A/N:
The later half of Act 3 Chapter 4 of Gears of War 2, put into words. A little bit like my earlier fic Trip Down Memory Lane - if you're a Mission: Impossible fan you might wanna check that out as well... ?
Apart from the slight deviations in dialogue... I own nothing.
Road Trip To Nexus
Deep within the snow and stone of Mount Kadar…
XXXXXXXX
Crash.
The Centaur's engine winked out, the turret and searchlight with it, and the squad of four was plunged into instant, and total, darkness.
"Baird!" Marcus called. "Power's out!"
Even in the dark, they could hear the mechanic rummaging around for his tools in the pitch black of the vehicle. "No shit!"
The telltale metal-on-metal clanging of tinkering started up, echoing desperately in the cavern.
"Come on, Baird, hurry up," begged Dom from the turret post above, the stand creaking with the sudden stress as he swivelled it around.
"I'm trying," Baird snapped, the metallic clinking intensifying marginally. "Get off my back!"
Clusters of light blinked on in front of them, three pairs of compound eyes peering at them intermittently as they shifted in and out of cover.
"Try the light!" Baird yelled, switching tools.
The searchlight flared back to life, a beam of white light confirming the identities of the three creatures that had surrounded them.
Corpsers. "Dom, the turret!"
Marcus gripped the steering wheel, gritting his teeth as the Corpsers screeched, retreating behind their spindly armoured legs.
The Corpser on the left reared up on its stubby hind legs, baring a mouthful of yellowed needle-like teeth and a very bare, very vulnerable underbelly.
Dom yelled as the turret went off, hitting the Corpser in the abdomen, blasting it into mutilated segments. He swung his turret around, firing another slew of rounds, but the remaining creatures had reformed their leg-shields, chittering. The bullets exploded spectacularly against the shields, but the Corpsers remained frustratingly unaffected.
"You might wanna work on your timing, Dom!" Baird snarled irritably, still hacking furiously at the engine components like it had directly insulted his intelligence.
The second Corpser raised its front legs, preparing to strike, and promptly got dismembered by the turret round. "You do your job, Baird, and I'll do mine, okay?"
Baird fumed, but said nothing.
The last Corpser exploded in a bloom of clammy flesh and hard shell, and they were off again, Dom swinging the searchlight to and fro, illuminating the path ahead.
The tinkering sound cut off, the engine's weak sputters fading back into a steady whine. "All fixed," Baird announced, overflowing with sardonicism. "Thanks to me. You're welcome."
They rode on in peaceful silence for the next few minutes, but this was the road to Nexus, and things rarely stayed peaceful for long.
All the way from one cave to another, they kept their weapons up.
XXXXXXXX
Sure enough, when they emerged into yet another humongous cave, this time with thick columns of rough rock protruding from the floor, the guttural roar of animalistic bloodlust reached their ears, thankfully before the sources of the sound did.
"Brumak!" warned Cole, aiming his Hammerburst out the window at the charging beast.
"I see it," Dom said, wheeling around, his voice steely.
The Brumak noticed them and screamed in rage, lowering its head to aim the rocket pack strapped to its back. Orange fire blossomed around them, and Marcus jerked the steering wheel from side to side, barely missing the impact zones.
Bullets sprayed liberally from the turret, and blood fountained from the Brumak's head and shoulders, colouring everything crimson as it slumped to the ground in a cumbersome heap, shaking the earth beneath it. Cole whooped as they sped past the corpse, Baird cursing as the engine began to act up again.
"Ain't so tough now, are they - look out!" Cole gestured wildly as the second Brumak rounded the column clumsily, the sight almost comical.
Dom yelped as Marcus gunned the engine, putting on an extra burst of speed. The Centaur bounced along the uneven cavern floor, the rocking further exacerbated by the Brumak's lumbering strides, which sent tremors rippling toward them with every step.
"Die, you asshole grub!" hissed Dom with ample venom, whipping the turret back and forth, sending bullets fanning out in the Centaur's wake. The Brumak stumbled to a halt, pitching forward face-first like its comrade.
This time, no one said anything.
The Centaur trundled along, then came to a stop. Four pairs of eyes locked on the ice slope leading into empty abyss.
"Crap."
They sat there for a while, dumbstruck. Then Marcus hit the gas pedal.
"No, Marcus, stop, are you insane we're not gonna make it!" Baird screeched as they rocketed headlong towards their imminent doom.
Cole shrieked in delight as the Centaur's wheels left solid ground and rotated aimlessly in the air…
And landed, albeit with a fair amount of bouncing, on the other side of the gaping chasm.
"I think Baird just pissed himself," Cole joked, as they ploughed on towards the Locust stronghold.
"Shut up."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX