History Recap / Halo2022S1E9Transcendence

Makee is ready to trigger both Keystones and reveal a galactic map to the Halo. The Prophets of Truth, Regret and Mercy are all there, praising her for her achievements but discussing in public how they have no interest in her beyond her ability as a Blessed One, and ''certainly'' do not plan to bring her on the Great Journey with them. They are interrupted by Silver Team, who quickly establish control over the area. Unfortunately, the Prophets have backup: literally ''hundreds'' of Sangheili Zealots come swarming in. Even worse, Makee triggers the Keystone, teleporting her and John to the mental version of Halo. Makee announces she's staying here... but is interrupted when she begins to bleed from her chest. Kai, seeing the Chief ensnared in the vision, did the only things she could.

* OhCrap: Adun tries to knock out Kai with a large piece of metal, only to realize that was a ''very bad idea'' when it barely staggers her. That bad idea ends up costing him his life when Kai slams him up into the ceiling head-first. If that didn't kill him, the ship crashing sure did.

* ItsPersonal: Kai chases after Halsey while the other Spartans attempt to secure Makee, desperate to learn about her past.

* MythologyGag: The lead Brute, who challenges John in the final fight and is implied to be the one who retrieved the Keystones on Eridanus II, is identified by John's helmet HUD as "[[VideoGame/HaloInfinite Atriox]]."

* BluntYes: After their confrontation in the hangar, Kai asks Riz and Vannak if they were ''really'' going to shoot her...
-->'''Vannak:''' Absolutely.\\

** Kai then admits [[HypocriticalHumor she was also ready to kill them too, but at least she would have felt bad about it]].

* AdaptationEarlyAppearance: The Brute first encountered in Episode 5 is affirmed to be Atriox, who was introduced in ''VideoGame/HaloWars2'' as the leader of the Banished, an offshoot group of the Covenant who were unknown to the UNSC until long after the Human-Covenant war ended. His signature cheek scar is introduced as Master Chief shoots him with a DMR.

** It's clear that the real Halsey doesn't given a damn about her loyal assistant Adun and uses him and a flesh clone as a distraction.

** Adun is with a flesh clone of Halsey and gets himself killed trying to take out Kai. It's clear that the real Halsey doesn't given a damn about her loyal assistant.

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Mercy makes it clear that the Covenant is just using Makee to find the Halo and intend for her to burn with the rest of humanity. It becomes a moot point when Kai kills her.

* DeliberateInjuryGambit: Faced with being overwhelmed by Covenant forces, Chief doesn't have the opportunity to regroup his team, escape the planet AND recover the artifact that will immobilize him if he grabs it. But knowing Cortana is capable of taking direct control of his body if his mind is "gone," he allows himself to take a direct hit from a gravity hammer to knock him unconscious. Cortana then takes over, able to one-shot nearby enemies with ease, remote in the Condor drop ship for assistance and retrieve the artifact (as it was established the artifact doesn't react to Cortana even in John's body) in short order. The caveat is that John's mind may be irrecoverable.

As Silver Team becomes overwhelmed, John realizes he has no ability to both save his TrueCompanions and retrieve the Keystones. So he TakesAThirdOption: he becomes Cortana's MeatPuppet ''voluntarily''. When Cortana protests that she may not be able to give his body back to him, he merely replies, "I trust you." Thus augmented, the Master Chief becomes a true OneManArmy, mowing through the Covenant troops and vectoring in the Pelican DropShip with its MoreDakka when sidearms aren't enough. The Chief grabs both Keystones -- which do not react -- and carries them aboard, and then helps stabilize Riz (who got hit with a Covenant StickyBomb) by cauterizing her wound with an improvised blowtorch. The Chief then returns to the cockpit of the Pelican, helmet still on, to bring the Keystones back to Reach.

John, Miranda, Cortana and Parangosky confer in the lab. Makee mentioned that the Covenant had taken the Second Keystone to the Aspero system, but there's an AbsenceOfEvidence there... in the sense that no readings are getting in or out due to gravitational distortions surrounding the system. John offers to lead Silver Team there, pointing out that four [=SPARTANs=] can succeed where even 10,000 Marines would fail, and Parangosky authorizes the mission. As they approach the NegativeSpaceWedgie, Cortana admits the entire "MeatPuppet" plan to John, telling him she no longer has any interest in it: She has seen John fight for his humanity, and believes this is a cause worth fighting for. They struggle through the distortions and discover precisely what they were expecting: a planet capable of supporting life, where the Covenant must be gathered.

* ChekhovsGun: The phantom Silver Team confiscated in the first episode, and shown to be still examined in the previous episode, is used by Makee to escape Reach.
* DeliberateInjuryGambit: Faced with being overwhelmed by Covenant forces, Chief doesn't have the opportunity to regroup his team, escape the planet AND recover the artifact that will immobilize him if he grabs it. But knowing Cortana is capable of taking direct control of his body if his mind is "gone," he allows himself to take a direct hit from a gravity hammer to knock him unconscious. Cortana then takes over, able to one-shot nearby enemies with ease, remote in the Condor drop ship for assistance and retrieve the artifact (as it was established the artifact doesn't react to Cortana even in John's body) in short order. The caveat is that whatever is left of John is a mystery.
* DyingAsYourself: Makee attempts something like this when the Spartans arrive and the Prophets peg her to be an accomplice. She grabs the united artifact, mentally teleporting her and John to the Halo and implies she can take them there physically, trying to find a different option than the Covenant or humanity. But this is interrupted by Kai shooting her in order to deactivate the artifact and getting Chief back in action.

* IWantThemAlive: The Prophets order the Demon taken alive after Makee has been killed, as he's the only other human with the ability to activate the Keystones.
* GunshipRescue: Cortana remotely pilots the Condor to strafe the Covenant forces, who are too numerous to defeat through ground combat alone. This only gives them breathing room and a way to escape, it's shown that sticking around too long will not go well.
* HealItWithFire: Riz's plasma grenade wound is temporarily sealed by an improvised torch.
* HeKnowsTooMuch: Because Halsey knows too much to be imprisoned or exiled, she's instead been found guilty of treason and is to be executed.

* AnArmAndALeg: Riz gets stuck by a plasma grenade and severely wounded, with burns across her torso and what appears to be a chunk of her shoulder.

* DeliberateInjuryGambit: Faced with being overwhelmed by Covenant forces, Chief doesn't the opportunity to regroup his team, escape the planet AND recover the artifact that will immobilize him if he grabs it. But knowing Cortana is capable of taking direct control of his body if his mind is "gone," he allows himself to take a direct hit from a gravity hammer to knock him unconscious. Cortana then takes over, able to one-shot nearby enemies with ease, remote in the Condor drop ship for assistance and retrieve the artifact (as it was established the artifact doesn't react to Cortana even in John's body) in short order. The caveat is that whatever is left of John is a mystery.

* GunshipRescue: Cortana remotely pilots the Condor to strafe the Covenant forces, who are too numerous to defeat through ground combat alone.

* BottomlessMagazines: Averted. The Spartans' guns hold a lot of ammunition but the Spartans are facing a regiment of Covenant soldiers and start running out of ammo during the fire fight. The viewpoint then switched to first person so we see the counters on their guns hit zero as the guns run dry.

* PraetorianGuard: Elite's are dressed in the elaborate Zealot class armor from the games and referred to as such, contrasting the more subdued armor used by regular infantry.
* RedShirtArmy: Parangosky wants to send twelve battalions of Marines into Covenant space, but John bluntly points out that she could send 10,000 Marines and would only get back 10,000 corpses. He recommends Silver Team, as they're tough enough to do the job.

* TapOnTheHead: Subverted, Adun attempts to knock out Kai when she is demanding answers from Halsey but this only surprises her, and she kills him in short order. It's clear that Spartan augmentations are very thorough and even with her helmet off she is very resilient to blunt force trauma.

* InternalReveal: Riz and Vannak learn about the history of the SPARTAN program. All the Spartans learn that Jacob Keyes was involved, as does Miranda.

* FakingTheDead: Miranda realizes, based on the symptons Halsey displays when she suddenly suffers a seizure, that she's actually a flash clone and the genuine article has escaped.
* GodzillaThreshold: John orders Cortana to take him over completely, know its the only way to secure the Keystones and save his team, even though it means his mind may never come back.

* HealItWithFire: Riz's plasma grenade wound is temporarily sealed by an improvesed torch.

* OhCrap: Adun tries to knock out Kai with a large piece of metal, only to realize that was a ''very bad idea'' when it barely staggers her. That bad idea ends up costing him his life when Kai slams him up into the ceiling head-first.
* RedShirtArmy: Parangosky wants to send twelve battalions of Marines into Covenant space, but John bluntly points out that she could send 10,000 Marines and would only get back 10,000 corpses. He recomments Silver Team, as they're tough enough to do the job.
* SadisticChoice: John is facing the choice of trying to take the Keystone which might save humanity from destruction or help his injured teammates evacuate. He does not have time to do both. He takes the third option of having Cortana take over his body which makes him fast and deadly enough to do both.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Mercy makes it clear that the Covenant is just using Makee to find the Halo and intend for her to burn with the rest of humanity.

Kai sits in the co-pilot's seat. "John? Are you there?"

Makee escapes with the Keystone, and Silver Team mobilizes to secure both artifacts before the Covenant can use them to find the Halo.

* OhCrap: Adun tries to knock out Kai with a large piece of metal, only to realize that was a ''very bad idea'' when it barely staggers her.