Banshee
"How much further, man?" Hayden asked, making no attempt to keep his voice low.
"Be quiet, you idiot!" Sydney replied through gritted teeth.
The two troopers rushed to the closest building and took cover behind a wall. They didn't see any Covenant soldiers nearby, but that didn't mean there weren't any. Especially when some of them could just straight-up turn invisible.
"The hogs got ambushed at the intersection of Mason and Hudson street," Sydney reminded Hayden. "Just a couple more blocks and we'll make it."
The sound of gunfire came from an uncomfortably close distance, startling the two troopers. Each shot was loud, and shook the ground underneath their feet. Thankfully, it was a UNSC gun, but they had no idea what it was shooting at.
"Come on, let's cut through the building," Hayden said.
"I thought you wanted to get there quickly," said Sydney.
Hayden found a door in the back of the building. It was locked, but the doors on civilian buildings were easy to unlock without a key. All it took was a firm kick from Hayden, and the door fell open.
"Not that hard, see?" Hayden said. "Let's go, this'll barely slow us down."
Sydney sighed, and followed him inside. They entered what seemed like a large, fancy office building. It was a nice place, but Sydney couldn't imagine going there just to sit at a computer and work all day, every day.
"Civvies sure do have it easy," Hayden said, trying to keep his voice down for once.
"They have it boring, I'd say," said Sydney.
Hayden carefully opened the door to the next room, which was the building's entrance. It was a large room with windows at the front that extended from the floor to the ceiling, giving them a perfect view of the street outside.
Right outside the entrance was one of the many anti-air guns the UNSC army had placed around the city. Every few seconds it turned to face some target in the air that neither of the troopers could see, and it fired.
"Who the hell puts an AA gun between a bunch of skyscrapers?" Sydney asked.
"Us I guess," Hayden said with a shrug. "Guess they wanted to cover every possible angle."
"Well it didn't fucking work because one of those banshees took out two of our hogs."
"Hey, save your bitterness for the hinge-heads, alright?"
"I'll be bitter as much as I fucking want."
The two troopers snuck through the building's entrance. Even though most of the fighting still remained in the city's outskirts, they didn't want to take the chance of running into an elite.
They hid behind a receptionist counter. Neither of them saying anything, but both having the same thought: they couldn't move into the street as long as that gun was shooting at something. If there was a Covenant vehicle in the air, it was going to shoot them the first chance it got.
So they waited. And they waited.
And then a massive explosion blew out their ear drums, and shattered the glass at the entrance. The two huddled with their hands covering their necks like they were in a bomb drill until the glass stopped flying, and they looked over the counter in unison.
The anti-air gun was in pieces, but that wasn't the only thing. Parts of a Covenant banshee were scattered across the street. They had to assume whatever was piloting it was in pieces too.
"Think that was the one that hit our hogs?" Hayden asked.
"I sure hope so," Sydney said through gritted teeth. Whether or not it was, that was still another alien bastard down.
"Come on let's go get those hogs," Hayden said, rushing over the counter.
"Hey wait a fucking minute!" Sydney shouted, though he didn't have a choice but to chase after Hayden.
Hayden rushed across the street, and kicked open the door to the next building. Sydney had never seen the man run so fast, he had to push himself to his limits to keep up with him.
"What the hell are you doing, man?" Sydney asked as they moved through another office building. "We need to tell the Sergeant, these warthogs are lost!"
"No they're not, they're right out there!" Hayden said.
Sydney had to grab Hayden's shoulder and pull him back to get him to slow down. As good as it was being eager to kick back against the hinge-heads and help the UNSC, the man was going to get himself killed.
"We've lost our air cover," Sydney said. "If another banshee comes through here, we're toast. Would you rather the UNSC lose two warthogs and two troopers, or just the two warthogs?"
"I don't want to head back there empty handed," Hayden said. "We need those heavy weapons. And if we show up with nothing and tell them we had to turn tail and run, they're gonna think we're cowards!"
"Picking your battles is not cowardice, buddy," Sydney said. "It's better to live to fight another day, than to die not fighting at all."
Sydney looked over Hayden's shoulder and through the window at the front of the building. The two warthogs were there, each one scorched with plasma fire. Dead troopers sat in each of the seats, and were scattered on the ground around them.
One warthog was a troop transport which carried a huge load of rocket launchers. They were meant for the troopers fighting in the outskirts, but clearly they never made it. The other warthog was armed with a chaingun on the back, it was there just for escort duty.
"Hey, I'll tell you what," Sydney said. "We get as much of those rockets onto the other warthog as we can, then I'll get on that gun and give us some cover. We'll take the hog back to the squad and get them what they need."
"I get the gun," Hayden said with a smirk. "Then you have a deal."
"Fine, deal. Let's get going."
The area where the warthogs had been taken out was mostly devoid of cover; it made sense that a banshee had been able to see them and take them out. They had been so close to getting behind the cover of the skyscrapers, but they didn't get far enough.
"Alright, let's make this quick," Sydney said.
Sydney and Hayden climbed into the back of the transport hog. Several cases of rockets, as well as eight M41 SPNKr rocket launchers would need to be moved over. Only a two man job if it didn't matter how long it took.
A single SPNKr was heavy enough as it was, but each of them carried two at a time, making two trips to bring all of them along. They stuffed them in the passenger seat of the chaingun warthog.
Sydney watched the sky after lifting a case of rockets onto the back of the chaingun warthog. Banshees and phantoms swarmed the north side of the city. They were hardly visible under the shadow of the giant Covenant cruiser sitting above the city, but Sydney could see them if he squinted hard enough.
The north side of Kujo City was where most of the fighting took place outside of the outskirts. The cruiser was sending down drop pods and vehicles to take out the anti-air defences there, while the rest of the Covenant forces landed outside the city and pushed into the outskirts on the east and south sides.
"I don't think this thing can hold much more," Hayden said after setting down another rocket case at the back of the warthog. "And this gun is barely gonna be able to move."
"Alright, let's leave the rest," Sydney said. "If the sarge bitches at us we can just make another trip."
"Easier said than done."
Sydney climbed into the driver's side of the warthog, while Hayden turned the gun around. He wasn't going to be able to move it as freely as normal, as the back was crowded with the rocket cases.
"You good back there?" Sydney asked.
"Just peachy," said Hayden. "Let's go."
Sydney pressed his foot on the gas pedal, and the warthog took off. The thing had taken a beating, but it worked just as good as any brand new warthog would. Sturdy bastard, Sydney thought, that's why I love you.
In mere seconds, they were in the cover of the skyscrapers. The rest of their unit wasn't far, but it would still take a while for them to get there. At least it's better than walkin'.
"So you think we have as much of a chance of winning this as those ONI bigshots think?" Hayden asked.
"Just because I let you have the gun doesn't mean you can talk to me," Sydney said.
"Jeez, my bad."
The destroyed anti-air gun caught Sydney's eye as they drove past it. Something about a banshee sacrificing itself to take out an AA gun in a part of the city that wasn't under siege yet didn't sit right with him.
"Hey, don't those banshees usually travel in pairs?" Sydney asked.
"Oh, so you can talk to me?" Hayden responded.
"Just answer the fucking question."
"Yeah, they do."
"Then where's the other one?"
Sydney wanted to look up and search the sky for wherever the other banshee could be, but he couldn't take his eyes off the road. Civilian vehicles were still parked along the streets, some had even left their cars in the middle of the road, so he had to be careful.
"Damn civvies could have parked their cars first," Sydney said to no one in particular.
A screech cut through the air as the very banshee they were trying to look out for swerved around a building in front of them. Sydney stomped his foot on the breaks and damn near shit himself. At least the banshee wasn't expecting them to be there, or they would be dead by now.
"Put the fucking pedal to the floor!" Hayden shouted.
That was the only time Sydney planned on taking orders from him. He stomped on the gas pedal, and the warthog lurched forward. The sound of the chaingun firing surprisingly wasn't much louder than the engine of the warthog, though it wasn't easy to tell with both sounds blasting in his ears.
"Did you get him?" Sydney shouted to Hayden, swerving between abandoned cars on the street.
"No!" Hayden shouted back. "I think I tagged his tail, though!"
"Well keep that gun ready, that fucker is gonna be back any second!"
Sydney glanced at one of the warthog's rearview mirrors, and watched the banshee soar over the top of one of the skyscrapers.
"Up high! Above the Jotun building!" Sydney shouted.
"I see him!" Hayden shouted back.
The machine gun fired again, but Sydney couldn't watch. He didn't plan on slamming them into a wall or a parked car.
"Incoming! Brake!" Hayden shouted.
Sydney slammed his foot on the brake. A fuel rod hit the road in front of them, blowing a hole into the concrete. The banshee roared past them and took cover in the buildings ahead of them.
"Good shit," Sydney said.
"If that fucker stays ahead of us, I won't be able to take him down," Hayden said.
Sydney drove carefully around the hole created by the fuel rod. If he hadn't slammed his foot on the breaks then they would have been vaporised. Thank fuck this guy can call shit out, Sydney said to himself.
They drove through the next block without any sign of the banshee, but it was definitely still out there. The Covenant didn't give up on targets so easily.
"Definitely did some damage that time," Hayden said. "Next run should be enough to kill him."
Sydney spotted movement above the buildings in the distance. The banshee was already at the other side of the city and turning to perform another run on them. The bad thing was that it was in front of them.
"Kick those fucking rockets off the deck!" Sydney shouted. "You need to turn around right now!"
Hayden didn't say anything, but Sydney heard him struggle to push the rockets off the warthog. One case fell free, and Sydney felt the weight of the warthog lessen. The banshee fired, and Sydney attempted to swerve out of its path.
Bolts of plasma slammed into the side of the warthog, burning its armour. One went straight through the windshield and nearly took Sydney's head off. The banshee flew past, and took cover in the skyscrapers once more. Sydney didn't hear the chaingun fire a single time.
"Hayden!" Sydney shouted.
No response.
"Hayden!" he shouted again.
He glanced in the mirror and saw Hayden clutching the handles of the chaingun in his hands. Holes were burned straight through his chest and his abdomen where the banshee's heavy plasma cannons had struck him.
"Oh fuck, fuck, fuck!" Sydney shouted, stomping on the breaks again. He hopped out of the driver's seat and onto the back of the warthog.
Hayden was still alive, but he wasn't going to be for much longer. The other trooper glanced at Sydney, a weak smile forming across his lips.
"Next run… should be enough…" Hayden whispered.
Sydney had to pry the handles of the chaingun free from Hayden's hands, and he set the trooper down against the back of the hog.
"Stay with me, buddy," Sydney said. "We'll get you to a medic soon."
Hayden didn't reply. His expression was stiff, Sydney would have thought he was already dead if he couldn't feel his pulse. The scream of the banshee pulling a turn caught Sydney's attention, and turned him away from his dying friend.
He lined up the shot with the chaingun's sights as the banshee beared down on them, and both of them fired at the same time.
The banshee violently exploded, showing the street with high speed debris. The pieces moved so fast that they could kill anyone on impact, or cripple the warthog if they hit. Plasma bolts lit up the warthog's rear, and burned into the chaingun's defensive plating. That was all that hit them. They were safe.
Sydney let go of the chaingun, and crouched in front of Hayden. He searched for the trooper's pulse, but it was gone. Hayden was dead.
"God damnit!" Sydney shouted at the top of his lungs.
There wasn't time to grieve. The Covenant were pushing through the outskirts with heavy armour, and they needed those rockets badly. All Sydney could do was close Hayden's eyes, and take his dog tags with him.
"I'm sorry," Sydney whispered.
He made it back to the driver seat, and continued on his way to rejoin the rest of his unit.