Alpha 9 wasted no time with a reply. A shower of bullets rained on the massive beast. Unfortunately, the Brutes armour although faded and outdated still maintained a fully functional shielding system, rendering the assault ineffective.
Bryant dove behind a rusty generator to reload as the Brute drew 2 Spiker guns. Bryant felt the impact of spikes burying themselves on the opposite side of the generator. He kept an eye on the bottom left corner of his VISR HUD; as he reached for another magazine.
An exasperated sigh left his lips as the mag slid into place. Bryant peered over the top of the generator and immediately hit the floor as seven more spikes lodged themselves in the wall behind his head.
"Jeez!"
"Focus fire and disarm," Buck shouted and then over private comms,
"Romeo stay silent, cover Mickey. Do not give away your position. Mickey how much longer?"
"We're at 65%!"
"Reloading! Bryant get ready! Adrian!"
Adrian held the attention of the monster now. His suppressed assault rifle pounded the Brute, keeping it temporarily immobilized, its belt fell to the floor scattering its grenades and extra mags on the floor. The beast bellowed in protest but eventually lost its grip on one of the guns. Buck saw what he was going for and drew his silenced pistol as well. Three shots rang out and the other Spiker fractured and broke.
"You two form u-" Buck began.
In a burst of fury and speed, the beast lunged toward Adrian and uppercutted him square in the stomach. The blow sent Adrian flying backwards. He crashed to the floor and lay there motionless.
"Adrian!" Bryant cried.
Buck fired his shotgun and Bryant moved in close firing from cover to cover in quick bursts until he was just a few feet in front of the target. The Brute took a step back and Bryant moved in for the kill releasing his entire clip on the Brute at a fatally close range.
"Not too close!" Buck shouted, lowering his shotgun to avoid spraying Bryant with buckshot.
Just a little bit more, Bryant thought to himself. If he could just..
BANG! With a crackle of electricity. The shielding system failed and several bullets impacted the monster's raw flesh between its golden armor plating. It let out a howl of pain followed by a swift backhand to to Bryant's SMG sending it flying. Bryant stumbled backward and tripped over an alien clip, hitting the floor hard. The offender now hovering over him menacingly let out an ear-splitting roar spraying the ODST's visor with saliva.
"Yuck." Bryant sighed. "What a way to go out." He leaned as the Brute raised its enormous foot.
"Gunny..." Romeo said. Bryant recognized Buck's nickname and hoped the man could maintain his position, neither Romeo nor Mickey need share in his fatal mistake.
Buck did not like the way this was going. Normally he'd have Romeo take the shot, but if the Brute didn't drop from the first shot. His and Mickey's positions would be compromised. If the beast damaged any of the equipment the mission was a bust. That couldn't happen. Even without shielding, Brutes were known to withstand high caliber rounds thanks to whatever alien metal armour they wore; and their anatomy could be..unpredictable, not to mention their fur insulated hides. Buck and Bryant had to end this now. Without involving Romeo or Mickey.
"CRACK!" The shot rang out and the monster howled clutching its shoulder.
"Damn it Romeo!"
Purple blood oozed from the wound and soaked the floor.
Romeo had mortally wounded the beast. That you could count on, however the time that it had left before it dropped dead from either loss of blood or heart failure, was more than enough for it to kill every single one of them.
The brute turned and faced his attacker. Bryant made an attempt to regain its attention and received a swift kick to the abdomen for his efforts. It was like a sledgehammer had hit his stomach. Oxygen abandoned his lungs and his vision grew hazy as he slid several meters away. The alien then turned and faced Romeo, who indiscreetly slinked back behind the broken desk.
"...do you think he saw me?"
Mickey shook his head and pointed to the trail of smoke leading up to the end of Romeo's rifle.
The sniper saw the evidence and hung his head. Both men leveled their weapons on the desk and opened fire.
The monster dove behind a desk to avoid the assault and looked up just in time to see Buck.
"CLICK-CLACK" went the pump. Bryant smiled. Buck had him.
The Brute clutched the desk in an attempt to stand. Or that's what it had looked like. In milliseconds the desk had gone from stationary to projectile. It soared through the air and hit its target and sent the man crashing into a mess of debris. Bryant's smiled faded. He reached for his sidearm. His heart dropped when it wasn't on his hip. There it lay next to the Brute's belt where he'd tripped.
The monster roared at the fallen Buck and turned his attention to the only two men who posed any threat at this point and began to charge. Not to mention its shields had recharged. Great.
Bryant desperately crawled toward his pistol.
The monster used the armour on its forearms to block the damage from Mickey's SMG, while now wise to the high caliber rounds opted to dodge Romeo's shots.
Brutes were not known to be this intelligent or cunning something didn't sit right with this situation.
"Reloading!" Romeo shouted
"Give me your spare!" Mickey shouted.
Romeo tossed Mickey his secondary and Mickey now holding two SMGs hit the Brute with double the firepower. The Brute slowed to a halt standing in place blocking the attack only steps away.
"Die already!" Mickey shouted.
The Brute's shielding flared and brightened but did not break.
Bryant really hoped this would work. He took one more breath and primed the Spike grenade. If it didn't, a very painful death awaited. That much was assured no matter how things played out. Hopefully, Mickey and Romeo could take advantage of the situation.
Spike grenades are a tricky business. They completely wreck any type of vehicle, but they're explosion usually missed individual targets. It was a high velocity shower of intensely sharp needles that could rip through just about anything but it was limited to a certain radius, much like a shotgun blast. That paired with the fact that it was thrown and not shot left for a lot of room for error.
A few deflected shots to the back of the head were enough to grab the Brute's attention and turn its back to Mickey who's assault had been rendered useless. It almost elected to ignore him. Almost. Bryant launched the grenade with all his might.
The monster dove to the floor and the grenade soared harmlessly over the monster. And stuck to the opposite wall...Behind Romeo and Mickey. The Brute roared with what appeared to be laughter.
"You've got to be kidd-" shouted Romeo.
"Hit the deck!" Mickey interrupted and shoved Romeo to the floor.
Bryant didn't have the luxury of ducking. The grip around his neck tightened as he was lifted from the ground. Oxygen left his lungs and his vision began to blacken. Just a little longer. Bryant fought the darkness. Surely someone would be able to..
KA-BOOM
The grenade went off sending spikes in a horizontal shower inches above Mickey, Romeo and the desk they were behind and up the length of the brutes backside. The beast let out a less than threatening cry of agony and grabbed at the spikes sticking in its hiney. Its grip loosened and Bryant collapsed to the floor. Buck seemed to come out of nowhere and used the opportunity to finally let his shotgun do the talking...right into the beast's torso. The monster did not recover from that one.
The men took a moment to collect themselves. The entire ordeal was a hairline from catastrophe. No sooner had Bryant regained his breath, Romeo lifted him by the collar. Really? Twice in one day? However Bryant didn't really mind it was gentle compared to the monster's chokehold.
"You..What the hell was that?!"
The most Bryant could muster was a groan.
"Romeo, relax.." Mickey began.
"Relax?! This bastard almost gave us 9 inch deep splinters! That was the worst throw ever! Of all time!"
"Not a fan of acupuncture, Romeo?" Bryant replied.
He probably should have kept his mouth shut but out of breath and barely conscious, he couldn't resist.
Buck caught Romeo's elbow as he raised pulled his fist back for a punch.
"Enough Romeo. It's done."
Bryant felt Romeo's grip loosen.
Buck glared at him. "..however reckless a decision it may have been."
He turned. "Mickey!"
Mickey looked up from his taskpad.
"Report!"
"Mission success sir. Cortana now speaks Covenantanese."
"Good, all accounted for? Adrian?" Buck turned.
Adrian sat hunched over the dead Brute clutching his side where he'd been struck.
"I've been trying to figure out why this Brute attacked by itself and in such an unorthodox fashion."
"He didn't seem to go for the usual tactics." Mickey added.
"His armor is peculiar. Not the standard Brute outfit or markings. See this one here?" Adrian gestured.
"It means, left behind, cast out, abandoned, or something along those lines.."
"Haha he's a reject!" Romeo laughed kicking the corpse.
"Alpha 9 let's move." Buck finished.
*FLASHBACK END*
"Romeo almost broke your jaw!" Adrian laughed as the men continued down the hall.
Buck bellowed.
"You two are never gonna let that go are you." Bryant sighed smiling."
Though they laughed about it now, Bryant coincidentally never found himself on Buck's team again.
Writer's comments:
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