Zone closes his eyes as he spreads his red aura around the ship. Everything fades to black. Zone opens his eyes and sees nothing but white. He blinks a few times before standing up and looking around. He's standing in nothing but a large white area. 

"Hello?" 

"Hey Rex." Zone freezes. He slowly turns around and is shocked to see who's behind him. A man around his thirties with brown hair and green eyes wearing Spartan V armor and grinning. 

"V-Victor?" Zone says getting watery-eyed. 

"Long time no see." Zone wraps his arms around Victor as he chuckles and embraces the crying Freelancer. "Come on man, you're tougher than this." 

Zone lets go and rubs the tears out of his eyes. Victor smiles and puts his hands on Zone's shoulders. 

"Vic, I'm so sorry man. It's my fault, if I'd only seen that Elite you wouldn't of-" 

"Hey! That wasn't your fault Rex. You need to let it go, that was never your fault. Neither of us could've predicted what came next after taking out those Wraiths. And look at you now, you've got a new team, a girl, and you're fighting to save a planet." 

"Only from the rest our team! Vic I don't know if I can do it. I don't know if I'll be able to kill Gates and Ortez. I mean I know I beat them before, but now I don't if I'll have the strength to do it." 

Victor laughs making Zone raise an eyebrow. "That's another thing you need to understand Rex. Even with your newly acquired 'powers' you need to realize you're not invincible, you're not a soldier, you're just a man doing the right thing. That's all there is to it. Rex when we joined the UNSC and became marines, we didn't do it to be heroes, we did it to help other survive. To have a better chance at a life without fear and destruction. Exactly like what you're doing now on Chorus. Helping them to have a chance." 

Zone looks down at his hand and curls his fingers into a fist. He smirks and looks back up at Victor and nods with determination. 

Victor nods back at him before letting go of his shoulders and backing away, disappearing. Zone then heard Victor's voice say, "You've done good Rex. You've done good." 

Zone reopens his eyes and sees the Blood Gulch Crew and Xi standing over him. 

"Zone?" Carolina says worried. 

"If I ever make another shield like that, please knock me out. Gives me one heck of a headache." Zone groans standing up. 

"HE'S ALIVE!" Caboose shouts hugging him. 

"You okay, dude?" Tucker asks. 

Zone breaks free from Caboose's iron grasp. "Yeah...yeah, I'm good. Uh...uh where are we?" 

Carolina leads Zone outside where they see they're all settling at Crash Site Bravo. Feds and Rebels are all either working on vehicles or sulking. 

"There's more taking shelter inside the ship, but most of us are just scattered around the planet." Carolina explains. "I'm worried about Kimball. No matter what we say, the Feds seem to think she just let Doyle die. She's hardly said a word since we landed." 

"What happened?" Zone says stunned. 

Wash walks up behind them. "The mercenaries escaped. In a few hours this will all be over, one way or another." 

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

At the jungle temple, Felix activates his newly acquired sword.

"Oh, I will never get tired of that." Felix says laughing. 

"We lost too many people." Locus states. 

"Fewer people, bigger cuts. Besides, we have all we need right here. Isn't that right?" Felix looks up at Santa. 

"If you now possess the key, then you have proven your worth." 

"That's what I like to hear. So, when we activate this Purge-" 

"The Purge should only be activated as a last resort, if the inhabitants of the planet are not worthy." Santa warns. 

"Buddy, trust me, I've meet the guys, sooo not worthy. I just wanna double check and be sure that we won't be wiped along with them." 

"(Sigh) Those residing within the temple will be spared." 

"Perfect! Now how exactly do we activate-" 

"What about our remaining forces?" Locus interrupts. "They'll be killed guarding the communication temple." 

"Look, they were good men. Well, actually, they were disgusting, murdering animals! But the point is what they don't know won't hurt 'em...until they're dead." Felix points out. 

"Some of them are former partners." 

"But orders are orders." 

Locus lowers his head.

"(Sigh) Locus, when have we ever looked out for anyone other than ourselves?" 

"They trust us." 

"And what, that gives them some sort of immunity? Survival isn't a right, it's a privilege. It's earned. That's the one thing we've always agreed on. If they deserve to live then they'd be strong enough to stop us and smart enough never to trust anyone." Felix looks down thoughtfully. "Hmm, we'll need to come up with something to tell Price on the Tartarus, you know, once it's done. Maybe the money will be enough." 

A Pirate walks up behind them. "Sirs, Control just sent us a new transmission. They don't sound too happy about losing Armonia's artifacts." 

"(Scoff) Great. You wanna take that?" Felix asks. 

"I thought you were the people person." Locus retorts. 

"Man, you suck. Just ask this thing how to activate the temple, then let's go." Felix starts to leave but stops for a moment. "You know, I wonder how much Hargrove would pay...for an alien AI?" Felix then walks out. 

"My Creators believed the key and their gifts could only be wielded by a true warrior. I was skeptical of the first human...and then even more so of this one. I shall prepare all necessary data for the activation of the Purge." 

Locus turns to the AI. "You guard these relics. You spoke to me in the gateway. Created the things I saw." 

"Correct." 

"Then can you tell me...what did Felix see? What is it he's afraid of?" 

"...Is it not so obvious?" Santa disappears. 

Locus looks down in thought. 

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

The Reds and Blues are all huddled inside working their plan.

"Alright, then we have a plan." Zone nods to them all. 

"You sure this'll work?" Tucker asks. 

"Felix will have to activate the Purge personally, which means Locus will be with him." 

"And since they know our target's the comm temple, it's safe to assume that's where they'll send their men." Wash adds. 

"Zone and I take defense, while the rest of you go on offense." Carolina orders. 

"Just pretend it's a good ol' game of capture the flag." Xi states. 

"You know we're terrible at capture the flag, right?" Grif reminds them. 

"So, assuming that this all plays out the way we hope it will, we still need to take over a heavily fortified alien tower." Simmons looks at everyone. "Anybody else seeing a problem here?" 

"We emptied the armory as best we could, but we ain't exactly armed to the teeth." Sarge points out. 

"It's also worth mentioning that half of our army still hates the other half of our army." Doc adds. 

"Then let me talk to them." Kimball says walking towards the group. 

Carolina and Zone look at each other, then back at Kimball.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Carolina asks. 

"I am." Kimball then walks onto a balcony and tries to get the attention of the Feds and Rebels below. "Excuse me..." All the Feds and Rebels look at her. "...If I could have your attention, please." 

"It's Kimball." A Rebel says. 

"The heck does she want?" A Fed scowls. 

"I know many of you probably don't care for what I have to say, but it's something that needs to be said." 

Wash leans to Tucker. "Think she can do this?" 

"Heck yeah, Kimball's a great speaker." Tucker reassures. 

"I never believed this truce would last." Kimball admits. The Feds and Rebels all murmur in surprise.

"Ohohoho god, we're screwed!" Tucker hisses. 

"I thought that if we managed to survive Charon it would only be a matter of time before we were back at each other's throats. I believe this because in my eyes the Federal Army of Chorus was still the enemy. When you spend everyday fighting a war, you learn to demonize your attackers. To you they're evil, they're sub-human. Because if they weren't, then what would that make you?...What I'm trying to say...is I've been afraid to see you for what you really are. You're our brothers. Our sisters. And the things we've done to one another are unforgivable. But General Doyle was able to see past that. In the end, he understood that now isn't the time for pride or anger, now is the time for unity. Everyday I ask myself, "what do you fight for", and every day I answer, "for a better tomorrow". Well, if we can't set aside our past and start trusting one another, there won't be a tomorrow. So please, fight with me. Fight to see Malcom Hargrove locked away for the rest of his life! Fight to wipe that stupid grin off of Felix's face! Fight because you deserve TO FREAKING WIN!" 

All the Feds and Rebels are silent until a Gunner Fed says, "...Well heck, I'll fight for that" And with that the Feds and Rebels cheer and shoot their guns into the air.

"Wooo! We gon' bring the paaain!" Bitters shouts raising his fists. 

"I've never been so excited!" Jensen exclaims. 

"I've always loved you Katie!" Palomo tells Jensen. 

"What?!" 

"Mis-read that. Alright, let's kill the bad guys!" 

"Not too shabby." Sarge chuckles. 

"Still, it's not gonna be easy." Wash breathes. 

"No it isn't." Kimball says walking back to them. "But you're forgetting that we still have something that Charon doesn't." 

"...We do?" Simmons asks. 

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

The Reds and Blues all lead the Feds and Rebels into the Temple of Arms. Zone and Tucker walk up towards the far end of the temple then activate their swords, while the others watch. Santa appears before them smiling. 

"I wondered when you would return." 

Zone swipes the lock with his sword and the temple lights up revealing all of the alien weaponry and vehicles. 

Zone grabs a carbine and tosses it to Tucker. Zone then turns to everyone. "Let's lock and load."