Site Poll 74: How will the Flood return?

[Ranger Intel]

 

 

Hi everyone, Spartan here with site poll #74.

 

 

Last week's poll was a little quieter with only one response from forum member @Mothy. He made the great suggestion of tackling two birds with one stone, by having Cortana be destroyed along with the Gravemind. I think this is an honourable way for the AI to kick the bucket, and I'm sure it's what she would have wanted. Click here to view the last poll, #73.

 

 

 

 

How will the Flood return?

 

 

Speaking of the Gravemind, we know the Flood's still out there. Despite their small presence, they may still be a threat. I do find it likely that they'll make a return, but how? I can't think of any realistic way to be honest, not unless there's outside intervention on the Ark.

 

The Banished and supposedly Spirit of Fire units on the Ark are containing the Flood, and it's safe to assume they're doing a decent job with the way Awakening the Nightmare ended. How will the Flood make their way out of the ring? I see the Spirit of Fire being the only way. Let 'Volir's ship was destroyed, and the Forerunner ship on the Ark was also destroyed in Operation: SPEARBREAKER. Things could go very badly for the SoF group, but how likely is that? What are the Flood gonna do?

 

Let me know what you're thinking.

 

 

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts,

Spartan out.  

[Maestro]

I see two ways the Flood could return:

1. They breach the new quarantine zone on the Ark and hijack a ship. It wouldn't be capable of carrying many Flood forms, but it'd be enough to infect a world and build up their numbers.
2. The Flood isn't from this galaxy. It's probable that they have infected alien worlds outside the Milky Way, and they could hijack their spacecraft.

[Ranger Intel]

 

They breach the new quarantine zone on the Ark and hijack a ship.

 

What ship could it be?

[RedStarRocket91]

Truthfully, I don't really see the Flood returning. It's a particular shame for me as, while I know I'm in the minority, I really enjoy fighting them. I find them to be a great change of tactics and pace from the Covenant, and if there's one thing I'm really worried about for Halo 6, it's how repetitive the Prometheans are to fight.

 

This is probably a little weird, but I actually don't feel that how the Flood return, if they do, matters all that much compared to the fact of their return. Accidental release, Cortana playing God one step too far, a jar of ancient misery powder on a derelict ship, whatever. What matters is that they're there, and it's something which can't be ignored because it's such a terrifying threat. Something I'd really like to see might be, the Flood consuming a world which doesn't have any actual technology on it - what happens then? We know it can infest things, but can it create enough of its own technology to break atmosphere? And if not - what happens if you give a Flood world a few thousand years of isolation to develop? Does it develop a more symbiotic relationship with local fauna? Does it start actually evolving the creatures it assimilates? Do Pure Forms become dominant - and if so, does it even continue to produce Infection Forms? This could be really fun stuff. Think a whole mission on a Mammoth, searching for answers on a Flood hive world, with Spartans the only ones allowed down there because the atmosphere is just so utterly dangerous and contaminated. Heck, even an Elephant would be really cool. One Spartan to drive, two to operate the guns, a third dealing with anything which does manage to get aboard.

 

As for how we get them into the story - there's any number of ways. They've taken over a Halo ring, a sample got loose on a planet and the Covenant just ran instead of fighting them, we find an ancient, drifting human ship and board it in search of answers only to find that it's infested, and then have all the panic of it getting onto Infinity. Think Space Hulk, Halo Edition, and you'll have a rough idea of what I have in mind.

[Mothy]

I think, and believe me this is entirely just me fantasizing, it would be extremely cool to have some kind of Dead Space 2 first mission feel to it (For a reintroduction). As in boarding an old ship, be it it an escaped ship from say High Charity or some destroyed drifting ship similar to what RSR said. Like imagine it, an old, creepy, rusted ship filled with flood growth and madness and the only way to progress through the level is to man up and creep through the ships hallways while battling hordes of rotted starved combat/pure forms? Literally it wont ever happen and the horror aspect doesnt fit Halo's new T rating, but that would absolutely be something I would approve of anyways. You could fit that into a plot quite easily im sure, but since the Flood was my favorite enemy to go up against I really dont want to even consider the possibility of them never returning. If they didnt and 343 just swept them under the rug and just contributed their canonical existence to some forgotten lore entry in a terminal.... Ill just say I would be pretty disappointed. Either way though, I love Halo to bits and although I dont know Halo 4 or 5 lore all that well and havent completely read all the books, I still like to think of myself as a pretty dedicated fan. Regardless of what happens ill still be happy with the results (H4 & 5 have actually grown on me quite a bit and I can tell 343 is trying, theyve just been missing a few things from their games that really make Halo Halo.) Anyways I went off topic a little at the end there. What was the question again?