Dun dun dun.
Inside the cockpit was chaos.
After noticing they were flying away from the planned route, Kenyon had accosted Chuck and demanded to know why he was heading in the wrong direction.
Chuck attempted to make some lame excuses about faulty instruments but wasn't fooling anyone.
Kenyon grabbed the back of the cockpit chair, forcing it into a downwards position, trapping pilot underneath him. His beady eyes glanced over the control panel dials to see that Chuck had intentionally inputted the wrong coordinates, explaining why they were flying in the wrong direction.
Knowing he'd be caught out, Chuck had tried to bluff his way out of the awkward situation he'd put himself in, before suddenly realizing that Kenyon was going for his gun.
Chuck instinctively went to grab Kenyon's gun to stop him from firing but the other man was too quick and slapped Chuck with his weapon, causing him to fall out of the seat. Kenyon forced him up and threw him into the middle of the aircraft, anger now at boiling point. Enraged, the criminal started kicking the absolute hell out of the pilot for jeopardizing their escape.
Before the others could say anything else to stop him, Kenyon then shot at Chuck twice. The first bullet lodged in the man's upper arm and the second ricocheted off a nearby seat and pierced through the aircraft hull.
"You fool!" came Barrett's cry as the decompressed aircraft started descending.
Ritter made for the pilot's chair as the helijet's moderate descent became faster and faster as the aircraft's angle of attack decreased. The helijet jerked forward at the strain, throwing its occupants to the front of the jet.
Having finally managed to untie himself, Virgil crawled over to Chuck whilst the others were occupied correcting the stall. He stared at the man in shock. There was so much blood. It was everywhere.
Virgil looked up at his captors in the cockpit who had now regained control of the helijet. Barrett and Ritter were yelling at Kenyon for causing the decompression and for being stupid enough to fire a gun in an enclosed space. Fortunately the bullet hole was fairly small and no longer a major issue now they were in control again.
Barrett turned back to Virgil and smirked, showing the boy that he was still in control and that there was no escape.
Virgil's shoulders deflated and his head fell. A few lone tears dropped down his cheeks. He felt hopeless.
His tears were halted when a bloodstained hand reached up and cupped his chin, pushing it up.
"D-Don't... give up..." Chuck winced.
Virgil gasped. "I-I thought you were-"
"I'm... okay." the man tried sitting upright and cried out as the pain shook through him. Virgil helped him into a sitting position and then reached for the man's glasses which had fallen off in the melee.
"Aww, how cute." Ritter snarked as he approached the duo. Kenyon was now in the pilot's seat with Barrett beside him to take charge, leaving the third man to keep an eye on the prisoners. "Too bad Kenyon didn't kill you, Collins. It'll just make killing you later more of a burden."
"You can't kill him!" Virgil cried out.
"It's got nothing to do with you, kid. Keep your mouth shut."
"I won't let you hurt him!"
Ritter backhanded the teenager and strutted to the front of the aircraft to get away from the petulant child. "Boy, that kid's annoying. Wish we brought the gag with us." he looked at their tense expressions. "What's going on?"
"There's a lot of drag on the helijet at the moment. It's preventing us from ascending any higher than we are now."
"How high are we?"
"10,780 feet."
"Then what's the problem?"
"That." Kenyon pointed at the windshield to reveal a bridge which was steadily honing into view.
"We can clear that, no problem." Ritter breezed it off.
"It'd be better if there was no drag." Kenyon snapped.
"Then find out what's causing the drag?"
"I'm flying the helijet, stupid!"
"Stop arguing! Ritter, just go and see what the problem is!" Barrett demanded.
Ritter groaned childishly and walked into the cargo bay of the jet. A few moments later he ran back out with a startled expression. "Some kid's hanging onto the ladder underneath the jet!"
Virgil's ears pricked up.
"What?" Kenyon left his seat as his boss took over and made his way to his colleague. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm telling you, there's some kid hanging on down there!"
Ritter and Kenyon ran to the back of the jet. A few minutes later, Kenyon let out a deafening roar from the cargo hold.
"SCOTT TRACY!"
"Scott?" Virgil's heart leapt in his chest. He crawled over the the sliding doors of the helijet and looked down the window crack to see that the rope ladder was still flailing about in the wind, a small figure hanging onto it for dear life.
Virgil's mouth dropped open. Scott had... risked his life to save him?
His eyes widened more so when he felt the helijet's engines decrease. Barrett was lowering the jet in hope the ladder would hit the bridge!
Shaking away the overwhelming mixture of emotions that had hit him like a brick wall, Virgil stood up.
If Scott had risked his life to save him, he was about to do the same.
Without even thinking what he was doing, Virgil ran over to the pilot's seat and started hammering Barrett on the head with numerous punches. The man tried pushing the teenager away and called for help as Virgil continued battering him.
"KENYON! RITTER! GET IN HERE!" Barrett yelled as Virgil attempted to pull him out of the seat.
With one huge heave, Virgil pulled the stout man out of the seat and jumped into the chair himself. With a vague plan in mind, Virgil pulled back on the control column to hopefully ascend the jet away from incoming bridge. Unfortunately, his input controls were too harsh on the yoke, causing the helijet to stall and seemingly drop out of the sky.
By this time, Ritter and Kenyon had re-entered the cockpit and Kenyon quickly yanked Virgil out of the seat. He was just about to strangle him when his attention was drawn to the cockpit windshield by a looming metal structure.
"We're going to crash!" came Ritter's alarmed cry from behind him.
"Hit the deck!"
The helijet collided with the bridge and crashed into one of its stanchions.