"Chief! What are you waiting for? Light them up!" The Spartan didn't need telling twice, and with bullet and fire, responded with deadly force.
Aragorn was a veteran of three dozen battles. Wraiths, orcs, ghosts and nameless things that fed on fear and hate inside of the foul and bitter wastes of the snowy north. He had fought and beaten all these things, things that would have driven lesser men to fear and madness. And yet when the bark and flash of the BR55 rifle let rip, *BOOM* *BOOM*, he couldn't help but jump.
Chief had read about these creatures. Uruk-Hai. Stronger, faster and fourfold more dangerous than the most savage orc or goblin. Strong as elites, these things were a true and real threat to the Fellowship. But tough as they were, they were mortal. And as Chief continued to pump 9.5mm bullets into their ranks, bodies began to fall and die.
Uruk's screamed as their useless armour and shields were ripped apart by hypervelocity rounds. Steel chainmail and cast iron battle plate shattered and ruptured. Blood pored through the holes and shattered skin of half dead tissue. Uruk's screamed and fell from the cliffs above, their unnatural lives claimed by well-disciplined, single shot volleys from the Master Chief's rifle.
What magic was this? Fire and death and trickery! Lurtz growled savagely, near helpless as his soldiers began to die. Well, almost. He moved behind a wall, just as two of his men's heads exploded next to him, and pulled his first arrow from its quiver. He knew how to shoot and aim quickly. He strafed out from cover, without fear, without hesitation, and loosed an arrow at the smaller of the two targets.
"Chief, far left, archer!" Chief saw the arrow leave the Uruks hand, flying straight for Aragorn. Chief shot forwards and swatted the heavy arrow away. Easy! He'd done a missile! Aragorn was less than useless, but he needed to act right now.
"Ranger, return fire!" Chief barked at him, causing him to snap into action. The heir of Isildur checked his gun, waited, side stepped another arrow, and aimed for his first shot.
Lurtz was outgunned, he needed archers right now! "Bring up the hunters, hah, hunters!" With all the discipline of a patient stalking predator, Aragorn breathed in, aimed, and brought an Uruk down. Breath, aim, fire! Breath, aim, fire! Chief couldn't help but look over. Aragorn was slow, undrilled...but impressively, didn't seem to miss!
Seven more Uruk-Hai archers drew up from reserve. They had received only hours of practice, they were terrible shots. As Chief and Aragorn fell behind a wall of broken masonry, only a single arrow came close, pinging off of a rock two feet from the Chief.
Lurtz was amazed, none of his sharpshooters could touch them! But the Uruk captain had many warriors. Whilst his men died above, others were moving around the sides of the hill. This was only just beginning!
Chief wasn't a fool. He knew every trick in the book. He knew that other hostiles would be coming to outflank them. If these Uruks were as numerous as he suspected, reinforcements would be mere seconds away. As an arrow collided with the back of his helmet, he knew that he had been dead on!
Chief feared that they would be overwhelmed. There was only two of them, him and Aragorn. But that was the wonder and power of the modern fire arm, and Chief couldn't help but smile as Aragorn quickly re loaded a new magazine into his spent rifle, and tore into more of the foul creatures!
"Chief, hostiles on your six, and on your right. Right on time!" Chief pulled Aragorn down as another arrow came hurtling down towards them. It ricocheted off of the Chief's shield, arm glowing gold. Aragorn wasn't, and what of the others? Chief instantly fired on the small horde coming towards him, not wasting a shot. Area clear, he looked down at Aragorn. The ranger nodded, Chief nodded back.
As he helped him up, another arrow hitting the Chief's head, who promptly gunned down its point of origin. Aragorn rose up, seeing the Uruks coming for them. He understood that they were about to be overwhelmed. He used his initiative, and taking his hand off of the stock, took hold of the weapon above the hand guard. Pushing the weapon down, keeping it level, he gunned down most of the runners coming towards them, sending blood and soil spurting into the air around them.
Chief was impressed, this man had never used a gun in his life, yet he could have put any cadet to shame. He'd only ever seen Johnson use that technique before, Chief mused, just as another dozen Uruk's fell under his gun sight, and died under his gun sight.
The truth is though, there is only so many people you can kill, even with a gun. The Uruk-Hai were too many and too fast. Every time the two comrades missed, the Uruks drew a little closer, and they drew forth without hesitation. They truly did not know fear. Chief was amazed, no elites, not even hunters charged without hesitation. These things, whatever they were, with teeth and blades and muscles...fear was fear, and these creatures inspired fear.
"The books don't lie Chief! Uruk-Hai: Bred for one thing only, the death of their enemies or themselves in trying!" Cortana made them sound like flood. At least they died more easily!
But, they were still coming, they needed to move. He and Cortana knew it. "Chief, we need to go, now!" She began to tell him, "This valley is death, we need to move, find the others!" He was right, Chief could survive, them, not so easily. And what about Frodo?
"FIND THE HALFLINGS!" Lurtz yelled, as if in reply to Chief's very thoughts. He had numbers not being used, they were getting distracted by these two warriors. "FIND THE HALFLINGS!"
The Uruks were right on them, climbing the broken rock, just a few feet away. Time had run out. The Spartan gunned down another five Uruk's, and reloading his rifle, shouted "MOVE! Follow my lead!"
Chief held his rifle in a single hand, drawing his claymore, cutting one down at the legs, blowing another four away as he held his other arm taunt as they began to run. "Chief, behind you!" John saw the blip on his HUD, right behind him! As he began to turn he heard something zip passed his head.
Time slowed down, the sound of battle died away. Chief could see every detail, pick out every moment, everything. He saw the arrow moving by, moving at a snails pace. This was not a crude orc projectile. It was lithe and graceful, a work of art, green in colour, with a leaf-like point. It was an elvish design. As the Uruk behind him died, an arrow wedged through his eye, the Spartan knew that back up had arrived!
"Wuuaarrgh, to my axe, now!" Yelled Gimli as he hacked into the first Uruk, biting deep into its solar plexus, bringing it down! Legolas fired off two shots, sniping two more through their weak points, then drawing his knives, taking another one amongst a whirlwind of stabs and slices.
They moved forwards, out of the valley, Legolas and Gimli covering flank and rear with Chief and Aragorn gunning down everything in front of them. Aragorn's problem was that he was like a predator, eyes focussed on the front, the enemies in front only. He neglected the enemies behind. It was why a soldier's head needed to be on a swivel. Chief always looked back, taking Uruk's out behind, preventing his comrades from being overwhelmed.
A click, a growl from Aragorn, a swirl of movement and the sound of sliding metal indicated one thing, that he had run out of bullets and drawn his sword. Chief was running low as well, there were a few hundred Uruks, and they were tough. He'd hit one with seven rounds and it had still kept crawling. He had to see the bigger picture, he had to conserve ammo! Chief put the rifle onto his back, and took hold of his heavy swords in both his hands.
"Aragorn, duck!" He shouted. The ranger looked round, an Uruk was right on top of him. He moved as quickly as he could. And with a splash of black blood and a small sigh, the creatures head came off its shoulders. Aragorn nodded again in thanks, just as another Uruk hand grabbed him by the neck. The group had stopped dead, they couldn't move they were surrounded within the trees and ruins of Anon Hen. And Frodo was still out there, somewhere.
Only one solution, fight your way out!
"Frodo! Quickly, hide here, quick!" Pippin shouted from the safety of his bush. More Uruks would be passing through, it was safer for Frodo where they were. But Frodo just sat there, by his tree, and to his horror, shook his head.
"No Frodo, come here...Merry, what's he doing?" Merry already knew, he had just worked it out. He had heard the whispering, he had been tempted by the ring. He knew the danger, what Frodo had to do, "He's leaving Pip!" He said simply and sadly, he knew his friend wouldn't understand why.
Pippin wouldn't accept it, wouldn't accept that he couldn't help. "No!" He hissed, he would not lose him, he would hold him down and muffle him if he had too. He ran out from the bushes, at just the wrong moment. The howl came through the branches of the trees. The Uruks were coming, they had spotted the two hobbits.
Now, they didn't know, whilst they may have suspected it, that the Uruk-Hai were only after them. But they knew one thing, Merry knew one thing. "Run Frodo, Go!" And overpowering fear and dread with loyalty, began to shout.
Hey, HEY YOU! Over here, QUICK!"
Pippin finally cottoned on. "To whatever end", he thought to himself. "Hey! Yes! Over here! HOBBITS HERE!" All hell broke loose. Uruk-Hai had good ears, every Uruk within half a kilometre had heard them.
Frodo had only a few seconds before the monsters tore through here. He had to keep moving, had to get away. He only hoped that the others would be ok...
"Yeah! He has some for you too you grouchy bastards!" Cortana yelled over Chief's HUD as he tore two Uruks a new one! Chief could kill a thousand here in the woods, then another before tea time! But the others couldn't. Legolas took a heavy blow, a shield glanced off of his shoulder, throwing him into a ruined wall. The Uruk kept moving at him, sprinting, roaring, sword raised high. Legolas came back to his senses, spinning suddenly, wrong footing the Uruk as it missed completely, first sword hitting the wall, than the Uruk itself, with an "Ooof!"
Legolas advanced quickly, two knife strikes later, the beast's throat had been slit. Blood pouring from its throat, it went into shock, and slid down into the dirt.
Gimli tackled with all his power, sending an Uruk to the ground. With short axe and a head-butt, he neutralised his foe. Another two came charging him from behind. Gimli was heavy, and past middle age, they were too close! A sudden arrow from Legolas and a knife thrown by Aragorn saved the dwarfs knife, "Be more careful next time!" Legolas screamed at him. The dwarf growled in embarrassment. Picked up his other axe and laid into another snarling Uruk.
While Chief is duelling with six simultaneously, waiting for an opening, an Uruk charges into Aragorn, pinning him to a tree. Aragorn who has just a moment ago thrown the knife that saved his friend, has been taken completely off guard. He's on his own, everyone else is in danger of being overwhelmed. Even Chief has his work cut out for him!
"Uruks sure can be bullies!" He almost said out loud as another three came from the rear, trying to pin him down. His guard held momentarily, the others roared in victory, and joined in. Chief was astounded, these creatures were strong. The biggest one was pressing down with two hundred kilograms of pressure, all of it muscle. He was being pushed down. Nine Uruks plus gravity, versus a Spartan wearing Mjolnir armour...seemed to be a match.
"Common, Spartan, COMMON!" He told himself, but as another two literally jumped on him, he was starting to fight a losing battle. They couldn't kill him, but that wasn't his priority. They could kill the others, the Uruks had figured it out and knew they only had to keep him subdued!
"Chief, I've got an idea. I can overload your shield, fry everything within five yards of you. It might burn your emitter out though!" Small price to pay, he would take the risk. He had to help them! "Do it!" He groaned as he was pushed onto all fours.
Legolas was in his element. Arrow after arrow, Uruk after dead Uruk. Nothing could get near him. Gimli just stood there, watching, jealous. The final runner was taken down. Legolas swivelled, seeing his comrades, Aragorn, Chief. He knew which one needed his help. He turned 170*, firing immediately.
Aragorn couldn't last much longer, but salvation came. An arrow tore through the Uruk's armour, biting deep into the creature's puss ridden heart.
It was then that a massive explosion tore through the forest. A wall was blown down, body parts and viscera flew out from everywhere. The shockwave was massive and deafening, but that was not all. Light, light was everywhere, white and blinding. No one had ever seen anything like it. Incredible, blinding, forcing everyone to look away. Every Uruk within Amon Hen stopped, just for a moment. Such a noise they had never heard!
The Uruks holding Chief were annihilated, and when the three hunters looked back, they saw the Chief. The Spartan was stood, crouched, as if he had just leapt from the branches above. The wood was burning, small fires dotted across the glade, glowing, burning hot. Energy spiralled around him, for a moment, and was gone as soon as soon as they had noticed it. No one had thought it possible.
"Good news Chief, no damage, but it will take a few hours for the shield to re-set!" Good news after all! Nothing short of heavy arms fire would take him down, even without his shield. Everyone else was still too stunned to answer.
It was then when they heard it, like the roar of some wounded animal, blasting through the trees. "The Horn of Gondor!" Legolas gasps in realisation. Aragorn is in horror, he knows he has little time. "Boromir!" He breathes, breaking into a run "Chief, with me!" He continued "If we work together we may hav-"
"NO, I am the faster, I will save him. I promise!" Cortana smiled broadly, warmth rising in her heart on hearing those words. As Chief drew his rifle, she wondered, would he be able to save Boromir?