Both looked at the Hunter one more time to see it running up to them, but upon spotting them peeking over the destroyed vehicle, the armored behemoth stopped in its tracks and raised its Fuel Rod Cannon.
The two Shock Troopers wasted no time priming their Grenades simultaneously and tossing them at the monster's feet. They got back down and felt the ground shake when a loud BOOM erupted from behind their cover. Jason peeked at it one more time to see the beast staggering to stay upright as chunks of its armor had fallen off. He used the momentary distraction to barrage the Hunter's exposed weak points with his Plasma Pistol, firing as fast as the trigger would allow, and hitting it in various places, most of which were now unprotected and made it growl in pain as dozens of Lekgolo worms fell to the ground dead, before finishing off with a charged up shot that unfortunately homed in on the alien's armored chest, not quite where Jason had intended.
The ODST sank back down behind cover while the Hunter charged up its own weapon in response, as if to say was that your best shot?
Both humans heard what sounded like an elephant being violated with a tuba and were almost crushed by the warthog that suddenly lurched forward from the sheer force of the beam of energy from the Hunter's Fuel Rod Cannon, until it was finally sawed in half by the beam, narrowly missing the two Marines on either side of it.
"You take right, I'll take left," said Greg."
Jason nodded, and the two Shock Troopers jumped out of cover and charged the Hunter, weapons firing. An act which the Covenant Mgalekgolo clearly did not expect, and was hit in several unprotected areas as it charged up its killing weapon. But by the time it was ready to fire, the black armored humans had gotten too close, so the alien charged forward and swung it's shield at the unhelmeted human's head.
Jason ducked in time to avoid losing his head, literally, and then rolled forward to gain some distance from the Hunter which he was now behind. Greg had jumped to the side when the Hunter swung at Jason and also found himself behind it. Both Marines wasted no time leveling their weapons and unloading at the exposed worm colony that made up the behemoth's form.
A short cacophony of silenced gun shots and plasma bursts later, the Mgalekgolo fell to the ground. The surviving worms that made up its mass scattered, leaving behind only bits of armor and a Fuel Rod Cannon too heavy for the humans to use, which was most likely what the weapon's creators had intended.
The two Marines took a few seconds to catch their breath and then ran over to the dead Grunts and Jackals from the earlier firefight and pocketed anything useful.
Greg placed two Plasma Grenades into his pack and snatched a grunt's Plasma Pistol, having seen it's potential from fighting the Hunter, while Jason dropped the Plasma Pistol he'd been carrying, picked up three Plasma Grenades and a Covenant Carbine a Jackal had dropped. Its 18 shot energy pack was full and there were two more packs in the Jackal's pouch, giving him a total of 54 shots. He then noticed a black helmet lying in the grass, next to a crater, and picked it up. Sure enough, it was his helmet, but the visor was smashed and it was cracked on the side, most likely from the first grenade he'd tossed, making the helmet useless, so he simply dropped it where he found it.
"Found another one," said Greg, holding up a second Carbine.
"How much ammo you got for it?" asked Jason.
"The clip in the weapon is half empty, I'd say 9 shots, but I got one more clip to go with it, so I'd say about...27 shots."
"Make that 45," replied Jason, tossing one of his Carbine Packs to Greg.
That left him with 36 shots, but added to Greg's 45, that gave them both a total of 81. More than enough to get the job done.
"What about you? Do ya got everything you need?" asked Greg.
"I still have 36 shots, and I also found my helmet, but it's busted. Other than that, I'm good to go. How bout you?"
"All set here, now let's get to a safe spot before anymore show up," replied Greg.
"Alright, but keep a look out for the other Hunter," said Jason.
"Eh?" asked Greg.
"Remember? There's always a second one," continued Jason.
Both ODSTs paused to listen and heard a faint clattering. As it got slightly louder, they turned to where it was coming from and saw another Mgalekgolo appear from behind a large hill, right next to them. It took them under 3 seconds to piece it all together: While they were dealing with the first Hunter at the foot of the big hill, the second one ran up the flight of stairs on the hill and dropped down behind it so it could flank them.
Upon seeing the black armored soldiers standing next to the remains of its bond brother, the second Hunter roared in anger and immediately charged up it's Fuel Rod Cannon.
"Split up!" shouted Jason, charging right while Greg ran to the left, neither looking back.
The Hunter was momentarily confused, unable to figure out who to target and the energy beam shot across the open field harmlessly.
Greg ran around to the staircase on the big hill and got halfway up to find a drinking fountain, undamaged, and was tempted to try it, but turned back to make sure Jason was okay.
Jason sprinted back to the remains of their warthog and got behind the bigger half just as another energy beam tore at it, nearly turning it over from the sheer force of the impact. Then he heard what sounded like laser shots.
Jaojaojaojao...
Greg fired off several rounds from his Carbine at the Hunter's exposed back, burning through numerous Lekgolo worms with each pull of the trigger.
The Hunter whirled around and fired its charged weapon at the ODST.
Greg saw the green glow at the end of the weapon and wasted no time scrambling up the second half of the staircase to the top of the hill, though he did look back in time to see the drinking fountain disintegrate from the Fuel Rod Cannon's energy beam and swore under his breath.
Jason didn't see what was going on, but he did hear a Fuel Rod shot being fired away from him and looked up to see a glowing crater where Greg had been only seconds before. It took him several seconds to register that Greg was gone. There was no way he coud have survived that, and he didn't see his partner anywhere.
Now he knew how the second Hunter felt, but it was irrelevant. This was a fight to the finish and the only thing that mattered was who survived- and it wasn't going to be this can of worms. He leveled his carbine, lined up the scope until he got a good view of the hunter's exposed back, made up entirely of orange worms, and pulled the trigger as rapidly as he could, roasting dozens within the first second and a half.
Greg, who had been watching the hunter from the safety of a bush, watched the monster whirl around, back at Jason to retaliate. Now was his chance.
He pulled out one of his salvaged plasma grenades and threw it at the Mgalekgolo's back. It didn't seem to notice. He then leveled his Carbine, a fresh clip already locked and loaded.
The Hunter was about to fire when it was engulfed by a bright blue flash, accompanied by a loud bang that had an electric crackle to it. But the initial explosion caused a chain reaction that ignited the Fuel Rod Cannon, which exploded with the force of at least 4 shoulder mounted Fuel Rod Guns.
Jason had fired at the Hunter until it turned around, and chose that moment to crouch back down behind the warthog wreckage, praying it would hold out against the next barrage, but instead of the elephant/tuba noise, all he got was a loud crash like thunder. When he looked back at the Hunter, there wasn't much left of it, except for a few charred bits of it's armor in the middle of a green glowing crater. He also noticed its Fuel Rod Cannon was nowhere to be found. Perhaps it exploded, which would certainly explain the bright green crater, but what caused the explosion?
Before he could ponder on that further, however, he saw something rise out of the bushes at the top of the hill, above where the second Hunter had been attacking him from. He aimed the scope at the silhouette and saw a familiar looking helmet.
Greg.
He ran behind the hill and ran up the slope beside the road that led to the top of the hill until he was behind his partner. Or at least he would have been, had the ODST not seen him coming.
"Took you long enough."
Jason crouched down beside Greg.
"Was it you that took out the hunter?" he asked.
"He narrowly missed me when he took out that fountain on the staircase, so I got up here, right over the hunter, who apparently thought I was dead, and used the distraction you'd created to stick him with a plasma while his back was turned, but it looks like the Fuel Rods on his big gun didn't take kindly to plasma discharge, so it had the resulting chain reaction, as you can see," explained Greg.
"I thought for sure you bit the dust, no pun intended," said Jason, looking around at the dusty landscape.
"Why? Miss me?" asked Greg, making kissing noises at Jason.
"Hell no, I just needed someone to grovel at my mad pistol skillz," retorted the ODST.
"Well I just saved your ass by taking out a Hunter, all by my lonesome, so we're even," chuckled Greg.
"Touche'"
Jason then got down on his stomach and crawled toward the destroyed staircase, looking through his Carbine scope at the building nearby. Most of the building was shaped like a Covenant Spirit Dropship with two smaller square buildings in front of, and beside it, both connected to the main building via open walkways on top. He'd also looked just in time to see something big disappear behind the main building, too big to be a Grunt or a Jackal, and too fast to be a Hunter. That meant it was either a Brute or an Elite.
"See anything?" asked Greg, watching their flank.
"I think I saw a Brute or Elite hide behind the main part of the building, over on the right," replied Jason.
"Probably a Brute. Elites lead their squads into battle. Brutes hang back and let the smaller guys clear the mine fields, so to speak," analyzed Greg.
"I sure hope so. Elites creep me out," said Jason.
"Same here," replied Greg, "Elites are cunning tacticians and skilled warriors who prefer sneaking up on their enemies, whereas Brutes just like to mop up surviviors and only attack from the front."
"Exactly. At least now we know why Elites and Brutes hate eachother," pondered Jason.
"Wouldn't it be ironic if the Elites broke away from the Covenant and joined us for no apparent reason?" said Greg, smirking behind his visor.
"Pfff, like that's ever gonna happen," chuckled Jason.
"I just hope our extraction does happen," said Greg, looking back through his visor.
"Speaking of which, how much time do we got left?" asked Jason.
"Eleven and a half minutes," replied Greg, flatly.
"...see anything?" asked Jason, his response as unenthusiastic as Greg's.
"The tunnel entrance down beside us is all clear. You?"
"Haven't seen anything emerge from that building yet. Good thing we picked this spot," replied Jason.
"Oh by the way, do you got any water on you?" asked Greg.
"Nah, I'm all dry." said Jason.
"You don't know the half of it," muttered Greg under his breath, not having had anything to drink since that morning. This was gonna be a long wait.
(...)
After what seemed like 10 minutes, Jason was curious.
"How many minutes left?" he asked.
"About 9," said Greg.
Jason would have complained, but he didn't have the energy for it. Then they heard a faint humming sound.
"You hear that?" asked Greg.
"I was about to ask you the same," replied Jason.
The humming grew louder. Perhaps it was a Pelican, or a Vulture, and they would soon be out of here. All the humming needed was a unique whoosh that came only with the turbo engines of a UNSC airship. As it got closer, however, the humming grew louder in volume, but it remained the same. No whooshing sound.
That meant it was time to haul ass.
"Bail!" said Jason, getting up from his prone position and running down the wrecked staircase, Greg close behind.
The two ODSTs charged across the field toward the building. They both knew concrete wouldn't do much against plasma turrets, but it was better than facing them out in the open.
The humming grew substantially louder as they ran, and they were right at the nearest outer building at the back end of the main building when they heard plasma bursts behind them. The Phantom wasn't nearby, it was already upon them. Right over the hill they'd been on only moments before.
Both Shock Troopers made it around the first corner just as the plasma glassed the sand where they'd been running. They seemed to have a habit of getting out of harm's way in the nick of time. Jason shuddered to think of what would have happened had they stayed on the hill.
Greg turned around and noticed they were leaning against a platform slightly higher than they were, and as luck would have it, there was another drinking fountain on top of it.
"Happy day!" said Greg, hoisting himself up over the platform, ripping off his helmet, and sipping greedily at the water that sprayed out of the nozzle.
Jason also climbed up and sipped some water from the smaller fountain next to the one Greg was using until he was full. He then stopped to avoid getting so full of water that he would puke just from running, and splashed some water all over his face and head, getting relief from the heat. Greg did the same and put his helmet back on. Then they turned to their left and ran up the staircase attached to what had turned out to be some kind of garage and got to the top, their Carbines raised, but they found nothing.
They turned back to see the dropship leaving, but in it's place was a squad of Grunts and Jackals, led by a blue armored, gorilla like Jiralhanae, aka, a Brute, all of them scampering down the hill toward the Humans.
"Let's get in the shade," said Greg, pointing to the main building, which had a sun roof over it.
"I agree," replied Jason, getting the hint.
They ran across the walkway, went underneath the sun roof, and saw not one, but two Brutes guarding the entrance to the building's plaza down below the staircase next to the two Shock Troopers. Behind the Brutes was a warthog that looked to be on it's last legs, and beside the warthog were two dead Marines. Over to the right of the warthog was an open doorway to some kind of room, the inside of which the ODSTs could not see, but it probably had more dead humans in it. Humans murdered by the Brutes and their mindless slaves who the ODSTs had already massacred back on the field. Fortunately for those same ODSTs, the Brutes guarding the outside of the building were looking away from them, thinking the humans would try to go around to flank them from behind, rather than charge straight at them.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" whispered Greg.
"Time for a game of snowball," chuckled Jason, pulling out a Plasma Grenade.
"You take right, I take left," whispered Greg.
He ran to the left aisle, stopping right over the Brute guarding the left corner of the plaza while Jason went to the right until he was standing over the other Brute guarding the opposite corner. They held out their Plasma Grenades, armed them, and simply dropped the bright blue balls on their equally blue targets. Greg's grenade landed on the left Brute's back and he looked around, wondering where the humming noise was coming from, while Jason, ever the sharpshooter, dropped his on the right Brute's helmet. The alien immediately realized the peril it was in and tried desparately to claw off its helmet, which was strapped to its head.
"No! NOO! GET IT OFF! GET IT-" BOOM!
Both Brutes exploded simultaneously.
Greg busted out laughing, both at the humorous display, and from relief that they'd single handedly killed two Brutes before the creatures could do the same to them.
Jason ran down the stairs and got on the warthog's mini-gun turret.
"You drive, I'll shoot!" he shouted to Greg as he ran down the stairs.
"I sure hope that thing can get us out of here, it looks like it's being held together with cement tape," said Greg as he climbed into the warthog and activated it's engine...or at least tried to. The engine made no sound.
"Dead," said Greg, his voice full of dread.
"So are we," replied Jason.
Greg hopped out of the warthog.
"Looks like we're stuck here until the Pelican arrives in about 7 and a half minutes," he said, running inside the room on the hog's right.
After several clicking noises, he ran back out with a fully loaded MA37 Assault Rifle, and several extra ammo clips in his pack.
Jason hopped off the turret and picked up one of the dead Marines' MA37s.
"Better take an extra while you're at it," said Jason, tossing the rifle to his friend.
Greg caught it with his free hand and continued running up the staircase and took cover behind a large supply crate to the left of the stairs, a rifle in each hand.
Jason may have had unmatched skill with his pistol, but Greg was notorious for being able to fire two Assault Rifles at once and still hit his targets with accuracy. He made sure both were loaded and working right and then noticed the marking on the crate he was hiding behind: MREs. Looked like fate had decided to throw them a bone, after all, or as Jason might have put it; God was feeling generous.
Jason checked the turret he was operating and was satisfied with its condition. Either the Brutes had planned to use it themselves if need be, or they didn't think destroying it was worth the effort. Either way, it would cost their allies dearly.
He waited quietly until he could hear light chattering getting closer. Obviously Grunts. He just hoped they didn't have their grenades ready when they entered the plaza, or he'd be in big trouble.
The chattering was getting slightly louder and he could almost make out what they were saying, until finally, he saw two orange Grunts appear from the right, and three more coming from the left, two orange, one red.
The ODST said a quick prayer for himself and his partner, and waited a few seconds as the methane breathers seemed to be focused on the charred Brutes and the dead Marines lying beside the vehicle, but then one stopped in front of the hog and looked up to see the vehicle's turret not only manned by a human, but pointing right at him.
"WHOA!" he squeaked, jumping a full foot into the air.
Not hesistating any further, Jason pulled down the trigger.