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| “ | Men, we led those dumb bugs out to the middle of nowhere to keep 'em from gettin' their filthy claws on Earth. But, we stumbled onto somethin' they're so hot for, that they're scramblin' over each other to get it. Well, I don't care if it's God's own anti-son-of-a-bitch machine, or a giant hula hoop, we're not gonna let 'em have it! What we will let 'em have is a belly full of lead, and a pool of their own blood to drown in! Am I right, Marines? | „ |
| ~ Sgt. Johnson's speech to the Marines in the Pillar of Autumn. |
| “ | Send me out...with a bang. | „ |
| ~ Johnson to Master Chief, his last words. |
Sergeant Major Avery Junior Johnson, also simply known as Sergeant Johnson, is a major character in the Halo video game series, appearing as a supporting character in the original Halo game trilogy, a playable character in Halo 3: ODST and Halo Wars 2, and as the protagonist in the prequel novel Halo: Contact Harvest.
He was a senior non-commissioned officer who served with the UNSC Marine Corps during the Insurrection and the Human-Covenant war, and was known for his gung-ho and eccentric personality, but was a well respected leader and soldier in the military. Avery Johnson was a highly trained Marine, serving with various units of the Naval Special Warfare Command, including the highly classified ORION Project. During his tenure during the war, Johnson became an ally to the Master Chief, and was pivotal in forming the alliance between humanity and the Sangheili.
He was voiced by David Scully (who also voiced Dimitri Lousteau in the Sly Cooper series), and by Corey Krueger in Halo Wars 2.
History[]
Overview[]
Johnson played a vital role during the course of the Great War and fought at major battles such as Harvest, Reach, Earth, and the events at Installation 04, 05, and at the Ark. He was key in forming an alliance between the Humans and Sangheili following the Great Schism and the outbreak of the Flood in November 2552. Ultimately, Johnson was killed in an attempt to prematurely activate a replacement Halo by 343 Guilty Spark. He was honored by Fleet Admiral Sir Terrence Hood twice, first with the Colonial Cross just prior to the invasion of Earth; then just months later, alongside his fallen comrades, at the Hillside Memorial in Voi, Kenya.
He was best known for his typical "gung-ho" attitude towards life, personal goals, and as a leader to his fellow Marines. This earned him a reputation, respect, and admiration from his subordinates and superiors alike. However, his eccentric behavior took a liking to "flip music", a style of music similar to the heavy metal from the 21st century. Avery Johnson is also noted as being one of a select few outside of the SPARTAN-II Program to befriend Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, whom he fought alongside multiple times throughout the final months of the Human-Covenant War; ultimately dying in his arms after being critically injured.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Avery Junior Johnson was boron on Earth in Chicago, Illinois of the United States in the twenty-fifth century, being the son of unnamed parents. His parents would leave their son when he was six years old, leading Avery to be raised by his aunt Marcille, where he would have fond memories of attending church with her. Due to his religious upbringing, Johnson would often question the morals of killing other human beings during war.
Military Service[]
When he was nineteen years old, Avery decided to join the United Nations Space Command Marine Corps to participate in the Insurrection, a civil war where the United Rebel Front wanted liberation from the Earth government. After receiving his training, Johnson was assigned on numerous classified missions and black operations, such as Operation Tanglewood and Operation Kaleidoscope. He was later handpicked to be a subject of the Orion Project (later dubbed as the "SPARTAN-I" Program) made by the Office of Naval Intelligence to augment soldiers to turn the tide of the civil war. During his time, Johnson received training in orbital drops, close-quarter combat, and became a student of the Naval Special Warfare Sniper School, where he impressed his superiors with his accuracy.
Johnson continued to be assigned on numerous operations, including Operation Trebuchet, where he led Alpha Squad to deal with civilian uprisings and destroy bomb factories. During the operation, Johnson was ordered by Nolan Byrne to eliminate a rebel that had a child hostage, but Avery hesitated, causing the death of Byrne's squad and countless civilians. He would feel great guilt from the incident, and also gained the resentment of Byrne due to his hesitation. After the operation, Avery returned home and learned that his aunt passed away, leading him to turn to alcohol. He was later found in the gutter after starting a brawl at the Chicago club, and was sent to the planet Harvest to train the Colonial Militia. However, Johnson and the militia were actually on a secret mission to form a covert anti-insurgency unit to lay ambushes.
While on Harvest, Johnson would lead the First Platoon with Byrne and Jilan al-Cygni in repelling the Jiralhanae, and fighting chieftains Maccabeus and Tartarus. During this time, Avery and Jilan became romantically interested in each other, but it's unknown if the two truly developed a relationship. Afterward, Avery participated in Operation Silent Storm, where he first encounter the SPARTAN II, the successors of the Orion project. Avery met John-117, and was pivotal in reducing the friction between the marines and the ODST's during the operation.
However, Harvest fell to the Covenant Empire in 2525, thus warning the UNSC of the threat the Covenant posed to them as the Covenant saw Humanity as a scourge to their fanatical religion that had to be terminated. By 2552, most of the UNSC Inner Colonies and all of their Outer Colonies had fallen to the Covenant, and soon, thanks to a tracking beacon on the UNSC Iroquois, the Covenant located Reach, the second-most important planet to the UNSC as the Earth was the first-important planet. Despite best efforts to defend Reach, even with the aid of Noble Team, the UNSC could not stop the Covenant, and Reach was soon glassed by the Covenant Fleet of Particular Justice. However, Johnson, along with John-117, and the A.I. Cortana, managed to escape Reach aboard the UNSC Pillar of Autumn, captained by Jacob Keyes.
About a month after fleeing Reach, and following the Cole Protocol to prevent the Covenant from finding Earth, the Pillar of Autumn arrived in orbit near Threshold and one of the Halo installations, Installation 04. However, the Fleet of Particular Justice was waiting for them, having beaten the Autumn there during the slipspace journey. As Keyes ordered the ship back to General Quarters, Johnson was down in the vehicle bays getting his Marines ready for combat with the Covenant again.
| “ | Johnson: Am I right, Marines?! UNSC Marines: Sir, yes, sir! Johnson: Uh-huh. Damn right, I am. Now move it out! Double time! Cortana: Attention all personnel: We are reengaging the enemy. External and internal combat imminent. Johnson: All you greenhorns who wanted to see Covenant up close, this is gonna be your lucky day. |
„ |
| ~ Johnson prepares his troops for combat |
Despite the best efforts of the Marines and crew, Keyes orders the abandon ship as he pilots the Autumn onto Halo himself, having entrusted Cortana to John-117 beforehand. Johnson evacuates in one of the lifeboats and lands on Halo with several surviving Marines and crewmen. Taking refuge on one of Halo's various structures dotting the landscape, they are soon reunited with John-117, who helps hold off reinforcements from the Covenant until Foehammer arrives in her Pelican to pick them up. Johnson has a Marine or two, if not himself, stay behind to help the Chief with heading to the other lifeboat crash sites to check for survivors and protect them until Foehammer can come pick them up. Once all the surviving Marines and crewmen have been recovered, or the Covenant got to them first, Chief and Johnson return to the command shuttle to regroup and plan their next moves. Chief later rescues Keyes from the Covenant battlecruiser Truth and Reconciliation, allowing the Autumn survivors to plan their next move.
Johnson takes some of the Marines with him in the Pelican Victor-933 to a swampy area of the ringworld to investigate a so-called "weapons cache" that the Covenant are looking for. Landing ahead of Keyes and his team, Johnson's squad make their way into the structure nearby, but soon find something weird. The weird thing being finding a unit of Covenant Elites who look like they've had their interiors gutted and mauled brutally by something that not even they could fight off with their plasma weaponry. Keyes and his team soon join them and look at the remains themselves before the two united groups continue onwards. Reaching a door that the Covenant locked down tight, one Marine unlocks it with a spoofer to let everyone in. However, once inside, something doesn't look right as the room is empty and it is too quiet. Moments later, they get a radio call for help from the Second Squad they left topside, only for the call to go dead as the corporal on the other end is heard panicking and screaming in horror before he is lost. Shortly after, Johnson, Keyes, and the Marines heard a strange noise, and seconds later, one of the doors out of the room burst open as something that isn't Covenant break it down and charge the humans. They try to fight them off, but are outnumbered and being overrun. The thing that attacked them being the parasitic Flood. Luckily for Johnson, due a medical condition he had, the Flood could not assimilate him as his condition rendered him immune to being infected and mutated by them.
In the end, John-117 is forced to detonate the Pillar of Autumn to destroy Installation 04 and any Flood or Covenant still on the ringworld. Johnson escapes with a few other survivors, and upon reuniting with John-117, they prevent an attack on Earth by a 500-ship strong Covenant armada, leaving only 14 of the ships left. Returning home to Earth, Johnson and John-117 head to the UNSC Orbital Defense Platform Cairo for an awards ceremony being held there overseen by Fleet Admiral Lord Terrence Hood, among the officers there being Captain Keyes' daughter, Lieutenant Commander Miranda Keyes. Johnson is also promoted from Staff Sergeant to Sergeant Major, receiving a Colonial Cross for his recent actions to protect Humanity from the Covenant.
However, the Covenant did not give up that easily. A 15-ship strong Covenant fleet drops out of slipspace just outside the firing range of the Cairo and its sister stations, Athens and Malta, forcing the UNSC Home Fleet and the platforms to move to intercept it. Johnson joins in the defense of the Cairo with other officers and Marines, before heading to the UNSC In Amber Clad alongside Miranda to board it and having it join the rest of the Home Fleet to engage the Covenant fleet. Shortly after Johnson and Miranda are ready to engage one of the two CAS-class assault carriers, John-117 ejects from the Cairo to return a Covenant plasma bomb they intended to use to blow up the Cairo as they did the Athens and Malta to the second carrier. After John-117 blows up the carrier with their own bomb, he lands on In Amber Clad and gets inside before the ship heads planet-side to pursue the first carrier.
Once over Mombasa, Kenya, Johnson heads down with three Pelicans into the city, with John-117 riding in the one he was in. As they head into the city, Cortana plays back a message she's hearing from the Covenant:
| “ | Cortana: The message just repeats: Regret, Regret, Regret. Miranda: Catchy. Any idea what it means? Johnson: "Dear Humanity, we regret being alien bastards. We regret coming to Earth. And we most definitely regret the Corps just blew up our raggedy-ass fleet!" Pelican Pilots: Ooh-rah! |
„ |
| ~ Johnson's take on the message Cortana picked up |
Cortana, however, reveals that one of the Covenant High Prophets, the Prophet of Regret, is on the assault carrier and calling for help. After a Marine sniper/reconnaissance team report the LZ is too hot to land to the Pelicans, Johnson tells the pilots they're going in and tells the Marines and John-117 to get ready for battle. FADM Hood orders John-117 to capture the Prophet of Regret alive so he can explain why he came to Earth, and why Mombasa is the only place they chose to land at. However, a Covenant Scarab appears ahead, and takes out all three Pelicans with its weapons. The one carrying Johnson and John-117 turn belly-up as it crashes and slides to a halt upon hitting the ground. Johnson, John-117, and some Marines survive the crash, and head out to secure a building as their stronghold until backup arrives. Despite numerous waves of Covenant attacking them, they manage to hold out until a Pelican arrives to let them know of a landing zone nearby where he can pick them up. After dealing with a pair of Hunters and then Jackals guarding the LZ, including some snipers, Johnson is called by Miranda to dust off on the Pelican as she needs an escort who isn't afraid of a little hostile groundfire as she has her Pelicans airlift armor and reinforcements into the city. Johnson leaves John-117 and the Marines to continue on without him as he boards the Pelican and leaves to do just that.
He arrives later at the bridge leading into New Mombasa from Old Mombasa with a Scorpion Tank for John-117 to use to deal with any Covenant armor between here and the other side of the bridge. When the male Marine with John-117 suggests retreating before they meet the same fate as the rest of their platoon, Johnson gives him some encouragement to stay with John-117 and the female Marine to take the Scorpion and head into town, reminding them that the Scarab is tough, but is not invincible.
| “ | Cortana: Thanks for the tank. He never gets me anything. Johnson: (as he locks and loads the Pelican rear-mounted machinegun) Oh, I know what the ladies like. |
„ |
| ~ Johnson has a keen instinct on what women prefer |
| “ | That's right, you mothers! Run! | „ |
| ~ Johnson after John-117 disables the Scarab and Regret appears to be fleeing town |
Johnson arrives to pick up John-117 just after he took out the Scarab and saw Regret preparing to flee with the Scarab's destruction. However, when Miranda's bridge crew spot Regret's carrier attempting to perform a slipspace jump inside the city, Johnson quickly gets his Pelican back to In Amber Clad before they rocket towards the carrier to ensure they are taken with it to wherever Regret is heading, leaving Mombasa behind to be obliterated by the shockwave from the slipspace jump.
Some time later, Regret's carrier and In Amber Clad emerge from the slipspace jump. Johnson was secured in one of the ODST/Helljumper pods at the time, while John-117 and Cortana were in another. Soon enough, it is then that Miranda spots something, and Cortana identifies it as another Halo ring, much to Jonhson's disbelief and shock upon hearing there's another of those ancient doomsday weapons that exist. Nevertheless, when Miranda assigns John-117 to head down with the ODSTs to secure an LZ, she has Johnson follow after with a couple of Pelicans once John-117 and the ODSTs land and secure the area. Upon arriving at the LZ, Johnson spots a big, temple-like building in the middle of the lake nearby. Cortana figures that is where the Prophet of Regret has set up shop after fleeing Earth and Mombasa, and John-117 and the troops with him head over to find a way to it. When John-117 has just dealt with several Elite Honor Guards and Cortana translates what Regret is saying about activating the new Halo, Miranda, upon checking the info Cortana had from the previous Halo, realizes Regret will need an Activation Index, located in the Library. Johnson figures the Covenant have the same idea, and Miranda recalls him to In Amber Clad to head to the Library with her, leaving John-117 to take out Regret as he was of no further use to them.
Despite heavy resistance from the Flood and the Sentinels and Enforcers activated to contain them, Miranda and Johnson make it to the central chamber where the Index is. Just as Miranda secures it, she nearly falls before Johnson saves her, commenting that her father, Jacob Keyes, never asked for his help either when Johnson served aboard the Pillar of Autumn. Their mission complete, they prepare to leave, but when Johnson calls his Marines standing guard and gets no response from them, he has Miranda prepare for battle as he begins sweeping the area for hostiles. Spotting a Covenant under Active Camouflage emerge to attack them, Johnson fires on the figure, but it gets close enough to him to where he attempts to smack it with his BR55 Battle Rifle, but is overpowered, before the figure decloaks to reveal itself as the Arbiter. The Arbiter swiftly knocks Johnson out with a headbutt, before taking cover when Miranda fires on him with her dual SMGs, emerging when she ceases fire to check on Johnson to ambush and disarm her. However, it is then that the Chieftain of the Brutes, Tartarus, arrives with his men, subdues Miranda with his Gravity Hammer, the Fist of Rukt, and lays claim to the Index, or as the Covenant call it, the Sacred Icon, for himself. One of his Brutes recovers Johnson's unconscious body and takes it away with Miranda's unconscious body while Tartarus deals with the Arbiter, revealing that the Prophets have betrayed the Elites and accepted the Brutes as their new enforcers, before finishing off the Arbiter with the Fist of Rukt. Afterwards, Johnson and Miranda are taken to the Covenant Holy City of High Charity.
Aboard High Charity, they are soon being escorted by Tartarus to a launch bay for several Phantom dropships. He orders them to be split up, with Miranda riding in one Phantom, and Johnson another. This leads to where Johnson and a couple of other Marines are left to be guarded by Brutes with a Scarab parked next to them in case the Brutes need it for later.
| “ | Tartarus: Mine will do. Kill the others. Brute: Yes, Chieftain! A day's rations says I do this in one cut. Second Brute: Ah, two cuts, at least. Brute: Done. (growls) Wait! Movement. Johnson: Go, go, go! |
„ |
| ~ Johnson is spared being killed by Brutes by the Arbiter's arrival with Hunter and Elite reinforcements |
Taking advantage of the Brutes being attacked by the Arbiter with reinforcements of Elites and Hunters, Johnson quickly hops aboard and mans the Scarab himself. When the Brutes are all dead, he then turns his attention to the Arbiter with the Scarab's main gun.
| “ | Johnson: Listen. You don't like me and I sure as hell don't like you, but if we don't do something, Mr. Mohawk is going to activate this ring, and we're all gonna die. Arbiter: Tartarus has locked himself inside the control room. Johnson: Well, I just happen to have a key. (opens the Scarab's main gun to prove his point) C'mon. Grab a Banshee and give me some cover. He's gonna know we're coming. |
„ |
| ~ Johnson forms an unlikely alliance with the Arbiter, starting the creating of the Covenant Separatists |
With the Arbiter providing air cover with a Banshee, unless he manages to commandeer a Wraith instead, Johnson moves the Scarab through a canyon until they reach the beachfront lying before the control room. Once in position, Johnson blasts open the control room doors with the Scarab's main gun.
| “ | Hey, bastards! Knock knock! | „ |
| ~ Johnson before blowing open the control room doors with the Scarab |
| “ | Please. Don't shake the light bulb. | „ |
| ~ Johnson to Tartarus about manhandling 343 Guilty Spark |
Johnson arrives shortly after the Arbiter attempts to confront Tartarus and convince him to wait on activating the ring until he hears the truth about the Halo Installations, asking Tartarus to not damage 343 Guilty Spark, and then threatening to blow Tartarus' brains out with the Covenant Beam Rifle he's holding unless he has his Brute bodyguards stand down. Once Tartarus calls off his men, Johnson tells Arbiter to go ahead and ask the Monitor about Halo, or the Sacred Rings as the Covenant called them. Once the truth comes out, the Arbiter attempts to convince Tartarus that they've been betrayed by the Prophets, but after a moment's thought, Tartarus' fanatical loyalty to the Prophets wins out. He throws the Monitor at Johnson, sending him reeling, and forces Miranda to insert the Index into the console, activating the Halo Ring. Johnson thus joins the Arbiter and his Elite backup with trying to kill Tartarus so Miranda can retrieve the Index and stop the ring from firing. Due to Tartarus' powerful energy shield, Johnson has to nail him with the Beam Rifle he's wielding to deactivate it and give the Arbiter a chance to damage Tartarus before it recovers.
| “ | Hey, Mohawk! How'd that feel?! | „ |
| ~ Johnson upon taking out Tartarus' energy shield |
With time running out, Johnson urges the Arbiter to kill Tartarus before it is too late. When Tartarus finally drops dead from the Arbiter's onslaught, Miranda quickly jumps down and pulls the Index out of the energy beam it had been in. This stops Installation 05 from firing, but as the Monitor lifts Johnson down to join Miranda, he explains that, by interrupting Installation 05 from firing, all the other Halo Rings are now on standby status for remote activation from a central source known only as "The Ark". The Arbiter then inquires where the Ark can be found, before the scene cuts back to Earth as John-117 returns on the Prophet of Truth's Forerunner Dreadnought to finish the fight against the Covenant.
After finding transportation back to Earth from Installation 05, Johnson and Miranda take command of UNSC forces in the African region from the UNSC base Crow's Nest near Voi and New Mombasa. It is later when John-117 crashes into the jungle near Mount Kilimanjaro after breaking off from Truth's Dreadnought that Johnson finds him with Marine backup. With John-117 unresponsive, Johnson retrieves Cortana's data chip from his helmet, and requests the Marines call for heavy lift equipment to bring John-117 back to Crow's Nest as they were not leaving him behind. However, John-117 recovers, takes back the data chip, and when Johnson inquires about Cortana, John-117 explains that she stayed behind on High Charity. When the Arbiter appears, John-117 immediately moves to attack him, before Johnson tells him to stand down as the Arbiter and the Elites are on their side now. Although the two former enemies nearly want to throw down, John-117 accepts having the Arbiter as an ally now, since they did stop Tartarus previously, and together, John-117, Arbiter, Johnson, and the Marines begin making their way out of the jungle to a rendezvous point to head back to Crow's Nest. The sounds of Brutes howling nearby, and a Loyalist Phantom passing overhead, forces Johnson to split the group up. Johnson and some Marines break off from John-117, Arbiter, and the other Marines to head to the RV themselves. By the time that John-117, his Marines, and the Arbiter reach the RV, before they can board the Pelicans, both are damaged by plasma and fuel rod fire from Banshees on a strafing run and go down. Johnson and some of his Marines survive their crash and attempt to flee from the pursuing Covenant Loyalists. However, Johnson is later captured by a Brute Chieftain and imprisoned in a hydroelectric facility that the Loyalists took over. John-117, Arbiter, and the Marines with them manage to kill the Chieftain and his forces, including Brutes, Grunts, and Jackals, and free Johnson and any survivors with him. They then hold out against Covenant Loyalist reinforcements until Hocus arrives in her Pelican, Kilo 23, taking out both Loyalist Phantoms and any stragglers with her missiles. Once the area is sterilized, she lands to pick up Johnson, John-117, Arbiter, and their surviving Marines to take back to Crow's Nest.
Once back at Crow's Nest, Johnson and John-117 reunite with Miranda, and she debriefs John-117 on what happened since they last heard from each other back on Installation 05. Soon, Lord Hood contacts them, relieved to see John-117 is still with them, and they work out a plan to try and make a gap in the Prophet of Truth's anti-air defense perimeter for Lord Hood to launch an attack with what ships from the Home Fleet are still combat effective after most of them were wiped out by the Loyalist fleet when they attacked earlier while the Home Fleet was still recovering from the previous battle with Regret's fleet. However, the base's power goes out, and before it recovers, Truth contacts the base to threaten them over their impending destruction before signing off as the power recovers. Johnson takes a moment to voice his contempt for Truth being a cocky one for running his mouth due to his fanatical beliefs before John-117 inquires about himself since Truth still called him "Demon" for what happened with Installation 04. Miranda soon realizes they are about to be attacked and orders the base evacuated. Johnson stays in the ops center to protect Miranda and the other vital staff there while John-117 heads to the hangar to help secure it for evacuations. Once the hangar is secured, Johnson calls John-117 back to the ops center to reveal that Miranda had already evacuated, and they've left a large bomb behind to destroy Crow's Nest to keep it out of Loyalist Covenant hands, with Miranda ordering Johnson to start the timer once everyone else has evacuated so they are the last ones out before the base is destroyed. After she signs off, Johnson asks John-117 to head to the barracks to rescue the Marines trapped inside, knowing full well what the Brutes do when it comes to not taking prisoners, and asks John-117 to rescue as many as he can and escort them to the landing pad for evacuation. As John-117, supported by the Arbiter, rescues as many Marines as he could and gets them up to the landing pad, Johnson soon arrives with the survivors from the ops center, revealing that the Brutes overran them and disarmed the bomb. Miranda and Hocus evac Johnson, Arbiter, and the Marines, while leaving John-117 to head back and clear out the ops center and rearm the bomb. Once the bomb is armed and ready to blow, Johnson and Miranda direct him to another elevator in the hangar to evac through before the base is razed.
After John-117 and those Marines that could still be combat effective flee what's left of Crow's Nest and head for Tsavo Highway, Johnson and Miranda continue to provide logistical support and light armor for John-117 and the Marines as they battle their way to the final Brute checkpoint before the tunnel to Voi. From there, as they enter Voi, Johnson and Miranda continue to provide recon and support to John-117 and the Marines as they begin clearing out the Loyalist AA defenses, even taking down a Scarab that tries to prevent them from going any further. Soon, the only obstacle left to prevent Lord Hood from attacking was a Loyalist AA cannon. Once that is destroyed, Hood launches his attack, but it is too late to stop Truth as he activates the artifact the Loyalists had dug up that had been hidden underneath New Mombasa, creating a massive portal in the sky that Truth's Dreadnought and his Loyalist fleet escape through. Worse was to come when a Covenant CCS-class battlecruiser infested with the Flood slipspace jumps into town and crashes nearby, threatening to spread the Flood all over the Earth. Luckily, the Covenant Separatist fleet arrives to assist and glasses the area to prevent the Flood from spreading to the rest of Earth. It is also discovered that Cortana might be aboard the crashed battlecruiser, but it turns out to just be a message from her warning of the Gravemind and its intent to attack Earth with an army of Flood behind it. As a result, after being convinced by John-117, Lord Hood allows Miranda, Johnson, John-117, and those ODSTs and Marines that are willing to join them, go with the Arbiter and his Elites through the portal to the Ark to stop Truth and Gravemind.
Upon arriving at the Ark, Johnson heads down to the surface aboard Hocus' Pelican, dropping off John-117 and some ODSTs to find and secure an LZ for Miranda and the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn. He later appears in a Pelican to guide John-117 and the troops with him to the LZ area, unless they get to it before his arrival. After John-117 and the Arbiter locate the Cartographer and find Truth's location, they head out to deal with him. Locating three towers that, if powered down, will clear the way to the citadel/control room where Truth is, Johnson heads to the third tower while John-117 hits the first tower and Arbiter the second. However, while John-117 and Arbiter complete their objectives, Johnson is unable to do so as he is overwhelmed and captured. Taken to the control room, Johnson, knowing that, as a human, thus a Reclaimer, descendant of the Forerunners, he can activate the Ark, tries to goad the Brute Chieftain restraining him into killing him to prevent him from activating the Ark. Truth sees through his plan and orders the Chieftain to stand down, but Johnson's efforts buy time for Miranda to crash a Pelican into the room. However, her shotgun blasts to keep the Brutes at bay prove ineffective, and when Truth warns that one of them will activate the Rings, Miranda prepares to execute Johnson before taking her own life. Unfortunately, she can't bring herself to do it, and her hesitation proves fatal for her, as Truth murders her in cold blood with a Brute Spiker, as Johnson watches in horror, restrained by a Brute Captain before he can come to her aid. Demoralized by Miranda's execution, Johnson resigns himself to his fate, and willingly activates the Ark.
By the time that John-117 and the Arbiter, joined in a temporary alliance with Gravemind as the Flood help deal with the Brutes blocking their way, mutating some of them into Flood Combat Forms to reinforce their numbers, reach Truth, he's already let Johnson go to cradle Miranda's body. Somberly closing Miranda's eyes, Johnson tells John-117 to stop the Rings and save the rest of Humanity, as it would be what Miranda would've wanted. John-117 powers down the Ark, stopping the Rings, while a defiant and deluded Truth still continues to spew his blasphemous beliefs before the Arbiter finally slays him once and for all by running him through with his Energy Sword, ending the Covenant Empire for good. In the meantime, Johnson carries Miranda's body aboard the Pelican she crashed into the citadel/control room in, and when Gravemind then turns on John-117 and the Arbiter now that the Rings had been stopped, Johnson quickly powers up the Pelican and flies it out the shattered window just in time, saving Miranda from being mutated into a Flood Combat Form, but he's unable to come back for John-117 and the Arbiter, who later discover that the Ark is in the process of building a new Installation 04 to replace the one John-117 destroyed. Remembering that Cortana still has the Activation Index from the old Installation 04, John-117 heads to the ruins of High Charity on the Ark to find her, with Johnson letting him know that he's recalling all their surviving troops back to the Covenant Separatists' flagship, the CAS-class assault carrier Shadow of Intent, while the Arbiter does the same with the Elites, to prevent any more of them being killed or mutated by the Flood. After John-117 finds Cortana and flees High Charity in one of the surviving Pelicans from In Amber Clad with the Arbiter joining him, they head to the new Halo, with Cortana contacting Johnson to bring the Forward Unto Dawn as close, and safe, to the control room as he can. Johnson complies with the order, but also mentions how he's glad to have Cortana with them again. Once the Dawn is in position, Johnson goes to join John-117 and the Arbiter, providing cover with a Spartan Laser to fight off the Flood until the Monitor can let them into the control room. Once inside, as Johnson intends to activate the incomplete Halo to kill Gravemind and the Flood, thus sparing the universe at large since with the Ark outside the range of the surviving Halo Rings, Gravemind would be unstoppable, the Monitor does the unthinkable, and goes rampant, blasting Johnson with his Sentinel Beam, mortally wounding him, before turning it on John-117 and the Arbiter. However, with his remaining strength, Johnson blasts 343 Guilty Spark with his Spartan Laser, damaging and stunning him, before giving it to John-117, telling him to "kick his ass". After John-117 blasts the Monitor several more times, finally overloading and destroying him once and for all, he checks on Johnson, but knowing he's done for, Johnson offers his last request to John-117 to "send me out...with a bang" before succumbing to his wounds. Cortana somberly and sadly activates Halo, and Johnson's body slides off the platform as its tilts to one side, leaving him to be vaporized, while John-117 and Arbiter flee in Johnson's Warthog to head for the Dawn and return home to Earth.
Back on Earth, come the following year in 2553, Johnson, along with Miranda and many others, are honored and remembered for their sacrifice as Lord Hood presides over a memorial commemorating the end of the Human-Covenant War, with Johnson's photo among the ones adorning the memorial.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- He has been awarded the Medal of Honor, the Colonial Cross, the Purple Heart, and possibly the Navy Distinguished Service Medal.
- The character is partly based on Al Apone from Aliens.
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 Heroes
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United Nations Space Command NOBLE Team Others UNSC Personnel UNSC Navy Officers A.I. Covenant remnants Non-canon | ||