"Well hello to you too, assholes!" Lucas's shout was really more reflex as he dove into a nearby piece of cover alongside Vael. Of course they would walk into a nearly literal wall of bullets as they entered their half of the two paths and now found themselves pinned by heavy fire. However, be it fortunate or unfortunate, the SPARTAN-IV still had a pair of frag grenades, and those two fully automatic, lead spitting death machines would drown out the sounds of a grenade bouncing behind the gunners. Turning off his external speakers, he speaks into the internal comms channel for their small team. "Grenade out."

Throwing it over, the idea was for the arc of the grenade to put it just between the two machine gunners and in the laps of whoever was posted up between them and send them all flying in pieces ideally. Though he would also accept just sending them scrambling away from the grenade, since that would still mean that the mounted guns would stop firing and the team could move up. "I'm moving for the high ground, camo should keep me out of sight. I hope."

Grikgar /Grik/ Seeker

// Unggoy Ultra // Demolitions and Artillery // Location: Enemy Stronghold

Grikgar found his place in the formation just behind Tatsuma, it seemed the others took up positions to either the left or right of the hunter. The moment the doors opened they came under fire. The others dived to the sides in the hail of bullets but Grik stayed behind the portable hardcover of the Lekgolo. He knew he likely wouldn’t make it to either side in one piece and with the hunter crouching down and absorbing the shots he could at least stay here for a little while.

All the Unggoy had to do was double check his weapon and wait for his opening. The opening in question came when smoke grenades from his walking cover was deployed. Before he could take advantage he could see the Spartan readying a grenade so he did as well. Grikgar through his grenade to what he could tell was the back of the fortified position in front of them then carefully started to climb up on the back of the hunter.

Getting his cannon just up far enough over the hunter to clear its head, Grikgar quickly emptied an entire magazine of his fuel rod cannon into the enemy positions. Right after the last shot was fired he let go and slid down Tatsuma’s back and began the reloading process. “Reloading.” He called over comms. It would not take him very long to insert the next magazine.

As Aviza and her squad moved down the left most passageway towards their first objective, the gruff and unmistakable sound of a Brutes voice could easily be heard coming from the room in front of them. The massive ape like beast was yelling threats at his troops, while at the same time trying to motivate them with a speech of sorts. Holding up her right hand, Aviza silently gave the order for her squad to slow their pace, and approach the doors in front of them with caution. When they were a few steps away from the doors though, they opened automatically, giving the squad only a few seconds to move into cover before they were spotted.

As the squad entered into a wide open chamber stacked high with boxes and promptly took cover, they were almost immediately fired upon by high-caliber weapons, the rounds ricocheting around them. Within the few seconds that they had not been in cover, Aviza's GEN2 Argus-class Mjölnir armor and Shih had scanned and identified the immediate hostiles inside of the massive chamber. The detailed information was automatically sent to all those present within her squad, so that they would have the information ready at hand as well.

Out of all the targets currently present, the one that concerned Aviza the most was the Brute Chieftain who was armed with a Gravity Hammer. One attack from that weapon could put any of them out of commission, permanently. Keeping their distance and using all of their ranged abilities would be the best way to confront this difficult enemy. "Stay back from the Brute Chieftain and his Gravity Hammer, stay in cover untill those fortifications are dealt with." commanded Aviza as she devised a plan with the information she currently had.

The mention from Tar of Snipers having taking position above was taken into account, the Sangheili had made an astute observation, though the thought of there being much more than Snipers above did cross Aviza's mind as she peered around the corner of the cover she was hiding behind. As Tar announced that she was moving forward, Aviza was about to stop the Sangheili from doing so but realized that her objection to the action would have come to late, this female Sangheili moved swiftly and to the letter. Instead, she gave a warning, an observation of her own. "Those crates you are hiding behind may not be able to withstand heavy fire from the fortifications for much longer, keep moving from cover to cover while staying out of the open and away from the Brute Chieftan."

Some of the bolder enemy forces had moved towards them, and were trying to attempt a flanking maneuver. Out of these, were a number of Brutes, close combat with such a beast was not in the best of their interest at the moment. Aviza grabbed onto her MA5D Assault Rifle and switched to the underslung auto-shotgun attached to it, ready to fire as soon as she had the opportunity to. As soon as the first hostile got within range, she fired high-powered shells into the Brutes chest, effectively killing the beast. The rest of the hostiles that had decided to flank thought on the idea and fell back to fight from a distance once more, at least for the time being.

Upon the dead Brutes corpse were three flame grenades that Aviza spotted after the hostile had fallen to the ground. Quickly and carefully, Aviza moved out of cover to the dead brute, scavenging the equipment and then moving back into cover, costing her part of her shield. A plan went into motion from here, one flame grenade was tossed into the middle of the room where the fortifications where, being used as area denial. The other two were attached alongside the rest of her equipment, they would be used for the Brute Chieftain when that time came.

"Watch your fire in here, we do not know what the crates hold inside of them, there could be high explosives ready to detonate. Also, I want that commander alive, he could be our target, or could help us locate him, it is paramount that he survives." Aviza suddenly felt very dizzy and disoriented, grabbing onto the support beam she was taking cover behind to keep herself upright, but then the feeling faded away and she regained herself. This of course worried the Spartan, "Perhaps I am more injured than I realize, could it be that the information I was given about my injuries was incorrect? It has to just to be the ultra-Morph wearing off, a side effect of the drug." thought Aviza to herself, she knew Shih would have a comment about it, and that was welcomed.

The situation had to be taken in quickly. Yalu shot off a burst of plasma rifle fire before takingcover behind one of the wide pillars. He was grateful for the outlines that came onto his HUD from Aviza. He was too distracted by the brute chieftain's idea of encouragement. Humans weren't as weak-willed as grunts, and he might use that to their advantage.

In sync with 'Mdalak's movements between cover, Yalu peeked out to send plasma over the enemy barricades. He could not keep them all down -- he heard a few pink needles shatter against the pillar as he turned back behind to let his plasma rifle cool.

How to approach this...

Turn. Fire. Take cover.

They won't let up until that chieftain was dead.

Turn. Fire...One of the humans shrieked. He must have grazed them through the fire in the middle of the room.

Aviza's movements caught his eye. Yalu was not too late to notice her weak moment. "Commander, I'll watch the flank," he said, knowing from prior practice how to prompt what he noticed without threatening his leader's honour. He stepped around her to occupy the other side of the pillar. "These humans, will they live if they surrender? We may only be fighting the brutes if so."

The initial exchange of fire between Aviza’s team and the defenders in front of them did leave some casualties on the side of the rebels. One of the Brutes that attempted to flank was taken down by Aviza, and there were a few Humans among the rebels who took hits that would, at the very least, incapacitate them. In a neutral exchange of gunfire, Aviza’s team had the firm edge, as most of them were shielded. They could recover after a few seconds of sitting in cover, while the rebels could be taken down by a single shot. Though, the Brutes were more resilient. As long as their powered armor was not destroyed, their shields could regenerate.

The rebels had not yet taken heavy casualties, yet they were still quick to begin retreating. They started to fall back from their fortifications in the middle and instead took cover behind the crates on the far side of the room. Even more strangely, the Brutes were willing to retreat. After the loss of just one of their own, they were falling back to the far side of the room as well, chieftain included. Despite the shouting they had heard as they arrived and the fact that he wielded a gravity hammer, he was not charging in nor taking risks. He just kept to cover and made sure his shields did not fall.

Shih, meanwhile, spoke to Aviza directly. ”I’m monitoring your vitals now. You might have a concussion, but your armor is already administering treatment. Just try not to take any more hits.”

---

Between the grenades and a magazine of fuel rods, the two mounted machine guns certainly stopped returning fire, along with all of the other Humans defending their position. Although, between the smoke and bursts of fuel rod explosions, it was also difficult to see how many had been killed in the blasts.

Despite the gap in return fire, Tasuma still moved towards cover behind the nearest pillar. The shield on its arm was nigh impenetrable to anything the rebels could throw at it, but the rest of its armor was not quite as durable. Small arms would bounce off of the plating, but the heavy machine guns were another matter. Its armor was dented and damaged in some places, and pierced in a few. Thick, orange blood dripped from a few holes, though the Mgalekgolo as a whole did not yet seem meaningfully affected.

On the upper walkway, Ryker would not find himself uncontested. Being that it was such an obvious path for any attackers to take, the rebels had prepared to defend it. It was a long, straight walkway with almost nothing in terms of cover, and on the far end was another set of barricades the rebels had deployed, at least three defenders, and a third mounted heavy machine gun. Ryker might have approached with active camouflage but the rebels were alert and only had a narrow path they were tasked with watching. The gunner still noticed the distinctive shimmer in the air surrounding Ryker and opened fire immediately, along with the other two beside her with their assault rifles. Perhaps their only mistake was opening fire too early, while Ryker was still close enough to the ramp to not be fully committed to the position.

Vael had spent the break of the fight behind cover, allowing his shields to recharge. Though, as explosives rained down upon the enemy position, he shouted through their comms. ”Do not be indiscriminate with explosives! If any of those crates contain explosives themselves, you may kill us as well as them.” Vael ordered. He peered out of cover to try and get a look at the enemy, though the smoke was already thick in the air by that point. It obscured what his eyes could see, though his motion tracker still showed plenty of movement ahead of them. ”The smoke shall be our ally. These Humans will fall easily if we close the distance. Grikgar, help Spartan Ryker claim the high ground, everyone else…”

As Vael spoke, two objects flew out of the smoke towards them, one after another. Frag grenades, which would certainly land nearby. At that point, Vael easily understood what the Humans’ plan had been. The defenders could have held close to try and deny them the support struts they had been using as cover, but normal Humans performed poorly against Spartan and Sangheili alike in close quarters. Instead, they had taken positions nearer to the far side of the room, taking advantage of long sight lines and heavy guns to suppress them into cover, at which point they would have used grenades to either kill them, or flush them out into machine gun fire. But, the quick actions of Vael’s allies had foiled that plan. Now, if their heavy guns were even still in one piece, the air was too thick with smoke to return fire effectively. The incoming grenades were little more than a signal for Vael to push forward.

”Attack!” Vael shouted, sprinting forward out of the range of the grenades and into the smoke. He had his plasma rifle in-hand and ready, though in such close quarters, it was his secondary weapon. As soon as he saw a Human silhouette in front of him, pushing himself up to his feet amid damaged and broken crates, Vael activated his energy sword and diagonally bisected the rebel’s torso in one swift motion. The smoke around him now glowed blue, illuminated by the plasma. Bullets cut through the air towards him, though they were far from accurate, and his shields could stand up much longer to small arms than mounted machine guns. Vael flicked off his sword to hide its glow and moved swiftly, using pulsing bursts of orange light through the smoke from the rebels’ muzzle flash to hone in on their positions.

As the mounted machinegun opened fire towards Ryker, he was already diving with a startled curse. If he was honest, as he rolled part way down the ramp, the SPARTAN IV had hoped that the rebels wouldn't have bothered setting up any kind of defense on the walk way since they had seemed confident they'd control the doorway. Turning off the active camouflage system, he tucks into the wall of the ramp and swaps the SMG for his DMR before, risking a quick peak at the far end before ducking after a couple of the larger caliber rounds rebounded off his shielding. Hearing that Grikgar was on his way, however, gave the Spartan an idea and he waited for the Grunt to arrive.

The little guy has a fuel rod launcher and lots of explosives. I'm a decent shot and brought a few frag grenades. The problem is obscuring smoke wouldn't do us any good up here...but a series of progressive explosions could force the men behind that barricade in to cover long enough for me to rush them.

---

From her position behind the crates, Tar had a slightly better view of the elevated platforms above them. She couldn’t see any hostiles peeking out just yet. “I can’t see anyone on the platforms; will keep an eye out.” Tar reported, just as the box she was hiding behind began shuddering from a hail of bullets. Cover was particularly poor this close to the near pillars; Tar needed to get into the grid of crates to stand a chance.

She noticed her left leg was starting to hurt; blood trickled slowly from a gap in her armour plating. Could that bullet she’d felt while holding up her Brute cover outside have gone through, rather than grazed her? She wasn’t sure. Tar probed the gap with one of her fingers, mandibles clamped together. She couldn’t find an entry wound. She’d need to leave it be for now and look once the fighting had stopped.

Tar peeked out from behind the crate she hid behind. A couple of Brutes and Humans had been dealt with, and part of the room was on fire. She could see shapes flitting between the stacks of crates toward the back of the room. It looks like they’d abandoned their previous position. “Our foe runs! We should press the attack.” Tar called, shooting between crates at two Humans as they scrambled for cover. One of them fell over.

Tar had never actually killed Humans before now. There’d been no need to; her time with the Silent Shadow remnants had been exclusively focused on killing Brutes. She found these Human warriors to be quite disappointing so far. She’d simmed against ODSTs and other Human elements in Paxopolis, but that’d been in a carefully controlled environment. This was real.

“Moving!” Tar announced, mostly out of necessity. The crate she’d hidden behind had practically fallen apart. She got up and stepped into a ‘corridor’ between two rows of crates leading to the other side of the room. She spotted a Human with a SAW at the opposite end of the corridor just as they opened fire. Tar only made it forward one row before ducking back behind another stack of boxes. “I'm pinned, how is my right side looking?” Tar asked, partly to herself as she peeked around the other side of the box and partly to Aegis team, who would have a more holistic view.

"They're giving ground already?" Yalu asked himself. "That chieftain was clear, but..." His eyes dilated in realisation. Shortly before Tar was fired upon by the human with the assault weapon, Yalu was already loping into a broad sprint down the right flank, sliding to a stop facing to one side. The human gunner flowed into his sights and five plasma rounds shot towards his centre.

"'Mdalak! Right side clear!" He hesitated, not yet seeing any sign of a jammer, let alone any extra movement on his motion sensor yet. "This feels like a lure!" He added over a growl.

Yalu kept his wits, trying to listen and feel more than see. Brutes liked activate camouflage in packs, and this valley between the walkways was perfect for their prey.

The two folded into the Aviza brute-killing group (foreshadowing) as they began their descent into the corridor, it would only be a matter of time before they would go toe to toe with a huge group of bad guys. Elna kept her head on a swivel looking around, looking like a paranoid bat of some sort as she expected for Rebels to come flying off the walls. For Roy (Ray) though it would just be another series of motions and actions he would be forced to go through, the two treaded through before Aviza called for contaaaaact! Roy moved forward and jumped behind hard cover before getting up to fire at the rebels.

Elna also followed quickly planting herself up against hard cover as she got her Br-55 up and sent rounds down range towards the rebels and it was only a matter of time before they routed and ran away! Aviza quickly corpsed a flanking brute, taking him out without an ounce of remorse. The whole group began to rout but not in full, it could of been a trap - maybe it was? They were nowhere near the crates at this time so they could possibly be safe, though Ray kept his finger on the trigger.

"Keep an eye out Corporal, thinks aren't as they seem." Elna returned a curt nod towards the spook she babysits, both got up and returned fired onto some nearby rebels quickly killing them as they stepped out of cover.

Situational awareness is crucial upon the field of battle, Spartan Aviza had learned this through many years of not only combat training but also experience in live fire situations. Unfortunately, it appeared that some of the other members of her immediate squad had either forgotten this important tactic or were more brazen and impatient than the others. To Aviza, is was clear that the hostiles had set up some kind of trap for them, though she was unsure what that trap would be. Perhaps they were trying to lure some of the forces into an area then cut them off from the others with some sort of energy barrier? That would make them easy to overwhelm, and the hostile forces on the other side would have to somehow deactivate the shield before being able to assist. Whatever their plan was, Spartan Aviza was not about to let any harm come to those under her command.

Quickly, Aviza gave orders to the two had moved away from the rest of the squad, "Why are you advancing into what is most likely a trap? What happens if you two get cut off from the rest of the squad and we can not help? I want both of you back to my position immediately, the rest of us will provide cover and then try to find out what they have planned for us ahead." Spartan Aivza hoped that there was still time for the two Sangheili to correct their mistake, if not, the situation at hand was about to get much worse.

There was some delay in the response from the enemy. They waited behind cover on the far side of the room, only giving token return fire as they waited for their attackers to take the space they had given up. However, Aviza did not give the order to advance, and the delay would give some time to try and retreat back to her position.

When it became clear that their attackers had, for the most part, not taken the bait, the Chieftain let out a roar. Right away, Brute stalkers, four at least, emerged from active camouflage on the walkway directly above the team’s position. They did not have an angle to shoot down on Aviza or those who stayed back, but Tar and Yalu were within their sights. Two opened fire with spikers, while the other two tried to throw incendiary grenades to block their retreat. It was, indeed, an ambush, though it was far from ideal for the Brutes, as both of the Sangheili were still fairly close to Aviza’s position. In any case, the Chieftain’s roar had been the signal for an all-in attack. The Brutes started charging from far across the room through the crates, while the Human rebels positioned themselves to provide supporting fire. Although, they did have a fair amount of ground to cover to cross the entire length of the room.

Grikgar /Grik/ Seeker

// Unggoy Ultra // Demolitions and Artillery // Location: Enemy Stronghold

Grikgar shifted quickly from one point of cover to the next. “Copy Grik be careful now. Many explosions good for Grik but not good for everyone else.” Getting to the pillar next to the Spartan Grik nodded and activated the shield he got from the jackal. The bright orange glow of the shield illuminated his position in time for the machine gun to open up on his position. “Grikgar create opening for Spartan.”

Turing from cover his shield flared then broke along with his energy shield, Grik gar was only able to get two shots off with an unsteady hand before diving back into cover. “Shields recharging.” What a rush, a bit risky but a rush all the same.

---

While Grikgar had not had much time to take his shots,the jackal shield had at least bought him enough time to be able to put one on target. The first sailed over the top and exploded on the far wall, but the second struck the barricades directly. It did not entirely destroy the barricades, and the rebels behind them were able to duck for cover, but the machine gun emplacement was caught in the blast. Ryker would still have to deal with armed resistance, with better cover, on the upper walkway, but there was no heavy gun to keep him pinned.

Some of the rebels had retained their bearings well enough and had managed to retreat out from the smoke cloud in the center of the room to form up behind the cover of the support struts on the far side. They had no heavy emplaced weapons, but they were well-armed on their own and had good sight lines. It would still not be trivial to displace them. If Ryker and Grikgar could claim the upper walkway, they would have a position on the high ground, at least.

Amid the smoke, Vael stalked the rebels who had not escaped like prey. Using motion trackers, or simply the sounds they made to track them, Vael weaved between the crates to deal with them up close and personal. From the outside, one would see nothing until he came close enough to a target to flick on his energy sword, which illuminated the thick smoke in a blue glow. It was generally followed by a short burst of gunfire, then the scream of a Human.

Tasuma did not make light of its own injuries, but in any case, it still moved into the smoke cloud as well. It was concerned less with killing stragglers as it was positioning itself to handle the rebels defending the far side of the room. The smoke would dissipate eventually, so it moved to find enough of a stack of crates that it could use for cover, instead of relying wholly on its armor for protection.

Tar growled at the order to retreat. It didn’t seem like a strategy that was conducive to catching fleeing prey. However, while she wasn’t under this team’s direct command, she guessed the Spartan outranked her. And while being discharged for disobeying orders was one way to escape Sarcophagus, Tar needed to keep her military options open. It was by far the most efficient vehicle for continuing her search for Tarkr ‘Mdalakai.

Before Tar could reply, there was a roar from somewhere on the opposite side of the room. Fire grenades and spikes began raining down on her position from above. “I’ve found the trap! Brutes, above us!” Tar roared, turning to shoot up at them, pushing her back to the stack of crates she had hidden behind. Her pistol clicked empty, and she quickly flicked the magazine out to replace it with her spare. She peeked around the side of the crate, spikes stuck in her shield, to see more Brutes rushing toward her.

Tar swore; it was now or never. “Moving!” She called. Ducking out of cover into the lane between crates, Tar fired at the oncoming Brutes while carefully walking backwards toward their position. They didn’t take cover, instead electing to trade fire with her. Tar ducked back behind another crate closer to home and immediately peeked back out to continue firing. One of the Brute’s shields burst and Tar shot him in the head, but the rest kept coming. A fire bomb crashed to the floor just in front of her as her pistol clicked empty again. Leaping backwards, Tar burst into another lane of crates, knocking some over as she stumbled for cover. “I need pistol mags!” She called, switching to her Mauler.

"Stay here, I'll punch us an opening." The Spartan braced himself on the corner, mentally preparing himself for the sprint he was about to make. I hope. Loading a fresh magazine into the SMG he'd kept, Lucas used the corner of the ramp to vault around the corner, putting him closer to top speed faster and zig zagged while rushing the gun emplacement. While his shield took hits, the superior ammo capacity of his SMG allowed him to keep firing while they reloaded and that space of time also allowed the SPARTAN-IV to reach the barricade and leap it. He'd saved ten rounds in his gun just for this occasion and while the first two insurrectionists he saw, the lady gunner and one of her helpers, got a bullet to the head each, the last had time to attack in melee as it would seem he'd been in too much of a hurry to reload and fucked up his AR.

"Die you Alien loving piece of filth!" The man's first hit with the knife did disable Lucas's shields, a design flaw he was going to bring up to Spartan Command the next chance he got, the next blow was expertly deflected by Ryker and followed up by activating his energy dagger into the man's face.

"Rest in peace, scum." Leaning out around the corner of the barricade, Lucas beckoned Grikgar over and spoke into the team channel. {Come over here, Grik. We should have a better line of sight on the remaining rebels on the floor below us.}

Staying in cover behind one of the support beams inside of the room, Spartan Aviza swept the crosshairs of her MA5D over the retreating targets. She would fire off a few short and accurate bursts at either the Chieftain or the other Brutes who fell back with him, knowing that they were the primary threats. It seemed as if the two forces were at a stand off, and one of them would have to make a move before any ground could be made. Aviza realized this and was preparing to use her SRS99-S5 AM Sniper Rifle to weaken the Brute Chieftain, though before she could pull the trigger, he let out a roar that echoed though the chamber. Suddenly, Brute stalkers opened fire upon Tar and Yalu with Spikers, while two incendiary grenades were tossed to the rear, attempting to cut off their retreat. Spartan Aviza started to give out orders, "Rex, head to the right side of the room and see if you can climb up the support beam to deal with those Brute Stalkers. I am going to climb the left support beam and deal with the Stalkers here. The rest of you pressure those advancing hostiles, we will handle them shortly." Aviza would then quickly engage her active camouflage, vanishing from sight.

Using the few areas upon the support beam that she could grip, Aviza pulled herself up and onto the overhead walkway directly above the team’s position. For the moment, the Brute Stalkers were focused upon Tar and Yalu and had not noticed her arrival. Using this to her advantage, and knowing that her Shotgun would give her away immediately, Aviza reached down and gripped onto her energy sword, the one she had taken from the Mammoths armory. It would power on, showing only a faint crimson outline of the weapons shaped super heated plasma upon her helmets HUD. This HUD highlighted the first Brute Stalker, showing her where the armor was supposedly the weakest, or where there was no armor protecting the massive ape like creature.

Charging forward, Aviza closed the gap between the first Brute Stalker and immediately made a swift stabbing motion at the first Brute Stalkers left underarm. The energy sword easily traveled through the Brutes flesh and appeared out of his upper left shoulder before Aviza pulled the weapon back, almost severing the limb from the Brute Stalkers torso. The first Brute Stalker howled in anger and pain before using his right arm to swing blindly through the air in frantic motions, attempting to hit whatever had just attacked him. Aviza quickly dropped to the ground and slid under the swinging arm of the first Brute Stalker just as her active camouflage deactivated. Now, she was in-between two very angry Brute Stalkers that wanted nothing more than to end her life, violently. The Brute Stalker on the other end of the platform quickly turned as he saw his fellow Brute start to flail his right arm around in an attempt to hit something, though as soon as he saw Aviza he turned his spiker upon her and fired. Bringing up the energy sword once more, Aviza cut clean through the wrist of the Brute Stalker who held the Spiker in her direction. While some of the spikes came close to hitting more delicate areas, her armors shields fully protected her.

The Brutes Spiker fell to the ground, his right hand still gripping onto the weapon as it fired blindly. The Brute who was now missing his right hand let out a roar and attempted to grab Aviza by the neck, though the Spartan quickly rolled to the right and used her free hand to grip onto the spiker that he had dropped. With one swift movement, she picked up the weapon and turned it upon him. A few of the spikes from the weapon made their mark before running out of ammo. She tossed the weapon at the Brutes head. It made contact, disorienting him for a moment, giving Aviza enough time to turn and focus upon the Brute Stalker behind her with the crippled left arm. Throwing herself to the right, she barely managed to miss an attack from him as he seemed to go berserk, as Brutes tended to do when in some situations. Using the Energy Blade once more, she swung downwards and cut the Brutes left arm clean off from his body, though the Brute apparently did not notice or was so fueled by adrenalin that he merely fought through the pain.

Aviza felt the Brute from behind her kick her in the back, though he recoiled from kicking her armor and stumbled. The force was still enough to send Aviza flying into the Brute that was missing his left arm. Bringing up her left knee, she used the force of the other Brute kicking her to knock the other Brute Stalker onto the ground. With Crimson energy sword still in hand, she brought it through the Brute Stalkers neck, and pulled roughly to the left to ensure the Brute Stalker was now dead. The remaining Brute Stalker on the right of her now charged at Aviza as she was standing up and turning around to face him. Instead of moving out of the way, Aviza used her energy sword to stab the Brute Stalker through his chest. She took the hit but still managed to impale the Brute. Both of them stumbled back a bit before Aviza quickly charged forward and knocked the Brute over the walkway and down to the ground below. Catching herself before she fell, she watched as the Brute plummeted down to the ground below and landed directly onto the incendiary grenades that they had tossed a short moment ago. The Brute Stalker failed around in the flames before dying, and at the same time putting out some of the flames.

"Left upper walkway is clear, use the dead Brute as a way to fall back if needed." said Spartan Aviza as she moved forward upon the walkway and prepped two of her own incendiary grenades. They were quickly but carefully tossed with force upon the Brute Chieftain, who Aviza now saw as their primary target. "Remember, keep that human commander alive, I have questions for him." added Aviza as she readied herself to fight their greatest challenge yet.

Yalu barely had time to line up his covering fire to pull back by the time the trap was sprung. That left no time to hate being right in this instance. He slammed his back against the crates behind him before more than one spiker round could clip his shield. Around the crates before him, two more brutes were bearing down with an assault he could not avoid.

Yalu sneered and let his plasma rifle fire fully automatic into the forward brute. The enemy's shield burst, but he was smart enough to fold back behind some crates while the next brute, freshly shielded, kept on running. Yalu kept the trigger depressed, roaring as the quickly heating weapon reached its safety point. Then, as the forward brute thrust his spiker rifle forward at his gut, Yalu spun to one side, felt the vents on his rifle open, and threw the momentum of the spin into shoving his overheated rifle into the side of the brute's face. The burning heat made the brute scream in rage, but his panicked response of striking Yalu's arm aside only made Yalu's energy dagger hook faster into its throat.

Yalu's plasma rifle clattered to the floor from where it had flown out of his hand. His shock kept whatever pain was welling up in his forearm into a dull ache as he shook it in the air.

The rest of the team's communications caught up with him. "Falling back," He said over the comms. He took the spiker rifle out of the slowly collapsing brute's hand on his way back. With his other hand, he pulled out his plasma carbine. A few one-handed shots from both weapons down the range kept the shieldless brute in cover for long enough to back closer to Aviza and 'Mdalak.

He spoke as soon as he could see Tar along the same row. "You will earn your magazines from the enemy, 'Mdalak! Here!" He slid the spiker rifle across the smooth metallic floor towards her like a ringing bowling ball. "One dead on the right flank, at least one more remains. I can't advance until the stalkers above the walkway's right are slain."

In their charge across the room, many of the Brutes had not made it to the other side, or died shortly thereafter. Spartan Aviza had cleared the walkway above them, leaving the chieftain with little in the way of direct support. Many Human rebels were still alive, but they moved forward more slowly and fired from distance, as they were more vulnerable.

The Spartan, Rex, had moved up into cover behind the rightmost column to meet the chieftain’s charge. Especially in close quarters, his shotgun could put quite a lot of pressure on the Brute’s shields. His first shot as the chieftain was nearing caused his shields to flare, then Aviza’s firebomb struck from above and further drained them with the intense flames. Nevertheless, the chieftain did not stop his momentum straight at Rex. As a Spartan and CQC expert, however, Rex’s reflexes were quick and precise. He deftly ducked under the the hammer’s horizontal swing while dashing away from where it would strike the column. The weapon’s kinetic impulse sent out a shockwave that pushed Rex and damaged his shields, but he had dodged far enough to avoid most of the damage. As well, he kept his aim on-target enough to deplete the Brute’s shields with another shell from his shotgun.

Rex took aim straight at his opponent’s head as he pumped his shotgun; however, the chieftain had one more trick before he could fire. Suddenly, the chieftain’s shields were charged rapidly and started to glow bright white with streaks like lightning across their surface. The “invincibility” module, as it was known, overcharged his shields to the point of being practically impenetrable. It was surprising that these Brutes would still have such equipment in a working state from the war, but that was the obstacle they now faced. The module would only last a short time, but the chieftain had already made it into close quarters, among Aviza’s team.

“Got it.” Tar grunted over comms, stopping the incoming Spiker with her foot. She quickly picked it up with her free hand and straight-arm fired it at the Brute Chieftain. She couldn’t get a clear shot, as the pillars were in the way, but she saw when it activated its invincibility module.

Bullets sprayed against the crates and walls around her, with a couple popping her recharging shield. Tar chucked her empty pistol away, holstered her Mauler, gripped her Spiker with both hands and fired downrange at the slowly advancing Human rebels. They dived behind cover, giving her a couple of seconds to think about the last remaining Brute that she could see.

“Don’t commit and stay back!” Tar urged, just as a blow from the gravity hammer scattered boxes everywhere. One crashed into her, knocking her backward and out of cover. She returned fire as a tsunami of bullets popped her shield again. A couple even clanged off her armour before she ducked behind a pillar - right in the path of the Chieftain. Tar swore and assumed an open stance, ready to move in any direction.

Elna stayed behind cover near Aviza before she took off running elsewhere to go and hunt the brute leader and what not, the woman keeping her weapon trained on the rebels before her. Each trigger pull expertly executed any remorseful or ill-fated rebels that stepped out onto the mat that was combat, the bullets bursting through their skin as they tried to move, shoot or otherwise try their hand against the angel of death. Elna was truly a bad ass in the making, though she kept close to cover and reacted properly as the brutes took their fight to Aviza and Rex - oh shit invincibility shield! Though she would begin to back up along with her team ready to run away from the invincible idiot who just plowed through their lines.

Roy fired, bullet by bullet stacking body by body though he noticed that things were getting a bit more twisted as the brutes began there assault, he wasn't the first to begin the retreat but he saw it coming. Moving with Elna he'd manueveur to a better position albeit to their backs as there was no advancing to find new cover, they would have to go back. So he moved his feet hitting the ground as the pair made their way out of harms way, pulling back so the Spartans could do their jobs and the spooks could remain spooky. Roy wondered how Rex fared against the Brute!?