Tuesday; four days until the Guardian Assault.
Victor instinctively raised up his rifle and fired at the device, pelting the Iron skin with lead rounds. Without question, Laurel and Matson shot at the mine as well. Suddenly, the components shattered apart and littered the ground.
"Hah, that was easy!" Matson cheered as he slipped a new magazine into his sniper rifle.
An ear piercing tone rang in the arena, amplified by the high ceiling. The Guardians turned to see a second mine spawn across the chamber. The team reloaded their weapons again and prepared to destroy the bomb.
However, a familiar sound was set in rhythm with the drone of impending doom. The drums of war. Marching feet clattering with the metallic floors. The Cabal were released into the arena!
At first, the team were in shock, but they quickly formed a circle, with their backs together and began gunning down the Cabal. Psions and legionaries soon fell to the ground, layering upon previous corpses. For every war beast they killed, two more took their place.
A phalanx planned to sneak up from behind, but the shield had scraped across the ground. Victor spun around and gripped the shield. The titan and Cabal wrestled with each other, trying to get the upper hand. Laurel saw the two fighting, then jumped in to help. As the Cabal pulled back on its shield, so did Victor. So, the warlock channeled energy into her hand and force pushed the shield into the Cabal. Victor stumbled, but Laurel caught him. The phalanx, however, fell down the stairs and onto a white hot steel rod that pierced its body.
"Thanks," Victor said with a nod of his visor. Laurel gleamed under her helmet. "We can't forget the bomb!" Victor yelled as he remembered the sound of the counting tones.
"We'll cover you Cap, but I'm going to need ammo soon!" Matson yelled as he pumped a shell into his shotgun, then blew up a centurion.
Victor rushed to the other side of the arena. Three colossus soldiers were marching around the bomb. Victor hid behind a wall, then hit his head against it. He mumbled something to himself, but it was probably for the best that no one else heard it. He forced air into his lungs, then ran out with his Fourth Horseman. Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! The first beast fell back. Before the other two Cabal could react, the titan ducked away into hiding.
Victor looked up through the holes in the metal flooring that he hid under. The alien juggernauts had no clue where he went, but more importantly, the bomb had twenty seconds left on the timer. He climbed out of his hole, then jumped up. The Cabal watched the orange armored titan soar through the sky, with his arm outright. A flash of firelight shined off his helmet... the last thing the imperials ever saw. A burst of arc energy wiped the doomed beasts away, killing them instantly.
The titan picked up the heavy slug thrower, and aimed at the, now glowing, bomb. He pulled the trigger and listened to the sound of the motors warming up. Finally, hundreds of micro-rockets pelted the device. The recoil of the weapon firing launched Victor into a rock, and abused his gut with each projectile.
The weapon finally overheated and stopped firing. Victor dropped it to the ground, then fell himself. Despite the massive amount of pain coursing through his body, he crawled back up and pulled out a side arm. He could barely see straight, but he continued to shoot the bomb. The Fallen mine exploded into dozens of pieces... then fell to the ground.
It was disarmed. Victor, relieved from the pounding stress, fell back to the ground and wrapped his arms around his stomach. Nathaniel willed his Guardian's helmet off just in time for the titan to cough up blood. Victor looked around but his vision was still blurry, and seemed to be fading to black. He laid his head against the rock, and lost himself to the sounds of chaos.
Laurel and Matson continued to fight the remaining Cabal. A Psion jumped into the air, channeling energy to kill the warlock. However, Matson took the creature by the shoulder, spun around to gain momentum, then threw it into, and over, a short wall. It fell into a pool of burning oil, where it lay and die. Soon, the sound of the Psion's pressurized suit exploding filled the air.
"How are you doing on ammo?" Matson asked as he pulled his knife out of a legionare's throat.
"Um, not too good. I'm almost out," the Awoken replied.
"S***," Matson said. "So am I..." he continued.
Out of nowhere, a third mine appeared in the room. The two young Guardians looked to each other with dismay. Neither one of them had enough ammo to destroy it. They used what they had left, but it barely dented the plating.
"Victor!!" Matson yelled. "Victor, we need your help!!" The hunter looked to the titan, but he didn't budge. "Captain!! Captain!!"
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Something I learned from the Prison of Elders, when in doubt, frag out