An Elite's Tale

Ludo was picking himself up when he heard Johnson yell, "Brute reinforcements! West flank!"

Being the closest to the new threat, Ludo declared over the TEAMCOM, "Stay on Tartarus! I'll handle the Brutes."

He retrieved his last plasma grenade and lobbed it at the western walkway. The Brute Captains were jumping down to the middle platform, and the grenade stuck the fourth and final beast just before it dropped down to join its teammates. One of the short walls blocked the Brute Captains from Ludo's line of sight, but he did see the bright flash from the grenade's detonation. The Plague jogged around to the other side of the short wall to see the aftermath.

The Brutes were scattered, all of the survivors down and struggling to recover. One of them was completely missing a torso as his upper half had been blown off. Ludo gave himself a quick reminder to never get stuck by a plasma grenade. He then walked up to the nearest Brute, who was crawling on his belly towards a fallen shotgun, and used his foot to nudge the shotgun off the platform and stomped down on the Brute's head. He stomped again, then again, each one harder than the last until he finally felt something give. With one more stomp, he caved the Brute's skull inward.

An orange glow caught Ludo's attention. Experience had taught him to quickly evade in such instances, so he took a pivoting step to the side. A gun loudly discharged and a flash of metal streaked past his face. He looked down at the shooter and saw the downed Brute holding, of all things, a mauler.

The Jiralhanae answer to the human shotgun, the mauler is a devastating close range sidearm that has a revolving cylinder containing five chambers. Each shot fires a shell packed full of small spikes that spray in a wide spread at a very high velocity through the intended target. It also featured a bayonet attachment, like all Brute weapons. This particular blade was a small, curved knife underneath the trigger guard pointing downwards.

Ludo stepped on the Brute's wrist and jerked the weapon away. The sharp edges of his armored hoof cut into his foes hide. The Brute howled in pain and tried to move Ludo's foot with his other hand. When he looked up, he found himself staring down the barrel of his own mauler, now in Ludo's hand. With one pull of the trigger, a ring of hot red spikes shot forth and embedded in the Brute's face.

A third Brute Captain, who up until this point was unmoving on the floor, started to get up. The Plague swiftly bought the mauler blade down on his head like a judge slamming a gavel. His victim dropped back down and Ludo left the weapon planted in its skull. He unholstered his spiker on his way back around the wall. When he rounded the corner he saw the Arbiter perched up on one of the other short walls with his carbine, shooting. Up on the walkway behind him, Johnson continued to snipe with the beam rifle.

"Quick, while his shield is down!" the human shouted.

Joha was standing near the energy beam, and he looked out of it. Dazed, as if he'd been hit with a tranquilizer and was about to go down. He was holding only one of his energy swords, and it was down at his side. Tartarus was holding the Fist of Rukt at the hip, the glowing head aimed at the disoriented swordsman. The glow intensified, then leapt from the hammer and blasted Joha off his feet, straight back into the energy beam.

"Over here!"

Zuvo appeared like a flash of maroon and gold. He swatted the rising gravity hammer down with his own energy sword, then followed up with a powerful backwards slash across the face. The Chieftain cried out and stumbled back directly towards Ludo while still taking fire from the others. Ludo opened fire too, emptying the last of his magazine and turning Tartarus into a porcupine.

Towards the end of the clip, the dense purple energy shield generated by the Fist of Rukt came back online. The spikes that entered were instantly cooled, and slowed as if driving into very thick gelatin. They all dropped to the floor before they could make actual contact and do more damage.

Johnson's rifle knocked the shielding system back out, and he yelled to the Elites, "C'mon, kick that guy's ass!"

Ludo and Zuvo both stepped towards Tartarus. Ludo moved right and buried his dual bayonets to the hilt in between the Brute's shoulder blades. To Ludo's direct left and a little too close for comfort, Zuvo's golden bronze energy sword seared through their foe's back.

Tartarus roared in agony. Both Elites removed their weapons and jumped back. The Fieldmaster was the first to re-engage. A little too soon for Ludo's standards, but he knew the Zealot could handle himself. Zuvo ducked under a hammer swing and slashed the Brute across the abdomen, widening the wound Madiba had carved earlier. Tartarus brought the back end of the hammer down to try and impale him with the handle, but Zuvo dived and rolled out of the way; almost to his demise. A hole like the one Ludo had been knocked through was waiting for the Fieldmaster, who was luckily able to catch the edge with one hand. Ludo moved in to prevent Tartarus from stepping on his hand.