Cortana's Return (A Halo Fanfiction)

Chapter 1

Chief couldn't believe it. She's alive! He almost wanted to shout for joy but common sense told him not to. Never know who might hear. I have to find her, but where could she be? He looked at the screen again, still too dusty. Turning on a special feature that rubberized his gloves, he wiped off the rest of the screen.

Barely containing his urgency to run and look for her, he scanned the screen. Chip found lodged in the wall... Critically damaged... Crack in casing and when communication was established, signs of rampancy and distress, aged 9 years... Composure astoundingly good. Sounds like Cortana alright. He kept reading. Moved to main compound for study, possibly decommission. Further observations recorded. Name of transferred compound Rig- it ended there, possibly cut off due to the attack.

No! He lightly rested his hand on the screen. Maybe I could look it up- there was a large explosion that shook the compound. The covenant decided to destroy the place before he could get out. No time to look for it now. He pulled out his Rifle and started running down the hallway. Ceiling tiles and dust were falling now due to another shock. He raced past rows of offices. There was another shake and this time the ceiling started to cave in. Dodging pieces with insane reflexes, he put in a burst of speed as he saw the opening not too far away. Almost the-. The ceiling collapsed, covering everything.

An Elite second in command stood on a hill a ways away from the compound intently staring at it for any sign of the Demon. After a minute or two, he grunted, satisfied that the Demon wasn't coming out. He barked an order in sangheli and walked down the hill, getting onto a phantom dropship. As it pulled away he glanced back once more. Seeing no movement, his eyes glinted. His commander would be pleased. The phantom closed up and rose into the clouds.

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A colorful blue and green bird alighted on the rubble of the building. It cocked its head and gave out a nervous twitter. Then it seemed to get comfortable and started to sing. Suddenly, it startled as a hand shot out of the rubble beneath it. Angrily tweeting, it flew away.

Master Chief put his hand down on the rubble and pulled himself out of the the concrete slowly. It took a bit of twisting and moving cement to free his lower body but he finally got free. He looked around and dusted himself off. That was close. He had covered his head with his arms and locked his armor as the place came crashing down and it created room for him to escape with. There were bruises forming on his arms and legs where the rubble hit him but he could deal with that. He reflexively reached for his rifle- and grabbed air. It wasn't there! He looked around him, digging a bit. After a minute, common sense told him that it would be buried deep, unreachable. He stopped digging and grabbed his pistol which was thankfully still attached to his leg. Cocking it, he crawled over the ruins of the building and made his way to the trees to take cover.

He watched the phantom disappear behind a cloud before moving again. Cortana's out there somewhere, he thought. Pausing for a moment, he pulled up a map on his HUD and saw that there were multiple bases with a name starting with rig. There was one only a mile away. I'll start there then. He started running, setting a steady pace at about 20 mph.

After what felt like forever, he came upon the base. Stopping just inside the tree-line, he assessed the situation. There were covenant all over it, and a patrol of grunts guarding it. Cortana would have said something cunning about this, he thought with a sigh. Then, hefting a grenade, he threw it as high as he could, in a long arc towards the other side so the covenant wouldn't see it until the last moment. He heard an explosion and waited for the covenant to go racing towards the other side before throwing another in suit and dashing for the base entrance.

No one noticed the dark green blur enter the base.

Master Chief slowed inside and came to a halt where the hall veered left. He put his back to the wall and crept around it, looking for Covenant. Seeing no one, he dashed to a room with a big metal door and pried it open. Chief knew he had to hurry before the covenant realized it was a trick. Stepping inside, he did a quick check around the room. It seemed to be the Sergeant major's office since it had a big monitor in the middle of the back, rows of computer desks on the side, and a holographic table in the very middle.

He went to the big monitor and was glad to see that his luck was still holding up and the Sgt. Major was still signed in. He typed in Cortana's name and hit the search button. It was still searching when an alarm from an elite sounded. Looks like I've been found out. Master Chief positioned himself facing the door while keeping an eye on the search and plugging in a data chip to transfer the data. If there was any. It was at 90%. There was the sound of little feet coming towards his position. He checked it again. 95%. Come on. They were almost upon him. He checked again, 99%. They were at the door. 100%, the computer announced, data found and transferred. That's my stop.

He pulled it and opened fire. The first grunt was thrown backwards and the others sqealed in terror. He boosted himself with his thrusters and shoved past them, dropping a grenade as he flew by. Then he booked it, pushing himself forward. There were two Elites blocking his way and he quickly took out his knives, twisting away from their lunging energy swords and slashing at their faces, killing them instantly. An explosion sounded behind him and he pushed out the door, heading for the trees.

The covenant spotted him and he heard the shouts of sangheli commanders shouting for the grunts to follow. He looked back and saw one pull out an energy sword and start to run while another grabbed a banshee before the trees blocked his view. He raced north, pulling up his nap again for the closest base that might not be covered in covenant. Chief found one a little too his left just past the tree-line and changed course. He could hear the crashing of the covenant chasing him and the banshee getting closer.

Running out of the trees, he found a fenced in area and at the gate were two marines. He raced towards them and they, noticing him, brought their guns up warily. They didn't recognize him due to the dirt and other wear and tear on his armor. Then, the covenant burst through the trees as well and one shouted an alarm to the base. The siren sounded and turrets appeared on the base walls. Master chief felt the covenant plasma hit his shields, slowly draining them and put on a burst of speed.

The sangheli commander saw the turrets and knew that he would be dead within seconds so he went for a last ditch effort. He grabbed a sticky grenade and took out his needler. Throwing the grenade, he aimed the needler at the running figure and fired just as the first hail of bullets struck him down.

Master chief felt a hot pain in his shoulder as a needle hit him, destroying his shield at last and rendering his right arm useless. He faltered involuntarily and slowed. He saw a sticky grenade land a few feet in front of him just as he faltered and quickly jumped, using his thrusters to boost to the left to try and avoid it. Despite throwing up his good arm to block it, the grenade exploded, blinding him and throwing him left sideways. He saw the ground come up fast to meet him and blacked out.