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Chapter 20 - Move!
Cautiously eyeing the Brute, the Elite looked at the blood that the Chieftain left on his face. “You have your freedom, now. It is precious cargo, guard it wisely”, the Elite said, paraphrasing an ancient Covenant proverb.
“I intend to do just that”, the Brute said looking back at the body of his former master.
The battle noise at the bottom of the entrance got louder. A loud crashing sound echoed up the cave. Several meters down a Ghost came flying through, almost flipping sideways as it entered. Several bullet rounds followed the Ghost into the cave, barely missing the vehicle and its Grunt driver.
The Ghost leaned to correct itself from flipping and turned to face up the cave. Seeing the trio standing over the body of the Chieftain, the Grunt screamed and began to fire. Still not in complete control of the vehicle, the shots from the Ghost began to fly haphazardly. The Elite and Spartan jumped to the nearest cave walls while the Brute squatted down.
As the first volley of plasma burned into the walls over their heads, more bullets came into the cave. The Grunt’s attention was drawn back to the entrance as it fought to regain control of the vehicle. Frustrated yells were heard as the Grunt tried to skid the Ghost into the cave but the damage made it sluggish. The Ghost continued to turn to its left and face the entrance, still firing its cannons and trying to right itself from its damaged and dragging front wing.
The Elite and Spartan looked at each other and then to the Brute. The Brute was still squatted, looking at his former Chieftain as if in disbelief. The Spartan jumped up and ran to the body, pulling the Spiker’s blades out of the Chieftain and swinging around to the Ghost. “I got the Ghost, try to disable the collars!” the Spartan yelled as he began to jump down the cave.
The Elite ran up to the Brute and said, “Can you release the collars, Brute?” The Brute looked at the right forearm of the body and said distantly, “The collar control is here.”
As the Ghost began to come farther into the cave and out of immediate danger from the outside, it slowly turned back into the cave still firing. The Spartan leapt to his left to avoid the plasma fire now hitting the right side of the cave. The Elite looked at the Ghost and then back to the Brute. “Do it! Release the collars!” he yelled as he stepped toward the Grunt.
The Brute looked to the Ghost and saw the approaching danger. He reached down and snatched off his right forearm armor replaced it with the one that held the controller from the Chieftain’s body. Sliding his hand across the device’s face, the Brute eyed the apparatus sternly.
The Elite stepped closer to the Ghost and yelled down the cave, “Grunt, the Chieftain is dead! You are free!” The firing neared the center of the cave and stopped. The Grunt fired once more but then hovered as it saw the body of the Chieftain lifeless on the ground. The Spartan kneeling on the left side of the cave, aimed carefully at the side of the Ghost, watching as the Grunt strained to look over the controls.
The Elite continued, “It is over, you are…”.
The Elite stopped as he saw a glow come from under the chin of the Ghost’s pilot. The red hue grew and reflected the shadow of the Grunt’s head and facemask on the top of the cave, looking almost like a human skull.
In less than a second, an explosion destroyed the Ghost and its occupant. The methane tanks of the Grunt amplified the detonation with a secondary blast. The explosion came so quickly that the Grunt was only able to utter a small bit of its high-pitched scream.
The Spartan covered his helmet with his arms and in doing so pointed the Spiker to the ceiling. As he sheltered his head, the Spartan turned to the right and quickly yelled to the Elite. The Elite had turned his head slightly to the left toward the Spartan and shielded his face, as well.
With the Energy Sword pointed up at an angle, the Elite saw a glimpse of the Spartan and heard his yell. Unable to understand the Spartan over the last of the explosion and Ghost remnants clattering to the ground, he lowered his weapon slightly and focused his attention to the words. Straining to hear over the crackling hum of his sword, the Elite heard the Spartan continue his yell, “…WORT!”
The Gravity Hammer came down just below the Elite’s head and neck. His armor exploded as his personal shield immediately failed. As he bounced off the ground and flew into the air, he saw the Spartan run under him and up the cave. Before the Elite hit the ground, he heard singing.
