Unsung Hero

High Charity

Ash and The Master Chief drop down a gravity lift just in time to see the Phantoms containing the Brute Chieftain Tartarus and the Prophet of Truth fly away. They walk over to the High Prophet Mercy, who still struggling against the Pod infector latched onto his throat.

"Truth, where is he going?" Ash asks.

"Earth..." Mercy weakly responds. "...To finish what we started. And this time, none of you... will be left behind..."

Ash grabs the Flood form and rips it off of Mercy, He squeezes it in his hand, and pops it. Mercy gives a strangled cry and dies.

"He got lucky..." Ash mutters.

Cortana's hologram appears on Mercy's throne. "That structure, at the center of the city... It's a Forerunner ship! And Truth is heading straight for it! If he leads the Covenant fleet to Earth, they won't stand a chance. You two have to stop him."

"That Brute has the Index." Chief says. "And Miranda, Johnson, Caleb and Caylnn. He can activate the ring."

Cortana looks at the UNSC In Amber Clad crashed into a nearby tower. "If he does, I'll detonate In Amber Clad's reactor just like we did the Autumn's. That blast will destroy this city and the ring. Not a very original plan, but we know it'll work." Chief reaches for her. "No. I don't want to chance a remote detonation. I'll need to stay here."

"Let me help you." Xi says to Cortana, then turns to Ash. "Put me in."

"But-" Ash starts.

"Ash, put me in."

"...Right." Ash nods and puts his hand over Cortana, and Xi appears next to her.

Suddenly a Pelican crashes onto the platform, and soon the Flood combat forms inside the dropship run out.

"I hope Caleb and Caylnn are okay." Ash says as he readies a Needler.

Cross-Purposes

"Flood controlled-dropships are touching down all over the city!" Xi informs.

"That creature beneath the Library... that 'Gravemind'... used us." Cortana states. "We were just a diversion. In Amber Clad was always its intended vector. There's a conduit connecting this tower to the ship. Head back inside. We'll lead you to it."

A mass of Flood combat forms attack a pair of Brutes near the door leading back into the Mausoleum tower. Two more Pelicans fly in over the platform, one of them disgorging a pair of Flood carrier forms, before they fly away, one heading down to the Lower districts and the other accelerating higher.

A pair of Grunts flee out of the door, pursued by a combat form. The Spartans fight past them, and meet a cluster of Brutes in the next room. The two battle their way through and soon reaches a gravity lift leading upstairs.

"I'll disable this lift once you reach the top." Cortana says. "That'll slow them down... I hope."

The two reach the top and Truth speaks of a loudspeaker.

"Shall we let the Flood consume our holy city? Turn High Charity into another of their wretched hives? No enemy has ever withstood our might. The Flood too shall fail."

The two passes through a room with a dead Elite and a dead Jackal and come to a massive open door. They stand on a platform in one corner, while other similar platforms are spaced around the room.