Cortana and Master Chief were at a large lake (Though it was more like a large puddle to Cortana). "I'm going to see how the water feels." Cortana said to Master Chief, who sat down and began checking if his weapons were in working order.

Cortana took a step towards the water's edge, taking a deep breath, not really knowing what to expect. When she finally stepped in, she froze, with a suprised, almost pained expression on her face. Master Chief noticed this. "Cold?" Chief asked.

"It stings!" Cortana answered.

"I'd expect that from someone who's never touched water before." Chief replied, putting up his weapons.

"I think I'll be happier on dry land." Cortana said, stepping out of the lake, water sliding down her legs.

Master Chief then got on his feet, and looked to the west. The sun was setting, it was going to be dark soon. Cortana looked at Chief. "Something bothering you?" She asked.

"No," Chief answered, looking back at Cortana; "I'm just wondering if we can find the other Marines."

"They have to be somewhere around here." Cortana replied, kneeling down close to Master Chief.

"What has kinda suprised me is that for a Covenant-occupied planet, I haven't seen a single hostile since that camp we raided." Chief began saying; "It's as if that's all they had down here..."

At that exact moment however, Cortana looked in the direction of a valley not too far away. "You may have spoken too soon. I've just detected Covenant activity in that valley over there." Cortana said, standing erect to her full height.

"Lead the way, I'm ready." Master Chief replied readying his battle rifle...

Meanwhile, a Pelican dropship was flying over the forested landscape of Jiantto. Inside were the marines that Sgt. Johnson and Pvt. Jones had met up with. "Where do you think she is?" Jones asked Johnson.

"How she got so damn big is my question." Johnson replied.

They were, of course, talking about Cortana. The visual that recon had provided shocked all the marines, even Johnson, and now they were searching for her, and Master Chief. "Still no sign." Sgt. Mendosa said, looking at a radar screen.

"Just keep looking." Johnson replied...

Master Chief looked over the valley Cortana had led him to. All around, there was nothing but Covenant; Grunts, Elites, Jackals, you name it. There were several small, metallic bunkers scattered about the area, with a Covenant Cruiser at the northwest end of the base. There was a massive hanger-style building near the cruiser, with some kind of machine housed inside. "That machine must be the weapon you talked about, Cortana." Master Chief said, looking over his shoulder to Cortana, who was lying out of sight.

"Most likely." Cortana answered. "So, what do we do?"

"Scare the hell out of 'em," Master Chief began; "There's a group of Grunts not too far from where we are. You try your best to stay out of sight. I'll get them riled up, and dare them to attack me. When they're almost at me, show yourself. Then we can give 'em some hell."

"Sounds good to me." Cortana replied.

At the camp, a group of Grunts was patrolling their area of the base. One of the Grunts saw something move, a green, humanoid object slowly walking toward the group. The Grunt didn't know what it was at first, but then realization struck. "Demon!" It shouted in a high-pitched voice, typical of Grunts.

Another Grunt let out a yell, and a red Elite emerged from a tent-like structure. The Grunt pointed to Master Chief, who was simply standing there. The Elite roared, and charged. Chief stayed where he was, because he knew that Elite wasn't going to do anything to him. When the Elite was about fifthteen feet from Chief, something came crashing down in front of the Elite. It was big, and blue. The Elite jumped backward in shock, and fell on his back. He was looking at Cortana's foot. "Hey, look up... Higher." A voice from above said.

The Elite did just that, and wished he hadn't. Cortana was glancing down, hands on her hips, a sly grin on her face. "Not so tough now, are ya?" She said in a taunting way.

The Elite, clearly intimidated by something ten times his size, scrambled to his feet. One thing was going through his mind; Run. He whipped around and ran, but Cortana set her left foot down in front of him. "Going somewhere?" She said, lifting up her right foot.

The Elite fell to the ground, trembling. Cortana held her foot over him. "Chief, you might want to look away." Cortana said, looking at Master Chief.

"No, go ahead." He replied.

Cortana began lowering her foot. "Say goodnight, split-lip!" She said, bringing her foot down on the Elite.

The Elite screamed, as Cortana's massive foot came down on top of him, the force beginning to crush his armor and bones. When the Elite stopped screaming, Cortana lifted her foot. There was a deep impression in the ground, the flattened body of the Elite lying inside. "I always wanted to do that." Cortana said with a laugh.

"Never thought I'd see that." Master Chief replied.

Cortana then glanced over to the Grunts, who stood still, frozen in fear. They thought Master Chief was scary, but an eighty-foot giantess was something else, especially after she just stomped a Major Elite into the ground. "You're all next!" Cortana shouted in an intimidating manner, which sent the Grunts running.

Cortana walked toward the fleeing Grunts, and was on top of them in an instant. Their fate was no different than what happened to the Elite. Of course, by now the Covenant pretty much knew that Cortana and Master Chief were inside the base. Cortana heard a shrill noise, and looked to the sky. Flying straight toward her was a trio of Banshees. "Cortana!" Chief shouted; "Set me up on you, let me give you a hand."

"Okay." Cortana replied, taking Chief in her hand and setting him on her shoulder. "Here they come!"

The Banshees swooped down, firing their plasma cannons, the super-heated missiles of energy searing Cortana's flesh. She reeled backward, in pain, but trying not to let it get to her. The Banshees turned around for another pass, but Cortana was ready. She jumped up in the air and grabbed a Banshee in her right hand. She closed her hand around the aircraft, crushing it like a soda can. Another Banshee flew in close, but Cortana smacked it out of the air like a fly. The third Banshee fired its Fuel-Rod Cannon, the green mortar of energy striking Cortana in the back. Cortana fell on her knees, and Master Chief almost fell off Cortana's shoulder. The Banshee then came around to attack again, but Master Chief saw it, and took out his rocket launcher while Cortana brought herself to her feet. "Come on... Come on..." Master Chief muttered.

The rocket locked on. "Bull's eye!" Chief shouted.

Chief fired his rocket, the projectile crashing into the Banshee, which exploded, its flaming wreckage plummeting to the ground. "Nice save, Chief. I owe you one." Cortana said.

"No problem." Chief replied, reloading his weapon.

Next came two Ghosts. The small but fast vehicles zoomed toward Cortana, firing their plasma guns. Several Elites on foot were unloading with plasma rifles and needlers. None of this was really hurting Cortana at this point, but it was annoying her more than anything else. One of the Ghosts came in too close and Cortana kicked it aside like a soccer ball. Cortana, not wanting to waste time with the Infantry Elites, simply stepped over them, and kicked aside the other Ghost with ease. The base was basically in chaos by this point. A Phantom, a kind of fighter/dropship, dropped a group of Elites and Jackals, and prepared to fire its Plasma Turrets. Cortana grabbed it before it could do anything though, and she tossed it to the ground, ripping off the turrets in the process. She then bulldozed the Elites and Jackals with little trouble (One Jackal thought he could use his shield to protect him, but you probably know the results of that). "Wish I had it this easy." Master Chief said, who was practically enjoying this.

"I don't think they have any clue what's happening to them." Cortana replied.

By now, they were at the rear of the base, where the Covenant battle cruiser sat, as well as whatever the Covenant was constructing. "This must be that thing called the Scarab." Cortana figured.

The machine was massive, with six legs, and what seemed like a massive energy cannon mounted on the front. "This has to be it. We have to destroy it before the Covenant finishes it." Master Chief said, readying his rocket launcher.

Suddenly, there was a humming sound. Then, the Scarab began moving, as the force field holding it in place dissipated. Inside, there were several Elites in front of a console, controlling the Scarab. The machine walked out of the hanger, and it was an impressive sight. It was probably fifty-feet tall, and its length matched Cortana's height (Eighty-feet). "Cortana," Chief began saying; "You deal with the Scarab, I'll go and take out the cruiser. Think you can handle it?"

"I can do it." Cortana replied, setting Master Chief on the ground. "Go for it."

Master Chief dashed toward the ship, which was holding position about two-hundred meters above the ground. The only way to enter the ship was via the gravity lift, which transported troops and supplies between the ship and the ground. Chief was almost there, but the Covenant saw him first. In the ship's control room, two Elites, a Spec Ops and a Major were watching Chief's arrival. "Do not allow him in! Shut down the lift!" The Major shouted.

When Master Chief stepped inside the lift, he began to ascend into the ship, but he noticed that the field around the lift began to disappear. Chief kept his cool though, and he nearly reached the top, but the lift suddenly stopped. Chief reached out, and grabbed the edge of the ship, just as the lift shut down. He climbed over, and slumped against a wall, to catch his breath. He almost wound up falling to his death. "No time to fool around." Chief said, as he brought himself to his feet, and readied his battle rifle.

Cortana breathed a sigh of relief seeing that Master Chief made it. Then she turned to face the Scarab, ready to fight...

Cortana eyed the Scarab carefully, waiting for it to make its move. The six-legged, insectiod machine didn't really seem like that much, but Cortana wasn't intent on taking a chance of any kind. She started off with a right hand punch, but the machine actually lifted one of its legs, blocking the hit. Cortana was shocked at first, believing that it seemed impossible that the Scarab was capable of this, considering the way it was contructed. None the less, Cortana tried a left hand, but the Scarab blocked with another leg. Cortana couldn't believe it. Then, it was the Scarab's turn. In an astonishing feat of flexibility, it actually reared up, standing on its hind legs, using its forelegs as arms. Cortana grabbed the machine's "arms", one in each hand, and began pushing. The Scarab however applied pressure of its own. It was like two wrestlers trying to overpower one another. Finally, the Scarab jabbed at Cortana's stomach with its middle legs, knocking Cortana off her feet, crushing some unlucky Covenant. Cortana sat up, amazed at what the unusual machine had just done. "This is going to be more difficult than I imagined." She said to herself.

Meanwhile, aboard the Covenant cruiser, Master Chief was having a slightly easier ride. He was working his way through the hallways of the cruiser, trying to reach the control room. He still had not thought of how he was going to destroy the ship though. He didn't really have that much time to think, because things had been happening pretty fast since he managed to get aboard. Things didn't seem to slow down either, as Chief gunned through a group of Grunts. "Ugh, these guys don't quit." Chief said to himself, reloading his battle rifle with his last bit of ammunition.

After going a sliding door, Chief found himself inside, what he assumed to be, the control room of the cruiser. It featured a large platform in the center, with several screens and strange glowing panels. There were also several Elites, bearing down on Master Chief. He dashed toward across the room, dodging the shots from plasma rifles and needlers. He tossed a frag grenade, which bounced off a wall behind two Elites. The grenade exploded, the concussive force of the blast knocking both Elites to the ground. Chief ducked behind a crate, picking off the other Elites using the sniping capabilities of his battle rifle, finally emptying its ammo supply. After eliminating the last Elite, Chief looked around the control room, trying to figure out a way to destroy the ship. Suddenly, he heard something behind him. He turned around, seeing nothing. Then, something came up and struck him across the face, knocking him to the floor. "What the hell?" He said, trying to get up.

He heard a strange chuckle, similar to an Elite's, but deeper. "Show yourself!" Chief shouted.

Out of the shadows stepped an Elite, and he was a sight. Nine feet tall, clad in jet black armor, and had certain reptilian features. "I am Kusen, leader of the Covenant on this planet. Demon, you are meddling in what you don't understand." The Elite said...

Back outside, Cortana was still battling the Scarab, which was putting up a suprising fight. Cortana gave a karate-chop to the machine, but it only dented its thick armor. The Scarab used the blunt end of one of its legs to strike Cortana in the chin, knocking her back a few steps. It used another leg to bash Cortana in her right side, once again knocking her down. Cortana, rolling on the ground, holding her hip, looked up and saw a green glow in the front of the Scarab. It was charging its energy cannon. Cortana rolled out of the way, a stream of pure energy shooting from the Scarab. The beam traveled along the ground, causing a series of massive explosions, with dirt and debris flying through the air in all directions. When it settled, the beam literally carved through the terrian, like a chainsaw through a tree. Cortana, trying not to let this deter her, brought herself to her feet.

Meanwhile, Master Chief was taking a beating of his own. Kusen struck Chief in the face again, knocking him down. Kusen laughed, kicking at Chief. "This is what makes my troops cower in fear? How pathetic."

Chief suddenly kicked Kusen in the knees, causing him to fall to the ground. Chief jumped to his feet. "Get up! Then we'll see who's pathetic." Chief said.

Kusen got on his feet, and lunged at Master Chief, but Chief ducked. Kusen lunged again, but this time he recieved a clothesline for his effort. Kusen then drove his fist into Chief's helmet, cracking it. Chief then grabbed Kusen and tossed him into a wall. Kusen brought himself back to his feet, and took out from his armor an object that looked like a metal stick. "It's time to end this." Kusen said, with a sinister laugh.

The stick began pulsing with energy, and a plasma sword materialized. Kusen rushed at Master Chief, sword first. Chief dodged to the side, but the sword knocked off part of his armor, the hit making him stagger. "Come on, coward!" Kusen shouted, charging again.

Chief spun around, the sword missing him. He then jumped and kicked Kusen in the back of the head. The sword fell from Kusen's hand, and slid along the floor.

Kusen crawled along the floor toward the sword, obviously hurt by the kick. He almost had the sword, but Master Chief grabbed him by the legs, and dragged him away, and began unloading with several righthands to the face...

Outside, Cortana was finally gaining the upperhand on the Scarab. She was on top of it, pounding it repeatedly with several chops. The machine thrashed about, trying to throw Cortana off, but to no avail. Cortana reached out, and grabbed the Scarab's cannon, trying to rip it off. The Scarab almost collasped, both from Cortana's weight and it being incapacitated by Cortana's pulling on the cannon. Its legs began to break from the extreme weight, and finally, it could take no more, The machine fell to the ground, and Cortana began to pull the Scarab's cannon from its body. "Come on, come on..." Cortana muttered to herself.

Finally, the cannon, was pulled from the Scarab. The Scarab was now out-of-commission, wires and steel material hanging from its smoking hull. However, the cannon was still operational. "I hope this works." Cortana said to herself, aiming the cannon at the dropship.

Back on the ship, Kusen had Master Chief by the neck, trying to choke him. Chief was already battered and bruised, never before had he been beaten so severely. Kusen, sensing that his oppodent was fading, formed an expression of victory on his face, one that only an Elites was capable of. "This is the end of your reign of terror, Demon." Kusen said, tightening his grip on Chief's throat.

Just as Chief was about to go out cold though, he saw a green glow through a window. Cortana was charging the Scarab's energy cannon. Mustering some strength, he kicked Kusen hard in the gut, causing Kusen to release him. "Not tonight, brother!" Chief shouted.

The cannon then fully charged. "Get you ass out of there, Chief." Cortana said.

Chief made a run through the door, out of the control room. Kusen brought himself to his feet, angry that Chief had escaped. Then, he saw a beam of energy shoot from the Scarab cannon, directly toward him. The energy of the weapon filled the room, frying Kusen, who had a look of shock and anger on his face. There was a massive explosion, obliterating the entire control room. This set off another explosion, and another. Chief made a mad-dash through the cruiser, not slowing down for an instant, for he knew that the section behind him was being annihilated. Cortana continued firing the cannon, this time setting off a chain reaction of explosions, which spread throughout the cruiser. Chief ran back to where he entered: The gravity lift, which had reactived. Chief leaped down the gravity lift, the cruiser collasping and exploding around him. He reached the bottom of the lift, and collasped, rolling down the hill, away from the cruiser. He rolled into a rock, and knocked unconscious.

Sometime later, Chief slowly came to his senses. His vision was blurred, but he began to focus. He saw Cortana looking down at him, a look of relief on her face. "At last. You okay, Chief?" Cortana asked.

"Yeah, considering what had happened to me." Chief said, beginning to move.

Cortana noticed blood dripping from a crack in Master Chief's helmet. "Must have been beat up pretty badly."

"Can't keep a good soldier down." Chief replied.

Suddenly, Chief's radio activated. A voice came in over the static; "Chief! Can you hear me? This is Johnson!"

"Johnson, where are you?" Chief asked.

"We're north of your position. What's happening?" Johnson replied.

"Let's just say I've been through Hell and back." Chief said in response.

A Pelican dropship flew in, and landed near the area where the Covenant cruiser once stood. The marines walked out from the rear of the craft, Master Chief going up to meet them. Cortana stayed where she was. Johnson walked up to Chief. "Glad to see you're still in one piece." Johnson said. "Where's Cortana?"

"Turn around." Chief replied.

Johnson did, and took a couple steps back. Cortana was standing directly behind them at her full height. Johnson looked back at Master Chief. "What happened?"

"Long story." Chief replied.

"Anyway we can restore her?" Johnson asked.

"Not sure." Chief answered.

"I think I can do it myself." Cortana said confidently.

"How?" Chief asked.

Cortana closed her eyes in concentration, and she began glowing. "What the..." Johnson began saying.

Cortana began to decrease in size, until she was about Master Chief's size. She then touched Chief's helmet, and she seemingly disintegrated. "What the hell?" Master Chief said.

"I'm still here," Cortana's voice said; "Back in your helmet."

"How did you do that?" Chief asked curiously.

"I basically deleted all the unnessicary and excessive data stored within me." Cortana replied.

Chief was silent for a moment. "Why didn't you do that before?" Chief asked.

"I... Didn't think about it before." Cortana answered.

Chief sighed. He was just glad it was all over. "Let's just get off this rock."

Chief and the marines entered the Pelican and left the surface of Jiantto, heading back to Salvation. The exact cause of Cortana's malfunction was discovered. It wasn't only the excessive data, but also a glitch in Cortana's programing. This glitch causes A.I. programs to expand outside thier original data space in order to store more data. (Is this making any sense here?) Afterwards, Cortana was given an upgrade, which removed the glitch, hopefully eliminating any chance of this incident occuring again...

Or did it? You never know...

END