Trick or Treat, Pt 17
By Jill Weber
Big Guy and Rusty characters owned by Sony and Darkhorse and are used without permission or intent to make a profit.
"Hi, Ozma!"
***
It was a good thing that Garth's military career had him almost as well programmed as Rusty was, or Big Guy would have had an 'unfortunate accident' involving his titanium plated foot and the vagrant's posterior.
The audience, with one exception, was embarrassed at having called for help. "I thought I saw something, too," one timid little barmaid said. She pointed towards downtown. "But I can't be sure."
"I'm on it," Garth said. She'd pointed in the direction of the Quark Tower, Garth noted with relief. So it was time to go to the rescue and let Dwayne handle the mysterious lights in the sky.
Big Guy roared off in the indicated direction, with the Legend One following.
"I'm getting something," Jo warned.
"Not a false alarm, then," Garth muttered when he spotted several dozen lights floating over the city. "What are those things?"
"Not very powerful, whatever they are," Mack reported. "They show up on infrared, but nothing else. No source of chemical propulsion, no weapons, no radiation, no communications, nothing. They don't even have sharp metal edges."
"I think I'd better get a close up look," Garth said. Big Guy slowed down and approached one of the lights. "It's a balloon," Garth said, rubbing his eyes to make sure they weren't playing tricks on him.
"That's it?" Jo said. "Just balloons?"
"What's with the heat signature, then?" Mack demanded.
Then Garth took a good look. "It's a… candle? My god, the balloons have Molotov cocktails tied to them."
"Christmas," Jo said. "There's got to be three dozen of those incendiaries up here." Hurriedly, she got online to the NCFD and reported the situation.
"They'll burn down half the city if they all land," Mack said.
"This just keeps getting worse," sighed Garth. He pushed his worry about Hunter and Slate to the back of his mind the best he could. Rusty was there, between the three of them they could handle any problem, he hoped.
He had to think fast. How the devil was he going to collect around thirty low flying fire balloons in time to prevent the city from burning down and go to his friends rescue?