Okay, NOW we get to another battle, and NOW the real Abaters show up...hope you enjoy.
Chapter 17
Fair Oaks
Second level of former movie theatre
The two Spartans and Eva had found that the Abaters had a rather weak barrier, in which they could take out the Abaters that were unfortunate enough to wander alone and at a poorly patrolled area. After only a handful of Abater kills, the three were already downtown, where there was obviously the most movement and activity going on. The three stood in the second story of the old Legacy 3 Theatre, once great, but now run down and in ruin.
Ray, scanning the area below with her sniper rifle, acted mysteriously to Michel, and for some time Sven thought the two were so alike. Senior Chief, or Michel, held a new weapon to the army, a battle rifle, which was similar to the assault rifle, only it had a scope on the top, ideal for sniping from medium distances, and it could only fire three rounds with one pull of the trigger. Sven also had a sniper rifle, but had his SMG's strapped to his legs in holsters for quick attacks. The Master Chief walked up beside Eva-00 and raised his rifle beside hers, scanning the area as well.
"Anything?" He asked, just above a whisper.
"No." Ray said softly.
"Nothing back here." Michel added, who was looking through the ally behind the theatre and several other, smaller stores. The Master Chief sighed.
"Now we just wait here until Hettu and Kicilar show up. Do you know the plan?" He asked, looking at Ray. Her helmet nodded, then, in a whisper, she repeated the plan.
"When the Hunters arrive, you and Senior Chief will assault the Abaters while I continue to snipe out retreating members." Sven nodded.
"Sorry if you wanted another position." He said and walked over to Michel. Seconds after he left, Ray softly said.
"That's okay…" Suddenly she snapped to and zoomed in on an Abater, patrolling the area, a few others of its kind were wandering around as well. Abaters reminded Ray of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, with their stout, powerful jaws, filled with massive teeth able to shred flesh and crunch bone. They had red scaly skin, with black stripes going down its snout, to the back of their head, and down their back. However, Abaters didn't possess tails, but did have double-jointed legs, like Elites, but instead of hoofed feet, they had clawed toes, which weren't concealed by any boot of any kind. They also wore shimmering black armor, like the spec ops Elites the Evas and Spartans had heard of so much. Small yellow eyes with thin slits for pupils were often commented as being piercing, and frightening, to those who actually survive to tell of their appearance. Ray wondered who would win in a hand-to-hand fight, an Elite or an Abater? Both were quite evenly matched, Abaters and Elites possessed the same amount of strength, but the Elites probably had more speed, while the Abaters more than likely had more stamina, which was already a lot with the Elites.
"Master Chief, here comes your backup." Drop pilot Foehammer said over the COM channel. Foehammer was an expert drop pilot, and was known in the army for being able to get injured soldiers out of battle quickly and safely.
"Good, drop them in front of the theatre." Sven replied into the link.
"Can do." Foehammer said and suddenly the roar of a Pelican drop ship came in. Michel and Sven looked up to see the grey ship, able to seat ten soldiers in the back, with the two Hunters attached to its bottom fly over them.
"Let's move!" The Master Chief ordered to the Senior Chief, and turned to Eva-00, who was still busy with her assignment. He turned and jumped down the stairs Michel jumped down, his SMG's in each hand, he and the Senior Chief were ready for battle.
Abaters were surprised by the landing of the two Hunters, but as Foehammer slowly and steadily landed so that Hettu and Kicilar could get off; they were practically huge targets, unless the Abaters didn't know to fire their weapons at their exposed torso. The two Hunters, now armed with a powerful fuel rod cannon on their right hand, and a massive, nearly impenetrable shield on their left, took the hits from the Abaters' plasma weapons with no effect at all, obviously the Abaters didn't know the Hunters' weakness. With a crunch of their armored boots, the Hunters landed, the spikes on their backs raised, giving them a frightening appearance, and they fired massive blobs of green plasma at the crowds of T-Rex-like aliens. Abaters howled in pain and surprise as several were thrown up into the air like rag dolls, many scorched and obliterated by the blasts. Ray fired four rounds from the sniper rifle before having to reload, but managed to hit four Abaters head-on, all four going down. She reloaded and fired four more, again four Abaters went down.
"Ambush!" An Abater with a scar across his left eye and down his snout roared; he was obviously the leader. As the Hunters continued to fire, and Foehammer took off back to the base, bullets began to fly and take down the numerous Abaters still standing. Kicilar turned and saw as the Master and Senior Chiefs appeared seemingly from nowhere and began to fight beside them.
"Brother Sven, you're here, we were afraid…" Kicilar began.
"Not now Brother, we must fight." Hettu said to the other Hunter and fired again. Every once in awhile, either Sven or Michel would stop their assault to reload, then they would fire again. Senior Chief had a bit of an advantage compared to the others, for he had a short to medium-ranged weapon, able to take down Abaters from a distance. The Abater leader, or Scar, glared at the Master Chief, the biggest threat to his army, and raised a sniper-like weapon up, an Abate Sniper, dangerous to both the user and the victim, for if it were to overheat, the one using it would be hurt as well. Locking onto the Master Chief, Scar fired. A strong, needle-like projection shot out, striking Sven's armor. His shields low, and quite shocked at the power of the Abate Sniper, the Master Chief looked up, and saw as Scar lowered to weapon, his yellow eyes meeting his.
"So you are the threat to the Abater army?" Scar smiled a toothy grin. "Some threat." Sven didn't reply, he simply loaded new clips into the SMG's, and fired at the Abater, only this time he walked toward the enemy, so that his power became increasingly stronger. Not moved at all as his men continued to fall to the Master Chief's firepower, Scar tossed the Abate Sniper away and withdrew dual plasma pistols, firing them at the Master Chief as well. From the theatre, Ray spotted the two approaching each other, and the Master Chief's shields flickering constantly. Her finger pulled the sniper's trigger and the bullet shot Scar, through his side, unfortunately a non-lethal shot too. Staggering back, with his dark blood spilling out, the Abater tapped a COM link of some sort on his wrist. "This is Scar, I'm injured, call for a retreat." He took another step back.
"The Prophets say that your request is denied. You fight until you die." The Master Chief also picked this up on his COM link, which made him figure that the Abaters weren't the most secretive when it came to talking over the link. The voice, a low voice that belonged to Tartarus, was low and quite powerful.
"Damn it Tartarus..." Scar muttered. He took a step back, clutching his side and wincing from the pain. "At least send reinforcements."
"That I can do." Tartarus replied and signed out. Scar looked up at the Master Chief, grinning a toothy smile, and took another step back. Sven turned to Michel, who killed an Abater that got too close with the butt of his battle rifle to its head.
"They're sending back up!" He exclaimed. The Senior Chief lowered his weapon.
"What? Really?" He asked. And before they, Ray, or the Hunters could question the other, a massive purple vehicle, called a Phantom, shot through the air and poured out several more beings, six in all. Sven turned quickly with his weapons aimed and ready, and saw two new creatures to the Abater army. Three of the creatures were bird-like, one wore a helmet, but the others had beak-like features and large eyes, as well as some feather on their heads. Short but gangly, the birds, or Jackals as the humans called them, activated a large shield on their left wrist and pulled out a plasma pistol with their free hand. The others creatures were Brutes, large, muscular beings that looked like it had the bulk and strength of a rhino but with the similar appearance and hair to that of a gorilla. One held a massive hammer-like weapon, and wore a distinctive Mohawk, presumably the leader.
"Heh, you couldn't handle these things Scar? My Brutes and I shall tear them apart." Tartarus grunted.
"Brutes!" Kicilar growled. "And Jackals, traitors to the Covenant." Tartarus clutched the hammer in both hands, which still stood taller than him, an 8-foot tall beast!
"Say as you like Hunter, your kind are the ones who decided death, not ours." He said. The Master Chief looked up at the massive Tartarus standing before him and took a step back. The Brute chieftain chuckled. "You were having trouble with this?" He asked Scar. Scar grinned.
"No…" Suddenly a loud boom echoed throughout the area and Tartarus just narrowly missed a sniper round by Ray. "That is what got me…" Tartarus glared up, seeing Eva-00, and motioned for his Jackals to attack. The Jackals turned to her, their glowing shields facing her as well, and they opened fire, green plasma shot up to the window. Ray, acting quickly, jumped away before a shower of plasma burned her. Meanwhile Tartarus turned to Sven, glaring at him with piercing red eyes, and swung his mighty hammer through the air. The other Brutes laughed as the hammer smashed into the Master Chief, and thanks to some advancement to the weapon, some sort of energy blast ignited when it collided and not only was Sven seriously hit by the hit alone, but the aftershock blast was enough to send him reeling, crashing into an old rusted car and again into an old building.
Sven suddenly found it hard to breathe, and he looked up weakly to see Tartarus charge at him, when a green blob fired from Hettu and struck the Brute, sending him reeling as well into one of his Brute comrades.
"Brother Sven, get up." Hettu said.
"I'll get him." Michel said and rushed to Sven, helping him to his feet. "You okay?" He asked kindly. The Master Chief nodded, reached for his SMG's, but found they were gone. "Here, take my battle rifle." Senior Chief said and handed the Master Chief the weapon.
"I can't accept this Senior Chief," Sven said weakly. "I'll fight that thing with my hands." He returned the rifle and turned to Tartarus, who tossed his fellow Brute away with anger and jumped to his feet, snarling. The Senior Chief backed away and fired at Tartarus, hoping to give Sven time to get ready. Tartarus, who was without his hammer now, merely grunted as the bullet clashed with his rough hide, only a few actually penetrated his skin, and he still hardly made any movement.
"Brutes, take them out." He ordered. But as the Brutes turned to the Spartans, they fell to the ground dead, sniper rounds through their heads. Tartarus turned, and found that his Jackals were dead as well, and that Eva-00 was back in her position. The Brute scowled, and glared at Scar, who was still struggling to remain conscience. "Scar, get your remaining men back into the Phantom, we're retreating." Scar pressed some sort of button on his wrist and the purple vehicle that brought Tartarus and his men down to begin with appeared once more. The Phantom, hovered down close to the ground, Scar, Tartarus, and the few remaining Abaters hurried to it, however Ray and Michel managed to take down an Abater or two before it escaped.
So that's the beginning battle with Tartarus, chieftain of the Brutes in hand, as well as Commander Scar of the Abaters. Now you'll notice how the battles shift more into the ones you see in Halo instead of Evangelion, but if you're a fan of those fights don't worry, they'll be more every now and then. I hope you liked this chapter more than the other two, and please review.