Small Favours

Templar ducked down behind the sloppily placed Barrels and changed the clip to his Pistol. His Automatic rifle was dry, so his position wasn't exactly great right now. All around him troops were trying to pick off the Helghast army before they made their way into the trenches from the beach. If they got there they could easily make it to the building they were defending from the Roof entrance. The stairwell was an easy access to their position.

With his Pistol ready to fire, Templar climbed onto one knee and aimed carefully, firing three shots. None of them hit though, and they were getting closer. Even those armed with Sniper rifles seemed to be having trouble penetrating the armour these soldiers wore. It seemed as though Headshots HAD to be.

Ducking again, he looked around desperately for an unattended sniper rifle. He wouldn't be much use but would at least FEEL useful. Admittedly so far in this battle his presence had been his only credit.

"CAPTAIN TEMPLAR!" called one of the ISA "The stairwell! They're here!"

Templar shot off towards the stairs, but found his friend Rico already on top of things. The man was huge, and so was his weapon. Rico was a Sergeant and the only man Templar knew capable of wielding an A.P.M.G (All purpose mini guns). They were fitted with a hell of an ammo clip, the kind that tanks used, with Rockets on hand as well.

"Hey kid" Rico called over the roar of his gunfire. Helghast troops were falling over one another in puddles of their own blood. The stairway bottlenecked them, so they had no chance of passing the big guy.

"Hey Rico" Templar replied "Can you hold this place?"

"Are the Helghast bald?" he asked sarcastically "But I'd appreciate a grunt to hold them when I have to reload, but shouldn't be that frequent"

Templar nodded "I'll send Hakha"

Rico clearly was ready to explode on those words, and that frightened Templar more than the enemy. There was no love lost between Rico and the Half Helghast. He found the Colonel reloading his own rifle

"Hakha!" he addressed the pale soldier "Care to do me a favour?"

A bullet whizzed in-between the two and they dropped to their stomachs, behind some sandbags. This was ridiculous. They had the high ground for Christ's sake. This should be a piece of piss, but it wasn't.

"What's up, Captain?"

"Rico's gonna need support at the East Stairway" he explained

"I'm there cap'n, you never know. He might start appreciating me"

Hakha took off leaving Templar to decide his own Fate. The captain caught sight of a miracle all of a sudden.

There, on the roof a few metres from him was his best friend from the Academy. Loger. She was concentrating on her sniper scope, careful not to expose herself over the wall.

I have to sit you down
Let me tell you what it's all about

Templar had thought she had fallen in the first assault, but apparently she was okay. There was no word to describe how happy Templar was in that moment.

His first thought was to run to her, but more bullets came his way. Carefully aiming his pistol, he got a miraculous headshot on one of the helmeted freaks.

Cause I've been carrying a torch around
And I've forgotten how to snuff it out

Crawling as fast as he could, he made about half the distance when a grenade bounced past him. Templar grabbed for it and tossed it back over the side, only a split second before it exploded and screams were heard.

Templar took a moment to realise one of those Screams was his own. Gripping his hand tightly, it was burning like hell. He only felt four of his fingers.

And you have been unkind
and that's a matter I cannot ignore

He felt a firm hand on his shoulder, and glanced up, trying to ignore the pain. There she was. Loger had recognized his cry for help, just like she should.

"Loger" he cried numbly "My fucking FINGER"

"Its okay….its okay…" Templar felt a prick in his neck and the pain slowly went away. It didn't stop him bleeding but he could fight again, so why complain

"That better?" she asked

You have to skirt around the truth sometimes
but it's time I told you what I came here for

"Hell….yes" Templar replied, wiping the sweat from his forehead. He smiled weakly and moved into a sitting position "I'm glad you're okay"

She didn't smile "Strangely enough, Yan, I'M glad I'm ok, but I'm not glad you are"

"What?"

"You left me to DIE!" She said angrily, before throwing back her head and spitting on him. As Templar recovered from the shock she turned and took back her sniper position, shooting far more rapidly

To thank you for all the small favors
I'm thinking' now I hope it doesn't change us
And take us to a time when we were strangers
In a two-station town
You can't get the train to slow down

"I didn't- me- I THOUGHT you were dead!" he tried to argue. The continuing gunfire told Templar she wasn't interested in what her old friend had to say. War had taken much from the Captain. Family, Blood, his home, and now his finger. But he'd give all of his others to have Loger back.

He knew he had lost her

Small favors
Oh to you as sure as she was honest
And now do you remember when you promised
To forgive me someday
The debts that I can't repay
The debts that I can't repay

Templar sighed deeply. That was it. He had lost EVERYTHING. Why give a fuck about his mission now? Far as he was concerned Rico could take charge. Yan Templar sure didn't give a fuck about the war. Not now

Climbing slowly to his feet, Templar scooped up a rifle from the corpse of another the grenade had actually felled, and grabbed hold to the wall. Pulling himself up slowly.

A tank had arrived, he saw, and the juggernaught was ripping through the ISA's defenses. If Templar was going out, he was doing it in style. As he pulled himself up, on top of the wall, he caught Logers eye. She shot him a subtle look that said "What the FUCK are you doing?"

And I cannot forget
you looked at me as if I'd lost a bet

Templar smiled, adding insult to injury, and waved at the bitch, before dropping down into the trenches. Four Helghast stopped in their tracks as he landed in front of him on his feet, an assault rifle in their direction, smiling cockily. But you couldn't bluff people out of a 4-1 advantage.

Templar grabbed the closest man and spun him around, holding him around the throat with his left arm and having difficulty keepng the rifle up one handed.

And I hadn't opened up my big mouth yet
and I thought of crawling back into the plane

He would lose this battle. As the enemy raised their own machine guns, prepared to sacrifice their friend, a bullet was fired from above; spraying the floor below one of the soldier's red as he slumped to the floor.

The other two got spooked and distracted, looking wildly for the shooter. Templar took advantage and pushed his hostage forwards, knocking one of the others flat. Taking up his rifle in both hands, he squeezed out shot after shot.

He killed all three of them.

And though it's sad to tell
I still remember how the dry-eye felt

Yan remembered the tank. He carefully made his way through the trenches, sneaking past the enemy where he could, though he did have to kill two more of the bastards.

Finally he came out on the beach. He grabbed his grenade belt and counted. He had two left. Templar shut his eyes and said his goodbyes to God

Taking off at a run, kicking up sand under his feet, he went unnoticed until he was close enough to touch the thing. It wasn't surprising; all of the Helghast efforts were currently on attack.

Across the curtains in the cheap hotel
Lit-up dust clouds in the window pane

Why he paid attention to that particular gunshot he didn't know, but the source was Loger. And the target had been the knife wielder ready to skin him, directly behind Templar

And I thank you for all the small favors
I'm thinking' now I hope it doesn't change us
and take us to a time when we were strangers

It was now or never. Templar took a grenade out and pulled the pin, throwing it under the monstrosity. Turning, he sprinted back to the trenches and dived, narrowly avoiding the intense blast. The screams were all the confirmation he needed of his success.

In a two-station town
you can't get the train to slow down

Inside the trench, Helghast converged on him from both sides, their weapons pointed menacingly at the Captain. He swallowed, and raised his hands. He would be a war prisoner, rather than die. He only needed a few minutes.

Small favors
I'm thinking' now I hope it doesn't change us
and take us to a time when we were strangers
In a two-station town
You can't get the train to slow down

Suddenly his COM link started receiving static again "Templar- Its Hakha. We're coming- hold…on"

"DAMNIT" He sword loudly. The soldiers were amused, despite the war. They thought it was THEY that had pissed him off.

Small favors

He couldn't let Rico get involved. Or Hakha

Oh to you as sure as she was honest

Or…or Loger

"Templar?" Logers voice came over the link up in his ear "We're coming, hold on!"

Now do you remember when you promised
forgive me someday?

Templar felt tears welling up in his eyes. A loud explosion echoed close by, and the Helghast panicked. Templar took advantage and grabbed his remaining grenade. With his free hand he cinched his ear to speak to the others

"I fucking hate you Loger"

He pulled the pin. Three seconds

The debts that I can't repay

Two

The debts that I can't repay

One

The debts that I can't repay