As the incoming bullets smacked into the metal and concrete around her, Twilight loaded a fresh magazine into her Bal-27 and opened fire on a sniper team, dropping them both in quick succession. Diving behind an abandoned truck, she followed up with a Smart Grenade, which blew four KVA soldiers to bits.

"Tangos on top of the bus!" Mitchell called out as he boosted into cover to reload. Twilight shot the two KVA soldiers and teleported next to Mitchell, tossing him a Threat Grenade.

"Threat Grenade out!" Mitchell yelled as he tossed the device. There was a blur of red light, and the forms of three KVA squads appeared, highlighted in augmented reality across the traffic circle.

"Shit!" Joker cursed as he burst-fired with his ASM1. "We're outnumbered!"

"Just keep shooting!" Gideon replied. "We're almost there!"

As the Atlas operatives moved out of cover and advanced towards the slums, Twilight wiped some sweat from her brow and furrowed her eyes.

====

As the Atlas soldiers and the remaining Nigerian Army units moved through the neighborhoods, Twilight's ears perked up at the sound of a car engine moving towards them, and fast.

"Incoming!" she cried as a KVA Technical drove into the alleyway, aiming to run them down. As the other Atlas units dove for a side street, Twilight stood steadfast, formed her magic into a condensed beam, and fired.

The beam sliced through the armored truck and sent it careening towards Twilight, who expertly boost-jumped over the wreckage and into the side alley. As she advanced to Mitchell's position, Gideon called out over the radio.

"This isn't the time for theatrics, Twilight! Stay focused!"

"Roger that!" Twilight replied, as she unloaded her Bal-27 into a group of KVA. As the Atlas teams continued to work their way through the hostiles, Twilight watched various street camera feeds on her HUD.

"We don't have much time, Gideon!" she called out. "That box truck is on the move!"

"Roger!" Gideon replied as the last of the KVA fell. "Let's move!"

As the Atlas soldiers buddy-jumped over a large wall, they approached a busy section of the highway filled with rushing cars.

"Shit!" Joker cursed. "How are we getting through this?"

"Let me handle it!" Twilight replied, focusing her magic for a teleportation. "Mitchell, Gideon, on me!"

As the two Atlas soldiers grabbed on, Twilight teleported them across the street and behind several surprised KVA soldiers. After dropping them in quick succession, Mitchell pulled the chain-link fence open for use as a vantage point.

"Atlas Two-One, the target truck is approaching your position. You should have eyes on momentarily." Prophet spoke as the three of them aimed their weapons at the highway lanes. Several seconds later, a white box truck blew past them at breakneck speed.

"Damn, no clear shot!" Twilight cursed. Then, Gideon got a gleam in his eyes as a bus approached. The various Atlas soldiers there knew that gleam meant he had an idea that often seemed improvised or completely insane.

"Fuck it, let's do this! Jump now!" Gideon ordered as he boost-jumped onto the bus, followed by Twilight and Mitchell. As they landed on the bus and steadied themselves, Joker called out over the radio.

"Gideon, we've lost visual on you! What's the plan?"

"We're pursuing the target, southbound on the highway! Get transport and follow!" Gideon replied as the three of them jumped on top of another nearby bus.

"Roger that!" Joker replied. As the three Atlas soldiers kept their weapons up, Twilight saw a black SUV filled with KVA open fire on them.

"Hostile vehicles on the left!" she called, opening fire. As Mitchell switched places with Twilight to engage the hostile vehicle, she watched the SUV be destroyed...and a second technical appear and ram the bus.

Twilight and Gideon were able to hang on, but Mitchell wasn't so fortunate. As he fell to the side, he activated his Mag Grips just in time. As the SUV attempted to ram him once again, Mitchell leaped to the side and pulled out a pistol, firing several shots.

Then, his moment came. As he jumped onto the front of the truck, he smashed the windscreen, yanked out the driver, and threw him to the side into a street pole. As he boost-jumped back to his team, Twilight smirked.

"Does that count as theatrics, Mitchell?" she chuckled.

"Not now! Enemy chopper!" Gideon yelled as a hijacked helicopter appeared and its KVA passengers opened fire. As the three of them returned fire, Twilight activated Overdrive and engaged.

As her well-placed shots hit the helicopter's engine, flames erupted from the chassis and sent the helicopter down to the water below.

"Target truck on the right!" Gideon ordered. "Mitchell, with me! Jump!"

As the two of them leaped to the target vehicle while Twilight covered them, the drivers were quickly dispatched. However, the driver's foot held firm on the gas, and the truck crashed into the safety rail, then it flew off the bridge.

"No!" Twilight cried, priming her magic to take hold of the bus before it could fly into the water and likely death for the hostages inside. As she did so, the bus stopped cold in the air, surrounded by a purple glow. As Mitchell and Gideon worked their way to the rear door and retrieved the hostages one by one, Twilight could feel the strain of her efforts working away at her.

"Twilight, we're clear!" Gideon called as the last technologist was boost-jumped to safety by Mitchell. As Twilight released her hold on the truck and collapsed from the effort, Joker approached with Nigerian Army units.

"Please tell me that those fuckers are alive!" Joker called out as he injected Twilight with a first-aid shot to restore her stamina.

"Stop stressing, they're fine." Gideon said as the Nigerians helped the hostages away to safety. Sighing, he helped both Twilight and Mitchell to their feet.

"Not bad, you two. Drinks on me tonight back at base." he smirked as an Atlas Warbird set itself down on the bridge. As they boarded, Twilight and Mitchell gave each other a fist bump for a successful mission.

Author's Note

Yeah, this took too long to get published. Sorry.
Next time - Shining and Cadance have a heartfelt conversation, and Twilight speaks with Mitchell regarding her origins...And Irons speaks with a certain techologist...