I do not own Halo or Doom. Thanks to all of you that have read my story. Special thanks goes out too Mechconstrictor and Dustin B. for your encouraging and helpful reviews. Also, special thanks goes out to Revolution 25, where ever you are your doing your country proud (I'm assuming your military from your previous review), hope you make it back home safely. I'm dedicating this chapter to all those that serve or are have served in the military. May god welcome those with open arms to those that have fallen.

666

"Wake up Jordan you are safe."

Jordan's vision fluttered in out of focus as he awoke from his unconsciousness. His hand went to his head to steady himself. He felt the hair on his skin and the sweat on his brow. Snapping back into focus he took a defensive stance with balled fists. He should not have been able to feel anything because earlier he was clad in SPI armor. That meant someone had taken him while he was unconscious and removed his gear. Unlike most Spartans he was fine with not being in his armor, but in a possible hostile environment he felt vulnerable.

Their was only one figure before him it was an old man tending to the fire of a hearth. He had a black staff that he used to prod the flames. Code 1 of being a Spartan identify all possible threats. As he observed the figure he saw that his eyes were completely white and his hair a silver grey. A blue cloak with golden lining covered his body. Jordan did not let down his guard but lowered his arms. After all what threat did a blind old man pose to him?

"Come child sit." the old man said gesturing to a bench opposite him.

267 made no movement to the man's hospitable invitation. He began to observe his surroundings. Code 2 of being a Spartan know your surroundings. He made a full turn. His face made no indication to the amazing sight before him. He was on floating island surrounded by white clouds. If he was on a floating island then the thing in front of him was a floating continent. It was covered with gothic architecture of astounding creation. Stone angels with swords raised in salute to the sky. A massive dragon head extended off the continent a waterfall trickling down its open maw. High arches with colored glass covered many of the buildings. Only one thing that stood out from all this was a single giant tree that he had to crane his neck back to see even the lowest branch of the immense tree.

"The Garden of Eden the first cradle of man, and their shelter. One that is out of reach of the Swords and the Flood of a false God. Amazing is it not?" the old man spoke.

267 turned back to stare at the man who stared had at him with a smile on his old lips. He gestured to the bench opposite of him again. This time 267 took his invitation and sat across from the old man.

"Am I dead?" he asked.

"No. If you were dead I would be the first to know."

"Who are you?"

"I come at the end of all lives. I am the Angel of Death." he spoke.

Jordan stared at him with wide eyes. After all how often did you meet the Angel of Death?

"Here child you must be famished." the Angel of Death gave him a tray of meat, fruit, and bread.

Jordan accepted the food, sniffed at it first before digging in. He hadn't noticed how hungry he was. The meat went down first along with the bread. It was possibly the best food he ever had since being recruited. He sucked an orange letting the juice run down his parched throat. Looking up he saw that the old man's sight had never left him. Growing uncomfortable he asked the first question that came to his mind.

"Do you know when I will die?"

"No, I do not. What's the point of me being the Angel of Death if every event is scripted?" he asked with a wry smile.

"So fate does not exist?"

"No, but the Creator can influence events. To put in a way you can understand it. The Creator sees all outcomes and decides what the best course is for his children."

"You mean to say that this God approves of our genocidal war with the Covenant?" he said furiously as he stood up.

The Angel of Death grew quite. His gaze went back to the fire a deep frown in his face. "I will not debate with you the Creator's moral choices, our time is short and I need you."

267 stared at him a moment longer before sitting back down on the white marble bench. "Why is it that you have brought me here?" he asked. His face was blank like always during a debriefing.

"There is a collective group of beings known as the Council that govern the balance between good and evil. They have allowed the events that have been sent in motion to test to see if mortals are ready for the End War. I am not member of that council, but they do respect my opinion. The Council is gathering an army, one to punish the wicked. Whether they be the children of man, Lords of Heaven, or the Dregs of Hell. Hell is gathering more forces as each evil soul is entering Hell. Heaven is readying its arms and preparing each new recruit for battle. If the Council has its ways the End War will come quickly, far to quickly." the Angel of Death said as his eyes narrowed to slits as he mentioned the End War. Jordan was quiet through the entire speech waiting for him to get to the point. "In short what I want you to do is become the agent of my will. The Arbiter of the Angel of Death."

"You want me to be your Arbiter?"

"You will be my voice and my sword." he said his blind eyes staring at 267 seriously. "Possibly the one of the only few strong enough to halt the End War before it begins. You may be a Spartan. You may be an Armageddon class Alpha but you are no SPARTAN II."

267 stared at he old man, he balled his hands into fists and stared down at them.

"Why did you choose me? If you know anything about me then you know the sin I have committed with these hands." he said quietly.

"Because you can make the tough decisions. No one is beyond forgiveness." the Angel of Death said to him.

267 looked into the Angel's eyes and responded. "I accept."

"Bout' damn time you li'll whiner." spoke a gruff voice off to the left of him.

267 turned to regard this new intruder hotly, but his anger slowly died as he gazed up at the giant before him. The things shoulders topped even the head of a Hunter. It was closely human but the proportions of its body were all wrong. The bulging arms hung all the down to the knees. His shoulder was greater than his with. A short brown beard covered his chin.

"You sure you want a li'll scrapper like im?" the giant spoke.

"Ulthane…" the Angel of Death said sweetly.

"Alright, Alright. Old friend" the giant held its hands up in surrender.

"Here kiddo this is your new set of armor. Try not to scuff it up or I'll find you and give you a lickin." Ulthane said as he deposited a sack on the ground.

"I bet you say that to all the boys." 267 said smartly.

Ulthane turned to regard him and laughed loudly. "The li'll boy got a mouth. Maybe he stands a chance after all."

"Here boy here's your new and improved armor. Made by your's truly." Ulthane said as he thumped his chest with a massive fist.

The armor was similar to his hold armor but had a few differences. For starters the chest plate was thicker and supported an inverted handle for quicker grabs for his knife. It reminded him of a cross between the HAYABUSA and CQB armor that the Spartan II's used. Plating of the gauntlets and forearms were thicker. Three shallow blades extended out of the plating. Jordan looked at them curiously they were not long enough to extend past his fists. So what was their purpose? Noting that for further inquiry of the suits capabilities he continued to examine the armor. Two cylindrical devices were strapped to the armor similar to the jet packs that he had been trained with. There was extra armor plating on the sides of the hips with two magnetic holsters and finally the boots were larger which offered more protection to the feet. He began to assemble the green armor from the feet up. Placing his helmet on he felt the new weight of his armor and the judgment that he had made.

"It has all of you outdated technology with a few of my improvements." Ulthane said. 267 gave him a venomous stare that was lost to Ulthane due to the polarized visor.

"Now before you go out on your mighty quest to kill the demons and save the day." Ulthane said with all the sarcasm that he could muster. "I'll need to go over the basics of the armor with you brat. You may have noticed the thicker armor. It's made of the same material of your original armor so that we don't have to worry about any mortal asking too many questions. The small blades on your gauntlets can extend to about two feet. These cylindrical devices on your back are a special gift from me to you. Can't have you dying too quickly now can we? Unlike your previous armor my synthesis between machine and mind is as close to perfect as you're ever going to get. So basically you think the armor to do it and it does your desired function. Think of the blades extending and they extend, think flight and you fly."

267 thought of the blades extending and they did as Ulthane had mentioned.

"Wait did he just say I could fly?" 267 thought of flight and he began to rise. Craning his neck back to see the cylindrical device he say that they had extended up past his shoulders and extended horizontally. Blue trails like feathers were emitted down from its thrusters. He began to rise quickly he though of it to stop rising him and it did, however he was a littler higher than he intended to be. He began to fall back to the ground.

"Crap." 267 thought as he watched the ground come up to meet him.

He hit the ground hard, but like a cat he landed on his feet.

"Oh yeah I forgot to mention that I put in shock absorbers so that you didn't kill yerself from doing stupid stuff like that." Ulthane said as he watched 267 recover.

"That would be good to know."

"Spartan there is one last gift that I will give you." the Angel of Death said as he extracted a blade with glowing blue runes. It was roughly 4.5 feet long and double-edged. "This belonged to my greatest friend…before he fell to the darkness."

The 267's knife appeared in his other hand. Bringing the two blades together the metal of the blades began to melt together reforming into the knife once more. 267 extended out his hand and accepted back his knife. Ulthane watched the exchange with a pang of pain on his face.

"To call upon the blade you must know its name. Say it shall answer your call. The name of the blade is Truth Seeker. May it serve you better than its former master. Know this though the blade cannot kill any mortal, only show them the truth."

267 slid the knife into the open slot on his armor. If fit perfectly. He stared at the Angel of Death who was now his leader.

"I will send you back to the reception room that the Covenant has made their headquarters. You will join up with Zuka and the other Covenant commandoes and make a push into Delta Labs to join the remaining Covenant forces. From there you will use whatever means to kill Antilife, Betruger, and halt hell's advance."

267 nodded. He was happy that he was going back to kill Betruger. That betrayer would get what was coming to him. The angel of death began to use a combination of advance technology and energy bending to send 267 to his desired destination.

"May the Creator be with us." Ulthane said somberly watching the Spartan leave.

666

Fusa blasted another zombie back with his Plasma Repeater. His battery supply was running dangerously low. The grunts used the Shade turrets to blow apart the advancing demons but even the Shades needed time to cool down and in that time of cool down and it that period the demons would assault not in waves but one giant tsunami. If it wasn't for the abnormal sized Juko Morajamee using his immense strength to dual wield Fuel Rod Cannons they would have been ran over. The battle was not going in their favor as they were whittled down by number and ammunition. Fusa could tell that the heavy hitters were at the rear of the wave as each press brought stronger and stronger opponents. They would not last another press and he did not favor fighting in close quarters like Juko would.

Much to his surprise some of the demons began to turn around to face an unseen opponent. He doubted that it would be Fudo and the company so that only left…

RAAR Wort, Wort, Wort. Fusa knew that battle cry of his battle brother Zuka.

Wort, Wort, Wort. He chortled in the battle cry of the Elites. Juko also yelled the battle cry as well. The Covenant pressed hard hoping to end this fight now.

Another surprise came as a shockwave occurred behind their forces as a blue shockwave passed them. Turning behind him he saw a small human demon crouched down. When it lifted its helmet and stared at him he felt his heart freeze. Giving a warrior cry that drowned out all noises the human demon charged out with a blade longer than a Plasma Sword. The monsters fell quickly under the new reinforcements. Fusa knew of the Prophet's orders to kill all Demons on sight, but the survival of his team was his main concern at this point. Once the battle was over he would kill the Demon himself or die trying, but if the creatures killed him then all the better.

As Fusa held his own along Juko against the creatures a small part of him observed the Demon and his sword. As any of the creatures were touched by the blade were reduced to ashes immediately. As he tried to read the inscriptions on the blade he thought that there was something right about the blade. Almost as if it held all the answers. Pushing the thought aside he observed Zuka as he fought with the Elites most honorable weapon. Zuka's blade cut a swath of pain and death as he pressed forward. Zuka was also wielding an odd weapon. It was fast and zipped around so fast that all Fusa could see of it was a bladed looking cube cutting through the monsters.

"Brother move!" the purple armored Juko said as he smashed Fuso aside of an attacking Imp. Fusa fell to the ground hard. Juko faced the Imp head on and blasted it with a fuel rod shot. The Imp was vaporized in a green cloud of plasma.

As Fusa recovered he took point before Juko as his shields recharged. Juko activated both of his plasma swords on his belt. "Now brother we shall fight and our victory over these beasts will be sung for generations!"

With that said Juko charged headlong into the mass of demons slaughtering them with a smile on his face. Leaving Fusa alone to handle the grunts.

"Great, just what I wanted to be remembered for, a freaking song that children will chant with an enthused boredom." Fusa thought to himself.

The creatures didn't know who to fight. They were torn between killing the two that wielded the infernal weapons and the prey that defied them. These demons may have been meant for pure killing, but they knew nothing in the way of war. Without this knowledge or any form of leadership they were quickly and easily dispatched.

When the creatures began to thin Zuka and the Demon approached each other cutting anything that stood in their way. They met each other halfway. Fusa expected Zuka and the Demon to begin tearing into each other. Instead they went back to back and began to slice the monsters. Juko also entered the circle and placed his back to the two reducing the concentration of the Demon and Zuka to their sides.

"Grunts avoid firing upon them!" Fusa ordered taking upon his role as leader while the Commander was away.

They complied and fired around the circle the demons were blasted apart. With the inflow of demons steadily declining Fusa hope of surviving grew but a dread rose in him as more fiercer opponents joined the fray.

Metal groaned and buckled as the single entrance was bent more by hell knights to open a larger hole. Three serpent horned heads entered the enlarged door followed by the creatures large body. Rising on its hind legs the creatures body was confined to the close quarters. Its arm stretched all way down to the floor. Shade turrets on the second level began firing on the heads, but they were far more agile than they appeared. Opening their maws the heads on the sides let loose a flame of hellfire and incinerated all those on the upper balconies. The grunts above were incinerated in seconds. The middle head let loose a flame directly down the middle. The flame incinerated all in its path as it made its way to the circle of three.

Zuka dove to the left while 267 and Juko dove to the right. Juko dove too far and out of the safety of the column. He came face to face with one of the serpent heads. Right then he knew his life would end. The creature opened its maw. Tiny hands grabbed him by his back and hauled him to safety. Glancing over his shoulder he saw that it was the Demon that had saved him. Before he could comprehend why the Demon would save him it yelled out orders. "Zuka, me and this guy are going to provide a distraction! I want you to hit that thing with the Soul Cube."

"I'll go for the right head you entertain the left." the Demon spoke before bolting from his cover.

Once again Juko was speechless, but activated both blades and charged for the left head. The Demon charged the right head like he had planned. Targeting the new opponent the head opened its maw to let loose a flame. Just like 267 had planned the head was low for a low target attack, but he planned on taking the high ground. Sprinting to the nearest column he leapt above the flame and pushed off with both feet to land on top of the head. He straddled the head with his legs. Flinging his arms upward he extended the blades on both arms and lodged the blades deep in the serpent's cranial cavity.

The other two heads let out a scream of pain. Juko took the opening as an advantage and struck the neck of the left head with both blades. Its head crumpled to the ground useless. 267 may have gotten the right head's attention but it was not finished yet. It reared its head back indenting to crush the Spartan between its head and the ceiling. Acting quickly the Spartan swung over the left side and the demon smash its' skull on the ceiling. Still holding on but with one hand free he jammed the blade into lower chin of the creature and ripped it off. While this was happening the Juko snuck behind the creature and jumped on its back. He observed the Demon as it combated the serpent head. He reached out his arm and caught the arm of the Demon before it fell to the ground.

"Get the left wing I'll take the right." Juko said as he tossed the Spartan to the left wing.

The Spartan wrapped both his hands around the left wing and pulled. Juko took the right. Both grunted under the effort, finally their was a ripping noise as both wings parted from the flesh of the body.

Zuka stabbed the last monster in the chest. Facing the meanest creature he had ever faced he stared at how much damage they had caused the creature. He admired both of his comrades' handy work on the single demon.

"Release us."

Taking the cue Zuka activated the device and charged forward. "Fusa aim for the head." he commanded his subordinate. The monster was reeling from all the damage that it had taken, with the addition of plasma to the face it stood no chance. With the Elites double jointed legs he crossed the distance quickly. With his left hand he stabbed forward with soul cube right into the creature's chest. It let loose one final scream before fading to ash. Energy filled Zuka's blood as the creature reduced itself to ash.

The threat was over but the Demon was still alive along with the Elites and a few Grunts. Juko was the first to charge with his fists only. 267 raised his arms to combat the charging Elite, but his caution was unnecessary as Zuka intercepted. Zuka had his hand against the larger Elites chest.

"Peace brother he is with us." Zuka said.

"Why do think I didn't try to kill him? If I wanted him dead I would have charged with my blades" Juko responded still eyeing the Spartan wearily.

"You sure we can trust him? He is after all a Demon. Though I have never seen an armor style like his in the combat holo vids." Fusa said as he approached with his Plasma Repeater leveled at the Spartan.

"I have been fighting along side him while I was gone. He can be trusted." Zuka said now scrutinizing the Spartan's new armor.

Fusa said nothing but lowered his weapon. Juko also backed off. The intensity of the room slowly evaporated as the group slowly distanced from one another.

"I came here to help you guys kill these demons."

"The only demon I see is the one still breathing." Fusa said.

"Fusa still your anger." Juko said to his shorter comrade.

Fusa found it odd to be told to calm down by the normally hot headed Elite. Zuka stared him warily. Taking it as a sign to calm down Fusa turned his back. "I'll check on the Grunts and whatever's left of the weaponry."

"So Spartan were have you been?" Zuka asked staring down the young Spartan III.

"I was with…those that oppose the Demons entry on to this plane of existence." the Spartan said choosing his words carefully.

Zuka nodded looking at the Spartan and the blade in his hands. Zuka was a smart Elite he probably had been able to put two and two together.

"I take it Commander Fudo has headed to Delta Labs to retrieve the artifact?" Zuka said.

"Yes brother we have stayed here to prevent an enemy incursion. The fault for our subordinates deaths are our own. If we had known of such a massive offensive of the beasts the crisis might have been averted. If it wasn't for you human prisoner we wouldn't have been able to fortify our position. What little good it did us." Juko said as he observed the bodies of the demons turning to ash and the Covenant soldiers that lay slain upon the ground.

"Human prisoner?" Jordan asked with a slight edge to his voice. He knew what the Covenant did to prisoners of war.

"None of the humans were harmed." Zuka said in self defense and to calm any stray thoughts of violence from the Spartan.

"Humans?" asked the Spartan now curious as to how many survivors were present.

"There are two of your males in the holding cells. Neither has been harmed but it might be good for you to speak with them...Demon." Juko said to the Spartan.

The Spartan merely nodded in headed in the direction of the holding cells. He had noticed that the Elite hadn't mentioned any Spartans but that didn't let the hope he had die.

"Zuka you should also go speak with the youngling…he has been worried for your welfare." Juko once he was certain the Spartan was out of earshot. Zuka nodded and headed in the direction of the cells until Juko's hand caught him on the shoulder. "For the sake of the human you need him to hate you. It's the only way he will be able to survive."

"What do you mean by that?" Zuka asked threateningly.

"The young are highly impressionable he may wish to stay with you. After losing his guardians he may be seeking for a figure of authority and comfort. The other members of the Covenant will seek his head for what he is. This cannot be changed. If you want to save him your going to need to as the human's put it 'burn this bridge'. I say this brother because I don't want you or him to suffer." Juko said.

Zuka winced at Juko bluntness to the truth. Perhaps that was why Juko was merciful upon the humans' non-combatants he did not like to see suffering. Sighing in defeat to Juko's logic he moved forward to the holding cells with a heavy burden upon his shoulders.

He could see 267 talking in hushed tones far away from Jack and any other Covenant. Good he could use the privacy. The boys face lit up as he saw Zuka approach. This cut a knife deep into Zuka's heart, but he moved on. This needed to be done.

"Zuka your back…" Jack's voice was choked as he saw the look on Zuka's face.

"He's stayed around long enough to know Elite facial expressions." Zuka thought before he spoke. "Runt the only reason I kept you alive was to get information out of you. The only I pretended to be protecting you was so that I could use you as bait. Now that your purpose has been filled you are useless to me."

With that said he turned hotly and left. The knife had dug itself deeper into his heart. He dared not look back for he knew that the façade he was playing would fall apart and Jack would know. For a second Zuka considered doing just that so Jack would know that he was just trying to protect him, but no he continued on for Jack to survive.

The Spartan observed the whole conversation while listening to Ishii's status and report.

"For my safety and that of the child I agreed to the Covenant's demands." Ishii said trying to make an effort to the human side of the Spartan. He knew full well that the ONI weapon of war had full right to kill him for offering aid to the enemy.

The Spartan nodded before asking "All navigational data was wiped and no Intel was leaked to the Covenant?" He may be working with Covenant but that was mostly out of necessity not out of comradeship, save for Zuka. Information regarding the safety of other human planets such as Earth at the forefront of his mind.

"No the data was purged during the outbreak fearing that the creatures' might have been advanced enough to understand. When I had received access to a computer I made sure myself that the data was wiped. Only nonsensitive data remains along with limited access through out the facility. If someone wanted to reach the restricted access areas they would need to get permission from Aveon the Smart AI that helps run this facility." Ishii said as he rubbed his hands together in a nervous fit.

"Good." he said flatly leaving Ishii alone and heading toward the child.

He rested his hand on the child's shoulder. The child turned to him with tear filled eyes.

"When this is over you'll be safe and I will make sure that we find any remainder of our family." the Spartan said knowing that the likelihood of any remaining family was unlikely, but at least he could give the kid hope.

"What's the point my mom and dad are dead just like the rest of them." Jack responded.

"Hope abandons us when we abandon it." he said giving the only sage advice that he knew.

"Go with the Ishii he will take care of you until I can get back." he said nudging the boy in the doctor's direction. The boy said nothing but obeyed what the Spartan had ordered.

After watching the boy leave 267 turned and followed after Zuka. The Spartan had to jog a bit to catch up to the Elite.

"I know what you did and why you did it." the Spartan said leaving the subject in the air. If Zuka wanted to talk about it he would speak, but the Spartan would not press him into talking about a subject that he didn't want to.

"Let us see how Fusa fared in obtaining weapons." Zuka said changing the subject.

"Brother what do we have?" Zuka asked as Fusa turned toward him.

"The whole thing is damned. We have no functioning Shade turrets. Only ten grunts remain and only six of them are combat ready. All of the heavy weapons are gone save for two Fuel Rod cannons, and to make things worse our battery supply for our light weapons are dangerously low." Fusa said in a furious tone.

"Did you include the Brute inventory?" Zuka with sarcastic tone with his arms crossed as if he already knew the answer.

"No I would never use their weapons. Mechanical combustion is weak and anything that has been brushed by their hands is rife with their stench. You're not suggesting we use them?" Fusa responded.

"We're going to be initiating an assault on Hell and kill one of their top generals along with a traitor. Yeah I think were going to need some weapons." 267 said aloud.

"Last time I checked you weren't the commander." Fusa said hotly staring down at the Spartan.

"Brother what he says is true I will go there and complete the mission with or without you." Zuka said eyeing Fusa.

Fusa turned to Juko for support but once he saw the gleam in Juko's eyes he knew that he had lost the argument.

"Fine if we use the Brute's weaponry then we might stand a chance. The Brute supplies are stationed over there." Fusa said with defeat.

The Spartan turned and headed over to the brute portion side of the barracks, Juko followed after him. Zuka remained behind with Fusa. Setting a hand on the smaller Elite's shoulder Zuka said "I take it by we you mean that you will be joining us?"

"Yes, brother if both of you go off to fight some great enemy and I remain here what would that say of my blood? Of my honor? Besides I couldn't let the great fool get hurt in some stupid quest for glory." Fusa said as he headed off after Juko, with Zuka following behind.

666

"So what do we have here?" the Spartan asked. He had faced Brutes before but never really had a chance to examine their armaments.

"This here is the Brute Shot." Fusa said lifting a massive weapon with a deadly blade on the underside. "It fires grenades, sort of like your humans grenade launcher, but is capable of carrying up to six shots."

"The next weapon is the Brute Spiker." Fusa said holding a hand gun with two blades beneath the barrel jutting forward like claws. "It has a high rate of fire but lacks at a range."

"This is the Mauler." Fusa said holding another hand gun with a single blade attached to the grip. "It is high close quarters weapon but lacks ammunition storage. Is only capable of firing five shot before manual reload is required."

"Why do they have blades on all their weapons, were they trying to compensate for something?" the Spartan asked in a humorous tone.

Fusa stared at him with a confused look until he caught onto the Spartan's humor. He wasn't quite able to suppress a chuckle.

"The last weapon in the brute's personal arsenal was the Brute Plasma Rifle." Fusa stared at the weapon with disgust. "This bastard perversion of our rifle is slightly faster but over heats quickly."

"I suggest that we load our selves with whatever we can carry without being weighed down. Then have the remaining grunts and humans prepare the Shadows' and Spectures' for our departure." Zuka said taking charge of the operation. The others nodded in agreement. One way or another this war would be over.

666

"All of the grunts and humans are ready." Fusa said as he returned from aiding the departure group. His movements were slowed under all of the equipment on his person.

Fusa had taken all of the Plasma based weaponry he could get a hold of. He had one Plasma Repeater as his primary weapon. Two Plasma Rifles were magnetically clamped on to his thighs. Two Plasma Pistols were on his lower legs. A bandolier of grenades were tied around his waist. Finally to complete his armament a Plasma Sword was bound to the left side of his chest.

Juko's armament hadn't changed much. He had two Fuel Rod Cannons with plenty of ammo. Two Plasma Swords were on his thighs one for each side. On his lower back he had two Needlers. Juko also had a bandolier of grenades but there were tied on to his over right shoulder.

Zuka had incorporated a vast armament. He had a Carbine strapped across his back. Two Plasma swords were adorned one to each thigh. He held a Covenant Plasma Turret in both hands. Like the others he carried a bandolier of grenades in an X-pattern over his chest.

The Spartan may have been smaller but he carried the heaviest load out of them all. He held a Plasma Turret with both hands. A Brute Shot was strapped across his back. Two Brute Plasma Rifles were magnetically clamped to the small of his back. Two Spikers were bound to his thighs and below that were two Maulers. Completing his load out were grenades around his belt.

"You sure you have enough?" Fusa asked the Spartan scoffing slightly at how heavily burdened the Spartan was.

"Going up against the Legions of Hell I am going to err on the side of overkill. You sure you have enough?" the Spartan responded in a level tone.

"Our names shall be written in legend! Even yours demon." Juko said with enthusiasm as he marched forward in to the darkness. Both swords at the ready.

"He's going to get us all killed." the Spartan and Fusa said simultaneously. They both looked at each other in shock. Zuka chuckled at the two as he followed Juko.

666

In the room the room of Delta Labs there was darkness. Bodies of Covenant soldiers littered the floor along with the foul demons. There was more than one betrayer of the mortals that had been lead astray by the promises of the Damned One. Konstantin stood over Ragnor. The Chieftans Hammer in his hand. He gazed into Ragnor's eyes and watched the fury slowly fade as his former Chieftain died. Konstantin's body had changed dramatically due to his demonic infection. He stood twice as tall as any Brute, but his transformation did not end there. He now had six limbs, two more arms had been added below his other joints. His mouth had been replaced with a snout. On the snout he bore no lips and his fangs jutted at award angles changing the already terrifying Brute to something out of a child's nightmare.

"You should not have opposed me. Now you lay here making your pitiful attempts to hold onto life. Do not despair though as you come to the end of your existence. Your body will join the ranks of the dead. The Dark Forerunners have need of your services, more battles await you." Konstantin said as he watched Ragnor struggle to breathe.

"Yes plenty of more battles await you." said a lithe purple feminine demon. Lilith approached the much massive creature without a sign of fear.

"Lady Forerunner Lilith you honor us with your presence." Konstantin said as he fell to one knee and bowed his head in respect.

"I have a gift for you from my master. One that will bring the Covenant to glory." Lilith said as she extended her open palm to the demon that was even on his knees twice as tall as she was. In her palm she held several vials. "These contain the secret to your transformation. Give them to your leaders and have it reproduce it to give to their army. You will have a force unparallel in power. The Human home world will fall." Lilith finished saying in her scheming the demon to spread the Demon Plague to the Covenant forces.

"Your will be done." Konstantin said reverently.

"What of the Elite and Hunters that escaped through the portal?" he asked.

"Antilife's forces will make short work of them." Lilith responded casually as she examined her long nails. "Has the A.I. been dealt with?"

"No, we are still working end her. She is heavily guarded"

"I'll handle her." Lilith said stretching out her legs.

"But…" Konstantin stammered.

"This requires a woman's touch." Lilith said licking her lips. This A.I. could be useful in her scheming.

"You are a fool Konstantin. She is no Forerunner. The Forerunners would never lead us astray from the path. Whatever she has given you will be the downfall of the Covenant. Our fall shall be the result of your mistake." Ragnor croaked trying to get one last rise out of Konstantin and hopefully prevent his body from becoming a slave.

"I was wrong Ragnor you are not worthy of the Forerunner's Salvation." Konstantin said as he raised the Hammer. Demonic power coursed up and down the Hammer perverting the weapon. The hammer head and become a scythe like blade. With a growl Konstantin plunged the blade into Ragnor's chest. A smile spread across Ragnor's face as he had achieved what he had set out to do. The Scythe had delayed the Gravity impulse but once it was unleashed it ripped apart Ragnor's body in a balloon like effect.

666

Light from flashlights enveloped the dark corridors of the underground lab as the four mortals made their way to the gate that led to Hell. None of them spoke for they were listening to the slightest sound of the Demons that may or may not lurk in the dark. The lack of enemy forces bode a sense of ominous intentions. The Spartan and Zuka took the lead with the human flashlights strapped to the Plasma Cannons with the UNSC Army green tape. Fusa took center with Juko covering the rear. Juko had argued about it earlier but shut his mouth as they made their way through the darkened interior. Eventually they had made it to the lab that had caused them all this trouble.

"I recommend that Juko goes in first with his Fuel Rod Cannons with me and Zuka on the sides and have Fusa cover the rear if we need to make a hasty retreat." 267 said.

"You made you leader?" Fusa said with venom.

"Bah! We are warriors we will not retreat in the face of overwhelming odds." Juko said mightily his voice low but powerful. The tank on legs advanced forward with a shit eating grin.

"Cover rear." Zuka said to Fusa sternly as he and the Spartan flanked Juko.

Fusa muttered an unintelligent remark but brought his Plasma Repeater to bear. Juko advanced forward and the doors parted before him. 267 and Zuka tensed as they moved forward.

Juko's smile disappeared to one of disappointment before turning aghast to the horror before him. Covenant soldiers were dead and mixed in with the corpses of those that they had fell.

"By the honor of Shanghelios!" Juko said in horror.

The Spartan felt nothing for the dead Covenant but was thankful for his polarized visor which hid his facial emotions as well as he hid his own. His allies were grieving over their loss comrades. That was something he could respect seeing how his generation of Spartans had been whittled down to only a few. If the others weren't dead then he was the last one.

"The Commander and the Hunters are not among the bodies." Fusa said as he did a quick scan of the bodies.

"Then where are they?" Zuka asked no in particular.

"There is only one way they could have gone." 267 said gesturing with his weapon to the portal.

All of them looked at each other unsure of the other's resolve in this decision. Each went for their own reasons. Juko went for glory of battle and the love of his brothers in arms. Fusa went so that his bloodline was not shamed and to make sure that his friends survived. Zuka went because his honor demanded that this enemy be killed to save everything. 267 went for the most common purpose of a warrior, vengeance. However their was another reason 267 went and that was for hope of redemption.

"Last chance for any sane person to leave." 267 said loudly.

Not one of them back down. Even though they were here for different reasons their resolve was strong. They would not back down from this. There was a brief period of silence before they all burst out laughing. For a better or worse they were going to Hell.

Turning to the portal they entered at the same time. They were a wall of firepower pointed at the head of hell.

666

Kill, kill, and kill was all that the group did as they fired into the demons. Imps, Pinkie's, and Hell Knights all charged them. They were not even a meter from the portal and they were all ready getting assaulted. 267 was thankful that the demon bodies disintegrated to dust which gave them a clean line of fire. His Plasma Cannon was half way spent from the continuous fire.

"Where do they keep coming from?" 267 wondered.

"The Archville Lords are summoning them to fend you off. Only five guard the portal kill them and the tide of demons will end. Your friend Zuka has fought a low Archville before" Spoke that old and angry voice that had aided him against that teleporting Imp.

"Where are they at?" asked back in his own head hoping who ever was speaking to him would be able to answer him.

"They form a semicircle around the portal. Each is about 25 meters in each direction from the portal. One lies directly ahead of you. Two to the left of the center and two right from the center." responded the distinctive male voice that sounded obviously pleased by something.

Putting aside the violation of his mind and the disturbing voice he got ready to charge. What happened next baffled, scared, and relieved him at the same time. Blue NAV points were placed on his HUD signifying the location of each on of the Archvilles.

"Zuka, I know what's causing this mass of demons to converge on us! I need to push through these demons to get to the other side to kill the demons. They're like the one you fought before."

Zuka was momentarily caught off guard by 267's talk of him fighting an Archville before. He had never mentioned it to the Spartan before. Going back to the fighting he realized that the Spartan could have seen in on one of the cameras stationed through out the base.

"Go Spartan! We will hold here. Juko get back here and start using those Fuel Rod Cannons. Fusa give us some breathing room with the grenades!" Zuka yelled taking charge of the of the FUBAR (Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition) situation.

"Fusa take my Plasma Cannon!" 267 said as he tossed the weapon to Fusa.

Fusa didn't lose the amount of fire he rained down as he put the Plasma Repeater on his back and switched to the Plasma Cannon.

267 now thought it was an opportune time to try out some of the other weapons in the Brutes arsenal. Reaching behind his back he grabbed the handle of the Brute Shot. He fired the shot in short burst. The propelled grenade would explode on contact with a demon and send shrapnel spinning in a large radius. He would advance upon the pocket that had been made by the demons and fire again. He was quickly separating himself from the groups' fire. The draw back was now he didn't have their supporting fire and now had to be more concerned from attacks from behind. The only good part was that he was making progress through the throng of demons. Hellknights took a little more to take down but he would not be deterred.

10 meters from first objective

His clip ran dry and he had no time to reload as Imps converged from all sides. He made extremely good use of the blade on the Brute Shot. He gutted Imps spilling their vital organs over the ground. Stabbing and slashing was all that he did as he tried to get a moment to reload. He gained three seconds and did not waste that precious amount of time. Fully reloaded he pressed forward firing.

5 meters from first objective

Five Hellknights stood between him and his objective and they were not going to stop this Juggernaut. They threw the plasma orbs at him with deadly accuracy. 267 was only able to dodge each shot by inches due to his enhanced reflexes. It took two accurate body shots from the Brute Shot to take one Hellkinght. By the time the clip was empty only two remained.

3 meters from first objective

Reaching into his belt he brought up a Plasma Grenade and tossed it to the one to his right. It lodged to the creatures' skull. The Hellknight attempted in vain to remove the grenade that had adhered to its face but that last thing it saw was a flash of white. Only one Hellknight remained.

The two charge each other with equal ferocity. The Hellknight may have had prodigal strength but it was as slow as sin. Before it even knew what had happened the Spartan had closed the distance and lodged the blade into the creature's lower abdomen.

267 gazed upon the drooling dumbfound face of the Hellknight.

"You want to know why it sucks to be fighting a smaller opponent in a knife fight?" the demon heard as he looked into the golden one of the green clad mortal seeing only his expression of surprise.

"The small guy has to stab up to hit vital organs which means the cut is deeper and more likely to kill." 267 said as he stabbed upwards cutting through intestines, stomach, and liver. The tip of the blade stabbed into the bottom ventricles of the creatures four chambered heart.

Taking the blade out and turning in one smooth motion the Spartan closed on the Archville Lord. It had one last chance to summon one final creature before the Spartan had jumped and severed its head. The last beast the creature had summoned was none other than a Dark Hellknight. Rising to its full height it bellowed a challenge.

"Sorry but I'm going to have to make this quick." the 267 said as he tossed the Brute Shot end over end at the Hellknight.

It let out a startled gasp as the blade punctured beneath the sternum. 267 ran forward as quick as he could. He needed to end this now. Using the Brute Shot in lodged in the creature as a stepping stone he was able to come face to face with it. Grabbing the Covenant's infamous sticky grenade he stuck it to the top of the creature's mouth with his left hand. With his right hand he hit the bottom of the jaw and lodged the mouth close as both top and bottom of the mouth sealed together.

"And just for good measure." 267 added as he palmed sticky grenade to each side of the Hellknights head. With that done he kicked off the creature's chest and out of the blast radius.

267 watched as all three grenades went off decapitating the Hellkinght. The Spartan watched with faint amusement as the once adversarial opponent had fallen so easily.

"One down four more to go." he said to himself. In the back of his mind he could hear that awful voice laughing.

He grabbed the Spikers on his thighs and started to go about his bloody business once more. Anything that got in his way was filled with spikes or was pistol whipped into bloody ribbons due to the nasty bayonet on the Spiker. As far as weapons went these were by far his favorite out of the Brute arsenal. He was naturally a close quarters fighter.

One of the Archville's had tried to run from him but it was all for naught as it fell to the ground with a Spikers plunged deep into its spine. The Archville was still alive and pitifully tried to crawl away. That was until the Spartan grabbed the Spiker by its' handle, twisted and ripped it out.

The flow of demons had begun to lessen making it easier for the Spartan to traverse the rocky terrain of Hell. Which was good because the ammo in his Spiker had begun to dwindle to nothing. He could still here the Elites fighting along with the occasional roar which was then followed by screams. If he had to bet on which Elite was roaring he would guess it was Juko.

And he was right. Juko was having the time of his life. His blades seemed to scream at him for blood, and blood they had. Blood of fallen demons drowned the ground. He had long ago lost the ability to his Needlers and Fuel Rod Cannons due to the fact that he had ran out of ammo. He cut, stabbed, slashed, and inflicted the most amount of pain upon his hellish combatants. The only thing he prayed for was that his brothers would raise their blades and join them in glory.

The only thing Fusa was praying for was that his moron of a comrade would get some sense knocked into him and get back. Juko only needed to mess up once to get swarmed over and killed. Even though the flow of demons had begun to subside in ferocity it did not alter the fact that they were outnumbered a few 30 every one of them. Fusa cursed in the human language finding the word appropriate. He may have hated the humans but he loved them for their use of colorful language.

Zuka, like Fusa, had drained all of his Plasma Cannon battery into the Demon horde rendering the weapon useless. The ammo in his Carbine had begun to dwindle with each press of the trigger. Soon he would have to use his Plasma Rifles or his Plasma Swords together or separately. He hated having the Spartan on his own. He may have been damned by the Prophets by what he was but that didn't change the fact that the Spartan was a greater comrade than an enemy.

"Damn." Zuka muttered as the ammo counter on his HUD fell to 00.

Now that the weapon was useless as a gun he used it as a kludging instrument. By the time he discarded the weapon by chucking it in the face of an Imp the Carbine was bent in several different directions.

His hands grabbed both Plasma Rifles and rushed into the fray. He used the Plasma Rifles both to shoot and to bludgeon when they were overheating. Juko roared at him in acknowledgement before returning to the bloody foray. Fusa was left cursing at his luck for being the only sane and smart one of this odd allied group.

There was only one Archville left now as he dragged one of the Spiker's blades out of the back of the mouth of the now dead Archville. Screeching of demons dragged his attention to one of the cliffs that over looked his position. A massive amount of powerful demons stood around the last Archville. Among the group were red armored skeleton beings with rocket launchers mounted on their shoulders. Another type looked like a cross between a man, a walrus, and a Hunter. The weird cross had cannons in the place of guns. The last type was a floating head with filled with razor sharp teeth. Some how even though the creature was just and head the mouth seemed a lot larger than the head.

"Archville, Reveant, Mancubs, and Cacodemon oh my!" The voice spoke in his head once more identifying the different hell spawn before him.

"Damn… Well who dies first?" he asked the demons.

A sudden primal roar diverted the attention of all those present. Juko had burst through the demon line and had somehow ran straight into the stalemate between the Demon and the Demons.

"You want a piece of the action?" 267 asked Juko.

Juko only responded with an Elite version of a grin.

"You have to take the ugly ones though." the Spartan responded.

"Quick question which ones are the ugly ones?"

The Spartan was about to open his mouth to respond but was cut short as the demons ran, floated, or shuffled to their position. Elite and Spartan met the demons rockets, homing rockets, claws, and teeth with plasma and metal.

The Spartan aimed at the rockets as they assailed to their position. He shot the rockets as they got close to other demons aiding them in killing more demons. They were two were outnumbered 15 demons for each one of them. The large cross breed seemed to be the leader for each of the division units. They weren't very effective communicators as all they did was moan softly or moan loudly.

The two cut a decent enough path through them. The Spartan knew that he had to get to the Archville before it summoned more demons and the Elite was either following the Spartan or was moving into the most ferocious part of the battle.

267 ran past multiple demons either he decreed them good enough to kill or to far away to be even worth spitting at. The Archville was his goal. The Archville was still perched on the cliff observing the battle. It sent out Hellfire at the two hoping to kill one or at least both. Even though it was effective at summoning minions to its side it was highly ineffective at aiming. Which was going to cost it its' life.

The Spartan used only his feet to elevate up the short cragged cliff. He lunged forward with his Spiker. His intent was impale it but the Archvilles face was so narrow that if fit in between the blades, aligning the barrel with the bottom of the creature's chin. The last spike in the Spikers was fired directly into the bottom of the chin and pierced the top of the creature's skull. The Archville could have tried to maim his killer but was too dumbstruck at its' own death that it could reach up with its' right arm and feel the large whole on the top of its' skull.

Turning his attention to the battle below he saw that even though he had succeeded in killing the Archville he had left Zuka cornered at the bottom of the cliff. Acting on instinct he jumped down and tossed both Spikers end over into two of the skull demons. One died upon impact the other had enough time left to reach up and grab the hilt of the spiker that had lodged both blades in its eyes.

Hitting the ground he extended his claws and stood back to back with Juko. The Spartan covered the Elite's left side and the Elite covered the Spartan's right side. They were surrounded by five of the remaining Reveants and two Mancubus. All of them had rockets leveled at them. The likely hood of them surviving this close of rocket toting demons was grim.

"It will be an honorable death to die next to you brother."

The Spartan grinned behind his helmet. "Same here. We may die but we can at least rip a few of them apart!"

The two were about to charge but a shock wave sent them both back against the cliff. Green Plasma enveloped most of the Revenant. Both Mancubus turned to face this new threat. One Mancubus was lifted off the ground as a golden Hunter collided with it. The other Mancubus was knocked backwards as the other blue Hunter nailed it in the face with its shield. The Mancubus had been knocked back but it was far from out. It retaliated with punch of its cannon at the blue Hunter. The Hunter had been prepared for this and grabbed its cannon with "fingers" on the barrel of its cannon. The two were locked in a stalemate of brute strength. The faint whine was the only indication to the Mancubus of what was about to happen. It fired the same time as the Hunter did. Both were thrown in opposite directions. The Hunter landed with a heavy thud. It weakly came to its' behemoth sized feet.

"Ha…I win." it said as it saw the remains of the Mancubus.

The other Hunter had slammed its' Mancubus into the cliff opposite of Juko and 267. The Mancubus screamed as the spines of the Hunter tore out its' flesh. The golden Hunter leveled its' own weapon at the head of the Mancubus. Acting faster than believed possible the Mancubus used both of its arms cannons and directed the Fuel Rod away from its face. Both were sent flying. This had bought the Mancubus a few more moments of sucking oxygen. It noticed a shadow block out the light. It only saw the massive boot of the hunter before its' world ended. The Hunter had curb stomped the Mancubus.

"Punk." the Golden Hunter warbled in its own language as it rubbed its' foot side to side over brain matter and skull bits.

As the Spartan and Elite recovered from the shockwave one of the Revenant demons had recovered and had locked one cannon for both of them. It would have fired had it not been killed on the spot by Commander Fudo. His blue Plasma Sword piercing the chest of the demon.

"Commander…" Juko whispered revreantly.

"Juko and…Demon." Fudo said loudly.

"Damn where did that bastard Juko go?" Fusa grumbled as he crushed the last breathing demon beneath his feet.

"He was heading off in that direction." Zuka said pointing off to a valley. Multiple explosions were heard. It sounded like a human rocket launcher but it was impossible that none of them had one and the human did not bring one. There was a long silence that was punctured by the unforgettable explosion of a Hunter discharging its' weapon.

Both Elites scrambled over the mound of corpses in that direction. If the Hunters were still alive than it was possible that so was the Commander. Both ran into the valley weapons at the ready. By they got to the sound of the fighting it was already over.

Fudo had just killed the last demon and was eyeing the Spartan with deadly intent. Zuka looked over his shoulder at Fusa who nodded. They had to intercept the Commander before he or the Spartan was killed.

Fudo raised his blade staring down at the Spartan and his subordinate Juko.

"Why are you working with this heathen?" Fudo spat with venom, but raised his hand telling the Hunters to hold their fire...for the moment.

"Our brother has been aiding us in the fight against the demons." Juko responded with respect but not being cowed by the smaller Elite.

"Demon? Brother? Do you not here the words coming out of your mouth!" Fudo responded furiously."

"Even you admire these Demons for their honor and skill on the battlefield." Juko responded.

The Commander was not taken aback by these words. "True they may be but he is still our enemy! The Prophets have declared him so! The greatest threat to the path of the Great Journey."

"You ever think that the Prophets could be wrong?" Juko responded hotly.

Fudo was taken aback by this however. "Is this how you truly feel Juko? Has the path before you offered you no happiness?"

"I am delighted in fighting human combatants. My blood yearns for combat, you know this. I am ashamed that we have stooped to the level of executioners. No we are worse than that, we are murders! We fight against opponents that do not know how to even wield a weapon! Tell me what honor is there in fighting defenseless women and children?" Juko responded to Fudo finally revealing his feeling for the Cleansing War.

Fudo said nothing only stared at Juko with mixed feelings of fury, resentment, understanding, and perhaps even pity. There was a certain truth in what he said. Murders were the most heinous beings in Elite culture. Murders were ones that shed blood without the intention of gaining honor. They killed indiscriminately and without the slightest notion of respect for ones opponent. It went against everything the Elites believed in.

"Brother…." Fudo said softly.

Zuka and Fusa had both gotten in front of the Spartan and the Elite. Fudo stared unbelievingly at the two. The Hunters stilled had their weapons humming ready to fire when ready.

It was dead silent as Fudo contemplated how to proceed. The slience was broken as dumb fired rockets rained upon their position. The blue Hunter was shot down in the back and fell down screaming the other golden hunter moved to cover his brother. The Elites responded by firing at one of the Mancubus that had escaped the Hunters' slaughter. It was faraway and was not bothered by the Elites small weapons fire.

The Spartan ran at the Mancubus as it slid down the steep cliff. It fired it weapons as fast as it could planning on killing as many as it could. When the Mancubs had slid down the full incline of the cliff it launched out with a double hammer fist intending to squash the Spartan, but 267 was far too nimble and hard headed to be killed by a single strike. He dodged to the side and planted his boot on the forearm of the creature to get closer to the head of the Mancubus. He lashed out with his right hand, the claws fully extended. The weapon popped the eye socket and stabbed into the gray matter inside the creature's skull. He wasn't done yet as he pulled up and ripped head and spinal cord in a furious tug.

267 tossed the skull at Fudo's feet. "I'm not here to kill you. My purpose is too kill these demons that are threat to both the Covenant and Humanity. Now we could scrap it out, but I for one would like to reserve my strength for a common enemy that we share."

Fudo stared at the Spartan grudgingly before focusing his attention on the wounded Hunter.

"He will live but the armor on his back is totally gone." Fusa said as he kneeled down by the recovering blue Hunter.

"Demon I believe that I have found a use for you after all." Fudo said with a smile. The Spartan did not like that smile.

666

"This is so fucking stupid!" 267 roared as he clung to the back of the blue Hunter for dear life. He fired his Brute Plasma Rifle with occasional bursts into the Demon horde while the Hunter's Fuel Rod Cannon cooled down.

The Commander of the SpeOp Elites had not so gently tossed him onto the back of the Hunter. He had argued with the Commander, but the Commander ended it by saying "Mount the Hunter!" This had earned some giggles from Fusa.

Commander Fudo was pleased however with how things were turning out. The Demon on the Hunter was two fold to his plan. For starters it put the Human far away from his Elites and made it that much easier for him to order his troops. Second it put the Human in the danger zone where he was most likely to get killed.

"This feels so wrong." 267 murmured as he took cover behind the Hunter.

"How do think I feel considering you tore off the head of that fat blob!" the Hunter roared as it bashed aside several Imps.

"Not what I meant…do you even have a head? Aren't you just made up a bunch of worms?"

"Just…just shut up." the Hunter yelled sounding a little bit offended.

267 felt every bounce as the Hunter walked, ran, and curb stomped. "I'm going to be saddle sore."

The only good news was that they were nearing what he supposed was the lair of the leader of these demons. A tall black tower stood before them. The tower was immense to say the least. With good news also came the bad news. There many demons in between them and their objective.

Zuko fought along side his brothers while the Hunters took the lead. He had only heard a little of the conversation between Fudo and Juko. He had fight alongside Juko for many years but never really knew how he felt about the war. It would explain the foul expression on Juko's face and why he kept as close as he could to the front busying himself with fighting. Fudo just seemed happy to have his troops back and be in control.

The Hunter with the Human on his back was busy trying not to think of the Human on his back. It was hard to resist his combat instincts which told him to kill the Demonkind that had killed so many of his brethren, and after seeing what he did to all those other…demons did not help.

His brother must have felt the same way because he stayed close to him casting the occasional warning glance to the back of the Spartan's head. He turned his head to see his brother getting overwhelmed by many of the small four legged demons. There was no way he could turn in time to aid him while he was facing his own batch of enemies and the distance was far too great for him to turn and just simply bash his shield into their flimsy skulls.

Red plasma originated from his back scoring hits on the small four leggers killing some instantly and distracting others. This gave his brother the window of opportunity that he needed. He glanced at the golden visor of the demon seeing no indication of the Demon's emotions. The Demon fired again this time directly in front of him killing a Hellknight that had tried to kill the distracted Hunter. Plasma to the face and spine breaking blow from the Hunter's shield quickly ended the Hellknight's life.

"Thanks." the Hunter said.

"Say that to me after we get out of here." 267 said concentrating on killing as many Demons as possible.

666

"They come." said a Dark Imp with a spear in its' three fingered hand. This Imp looked out onto the slaughter with yearning. He wanted the human to come he wanted to make him pay for his sin.

The Imp stared at Betruger's new form. The left side of Betruger's face had been replaced with a scope. On his left shoulder was a large mounted cannon. It was connected to the ocular scope. His wings had fully formed. They weren't very big with only a 10 foot wingspan. His hands were still alit with flame. His legs were now like that of a goats.

"You want his blood?" Betruger asked paying only a little attention to the battle before him.

"He deserves to die…after what he did to my home world…to my people…" the Imp trailed off going back to its' days when it was mortal.

"Are you sure you can face him?" Betruger asked giving the Imp his full attention.

"You wound me…" the Imp said in a mocked tone "The other lesser Spartans have died and their bodies committed to our cause. They may not have the same brilliance has they once had but they will still be deadly." the Imp gestured to three Spartan III's standing behind him.

"He may not be a Spartan II but he is an Alpha class…"

"You sound unsure of yourself. The Antilife Lord is with us and will be their when we fight them. I will kill him and the Navi will have their revenge on the Spartan's head."

"I hope you know what your dealing with, because I do." Betruger glancing back at the fight below. The invading group had nearly made it to the doors. "We should go up the Lord will be waiting for us."

666

The field before the tower was littered with corpses and body parts. Only six were still standing…the other was 'mounted' on a Hunter. All seven of them came before the dark gates of the Tower. As Zuka gazed up at the foreboding structure he had to admit their was some sort of elegant beauty to it. He had finally been forced to abandon his Plasma Rifle's after he had fully exhausted the battery. Only Fusa, the Spartan, and the two Hunters had anything left in the way of ranged weaponry.

"How you faring Spartan?" Zuka asked with a glance as both Hunters joined the Elites at the massive doors.

"You try riding a Hunter into battle and see how it feels." the Spartan said not in his usually smartass tone of voice.

"Try being trained by two of them." Zuka returned bring back memories of his home.

The Spartan looked at him quizzically over the Hunter's shoulder before turning his attention on the gate.

"So do we knock?" the Spartan asked.

"We could try sneaking in." Fusa offered with not much conviction in his voice.

"I think we already lost the element of surprise." Juko said glancing over his shoulder at one of still twitching demon bodies. He was eyeing it daring it to get up.

" Or we could make our own door." Fudo said turning his attention to the two Hunters.

Both Hunters nodded their heads in unison. The Elites tensed as the whine of the tell tale charge of the building power in the Fuel Rod Cannons grew. The Spartan loosened his grip on the blue plated Hunter so he could ride with the recoil of the shot.

"Brothers prepare your selves."

The Hunters respective weapons went off. The blue Hunter's green stream alongside the golden plated Hunter's fuel rod bursts. Wood and stone was sent flying apart as a rather large hole appeared in the door. It was wide enough for a Hunter to enter in single file.

"Ladies first." Fusa said to the Spartan and the Hunter.

"Careful this one has the bigger gun." the Spartan said as the Hunter turned toward Fusa. The Hunter gave an irritated snort before heading off to the door.

666

The Spartan's Hunter was in first followed by the other Hunter and then the Elites. As they entered they formed a semicircle, covering all angles of possible attack. The Spartan and the Hunters were in the middle. Fudo and Fusa covered the left side while Zuka and Juko covered the right side. From what little light was available it was hard to make out the apparent structure of the Tower. The light only touched the first step of a stairway that went up in a single helix.

"Think it goes all the way to the top?" Juko asked.

"Only one way to find out." 267 responded.

"Juko your in the front. Hunters in the middle, Fusa on the side closets to the wall, I'll cover the opposite side, and Zuka your in the rear." Fudo said doing what he was meant to do as Special Operations Commander of the Covenant.

They began to ascend the stairs in the near pitch darkness.

666

Ascending the spiral stair case was surprisingly a delicate matter. The stairs were even but the gaits of the two species walking were different. The Hunters walked to fast or too slow to match the Elites and the Elites had to compensate to remain in an effective formation. The only sound was footsteps and breathing. Everything else was quiet.

As they neared the top of the tower the red light of the hellish sky began to filter down through the only exit at the top of the tower. It was large slit meant for something very wide to enter and exit it as it pleased. Now it waited. It had been a long time since it had been challenged. Its' only hope was that it would not be disappointed.

Zuka was the first to make his appearance followed by the Hunters, with Spartan on board, Fudo, Fusa, and Juko. Mortal eyed demon and demon eyed mortal. A large flame dominated the center of the tower.

"This is where I get off." 267 said with a firmness that meant he would not mount the Hunter again even if Fudo threw him back on.

Across from the mortals were the demons in the center of the tower. The Demons stood around the center of a massive flame. Betruger stood directly before the flames his optical eye solely centered upon the Spartan. On Betruger's left side was his flying mount. There was no better description for this thing other than a dragon. It was a hideous thing. Small horns exited from its eyeless head, black leathery wings were curled up and tensed ready to take flight. The tail of this beast ended like a club with barbs on it meant for catching and ripping flesh.

The Imp that the Spartan had fought earlier stood ready with three Zombie Spartans behind him. 267 eyed that with a damn near uncontrollable anger. It was a damn miracle that he didn't cross the expanse between them and start ripping Betruger and the Imp apart.

"Where is Hell's mightiest warrior?" Zuka said readying himself for whatever came next.

Betruger and his allies moved and the massive flames parted. Upon a black throne sat a massive being. A cross between armor and flesh covered the entire being. Its' massive bull horned head rested upon its left arm, the only arm that it had. The right arm was massive cannon that looked like it belonged on a tank. It eyed them all with some level of respect. They had made it this far, hopefully they had enough fight left to make this a challenge.

Zuka brought out the Soul Cube and eyed his opponent. The massive demon's eyes switched from Zuka to Betruger and narrowed, before returning back to Zuka.

"Betruger and the others are mine." 267 said as he walked away from the group. This was his business and the others had no part in it.

"The large one is my opponent." Zuka said.

"No brother, he is ours." Fudo corrected stepping up beside Zuka. Fusa and Juko joined him.

"Looks like we get leftovers." the blue plated Hunter said as it faced the dragon looking thing.

"I'm glad you made it this far Spartan. You don't know how long I've waited to kill you." the Imp said.

"A few hours?" 267 responded he may have been pissed off to no end but that didn't mean it wouldn't stop him from running his mouth.

"No. Ever since you ordered the destruction of Pandora!" the Imp roared pointing a finger at him.

267's rage at that moment was almost nullified by the shock that ran through his body. "No."

"Yes." the Imp hissed in triumph upon the Spartan's revelation.

"Tell me, before I kill you, what did you feel as you destroyed our planet?"

The Spartan was quiet thinking of his sin that he had committed. It was true; he was the one that pushed the button on the Nova bomb that destroyed Pandora, along with a Covenant invasion fleet.

"Anger, sadness, and a deep regret. All for cold undeniable logic, billions vs. hundreds of billions. It was you or us. That was the toughest decision I ever made. I pushed the button and billions of lives were ended in that action. If I hadn't the Covenant had gotten their hands on that rock humanity would die. My soul is stained with that blood…and I accept that. If I had the ability to go back to that very moment…"

The former soul of the Navi now turned Imp stared at him with great intent waiting for him to finish his thought. Betruger did nothing, he knew what the Spartan was going to say already but he wanted to kill the Spartan on his terms. As far as Betruger was concerned the Imp and the Zombie Spartans could potentially weaken the Spartan but would not be able to kill him.

"I would not have changed a thing." 267 said finally his voice firm and resolute.

The Imp's face contorted in rage. Snarling in fury he screamed at the Spartan "Once I am done with you I will kill the other three!"

"Conquest, Plague, and Death are all formidable…but I'm the best at close range combat."

Roaring in fury the Imp vanished in an orange lightning. The Zombie Spartans charged their movements were as fluid as when they were alive…and still had their souls'. 267 roared his own battle cry and charged. He had the Maulers but in this fight he was not going to use that advantage because he didn't need it. He had his hands and that would be enough.

Zuka stared at the monster before him in awe and anger. This was a opponent worthy of respect, but he would die like all the rest. His eyes went to his brothers that stood around him.

"For the honor of Shanghelios!" Zuka roared.

"For the honor of Shanghelios!" was the returned call of his brothers.

The Lord of Antilife smiled a cruel grin and cocked his massive cannon. Stomping forward he knew that he was going to enjoy this.

The Hunters wasted no moment with talk the fired the instant they got clear of their comrades. The flying beast took to the sky the Hunters' shot missing completely. They fired again and again into the air trying to bring the creature down. Its' bulk belied how nimble it truly was though. It weaved through the air and returned with its' own fire. Hell flamed fire balls were exchanged with deadly green plasma. This was a fight that whittled down to accuracy, reflex, and endurance.

The Golden Hunter made a mistake and it had cost him. He had avoided two fire balls, but it was the third the one that he had thought that was going to land to his left that caught him full in the chest. The Hunter flew back under the force, but it didn't kill him. Seeing an opportunity the beast flew down and made strafing run of flame. The Hunter never had a chance to dodge. Orange hellfire bathed the golden Hunter. Screaming in fury at the dragon he charged his cannon and fired. The strafing run had also cost the dragon airspace and reduced the chance of maneuverability.

The Hunter's shot hid dead on obliterating the membrane of the left wing. This brought the creature down to a skidding halt. It rose and roared it was beaten but far from done. Both charged at each other. In its' blind rage the Hunter had forgotten a key thing, the dragon had a much larger mass. Crooked razor sharp teeth chomped down on the Hunter's armor. The demon began to shake its' head back and forth like a dog with a rat in it's' mouth.

The demon tossed the Hunter aside. Pain racked the multiple worms of the Hunter's body as it tumbled toward the edge of the Tower. Luckily for the Hunter it skidded to a halt before the ledge. All the Hunter could do was muster enough strength to see death coming for him. The dragon stalked toward him with much speed it could muster on its' weakened limb.

It raised its massive maw upon the weakened Hunter ready for the kill. This was a kill that it would not have. Running at full speed the Golden Hunter slammed its left shoulder into the wounded side of the dragon. The arm that held the cannon had been burned off. The Hunter's razor sharp spine tore into the sides of the dragon. A cry of pain escaped the creature's maw as pain ripped its body. The Golden Hunter was not done yet. Using his momentum he continued to push the demonic dragon to the edge.

Sensing the danger the monster tried to use its' claws to grab some sort of purchase, but the grooved floor was slick with the blood of multiple sacrifices. The dragon tipped over the edge. It gave one final shriek as it fell off. Walking to the edge the Golden Hunter stared at the falling beast as it vainly tried too fly. Even way up on the tower the Hunter could feel the tremor of the beast as it hit the ground.

Turning around the Hunter headed back to his brother who was trying to rise to greet him. Cocking his head to the other fights he saw that they were not needed for the moment. That was fine by him they needed the rest, and when it was time they would strike.

267 blocked and deflected the punch directed at his head by the Zombie Spartan before and then promptly ducked to avoid a roundhouse kick directed to his head from the Zombie Spartan behind him. He then responded with a counter strike to the helmet of the opponent before him, then turned around and kicked the Spartan behind him who was still in the rotation of the roundhouse kick. The kick was for offensive as well as an evasive purpose. The third Zombie Spartan was coming at him from the left side intending to try and catch him off guard. Had they been facing a lesser opponent the set up might have worked. With his right hand 267 caught the wrist of the attacker's punch and brought his left elbow on the fore arm of his undead enemy. His enhanced hearing heard something break. Kicking out with his foot he sent his stunned enemy sprawling followed by jerking his head back to avoid a thrust from the Imp that had teleported just a little bit above his head. The Imp hit the ground hissed and teleported away and the Zombie Spartans got back up ready for another round. This was how they had been fighting and IT was getting on his nerves. As much as he hated to admit it, this was wearing him down. He had been fighting almost nonstop for the past few hours and his movements were getting sluggish. Casting a side ways glance he saw that Betruger remained immobile. He stayed in exactly the same spot since the fight had begun. 267 could almost see the sliver of a smile on Betruger's rat bastard face.

One of the Zombies came straight at him. He had mentally forgotten which Spartan it was, it was easier to kill an opponent if you thought of it as less as a living thing that had a life. It was hard considering he had worked with these people for a few months since his transfer, and they were once Spartans...his brothers and sisters in arms. If he had been with him he might have been able to save them, though he had learned long ago to not contemplate on the had's and the ifs.

The stance was too open and almost begging to question the logic behind the reckless charge. Responding to the incoming fist he grabbed pulled and let the momentum of the charging zombie carry if forward and behind him. He now focused his attention on the two Zombie Spartans before him. They attacked simultaneously with punches and kicks. 267 was always on the defensive when he would block or dodge one strike from one opponent the other opponent would be lashing out with their own blows. He was instantly thankful that he was good at close quarters combat.

The tell tale buzz of the Imp's teleporting technique issued from behind him. 267 did the only thing that he could do; he disengaged the two opponents and did a pivot on his foot to avoid the predicted thrust of his opponent. Coming behind the Imp he kicked out at the back of the Imp shattering the armor. 267's intent was not to shatter the armor but send the Imp in sprawling tumble to entangle the other two Zombies.

267 was the best in close combat of his group not because he had faster reflexes, or enough strength to rip out an Elite spine, but he was able to analyze and predict the movements of his opponents. That may have been one of the reasons he had nearly beaten the Spartan III trainer Kurt in a game of chess.

267 ran for all that he was worth away from the three and at the almost recovered Zombie Spartan. Seeing him coming the Zombie raised its fists to attack. That was the one thing about Spartans they were trained to absolutely be on the attack and it appeared to be true even after death. This was what 267 was betting on. He grabbed the right wrist with his right hand and the Zombies head with his left hand. Flipping over the struggling zombie he responded with a kick with his left leg.

The Zombies neck separated in several places which were audible with wood snapping like cracks. Not only was the innovative attack lethal but had also broken several bones in the hand and arm. One down, three more to go before he could finally deal with Betruger.

The three got up and stared at him with hatred from the Imp and the glossed over eyes of the Zombie Spartans.

"So you are heartless." the Imp said as he glanced at the now finally dead Spartan III.

"When the body leaves the soul it's just a hunk of meat." 267 responded evenly.

The Imp disappeared and this time 267 knew that he was going to end this. He charged the Zombies that charged him. One Zombie flanked left and the other flanked right. As 267 charged he could feel a resurgence of adrenaline. This was it.

As he charged he could almost see time warp as it slowed and sped up at the same time. Spartan Time. Everything was seen with such clarity that it hurt his eyes. The Spartan Zombies crawled compared to him. He went for his Zombie on the right first.

He grabbed the Zombies right arm with his left hand and twisted nearly bring the arm to the breaking point. His right hand turned into a fist that went directly into the elbow. Anatomically the ball and socket joint dislocated, the tendons of the humerus connected to the radius and ulna making the elbow joint separated, and the carpal bones broke making use of the hand impossible. That one move made the entire right arm useless. Sliding under the arm while simultaneously holding on to it at the same time he prepared himself for his next strike. When his body was in place he lashed out with his left leg to the upper chest close to the right arm. The entire arm, armor included, separated off the main body of the Zombie Spartan. It fell backwards with the loss of arm to maintain its balance. The entire move lasted less than half a second.

Now it was onto the next one. Still holding on to the arm he threw the arm point blank at the other Zombies face. It hit the Zombie fist first. The mandible on the Zombie almost broke, and that wasn't even with 267 own fist. 267 was still under the effects of Spartan time. While the Zombie was still in the air 267 grabbed the back armor piece and in between the legs. He brought the Zombie's spine on his knee breaking the spine making the body entirely useless. This took three-fourths of a second. His adrenaline rush was beginning to ebb.

Still holding onto the body he brought it around to face the Imp that was going to strike him from behind. He pushed the body into the Imp's strike. The tip of the double pronged spear pierced through armor and flesh of the dead Spartan III"s armor. When the spear was about half way through 267 brought his hand down in a karate style chop, breaking the body of the spear. Taking his half he intended to shove it through the Imp's skull. He never even got to swing. The other Zombie came at him from the side barreling into him with its only good shoulder left. The arm ripping may have worked on a mortal opponent, but a zombie had no sense of pain and the only way to truly kill a zombie was to sever all connection from the brain to the body.

"NO." 267 thought as the zombie brought him down.

He sprawled out with zombie on top. The zombie was able to hammer him twice with its' left arm before he retaliated. Bringing his head back he hit the chin of the zombie's armor causing the head of it to snap back. With his left elbow he forcefully hit it in the right ribs lifting the zombie off of him. He scrambled forward anxious to get back to this feet. On his feet 267 preformed a roundhouse kick to the face of the zombie that was half way off the ground. The body of the zombie fell with the head at an unnatural angle.

Whipping his head about 267 looked for the Imp. His hearing picked up the crunch of boots on the blood soaked floor. Turning he saw the Imp charging at him with both ignited parts of the spear in it's' hands. 267 kicked up his feet and ran straight at the Imp. They both rapidly closed the distance in between each other. This would be the final move for either one.

267 jumped up into the air and launched into a flying kick straight at the Imp. The Imp on its part had miscalculated the distance between them. 267's foot connected with the Imp. Surprise and pain lit up on the Imps face. 267's momentum was too great to be repulsed back by the brief contact with the Imp. Extending his arms to the limit he grabbed both of the Imps arms and flipped back to the Imps back. Hitting the ground the Imp was able to hold both himself and the Spartan on top of him up. 267 began to pull for all that he was worth, pressing his legs against the Imp's back. As his legs extended the Imps arms started to become more and more detached from their holdings. With a roar 267 was finally able to push off. The left arm had come off completely while the right arm had separated a little below the elbow. 267 dove into a roll and came up holding the effort of his grisly test of strength. Tossing both pieces of arms aside he walked toward the face down Imp. Nudging it with his foot he flipped the Imp onto its back. The Imps breathing was deep, rapid, and slowing.

267 kneeled down to his dying opponent and whispered three words. "I'm so sorry." He set his left hand on top of the skull and his right hand on the chin. Twisting the head of the Imp brought it a swift death. Rising up 267 stared down Betruger who was smiling fiercely.

"Not bad, not bad. From the reports I had on you I would have expected you to rip out his spine." Betruger said.

"I was saving that agony for you." he responded with anger creeping into the edge of his voice.

"Well then…" Betruger said flexing his wings.

"Lets get this over with."

Betruger immediately took to the sky. The first thing he began to do was shoot at him with the cannon strapped to his shoulder. He fired spears down onto the Spartan. 267 expertly avoided the shots that were directed close to him.

267 gave Betruger a questioning look. The shots were fired in almost a random pattern. Betruger mouthed the word "Boom". Finally getting the idea behind the attack 267 glanced at the spears around him and saw that they were flashing dangerously. Turning he bolted out of the area. The resulting explosion lifted him off his feet and through him onto the ground hard.

Nausea rolled over him, his vision was blurred, pain racked the left side of his body, and he could taste blood in his mouth. He laid on his back watching as a burning speck dove down towards him. Acting more on instinct than thought he rolled out of the way as Betruger pounded into the ground. The blood slick grooved stone floor splintered and exploded.

267 hadn't quite recovered his vision but at this range he just needed to lash out and he would hit something. He kicked, punched, and did anything to cause Betruger bodily harm. His hearing heard something break. As he fought his vision recovered and not a moment to late. The burning speck he had seen earlier were Betruger's burning fists. Lashing out with one of his fists the demonized Betruger landed a blow on 267's right side. The hit lifted the Spartan off his feet and sent him flying for the second time that day. He landed on his back and rolled backward flipping through the air. Using the reducing momentum he landed on his feet and skidded the rest of the way back. His entire body hurt but he fought through the pain. He had to focus his mind on the fight.

Betruger wiped blood off his bruised chin. He had managed to land a blow in Betruger's smug face. This brought a small grin to him, at least he had finally been able to wipe that smug smile of his face.

Betruger once again took to the air. The exploding spears began to rain down and this time they exploded on impact. 267 weaved in and out of the explosions. His body had taken a tremendous beating and it was costing him. He was slower and getting slower.

Betruger fired two more spears. Both shots intercepted right before the Spartan. The explosions went off and bathed the Spartan in fire. Smoke issued from the gaping holes. Nothing moved. Betruger gave a triumphant cackle. The smoke parted and the Spartan rose on what appeared to be silver blue wings.

Betruger cut off his cackle in surprise.

"Yeah bitch I can fly too!" Spartan said with anger.

267 hit Betruger right between the legs. Betruger momentarily went cross eyed. His jaw hung open in pain and shock. Flipping and adding centripetal force to his next blow. With a double handed fist he hit the back of Betruger's skull. Ungracefully Betruger fell out of the sky, the Spartan not far behind. Betruger hit the ground first. The Spartan brought his entire body down on the left wing. Membrane split open and bone snapped. Betuger let out a howl of pain and responded by having his gun face the Spartan at point blank range. 267grabbed the barrel of the weapon and ripped it off. The weapon had been molded into Betruger's flesh and blood squirted out of the wound. Fury flooded Betruger veins, numbing the pain through out his body. If he had been trained like War, or Jordan Gamma-267 of the Four Horsemen, he might have been able to focus his rage into an actual useable advantage.

Betruger lashed out and grabbed the helmet of 267. 267 had been expecting this and raised his hands to his helmet hitting the release. If 267's head had still been in the helmet it would have melted in three seconds flat. With all the strength he could muster the Spartan hit Betruber point blank in the sternum. Bones fragmented and cracked. Small microscopic pieces severed veins and arteries leading to the heart. Larger pieces of the broken rib bones punctured the lungs.

Betruger stared into the cold angry and triumphant blue eyes of the Spartan. He fell down to his hands and knees in shock.

"Finish him." the dark voice said in his mind and the Spartan was all too happy to comply.

267 walked to the left side of the dying Betruger. His right hand grasped the back

of Betruger's head firmly.

"This is not the end." Betruger gasped.

He raised he left hand in the over the spine of his soon to be dead foe.

"Hell will be free and humanity will fall. ALL OF THE CREATORS CREATIONS SHALL BE CONSUMED BY DARKNESS! THIS FATE IS INEVITABLE!"

"Not while I still breathe, and besides I don't believe in fate."

Flesh parted from the spine as 267 drove his fingers in Betruger's back. A terrible scream escaped Betruger's lips and another after 267's grip tightened. Wrenching forward 267 began to tear out the spine. A hair line seam split Betruger's throat, spilling blood. With another good yank 267 completely pulled out the spine. The rest of Betruger's body turned into a blood fountain. Without messages being sent to the rest of the body it collapsed.

Staring at the fruit of his labor 267 wondered whether to or not to crush the head. Betruger's eyes looked dead on into his. The mouth gaped open and close trying to speak. He dropped the head and spine turning his attention to the huge form of Antilife. Antilife was the one truly responsible for everything that had happened. Picking up his helmet 267 sealed it back onto his head. Now he was ready to finish this fight.

Zuka moved in a zigzag pattern avoiding the shots of Antilife's cannon, while simultaneously separating himself from the rest of the charging Elites. Antilife seemed completely concentrated on killing him. The CA-CHINK of the weapons reload foretold when the massive behemoth was about ready to fire its cannon. Avoiding the fire became more and more difficult as he got closer. The ragging inferno of eyes tracked him with a focused intent with murder and mayhem on the agenda. With quicker reflexes than what he thought the large demon was capable of it had altered the barrel of its cannon changing the flight of the next shell. An explosion of fire and shrapnel occurred before Zuka sending him flying. When he landed he was flat on his back. His vision focused and unfocused as he tried to recover.

Shockwaves of the rumbling earth told him that the demon was coming his way.

"Move, move, move!" he mentally yelled at his body but it remained unresponsive.

The large twin horns appeared first before the demon towered over him. He could see a fierce snarl over its yellow, crooked, jagged teeth.

"I EXPECTED MORE." it said with to exaggerated swagger.

"It's called a set up." the Elite struggled to say.

The demon stared down at the Elite with a mirthless grin. It spoke in a low tone, barely a whisper. "ONLY WIELDER OF THE SOUL CUBE CAN KILL ME. AND THAT WIELDER IS ABOUT TO DIE."

Antilife raised its' hoofed foot to crush Zuka. Roars grabbed the attention of Antilife as all three Elites charged him. Juko charged straight at the demon with both of his plasma blades ignited. Both blades impaled the abs of Antilife. Fudo jumped on Antilife's back and began to stab repeatedly. Fusa stabbed through the left thigh intending to throw the demon off balance, under its own weight.

Antilife roared with laughter. With his free hand Antilife grabbed Juko and tossed him aside. Fusa was kicked back from a brief shake of Antilife's leg. Fudo jumped back avoiding a swing from the cannon. Blood had been spilled but immediately the wounds began to heal.

"NOW DO YOU SEE HOW POINTLESS THIS FIGHT IS?" Antilife said still chuckling.

He looked down to see that the Elite he had been trying to belittle had disappeared. Pain erupted in his knee as he felt the multiple blades of the Soul Cube tear into him. Looking down he saw Zuka back flipping out of out of his arms reach.

"Yet I am the one to draw first blood." Zuka said smirking.

This wound did not heal and blood continued to seep out of the gaping hole. Antilfe snorted in fury. Raising the barrel of his gun he fired straight at Zuka, but Zuka was able to roll out of the blast radius of the shot.

The other Elites would rush in and grab the attention of Antilife allowing Zuka to land a blow. This plan was working but none of the wound were life threatening. Any wounds inflicted by the plasma swords healed over quickly and Zuka was not tall enough, even when jumping to hit any true vital organs. Zuka could try and throw the Soul Cube at the large demon but this presented several problems. Problem one if he did throw the Soul Cube he would be left with only his sword. Problem two if he would throw the Soul Cube he would have to go and recover meaning he would be giving Antilife a target for his destination.

Juko roared raising the warrior fury in his blood. Antilife turned toward him and smacked him with side of his cannon. Pain racked his entire body as he landed. All of his senses were gone. One moment he felt like he was standing the next he felt like he was falling. After gaining some sense of semi balance he rolled off his back. On all fours he began to throw up purple colored chunks.

"There's…my break" he puked one more time "fast."

Standing on his feet he realized that he had lost both of his swords. Shaking his head he began to look for them. That's when he realized that Antilife was directly above him. He could hear his comrades screaming at him to run but he was too stunned to even move. Antilife brought his hoof down on top of Juko. Annoyance had driven Antilife to come after Juko, he figured if he killed off more of the insects then he could focus all of his attention on the Soul Cube's chosen.

A dust cloud erupted covering everything below Antilife's legs. Fusa's next breath was caught in his throat. He couldn't believe it. His strong, honor bound, hot blooded, and in his opinion an idiot sometimes, was finally dead.

Fudo stared horrified and at a loss. He had suffered losses of very valued comrades but he never thought Juko would die. Juko was one of those guys that seemed capable of surviving anything.

Zuka didn't stop running. He charged with pure fury at Antilife. Whether he lived or died no longer mattered as long as the ugly son of a bitch died.

"A little help here? Anyone?" Juko called from under Antlife's hoof.

Zuka tripped and fell flat on his face in surprise. Raising his head he saw Juko holding up most of Antilife's body.

"Brothers hurry!" Fudo roared sprinting past Zuka and Fusa.

Even with his multi jointed legs making him extremely fast Fudo knew he would not be able to reach his brother in time to save him from being totally crushed under Antilfe's foot.

"I don't know what worse being slowly crushed to death, or being slowly crushed death while standing in a puddle of your own puke." Juko muttered through gasps.

Antilife had thought all of his foes were before him that he didn't notice that all of his other champions had fallen. The General of all DOOM forces was going to pay for his arrogance. Small annoying stabs slowly made his was up his back. The Spartan was using both Maulers to climb Antilife's back. Upon reaching the top of Antilife's the Spartan threw himself bodily over the demon's head. He fired all five rounds in each Mauler along the neck and the head. At the height of his parabolic path he tossed both Maulers. One hit Antilife in the neck and the other gouged it in the eye. Next he drew one of Juko's Plasma Swords and threw it as he twisted in the air directly to Antilife's cannon. The shell loaded in the barrel sparked and exploded. The gun fell off Antilife's arm reducing his shooting arm to a stump. 267 was far from done as he hooked both hands around the left horn. With his firm purchase on the horn he altered his momentum. Tendons connected to the horn ripped, allowing the Spartan to flip into the air. While this was happening the Blue Hunter rammed its entire bulk into Antilife's other leg, unbalancing the demon and causing it to fall on its back.

Juko sprang out as his muscles unwound and the downward pressure was relieved. Taking a deep breath Juko recovered from his near death experience. When he opened his eyes he saw the glowing hilt of one of his blades not very far away.

Antilife couldn't believe it. These insects had actually managed to bring him down. That human had even ripped off one of his horns. When he got up that bastard would pay. Little did Antilife know he would not get up…ever again. With horn still in hand the Spartan slammed with all the force in his arms into the sharp horn which plunged into Antilife's neck as he landed on the upper chest of the great demon. The great demon stared in surprise at this little insect that had taken one of his glorious horns and pierced him with it. Taking Juko's other blade off his belt the Spartan planned on testing how good Antilife's healing factor was.

"Let's see if you can grow another head!"

Before the Spartan could strike Antilife's massive hand had grabbed the entire arm of the Spartan. Only his right hand and the Plasma blade it held was out of Antilife's grasp, but the Spartan could not alter the blade enough to cut into any of the fingers. Antilife's grasp intensified on the arm as he prepared to throw. The Spartan's supposedly unbreakable bones shattered in several places. For once a scream of pain came out from under the Spartan's helmet. Flicking his hand the Spartan was sent skipping across the floor of the tower. When the Spartan came to a halt his body had just about cleared the lip of the portal that lead to the staircase. The Spartan was not dead, but he didn't get back up.

Fudo, Juko, and Fusa jumped on Antilife and tore into him like wolves into a moose. Which was rather ironic considering Juko actually used his teeth along with his sword. The Blue Hunter body slammed Antilife's entire arm keeping him pinned. Still with out an arm but pissed as hell the Golden Hunter bellowed as it ran at the down demon. With all the strength it could muster into its' shield arm the Hunter shoved its shield in between Antilife's legs. The only comparison for this was a sledge hammer with a spike being shoved into the male humans lower anatomy. If the horn lodged into Antilife's throat wasn't there it would have screamed. Finally it was Zuka's turn. With the Soul Cube's blades spinning just hairs breath from cutting into his own flesh Zuka gave roar as he plunged into the face of the demon. The blades worked their way up from the lower chin to the mouth and finally into the brain. Blood, bone, and brain matter sprayed in every direction. Zuka's four mandible's were stretched in a fierce grin.

Whatever remained of Antilife's head fell backwards. The tense body twitched violently before relaxing. The Golden Hunter placed its' leg against the thigh of the beheaded demon and pulled out its' shield, all of it was covered in blood, gore, and fecal matter. All of the Elites jumped or stumbled off the corpse as it began to reduce itself to ashes.

"You got some blood here." Fusa said motioning his finger around his entire face.

Juko spat out some blood and grunted. "Could use some salt."

Zuka watched as the demon's body fell to ashes. The legs and the arms were the first to 'decompose'. The chest was second to fall to the rot. Finally the head was claimed. With a clang the remaining horn fell to the ground. Walking to the fallen horn Zuka picked it up and examined it.

"That would be a most worthy trophy." Fudo said standing to the kneeling Zuka.

"Do not take it not yet." The Soul Cube spoke as it rose from Zuka's side.

"Even though Antilife is dead his taint is still present. Let me rectify this and you may take both horns." the Soul Cube spoke. It's ports opened and began to swirl rapidly. A red mist seeped out of the black horns and into the cube. In seconds the red mist faded and the horns were still the same but seemed to reek less of evil.

Rising to his full height Zuka stared at the horn. It was indeed a worthy trophy from a worthy opponent.

"This is our trophy, and that one is his." Zuka said with his head in the direction of the horn that had pierced Antilife's throat.

"If only the gods did not want them dead…." said Fudo staring at the fallen Spartan with a mixture of hate, respect, and admiration. "Does honor demand it?"

"My honor demands it, but what does your heart say?" Zuka asked.

"Yes, my heart says yes."

"So are we taking him with us then?" Fusa asked.

"Yes." Fudo said blankly.

"Maybe we should make him mount one of the Hunters?" Fusa said jokingly.

666

267 opened his eyes as a terrible jolt awoke from his pain induced unconsciousness. When he tilted his head he saw that it was Fusa that was carrying him. Fusa in turn tilted his head to stare into the Spartan's face plate.

"I make one joke and I get stuck carrying your heavy ass." Juko said turning his head toward their destination which was the portal, which they hoped was still there.

"At least my ass is better looking than your face."

"Beauty is an opinion."

"And in the opinion of the universe my ass is better looking than your face."

Fusa violently rolled his shoulders causing pain to erupt up 267's right arm.

"You did that on purpose." 267 said through clenched teeth.

"The opinion of the universe was that you deserved it.'

"Be quiet!" Fudo hissed "Just because we killed most of the demons doesn't mean that there are more around here."

"But he started it." Fusa hissed back.

"I don't care who started it I'll end it." Fudo said ending the discussion.

"Geez, what an ass." 267 whispered quietly too Fusa.

"Tell me about it."

666

Little did they know that the group was being watched, but not by demons. Four very powerful beings watched them. They sat on magnificent, but terrible horses. Each was one was powerful and had centuries of battles under their belts. These warriors stood close to nine feet tall.

Starting from the left the first one sat on a white horse with yellow eyes. This one had two pistols holstered on its' thighs. The rider whore a mask, that covered everything except the golden eyes. Dark raven hair was the only other distinguishable feature.

The next was a sat upon a black horse that had man of fire. A large blade with faces of woe and terror carved into the blade was placed on the back of the red hooded rider. White eyes that had seen so many atrocities, some of which were caused by his own hands. One arm was far larger than the other, but the warrior had fought so many years that he wasn't unbalanced by it in the slightest.

From head to toe the next rider's appearance screamed one word. Death. This one wore a mask just like a first one but this one had no features. Just two sockets for the eyes and one for the nose. Long black hair wound its way down to the back of a massive scythe was held in the right hand of this ancient being. One major difference that set this rider apart from the others was that it had no armor on its chest. If one was near invulnerable what was the point of wearing armor?

The final one was not male, but female. Red long hair that had been lavished by a comb for many centuries this woman also gifted with a very attractive body. If she tried she could probably take any mans heart. Two hilts of her inactivated weapon rest upon both of her thighs.

"So which one are we taking to join again?" the first one on the left asked.

"The black armored one that used the Soul Cube. If you would pay attention Strife you would know this." spoke the female.

"Well excuse me Fury if three of them all have black armor." Strife responded hotly.

"Only one carries the Soul Cube." Fury replied coolly.

"So one of them does." Strife replied after taking a look at the small group that was still a few miles off.

"And they say you have hawk eyes." Fury said with a small laugh.

"What was that sister?" Strife snapped.

Fury was about to answer before the third rider cut him off. "How many in their group?"

Strife stared at his brother with confusion. The eldest of the three was by far the most powerful, he should be able to see as far as he could from this distance. Although only he could probably kill them from this distance with his guns.

Turning back to the small group that was heading to the portal he counted their heads and regarded how much of a threat they were.

"Two Hunters, one gold and the other blue. Both have sustained heavy wounds rank from two to three on threat factor of ten. Four Elites, one Spec Ops Commander and three Spec Ops. I rank them three to five together on threat level."

"And the Spartan?" Death asked.

"What about him? He's not a Spartan II, one of his arms is broken or nearly broken, and he's so doped on pain that he can't even walk. Ranking him even as a one would be a stretch."

"You saw what he did to those demons right?" Fury asked,

"Yeah, but if it was me I would have ripped the spine out the guy's ass."

Death just shook his head before turning to stare at the second rider, and the youngest of the group. "His call sign is named after you, does that mean anything to you War?"

The white eyed rider was quiet. His eyes were drilling in deep to the back of the Spartan's head. "No. Let's get Zuka and get his over with."

Death just nodded his head, somewhat disappointed in both of his brothers' assessment of the Spartan. That young warrior had so much potential. Raising his Scythe in the air the group was set into motion.

666

The slow trudging group never heard the galloping of the horses behind them. They didn't have enough time to react, and the first indication that they were under attack was when a very large armored being slammed its giant fist into the Hunters' knocking them down. Zuka went for his blades but a purple colored energy surrounded him and immobilized him completely. Juko fell face forward as a heavy boot kicked him in the back. The heavy boot prevented Juko from rising. Fudo and Fusa were rendered immobile when the being on top of Juko put a quadruple barreled gun to the sides of their heads'.

"Zuka is coming with us." an Amazon sized lady said. The purple energy radiated from her.

"You'll let him go if you don't want your friend here to die." 267 said.

He was not as weak as Strife had believed as he stared down the barrel of a Mauler. Strife's power was great but even he couldn't stand being shot in the head.

"How?" Strife asked in surprise.

The Spartan ignored the question and directed his attention. "Do you mind letting go of Zuka, big tits?" Hell he was in control of the situation so why not go for broke.

The woman gave a slight smirk and the energy around Zuka began to abate.

"Your stalling. Let Zuka go or this guy loses his brains." the Spartan said his voice losing all of the polite flattery. For emphasis the Spartan shoved the barrel closer to Strife's eye.

The woman lost her smirk and the binding energy evaporated. The Spartan smiled in triumph, though it was quickly lost though as gauntleted hand began to apply a light pressure to his elbow. Normally he could stand it with no problem, but the fact that his arm was broken it felt like someone injected melted tar into his veins. He turned his head slightly so that he could see who the hell was causing him the pain while still keep an eye on his hostage. This being before him was intimidating, even for a Spartan. The lack of a facial features made it hard to concentrate on. 267's hand holding the Mauler began to shake as the pain intensified.

"Wisdom is a great gift…" Death spoke to Strife before staring the Spartan. "Remember well!"

Death raised his right hand to the Spartan's face and the Spartan fell limp into unconsciousness. The binding energy surrounded Zuka once more. The dark rider pointed his hand at Zuka.

"Wait…give the Spartan both of my blades." Zuka struggled to speak.

Death said nothing but took both blades off of Zuka. Finishing his incantation Death caused Zuka to fall into unconsciousness. The red hooded being draped Zuka over his shoulder as the group began to disassemble.

A massive doorway erupted out of the earth, large enough for the nine foot tall beings. War went in first with the unconscious Elite. The woman followed in after at Death's command. She gave one last glance at the unconscious Spartan before disappearing. Strife got his boot off Juko but kept his guns pointed at his enemies. When Strife neared Death's side he spoke.

"Strife go. I will take care of this."

"You sure about that?" Strife keeping his guns levled.

"Go." Death said with a flat tone.

Strife nodded his head and turned around. He knew better than to mess with Death when he had taken that tone of voice. Soon strife disappeared into the massive doorway.

Death raised his right hand and everyone tensed. A green light flashed from his hand and a green glowing pentagram appeared in the scarred earth.

"This portal will take you back to the facility." Death spoke his green eyes never leaving the Spartan.

Death turned to leave, his duty done.

"Wait!" Juko called.

Death turned to the lone Elite that approached him. Juko approached the massive being with no trace of fear. He had the massive horn of Antilife in his hands.

"Give this to Zuka." Juko commanded rather than asked.

"Give these to the Spartan." Death said handing over both Plasma Blades.

Death only nodded and took it in his left hand. This time Death turned to leave but paused once more before the doorway.

"Tell the Spartan to remember my face. For we shall meet again."

Then Death walked through the doorway and disappeared along with the doorway.

Every member in the group looked from one to the other utterly perplexed at what had just happened. Fudo sighted softly and ordered them to enter the portal. The group left with only one member of the group missing.

666

Epilogue

When the Spartan came too they were back in the facility walking down the dank and dreary hallways. He could see the hulking forms of the Hunters' ahead of him as well as two Elites, a third one was carrying him. He turned his head around hoping to see Zuka. Nothing was behind him.

"Damn it." he cursed under his breath.

"Finally awake." Fusa grunted without much enthusiasm.

"You can put me down now." 267 responded. The pain had abated to a tolerable level.

Fusa kneeled and the Spartan got off and finally stood on his own two feet. Fudo, Juko, and the Hunters' all paused to see the Spartan stand. They could kill him now, for there was no longer a common enemy. None of them attacked though, they were tired from fighting for one day, and the Spartan had earned some level of comradeship among the group.

"Come on let's go top side and leave this accursed place." Fudo said saying it more as an order than a suggestion.

"No, not yet. I have to retrieve Ave…something to enable the self destruction of the base."

"I don't think the demons will be coming back." Fusa said.

"True, but I have to make sure…we can't let any sacrifices be in vain."

Fudo was quiet analyzing the Spartan over trying to figure out if there was a hidden motive for this. Finally he came to a conclusion.

"Hurry Dem…Spartan. We shall leave one of the Specture's behind for you."

"Thanks…I may hate you for what your race has done to mine, but I thank you for fighting alongside me." 267 said holding out his left uninjured hand.

Fudo shook the hand gently. He may not know how much pain the Spartan was in, but he guessed that he was still hurting. Fusa came next and shook the uninjured hand just as softly.

"Good luck." was all that Fusa said before turning away and heading for the Covenant base.

Juko came up next. He looked the most crestfallen of them all. "Zuka wanted you to have these." Juko said handing over both Plasma Blades. "That thing that took Zuka wanted us to tell you that it wanted you to remember its face for it shall meet you again.

267 felt a lump form in his throat. He willingly accepted both Plasma Blades and made sure that were securely strapped into his belt. Then Juko handed over Antilife's horn.

"Another one for the wall I guess." 267 said his voice barely a whisper but still audible to Juko.

Juko said nothing but watched as the Spartan used the purple string used by the Covenant to secure it to his armor. Then Juko took the Spartan's hand and shook, but also put a hand on the Spartan's shoulder.

"May your battles bring you glory and may your skills be sharp." Juko said in his own way of a goodbye.

"You too." was all that he was able to respond.

Juko turned and followed Fusa. Then came both Hunters'. They both individually gingerly set their shields on the Spartan's shoulder. While as light as the tough was it caused him a great deal of pain that he was able to choke down. After a brief nod of respect they turned and left. Fudo gave one last glance before following after. 267 watched them leave before turning back in the other direction.

666

All the Spartan concentrated on doing was getting to his destination. Each step sent some pain up his body but the focus on his goal made it easy to ignore the pain. After walking down many corridors, past many locked doors, and long elevator ride with annoying music he eventually reached the A.I. holding facility.

He noticed that the doors had been busted inwards. Not exactly a good sign. He could pull of the detonation manually, but after a day like today he was in no mood for dying. Putting his back to the wall he inched his body to the door frame. He peeked his head over the lip of the frame trying to see inside.

A bullet whizzed over his head. He brought his head back as soon as he had heard the bang.

"Aveon it's me Spartan 267!" he said with a little bit of a growl to his voice.

"Sorry." Aveon shouted.

267 rounded the corner again to see the six turrets relax and focus off of him. His boots stepped into ashes and muck that had once been demons.

"I see you had your hands full." 267 said.

"Nothing I couldn't handle." her green naked female Avatar said as he approached her pedestal.

267 looked Aveon over something seemed different about her. Her 'body' seemed to twitch and fade in and out of focus. First it would be green then fade to purple then back to green. He just wrote it off as malfunction in the holoprojector.

"So what happened?"

"After Zuka and I dropped out of contact with you we went into hell. Did you get the postcard while I was there?" he asked trying to put a comical spin on going to hell.

Aveon said nothing but had her hand on her hips in the traditional woman like pose that said if I don't get what I want you're going to regret it. Stopping before Aveon's holding center he decided to give the quick story and move on.

"We fought through hell, came back and hooked up with the rest of the Covenant forces. From there we went back into hell and killed anything that got in our way."

"And Betruger?"

"I ripped out his spine."

"Are you insane?" Aveon asked a little too casually.

"If you have to be a little insane to be a Spartan." he answered with a grin behind his helmet.

"What about Zuka?"

"He was taken from us…" 267 said with a bitter tone in his voice.

"Oh…" was all that Aveon said dropping the matter.

"Aveon I need you too start the self destruction of the base." 267 said quickly changing the topic of the conversation.

Aveon just nodded her head and accessed the proper protocols that she would need to begin the termination of the base. She set the timer for fifteen minutes.

"That should be enough time." she said pleasantly.

"Make it twenty." the Spartan's body was still in a lot of pain and he didn't want to risk further damage if he could avoid it.

Aveon increased the countdown on the timer and began the self destruct sequence. Stepping onto the pedestal he watched as a flat cylinder rose up from the center of the pedestal. This was Aveon's portable housing device. It was necessary for all smart A.I.s to have a way of transportation to get sensitive data out of a hot zone if termination would be considered to great a loss. There was a clamp as the magnetic clamps firmly attached themselves to this armor. Turning around the Spartan headed out the door.

666

Jack watched from the back of the Specture as the building that his parents had died in became their tomb. He had his knees up to his chest as he silently cried. He was able to keep down his sobs, but his tears were taken away by the wind and fell on the ground.

The ground underneath the black obsidian building crumbled as small explosions at structural weak points led into the cave in. Once the entire building had been submerged the reactor core reached critical mass and exploded. A small mushroom cloud of dust erupted from the ground. Every single piece of the facility had practically gathered on one spot making it easy to destroy anything that was still salvageable.

His parents were dead, and even his savior the one that had saved him from the demons was gone now. All that was left was dust, echoes, and memories of blood. Ishii was beside him and sighed in relief as he watched these sins of man washed away in flame and nuclear radiation. The Asian relaxed and put his head back in enjoying the first few moments of piece.

"Jack can you hear me?" it was the Spartan speaking over the radio.

"Yeah I can." Jack said when he finally found the ability to talk.

"I know this is really hard on you losing your parents and all…but I just wanted to tell you that you shouldn't lose the memory of them. Concentrate on the better times you had with them and you will turn out just fine."

Fury burned in Jack. How could this man understand his pain? How could he understand seeing both parents taken before him?

"How can you understand my pain? Did you watch your parents as they were slaughtered before you? Did you fell helplessness as you knew you could do nothing to save you? And betrayed when the one who saved abandoned you?"

"Yes…I watched my parents die as they were casually picked off and their carcasses thrown to ravenous grunts." The Spartan grew quiet as the memory he worked so hard to bury resurfaced. He may have forgotten the faces of his parents but it was the rage of the memory that had actually led him to complete his Spartan training and become as deadly as he was. "And Zuka lied. He did what he had to too protect you. The Covenant are at war to wipe you humanity out. If he took you with him you would die. To protect you he had to let you go."

"Really?" Jack asked with some hope in his voice.

"Yes really." the Spartan paused before speaking over the radio again. "I know this may be a lot asking from you right now, but if you want…no, if you have the will to. You can become a Spartan just like me and ensure that no other man, woman, or child has to suffer the fate of losing a loved one."

"Is that the reason why you fight?" Jack asked behind choked sobs.

The Spartan was quiet once more, confiding in his own mind. "It's one reason why I fight." he said answering truthfully.

Jack was about to answer before he was cut off by someone.

"This is ONI Section III. Spartan we see your commandeered vehicle proceed on the road that you are on for pick up. Over." said a hard voice devoid of emotion.

"Wilco. Over."

The roar of a human aircrafts was heard long before it was heard. Three Pelicans with a black paint job came into view as the topped the buildings. 267 killed the engine to the Specture and got out. Jack and Ishii got off as well and stood behind the Spartan.

Men in black armor jumped off the Pelicans and formed a defensive perimeter. One of the black armored figures approached him followed by three others.

"Sirs." the Spartan stood ramrod straight as he was approached by several of his superiors. His HUD had been able to identify each one by their rank and name, that is if it was their real identity, you could never really tell with ONI spooks.

"At ease Spartan." the lead one spoke, Captain Royce spoke. It sounded male, but that didn't mean that the person under the helmet was using a synthesized voice to speak.

The one in front motioned for several medics to take Ishii and Jack. They moved with out question and went to the civilians. The medics began to take them away, but not before Jack shouted "Yes, I want to be a Spartan."

This outburst had drawn the attention of several men and his superiors. The medics ignored the outburst and quickly hauled him and Ishii to a Pelican.

"He wants to be a Spartan?" the Captain asked. Knowing that full well that 267 might have leaked a small portion of Intel on how SPARTAN III's were created.

"He wants to be a Spartan." 267 answered flatly.

"I will see what I can do." Royce said before turning his full attention on the Spartan. "Were taking the Pelicans' back to the ONI stealth ship The Unseen Hand for a triple OMEGA class situation."

The Spartan recalled the name of The Unseen Hand it was a ship that he had spent most of his career on. It was his home away from home. He even had his own special room like the other members of his Alpha unit. That was were he kept all of his trophies, and where Antilife's horn would soon be joining.

He followed Royce onto a separated Pelican from Ishii and Jack. One of the medics was doing a quick scan on him and from the look on his face he 267 could only assume that he was going to have to undergo some major surgery or a long recovery time. However the thought that occupied the Spartan's mind the most was the triple OMEGA. The Spartan knew the full ramifications of a triple OMGEA class. It was a situation in which all assets were expendable in accomplishment of the goal.

"What is the triple OMEGA situation sir?" the Spartan questioned.

The next sentence made the Spartan's blood run cold.

"The Covenant have found Earth."

666

Well this brings an end to my first story. I hope you all enjoyed reading the story as much as I enjoyed writing it. I know put several references for another crossover of Spartan 267's past. I have no intention of writing about the possible Avatar crossover. I will let one of the reader's have their shot at writing the story. My only request is that if you start writing it that you finish it. Also I will let anyone use my character in any of their stories. My request for this is that you don't kill him off.

To give you a taste of the sequel I will attempt to write I will make it war of the Humans and Covenant Separatists against the Covenant Loyalists, the Flood, and the full armies of Hell. I plan to include all three members with war to reform the Four Horsemen Spartan Group Gamma. I will also include other Spartan's with this story. This story will also have a few characters from the Halo universe, namely the Master Chief. So basically I except there to be a lot of blood and mayhem.

Once again I thank you all for reading my story.