HELLJUMPER

   Cold, quiet streets laden with corpses of machines and meat, shattered glass and scorched metal crunch beneath his boots. Every step is careful as swiftness allows but still the glass cracks under his weight- a constant reminder of the vulnerability these streets put him in. The road is littered with abandoned vehicles, blocking his view of what lay beyond. While his ears are sharp enough to catch what his eyes might fail to, the desolated city still has enough going on to make pinpointing targets difficult. The visual and audible coverage plays both with and against him. Alone, he makes for a... Well, not an easy target, but his wellbeing can only be secured by his own efforts. Not from someone else watching his six. At least, someone with another gun. 

     Police sirens blare next to his ear and the Rookie jolts, whipping around with his SMG poised and ready to fire. He stops when he actually looks, noting the vehicle was a small ways away over the divider and remained completely untouched. No Covenant, no people. The tactic had been used before by the only other thing left to help him: The Superintendent. 

   Glancing surreptitiously over the road and narrowing pale greens in something like consideration, the Rookie soon hops the barrier and approaches the vehicle. Nothing of note about it other than the nearly painful volume of the sirens- yet, in the corner of his eye the ODST spots a sign flickering to a familiar blue screen. “ KEEP LEFT ” It says, high over his head with a set of insistent arrows aimed up the street to guide him. 

   Odd, that the Superintendent hadn’t given any inclination of a change in direction until now. Perhaps the path he’d been taking was no longer the safer one out of all and now the city’s AI had rerouted him? 

 “ PLEASE, WALK. “ 

   The Rookie blinked, turning towards the nearby crosswalk. Though the AI’s limited variety of phrases left much to the imagination, he couldn’t help but feel as though there was an unusual degree of insistence behind it this time. He’s quick to move, putting the sirens behind him and slipping into the shadows with marginally less to give him away. Surely something would be hearing the sirens and come to investigate, and though helpful, Rookie would much rather be long gone by then. He would be long gone by then.