Battle of the Ruins - Fireteam Raven
It didn't take long for Fireteam Eagle to secure the perimeter of the pyramid. If anything it was too fast. In Shepard's experience, when things went really well, it was usually a trap or an ambush. But regardless, they had a job to do and they were going to do it. Taking point, Galen strode with Shepard right beside him and Sev and Six taking the rear.
Fireteam Raven plodded their way through the hallway. The hallway itself was semi-triangular in shape, made of an unknown metal that seemed to stay in pristine condition, untouched by rust or deterioration despite it being a set of ruins in a swamp. The passage itself was illuminated by flush panels of dull, white light, that also seemed to be as durable as the metal. The Fireteam moved fast, as there was no real cover, save for embedded supports that barely extended a foot out of the walls. Soon enough they reached the end of the hallway, and came across a sealed, semi-triangular sliding door.
They pushed up to the entrance, Shepard and Six to the left, Galen and Sev to the right, ready to breach. Shepard glanced at Galen and gave a nod. The former Sith moved in front of the door, activating his blue lightsaber. With a flourish, his blade sliced through the door, melting and rending it apart. Focusing the Force in his left hand, he thrust this palm forward, blasting a wave of telekinetic energy that sent chunks of the door flying.
With a cacophony of banging metal and crashing debris, the current occupants of the room jump backwards. Grunts and jackals squealed with panic, running behind four large buttresses that supported the walls of the room. On the farside of the room, a squad of Brute Majors stood in front of a cylindrical tube that looked to be some sort of elevator. The Covenant squad stared at Galen, shocked by the sheer audacity of the entrance.
"Hello there." Starkiller spoke with a smirk.
A beat passed as the aliens looked at Galen, then to each other. The brutes, shaking themselves out of their dumbstruck state roared and raised their guns, opening fire. Dozens of plasma balls and carbine blasts flew towards Galen, who began to twirl his lightsaber, deflecting the shots. Behind him, Shepard yelled in return, and a blur of blue biotic energy blasted passed Galen, slamming into one of the brutes with a biotic charge that destroyed his armor.
Shepard followed up the biotic display with a shotgun blast to face, killing the first of the brutes, but soon found herself surrounded by half a dozen apes. One of Brute Major wielding a savage looking brute shot lunged forward, trying to impale Shepard with the gun's massive blade. But the attack fell short, as the blade of the brute shot seemed to fall of the butt of the weapon, having been cleaning cut in half by Galen's lightsaber as he dashed forward to protect the commander.
Galen followed up with another two cuts of his lightsaber, easily burning out the brute's power armor. A final twirl decapitated the Brute Major, while Shepard blasted the other brutes with mass accelerated pellets. As they battled, both Sev and Six hung by the door, popping in and out as they suppressed the smaller infantry. Six's DMR rang true, easily headshotting grunts as a small explosion of blue blood burst out of their skulls like confetti. Sev's blaster suppressed the Jackals, overloading their energy shields with his own plasma before expertly putting them down.
As they battle continued a golden armored Brute Captain, the apparent leader of this pack, fell back, suppressing Shepard with his brute shot. Retreating behind the elevator, the Brute captain drew a communicator from his belt and sounded the alarm. Suddenly the lights of the ruins shifted to a deep crimson hue as warning claxons sounded off. Shepard turned and scowled at the Covenant officer. Once again focusing her biotics throughout her body, Shepard charged for the captain, eager to put him down.
But the Brute Captain was not like his simpler underlings. Having seen Shepard charge once already, he readied himself for the Spectres assault. As soon as Shepard burst forward, the Brute side stepped, twisting his body with all the speed 1500 lbs alien could move with. He didn't even try to keep up with Shepard's movement, knowing it would be futile. Instead he focused on just getting away from the spot he was standing on the spot where the human would reappear.
And true to his prediction, Shepard skidded to a halt in front of the Brute, shocked at his display of agility. The Brute grinned as he raised his leg up and planted it in Shepard's side, push kicking her backwards. The power of the kick alone was enough to break Shepard's shields. The Captain roared as he tried to spear Shepard with a downward thrust of his brute shot's blade. But with her own display of CQC prowess, the Commander powered her hands with her biotics, and redirected the blade to her side. The Brute's weight now fully committed forward, Shepard clenched a fist as it was encased in blue and orange light, form a biotic-enhanced omniblade around it. With a roar the holographic blade was plunged into the brute's head, spearing through the helmet and out the back of the brute's skull.
Looking to her allies, the rest of Fireteam Raven was finishing up their respective enemies. Bodies of grunts, jackals, and brutes littered the ground, but the lights maintained their crimson hue, flashing on and off with the warning claxons.
Sighing, Shepard put two fingers to her ear and reached out to Snake. "We've kicked the hornets nest down here Snake, you guys better get ready for incoming."
Shepard gestured to the elevator, "Alright double time people." Fireteam Raven piled into the lift, and with a press of a button began to descend further into the ruins.
The ride down the elevator took longer than Shepard would have liked. Part of her wanted to shoot the holographic control panel to see if it would make the damn thing go any faster. Arriving at the lower level, the squad continued to push down the hallways without delay. Through either luck or by design of the building, the hallways twisted and turned very little They hardly ever branched off, and when they did, the new passages often only lead to dead ends. This resulted in a relatively quick and painless traversal.
However to their unease, the hallways were completely empty. Save for the slowly strobing red lights of the ruins, there was nothing of note. It was painfully obvious to Shepard that something was off. Whatever Imperial or Covenant forces still in the ruins should be swarming them, defending these chokepoints and killzones. But there was only air, and that gave Shepard a bad feeling about this whole thing.
The Commander's instincts would prove correct as Galen skidded to a halt, stopping the rest of his squad in a single, long hallway. Shepard threw a quick glance at Starkiller, before scanning the passageway in front of her for what paused him. In darkness, Shepard could barely make out a figure, standing ahead of a sliding door similar to the one Galen destroyed previously.
The figure wore pitch-black body armor, similar to the Shadow Stormtroopers she had seen previously. However there were a few key differences in the dark sentinel's armor. He wore a long, billowing cloak that matched the armor in shade. The helmet was not like a storm troopers, but instead looked almost like a Middle-Eastern face veil. The entire head and face was obfuscated with the somber mask, save for the eyes, which were covered with a blood-red visor. Lastly, instead of a blaster or gun, he seemed to hold some kind of long staff in his right hand.
With a flourish, the figure spun the staff, gripping it with both of his hands. Out of the tip, a blade of crimson energy emerged. The blade was shorter than that of Galen's lightsaber, but deadly nonetheless.
"An Imperial Shadow Guard." Galen muttered, activating his own blade and holding it in his signature reverse grip. "I'll handle this."
Shepard nodded and glanced at Six and Sev, the trio backed up several steps to allow Galen to fight uninhibited. Galen moved first, dashing forward while the Shadow Guard braced for melee combat. With a twirl Galen spun, adding extra momentum to a horizontal strike. The guard raised his pike, the phrik-reinforced shaft deflecting Galen's attack. The Guard betrayed no emotion as he moved to counter attack, swinging the butt of his pike towards Galen's leg. Galen was forced to retreat a step, disengaging and moving out of range of his lightsaber, but still within the range of the Shadow Guard. The Guardsman let loose a rapid series of thrusts, which were expertly deflected but prevented Galen from closing the distance.
Shepard watched the duel with barely concealed amazement. The two Dark side trained acolytes fought with a speed and fury that she had never seen before. Sure it wasn't the most violent or destructive battle she had ever witnessed, but there was an almost choreographed grace and rhythm to it that mesmerized her. Shepard was so distracted by the duel that she didn't notice the quiet shuffling of steps around the rest of her squad. A mistake that was made apparent when the remaining three were blasted from both sides of the hall by blaster fire.
Shepard's shield flashed as she was pelted by energy blasts. Looking forward, she saw that surrounding her team was a squad of cloaked shadow stormtroopers, three in front of them and two behind them. Knowing that Six had a more robust shielding system, Shepard extended her arms and created a wide biotic field protecting her and Sev. The shadow troopers in front of her continued to pelt the barrier, hoping to overload it.
Six felt his own energy shields flash and die as blaster rounds impacted on his back. The shadow stormtroopers surrounding must have been lying in wait for them, completely still and invisible otherwise they would've shown up on his motion tracker. He stumbled forward, catching himself before glaring backwards at the two shadow troopers behind him. Time seemed to crawl for the Spartan. His shields low, he could see the shadow troopers adjusting their aim to finish him off. Six knew he was going to have to time his attack perfectly to not get disintegrated, but he was a Spartan, he was used to making the impossible happen.
Before the shadow troopers could pull the trigger of their blasters again Six was on the move. Dropping his DMR while simultaneously reaching for the gravity hammer on his back, Six cut the distance between him and the Imperials in half in the time it took their eyes to widen as they realized he was charging them. Six could see the shadow troopers pulling the trigger on their blasters again, so he spun twisting is body to the side as the blaster bolts singed passed his visor. With a roar he drew the hammer with one arm and with a wide, horizontal swing smashed the two troopers. The shadow stormtroopers erupted into a cloud of gore and broken armor as they were ripped apart by the violent gravity fields.
Meanwhile Shepard continued to block the volleys of blaster shots targeting her and Sev.
"Sev I can't keep this thing up forever!" Shepard grunted as rounds continued to impact the shield.
Sev nodded as he swapped the barrels of his DC17 blaster, changing it from blaster rifle to grenade launcher.
"Ready when you are Commander." Sev acknowledged, weapon level and steady.
Shepard gave a quick glance at Sev, before dropping the barrier and diving to the side. The Shadow troopers, waiting for the barrier to fail, unleashed on the woman. Shepard felt a searing pain in her side as the blaster bolts tore apart her kinetic barrier and punctured her hard suit. From behind her Sev fired off his grenade launcher, landing right between two of the shadow troopers, the shrapnel and heat killing them instantly and flinging their corpses into the walls.
The final Shadow trooper looked in annoyance as his allies lay dead. Pulling out a thermal detonator from his belt, the trooper seemed determined to take down the Legion with him.
"Oh fuck right off!" Shepard furiously yelled, slamming her fist into the ground as a biotic wave of energy similarly slammed the shadow trooper flat on the floor.
The Shadow trooper, staggered and prone on the ground, struggled to stand in vain as Six rushed forward and slammed the gravity hammer into him. The backplate of the shadow trooper shattered as the ground beneath him fractured in a spiderweb pattern that filled with crimson fluid.
While the commandos of Fireteam Raven fought for their lives in the rear, Starkiller and the Shadow Guard continued their dual to the death. The Shadow Guard spun his pike like a windmill, forcing Galen back and followed up with a skull splitting cut. Galen brought his blade high, parrying the strike then stepping inwards to shoulder check the guard, forcing him back. Focusing the force into his left hand, Galen released a powerful force push, hoping to blast the guard backwards. But the Shadow Guard seemed to sense this attack coming, and reinforced his own body with the force, and barely moved a scarce few inches.
Galen clicked his tongue in annoyance the the Shadow Guard began his own counter. If the traitor wanted to make this a contest of the force, the Guardsman would reciprocate. Dropping his pike, electricity sparked between the palms of the Shadow Guard. With a grunt he stepped forward and sent a storm of force lighting towards Galen. Galen only smirked as the Shadow Guard tried to use his own favorite technique against him.
Before the Guard's lightning could reach him, Galen unleashed a torrent of force lightning as well, meeting the Guard halfway. Electricity clashed in a heated battle, splashing and scorching the walls as the opposing forces met. The shadow guard hissed as he poured every ounce of his soul into the attack hoping to overwhelm the former assassin. Galen gave a small chuckle and with a power beyond anything the shadow guard could hope to produce, Starkiller's lighting grew in size, evolving into a force storm. The Shadow Guard could only cry out as his lightning bolts were overcome and he was soon consumed by thousands of volts. The smell of burnt flesh and ozone filled the passageway as Galen cooked the man alive.
Shepard staggered up, slapping medi-gel onto her wounded side, letting out a pained groan as the miracle substance did its work. Holstering his DMR, Six moved to help the commander up, and she gave a nod in thanks. Moving passed the piles of fresh corpses on the ground, they reunited Galen as he stood ready to breach the doorway. Shepard stood next to him ready breach, as Galen's eyes fell to her wound.
Shepard caught his gaze and looked down as well. Her N7 armor was penetrated, leaving a scorched black burn mark on the side of her stomach.
She looked back at Galen and shrugged. "It's not lethal. I'm good to keep going."
Galen nodded, taking her word for it as he moved to the next room. Unlike the last door, Galen opted to simply press a button in its center, causing the door to separate into three distinct pieces, which retracted into the walls and ceiling.
This doorway led to a cylindrical room, containing a spiral staircase that descended several hundred feet. In the center of the room, a pillar of light shot downwards, almost blinding the legionnaires. Shepard thought the sight was beautiful, albeit unnecessarily hazardous. There wasn't even a guardrail on the stairs to keep someone from falling off into this energy pillar. Shepard gave one last look back to her team and they all nodded, letting her know they were ready. And so Fireteam Raven continued their descent further and further into the ruins.
At the bottom the stairwell, Fireteam Raven reached a final door. On the other side, Shepard could hear muffled conversation. Quickly, she ordered the team to stop, and like clockwork they instantly obeyed. She leaned her ear close to the door, trying to discern what she could of the conversation.
"You speak much human. So tell me, why shouldn't I just kill you and drink your marrow." The first voice rang out, one deep, guttural, and powerful.
The voice that responded was its opposite, smooth and refined. "Come now Tartarus, you possess a mind of great tactical acumen, do you not? Surely you must understand that I am not part of the same fools you fought against? We of the Empire do not seek to delay your Covenant's quest for the Great Journey. An alliance between our two factions would ensure that your forces will not be stopped again on your search."
The now identified Tartarus snorted. "And what does your Empire seek to gain from this, Skull Face. We know of your kind. You do not care for our gods, our beliefs. You want something from us."
Shepard couldn't see this Skull Face's expression, but could hear the smirk behind his words. "Consider it a show of good faith, my dear Tartarus. My Master is kind and generous. Not only is he willing to offer you alliance and aid, but power beyond what you thought possible. Power to crush your enemies, and see them driven before you!"
"I will admit, such an offer is… intriguing." Tartarus acquiesced.
"Indeed. However, the details will have to be ironed out after we deal with our eavesdroppers."
Shepard bit back a curse as she realized they were made. Swiftly she slammed her fist into the door, smashing the mechanism and causing it open. She rushed inside, shotgun raised as the rest of Fireteam Raven followed suit.
Shepard scanned the room quickly. In the center there was a round table projecting a hologram that matched the hand drawn maps that Snake had shown her before. On the far end there was some kind of mural of two figures fighting, but she didn't have time to look at it too deeply as the hostile forces took precedence.
There were two figures in the middle of their discourse, Tartarus, the grey furred mountain of a Brute, and a human covered with burn scars, wearing a black trenchcoat and fedora, who Shepard assumed was Skull Face, the Imperial envoy. Both had a pair of imposing guards behind them, a pair of Shadow Guards standing behind the Imperial, and two, 12 foot tall, blue armored Hunters standing behind Tartarus.
Tartarus gave an annoyed growl as he turned to face the intruders drawing his gravity hammer from his back, his hunters moving to flank him. The shadow guards rushed in front of Skull Face, activating their lightsaber pikes, as he casually backpedaled away from the door.
"Ah you must be Shepard." Skull Face said, greeting her with a theatrical bow. "May I be the first to welcome you to the Archives."
"You know me?" the commander curtly responded, not in the mood to deal with any bullshit.
"Why of course! Your reputation does precede you. It is a shame we will not have the chance to get better acquainted with one another. Agent Leng, handle this interruption will you." Skull Face smiled as Shepard's eyes went wide.
"Shepard dodge!" Galen yelled out.
Without taking time to even process what Galen said Shepard immediately dodge rolled to the side, instinctively avoiding a crimson lightsaber as Kai Leng dropped from the ceiling and tried to take her head. Shepard and Leng locked eyes as Tartarus howled, signaling the start of the fight.
Shepard was beyond pissed. She was so far passed the point of anger, that her snarling rage was replaced by a calm, silent wrath. She was so unequivocally furious that the son of a bitch known as Kai Leng was right in front of her that she didn't even care about the lightsaber he wielded as she slammed into him with a biotic charge.
As Shepard and Leng flew off, Galen dashed forward to help the Spectre. But before he could catch up, the twirling figures of both Shadow Guards landed in front of him, cutting him off. Starkiller glared at them in annoyance, settling in his reverse grip Shien stance as he prepared for combat.
The shadow guards operated in perfect synchronization. The first guard called out through the force, pulling Galen towards them, while the second leapt at him, seeking to eviscerate the secret apprentice. Using the momentum of the force pull, Galen added his own force into it, projecting himself into a front flip over the strike, where he landed with perfect balance. However, he was now flanked on both sides by the two shadow guards, and they were keen on not letting their advantage go. Quickly they shifted to attack him once again, thrusting at him from both sides, forcing Galen on the defensive as he focused on parrying and blocking their attacks.
The battlefield did not pause as the Sith began their deadly dance. With his own gravity hammer raised high, Six made for the hunters. He knew first hand how powerful their fuel rod cannons were, and wanted them out of the equation. With a meaty swing, Six brought the hammer down onto the first of the hunters. Orange blood spattered as the blue armor dented and lekgolo worms were crushed, hurting but not killing the hunter. The first hunter stumbled back as its partner roared, firing a continuous beam of green energy in retaliation.
Receiving only a green glow as warning, Six tucked to the side, barely dodging out of the way as the concentrated incendiary gel blasted passed him. Six completed the roll, kneeling in his combat stance as he readied to attack once more. An electronic bwoom accompanied by the sounds of his shield's breaking and bones cracking followed as Six was knocked into the ground by Tartarus's gravity hammer.
Six's entire body screamed in pain. His armor dented, shields flickering, Six was so disoriented from the strike that he could barely tell which of the Tartarus's in front of him were real and which were byproducts of a likely concussion. The brute chieftain of chieftains stood above Six, a sadistic grin plastered on his face as he brought his hammer high, ready to bring it down like an executioner.
As he stepped forward to bring his hammer down, an anti-armor grenade tore apart half of the Brute's face. Tartarus cried out and reeled back in pain, falling to his knees as the barrel of Sev's weapon found its mark. Sev smirked under his own helmet, but the expression fell as the Hunters now aimed at him for wounding their leader. Sev cursed as he dove backward behind the door, reloading his grenade launcher as two streams of fuel rod energy attempted to incinerate him.
Meanwhile, the wall behind Kai Leng dented and fractured in a spider web pattern as Shepard charged him directly into the metallic alloy. Shepard was far from finished however, as she raised her fist high and drove it into the ground, exploding with a biotic nova that drained hers and Kai Leng's kinetic barrier while setting him alight with biotic flames. As Shepard charged her biotics into her fist to wipe that smug mouth off of Kai Leng's face, Leng simply looked at her and blasted Shepard backwards with a telekinetic wave.
Shepard staggered backwards, annoyed by Leng's biotic counter. Then the wheels in her brain spun wildly. Wait a minute, Kai Leng isn't a biotic, she pondered. The lack of blue biotic energy, combined with the crimson lightsaber set off a lot of red flags in her now less bloodthirsty brain. Son of a bitch, Leng can use the Force!
The surprise was apparent on Shepard's face as Kai Leng smiled when she realized what he had become. Extending out his hand, the Cerberus assassin made a simple, cupping, gesture with his hand. The hand movement had Shepard confused for all of 0.5 seconds as she soon felt the force wrap around her throat, choking her from a distance. Shepard could barely focus through the suffocating pain as Leng strangled the life out of her, slowly approaching with his lightsaber active.
With a flick of the wrist, Leng then threw his lightsaber at the immobile Shepard, a crimson buzzsaw moving to cut her in twain. In a last ditch effort to prevent such a thing from happening, Shepard extended her own palm and through the pain fired a biotic shockwave. The series of chained biotic explosions rippled through the air, knocking the lightsaber off course and detonating next to Leng. The assassin was blasted backwards, his concentration on the force choke now broken.
Without hesitation Shepard lifted her shotgun and fired twice. The battle was so fast paced that taking even a second to rest or think would result in death. But in thanks partly to his now force enhanced reactions, and partly because of his own training, Leng was able to raise his right palm and project a forward facing kinetic barrier that absorbed the shots.
Recalling his blade with the force Leng roared as he charged at Shepard, looking to end this battle once and for all. Enhanced by his own cybernetics and the force, Leng moved faster than Shepard had anticipated. His first strike landed on her forearm, shredding her kinetic barrier which saved Shepard from a premature amputation. He swung again, this time for Shepard's head, only to miss as she dove into a backwards roll, barely avoiding the strike.
Shepard needed to do something quick, lest she end up as diced pieces of charred Spectre. Adopting Galen's strategy of distracting thoughts, Shepard's mind immediately focused on an image of Liara, stark naked on their bed, her hand slowly making its way between her own legs.
Kai Leng almost immediately recoiled in confusion and disgust. Without pause Shepard hip fired her Crusader Shotgun right for Leng's leg, kneecapping him as mass accelerated pellets tore through his cybernetics. Leng immediately collapsed, unable to support his own weight as he snarled at Shepard. The two arch enemies extended their hands, firing off a force push and biotic throw that exploded on contact.
Skull Face continued to watch the battle in front of him with amusement. He was never a big fan of the cinema, having found most of what was produced to be mind numbing garbage. But this battle unfolding in front of him, oh how he wished he had a bucket of popcorn to enjoy it. He could only smile as Galen continued to deflect lightsaber pike strikes from the pair of shadow guards, the battle teetering back and forth between the two sides.
When Galen locked blades with one of the shadow guards the other would go for a lethal strike in retaliation. They were a perfect blend of offence and defense, when one attacked the other would defend against counters, when one would fall back the other would cover the retreat. Their coordination making up for the advantage of skill that Galen possessed.
As the attacking guard struck again, Galen was barely able to twist his body and dodge, the crimson pike searing his clothing. As he landed the former assassin simultaneously unleashed a wave of force energy in a radius around him, catching both guardsmen and knocking them back.
Beside him Galen heard an explosion. Having some breathing room he took a quick peak and saw that Sev had planted another anti-armor round into the face of a Hunter. The hunter stumbled back, once again charging its fuel rod cannon and aiming for the clone commando. Galen reached out with the Force, grabbing onto the beast's assault cannon and redirected it towards a target of his choosing, namely one of the shadow guards that was recovering from his previous telekinetic blast.
The unlucky shadow guard, still disoriented from the force wave, was caught completely unaware by the beam of green energy, and was nearly instantaneously incinerated. With the first guard dusted, Galen leapt upon the second. He swung with a frenzy of strikes that quickly outpaced the shadow guard. The shadow guard blocked the relentless assault as best he could, deflecting strikes with both the blade and shaft of his pike. But even the the phrik-reinforced metal of the lightsaber pike wouldn't be able to stand against the fury of Starkiller, and with a final stroke Galen's lightsaber bisected the pike. The shadow guard could only look down in shock as his weapon was completely destroyed, and then look up in disbelief as Galen impaled the guard with a follow up strike.
Galen watched the shadow guard fall lifeless to his feet, satisfied with his work. Suddenly, his precognition flared, warning him of danger. Galen leapt backwards with a flip as another bwoom from Tartarus's gravity hammer forced Six to dodge roll beneath the assassin. With a twist and breakfall, Six recovered his stance as the chieftain once again charged him.
Continuing to press the Demon, Tartarus swung the Fist of Rukt again, but even wounded Six was wily. The swing was a brutal, horizontal attack that Six easily ducked under. Stepping forward he then smashed the Chieftain's knee with the butt of his own hammer, bringing the brute down to one leg. Now at eye level with one another, Six swung his hammer in a straight, vertical swing meant to crush the Brute's head. But Tartarus was a veteran of many bloody duals against young chieftains who thought they could challenge his claim. He raised the Fist of Rukt, blocking the handle of Six's hammer with his own. Even with his indestructible bones, hyperdense muscle fibers, and MJOLNIR powered armor, Six felt himself get pushed back as Tartarus rose, gravity hammers locked and pressing against one another. Six's muscles strained as he was forced to take one, then two steps back.
The two enemies locked eyes, a soldier of indomitable will fighting against a warrior of unmatched zeal, both pushing for the advantage. The impasse broke as Tartarus cracked Six's visor with a headbutt. The unexpected strike stunned Six, causing him to stumble back. With a roar Tartarus then slammed his gravity right into Six, a direct hit that pulverized his left arm and torso. Six was sent soaring backwards, impacting a wall and falling straight to the ground. The Spartan weakly rose, his left arm hanging limp as blood leaked out of the many sparking breaches in his MJOLNIR armor.
Unable to even lift his gravity hammer anymore, Six let the weapon fall, never breaking eye contact with the Chieftain. Eyes defiant behind his visor, Six pulled out a plasma grenade from his belt and activated the switch. Immediately a blue-cyan flame of pure plasma sparked in Six's hand. Six trudged towards the Brute, moving faster with each step, forcing himself not to collapse.
Tartarus grunted. "So you choose the path of martyrdom, like a mere unggoy. So be it, at least you will have honor in death, demon!" Tartarus raised his hammer and prepared to meet the Spartan.
With a battle cry Six broke into a sprint towards Tartarus. Right before he was in range of the hammer, Six lobbed the Grenade, so close to him that it was impossible to miss. Tartarus seemed happy to trade blow for blow, and ignored the sticky grenade as he swung down at Six. To his shock however, Six seemed to punch the ground, his shields flaring as his armor locked up, protecting him from damage.
While Tartarus' previous strike happened too fast for Six to use this ability, Six now had the brute dancing to his tune and was fully prepared to use this armor ability. Tartarus' hammer struck the invincible Spartan, and to his shock did nothing as the plasma grenade fully armed and detonated, consuming him in the white-blue explosion. The brute was blown backwards towards Skull Face, his grey fur now burned and scorched following the repeated explosions. He was wounded, far more wounded than he had been since he fought his uncle Maccabeus for control of the tribe, but he was still alive.
The bloody Tartarus looked to his left, and watched as Starkiller deftly dodged the last hunter's shield strike with an aerial before bisecting it with his lightsaber. To his right, he saw as the Clone Commando fired a grenade that forced the similarly hurt Kai Leng to retreat to his allies.
"It's over Leng." A battered Shepard stated, shakily aiming her shotgun at them. "Surrender and I promise to kill you quicker this time."
Kai Leng, barely able to stand and bleeding from his side glared at her in return. "You're wrong Shepard, it's not over until you die."
As the two stared at one another, to their surprise Skull Face intervened, walking between them.
"Now now Kai Leng. You really must calm down. You let your emotions get the better of you far too often." Skull Face spoke with a smooth voice that only seemed to aggravate Leng further. "Nonetheless, this whole situation just won't do. I believe we shall take this opportunity to acquit ourselves. Tartarus, I assume you have no qualms about leaving with us?"
The Brute sent the scarred phantom an annoyed glare, before relenting with a begrudging nod.
"You are not going anywhere!" Galen cried out as he extend both his hands and unleashed a storm of force lighting large enough to encompass all three of their foes.
However Skull Face seemed unperturbed by the action, and extending his own fingers, loosed a force storm of his own. Lightning clashed against each other as Galen and the Force Sensitive Skull Face battled for dominance.
"Leng do it now!" Skull Face called out, not taking his eyes off the contest of wills.
Through his augmented eyes, Leng glared at Shepard, before pulling out a triangular device known to few as a Forerunner teleporter and activated it. Soon all three of them were covered in a pillar of yellow-white light, which then expanded to fill the entire room, blinding the Legion. As they regained their sight, the Fireteam Raven found themselves alone at the bottom of the ruins, their enemies gone without a trace.
A/N
It's ya boy, back with another chapter.
All honesty I found this chapter hard to write. I was never that good at descriptive writing, and had a difficult time trying to describe the environment with words other than "it's a long straight hallway." But it's just something I'll seek to improve on as I keep writing.
Hope you all enjoyed the chapter.