Chapter Six

I hurtled into space like a bungee jumper, feeling my stomach lurch as I snapped back upwards in arc. The momentum of the swing propelled me into the air, sending me literally flying towards the suspension bridge. The wind roared like a hurricane, mingling eerily with the shouts from the bridge and the beating propellers of the helpless second helicopter.

The sun glared blindingly for an instant. The car-packed bridge leaped upwards at a dizzying speed, but the thrill of falling had long since melted into an icy, choking terror of what would happen if I failed.

Instinctively, I caught hold of the edge of one of the thick horizontal cables spanning the top of the bridge, twirled over it and dropped feet first, landing in a crouch on top of the roof of a taxi. The taxi driver stuck his head out the window. "What the hell do you think you're doing, you..."

Suddenly, very quickly, at the same time his eyes widened and his mouth shrunk enormously. A woman climbing out of her stopped car in the next lane pointed at me and stuttered, "Spuh...Spuh...Spi..."

For a split second afterwards, there wasn't a sound to be heard on that bridge. Then, an explosion of shouting nearly knocked me over as people started screaming for me to do something, gesturing wildly at the west side of the bridge, where plumes of smoke were twisting ominously from below.

Barely thinking, I sprang off the taxi to the roof of a van twenty feet away, then again to clutch the vertical suspension cables connecting the concrete to the steel beams above.

I looked down and nearly lost my grip. Hanging barely five feet above the water, the helicopter was grotesquely flattened like against the giant concrete supports of the bridge like a swatted insect. Somehow, during the crash, it had flipped over forwards in midair and tangled its propeller in the cables, swung around, and smashed its tail against the column. Sparks were flickering from the cockpit.

"What are you waiting for? Do something!" someone from the crowd screamed.

"I'm working on it!" Beads of sweat began to soak my mask. The chopper looked ready to slip at any moment. If I jumped or swung down there, my impact could be enough to send it tumbling into the river. And with those sparks...

Wait! If I couldn't get to it from above, then maybe I could get to it from below! If I could get under the skis, I might be able to pull myself up to the pilots without dislodging the helicopter. But how? The only way to get down there was to...

Swim.

I sucked in a deep breath, held it, squeezed my eyes shut, and bounded into the air, fervently hoping that spider-powers included the ability to hold my breath.

Splash!

The water was shockingly cold, even for late September. Down and down I plunged, feet first, clawing uselessly at the suffocating river water. I was drowning! I thrashed furiously, kicking up bubbles that swirled mockingly up towards the flickering surface.

What was the matter with me? I knew how to swim. But somewhere, deep inside, there was a gnawing, shrieking panic at being buried alive by tons and tons of black water.

In a bewildering swirl, the panic gave way to anger, then to fury. I had done all of this to be beaten by a few feet of water? It wasn't just my life that was at stake!

I cupped my hands and stroked upwards, at the same time kicking as hard as I could. The wavering light shot towards me as my head broke the surface. I gasped against the stifling mask, which had now plastered itself against my nose and mouth. Treading water, I spun around and looked up to see the chopper dangling not five feet over my head.

I would only have one shot at this. If I didn't keep my balance properly, all of us would go straight down into the river, and there would be no escape for any of us.

The cables tangling the propeller shifted with a metallic groan, and the helicopter swayed dangerously. If I was going to do anything, it had to be now!

I sank back to my chin under the waves, then kicked down against the water. I shot upwards, made a wild grab, and felt the palms of my hands connect and cling to the steel ski of the helicopter.

I froze, but the chopper only swayed slightly in the breeze. Letting out my breath in a whoosh, I carefully pulled my right hand away from the flat of the ski and pressed it against the horizontal stilt.

Slowly, tensely, I pulled myself hand-over-hand up the ski, then finally came face-level with the pilot's side window. The door was half open towards the river. I climbed to the right of the door and peered in.

"Hi. Everyone all right in here?"

The two pilots gaped at me in astonishment. They were still strapped into their seats. The man gasped, "Spider...Girl?"

I hesitated, then said, "Yeah. Spider-Girl. Are you both all right?"

"Yeah, we're...we're fine," said the woman, still looking like her eyes were about to fall out of her head.

The controls sparked again, and all three of us flinched. "Okay, don't worry. I'm going to get you out of here," I said, with much more confidence than I actually had. "But this isn't going to be easy. The cables aren't going to hold much longer. Can you get out of your seatbelts?"

In shock, the pilots both hastily undid their seatbelts, bracing their feet against the curved floor to stay upright.

How was I going to do this? I couldn't get one of them out at a time, the cables wouldn't hold that long. I would have to get them both out of here at once. But, in order to do that, I would have to make a twenty foot leap straight up from the roof to the level of the bridge. A leap while carrying two people.

I slid back out of the door. "You're going to have to climb out onto the roof. Slowly! Be careful. This thing's about to fall."

"And then what?"

"I've got it under control."

The helicopter rocked violently. "Slowly! I said slowly!"

Thwaang!

My head snapped up. What was that?

Thwaang!

A cable snapped loose from its bolt at the end of the bridge and flailed up like a bullwhip.

"All right, maybe a little faster."

Both pilots were struggling to climb up the smooth surface of the chopper. I made my way over the curve of the roof and pulled them both up. The helicopter rocked again.

Thwaang! Thwaang!

All of us yelped as the helicopter dropped about a foot as two more cables snapped. Now the distance to the bridge was even farther.

Thwaang! Thwaang! Thwaang!

I reached out with both arms, grabbed both pilots around their waists and gave the mightiest spring I could ever have done just as the last cable snapped.

The three of us tumbled to the concrete just as the twisted wreckage of the chopper disappeared under the waves.