She swung her Walther 2000 like a club as she charged, which connected with the blonde woman’s jaw, knocking her to the floor. Girly brought the Walther up again for a downwards [i]coup de grace[/i], when the downed woman kicked Girly in the chest, sending Girly staggering backward. The blonde jumped back to her feet, twirled the Desert Eagle so her grip was on the barrel, and attacked the reeling Girly Spartan. She smacked the butt of the pistol into Girly’s neck, making her drop to her knees, but missed with her follow-up knife stab as Girly rolled to one side. Having regained her senses, Girly darted behind the blonde-who was overstretched from the failed knife stab-and caught her in a headlock. Girly pushed the woman forward, smacking her head into the wall, pulled her back and repeated the process, leaving a blood smear on the wall. The blonde, before Girly could slam her into the wall again, managed to get the stiletto facing toward Girly, and plunged it into her skin just below the body armour. Girly cried out, reaching for the knife and releasing her foe by instinct. The blonde wormed away, then clobbered Girly with a painful side-ways swing of her Desert Eagle, smacking into her neck again and causing Girly to fall to the floor. The blonde smoothed a tussle of her hair back in place, then calmly used her foot to roll Girly onto her back. Corbec just shot the blonde, there and then. A quick burst of AK fire saw her jerk around like she was being electrocuted with each bullet impact, then fall flat on her face. Corbec, a few paces away, lowered his smoking rifle and jogged over to Girly Spartan, anxious to see how she was. He shoved the lifeless corpse of the Forsaken woman off of Girly, then knelt by her. Girly was perfectly still, eyes closed. Corbec felt on her neck for a pulse, then realised she was dead. He could feel the bone of her neck jutting out at a wrong angle. It seemed that the blonde had hit her neck so hard that it snapped Girly’s neck and severed her spinal cord, killing her instantly. “Too many people have died here because of this. And I for one am not going to be shot in the rear again.” JS said, walking over to stand behind Corbec. Corbec got up slowly, took off his sunglasses and chucked them away, facing JS. He was about to reply, when JS’ head literally came apart. Almost as if someone had jammed C4 in his ear and hit the detonate button, JS096 suddenly became bereft of a cranium. His helmet went flying, ricocheting away while blood, bone, brain matter and flesh decorated Corbec, the corpses lying in the corridor, the walls and ceiling. All that remained of his skull was JS’ lower jaw, hanging slackly and trickling with gore. The M4 slipped out of his lifeless hands, and JS slumped backwards, landing with a wet [i]splat.[/i] “Corbec! It’s been a long time.” A voice called from further down the corridor. The voice belonged to the one that Corbec found synonymous with the phrase “enemy.” It was him. It was Pyroshark. Pyroshark held a SPAS 12 shotgun, and racked the pump action, throwing a single red cartridge out of the breach. Shooting people in the back seemed to be something of a recurring theme nowadays. His brown hair was long and around his ears, while Corbec’s was short and blonde. Pyroshark was unshaven and bulky after months of living on the Jacutan Islands, while Corbec was well-kempt and slighter in form. Pyroshark wore a white t-shirt, combat boots and denim jeans, a stark contrast to Corbec’s military gear: His customised helmet, bloodied combat fatigues and ammo webbing. “Pyroshark. I do hope you’ve been keeping well.” Corbec replied with mock concern. “Listen, you ugly lump of -blam!-, what the bloody--blam!- hell do you think you’re doing here!? Throwing away the lives of teenagers and for what!?” Pyroshark spat scornfully. “Oh, screw you! You can’t pull the moral high ground here! In case you’ve forgotten, you’re the one who ordered the deaths of thousands in Flondon!” Corbec retorted. “And you’re the one who’s brought devastation and pain the whole planet!” “I’m bringing order and security!” “[i]Just shut the -blam!-up and DIE![/i]” Pyroshark roared, bringing his SPAS 12 up to his armpit. But Corbec was already moving. He grabbed JS’ remains by the straps its backpack and heaved it upright as a shield just before Pyroshark started shooting at point blank range. Buckshot started slamming into the Kevlar vest on the faceless corpse, the huge impacts making Corbec nearly fall over with their strength. Pyroshark was cackling, blasting off one cartridge, racking back the slide and firing another. A small pile of red cartridges was stacking up beside him. Corbec knew he just had to hold on a little longer until… Pyroshark stopped laughing, he was out of ammo. He snarled in frustration and burst into the open doorway of the room to his right, while Corbec dropped the badly mauled remains of JS and entered the room to his left. Pyroshark reached to the back of his jeans and drew his Glock pistol, modified to fire Armour-Piercing slugs rather than the usual nine-millimetre bullets. He wheeled out of cover, just as Corbec did with his AK47 Assault Rifle. Pyroshark fired a single round-which hit Corbec’s helmet with such speed that the straps holding onto it broke and the whole thing flew away, but causing no harm to Corbec. The helmet bounced off the ceiling and landed a little way behind Corbec’s position, but facing the fight. This broader, clearer view was now the best that the people back home would get. Pyroshark swore prodigiously and ducked back out of sight as Corbec started to blaze away on fully-automatic. A cascade of empty brass shells joined the [i]Rat-Tat-Tat[/i] of a thirty-bullet salvo, blowing chunks out of the concrete, sending stone ships and dust everywhere, and tearing gouges out of the recently deceased near to Pyroshark. When he emptied out the clip, Corbec reloaded in the blink of an eye and kept on firing, this time advancing out of cover at a fast pace. Pyroshark could only stay in cover and hope not to be hit. When Corbec drained his new magazine, he was practically all over Pyroshark. Not knowing Corbec had snuck up on him, Pyroshark was taken totally by surprise. Corbec immediately pinned him to the wall, holding the body of his AK47 down on Pyroshark’s throat to choke the life out of him. Pyroshark dropped his pistol and squirmed in Corbec’s crushing grip, unable to breath. Desperation lending him strength, he punched Corbec once then twice on the jaw, the blows staggering Corbec and easing the pressure. Air flowing down to his lungs, Pyroshark got a grip on the AK and heaved, throwing it and Corbec-who was still holding on-into the corridor. Pyroshark threw himself after Corbec, barrelling into him and forcing Corbec to the wall. Corbec grunted, and slammed his elbow down onto the back of Pyroshark’s neck repeatedly, forcing him to let go. Pyroshark backed off, massaging the painful area now sitting on his neck. Corbec, panting, adopted a ready stance, his fists clenched. Pyroshark glanced down and smiled. He looked wryly back to Corbec then reached for his pistol, lying only a few feet away. He snatched it, but Corbec was ready when he brought it back up. Corbec grabbed Pyroshark’s gun wrist and put it under his armpit, his back to Pyroshark. “Get! Off!” Pyroshark managed, unable to bring his gun to bear. Corbec repeated his trick earlier, and pounded his elbow into Pyroshark’s face, snapping his nose like a twig. The pain forced Pyroshark to let go of the pistol, and he tripped over Mike D Halo King’s corpse. Corbec aimed the pistol at Pyroshark, only to have it kicked out of his hands. Pyroshark lashed another strike with his legs, catching Corbec in the gut, doubling him over. Fighting through the pain of his broken nose, Pyroshark struggled upright and swung another kick out at the seemingly helpless Corbec. But luckily for him, Corbec caught the limb before it connected with his face. Suddenly with only one leg available to move, Pyroshark yelped when Corbec punched him in the crotch. Corbec released the leg, then pounded Pyroshark’s chest with a flurry of knuckle-punches. Corbec laughed as he heard ribs crack and Pyroshark cry out as the broken shards speared his lungs. With Pyroshark stunned, Corbec delivered a killer uppercut, smashing into Pyroshark's vulnerable jaw and actually lifting him bodily off the floor, only to come crashing back down again. Corbec flexed his fingers and shook out his wrist, all the while with a triumphant grin plastered onto his face. He reached down and picked up a discarded rifle, holding it by the barrel. He patted it in the palm of his hand. “End of the line, Pyroshark.” He chuckled. Pyroshark said something, but blood pooling in his lungs turned the words into a collection of rasping rattles. “Don’t worry, the end is nigh.” Corbec crooned softly. Then he noticed the pistol in Pyroshark’s hand, and the smile on his face. Pyroshark fired one bullet from the gun he’d scavenged off the floor. It hit Corbec’s neck, and severed his right Carotid Artery by pure bad luck. A once, Corbec knew he would die here. Corbec took two unstable steps backward, then fell over JS, landing near to his fallen helmet, with the camera still relaying the scene worldwide. [Edited on 08.21.2007 1:29 AM PDT]