"Hang on!" Reese shouted into her mic, slamming the brakes, twisting the control yoke, and nearly overturning the MPV as they neared the debris blocking the main access ramp to the parking garage.
Metal groaned and the left side of the vehicle actually left the ground for a brief second before slamming back to the ground. Reese gunned the accelerator and the ponderous vehicle roared its way up the curving ramp.
"Slow it down, Reese, we want to get there in one piece," Higg's called over the comm..
"We're late to the party, Higg's, so I think you should move that big chunk of shit," Reese replied tersely just before hitting the top of the ramp and briefly becoming airborne.
The vehicle, back heavy because of the plasma turret, bounced on its rear tires first and then nearly made Reese's helmet collide with the armor plate in front of her.
"Now I know why they call you 'Sky-High'," Kinh mumbled shakily.
Reese grinned, executed a perfect power slide, and gunned the accelerator again. She was headed in the general vicinity of the firefight, it was easy to tell from the light display the Captain's assault force was putting on, and Reese knew the Captain would be contacting her momentarily.
"Corporals," the Captain's voice came over their comm's right on time," I'm transmitting an intercept route for the reaction force. The 160th managed to slow them down but they're on dropship duty now. We've got all kinds of hell coming down on us. You two are on your own with the reaction force. At last count it was over a dozen. Their ETA on our position is six minutes. We'll be sitting ducks for a strafing run. Good luck."
One of the flatscreen displays slightly beneath her flared to life with an overhead map of the area. A ghostly white light was their intercept route and it was a scraggly mess.
"You heard that Higg's. Six minutes. You'd better keep up."
"Just move it, Reese."
Reese broke suddenly and cut to the right down a narrower street. She barreled down that at full speed, barely eighty kilometers per hour, before power-sliding into a right turn. Then it was around a slight sloping turn that deposited them on a wide thoroughfare. TechCom had littered this, purposefully, with wrecked Covenant and TechCom vehicles and machinery as well as plasma mines. The two MPV's had to trust that the route the Captain had given them was safe. Once Reese's MPV was through she let out a small sigh of relief. Kinh, unable to see anything beyond the limited view through the firing slot for her gun, white-knuckled her way through the ride. Both Vance and Rogers grumbled companionably about their fume-crazed psycho of a turret team leader. Meanwhilte Higg's entire team, all patched into the view from his helmet cam, were all fairly reeking from gallons of cold sweat as Higg's desperately tried to keep up with Reese.
Finally, after what seemed an eternity of driving where they couldn't go fast enough, they made contact. Reese's MPV powered up an off-ramp and rammed a Ghost off a steep drop back down to the freeway.
"Contact!" Reese shouted into her comm.," They're pivoting!"
"Finally!" Kinh screamed, powering up her heavy gun.
Reese slammed shut the armored slit and concentrated on her sonar and viewscreens. The shrieking cough of Kinh's plasma gun would have deafened her if not for her aural plug-ins but the results on her screen were impressive. Kinh had singled out the higher ranking Elites almost immediately and the reaction force had predictably been thrown into confusion.
"You've got more coming up behind you," Higg's said, just as the frantic chopping sound of the plasma turrets dual barrels began shaking the MPV even more than its engine.
"W-w-w-ell d-d-do s-some-t-thing!" the increased vibration made Reese stutter uncontrollably.
Reese cut to the left sharply as a Ghost made a suicidal charge for the MPV.
"I got him!" Vance called, before whooping with excitement to indicate his kill.
"Banshees!" Rogers warned.
Reese went into a frantic series of erratic movements to throw the Banshee pilots aim off while Rogers and Higg's gunner saturated the air with plasma bolts. Meanwhile, Kinh was still firing at the Ghost's, who had managed to line up for an old fashioned cavalry charge at their position. They had formed a solid wall and were returning fire en masse. The wheel's, protected by thick armor, wouldn't last long on the slagged roadway.
"Make me a hole, Kinh! NOW!" Reese bellowed, pressing the accelerator to the floor.
Kinh concentrated her fire on three Ghosts, reducing them to slag, but draining her battery pack.
"Rogers! Get your ass down!"
"Down, Reese," her gunner said a second before they collided with the still moving Ghosts.
Rapidly cooling, partially melted metal flew everywhere, leaving one Elite screaming in agony before crashing his vehicle into a sidewall. Kinh quickly reloaded as Reese spun the MPV around so quickly she could still see Vance's plasma bolts as they flashed towards the remaining Covenant cavalry. Kinh finished off the last of them quickly and Reese watched as the last Banshee burst into flames spectacularly.
"That's the last of them," Higg's said, and Reese stopped the MPV in order to let their weapons and engine cool down before they all overheated.
Higg's MPV was blackened nearly its entire length and the grille looked partially slagged.
"Higg's, you look like- break!" Reese shouted in alarm as the Banshee made a direct course for Higg's vehicle.
Higg's hit the brakes and tried to execute a 180°-spin. The Banshee hit the road too close though and the entire section of overpass collapsed. Fire and debris obscured their view for a few moments but when it cleared the MPV was gone.
"Higg's! Answer me, damnit!" Reese barked into the comm., silently willing him to answer, as her entire crew waited in silence.
Less than a minute had passed before someone coughed and then groaned quietly.
"Corporals," the Captain's voice came over the comm's, breaking the link she had opened between her and Higg's squad," Good work with the reaction force. I have another mission for you."
"Higg's is down, sir," Reese said, trying to keep her voice civil.
"KIA?" he asked dispassionately.
" I don't-" Reese began but a rough voice interrupted.
"I'm alive. We're all alive, but Kurtz and Carmna are going to need patchin'."
"Okay. See to your men, Corporal Higg's. Reese, that means you get the duty. I need you to follow these coordinates. It leads to a maintenance tunnel you can use to get to the ramp the Wraith's are dug in. I need you to take them out. We need to get our assault force into that fortified building and take it. The Covenant has major reinforcements on the way. We'll be overrun if we can't hole up while our reinforcements get up here. I'll see you in a minute, Corporal."
"I love how the higher-ups are just always so confident," Rogers said, glumly.
"Hang on, Rogers," Reese mumbled, before contacting Higg's one last time," Ditch the vehicle, Higg's, and get your people to a waypoint. You heard the Captain, we've got lots of incoming and best not to take the chance."
"Yes, momma," Higg's said before laughing.
"Shut up, Higg's."
Reese gunned the accelerator and once again barreled recklessly through the maze that was the increasingly war-torn city.