Chapter Five

The entire room was pitch black and silent. The archway that Fireteam Ghost had gone through was as dark and dead as everything else in the room. Along the floor and in the open doorway were piles of dead bodies, two of which were still human.

From the black hallway, past the pried open doorway, a single flood infection form scurried across the floor. Even with all the dead and decaying bodies around, it was following something, the scent of something alive. It crawled over the dead bodies of the combat forms and a few pure forms before it finally sensed it was close.

On the floor directly in front of the infection form was a human clad in metal armor from head to tow. The parasite moved carefully and closed the gap between the two before it started up the humans leg, slowly as to not wake it. As the parasite slowly moved over the humans chest there was a flash of movement to the side and an armored fist collided with the parasite, destroying it in a small explosion of gore.

"Sorry, you're not my type." Chase said as he painfully began to situp. The first thing he noticed was a sharp pain in his left eye. He knew he had a shard of his visor in it, that was going to complicate things. He shook the remains of the parasite off his hand and activated the lights on his helmet. Through his one good eye, Chase looked at the piles of dead flood all around him.

He looked towards the archway, hoping to see the light of the console, but there was nothing. The archway was destroyed, along with any way of him getting to Leon or Josh. 'The portal must of destroyed the archway when I overloaded the power and made it collapse on itself.'

Chase looked around and found his MA5D assault rifle nearby. A few minutes later and he found his M45D tactical shotgun under the dead body of former Commander Richards. As he moved the body to get it, a small key card fell out of the Commander's lab coat.

It was red in color and had 'Level 5 Security Clearance' in white lettering next to a picture of Richards. Picking it up, Chase was about to break it in hate towards him, but an inhuman scream came from beyond the doorway. Without thinking Chase put the key card into an ammo pouch on his left side, the one that also contained his shotgun shells.

He loaded a new magazine into his assault rifle and moved slowly towards the door with it raised. Due to the lights on either side of his helmet his pupils contracted, making anything not in direct contact with the light look completely dark. As Chase began to move towards the door he realized something, 'This is just like a horror movie... I am really screwed now.'

As he reached the intersection outside the doorway he checked both ways for anything, but found nothing. As he retraced his steps through the labs the sound of his armor boots striking the floor alerted him that his shields were down. Weather it was his broken visor or the blast from the portal, Chase couldn’t tell.

The dull echo of his footsteps unnerved him to no end as he continued towards the elevator that brought him down to this level. It took him a few moments, but he finally reached the elevator. The console was dark and the elevator wasn’t there, but Chase had figured as much would happen.

He leaned over the edge to look at the bottom, but his helmet lights couldn’t penetrate the darkness. Chase gave a low whistle as he looked down the seemingly bottomless pit. He shook his head to get rid of any second thoughts as to what he was about to do.

The walls like the platform that used to me there were octagonal, eight flat surfaces. Taking a few steps back, Chase readied himself, “One for the money, two-!” he jumped across the gap and slammed his feet against the opposite wall. Even without his visor he could still control his armors secondary features, like his magnetic boots and his armor lock.

His boots kept him against the wall and the armor lock helped him keep his balance. With his arms locked and his plan seemingly working he grinned, “-Because fuck it.”

Slowly he released the armor lock on his left leg and moved it forward. He fully extended his leg for a step and got it locked against the wall. He deactivated his armor lock and began to climb up the wall, “This is easier than I thought it was going to be... aww fuck.” Chase thought out loud. Noticing he had just tempted the universe to make his situation worse than what it was, Chase retrieved his MA5D from his back and shouldered it for the climb up.

He just passed the fifth floor doorway and he was starting to feel the weight of the armor, “Why... does this armor... weigh so much.” He head a squishy, splat sound as something landed on his chest. Chase quickly swatted the blob of fleshy substance off and snapped his head back to looking up the shaft.

Just beyond his helmet’s lights, Chase could see the bug like shapes of the stalker pure form flood. There were three that began to enter his immediate view, so Chase leveled his assault rifle with the nearest one, “You fuckers just never learn.” with a smug grin Chase pulled the trigger on his rifle and immediately his grin disappeared. The bursts of light his rifle caused as it spat bullets illuminated more of the shaft showing dozens of stalkers.

After his magazine ran dry Chase knew he needed another plan. He heard a few of them beginning to change into the ranged pure form. As the name implies they are good at ranged fighting and Chase had no shields to defend against their needles. Thinking quickly, he jumped and twisted his body in the air. He came down hard on the fifth floor access way. Rising off of his hands and knees he was just about to take off running when a flaw in his plan was staring him in the face.

The door in front of him was closed and the power was out... this did not make for a good combo. Something large landed behind him with a loud thud and Chase was once again lifted off the ground by the force of an impact. The door dented but held as he was slammed into it.

Chase didn’t have time to even turn around before he was picked up and slammed against the door repeatedly. Finally the door gave in and Chase skidded across the ground in a partial daze. He wanted to just lay there, but there was a sound behind him, a sound that scarred his very soul. Thinking quickly he got on his hands and knees and did a roll away from the monster.

He came up in a crouched position and turned to look at the doorway. the first pure that attacked him was on it’s knees spitting up some of the bulbous infection forms. Behind it, two more stalkers where changing too match the tank. Chase could see his MA5D on the ground behind them.

‘I’m not getting that back.’ Chase thought as he rose to his feet and began backing away. All three of the pure forms turned to him just as his foot connected with the ground, “... Well it’s been fun, but I got to get going.” all three pure forms screamed and charged, now joined by the little infection forms.

Chase sprinted down the hall as fast as he could. He easily left the flood behind him as he reached his armor’s max speed. He retraced his steps from his previous visit, stopping only at the intersections to make sure he was on the right path.

As he was running down the hallway his right calf erupted in pain. Chase tumbled forward, first landing on his right shoulder before going into a role due to his momentum. During his training, Chase had experience all the livable pains caused by the armor he now wore. Do to this he was able to tell by the amount of pain that his leg just cramped up because he over exerted it.

Chase looked around for a room he could stowaway in till the pain reseeded. An open door just down the hall he had come from gave him another glimmer of hope. Not because it was a semi-safe place to hide, though that was a factor, but because he had been in it before.

Using his training, Chase was able to crawl rather fast using his elbows and move through the door without bumping his leg into anything. His eye was another huge disadvantage as he had a hard time telling distances between objects.

Crawling through the doorway, Chase saw the familiar surroundings of former Commander Richards Office. The desk looked the same as he had left it and the computer seemed to be off, but the screen gave off the faintest of lights. Using the desk as some support, Chase carefully rose on his one foot, ignoring the oak desks loud groaning sounds from the added weight.

A solid thump was heard as he hopped around the desk to look at the computer screen. A small box of text was in the middle of the screen.

‘System servers: OFFLINE

Emergency generators: OFFLINE

Experimental power source: ONLINE

Please contact system administrator for the proper course of action.’

With the pain fading away from his leg, Chase turned around to look at the door that could save his life. Above the doorway were the words ‘Weapon Testing Chamber 7’.

“Something’s not right here.” Chase muttered as he limped to the door that the commander easily could of gotten into instead of going for the portal. The card reader to the side seemed active and ready with a small red light on the upper left corner. Retrieving the Commander’s card from his ammo pouch he swiped it through the reader. It issued a small beep and the red light turned green just before the door began to slowly slide open.

Light leaked through the crack illuminating the room and, as soon as he could, Chase stepped through the crack and looked around. The room was sterile white with a few folding tables, some ‘UNSC’ labeled machines, and paper scattered across said tables. Then in the center of the room was a small transparent case with the hilt of an energy sword resting in the center.

“One damn weapon, now I see why Richards went for the portal.” Chase thought out loud as the door finished siding open behind him. Chase looked at some of the paper work on one of the tables and some parts jumped out at him: “... Unresponsive... Limitless energy... Power source...” Chase said out loud. He then gave a low whistle and looked back at the case, “Infinite energy and it doesn’t work... I am screwed.” Chase finished, putting emphasis on the last few words.

As Chase moved closer to the sword the lights in the room got brighter. Chase took note of this as he stood in front of the case, “Or maybe not...”

A scream pierced Chase’s thoughts as he looked at the sword hilt. He turned to the door and retrieved his shotgun from his back as he did so. There was nothing there though, at least nothing in Richard’s office. Thinking quickly, Chase smashed the case behind him with his elbow and grabbed the hilt of the sword.

The moment his fingers wrapped around the piece of covenant tech, there was a very bright flash of green light and all the lights in the room went off. Chase jumped to the side, thinking someone had just fired a fuel rod cannon at him. He came up in a crouched position with his shotgun raised to the area behind the case with his left hand, his helmet lights illuminating the area. Nothing stirred and no sounds were made as Chase checked the rest of the room. Noticing he was under no immediate threat Chase looked down at the glowing red energy sword casting it’s own eerie red light.

“Oh, red hot.” Chase sliced through one of the tables, causing any paper to contacted the sword to catch fire and the two table halves to crash onto the floor with the ends that used to be together melting into a small puddle of plastic and whatever else the table was made of, “I think I’m in love.”

The fire began to die out as Chase walked out of the room, his leg seemingly fine now. He deactivated the sword and attached it to his right leg before proceeding out the doorway and into Richard’s office. Then, from there, he walked into the dark hallway, the whole time he had his shotgun raised. Nothing stirred in the shadows as his helmet lights pierced through them. Chase checked both ways with his shotgun raised before he began running down the corridor, at a slower pace than before, but continuing his journey to the surface all the same.

-Meanwhile-

A dozen or so flood combat forms were shuffling around the clearing that had previously been full of people evacuating. All the people that had been at the facility had either left with the Pelicans or became a flood host. With nothing to fight, the combat forms on the rings surface were left to their own devices, while the ones on the second floor of the labs gathered enough dead to make a gravemind. Unknown to the flood, there were two spartans watching them, planning.

Ethan and Hank were crouched on either side of a small alley behind two of the buildings that surrounded the clearing. Both of them had known something was wrong when they had failed to receive any radio contact from the base. Ethan had put the Pelican down about a mile away on the opposite side of a barren, flat land.

From there the duo had stuck to the edge of the dry wasteland and approached the base with stealth and caution. So far they had no idea where Leon, Alfred, Josh, and Chase were, but since there vitals all disappeared at the same time, they assumed they were in the labs.

“Got anything on the radio?” Hank asked through the comm channel.

“Negative.” Ethan simply replied.

“Alright, mark any locations where there’s a secondary entrance to the labs.” four different blue diamonds appeared on Hank’s HUD, “From what we’ve seen, there’s no power. Are any of those maintenance shafts?” Only one blue diamond remained.

“It’s a long twisting slope down, only stops on floors two and five.”

“Alright, we’ll pass by the armory on the way there and get our personal weapons.” Hank then continued on behind the buildings with Ethan following behind him.

After they passed the last building before the armory the air was filled with screams. Quickly the duo hid behind the armory building as all the flood rushed to the opposite side of the clearing from them.

“That’s to the main elevator.” Ethan said watching all the flood converge on the elevator building.

“They’ll have a rough time getting down that way with the power out. This also means their are still people alive down there.” Carefully they walked into the armory from the rear entrance, Ethan had an MA5D raised while Hank had a SAW. After they confirmed the room was clear they put their weapons in the correct lockers and grabbed their more personal ones.

“Grab as much as you can carry, but only ammo for what you plan on keeping.” Hank stated as Ethan grabbed two M6D pistols (Halo 1), putting one each hip, and an MA5B assault rifle (Halo 1) on his back. The two armor plates his pistols rested on contained a clip/magazine cycling mechanism that swapped the spent one for new ones. He put five magazines in each, the maximum amount, before attaching ten more magazines to his waist for his MA5B. Two grenades rested under his speed enhancement armor module.

Hank hefted a large ammo pack onto his back, his armors magnetic locks holding it in place with more force than what a grizzly bear could muster. A rectangular tube led to the turret that rested below the ammo box. He grabbed the vertical grip and swung it around to his front where his left hand grabbed a horizontal grip that was placed just behind the shield. On his hips Hank grabbed two M7/Caseless Submachine Guns and loaded his own clip/magazine cycling mechanism with five magazines each. His armor module that rested below his ammo pack was able to give him two more levels of shielding, but it took it quite a while to recharge and Hank had a hard time moving around with the added slickness the shields brought.

In addition to his personal weapons, which Hank returned to there respected holsters, he also grabbed as many grenades as the magnets on his waist could carry. Ethan grabbed a M6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle also known as a Spartan Laser and attached it next to his MA5B. They both holstered their weapons and grabbed a M90 Shotgun (Halo 1). It had a large ammo capacity at the cost of range and had a bit more kick than the M45D Shotgun Chase preferred.

“We stay as quiet as possible and try to reach them on the radio. How long we got till the contingency plan is enacted?” Hank asked as they walked out the back of the armory.

“Half hour to an hour to finish up evacuations and data retrieval.” Ethan answered as they moved carefully down another alley way to their objective.

“Then this ring is destroyed and this section of space is quarantined, right?” Hank asked as they stopped and let a few flood run past the opening to the alley. Ethan nodded his head in confirmation, “Then once we get to the shaft we’ll have ta pick of the pace.”

The next few minutes passed in silence before they came upon a large vent-like structure jutting out of the ground. Green mist hung in the air around it and came out of it, signaling a flood presence in the vent. “Must be a lot of ‘em in there. Not very likely we’ll stay hidden for long... We move fast from here on out and try to get to the second floor.”

“Wouldn’t the fifth floor be more likely since that’s where the Commander’s office is?” Ethan asked as he scanned his surroundings and kept his eyes on his motion sensor.

“Good point.” Hank muttered in thought, “Alright, we head for floor five and try to get a hold of someone. With any luck we’ll find everyone and get out before the contingency begins.”

A loud shriek began nearby and soon seemed to echo throughout the relatively small compound. Needing no other indication that they had been discovered the two quickly entered the shaft in pursuit of the rest of their team.

Author's Note

Well it's not out on time and it's not as long as I wanted it, but I feel that this is good enough for all of you who are waiting patiently for this story to move on.

Now on to the question for the chapter: Now if you had the opportunity which pony would you b**** slap? It can be any pony of your choosing and you can put more than one, try to put more than one if your choice is Rainbow Dash cause that's the one I think I'll see the most in the answers.