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This article is fanon and not part of the Halo universe. The author of this fanon is TheUseanFireBird. |
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| Ventus-A032 | |
| Biographical information | |
| Spartan Tag | A032 |
|---|---|
| Homeworld | Reach |
| Birth date | January 30th, 2524 |
| Physical description | |
| Gender | male |
| Height | 6'10" (without armor)
7'0" (with armor) |
| Hair color | red |
| Eye color | brown |
| Cybernetics | Spartan Neural Interface |
| Affiliation and military information | |
| Affiliation | UNSC Army |
| Rank | Command Sergeant Major |
| Specialty | Specialist |
| Battles | Human-Covenant War:
Fall of Reach Battle of Installation 04 Battle of Earth Battle of Installation 05 Battle of Installation 00 Human-Promethean War: First Battle of Requiem Battle of Installation 03 Second Battle of Requiem |
| Class | SPARTAN-III Alpha Company, SPARTAN-IV as of 2553 |
| [Source] | |
- "SPARTANS have a different way of expressing their humanity. Not through words, but through actions."
- —Ventus-A032 on what it means to be a SPARTAN.
- "I've felt a lot of pain during the Fall of Reach. I'm not letting that pain come to Earth as well!"
- —Ventus-A032 during the Battle of Earth.
Ventus-A032 is a SPARTAN-III Commando and later a SPARTAN-IV Commando of the UNSC Special Warfare Command. The son of two ODST troopers before applying for the SPARTAN-III Program, he fought in numerous battles during the Human-Covenant War and the later Human-Promethean War. Due to his accomplishments following the Battle of Installation 04, the Covenant began refering to him as "The Phoenix" due to his flame orange MJOLNIR Mark V (later Mark VI and GEN2) armor. He is also known for his kind heart, yet extreme temper when he feels that a situation or order isn't completely justified or right.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Details surrounding Ventus's early life is mostly either classified or unknown. It is known however, that he was the son of two undisclosed ODST Troopers many years prior to the Fall of Reach. Ironically, his birth would take place on Reach itself, when his parents were waiting to be deployed to an undisclosed mission against the Covenant. His parents would later die in battle when he was only eight years old, leaving a bitter rage against the Covenant in his mind. When he heard about the SPARTAN-III Program, in which many orphans were given the opportunity to strike back against the Covenant for taking their parents, Ventus eagerly signed up for two reasons: The first was the obvious reason of revenge, the second was a much less known reason.
He had heard stories from his parents about the previous SPARTAN-II Program, and his parents had the luxury of fighting alongside an unknown SPARTAN-II Squadron on one of their missions. Ventus had a secret dream to become a SPARTAN himself, in hopes of fighting alongside the SPARTAN-II's against the Covenant. Upon being agumented into the SPARTAN-III Program, he was given what would become his trademark flame orange MJOLNIR Mark V armor. He also adopted a modified ODST helmet as part of his armor configuration, in honor of his parents. He was noted by his superiours to be very kind towards his comrades, weither they were fellow SPARTANS or normal UNSC personell, but he also had a rebelious side when it came to orders that were "questionable" in nature.
One such case was when he was ordered to put down an entire camp of Insurgents, which also harbored innocent civilians as well. Though he completed the mission, he led the civilians away from the camp before destroying it with an air strike.
The Fall of Reach[]
While en route to an unknown mission, Ventus's ship was immediately ordered to change course and head for Reach due to the emergency Winter Contingency being initiated after NOBLE Team discovered that the Covenant were on Reach. Upon arriving on the planet, Ventus was immediately assigned a new team with him as the commanding officer due to his achievements in previous battles. The team of four was known as Triad Team, due to their emblem being a yellow triad symbol with a dark green background. The first member was SPARTAN Namine-A004, who specialized in mostly in assault tactics, especially when it came to fighting the bigger Covenant troops like the Hunters. Namine was noted to be quiet, yet not afraid to speak her mind, a personality trait Ven would find perticular interest in.
The second member was SPARTAN Riku-A016. Riku was more of a heavy weapons expert, and usually was seen with more powerful weapons such as the Fuel Rod or Spartan Laser. Riku was more open and talkative of the group, and was sort of the older brother of the team. The third member was SPARTAN Aqua-A007. Aqua was the more ditzy member of the team, yet she knew how to get the job done when the situation involved life or death.
She specialized more in close ranged weapons, mostly favoring weapons like the M7 Caseless Submachine Gun and MA37 Individual Combat Weapon System. The first mission the Triad Team had was aiding in the defense of ONI Sword Base in Eposz on July 26th. During the battle, Ven saw Namine's tactics first-hand, when she bravely began attacking a group of Hunters with nothing more than her MA37. As soon as she cut off the Hunter's armor using swerving tactics to disorient them, Ven shot the Hunters using a Plasma Rifle he took from a fallen Elite, aided by bullet fire from Namine. Ven also saw Riku and Aqua in action as well, with Riku taking on a squadron of Ghosts, tricking two of the Grunts using them to crash into one another and destroying the remaining two with his Rocket Launcher.
Aqua fought and defeated a group of Brutes at close range, a dangerous strategy for any SPARTAN, using only her M7, which had only one spare clip left when the Brutes fell. As for Ven, he fought a team of three Elite Zealots in hand to hand combat, besting one of them using it's own Energy Dagger against it, and wielding two of the Zealots Energy Swords against their Energy Daggers. Ven would later say in his debriefing report that it was "Like I was in an old 21st Century Sci-Fi movie.". Ven witnessed the Covenant Corvette in orbit above Sword Base being destroyed by a Super MAC round fired from the Orbital Defense System. On August 11th, Triad Team was assigned to patrol the area around Sword Base in order to prevent another invasion attempt.
Although the operation ended successfully, the Covenant would eventually take Sword Base later on. A day later on August 12th, Triad Team was deployed alongside the UNSC Forces in order to destroy the landing tower Spire Two, while NOBLE Team was deployed to destroy Spire One nearby. While Riku and Aqua gave them cover, Ventus and Namine infiltrated Spire Two and disabled the shield, then setting the place to self-destruct with the use of explosives. Around the time they escaped, they witnessed the destruction of UNSC Grafton at the hands of the Covenant supercarrier Long Night of Solace. Two days later on August 14th, Triad Team were introduced to the at the time highly classified Sabre Program.
Upon receiving four of the top secret fighters, they were immediately deployed to aid in the defense of one of the Orbital Defense Platforms of Reach, though it was never specified nor revealed which one. The only thing known was that although they were successful in repelling the Covenant temporarily, the arrival of the massive Covenant invasion fleet immediately after OPERATION Uppercut forced them to retreat from the immensive amount of enemy figthers. Though they managed to escape via atmospheric reentry, their Sabres were totalled as a result. After they returned to friendly territory, they were put on emergency standby until August 23rd, when New Alexandria was invaded by the Covenant. During the standby, Ventus took the opportunity to get to know his teammates more, as the constant mission deployment restricted his free time to do so on other occasions.
While getting to know his three teammates, he also learned their reasons for joining the SPARTAN-III Program. It was also during that time that Ven got to know Namine more than he hoped, and as a result, the two fell in love. When they were deployed to New Alexandria on August 23rd, they aided in the evacuation of the civilians as the city was being invaded. Just as they left the city, Ventus, Namine, Riku and Aqua witnessed the city being glassed by Covenant crusiers. The shockwaves nearly caused their Pelican to crash, though the pilot was able to recover at the last moment.
With the Covenant taking the offensive on Reach, Triad Team was ordered to evacuate on August 30th. However, the original ship they were assigned to take to escape the planet was destroyed, forcing their Pelican to divert to another ship, the Pillar of Autumn. As they were about to arrive, they were forced to make an emergency landing due to their Pelican having an engine maulfunction. While Triad Team defended the UNSC personnel as they repaired the engines, the Covenant pressed the attack. Fortunately, they were able to hold out long enough to get the engines back up and running.
However, numerous Banshee's were converging on their position, and it was at that time that Ven would suffer a traumatic blow emotionally. Namine decided to stay behind and man an air defense turrent to cover the Pelican's escape to the Autumn, sacrificing herself to ensure that Ven, Riku and Aqua made it off of Reach. Upon arriving on the Autumn, Ventus saw NOBLE Six firing on a Covenant Crusier before it had a chance to glass the area. As the Autumn escaped Reach, Ven watched his home planet be glassed by the Covenant fleet until the last moment when the Pillar of Autumn entered Slipspace. During the time that the Pillar of Autumn was on the run, Ventus barely came out of his quarters on the ship, constantly holding Namine's favorite sapphire pendant close to him and mourning his short lived yet passionate relationship with her.
The Battle of Installation 04[]
Despite being in a state of depression, Ven was thrown back into combat with the Covenant when the Pillar of Autumn was ambushed by Covenant Forces on September 19th. When the ship was being boarded, Ventus fought more aggressively than usual, even mutilating an Elite Officer using it's own Energy Sword after stealing it. Despite concerns from Riku and Aqua, Ventus still managed to keep a cool enough head to give them strategic commands. Even though the Triad Team fought valiantly, Captian Keyes eventually ordered all surviving crew to abandon ship while he crash lands the Autumn on the ring like object that was nearby. Escaping to a Bumblebee Escape Pod, Triad Team made a crash landing on the ring.
Upon emerging from the pod, Ventus noted that the atmosphere and landscape of the ring was very similar to that of Reach and even Earth. Unfortunately, there was no time to admire the scenery, as the Covenant was hot on their trail and their allies were far off on the ring's landscape. After fighting off the Covenant pursuit forces for almost five hours, Triad Team rendezvoused with surviving UNSC personel that escaped the Autumn, and eventually were picked up by Echo-419. Upon being briefed by a transmission from the A.I Cortana that Captian Keyes was captured and is being held on the Covenat Battleship Truth and Reconciliation, Ven, Riku and Aqua were placed in command of three squadrons of five ODST's, one squad for each SPARTAN. Ventus lead his squad in a frontal assault against the Covenant battlelines in order to provide a distraction so that another squad, led by the famous Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 could enter the ship and rescue Captian Keyes.
Thanks to the distraction, John was able to enter the ship with his squadron, with Ven silently watching as the SPARTAN-II flew up into the ship's gravity lift. Later on, Ventus and Triad Team came to learn that the ring was known as a Halo Installation, constructed by an extinct race as a weapon that could wipe out life in the galaxy for over a 25,000 lightyear radius. A day later on September 20th, Ven was deployed with Riku and Aqua to look for what was known as "The Silent Cartographer", a map room that leads to the Halo's Control Center. Upon establishing a beachhead with the main forces, Triad Team held off the Covenant forces while John-117 once more infiltrated the depths of the island to locate the cartographer. After the Chief activated the cartographer, Triad Team entered the upper levels to aide UNSC Forces who were under siege by Covenant reinforcements.
Although they were too late to save the troops, Ventus and his team were successful in eliminating the reinforcements. Returning to the surface, Triad Team joined up with Bravo-022 as the bulk of the UNSC Forces headed to the polar region on Halo while the Master Chief took a different route with Echo-419. Upon arriving at the polar region, Ven, Riku and Aqua noticed that the snow in the area wasn't artificial, but natural. This was baffling, but they were snapped back into reality when the Covenant appeared to challenge them. Although the battle was going well for him and his team, Ventus noticed that the Covenant forces in the area were fighting them not out determination as usual, but out of fear for some reason, as if they were running from something he had yet to encounter.
After defeating a squadron of four Wraiths, Triad Team intercepted an argument between Cortana and the Master Chief, regarding concern for Captian Keyes. Worried, Ventus called back Riku and Aqua to his position and requested an airlift from Bravo-022. Upon arriving in the swamp area that he heard Cortana specify to the Chief, Triad Team found numerous Grunts and Jackals in retreat from something deeper in the swamp. Upon investigating, Ventus would come face to face with what would be one of the few things that made him feel fear in his life: the Flood. Immediately after being ambushed by the parasites, Ven, Riku and Aqua were forced to flee into the swamps in order to escape the Flood, albiet temporarily.
After spending a day running, Triad Team managed to escape the swamps after rendezvousing with Alpha-017, a Pelican recently deployed to search the area, yet lost it's squadron after the Flood was released, leaving only it's pilot, Corpral Sentora alive. After escaping with his life, Ventus learned from Sentora about the situation and what the plan was to stop the spreading of the Flood. Knowing that Cortana and the Master Chief could handle the situation, Ventus decided that it was time to find a way off the Halo Installation before it was too late. Heading to a Covenant outpost, Ven, Riku and Aqua raided the base in order to steal a Covenant vessel capable of slipspace travel. Fortunately, they found a docked Phantom that would work. Managing to hijack it just as the Chief detonated the Pillar of Autumn's fusion drive, Triad Team managed to escape the Halo just as the Installation was torn apart by the explosion, entering slipspace bound for Earth just before a piece of the ring crushed them.
After rendezevousing with a UNSC fleet in a nearby system a few days later, Ventus would learn that there were survivours that managed to escape the Halo, including the Master Chief himself. Although it lasted only three days, the encounter with the Flood would cause Ventus to have nightmares throughout the next few years of his life, requiring some therapy to help with the additional weight, as he had only recently started recovering from the trauma that he was inflicted with after the Fall of Reach.
The Battle of Earth[]
After rendezvousing with the allied fleet that rescued them, Triad Team was restationed on Earth in order to recieve commendations for their contributes to the Battle of Installation 04, as well as to recieve new upgrades to their armor. When Ventus was given his MJOLNIR Mark VI Armor for the first time, he noted that it felt a lot lighter than his Mark V. Fortunately, his new Mark VI was fully compatable with his modified ODST Helmet, so he didn't need to request it to be modified again to fit his new armor systems. On October 20th, Triad Team stood in the presence of the leader of the UNSC himself, Terrence Hood. Lord Hood commended them for their actions during the Battle of Installation 04, as well as their efforts to prevent The Fall of Reach. He also awarded them the Colonial Cross for their services, even giving one posthumously to Namine, which he gave to Ven.
Finally, Lord Hood introduced them to their new replacement member for Namine-A004, Kairi-A028. The first time Ventus and Kairi made eye contact, Ven felt the same feeling he felt when he realized he was in love with Namine. Just as he was getting aquainted with her, however, a surprise attack from the Covenant rocked the station. As Ventus watched as a Covenant battlefleet exited slipspace in orbit above Earth, flashbacks of seeing Reach being glassed began to flash throughout his mind. Fighting back the fear, he ordered Triad Team into action, loading up his MA37 just in time as a Covenant boarding party entered the area they were in.
Upon seeing Kairi in action for the first time, Ven was impressed by her handling of her MA37 against the Grunts, including her presicion firing with her M392 Rifle. Upon learning that there was a bomb on the station, Triad Team moved towards the bay where the bomb was being held, but were stopped by a team of Hunters guarding the bay. Fortunately, John-117, who also was on the station at the time having recieved new Mark VI armor as well, came in from a different route and "gave" the bomb back to the Covenant. After repelling the Covenant from the Orbital Defense Station, Triad Team entered a Pelican bound for Earth after they learned that the Covenant had begun invading the planet. En route to Old Mombasa, Ventus told Kairi about the Fall of Reach when she asked him what happened during that time, as she was in another squad on another mission during that time.
Although Ventus still didn't want to talk about it as it was still recent during the time, he felt that he could trust Kairi. Upon arriving at the ongoing battle in the city, Ventus again had flashbacks to the operation on New Alexandria, only to be snapped back into reality by Kairi, who comforted him with a statement that Earth's fate would not be the same as Reach's. Fighting their way deeper into the city, they found one of the many Scarabs that the Covenant deployed ravaging the city. As it approached New Mombasa, Ventus and Kairi fought their way through the Covenant defenses while Riku and Aqua provided air support from a Falcon, eventually managing to infiltrate the Scarab and kill the pilot, comendearing it and using it to destroy the other Scarabs around the city, leaving only the one captured by the Master Chief intact until he left it. Immediately after the battle, Triad Team was requested by the daughter of Captian Keyes, Miranda, to join them on her ship, the Amber Clad.
As they arrived on the ship after being recovered by a nearby Pelican, they managed to get onboard just as the ship followed the Prophet of Regret's ship into slipspace.
The Battle of Installation 05[]
As the Amber Clad came out of slipspace, they discovered another Halo, which the UNSC code-named Delta Halo. Although Ventus was amazed at the sight of the ring like Installation 04, that amazement soon turned to fear as he knew that there must be Flood hidden within the Installation. As Triad Team entered their HEVs, they were deployed along with the Master Chief, Sergeant Major Johnson Avery Junior, and a squad of ODSTs to the ring in order to prevent the Covenant from carrying out their objective on it. After landing, Ventus found that he and his team trailed off course, leaving them to fight their way back to the position of Sergeant Johnson. As they fought their way through the ring's terrain, they crossed many Forerunner structures that looked like fortresses used in the past against the Flood, though there was no time for an archelogical look as more Covenant forces converged on their position.
By the time they had rendezvoused with the main UNSC forces, they learned that the Master Chief succeeded in killing the Prophet of Regret, but went missing in action soon afterwards. Miranda Keyes, knowing that Triad Team was the only SPARTAN Team left on Delta Halo, entrusted the point assault to Ventus and his team, a trust Ven promised he wouldn't break. After fighting for a day to prevent the Covenant from activating the ring, Ventus, Kairi, Riku and Aqua recieved a transmission from Sergeant Johnson, who said that they have formed an alliance with Covenant Seperatists, lead by Arbiter Thel Vadam. Upon catching up with the combined forces, Ventus couldn't help but feel an immensive amount of distrust as he stood around the Elites. However, his opinion started to change when he heard one of them mention him by the name "Phoenix", which was what the Covenant began calling him after the Battle of Installation 04.
Quickly warming up to the name, Ventus and the rest of Triad Team took command of a joint squad of UNSC Troops and Seperatist Elites, leading a raid on the Control Room. Although they weren't able to make it into the Control Room, Triad Team was able to buy Sergeant Johnson and the Arbiter time to enter themselves and prevent the ring from firing. Just as Ventus began slaughtering the remaining Brutes outside, he, Kairi, Riku and Aqua saw the ring fire a signal shot that put the others on standby. After returning to the Amber Clad, Ventus met up with 343 Guilty Spark, who revealed to them that in order to prevent the Halo Array from fighting completely, they would have to find the Ark, which was surprisingly, back on Earth. While traveling back to earth, Ventus told Kairi about his feelings for her, but he was hesitant to enter another relationship due to what happened to Namine back on Reach.
Kairi told him that he should let the past go, and instead focus on the present, meaning let go of Namine and let her into his heart. After sharing a kiss with her, Ventus began to feel happy to be in love again. It also made him more determined than ever to end the war.
Return to Earth[]
Upon returning to Earth two weeks later, Miranda Keyes sent Ventus and Triad Team out into the jungles outside Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa in order to search for where the Master Chief, who had returned previously before them, fell upon making atmospheric reentry. After a few hours, they recieved a transmission that Sergeant Johnson and the Arbiter had found him. On their way back to base, code named "Crow's Nest", they were ambushed by a number of Brutes who were led by numerous Jackals and Grunts. Making their way across the riverbed, Triad Team held out against the Covenant onslaught at an abandon fuel station until reinforcements from "Crow's Nest" finally arrived to help. Upon returning to Crow's Nest, Ventus managed to make eye contact with the Chief, who was on his way to be debriefed by Miranda Keyes.
Although they didn't speak with each other, the Chief did give Ven a simple nod, which Ventus responded back with another nod of encouragement. Before they manage to return to their quarters, they hear the transmission from the Prophet of Truth after he jams the communication with Lord Hood in the Briefing Room. With an evacuation order being made by Commander Keyes, Triad Team was ordered onto a Pelican in the Hangar Bay just as Covenant Loyalists began attacking the base. However, the Pelican had engine trouble, so Ventus and his team had to hold off the Covenant Loyalists while the mechanics repaired the engines. After holding off the Covenant Loyalists for almost an hour, the Pelican was primed for liftoff, and Ventus managed to get onboard just before the Pelican left the base.
As soon as they were in the air, Ventus was contacted by Commander Miranda, telling them that their new orders were to assist the Chief and the troops who escaped the Crow's Nest at Tsavo Highway outside of Kenya. Upon landing, Ventus orders Riku and Aqua to provide air support with Falcons while he and Kairi fight on the ground. Fighting his way through multiple Covenant Loyalist troops, Ventus eventually arrived at Voi with Kairi at his side, finding out that the Covenant have uncovered the artifact known as "The Portal". Recieving new orders to aid the ground troops while the Master Chief and the Arbiter destroy all the anti-air threats in the area, Triad Team rendezvous with each other and teams up with a number of ODST Teams in order to break through the Covenant battle lines. Although they succeeded, Ventus overheard a transmission from the Chief and the Arbiter, revealing to him that something worse than the Covenant was heading their way.
Soon enough, a Flood infested CCS Battlecrusier crashed into Traxus Factory Complex 09. Upon reaching the city, Ventus, Kairi, Riku and Aqua came across numerous Combat Forms and Pure Forms. Although they fought alone at first, they were eventually aided by Elites loyal to the Arbiter, let by the Elite known as Kheil Tharia, who had once fought against Ventus on Reach. With Tharia's help, Triad Team was able to hold off the Flood onslaught long enough for the Master Chief and the Arbiter to cause the CCS Crusier's engines to overload, causing the resulting explosion to wipe out the city and the Flood with it. Upon being extracted, Ventus and his team managed to join the joint UNSC-Seperatist fleet as they entered a slipspace portal bound for the Ark.
The Battle of Installation 00[]
As soon as the joint UNSC/Seperatist fleet exited slipspace, the Seperatists engaged the main Covenant Fleet while the UNSC forces entered the Ark's atmosphere in order to intercept and stop the Prophet of Truth. On the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn, Ven, Kairi, Riku and Aqua boarded one of the six Pelicans ordered to find the Prophet of Truth. Upon landing, Ventus found himself in one of the most intense battles of his life, as what follows after the battle on the Ark would decide the fate of the entire war, and the victor of the war as well. Charging into battle with his girlfriend and best friends by his side, Ventus lead a head on charge at a Covenant position in the desert region of the Ark, successfully taking it after almost thirty minutes of fighting. Heading further into the region, they discovered that the Covenant were setting up anti-air defenses.
Knowing that the defenses would tear the Dawn apart if allowed to remain, Ventus ordered the ODST Squadron accompanyng Triad Team to separate into teams of three, being placed under the command of one SPARTAN each. After spliting into teams of four, Ventus led his team towards the northern anti-air battery, and after successfully breaking through the enemy lines, destroyed it by overloading it's core, a strategy that served him well on Reach. Upon rendezvousing with his team, Triad Team took Mongooses through a canyon while holding off pursuing Covenant forces on Ghosts. With Kairi riding with him and covering him, Ventus focused fully on driving and evading, his mind set on getting through the canyon and shaking off the pursuers. Upon successfully shaking pursuit, Ventus witnessed the Forward Unto Dawn touching down on the Ark.
Although he though Commander Keyes was being wreckless, he knew that there was little he could do to convice her otherwise on the matter once she had her mind set on a strategy. Rendezvousing with the Dawn, Ventus immediately takes the controls of a Scorpion and joins the forces lead by the Master Chief. After a fierce battle with the Covenant defense positions located in a cave, they arrive at the Forerunner Facitily. While the Master Chief accompanied 343 Guilty Spark, the Monitor from Installation 04, Ventus had Riku and Aqua aid the troops still fighting at the facility entrance, he ventured into the lower levels of the facility with Kairi, hoping to snuff out any Brutes that were waiting in the wings. As they made it to the last level of the basements, Ventus and Kairi encountered the Flood instead.
Although flashbacks of his near-death experiences back on Installation 04 would fill his mind during the engagement, concerns of him losing Kairi to the Flood kept him from losing focus. After they cleared out the room, Ventus observed the bodies of the Combat Forms and determined that they were of a Covenant scouting party that were infected prior to their arrival. Returning to the surface, Triad Team boarded a Pelican bound for where the Prophet of Truth's citadel was, hoping to stop him from firing all the Halo Rings. In a formation of five Pelicans, three Seperatist Phantoms and the Shadow of Intent from high orbit, Triad Team teamed up with Sergeant Johnson to take out the Citadel's third generator while the Master Chief and the Arbiter went for the first and second generators. Upon being briefed that taking out these generators will create a small opening in the Covenant defese shields, Ventus, Kairi, Riku and Aqua exited their Pelican and met up with Sergeant Johnson, who Ventus shared a respective handshake with before they began their attack on the generator.
Despite ferocious resistance from the Covenant defense forces, Triad Team was able to penetrate the defenses and sabotage the generator's power core. However, as they escaped, Ventus overheard a transmission that Sergeant Johnson was captured and that Commander Keyes was going in alone to rescue him. Knowing that they would need help, Ventus called a pelican piloted by Hocus to take them to where the Control Center was. Noticing the sun setting in the distance, Ventus couldn't help but recall the fateful day on August 30th, when a blood red sunset was setting over Reach as it was being glassed. Upon being snapped back into reality by a touch from Kairi, Ventus reassured himself by saying to himself "This time, it's US doing the Glassing. And they're the ones running.".
As they arrived outside the Control Center, Ven was in awe of how big it was, but he knew that they would have to climb it if they were to save Commander Keyes and Sergeant Johnson. As they fought through the Covenant forces on their way up, Ventus, Kairi, Riku and Aqua overheard a trasmission garble from the Chief, the Arbiter, Commander Keyes, Sergeant Johnson, and the Prophet of Truth. Upon hearing Commander Keyes being shot, Ventus immediately ordered Triad Team to double time it to the top, but fortunately, the Master Chief defeated Truth's forces and Truth himself was soon executed by the Arbiter. Just then, numerous Flood Infection Forms appear from ever single crack in the Control Center. Ventus was immediately contacted by the Master Chief, who told him of what had happened and that he and his team needed to escape the Control Center before they became trapped by the Flood.
Ordering Kairi, Riku and Aqua to pull back, Ventus and his team fought their way back down the Control Center Tower through numerous Flood forms. Upon escaping on a Pelican as soon as they left the Control Center, Ventus overheard the chatter between the Chief, the Arbiter and 343 Guilty Spark, learning that there was a replacement Installation 04 being built on the Ark as they spoke. When Ventus heard the Chief mention that Cortana still had the activation index from the original Installation 04, Ventus knew that they would have to get off the Ark as soon as possible, as he knew that once the replacement ring fired, the Ark would cease to be.
