A/N: A little send off to you loyal readers out there… who are still with me. =D

XXxxXX

"I would like to announce my resignation as the Commander in Chief of the Military Intelligence Division."
-GEN Doctor Essingdon Dominic Keyes

XXxxXX

Epilogue (1 year later)

23rd Wiltshire Way, Cambridge
New London City, Greater Ark

Keyes guided his car up to the drive way, and gave a brief ID tag into his security system. A short moment later, the gates opened, allowing him to drive up the small road adorned with a short row of hedges and ever green trees.

Outside of work, this was where he had spent some of his energy on. The house was built according to his specifications, on a piece of land of his choice; up in the mountains, on a plateau and next to an oasis. The view he had was of the garden harbour city, a beautiful intricate art piece of light and water.

He eased his Rolls-Royce Ghost around the fountain, as a soft smile crossed his lips. It had been the first time since he could spend more than a month here, in peace and quiet. No one knew about his estate, not even the newly appointed Director Greenfield – the first MID civilian Director.

Turning off the engine, he stepped out of the car, and locked the doors before walking up the short flight of stairs. Classical Modern design, he always had a perchance for that, it had the right amount of class, elegance and simplicity that he enjoyed.

After he unlocked the front door, he entered in another series of ID Challenges before closing the door behind him. He had lived so many years as a soldier, and even more so as a powerful figure in a clandestine organisation. But throughout his life, he had been a scientist at heart. He pioneered to create things that would protect mankind, and now… he was at a loss on what to do.

Being in ONI was like a drug, a bittersweet drug – just like war. It would forever be with him, haunt him, and as much as he never wanted to go back, there will always be a small part of him with an insatiable desire to return.

Walking through the foyer, he loosened his tie as he walked up the stairs and across the mezzanine. The chandelier shone brightly, accented by the back lightings on the ceiling. It would've been nice to share all of this with someone, but his lifestyle just didn't allow it. As soldier, fraternisation would get him killed. As a scientist with ONI, women would be used against him, and even more so when he made Section Head.

After becoming the Director, his name was trickled into the public eye. Section II worked hard to keep his identity a secret so that his name would just be a name with a face, and nothing else behind it.

Still, being the Director of ONI would ward off any kind of woman he would be interested in.

He passed through a smaller lounge area before entering his study. It kept in tune with his taste for Classical Modern décor, with a redwood and glass desk, ornate lamps, back lighting and rows of bookshelves.

Hanging up his coat, Keyes sat down at his desk, a computer screen with a privacy panel, and an archaic mechanical keyboard. The former Director removed his sidearm from his holster, and gently placed it on his desk. It was so quiet here.

He logged into his computer, still utilising the multi-layered encryption gifted to him by Cortana.

Essingdon guided the cursor to a file of his memoirs, and continued on with his story. He had written every reason behind every action he made, while omitting certain details that would risk the security of MID and the Coalition.

Finishing off the memoirs, he began to seed copies into off site data storage centres, before sending it off to his publisher. He breathed a sigh of relief as he turned away from his computer and stared out the massive windows, gazing upon the garden city below.

Keyes looked down at his smartwatch and entered a call command into the device. The signal was then relayed into his smartphone, before being encrypted and pinged across a network of satellites.

"Hello?" a voice answered apprehensively.

"Anna, how's your first day?" he asked.

"Donnie… hey. How's retirement?"

A soft chuckle rumbled through Keyes's chest.

"You didn't answer my question," he said.

"It's a shitstorm," Greenfield answered tiredly. "STG's testing our borders, asari are doing massive tech expansions, and turians are expanding their military."

"We made waves when we returned," Keyes said.

"You think this peace will last?"

"Why do you think I resigned?"

"Yeah… hey. I'm finishing up, wanna meet up for dinner?"

Aside from his memoires, Keyes really had nothing better to do.

"Sure. What do you have in mind?"

"Laos."

"Okay, I'll meet you there."

He logged off his computer, placed his pistol in his holster and grabbed his coat before heading out. As he reached for the doors of his office, his eyes fell upon the photo taken at the Valedictorian dinner so many centuries ago. Everything just seemed so much easier back then.

Out of every one of his friends, he was the last man standing. The smiles on their faces as the school photographer captured a unique essence of the time. They had finished school, fourteen years of education held in isolation from the rest of the world, now over as they were about to embark on their next adventure.

Keyes gave a sad smile as he longed to be back in that naïve life.

…

Essingdon sat down at a table, taking in the aroma of the food, and the family friendly atmosphere.

He looked up at the door and saw a woman walk in. His blood froze as an icy hand cupped his heart, but fear and shock soon gave way to anger as a fire rose in his chest.

Impossible!

She made eye contact with him, and gave a hollow smile as she walked towards his table. Gently, she pulled out the chair, and sat down, hands clasped. She looked like any other woman enjoying a night out, dressed in jeans and a blouse.

"The hell are you doing here?" Essingdon hissed.

"I'd like to chat."

"Where's Greenfield?" he growled, his fingers brushing against the hilt of the knife.

"Stuck in traffic," Parangosky simpered, raising her hand to allay his concerns. "I just want to talk."

"What's there to talk about? Serin's out of the picture and you are on the run."

Margaret gave a low chuckle.

"I'm not the only one in this game, Essingdon."

"You can tell your friends, the FIA will be coming after them. Executive order."

"I know, and that's why I want to give you this."

Reaching into her pocket, Parangosky produced a thumb drive and placed it onto the blackwood table.

"This is a peace offering. It has all the names of my associates, their contacts, and assets."

"What's in it for me?"

"Greenfield can monitor these people. But you and I both know there won't be arrests. Like it or not, some of our tech has slipped through the cracks. This network will keep us on top."

"Pre-emptive strikes, proxy wars and cyberwarfare," Keyes muttered.

"Use this to make sure humanity never comes under attack again."

Essingdon shifted in his seat.

"What makes you think I'm still in it?" he asked.

"No one really leaves," Margaret answered cryptically. "Enjoy your dinner."

Slowly, Parangosky lifted herself from her seat, and left with only a pair of blue eyes following her wake.

Waiting another half minute, Essingdon fished into his pocket for his phone. He activated the palm sized device, and entered a quick message to Anna.

MOP met me at the place… handed me a drive.

Placing his phone back down on the table, he waited for a reply.

Haha. Very funny.

I'm serious, Keyes texted back.

Right. What she do? Sit down and eat with you?

I haven't ordered yet.

Well order. I'm walking.

Alright, see you soon.

"Essi, what are you planning? You always do this before you do something stupid."

"Can't be that bad," he joked. "I'm still here aren't i?"

XXxxXX

Elysian Fields, Greater Ark

Civilian life, it was something that John had rarely if ever, experienced it in its vanilla form. The war against the Covenant still felt quite raw, fresh in the back of his mind, just like it would be for Miranda Keyes. But unlike her, he never had the luxury of shore leave.

He wasn't stupid or naïve; he knew exactly why he rarely had the chance to leave the base. It was because there was nothing for him outside of the military life. He'd probably been to a bar once or twice because of some thankful soldiers who wanted to give him a treat. Or maybe it was ONI trying to keep an eye out for him.

Either way, whenever he was away from the battlefields, there was always a mission in mind. If he was in the cities, it was to help take down an Insurrectionist cell.

Standing on the patio of his villa was something surreal. He had a home now, a place to rest outside of the military barracks. It was his place to call his own, away from the prying eyes and those eager to learn of the man behind the gold visor.

Turning away from the breath taking coastal sight, John turned towards the door and entered into his new home.

Pushing open the rich timber door, he found himself inside a tastefully mix of classical and contemporary interior design accented by redwood and glass furniture. The Spartan had never been much for finer things in life. He never had the chance. But guessing by the way how his home was designed, he assumed Keyes might've had a hand in it. It seemed so much in line with the scientist's tastes.

Not an unpacked box insight, everything had been placed neatly, giving the estate both a showroom and homey touch. In time the showroom aspect would disappear. John took another look around the foyer, taking in the sight of the grand marble staircase and the ornate chandelier that hang over the water fountain.

"Home," he whispered quietly.

The Spartan set down the hall, listening to the ambiance of the home, straining his ears to pick up the cries of the sea ravens and the soft swirls of the waves. Easing himself onto the couch in the main lounge, he interfaced with the home entertainment and turned on the news.

So this was what normalcy was like, calm and dull. But he could see the beauty of it all, to be caught up in worries that weren't really life or death, where only the mundane was the worst to happen. John certainly envied the people who had managed to be left unscathed from war.

The door bells chimed, bringing him out of thought. Lifting himself out of the firm leather sofa, John quickly jogged back to the main atrium and opened the doors.

"Nice place," Shepard beamed. "Got us pasta and…"

"Chocolate frappes," John finished.

"You betcha."

Walking back into the living space, Shepard placed the takeaway pesto linguini onto the black marble counter top, and fished for some cutlery in the drawers. Her eyebrows arched slightly when she saw a fine crafted silver fork with excellent weight.

"So, Keyes set you up with this?" she asked. "Final orders before retiring."

John nodded, picking up a container.

Essingdon's resignation was something that had dominated the news cycle for days. He even appeared on a few talk shows and news stations to answer questions; some were more professional than others, and most asked him about what he planned to do after his resignation, while others dared venture into polcies.

"I'm impressed. Love how the back is facing the mountain. Unlike Hock's house."

"What was wrong with Hock's mansion?" John asked.

"Great view and all, but the back of the house was hanging of a cliff, I dunno, it felt like I was going to fall over backwards. Nervous tick I suppose," Jane shrugged.

John nodded.

"So… any plans for tonight? Or the month?"

The Spartan shrugged. "Long service leave. Not sure."

"My advice, spend the first month doing nothing. It works trust me," Jane said. "Then the second month, you start planning trips."

John tilted his head slightly.

"You're on leave next month."

Shepard grinned.

"Exactly. I'll grab the team together, we'll have fun."

XXxxXX

Keyes's Private Estate

Essingdon ran his eyes over the final paragraph of his memoirs one last time and breathed a sigh of relief. He had devoted the past few months to this little hobby of his, but something about his meeting with Parangosky unnerved him. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand as his heart thrummed uneasily.

Reaching into his drawer, Keyes pulled out a pistol and placed it by his mouse, scanning his surroundings warily. He over to his right hand, resting against the cool metal alloy of the weapon, his finger resting on the trigger guard as his thumb brushed against the safeties.

"I'm not a patriot… patriotism ruins history and somehow manage to justify the worst of crimes. But I am far from a saint as well. I served my nation to protect those closest and dearest to me," he read. "And I find myself holding plenty of regrets, most of them about the decision I made… everything else just seems trivial."

XXxxXX

"Today, former Director of the Military Intelligence Division, has been found dead in his home in an apparent suicide. The Director's death has been greeted with enthusiasm by some, and general scepticism by critics, but most were saddened by his sudden depature. We got to Alice Crenshaw with more on the story…"
-Daniel Sellers, News Anchor for CCN

"Thank you, Daniel. I'm standing outside of the former Director's home, where local Law Enforcement and the FIA have set up a perimeter. Sceptics have questioned if the General's death was actually suicide, retribution from Insurrectionists, remnant rogue ONI factions, or a cover for him to disappear. It is believed that he will be given full military honours at his funeral, with Chief of Staff from all branches expected to be in attendance…"
-Alice Crenshaw, domestic correspondence for CCN

XXxxXX

XXxxXX AUTHOR NOTES XXxxXX

Author's notes for Lost Legacy

So if you've made it this far, you have finished reading my story. My thanks for being with me on this literary journey, and my sincerest appreciations for your support.

So I guess this is the part where I answer a few questions and explain a few things about Lost Legacy.

As some of you may know, this story had a rocky start, initially underperforming the predecessor story, Humanity's Legacy. This story was laced with horrific infractions generally committed by a mid-teen writer (and still is until the rewrites go through – if ever).

In a way, this story was something I worked on during the most defining years of my life, and I feel that it has allegorically documented my understanding of the world around me. So finishing this… well, it feels weird to have finished this story. I devoted so much of my free time to it; I'm both happy and sad that it's practically over. We still have the rewrites to go, but that won't be quite the same.

Of course one thing has been made painfully clear to me when I was writing the final chapters… I was losing touch of my original vision, and that the ending was definitely something that would never reach expectations.

You see, I had originally planned for this story to go for about 150k-200k words max, and it would be a story that would have the galaxy fighting the Flood. Of course, I started writing this story when I was sixteen… almost four years ago. And things change of course. Not to mention sixteen year old me didn't have the foresight to have an overarching plot of some kind – rewriting Mass Effect can only go so far.

I couldn't bring myself to write a curb stomp story… not unless I have fleshed out characters who feel real to me. So Lost Legacy took a turn to being character driven, and I started introducing my own characters to set the scene. But once again, I lost touch with my original vision, and the story was side tracked… a lot.

Still, I promised myself to continue on and finish this story. Not for the readers, but for me. I wanted to finish this story off, and though I wanted it to be on a high note, it wasn't possible, not if we take into account how the themes of the story has changed and evolved as the years grew by for me.

As selfish as this sounds… I wanted to complete this story for me, to tie it off, to give me some measure of closure.

So once again, if you are still here. Thank you for your support.

…

Where to now?
Well, my post-school plans didn't turn out the way I had expected. Instead of being in uni for three or four years, I'm looking at about a decade's worth of tertiary education now. So I think it'll be rare occurrence for me to be updating on a weekly basis like I used to.

However, don't be too alarmed, I'll do my best to update on a fortnightly (probably not) or a monthly basis.

I guess a story I'll be focusing my energy on the most would be the recent Blackzone First Contact, and Ghost Raider Tomb Recon. I do have another (that's right, another) Halo/Marvel crossover in the works and another Halo/ME story on the way… Shadow Contingency.

Halo/Comic Crossovers seem to fall flat for me… maybe because I have too many ideas floating around.

If you want to keep up to date with Shadow Contingency go to the Tumblr page at shadowcontingency . tumblr and keep up with more news at andrithir . tumblr

…

If there are any chapters you feel that I should touch up. Feel free to tell me in the review. In order to alert you when a new rewrite has been posted, I'll just post a notification in the form of a chapter.

…

Plot Elements:

Same universe (or alternate universe):
I got tired of the whole inter-dimensional jump theme, since there were a number of stories out there that executed it poorly. But In the Shadows of Gods did that quite well in my opinion, it was and is one of my favourites.

Essentially, I ripped the idea out of my own story; Humanity's Legacy and applied it to Lost Legacy. The reason being is because I wanted to have both the Alliance and the UNSC exist without really overlapping until later on the arc. That way we could have a compare and contrast.

However, there was a risk of turning this story into a stomp fest so a few things had to be adjusted appropriately to stop that from happening; mainly the espionage theme that came in closer to the end of the story.

ME2 Arc:
Well that part is pretty much self-explanatory. But I wanted to explore the ME2 Arc mainly because it was a path no one had explored completely – albeit the original version of my story, in my own opinion, fails to convey that element across effectively.

Hopefully in the rewrite, I'll be able to explore all of John's interactions with the Normandy crew more effectively, as well as developed Shepard more.

ME3 Arc:
I guess we have this to blame for why I rushed the ME2 Arc so badly. I wanted to get to ME3, where the fun was. Most stories on this fandom (in the early stages of this story) only focused on ME1 and then fell flat.

"Post" ME3 Arc:
This was when the UNSC began to pull focus. Totally unintentional, but it was a side effect due to the espionage direction I was taking this story. So… the Reapers quickly lost their fear factor and were replaced by the Flood.

I had built this up so much that the only way it could end without an espionage theme, was just a ludicrous battle between the forces of evil and good – an extreme cliché that has no real substance to it.

Flood:
We needed the good ol'scary enemy back. But of course, there was one way that this could end, and that was a huge scale war that would leave little room for character-driven plot, which this story had turned into.

Espionage/conspiracy:
At some point in the story, I realised that I had set up an excellent foundation for this type of story. I also realised that a battle between "good and bad" was cliché. Furthermore, it felt a bit redundant due to the portrayal of everyone in this story.

Since this story was also character-driven, an espionage theme made sense as it retained the grittiness of Halo first trilogy which I hoped I had managed to emulate.

…

Characters/Entities:

I had put in a few too many own characters in the story… probably why I ended up killing most of them off.

John as a Commander:
I decided to have the Chief as Commander as he is senior officer material, and I wanted him to be Shepard's equal, not a subordinate. As a character, I must say he was the hardest to develop, because Bungie originally wanted the player to project themselves onto the Chief. But thanks to 343i we see John as more of a human.

In my opinion, silent characters are the hardest to define since we all have varying opinions of them. But remember what makes them more real is that they have that slight inconsistency. We all have that slight inconsistency in our personality, something that no one would ever guess.

Why FemShep?
Originally, I was planning to go with BroShep, but I decided to go with FemShep in the end as she would make a better "pal" for the Chief in Cortana's absence.

I'm not going to lie, at first her character was a bit of a Mary Sue to me. I needed to change her, but gradually though. And I must say, I am pleased with the end result. She feels like an exemplary human who has her flaws, and helps us understand the Chief through a more personal perspective.

Essingdon Dominic Keyes:
I felt that it was necessary to create a character who is an intellect like Doctor Halsey. But unlike his mother, I wanted Keyes to be a person who could take on the mantle of becoming Head of ONI. He's a compassionate and rational person, but also capable of being cold and calculative.

Sarah Palmer:
Well, Palmer is a very difficult person to define. My first impression of her was a female Johnson, which was pleasant. I think many people misunderstood her when she said to the Chief, "I thought you'd be taller."

Palmer says that in a teasing manner, it's a common thing amongst officers (and she was flirting with him), basically your typical bravado. Her arrogant behaviour is usually to reign in the outlandish Spartans and keep them in line, when the chips are down however; Palmer does what she can to make sure her people get through alive. That's a good thing for the most part… but it could be done without.

Then we delve a bit more into the canon…
Most of the time though, I see Sarah as the gung-ho gun tooting Marine who has little respect for others outside her outfit. That's not a good thing. In fact, her ignorance and arrogance annoyed the hell out of me. She felt like a new stereotype/generic character, and I genuinely thought 343i would make her more real. Because let's face it, the S4s feel like a joke.

I poured in a lot of time and effort turning her character around into someone more admirable. Though, no one can be Johnson, BUT JOHNSON!

ONISAD:
Believe it or not, I came up with this while I was talking about the story with a friend (Yi-Chun). We discussed the topics of adding more characters and ended up with "Fifth Element". I then went home and developed the idea even further, coming up with ONISAD, and "Fifth Element," being one of the Special Operations Group's units.
ONISAD is based loosely off the Mossad, CIASAD and Third Echelon from the Splinter Cell series.
Overtime, the idea developed into a full-blown aspect with what many of you have described as "very human characters."

In a way, I think I've unintentionally made them the lenses in which we can all relate to, so that we could let the godly characters remain godly.

Alec "Saps" Herschon:
I had originally wanted to have Saps take on the mantle of humour that had been left behind when Lotus was killed off. But eventually, I realised that no one could replace Lotus. So instead, I opted for Saps to be the "go to" for tech issues, and give him a dry sense of humour with an unholy love for puns.

I wanted to develop him more, but he was introduced a bit late into the story. Regardless, he'll have his time in the sun in another fic.

Sandman:
He was going to be the more light hearted but still serious counterpart to Arca.

Arca:
Thought it wasn't my intention, Arca eventually became the overall symbolisation of what it meant to be in ONISAD. He's something that could be considered as a "tragic poster-boy" for the organisation.

Lotus:
Who doesn't love a bit of humour laced with insanity?

Greystone:
For the life of me… I don't know why I killed him off. Maybe it was to add more emotional effect? May have to review it later in the rewrite.

Lori Anders:
What I had embodied Anders with, was what I had originally hoped (canon) Palmer to be, a caring leader with a light hearted demeanour around her peers, while not being afraid to do wetworks. In a way, I made her, Paragon Shepard.

I wished I had time to develop her character more, but like Saps, she'll get her time in the sun in a future story.

Airborne:
Need I say more?

Margaret Orlenda Parangosky:
I couldn't make her a totally evil person for the sake of being evil. So I decided to go with the misunderstood character, like The Illusive Man.

Throughout the story, I've made her motives unclear, and left that up to interpretation. But considering the amount of "distaste" being voiced, I realised I was being too vague and had to spell out a few things.

So Parangosky created Cerberus as a means of keeping an eye on the galaxy, and manipulate a different line of human technological and social evolution. The end result being that humanity made rapid leaps, whilst having less wars and violent conflicts.

This was hinted in the fact that the UEG's history was the one that had the terrible world wars and interplanetary conflicts, whereas the Alliance was virtually spotless.

Further hints that Parangosky was manipulating the Alliance was due to the fact that everyone spoke English and had books on ancient Greece, but there was virtually no trace of the UNSC or any material relating to them.

…

Influences:
There are a number of people I would like to thank. First and foremost is Sam for continuing this story on when I couldn't. Next is Rirey, Arec (or Alistair), and Yi-Chun for supporting through the years, and putting up with my wacky ideas during school. Special thanks goes to Arec and Carleen for beta work.

Tech:
Like any good nerd, I watched ample amounts of physics and biology documentaries as well as doing research, to gage a human timeline of evolution. Of course, a few things had to be toned down, otherwise everything in this story would be too unbelievable.

…

Deleted Scenes:

A bunch of segments I had decided to cut out from the story, early on.

Deleted Scene #1 Rewrite – Fight – Chief vs Alliance Team

This scene is the fight between Shepard and Chief. But due to rationality, it was taken out. After all, why the hell should you trust a man that wiped out the team?

The room was tense; everyone looked back and forth between themselves and the green armoured behemoth that stood at the end of the room. Jane didn't know who fired first, or maybe everyone fired at the same time, but after that first shot, pandemonium had ensured.

She knew she couldn't take on that kind of entity in light armour alone, but thankfully she had a few people to back her up. And by few, that included a squad of 81st Commandos, a team of N7s and her own personal cadre.

"Fan out and suppress!" Shepard ordered.

The teams fanned out, sidestepping as the lay down a volume of fire at the behemoth. Valkyries hissed and barked as the hurled armour piecing rounds down range. Streaks of gold peppered at the armoured entity. But they were all blocked by shields. A different type though, instead of sky blue, they flared gold.

Though the being stayed in the open for the barest second before retreating behind cover. The N7 Destroyer spooled up his Typhoon, filling the air with a thunderous chain saw and an unforgiving amount of flying bullets. His Hawk Missile got a lock and streaked down the hall. A split second later there was the thump of the explosion.

"Boo!" a deep baritone voice growled.

Shepard spun round just in time to see the walking tank stand behind the N7 Operative. It or he delivered a powerful kick to the chest, sending the Operative flying into a desk. The surface snapped under the force, and the man still kept on going until he was stopped by the cubicle walls.

That was the moment that every paused for a split second. Not even a Krogan could've pulled that off so effortlessly. But before anyone could get a bead on the man, he had disappeared.

"Stay together," Shepard said calmly. "Biotics, flare up."

An even cluster of singularity fields formed into existence around the cavernous room. Desk chairs were plucked from the ground, dangling helplessly in the air. Jane panned her eyes across the singularities deployed on an overwatching mezzanine. She caught a faint outline, a warping of air.

Gotcha.

In the moment it took a heart to beat, eldritch encased Shepard as she hurled two biotic kinetic bolts towards her target. The impact rolled across him and dissipated like a fading cloud.

The fuck?

That should've knocked him down. Shepard was renowned for being able to toss Krogans across the room without a sweat. But at least the rest of the biotics followed suit.

"Eat this!" Jack sneered.

A powerful shockwave rippled through the air, detonating the singularity fields and shattering the chairs. The being stumbled a bit for the briefest moment before disappearing once more.

That shouldn't have happened!

Shepard had seen hulking Mechs be torn apart by Jack's shockwaves, but they just hit the being as if they were nothing more than waves in the water.

"Where is he? Anyone got a bead?" One of the Commandos asked.

"I've got nothing."

"Someone check on Henry," an N7 said.

Jane panned her eyes back and forth across the office area.

"Where are you?" she whispered.

"Here."

Without warning, Jane felt the wind knock out of her lungs as she was sent flying through the air. Before she knew it, she had crashed through a glass plane and skidded to a halt in an executive office. Pain rippled and coursed throughout her body as she tried to move. She felt blood trickle down her cheeks, cut by the glass.

"Son of a bitch," she muttered, pulling herself up.

She wasn't too badly hurt, her biotic shields and kinetic barriers had taken most of the brunt. Though she suspected that her biotics didn't do much to save her.

Outside, Shepard could hear the chatter of guns and flare of biotic energy. She vaulted over the shattered glass and re-entered the main office area. The remaining men were firing at anything that moved. A few lay slumped against the desks; smoke curling up from the smouldering holes.

Non-lethal shots. No bleedings. Possible DEW, Shepard concluded. Shit.

She quickly linked up with Kasumi, who seemed to have all the blood drained out of her face.

"Shep, if we survive. I'm going to kill you."

"Get in line, Kasumi."

Jane spotted Jack in the distance. It looked like the convict had spotted their armoured friend. She charged up, flaring a deep violet before shooting off in a beam of blue. She slammed into the behemoth at breakneck speeds, he should've gone flying back into the wall. Instead, he just back stepped as if it was nothing.

Jack looked dazed; her eyes barely registered the fist that slammed into her stomach. She doubled over and was out for the count.

"Shit," Shepard muttered. "Everyone, fry him!"

All the tech savvy fighters in the room aimed an overlord at the entity. Before he could engage his cloak, thousands of volts surged through his armour, overloading his shields and frying his cloak.

…

The alarm blared inside John's helmet. This was not how it was supposed to go. Already, he had what looked like some form of pseudo-magic or unexplored form of scientific application, on his hands. Without cloak or shields, the Spartan would have to go on a suicidal offensive.

He raised his weapon again, flicked it to full-auto and squeezed the trigger. The entire room lit up with a violent blue pulse. Sparks were sent flying as the metal surfaces were hit. One of the lances struck a soldier in the shoulder blade, putting her out of the fight.

As the SCAR let a wave of savage energy surge, John scanned for the woman who appeared to be the leader. He remembered that she was dressed in casual clothing, but had combat armoury over it. Special Ops clearly.

Quickly, the OpFor recovered and returned fire. John strafed left, sidestepping while keeping his aim steady. Rounds ricochet off his armour, leaving scratches or a sizeable dent in their wake. The Spartan scolded himself for not being a hard enough target and sprinted to the other side of the room. He needed to take the fight to melee. At least he'd have a chance to use his superior physical capabilities to his advantage.

"Alert, energy spike detected," his internal speakers whispered. An indicator flashed on his HUD.

The Chief turned around just in time to see an electric tsunami surge through him. That amount of power would've killed him if it weren't for the armour.

"Systems damaged, sensors offline."

John swore inwardly. Though Mendez taught everyone to not rely on their tech, the MJOLNIR's Advance Spectral Scanner and VISR system provided an unparalleled tactical advantage. No longer able to see the red outlines of his enemy, the Spartan was now forced to play on a bit more even grounds.

He knelt behind a cubicle wall, and reloaded his weapon. But the hair on the back of his neck stood on ends. He spun round just in time and feinted left, just as a sword based his head and cut through the dividers. The blade wielded was a woman, dressed in form fitting armour designed for agility and mobility.

Without hesitation, John wrapped his finger around her wrist and squeezed. He heard her bones snap and her cries filled the room. The Spartan reached down to his holster and drew his pistol, planting two rounds centre mass. He didn't know if the shot was fatal, because by the time he had let go, a blue wave crashed into him.

He was hurled a few meters back, but it was vastly disproportionate consider how far the desk and cubicle walls were sent flying. The Spartan turned to face the source. Three females, two human, one unknown, possibly asari according to the Forerunner archives. Reported to have a telekinesis kind of ability which John assumed to be the blue surges of power. But it also appeared humans had access to that kind of technology… or ability.

The geared up for another attack, blue bolt leapt out from their hands like a plasma torpedo. With superior reflexes, John ducked and dived, letting the energy sail by him. But it put him out in the open. All trained guns opened fire, shredding the marble floor around him. He felt a sharp pain spread from his left shoulder. Someone had scored a lucky shot. The armour penetrating rounds had found its mark in the exposed joints where the articulated plates couldn't protect him. Luckily, the round had penetrated the outer layer of the exosuit, and was stopped by the second layer. It still hurt like hell though since there was nothing to spread the impact.

John rolled to his left, raised his SCAR and fired back. Men and women ducked behind cover. He had them on their back foot now. Time to take advantage of it. The Spartan switched his weapon over to laser, and began his psychological warfare.

…

Deleted Scenes #2 - Chapter 2 Reclamation (Rewrite) – Escape

But the Admiral never finished. A loud explosion went off; it was like standing next to a spaceship's flaring engines. The light was so intense that it was like looking at a sun. Shepard collapsed onto the tiled floor, clutching her head and eyes as bells rang.

It was excruciating, but training had taught her how to overcome the effects of a flashbang grenade. She quickly blinked, took in a few deep breaths and blinked a few times to clear her vision. When her senses became bearable again, Shepard heard the sound of droning alarms… and the missing armour.

"Where the hell did it go?" she almost cried out.

Jane pulled herself up, and looked around the lab frantically. She doubled back to the makeshift firing range and skidded to a halt, bracing herself against the door frame. But the weapons were gone. She ran back over to the elevator to get to the catwalk. Entering in a few keys, the platform lifted her back up to the overhanging walkway.

She sprinted across the metal grating, her boots thundering across the surface. The Spectre threw a quick glance back to the armour station and saw Hackett and Verner recovering.

"Attention all Alliance personnel, you are to engage without lethal force. Target is an armoured… entity. Green and approximately seven feet. I repeat, you are not to use lethal force!" Hackett broadcasted.

Jane used her abilities of biotic distortion to propel herself a beam of blue light to the main elevator shaft. She swore inwardly when she saw the doors ripped apart… and melting. It looked like precision slashes.

The fuck?

She pushed past, careful not to touch the red hot edges. It was times like these she wished she had armour instead… it didn't help that because of the Australian summer – in the tropics – she was just wearing casual clothes, specifically the ones she wore to the dig site, minus the jacket and replaced the boots with sneakers for comfort. Defintely not the kind of clothes Shepard would go looking for a fight in… not for fashion purposes but simply because they weren't durable enough to when she started using biotics.

As she entered the shaft, she looked up and saw the disabled elevator. Hugging the sides, Jane propelled herself onto the maintenance ledge and used the ladders as a foothold to launch herself up. She couldn't see the thing. It probably had active cloaking, but she couldn't definitely hear it.

"Commander Shepard, sitrep," Hackett ordered over the COMs.

"In pursuit of HVI," she replied breathlessly.

"Be careful. It could be confused."

A sharp crackle echoed through the shaft. Shepard zeroed in on the source, and saw a glowing made, violet and wrapped in wispy tendrils. She heard the spark and sputter as it burned through the metal doors up ahead.

"Target is leaving the shaft, it's on the ground floor," Jane broadcasted.

Unlike the (assumed) UNSC Bunker, the Alliance Research and Testing Facility was mostly above ground, with the more sensitive equipment placed a hundred meters below the surface.

Damn it's fast, she thought.

Reaching out with her fingers, Shepard caught a hold of the ground floor platform and pulled herself up. Entering the neatly decorated white and blue theme of the hallway, she passed the knocked out guards and sprinted down.

Must've played possum… smart.

She propelled herself into the foyer; there were civilian staff starring shock at the shattered main doors. No one had a clue to what was going on.

Secondary alarms began to blare.

"Attention all personnel, this facility has been compromised. All non-essentials please proceed to the evacuation points. This is an Alpha Priority One evacuation…"

Jane wondered what the hell the thing was planning. Its actions weren't hostile per say. It hadn't killed anyone at this base as far as she was concerned anyway. Logically, it would've revealed itself. Or maybe Verner had found out too much and it was doing contingency.

…

Khalida Gym

Written by Yi-Chun. It was an idea of his, that I eventually toned down and worked it into one of the later chapters.

"Khalida Gym ladies and gentlemen, the moment you step inside that gym, phrases like "Do you even lift?" and "Can you spot me?" go right out the window… this isn't a gym for some Helljumpers… this is a gym for the Spartans."

-Sergeant A. Booth, Exemplar Military Academy

The gyms back in the 20th Century on Earth were organizations that provided the civilians with a range of facilities designed to improve and maintain the physical fitness and health of both man and woman alike. However as the human race progressed with technology and the introduction of their Supersoldiers certain specifications had to be made to allow the Spartans to maintain their peak physical condition, thus, the Khalida gyms were introduced. Besides there was a limit to how much intimidation a standard marine could receive until he'd decide to stop going to the gym entirely.

All of the weights inside Khalida immediately started at 50kg and kept rising, heavy metal pumped out of the speakers to provide the Spartans with the pump required to complete the final rep in their routine. This wasn't a gym where there was time for women to glance at the chiseled bodies of men nor for men to stare at the parts of women there were only two rules in Khalida Gym; Work hard, and most importantly… focus.

Riley walked into the silver room followed by Blaze and Viper, the small group wore their PT gear, looking across the room the gym was essentially full at this point of the day, the trio walked briskly across the carpeted floor.

Ropes hung from the roof as Spartans climbed up and down achieving the burn in their core with speed similar to a colony of ants moving up and down a tree branch. Nearby others would lift weights faces barely showing any sign of struggle as sweat glistened off their skin, however what stood out most in the gym was The Ring.

The sparring ring inside Khalida allowed the Supersoldiers to fight to their hearts content and it was here that Riley had found her, the one who had supposedly fired the bullet that killed Adrian. Captain Lori Anders – nicknamed by her squad as Coriander – had an impressive military history. Originally born on Elysian Fields, into a wealthy family, her parents were the good sorts. They raised her well, taught her and guided her to be modest and kind, firm and unyielding. She had the traits of a born leader, and the marks of war to prove it. She could've gone on to become a lawyer, maybe a politician and in a stretch, a model.

But she chose a different path. No one, not even her family would've ever imagined her becoming a Supersoldier let alone Force Recon. Yet she did it, she became a Marine and climbed through its unique Special Forces hierarchy until becoming an ODST and working her way into the infamous 105th. With such exemplary performance it was without a doubt she would become a Spartan-IV.

He couldn't imagine her being able to kill a fellow comrade, not with the psychological profile he gathered. Papers and documents could be wrong however, no other form of evaluation was better than a bit of a spar.

Walking along the edges of The Ring, Riley instinctively catalogued every piece of equipment sitting on the dark carpet. Anders was running a fresh Spartan-IV team through some drills. Where Crimson-One was, he didn't know. She had her dark strawberry blonde hair tied into a ponytail, and wore standard PT gear; form fitting singlet and shorts.

"Well, well, well. This group looks like a boring bunch…" Viper muttered, he stood arms across his chest; a stern stare followed the movements of the Spartan-IVs.

Blaze stood next to his brother as he analyzed the movements of those below him.

"Agreed, half these people are just doing the same thing over and over again," Blaze gave a lighthearted chuckle.

"That's because they're running drills Blaze… you're supposed to do the same thing over and over…" Riley chided, he looked over at the younger soldier with an eyebrow raised.

"Right... knew that… duh…" Blaze replied. Viper shot his brother a "are you serious" look.

Riley however wasn't focused on the banter the two would conjure, he concentrated on Anders as she provided yet another example of arrastão, a classic leg takedown. The simple drive as Anders pushed her opponent backwards sending his face into the ground followed by a guillotine choke made Riley wince… along with the rest of the Spartan IV cohort. Immediately a medic team rushed on tending to the face of the fallen man.

"A broken nose and a fractured jaw, ouch," he thought.

Obviously Riley had been staring for too long since Anders turned and stared right back.

"See something you like Sandman?" she flashed a smile.

"Just observing Coriander… Seems like you can handle yourself well," he replied, straight off the first impression he didn't like her.

"That's right we can see stuff we like perfect from up here darling!" A yell could be heard from Viper. He gave a wink. Blaze snickered next to him.

"Would you like an even closer look?" She winked back. The smile remained on her face.

Viper looked to Riley as if for approval. Riley smiled, he'd been waiting for this moment all day. He nodded.

"Have fun, but try not to hurt her too much" he goaded.

"With pleasure…" Viper muttered a serious look crept on his face, "Blaze, on me."

The two jumped into The Ring landing softly on the ground, it was here that the two operatives sized up their opponent… their opponent had at least half a head on them.

"Hey Coriander hope you're ready to be… vlazed!" Viper curled his hands into fists on the word, obtaining a serious stance - Blaze mirrored his brother's movement.

Coriander stood her ground straight as a statue and unimpressed. "Vlazed?" she raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"It's a combination of the names of my brother and I, it's a term used to describe-" Viper began.

"Bro… shut up." Blaze whispered through clenched teeth.

"What?" Viper looked at his brother. His stance loosened – Blaze did likewise.

"If you explain the reason you just sound stupid!" Blaze whispered.

Anders chuckled and made a move.

The slide was flawless, along with the leg sweep that followed, Viper found himself in the air.

"Son of a-" was all Blaze managed as he regained his posture and made an attempt at an attack. A powerful right hook flew out, which was blocked easily by Anders.

[Insert fight scene here that eventually leads to the following sequence]

Viper swung as Anders ducked under the attack, grabbing Viper's right arm he could feel the grip tighten.

"Shit." Was the only word that entered his head.

In a brutal manoeuver Anders lifted Viper's arm over her head and brought it down crunching over her shoulder, all in The Ring could hear the snapping of bone.

A yell of pain came from Vipers throat as he was flipped onto his back and pinned.

"Get a good look?" she muttered.

"Not bad Anders… I like you," he said through clenched teeth, the pain wasn't going to disappear very quickly.

Riley had watched the whole scene unfold, the execution of counters and brutal offensive strikes had been flawless… he could see why Keyes wanted to recruit her.

"Oi! My turn," he yelled from the top of viewing platform. Rolling up his left sleeve up he allowed himself to fall to the mat.

As he landed his left hand formed into a claw like pose with his fist at his side.

"Last time a woman joined Fifth Element I didn't exactly like her… No way I'm letting someone like you just stroll on in," a smirk moved across his face.

"Right… this coming from the guy that's got his pose set up like a woman," she chuckled and took her stance of her own. Fists clenched and legs spread apart, she could feel this fight would be good.

[Insert fight scene here that eventually leads to the following sequence]

Riley had left his upper body exposed; there was the opening that Anders had been searching for. Like a panther Anders leapt off her right leg quickly pushing off her left allowing her the momentum to send a deadly left punch into his ribs.

A look of pain came across his face as he felt two ribs break and another crack. A flimsy left hook was all he could maintain as a counter; easily blocked a deadly punch into his right bicep rendered it useless. Anders was still quick, kicking her opponent back Riley stumbled. Regaining a posture she ran up locked her legs around Riley's head.

"Viper… you're gonna wanna see this!" Blaze helped his brother sit up from the stretcher on the sidelines.

"No way," both brothers watched as Riley was flipped and brought down into a guillotine choke, with only his left arm left the operative struggled for air.

"GG," the brothers muttered at the same time.

…

Keyes's final confrontation

"You think you'll be the one to kill me?"

"No," Keyes chuckled. "My friend is."

He nodded to John, before stepping back into the shadows.

"I'm just going to watch," he said with an eerie mirth.

Stepping from the shadows, the Spartan squeezed the trigger in quick succession. A series of whiplash hisses rippled across the room as three rounds punctured Osman's chest. The woman doubled over, heaving, breathing with a laboured effort.

She looked up at her killer, her eyes empty but saddened, hoping to see the blue eyes of her former brother in arms. But he said nothing.

Pulling out his sidearm, he brought the barrel to bear and fired. Osman's head was wrenched back violently as blood and brain splattered onto the carpet floor behind her. The thud of her body resonated throughout the silent office.

Removed themes:

Romance:
Aside from the people who would scream "bloody murder" if I put in a romance, I don't have real experience writing romances… nor can I draw on my own personal experiences. [Cries quietly]

Galaxy vs Flood:
The finale, or the epic battle was going to be between the galaxy and the Flood. But I had already created this intricate web of espionage throughout the story, I opted out of this plotline.

So no real spoilers were given when I wrote Trust.

…

Source material:

Obviously the original Halo Trilogy and the books written by Nylund were relied on heavily. Halo 4 came in a bit later, and I wasn't too sure how to work it in. I think it all worked out. Elements from the Halo Believe ad campaign were used as well, even after all these years those ads still hold up. Pure genius whoever came up with the idea.