The 29th Cadian's Journey Into Hell
Ryan advanced ahead, taking cover behind a low wall. Sturm moved up after, being covered by Ryan. Then Reynolds sprung from behind the ruin of a tank and rolled over behind a ruined building in a flash. Zariel covered them with his needle rifle.
"Argh," someone mumbled nearby.
"Shhh," Zariel replied.
Knoff was lugging the multi-melta along with Adams, but Adams had let it slip, causing Knoff to drop it and almost dislocating his shoulder.
"Get that thing into position," Zariel hissed.
"We're trying," Knoff whispered back.
Ryan and Sturm had both moved up by then, both covered by Reynolds. Zariel played his needle rifle over the surroundings, but he couldn't spot any movement.
"They're good," Zariel muttered.
Then he saw a shadow detach from its surroundings and melt back into another shadow.
"But not good enough," Zariel grinned slightly.
He fired his needle rifle at the shadow, impossible to spot now but he knew it was there. His shot flew true, impacted the shadow; and splattered across it.
"Man down!" the shadow called out. It stood up, and Grade came into view, covered in a luminescent marking.
Zariel saw another shadow move in his peripheral vision, but as he trained his scope on it, it was gone.
Sturm watched as Grade climbed away from the fighting arena, praising Zariel's good eyesight.
"Move," he whispered over his micro-bead.
Reynolds rose from cover and dashed behind a boulder. Then Ryan sprinted for Reynolds' position, making it without any incident. The others knew Zariel was watching for movement and wouldn't risk giving away their position without a clear shot. None the less they were still advancing almost as fast. Sturm was next. He vaulted over the wall and ran for the ruins Reynolds had just left, but several low energy las rounds sputtered off his chest.
"I'm out!" Sturm grunted. Zariel fired at the muzzle flashes but they were gone already. Ryan ran Reynolds' boulder to another boulder, narrowly avoiding another las round. As he turned to move again though, he was jumped by someone. There was a crackle of Ryan's power sword against lightning claws then Torch disarmed Ryan, leaving him to walk away. As Torch dove for cover though, a low energy multi-melta beam slammed into him. Though it was too weak to do any damage it still winded him, leaving Torch out of the game.
"Good shot," Knoff declared to Adams, leading to both of them getting hit by a flurry of las rounds.
Zariel saw them this time and fired two shots.
"We're out!" came Todd and Garius's calls.
Then without warning, Cassie and Hector came storming out of cover. Charging straight for each other, how they had known where the other was, was unknown but they clashed and a flurry of blows later, Cassie emerged victorius but was knocked out by Thomas who had crept up on them. Tempest and Nova burst from cover firing at Thomas who was quickly knocked out cold by an over excited blow from Nova. Zariel sighted and hit Nova but to his great misfortune, Nova saw him and, an extremely lucky shot later, Zariel was out too. Reynolds jumped out and a duel ensued between Reynolds and Tempest. They were both equally matched, moves being remembered from a recent sparring match they had shared.
Tempest lashed out quickly with his left. Reynolds ducked under and came up under Tempest's guard but was knocked back by a knee to the chin. Reynolds stumbled back and instead fainted right and struck with his left, causing Tempest to take a step back. Then Tempest swung both fists from either side, causing Reynolds to jump back to avoid them. Reynolds kicked out and connected with Tempest's thigh, but too late did he realise the big opening he'd left himself in. Tempest punched out with his right, levelling with Reynold's chest and cracking a rib. Reynolds fell to the ground, with Tempest hobbling towards him.
"Looks like I have you beat again," Tempest said.
"Think again," Reynolds said, producing something from his pocket. He pressed a button and Tempest fell to the ground rigid.
"Hey no fair," Tempest grumbled.
"First rule of war: nothing is ever fair," Reynold's said.
"I thought that was the second rule!" Grade called out.
"Whatever!" Reynolds shouted and proceeded to tag Tempest, ending the round in a victory for the red team. Cheers went up from both sides though as watching Tempest get flattened was a rare and fun occurrence, even Nova was grinning. Reynolds patted Tempest on the back after helping him up and everyone walked out of the battle arena.