Leon S. Kennedy
His taunt had worked, encouraging the girl to lash out. To exert herself as she pulled more weight behind her attack at the cost of her already hindered speed and agility thanks to her wounds--while physically difficult to pinpoint in the blink of an eye, her movements spoke louder than her appearance. She burst up toward the balcony after her retort, too pissed to even notice the dead beginning to shamble their way in through a waiting room off to the right of Leon's position, though on the first floor. Her tactic was seen a mile away, considering her lack of self-awareness, allowing the agent to easily leap back a meter or so, avoiding her attack--which shattered the balcony in a burst of lightning, splintering wood and forcing the portion of the level to collapse immediately, the rest beginning to follow.
Feeling as though he had a lot of control over this given situation, Leon didn't feel deterred in the slightest, prompting him to deftly set a foot up upon the rail--and kicked off it to rise into the air once again, leaving Audrey in the center of the collapse as he instead flitted his gaze toward the undead, more than he was expecting. Four or five had broken through the window in the adjacent room and stumbled their way inside, no doubt attracted by the sounds of battle. Like the ghosts from his conflict with the Pac, these zombies would be a hazard and a complication in the mix--so long as the T-00 super tyrant variant didn't show up (otherwise known as Mr. X).
Master Chief
"Clock's ticking...!" Kalmiya warned. "I know." John replied, noting the barrel of Frank's minigun beginning to rotate. He was faster, however, swinging the gravity hammer as he burst toward Frank, the momentum of the swing activating the gravity pulses within the weapon, releasing a burst of spatial force and energy like the epicenter of a powerful explosion without including the heat and possible fragmentation. A force powerful enough to make both the spartan and the mutant recoil from such force as it was exerted in favor of nobody in particular, no doubt surprising Horrigan as the direction of the burst nearly yanked the minigun not just from his hands, but made his armor creak under the weight it had felt, threatening to crack while only making the Chief slide back a couple feet--which didn't slow him down in the slightest as he rushed forward with a second strike, ramming into Frank's side as the minigun began to fire, though in the wrong direction, beginning to spray a wall with bullets while Horrigan himself was launched upward by the second strike, his entire body shaking from the hit, his armor's stress reaching critical levels.
Just as Frank dropped with a shuddering boom to the ground, the minigun ceasing its barrage to begin simply spinning he managed to raise his arm and catch the gravity hammer just under the head before it could release a third blast, and he yanked forcefully, tugging the weapon from Chief with enough force to lurch the spartan toward him--in which Horrigan rammed his skull against John's, a metallic crack splitting through the air as a result. Frank tossed the weapon aside as he took aim with his other arm, directing the minigun at Chief as the spartan stumbled backward from the attack. The barrage was let loose, the bullets bursting against the Spartan's armor point-blank, the headbutt having shattered John's shields for the moment.
Chief felt most of the bullets ricochet off his armor, but he could also feel the familiar sting of at least a dozen foreign objects plunging into his body, ripping through the undersuit and popping into his skin, breaking the surface enough to wedge into the muscle, but not going much further than that.
Thinking quickly, Chief tanked the bullets as his suit worked to counteract his injuries, pumping biofoam into his wounds while he lunged forward, plunging his fist dead-center into the barrel of the minigun--and crumpling the metal between his fist and Frank's strength as the agent refused to allow himself to be buckled by force. Unable to stop the firing, the minigun suddenly burst with a gush of flames and brief force, rattling to a screeching halt as it was unable to dispense its ammunition any longer.
John didn't stop there, lurching forward to slam his left fist against Horrigan's chest, leaving an impressive dent as Chief's right fist followed up just as fast, leaving an even deeper impression in the mutant's armored chest before Chief uppercut with his left arm, making Frank stumble back, though he wasn't dazed as he instead swiped with his arm toward the Spartan, who ducked under the attack, bursting his fist against Horrigan's extended arm, right beneath the armpit, wedging the mutant's armor against his own bone from the force, but Frank was far from deterred, swinging his other fist about just fast enough to crash it into the spartan's visor, spider-webbing the highly durable material as the spartan was rattled, stumbling back, allowing Frank to follow up with another strike, raising his fist before slamming it down over the smaller individual, right in the back of his head, dropping the Spartan and practically embedding him into the Covenant floor.
John tasted blood in the back of his throat as he pushed himself up, before he felt a boot slug into his stomach. The ground left him as he was launched into the air, spinning, before he crashed back into the ground, rolling to a stop with a groan. "Chief, just because you're faster doesn't mean he's not gonna land any hits!" Kalmiya pointed out. "Yeah..." John grunting, looking up at the mutant already charging toward him. "I noticed."
He wasn't as proficient as he used to be, much as John didn't like to admit it to himself. Despite the additional augmentations imbued to him by Halsey shortly before the mission to the glassed surface of Reach, he was still aging. He was still mortal. His equipment was always getting better, but his abilities were always hindered every year he survived just a little longer. He was almost 50 years old now, and he was constantly straining every fiber of his being almost every single day. No matter how many augmentations he received, the simple fact of mortality would always begin to hinder him sooner or later.
But he wasn't useless by any measure. Time felt as though it slowed slightly around him as he looked up at Frank. The both of them were out of weapons, reduced to a brawl with their fists as the world was minutes away from turning into nothing but dust and echoes around them. John could see it. Standing where Frank stood, lunging forward for a strike. Atriox, his eyes cold and unchallenged, boring into the Spartan's visor. John's greatest failure, his greatest humiliation...
Chief was on a knee, raising a hand to catch Atriox's fist--and Frank's slammed into the side of his face. The visor shattered fully, the HUD elements completely deactivating as the spartan collapsed once again, noticing some shards of orange glass lying on the ground before him. The piercing blue eye of John-117 glared up at Frank as he stomped forward, grabbing Chief by the side of his neck and gripping, raising the spartan into the air.
"You've drawn your last breath, mutie." Frank stated, his grip beginning to squeeze, armor creaking under the weight. "Now die."
"No, Chief!" Kalmiya cried in the spartan's helmet, her voice laced with fear, and worry, and...
"So you did miss me."
The familiar voice echoed in Chief's mind, a distant memory. The hazy view of her smiling up at him, her hands placed on her hips, a silence befalling the two for a moment.
He'd already lost once. Lost horribly, to Atriox. He'd been treated as nothing more than a plaything. The Brute had been just as cunning, experienced, and intelligent as he was powerful. Frank lacked everything Atriox had, save for the strength. He'd already... lost... once.
"Unfortunately for us both... I like crazy."
A strange sense of calm settled over John as his hands grappled with Frank's fist. Relinquishing the hold with one arm, the spartan grasped the handle of his combat knife and yanked it out. Before Horrigan even saw what Chief was doing, the blade had been buried in the exposed bit of Frank's neck, ramming right between the crack where helmet met armor. The only thing that stopped the blade from going any further was the hilt, and it was just enough for Frank's hold to lessen, slightly enough for Chief to bring both hands to a single finger--and pulled back, snapping Frank's finger backwards before John fell to the ground, taking a couple steps back.
"I thought I was about to lose you..." Kalmiya muttered, clearly distressed. "It'll take more than that." John assured her. "I won't leave you."
"Don't make a girl a promise... if you know you can't keep it."
He felt a shiver run down his spine at the vocal memory, but ignored it for the moment. Frank had already yanked out the knife and was completely ignoring his broken finger. Kalmiya hadn't been kidding earlier, this guy seemed to lack any limit to his endurance and stamina. John's determination, however, was better.
Without the aid of his HUD, cracks obscuring his vision, John darted one more time toward Frank, slugging his fists into the mutant's gut, bursting his armor into his own body with a rapid flurry of punches, each one forcing Frank back an inch after another, absorbing each hit before he made to swing again, but the spartan instead ducked under the hit, grappling Horrigan's arm--and used his own force and weight to lift Frank off his feet and throw him across the room, where the mutant skid across the ground after a hard landing. Chief used this opportunity to retrieve his fallen gravity hammer, adrenaline pumping through his system. Frank was a tough foe, there was no doubt about it, but that wouldn't be enough for him to win. If Chief succeeded here, if he managed to pull through and earn this mysterious prize, this "greatest honor"... he could make things right. If it was something he desired, maybe even a wish, he could end conflict altogether. Establish peace. Prevent the few he cared about to die... ever again.
"If we don't make it..."
"You're gonna die, struggling is only delaying the inevitable." Frank called to Chief, the two standing at opposite ends of the ruined room as the station rumbled under their feet, foretelling of the coming destruction. "Was gonna say the same thing." The spartan replied. Kalmiya let out a snort. "It's always funny when you say bad one-liners." She commented.
"It's been an honor serving with you, John."
