A man it was, but a man it did not seem. Covered in black armor, so fierce even the cold veins of the Exo, who were in fact this warrior's only company, trembled in wake. His helm resembled a jackal, with golden inscriptions engraved along the bottom around his neck. The man breathed silent, as if he were dead, but the dark red orbs, only seen by few, were wide open and glaring straight ahead at the barge door.
Two of the exo were conversing with one another in a dark corner, eyeing the warrior intently. They did not dare take chance in openly speaking about the sable armored man.
In the monotonic language of the exo, one of them chided, "They say he is unkillable.. Do you believe?"
The other shook his head, staring deeply at the inscriptions, running through his vast inner database to find some way to depict them. "The only records of these markings are of an ancient people. The only ones ringing true is the one around his throat, Anubis."
"The god of the dead. How fitting." The first exo snapshotted the image of the warrior sitting against the wall, waiting silently, as if on a hunt. His cloak draped across his chest, but one detail stood out the most. The barrel of an unmarked Longbow sniper rifle aligned with his right leg, almost reaching his feet.
As the two strange exo reassured themselves of the knowledge and conspiracies about the man, he never moved and never blinked. He awaited something.. or someone. The one thing that the two robotics were correct on was the Hunter's alias, Anubis.
The dark hunter clutched the grip of his gun, the only movement he had done in hours once the blast doors finally opened from the barge. Passengers, civilians and soldiers alike, stormed from the ship. It was on a rescue mission to the research base on the moon.
Reportings of Fallen attacks were growing, but nothing could be done. The only safe haven was the City, the last beacon of hope for humanity. The traveler hovered over the City ever so silently and ever so still, never wavering from its post, guarding all that seek refuge. The Fallen would be brave indeed to attempt an assault on the last base of humankind, but some Fallen had no dignity and awaited stragglers outside the walls. Soon it was known that the only safe way to arrive at the City without protection was the barges, huge ships sent to rescue civilians stranded from the Fallout. Soon they would be useless, but for now they were of great use.
Anubis huffed in anger as he saw the soldiers coming off. They looked just as scared as the civilians, their eyes wide and hearts racing. Underneath the canine helm he heard them all, able to reconfigure sound waves in order to listen in on any one person, or a mass of people. He heard them all saying, "Demon! We must leave the City! It awakes!"
He jumped to his feet, with such speed that the exo watching feined jealousy. His eyes were locked on the barge as if something was emerging from inside. What had the research team found? What were the soldiers, who had built the walls of the city, had fought countless raids of the Fallen been so scared of? Anubis hissed and held his gun to his shoulder, aiming at the entrance intently, awaiting this 'demon'. He squinted his eyes, trying to make out the figure glooming in the darkness. In anger, Anubis triggered his Dark Sight to see beyond the shadows. What he saw made even him hesitate. He fired a shot almost accidentally, hitting his mark, but ultimately doing no damage to this beast. A swarm of soldiers rushed down the streets on both sides, all carrying Harrier IV Assault rifles.
The beast raged once the sting of the bullet shot by Anubis grazed off its skin. Its huge arms, only seen by Anubis, were flailing madly, slamming into the hard steel chambers within the barge, bending and denting everything it touched.
Anubis' com blinked and he raised his shoulder to activate it, "What is it?!" he roared, his hollow voice audible to the soldiers, the ones in the rear looking back in somewhat fear of the hunter's armor, but looked back into the barge entrance.
"You gotta' get out of there, kid. Let the guards handle it." The voice coming through the com was rugged, from an old general that came from a world of war and anger. "Anubis! That's an order!"
"S-sir… I can't…" Anubis reached to mute his earpiece, ignoring his commander's orders. He didn't even realize the guards had been issued to open fire. He saw as twenty soldiers unloaded their guns on the doorway to the emptied darkness, completely missing the creature, as it was not in the entrance anymore. The streets were ringing with gun fire, the automatic weapons going off in bursts individually, but altogether it sounded like all out war.
Finally the lead guard raised his fist, issuing the cease-fire. Without hesitation, all of the shooting completely stopped, but the sound of the blasts echoed throughout the City.
Anubis gripped his gun anxiously, awaiting some form of affirmation as to where the beast went. He could not make out what it looked like, but he saw the huge silhouette, something big, something incredibly strong, and it's skin can knock away a Longbow charge. The only type of armor capable of that was a fully charged Titan shield. Even then, the bullet would have shattered the shield and knocked the receiving Titan back several feet. Whatever this was, it was far too strong for normal weapons.
Anubis gulped as he pulled his pistol from his side. Pistols from a long time ago, the Awoken Caster cannons. These pistols were only given to Awoken who were fighting in the Fallout. Anubis's father was given this gun, the Hellion. He popped the cylinder of the pistol to the side and loaded an Incinerate caster shell. These shells were great for taking out heavy armor and destroying anything that wasn't shielded. These shells were scarce, rare, and very expensive, but in the area of work Anubis did, they were a life saver, and the price did not matter. He cocked the hammer of the pistol, charging the cast and was about to storm into the barge, but his com turned back on with the override of his commander.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" demanded the growling voice, piercing Anubis' sensitive ears from within his helm.
"I'm going to kill this demon! I can't allow these fools to get themselves killed… even if they are human." Anubis shot back, defying all reasoning.
"You were given orders! Don't make me take you back to base by force! Your arrogance will get you removed from the fire team." The booming voice of the man was almost loud enough for the soldiers to hear.
"Then I guess you'll just have to come get me, Sobek!" Anubis angrily threw a flash flare at the entrance to the barge, and anyone that was looking at the flare was immediately blinded. The soldiers howled in torment of the blinding light and Anubis stormed into the barge entrance unnoticed.
He could hear the creature groaning from the light and could tell it was moving further into the barge. The only light that was visible inside the barge was the beam shooting from outside due to the opened entrance. Anubis flashed his Dark Sight again and immediately noticed the blood stains, claw marks, and strange looking ooze scattered around the bridge. He reached over to flip the light switch, but there was no power in this room due to the massive beatings from the beast hidden away in the barge.
Anubis breathed evenly, undaunted from the massive creature that he saw earlier. The only questions he had was how such a thing was being so quiet and hidden. With every corner Anubis turned, he braced himself with his legs against the walls, anticipating the moment he'd have to finally pull the trigger of his caster cannon. One shot could blast a hole through the side of the hull and he wasn't fond of feeling the kick of it once again.
As silent as fog rolling over the hills, Anubis stormed further into the ship, finally coming to a large window. He peered to look, seeing nothing but darkness inside. It looked as if it was the hangar. A smaller drop ship sat in the center of the room and there was no sign of the beast.
Anubis turned quickly at the sound of footsteps behind him. He turned and activated the charge of his pistol, "Stop right there!" hissed the dark hunter, his visage concealed by the gloaming darkness of the ship, the only thing visible was the LED lights from his pistol.
"H-hey…! Don't shoot! I'm just trying to get off the ship." The man put his hands in the air, stepping back slightly to get away from the Hunter.
"It's not safe here. There's a creature on-board that could kill you in a second." Anubis growled, pointing his pistol at the man only for intimidating reasons.
"Yea.. The monster came from the moon base. They were excavating one of the craters that had been recently discovered when a meteor shattered and a thousand of those things broke loose from inside… There were smaller ones too… The big ones were unaffected by our weapons… Everyone on the base was getting massacred…" The man's voice cracked with fear and anguish.
Anubis couldn't believe what he was hearing. There was possibly more of those creatures on-board, and they all would be near impossible to kill. He only had three caster shells with him and he hoped that would be enough. The Hunter pulled down his weapon, placing it back in its holster on his hip, "How many of those things got on board?" he asked, whispering as he moved to the wall, pulling the man with him to conceal themselves from the open hallway.
"That was definitely the only big one… A few of the smaller ones followed it in, but they were much easier to kill. A shot to the head brought them down." The man replied, his arm attached to the cloak of Anubis. His eyes were wide open, trying to force his vision through the darkness.
"Thanks for the info, now go find some place to hide. You're of no use walking around blindly. Once I kill this thing I'll turn the lights back on. If there are anymore survivors get them the hell out of here." Anubis was gone before the man could reply. No trace of the Hunter was left in the shadows of the cold ship. The man pressed his back to the walls and covered his face, trying to hold back the screams of his dismay.
Anubis kept his pace, moving further up the ship's tiers, trying to make up time lost from encountering the man. He somewhat felt sorry for him, seeing his terror and fear, having to witness his friends get killed from a massive attack. It was hard for anyone to think straight after that. He was somewhat impressed of the man's control, not freaking out and screaming, giving away their position on the ship.
He arrived at the midpoint of the ship and his eyes widened when he saw two figures standing in the darkness. They were the smaller creatures the man talked about. They didn't seem like they could see in the darkness, but were sniffing around, as if using their sense of smell to guide them. One of them caught whiff of Anubis and turned with a twitched movement. Anubis reacted immediately and dove between the two creatures, using his knife to slice their heads off in a single movement. Their heads dropped to the ground and Anubis looked to study them. They looked like walking skeletons. Their bodies were lanky and pale, a small outline of armor shown through their skin as if it was fused to them.
Anubis clicked his com and turned on his helm's recorder, "You seeing this?" He tried making the video feed as clear as possible.
His commander, Sobek, rang in, "What the hell is that thing, Anubis?" his voice coming off a bit calmer than before.
"There was a man I found on the ship that said these creatures were buried deep in the moon." Anubis looked away in disgust as their skin began to boil. He stepped away quickly in case anymore were close by. He looked back and caught glimpse of their bodies bursting into bright orange embers, illuminating the hallway briefly.
"You'd better hurry up and finish whatever it is you're trying to prove. The soldiers outside are getting the reports of the creatures. They're planning on self destructing the ship if this gets any worse."
Anubis gasped, "There are still survivors! They're just going to cast aside their own kind?" The Hunter was outraged by the thought of the humans leaving survivors to die on the ship. With the commotion he made, he heard something moving down the hall. He pulled out his caster cannon and charged his shot.
The soldier from earlier peeked around the corner, equipped with night vision goggles he found from the barracks. He saw Anubis aimed directly at him and jumped back behind cover, "Don't shoot!" he yelled, hoping the Hunter would have recognized him.
"What are you doing fool? You'll give away our position." Anubis stepped to the soldier and shoved him down the hall, almost pushing him to the floor. The Hunter was already angered from the guard's actions outside and now he had to deal with the buffoon on the ship, "Maybe they should leave such a careless person behind!" He gripped the soldier by the collar of his uniform, his helm fully visible by the man.
The soldier's eyes widened behind the goggles at the sight of the armor. The Hunter looked as if he were death himself. He quickly got a hold of himself and forced himself free. He pulled a Gryphon 606 assault rifle from his back. "I'm not going to stand by and let some creature kill me without a fight!" The soldier held his ground to Anubis, but the Hunter wasn't impressed nor pleased with his actions. The beast could be on them at any moment.
"And when we're both killed, you can blame yourself in the afterlife.." Anubis aimed back down the hall, trying to get a defensive hold on the situation. "You any good with that weapon?" he asked, his cold visage boring through the gloomy darkness.
The soldier loaded his rifle and aimed the opposite way of the hall, "Best shot in my class." The two began to react efficiently and silently, moving along the halls, using the cross ways as cover. Anubis was beginning to lose patience at how he had not found the huge creature. He was beginning to think it had escaped into the City, but he had to find it before the self destruct sequence began.
A red light was blinking down one of the corridors. Anubis motioned for the soldier to watch his back. The man replied with a nod, keeping silent and aiming his sights down the halls. The Hunter stepped closer and saw the flashing beacon reading 'Emergency Power Override.'
"Any idea what this means?" Whispered Anubis, motioning for the soldier to come look at the beacon.
The soldier nodded, "Someone's activated the override. The power will reset in.." Before he could finish speaking, the lights in the halls flashed on, the humming of the ship's engine echoed loudly as if it was getting ready to lift off. "Damnit! No!"
Anubis looked at him, eagerly awaiting an explanation, "What do you mean? Is this ship about to lift off?"
The soldier shook his head, "No… They're going to self destruct using the fusion core inside the engine. We've got to get out of here now!"
"Wait. Are there anymore survivors?" Asked the Hunter, not fond of leaving helpless people behind, even if they aren't his kind.
"The only ones that didn't make it out were the ship's crew. I think they locked themselves in the bridge. It's two tiers above us." The soldier glanced back to the flashing beacon again and doubted himself being able to save the crew and himself in time.
Anubis' com blinked, "You have fifteen minutes before the fusion core ruptures. Either hurry your ass to the bridge, or get off that doomed ship," Sobek was in no way ready for his best fighter to get killed for no reason, "Remember, that creature is still on board. If you run into it with the crewmen, you won't be able to protect all of them."
Anubis shook his head, willing to take the risk. He was efficient in every mission he had done, but he had not done an escort mission before. He glanced over at the soldier, "I'm going to need your help."
The soldier nodded, "Let's hurry to the bridge, we've got little time!" The two bolted through the halls, moving up the two tiers quickly, but when they got to the bridge door, they were utterly speechless. The door was ripped off its hinges, blood was splattered along the walls. The huge creature that had taken the Longbow charge to the chest was glaring straight ahead at the Hunter. What resembled eyes were dark green orbs that were thick with rage. It's body resembled the other two creatures Anubis killed before. He immediately figured out why his bullet did not affect the beast. Much like the smaller bodies, this monster had thick armor fused with its skin. The armor was bonded along its chest up to its neck and around its skull. The only spots that looked soft enough for a shot to even nudge the beast was its hands and feet.
Anubis nudged the soldier beside him, motioning for him to run and save himself, "Get out of here.. I'll handle this ugly mother f.."
Anubis was cut off by the screeching chuckles of a crimson robed figure that seemed to appear from nowhere behind the huge beast. It was taller than the smaller forms Anubis had killed, and it seemed to be far more intelligent.
If the creature had lips, it probably would have been smirking evilly. The new figure raised its clawed, pale hands up and began to speak, "Your world… Will be ours," The voice seemed to come from every direction of the two gunmen. As if the creature was speaking telepathically. The sinister cold thoughts of the creature struck their minds again, "The Hive… Lives!"
The soldier beside Anubis roared with anger and fear and fired his weapon at the robed figure. It disappeared and the bullets blasted into the torso of the huge Hive creature. The shots only enraged the beast and it roared, thrashing its arms into the ground as it charged straight ahead at the two. Anubis didn't hesitate, squinting his eyes and just before pulling the trigger of his caster cannon, a smirk would have been seen under his helm.
The Incinerate shot from his gun sent a jolt through both the gunmen, almost sending them to the ground, had the adrenaline from seeing the creatures not entered their veins.
The blast hurled towards the beast, impacting its armored skin. The only thing left of the massive creature was its lower half, cauterized from the intense flames. Anubis was breathing heavily, his hands shaking from gripping his pistol with all his strength. A large hole was formed through the cockpit and everyone onlooking from outside was able to see the blast.
The soldier Anubis had met grabbed him by the arm, pulling him towards the hole, "We've got to leave! Now!"
Anubis snapped out of his trance and nodded, latching a grapple hook on a desk inside the bridge. He grabbed the soldier and jumped through the window, gliding down slowly from the grapple line. They touched down and the Hunter released the line, pulling the soldier with him as the ship's core began to overheat. The humming got louder and an explosion erupted from within the hull. The initial blast bulged the lower hull, then the explosions could not be held in. The front of the ship erupted with a booming force, flames shooting out as seared metal bent from the pressure.
The streets had been cleared and evacuated to safety from the blast minutes before. Anubis stood and stared at the burning ship, watching as the flames rushed from the fusion core. He turned to the soldier and nodded with approval of his bravery. Before the soldier could speak, the Hunter darted away, his cloak swaying behind him as he ducked from sight.