It's hard to know which sound is the more frightening, the more deafening, of the two: the thunderous roar of an explosion capable of mass destruction or the deathly silence to ensue? Both seemed quite capable of producing the chills that ran up your spine and crawled under your skin. Master Chief -or John, as some addressed him by- floated aimlessly in the endless space of the galaxy. He'd won the fight, yes, but where did that land him? Somewhere and nowhere at the same time if such a situation is even possible. Alone and unarmed, save for the protective suit still encasing his body. But it would only be so long until even that would become useless. What now? Only time could tell but he didn't have expectations set too high, just enough to keep things realistic.

It was then that a UNSC ship, called the Reclaimer, appeared out of slipstream.

"Find him!" The captain commanded to the two officers standing at her side. "Find him now!"
The two hurried off.

"You should be able to locate him not far from the port side of the ship." A man standing nearby advised. The man was outfitted strangely, for the times, at least. He wore gold armor, that seemed both greek and egyptian at once, and clasped at his shoulders was a gold cloak, and about his waist he wore a blue sash. The greek helmet he wore completely covered his face, but it was adorned with a blue dyed horsehair mohawk. He looked very out of place, to say the least.

The two officers nodded to the man, and they took off. Soon, a pelican was launched in search of the missing Spartan, 117.

"There," one of the officers pointed out to his fellow, gesturing out towards the badly damaged environment suit that all Spartans wore.
It didn't take them long to retrieve the Master Chief, bringing him in through the launch bay of the pelican and re-polarizing the area. They then headed back towards the Reclaimer. One of the men left the cockpit and poked his head through the door. "You all right, sir?" He asked.

This was predictable outcome, really. It wasn't the first time the Chief had found himself caught in a tough situation such as now, and it likely wouldn't be the last either. But all there was left to do was take it day-by-day.

"Fine. Not so sure I can say the same for the suit though" he responded. A slight downplay compared to the truth but nothing too serious for him to worry about. But it probably wasn't something everyone could agree with him on. He began towards the officer. "Where are we headed now?" he asked, wondering about their destination once they would reach the Reclaimer.

"We're on the way back to Earth, sir. The admiral at headquarters is recalling you. Something to do with the fact that you've been out of it for awhile, I think, but ensigns aren't really supposed to know important things." He shrugged. "Good to have you back sir." He added, before returning to his seat.

It didn't take long for them to dock back inside the battlecruiser, and the two soldiers led the Chief back to the bridge, where the captain, who was called Captain Sanders, stood with the strangely garbed man with the cloak in front of the viewscreen, discussing some topic or other. She looked up as the three of them returned. "Ah, so you made it. Excellent." She said with approval.

Of course he didn't know details: compartmentalization. It had its ups and downs but like the saying goes, the ends justify the means. Supposedly, anyways. Chief nodded his acknowledgment to the officer but besides that, didn't respond. He was quiet the rest of the way and observed his surroundings out of habit as the two men escorted him the bridge. The unfamiliar figure, the cloaked one in the unusual attire, is who caught his attention first. "Whose our guest?" he asked aloud to no one in particular, so long as he'd receive an answer.

"Fate. Dr. Fate." Came the voice of the helmeted man, who turned to respond to the MC's question. "I'm from another time and dimention."

Master Chief tensed instinctively, further straightening his posture as he eyed the stranger warily. Not to say that he wasn't already suspicious -that came to him naturally- but he sensed that there was something 'off' about the situation. "Care to elaborate?" Even if this Dr. Fate could manage to conjure some plausible story, the Chief wasn't so sure he'd believe him.

"Well, technically, I can't. The nature of Dr. Fate is, to use your vernacular, 'classified'." Fate told him. "However, I can tell you why I'm here. It's simple, really. My job is to travel between dimentions and times and fix things that are not supposed to happen in the timelines of said dimentions. Your UNSC and I have had a few dealings in the past, actually, though those visits were always kept under the radar, as it were. This time is a little bit different, though. There have been increasingly more disturbing changes in many timelines and dimentions, and I've been tasked with figuring out why. And also to fix them where I can. This was just a side stop to alert the UNSC of your wherabouts, because you aren't supposed to die yet. Though I'm not technically supposed to talk about that, either." he replied apologetically.

He had referred to himself in third person, but why? Master Chief listened without interruption as Dr. Fate explained the purpose behind his attendance. 'Classified' meant that a new boundary was just established, made things a bit more complicated, but that wasn't going to hold him back from voicing his concerns. This was supposed to all make sense, to make everything seem alright and acceptable? And what did Fate mean when he said that it wasn't time for him to die yet?

One question at a time. "The new changes, what are they?" Chief asked Fate.

"Well, that's what I'm trying to find out. Timelines are always being altered to ignore the path that is chosen for them; that's why I exist. And All timelines go through phazes of making more wrong turns and less. But for multiple timelines to simultaneously start to break away from their chosen paths? It's never once been recorded in the history of time. I have a feeling that someone has found a way to alter timelines, and is doing it for some alterior purpose. Though, I have no proof either way." Fate replied.

The whole situation was becoming more complex, more mystifying, by the second. Receive an answer and another dozen questions would pop up as a result. Yes of course the Chief was aware of more galaxies in existence, but the reality of more timelines was just surreal. He still wasn't sure if he could believe it what he was hearing now. Did that mean the Multiverse Theory is true? Hm, interesting.

Next question. "Where do I come in, in all this?" Master Chief asked. Fate had mentioned that he wasn't supposed to die just yet, but that couldn't be the only way in which he was involved in all this. Otherwise Fate wouldn't be explaining all this to him, this wasn't the kind of information that would be given to just anybody.

"Well, if my hypothesis holds out, then the next major wrending in the timelines will start with this one. It will have a cascade effect on the timelines that branch away from it, and we want to avoid that. The only issue is, I don't know when it will happen, or what will occur when it does. So, I'll need to find out as quickly as possible. That is where you come in. You will be able to assist me with that."

"Not quite sure I'm following." Master Chief understood what the job was, just not why Fate was specifically choosing him to assist. Not that he'd had a problem with it, though covering all the whats-&-whys angles would be a plus.

"Don't worry, my good man. You will know when I am ready for you to know." He replied simply. It was obvious that this Doctor Fate, while informative, was picky about the information he shared. "For the time being, let us wait until we reach Earth."

This was not the first time he was deliberately kept in the dark regarding future missions, but that did little to dull that... that feeling. Imagine irritation, worry, suspicion, and a sprinkle of anger all blended into one indescribable emotion. That's what Chief was experiencing right now, but kept his mouth shut and simply gave a quick nod of his head. Begging was not something he would be willing to ever do and besides that, he knew it was unlikely that trying to further prying would get him anywhere. He wasn't always such a patient man but if waiting was what was needed, then waiting he would do.

The trip back to earth went very uneventfully, which was a nice break for a change perhaps; save for the addition of the strange Dr. Fate, who everyone seemed to be uneasy around except for the higher-ranking officers, who didn't seem too bothered by his presence.
Fate and John were directly escorted to the headquarters, but from there, they were separated. Fate was taken by an officer to see some admiral, but before that happened, Fate stopped the big Spartan. "Go and see Dr. Halsey. She has something for you." He told him, then allowed himself to be led away.