//------------------------------// // Chapter 21: The way the world ends // Story: Helljumpers // by CommanderApplejack //------------------------------// The shadow of intent hovered in the background as the four pelicans now accompanied by two elite phantoms roared towards a large bubble-shield the covenant loyalists had set up. "We hit these three generators, and the barrier will fall?" Captain Keyes asked, three large complexes were standing on the coastline ahead. "A small section, yes." Guilty Spark, the monitor, confirmed. "Good enough. Johnson, drop the Chief and the Shadowbolts at the first generator, then head to the third. The Elites will punch right down the middle." Keyes ordered, Scootaloo let out a laugh as she heard how Keyes had called the Helljumpers, "How did she find out that stupid name?" Scootaloo whispered to Twilight who just shrugged. "Roger that, Johnson out." The Sergeant Major said as the pelicans split off in two pairs towards the left and the right while the Elites headed for the center generator. Flak suddenly opened up on the two pelicans as they made their approach "Charlie Foxtrot! Tower One approach has active Triple-A!" Their pilot reported as she started performing evasive maneuvers. The pelican behind them got hit and crashed into the pelican where Twilight, Scootaloo, and the others were seated before going down. "Pelican down! Pelican down!" The pilot shouted as she tried getting control of her own pelican again. "Brace yourselves, we're going in a little hot!" Mack shouted as he held on to his seat, the pelican managing to come to an unstable hover above the shoreline at the base of the cliff that held the generator complex. "Go go go! Up the beach! Kill that Wraith!" Mack shouted as the group charged out the downed pelican. The Chief had picked up a spartan laser and was pointing it at one of the loyalist's fixed turrets. Twilight could see the installation blow apart just as she dove for cover, plasma scorching the rock she had jumped behind. "Grunts ahead, grenade out!" Twilight shouted as she lobbed a frag at the group of grunts that had bunched up and were firing at her, they shrieked as the grenade exploded. The Chief took point in their attack as they fought up the hill towards the anti-air artillery piece. the fact the wraith had spotted them and was firing onto their position didn't help them in the slightest "Brute with fuel gun at the top of the hill." Twilight reported from her position located at the back as she looked through her scope. "Take it out." The Chief ordered her, Twilight lining up the barrel of her sniper with the brute's head and firing a shot. The weaker shield at the head collapsed at the force of the bullet and let it pass straight into the head of the ape. "Target eliminated." She coldly stated. Less than a minute later the Chief managed to get a shot off at the Wraith, killing it as well. "Beachhead secure, Commander. Hostile Anti-Air has been neutralized." Mack reported to the Captain. "Hold position. I'm on my way. Shipmaster, begin diversionary bombardment." She responded, followed by Rtas 'Vadum. "I will beat the Prophet's shield like a drum. By the time the barrier falls, he will beg for mercy." He said in the Sangheili's usual bravado. Two pelicans brought in a pair of warthogs for the group to help them travel up to the generator. Chief, Arbiter, and Lucy mounting the first warthog as Scootaloo, Mack and Twilight mounted the second one. "Spark believes Truth can activate the rings at any time. If he does, Earth... every being in the Galaxy... Halo will kill them all." Keyes told the squad, Scootaloo Snarled. "Not if we have anything to say about it. He'll be sorry for ever attacking us." Twilight raised an eyebrow below her helmet at the statement. It wasn't the obviously threatening voice that caught her off guard, the filly had said some things while they were in human space that would terrify a regular pony, but it was the fact that she said 'us' instead of humanity indicating that she had put them on the same level as ponies. Twilight, while she was thinking, was also firing at enemy positions until they managed to reach the entrance of the generator. "Get inside that tower. Take it down!" Keyes ordered as she was monitoring the progress of the squad. They moved into the base of the structure, the lower floor was occupied by a brute alongside a massive amount of grunts. "Grenades?" Mack asked as they moved into the room and took cover, "Sounds reasonable to me. Chief?" Twilight responded and looked at the Spartan who nodded, everyone priming grenades as plasma was slamming into their cover. "EAT THIS, TWATS!" Lucy shouted as the grenades flew over into the crowd of grunts shreading them along with the brute that was commanding them. They encountered another small squad of enemies that was quickly destroyed as they moved up a level to an elevator. "Go on, sir. Tower controls should be up top. We'll stay back and cover your exit." Mack said as he and Lucy stepped back from the platform as Chief activated the elevator. Scootaloo and Twilight quickly reloaded their weapons as the elevator shot up to the top floor. "Fuck." Scootaloo swore as she saw the brute at the end of the room. "Chieftain with a gravity hammer!" She shouted as they jumped off the elevator and opened fire on the brute pack that was present in the room. The Chief narrowly dodged a blow from the Chieftain as it charged forward. Twilight managed to kill a pair of brutes that were focussing on the arbiter before being forced back into cover as a brute used his grenade launcher to lob high-explosives at the alicorn. "HEY, YOU!" Scootaloo shouted, drawing the attention of the Chieftain to herself. The Chief jumping on its back as it turned to charge the pegasus and snapped its neck. "Could've taken him." Scootaloo grumbled as she fell back into cover. They quickly dispatched of the rest of the brutes before running to a control panel at the back of the room and deactivated the generator. "Good work, Chief! That's one. The Elites should be just about to..." The second generator shut down before the Captain could finish her sentence, "...that's two! It's all up to Johnson's team now." Twilight looked out the massive window at the back of the control room to the third generator with the hope it would shut down soon but it remained active. "Get back outside, Chief. Wait for transport." Keyes ordered the group who quickly turned away from the window and ran back to the elevator, riding it back down. As they came near the bottom they heard gunfire ringing out. "Sergeant, Cross. Status." Chief radioed in to check in on the situation. "Nothing major, just a couple of waves of grunts and a couple of jackals." He replied just before the elevator reached the lower floor again where they could see the two ODST's who had remained behind firing at two remaining jackals. Twilight fired a round with her sniper at one of the jackals just as the chief shot a burst at the other, the two aliens dying before they hit the ground. "Hey, do you guys have some ammo? We're running low." Lucy casually asked as the group from the elevator jumped down to the two ODST's. Corpses of grunts and bullet casings littered the ground at the makeshift barricade Mack and Lucy had set up. "There's a case back at the warthog." Twilight said as she tossed a clip from her magnum to the ODST and they advanced back to the vehicle. After restocking ammo they waited for further orders. "Johnson, come in. Over." Keyes could be heard over the radio. "Brute reinforcements, ma'am! We're pinned down!" Johnson replied his radio connection rife with static. "I'm on my way!" Keyes said intending to help the sergeant major. "Negative! Fire's too heavy!" He said, "Everyone fall back! Now!" He ordered his marines as the radio turned to static again. "Sergeant Major!" Keyes asked but no response came, "Johnson! Can you hear me?!" She tried again, "Chief, you need to link up with the Elites and proceed directly to the Third Tower. Make your way back to the beach." At the order, the Spartan floored the accelerator making their way back to the beach at extreme speeds where a couple of hornet attack craft were parked. "Sir, I've got a flock of birds that need an escort. Take a Hornet; get those Pelicans safely to the Third Tower." The pelican's pilot told the Chief over the radio, the Spartan taking control of the first Hornet while the Arbiter took the second and Scootaloo took the third. Mack and Lucy hitched a ride on the Chief's craft while Twilight stepped onto Scootaloo's one. The little attack craft shot into the sky towards the Third generator, the pelican following closely behind. The two Phantoms that held the elites lifted off from the second generator and were briefly engaged by enemy Banshees."Second Tower is clear, Spartan, no need to land. Let us hasten to the Third Tower." they reported before they engaged their stealth drives and disappeared. "Five bogies on radar, engaging." Scootaloo said as she opened up with the heavy machine gun on the bottom of the craft alongside a couple of guided missiles. The other two Hornets were simultaneously firing on their respective banshees as the aircraft made their way to the third generator. The chief managed to kill two of the enemy craft while Scootaloo and Arbiter both shot one respectively. That left the fifth to make an attack run on Scootaloo. The filly banked the aircraft to the side as plasma flew through the air beside her, the banshee following almost immediately after. Scootaloo lined up the machine gun turret with but before she fired she heard a loud bang followed by the banshee crashing into the ocean below. "Target down." Twilight said as she reattached her sniper rifle to her barrel. The squadron of Hornets engaged a couple more banshees and a few as wraiths, which the managed to take out with rockets while evading the plasma with the little craft's superior agility. "Objective in sight, Commander... No sign of Johnson or his team." The pilot of the pelican who they were escorting. "Understood. Chief, clear an LZ, then get inside the tower." Keyes orderd, her voice betraying some concern. Twilight could see a pack of brutes alongside an AA Wraith and a regular Wraith at the base of the generator. The three Hornets immediately opened up with missiles, bathing the base of the generator in fire and shrapnel. The three hornets landed at the base of the generator after they had cleared all the enemies on the outside of the structure, the two Phantoms carrying the elites decloaked and dropped off their squads of commando's as well. The Chief picked up a gravity hammer from one of the dead brutes and charged ahead into the structure, Twilight could hear a couple of dull thuds through the closed door before she entered after the Spartan. The hallway was lined with dead brutes and further in she could see the Chief engaging a hunter, it's twin already downed and laying in a pool of orange blood. Elites rushed past her and engaged the few remaining enemies before the rampaging Spartan could get them as well. "Darken this tower and the barrier will fall. Go, Spartan! We have no time to waste." The arbiter told the Chief, Scootaloo and Twilight stepping onto the platform next to the Spartan. "We'll help reinforce your exit with the elites." Mack said as he and Lucy stayed off the elevator platform. Twilight nodded to her fellow sergeant as the elevator started moving up at a rapid pace, she knew Mack distrusted the elites at a visceral level so him staying behind with them was a surprise to the alicorn. The elevator came to a halt at the top of the structure in the third generator's control room, a single Chieftain with a plasma cannon standing at the back of the room. Twilight could see Scootaloo twitch as she stepped off the platform, "They're using stealth modules!" She said as she fired a burst at what seemingly was empty air. A brute appeared in the spot which Scootaloo had shot as the bullets disrupted the cloaking device. Twilight immediately fired a shot at the brute and switched to her magnum, firing at any and every disturbance in the air revealing another four brutes. After the aliens were revealed they were quickly dispatched by high-caliber rounds from Twilight and devastating melee attacks from the Chief, Hit the switch, Chief, and the barrier will fall!" Keyes said as the chief rushed to the control panel and activated it. The massive shield that was previously obstructing progress to the Ark's main control room flickered and dropped moments after. Rtas 'Vadum, the shipmaster, immediately moved in with his carrier as the shield dropped. "Now, Prophet...your end has come." He said, a certain darkness in his voice. Twilight suddenly turned her head and focussed on a spot behind the Shadow of Intent as she felt a major ripple in the magic field. A massive slipspace portal opening above the Ark and letting through a mushroom-shaped space station. "What in Tartarus is That?!" Twilight said exasperatedly as the large object crashed towards the surface of the Ark. "High Charity... By the gods. Brace for impact!" Rtas said as his carrier tried to perform evasive maneuvers but was hit by one of the falling objects anyway. more of the object falling from high charity fell onto the surface, one of them even hitting the control room where Twilight, Scootaloo, and the Chief were standing. Flood forms suddenly appeared from the ball of flesh that had crashed into the control room and waddled their way to the three UNSC soldiers. Scootaloo quickly picked up an incendiary grenade and threw it into the path of the small infection forms killing them all before they could swarm the three soldiers. "Shipmaster, what's your status?" Keyes asked as the Shadow of Intent stabilized and turned back out of the shield. "Significant damage! Weapon systems disabled!" The shipmaster reported as the Chief, Twilight, and Scootaloo stepped back onto the lift and headed down, "Move to a safe distance, stay away from the Flood." Keyes told him as they couldn't afford to lose the carrier. "Why would the Parasite come here?!" Rtas said exasperatedly, Guilty spark immediately answering, "The Ark is out of range of all the active installations! Priority: We must contain this outbreak, before-" "No. First, we stop Truth. Then we deal with the Flood." Keyes cut off the monitor, the elevator finally reaching the bottom of the structure again where the elites alongside Mack and Lucy were mopping up the last few flood forms. "Quickly, I must see the point of impact; assess the damage done to the Ark." Guilty spark said as the flood was completely cleared from the lower floor, "To the top of these hills, Oracle, no higher. We cannot risk your capture by the Flood." Arbiter told the monitor as they stepped outside and escorted the machine to the top of the hill. "Shipmaster's Carrier is out of commission, Chief. I need you to take down Truth. The Flood's just going to put pressure on him; accelerate his plans. Punch through the cliffs! Get inside that Citadel!" Keyes ordered the Spartan as pelicans dropped a Scorpion tank and two warthogs that instead of the usual gatling turrent had gauss cannons mounted on them instead. The Chief taking the weel of one of the hogs waited for the other vehicles had drivers too, Scootaloo opted to just fly above the warthogs with her own wings while Twilight sat down in the passenger seat of the hog the Chief was driving and made sure she could fire her sniper rifle from her seated position. "Loyalists have set up strongpoints ahead, as well as a couple wraiths." Scootaloo reported as she could see much further than the ground vehicles, "Copy that, Hurricane." Chief answered as he turned a corner, the gunner immediately firing on the covenant forces in the first hard point. the column led by the Chief's warthog followed by the tank and the other warthog made quick work of the hardpoints. The Chief raced the warthog to a structure that would lead them to the Citadel as Scootaloo saw two sadows above her and looked up, a grimace forming on her face. "I count two Scarabs! I Repeat, two Scarabs!" She shouted as the two walkers crashed before them, Twilight immediately dismounted the warthog she was sittingin and flew up to Scootaloo. "Chief, Corporal Hurricane and I will take the first Scarab." She told the Spartan, the two ponies having the distinct advantage of wings so they could board the walker without having to take out its legs. "You board I'll give you covering fire." Twilight told Scootaloo who didn't waste any time landing on the walker and opeing fire on the brutes. At the same time Twilight went into a hover and nailed a brute that was manning a plasma turrent and firing at the filly making her way to the back of the walker to kill the power core. The second Scarab meanwhile was brought to the ground by the UNSC vehicles that were firing at its legs allowing the Chief to board it. Twilight quickly swirled around and fired a shot at one of the brutes that was in the Spartan's way, She saw the Chief briefly glance at her as he proceeded. Turning back to Scootaloo she saw the filly jamming her energy blade into the energy core of the Scarab and quickly jumping off. "Scootaloo Three, Scarabs One" She said, contempt for the vehicle clearly present in her voice as it exploded behind them, the second Scarab following not long after. "Both Scarabs down, well done." Keyes told the soldiers, the Arbiter being dropped off moments after with Guilty Spark. "Spartan, come to me. This platform hides a path!" He radioed in, Twilight and Scootaloo landing besides the Sangheili at the same time as the Chief Mack and Lucy ran up to them. "The Flood scales the Citadel's far wall. Activate this bridge, Oracle!" The arbiter shouted at the monitor, "The Prophet will die by my hands, not theirs." he said, the bridge suddenly activating. Twilight and the others ran forward to the Citadel, the door opeing up slightly to let them through. Videoscreens lining the hallway suddenly lit up as the prophet of truth started speaking, "Though our enemies crowd around us, we tread the blessed path. In a moment, I will light the rings! And all who believe...shall be saved!" The mad Alien announced as the imaged switched to that of Johnson being held by a brute. "Motherfucker!" Scootaloo cursed as she saw the Sergeant Major, "We need to move faster!" "Chief, how close are you?" Keyes asked, "Not close enough." Chief grunted in reply while looking up at an elevator taht was on its way down. "CAN'T THIS DAMN THING SPEED UP!" Scootaloo Shouted as she impatiently waited for the elevator to come down, gunshots coming from further into the citadel. "Calm down, Hurricane." Mack said as he was also eager to get up the elevator, "You're no good fighting if you let your anger cloud your judgement." Scootaloo sat down on her flanks, "I don't want any more of my friends to get hurt on my watch." Twilight sat down next to the filly, "Scoots, you've done and are doing everything you can to keep them safe." "But it isn't ENOUGH!" She shouted at the alicorn, "Zoey, She... It was my idea to take that gunship. If I hadn't..." "...Then a lot more marines would have died in the assault on the Voi." Twilight finished for her, "Scootaloo, Zoey didn't die because you made a mistake. Your plan saved a lot of people and in the end she made sure you got out to finish the job." The elevator finally came to a halt at the bottom of the structure, "Come on Scoots, let's finish this." Lucy said, kneeling down and giving her a pat on the back. "Thanks, guys." She said while she got onto the elevator, "Let's go kick that bastard Truth of his throne." The elevator came to a stop at the top of the Citadel as the entire room seemed to light up, "The fucker has already started the damn things, we need to move quick!" Mack observed and stepped forward with the others, two massive flood forms suddenly crashing down in front of them. Scootaloo suddenly heard a loud bang as one of the two forms exploded in front of her. "Do not shoot, but listen! Let me lead you safely to our foe. Only you can halt what he has set in motion." The remaining flood form said, Scootaloo instantly recognized it as the one that belonged to the Gravemind. Flood infection forms waddling past them, everyone nervously looking at the parasite as it ignored them. Eventually, they came to the silent agreement that they should push on despite the parasites apparent non-hostile behavior. They ran alongside the parasite to the control panel at the far end of the large hallway, any covenant troops in their way got cut down by either the flood or the Chief, Arbiter, and ODST's. At the back of the room they could see a crashed pelican and Johnson holding the body of Captain Keyes, Lucy sprinted towards the pair grabbing her medkit but soon realized the Captain had already passed. "Stop the rings. Save the rest." The Sergeant Major told the Chief, Scootaloo and the Arbiter walking ahead to the console here they found the Prophet of Truth crawling towards the console. The pegasus felt anger rising in her body once again as she saw the mass-murderer. "Can you see, Arbiter? The moment of salvation is at hand." He weakly croaked as the Arbiter walked up to him and grabbed him by the throat, lifting the Prophet up from the ground. "It will not last!" The Arbiter told him, small tentacles appearing on the Prophets face as he was apparently infected by the flood. "Your kind... never believed in the promise of the sacred rings. And now you walk alongside this filth hoping to stop what I set into motion." He managed to say as he pointed at Scootaloo. "Lies for the weak. Beacons for the deluded." The Gravemind said through Truth's mouth, which angered the Arbiter. "I will have my revenge. On a Prophet, not a plague!" "My feet tread the path. I shall become a god!" Truth ranted, the flood infection visibly spreading throughout him."You will be food - nothing more." The Gravemind spoke once again as the Chief walked up to the control panel. "NO!" He screamed as the Chief deactivated the Halo's, "I...am...Truth! The voice of the Covenant!" Arbiter tightened his grip on the Prophet's neck, "And so, you must be silenced." he growled, activating his energy sword and running it through the body, Truth let out a last scream as he dropped back onto the floor. The arbiter roared in victory as he deactivated his energy sword. Silence hung in the air as Mack, Lucy, and Johnson carried the Captains body into the pelican that had crashed into the control room. The room suddenly began to shake as massive tentacles came up from below and a loud laugh accompanied them. Johnson Immediately fired up the pelican and tried to leave, Twilight and Scootaloo Both flying into the sky while Chief and Arbiter hung onto the landing legs of the pelican, but before they could leave the Gravemind tried to get a hold of the dropship, knocking the Chief and Arbiter off back onto the floor as the pelican flew out of control. Scootaloo immediately turned around and landed beside the two, Twilight following shortly after. I'm not abandoning any of my friends. "Now the gate has been unlatched, headstones pushed aside...corpses shift and offer room, a fate you must abide!" The Gravemind said as the four remaining soldiers stood back to back, "We trade one villain for another." The arbiter said as he activated his energy sword. The tentacles retracted and large flood combat forms came up to meet them. The two opposing forces clashed as soon as the tentacles retracted down. Scootaloo let out a growl as she pushed her dagger into a combat form, "Give it your best shot, Parasite. It won't be enough."