Chapter Twelve

****Skies above the Gryphon Kingdom****
9/13/Noon-ish

From his half asleep state, Chase barely registered the shock and awe on the faces of the three gryphons as they watched his teams escape from the Gamma halo. He debated at first if he should edit out the shots that showed how the ring curved up into the horizon, but thought that there were enough pictures on the internet that it wasn’t exactly secret anymore amongst the general populace. Not to mention his previous crimes such as theft of UNSC property, desertion, as well as twenty more made up ones they would slap on if he was ever caught in UNSC space again pretty much made showing some video seem like nothing.

All in all, he just didn’t care, ‘Current mission: Find Leon, Josh, and... I guess Alfred if we have time. Then think of something else from there. Foolproof.'

This whole deal with the gryphons Chase considered just a good deed, ‘Seeking peace is usually the way to go, plus I couldn't just sit on my ass and let them rape someone right outside my ship.'

Stealing a glance at the gryphons through his black visor, Chase saw the three talking as the video was over. The King nodded something and Chase silently hoped they weren’t going to try anything stupid. He held gryphons in high respect since they were his families’ crest, killing the ones that he had just helped didn’t sit right with him.

“Chase, we’ll be at the insertion point in three minutes. Might wanna have our guests put on that armor soon.” Hank’s voice came in through the comm channel, making chase rethink just how long that stupid video was.

“Yeah, I’ll tell ‘em.” Chase said as he began to sit up. Stretching the various muscles that had started to get cramped and popping various things, Chase looked over at the gryphons, “We’ll be arriving at the spot soon, might want to get into the armor before we get there so we can get this over faster.”

“Alright, just give it to us and we’ll put it on.” Gilda said, falling down from the seat and onto the floor.

Chase was about to respond when he realised something, ‘We never grabbed the extra freaking armor...'

Noticing the spartan’s lack of words, Gilda put on a deadpan expression, “You forgot them didn’t you?”

“... Noooo...? We just thought, that, we would only take the King and Kaylon could give up his armor. It would be the safest since we would only have to protect one target instead of three...” Chase said a bit uncertain that they would buy it.

“That makes sense... but why didn’t you tell us?” Kaylon asked with confusion.

‘Holy shit they're actually-'

“No, the dweeb just forgot to get the other sets of armor before we left and is trying to cover for it.” Gilda answered before Chase could.

“How are you the leader of this group?” King Ashford asked suddenly.

“What?” Chase asked.

“How are you the leader of this group of soldiers? In all my days of commanding troops, I’ve never had somegryph forget the main thing they need for the mission they were given. How are you the leader of this group?”

“... Cause I’m not?” Chase said as if it was an obvious thing, “I’d make an awful leader, I have an absolutely awful memory, and the only reason we succeed in most missions is because we know how to fight as a team. My main position on this team is CQC expert and forerunner tech analyst. My brother is the leader and me and him usually come up with the plans together.”

“Then why are you the leader of these two? From what I’ve seen you act more like a bunch of new soldiers who thinks war is fun than an experienced team.” the King said glaring at the spartan.

“I’m the leader of those two because of rank. Other than that we’re just some friends trying to find our other lost friends.” Chase said taking a seat, “Personally I’ve never had one of those traumatic experiences that give a guy PTSD and we’ve all been part of the same group since we got out of training. Except Ethan, we picked him up on Reach.”

The King continued to glare at the spartan as Chase continued, “Ya sure we’ve had missions go south but we’re still alive. Nothing much to get all worked up about.”

“Considering I’m trusting my life, my daughters, and my kingdoms future on a bunch of overconfident hatchlings, I’d say I’m allowed to get worked up.” the King got down off the seat, “Were it not for the weapons and armor you carry, I’d have a hard time believing that you would be anything more helpful than a group of mercenaries.”

‘Should I run the risk of making him more mad with an overconfident sounding comment or actually seem serious?' Chase thought as the King finished.

“Thirty seconds to the sight.” Hank’s voice said over the room speaker.

“Well, you’re just going to have to trust us and hope for the best.” Chase said, trying to make his voice sound neutral and not piss off his current employer.

The King didn’t seem happy, but stayed silent on the matter. He then turned to Kaylon who had been watching the exchange of words with fear that a fight would break out, “Give me your armor.”

“Y-yes sir!” Kaylon said as he began to take off the dark purple armor starting with the helm, then the chest plate, then the armor piece that he had over his flanks, before finally taking off the center piece that had been between the two previous ones and under his wings.

Being careful with his wing, the King began to put on the armor in the opposite order that Kaylon had taken it off. While he did so Chase took note of the new colors Kaylon was sporting. The feathers around his head where a dark green like the ones on his wings and the fur on his body was a few shades darker. Unlike Gilda, the feathers around his bright green eyes matched the rest on his head. While the King and Gilda’s talons where a yellow color that matched their beaks, Kaylon’s beak and talons where silver in color.

“I want to make a green joke here, but I can’t think of one.” Chase said looking at Kaylon.

The gryphon in question let out a sigh and shook his head while the King finished with putting on the helm. The ship, which had been slowing down for a little while now, shook as they had undoubtedly reached their destination. With a smirk on under his helmet, Chase began walking towards the back of the Pelican with the King right behind him.

“I take it my daughter will be left here with Kaylon?” King Ashford asked as the ramp began to fold in on itself and descend, barely missing the Troop Hog.

“Yep, Hank will be guarding them. Me and Ethan will be watching over you while you move to the Castle Courtroom.” Chase answered, walking out of the Pelican.

“Wait, I’m not about to leave my dad with you on his own. That’s not happening.” Gilda stated, flying in front of the spartan.

“Hmm.” Chase nodded at the gryphon, “I respect that you wouldn’t let your father go off on his own with a bunch of strangers, but unless you actually grabbed one of the sets of armor, like I forgot to do, then I don’t see how you would be able to sneak in there with us.”

Gilda glared at the spartan with enough intensity to melt a hole through metal, “So what are we supposed to do? Twiddle our talons while you play the part of the big hero?”

Tilting his head as if he was giving it some thought, Chase then nodded, “Yeah, that sounds about right. It’s not like you won’t be doing anything though. You and Kaylon are going to guide Ethan to the courtroom while I look over King Ashford.”

“Just how-” Gilda started before she was cut off.

“Gilda, everything will be fine.” the King said before turning and addressing Chase, “Let’s get this over with.”

“Wow... talk about someone needing a better attitude.” Chase muttered as he walked around Gilda and into the afternoon sun. The small clearing they had chosen was a quite a few clicks west of where the city was, made clear by the lone mountain rising up in the horizon, and it would be one hell of a long walk till the got there. Thankfully they weren’t in the bog anymore and it just seem like really dense forest with some shrubbery between their LZ and the city.

Ignoring the comments Princess Gilda made towards him, Chase turned the corner to see Ethan checking over his weapons. His MA5B assault rifle lay across his black armored back over his Speed Boost armor ability and his M6D pistols were in his hands being looked over. From what the King had said, Chase doubted that they would actually need to use them, but it was always better to not need it and have it than not have it and need it.

Chase pulled his own MA5D off of his back to inspect it and decided against putting in a new magazine as his current one was still over half full. All the ammo he carried was for his MA5D while his other weapon was the special T-1 Energy Weapon/Sword that he had found on the Gamma Halo ring. His T-4 Active Camouflage unit was in perfect operating order which brought a smile to his face. The old T-3 models always lost consistency whenever the spartan moved, the newer T-4s were more like the Elite’s version.

After he finished looking his assault rifle over, Chase’s HUD flickered with static before returning to it’s original look. Looking up he saw Ethan nod towards him and attach his pistols to his thighs, “Fixed the comms.”

“I didn’t even think they were broken.” Chase said as Ethan began to walk towards the city in the distance.

Chase turned back to the Pelican to see the King in his new armor waiting for him. Hank walked into the Pelican behind him and was probably going to get the video up and running on Ethans helmet so Gilda and Kaylon could guide him. Looking down at the King, who stood as high as Chase’s stomach, he motioned his head towards where Ethan had taken off, “Well let’s get a move on.”

The King let out a sigh as he began moving, “How are you going to protect me once we get to the castle?”

“Oh, you’ll see... or more accurately, you won’t.” Chase said in a cheery tune as they approached the forest.

“Wait!” someone shouted out before the King could respond. Turning, Chase watched as Gilda embraced her father in a hug, “Please be carefull.” King Ashford whispered something to Gilda that Chase didn’t catch before they separated. Gilda suddenly turned to the spartan with a glare like the one she shot him earlier, “Dweeb, if he is hurt at all, or one feather is out of place, I will hunt you down and castrate you with my bare talons!”

‘Holy shit... she doesn't stand a chance against me, but I admire her determination.' Chase thought as he just nodded his head once in understanding. As she began walking back towards the Pelican, Chase began to laugh at the situation him and his team was in. This earned him a confuse look from the King as they turned and began walking into the forest towards the city.

“What’s got you in stitches?” the King asked.

“Two days ago I was fighting on the inside of a giant metal sphere the size of a planet. Yesterday I escaped from that place as it was pulled into a sun in what I’m sure was a huge explosion. Then today I’m helping a king take back his kingdom and stop a potential war while also trying to find the rest of my team.” Chase began laughing once again as he talked, “I swear, once I retire I will be rich off my autobiography alone.”

The King also began to laugh, “Your joking right?”

“No, that is actually what I’ve done over the past few days.”

“Hm, I’d certainly buy it, though nogryph would believe such a tale.”

“I’ve got video and picture evidence to back most of it up. I dare anyone to call me a liar with all that backing me up.”

The King just nodded and grew silent. It would be a long time till they reached the edges of the city, even longer to get to the castle. As the sun was just beginning its descent from hitting its peak in the sky, the spartan resisted the urge to just turn on some music to pass the time. If he wasn’t on protection detail or had another spartan he would of in a heartbeat. Sadly, Chase would just have to live with being bored as he moved through the forest looking at nothing but trees roots and his charge.

‘It's gonna be a long day.'

****Nailock Taizon, Gryphon Kingdom Capital****
9/13/After-noon

Chase looked around his new surroundings and couldn’t help but feel that overall, the capital city was... only slightly impressive. The city’s normal buildings were built mostly out of stone and used wood for wall sides, probably for some reason that Chase wasn’t smart enough to know about. When it came down to what he was expecting, the impressive part came from the castle itself.

Spanning across the entire back side of the city, the Royal castle was big enough to thank the fact they have guides for when they got in. There was no one point in the city you couldn’t see a part of the castle. It was carved into the very mountain, but that wasn’t good enough for whoever made the place, oh no.

Multiple spires rose up, illuminated by the low sun and multiple lights with in the castle itself without any sign of where the rocks were fused together. The entire place looked like it was made out of black marble, but the usual white lines that run through the rock looked like an artist had intricately made each individual one. Considering how many overlapped each other and curved gracefully with no signs of a jagged edge to be seen, it was almost breathtaking.

Chase hadn’t even seen them up close, all of this was observations that he made from a distance using the zoom function in his helmet. It wasn’t as beautiful as the nature preserves on Jericho IV, but it was one hell of a sight that made Chase think it had to be made with magic. Shaking the thoughts on magic out of his head, the spartan began to move to another alley way to keep his charge in sight.

One of his main fears when seeing the city had been that the streets would be flooded with passing civilians and leaving little room to maneuver. This proved wrong when it was revealed the majority of the city didn’t bother with doors on ground level since the entire population could fly. Balconies with entrance signs lit up in neon lights proved to be as confusing as possible as the gryphons seemed nowhere near even the basics in electricity, technology wise.

The King seemed to be doing fine and from this distance, Chase could spot the entrance the gryphon would be using to enter the castle. The two of them were on the north side of the city and the far side of the castle wall. There were a few entrances at ground level for the few guards that had to be grounded due to injuries their wings sustained in battle.

Another plus to using this north side entrance was that in was weakly guarded, most of the castle guards being stationed around the market and the west entrance to the castle. With how a only a few of the building had signs that made them out to be stores or something else, the district they were in reminded Chase of a suburban area. Nobody home during the day.

Focusing once more on the mission at hand, Chase activated his active camo and moved up closer to the King as he approached an iron door on the wall. He then knocked two times fast, three short and waited a little bit before adding one last knock. A little slider at the King’s eye level moved and revealed the eyes of another gryphon on the other side. The two of them seemed to exchange words before they both erupted in laughter at something Chase didn’t catch.

The door swung open to reveal another guard in a green variant of the armor the King wore. As they exchanged words and the King lured the guard a few steps away from the door, Chase moved quickly and sprinted into the wide open garden. Now with the castle within reach, and the spartan hiding behind some of the well maintained foliage, Chase could see that the castle was even more breathtaking up close than it was at a distance.

Instead of ogling the castle like he wanted to do, Chase turned off his active camo, to let the little bit he used recharge, and watched as the King walked on the path around all the exotic trees and cool looking flower bushes. After about a few minutes of tailing the gryphon through the large garden, the King finally came upon an open set of ash grey, glass paneled doors.

Activating his cammo once again, Chase began to the boring process of watching the fifteen minute timer count down in the corner of his vision over his motion sensor. Thankfully the doors were all on ground level as they made their way to the Royal Courtroom. Chase even saw a set of stairs and thought about why they would have them for a few seconds before he realised he didn’t care and just moved on after the King.

Despite the entire castle being black with white accenting decals, it was actually pretty well lit up. Not depressingly dark and gloomy like Chase had expected. Another purple guard passed and didn’t acknowledge the King or even steal a second glance at where the invisible spartan was pressed against the wall. Overall it was a smooth ride so far, and it only made Chase wonder just what kind of shit storm they were walking into.

The timer for his active camouflage dropped into the single digits as they rounded the last corner. This time the corridor ended with very elaborate set of ebony doors with even finer ivory decals then what the black marble around them had. On either side of the door was a guard in purple armor that looked just like the King, but unlike the earlier guards, these ones looked at the disguised King Ashford with disgust.

“Hope you’re not looking to get in CORPORAL.” the guard to the King’s right said.

“Courtrooms been on lockdown for the past few days as they get everything ready for King Black’s coronation.” the second guard answered before King Ashford could ask.

‘Oh yeah, I'm probably gonna have to take these two out.' Chase couldn’t see the King’s reaction from this distance, but his tail and wing twitched slightly when the second guard mentioned King Black.

“I’m sorry sir, but I’ve been in the infirmary for the past week, could you tell me what exactly happened. I’ve only heard rumors.” the King asked, probably putting on his best poker face.

“Ha! You must of been in a comma to of not heard of the cowards death.” the second guard laughed.

“The cowardice King Ashford and Princess Gilda were killed in an accident over Red Thorn Bog. Since then the Royal Court has been doing everything in their power to stop King Black from actually becoming King.” the first one answered with a glare at the King, “What your name corporal?”

‘Welp, time for the fighting to start!' Chase thought as he began to move in closer to the guards.

“Rusher, Rusher Johnson.” that made Chase do a double take and back off a little, “I’ll leave it you then.” the King said before saluting both of them and walking back down the corridor towards the spartan.

The King began to go back down the same path that he had taken except after two turns he moved down one of the corridors that he hadn’t gone through yet. King Ashford opened and entered the last door on the right and left it open for Chase to enter. Quickly catching on to what the King wanted, the spartan followed suit and entered the room before shutting the door.

The new room was revealed to be a small broom closet, seeing as it full of cleaning supplies and a mop was in a bucket, against the wall, behind the King, “Where is the other spartan, Ethan?” the King asked as soon as the door was shut.

“One sec.” Chase pulled up the squads camera views and opened Ethan’s before he began quickly describing what Ethan was looking at, “Is the courtroom where supposed to get into pretty large with four columns on either side of the main entrance and has a large balcony for second floor seats. All of this while being in front of three tables, one being a large curving table that has only nine seats while the other two-”

“I know very well what my own courtroom looks like, so you can stop describing it. I take it that you know all this because your friend is already in?” the King interrupted and asked. Chase gave a nod as he tried think of how Ethan had gotten onto the decorative stone archways above the room, “Then can you tell me if they’re in there?” the King asked as if it were an obvious question.

“Oh yeah, they’re in there. So are a lot of gryphons in armor and some white gryphon with a crown that I’m gonna assume is this Black you’ve been talking about.” Chase said as he looked at the scene.

“Orders?” Ethan suddenly asked as the King continued.

“They... not even Black is arrogant enough to think he can kill the Court of Nine and... tell Ethan to protect the Nine at all costs.” the King said with rising concern in his voice.

“Ethan protect the nine court heads at all costs.” Chase said over the radio before closing the camera feed and looking at the King, “You want us to kill Black or no?”

“Keep him alive, I will deal with him myself.” the King said darkly while moving towards the door.

“Ethan, when all hell breaks loose, only injure Black, the King wants him alive.” Chase stated, turning invisible and following the King. A green acknowledgment light flashed on the side of his HUD showing Ethan got and understood the order.

“I take it we’re going into the room no matter what?” Chase asked quietly.

“If you could dispose of the guards quickly, I’d appreciate it getting this whole thing over with as soon as possible.” the King said as he continued to walk at a fast pace. Without a doubt his injury was hurting like hell, so Chase assumed the King wanted this to end fast so he wouldn’t have to fight much and wind up in the infirmary.

Chase resisted the urge to bolt forward down the last corridor and kill the two guards, but it would put the King out of his sight. In a situation like this where Murphy’s Law was just begging to come into play Chase was being a little cautious. Once they turned the final corner though, Chase took off like a bat out of hell and sprinted right to the guard on the his left.

The gryphon didn’t know what hit him as Chase enclosed his right hand around the gryphons beak and positioned his left hand behind the gryphons head. A twist and pop later, and the second gryphon looked over to see his partner now had his entire head facing the other way, a look of fear and confusion plastered on his dead face. Before the body even hit the floor, Chase had already positioned his hand over the second gryphon’s beak like he had the first.

Not even a second passed and there was another pop sound and the spartan laid the dead gryphon on the ground slowly, unlike he had with the first. The King looked at the two dead gryphons briefly as Chase stood beside the door still cloaked and grabbing his MA5D. A look of regret danced across his face. Then a second later and it was gone, replaced with stone cold determination and conviction. Putting both talons on the door, the King forced them open in an overly dramatic sort of way earning him the attention of the entire courtroom.

The group of two seemed to of walked in at one hell of a moment as all the guards with Black had their short swords out and looked ready for the word to go on a killing spree. The thing that Chase noticed right away though was a smaller creature behind the front right pillar. It wore a fitted headset that had a small camera on the right side and a microphone leading from it’s ear to the side of it’s mouth. Since it was away from the conflict, Chase ignored it, but marked them green with his HUD for Ethan to know it wasn’t target.

The white gryphon, which Chase was just now realizing the irony of the name Black, turned to look at their entrance with anger and slight confusion on his face, “Guard, what’s the meaning of-”

“Oh you know damn well why I’m here you traitorous bastard.” King Ashford interrupted in a low and cold voice. Taking off the helmet, the feathers on the King’s head turned back to their normal light grey tone earning a shocked gasp from the room, “And I fully intend to take my Kingdom back. If you guards stand down now, I’ll give you a fair trial, but I will not make this offer twice.”

Black seemed stunned for a second before letting out a small chuckle, “Well thank goodness you're back. Now I won’t have to worry about you actually escaping to the D-B Kingdom.”

Stealing a glance at the nine gryphons behind him, Black began to laugh in a slightly psychotic way before shouting at the twenty gryphons under his command, “Kill them all!”

Before the first gryphon even moved, it was practically over. Chase decloaked and leveled his assault rifle with the closest gryphon going for the King before opening fire. He dropped faster than he knew what had happened as three rounds found their mark. The sudden bursts of sound made the others slightly pause to look towards the loud noise that the rifle had made. The second target was chosen as the body of the first hit the floor.

Two rounds went straight through the gryphons throat, exiting through the gryphons spine and armor in a splash of metal, blood, and bone. Another three went into the third gryphon’s chest, slicing through the armor as if it weren’t even there. Two more found the fourth guard as he was began to finally move towards the King. Then a single bullet found it’s way into the chest of a gryphon as he flew upwards to probably get a look at what was happening.

On the other side of the line of guards, the gryphons were dying even quicker as a storm of bullets rained down on them from the ceiling. Ethan’s two M6D pistols penetrating the gryphons armor and incapacitating them each with one bullet. Thanks to the 12.7x40mm M225 SAPHE (Semi Armor Piercing High Explosive) magnum rounds, the gryphons that died after the bullets hit their spines were the lucky ones. Those that didn’t had to deal with pieces of metal slicing around inside them after the the small explosion of the bullet sent pieces of metal into their internal organs. A few died from suffocation as the shards of metal hit their lungs and drowned in their own blood.

On Chase’s side, Two more rounds and the sixth gryphon, out of the nine that charged the King, went down gargling his own blood as the rounds ripped open his throat. With the last three gryphons closer than comfortable, Chase shot his last six rounds in a sweep from right to left. One round found it’s mark in the chest cavity of the farthest right gryphon while a second bullet nicked his armor, ricocheting off harmlessly. The third and fourth rounds found themselves buried into the middle gryphon’s stomach as he tried to gain altitude. The fifth hit a stone pillar while the sixth buried itself into the hip of the last gryphon.

As a last ditch effort the gryphon jumped with his wings spread at the King, sword pointing forward straight at his chest. The King jumped back out of the gryphons range, his own sword grasped in his talons, and got into a fighting stance with his eyes glued to the gryphon. Chase had other ideas as he swung out his left leg and kicked the last guard right in the chest as he tried to pass.

The sound of bones snapping reverberated through the room as Chase’s foot more than like likely caused the gryphon’s chest cavity to cave in. The kick’s power caused the gryphon to fly back and slam into the white gryphon, Black. The impact knocked both of them into the bodies of the fallen gryphons that had tried to kill the Court of Nine.

Speaking of whom, on top of the raised row of seats were nine gryphons that all seemed shocked and/or appalled at what had just happened in front of them. The farthest one to the right was in the middle of throwing up their lunch at the sight of the massacre in front of them.

Ethan had, at some point, dropped from the ceiling and had both of his M6D pistols pointed at Black as struggled to get the dying gryphon off of him. Chase reloaded his assault rifle as the room began to quiet down and the blood began to run out of the dead bodies’ wounds, King Ashford walked forward, “Why did it have to come to this.”

Black, free of the gryphon that had slammed into him, stood shakily as he looked around, beak clenched shut and eyes narrowed in anger, “You killed all of these guards and you have to ask why? They’re dead because of you! You and those, things!”

“I gave them a chance to stand down and they didn’t take it. I will be personally writing my condolences to their families for their loss, but I will not say sorry in a single one. They were given a chance to live and they chose what they thought would be an easy battle. This could’ve been even worse had you gotten what you want.”

“Justice!? Cause that’s all I’ve ever wanted! Those dirty Minotaurs deserve nothing else than death!” Black shouted in anger reaching for his sword. Chase held up his hand to stop Ethan from killing the idiot.

“The kind of war you wish to fight has no end.” King Ashford stated as he readied his own sword, “If you had your way there wouldn’t be any Minotaurs left on this planet.”

“Paradise if I’ve ever heard it.” Black said as he took off towards the King.

With ease that showed off years of sword handling, King Ashford sidestepped and parried the cut and sliced with his own sword. Black moved his head a second too late, leaving him with a small cut on his cheek. With rage evident in his face, Black went on a full on assault, hacking away at the King. With a calm face, King Ashford parried, blocked, and dodged all of the strikes made at him and returned with his own well thought out strikes.

As the King and Black fought, Ethan never once had his sights off of Black and Chase, knowing who was going to win, began to silently walk towards the deer-looking creature. It had a feminine looking body, but Chase had learned the hard way that when you assume something it makes an ass out of both parties. It had brown eyes and the sides of it's coat were a dark ash color. A long stretch of fur from the top of it's... muzzle that stretched and encompassed half of it's back was a really dark blue. Then it had a dark purple... mane with the outer inch of it’s short tail was the same color while the inner color matched the dark blue of it's back.

The deer was full locked on the battle at hand while talking into the microphone, “The battle is intense and fierce as these two fight for the fate of the kingdom. The questions keep piling as the creature that had killed over half the guards with General Black just watches. The other-” she suddenly stopped as she looked over and saw Chase was crouched right next to her.

The deer’s jaw visibly quaked as she held in a scream of surprise. Chase chuckled at the sight before stating, “You might want to keep that camera on the fight before you miss something.” the deer gulped and took the spartan’s advice, looking back towards the fight between King Ashford and General Black.

With how many strikes Black kept giving, it was only a matter of time before he slipped like the King was waiting for. He was letting rage run his mind, something that translated into his sword work and made it sloppy. The only reason that the King had yet to kill the S-O-B was because he was fast and aggressive with his strikes. If it didn’t end soon, judging on how neither combatants looked in the least bit tired from the straight minute or so fighting, it would be going on for hours.

Soon though, the King got the opening he wanted. Black was hovering with his wings and using them to maneuver around the King quickly to try and find a blind spot in the King’s defense. The King kept moving around and jumping from side to side to avoid the swings from Black. Then Black swung down with the short sword in his right talons, but before he could retreat King Ashford’s left talons shot forward and pulled the white gryphon forward. The battle was over as the King buried his sword into Black’s chest, just below where the armor protected.

The range of emotions Chase saw in Black’s eyes were limited to three, rage, shock, and finally pain as his body went limp. Ethan finally lowered his pistols as Black’s body fell over onto the ground, the crown that had been atop his head rolled away from the from his now dead form. Chase turned to the deer to see her practically grinning from ear to ear with joy.

“This is Action News’ Alice Summers saying, King Ashford is back and peace seems to be his main goal. This is monumentally good news not only for the world, but for this shows ratings. I will now attempt to get the King to answer a few questions as to what this means for the Gryphon Kingdom and-”

“I’m sorry, the King will not be taking questions from the media at this time.” Chase said as he got the deer’s attention, “We need to clean up the courtroom, comb the guard and army for Black’s supporters, then we have to find the poor janitor who’s cleaning this up.”

“Just who and what are you anyway?” the deer asked the spartan.

“My name is Chase Blake, and I’m a spartan.”

“... That’s it? Can you please explain what a spartan is? Maybe why you’re here helping King Ashford?” Alice asked while Chase stole a glance at the King. He had begun to address the Court of Nine and Ethan was watching over them all.

“Hmm, sure.” Chase said shrugging his shoulders and motioning her towards the door, “I will answer a few questions, outside, chose them carefully.” ‘I really want to get this day over with already.'

“What’s a spartan? Why are you helping the King? Those two to start.” Alice said without missing a beat as she followed the spartan.

Taking one last glance back at the proceedings between the King and the nine gryphons of the court, Chase shut the doors and turned to the deer, “Alright, a spartan is a highly trained, highly advanced, and very deadly soldier. The reason I was with the King is because he enlisted my teams help during this operation.”

“I suppose you can’t give me the details of this steel armor you have on.” she stated.

“Did you really think I would correct you?” Chase asked chuckling at her attempt to learn what the armor was made of.

“Fine, fine, but you don’t seem like you’re from around here.” she said raising an eyebrow at the spartan.

“Well, that is a long story. Just know that it involves a portal, an exploding planet, and crashing our ship in one heck of a cliche way.” Chase responded with a cheery tone.

“So, wait.” Alice looked at the spartan with new found confusion, “You’re telling me you’re an alien.”

Chase brought a hand up to the bottom of his helmet to stroke his imaginary beard, “Well, the portal thing that we used didn’t cross just distances, but aliens sound simple enough, so yes.”

Alice just raised her eyebrow, “Okay... then why did you come here?”

“About six to seven months ago, the other half of my team came through a similar portal using the same coordinates. I’m just here to find them.”

“How do you plan on getting back?”

“We don’t.” Chase answered simply, shocking the deer reporter.

“What do you mean ‘you don’t’?”

“So far the only two portals that are know are either destroyed or in a quarantined area. The odds of us finding a way to return on our own are damn near astronomical.”

“You don’t seem that worried, care to explain?”

“Well-” Chase was interrupted as the doors opened up and revealed a smiling King Ashford with Ethan at his side. Alice quickly dropped down into a bow making Chase raise an eyebrow under his helmet.

“Spartan, we’re about to go free the guards Black imprisoned. After that we’re making the announcement of his betrayal, so get ready for another fight.” the King stated before he noticed Alice and chuckled, “Wow, I didn’t know the deerling media was this fast.”

Alice rose from her bowing position, “King Ashford, do you think you could answer some questions?”

“I’m sorry Miss. Summers, but you will have to wait for the press release like all the other news crews. Chase, I would like it if Ethan stayed to protect the Court of Nine, and Miss. Summers, while we proceed to the dungeons.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Chase said with a happy tune before nodding to Ethan, “It’s about time this long day finally came to an end.”

Author's Note

Okay, I am late on this chapter too and I will blame it on Destiny. On the other hand though, I think, haven't checked the word count yet, that this is a big enough chapter to make up for that. Now though I really got to post this as I'm five minutes away from being a second day late.

Community Question: Who do you think the main enemy of Halo 5 will be?

My answer: ONI has got to go down and I think the Chief will team up with Halsey, after he rescues her that is, and do just that.