Psych-Out
[Independence Highway | 1300 Central Time, Day 2]
Carnage from Mendez' daring takedown maneuver unfolded behind Becks and Sui as the duo zoomed through the highway.
"Holy shit!" exclaimed Sui.
"What now?" retorted Becks from behind the steering wheel.
"Mendez crashed the MG truck right on the black SUVs!"
"He what?!"
"Shit Becky, eyes on the--"
"--road! Yeah, yeah, Chop, I know!"
As it stands, one BP SUV was hot on their trails. The SUV had tailed Becks after he split from Mendez, following him all the way until they entered the highway. Not that bad of a driver, Becks thought.
"Guy's still behind us!"
"Well, whatchu think them bags' filled with? M&Ms? Do something!"
With a grunt of complaint, Sui climbed to the back of the car and started rummaging the numerous duffel bags filled with pilfered weapons from the Kincaid Street house. After a moment of scrounging, he pulled out an ostensibly suitable firearm: an L86A1 bullpup light machine gun.
Sui then swung the rear door open, exposing himself to the pursuing BP SUV behind him and started to squeeze on the trigger.
The machine gun's recoil is wild--Sui had difficulties making the bullets hit their intended target. Still, he managed to rain fire on the tailing SUV, causing rounds to ricochet off the SUV's bodywork, hood, and--unfortunately--bulletproof glasses.
Even so, the SUV still managed to perform a maneuver of its own, speeding up and veering to the duo's right side, taking itself out of Sui's line of fire. Sensing trouble, Sui instinctively climbed back to the middle passenger seat, taking the light machine gun with him.
Just as he landed on the middle seats, the Pajero jerked violently, knocking him off balance.
The BP SUV is grinding against the Pajero's right side and its occupants are firing against Sui and Becks!
Sui kept his head down, knowing that trying to return fire would only mean turning his head into swiss cheese. Shattered window glasses rained down on the seats as bullets flew clean over his head.
Not a moment later, Sui felt the car veering left; Becks is jerking the steering wheel in that direction to shake off the pressure from the BP SUV.
Noticing the gunfire cacophony dying down, Sui raised his head...
...only to see the BP SUV coming up against their car's right side for a heavy slam!
There was no time for Becks to dodge.
The car was launched to the left--
--all the way to the oncoming lane!
The Pajero is still miraculously upright, but the lane that Becks is now driving in is far from ideal. He is now driving against the crowded oncoming lane!
"Sonofa--hang tight!" shouted Becks from the front.
And hang tight Sui did, clinging to the car ceiling handle as Becks proceeded to dance the Pajero around the torrent of traffic against them.
An SUV appeared in front of them.
Becks swerved left to the next lane...
...which has a sedan coming up against their car.
Another left to the next lane...
...which now has a semi-trailer truck rolling fast in their direction!
"OH FOR FUCK'S--" shouted Becks as he swung the wheel to the left, causing the Pajero to hug the highway's wayside!
The wayside is clearer than the highway lanes--no oncoming traffic to worry about, which triggered Becks to shift his attention to the other traffic lane where the BP SUV is still speeding alongside them.
As if formulating a half-baked plan in his head, Becks looked to the wayside, and then to the SUV, and then to the wayside again.
Before Sui could even ask his plan, the car violently jerked to the right, and that's when Sui figured out Becks' next move: ramming the SUV all the way from the oncoming lane.
The Pajero moved in a straight diagonal trajectory, near-missing every vehicle on the lanes it traveled.
Then with the roar of the engine, the Pajero jumped over the barrier between the two lanes.
For a moment, the Pajero was suspended in the air.
A calculated move, thought Sui.
But is Becks good at math?
As if to answer that question, Sui saw the SUV abruptly losing speed, braking to a near-stop...
...mere centimeters short from the Pajero's aerial trajectory. The maneuver had just whiffed.
"Oh shit," mumbled Becks.
" 'Oh shit' IS RIIIIIIIGHT!!" screamed Sui as the SUV they were in flew clean over the highway and towards the buildings below!
***
The world has become sideways. At least, that's what it looked to Sui, who still has the machine gun on him. Clearly, the Pajero has landed on its side. Where exactly, Sui has no idea.
Then, a ray of light opened from above him, followed by a silhouette, followed by a voice. Fortunately, it was a familiar one.
"Get up, we gotta get the hell outta here!" shouted Becks from beyond the wreckage.
Shaking himself up, Sui looked up to see Becks on top of the side turned SUV, and then to his right where the gun bags should be--they are spilling off the car...
...and onto the sidewalk below.
Not only that the car is turned to its side, it is also balancing from a roof of a building, with the front half nestled on the building, occasionally creaking groggily.
Sui can feel the wreck shift as he tried to climb up. It is definitely losing balance, only centimeters away from toppling over. Above him, Becks was stretching his arm towards Sui.
The wreckage groaned again, further sliding off-balance. He is not going to make it in time.
Unless...
Picking up the machine gun, Sui pointed it upward to extend his reach, allowing Becks to grab hold of the muzzle and use it to pull him off the car!
"Don't you fucking dare pull the trigger!" strained Becks as he pulled Sui off the wreckage.
"Just shut up and pull me outta here!" retaliated Sui.
The wreck shifted again. Sui is now climbing off the window.
The weight has definitely shifted. The car is definitely off-balance. Both Sui and Becks are sprinting on the side.
Gravity took action, pulling the car off the roof...
...as Sui and Becks leaped, barely reaching the building's edges!
Becks landed on his feet and saw a black vehicle pulled up at the highway above them. That has got to be the BP SUV that psyched them out earlier.
Grabbing the machine gun that helped Sui earlier, Becks shouted at Sui again.
"We gotta get off this roof!"
Sui peeked the distance between the roof and the sidewalk. It was a single-story building, so jumping directly down from the roof won't break Sui's bones. Then again, the height can appear harrowing, especially since jumping directly down can still hurt if the landing was not done properly--
"Just jump!" shouted Becks amidst him laying down fire, interrupting Sui's thoughts.
Grabbing onto the ledge as fast as he can, Sui hung on the building for a moment before letting go...
...falling into a roll on the pavement, losing his balance but not his bones!
Becks' light machine gun went dry as soon as Sui was off the roof!
"Shit!"
Tossing the gun to the side, Becks quickly slid off the building's ledge and landed on the sidewalk on his two feet after rolling!
Pulling himself--and Sui--up, Becks spotted a SWAT van pulling up on the road to their left.
"Awfully fast response time, don't you think?" mused Sui.
The passengers of the vehicle are what they would expect from a SWAT van; officers fully decked out in tactical gear from head to toe with matching assault rifles and submachine guns.
What the duo did not expect was their demeanor; they almost immediately fired at both Sui and Becks.
No shouting orders to put their hands in the air, no telling them to surrender, just straight to engaging their perceived targets with deadly force.
"Whatever happened to the rules of engagement, guys!?" shouted Becks as he took cover behind the Pajero wreckage sitting on the sidewalk.
"Must've been Serizawa!" Sui's eyes lit up as if he had just received an epiphany. "Those aren't 'cops' cops, they are on his payroll! Of course they're gonna show up that fast!"
"Senzawa who--" asked Becks, who was cut short from a bullet ricocheting near him. "Oh shit yeah, that influencer dude in the BP!"
"We gotta get the bags outta here!"
"Gimme a gun, I'll keep 'em busy while you load them up!"
Crawling to one of the five gun bags scattered on the sidewalk, Sui zipped it open and pulled out yet another light machine gun: an RPK.
"Like this one?" asked Sui as he handed Becks the gun.
"Sure, why not," agreed Becks quietly before popping out of cover with the machine gun.
Layers of gunfire rattled the street as Becks traded bullets with the corrupt SWAT detachment while Sui scrambled to stuff the duffel bags full of firearms into a parked sedan.
That was, until the RPK ran out of bullets!
Sui was confused when Becks ran in his direction instead of returning fire to the attacking SWAT units. "Thought you're gonna keep them busy?!"
"Out of bullets!"
"Oh, for--you get the guns into the car!"
And with that switch, Sui pulled a Uzi submachine gun out of the bag he was holding, firing at the arriving SWAT officers behind them.
Tossing the last bag into the Toyota Corolla's back passenger seat, Becks quickly entered the driver's side, hotwired the sedan, and opened the door on the passenger side.
"Come on, get in!"
Once Sui entered the vehicle, Becks slammed on the pedal and skidded out of the hail of bullets from the SWAT unit.
"What the fuck was that, Trey?" questioned Sui, his voice rising.
"Hey, it got them off us, didn't it?"
"You could've gotten us killed, you fucking idiot!"
"What the fuck you being so butthurt for? I lived, you lived, and we still got the guns, didn't we?"
"Yeah, but you're lucky this time. One of these days those stunts of yours are going to cost you--worse, us."
"Look, I'll admit I took an L back there. But if--and that's a big IF--I got unlucky, I'll make sure your fancy-ass don't get dragged too. Jeezus, you sound just like my ma."
"Would you have gotten your mom killed as well?"
"Hell na--why would you even bring that up, man?!"
"Exactly."
"You want it but you don't wanna say it--you want me to say sorry."
"Fuck yeah I do."
"Well, SORRY."
"Thank you."
Becks shrugged. "Either way, they saw us get into this ride, we'll probably need to ditch it somewhere and get a new one."
"Yeah, I'll call Mendez, tell him what's what."