Top Girls!
Chapter 19
"INCOMING!"
The bandits raced across the desert chasing the Top Gear hosts cars, and they could hear their weapons going off.
"Run away!" Misato joked as they floored it, her hybrid Camaro shuddering over the rough roadway.
"Eeeep!" Asuka yelped as a bullet whizzed by.
"DO NOT DAMAGE THE CAR!" Maya yelled out, firmly holding the steering wheel of her Mustang.
"Where are the cops?!" Shinji barked.
"They diverted due to a distress call," Gendo noted as he bounced around in the filming van, "I suspect they were lured off."
"You THINK?" Ritsuko barked, her Shelby GT bumping worriedly.
Whomever was behind the attack had clearly known that a distress call would distract the cops, and they were remote enough for no other help to reach them. Large chunks of the US were now much less populated, after the war...
Satsuki Oou yelped as the van nearly wiped out.
"Don't we have any GUNS?!" Asuka yellped.
"It was assumed we wouldn't need them," Kaji added dryly.
"Apparently not," Rei deadpanned.
Bullets whizzed by again, then the Camaro fishtailed as the back wheel blew out, either due to a bullet or running over something.
"Shit," Misato cursed.
"Unlike in myths, a blown tire will not instantly disable a car," Ritsuko noted academically. "A car can run quite awhile on flats."
"NOT NOW RITSUKO," everyone chorused.
The rear view mirror of Maya's car exploded in a burst of broken glass, making Maya wince.
"Should we put ourselves between them and the other cars?" Asuka asked.
"What." Maya blinked.
"We're SLIGHTLY heavier built," Asuka explained the reason.
"Yes but... it's a MUSTRANG," Maya sounded pained.
"Hey, someone's chasing the bandits!" Misato reported.
Indeed, the police had apparently realized the deception...
"Where did that motorbike come from?!"
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Indeed, the two police cars had been joined by a mini-bike and a large chopper, and all four were racing back as fast as possible.
"Damn it, we've got to catch up!" Natsuki Tsujimoto yelled, perched on the mini-bike she normally stowed in the back of the cruiser. It was small, but on short ranges was actually faster and more agile.
"Don't get shot!" Miyuki Kobayakawa ordered, knowing that her partner could be a BIT reckless in a emergency.
"Come on!" Ken Nakajima yelled, the handsome if burly officer on the other cycle. He had been shadowing the group, and was out on recon. He was a longtime friend to the four officers, before transferring to Highway Patrol.
Yoriko Nikaidou leaned out of her window, readying her rifle as Aoi Futaba drove. "Hold her steady," she asked.
"Doing my best," Aoi said tersely, hands tight on the wheel to try to compensate for how rough the road was.
"Bandits! Surrender immediately, or we will use lethal force," Miyuki ordered, using the PA system in the car.
The bandits, not unexpectedly, shot at them.
"Ack!" Yoriko yelped as a bullet whizzed by. Her usual good luck held, but the front windscreen deformed with the impact
"Follow me in," Natsuki ordered, hefting her pistol.
Ken and her opened fire, supported by Yoriko and her rifle. The group of buggies, apparently not expecting to actually get shot, scattered in trying to get away.
"Do we chase them?" Ken asked, sure he had winged at least one of them. He REALLY wanted to run all of them down, darn it!
"No," Aoi offered, "our priority is guarding the film crew."
"She's right," Miyuki agreed.
"Plus we have to apologize for this," Yoriko groaned as they hurried back to the Top Gear crew.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"I want to apologize on behalf of my team," Officer Miyuki Kobayakawa said once everyone met up again.
"You came back just in time," Misato grinned, "things were getting hairy."
Miyuki visibly winced.
"It WAS a real emergency call, yes?" Ritsuko demanded crossly.
"It was," Officer Aoi Futaba said, "stranded motorist in trouble. But when we arrived, there was only a abandoned vehicle."
"Just far enough away to keep you busy while they attacked here," Gendo noted with a sigh.
"We should have left one cruiser here," Miyuki admitted.
"Well, no actual harm done," Gendo mused.
"ARE YOU KIDDING?" Asuka growled, though not near enough for the cops to hear.
"It was an honest mistake," Shinji noted.
"Are you a idiot or something?" Asuka scowled at him.
"It is possible this was an attempt to assassinate us," Rei noted calmly, "leaving only Mari to defend Tokyo-3."
"What," Shinji blinked.
"Exactly," Asuka agreed.
"WHY though?" Shinji asked plaintively. "If we die, NERV falls and everything ends."
Rei looked sat him calmly, "We don't know what might happen if the Angels breach NERV. Nor do we know everyone else's agenda."
"Plus they could try to recruit replacements for us," Asuka added. She shrugged, "Maybe someone wants their kid to be a pilot?"
"God no," Shinji shuddered.
Rei gave him a faintly sympathetic look.
"All right everyone, back in the cars," Misato yelled. "We're going!"
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Back on Top Gear!"
Misato was leading, all three cars now somewhat more battered looking. The cop cars were off screen, and the sun was setting.
"Well, THAT was a thing, huh?" Misato grinned. They would piece together a montage of the attempted bandit attack back in Japan, once the episode aired.
"My poor car," Maya lamented. Of the three the Mustang had gotten the most bullet hits, though the muscle car had been able to (mostly) weather it. Other than losing a mirror.
"There there," Asuka smiled wryly.
"We have escaped mostly unscathed," Ritsuko noted.
Just then, her Shelby shuddered and begun to slow.
"You HAD to say it," Rei mused dryly.
They coasted to a stop, then the others pulled in. "Lost power?" Maya asked as they popped open the hood.
"Yes, unfortunately," Ritsuko sighed.
"Well, let's take a look," Misato added. They (and a mechanic) soon found that one of the fuel lines had been damaged, one assumed by a bullet.
"I think it's getting too late to carry on driving," Ritsuko sighed. "Sorry, all."
"Well, shit," Asuka made a face.
"We DO have the camping gear," Misato reminded them. "And at least we can have a camp fire and such, out here," she added.
"Yay. Are we having army surplus rations again?' Shinji sighed.
"... I THINK there's hotdogs?" Ritsuko noted.
"Oh joy. Mystery meat," Rei deadpanned.
To be continued...