Chapter 25: Lynchpin
AN's: Well, LOTS is going to start soon, maybe next month, (That's Last of the Spartans, kind of a reference to the majorly successful ROTS machinamas [Rise of the Spartans] at least in the acronym) but nothing really major besides that, unless you guys want me to start one of the other fanfics on my profile page. This chapter will focus on Emile, James, and Kat's mission with Johnson to disable the third tower, you know: where Johnson gets ambushed and captured and forced to activate the Ark. (No, no one will die, yet. I'm not saying that someone won't in the future. I'll leave that open for my own debate.) So rate, review, follow, favorite, and enjoy.
Pelican Echo 041 inbound to target designated Tower #3.
Emile scraped his kukri over his right arm's armor one last time before sheathing it on his right shoulder, while James and Kat loaded their Sniper Rifle and Assault Rifle, respectively. "Alright, boys, here we go. Get ready to come out swinging."
Sergeant Johnson, who was sitting next to Emile and calmly checking his DMR, now slammed a clip into the magazine well and stood up. "Now listen up! Those dumb apes think they can stop us from getting to that cocky bastard Truth and killing him, but I know that we will kill him! We will storm that beachhead, kill those inhuman sons-of-bitches, disable that tower, and while we do that, we will fill their gut full of lead and leave them to drown in their own blood!" There was a small contingent of marines on the dropship as well, and they all now stood up and gave a deafening "HOO-RAH!" as the Pelican landed on the beachhead.
The Spartans were the first out, and were immediately swamped by plasma fire from a pair of Shade Turrets. "I got this." James put his rifle on his back as he readied his Spartan Laser. He held in the trigger for a few seconds and the laser discharged into the first turret, blowing it and the other into Kingdom Come. "Damn, I got to get me one of those!" "Let's go!" James threw the laser back on his back and readied his Sniper Rifle. He snapped off three quick shot, all of which hit a Brute Chieftain straight in the head. The first two broke its shields and armor; the third flew through it and disintegrated on the rock behind it. Emile was charging with his shotgun in one hand and his combat knife in the other, which he threw at the first Brute he saw. He shot three Grunts with his shotgun before being blindsided by a Brute with a hammer. He shot the hammer out of its hands and stabbed it with his kukri, breaking its shields and piercing its neck instantly.
He stood up and retrieved his kukri, and was joined soon after by the rest of the team, who had been fighting further behind him. "Uh… question. Do we have transport besides our own two feet?" "Damn right, you do. Thought you could use these." A Pelican swooped in and dropped off a Troop Transport Warthog and a Gauss Warthog. "We'll take the Gauss 'Hog."
The Spartans climbed into the Gauss 'Hog, with Emile driving and James operating the turret, while Kat helped herself to a grenade launcher in the side seat. "Oh, forgot about this." Emile handed a grenade to Kat. "Don't fire it too close to us though. It makes one hell of a bang." "Wait… Where'd you find that at?" "I found it in the Pelican." "Oh, not these again." "James, just shut up, and start shooting." Emile started the engine and drove off towards the tower. "Commander Keyes: third tower in sight. Minor resistance so far." "Good work. The Chief and the other Spartans have secured an LZ for the first tower, and the Elites have landed at the second." "Watch out! Wraith!" Kat fired the grenade, and it hit the mortar tank straight on. The tank was obliterated, as were the Ghost and Chopper beside it. "What Wraith?" "Uh… never mind." James opened fire on the infantry coming out of the tower entrance. "Too easy!" Emile gunned it straight into the entrance and nearly destroyed the 'Hog. "Next time, let me drive." "Yeah, sure." The three Spartans were soon joined by Johnson and the three remaining marines. "Let's get up there. Don't want to keep them waiting on us."
The journey to the top of the tower was an easy one. Just as they entered the observation floor with the controls to shut down the barrier, though, they were ambushed by Brutes of all ranks. The three marines were killed in mere seconds, and Johnson was separated from the three Spartans. "I'll hold 'em off! Disable the tower! Go!" James ran to the control panel, but as he stopped in front of the button, he was punched in the jaw and knocked to the ground by a Brute Chieftain. "Shit!" Emile and Kat were still standing, although each was engaged in melee combat: Emile wielding his kukri in his left hand and his combat knife in his right, and Kat using just her combat knife. Johnson, on the other hand, was not faring so well: He was surrounded by three Brute Captains and barely holding his own against them. Emile had slid his shotgun to the Sergeant, and he had used it to kill three other Brutes before running out of shells. "Come on, you damn apes! Come face the original Spartan!" James had been hauled up again, and was stabbing the Chieftain repeatedly with his knife to make it let go of his throat. "Ugh... your breath is terrible! Makes me gag just thinking about it!" Kat drew her trusty M6G Magnum (She had received a new one during the assault on Voi.) and fired at the Chieftain, making it drop James and focus on her instead. James now stabbed it through the neck, killing it instantly. Johnson was now incapacitated, but had killed two of the Captains before being completely blindsided by the third. "Sergeant Johnson, get that shield down, ASAP!" "Commander, Johnson is a POW, and we've been engaged by a lot of Brutes. We need some backup, NOW!" "Roger that, NOBLE Four. Chief, link up with the Elites and proceed to the third tower, ASAP." "Yes, ma'am. Hang in there, Emile. Help's on the way." Just then, Emile was hit by the blunt end of a Gravity Hammer, which discharged and sent him flying across the room and into the viewport glass. He fell with a clunk to the ground and didn't get back up, leaving a spider-web of cracks in the glass. James grabbed Emile's kukri and charged at the Brute Captain that wielded the Hammer, and suffered nearly the same fate as Emile, except that he was still conscious at the end, just too injured to keep fighting.
Kat was now surrounded by five Brutes of varying ranks. She quickly reloaded her M6G Magnum and dumped the whole clip into the first Brute that charged her, killing it, while she moved to make space to reload and fire. She now had her pistol in one hand and her knife in the other. She stabbed the unlucky Brute that charged her first and unloaded her entire clip into the next, but when she reached for another clip, she came up empty. Damn! She flipped the Magnum around in her hand and now held it by the barrel, using it as a blunt instrument. Moments later, she was overwhelmed by the three Brutes and incapacitated.
The lead Chieftain threw down a holo-projector that acted as a comm to the Prophet of Truth. "Hierarch, we have secured the weak link. The barrier is safe." "Very good. Bring the humans to the control room. I have need of two of them." "What of the others?" "Leave them; kill them; do as you please. Just bring me two." "It shall be done. Bring the small one and the one with the skull head." "What of the others?" "Leave them; They shall die soon anyway as we ascend to the heavens." The Brutes picked up Johnson and Emile and left Kat and James to their fates.
"Uh…" James slowly stood up and looked around the room. Where is everyone? Kat was lying on the floor, unconscious, and Emile and Johnson were gone. Captured by the Brutes, probably. He slowly limped over to Kat's body and tried to awaken her, but to no avail. Looks like I'm on my own, here. Gotta get out of here and find John. He collapsed onto the elevator as he activated it, and at the bottom were the other Spartans and the Elites. "James!" "Johnson and Emile… captured by the Brutes…" James now lost consciousness and fell to the ground mere seconds after getting up again.
