Chapter 8- Flight of the Falcons

Falcon stomped on the accelerator, and the Blue Falcon took off with a mighty roar. Hurdling down the exit road, Falcon looked at the rear view monitor. The horde of Blood Hawks were right behind him, keeping a hot pursuit on his heels. The slim stream of smoke spilling from the Blue Falcon's hood left a trail behind them, as alarms began to flash around the cockpit. A pack of Blood Hawks pulled up beside him, and one took a swerving swipe at the hull. Falcon swerved away, narrowly missing the Blood Hawk's attack. The large steel spikes embedded in the road ahead still created the same bottleneck as before. "We can't risk trying to thread between them," Said Falcon, "we're taking a detour!"

The road ahead split in two, and Falcon waited until the last moment before whipping the control sticks left, down the clear track. A handful of Blood Hawks skidded as they tried to follow, but ended up slamming into the spikes in a burst of flames. Wobbling as he tried to control the Blue Falcon, another Blood Hawk surged ahead of them, and stomped on its brakes, spinning wildly. Falcon grit his teeth and flung the controls right, curving around the red tornado as he and Jody kept barreling along the track.

Suddenly, the Blue Falcon lurched. Another Blood Hawk had just sped into the Blue Falcon's tail, and the alarms in the cockpit intensified. "We're losing power!" Jody exclaimed. "How many of them are there?"

"Too many," Falcon growled as a cloud of red machines formed in front of them.

Jody muttered quietly under her breath, before saying, "Don't go down without a fight."

The tunnel roared with the sounds of thrusters racing down the track. More and more Blood Hawks pulled in front of them, forming a solid wall. "Hang on!" Said Falcon, destabilizing the G-diffusers. The Blue Falcon spun like a hurricane, smashing into the crowd of machines. When the Blue Falcon straightened out again, a sharp left turn greeted them. Falcon banked his machine into the turn as they skidded along, the sudden turn causing the G-diffusers to lose their grip, sending the Blue Falcon into a power slide. The tail fins of the Blue Falcon scraped along the guardrails, showering the Blood Hawks behind them with sparks. Just as Falcon got the skid under control, a Blood Hawk came zooming up beside them, smashing into the Blue Falcon's hull. More smoke billowed from the hood, and the alarms grew deafening. Falcon grit his teeth. "They're not getting us alive."

Suddenly, a flash of pink swept past them. "What was that?" Jody asked.

Falcon looked at the rear view monitor, and gasped. "Goroh!"

The Fire Stingray sunk into the middle of the pack of Blood Hawks behind him, and soon a cacophony of crunching hulls echoed in the tunnel. "I'll thin out the herd," Came Goroh's voice over the radio, "you just focus on getting out!"

"Goroh, what are you doing here?"

"I owe you one, Falcon, and I'm not going to stay in your debt forever!"

An explosion rocked the tunnel from behind them. "You don't have to do this, Goroh!" Falcon pleaded, "It's suicide!"

Goroh laughed. "I should be so lucky! But this time, I brought some help!"

Falcon looked ahead, just in time to see a streak of red zoom past him. Super Arrow suddenly appeared in the rear view monitor, planting his fist in the hood of a Blood Hawk, splitting it in two. The two halves careened into the Blood Hawks beside them, running them off the road in a shower of flames. With his bare hands, Arrow caught the tail fins of another Blood Hawk, holding it in place as the thrusters screamed. With a roar, Arrow pivoted around and swung the Blood Hawk like a giant baseball bat, cutting a swathe though the pack of Blood Hawks with a single swing.

As the carnage between Goroh and Arrow continued, Jody asked, "You called for backup?"

Falcon shook his head. "Not me."

"Then who-?"

Falcon's eyes met with the end of the tunnel, and perched above the Underworld's entrance was Pico, sniper rifle in hand. Falcon could make out a quick salute coming from the assassin as the Blue Falcon raced out of the Underworld. Pico then hoisted up his rifle, put the stock to his shoulder, and fired a round into the crowd. A Blood Hawk's windscreen shattered, and it wobbled wildly before tipping and tumbling down the track. Another shot, and another Blood Hawk suddenly burst into flames.

Falcon glanced at the rear view monitor. Not a Blood Hawk in sight. He breathed a heavy sigh of relief as the Blue Falcon raced down the road. "That was too close-"

Jody suddenly pointed at the road ahead. "Falcon! Look! The bridge!"

Falcon zoomed in with his visor, and saw the bridge to the outside world, with a gaping hole in between its two ends, and a Blood Hawk heading at him from the other side. Inside the Blood Hawk's cockpit, a Blood Falcon cackled. "Die, Falcon!" He screamed, zooming towards the bridge.

Falcon glanced over his shoulder. "Can't turn back, can't stop, only one thing we can do."

Jody tightened her grip on the back of Falcon's seat. "Are you seriously going to-?"

"Hang on."

Falcon boosted the engines. The Blue Falcon surged ahead, and the hood began to spew a cloud of smoke. The flashing red alarms blared louder, as the two machines converged on the bridge. As the Blue Falcon launched off of one end, the Blood Hawk launched off the other, and the machines flew towards each other at blistering speed. Just as the noses of the machines came within meters of each other, Falcon pulled the control column up. The Blue Falcon's nose lifted, and the G-diffusers slid across the top of the Blood Hawk, bouncing it off the roof and onto the other side of the bridge. The Blood Hawk plummeted to the gorge below, erupting in a flash of fire as it slammed into the rocky wall.

Falcon slowed, and the Blue Falcon came to a gentle stop. Falcon switched off the engine alarms, leaving only the faint crackle of the burning Blood Hawk behind them to fill the air. Jody glanced at Falcon. "Is it... really over?"

Falcon took a look around with his visor's zoom. "It's over."

As Jody breathed a sigh of relief, the Blue Falcon's console began to beep. Falcon and Jody locked their eyes on it. A message icon had popped onto the screen. Falcon and Jody glanced at each other, before Falcon tapped the screen. A screen popped up, and a sentence began to scroll across:

"I'll be back."

Jody felt a shiver run down her spine. Falcon looked up, and stared at the road ahead. "And I'll be waiting."