Being back on Mantle's Approach felt different; dark, lonely and threatening at every corner. The reason for that was because: I was no longer welcome here like I was before. The Didact would not simply allow me to wander about this time. He was definitely going to send his forces after me. I was no Spartan, but I had some basic knowledge about fighting. Maybe, with just enough luck along with basic knowledge, I would survive the battles ahead. The weapon I picked up was a Promethean scope weapon called the Lightrifle, and I had hoped it would be useful in a distance. I did not trust myself with close quarters yet.
I walked up the ramp into the next room with two pillars. I had forgotten how much the Didact loved the colour orange. Every wall, floor, tower, and platform had orange lines on it, like a neon nightclub Halloween-themed. I spotted a Watcher up ahead flying over one of the small pyramid pillars. Those things always reminded me of bugs with rings on each side. I ran towards the closest pillar, and peered at the top. I looked through the scope of the Lightrifle to track the Watcher. What was it doing? Most of the UNSC had not encountered much of the Prometheans, but I heard Watchers were nasty little guys.
"Where reason does not stop you, perhaps force can at least delay you." The Didact's voice echoed through the room, and my heart gave a leap. The Didact was not joking when he said he was going to stop me from reaching him.
The Watcher folded its round little wings and flew away from me, and I pulled the trigger. The creature suddenly dismantled; its two rings fell to the ground and a small orange implosion was seen, leaving no trace of any other pieces. Too easy. I thought, but what about the Knights? I had killed a Crawler once, now a Watcher, but it was clear that Knights would be a challenge. I proceeded to the room on left.
All was quiet at first. Every room on Mantle's Approach was wide open, as I remembered. Places for cover were small, and not around every corner. The scampering noise was heard once again and I panicked. Crawlers were not a big threat, but I had no armor on, and no shields. Just a few shots from any enemy could kill me, if I wasn't quick enough.
The next room turned out to be empty with three tall pillars in the back, sealing off a terminal behind them. But the sound of vicious breathing, that wasn't my own, was heard from the right corner of the room. I ran to the right wall and peered around the corner; two Knights were wandering the area. They were pacing as it seemed. The huge pods above their heads made them almost limp. I didn't know how to fight Knights but I was not taking chances.
A rash decision was made; I grabbed one of the pulse grenades from my belt and chucked it straight at the two Knights. The grenade lit up, and hit the ground creating a red void between the two Knights. The Knights were distracted instantly, as both of them screamed in agony some kind of battle cry that sounded like a mechanical roar.
I sprinted past them as fast as my legs could move to the next room. The door closed behind me quickly just as I heard gunfire on my six, and then I plummeted down the gravity lift into a darker room. I didn't even know if I was on the right track to the Composer, but all I could hope was, I wasn't lost.
However, I knew that I could not avoid combat forever now that I was no longer welcome on this ship. The Didact would eventually grow tired of my evasion, I would have to engage. But why was I so afraid of killing his Prometheans? I wasn't killing him, I was killing his underlings. That was certainly better than killing him.
As I walked into the next room my heart raced. This room looked similar to the map room, with lights hanging from what looked like a topless ceiling, and fast-moving pillars ascending to who knows where. In front of me a portal suddenly opened. I looked around and suddenly dozens of Knights appeared on the surrounding platforms. This is why I hate teleportation when it's used by the enemy. The Knights cried out, and their faces suddenly burst open to reveal a glowing orange skull within it. Then I jumped into the portal.
Being teleported from one place to another is like blinking your eyes and you're someplace else. You are jumping into the void to only take you not to your destination, but to another place to get lost. The portal had taken me to a darker room, more reddish in colour, and smaller to say the least. Portals made me feel dizzy almost.
Three Crawlers were coming towards me battle ready, suppressors and pistols. The first one growled at me, its bug-like jaws snapped twice. I fired the Lightrifle at it and the tiny creature shattered, just like it did back on Requiem. The other two Crawlers were on me instantly. I jumped over one of the metal crates in the center of the room and saw another portal open on the far side. The Crawlers followed me towards it. Quickly evading suppressor rounds, I spun around and shot the closest Crawler, and then the other one on top of the crate.
"Not bad, I guess I gotta thank myself for watching Marines in training, and playing all those shooter video games." I said, and then I entered the next portal.
The next room was larger and similar to the last big one I was in. It seemed that every room on Mantle's Approach had ascending pillars. It was almost as if the Didact wanted me to find him. But I put my mind off the Didact, and moved to cover behind one of the metal crates. Let's see what we're up against. I thought and then I peered around the corner to where the ramp was. Two Knights and a Watcher were patrolling around on the higher ground. One of the Knights looked different; it had more orange engravings on its body. Most of it ran across its face and merged in the centre, giving it a more cyber look. There were also orange crystals sticking out of the top of its shell, and they seemed to be emitting electricity. Okay so that's the tougher one, I thought.
There was no getting out of fighting Knights this time and definitely not next time either. The spiked Knight suddenly left towards the path down the right. Even if he was gone, I would still have to deal with him. The other Knight began walking down the ramp. His footsteps were making clanking sounds on the floor. What would I do now? He was close. I think it's time I apply something else I learned myself. I thought.
As the Knight was about to peer around the corner, I circled to the other side to get behind him. I shot him straight in the back with the Lightrifle. The round hit him so fast at the speed of light, giving off a brief flash of an orange beam. No wonder they called it the Lightrifle.
The Knight turned around and hissed angrily. His large shell opened like a spider's egg sac. He was going to charge. An icy shiver ran down my spine, and acting fast, I spun to the side as he ran towards me and fired a few rounds of his Lightrifle. I jumped upward to the right, like I was doing a grand jete and shot multiple rounds at the Knight as I spun around again. Each shot made the Knight's body turn bluer on the outside, until the last one suddenly shattered a blue digital shield protecting him, like a thousand pixels scattering. Then I spun around to the other side of the crate to reload the Lightrifle. The Knight hissed and flanked around the corner towards me. His blade swung and knocked me to ground.
"Oof!" I groaned and looked up at him.
The glowing orange skull was visible, and I shoved my Lightrifle into it, and pulled the trigger as he lunged down at me. The Knight suddenly shattered into a million orange pixel cubes that scattered on the ground. All that remained was a small glowing light, his dropped weapon and a few grenades. I bent down and emptied out the ammo of his weapon, placing it in my pocket and then clipped the grenades on my belt. Never know what you might need.
I had killed my first tough opponent, but there would be even tougher ahead. Those ballet lessons really paid off. I thought, and walked up the ramp. To my far left was another portal up another ramp. That was where I wanted to go, but then I remembered, what about the other Knight with the electric crystals and the Watcher? Wherever they had gone, it seemed reasonable to kill the biggest threat, but Watchers; they questioned me. I began to wonder if Watchers were like protectors.
I ran to the metal crate closest to the portal. Where was that other Knight and his Watcher? I looked around and all was quiet. Not even the faint sound of Prometheans anywhere. Then I ran up the ramp, straight for the portal, but as I did, the sound of a boltshot was heard. I spun around to see the Watcher coming towards me, making a strange sound; to me it sounded like gargling. Below it the Knight with the crystals on top of his huge shell approached.
"I sense you have the ability to fight Emily, and yet, you elude the strongest....." The Didact's voice was heard once again. He knew I was coming; he was trying to test me to see if I could really reach him. Yet, still the Gravemind had control over him, and all his evil ways completely.
I backed towards the portal for a moment, my heart pounding until I stopped myself. No, I'm going to show him that I am capable of facing something even stronger; I'll show him I have courage, because I love him. I thought.
Then I walked down the ramp to face my opponents. The Knight growled, and he was carrying a different weapon, that looked like a shotgun. Keep a distance, got it. I told myself, and then I fired a round of the Lightrifle at the Knight, but to my surprise, the Watcher flew above him. Its tiny body emitted a strange light, making a line came down, and a hard light shield covered him in front.
Nasty little bastard. Okay, take out the Watcher first, but don't let the Knight get too close.
I jumped aside evading the Knight as quickly as possible, and began shooting the Watcher. It started to fly away, folding its little ring wings behind it, but I kept shooting it until it blew up. The Knight growled and turned to me. I fell back behind cover to reload and turned around the corner where I last saw him. He was gone again, and then he had teleported in front of the portal. I felt relieved, distance was better, and then I started firing the Lightrifle at him. In return, his shotgun-like weapon fired, I reacted too quickly and leaned up against the wall. He wasn't close enough for it to be fatal. But just as I broke his shields, he swung his bladed arm and it began to glow. This wasn't the same thing as the last Knight that charged.
The crystal Knight began to charge at lightning speed, as if warping from one place to another. I circled around the crate and made a run for it to the portal. It didn't take long for the Knight to come around the corner. But luckily, his shields were still down, so I popped a few rounds towards the Knight's head while backing into the portal, and I had already vanished before I could notice if he had shattered into pieces.
I turned around to find myself in a small square shaped room, and realized I had just found the mother lode; weapons, weapons everywhere. Not just Promethean but Covenant and UNSC too! This looked like this was the Didact's armory that I never found before. There were crates on the side containing Lightrifles, scattershots, boltshots, suppressors, and pulse grenades. But what was in the center attracted me the most. The holographic display cases contained a few Covenant and UNSC weapons, but the only thing that I recognized was the gravity hammer. I had heard stories that Brutes used them a lot, mainly the higher ranked ones called Chieftains.
I walked through the armory, wondering if I should take a second weapon with me. The Lightrifle barely weighed anything carrying it alone. Perhaps something else might come in handy for any other potential threats. I grabbed some Lightrifle ammo at one of the crates and then turned my attention to the weapons in the middle of the room.
The gravity hammer looked too heavy to carry, and the Covenant and UNSC weapons worked pretty much the same way as the Lightrifle. My only option left was the gun next to the gravity hammer, which I had no idea what it was. I walked up to it; there were two to choose from. It was a large gun with red streaks. Fire, definitely something to do with fire, and must be a heavy weapon, but I could use that. I picked up the cannon from inside the case; it was heavy but light enough to carry with my Lightrifle, I hoped. Then I proceeded into the next portal carrying the Lightrifle in one hand and the cannon in the other.
I was in another open room with pillars and crates. A ramp was descending into a lower level. I walked towards the nearest pillar just to the right of the ramp. The room was empty, and the only sound heard was many more of the ascending pillars surrounding the area, and deep breathing, not like I had heard before. I looked through the Lightrifle's scope. A portal had opened at the far side of the room, but something orange was glowing brightly, just behind another pillar in front of it.
A Knight? It better not be another one of those with a scattershot. I couldn't zoom the scope any further, then the glowing light moved away from the pillar, and I was right on what had emerged.
A Promethean Knight indeed, but not one I had seen before. This one looked similar to a normal Knight, only it had orange streaks across his face, and on the top of his big shell that seemed be burning as if his body was on fire.
Well you're just a ray of sunshine aren't you? I thought, and I knew this guy was a bigshot, probably a commander. But why was he all by himself? Where were the other Knights if he was going to be leading them? I put the Lightrifle down and thought for a bit. I could either take him out from a distance or take a risk to see what the cannon I had grabbed could do.
I clipped the Lightrifle to my belt and picked up the cannon in both hands. I started down the ramp slowly, and went to my right away from the portal to behind cover. I peered around the corner to only find the Knight looking at me. I gulped, well so much for sneaking around. I figured this wasn't the best idea. The Knight growled in a way as if to challenge me and it didn't take me long to realize that he was holding the same cannon as me. Then, at that very second, a huge red ball of fire exploded from the cannon and came right towards me. I jumped aside up against the wall, as it hit the ground, and it burst into four smaller fireballs that scattered. So that's what that thing does. Can't let it hit me.
I ran along the wall, hoping that if I kept moving I would be too fast for the Incineration cannon to target me. But the weight of the Lightrifle and carrying my own cannon with me slowed me down. The Knight came into view again and I knew this meant fate if I didn't react quickly, I doubted my tactics could outwit this guy. I dropped the cannon, and made a run for the portal.
The Knight fired another incineration round at me as I was halfway up the ramp towards it. I gasped and quickly allowed myself to drop to my stomach on the ramp, kissing the hard metal floor. The huge fireball passed over me and I felt hot air. I rolled onto my back to see if it would put out a burn the cannon had set off. Then I looked at the Knight and saw him pause as his weapon was overheating.
"Good, stay that way, but next time I see you again or someone else like you, I'm not running." I said, and then I got up and jumped into the portal, leaving the Incineration Cannon I had dropped behind.
As soon as I was in the next room, I discovered it was once again empty. I walked down the path towards an open space containing a small console in the center. Jumping through these portals was becoming tiresome, and I had no clue if they were moving me towards the Composer or away from it. Whatever was happening, I was lost and needed to find a portal, or anything that would take me straight to the Composer.
To my left was another corridor but no portal, a dead end. Yep, I am definitely lost. I had got lost so many times on Infinity, but never on Mantle's Approach until now. I pressed a button on the console and a small blue ball; which I assumed was the AI working for the Didact had appeared.
"Open a portal that takes me straight to the Composer now. I'm tired of being warped to random parts of this ship," I demanded.
"You are the Reclaimer I have met before. The Didact has given me orders to terminate your access to all maps and portals that take you to specific locations on this ship." The AI responded.
Damn it, no wonder I was being warped from one random place to another.
"I don't care. Open up a portal that takes me to the Composer,"
"If the Didact finds out that I helped you he will shut me down. He has access to all the systems on this ship,"
I pointed my Lightrifle at the console. "I don't care. He's the one controlling the portals right? He's sending me up against his forces so I don't come any closer. How long have you been serving him? You must have known him before his manipulation. Do you ever grow tired of his madness like this? If yes, then you'll be happy to know that I've come back to help him break free of that control. Block him out of the system if you have to, then locate a portal that leads to the Composer, and open it,"
The ancilla paused briefly and then answered, "I have been in service of the Didact since the day this ship was built, and now that such a subject has been mentioned, I must admit I do miss the powerful and motivating Promethean he once was, that I worked for. As for your request, it is not that simple Reclaimer. It will be difficult to block the Didact out of the system while I locate the right portal to your destination, so be advised this will take some time. Warning, once I block the Didact out and open the portal it will not be long before he takes control again, so be ready to enter before he does,"
"How long do you think you'll be able to keep him out?"
"No exact time available, but it will not last forever,"
Figures, always a race against time.
"Do it." I ordered, and then the AI got to work.
"Impressive, but you can't control my ancilla no matter how much you persuade it." The Didact's voice thundered, and then I looked down the hall to my left, waiting for the portal to open. Dozens of Crawlers began running towards me on the walls and floor.
I had to survive for the Didact, no matter how much of his forces he was going to throw at me to make sure I didn't. I zoomed into the Lightrifle's scope and took out three Crawlers with headshots. Their heads were easy to target. But it wasn't enough. Five Crawlers jumped towards me like cats pouncing on one prey. I backed up the small ramp, and threw one of my Pulse grenades at them, but the red void caught none of them.
"Screw it; I won't take any of you as pets!" I snarled and shot one of them in the face, spun around and whacked another one with my rifle that tried to attack from my six.
The other three Crawlers had not followed me up the ramp and boltshot rounds were coming out of their mandibles. One had a spiked body and the other did not. They were hissing at me, and I couldn't figure out if they were a crossover between cats and dogs. I tossed another grenade at one of them trapping them in the void and they disintegrated.
"I'm almost there Reclaimer, but I am having trouble fighting the Didact out of the system. I'll take control of the turrets. Just hold out a little longer." I heard the AI say.
More Crawlers were coming from both to the right and in front of me. Two large round turrets came out on the pillars in front of me. The sound of them charging echoed throughout the room as they turned and fired powerful blue particle beams down the two corridors. I took cover behind one of the metal stands next to one of the turrets. Crawler screamed death cries as the turrets began to weaken and kill them. I peered out and aimed for the ones on the far wall. The turrets would weaken them and give them something else to shoot at, but turrets were not invincible.
Crawler snipers began to set themselves up on the far walls in front of me, and red glowing dots were seen right on their faces, as if they had giant zits. One shot kill, I have to react quickly. Three Crawlers were caught in the middle of the metal glass floor being torn apart by the turrets. I quickly zoomed into the Lightrifle's scope and took out the first sniper on the right side. It fell to the ground in pieces, and I immediately got back into cover to reload my weapon, and then I went for the one on the left. Once both snipers were down, I turned to my opponents in the center of the room only to find that one of the turrets had been destroyed and five Crawlers were aiming at me, while dozens were heard coming down the hall to my right.
I was losing ground and fast but relief came when I heard the AI once again. "I got it! Portal's open Reclaimer, go now! The Didact has been locked out of the system but I don't know for how long, hurry!"
It was now or never. "Cover me," I shouted, "I'm getting in that portal come hell or high water, and the Didact and I will meet again!"
Then with fierce determination I jumped down and sprinted towards the open portal. I counted at least ten Crawlers in front of me; three on the floor and left wall, and seven on the right. I didn't know how much ammo my Lightrifle had left, but I wasn't planning on saving it.
The remaining turret started firing at the seven Crawlers on the right, while I killed the three in front of me. Soon, only four Crawlers remained. Screw it, just RUN. I told myself and I hurried towards the portal, when suddenly I tripped and fell. One of the Crawlers had knocked me over from behind as I ran past it. I rolled over onto my back and noticed I dropped my Lightrifle.
The other three Crawlers were retreating but not this one, it jumped on me; its mandible like jaws snapped at me, and the glowing spikes on its back made it more vicious than ever. I grabbed its face with one hand to push it away and reached for my Lightrifle with the other, which had slid just to the edge of the portal a metre away from me. The Crawler growled angrily, but I pushed harder and harder to keep it off. It was small but its metal body made it feel like it was a brick on my own body. I grabbed the edge of my Lightrifle and pulled it towards me, whacking the Crawler in the face, and it was knocked off me but still alive.
"KISS THIS!" I yelled, and shot it right in the face. It exploded into an orange puff, just like all of them had. Then I turned around and jumped into the portal, and this time I was going the right way.