Love KIA (Damon Baird x Reader)

Chapter 8: Landown

"Remind me, to NEVER ride one of these again.." I said, already feeling sick to my stomach.

"Oh lighten up, it's not that bad." Baird chuckled.

The stranded rescue mission was a success, and when we returned to base, we found it under siege. After that, it was decided that we were all going to attack the locust where it would hurt the most. Landown. Making our way up there on Derricks, the rocky terrain caused it to be an extremely bumpy ride, which wasnt settling too well with some.

Baird was standing at the front, keeping a close eye out. We've been riding for awhile, and had seen no signs of locust contact yet, but that could change in an instant. Everyone was on their toes, ready for anything.

I sighed and looked at the soldiers around us. Baird and Cole were put with a new squad after the rescue mission, and Hoffman gave me a choice. Delta, or Sigma-One. I decided to roll with Cole and Baird for this one, and went with Sigma. The goal of our attack, was to drill straight down into enemy territory. We were all assigned jump partners: Baird with Tanner, Cole with someone who's name I couldnt remember, and me with someone named Giles. The plan was simple. Drill down, and kill on sight. We needed to weaken their forces, their defenses.. The only way to do that was to hit them where it hurts. Landown was the best place for attack, given it was located directly above the Hollow. If we managed to pull this off, we would be one huge step closer to potentially ending the war... but I had a feeling it wasnt going to be that easy. It never was.

I looked around and spotted Marcus and Dom on a Derrick on a lower ridge. If I was seeing correctly, Carmine was with them.

"Hey Sergeant." I said over TAC/COM.

Marcus looked up towards me, "Private (l/n). How you guys holding up?"

Baird butted in on the conversation, "Oh we're great. Turns out, we are riding on 'Marilyn'."

I laughed a bit, "Yeah, we're good."

"Hi (y/n)!" Carmine exclaimed over TAC/COM.

"Hey Carmine." I smiled, "You fairing ok?"

"Yeah. Little nervous, but I think I'm ok." He said.

"Shake of those nerves, rookie." Marcus said, "They won't serve you any good."

"Right, sir- I-I mean Sergeant." Carmine replied.

I turned off the TAC/COM and sighed, looking around. It was.. oddly quiet. We hadn't seen any signs of Locust for a few miles, and that was almost never a good sign. I glanced over at Baird, who had an irritated look on his face. I couldnt tell if he was actually irritated or not, given that's how his face usually looked. Then everyone's TAC/COMS went off.

"We have visuals on Locust forces heading your way! I repeat, Locust forces are heading your way!"

"Is it so much time ask for one nice drive through the countryside?" Baird groaned, getting his lancer ready.

"Cant have a nice ride without some action, baby, let's go!" Cole exclaimed.

We quickly looked around to see what direction the locust were coming from.. but it seemed we would have a harder time finding a direction they werent coming from. Spotting Reavers in the distance, I quickly ran up to the mounted troika. Once a reaver got a little closer, I started firing, unloading bullet after bullet into the damn thing.

The fight waged on, the Locust began hijacking the Derricks around us. Our ride, and the two others by us, took notice that the Derrick Marcus was on was stuck, and other heavy fire. We quickly turned and focused on fire on their attackers.

"We got you Marcus!" Baird exclaimed

"Thanks for the assist!" Marcus called back.

Once Marcus' Derrick was up and running again, we took off, continuing the fight to Landown. As if the fight couldn't get any more troubling, now Brumaks were making their way over.

"Baird! Cole! Focus fire on the Brumak!" I yelled.

"Oh we got Brumaks now?! What's next, corpsers?!" Baird exclaimed

"Dont jink us!" I replied.

_______________

After what seemed like ages, we finally made our way to Landown. Now theres was only one obstacle left in our way.. Getting to the drop zone. It proved easy for some of the Derricks, who found easy straight paths, but for some of us, we had to traverse through the streets. That included Marcus and his team, who we had to come to the rescue of yet again. Once we made it to the drop zone, we discovered it was flooded with Locust.

"God dammit, they just keep showing up!" Baird growled.

"Just take them out so we can get this over with!" I exclaimed.

Once we were finished taking out the last of the Locust, we made our way to our respective drills. I got inside mine, with my drop partner, Giles. I hooked in and called out.

"Safe landing, guys!"

"As safe a landing as this drill can give. But yeah, thanks." Baird called back.

As the drills powered up, we all heard a loud scream. It sounded like a Kantus, but there was something different about it. We looked out and saw a locust, dressed in what looked like battle armor, wielding a staff with chainsaws on both ends. We watched as it sawed a Derrick in half, then went straight for Marcus' team.

"Shit- Marcus!" I cried out.

We all called out, but it was no use. Our drills had closed and sent us down. The ride down was rough, and shakier than the ride on the Derrick was. Giles was clinging to his harness. I couldnt see his face under his helmet, but I could tell he was trying not to throw up. The drill suddenly stopped, and jolted us.. seems the ride was over. The drill door opened, and our harnesses released. We stepped out, and were greeted by Baird and Tanner, who landed by us. Cole was around. He must've landed elsewhere.

"Alright," Baird began, "Lets-"

Before Baird could finish, gunshots went off. Blood splattered from Tanner and Giles, as they both fell to the ground. A large group of Locust ran towards Baird and I. Before we could raise our Lancers to defend ourselves, the Locust grabbed ahold of us, throwing us to the ground. They climbed on top of us and began forcefully chaining our hands behind our backs.

"Dammit- Baird!" I yelled.

"Get the hell off of me, you creepy fucks! Shit- (y/n)!!" Baird yelled back

I watched helplessly as time of the locust knocked Baird unconcious. I cried out to him, just as another locust did the same to me.