Chapter 7: Final Fight

For the past twenty minutes, Caroline and Dub matched on through the ship's halls. No resistance came to them, and they continued on, still ready for anything.

As they walked, she looked down at her prosthetic arm, and saw what was left of Okido still clung around its forearm, in the spiral shape of a screw. They soon came to another corner. Peering into its hall from behind it, Caroline saw nothing but rows upon rows of doors, and another corner at the far end. Sighing, she looked back at Dub, who stood behind her.

"I'll go ahead to the end of this hall" she started, placing her real hand on his shoulder. "You stay here, and I'll call you when I know it's safe."

"Okay" he replied. "I'll call you if I see anything back here."

Giving him a thumbs-up, she slowly made her way past the corner, and began to explore down the hall, gun aimed at every corner she saw, ready for anything.

A minute-long walk later, and she reached the end of the area. She looked around the next corner, and saw nothing. It was safe.

As she was about to call to give the all-clear to Dub, a transmission from him suddenly came in on her mic, and she listened.

"Carol! Help! There's-" was all his voice was able to say, before a loud bang on the other end ended the transmission.

"Dub? Dub?!" Caroline shouted, frantically into the mic. Without a second thought, she turned, and ran back to where she came from, cursing under her breath.

Within moments, she was at the corner she left. She hugged the wall of it, and took a deep breath, ready for anything. It was quiet.

Without hesitation, she leapt into the open hall, and pointed her gun... Only to feel Dub's unconscious body get slammed into her, throwing her onto her back, as the magnum dropped to the ground.

After rolling the Grunt off herself, and sitting up, she saw Dub's glass ranger visor was completely shattered, and there was a good-sized lump poking out of his forehead. He was moaning slightly, indicating he was still alive. Looking forward, Caroline couldn't see anyone in the hall.

Deciding to grab her fallen weapon before investigating further, she went for it. Just as she reached her hand out to it, she reeled back in pain as a tremendous, invisible force stepped onto it, pinning it. The helmet-less Elite uncloaked, revealing his foot over the Spartan's hand, and grabbed her other arm with his own.

"Spartan!" Hesh roared, as he hefted her up, and kicked the pistol away, toward where Dub lied. As he started to throw her away, Caroline could see that half of his face appeared to be "broken," for lack of a better word. One eye was bulging out, bloodshot, and red, and the socket that it belonged to was badly damaged.

She landed on her feet, and instantly charged at the Sangheili, tackling him in the gut, just as he was drawing his energy sword. Shocked by the sudden fierceness of the attack, he could only stand there for several seconds as the Spartan repeatedly punched him in the gut, getting him to spit up a stream of purple blood from his split mouth.

Hesh, getting ahold of himself, brought his arms up, and smashed them into the human's shoulders, sending her to her knees on the ground. He was about to bring his sword down to hit her next, until Caroline brought her hands up, catching his own.

Hesh managed to catch her left hand, while Caroline's right, robotic hand clasped the hand that held the energy sword. They pushed, and pulled, both grunting with effort, but their stalemate continued in strength continued.

"I'm going to cleave you in two..." Hesh threatened, as he got a sudden renewal in power, and began to push Caroline back toward the ground. "I'm going to-"

Before Hesh could finish his insult at the Spartan, Okido's Lekgolo suddenly uncoiled from Caroline's prosthetic arm, and flung itself at Hesh, where he bit down on the Elite's grayish-brown face as hard as it could with a squeaking noise.

Crying out in surprise, Hesh let go of Caroline, and pulled at the worm, tearing it off his face, along with some pieces of skin, and throwing it away. This distraction was all it took for the Spartan to ram her fist into the Elite's jaws, and kick him in the chest, sending him to the ground.

As she was pouncing on him, Hesh stuck his foot up, and caught the human's chest in it. With a push, and a swipe from his sword, he had her off himself, and he stood back up.

After a quick look, Hesh lunged, and with an almost supernatural speed, he swung his weapon in a sideways cleave. All Caroline could do was jump back in an attempt to dodge it, but the sudden agony she felt hit her midsection told her she was too slow.

The sword ripped through the armor and flesh that covered her stomach like a knife through hot butter. She stumbled backwards, and descended to the floor, falling backwards.

She rubbed her left hand over her stomach, and lifted it up, to see it completely caked in red blood. Clenching it, and attempting, in vain, to ignore the mounting torment she felt, she groaned as she looked up, just in time to see Hesh roaring, and bringing his sword down again.

Mustering up a sudden burst of strength, she rolled over to her left side, but heard the sword come down, and slice through her mechanical arm, cutting it off just before her shoulder, sparing her actual body of any injury.

She rapidly got back to her feet, and was able to take a few steps away, as she looked back at Hesh, then to her dismembered arm, then back the Hesh.

There was a silence as their stare-off continued. This was broken as the Elite ran at her again, and attempted a large, overhead swing, which Caroline narrowly avoided when she dove in the direction of her cut-off prosthetic, which she grabbed the moment she reached it.

She managed to get back to her feet, arm in hand, and faced Hesh, panting heavily, and sweating profusely from the new pain she had just begun to experience. Suddenly, she let out a groan, and staggered to a knee, a new pain hitting her.

"I am going to end you, once and for all" he taunted, as he slowly made his way to the heavily injured Spartan, taking his time knowing he had the upper hand.

"C-could you... Grk... C-could y-you make it... Quick..." she pleaded, as she was brought lower to the ground, her torment taking a whole new turn, herself, appearing to falter.

"I shall grant you that wish" Hesh sneered. He raised his sword again for a deathblow, ignorant to what the Spartan was planning in his hubris. It was at this point, Caroline acted, swinging the arm she held upward, in a burst of speed.

The cut-off end of the metal, prosthetic arm, functioning as a makeshift club, slammed against Hesh's side face, shattering two of his jaws, and causing him to drop the still-hanging energy sword over his back, where it fell to the ground, where it deactivated.

While he was stunned, Caroline pulled the knife out of its strap on her chest, and lunged at him, biting her lip with her canine as she stalled the unbearable pain a moment longer.

Without falter, Caroline impaled the knife into Hesh's right scalene muscle, in his neck, performing what would normally be a deathblow.

But Hesh did not fall.

Blade still sticking out of his neck, Hesh threw his hands at the Spartan in response, with a berserk roar. Not expecting the attack, and completely drained of stamina, Caroline could only stand there as the Sangheili's hands grabbed her throat, curling his long, thick fingers around it, and started to squeeze with all his might, causing her to choke.

"You're mine now, Demon... You're mine to torment!" the deranged Elite roared, as he began to strangle the life out of Caroline, lifting her into the air. All the Spartan could do was kick, and paw, and scratch with her legs and remaining hand, but nothing came out of her efforts but a tighter force enveloping her throat, and a worse pain from her stomach and chest. She began to gasp as she lost all her air, and felt as though her throat was on fire.

"Mine to torture! Mine to kill!"

The Spartan could feel the lack of air forcing herself into unconsciousness, letting out only a few more desperate, faint gasps, before her arm and legs fell, limply. Her eyes began to close, and darkness began to take hold of her in its fullest as she stopped struggling. Death was near.

"Mine! Mine! Mi-"

The sound of a gun going off went through the air like the drop of a bomb, and Hesh went silent, mid-rant, as a bullet tore straight through his head. Caroline could feel herself being dropped to the floor with a clatter from her armor, while a thump came from the Elite's side, indicating his fall as well.

Wheezing, the Spartan could only lie on her back as she recovered, and blood continued to pour from her wound. She was barely able to move around, and from her upside-down view, she saw a familiar figure standing behind herself.

Just a few feet behind where she and Hesh had just stood, was Dub, holding the Spartan's discarded magnum in his hands. He continued to point it at where Hesh had once stood, and his eyes and fingers were twitching, as if in shock over what he had just done. This lasted until the pistol was suddenly dropped from the Unggoy's hands, and landed with a thud on the metallic ground.

"C-C-Carol? A-are you okay?" he finally gasped, turning hid attention toward her, and stumbling in her direction in a dizzy fashion, clearly shaken by the event that had transpired.

"I've been... Better" she chuckled in relief, just before coughing up a small stream of blood into her helmet. She had just enough strength to pull it off, and sent it rolling around, leaving her head bare of armor.

"Ooh... That looks bad. Let me get you s-someplace else" he spoke again, in a jittery voice, when he saw the blood streaking down her face, and stomach. "We're not safe out here."

Using all of his power, Dub grabbed the Spartan's shoulders, and dragged Caroline's body into a nearby room, leaving a path of discarded blood in their wake. He propped her against the wall of the room, facing the door, and examined her wound closer.

Despite the fact the Grunt was silent, Caroline could see that he knew just how bad her wound was, judging from the horrified look he wore, and how pale his face had become.

"I... I think I'm gonna be sick..." he whined, clamping his hand to his gas mask, as he turned his back briefly, before looking back at her.

"I can... Try and find some towels, or some cloth. I know where to look..." he said again, before trailing off when he looked to the Spartan's side.

Looking to see what was distracting him, Caroline saw, to her surprise, Okido's Lekgolo was slithering up to her side.

The worm slowly crawled onto Caroline's body before she could move to stop it, and it soon came to a rest on top of her wound. The second it stopped moving, it began to excrete a clear, slimy liquid out of its body, and the moment the slime touched Caroline's wound, she let out a horrendous, yowling scream as the absolute worst, hellish, burning pain struck her.

"Okido! No! Bad Hunter!" Dub yelled, as he attempted to shoo the worm away with his hands.

"N-no... D-don't" the Spartan spoke, raising her only good arm to stop him.

"Why?" he asked. "He's hurting you!"

"H-he's... He's healing me..." she replied, noticing what was going on, but still wincing. "That stuff he's putting on, it... It's sealing my wound. L-like using glue on an injury."

"Glue? GLUE DOESN'T HEAL YOU! GLUE FIXES THINGS, NOT PEOPLE!"

"I-it can... But it hurts like Hell" she spoke, softly, her fingers trembling. "Do you... Do you think you could go get those towels like you said? I... Lost a lot of blood... Might pass out..."

"Oh, uh s-sure!" he stuttered. "There should be room nearby. I'll just be right back. Don't die!"

As he headed up he suddenly stopped at the edge of the door, and cupped where his ear was. He appeared to be listening intently to something.

"Carol..." he started, in a fear-filled whisper. "I hear noises up ahead... They sound like voices..."

He turned back to the Spartan, showing his shaken face.

"I think they're getting closer!"

Listening, the Spartan could hear a faint voice, very similar to that of a human's, but slightly more high-pitch and "eccentric," and it sounded as though it was right next to where she and Hesh had just fought.

"...Oh? Another dead Sangheili. Gruesome!" it spoke, apparently seeing Hesh's body. "...And what have we here? Hmm... I've never seen a Sangheili helmet of this design before... Or blood of that color. And it leads somewhere! Most intriguing..."

"D-Dub..." Caroline spoke to the Unggoy, weakly, in a worried tone. "Get back. They're g-going to come here. H-hide. It might see you."

Dub was quiet. He stared at Caroline through his visor-less helmet, and then back to the door. He clenched his fists, and let loose a growl.

"I'm going to... Protect you" he finally spoke.

"No, d-don't!" she tried to say, as the Grunt rushed out of the room, letting out a battle cry. An echoey, metallic screech come forth a few seconds later, followed by loud thump. All Caroline could do was watch in shock as and Dub's body was thrown into the side of the doorway like a ragdoll, before crashing to the ground with a moan.

"It appears that the Unggoy was trying to defend something" the voice spoke again, in a casual tone. "You, be an obedient Knight, and go see what that creature was probably mauling to death. This helmet needs some more analyzing. It's information is... Valuable" he said again, as if speaking to someone.

Caroline let a gulp of fresh, warm blood and saliva go down her throat as she heard the sound of heavy footsteps coming down the hall. The pace sounded slow enough to indicate whatever it was, was taking its sweet time to find her, and kill her. She had no idea what she was about to see, but was she was sure of, was that she was too weak to even defend herself.

The bipedal creature that finally appeared around the corner, was something that the Spartan had not expected to see at all. She remembered having fought them on only one other occasion, but that was back on the shield world of Requiem, over a month ago, when the Infinity was trapped there.

A Promethean Knight.

It walked its full, robotic, steel-colored, ten-foot height into full view of Caroline, and was only focussing on the blood trail left on the ground, apparently not noticing the wounded Spartan, but pushing Dub's unconscious body out of the way with its foot, as he got in its way. As it made chittering noises, like an insect, two of the outer hatches on its large, shell-like back opened, and flittered, like that of a beetle's wings, before closing again. Despite how hazy her view was, Caroline could see that the patterns that shown on the sides and corners on its body were lit up by blue colored light, which she immediately noticed were different from the orange-hued ones she previously encountered and fought.

As soon as its lit, equally blue-colored eyes caught sight of the Spartan, it let a hiss escape the grimaced mouth inside of its helmeted head, and it raised the two, large, artificial forearms that were holding a Forerunner gun of some sort in one, and an energy-like blade in the other, each in a grip of an invisible energy field.

Like a reaper coming to collect, it slowly stalked toward Caroline, silently treading across the ground without so much as a single sound, using the blood trail she left behind as an unwelcoming red carpet. Still stunned, and lightheaded from the blood loss, Caroline could only remain quiet, her eyes transfixed on the creature, and nothing else.

Upon reaching her, the Knight bent its long, powerful legs, gradually lowering its massive body, until it was closer to, but still looming over the Spartan, in an extremely threatening, and eerie manner, its shadow overlapping her. Now closer, Caroline couldn't help but notice two, small, five-fingered, vaguely human, robotic arms and hands that stuck out of its front, underneath its head, reminiscent of that of a Tyrannosaurus, while the larger pair stayed at its side.

The being's facial structure and helmet then split into two sections, revealing a lit-up, fiery blue skull underneath. It emitted a bloodcurdling, robotic scream as it got within only inches of the Spartan's face, blowing back some of the short hair that dangled around her face, but she was not afraid of the Knight in the slightest.

The hard-light blade situated on its left, weaponized limb, was brought up, and slid across Caroline's exposed neck, its blue, razor-sharp edge faintly touching her, ready to slit her throat without hesitation.

The empty sockets in the skull, despite being eyeless, conveyed a feeling dread, hate, and inevitable doom.

"No, wait, Knight. Stay your hand!" the voice from before suddenly spoke again, in a sharp cry. As if on command, the Knight quietly retracted its weapon back to its side, its facial plates enclosed the skull underneath once more, and it stood up.

Turning its abnormally large, and patterned back to her, it trudged to the side of the opening it entered from, chittering its jagged teeth, like some demented bug, before looking back with its piercing glare. A red light suddenly came out of the doorway, and shown itself and its blinding, red gaze on Caroline.

"My, my, my... What have we here?" the voice behind the light inquired. "...Could it possibly be? Does my eye deceive me?"

The last thing Caroline remembered seeing, before her eyes finally closed, and the embrace of darkness enveloped her, was that single, bright, red light, shining toward her, slowly getting closer, and closer, and closer...

Author's notes: Yes. That's right. I ended the story on a cliffhanger! A cliffhanger! AND THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT!

I really do hope you enjoyed. Sequel will be coming soon. You were a wonderful audience! Thanks!

If you want any info on who will appear in the next story, check out my main page.