As the sun rose up in the east, illuminating the Pillar of Autumn which laid peacfully on a rocky and deserted plateau. With a ocean going on for miles in every direction. The Pillar of Autumn laid on top of the plateau with its nose hanging just slightly off a massive cliff and along with its antenna bent and torn away. The metal on the entire metal bow is scorched below, streching outward toward the other end of the plateau. The once powerful cruiser looks pitiful and it is clear its only purpose now is to destroy Halo. A smoking banshee dove downward from the clouds above toward the crashed UNSC ship, followed by one lone Spirit dropship. Both flying crafts dived down a little more, carefully flying by a few bumblebee escape pod ports.

"This thing is falling apart!"

"It'll hold."

"We're not going to make it!"

"We'll make it."

"Pull up! Pull up!" Cortana urgently yelled before the Chief crashed his damaged banshee into the side armored hull of the Autumn. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Cortana sarcastically questioned once the Master Chief managed to grab the side of the pod port. Pulling himself up as the Spirit dropship carefully flew to the side. Cortana and the Chief hearing thumping music as the dropship opened its door, letting the wind circulate the purple haze out the ship.

"Here's my communicator, Zuma. When we're done, we'll contact you." Jeff said, giving Zuma his Imperial communicator piece.

"Copy. I'll keep in touch and give you guys updates of anything out of the ordinary." Zuma replied before flying away.

"There he goes, so what now?" Jeff asked.

"We need to get to the bridge. From there, we can use the Captain's neural implants to initiate an overload of the ship's fusion engines. The explosion should damage enough systems below it to destroy the ring." Cortana explained.

Doomguy and the Master Chief took point, making their way toward the bridge. Discovering Flood, Covenant, and Sentinels fighting each other along the way. Reaching the mess hall, the Chief fired his shotgun a few times while fighting a few combat and infection forms. The Chief heard a few squealing Grunts and one explosion as a green fuel rod struck the side wall. Carefully sneaking over to the door, he looked in to see a Covenant Spec ops squad inside. Then dodged back in after taking fire from the Covenant after being spotted by a grunt armed with a needler. He tossed in a frag grenade and heard the screams of Unggoy after a large explosion, then heard a few more as the fuel rod guns detonated nearby. The Chief managed to move up ahead in the mess hall. Killing the Spec Op Elites inside and fell back after his shields made an emergency ping.

The Chief ran back into cover, dodging more plasma fire along the way as some bolts wizzed by him. Then noticed the direction of fire changing over to the other side. Catching a glance of the Doom Slayer from the corner of his left eye. Watching his freind unleash hell upon the Covenant, ducking behind a table as few limbs were tossed towards his direction. The Chief peeked up from cover watching the Doom Slayer finish the last Spec op Elite with a glory kill. By ripping out the Elite's mouth before grabbing the head and smashing it into the Doom Slayer's knee. Continuing to hear screams of Covenant and echoing revs of a chainsaw from inside the bridge. The Chief could see a pile of slain covenant piled in the closed section to his left.

"The bridge. We made it. Let's get to work. I need you to upload me into the control systems. Terminal is located next to the main view screen." Cortana said once the Chief made it up to the front.

The Master Chief removes Cortana's chip from his helmet, inserting the chip into a cylindrical terminal nearby the computer screen. Watching Cortana's AI avatar rise up in front of him.

"I leave home for a few days and look what happens. This won't take long..." Cortana replied. Concentrating for a moment as the screen flickers to life, displaying "Self-destruct Sequence Initiated.". With fifteen minutes on the screen, counting down.

"There. That should give us enough time to make it to a lifeboat and put us some distance between ourselves and Halo before detonation." Cortana explained.

Once the Master Chief place his hand out to remove Cortana, only to freeze after hearing an all to familiar voice speak out.

"I'm afraid that's out of the question, really."

"Agh hell."

"Ridiculous! That you would imbue a warship's AI with such a wealth of knowledge! Weren't you worried might it be captured? Or destroyed?" 343 Guilty Spark argued while scanning a nearby console to gather data on the UNSC.

"He's in my data arrays! A local tap!"

"You can't imagine how exciting this is! To have a record of all of our lost time! Human history, isn't? Fascinating." Guilty Spark replied while sputtering about, collecting data from the consoles in engineering.

"Oh, how I will ever enjoy every moment of this categorization! And to think that you'll destroy this installation, as well as this record. I am shocked... Almost too shocked for words..."

A tone was heard from the ship's speakers as the countdown timer on the screen froze at fourteen minutes and twenty-five second mark. That made Cortana respond with a frustrated awe in her voice; "He stopped the self-destruct sequence..."

The Chief and Doomguy aimed their weapons around the bridge, never missing a beat.

"Why do you continue to fight us, Reclaimer? You can not win! Give us the Construct and I'll make your death relatively painless-" Guilty Spark demanded before being cut off by Cortana.

"At least I still have control over the comm channels."

"Where is he?" The Chief asked.

"I'm detecting taps throughout the ship, Sentinels most likely. As for the Monitor... He's in engineering. He's trying to take the core offline. Even if I manage to get the countdown restarted, I don't know what to do." Cortana replied shrugging her arms in the air with a more anxious tone in her voice.

"How much firepower would you need to crack one of the engine's shields?" The Chief asked.

"Not much. A well placed grenade perhaps...but why?" Cortana responded and turned to see both Doomguy and John-117 humorously juggling frag grenades between each other. "Okay, I'm coming with you." Cortana smiled then heard the hovering noise of four Sentinels and yelled, "Guys! Sentinels!"

Both super soldiers reacted with lighting speed. The Doom Slayer tossed a plasma grenade at one then fired a charged shot from his pistol at the other. While the Master Chief ducked behind the holopanel which shattered after being hit by a Sentinel's beam. He reached for Cortana, inserted it back into his helmet, and returned fire at the last two sentinels before moving out.

"The ship was heavily damaged when it crashed. Head to the cryo chamber, we should be able to get to the engine room from there." Cortana said once as the Master Chief and Doomguy reached a recently unlocked, opened door with Flood waiting.

Doomguy rushed straight into action, blasting the oncoming swarm of Flood with his combat shotgun. Pushing them back towards the back door to notice Flood and Covenant fighting each other. Doomguy and the Chief pushed their way through the thicket of Flood, Covenant, and Spark's Sentinels in the long halls of the damaged ship.

Gary and Jeff blissfully explored the long corridors of the Pillar of Autumn. Walking and babbling amongst each other while eating the food they collected from the mess hall vending machine. They continued exploring inside the ship corridors following the pictured signs that were on the floor. To find three Sentinels fighting Covenant Special Forces in the hall from where the stoned duo entered. Gary used the darkness of the corridor to stealthy move to the other side. Peeking out from cover he tossed an ion grenade. Watching it skit and clank across the floor, detonating underneath them. Enveloping the floating machines within an electromagnetic blast wave.

"Clear. Move up." Gary whispered, waving Jeff over.

"Where are we now?" Jeff asked.

"Uhh… I think we're close to… engineering. I think. We just have to figure out a way to get past those guys." Gary replied, pointing at two Hunters and one Spec Ops Elite guarding the main entrance to the engineering deck.

"Hmmm… I might have an idea." Gary said, taking out a new improvised grenade, pulled the pin, and tossed it over. Watching it clank and rolling over to a Hunter's hoof.

The Hunter hunkered down after noticing the grenade. It detonated, releasing a large cloud of smoke around them. The Sangheili who's with them started hacking and coughing as he frantically waved his arm around. Trying desparately to wave out the smoke around him before ultimately passing out. Jeff and Gary waited for a few minutes for the Hunter pair to pass out before attempting to make it toward their main destination. Entering the engine room, Jeff and Gary heard the all too familiar humming from above, looking up to see 343 Guilty Spark sputtering by.

"Yo, Sparky!" Gary yelled, tossing an soda can at Spark.

"Oh. Hello you two. Do you have the construct? So we may continue on our task at hand." 343 Guilty Spark questioned them.

"Uhh, nope. But can a set in a box of sets contain itself?" Jeff replied, asking Spark a paradoxical question.

Jeff and Gary listened to Guilty Spark for a few minutes. Watching the color of red in Spark flash a few times as he tried his best to figure out the paradoxical question he was tasked to answer. Jeff turned his head to Gary, whispering; "Hey? You want to go push some buttons?"

"Yeah... Let's go. His flashing is creeping me out." Gary replied.

"Excellent news! I believe I figured ou-... Oh dear. They're gone again." 343 Guilty Spark said with a concern tone and turned to his Sentinels. "Find them. Kill them." He ordered with a venomous tone.

Doomguy and the Master Chief found the main hallway leading up towards engineering. They both heard deep voice laughing from down the other end of the corridor. They walked over to investigate the noise to find a pair of Hunters passed out on the floor with a Sangheili Zealot painting smiling faces on the steel wall. The Sangheili turned around to see two green supersoldiers standing calm and quiet. He walked up towards them both, shrugged and started dancing while singing whatever came to mind.

"What's wrong with him?" The Chief asked.

"Short answer... He's high. Very high. You might want to hold your breath as I'm still detecting trace amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol in the area. Pretty strong too if it managed to knock these Hunters out cold. Let's keep moving, engineering is nearby." Cortana replied.

They both looked around, looking up to see floating Sentinels patrolling around and 343 Guilty Spark sputtering about as well. Doomguy sprinted straight into action after noticing Flood rushing inside the engine room from an open door.

"Engine room located. We're here. Alert! The Monitor has disabled all command access. We can't restart the countdown. The only remaining option is to detonate the ship's fusion reactors. That should do enough damage to destroy Halo. Don't worry; I have access to all of the reactor schematics and procedures. I'll walk you through it. First, we need to pull back the exhaust couplings. That will expose a shaft that leads to the primary fusion drive core." Cortana explained to the Chief.

While Doomguy kept the Flood and Spark's Sentinels busy. The Master Chief rushed upstairs to the top, activating the exhaust coupling to move back from the fusion reactor. "Good! Step one complete! We have a straight shot into the fusion reactor! We need a catalyst explosion to destabilize the magnetic containment field surrounding the fusion cells. Use an explosive. I recommend a grenade or a rocket. If you run out of explosives, there is an armory station located near the engine room's entrance... Or you could ask our freind for more ammo." Cortana explained, finishing off with a suggestion.

*Engine one explodes after the Master Chief tosses in a plasma grenade into the reactor.*

"Analyzing. Fusion reactor number one destabilizing. Use explosives on the other three reactors. That should be enough to trigger a wildcat explosion of the engines."Cortana explained as the Master Chief made his way to the other three.

After destroying the last two reactors, the Master Chief rushed over towards the last one located by a door. He peered over the edge to see Doomguy surrounded by corpses of Flood Combat forms he massacred with only his bare hands. Watching him dispatch a few Sentinels before grabbing the stoned troopers to meet up with the Master Chief at the door.

Once as Doom Squad reached the express elevator, they were greeted by a Covenant Spec Ops team. They opened fire on the Covenant Spec Ops team, turning them into shreds by their combined fire and borded the elevator.

"Cortana to Echo 419, come in Echo 419!" Cortana yelled over the comm.

"Roger Cortana. I read you five by five!" Foe Hammer replied.

"The Pillar of Autumn's engines are going critical, Foehammer! Request immediate extraction! Approach the crash site and be ready to pick us up at external access Junction 4C as soon as you get my signal!"

"Affirmative. Echo 419 going on station... Echo 419 to Cortana. Things are gettin' noisy down there. Everything okay?!"

"Negative, negative! We have a wildcat destabilization of the ship's fusion drive core. The engines must have sustained more damage than we thought!" Cortana yelled over the com once as they rushed over to a Warthog motor pool.

"Nice. Dibs!" Jeff yelled, running over while Gary chased him. Jumping in, wating for the Master Chief and the Doom Slayer to take point to follow them towards their evac.

"Analyzing... we have six minutes. Activating final countdown timer. When it reaches zero, the engines will detonate. The explosion will generate a temperature of almost 100,000,000 degrees. Don't be here when it blows."Cortana explained as they drove on their way over to Junction 4C.

Two Wathogs pushed through the infighting between the Flood, Covenant, and Spark's Sentinels. Driving through whatever shortcut that presents itself to save time. Gary heard static from his communicator and stopped firing the turret to respond; "Yo! What's up?"

"Guys? Is everything okay down there? I'm seeing explosions breaking out at every location on the vessel." Zuma said over the communicator which Jeff lend over to him.

"Negative! We managed to destroy the reactor and we're on our way to get rescued somewhere on this tub called 'Junction 4C'!" Gary yelled, looking up to see a Spirit dropship flying in.

"Copy! I see you...Damm Unggoy... Take that you Flip-yap bastard!" Zuma yelled over the communicator, firing a few busrts of hot plasma at the Unggoy occupied turret. Killing the Unggoy while he landed down in front of Doomguy's warthog with open doors. Jeff, Gary, Doomguy quickly jumped onboard and strapped into their seats. "We're in. Go!" Jeff yelled and felt the jolt as the dropship blasted straight out of hell, eventually reaching deep space outside Installation 04.

"Looks like our freinds found a ride out. We're almost there to junction 4C. Calling Foe Hammer... Cortana to Echo 419! Request extraction now, on the double!" Cortana ordered once reaching the entrance of Junction 4C. "Wait! Stop! This is where Foe Hammer is going to pick us up." Cortana yelled, as the Chief stayed in his seat watching Echo 419 flying in with two Covenant Banshees intercepting from it's rear.

"Cortana to Echo 419! Two Covenant Banshees are approaching on your six! Evade! Say again, evade!" Yelled Cortana. Witnessing explosion erupting from the Pelican's starboard wing after taking damage from incoming fire. "I'm hit! Mayday! Mayday! Airfoil structures have been shot to hell! I can't hold her! I can't hold her!" She screamed. Sending her pelican into a shaky dive, ablaze and out of control. Screaming into the speaker as she passes under the platform.

"Echo 419!...*off speaker* She's gone. Calculating alternate escape route. The ship's inventory shows one Longsword fighter still docked in launch bay seven. If we move now, we can make it!" Cortana yelled as the Master Chief slammed on the gas right after Foe Hammer crashed. Making his way toward Launch Bay Seven.

Cortana warns John of large gap up ahead and clears it at high speed, flying over the large deep gap. As he reaches the bay, heavy fighting between the Covenant and Flood is seen along with a Longsword fighter docked at the end. He crashes the Warthog into a barricade and sprinted towards the Longsword fighter, ignoring the infighting going on around him. With no weapon in hand, he makes a break across the platform for the Longsword. With the Flood closing in behind him. He makes it through the open door just before them and slams the hatch closed.

"We're cutting it close." Cortana said as the Chief struggled up to the cockpit, quickly pushing in buttons and grabbed the controls.

"Here we go."

The Longsword rises above the platform slowly, turning to face the open end of the bay, and lights its engines, flying away from the exploding ship. The Pillar of Autumn burns with more explosions flare all along its hull. A horde of Flood stumble slowly towards it, and the Longsword arrows from the starboard side of the ship away into the sky. The Longsword clears the atmosphere, flying away from Halo. The Master Chief stares straight ahead, piloting the fighter as quickly as he can. The countdown timer reached zero and Halo is drowned out in a blinding explosion, which grows and grows, and then a massive shock wave sweeps across the ring, shattering it into sections.

*ENGINE TEMP CRITICAL!* The alarm sounded.

"Shut them down. We'll need them later... Fancy a look?" Cortana asked as the Chief pushed a few buttons, shutting down the engines, making them drift silently in space. The Master Chief rose up from his seat and walked over to the starboard window to take a look at the destruction.

"Did anyone else make it?" He asked.

"No... Just dust and echoes... We had to do it, for Earth. An entire Covenant armada eliminated and the Flood. Halo... It's finished." Cortana sighed in relief only for it to end by John's words; "No...I think we're just getting started.".