At the top off a cliff, Sarge is looking out of a sniper at base near the temple entrance. Tucker, Grey, Zone, and Xi are behind him. 

"Huh. Looks deserted." He says zooming out of the rifle. 

"I've heard that one before." Tucker mutters. 

"Xi, any life signs?" Zone asks. 

"The walls of the base are to thick, can't get any clear reading-ings-ings." Xi says slightly glitching. 

"Uh, you okay?" 

"What, me? Yeah! Perfectly fine!" Xi reassured him before glitching once more. Zone stared at her for a few seconds before back to the group. 

"It's likely any remaining Charon personnel would've retreated after you took their research complex. Or maybe they're at lunch. I'm hungry..." Grey states. 

"Well, how do we know for sure?" 

Caboose climbs onto a rock. "IS ANYBODY STILL HERE?!" 

"Caboose!" They all seethe at him. 

"WHAT? OH, SORRY- um, sorry." 

"You big Blue idiot, you'll give away our position!" Sarge climbs up onto the rock. "IF YOU'RE STILL HERE, JUST IGNORE THAT LAST BIT!" 

Zone slaps his forehead. "Why did I volunteer for this again?" 

"Oh! Um, because you said that-" 

"That was a rhetorical question Caboose." Zone cut him off. 

"Caboose, if you could, please, have Freckles run a thermal scan of the area." Grey says. 

"Ah, yes." Caboose takes Freckles off his back. "Um, hey, Freckles?" 

"Yes, Captain Caboose?" 

"Oh, yes, uh, Freckles, could you go ahead and give me a...thermal...sweater to the base...thing?" Caboose asks. 

"Affirmative." 

"Heat scanners and Google Translate. Nice." Tucker chuckles. 

"If you put the brain of a killing machine into an assault rifle, you don't cut corners." Grey states. 

"Can you give it control over the safety?" Sarge mutters. 

"Affirmative. Also, I heard that." 

"Uh-oh!" Sarge steps back a few feet. 

"Don't worry! My tests determined that it was actually safer to give Freckles full control of the rifle rather than Caboose." 

"How'd you test that?" Zone asks. 

"I gave Caboose the rifle for about five seconds." 

"Makes sense." 

"What a busy day at the hospital that turned out to be!" Grey says wiping sweat of her forehead. 

"So what happens when you pull the trigger?" Sarge asks. 

"It releases confetti and makes a fun party sound!" Suddenly they all hear a party sound as if on cue. 

"...Tucker did it." Caboose murmurs. 

After taking Grey's stuff down, Tucker comes out of the base. 

"Yep, the place is definitely deserted." He relays. 

"We already knew that!" Sarge reminds him. 

"Yeah, but I just wanted to make extra sure! You know, for extra safety. Oh look, you finished moving all of Grey's tools without me, maaan, bummer." 

Sarge crosses his arms. "You wouldn't happen to be related to the Grif family, would ya?" 

"I mean, I had relations with his sister! Bow chicka bow-wow!" Zone smacks the back of his head. "OW!" 

"Awwwww...yeah, I don't get it." Caboose says. 

"Right. Let's begin!" Grey walks out and clears her throat before speaking in a monotone voice. "This is the audio recording of Dr. Emily Grey, number 05519. Upon arriving at the excavation site, I made several observations. One; there's a large alien structure protruding from the ground and extending into the sky. Two; it's nice and sunny out today and I love it! End log." 

"Ladies and gentlemen, the smartest person on the entire planet." Xi says palming her visor. 

"I know! It's really intimidating." Caboose whispers. 

"Shut up." Tucker snaps. 

"So. What's up, doc?" Sarge asks. 

"Well, that depends! Who here speaks alien?" 

"Church taught me a swear word." Tucker states. 

"No hablo espanol." Sarge adds. 

"I only know Wingdings." Caboose says shrugging. 

"What, like the font?" Tucker says puzzled. 

"It's a very misunderstood language." 

"Yeah, I think I'M the only one who speaks and understands alien." Zone states. 

"Okay! Why don't the three of you stay here while Agent Arizona, Xi, and I go look at the temple." Grey says before leaving. 

"Don't touch anything guys, last thing we need is accidently activating something that'll make us all loco." Zone orders. 

"Ugh. Fine." Tucker groans. 

"Roger that!" Sarge salutes. 

"Yes! Square plate diamond snowflake happy face!"Caboose says running to the base as Sarge follows him. 

Zone looks up at the temple. ~Why am I getting an uneasy feeling about this place?~ 

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

Grif and Simmons teleport themselves back to the armory. 

"We're back!" Simmons shouts. 

Donut runs up to them. "Finally! I don't know what has gotten into Lopez today." 

"Well, have fun sorting through all the junk. I got a date with some crackers and a can of Cheez Whiz." Grif throws a teleportation grenade to the ground and all the weapons from the research facility reappear.

"Really, Grif?" Simmons says shaking his head. 

"Nah, I'll probably skip the crackers." Grif starts to walk off, then stops in his tracks. "What the...?" 

Grif sees a large group of Feds and Rebels all lead by Palomo, Jensen, Bitters, and Smith. 

"Oh, hey, Grif." Palomo says slyly. 

"Uhhh. Hello?" 

"Can't help but notice you haven't been by the training room yet." Jensen states. 

"Is...Wash still making-" 

"Yup." Smith replies. 

"...and all of them are-" 

"Real tired of running laps." Bitters seethes. 

Grif glances behind him and sees the exit. "...yeah. I gotta go-" Grif starts to back away. 

"Take him! Take him now!" Palomo yells. Everyone charges at Grif. 

"No! They made me do the dishes!" Grif struggles to crawl away but gets dragged back by his ankles. 

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

Back at the temple, Dr. Grey is scanning a series of glyphs while Zone looks at the height of the full temple. 

"Man, they just love height don't they?" Xi says appearing. 

"Ain't that the truth." Zone agrees. 

"This is like, some Eiffel Tower crap right here." 

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

Simmons was organizing some of the binaries and suppressors until Donut walks up behind him. 

"Freeze! Reach for the sky, mercenary scum!" Donut aims a plasma rifle at him. 

"Donut, put that down!" Simmons orders. "It's not a toy, it's...wait, what is that?" 

Donut shrugs. "I dunno. It was in the pile of laser weapons you and Grif brought back." 

"Looks like an old plasma rifle. Guess it got shipped by mistake." 

"So does that mean I can keep it?" Donut asks. 

"Well, Kimball did say all the alien stuff was broken. But I still can't help but feel that you're setting a bad example for the children." 

"Children?" 

"Oh, right, right, Caboose went with Sarge, uh, yeah screw it, go nuts." Simmons then leaves. 

"Yes! Agent Double-0 Donut is back in action!" Donut hears someone clear his throws and turns to see a Rebel with his hands raised. 

"Um...so yeah, can I get my rifle now?" The Rebel asks. 

"I'm on the case!" Donut then walks away. 

"(Sigh) I bet the Feds never had to put up with this." The Rebel says lowering his head. 

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

 Zone was pacing back and forth waiting for Grey to tell him something, being bored he started working on his moves. He took out his forearm and blades and started practicing some new combos. He finishes with pulling out his energy sword and holding it level. 

He stands to his full height grinning and hears a noise. 

"Xi, d'you hear something?" 

"Yeah I did, behind you." Zone turns around and sees a large holographic symbol being projected. He slowly approaches it with his sword still in hand. 

"Uh, Dr. Grey?" 

"Transcribing!" She states. "Please don't interrupt! 'Weapon'...'weapon'...why does it all say 'weapon'? Oh!" 

"I think you might want to see this!" 

"Not now, please, I may have just made a breakthrough! What is that word...?" 

"You should really take a look at this." Zone insists continuing to advance towards the symbol. 

"Is it...'key'?" Grey says puzzled. 

"Man, I don't I've ever-MOTHER OF GOD!" Zone was interrupted by a large red Elite appearing in front of the symbol. He backs away slashing his sword at the Elite who disappears and is replaced by the symbol previously there. And the symbol unlocks making the ground. 

"What did you do?!" Grey shrieks running up to him. 

"I...have no idea." A bright white light begins to blind them. 

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

Back at the armory, Donut sees Simmons and aims his plasma rifle at him. 

"Down on yer knees, pilgrim!" He says with a western accent. 

"Donut, cut it out! Wait, are you supposed to be a spy or a cowboy?" Simmons questions. Donut's gun suddenly activates and starts shooting on his own while he yelps in surprise.

Simmons dives to the ground covering his head. "Ahh! What the heck! Oh my god!" Weapons and transportation grenades suddenly activate and explode, causing Donut and Simmons to scream in panic.

"Ahhhh, god why, what is happening!" Simmons yells. After a few seconds everything stops. Lopez walks in and sees the damage. 

<I'm not cleaning that up.> 

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

Back at the temple, Zone and Grey look up and see a huge array of weapons and vehicles in front of them. Tucker, Sarge, and Caboose run up. 

"What in the heck just happened? Where'd all those guns come from?" Sarge asks. 

"Did you see that?" Zone says still shocked. 

"Of course we did!" Tucker replied. 

"Yeah! I mean...I mean, the view wasn't that great but, um, yeah we got the gist of it." Caboose shrugs. 

A massive booming voice starts speaking an alien language.

"Um. What?" Caboose says. 

"It's...alien." Grey whimpers. 

"No kidding!" Tucker snaps. The voice says something again.

"Well, say something!" Grey hisses to Zone. 

Zone looks up and speaks in Sangheili. After a few seconds the voice groans and suddenly Zone is enveloped in white light and began to glow. 

"Guys? What is going on?!" Zone says fearfully. 

"Just stay calm don't panic!" Grey reassures. 

"How can I not panic?!" Zone then begins to raise in the air begins to glow brighter and brighter until instead of white he changes to red. 

Zone opens his eyes and sees that he's in some kind of dark void. Stars and space were all around him. 

"Hello?" He called out, his voice echoed. "Xi what is this? Xi?" 

"The Bearer has come..." A voice spoke. 

"Who said that?" Zone looked around but there was no one. Then he felt a sense of heat come over him and look behind him to see a pair of large glowing red eyes. They blinked at him and disappeared before Zone started seeing random visions of things that eventually made him pass out. 

Back in reality the glow surrounding Zone vanishes and Zone slowly descends to the ground. The group was shocked at what had just happened. 

"Rex, you okay son?" Sarge says helping Zone to his feet. 

"What-? What the heck was that?" Zone says wearily. "I-I saw things, things I can't explain. I heard a voice saying 'the Bearer' and then I saw vision. Death, rebirth, creation, God only knows what else." 

"Zone. Do you have any idea what you just did?" Grey asks. 

"Lost my sense reality?" 

"You just activated technology that's been dormant for thousands of years." 

A holographic map appears, with a blinking light near the center.

"And now I think it wants you to go somewhere." Grey adds.