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The Rise and Fall of the Flood chapter 6
Posted By: BlackValkyire<BlackValkyire@aol.com>
Date: 22 August 2003, 1:09 AM


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The beast roard, and Ty staggered backwards. He was frozen in place by the sheer sight of the....abomanation...he had to move, had to do something...but all that he could do was say, "oh SHIT!"

Ty dropped as blue beams of superheated plasma from four seperate rifles slammed through the window, the beast amazingly accurate for its size and distance. Ty peeked around the corner, and squeezed off a shot, not having to worry about aiming. The shot sliced into its chest...and Ty instantly knew he was in some SERIOUS trouble...the flood was armored in some way, the extended range beam had only heated the armor plate beneath the sickly brown, green flesh. He pulled up to sit with his back to the wall...as plasma blasts streaked in from the door frame he had peeked out of, blowing small searing hot craters in the dusty, rubble floor. Ty coughed, taking hot, searing coals into his lungs, the air superheated on the spot by the searing plasma. Looking quickly, he belly crawled to a halfwall that hid some simple stairs. Ty got himself to his feet and charged up the stairs, looking, praying for a back window. He found it...in a bathroom, a tiny hole in a wall, just enough to squeeze through. He somehow slid out, dropping akwardly onto his knees, but taking off again as plasma blasts slammed home into the ground a few feet behind him, shots raking up to follow his suddenly hasty sprint down a narrow alleyway.He rounded a corner, and saw a good thirty second sprint away...that the alley ended. Ty had an idea though, as he charged down the alley, he kicked off the ground, his powerful forerunner legs launching him a good twenty feet up into the air at his top running speed. He easily snagged the second floor balcony in this alley, threw himself over the edge...and was very glad he landed flat on his back, as a plasma bolt smacked into the wall below the balcony. Ty rolled sideways into the apartment...or what was left of it. It was just empty, dusty rooms, charred walls, and rubble. Ty climbed out to the main hall, and took off again, going up this time, leaping up through a hole in the roofing into a third story office area, and again onto the roof, the hole that he used obviously the effect of the bombers that blasted the hell out of this city. Ty saw the things head from over the top of the building...and saw it just climb over the building like it was a simple rock. Ty took careful aim, zooming in all the way...and fired once, the first beam slicing into what looked like an eye. There was roar of pain and a spray of green liquid, but other than a breif bit of recoilment, enough to make the beast stagger, but not fall. Ty fired again, hitting the horrid creature in the bursted eye wound he had just made, adding insult to injury. With a little luck, the beam would bass through the bone behind where the eyesocket was and fry some brains.....he wasn't lucky. The shot obviously hurt like a bitch to the thing cause it roared like mad and jumped into the air, crashing down onto a single story building, plasma bolts streaking in at Ty, who was running like hell already. Leaping from rooftop to rooftop effortlessly, his large, powerful forerunner legs clearing short gaps easily, plasma bolts right behind him, as well as a huge, unknown, charging creature that was HUGE, and armed to the teeth. Ty clicked his radio on. "This is commander Ty Nectfist, I need air support NOW!" he barked, sitll charging. A brief pause, then... "A flight of sentinel fighters is inbound commander, requesting coordinates" a womans voice said. "They'll know what to aim at, they CAN'T miss THAT" he snapped, leaping over a volley of plasma fire, spinning in midair and firing a shot at the things head, the beam slicing through flesh but not hurting anything. Ty swore and kept running, praying the fighters made it in time. ***

Ji's eyes nearly exploded. The biggest flood being he had ever seen was pouring fire at a single running soldier, probably commander Nectfist. It was just HUGE, about 35 feet tall, with four arms, treetrunk legs, and a chest to match. As the fighters came in, it stopped firing, and turned to look at them...and poured fire suddenly...taking out the farthest right fighter, Phoenix 7. Ji cursed in anger and sorrow, at the loss of a comrade, and clicked the radio. "Blow that thing into hell!" he roared, the fighters accelerating to full speed, armor shifting into attack position. Ji squeezed the trigger, releasing a huge volley of heavy pulse blasts, screaming white teardrops of death slammed home into the chest of the ungodly flood thing. A few bolts surprisingly richothed off the thing, which meant armor beneath the skin...but after a few seconds of that kind of firepower, nothing would last long. Bolts punched through its chest armor, into its innards, the beast staggering backwards, massive feet punching holes in the streets where it stepped, off balance. The rest of Phoenix Squadron was right behind him, and a flight of particle missles crashed into it, explosions pockmarking the entire torso region of the massive thing, white flashes, incinerating most of the thing's chest...and still leaving it struggling to fight back, missing half its chest, loosing blood by the gallons, nerves suddenly severd, arms twitching and firing the plasma rifles...and one shot was so incredibly lucky, that it hit Lia's fighter under an armor skirt that covered the engines. Lia swore, smoke coming off, as she started to lose control. Ji saw Sy try roll his fighter out of the way...but in doing so...he smashed right into Ji's vessel...who in panick hit his triggers, blasting the only remaing ship in the squadron, as Lia went sailing in towards the city. Something caught fire and exploded, followed by a thump...and another as Ji slumped onto his insturments...dead. ***

Ty watched in horror as Phoenix Squadron blew itself apart...and someone was laughing...someone was laughing...which wasn't possible, he was the only one around here to witness the event...and the flood didn't speak, and any flood would have torn him apart from behind. A spike of pain lanced into his head, and he groaned, crumbling to his knees, dropping his rifle as his hands flew to his temples, moaning as the laughter got louder and louder, and the spike of pain became a supernova, his head exploding in agony. Then the voice came.

"What an amusing display of idiocy. Are all forerunner pilots THAT stupid? Or perhaps it was the fool who was shot down?" a deep rumbling voice in his head asked him, each word driving a starship torpedo of pain into his head, Ty rolling on his sides screaming in agony. "Does it hurt? Do my words pain you, insect? You do not know pain fool, you can never feel the pain I feel, never feel it...and you my little friend, have caused my EXCRUTIATING pain, beyond belief." the voice said. This time, the words didn't hurt, the pain was gone. Ty got to his feet...not sure if what had just happened was real...and instaly fell as his brain exploded in agony, as if particle flamegel had ignited his head...and the voice was laughing. "You pitiful forerunner...can never act fast enough to find people like you...and you Ty Nectfist, will be mine, and mine alone. Your powers will serve ME!" he snapped angrily, the word me causing Ty to scream a little louder.
"I can make all this suffering stop...you won't ever have to feel this again...just join me, don't fight me...join me..." he said, the pain dropping to a headache, Ty not daring to stand...seeing the infection forms all around him. "Don't fight me Nectfist...you can't beat the flood...and even if you had the experience to shut me out...you can't stop the pain." the voice said. As if to prove his point, Ty felt a sharp pain again, that faded instantly. "Stand up slowly, this will not hurt for long" the voice said. "Who...what...who are you?" Ty asked nothing. The voice laughed aloud. "I am the Overlord." it said. Ty turned pale. Now he knew why the Acoltyes were coming, and now he knew...why so many died. A single infection from crawled towards him slowly...starting to gently climb up his armor...





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