Chapter Ten
Scamper to the Sky
"Shit. Shit, shit, god DAMMIT." Nack swore under his breath, fingers on Stella's legs tightening in frustration. There was no avoiding this—the massive boar had already noticed them. He was already trudging towards them. The weasel knew that he hadn't a chance against Jeb even with all three of the Hooligans at his side in perfect condition. Yet here he was, the massive ex-mercenary striding up to him, with no one with him except a little girl with second-degree burns all over her arms.
"Nack…" She whispered; the weasel could feel the fear vibrating through her body as she shrunk against his back. As Jeb approached him he took a few steps back, eyes darting around; the police seemed to have formed a circle around the piggybacking pair and the approaching mercenary pig. The weasel deflated. Apparently Jeb was threatening even to trained lawmen...or they had finally recognized him and just didn't want to help someone who had assisted in blowing up the park.
Either way, it was trapping him between a rock and a hard place. And that rock was not looking too happy at the moment.
His foot slid back and hit rubber; twist back to see past the child on his back, Nack realized they had run against a police car. Narrowing his eyes, the weasel smashed his elbow against the window and reached in to fiddle with the lock as he ignored the shouts from the surrounding officers. Swiftly he swung the door open and threw Stella into the driver's seat. She let out a yelp of shock as Nack shoved his gun into her hands, dipping under her feat to root around under the wheel. With a satisfying click, a compartment popped open to reveal a collection of wires.
"Lesson number two in shootin' is gonna come early, kiddo, and its gonna be a real sonvabitch." Nack turned to the girl above him, who was holding the gun like it was made of acid. "I'm gonna need you to cover me while I hotwire this thing. Shoot at Jeb, shoot at officers, I don't care. Just keep everyone away from this car if you have any interest in living."
"O-okay." Stella said. The fox was shaking visibly as she aimed the gun through the shattered glass of the window. The encroaching boar's grin was visible; perhaps laughing at the girl's attempt at defense, or perhaps simply laughing at them as a whole. Several officers seemed to be gathering behind him, with one of them calling for backup. She paled. If more cops showed up, they didn't have a chance.
Holding the gun steady like Nack had shown her at the shooting game, she carefully and precisely centered in on her target. There was no scope this time, not like the game had; the only thing she was going to be able to trust was going to be her very own intuition. The barrel of the gun shifted around uncertainly, unsure whether or not to focus in on the mercenary pig trampling towards them or the cops at his side. Finally, she bit her lip and focused in on a target.
Small fingers pulled down on the trigger.
With a surprised shriek the fox fell back against the passenger door. The bullet whizzed out from the broken glass of the cop car, making precise collision against the splint that was supporting the massive boar that had been coming at them. Jeb's eyes widened as his weight collapsed under the lack of support, falling backwards with his arms held out. Several officers were caught under his girth as he went down to slam against the concrete. They moaned loudly in defeat as Jeb tried furiously to rise to his feet—it wasn't happening, not without the support he had previously given himself.
A spark emitted from the wires in Nack's hands and the engine roared to life. The weasel cackled victoriously, hopping back into the leather car seat to pull it into gear. The car drug against the pavement as he rammed down on the gas, spinning the wheel to face them towards west entrance. The car jetsoned forward with several officers chasing hopelessly after it and screaming into their walky-talkies.
Not that it would do them any good anymore. The hijacked police car crashed through the glass door of the west entrance, sending shimmering shards everywhere as pedestrians fled from the fiasco. The vehicle flew off the stairs to land at street level with an ear-piecing screech from the tires. Nack cringed as the car hit the side of a brick building; a shiver went down Stella's spine and she quickly buckled up. She barely had time as the car sped away from the destroyed amusement park. Several officers had already clambered into their vehicles to give chase.
"That was a good shot, kid. You've got a healthy strain of good luck. Or dumb luck. Knowing that you're hangin' around the Hooligans, it was probably the latter." Nack finally remarked; he felt like he was using a breath that he had been holding in for a month. Stella nodded nervously with the gun clutched against her chest. The weasel carefully reached out and dislodged it from her tight grip, pocketing it back into its holster. "And dumb luck don't last you. Jeb ain't gonna be down long, he's just gonna get a new splint and come after us. And this car ain't fast or durable enough to keep us out of his grip. Maybe the grip of those cops back there, but not out of Jeb's nasty hooves."
"So what do we do?" Stella panicked. Nack shot the fox a grin and a wink, snapping his fingers ahead of them on the road. Ahead of their car was a trail of smoke emitting from a plasma engine. Precariously sitting atop the very back of the engine, waving like a child, was Bean. He flopped back and forth at the unsteady driving of the Marvelous Queen, provided by Bark.
Nack slammed down on the brakes, the police car screeching to a halt in the middle of the road. The back slammed violently against the bottom of a street lamp, the light fizzling out as it slammed down to block the entire street. Arms quickly wrapped around the small white fox to toss her out the car door, the purple weasel quickly following after her to boot Bark out of the driver's seat. With a quick flick of the finger from Nack, two sidecars popped out of the side compartments of the airbike. The team quickly scrambled in as the bike revved for takeoff; there wasn't any time to spare and anyone who got left behind wasn't going to have anyone coming back for them.
"Jeb may be fast, kid, but he can't fly. When pigs fly, innit that the expression?" Nack snickered as he set the auto-clutch in motion to begin building up for the fastest takeover possible. It just had to build up for a minute or so, and he trusted the durability of his bike to stand up against the pathetic bullets that Station Square supplied its police force with. They'd be lucky if they even grazed through the heavy coat of paint on the durable machine.
Bean cackled loudly as he hung off the side of his compartment, waving to the officers below as the Marvelous Queen rose into the air. Stella was at his feet, hidden underneath the metal coverings and looking at the duck like he was out of his mind. Bullets whizzed by his head carelessly until Nack reached out and grabbed the back of his ascot, pulling him back down into the sidecar.
"Stay DOWN, you goddamn idiot! We ain't safe yet!"
"Looks like they nicked your bike's finish, Nack." was the bird's only response. Nack growled; that finish had cost him a hefty sum, never mind that it just was against his rules to let his precious bike get hurt in any form. It would have to wait for later, though—the accelerator had built up enough to release the force saved up. He pushed down his hat as a strap folded over his middle; the others were quickly being tied down to the bike as well.
With that, he pushed down on the gas pedal.
The airbike rocketed upwards, high above the skyscrapers, with the sounds of the officer's shouts lost behind them as the Marvelous Queen disappeared into the clouds above. The entire shuttle seemed to shake with the pressure of the speed and atmosphere. Stella had no idea how the bird aside her was still laughing riotously; she felt like her breath had been shoved into the back of her throat. But with a sudden, unexpected jerk, the airbike seemed to level out and the straps wrapped around them loosed and zipped back into the slots from whence they came. Slowly Stella rose to her feet, legs shaking as she balanced herself on the side of the compartment to look over the side.
The wind blew her hair around and across her eyes; swiping her unburnt arm across her face, the fox looked down through the shield of clouds that drifted in between the gloriously tall skyscrapers below them. The ones that escaped the canopy of white fluff were shining brightly against the sun that had been hidden from the city at ground level. Ice blue eyes went wide as she stared down at the shining pillars rising through to their level. A large grin appeared on her face. Nack, however, was tapping the gas gauge on the airbike with a grimace on his face.
"That crap always takes too much gas up. We're gonna have to land outside of town and see if we can find a station to fuel up." He muttered. Stella averted her eyes from the clouds and buildings below to look at him questioningly. "It's a feature of the Marvelous Queen that's meant to get you far away from any people you ain't gettin' on with. Quick speed, high velocity, shoots you out of enemy range quickly. Only problem is that it usually empties about half the tank."
"So it's a runaway move with a drawback."
"Don't call it that."
"Runaway move?" She questioned. "But it is."
Nack groaned and threw his head back, resting back in the leather seat while lazily pushing down on the gas so the airbike would chug forward. "It's not a runaway move, it's a getaway move."
"Sounds like the same thing to me." Stella shrugged, returning to her vantage at the rim of the sidecar. Bean peeked up beside her with a sneaky grin crossing over his beak, beckoning the little girl downwards. She leaned down, large ear gripped in the gloved wing of the green bird.
"He likes 'getaway move' because it sounds cooler." Bean snickered in her ear. She placed a hand over he muzzle, giggling slightly as Nack's face flushed red; the fox couldn't help but laugh at that kind of immaturity. Said laughter only increased when Nack jerked the Marvelous Queen backwards and forwards, causing the duck to fall forwards flat on his beak. Across from them, Bark sighed in annoyance and sunk into the small sidecar, ill suited for his size.
"Yeah, well, call it what you like because it'll only work for so long. We need to get some damn gas and hit the road." Nack groaned, rubbing his temples. "Well…we need to get some damn gas and get to the Station Square hospital."
"Hospital? I appreciate the concern, Snaggletooth, but I'm feelin' right as rain." Bean quipped, instinctively ducking from the swipe that the weasel took at him. "But why the hospital? I guess Shiny Pink here could use a few more layers of gauze on that burn but I don't think they'll be too happy to see us there."
"Well, that probably couldn't hurt…" Nack commented, glancing at the awkwardly bandaged burn on Stella's now exposed arm—she was quick to push it behind her back, cheeks puffed up in determination. "…but if you'd bother to remember more than five minutes ago, then you'd know we have to visit Svetlana while she's in the hospital. She might have some information on our case, and it might be easier to get her to talk now that's she's going to be bedridden."
"Five minutes ago was important, you know." Bean remarked.
"…Honestly, I don't even know why I bother with you anymore." Nack groaned. "Just…take the Extreme Gear out and check for a road that isn't overpopulated with cops, okay? Can you do that?"
"Righty-o, capitan o' mine!" Bean cackled, climbing off the side of his compartment to scuttle around underneath it. One hand held him up from falling while the nimble fingers of the other opened a hatch under the sidecar. Fumbling around inside it, the bird let out a whoop as a long board drooped out. He released his grip on the car to fall down on the top of the Extreme Gear, plummeting downwards. Stella gasped and covered her eyes.
"Don't worry about him." Nack remarked. Hesitantly she peaked through the crevices in her fingers just in time to see the bird shoot up through the overlay of clouds, cheering and crying as the flying board swiveled effortlessly through the sky. Stella pushed over the rim of the sidecar to watch in amazement, while Bark carefully surveyed the bird's erratic actions—just in case. But Bean quickly disappeared out of both of their views when he plunged down into the clouds to do a check over the open and closed roads.
"Do you think they'll even be any open roads after what happened at Twinkle Park…?" Stella said, worry clear in her tone. "I mean, the police must be going nuts. I'm surprised we haven't seen any copters yet."
"Yeah, that's kinda why we need to get back to ground level soon." Nack shrugged. "Among all the other reasons. And don't worry about the roads, kid. The police may be going nuts over this but there's never not a way out. 'Specially since we're gonna be laying low in order to talk to our dear hitwoman. By the time we're done with that little dance, the cop craze will have died down a little bit."
"You think so…?"
"Hey. I ain't been in this business for half my life to 'think' so. I 'know' so and you better keep that the hell in mind." Nack teased; Bark just rolled his eyes, well aware that the weasel should be thanking his lucky stars that SOMEONE would be willing to buy his lie of success in the business. It didn't help that the pint-sized fox just shot the mercenary an inspecting look loaded with disbelief…but with a small smile encroaching her features.
Before either of them could say anything, though, the communications radio on the Marvelous Queen's dashboard crackled to life.
"And we are in LUCK! The highway exit by the hospital is open! D'ya think it's about time we paid Lil' Miss Bitey a visit? I'm sure she's really missing us." Bean's voice broke through, laced with the crackling static of interference. Nack grinned, flipping the intercom out of its spot by the radio.
"Oh yes. I think it is. In fact, why don't you meet us there?"
"Can do, el capitan!"
Nack laughed and clicked off the device in his hands, carelessly throwing it back at the dashboard and wrapping his hands around the wheel. There seemed to be a certain glint of self-satisfaction in his eyes, almost a look of victory. Both Bark and Stella scooted away from their driver—or, in Bark's case, simply squirmed around in the ill-fitting sidecar.
"It's time to drop in on our old friend."