Jason was already beginning to like Enzo. He'd explained the nature of the situation to the big Elite while leading him towards the next nav marker. It was pointing them towards a house, and by now, they were making their way into what passed for a residential zone in Voi. They'd encountered an increasing number of Covenant patrols and Jason was glad to see that Enzo was just as good at stealth as he was. Maybe more.
They were currently making their way across backyards, past derelict swing sets and abandoned collections of toys. Enzo was telling him a story, quietly, to pass the time.
"I was on what you Humans refer to as Delta Halo," he confided.
"What was it like?" Jason replied. He'd heard of the Halos, and of the Flood.
Enzo looked grave. "It was...brutal. I lost many brethren there, combating the Parasite. When the Rebellion came...it was easy for me to make the transfer. My faith was already crumbling...it had never been very strong to begin with. When I came of age, I began to question the Prophets...but not openly. Only in my mind. To do so is death in the Covenant," Enzo explained.
The story as all too familiar to Jason, who, when he was younger, read up on many religions and religious crusades that required complete and utter faith.
It creeped him out.
"When did you hear about the Rebellion?"
This was something that had interested him greatly when he'd heard about it. The Elites he had talked to about it seemed only too happy to relay their split from the Covenant. A good sign, as far as he was concerned.
"I was on a frozen field, holding out against the Parasite. There was already talk among my peers, and, of course, the Brutes had been entrusted with the security of our leaders. That was the root, the seed, that caused the Rebellion. The spark that ignited it, however, was when word came that the Brutes had begun opening fire on the Elites. Their betrayal cost them dearly..." Enzo fell silent as they heard the unmistakeable sound of a Banshee. Enzo's head snapped up. He and Jason took cover underneath a porch awning.
"Wonderful," Jason growled.
They waited for it to pass and then hurried along. As they pressed on down the backyards, it became obvious that they were wandering into enemy territory. Jason carefully crept up to the street to get a view and spotted a Covenant blockade at an intersection.
It looked heavily fortified.
"Now what?" he mumbled.
"We have one of two choices," Enzo stated calmly, reaching for the plasma pistol on his belt. "Stealth or combat. Which would you prefer?" Jason considered it. An ODST and an Elite against a big group of Covenant?
He shrugged. "Ah hell, let's go for combat," he replied.
Enzo grinned darkly. "I was hoping you would say that."
He raised the plasma pistol, charged it and then fired off a shot as the Banshee made another pass. It immediately lost power and began to plummet towards the earth. Jason barely managed to get out of the way as it hit dirt and carved a deep groove in the backyard they were in. Enzo stalked up to it, pried it open and shot the Brute manning it twice in the head before yanking the body out.
"I shall provide cover from the sky!" Enzo called as he climbed into the Banshee, ignoring the blood.
Jason grinned as he watched it take off. Yeah, he was definitely beginning to like this Elite. He started making his way down the backyards until he had reached the intersection. Already, he could see that Enzo had garnered the attention of a trio of rival Banshees. As Jason scouted the competition, he saw one of the Banshees explode and fall flaming from the sky. When he spotted the Wraith Tank, he tossed together his plan.
Jason hurled all of the grenades he had on him into the midst of the Covenant and bolted for the Wraith. A pair of his plasma grenades connected to a hovering sniper tower and exploded, sending pieces of flaming debris raining down all over the outpost. The Tank was unmanned and, in all the confusion, Jason easily boarded and activated it. He immediately opened fire, blasting a group of Brutes into nothingness.
It was about the time he fired the third shot that the remaining Covenant began to get their shit together. They returned fire, took cover and began to throw grenades. Jason fired a fourth time, completely demolishing a group of Jackals attempting to form a shield wall. He saw something bright flying through the air and, a few seconds later, felt the Tank shudder violently.
"Crap," he muttered.
This wouldn't last forever. He fired a fifth ball of plasma, demolishing a pair of Ghosts that the Brutes were trying to get into. Another plasma grenade attached to the Tank and exploded. Several of the screens began to turn red and flicker. Jason growled. He fired off another shot, sending Brutes flying, then got out of the Wraith. As he dropped to the ground and began running, the Tank exploded in a brilliant show of sparks and blue-white fire.
The blast sent him sprawling to the ground.
He rolled over, and screamed. A Banshee was falling from the sky, half-destroyed, directly towards him. Jason rolled and narrowly avoided the twisted, burning metal vehicle. As he crawled to his feet, he barely managed to jump back out of the path of a charging Brute. He turned his SMG on it and stitched a bloody line up its back until he split its big ugly skull open. The huge alien crashed to the ground mid-charge.
Jason turned his attention to the remainder of the Covenant. They were scattered, some of them running. He began mowing them down, reloading his SMG and putting down Grunts and Jackals alike. By the time he'd finished cleaning them up, he'd scooped up another few grenades and found an untouched Ghost among the chaos. Mounting up, he noticed that the skies were clear: Enzo had demolished all the Banshees.
And come out on top.
"More Brutes ahead! I'll cover you from the skies!" Enzo cried over their comm link.
Jason responded positively and gunned it, bringing the Ghost down the street and towards another group of Covenant. He opened fire on their position and when he came within plowing distance, he gunned it, kicking in the boosters.
The Ghost smashed through a group of Grunts and Jackals, sending them flying like ninepins. He brought it around just in time to see a pair of Brutes being sent flying by a fuel rod round from Enzo's Banshee. He laughed easily, bringing the Ghost forward. There really was nothing like this kind of business.
With Enzo's help, he managed to mop up the resistance with relative ease, only taking a few stray shots that pinged off his armor. When all of the Covenant in the area were dead, Enzo brought the Banshee down, saying that it had been severely damaged and to continue flying it would be to risk death unreasonably. Jason couldn't argue with that. As he approached the house with the nav marker pulsing above it, he rolled over a knocked down supply crate with his foot. It held exactly what he was hoping it would hold.
"Here," he said, passing a beam rifle to Enzo.
The Elite accepted it, slinging his carbine. Jason had had a lot of experience with sniping, and wished he found himself in more instances to put the skill to use. Being up close and personal was fun and all, because, hey, at this point, after years of killing, killing and more killing, and then not dying, you had to find some fun in what you did. But picking bad guys off from a distance was its own form of pleasure.
He and Enzo kicked their way into the house and hunted around for a few moments before they located the shard. It had been tucked away into a personal terminal on the second story, in someone's bedroom. It began downloading when he came within range and Jason approached the window, staring out it, down at the aftermath of the battle. He spotted a lone Jackal on approach, raised his rifle and fired off a shot.
The Jackal's head was torn in half in a plume of blood and it collapsed to the ground, its shield extinguishing. Jason kept the beam rifle raised and ready for another minute before decided that either the Jackal was alone or its friends had been scared off. He kept watch out one window while Enzo stood at the other.
"So...how'd you get to Earth?" Jason asked.
"As I said before, I was deeply entranced in the snowy fields against the Parasite. It took...quite a while to get out. But help eventually did come for us. What few were left were picked up by a Phantom piloted by Elites who had heard our call for assistance. And some do recognize my name..." Enzo trailed off.
"Why's that?" Jason asked. Enzo was silent for several more seconds, and Jason realized it was because Enzo had done things he didn't want to hear about. Well, that made enough sense. He decided not to push the issue.
There was a soft chime, indicating that the third shard had been successfully downloaded.
"All right, let's move on," Jason said, heading out of the room.
Enzo followed silently. They made their way down and out of the house, coming to stand on the street of broken corpses and vehicles. The next nav marker appeared, another three kliks away, at a military outpost. Jason wondered if he'd actually have some damned help this time around. Well, besides Enzo, obviously.
They began to set off towards it when a tremendous explosion rocked the city.