Floodgate (Level)

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Prev:	The Storm
Next:	The Ark
Floodgate
Game:	Halo 3
Player:	SPARTAN-117
Date:	2552
Location:	Voi, Earth
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Template:Article Quote Floodgate is the fifth campaign mission of Halo 3.

Background

It takes place in Voi, Kenya on the continent of Africa on Earth during the Second Battle of Earth and the Battle of Voi. Floodgate is also the first campaign mission where the Flood is encountered.

Upon disabling the Anti-Air Gun in The Storm, a Flood-controlled Covenant CCS-class Battlecruiser crashes into Traxus Factory Complex 09. In order to eliminate the infestation, John-117 and the Arbiter must overload the crashed cruiser's engines, wiping out the entire city and the Flood with it.

Upon completing it on the Normal, Heroic, or Legendary difficulties, the player will earn the "Cleansing" achievement and 30 Gamerpoints.

Transcript

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Voi, Africa, Earth
Second Battle of Earth

01: It Followed Me Home

Location: Cliffside Hill

• Miranda Keyes (COM): "The Flood. It's spreading all over the city."

• Lord Hood (COM): "How do we contain it?"

• Miranda Keyes (COM): "Find the crashed Flood ship, overload its engine core. We either destroy this city, or risk losing the entire planet."

• Lord Hood (COM): "Do it."

• Miranda Keyes (COM): "Chief, make your way to the crash site."

Some time later, when entering the city

• Arbiter: (unintelligible)

• Marine Commander (COM): "All squads, report!"

• Marine Sergeant (COM): "Multiple contacts, unknown hostiles."

• Marine #1 (COM) : "There! Over there! We're surrounded, Sergeant!"

Flood screams echo in the air.

• Marine #2 (COM): "Aaaaah!"

You find a group of Marines in a loading ramp.

• Marine Sergeant (COM): "Fall back, fall back!"

• Female Marine: "Sergeant, come on!"

Location: Traxus Heavy Industries Factory Complex 09

Infection Forms and Combat Forms (including the new Brute ones) descend on the Marines, infecting and killing or forcing you to kill them. The female Marine who had spoken earlier is the only survivor.

• Female Marine (upon spotting the Chief): About damn time!"

• Arbiter: "Quickly! Let us find their ship. Make short work of this abomination!"

The "Infected Marine" is infested by Flood Infection Forms.

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The Marine accompanies you into a building, where you run into a lone Marine fighting off a horde of infection forms. It is possible to save him, but more often than not, he will be mutated before your eyes.

• Infected Marine: "Uhh! Get off me!"

• Marine #3: "Crikey!"

If the Marine is not saved, the Infection Form dives into the Marine's chest, causing his back to swell and his skin to change color. He collapses to the floor then Whip Tentacles grow out of his right arm and then the sensors on the Infection Form pop out of his chest wound.

Marines are pinned down behind sandbags with lots of Flood surrounding the area. The Chief and Arbiter clear the section of the warehouse.

{If Marines are saved}

• Female Marine #2: "Those things...they eat you from the inside."

• Marine #4: "We gotta get outta here."

Reaching the other end of the warehouses, the surviving Marines who joined the Chief and Arbiter hold position after clearing the area.

• Arbiter: "Wretched parasite! Rise up and I will kill you! Again and again!"

Master Chief and Arbiter head upstairs and down a hole in the floor into the office areas.

• Cortana: "Chief. {background mumbling} I can't tell you everything...it's not safe. The Gravemind...it knows I'm in the system."

In a room, you find a marine huddling in a corner with a pistol surrounded by dead marines

• Marine: "I didn't have a choice. (pause) The LT, the Sergeant, they were all infected! (pause) I could see it crawling, SLIMING AROUND BENEATH THEIR SKIN!! (sobs) (pause) And... and then they got up... s-started to talk! OH GOD! THEIR VOICES! Oh, God! No, make them stop! (pause) I did them a favor. Y-yeah that's it, I helped them (sobs) (pause) Maybe... maybe I need to help myself (babbling and weeping)."

02: Shadow of Intent

The Master Chief and Arbiter enter the lake bed of Voi where the Scarab was previously fought and destroyed, and three Elite-controlled CCS-class Battlecruisers fly in formation as the Assault Carrier Shadow of Intent slices overhead from Slipspace, scattering Orbital Insertion Pods.

Shipmaster Rtas 'Vadum: "Hail Humans, and take heed. This is the carrier Shadow of Intent. Clear this sector while we deal with the Flood."

A Major Domo Elite and few Minor Elites leap out of the landed Orbital Insertion Pods ahead of you, fighting against the Flood.

• Arbiter: "My brothers, I fear you bring bad news."

• Major Domo Elite: "High Charity has fallen and become a dreaded hive!

• Arbiter:"What of the fleet? Has quarantine been broken?"

• Major Domo Elite: "A single ship broke through our line, and we gave chase."

• Arbiter: "We had a fleet of hundreds!"

• Major Domo Elite: "Alas brother...the Flood. It has evolved!"

The Chief, Arbiter and Elites arrive at the crash site.

• Miranda Keyes (COM): "Chief, the Elites are looking for something. We didn't believe them when they told us."

• Johnson (COM): "It's Cortana, Chief! She's on that ship! Find her! Get her out!"

• Major Domo Elite: "Hurry Demon! We seek the same prize. But our Shipmaster will sacrifice all to stop the Flood."

The Master Chief, the Arbiter, and whatever remaining Elites fight past dozens of Pure Forms, Combat Forms, and Infection Forms to the massive, burning hulk of the crashed Flood-controlled battlecruiser. Up an incline, an ominous hole resides in the ship's hull, leading to the interior.

• Arbiter: "We'll hold here. I will let nothing pass."

Master Chief drops in alone.

• Gravemind: "Do not be afraid. I am peace...I am salvation."

The Chief reaches a large room

• Gravemind: "I am a timeless chorus, join your voice with mine, and sing victory everlasting!"

Ending Cutscene

The Flood biomass-covered walls of the crashed Flood-controlled battlecruiser.

Location: Crashed Flood-controlled CCS-class Battlecruiser

Inside the central chamber of the Flood-infested crashed cruiser. SPARTAN-117 finds 'Cortana' in a small Covenant handheld memory unit.

• Cortana: "Chief!"

• Master Chief: Cortana?"

• Cortana: High Charity, the Prophets' holy city, it's on its way...

Cortana's projection above the holographic unit flickers and then disappears.

• Master Chief: "Cortana!"

Suddenly, the humming of a Phantom's gravitic drives are heard, and a Phantom appears over the open chamber. SPARTAN-117 turns and readies his MA5C ICWS Assault Rifle at it while 343 Guilty Spark floats down from the Phantom, which continues to hover overhead.

• 343 Guilty Spark: "Reclaimer!"

A Flood Combat Form appears to the right, and 343 Guilty Spark turns and uses a powerful energy beam on it, destroying it in a single glancing hit. 343 Guilty Spark turns back to the Covenant device where Cortana supposedly is, and begins to interface it with a beam projected from his central eye.

• 343 Guilty Spark: "We must act quickly before your construct suffers any further damage!"

SPARTAN-117 menacingly grabs 343 Guilty Spark and pulls him away from Cortana's storage unit.

• Master Chief: "Wait. Leave. Her. Alone."

• 343 Guilty Spark: "If we do not take this device to a safe location, somewhere I can make repairs..."

343 Guilty Spark continues to try to project his multicolored energy beam into Cortana's storage unit.

• Master Chief: "On Halo, you tried to kill Cortana. You tried to kill me".

• 343 Guilty Spark: "Protocol dictated my response! She had the Activation Index and you were going to destroy my installation. You did destroy my installation. Now, I only have one function: to help you, Reclaimer, as I always should have done."

SPARTAN-117 stares wordlessly at 343 Guilty Spark, then slightly motions with Cortana's storage device. 343 Guilty Spark takes Cortana's device away, shooting his beam into it, while the Phantom projects a Gravity Lift. 343 Guilty Spark enters it first and SPARTAN-117 reluctantly follows.

Location: Voi

The scene cuts to an aerial one over the whole town of Voi at a high altitude. Clouds completely obscure the surface of Earth, but part of the crashed Flood-controlled battlecruiser is visible in the distance. 343 Guilty Spark flies away from the surface while two CCS-class Battlecruisers of the Sangheilian Fleet "glass" the town of Voi with plasma beams.

Location: Portal, Africa, Earth

The scene cuts to an aerial one above the Forerunner Portal. Its 'wings' are open, and blue energy streams from their tips to the open Slipspace portal drifting ominously above the construct. The scene is quiet, and the moon is in the background. Fighting on Earth has ceased, and the Second Battle of Earth has ended with the departure of the Prophet of Truth's fleet through the Portal hours earlier. Four vessels of the Sangheilian Fleet are gathered above the Portal, and 343 Guilty Spark's Phantom arches to the largest of them: the assault carrier Shadow of Intent.

Location: Shadow of Intent, command deck

Inside the bridge of the Elite-controlled command vessel, the Assault Carrier Shadow of Intent. Elites and humans are gathered around a long holographic table, with Ship Master Rtas 'Vadum floating on a gravity throne at one end with his Elite attendants, Master Chief and the Arbiter in the middle, and Fleet Admiral Hood and Commander Miranda Keyes at the far side of the table. All are silent except 343 Guilty Spark, who is bobbing at the center of the table and interfacing with Cortana's memory unit with his projector beam.

• Rtas 'Vadum: "Will it live, Oracle? Can it be saved?"

• 343 Guilty Spark: Uncertain. This storage device has suffered considerable trauma. Its matrices are highly unstable.

343 Guilty Spark glances at 'Vadum and Lord Hood

• Lord Hood: Perhaps one of our technicians-

• Rtas 'Vadum: That will not be necessary.

Coincidentally, the storage device works again, and a holographic projection of Cortana springs up.

• Cortana: "Chief!.."

• 343 Guilty Spark: "Success!"

• Cortana: "..High Charity...the Prophets' holy city, is on its way to Earth, with an army of Flood. I can't tell you everything. It's not safe. The Gravemind...it knows I'm in the system."

Cortana's image flickers, and SPARTAN-117 turns to the Arbiter and the Elites.

• Master Chief: "It's just a message."

• Shipmaster Rtas 'Vadum: "Let it play."

343 Guilty Spark jolts the device with another beam.

• Cortana: "But it doesn't know about the Portal, where it leads. On the other side, there's a solution; a way to stop the Flood, without firing the remaining Halo rings. "

Suddenly, Cortana's skin lights with lightning and she gasps in sudden pain and collapses onto the 'floor'."

• Cortana: "Ahh! Ahh-ahh-ahhhhhhh. Hurry, Chief! The Ark...there isn't much time."

Cortana's recording ends and pauses.

• 343 Guilty Spark: "I'm sorry..."

• Rtas 'Vadum: "No matter, Oracle. We've heard enough. Our fight is through the Portal, with the Brutes and the bastard Truth!"

Special Operations Elites around the room raise their forearms and roar in agreement.

• Lord Hood (exhausted): "Fine. We'll remain here...hold out as long as we can."

• Rtas 'Vadum (arrogantly): "Did you not hear? Your world is doomed. A Flood army, a Gravemind, has you in its sights! You barely survived a small contamination."

• Lord Hood: "And you, Ship Master, just glassed half a continent! Maybe the Flood isn't all I should be worried about."

• Rtas 'Vadum: "...one single Flood spore can destroy a species. Were it not for the Arbiter's counsel, I would have glassed your entire planet!"

Lord Hood angrily motions at 'Vadum, but Miranda Keyes places a hand on his shoulder.

• Miranda Keyes: "Sir, with respect, Cortana has a solution."

• Lord Hood: "Cortana? Did you see her condition? How damaged she is?"

While Hood and Keyes argue, the Master Chief bends down and observes Cortana's pained collapsed paused figure.

• Lord Hood: "She could be corrupted for all we know. Her "solution" could be a Flood trap."

• Miranda Keyes: "We should go through the Portal, find out for sure."

• Lord Hood: "What we 'should' do is, Commander, understand that this is humanity's final stand, here, at Earth. If we go, we risk everything; every last man, woman, and child. If we stay, we might just stand a chance."

• Arbiter: "No! If your construct is wrong, then the Flood has already won."

• Master Chief: "I'll find Cortana's solution. And I'll bring it back."

• Lord Hood: "Earth...is all we have left. You trust Cortana that much?"

• Master Chief: "Sir. Yes sir!"

• Lord Hood: "This is either the best decision you've made or the worst. Hell, if it is, Chief. I doubt I'll live long enough to find out which."

Lord Hood turns, looks wordlessly at Miranda Keyes, and then exits the bridge.

Location: Shadow of Intent, hangar bay

Inside the Shadow of Intent's hangar bay, both the Elites and the UNSC are readying for battle; the battle through the Portal. While a Phantom drifts into the hangar on the far side, two M12 Warthog LRVs race to the loading elevator, drawing near a group of Marines clustered around some UNSC crates. At uneasy rest opposing the Marines are a Major Domo Elite and a few Minor Elites. The Major Elite's Particle Beam Rifle is resting on the floor. Sergeant Major Johnson, with his arm full with 'stolen' Covenant Carbines brushes past the wordless Elites, scooping to pick up the Major Elite's rifle. The Elites rise in anger around Johnson.

Nearby, a pair of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers are joking with each other as the Arbiter passes by, with an acquired M41 Rocket Launcher on his shoulder and a M7057 Defoliant Projector in his hand. The ODSTs and a pair of nearby Marines observe the Arbiter in half-awe, half-dissapointment over the loss of their Rocket Launcher, when 343 Guilty Spark drifts through the Marines in tow behind the Arbiter, leaving a Marine speechless. Johnson re-joins the Marines, beginning to hand out Carbines, the scene cuts to the fore of the hangar, where a Pelican Dropship lays before the hangar's energy field.

Lord Hood grimly watches Miranda Keyes and SPARTAN-117 as his Pelican departs from the hangar.

SPARTAN-117 and Miranda Keyes stand at attention before Lord Hood, who looks at them grimly from the rear of the Pelican as the troop bay door shuts and the Pelican takes off. Keyes glances at SPARTAN-117 wordlessly, and the two leave, going off to their own businesses.

Location: Portal, Africa, Earth

Hood's Pelican arcs away from the gathered Sangheilian Fleet as the Shadow of Intent powers its engines and thrusts into the Portal, followed by five CCS-class Battlecruisers, and later four more battlecruisers and a pair of UNSC Frigates (not seen).

Preceded by The Storm

Halo 3 Campaign Missions Floodgate

Succeeded by The Ark