A Rarity of a soldier

by Lon35hadow

Voi Pt2-Floodgate

"What was that thing?" Rainbow asked.

"Do you want us to go into detail?" Twilight replied. "Either way, you are not going to like it."

"How about just the important details?" Spike said.

"Prepare to lose your lunch, then," Rarity said. "'That thing' was the Flood, an alien parasite that acts much like a parasite would, feeding on its host. Only in this case, it didn't just feed on them, it changed them on the atomic level, mutating them into something with no semblance of an individual left. It has a Hive mind of sorts, but only the leader of it, the Gravemind, has individuality, and is made up of past victims of the Flood, somewhere in the upper double digits, if not lower triple. Human weapons, to be short and concise, did shit against them, with the exception of a flamethrower and shot gun, as well as Covenant Carbines. Any weapon where what was fired was in the solid state of matter, really, the exception being Needler crystals, as the material they're made of tend to explode after being fired."

"Then how'd you win?" Luna asked, and her face, as well as most of the others, were green from imagining what a flood infected individual looked like.

"Well, let's just say we got lucky," Twilight said.

---

"The infestation is here," N'tho said. "I thought it was being contained."

"It must have slipped through the fleet's line," Usze said. "Arbiter, we must cut this infection off before it consumes the planet."

"Agreed, and I believe I have an idea as to how," Arbiter said. "We must do what the Spartan did on Halo: destroy the ship's drive core."

"Arbiter, we would have to fight our way through the infection," Ruso said. "It is possible we may not make it."

"Since when did you Sangheili care about caution," Sawn said. "Especially when you could gain much honor for this."

"Sawn, there are a few of us who would prefer to live," Ruso retorted.

"Agreed," Arbiter said, "but if we are to detonate the ship core, we must fight through the Flood."

"Then my blade stands with you, Arbiter," Ruso said, igniting his sword.

"Yeah, if we had swords, same," Jacob said. "Besides, no way in hell are we going to let a fucking disease kill us."

"Then we should probably get going," Rarity said as she used her magic to pick up a dropped plasma rifle.

"Agreed," 117 said. With that, the group made their way down the hill they had fought up to get to the gun. Once they were in the town itself, the first Flood encountered were actually two combat forms leaping from building to building, too far away for their weapons to be effective, as they heard Marines screaming in terror and pain over the radio.

"That. . . does not sound good," Tony said.

"Definitely not," Josh said.

From there, they made it to the open area where a Brute Chieftain had been, and a two marines currently were. One of them saw the group, and waved. "Over here!" That was his last sentence, as it was at that moment a Brute leaped down, and hit him in the back with its right hand, breaking the marine's spine.

"Oh shit," the other marine said, unleashing a full clip of Assault rifle ammo in it, but no damage was done as the former Brute, as it was now obvious something had changed it into a monstrosity of its former self, charged at her, hitting her with its shoulder hard enough to send her flying into a building corner, where her spine broke with a very audible CRACK!. It then howled, which was followed by a horde of small, sickly yellow things that had three things coming from the front, coming from over the building, and towards Jacob, Rarity, Twilight, and the others.

"Kill the Flood," Arbiter said before firing off bursts of super heated gas from his plasma rifle, followed by the other three Sangheili, Sawn, and Pawas firing their plasma weapons or, in Sawn's case, his needler, Twilight firing her Storm rifle, and Rarity and the humans their weapons as more infected Brutes made their way into the area, but, under the combined fire, they were quickly cut down, clearing the way into the building.

"So, can someone explain what exactly the fuck these things are?" Bishop asked.

"An alien parasite that converts a sentient being into a combat form, which are those Brute bodies from earlier," N'tho said. "I would not recommend letting one touch you, human, or you will turn into one of them."

"Noted," she said as the group entered the warehouse, where the front runners, Twilight and Rarity, saw the most horrible thing. (I have no words to truly describe this scene.)

Just as the mutated marine turned around and charged at the two, Ruso jumped over them, swinging his sword, which sliced through the chest of the infected marine, destroying the infection form that lay there. "And stay in hell," he said as he deactivated the blades.

"That's going to be in my nightmares," Jacob said, to which the rest of Diamondback nodded. "For a few months. Nightmare?"

"I'll see what I can do."

"Then I guess we should move up," Jacob said, and, with that, the group fought their way through the infected warehouse, fighting through Flood, coming across only a few marines, each of which fell to the parasite before they could be reached, and had to be killed. It was just before they exited the warehouse, having killed untold amounts of Flood forms, that those with bullet, or any projectile weapons, really, for plasma weapons, as those were the most effective weapons against the Flood. Once they got out and the lake bed the scarab had been destroyed in, a welcome transmission was heard.

"Hail, humans, and take heed," R'tus 'Vadum, the shipmaster, said over the radio as a Sangheili controlled cruiser came into view. "This is the carrier, Shadow of Intent." As drop pods came from the ship's underbelly, he said, "Clear this sector, while we deal with the Flood."

"'Bout damn time we got some help," Josh said.

"Let's go, Diamondback," Jacob said. "Need to help 'em out."

"Right," Diamondback said.

"Same goes for us, Heretic," Twilight said as Diamondback made their way down to help the newly arrived Sangheili.

"I find it surprising, brother," N'tho said to Usze, "that Ruso was the first of our kind to join the human when he was among the most devout we knew."

"Perhaps being with her highness changed him," Usze replied before the he, N'tho, Arbiter, and Chief followed the two squads down into the area where the Sangheili troops had landed. Once they made it down, and cleared the Flood from the area, Arbiter spoke up.

"Brothers, I fear you bring bad news," he said.

"High Charity has fallen, to the dreaded Flood(1)."

"And the fleet? Is the Flood contained?"

"A single ship broke through our lines, and we gave chase."

"We had a fleet of hundreds," Arbiter exclaimed.

"Alas, brother, the Flood: it has evolved."

"Then we must stop it before it is able to spread," Arbiter said. "Come, my brothers." With that, Arbiter led the newly arrived Sangheili forces back towards the first lake bed, where the ship had crashed, the others following behind. There was even more Flood in the next building, the second that had to be fought through to get to the AA gun, and two of the Sangheili were killed and converted into Combat forms, but were quickly and, some would argue, mercifully killed before they could do any damage, and they made up a small portion of the Flood infected trail of bodies behind the group.

Once they exited, Miranda Keys came over the radio. "Chief? The Elites are looking for something," she said. "We didn't believe them when they told us."

"It's Cortana, Chief," Johnson said over the radio. "She's on that ship. Find her, get her off it." Once they heard that last part, the group came across something that seemed to be pure Flood bio-mass, with two, large back legs and two claws at the front, ending just before the same things Infection forms had at the front of their bodies changed into red, flower like things. But that wasn't the worst part, as there were three of them, and, upon seeing the group, changed into something larger than a Brute, its right arm looking like a club that had a single, edged side, their waist looking as if it was missing parts.

"Flood Tanks," a Sangheili yelled as he drew and ignited his sword, followed by those of his fellows who had one as well. "Go, Spartan," he said to Chief. "Find your companion. We will clear the way, and ensure none follow you."

"So will we, Chief," Jacob said.

"Then let's move," Chief said, and, as the nearest Flood forms, the Tanks took the first shots of this charge, and, under the combined plasma and needler fire, fell quickly, though a single Sangheili was hit by one with enough force to send him flying over the edge of the dock, and into the the abyss. With the three dead, the group made their way through the Flood horde, picking up weapons as needed, which was often, and made their way to the crashed ship, where a breach in the hull provided a way for Chief to get in. Once he was in, it was as if a switch was triggered, and an entire horde of Flood infection, combat, carrier, and all three varieties of pure form attacked, and quickly cut down two more Sangheili, leaving only Arbiter, N'tho, Usze, Diamondback, and Heretic, which would have been overwhelmed, if Rarity, Twilight, and Nightmare hadn't put a shield around them to stop the Flood, for the time being.

"Brother, call for the Phantom," Usze said to N'tho. "We need to leave."

"It's already on the way," N'tho said, pointing to a green Phantom that was flying towards them.

"Highness, will the shield last long enough for it to get here?" Ruso asked Twilight.

"Yeah," she replied, that being only the bit of concentration she could spare, as the Flood was hammering the shield, trying ot get in, and consume those within. A few seconds later, the Phantom pulled overhead.

"Rares, drop the top of the shield," Jacob said.

"You heard him, girls," Rarity said, and a circular hole appeared in the top of the dome, which allowed the Phantom's gravity lift to reach the ground, and, one by one, pick up the group.

"I'll go last," Twilight said. "I should be able to hold it long enough."

"Are you sure?" Rarity asked.

"Yeah, I am," the alicorn said as the last of the Sangheili went up, followed by Hades and Sawn.

"Fine, but not until the others are up."

"I kinda figured that," Twilight said, a small grin on under her helmet.

As Diamondback went up one by one, the Flood seemed to increase the ferocity of their attack, as the shield began to flicker, a sign of it weakening. Once the last biped of Diamondback was on the Phantom, Nightmare made her way to the gravity lift, backing up and keeping magic flowing to the shield, even as she was lifted up. Not that it helped long, as, just as she vanished into the Phantom's hold, a single combat form, a mutated marine was able to reach into the shield with its mutated left arm, and hit Rarity with enough force to crack her visor, leaving a horrible scar on the left side of her face, which crossed over the eye on that side. "Gah!" Rarity yelled in pain as she fell to the ground.

"Rarity!" Twilight exclaimed, fearing for her friend as she saw blood before, with a look of pure anger under her helmet, looked at the flood forms. Now, the Flood were emotionless, yes, but the Gravemind controlled them, and, through them, he felt something he did not think he could feel.

Fear.

Using her magic, Twilight moved Rarity, while also using a spell to stop the bleeding, to the Phantom lift as she dropped the shield, and even the Flood infection forms did not charge. "You. Will. Pay," Twilight said in slow anger as she charged her horn, and unleashed a beam of energy made of pure heat, vaporizing any Flood in its wake, even going through the building, and swept it from side to side, which vaporized the entire horde as if they were molecules of water in a frying pan. "Get the Spartan," she said over the radio to those on the Phantom. "I'll take care of the Flood." With that, she strode into the ship as the Phantom moved over it to where Chief was.

As she walked, Twilight used a spell to cauterize any hint of Flood infection she saw, eliminating entire floors of Flood biomass and sacks that contained infection forms. "Twilight, get out of there and into the Phantom," Jacob said over the radio. "Sangheili cruisers are inbound to glass the place. They'll take care of the Flood."

"But Rarity-"

"Is going to be alright. Okay, not alright, but she'll live, and we can always get a prosthetic eye for her. Besides, she wouldn't want you to die just because you lost your cool. Just keep on the path you're on, you'll come to a large room. We're holding over it."

"I just entered it," Twilight said, and she saw the Phantom overhead, and teleported into it, where she saw Pawas and Sawn checking over Rarity, and something that, now that she thought about it, looked like the Oracles the Prophets went on about, but she wasn't able to think on it as the Phantom flew away from the crashed ship, fast enough to where even the inertial dampers couldn't dampen everything, as Sangheili controlled ships came in, and glassed the city and its surrounding areas.

---

"That would be how I got this," Rarity said, pointing to her left "eye", as the ponies looked as if they were about to be sick. Or, in Fluttershy's case, throw up a tenth time.

"Maybe we shouldn't have been so graphic," Sawn observed, to which the others could only agree.

Author's Note:

I would like to point out I used the bool Flood Canon, which is to say not even a sniper can harm them. I find it more realistic, can't believe I said that for a game and show meant for little girls, that something like the Flood combat forms and above tiers can only be harmed by rockets, plasma, explosions, and the shotgun shells due to the BBs tearing through the target.
1:My best interpretation of that line. I was watching a play through of the level, ad couldn't under stand what he was saying exactly.

Comments

[The dragon hunter]

1:My best interpretation of that line. I was watching a play through of the level, ad couldn't under stand what he was saying exactly.

You can find the transcriptions of the different levels here.

[7F]

The Reclaimer and The Ark and the monitor of installation 04

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

Holy throne!

[Fracturedheart]

Great!!

[Bronzer]

Now, the Flood were emotionless, yes, but the Gravemind controlled them, and, through them, he felt something he did not think he could feel.

Fear.

AHAHAHAHAHAHA!
...
No.