John-117/Silver: Difference between revisions

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While the rest of Silver Team departed through other means, John took the artifact and the unconscious Kwan with him aboard his team's [[Condor 325|Condor]], setting their destination for [[Reach/Silver|Reach]]. When Kwan woke up, [[Miranda Keyes/Silver|Miranda Keyes]] spoke to her through a hologram and attempted to enlist the girl's help in promoting the Spartans across the galaxy, but Kwan refused.{{Ref/Reuse|Contact}}

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John took Kwan to [[The Rubble/Silver|the Rubble]] to meet his old friend Soren who revealed that [[Vinsher Grath]] had placed a bounty upon her head, making Kwan wanted by both the UNSC and her own people. Soren also revealed that Vinsher had started to execute her father's loyalists as he strove to establish a UNSC friendly government, much to Kwan's disgust. John and Kwan spent the night with Soren's family where Kwan watched drone footage of Vinsher's executions and bonded with Soren's wife and son. In particular, Soren mentioned to John that due to an [[emotional regulator]] that was part of the Spartans' augmentations to be ultra-focused in battle, John and the other Spartans were unable to experience emotion and senses such as taste as normal people, to which Soren revealed that removing it was like "opening your eyes for the first time after living in the dark".{{Ref/Film|Id=Unbound|TV|[[Unbound]]}}{{Ref/Reuse|Contact}}

Coming back to Reach, Halsey reassured John that a new upgrade to his systems would further enhance his battle effectiveness. John reluctantly agreed to the operation, in which [[Cortana/Silver|a new Artificial Intelligence]] created from a live clone of Halsey was implanted into his brain. The AI, known as Cortana, was activated soon upon the operation. While the AI stated her directive to overtake John's body, Halsey limited Cortana's access of John for the time being. John soon woke up and met Cortana, though he was not impressed and was naturally suspicious, dismissing her overly enthusiastic attempts to assist him and introduce herself to Silver Team. However, Cortana did help John to remove his [[emotional regulator]] pellet as Halsey prodded the AI to help him in order to gain his trust.

When John came about, the Covenant had landed on Eridanus II, intent on seizing the keystone. John, Riz, and Vannak attempted to shuttle the keystone to a UNSC ship, with Kai authorized back into action to provide sniper support, but a large group of the UNSC forces came under attack. When Kai was inevitably endangered and was unable to cope with the battle due to her new emotions, John, against Halsey's and [[Margaret Parangosky/Silver|Admiral Parangosky]]'s orders, left the Warthog carrying the keystone to come to Kai's assistance, hijacking a Covenant Banshee and crashing it into the squad threating her, Keyes, and several others. Though he saved them all and annihilated the Covenant squad, brutally beating the Elite attacking Kai to death in particular, the keystone fell out from the Warthog, allowing it to be retrieved by the Brute [[Atriox/Silver|Atriox]] despite John's best efforts to recover it. Following this, the Covenant sent a drop pod containing the human [[Makee]] onto the surface of Eridanus II.{{Ref/Reuse|Reckoning}}

While the Covenant recovered the keystone, the Master Chief had managed to save 150 UNSC personnel, to which Keyes personally thanked John and reassured him that they would recover the artifact at a later time. John, along with Riz and Vannak, stood by Kai as she was treated for her injuries. Upon returning to Reach, John locked Halsey in her onboard lab and began activating the ship's UV decontamination system, which, as he explained to a shocked Cortana, had a history of malfunctioning and did not have a functional failsafe, killing UNSC shipbuilder Roman Quinn, who had also designed the decontamination system, during one of the prior malfunctions. Cortana began to scold John, to which he revealed he was testing her limits and assumed she was his failsafe. Cortana began pleading with John to release the mortified Halsey, but he challenged the AI to take control of him and do it herself. When Cortana stated she was unable to control him, John released Halsey at the last moment.

The Master Chief was later summoned to interrogate Makee. John continued to question Makee about her upbringing with the Covenant. The two eventually developed an attraction to one another, something that John had never experienced before.{{Ref/Film|Id=Allegiance|TV|Episode=Allegiance}}

While trying to save both the keystones and Silver Team from the [[Covenant]], John realized that they were outmatched and Cortana warned him that he could only save one or the other. John instead ordered Cortana to take control of his body so that she could do both in his stead, despite the AI no longer wanting to do so. When John continued to insist, Cortana warned him that she wasn't sure if she could bring him back, but John declared that he trusted her. Moments later, [[Atriox/Silver|Atriox]] flung John into a temple wall with his [[gravity mace]], seemingly killing him. Manifesting her avatar, Cortana merged with John's body and used it to defeat the Covenant forces and save both Silver Team and the keystones.{{Ref/Film|Id=Transcendence|TV|[[Transcendence]]}}

John was returned to Reach, badly injured but still alive. As doctors tried to save his life, Cortana frantically called for him to wake up and ordered the doctors to sever the connection between the AI and the Spartan as he began to fade. As a tear fell from John's eye, the doctors permanently severed their connection and ultimately managed to save his life.{{Ref/Film|Id=Sanctuary|TV|Episode=[[Sanctuary (TV Series)|Sanctuary]]}}

Upon reaching the relay, Silver Team was apprehended by FLEETCOM and disciplined, with John's suspicions "disproven". They were to be suspended from combat missions and John was to be relieved of duty until taking a mandatory psychiatric evaluation, with Keyes relaying the message personally, telling him that he argued with ONI and Ackerson against giving him a court martial. Riz and Vannak left John alone, and Kai tried to reason with him to reconsider what he had seen, but when he continued to insist on what he had seen and attempted to invoke his rank, even she left him. On his way to his evaluation, John picked up his signal to Parangosky, then knocked out his ONI escorts before escaping. Upon meeting up with Parangosky at a ramen restaurant, he divulges to her his suspicions, but she warned him not to go against ONI and to play along with their charades. John furiously realized that Parangosky never left the agency, and when he stood up to leave, several men in the background also stood up, but Parangosky motioned them to let John walk away, but not before warning him she could no longer help him if he continued going against ONI. John then met up with Perez's mother, who explained that she had gone to a church to pray. Upon John seeing her there, Perez, seemingly the only person to believe his experiences on Sanctuary, revealed that she had translated a message from the Covenant [[Arbiter]] [[Var 'Gatanai]], explaining the Covenant's intent to destroy Reach in the name of "Great Journey". Shortly after, explosions rocked the planet as the invasion of Reach began.{{Ref/Film|Id=Visegrád|TV|Episode=[[Visegrád (TV Series)|Visegrád]]}}