Fireteam Odium

by EchoTheFloof

14) The Attack Upon Ponyville

Thovog stood still as he listened to the pony before him speak of the town she lived in. They hadn’t left her side as she walked through the town, and had been listening to her speak for nearly an hour now. While Thovog was capable of standing patiently for that long, he could see his team becoming restless, and he doubted things would go well if they decided that the conversation was too boring for them.

“-Ma’am,” Thovog said, interrupting her, “I truly am appreciative of the explanation, but I fear we must move this along. You have made it clear that you are fine with us staying within this town, but where exactly are we permitted to go?-”

“-Oh, there aren’t any restrictions barring you respect other ponies’ privacy.-” The pony explained, “-There are plenty of places where you and your… friends can spend time, and as for your sleeping area, there should be room for all of you in the old hall. It isn’t used anymore, so none of the ponies should bother you too much.-”

“-I thank you. Might I ask for directions to this hall?-” The Val asked, giving a slight nod of thanks.

“-I’ll lead you to it, but I can’t stick around much longer. Our town’s leader should be returning fairly soon and all the Elders will need to be there for it.-”

With that, the pony began trotting away from the town hall, slowing down slightly to let the Cabal soldiers catch up. They wound their way through the streets, avoiding looking at the windows. Even Thovog could tell that the ponies within the homes were petrified of them, and looking at them wouldn’t help much.

A short walk later, they arrived at a rather large building. The walls were crumbling slightly but they still had the strength to keep the roof up and in shape. Almost miraculously, the roof itself seemed almost completely untouched.

“-This is it, I know it’s not much but I would be happy to send some ponies in the morning to fix it up for you all.-” The pony said, turning to face Thovog.

“-You don’t need to do that, this building’s current state is more than satisfactory. We thank you once again for your hospitality, and offer our aid should you need it.-” The Val said in response, ushering his team within the building.

The pony gave a surprised look before smiling, “-Please, I insist. It certainly wouldn’t look good on us if we didn’t provide adequate housing for you. I hope you have a good night’s sleep, I’ll send the ponies at about nine tomorrow morning to start rebuilding the hall to its former state.-”

Thovog gave a sigh before replying, “-If that is what you wish. Good night.-”

Inside the building, there wasn’t much to speak of. Much of the furniture had been removed from the hall, leaving it barren of anything barring a few stones that had fallen from the walls. The soldiers had began sitting, some talking with each other, others sitting alone.

After a quick headcount to make sure they were all accounted for, he took his seat in the corner of the room, setting his Slug Thrower down on the ground and leaning back against the wall. A small amount of dust fell down onto him from the added weight upon the building, but it held strong.

Just as he closed his eyes, however, a sensor within his suit began sounding. He directed his eyes over to the blip to see something that almost turned his blood cold. Two new light signatures had been detected some distance from the town, in an area that was quite highly populated.

He jolted up, looking around at his soldiers who had also stood. They had their weapons in hand, all of them awaiting an order from their leader.

Thovog really had no reason to step into this, but after the kindness that the town had shown him so far, he felt responsible to repay them somehow. Clearing his throat, he spoke up.

“Soldiers! We may have a problem on our hands. Two new guardians have entered this world in a town populated by ponies. I am aware that this means nothing to some of you, but I ask that you hear what I have to say before making any decisions.”

The Cabal before him shuffled slightly, but none spoke up.

“The ponies in this town have welcomed us, and while many of them are afraid, they have still provided us with shelter. The Primus will have certainly detected the new guardians and will be mobilising a force to intercept them. The three from the city’s assault were problems enough for him, and he will not allow new reinforcements to join them. If he launches an attack upon that town, countless more innocent deaths will occur. I cannot in good conscience allow these deaths after the kindness these ponies have shown.”

His soldiers made no new movements, nor did they speak. They simply stood staring at their leader, giving Thovog a reason to continue.

“I will leave for this town immediately. Those that wish to follow me are welcome, those that do not desire to fight the Primus may stay. I will not have any negative opinions of any of you for the choice you make.”

The Val had half expected them to all opt out of coming with him, as the prospect of fighting back against their Primus horrified even him, but as soon as he finished, every single Cabal raised their weapons in the air and called out in approval.

“We will follow you to the end, Thovog. We are at your side.” The Centurion called out, a few Legionnaires grunting in agreement.

“Then let’s get moving. We don’t have much time.”

The Cabal quickly grabbed their belongings and followed the Val to the door, not flinching when he slammed it open. They were about to start running when they were stopped by their leader.

There was a pony dressed in robes standing before Thovog, causing the Val to pause at the sight of him.

“You won’t get there without help, y’know.” The pony commented, looking up the the towering Cabal.

“You were listening to us?” Thovog asked.

“Half the town could hear you. Pony ears are clearly quite a bit more sensitive than you had assumed.”

“Ah, I apologise. But what do you propose we do?”

The pony lit his horn up at that, “What town do you need to be at?”

- - -

In the distant town, five guardians sat within a reasonably sized living room, two of them sat with a drink, the others made do without.

“So what do you think of this place so far?” Exodus asked the bronze and steel Titan. He and Kalis had rushed to the town after being notified of the new guardians. When they had arrived, they found Kervis already in conversation with the two new arrivals.

“It’s… well, I don’t really have the words to describe it. I guess the closest thing I could say about it is that it’s like medieval, pre-Golden Age Earth.” Procor explained. “At least, based on what I’ve read of medieval Earth.”

“I can agree with that. Though, the ponies seem to be nice enough.” Exodus said, polishing his Tlaloc a bit with a rag he borrowed from the cream pony hosting them.

“That they are. Speaking of which, you may want to fix the poor mare’s door, Kervis.” Procor said with a smile directed towards his fellow Titan.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll get it done.” He muttered, looking towards the caved-in entrance.

Kalis chuckled at that before turning to Elana, “So what about you? You don’t look like you have been reborn for very long.”

Elana shook her head as she spoke, “I have only been alive for a couple of weeks. My Ghost found me in a place he calls ‘Ireland’.”

“Ireland? That’s hundreds of miles from the city. How did you get to the Tower?” Kervis asked, shuddering at the thought of walking for that long.

“The City seems to patrol for new guardians that are reborn that far from the Tower. I was picked up after a few days by a Hawk from the Tower.” She said, holding a cup of something called ‘coffee’ in her hands. The pony had recommended it to her, and she had graciously accepted it.

“Hm, learn something new every day.” Kalis commented, looking around at the pictures covering the walls.

“So. While this break is quite enjoyable, what are we going to do now?” Procor asked, “If this Cabal faction is as dangerous as you say, we are going to need a huge army.”

“We are working with the ponies to build one up.” Kervis said in response, “By tomorrow we will have a few hundred Mage ponies, and the leader of this land is likely also trying to reinforce her army as quickly as she can.”

“That’s good, but that surely isn’t enough to combat that many Cabal. If we worked as a fireteam, we might be able to keep them at bay, but we can’t do anything if they decide to just nuke the surface.”

“We don’t have much of a choice. Perhaps if we use our units more tactically we might gain an advantage but right now, it doesn’t look too promising.” Kervis said, looking down slightly.

Procor was about to reply, but he was cut off by Exodus’ Ghost. All the other Ghosts appeared at the same time, each of them spinning their segments rapidly.

“Guardians, we have a Cabal battalion moving towards us. They are going to be on us in about ten minutes.” The Ghost said, the others confirming what the first had said.

“Shit, they must have seen you guys show up.” Kalis said, standing up and summoning her rifle.

“We are gonna have to cut this off then. Chrome, I need you to alert the town of what is coming and get them away from here.” Kervis said to the unicorn that had been seated in the corner with his cousin since they had arrived.

“I can do that. I’ll take Cross and Roseluck with me. Good luck out there.” He said, putting his helmet back on before gathering the other two ponies and galloping from the home.

“Alright, guardians. We got some Cabal to kill.” The Titan said as he drew his Raze-Lighter, the blade coating in fire once more.

The other unarmed guardians drew their preferred weapons and followed the human out, in the direction the Cabal attack force was coming from. On the horizon, they could just make out the multiple drop ships that were inbound on the town.

“We got a plan?” Procor asked, his Shadow Price held firmly in his hands.

“No time to make one. Just keep them away from the ponies.” Exodus said.

“I’m going to hang back in the clock tower over there.” Kalis said, “I should be able to provide sniper support from that angle.”

“Good idea. Make sure you tether when it becomes necessary.” Kervis responded.

“No problem.”

With the Hunter moving towards the tower, the others prepared for their fight. Elana’s breathing had increased in speed, but she tried to calm herself.

“Elana, this your first fight?” Procor asked her quietly.

“Y-yeah. I had stayed in the Tower most of the time so I had no reason to fight anything.” She said, her hands trembling slightly.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. Just stick close to me and don’t panic. You have four experienced guardians looking out for you.”

She gave a nod of thanks and steadied her hands, focusing on the ships coming towards them. They were about to open fire when a new sound pulled their attention to their left. There had been a flash of blue light before a new team of Cabal soldiers appeared before them, their weapons drawn.

“Shit, they’re on our left!” Procor shouted, pointing his rifle at them.

“Guardians!” The biggest Cabal called out, “Do not fire. If you have an interest in protecting these ponies, then we have a common cause. We wish to keep these soldiers from harming anything else.”

“Do we trust them?” Procor questioned, re-aiming at the Cabal forces nearing the town.

“We can talk about this later. For now, we have a bigger issue to deal with.” Exodus said, charging his Radiance.

The drop ships had come into firing range now, and their Harvester Turrets had already began shelling the guardians and the town behind them.

“Open fire, get rid of those ships!” Procor shouted as his gun rang out shots upon the heavy craft.

“Guardians, when firing upon the ships, aim for the middle of the ship!” The Cabal from earlier shouted over to them. With no reason to not try it, they focused their fire upon the underbelly of the vessel, the rounds sinking into the metal. Some higher calibre weapons actually managed to punch through the armour, igniting the onboard systems.

With a final explosion, the ship lost power to its engines, crashing down into the ground. The soldiers that had managed to get out of the craft ducked behind it for cover, awaiting the next drop ships to reinforce them.

The Cabal to their left had already started firing upon their old allies, the larger Cabal unleashing torrents of bullets that mowed down any soldier unfortunate enough to be within its line of fire.

“Guys!” Kalis said through their comms, “Goliath inbound! You might want to find some cover.”

“Thanks for the heads up, we’re moving.” Kervis responded, pulling back behind a nearby house.

“Hey, Cabal!” Procor shouted to their new allies on their left, “There’s a Goliath moving in, you might want to get somewhere safe.”

“Do not worry for us, guardian. Just focus on keeping their foot soldiers at bay.” He called out, stopping only briefly to unjam his weapon.

The Titan gave no response, taking aim once again at the unending squads of Cabal coming from their drop ships. He was about to question where the tank was when a new call out answered him before he could speak.

“Goliath’s dropping in, guys! Get into cover, I’ll see if I can disable it.” Kalis said.

The four on the ground dove behind any nearby walls or un-destroyed houses, Elana managing to make her way to Procor’s side.

“How do we fight that thing?” Elana asked, finally getting her first look at the Cabal war machine that had detached itself from its ship.

“The engines. If you see one on fire, focus on a different one.” Procor replied, opening fire on the front-left engine of the tank.

The guardians emptied magazine after magazine into the vehicle, leaving smoke billowing from the damaged sections of it. But even with that amount of firepower, it still hovered above the ground, its heavy cannon tearing the cover from around them.

“We gotta deal with this thing quick! It’s a miracle none of those shots have hit anybody.” Kervis called out through their comms, pushing everyone to open fire with more focus on its engines.

Elana was holding up reasonably well during the fight. She had taken only a few shots and while the rounds were much stronger than she was, her light helped shield her from the majority of the damage. But even with her light bolstering itself, it was beginning to wane. With her inability to store light within her armour, she had been expending strength throughout the fight with no means of replenishing it.

“Procor, I can’t keep this up.” She said to the Titan beside her. Hearing this, he ducked down and turned to her.

“You running out of light?” He asked, receiving a nod in response, “Just keep your head down and pull as much light as you can back inside yourself. Including your shielding.”

“What? Why would I-”

“Just do it, Elana. You can trust me on this, you’ll be fine.”

After a short pause, she did as he told her, removing all of her shielding and any light that was being used outside of her body. The added light was enough to bring her strength back up, but she was now vulnerable to enemy fire. The bar at the top of her HUD flashed a bright red, two of the sections now cleared as her armour’s systems tried to figure out what had happened.

“It’s done. But how will I fight without my shield?” She asked, looking up at the Titan that had returned to firing at the Goliath.

“You won’t. Just stick your head down and don’t come out until we say it’s safe. You are far from being strong enough for a fight like this and pushing you any more could kill you.” He said, not taking his gaze from the tank.

The Hunter gave a short sigh and lay herself against the wall. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to hold out for long, but she had hoped she would be able to at least help the team. But thanks to her light, it was as if she did nothing but become an inconvenience.

Up in the firefight, the Goliath was putting up a much better fight than it should have done. The guardians quickly came to conclusion that simple firepower wouldn’t be enough to take it down, but they couldn’t risk spending extra light to bring it down with their supers. They were stuck in a fight they would most certainly lose, as their ammo was depleting faster than the Goliath was falling.

Just as their ammo counters began to flash red, however, a new roar sounded nearby the tank. They looked over to see the huge Cabal from earlier run up to the craft and slam its fist into it, throwing it back with a new explosion. His fist had left a gaping hole in the side of it, fire and smoke being thrown out of it as whatever he hit burned.

The Cabal shouted something in his language before jumping into the cannon and tearing off the barrel of the gun in a single movement. Seeing that he was successful, he turned the barrel vertically and punched it straight through the middle of the Goliath.

The effect was instant. All at once, the engines shut off, two of them exploding as their fuel lines caught fire. The three Cabal that drove it attempted to flee but were shot down by the guardians before they could get anywhere.

“Jesus. Okay, don’t fuck with the big guy.” Kervis said, now focusing on the remaining Cabal ground forces. The drop ships had stopped coming when they had dropped the Goliath off, clearly thinking the tank would have been enough to kill them all.

“Agreed. How many are left?” Exodus asked.

“Not enough for them to be a problem. We got ‘em.” Kalis said in response to his question, her rifle’s barrel now smoking from the amount of shots she had fired.

Only a minute later, the final Cabal soldier fell, the only sounds being that of the crumbling buildings and crackling fire. Other than the contained area they fought in, the town was still in good shape. The enemy had focused on trying to kill the guardians, and so they had no reason to go deeper into the town.

“Good job, guys. Any injuries?” Exodus said, joining up with Procor and Elana.

“Other than Elana suffering a loss of light, I think we’re good.” Procor said, standing to greet the Warlock.

“Ah, that’s an easy fix. Why don’t you come with me, Elana? I’ll fix you up.” Exodus offered, holding his hand out to help the Hunter to her feet.

“Thanks,” She said, taking the hand and following him a little way off.

As they moved away, Kervis and Kalis walked up to Procor. Kalis was trying to take the magazine from the sniper out, but was having a little bit of difficulty moving the slightly melted part from the body of the weapon. Kervis, on the other hand, was trying to brush off the black dust that had landed on his plating. He had taken cover near a house that ended up falling during the fight. The dust from the collapsed structure had settled all over him.

“That could have gone better.” The green Titan commented.

“As per usual, it would seem.” Kalis said, shouting in triumph when her magazine finally tore out of the sniper.

“We got out of there in the end,” Procor replied, gazing over at the destroyed Goliath, “That thing was way stronger than usual.”

“It was. Even the Spindle couldn’t damage its engines.” Kalis said, lifting her weapon to identify what she was talking about.

“They are stepping up their game. We need to learn how to beat these things more effectively. After all, we won’t have friendly Cabal by our side all the time.”

“Speaking of which,” Kervis muttered, walking over to the towering Cabal.

He noticed the Titan’s approach, and looked over. Making no movements to seem hostile to the trio of guardians.

“I believe we have met before, haven’t we?” Kervis asked when he was in earshot, much to the surprise of Procor and the Cabal.

“Yes. I was the Val you fought on the Primus’ carrier.”

“Then why are you helping us? If you wanted to kill us, why didn’t you?”

“Because my soldiers and I have been banished from our legion. I had specific orders to let you four leave, but… well, you know how that ended.”

“So you aren’t here for us?” Kalis asked.

“No. I came here to defend the ponies. You five being saved was an added bonus.” The Cabal explained, picking up and stowing his Slug Thrower on his back.

“I think we need to talk more in private. Don’t want any of these ponies learning of you being here until we can be sure they won’t panic.” Procor said, getting murmurs of agreement from his two partners.

“That is understandable. Do you have a place we can go?”

“Yeah, we have one.”

- - -

Chrome was having a difficult time keeping the ponies from the town away from their homes. Some of the more combat-suitable ponies had begun helping to evacuate the town, but many of the others had become desensitised to danger due to the town’s history of monster attacks. Some of them had to be forcefully carried away when they blatantly refused to leave, screaming about the Elements being able to handle it.

When the entire town’s populace had been moved to the other side, away from the fight that was ongoing, Chrome began looking over the crowd for any signs of injury. The race to get out of there was too fast for many ponies to keep up, leaving some with sprained muscles, and one with a broken leg. But the rest seemed fine, and none had sustained any serious injuries.

“What’s going on? We have never had to evacuate before, what’s so important that you force us out of our homes?” One pony called, getting cries from the other ponies around him that were just as angry about the sudden change.

“The monsters that attacked Manehattan have come here. You want to ask them why you left your homes?” Chrome asked, his patience reaching its end.

That shut them all up. They had all heard of the attack, and had seen the column of smoke, but none of them thought that the monsters would come to their town.

“Right now, five guardians are risking their lives to keep you all safe. I’m sure they will do their best to keep your homes and businesses intact but nothing can be promised in this situation. All we can do now is wait.” Chrome explained, the silence of the ponies helping to keep his mind clear.

When no other sounds were made from the crowd, he turned to watch the slew of explosions on the other side of the town, the night sky helping to display them in full colour. As he watched, he heard the flapping of wings to his right. Looking over revealed Princess Celestia and Luna had arrived with a detachment of guards.

“Second Lieutenant Chrome Shield! What are you doing here?” The Solar princess asked when she had landed. She had adorned her combat armour, something that hadn’t been seen in many decades.

“I came with the guardians, who are currently keeping the Cabal at bay. While I know it isn’t my place to say this, your majesty, I would recommend not you get anywhere near that fight. The explosions are far more intense than those seen at Manehattan, and I fear the Cabal may have introduced something new for the guardians to fight.” Chrome said, bowing before his leader.

“What sort of ‘thing’ could cause that? Did they not manage to cease the assault on the city and even infiltrate one of their craft?” Luna asked. She was also wearing her combat armour, though it didn’t look as polished as her sister’s.

“I’m unsure, but if it is causing them trouble, then it would end us ponies in no time at all. It would be better if you and your guards stayed here and helped us keep the ponies calm.”

Celestia gave him a look over for a moment before sighing, “As you know these guardians better than I do, I shall take your word on it. Guards! Form a line and make sure nothing gets past you. We are the last line of defence for these civilians.”

“I thank you, your majesty. I do not wish for the loss of any more life.” Chrome said, standing up once again.

“Neither do I, and I will do my best to make sure no more lives are taken. Luna, we should at least watch what happens. If the guardians fail, we need to be ready.” Celestia said, taking flight when she had finished talking. Luna gave Chrome a short nod before joining her sister in the sky.

When the two sisters were out of sight, Chrome looked once more at the glow of fire. The distant explosions were still going off, the debris of them flying into the air.

As he watched, a younger filly that was sat with her mother spoke up, “Um, mister? You said that those… guardians were fighting the monsters, right?”

“That they are.” He replied with a smile.

“But, what if they don’t stop them? Maybe they’ll get hurt and then the monsters will come for us.”

Chrome looked back over to the burning section of the town, the smile still on his face, “They won’t.”

Author's Note:

Getting these chapters out a little faster now, so that's a plus :D

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I figured it's about time we actually have a proper fight in the story, since the last real one was in chapter 6. Be sure to let me know if you have any feedback or suggestions for me. I take any and all suggestions or feedback into consideration so don't feel like I will ignore you

I would also like to thank you all yet again. The support on this story has been amazing and it has fuelled my desire to actually complete it. We have a long journey before the tale of Odium is finished and I hope you will be there to see it through until the end.

Thanks again!

(By the way, Never_Comfortable finally got a DeviantArt account. Check him out here <-- Clicky!)

Comments

[ChromeShield]

Thanks for the shameless advertisement of my dA at the end, there

[EchoTheFloof]

8323948
But of course

[Indigo Tornado]

yay new chapter, no inclusion of my oc but I'm patient ill wait

[ChromeShield]

8324238 Thanks! It makes me happy to know people enjoy what I make.

[EchoTheFloof]

8324238
I have to agree that his stuff is absolutely amazing. I'm honestly surprised he hasn't taken a career in it yet.

And I personally found the Beta to be boring to an unholy extent. Three activities for $100? I feel ripped off

At least you enjoyed the chapter, so there is some good that came out in the end.

[EchoTheFloof]

8325199
Yeah that got me a couple of times aswell, but I managed to get around it eventually by double checking my perks before playing.

[NightGear]

I'm really enjoying the story so far.
And while it would be cool to see the end before D2, I'd much rather you go at your own pace and keep the good quality you have. This story's shaping up to be one heck of a ride, and I can't wait to see where it takes us.

[NightGear]

8325211
Bungee did say the Beta was based on an earlier build and they already addressed some of the issues like supercharge rates and ammo drops (running out of ao was my main complaint).
Still, it was enjoyable as a rough draft, and I really liked the revamped Voidwalker. Plus the guns feel pretty solid so far. It's a shame they only game us one strike to play around with. Still, I can definitely feel some of the improvements from the opening mission.

[EchoTheFloof]

8325773
Yeah, while I had predicted I would finish before the second game many months ago, that clearly isn't happening. There is multiple large plotlines already created that haven't been introduced as of yet. The story is far from being over, but I feel we will be reaching the halfway point reasonably soon.

And I had no real issues with the content we did get. The problem I had was the simple lack of it.

[NightGear]

8325794
I agree. While I understand they couldn't give us too much, I wish they had given us at least one more strike or a second story mission.
Still looking forward to seeing what happens after Gaul kicks us off the ship.
(First thing I'm doing is going after Ikora, then I'm saving Cayde)
Also looking forward to hunting down the Better Devils and the Black Scorpion. Those guns are solid killers.