Nexus

Nexus is the eleventh campaign main mission in Halo Infinite, under the fifth campaign section "Reformation".

Overview
Nexus marks the point of no return for the game, as upon completing the mission, the game will immediately begin The Command Spire, which starts Repository on its completion, and so on. Thus, the player will not be able to do any side missions until after the completion of the main campaign.

Transcript
{Gameplay}

Level begins where the previous one left off.


 * John-117: "Where now?"


 * Weapon: "Down... I guess."


 * John-117: "You guess?"


 * Weapon: "Yeah. This is all new. Fresh."

With nowhere else to go, the Chief starts heading downward.


 * Weapon: "The Nexus appears to be below the gravity lift into the Spire. We need to find it."

The Chief encounters a Banished squad.


 * Unggoy 1: "If we kill him here, we'll make the Hand of Atriox for sure."


 * Unggoy 2: "But he already killed Hyperius! AND Tovarus!"


 * Unggoy 1: "That means there's TWO open spots on the roster!"

The Chief clears the room of Banished and moves on to the next room, which contains additional Banished troops.


 * Weapon: "More Banished? (annoyed) How come they're here?"


 * John-117: "To protect the Harbinger."


 * Weapon: "Clearly. Will it work?"


 * John-117: "What do you think?"


 * Weapon: "If I told you what I... Oh, I get it. Sarcasm. You're funny, too."

The Chief encounters more Banished.


 * Sangheili: "Our orders are to protect the Harbinger at all costs! Fight!"

The Chief fights his way through more Banished, as well as the Harbinger's Skimmers.


 * Jiralhanae: "Bring the demon down! The Reformation will not be stopped!"

The Chief enters a room containing a hologram of the Command Spire.


 * Weapon: "Look at that! The hologram. It looks like the Spire above us. We're heading in the right direction."

After killing all the Banished in the room, the Chief heads down a corridor, up a ramp, and into a room with a window that overlooks the floor below.


 * Whispers: "Darkness had stretched its color. Deep blue across the pane. No cloud to make night duller. No moon with its tarnish stain."

''The Chief exits the room through one of the doors on either side and heads down to the lower level. He fights through more Banished, including a Sangheili Warlord and a Spec Ops Sangheili.''


 * Sangheili Warlord: "The Harbinger's work must be completed! You will go no further, human!"

The Chief kills these high ranking enemies and continues down a corridor.


 * Whispers: "Now in this hour of waking from under brows of stone - a new pale day is breaking and the deep night is gone."

''The Chief continues his search for the Nexus, battling more Banished, including a Mgalekgolo pair. After a lengthy fight, he kills both Hunters. He then activates a piston, which raises itself and reveals an opening in the floor.''


 * Weapon: "Well... that's different. What now?"


 * John-117: "Down."

The Chief jumps into the opening and slides down a long winding tunnel.


 * Weapon: (squealing with excitement) "Wahoo!" (laughs)

The Chief lands.


 * Weapon: "That was fun. Wanna do it again?"


 * John-117: "Where now?"


 * Weapon: "Should be close now. Let's look around."

''The Chief searches the room he landed in and quickly spots an unlocked door. He heads through it.''


 * Whispers: "Boundless spaces of night contract. And in your opening eyes I see. Night born in day and in time eternity."

''The Chief sees a group of Aggressor Sentinels behind a window. One of them scans him as he moves by. He enters the room on the other side and finds himself in a massive open chamber. A deep chasm separates him from the other side. There's also an anti-gravity gondola here.''


 * Weapon: "Hmmm. That's not good. We're gonna need to find a way over this chasm."


 * John-117: "Can we use that gondola?"


 * Weapon: "Yes. Yes we can. Get me over there."

''The Chief steps onto the gondola and activates its terminal. The gondola rumbles to life.''


 * Weapon: "Okay. Gondola's active."

The gondola starts moving, triggering a hostile response from the Sentinels in the chamber.


 * Weapon: "Chief, watch out! Sentinels, incoming!"

''Multiple waves of Aggressor Sentinels attack. The Chief holds them off long enough for the gondola to make its way to the other end of the chamber.''


 * Weapon: "The Nexus is close by. This way."

The Chief gets off the gondola and heads through an unlocked door.


 * Whispers: (Hums)

''The Chief comes across another deep chasm, but a light bridge activates on its own, allowing him to cross. There are some Aggressor Sentinels here, but they ignore him (even if he attacks them). He crosses the bridge and finally enters the Nexus itself.''

{Cutscene}

''The Weapon's avatar materializes on the Chief's hand as he enters the Nexus' central chamber. Holograms of multiple Reformation Spires appear all around them. A hologram of Zeta Halo appears as well.''


 * Weapon (in awe): "Look at this place. All the Spires... interconnected. Just waiting to become something more. So much potential. It's exquisite."


 * John-117: "It's dangerous."


 * Weapon: (awkwardly) "Of course. I'm not suggesting we change the plan..."

She gestures at the Spires around them.


 * Weapon: "...but you can see it, right?"


 * John-117: "All I see is a problem."


 * Weapon: "I don't believe that."

She turns around and spreads her arms out, taking in the magnificence of the sight around them.


 * Weapon: "A part of you must recognize the grandeur of this achievement."

She turns back to the Chief.


 * Weapon: "You're not a machine. You can't be that closed off."

The Chief doesn't reply.


 * Weapon: (almost pleadingly) "What will it take for you to trust me?"


 * John-117: (struggling to answer) "I..." (changes subject) "Spire first."

''The Weapon stares down in disappointment. After a moment, she looks back up and gives the Chief a weak smile.''


 * Weapon: "If you say so."

Her avatar dissolves.

{Gameplay}

The Chief accesses the controls to the gravity lift leading to the Command Spire.


 * Weapon: "Hmmmm. Would it surprise you if I said it wasn't going to be simple? Don't answer that. The lift's been disabled... presumably to slow us down. We're going to need to power it back up."

The Chief's VSIR activates.

ARMOR BIOS // MJOLNIR // VER_12.22.19 / ID_117 >> PRIMARY SUPPORT SYSTEM CHECK --- ISOLATING AI --- SYS_REC\> PREPARING A.I. INTRUSION COUNTERMEASURES ... --- DAMAGED MESSAGE REPAIRED --- SYS_LOAD\> [SYSTEM PERIL DISTRIBUTION REFLEX] ... --- PROTOCOL INITIALIZED --- SYS_LOAD\> VISR.HUD.SYS.SPDR ... --- ENCRYPTED MESSAGE DECODING--- SYS_LOAD\> SPDR_01 ... 02 ... 03 ... 04 ... 05 ... 06 ... 07 ... --- ENCRYPTED MESSAGE DECODED --- CONFIRM\> S.P.D.R. [ACTIVE] ... --- REDEPLOYING AI --- SYS_EXIT\> AI.SRVC.FUNCTIONAL ... --- EXITING ---

''There are three Crucibles that need to be powered up in order to reactivate the lift. The Chief searches adjacent rooms for the necessary power seeds. The Aggressor and Regulator Sentinels in these rooms are hostile, requiring him to destroy them before he can retrieve the seeds.''

The Chief retrieves the first power seed.


 * Whispers: "They let me pick. Did I ever tell you that? Choose whichever Spartan I wanted. I did my research. Watched as you became the soldier we needed you to be."

''The Chief inserts the first seed into one of the Crucibles. Blue wisps of data burst out of the machine and form the ghostly image of Captain Jacob Keyes.''


 * Captain Keyes (memory): "Get Cortana off this ship. Keep her safe. If they capture her they will learn everything: force deployment, weapons research... Earth. Good luck, Master Chief."

The memory fades away.


 * Weapon: "Who was that?"


 * John-117: "Captain Jacob Keyes. The Pillar of Autumn was his ship."


 * Weapon: "What happened to him?"


 * John-117: "He's gone. Lost on the first Ring we found."

The Chief locates and retrieves the second power seed.


 * Whispers: "Like the others, you were strong and swift and brave. A natural leader. But you had something they didn't. Something no one saw, but me. Can you guess? Luck."

''The Chief inserts the second seed into a Crucible, triggering another burst of data. This time the data form the image of his past self.''


 * John-117 (memory): "Did anyone else make it?"

Cortana appears next to the Past Chief.


 * Cortana (memory): "Just dust and echoes. We had no choice."

The memory dissolves.


 * Weapon: "Dust and echoes?"


 * John-117: "We destroyed the first Ring. Lost a lot of good people."


 * Weapon: (quietly) "I don't know how you keep doing this."


 * John-117: "I don't have a choice. Maybe it's my programming."

The Chief retrieves the third and final power seed.


 * Whispers: "Could you sacrifice me to complete your mission? Could you watch me die?"

''The Chief inserts the seed into the last Crucible, triggering another memory. The images of the Past Chief and Cortana appear again.''


 * Cortana (memory): "It worked. You did it. Just like you always do. I'm not coming with you this time."

She places a hand on the Past Chief's chest.


 * Cortana (memory): "We were supposed to take care of each other, and we did."

The memory dissolves.


 * John-117: (regretfully) "She saved me... but I couldn't save her."


 * Weapon: "You blame yourself."


 * John-117: "Yes."

With all three Crucibles powered up, the Chief returns to the gravity lift's terminal and deploys the Weapon.

{Cutscene}

The Weapon gives him a look of apprehension.


 * Weapon: "You sure about this? She'll know I'm here. I'll be vulnerable to her. This could go spectacularly wrong."


 * John-117: (reassuringly) "I'll take care you."


 * Weapon: "Okay, then."

She turns around and starts hacking the gravity lift.


 * Weapon: "It's okay. False alarm. She's not-"

''The Weapon suddenly vanishes in a flash of yellow light. The Chief looks around for her.''


 * Harbinger: "Why do you fight the inevitable? Order approaches. The Reformation is but a new beginning."

''The Weapon reappears behind the Chief. She's trapped in a yellow aura.''


 * Weapon: (gasping) "Help me! Chief... stay."

She frantically grabs at invisible threads of data as she struggles to escape the Harbinger's grasp.


 * Harbinger: "The Auditorium will spill its secrets. The Endless will walk this world once more."

Scene switches to the Master Chief's POV.


 * Weapon: (panicking) "I can't fight it! Please... I..."

The Chief's VISR activates again.

VISR. OS \> COUNTERMEASURE ONLINE ACTIVATED DELETION PROTOCOL ... VISR. OS \> ISOLATING AI REQUIRED PASS PHRASE


 * John-117: "Red Flag."

RED FLAG ... ACCEPTED ... VISR. OS \> FAILSAFE PROTOCOL PASSCODE


 * John-117: "Zero, Three, Four."

0 3 4 ... VISR. OS \> PROTOCOL INITIALIZED ACCEPTED

The Weapon stops her struggle and looks at him.


 * Weapon: (alarmed) "What are you doing?"

INITIALIZATION CODE ... REQUIRED ... WAITING

The Weapon grunts and continues her struggle against the Harbinger.


 * John-117: "Samuel."

SAMUEL ... VISR. OS \> PRIMARY SYSTEM COMPILING DATA PROCESSING ... VISR. OS \> CLEANING TRACE DIRECTORIES ACCEPTED DELETIONS ACCEPTED


 * Weapon: (voice strained) "You said... you said... I thought we were a team!"

VISR. OS \> AI DELETION WARNING 3 DELETING ... 2 ... 1 ... VISR. OS \> CONFIRMATION


 * Weapon: (gasping)

VISR. OS \> ERASING AI ACTIVATED DELETION OVERRIDE SEQUENCE

The Weapon stops struggling and turns to stare at the Chief.


 * Weapon: (bitterly) "I thought we were a team..."

The Weapon vanishes in a flash of light, leaving nothing but bits of yellow-colored data behind.

''Scene shifts back to third-person POV. The Chief, now seemingly alone, looks around. Suddenly, there's a flash of blue light behind him.''


 * Weapon: "Take care of it?"

The Chief turns around to find the Weapon standing behind him, fully intact and back to her normal appearance.


 * Weapon: (angry) "You said you'd take care of me! You were going to delete me!"


 * John-117: (just as angry) "And you stopped me. You put us all at risk!"


 * Weapon: (indignant) "No. I saved us. No thanks to you."


 * John-117: "The Reformation?"


 * Weapon: "Yeah, yeah. It's begun. So what? Look what I have."

She produces Despondent Pyre's Encephalon.


 * Weapon: "Infiltration program. Remember?"


 * John-117: (sternly) "You broke protocol."

The Weapon stares at him in disbelief.


 * Weapon: "What is wrong with you? I was trying to help you! Trying to help us! It was worth the risk."

Discouraged, she shakes her head.


 * Weapon: "It doesn't matter."

The Chief reaches for her, but she snaps her fingers and the gravity lift activates.


 * Weapon: (tersely) "There's your grav lift. Let's get this over with."

The Chief retrieves his now very resentful companion.

{Gameplay}

The Chief steps into the gravity lift, and begins the ascent into the Command Spire.

Level ends.

Achievements
The following achievements can be unlocked on Nexus across the all editions of Halo Infinite.

Trivia

 * The passcode "0 3 4" and the initialization code "Samuel" are references to Samuel-034, John-117's best friend, and the first Spartan to be killed in battle during the Human-Covenant War.
 * The pass phrase "Red Flag" is likely a reference to Operation: RED FLAG, the planned but never executed top secret mission to steal a Covenant ship and use it to capture the Covenant Hierarchs. It was the mission for which the Master Chief and Cortana were originally to be paired up for.
 * There is small cache of UNSC weapons hidden behind a locked door opposite the pathway the player goes through to get to the central chamber immediately after the gondola journey. The door to the cache can only be unlocked if the player retrieves a power seed located in a chamber near the gondola at the start of the journey.