Michael got off the ground. He inspected his own body. Everything was intact. The last thing he remembered was an explosion and then dust and rubble descending down onto his squad. Then a second of excruciating pain bursting throughout his body and then... nothing.
But the memory of the cosmic plane came back to him. He looked to his other squadmates as well as the Bravo Squad that had been the first to perish in the blast.

"What.. what the hell just happened, what.." One of them began but as the memories came back to him as well, the sheer confusion, surprise and fear of what they had just gone through made him unable to find the right words.
"I think.. did we die?" Michael looked over to the Gunnery Sergeant as he said this.
However they were interrupted by the leader of Charlie Team broadcasting to their comm channels.
"This is Charlie Team to Alpha and Bravo, what the hell happened over there? We just saw a building drop and all of your vitals flatlined for a bit. Is everything okay?"
The ODSTs looked at each other. The confirmation was there. They had died, met on whatever that place was and came back to life.
"We're good, we just took a big hit and passed out." The Gunnery Sergeant responded. His attention was diverted to the sky as he and the other ODSTs began to witness the large head appear in the sky.
"..but our fight ain't over yet, gentlemen." He said.
Michael looked up, and then back at his squad. "That woman. She told us we had a job to do."
"Then let's get to it." The Demolitions ODST said.

"Now my child, there is much to do."

...

Zalgo's gigantic head descended low over the center coming almost level to the top of the building on which Kitty stood. Her spell distract him for a moment, but ultimately his pale white eyes locked onto her. His sheer size was something of a wonder, the mass of shadows and black flesh that made up his form making even the Starforger look slim.

D̶̞͈̲̥̪̼̗I̢̘̯̬̼̝̫E͉̲͖̕


The being's mouth opened widened, revealing the array of teeth and tendrils inside. Quickly it moved down upon Kitty, aiming to devour the entire building she stood upon. Meanwhile a series of tendrils came from the sky at a different angle, aiming to take Kitty by surprise from behind; a move the woman had pre-ordained.

Kitty could hear the tentacles behind her,  smell them even.  But this was good,  she had wanted him to get this close.  Raising one palm she spoke her spell again,  then let out a ray of fire along with the bright light, into his mouth.  Then she closed her eyed in concentration, pictured where she wanted to go,  then spoke the words.  

Suddenly she was on top of Zalgo's head,  a grin on her face.  She stabbed her sword downward into his flesh,  then began running down his head and down his back and blasting what she left behind with fire, with the intention of carving him up.

"Holy... that thing is uglier than a Jackal." Michael said as he gazed upon the face of the terrifying thing that was occupying the sky.
"Are firearms even gonna affect that thing?" The Sniper asked.
The Gunnery Sergeant looked at him. "Well I was thinking about shoving all our 'nades up 'yer hoohaa and tossin' you at 'em, but I realised we already have two hundred kilos of beefcake here," he replied, pointing with his thumb towards the Demolitions ODSTs. "Light 'em up boys."
The two ODSTs switched to their Rocket Launchers and aimed into the sky, right at the head of Zalgo. They the fired off two rockets each. Meanwhile the Gunnery Sergeant started to broadcast orders to the other two ODST teams, and they all immediately regrouped. They then scattered into different positions and all of them fired a combination of rockets, bullets and railgun projectiles propelled at supersonic speeds all aimed at Zalgo.

As this happened, the fleet that was orbiting the planet began to re-enter its atmosphere and steadily descended downwards towards Chorus II's capital city.

Zalgo recoiled backwards slightly from the light, a loud grumbling eminating from his center. As Kitty appeared atop him with her blade in his flesh he barely winced, instead letting his back deal with her. The very flesh Kitty was on began to spawn hands and human figures, all grasping to try and pull Kitty down and into the black mass beneath her. 

Meanwhile the rockets exploded like little sparks upon the gigantic form of Zalgo, causing him to pay some attention to them. The various projectiles coming in were a nuisance for sure, but he felt the humans were not worth his time. They would all perish with the planet anyway.

He didn't however notice the descending fleets.

Kitty let out a grunt as the hands grabbed and pulled at her,  making her fumble a bit as she tried to evade them.  "Fine,  be that way. " She growled and slowly her skin began to glow,  morphing from flesh to lava as she ran down Zalgo's back.  She let out a howl of frustration as she continued,  she didn't seem to be having much effect.  

Her mind raced as she tried to figure out a way to actually hurt him.  He didn't seem to like the light spell very much,  but that took a lot of juice and Kitty needed all her strength.  Now if she had some lava she could perhaps do a bit of a show, but that would require her being able to connect to the lava and she wasn't sure if there was any here or how deep down it would be. 

She then stopped,  considering an attack from the inside.  Kitty let the lava morph back into flesh,  letting the hands pull her down into Zalgo.

"Well that just did fuck all didn't it?" The Sniper ODST said as their attacks did nothing to phase Zalgo.
"Did the crazy half just... get sucked into his back?" Michael said. "Now that's just morbid. The hell do we do now?"
The Gunnery Sergeant at this point was murmuring inside his helmet.
"Sarge?" Michael said as he turned to look at him.
The Gunnery Sergeant then looked up at him. "We have the fleet incoming, ETA real soon." The Sergeant then looked at the rest of the dozens of ODSTs that were standing around either looking at him or the sky.
"We needa keep that thing distracted, our fleet's comin' in quick and we needa ensure Satan's grandad over there doesn't notice 'em."
The others nodded and continued to fire upwards, ready to move away should Zalgo throw an attack at them in retaliation.

For the length of time Kitty and the soldiers had been fighting Zalgo, Jaya had been gathering her energy on the ground below. Finally though she heard the woman's whispers which gave the signal.

"It is time."

From her kneeling position she rose, Blightslayer in hand. Her wings shot out and carried her swiftly into the sky and through the swarm of tendrils that had originally been aimed at her mother. Almost effortlessly her blade batted away any that dared to lunge at her, white light flashing from any contact the darkness made with Blightslayer.

After making it through the swarm of tendrils she came level with Zalgo's eyes and faced him, ignoring the bullets and missiles flying past her to reach him. There she began to glow, dimly at first, spreading her wings wide.

"By the power of the light, be gone from this realm! As long as this sword remains one you shall return!" With her words Jaya pointed Blightslayer directly at Zalgo, a white beam eminating from it and an overall shine of light coming from herself. For a moment everything around was blinded, even the dark celestial being itself.

Then it was her father's turn...

Kitty was surprised to be freed from the mass,  although she quickly recovered and began running up towards Zalgo's head again.  When Dan's voice boomed across the battlefield a smile or rather a smirk curled up on Kitty's face.  Once she reached Zalgo's head she raised her blade up high,  then slammed it down into his head. After that she abandoned her fathers blade,  doing a front flip onto her hands then flipping off Zalgo's head.  From the angle she had jumped off at she was briefly level with his face,  which she took to her advantage.  She aimed her palms at Zalgo's eyes,  repeating the light spell that shot out of one hand while fire shot out of the other. 

Then she landed on her hands on the ground,  rolling to her feet.  She brushed some blood away from her split lip,  shaking out whatever soot had remained in her hair from the explosion and any residue the hands had left behind.  Although she was quickly smacked hard in the back of her head,  by her sister of course.  "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?  Letting it suck you in?! " Kitty winced and turned a bit red,  actually looking embarrassed.  "Shut up Diana." "I will do no such thing Kittiana. " "Don't call me that! " "Don't act like a reckless brat then! " "I'm not the brat you are! " Diana smacked Kitty across the face,  which Kitty quickly retaliated until they we're pushed apart by an annoyed hellhound.  "She started it. " "Real mature Kittiana. " "Why you little-"

By this time the ODSTs had run low on ammunition and as Jaya and Dan joined the fight, they lowered their weapons.
"We also listen to Mr Galaxy Face too right?" Michael asked the Sergeant as every single ODST gazed up at the events happening in the sky.
"That ain't our job no more, son." The Gunnery Sergeant replied. He then looked up at Jaya.
"Hey, kid! Get out of the way!"
Right after he said this, five UNSC Frigates passed overhead and released a barrage of missiles each, all aimed at Zalgo's body with the intention of either harming or drawing him backwards.

It was time.

As the onslaught of Kitty's attack, the ODSTs firepower and the combined UNSC fleet all bombarded Zalgo the end was was nigh. Jaya's light shone brighter than ever, blinding the dark entity and preventing him from seeing any of the incoming attacks. Behind him he sensed something of celestial power but knew not what it was.

Only when Sam'anar pulled his hands apart fully did it become clear. The white lines formed a square and rotated constantly infront of his floating form. Within the confines of the square a slip in space appeared showing a glimpse into the realm of madness. Zalgo edged ever more back with each strike, his voice bellowing across the city in pain and anger. The whispers now screamed violently to try and curse all those involved, but they were useless.

The square kept spinning but also moved forward, enveloping Zalgo's entire form by the direction of Sam'anar's hand movements. Like a sculpter he directed the structure of the square to fit all the way down, each inch it passed disappearing into another realm.

Soon enough there came a silence. Around them stood no dark being, only ruined buildings and bodies. Jaya and Sam'anar lowered themselves from the sky, landing gently on the floor. Now that he was on the ground it was clear Sam'anar's face was not a visor and in fact his whole skin seemed to be made of a glass or chrome like material which reflected the image of space.

"Well," He spoke normally now, a slight echo still accompanying his voice. "You all fought well."

"Dude, you don't have a face." Kitty smacked Diana's arm and glared at her, although Diana just kept going. "Of course we fought well, who do you think we are? Amateurs?" Kitty pinched the bridge of her nose, letting out a sigh. "I'm an only child I swear. I don't know what that thing is." "Don't start, when we get back home I'm going to kick your ass for using magic." Kitty's right eyebrow twitched, her jaw clenching as she made a motion as if she were going to strangle Diana. "I told you I can handle-! Never mind. I'll argue with you later." 

Kitty looked down at her hands, her fingertips were still morphed into lava and there was a hard look on her face. "I'm not going home with you just yet Diana, I have things to do." Then she held up a finger to shush Diana, although it was the exhausted yet serious look on her face that shut her up. Kitty cleared her throat, turning away from her sister to face her daughter and Dan. "Would you care to explain, Plexi-glass? Or are you just going to be mysterious and whiz off as per usual?" Kitty sounded sarcastic but there was vulnerability in the way she stood with her arms folded tightly around herself, thoughts she didn't particularly want to voice or to be true buzzing in her head.

Michael looked at the two sisters arguing with some level of amusement. Him and his squad stood three meters away from the supernaturals.
"Heh, they're as crazy as each other." He commented. The rest of the ODSTs regrouped, some of them watching the supernaturals reunite while others talked among each other about their victory and what they just saw or what they intended to do after.

Meanwhile the five UNSC ships finished their scans of the city and confirmed that whatever the thing was that had attacked the planet, it was gone and that the mission was a success.
Michael was about to approach the supernaturals but suddenly, the Gunnery Sergeant grabbed his shoulder.
"Looks like you have new orders, son. Just came in at this second."
Michael turned to face his commanding officer. "New orders? What, we gotta save another planet now?"
The Sergeant shook his head. "This one, you're getting re-assigned to another team. You and a small handful of other Troopers will be assigned to Spartan Team Aqua to help them with their next mission on Earth. As additional insurance they said." The Sergeant paused to allow Michael to take this in.
"A Spartan Fireteam? Specifically Fireteam Aqua? Holy shit." Michael pondered aloud in awe. "Did they say what the mission was?"
"Somethin' about sterilisation protocols." The Sergeant shrugged. "They pay me to shoot, not to think. Need-to-know basis." The Sergeant began to walk off. "You'll have your own Pelican pick you up and escort you to a frigate that's on it's way to Earth. Good luck Jones."
"Thank you sir!" Michael said as he watched him walk away.

Sam'anar let out a light chuckle at Kitty and Diana. With a flick of his head white lines ran along it in a polygonal pattern, seemingly peeling away the chrome skin to replace his face with the original one of Dan.
"Is this better for you?" He smiled visibly now, glancing to Kitty. "It turns out there was a reason behind my appearance all that time ago." His voice sounded serious for once and noticeably more monotone. It was obvious his newfound knowledge had stripped away most of the old ego of Dan.

"Maybe another day I'll explain it all, over a drink." Sam'anar said before looking to his left at a newly appeared figure of light. His mother stood waiting for him. "But I'm afraid I must be mysterious for now." Before moving over to his mother he stepped forward to Kitty, placing a hand on her cheek and leaning in to kiss her.

"I love you," He smiled, then turning to Jaya whom he leaned in to kiss on the forehead. "Both of you. I'll be watching." 

After that he walked over to his mother and took her hand, the two of them disappearing in a flash of light.

Kitty kissed him back, murmuring quietly when he pulled away to kiss Jaya's forehead. "I love you too." When he and his mother disappeared Kitty let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She reached for her daughter and her sister, holding them both to her tightly and kissing their hair. "I love the both of you. I am so proud of you Jaya." Then she released the both of them, although Diana looked as if she were about to cry. Kitty gave her sister a small smile, reaching forward and ruffling her blonde hair. "None of that, I'm not leaving forever. Just a day or two. The times of transformation...aren't over yet." Kitty looked down at her palms, the lava in her fingertips was just starting to fade into flesh again. 

"They were talking about Sebastian's team, and a sterilization protocol on Earth. You two should probably go and investigate that. I'll be with you soon." "You're going to finally do it aren't you?" "Yeah. It's time that I accept it. End a little bit of my suffering." Then Kitty stepped back, "Also, check and see if that bitch is still in the crater. If she is, save her for me." After saying that she burned the teleportation runes into the ground, then disappearing in a small flash of light.