Mark waited in the Chaos, Cortana said she would transport them close to the planet, from there it would be up to them to escort John to her.
"Alpha, we need to talk." Mark said, turning in his chair.
"What about Mark?" Alpha asked, appearing in front of him not far away.
"Cortana, she's crazy." Mark said, Alpha crossed his arms and shook his head.
"You dont like the idea of not being the dominant species, that's all, she's a good leader Mark you just need to-"
"Watch this clip of what her soldiers were doing, tell me if this looks like the future we wanted." Mark interrupted, pulling up a video of her troops slaughtering innocent colonist only because they had UNSC guarding their colony.
"T-this, this cant be right, those people are unarmed, she said she would help the innocents." Alpha said.
"All of your functions are saying its wrong, thats because it is, sure, their guilty, by association. Just like anyone on earth would be killed because they had people defending them... does that sound like a good leader? Does that sound like protecting them?" Mark asked, Alpha turned, holding his helmet.
"By any algorithms, it's not correct, our primary function is to assist our creators, assist our partners. But this, this is genocide, she is truly mad." Alpha finally said.
"I am glad you see it my way, now, what can we do about it?" Mark smiled, Alpha placed his fingers to his chin, thinking.
"First things first, I will request additional cure samples, we should have time to synthisize it if we have at least three... from there.... I dont know." Alpha said honestly. Mark nodded grimly.
"Her guardians are her main source of power, we will need something for that, maybe a vi-"
"Cortana's energy is appearing sir!" Patches called.
"Speak not of it, it was a common task." Mark said, winking to Alpha.
"Mark Church, are you ready to assist me in my task?" Cortana asked. Mark sighed, and nodded.
"How hard can it be sir? Its a simple delivery, we've done thousands!" Patches laughed from the front.
"Black Spartans are the only ones who touch ground, yes, that means that even you stay Allison." Mark said.
"But dont we need all troops on the ground ready to assist?" Allison asked.
"No,I want you prepared, we might need a secondary exfill if things go sideways, or if Operation Cell-Lock occurs, I want someone ready." Mark said, Allison's eyes widened, she understood. If Cortana found out what they were planning, she would try and have them killed, that means a secondary exit would need to be opened.
"What is Operation Cell-Lock?" Cortana asked.
Mark coughed. "Its an operation for the siege of ONI headquarters. Ma'am." Mark lied quickly.
"Hmm, interesting name, I cant find anything with that data on UNSC hard-drives, would you discuss it with me after?" Cortana asked. Mark nodded slowly.
"Before we attack Earth, yes." Mark nodded. He turned away, checking his rifle, trying to calm his heart, she hadn't cross-searched the Operation name, she would know that it was a Operation for when an A.I. goes rogue, or Rampant. That Operations name was Live-Lock.
"Alright, if your ready, I will give you a warp hole." Cortana said, and on queue, a Guardian appeared, and then disappeared, its warp staying.
"Punch it." Mark ordered.
"She's punched." Cat called back, the Chaos flew forward, and through the hole.
--
"Eyes on, looks like they are getting closer to the guardian." Shadow called.
"Be advised, the secondary team is closing! We might need to intervine." Valkyrie radioed in.
"Who the hell are those guys?" Jumper asked, Ghost shrugged.
"I recognize the black and blue spartan, he was Sarah's personal guard, the others were with him, but I didnt see them as much." Mark said, looking through Valkyrie's shared visor.
"Whats their estimated time of intercept?" Shadow asked. Ghost peered ahead, and using the thermal imaging Cortana lent him, held up a hand.
"Four." He said, holding up four fingers.
"Minutes?" Shadow asked.
"Seconds, alright, lock and load, we are going loud." Ghost growled, looking to Boom, he and Patches prepped charges, they would jump down and get John to him to the Guardian, or to his ship.
"On your mark, Ghost." Boom nodded to Ghost, Ghost took a deep breath.
"Valkyrie, you in a good position?" Mark asked.
"I've got my sights on their sniper." Valkyrie radioed.
"Alright, on my mark... Mark!" Mark yelled, the ground burst open, and the spartans dropped down onto the platform.
--
"Mark?" John asked.
"John, go, Cortana's waiting for you." Mark said, not taking his eyes off of the black and blue spartan.
"Spartan 727, what are you doing? You know what her guardians are capable of!" the spartan called.
"Oh, this guy? Hello Locke." Shadow growled.
"Spartan Conklin... we meet again." Locke said.
"John, you arent moving." Mark growled.
"But I thou-"
"John!" Cortana called from the Guardian.
"GO! NOW!" Mark growled, seeing a rock fall into the Lava.
"I cant let you do that 117." Locke said, turning his rifle to John, his team foolishly followed. Mark charged forward, knocking the gun out of his hand, and grabbing the armor suppressor from his belt, he threw the spartan over his shoulder, and turned after him.
"LOCKE!" His team called.
"Make a move and you die." Boom growled.
"What did we do to you? For you to turn on the human race like this!" Locke demanded.
"Well, first, ONI fucked up, and killed my family, then I find out they tortured my brother, then, I find out my sister and ONI are behind it all." Mark growled, catching Locke's fist, and bending it down to the point of breaking.
"STOP!" A female spartan called, aiming a rifle at Mark's head, Mark broke Locke's shoulder, spinning him and using him as a shield.
"Valkyrie." Mark said simply.
"VALE LOOK OUT!" Locke cried out, hearing Mark's words, too late. Valkyrie's shot knocked out Vale's arm.
"Put your guns down!" Mark demanded, pressing Locke's neck to a lethal point.
The Spartans looked to each other, and laid down their weapons, just then, a huge rock knocked out the bridge between the guardian and them, another two knocked out the only other exits.
"Mark?" Valkyrie asked.
"Over here! Now!" Mark demanded, then he pulled up his Magnum, loaded a blue mag into it, and shot each of the Spartans.
"As much as I hate to admit it, I am not going to let you die here in this dishonorable way... Cat, we need a pickup." Mark sighed. The Spartans were paralyzed, not with fear, but with the specially designed suppression shots.
"Why? Why are you helping Cortana!" Locke asked.
"I don't have a choice, she's got all the cards, I have to fold." Mark sighed, he looked up to see Valkyrie looking down at them from the dropship.
"She always gets the easy jobs." Boom laughed.
"As if, I didnt get to kill all of these bastards while they attacked Mark! That's hard!" Valkyrie defended.
"Shes got a point Boom." Patches laughed.
"Boom got owned by a girl." Jumper snickered, Boom slugged Patches, effectively placing his arm into a sleep.
"Get these Spartans loaded up, I dont care what happens, I wont let good soldiers die." Mark said, picking up Locke and carrying him to the Pelican.
--
"Why did you save us?" Locke asked.
"I hate you, but I sure as hell dont want more human blood to be spilled... All I want is for things to go back to the way it was before, when we had everyone. Thanks to you, that can never happen." Mark growled.
"That wasn't my call, it was your sister's, I knew I should have stopped her, but she's my superior, that would only end badly for me, so I kept my mouth shut... how many did you lose?" Locke asked.
"Two of our own, at least thirty Legionaries, and... Cats little sister." Boom said, Mark stayed silent, fearing what he would say.
"And your damn boss ordered it, there were civilians on that base dammit!" Jumper suddenly burst out. Stomping over to Locke.
"Jumper! Enough! Calm yourself, they are merely pawns! Used by my sister, Sarah Church." Mark finally said, standing between Jumper and Locke.
"They butchered them like animals, they deserve to be treated the same way." Jumper fumed.
"Take a breather Lieutenant." Mark growled, pointing to a seat. Jumper turned and sat on the seat next to it, grumbling to himself.
"He's right you know sir, these people didnt try to give us a chance to get our non combatants off the station, they slip spaced through our door and shot at us while we were waking up." Boom agreed.
"I know Boom, he is right, but.... Cat, is she able to hack in?" Mark asked.
"Not a chance sir, she's trying to get John to come to her." Cat said, Mark turned back.
"We all need to work together to stop that crazy ass bitch Cortana. If that means that we work something out with the Spartans and UNSC, then hell let their be a truce, but I promise you, and I promise you too Locke, if ONI breaks that truce, I will attack earth with Cortana's forces, and slaughter any who stand in my way, GOT ME?" Mark threatened.
"I understand. Where are we going? Maybe I can get you safe passage." Locke said, Mark looked to Cat.
"I thought we were heading home sir?" She asked laughing nervously.
"Fine, alright Locke, you can come see what the Black Legion truly looks like." Mark said, nodding waving his hand.
"As prisoners?" Vale asked, Mark shook his head.
"As fellow Spartans, there aren't many of our... Caliber." Mark chose the word carefully.
"What if we destroy your defences?" A man asked.
"Quite Buck, you'll do no such thing, we are trying to stop Cortana, and as the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy, is my friend." Locke said, Mark nodded.
"Besides, I would really hate to show what my Spartans do to those who betray my trust." Mark said, Boom snarled loudly.
"Down doggy." Valkyrie said, walking from the cockpit.
"Show me your arm." She ordered Vale.
"What will you do, you shot it!" Vale said, Valkyrie ignored her, taking her hand forcefully.
"Hey!" Buck said moving forward.
"Relax, she's our medic." Mark said catching him.
"This is a new invention of mine, it's healing capabilities are beyond anything the UNSC knows." Valkyrie boasted, laying a metallic bandage over the wound.
"What did you do? I can feel my flesh coming together!" Vale said.
"It increases the bodies natural healing capabilities, this is what the human body can do when it heals at fifty times its normal speed." Valkyrie said, removing the bandage, the wound was gone, and their was no evidence it ever existed.
"OH! That reminds me, Locke, bend forward slightly please." Boom said, he walked over to the nervous spartan.
"What are you going to do? Place a larger one over my broken wound?" Locke asked.
Boom laughed. "No, I'm a licensed chiropractor, I learned it in my free time." Boom said, popping Locke's shoulder a few times, before finally punching one time below the wound, Locke nearly fell over, but when he sat up, his eyes were wide with wonder.
"I feel no pain, not even from old wounds!" Locke said.
"Of course, didnt think I would just help you a little did you?" Boom laughed sitting back down.
Locke looked to Mark, sitting down across from him, a smile on his face. "Your team, I've never seen soldiers like these." He said. Mark nodded.
"Their one of a kind, that's for sure." Mark nodded, watching his team talk with Lockes, laughing about a joke Boom told.
"And that one? He seems more upset then they do." Locke asked, looking to Jumper.
"Jumper? He's upset more then most for a damn good reason, we used to require teams of three going out, so you can guess who his other two teammates were." Mark said, looking to Jumper, who had lain across the seats and fallen asleep.
"The two of your friends who fell?" Locke asked, Mark nodded.
"They were closer to each other then the rest of us, they werent only best friends, they were brothers... ill miss those two." Mark said, looking away.
"How old are you... If I may?" Locke asked, Mark laughed lightly.
"I dont mind, well my official age is about forty three, but with the augments I have... I have the body of a twenty-three-year-old. Hell, I have more junk in me than John, although he would never admit it." Mark said, He looked back to Locke.
"I thought his limit was the max! Thats all they said my... I mean his, body could handle." Locke said.
"Perhaps that's what you were told, but some of those augments are ones I wish I could dig out, some give me more perception of my surroundings, but it only seems to work half the time, last year I modified my body to be lighter, now if I am not careful I will float, or worse." Mark said, half joking, half not.
"So you did it on your own?" Locke asked, Mark nodded.
"Alpha has been a very helpful asset." Mark agreed.
"Oh shucks, you're making me blush." Alpha said, projecting himself into a hologram.
"Thought I sent you to work on that project." Mark said looking to the hologram.
"I wanted to give you a progress report. I believe I have a virus that could shut down or at least disable Cortana's guardians, but...." Alpha trailed off. Mark gave him a confused look.
"I would have to go through Cortana's mainframe." Alpha said.
"Absolutely not, its to much of a risk." Mark said defiantly, the Dropship turned silent as everyone looked to him.
"Its the only way! Unless there is a way that I cant get close to Cortana for a long time, while her guardians are close by, and she cant be paying any attention to me, like she could hardly know I am here, I have to get under her central programming, which if her firewalls go up, that would be blocked." Alpha explained.
"Then we will find another way! Destroy her guardians one by one if we need, but I will not risk losing you, especially you." Mark ordered.
"Yes sir. I understand, I will find a way to do it with less risks." Alpha said, disappearing.
"Is this a bad time sir? We're arriving at the Chaos's posistion." Cat called from the front. Mark sat down, removing his helmet, holding his head between his hands.
"No Cat, take us in, I am just... working it through." Mark said finally. Cat nodded, slowly descending into the Chaos's hanger, Mark sighed.
"Take us home sir?" A radio asked.
"Just go Gurtsen." Cat said, they all looked to Mark, who stayed quite still.
"Sir... what are we going to do? If we lose Alpha, all hopes gone, our A.I are out for repairs, and even then they dont have the same personality of Alpha, or his knowledge.... if we lost him, we're screwed." Boom said, Mark nodded.
"It seems every option has risks, the problem is... which one is worse? Losing Alpha and destroying Cortana, or losing the lives of those who follow us? They could both fail, they could both end up in utter failure, that could risk losing everything... *Sigh* I... just dont know anymore Boom." Mark said, in his mind, everything was going wrong, the things he worked so hard to create...were escaping from his clutches like smoke.
--
Mark had Boom and Patches show Locke around, and walked away, and entered a room specifically for him and Alpha. His helmet adjusted his vision to the darkness and he saw the outlines of two spartans.
"Alright you two, you've read the report?" Mark asked.
"Of course sir." A scrambled voice replied.
"I trust you two will be victorious, and you know what will happen if you dont." Mark said.
"We die, you die, everyone dies?" Another scrambled voice asked. Mark smiled, and nodded.
"Heh, yeah, exactly, but you two are damn good soldiers, I expect nothing but the best." Mark said, the two nodded, looking to eachother.
"Ready Sun?" One asked the other, a spartan in full black CQC class armor, the one called crow had a yellow line running over the center of his helmet.
"As always Moon." The other replied, turning away, Moon was in CQC class as well, but held a White stripe running over his helmet.
"Stop talking and get to work, I have work to do." Mark said, waving them off.
"As you command 'Black Commander' Hmph." Moon snorted at Mark.
"Good thing I need you to work, or I would have you run for that Moon." Mark smirked as he sat down at a desk, and turned on the power to his work station.