(Installation 00 around the Galactic Center.)

The Covenant fleets roamed around the area and continued guarding a very sacred object. A group of UNSC spacecrafts along with the Elites (Sangheili) joined along with them. The bright flashes and streaks of light rushed around the skies and exploded the enemy fleets. The exchanges of violent strikes were seen from the other fleets along with the Ceres Galliot.

Looking below, Peter Quill and his crewmates overheard the transmission from the UNSC and turned to his teammates. Chris-77, Tengfei, Drax, Rocket Raccoon, Mantis, Anna-26, and Gamora understood what they listened. Groot was out of commission since he was still under observation by the UNSC medical staff. R'tas Vadum rejoined with the Arbiter and some remaining Sangheili. Colonel Amnon-Selah led the other troops of the UNSC, like Sgt. Johnson on the other hand.

" You know what to do guys, " Quill said to his teammates. " We're gonna do some scouting job along with the other people, here. "

" The Ark, Right, " Chris-77 nodded.

" So, why do the Covenant need to activate that thing? " Rocket asked.

" Like we have heard from R'tas, it gives the signal for the Halo rings to destroy every Flood colony in the entire galaxy, " Anna-26 explained. " Perhaps, they might use it to eliminate humans too. "

" So, is there a ring in that place? " Drax also queried.

" That we need to find out, " Quill answered and turned to Tengfei. " Now, can we make a safe landing? "

" Hmmmm, let's see..." the Kree Voidwalker scanned the possible landing site using his computer.

Just below the Ceres Galliot, Installation 00 resembled a massive wheel with a series of eight curved arms retreating from its centre, similar to a sea star and bearing similarities to a sun. The Ark Core was the stripped remnant of a material-rich planetoid, asteroid, or other celestial body used for the construction of the Halos, which the Ark constructed. The entire upper surface was terraformed and has a multitude of environments, with oceans, forests and even a large desert. It was not a planet, but an Earth-like place.

Just behind them, some of the Covenant mini fleets had bombarded the Ceres Galliot. The Guardians grimaced and turned around when they felt the enemies were attacking at them once again.

" Cheese! What now! " Quill raised his voice.

" We need to make a landing, stat! " Tengfei answered and patched an audio transmission.

" Ceres Galliot, this is Johnson, " a male voice echoed. " We'll take care of it, you guys go first before we arrive to scout around the ark! "

" Copy that, Sarge! "

The Ceres Galliot had speed-up in descending to the faux-Earth environment in a matter of minutes. With them, there were some air fleets of the Human and Sangheili forces bombarding the other Covenant ships on the ground. Tengfei and Quill navigated their way to an island like area and carefully landed their ship. Everyone left their seats and when the hatch was opened. The team had headed off to scout the area and looked for some people guarding the area. Anna-26 sensed more people coming to scout the place as she saw more Human and Sangheili forces landing the entire area.

" Anna? " Mantis called the Kree-Spartan IV's name. " You seem so quiet. "

" Nothing, " she spoke. " It's just I'm sensing more people will be involved in the scouting mission. "

" More like we're gonna stop the Covenant in activating the Ark, " Chris-77 spoke.

" So, before we get into hindering the guards business, what's next? " Drax asked.

" We take down the Covenant heads along with the Sangheili and return the Composer, " Quill answered and kept moving his head around, holding a borrowed weapon from the UNSC.

" What about Thanos and Septimus? " Gamora added and held her daggers.

" If we see them, we'll take them too. "

The team kept walking around and noticed a group of Spartans, Human and Sangheili soldiers who were also rushing around. Rocket Raccoon moved his head around and kept an eye for any attacker. Mantis tilted her head to the left when her tip of antennae began to glow. She widened her eyes in shock as she felt something was dragging her away from the team. Her attacker was a tall male Jiralhanae grunt who tightly hugged her. He was evilly grinning at the team.

" Mantis! " Drax angrily yelled.

" Oh, shoot! " Rocket added. " It's an ambush! "

" We got surrounded! " Anna-26 exclaimed when she saw another Jiralhanae thug coming.

" Now, let's teach them a lesson, " Chris-77 indignantly spoke and released his Energy blade.

A group of thugs from the Jiralhanae were ready clobber the team down when the Spartan-II instantly struck down another grunt. Chris slashed another arm, leaving the thug yelling in pain. Gamora joined him as she threw her daggers into the other Jiralhanae's eyes and left him bleeding and blind. Quill also shot down another thug by shooting his head. Rocket Raccoon triggered and made a multiple firing to them. On the other hand, Drax instantly grabbed another Jiralhanae's hand and gave him an intense punch and blow into his gut. Then, he repeated it three times leaving him bleeding.

The kidnapper had rushed and escaped while bring Mantis away. The insect lady struggled to break away from the clutches of the thug. Suddenly, some energies of void and bluish cosmic light blinded the Jiralhanae, dropping Mantis down. He was yelling in extreme pain. Tengfei and Anna showed up and blasted him down. Mantis saw them when she was being assisted to stand her up.

" Thank goodness, you guys are here, " she said and sighed in relief.

" We got your back, Mantis, " Tengfei smiled.

" Thanks. "

" There's something I should let you know about that thug, " the Insect lady spoke.

" What is it? " Anna curiously asked.

" They work for the worm people and the two purple men. I saw them from this guy's memories! "

" Thanos and his descendant. The Covenant? "

" Yes. "

" I assume they're responsible for the Ark's activation? " Tengfei surmised.

" I think so. "

" We need to back and warn the others, " Anna-26 said.

" Right. "

Returning to their teammates, Anna, Mantis, and Tengfei saw some of them along with the back-ups, destroying a tower like structure at the hill. The others were still battling against the Jiralhanae. Rocket Raccoon was targeting at the structure when he joined with the Spartans and the Sangheili. Everyone got annoyed at him when he manically laughed and kept triggering his weapon until the structure instantly dismantled.

" All right! Now, it's done for real! " the talking raccoon scoffed.

" Get a grip, furball, " the other Spartan-III sternly glared at him when he rolled his eyes and sighed in his helmet.

" I don't know if he will change, " the Sangheili soldier cringed at Rocket and added.

" Come on, guys! " he raised his voice when Chris-77 and Quill instantly dragged him away the crowd. " Hey, why are you taking me away! "

" Rocket, just shut up and let's go, " the red headed Terran spoke.

" You're embarrassing us, " the Spartan-II added.

" But I...."

Supposed to leave the hill, the other teams turned their attention from a distance when the dark clouds and storms had danced around the purple portal below. The Covenant fleets were surrounding it when the UNSC and Sangheili forces were approaching. Peter Quill stood in between the Spartan-III and the Sangheili as he was staring at the peculiarities in the sky.

" What the hell's going on? " he asked.

" This is not what we have expected, " the Sangheili answered.

" Surely, you will be seeing more freaking things, " the Spartan-III added.

" Damn, that's bad. "

" All ships fire at will! " the male voice echoed.

More streaks of fiery yellow lights aimed and descended to the center of the portal, targeting and making the tower exploding. It was still standing despite of the series of explosions being done. The Covenant fleet were still observing the shooting it. Suddenly, the gates surrounding the portal began to open when the structure in the middle began to descend. Everyone turned their attention to it when there was bright ray of blue light appeared. The rest of the fleets released their weapons to aim it further, however the ray grew larger and brighter leaving everyone blinded and struck.

Moments later, the winds blew harder and faster when a giant dark blue orb had appeared infront of them. The rest of the Spartans, Sangheili, and the Guardians of the Galaxy witnessed this sudden turn of the incidents which they thought the battle against the Covenant was over, but it was not. The fleet of the UNSC and the Sangheili remained lifelessly floating on air. Suddenly, the tower-like object ignited and ascended itself into the giant blue orb. The rest of the Covenant ships had entered to the orb and escaped. The angry grunts of the Sangheili were heard along with the some humans began to murmur. Gamora overheard the female Spartan-III communicating with a fellow soldier as she turned her attention to them.

" What did just Truth do? Did he activate the ring? " the male Spartan's voice asked.

" No, I think he did something, " she answered.

" Evacuate now, at all costs. Return in your fleets..."

" Crap, " Drax angrily muttered. " Now, what are we gonna do? "

" Nothing until we find the Prophets' location, " Chris-77 seriously replied. " We can't let these guys get away. "

(Moments Later: Ceres Galliot)

The others remained sleeping in their quarters when Chris removed his helmet and leaned his back on his seat. He was the only one in the team who was sleepless and looking around the ship's window in autopilot. He saw the stars dancing and floating on the bright cloudy arms of the Milky Way Galaxy. The Spartan-II sighed in relief and smiled while staring at the most beautiful scenery in the universe.

" Joining Guardians of the Galaxy reminds me of my early missions as a Spartan-II, " he thought. " Well, it's nice to get along with the gang. Speaking of them, Wait Daisy! How is she doing back there? "

Chris received a call when Cortana showed up, reminding him to pick up the call. He pressed his device when a holographic image of a blonde Spartan-II lady showed up.

" Hello, Daisy? " he curiously answered.

" It's good to see you again, Chris," Daisy smiled.

" Daisy, thank goodness, you're safe. I thought you have died back in Reach. We have been there more than two weeks ago, " Chris answered.

" I'm alright now, " she replied. " Master Chief told me everything about your missions with the Guardians. It's too bad, I wasn't there with you. I was assigned to spy on a Covenant Empire planet. "

" Hey, it's okay, we're both doing the same thing, except for one thing. Starlord's crew had increased in number, " he joked and chuckled. " First of, it's me and Cortana, Then, Anna-26 from Corbulo, and our new member, R'tas Vadum. "

" An Elite joined you guys? " she raised her voice. " I have never thought he would join. "

" Well, thanks to the money-grabbing and gun-totting raccoon, he convinced the Sangheili to join the motley misfits club. "

Daisy softly laughed upon hearing her male friend's statements and replied, " That annoying furball! I didn't realize he has changed. "

" Well, it's a long story to tell, " Chris continued. " When this is over, I hope you will be so thrilled to hear my stories about them. You know this reminds me of our early days of Spartan-II training. But joining them, it was more hilarious, thrilling, and lighter than what we experienced before. I admit there are bad times. "

" I should have known and joined you in the first place, " she sighed and changed the topic. " But I heard a lot of our troops died back in Reach, I was there in the other city before the glassing. Where were you?"

" New Alexandra, we immediately left after that, " he spoke. " So, are you still in the headquarters? "

" Yes. "

" Oh, that's good to know, " Chris sighed in relief.

Daisy-023's face looked puzzled and deeply pondered to say something to her best friend. She wanted to confess her true feelings and reveal of her past to him. Chris-77 noticed of his friend's long silence and curiously raised his eyebrows, wondering if she could say something.

" Daisy, are you there? " he called her attention.

" Chris! " she got surprised. " You startled me. What's wrong? "

" It seems you need to say something. Can you tell me what's in your mind? "

" Well, I was supposed to tell you this before, " Daisy continued. " I found my home before I got abducted several years ago. Remember the time I escaped from the training facility along with Ralph and the others? "

" Yeah, what did you find? "

" There was a girl in the wheelchair who looked like me. She was staring at the flowers in the garden. I was about to shoot her head out of my frustration, but I decided not to take her life and felt sorry for her, instead we had a chance to talk about our lives and those dreams we shared. "

" So, that girl was your clone? "

" Yes, then before I left she gave me this keychain, " Daisy replied and showed the little teddy bear keychain.

" That's adorable. "

" It's a gift from her, reminding me of the childhood stolen and deprived from me, " she sadly sighed. " Someday, we will finish this unending war and have a normal life. I don't want to be involved anymore. "

" I'm sorry you lost your chance of growing up what you have always wanted, " her best friend empathized. " I know for sure you can get through of this. "

" I hope so. "

" Oh, by the way, how's my mother? Is she still there with you? "

" Well, do you wish to see and talk to her? "

" Sure. Go ahead, Daisy. "

The old woman with short platinum blonde locks in a lab coat stood beside the other Spartan-II and felt pleased to see her son. Dr. Catherine Halsey was there to talk with her son when Chris was surprised to see his mother.

" Mom! " he happily greeted.

" Hello, Chris, " the UNSC scientist greeted back. " Daisy and I have talked of your adventures with your new found friends. "

" I take it, she had learned a lot from the Master Chief, " the Spartan-II replied.

" Daisy can't miss a detail from you as she makes sure you're in good hands. "

" Is everything okay back there in Reach's Orbit after the glassing? "

" Well, yes, but the tensions from two weeks ago was the worst. Now, we are all safe here. You look very tired and weary, Son. "

Chris slightly smiled and turned around when he thought of Quill and the Forerunner's encounter. He was supposed to open up and composing his thoughts.

" Mom, I need to tell you, " he said. " I think this is the only time to say about the Forerunner tech. If my friend is awake right now, he should have asked you a lot of questions. "

" Go on. Do, tell, Chris. "

" Okay, how should I start? " he looked at the ceiling and snapped his fingers. " Oh, yes. My friend had met the Librarian spoke of a very important object called the Composer. Then, the Banished kidnapped him afterwards. My friend had an encounter with her again. She was telling him to seek for it. "

" Oh... " Catherine raised her voice and eyebrows. " So, the Covenant has it? Why? "

" They made an ally with the Mad Titan and his descendant. I'm thinking they have been using to eliminate the humans and as a weapon of destruction. That's why I'm still here with them in this mission. "

Daisy and Catherine remained silent and heard his statement. They couldn't believe of the news which it happened.

" Chris, Thanos is long dead. It's too impossible, " Daisy spoke and asked. " How could he possibly go into our present time? Unless, Septimus has brought him here. "

" I'm thinking of that too, " he answered. " I have a feeling that he met with the Prophets and went to see the Forerunner, stealing that object. Do you guys get what I have theorized? "

" Septimus is still existing, " his mother replied and crossed her arms. " But I really find it perplexing that a deceased terrorist would come to banter us. Wait, Septimus has the twelve stones. I think it would make sense if he brought his ancestor here. "

" But why would he let the Mad Titan from the past in visiting us? " Daisy asked.

" Daisy, remember you explained to the Guardians about what happened to Earth 500 years ago? "

" Yeah, I did, " she nodded.

" Thanos of the past wanted to fulfill what would be the effect of this timeline. He wants to destroy humanity's homeworld. Make things happen for them in the future, " Chris explained. " That's why the Guardians of the Galaxy are here to learn from us and warn their friends what he would do to planet Earth. That's the reason of why they need to seek the Librarian and our help to prevent these things to happen."

" My! " the two women exclaimed in unison.

" Mom, Daisy, " he continued. " Whatever happens to me in the next missions, promise me to take care of yourselves from them. "

" Chris, Septimus is a dangerous man! We don't want you to end in bloodshed, " Catherine warned.

" Whatever it takes, Mom. Being a Spartan has to take a lot of risks. I would protect and support this team before they return to their timeline. "

" Just be careful out there and return safe. "

" I will. "

" Chris..." Daisy cleared her throat and blushed harder. " Goodluck..."

" Thank you, Daisy. "

" We'll see you very soon. "

(Covenant Cruiser: Interstellar Space)

Truth and Mercy along with Thanos and Septimus observed the Composer's blue glow which they felt pleased to see how it reacted with their Infinity Stones.

" Isn't it delightful to have your Infinity Stones made a very effective result to the Composer? " Mercy grinned.

" I made a conclusion that the Forerunner technology was efficient enough using the Reality Stone, " the bald Mad Titan spoke and turned to his descendant. " Do you wish to that again, Septimus? "

" Of course, Great Thanos, " Septimus grinned. " We can make our enemies into ashes as soon as possible. "

" I would like to credit of your works back in Reach. The glassing took effect using the Power Stone, the Composer's energy, and other Forerunner weapons had made it the most powerful form of destruction. Then, you two helped us to activate the Ark. We will be sure the Halo Rings within the galaxy are set for destruction, " Truth concluded. " Soon enough, Ur Didact will be pleased to hear of your accomplishments. "

" Yes, of course, my great prophets. I agree. I wish I could do that too in my present time, " Thanos bowed in reverence along with his descendants and opened up. " But I have sensed some people from the past are working with your enemies. They are lurking around and battling against your noble people. The worst thing is they are after for that Composer. "

The two Prophets got intrigued from what they had heard from the time travelling Mad Titan.

" Who could that be, then? " Mercy asked.

" We cannot tell you exactly, but they are here. "

" Am I going to slaughter them too, Great Thanos? " Septimus eagerly asked like a child. " Am I? Am I? "

" Not yet, Septimus, not yet, " Thanos sternly answered. " But I am really sure, they could be searching for us. "

" Well, Thanos, you have to act now, before it's too late, " Truth spoke. " The Demons and the heretics should be perished. Once you returned to your timeline, you must fulfill of that prophecy. "

" Certainly, I will do it, " he determinedly answered. " Until the Earth will face its fate. In your case, we will plan for the next act against those monsters. "