Escape

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The four ran back to the garage when they saw all the soldiers scrambling to engage the enemy. Zero yelled, “We have to help them!” Jake replied, “Negative. Priority is to get these supplies and the data we recovered back to Hunter HQ. Our boys can handle themselves!” Rock turned to him and asked, “How are we going to do that? The Mavericks are pouring in and it's our only way out!” Jake pointed at the trucks and said, “These convoy trucks are equipped with turrets. Wes and I will drive, you guys take care of the enemy.” Without any more conversation, Rock mounted the turret in the front truck and Zero the back. Jake and Wesley immediately started driving out of the complex.

“We have Tango's, twelve o'clock!” Jake yelled. “Lets do this!” Rock aimed the large gun ahead of him and squeezed the trigger. The weapon fired powerful energy bursts at the swarming enemy as he yelled, “There's way too many to be a standard supply recovery! They want something here, and they want it bad!” Jake replied, “You're guess is as good as mine on this one. There's a decommissioned Hunter gate two klicks east of here. If we can make it there, I can send an activation code to get the gate running just long enough to get through!”

Zero came over the comm, saying, “You can activate a Hunter Gate? How did you get the access codes?” Wesley replied, “Your extraction gates run on our old jump hole signatures. We still remember the access codes, since we're the ones who built them to begin with.” Rock continued firing at the swarm of enemies, yelling, “I'm really wishing that I had my Overdrive right now!”
“Now's not the time to be whining, boss!” Zero yelled. “I'm picking up fliers just outside! We'd better watch our outputs once we get out of here!”

Wes asked quizzically, “Outputs?” Jake replied, “I think they mean asses. Reploids weren't really programmed to be colorful in dialog.” Rock continued shooting as he yelled, “The exit's caved in! Is there another way out?” Wes replied, “I'm on it!” The two trucks made a sharp turn onto a ramp, causing the trucks to momentarily tip onto two wheels as they headed higher into the structure. Zero opened fire on the Mavericks that were now coming up on their six. “Not to complain, guys,” Rock muttered, “But if there are fliers just outside, wouldn't going up be the last thing we should be doing?” Jake snapped back, “Who's the guy at the wheel here? Let me worry about where we go. More shooting, less backseat driving, okay?”

When they reached the second level, a loud whining sound came from the other side of the cement wall. Zero yelled, “Flier at three!”
“I knew we shouldn't have gone up!” Rock yelled. “Now we're in for it” Jake turned around and snapped, “Quit bitching or I swear to God, I'll turn this truck around right now!” Zero replied, “Can you hold off on that until after I finish blasting our pursuers?” At that moment, high velocity slugs started tearing through the wall. Rock and Zero both turned their weapons to their right flank and waited for a positive ID on the enemy. When they reached the window, A large hoverjet faced them and the duo opened fire. The rounds did not seem to affect the flying monstrosity.

“Slag!” Rock yelled. “Doesn't look like we're doing anything other than piss it off!” Zero turned to him and replied, “You think?” Jake's voice rang in their ears as he yelled, “Aim for it's turbines! If we cant total it, we might be able to ground it instead.” They immediately started shooting at the turbines, doing little damage. Zero then shouted, “Scanners show a fissure in the nose cone! Aim for that!” The trucks made another sharp turn as it went up another level. They turned their turrets to the left and opened fire immediately as the ship came into view. Jake yelled, “This is high as the garage goes!” Wes replied, “Increase speed and don't slow down for anything!”

Zero yelled, “What do you plan to do when we run out of ground?” Wes smiled and said, “Take the express flight to street level!” As the trucks neared the end of the structure, Rock yelled, “Oh, Slag! Don't even think about...” Before he could finish, the truck plowed through the railing and out of the building. The truck landed on top of the hoverjet, causing it to drop drastically. When his truck jumped off, the following truck repeated the process. As the second truck drove off the machine, it knocked one of the stabilizers off the craft. The machine flew out of control into a nearby building.

Rock yelled, “Are you out of you Slagging Mind?” Jake replied, “He's called Reckless for a reason, and for some reason, these stupid stunts always work.” Rock muttered, “Well, don't do any more of them while I'm in the truck, Okay? That stunt almost overloaded my neural net!” Zero continued shooting at pursuers as he said, “Hate to say this, but we have a new problem! Walker heading this way, and fast! Signature readings identify it as a Beta-Scorpio.” A soldier said over the comm, “Section 17 to Jake! The Mavericks have broken off their attack on the base! The headed east!” Rock yelled, “I don't think they're trying to get retribution for losing food! They want these trucks for something, and they want them bad!”

Zero yelled, “Beta-Scorpio three hundred meters and closing!” Wes came over the comm, “Jake! Strike pattern, two-by-two! We're going to have to hit this thing with everything we have!” Rock snapped, “This is Insane! What would they want so badly from a food transport?!?” A large machine shaped like a scorpion tore around a corner and began chasing the trucks. The two Reploids opened fire in a desperate attempt to destroy the machine. Jake yelled, “Hold onto your lunch, kids! This is going to be a nasty drive!” The trucks made a sharp left turn at the end of the street. Wes yelled, “Those thing can't turn very well. If it crashes into the building, we'll be in the clear.”

Sure enough, the clumsy machine was unable to make a turn that sharp and smashed into the building. The sound of the structure came down on top of it and the four people broke into cheer. “Perfect! Now we only have to worry about the occasional encount...” he fell dead silent as the sound of collapsing buildings filled the air. Worse still, the sound was getting closer. Suddenly, the massive walker broke out of a building and resumed pursuit. “Slag!” Rock yelled. “That thing is worse that a cockroach on steroids!” With that, the two gunners opened fire in a desperate struggle to survive this new, seemingly unstoppable machine.