"I'M BLIND!"
Idiot! Surely everyone knows not to look at the blast. Geese raises himself from his undignified position on the cold, steel floor of the Chinook, were it not for his battle-honed reactions he too would be blind, doomed to spend the rest of his short existence bouncing around the interior of the helicopter as it spiralled towards the ground. For a heartbeat, as he clambers into the co-pilot seat, Geese considers ejecting the now useless pilot from the Chinook. Although panic-stricken, at least he had the presence of mind to keep his hands on the controls. Before Geese can strap-in he is flung forwards as the nose of the Chinook drops in a gut-wrenching manoeuvre that signifies the failure of the forwards rotor, the control column crushing into his abdomen. Bracing his feet against the control panel Geese grips the control column and yanks back hard, resisting the urge to strike the now hysterical pilot unconscious.
Without its brother the rear engine screams in protest as it struggles to respond, Geese makes a mental note never to buy British hardware again. As seconds stretch into minutes the Chinook finally responds, but this does not mean they are safe, merely that they are not going to smash face-first into the streets of South Town quite so quickly.
South Town?
Where the hell was South Town? "I can't see a thing in this fog." "I can't see at all!" The ex-pilot squeals. The back of Geese's left fist connects perfectly, if not cleanly, with the ex-pilot's nose, silencing him for what will hopefully be a very long time. Craning forwards until his breath clouds the wind screen Geese tries to peer through the rolling murk outside. "This isn't fog, its…" Right on cue a warning buzzer drills into his skull. "Can't anything keep quiet for two little minutes?" He rapidly scans the control panel for the accompanying light.
STALL.
The cloud of dust that used to be South Town had choked the single remaining engine to death. "Altimeter, where is the Altimeter?" Had Geese known where to look, he would have seen that it had been crushed when he had been flung into the control panel, but as it was Geese took a deep breath and lunged into the dust cloud that used to be his empire.
