Operation Ruined Perch Ephyra City - Tyran Delta Red ~~~ Hoffman had split them up. Marcus didn't like it. Not one bit.
A few days after they had sunk Jacinto to flood the locust tunnels, word had gone round that the few remaining Kryll had settled a new nest and were harassing human populations. So here they were, trudging through the ruins of Ephyra, Marcus' hometown, just so they could investigate a location where this alleged Kryll nest might be.
"Yo Marcus. Man, you better hurry the rookie up, little dude is fallin' behind." Cole bellowed from beside Marcus.
Marcus turned around and saw his other squadmate scrambling over some fallen debris in the street. Marvin Carmine was one of the many, many Carmine brothers, it seemed like they always got appointed to his squad and met with unfortunate circumstances.
"Move your ass greenhorn, we can't afford to be caught in this open street when the sun goes down."
"Sir, yes sir."
They were moving down the remains of Main Street in Ephyra, hoping, (or was it not hoping?) to find the giant telltale sinkhole made by nesting Kryll colonies. Marcus often found himself wondering during this trek what they would do if they found the nest. Surely their lancers couldn't take it down? Kryll nests were huge underground structures. He brought this up when Hoffman briefed them yesterday, and according to him, this was simply a recon mission. The locust were wiped out during the lightmass bombing, but the Kryll came back. Find the nest, radio command, wait for extraction, mission accomplished. So why did something feel off?
There was a glint on one of the far rooftops.
A sudden sound of falling debris. Both Marcus and Cole wheeled round, lancers drawn, only to find that the rookie sprawled on the ground having tripped over a low barricade. Probably built by the stranded when they were camping here.
"Damn son, you nearly gave us a heart attack." Cole walked over to Carmine and hoisted the rookie up.
"Sorry Corporal," nodding to Cole, "Sergeant," nodding to Marcus. "It's just that this is my first time seeing the legendary Delta Squad in action and I'm just in awe of how real this all is."
"What action greenhorn? This place is a gra-" Marcus stopped midsentence and leapt to the side a split second before a tracer round whizzed through the air where his head just was. "SNIPER! GET IN COVER!"
Cole yanked the rookie into cover behind Marcus. "Son of a bitch, who's that shooting at us? Man, I thought the locust were gone from Ephyra!"
"Yeah well tell it to big ugly up there." Marcus poked his head slowly around the corner of the destroyed building they were hunkered behind. "Shit, I lost him." He looked around, noting the extremely eerie silence descending upon the scene.
"Hey rookie, take that longshot of yours, get up on the second floor, find some cover and see if you can't spot that bastard sniper." Cole positioned himself to boost Carmine up to the fire escape on the wall of the building.
As Cole helped boost Carmine up, Marcus ran through the nuances of this scenario in his mind like he always did.
This was an intel only op, they weren't equipped for combat. There weren't supposed to be any locust left in Ephyra. The sniper was obviously caught off guard, not expecting to see Delta there; he was probably calling in reinforcements already. The only way to continue this op was to eliminate the threat. But the most practical thing to do now was to get in touch with command and either cancel this mission, or get backup.
He made his decision. "Cole I need yo-" There was a crack, then another a sharp retort, followed by...
"Hell yeah bitch! Sergeant Fenix, Corporal Cole, I got him!" Carmine from the second floor of the building.
"YOU IDIOT! Those longshot are equipped with tracer rounds, if he called in backup we're fucked. They know where we are. We're not equipped for any long term combat, we've got to move! NOW!" Marcus bolted for the street followed by Cole, followed by a disoriented Carmine who had leapt down from the second floor.
"Aww shit... REAVERS!" Cole pointed up towards the direction of the sniper that Carmine had "lobotomized" as Baird loved to say.
Sure enough, not one, not two, but a whole flock of Reavers were heading in their direction.
"Shit. Get in that building! Quick! Go go go go! Before they see us!" Marcus ran towards the doorway of an abandoned restaurant.
They all piled in one after the other and Marcus slammed the door shut. "What the hell is going on? First a sniper, now Reavers? In Ephyra? I've never seen that many Reavers flying together during my whole COG tenure. Something's going in this city."
"Hey man, we're pinned down in a beat up old building, with a heavily armed squadron of Reavers touching down all around us. We're outgunned and outnumbered, just the way I like it. At least it can't get any worse." Cole quipped as he made himself comfortable in a windowside booth.
"Umm... Sergeant? I've never seen a Reaver before, which ones are they?" Carmine stated peeking through the decrepit curtains in the window.
"The big flying ones rook. They've got tendrils and are usually manned by a couple of grubs." Marcus sat down next to Cole and started fiddling with his radio, trying to get in touch with high command.
"You mean the giant glowing ones?"
Marcus and Cole both leapt up to the window, fearing the worst.
"...Shit Marcus... NOW we're fucked."
The Reavers were lambent.