Titans of Steel
Posted By: Caleb the Jackal<sttrooper87100@yahoo.com>
Date: 27 February 2005, 7:29 PM
Read/Post Comments
|
I will come upon you like a lion,
Like a leopard I will lurk by the path.
Like a bear robbed of its cubs,
I will attack them and rip them open.
Like a lion I will devour them;
As a wild animal so to will I tear them apart.
As Joel and his men surveyed the huge, blood covered cross he could tell that his men were getting uneasy. His men were shifting the weight from side to side and glancing around as if they were about to be attacked. He could sense their unease growing by the minute and knew that if they didn't leave soon that panic would break out.
They had used this clearing many times to execute UNSC soldiers. Why now had someone come and buried the men and left this gruesome message in blood? And the trees... How could anyone have the strength to break those limbs? They each had to be at least a foot thick. Finally there was the knife. It was buried up to it's hilt in the wood. After countless tries, no one could even budge it. What kind of man had the power to do such a thing?
What the leader of the men didn't know, as he got lost in his own thoughts, was that the ones that were responsible for the message, and the dagger, were hiding in the forest watching them.
Caleb gripped the wooden club that Kevin had fashioned for him in the night. It was about a meter long and weighed over forty kilograms. He stepped out into the clearing from his concealed position and cleared his throat loudly. The rebels turned but were not ready for what they saw. A titan in black armor with a blood red cross smeared on his chest plate stood before the startled men.
"You will all be made to pay for what you have done. The blood you have spilt will be avenged," growled Caleb in a voice that could chill a demon. With that he charged into their midst, swinging the club with deadly accuracy. He heard the sound of metal on metal and instantly knew the sound. His hand shot out like a hardened steel piston. He smashed the man's sternum and blood flowed out his mouth. As he grabbed the shotgun and stormed from the clearing he flashed the acknowledgement light on Kevin's HUD, and then disappeared into the foliage.
The men were shocked and were not about to follow the giant that had so recently killed five of their comrades without firing a shot. Everyone was turning in every direction, trying to figure out where he had come from and why he had left. Before they even had a chance to get their bearings a giant log flew threw the air hitting no less than six men, and smashing the air from their lungs. Their ribs snapped like twigs and they were dead before they hit the ground.
Roaring Kevin broke from his hiding after tossing a huge log as if it were a toy. It took six of the men with it and smashed them to the forest floor. Kevin raised his club and slammed it into his closest enemy. The man flew ten meters and landed in a heap. There were only two men left now and Spartan-002 killed the farthest one by hurling his club. It connected with the man's chest and threw him into the trunk of a tree. The tree splintered and the man was suspended on the severed trunk.
Kevin reared back to finish the final man but just before his fist connected Caleb appeared and grabbed 002's wrist.
"Wait... This is the leader." Caleb could barely contain his anger... Now that he saw the man that was responsible...
"Why did you kill those men?"
"P-please d-don't kill me," the pitiful man sputtered. "I was just following orders. I s-swear."
"Did you have orders to hang and gut the men too!?" yelled Kevin.
At this the man just wailed piteously. Spartan-007 closed his hand around the man's mouth and nose, stopping his breating, and lifted him up so that he was eye to eye with the giant warrior. With one hand he took off his helmet so he could look the man in the eye.
He had dark rings all the way around his eyes as a side effect of the augmentation. His face was pale from being inside a helmet for so long and his hair was as silver as moonlight.
"Say hi to your buddies in hell," said Caleb in a voice so soft and so filled with hatred that it made Joel close his terror filled eyes. Spartan-007 tightened his grip and twisted his forearm. With a sickening pop Joel Etters' neck snapped.
Dropping him to the ground the two Spartans walked away into the forest, leaving the quickly dying man to stare blankly at the sky.
"Why haven't my men returned? I think my orders were clear enough!" yelled Trevors slamming his fist down on the wooden table. "I sent Joel and his men out three hours ago and they're still not back yet? FIND THEM!"
Walking toward the parked Warthogs James felt a lump rising in his stomach. Something was not right and he knew that whatever had happened to Joel and his men couldn't have been good.
James' men were already loading the warthogs. They were only going to be gone a half hour or so and they would not need a lot of supplies.
"Where we going Jim?" asked one of his greener men, who had just joined up with the rebel faction.
"To find Joel and his men," said James. He left it at that and got into the drivers seat. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was heading toward certain death.
"Buckle up." The tires of the warthog spun and shot earth from beneath it as it shot out from the complex.
"Do you hear that? Sounds like a Warthog..."
"Yep, I think they've finally figured out that their men are not coming back."
"Kevin, when they get here try to kill all but one of them. I want them to go back and tell their brass what they found at the clearing. "
"Alright, I'll leave one alive. Who should it be?"
"Try to go for the leader. If you can't tell who it is then just randomly pick someone."
"Roger that."
Kevin and Caleb left their hiding place and stopped at either side of the clearing. Caleb drew his hardened dura-steel knife from the black sheath at his side. As he brushed the thick brush that was blocking his view he could see Kevin on the other side crack his knuckles and ready himself. He would be doing things the old fashioned way... Hand to hand.
The warthog slid to a stop and the four men jumped out. The leader yelled something about being careful and having a bad feeling. Well Spartan-007 was about to make that bad feeling come true in a big way. There were four men on foot and one that stayed in the turret of the 'Hog.
Caleb pulled the big, perfectly balanced, throwing knife out and threw it end over end. It hit the man that was in the gunner seat of the warthog, in the forehead, killing him instantly. Out of the corner of his eye Caleb could see Kevin leap three meters straight up. He came down with tremendous force and landed on the shoulders of the man that held a shotgun. The man hadn't even known that he had left this realm before he was crushed beneath Kevins mighty blow.
Shooting his hand out to the left Spartan-007 went for the man on his rights head. The head twisted with the impact and his nose was pushed strait up into his brain. Blood slid out the mans eyes nose and mouth and he fell forward.
Caleb heard the blast of a shotgun and felt like he had been hit with a sledge hammer between the shoulders. He heard the warning that his shields were low and dove toward the man with blinding speed. Grabbing the shotgun the Spartan warrior bent the barrel up, rendering the weapon useless. Kevin had just snapped the last man's neck. Within a minute the whole fight was over.
Taking the man by the neck Kevin lifted him off his feet. "Go back and tell your leader what you have seen here today. If he does not end his little rebellion then he and all who follow him will share the same fate.
"Sir I swear... They were Spartans, two Spartans! Why would I lie about something like that?! They were like Titans of Steel..."
"Fine if what you say is true, I want you to never return to that clearing again. Do you understand? Never," Jonathan Trevors said in a whisper of malice. "James... Gather your best men. I want double the guards tonight. Kill anything that moves outside of our gates."
"Sir, are you sure about that? They had shields. I hit on it the back with my shotgun from a meter away. It didn't even faze him. He just shimmered with silver and turned and ripped the gun from my hands."
"Shields?! They have SHIELDS? Fine then post guards at each entrance with Jackhammer launchers," saying this Jonathan dismissed James and flopped down into his chair.
Why the hell were there Spartans here? And since when did Spartans have shields?
|
