Chapter Four
Welcome to Beta Squad
"It's not what I believe. It's what I know." - Garnier De Naplouse, Assassin's Creed
Corporal Evans slowed down the steady pace that had been keeping him up at the rear of his squad, brow lifting as he stopped completely to look back over his shoulder. While he wasn't alone on the rear of the squad – the surviving sniper of Omega Squad having taken position with him – he was now. He scratched the back of his head as he noticed that the sniper had unclipped the enviro-seals on his helmet and was now pushing it up with the heel of his palm. "Hey, Hawx! You okay?"
Pushing up the protective headpiece, Hawx grumbled something as his chin and mouth appeared from beneath the helmet's all consuming coverage. A few harsh sounds escaped the sniper before he spat out a rather unsightly mixture of saliva and blood that hit the busted concrete of the city sidewalk in a small spatter. The bitter coppery flavor that assaulted the sniper's sense of taste wasn't anything that hadn't been experienced before, but that still didn't keep Hawx from grimacing slightly as he wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. Shaking his head slightly, Hawx waved Evans off as he yanked his helmet back down and waited for the hissing click of the enviro-seal. "I'm fine." The sniper's voice scratched out through the outside tac/com of his helmet as he readjusted himself slightly and turned to catch up.
Evans lifted a thick brow with a slight air of being unconvinced that the sniper was "just fine" as he waited for the smaller Gear to catch up to his position behind the rest of the squad; turning to continue on as Hawx stepped up beside him a second later. The corporal's thoughts started to slowly whirl within his head as they walked after their squad. Even though he had been at a decent distance from Hawx, Evans had still spotted what he thought looked like a rather decent sized – but old looking – scar that made its jagged way up from beneath the left side of the chin before disappearing beneath the partially lifted helmet. Scars weren't anything new to the corporal, hell he had his own decent share of the marks left behind after every battle that took him through hell and back with his squad mates. But there was something about the fact that a helmet-wearing sniper bore a rather nasty looking scar on his face, that was slowly starting to gnaw at the corporal's curiosity.
While his mouth had dropped open to begin asking the question, Evans found it snapping shut as a shout rang up from the front of the group and the hand-signal for a halt was thrown up almost immediately. Two seconds later the signal to take cover came and had the entire body of Beta Squad slamming their backs against cement, brick, charred metal; whatever they could find as a means of cover. Evans and Hawx ducked down behind the corner of a bombed out building, both having detached their main weapon from the magnetic clamp on their backs and holding them at the ready as they waited for further instructions from the front. Being the one at the edge of the corner, Evans pressed his shoulder into the unmoving concrete to lean out and peer around the corner. He spotted Myles and Runnels ahead and off to the far right, tucked tight against the blacked body of a mangled car, and ahead of them Sergeant Bartlet leaned out passed the last corner of the street to get a view of the area ahead.
"Fuck, I hate waiting like this." Evans muttered under his breath as he pulled back and rested his back against the side of the building. "Never knowing whats ahead until it's almost too late." Irritation was evident in the tone of his voice as he closed his eyes for a moment and inhaled a ragged breath, exhaling with a grunt as he opened his eyes again.
"Bartlet sent JACK ahead." Hawx pointed out while glancing down at the Gear, intel from JACK feeding into the HUD system of the helmet, "We'll know soon enough what's going on ahead of us."
Evans glanced up at the faceless helmet that stared down at him, unblinking and without the slightest trace of expression to let him know what the sniper was thinking. There was an odd sort of placid calm to the voice that spoke out through the tac/com, the distinctive rasp coming through making Hawx sound almost bored at times when he spoke. "Can your helmet," He pointed in gesture towards the sniper's headgear, "Patch into JACK for a real time feed?"
"It's how I knew that it was sent ahead." Hawx replied automatically, glowing blue optics unblinking as they just stared at the corporal. "If you're inquiring as to whether or not the actual optic feed can be accessed through my helmet's systems; then yes, I can do that." The sniper's head turned slightly towards the direction in which Bartlet was positioned even though the building wall was in the way. There was a thirty second pause of silence that had Evans shifting nervously on his feet as he waited in his crouched position. There was a small series of rapid clicks that came from Hawxs' tac/com before the sniper finally spoke up, "Street's empty so far, lots of debris but nothing out of the ordinary. Give it another minute and we should get the all clear to move ahead."
Shaking his head, Evans peered out around the corner again with his gaze fixated on his sergeant. "When we get back to Jacinto, I'm gonna put in for one of 'em helmets." He muttered.
"It's not for everyone. I think you'd be surprised at how many people feel suffocated with these things on their heads after the enviro-seal locks you in. The HUD system itself can get a bit overwhelming at first, I've heard about guys vomiting on their first time using it." Hawx pointed out the slight con to the helmet that was on his head.
Evans snorted while watching for the signal from Bartlet, "Fuck that shit." He could only imagine the experience of having thrown up within your own helmet that was shut tight until the seal was broken. "I'll just stick to my own eyes and ears." He tensed suddenly as he caught sight of Bartlet's fist rising back into the air, calling for them to hold position. "Hawx, what the fuck is going on up there?" Evans didn't even chance a look over his shoulder.
Hawx was silent a moment before tilting his head ever so slightly. "JACK's stopped, but nothings being picked up on the scanners..." The sniper trailed off as something seemed to suddenly catch his attention, head cocking to the right as if listening to something interesting before snapping to attention as the ground started to rumble beneath their feet in a mild vibration.
The thin layer of dust that seemed to cover everything started to ripple with the tremor, its own movement dying as soon the tremor itself did. An eerie silence ensued, blanketing the street that Beta Squad now looked about in a somewhat startled manner. None of the five fully armored men dared to move any more than the mere turn of their eyes or the slightest inclination of their head as they waited. They were all ready to chalk the tremor up to just the collapse of some nearby building that had finally buckled under the unstable conditions it had been left in after whatever hell tore through the streets; however a second tremor that rocked the ground triggered a small trilling alarm to sound for all but two seconds within Hawxs' helmet.
Inside that strange helmet, the HUD system screens were glittering with the bright lime green statistics that scrawled and winked in various grid styles, feeding information to a pair of unblinking eyes that moved minutely from left to right in quick darting motions. Streamed real-time information from JACK scrawled down the left side of the helmet's HUD screen, brief bursts of outside images of the street far out of sight range flickering in every few seconds. Shit. Hawxs' bottom lip found itself snagged between teeth as one of the images fed in by JACK remained up as the little bot zoomed in on a rising plume of dust that was blossoming up from behind a barricade of upturned and mangled cars further down the street. The tac/com line for Beta Squad crackled as it opened, "Emergence Hole!"
The simultaneous click of Lancers locking and loading resounded deafly through the street as the Gears prepared for battle. Bartlet shot a free fist into the air and punched it forward as he signaled for his men to break cover and stack up behind his current position. Being the closest to the sergeant, Myles and Runnels dashed out from behind the car they had been shoulder slammed against and slid to a halt behind Bartlet with Lancers at the ready. Bartlet peered out from behind the corner of the building, eyes squinting to narrow his gaze on the dust cloud he could see thinning in the air with ears sensitive to the slightest sound he could pinpoint as belonging to a Locust Drone.
"Fuck my life." Evans grumbled while edging out slowly from cover, head turning briefly over his shoulder to note the sniper's current position was now no longer anywhere near him. Nearly stumbling in his next step as he reeled himself backwards, Evans spun about and stared after the smaller Gear as he disappeared down what remained of a narrow alleyway. "Where the hell is he going?!" The corporal snarled aloud in question before shaking his head roughly and ran off to join up with his squad mates. The fuck's he thinking? Flanking the Locust on his own?! Evans ran the possible answers through his head as he slammed up against the brick wall of the next building, nodding minutely at the half glance Runnels shot him from over the shoulder. Flanking them is a good idea, fucking brilliant even, but on his own? Fuck, I should have followed after him. A disgruntled groan escaped Evans as he mentally chastised himself.
"Hey! Where's Hawx?!" Myles voice suddenly picked up above the roaring din of Locust gunfire, gaining the redheaded Private a double-take from the corporal one person behind him.
"Flanking the enemy!" Evans shot back while glancing up quickly to catch sight of his sergeant pulling back behind the corner.
"We're pinned; there's too much heavy fire for us to pull cover and spread out!" Bartlet shouted to his men, dark eyes flickering to each face and noting the grim looks the pulled across them. His gaze settled on Evans as he noticed the lack of sniper presence in their midst. Immediately his brows furrowed as he gave the corporal a questioning glare, the mere shake of the corporal's head and side nod into the general direction of where the Locust had taken up position was all the answer Bartlet needed. "For fuck's sake, the guy barely survived a fucking Brumak attack." Bartlet grumbled under his breath, but meant his comment as a sort of recognition to the small Gears' inability to sit anything out and act on trained instinct. Tapping two fingers to the tac/com piece he had in his ear, Bartlet heard the click of the channel opening, "Hawx, where you at?"
"Setting up position above the enemy sir. We've got at least twelve Drones armed with Hammerburst Assaults and one Theron Guard with a Torque." There was a muffled sound of something shuffled and moved about before a dull thunk sounded next. "Give me at least ten seconds, you'll be able to spread across the street with a little less trouble."
Bartlet chuckled to himself before nodding shortly as he pressed his fingers against the tac/com again. "Roger that Hawx, waiting for your signal." The line clicked and the sergeant turned to his men with a rather satisfied smirk tugging at his thin lips. "Be ready to move! Myles, Runnels; when I give you the signal – " Bartlet's words were cut short as the distinct crack of a Longshot being fired rang out through the next street, the alarmed screech of the Locust shouting what sounded like "SNIPER!" following shortly after before a wild explosion of gunfire erupted.
"Shit that kid works fast!" Bartlet spluttered while peeking out from around the corner for a quick look, his quick glance giving him a rather decent view of a Locust Drones' head exploding from the back out. Pulling back, Bartlet looked to his men and jabbed a finger at Myles and Runnels and then hooked a thumb in gesture towards the opposite street corner, "Get yours asses across the street and set up position to push forward!"
The two nodded quickly as they pushed themselves up into crouched stances and darted across the street, keeping low and twitching slightly in response to the pop shots being aimed at them as they sprinted. Another loud crack and one of the Locust Drones that had turned its attention to the two Gears breaking cover, was now flailing miserably for a split second as its forehead exploded in a crimson spray that drenched the concrete with brain matter and skull fragments as it fell lifeless. The Hammerburst that it had been wielding was now sent skittering across the cracked street pavement before being snatched up by another Drone that attempted to continue fire on the newly acquired position the human soldiers had taken up. However, that didn't last long as another bullet from a Longshot nailed the Drone in the temple felling it quickly and brining the Locust numbers down to nine.
Pressing his right shoulder into the crumbling red brick of the building, Bartlet aimed his Lancer the best he could from corner cover and opened fire on the Locust that were torn between seeking out the sniper that was slowly picking them off and the four Gears that were unleashing Lancer fire on them now from two positions. Hitting one knee as he moved forward to kneel immediately at Bartlet's right, Evans hugged tight against his sergeant's leg as he leaned forward out around the corner with eye squinting through the Lancer's sight as he pulled the trigger for a quick burst of fire. The commanding hiss of the Theron Guard could barely be picked up amongst the chaotic noises that were engulfing the small street, but it appeared as though the commanding Locust split what remained of its own troops up into two groups with different objectives. One group focused on the Gears they had originally been firing on at the start while the second group attempted to pick out the sniper that had claimed yet another headshot on their numbers.
The Theron Guard hissed angrily as blood and brain matter splattered itself across the hem of its armored robes, its helmeted head snapping upwards as it tried to pinpoint the location of the sniper. Its best estimate was taken and with a quick pull of the trigger, the Theron Guard let fly an explosive bolt that struck the front side corner of the building that loomed over him and the Drones he commanded. Half a second after the bolt dug deep into the concrete structure it detonated and sent an explosion of debris out in a fanning spray that rained down upon the street. Another hiss escaped the Theron Guards lip lacking mouth as it realized its calculated estimate had been wrong and yet another Drone hit the ground in a slump.
"FRAG!" A Drone bellowed from the front where it worked to kill the GEARs out on the street.
Too late. The deafening explosion that followed the two foot clatter and roll of the frag grenades' landing managed to do two things – kill several Locust immediately as it had been literally right at their feet, and injury a few others with sprayed shrapnel that tore into anything not covered by their crude armor. One Locust snarled and howled angrily as it raked fingers over its own eyes fiercely, forgetting even where it was and what was going on as it stood upright in full exposure from cover. It's thrashing and snarled curses were cut short as both Myles and Runnels pumped its body with half a clip each. Another crack and another injured Locust hit the ground with half its head missing from its neck. The group of thirteen that had appeared from the Emergence Hole had now drastically dwindled down to a meager two Drones and the still standing Theron Guard.
"HAWX! TAKE THAT SON OF A BITCH DOWN!" Bartlet bellowed into the tac/com as a shot from the Theron Guard's Torque Bow exploded right at the center point between the two pairs that had take up either corner.
As if all that was needed for the Theron Guard to be killed, the Longshot cracked as it opened fire, the bullet nailing the commanding Locust right between the eyes and dropping it with its own rain of grizzly death. The second the Theron Guards' body hit the ground the remaining two Drones stared with slack jaws at their dead commander before exchanging looks between one another as gunfire continued to pound on their cover. One Drone snarled in frustration as it loosened a grenade from its belt and stood as it began swinging the small weapon in a quick rotation to give it a furthering momentum after being tossed at the GEARs. The action was too slow on the Drones' part as the well aimed bullet from the Longshot hit the grenade its spin and detonated the explosive object right in its hand. The remaining Drone hissed and back-pedaled up against the barricade as it watched its last standing comrade become nothing more than a mangled gelatinous mess from the waist up as it fell to the ground.
Staring in disbelief at what had happened so quickly, the Drone was unaware of the two Gears that were rushing up on its location until it was too late. The screeching buzz of the Lancer's chainsaw bayonet revved loudly before Runnels brought it down across the back of the Drones' head. Squinting his eyes as tightly as possible without sacrificing his own sight, Runnels pressed his lips firmly together to keep the spraying blood and tissue that was being thrown up into the air with the Locusts' squeals as its head was torn apart by the bayonet. Turning his head slightly to avoid as much of the mess as he was making, Runnels released the chainsaws' trigger and stomped a foot down against the barricade wall as he wrenched the bayonet out of the skull it had wedged itself into.
"Fuck, Runnels." Myles chuckled while clapping his buddy on the shoulder after stepping up beside him. "Trying to earn the award for best bayonet kill or what?" He teased while taking in the sight of the mangled Drone that was slightly twitching on the other side of the barricade.
The redhead laughed aloud while hoisting his Lancer up across the front of his shoulder while using his free hand to wipe away the blood and gore that stuck to his face. "Nah, just felt like cracking this bitch in the skull. Fucking assholes think they can pin us down; fuck that!" He grinned, flicking his wrist to be rid of the gunk he had cleaned off his face.
Myles hooted while clapping Runnels on the shoulder again, shaking his head as he surveyed the litter of Locust corpses that lay strewn about the small space they had crammed themselves into after popping out of the Emergence Hole. "Gotta give it up to that Hawx though, little fucker took the bigger chunk out of this group." Myles' gaze flickered over to the dead Theron Guard and both brows shot up, "Fucking-A! He nailed a Theron Guard right between the eyes!"
Runnels smirked as he glanced over at the dead body, "Son of a bitch." He shook his head while hopping over the barricade, careful to avoid the mess he had made out of the last Drone. Wiping the back of his hand across his brow as he could still feel the blood and matter clinging there, Runnels walked over to the lifeless body of the Theron Guard, crouching beside it as he neared and jabbed a fist at its head. "I hate these fucking things, always hissing, and fucking hard as shit to take down with all that goddamn armor." Another jab at the head and Runnels sneered at the elite Locust before catching sight of the discarded Torque Bow that lay just out of hands reach to the Theron Guard. His lips twitched at the left corner as he stood up and shuffled two steps before bending down to pick up the alien weapon.
"Hawx, you alright?" Bartlet stood out in the open, having left cover once he saw Runnels slam his chainsaw bayonet down on to the remaining Locust, he had two fingers pressed to the tac/com as he scanned the skyline for wherever the sniper had taken up residence. He had heard the several explosions that had happened, knowing that the Theron Guard was more than likely armed with a Torque Bow and trying to pick the sniper out.
"I'm good; coming street side now." Hawx returned while the sounds of movement and the heavy huff a strained breath followed along with his response.
Bartlet nodded his head as he adjusted his hold on the Lancer and started towards where Runnels and Myles were, "Roger that." He quirked a brow as he approached the two Gears, who were currently laughing aloud at some shared joke that Bartlet had obviously missed. "Runnels, nice work." Bartlet congratulated his soldier, a hearty slap to the younger man's back that caused the redhead to stumble forward a step and cough from the sudden force that struck him. The sergeant smirked while surveying the handy work that he and his squad had dished out on the Locust. A rather amused look alighted across his worn face as he noticed the single shots to the middle of the forehead on a few of the Drones. "Bastards never saw it coming." He mused while kicking one in the jaw before turning at the sound of a door scraping across the ground as it opened on squealing hinges.
Hawx stepped out of the dark hole that he had managed to pick his way towards through the obstacle course that the inside of the building had been turned into thanks in part to a partial cave-in. The sniper merely waved at the Gears that stared at him, half salutes and a nod of the head were returned to the sniper as he crossed the small gap to stand with his new squad mates. "Nice finish there Runnels." Hawx nodded over at the Drone that had met its end at the teeth of the private's chainsaw bayonet.
The redhead merely waved the compliment off with a shrug of the shoulder, a smirk playing along his mouth as he enjoyed the compliments of his handy work. "Yeah, well, nothing compared to that wicked shot you took." He hefted up the Torque Bow he had nabbed from the street and tossed it over to the sniper, who thankfully enough had relocated his Longshot to the magnetic clamp on his back and freed up his hands. "I don't how in the fucking blue hell you managed to aim and pull that shot off, but hitting that grenade in the Drones' hand was pretty sick." Noting the odd manner in which Hawx tilted his helmeted head to the side while glancing from the Torque Bow he now held and the Gear that had thrown it, Runnels chuckled. "Consider it a usable souvenir."
Evans laughed aloud and shook his head as he watched Hawx shrug and check the weapon over before attaching it to the lower magnetic clamp that was strapped about the back of the snipers' utility belt. "Fuck, a sniper like Hawx with a Torque Bow; shit, why don't we just fucking storm the Hollow now and end the war."
Even Bartlet had to laugh at that.