Urban Renewal - 25 -   by Erin Halfelven Art by Heather Rose Brown

 
Todd and Candace bypassed Airport Way, taking the road that led to the East Wenatchee Valley where the cyborg jetcopter and robot Knight faced off over a field of dairy cattle. Their black and red masks perched atop their heads, the Munsons looked very grim. Candace had the buzz gun they had salvaged from the mountain in her lap.

"Donk says just point and shoot?" she asked.

"Yeah. It's like a big shotgun, rocket-propelled sabot full of darts and needles. The sight reads the distance to the target and sets when to burst the shoe for maximum effect."

"Nasty."

"Yeah."

"Probably useless against that thing."

"Yeah."

"We going to be in time to do anything at all?"

Todd didn't answer for a moment. "Domino says that if we're lucky, I'll be there in time to see him die. They're preparing a welcome party."

Candace grinned. "Save some cake for me if I don't make it."

They reached across the seat with their free hands and touched fingers.

"Is Tessie safe?" Candace asked.

"I don't know," said Todd.

* * *

Spartako's targets were approaching again. And he'd maneuvered and managed the situation so that he had no reasonable hope of escape. His programming would now allow him to self-destruct to complete his mission. He'd tried this earlier but Blueblazes and the younger target had escaped. This time he would not fail.

* * *

Lady Karma summoned a wind to keep her close enough to the psychic net she had cast to keep it powered. At worst it might slowdown Spartako's reactions a fraction of a second, at best it might cause him to make the wrong decision at a critical moment.

Catclaw pursued her on foot, limping at first. "I didn't know she could fly!" he grumbled.

* * *

Penny powered up the Knight's atomic cannon. Maybe she really could slice the rotors of the jetcopter and force a crash. Maybe she could do this without having to kill anyone, even a half-mechanical cyborg assassin.

Nate's voice in her mind said, "Star Troopers, ETA twelve minutes, now. Centurion, Sky Bolt and two guys in powered armor."

"Too little, too late. I'm here now." She tightened a mental finger on the virtual trigger of the cannon, the boot jets already programmed to balance the thrust. Nothing behind her to be damaged. Draw down her aim on the point of rotation. Squeeze.

* * *

Candace fired from the window of the SUV, the sabot set for bursting at 330 yards. She aimed for the point behind the first window, where Dr. Domino had told her she would do the most damage.

* * *

Summoning all her remaining will, Kendra sent a psychic lance at the Cyborg. The turbulence of a sonic boom knocked her off the crest of the wind she'd been riding and she fell toward the ground, almost unconscious from her effort.

* * *

A burning lance of nuclear flame sliced the rotors from the jetcopter.

Needles and darts from a bursting sabot ripped a hole in the side of the cyborg vehicle, revealing the tanklike inner-capsule holding what remained of Spartako's body.

Now thought Spartako, sensing the approach of his window of opportunity. Now. Something glitched in his programming....

* * *

Billy and Tessie raced down the river, under the bridge, past the airport in less time than it takes to turn a page. Billy chose his path carefully, picking a ridge to run along to get him closer to Spartako. The jetcopter dropped a bit, it's rotors gone. A hole opened in the fuselage, still a hundred and fifty feet up.

"I'll jump, you do your thing," said Billy.

"Right," said Tess.

Billy leaped from the top of the ridge, a human-sized ballistic missile now. At the top of his arc the falling cyborg aircraft loomed over him. He extended his arms with Tessie between his hands, trying to get her as close to the rip in the plane as possible. Billy's forcefield kept time slowed to geological scale.

Tessie stretched out, her small hand reaching into the hole. She tapped on the metal of the case holding Spartako.

"Jinx!" she said. "You're it!"