew when you need one?"
[Edited on 09.16.2007 6:41 PM PDT]