Chapter 38: Home Field Advantage
The Siege of Noxus, part 1
The explosion was the first thing that told the Master Chief that the battle would not be in their favour.
The side of the palace had just exploded, a massive column of fire and rubble launching into the air.
He ran with his borrowed blade held low by his side, Riven some ways behind him. He could not afford to waste time and move slower in order for her to keep up. The battle would not allow that.
He ran right up to the main gates of the Noxian palace, and moved right through them as if there were no guards. It wasn't like any of them cold stop him, even if they tried.
Inside, it was as if all hell had broken loose, which it technically had.
"There's less smoke in here than I thought there would be," Cortana said. "So that rules out high-grade explosions – most likely a partial structural collapse."
It was a reasonable assumption, so the Chief decided to treat that as the basis for the enemy attack. Of course, that left some problems. A structural collapse would only be effective in the lower, vital structural points of a structure, but the palace was set into a mountain. A collapse like that would not be viable.
That would mean the attack would need to be carried out on more squishy targets – namely, the leaders of Noxus and Demacia respectively.
The Chief sped up, his feet leaving impressions in the cold floor.
The doors to the throne room were open, and so the Chief went inside quickly. Surprisingly, there was no damage inside.
It was possible he was wrong.
Or not. There was a group of people talking frantically with each other, and Kolminye was in the midst of them. Blue team was just some ways away, possibly standing guard. The assassins and Darius were absent, as were Tryndamere, Sejuani, Jarvan and Swain.
He marched up to the High Councilor, ignoring the confused glances blue team gave him. He knew they were confused, but there would be time for answers later. First, the Chief himself needed answers in order to formulate a proper plan of defense.
As he got closer, he could tell that things were bad.
The High Councilor locked eyes with him, and moved past the group to meet with him.
The Chief spoke first. "High Councilor, There is a –"
"There is an invading army, yes," Kolminye said, waving her hand. "Which is utterly irrelvent compared to this." She gestured to the people behind her.
The Chief tilted his head, and Cortana said, "What?"
"The…Leaders got into an argument and started moving about, and then there was the explosion." She shook her head. "We haven't seen them since."
The Chief hesitated. "The… war leaders... are missing?"
Kolminye nodded. "And quite possibly dead. And these fools can't decide on who should lead. The generals have already decided to fight their own battles, so any real cohesion is near impossible."
The Chief was confused. That was extremely problematic. Not to mention the fact that the enemy had somehow breached the palace and managed to plant a bomb. Or sabotage. Either one was a significant problem.
"We have yet to make contact with them, or even clear out the rubble," Kolminye continued. The Chief looked to the left and saw through the open war room door that soldiers were moving around pieces of rubble.
"Why do you not assume command?" The Chief asked, trying to think of how he could swing this in their favour.
"Me?" Kolminye repeated, almost in disbelief. "They would not allow the League to take nauthority over their forces. They would never allow that."
"But then… how do we fight off this army if we cannot coordinate?" The Chief asked. He had fought in countless battles before without a chain of command, but never something like this.
Kolminye shook her head. "It's not looking good, that's all I can say."
"They've breached the third concourse!" one of the advisors shouted, holding some sort of device in his hand. The rest of them started to panic even more.
Cortana pulled up a map of Noxus, the newly edited one he had copied from the league, and highlighted what was labeled as the third concourse. It was dangerously close to the southern gatehouse, just opposite of where the allied army was camped.
He hesitated for a second, and then started moving forwards.
"Enough," he spoke. His voice was low, but instantly commanded attention from everyone in the room. "I am taking operational command of the defense of this city. I expect full cooperation."
The advisors stared at the Chief. Only one of them spoke. "That's not possible," the man said, sneering.
"…Then the city will fall," the Chief stated. "For those of you who want to help, this is what you must do. Get everything you would normally require to prosecute an effective defense of this city, and get some sort of communications system set up. I will lead from the battlefield, and the High Councilor," the Chief gestured behind him, "will be in charge fo things here. Anything you tell her will be relayed to me."
None of the advisors said a word.
"Are you all incompetent? Start moving!" Kolminye barked out, sending the advisors into frenzy – this time, one of actual activity.
"Chief, are you sure?" she asked.
Cortana replied for him. "We have this."
She nodded, slowly, before raising a hand. "In that case, I will attempt to link our minds. Be ready."
The Chief stood straight. It went down in much the same way as Reighlen had done it, only it felt much… smoother. Yes, that was it.
Kolminye opened her eyes. "You are… already linked," she said with a frown. "Will this be a problem for you…?"
"No," the Chief said, already starting to walk away. He gestured for his team to follow.
"Wow," Graves muttered. "Ya got the High Councilor herself in yer head, huh?"
"Not that big of a deal," Cortana muttered.
The Chief wasn't paying attention. He reached out with his mind, trying to link himself back to his assistant. He was having a bit of trouble, and it seemed that the distance between them was the major factor.
Rieghlen, he thought.
Chief? What the hell is going on? The boy responded, panicked.
There is a battle going on. I will explain later. Can you get into the city? Bring the cart of weapons?
That might be a bit hard, the boy responded. He seemed a bit flustered.
Do it, the Chief thought to him. Tell them you have permission from the highest authority. Use this bond to find me.
I'll…I'll try, Chief.
…Thank you,the Spartan thought back hesitantly. He was aware that he was quite possibly sending the boy to his death, but the city was also the safest place to be right now. It was a win/lose situation no matter what, though.
But the Chief made sure to turn into a winning position, no matter what.
The ranger-pattern automaton cleaved right with its arm mounted energy blade, but the Chief slipped under the blow and returned with a strike of his own, loping the mechanical creature's head straight off.
Another came at him from the left, but the Chief simply stabbed his borrowed blade through its skull, instantly turning it into a dead weight.
A third mech was dispatched by three arrows fired in quick succession, curtesy of Graves.
The rest of the mechanical beings had already been dismantled, so the Chief took the lull in the fighting to observe the large object in the idle of the mountain plaza. It was somewhat like a drill, with a space large enough for a demi-squad of rangers to be transported. Clearly, the thing had drilled up through the ground of Noxus and disgorged it's troops into its beating heart.
"You think there are more of these?" Thresh asked, laying his hand atop the burnished metal.
"Most likely," Cortana said, answering the question for the Chief. "There would need to be over a dozen to make an impact on a city of this size. If I had any satellite footage, I could have tracked their movements – "
"But we do not, so we can't," the Chief said. "We need to continue on to the southern gatehouse."
"And the civilians?" Yasuo asked. The area they were in seemed fairly populated, and the mechs had killed nearly a score of civilians and several guards before blue team had put their rampage to stop.
"They'll be fine," the Chief assured. He turned away and began to move, heading in the direction of the southern gatehouse. Truth be told, what he had told Yasuo was a little bit of a lie. In all likelihood they would not be safe, but far worse would happen If the automaton army got a foothold in the city. The most effective action here would simply be to press on.
Everyone fell into step with the Chief, slowly speeding up to a sprint.
"I didn' know ya cared for the Noxian crowd," Graves told the Ronin. "Though' ya hated 'em."
"…I hate them, but that doesn't mean I'm a butcher," Yasuo said, and ended the conversation there.
Graves grunted.
"Just stop," Yasuo said. "You know I hate your accent. No reason to speak more than necessary."
"…Ya wanna fight?"
"I want silence," the Chief said, turning down another winding street.
There was silence just as he demanded.
The further they pressed on, the more hectic things became. Soldiers were moving along the streets to pre-designated points, while civilians ran further up the mountain fortress. There seemed to be no coordination whatsoever, and civilians were getting trampled by the uncaring soldiers that marched through.
The group tried to push past, but the going was slow. Very slow.
The Chief looked around, trying to find some high-ranking soldier.
There, a lieutenant soldier leading the troops forwards through the crowds.
The Chief moved up to him, people naturally making way for the large man. "Lieutenant," he called out, drawing the attention of his intended target and nearby soldiers.
The Lieutenant blinked. "I… Who are you?" he asked nervously.
"Spartan one-one-seven," the Chief responded. "I need you to have your men evacuate the area as swiftly as possible, and set up a defensive line when you are done with that."
"Wait, what?" the man's nervousness changed to outrage. "Who are you to think you can give me commands?"
The Chief internally sighed. It was going to be annoying if this happened every time he tried to order soldiers around.
"You know," Cortana said over the private comm, "Noxians respect strength."
The Chief wasn't sure what that had to do with anything, so he tried to – ah.
"I'm the person who's going to finish this fight," the Chief told the man, drawing closer to him. "I am aware that, right now, you have no orders from anyone higher up. If you think you can survive like that, than try it. If you do not, you will assist me."
The lieutenant was silent for several long moments. Finally he reluctantly agreed to the Chief, ordering his soldiers into more organized lines.
Leaving the Lieutenant to his task, the Chief and his team moved down the somewhat clearer roads that led to the southern gatehouse.
"They're beginning the siege," Riven whispered, looking up. Flaming projectiles were racing through the sky above the city, each far away impact sending out shockwaves of force, which could be felt from where the group was standing.
"Faster?" Yasuo offered, and the Chief nodded.
The moved through the streets quickly. The closer they got to the gatehouse, the more hectic things became. Soldiers were moving in random directions with no sort of organization, other than their pre-designated formations.
Kolminye, the Chief sent to the High Councilor. Have the Noxian's in the southern gatehouse district to blockade the streets.
I can try, but there is no guarantee I can get these people to do anything I say, she sent back.
That's fine, the Chief mentally responded.
A large rock smashed into a nearby building, turning half of it into rubble instantly. A squad of soldiers were caught in the falling rubble, but no one seemed to notice. A steady rumbling accompanied the falling rock, making the ground shake slightly.
"Does anyone else feel that?" Riven asked.
The Chief looked at the ground. Pebbles and small rocks were bouncing up and down, as the ground shook harder.
The ground ahead of the group suddenly split open as another of the drilling transports broke through, rising a half dozen meters above the ground. As the tri-drill atop rotated to a stop, the door on the side opened and a squad of rangers jumped out. They immediately began to fire, cutting down several of the tightly packed Noxian soldiers.
The Chief charged in without hesitation, smashing the first of the rangers to the ground with momentum alone. The second died similarly, and the third was crushed by his armoured fist.
Half of their number kept their attention on the Noxian troops, while the other half began to stab at the armoured giant with their energy blades.
The first slash was absorbed by the Chief's energy shielding, and the second one was parried by his curved blade.
Thresh's scythe lashed out and vertically bisected one of the rangers, and two more were taken down by Graves' return fire. The Chief briefly wondered how Thresh had gotten hold of his Scythe, seeing as he had left it behind, but just put it down to ghost…magic.
Riven and Yasuo waded in with their own borrowed swords, cutting down the rangers with swift strokes. The Noxian swords were extremely effective, much to the surprise of the Chief. They cut through the enemy armour like it was leather, making them much deadlier than their Demacian counterparts. They did not seem to be as sturdy, however.
The last ranger was put down, a sword pinning its skull to the stone ground.
"I shouldn't have to say this," Yasuo said, "but this is really bad."
"Is he always like this?" Cortana inquired aloud.
"Pretty much," Chief responded, already moving forwards.
Graves snickered.
"Chief?" Cortana asked. Well, her tone was more stating than asking. "The Noxians are staring at us."
The Chief turned around and found that the Noxian soldiers were, indeed, staring. He just couldn't place the look on their faces. Surprise, maybe? They had just seen a drill pierce the ground beneath their feet.
"You might want to start like this," Cortana whispered, as if they were on stage and the Chief had forgotten his lines. "Soldiers of Noxus…"
"Cortana," the Chief said firmly, quieting his AI companion.
Several more flaming stones flew overhead, crashing somewhere further into the city. Already the Chief could hear the sounds of arrows being released, and he was certain that meant the enemy was within range of the walls.
"Soldiers of Noxus," the Chief began, taking up from Cortana's prompt. "We are going to take your city back. Join me if you want to win."
"Well… short, brief, and to the point, I guess," Cortana said.
"Irrelevant," the Chief said. "It either worked, or it didn't." the Chief turned to Riven. "How can we get on top of the walls?"
Riven pointed to blocky building. "Stairs are located inside the guard points."
The battlements that the Chief was hiding behind offered sufficient cover from the oncoming enemy fire, but the high-energy rounds were slowly witling down the stone. Return fire consisted mostly of arrows and bolts, which were much less effective than gunfire.
It seemed the Noxians were just as against the use of guns as the Demacians were.
The Chief rose above the battlements with his borrowed crossbow and let loose a single bolt before ducking again. He couldn't be sure if it hit anything, but there was a good chance he did.
A flaming ballista round smashed into the crenellation a couple of meters away from the Chief, piercing through it and the soldiers hiding behind it.
"What. The. Fuck," Yasuo said, staring at the hole where the crenellation had been.
"You're in the middle of a siege. This should not be unexpected," the Chief said, gesturing to the hole.
"Well, yeah," Yasuo agreed, rising up over the battlements to fire a crossbow bolt. "But it's still surprising."
"Ya went through the battle for Ionia," Graves said. "Did'n' ya? You've seen this all before."
"We don't talk about Ionia," Yasuo snapped, and Riven flinched.
Another pair of ballista bolts passed over the battlements, too high to hit anything but still dangerously close.
Two siege towers, approaching near the gatehouse proper, Kolminye sent to the Chief. Information exchange between the two of them was brief, presumably because the inflow of information was making everything hectic over there.
Understood, the Chief sent back. Have two squads guarding the streets take up positions here.
He did not receive a reply back, but he already knew his order would be obeyed to the letter. They had done it several times already, and the High Councilor knew when to listen.
He motioned for his team to follow, and started running south, towards the gatehouse. It wasn't all that far away, but the winding nature of the Noxian walls and the smoke rising from the fire of siege weaponry was making visibility and maneuverability less than would be optimal.
But the Chief had fought through much worse, so this wasn't difficult.
"Chief," Cortana said over the open comm, "Duck."
The Chief ducked immediately, years of military training causing him to act instantly. Riven also ducked, her military training also kicking in. Graves ducked slightly slower, while Yasuo and Thresh did not duck at all. Luckily, they were far enough away that the massive stone, flung from some trebuchet, missed them by centimeters.
"…Holy hell, that was close," Yasuo stated, staring straight ahead with wide eyes.
The Chief rose up and continued walking, as did Riven and graves.
"How did you know that was coming?" Yasuo inquired, directing his question towards Cortana.
"I can still do stuff," the AI explained. "I'm not invalid. I'm just…"
"An invalid," Yasuo finished, grinning.
"He's an idiot," Cortana stated. "Can we strangle him, please?"
"Not now," the Chief said, directing a line of Noxian archers. The walls were still lacking in troops, due to the missing grand general. All the other generals were trying to gain power by running off on their own, and it was nearly impossible to coordinate with them.
They finally reached the section of the southern wall designated as the gatehouse. It wasn't a gatehouse in the sense that the Chief would know it, but rather a fortified complex, more of a mini fortress.
"There," said Thresh, pointing, "the siege towers."
The Chief nodded, eyeing the towers. They were fairly large, most likely able to carry around forty troops (or so Cortana said). They were heavily armoured, and featured some powerful anti-infantry weapons.
"Archers!" the Chief called out at full volume, "aim for their supports!" He pointed for good measure.
None of the archers obeyed. Most fired at the oncoming mech horde, perhaps hoping to thin out their numbers somewhat, while a few fired at the siege towers but failed to penetrate their armoured forms.
The Chief sighed internally. He grabbed a bunch of pitch-soaked bolts and loaded one into his crossbow, set it alight in a nearby brazier, and fired at the nearest towers' supports.
The bolt struck true, sinking into the unprotected wood, but failed to set anything on fire or cause any actual harm. But that wasn't a problem. He loaded another bolt in and fired, and beside him Yasuo copied his actions.
Thresh also attacked, and in doing so he managed to surprise the Chief again. After winding his scythe he threw it out incredibly, impossibly far, cutting a grove into the siege tower before retreating back again. The open wound in the tower began to smolder with ghostly green fire.
The enemy siege tower, perhaps recognizing the threat blue team posed to their advance, focused their plasma cannons on them and began to spit out white-hot energy.
The first salvo was badly aimed and only managed to kill a couple of Noxian archer's, leaving blue team relatively unharmed. Using the brief gap between salvos, the Chief turned to Yasuo and told him to be ready.
Yasuo thankfully understood the Chief's request, and as the next salvo raced towards them the Ronin flourished his arm and cried out a grunt – or perhaps an arcane word – and a wall of wind appeared. Well, sort of a wall of wind. It was covered in a layer of hexagonal orange energy, all summoned from his advanced battle armour.
Regardless, it was more than effective at blocking the energy rounds. They simply disappeared into the energy-covered wall, but it still allowed the bolts and scythe of the team to pass through unhindered.
The tower collapsed after two more volleys, the integral supports catching fire. The structure crushed a half-dozen rangers under it, and the smoke rising from the fast-burning structure served to obscure the sight of the mechanical foe.
The Noxians on the walls seemed to quickly get the message and focused their fire, along with blue team, at the second of the two towers. It fell under the combined fire faster than the first, adding a second pile of debris and more smoke to the battlefield.
The peace didn't last long. Almost immediately after a rumbling started, reminiscent of the one from earlier. The Chief had to look around to find the source.
"Chief? Over here!" Riven shouted, looking down over the ramparts, towards the inner side of the southern gate.
The ground just below was starting to crack, and something was forcing its way upwards. The soldiers around the gates started moving backwards, unsure of what was trying to push it's way upwards.
"Archers," the Chief said again, and this time everyone that could hear him looked to him. "I want two squads to provide heavy suppressive fire in that location."
He called out to the spearmen on the ground. "Hold position! Lock ranks! A squad of rangers is going to come out, and we cannot allow them to gain any ground!"
The soldiers immediately stepped into line with each other and brought their shields together, forming a strong wall. The drill transport rose up and the side opened, disgorging a squad of rangers. They ran out, but instead of finding disorganized troops they found a wall of shields.
They floundered for a moment before starting their charge, but by then the archers had pened fire, cutting down the majority of their number before they reached the spearmen. The Chief's crossbow accounted for three of the dead.
"How do they keep getting under us?" Chief asked Cortana.
"Probably from the catacombs beneath the city," she explained. "They could easily have infiltrated those and positioned these around the city."
The Chief hummed in affirmation, killing the remaining mech with a well-placed bolt.
"Chief?!"
The Chief turned. Graves was one the ground, a large zealot-pattern mech standing above him, its sword raised high.
The Chief tossed his crossbow down and ran towards it, and the zealot, seeing the Chief, switched the path of the sword so that it would hit the Spartan.
Chief twisted around, and the blade passed right by him. He swept his foot out and the automaton fell over, and the Chief slammed both his hands down upon its chest, killing it. He quickly tossed the heavy corpse over the edge.
Another zealot jumped onto the ramparts several meters away from the Chief and began to slice at the nearby archers, killing them with every swipe of its sword.
Yasuo quickly fired at it, but the bolts of his crossbow simply rebounded off the thicker armour of the zealot.
"Aim for the midsection," Cortana called out to Yasuo. "It should slow it down."
Yasuo did just that, and was rewarded when the bolt pierced the thinner armour.
The Chief glanced over the edge, trying to see what was letting the mechs up. At the bottom were many more of the zealots, and each one was using some sort of boxy device that shot out beams of energy, allowing their users to climb the walls.
"Archers, fire at the beams," the Chief called out, hoping some would be able to obey his commands. He wasn't entirely sure if the bolts and arrows would do anything, but he was gambling on them interfering with the solidity of the energy rope.
"Chief, six o'clock," Cortana called out. The Chief turned quickly and saw a zealot charging towards him, so he decided to do the easy thing: charge it back. The zealot tried to swing out with its weapon, but the Chief knocked it aside with his forearm, allowing his shields to take the brunt of the blow. He continued with a shoulder barge, knocking back his opponent a few steps before following up by grabbing its head and pulling.
The zealot tried to respond by punching the Chief, but it was not enough to stop the super soldier from tearing its head off, bringing its motions to an abrupt stop.
Kolminye, the Chief thought, I need a half-company of soldiers at the southern gathouse. It is dangerously close to falling.
The Chief picked up his fallen crossbow and resumed firing, trying to slow down the zealots.
He really wished he had more effective weaponry.
Where do you expect me to get these troops from? She responded, sounding annoyed.
Please, High Councilor.
…I'll see what I can scrounge up.
The Chief reloaded his crossbow. It was clear to see that they were nearing the end of their forces. If they were not able to link up with the generals soon, or find the leaders of this war, then things would go very bad.
He considered asking Kolminye if there was any way they could let the Demacian army into the city. That could be a game chang-
"Chief!"
The Spartan was too slow to obey Cortana for once. The large stone, flung from some siege weapon, smashed into the wall beneath the Chief. The section of wall crumbled, and the Chief began to slide with the rubble. He tried to grab onto something; anything, but only succeeded in grabbing more falling rubble.
Alerted by Cortana's warning, Riven rushed to the edge and grabbed the Chief's flailing arm. She grabbed it only barely, but the Chief's weight was pulling her down too.
Yasuo rushed right after the two falling blue team members, grabbing Riven by the waist as he tried to prevent her from falling after the Chief.
The Chief, for his part, was not about to let the three of them fall to their deaths. He punched the weakened wall, making just enough of a dent for his hand to grab on to.
The last few stones tumbled down, and the three of them stayed in their position on the wall: one green armoured giant, suspended in the air, one white haired woman, half off the edge of the wall, and one armoured soldier, grabbing hold of the woman.
"Despite the great amount of joy I find in this position," Yasuo said sarcastically, "can we please move back?"
"Bite me," Riven hissed towards the Ionian.
The Chief grunted and began to rise, using his free hand and feet to climb while Riven pulled from above.
Bullets began to fire in their general direction a few hitting the Chief's near-depleted shields, draining them further.
With one final heave the Chief rose up over the edge of the wall, on solid ground again.
"Damn," Riven said, staring at the gap in the wall.
"Why are our heavy weapons not firing in return?" the Chief asked aloud. A group of Noxian soldiers, a lieutenant among them, moved towards the Chief.
"There has been a sixty-four percent drop in the amount of heavy fire coming from our side," Cortana noted. "There is a high probability that our heavy weapons are being targeted."
The Chief rose up as the soldiers drew near, but made sure he was within cover of the battlements.
"Sir," the lieutenant said, "I am first lieutenant Mobley. We've lost contact with the mounted weapons further back, and we are unsure of how to proceed."
"Well, that's an interesting coincidence," Yasuo said.
The Chief shook his head. "Alright. Riven, you're in full command here; do not let them capture this gatehouse. The rest of blue team and I will go and see what's happening to the eahvy weapons."
"Wait, what?" Riven asked, confused.
"You're in command here," the Chief repeated.
"…heh, like I would allow my forces to be under the command of a traitor," Mobley said.
"You have a problem?" Yasuo asked. "She's better than all of you combined. I'd warrant you couldn't even keep up with her in battle."
Mobley frowned.
"Yasuo?" Riven asked, still confused.
"Enough of this," the Chief stated. "Riven, you are in command, no matter what. Blue team, follow me."
The heavy weapons had indeed been overrun.
They were stationed along a section of fortified wall, wide enough to accommodate an entire battery of catapults. Each one was loaded with some arcane and sickly-looking bombs, and the frames of the weapons were festooned with spikes.
Most of the soldiers that had been there had been cut down, with the remaining crew having fallen back to a nearby bastion. It had taken blue team the better part of ten minutes to clear out the area, which had been swarming with rangers and zealots.
Three of the drill-transports seemed to have surfaced near the battery, and the Chief was certain this would pose a serious problem.
Chief? The boy's voice, Reighlen's voice, echoed through his head. Chief, I'm in the city, but I need help.
What wrong? The Chief replied. The boy was in the city; that was good. He could use his personal weapons.
Uhm… well, I'm trapped, and there are bad things coming out of the ground. I'm at... Uh… the Menge plaza?
On my way, Chief responded, unsure of what 'bad things' signified, but sure the 'things coming out of the ground' were drill-transports. At least he knew where the Menga plaza was; he had noted it on the way to the palace.
He gestured for blue team to follow him. "We're getting our weapons now."
"'Bout time," Graves said. He was thumbing his lighter, since he had finished his cigars a while ago.
Kolminye, Chief thought.
What? Whatwhatwhat what?
…I need a replacement crew for the southern catapult batteries, he thought to her. And a squad to guard them.
Fine, fine. She sent back. General Darius has just gotten some other general back into line; we now have more troops to actually order around. Sadly, still no chain of command.
Understood. The Chief replied, running along the streets with his team. Update me when the situation changes.
He did not get an answer from her, but that was to be expected. She was sure to be up to her neck in work, trying to organize an effective defense of the city.
While the Chief had said he would be in charge, he was more just organizing than commanding. The High Councilor fit that role far better than he, and he knew it. It was far more effective this way.
A bright beam of light pierced through the building on the right, and the energy instantly drained the Chief's shields. Years of training took over and he rolled to cover, hiding himself from the beam.
"Seems like a jackal-pattern mech," Cortana said. "Less than twenty meters out, angle of elevation is thirty-two degrees."
"Yasuo, wall," Chief said, absorbing the information Cortana gave him.
Yasuo summoned his wall in front of the hole in the wall, and the Chief quickly took cover behind it. He aimed with his crossbow at the location Cortana had said, and took the shot as soon as the jackals head crossed within his line of sight.
The jackals armour was weaker than a standard automaton, so the bolt pierced it right through, dropping it dead.
The Chief gave the generic 'move forwards' hand gesture and moved through the building, reloading.
They emerged on the other side, and noted they were just above the plaza. Several more jackal patterns were around, firing at the small group of soldiers and the cart. The majority of the mechs in the area were rangers, however, and there were a great many of them. The only thing that seemed to be stopping them from being overrun was the hulking form of tibbers, who was tearing up anything that came close.
The Chief jumped down, landing on one of the jackals. It was crushed instantly under his weight, so he was free to focus his attention on the other one. It only took one shot for him to take it down.
Yasuo fired too, as did Graves. Yasuo's bolt took down another mech, while Graves arrows did little more than slow it down.
The mech was finally taken down by a concentrated blast of fire, which melted right through its carapace.
The Chief nodded towards Annie, who was standing in the cart and giggling, before resuming his offensive.
He dropped his crossbow and drew his Noxian sword, slicing through two of the rangers in quick succession.
Yasuo followed the Chief's action and drew his own blade. With a flourish he summoned a tornado of wind, and threw it towards the grouped automatons. They were knocked aside like ragdolls, making them easy pickings for Graves and Thresh.
A ranger came up from behind the Chief, but he stabbed his sword through it before tossing it aside. The mech exploded, its generator having been pierced, and it took down another two rangers.
Everything went silent as the area was finally cleared of enemies.
The Chief moved towards his assistant, tossing his sword aside.
"Thanks," the boy practically sobbed.
"Don't mention it," Cortana said happily, while the Chief just grunted out, "weapons."
Annie nodded almost frantically while she tossed the trap covering the cart aside, revealing the weapons of blue team.
"Nice," Graves grinned, picking up his shotgun. "Real nice."
The Chief grabbed his assault rifle, loading a magazine into it. With a resounded click it slid home. He continued stacking up on weapons, sheathing his blade by his waist and grabbing his pistol. For good measure he also picked up the Spartan laser, though he had no intention of actually using it.
"Weapons for the heroes!" Annie cried out, apparently enjoying the sight of blue team rearming.
Chief? Kolminye sent.
Something wrong?
The east gate… it's fallen, she said. The enemy has gained entrance to the city.
The Chief paused for a second. That was really not good. We need reinforcements. We need to get the Demacian army in here.
The only way we can do that is if someone of actual authority does that, she explained. They might be willing to put up with us to win, but they'll kill any Demacians that come in here.
The Chief didn't know how to respond. He was at a loss of what to do.
Wait… Kolminye started. General Darius is going to hold them off. If you can convince him…
It will be done, the Chief said. Try and re-position troops to the streets leading to that gate, we can halt them before they get too far.
Sure, sure.
"Alright," the Master Chief said out loud. "Team, we're going to the eastern gatehouse."
"…Another gatehouse?" Thresh asked, genuinely sounding annoyed. But then, e was always annoyed.
"Great. Just great," Yasuo complained.
"Alrighty then," Cortana cried out. "Time to rock and roll."
Work. Power outages. Sometimes it feels like something doesn't want me writing this story.
Anyways, hope you guys enjoy the chapter. Things start a little more slowly in this chapter, but that's because it's only the opening stages of battle, so I hope you guys can put up with that.
C ya (hopefully) soon.