Highway To Armageddon (51 page)

           
“Whoa, what are you doing?”

           
“Finishing what we started. Krystal, thrust our left wing inside the
helicopter’s hatch door. I’m going across.”

           
“WHAT??” we all shout simultaneously.

           
“Just do it! We’re running out of time!”

           
Krystal sighs and pulls up alongside the chopper. She does a remarkable job of
sliding the wing directly inside the hatch door. I would never in a million
years be able to perform an aerial maneuver like that.

           
Boom Boom doesn’t waste any time. She climbs onto the wing and hurries across
like she’s walking a plank.

           
“Stay with us, Krystal. We’ll try and make this quick,” I say before hopping
onto the wing. The gusting wind nearly blows me off. I don’t know how the hell
Boom Boom made it look so easy.

           
I miraculously stumble across the wing and hop inside the chopper. Someone
behind me yelps. I spin around just as Dorothy leaps onto my arms.

           
“Dorothy, what are you doing?” I cry, pulling her away from the door.

           
“I’m not letting you face Rasputin alone,” she says defiantly. “I can help. I’m
tired of running and hiding. I want to fight!”

           
I don’t get a chance to argue with her. There’s a loud explosion, followed by
the wing of our car sliding out of the hatch door.

           
“Krystal!” I scream, thrusting half my body out of the helicopter. I watch in
horror as Krystal spirals out of control toward the forest below, the flaming
engine leaving a trail of smoke.

           
“No!” Boom Boom screams, leaning out the door with me.

           
Boom Boom spins around and aims her gun at Rasputin. He’s in the back of the
cabin, still staggering around blindly.

           
“I’m going to kill you, you son of a bitch!” Boom Boom screams, firing off
several shots. Rasputin shields his face with his forearms. The bullets
ricochet off his armor, forcing us to duck for cover.

           
Rasputin blindly hurls lightning bolts. We dodge the blasts, but a few stray
bolts spiral into the cockpit.

           
 Klaxton jumps out of her seat. “Rasputin you nitwit, you’re going to
destroy the engine!” She then crawls out of view. I don’t bother going after
her. We need to focus on Rasputin.

           
I aim my gun at Rasputin’s head, but before I can fire a shot the propellers
sputter. This causes the chopper to wobble. I fall to my knees and my gun
clatters to the ground. I reach for it, but the chopper shakes again, sending the
gun tumbling out the hatch door.

           
“You have got to be kidding me!”

           
Rasputin goes back to indiscriminately firing electrical blasts. Boom Boom and
Dorothy cower behind a cabinet. That’s not going to keep them safe, though. The
lightning bolts are starting to bounce off the walls. If Rasputin keeps this up
he’s eventually going to hit us.

           
I whip out my electric sword and press the button on the side that heats the
blade. Within seconds the saber glows bright red.

           
“I really don’t want to do this, Rasputin, but you’ve left me no choice!”

           
I swing my sword at Rasputin’s outstretched right arm and hack off his hand.
The hand falls to the ground and slides under a chair. There’s less blood than
I thought there’d be. I guess the scorching-hot sword cauterized his wound.

           
Rasputin clutches his severed wrist, howling like a wounded beast. He staggers
toward the hatch door, still not able to see.

           
Rasputin must realize he’s about to walk out into open sky because he abruptly
stops and turns around. He peers at me through half-shut eyes and snarls.

           
I point my glowing sword at his chest. “It’s over, Rasputin. Enough blood has
been spilt this day. Surrender and you’ll get a fair trial in a court of law.
If you fight on… you will die. The choice is yours.”

           
Rasputin suddenly cackles. I take it he’s delirious from rage and pain.

           
“I would rather die for my cause than be treated like a caged beast for the rest
of my days. Go ahead and kill me, foolish child. Make me a martyr. My cause
will explode across the globe, becoming a religion. In death I will become more
powerful than I ever was in life. Just as the Romans inadvertently ignited the
Christian Faith by assassinating Christ, so too will my death ignite a religion
among my followers. I will be worshipped as a God!”

           
“Wow, dude, you are totally off your meds,” I say, my electric sword still
pointed at his heart.

           
Rasputin’s
eyes widen. I think the effects of the flash grenade are starting to wear off.
He cocks his head and says, “You are looking at me like I’m some sort of evil
madman. I can assure you that is not the case. There is a method to my madness.
At least, there was before you meddlesome children ruined everything.”

           
Boom Boom emerges from her hiding place and points her gun at Rasputin’s head.
“You are evil. You’ve killed tens of thousands of innocent civilians! You
killed Arrow!”

           
Rasputin shakes his head. His mane of hair whips back and forth in the fierce
wind. “Ahh, so that was Arkady’s real name, I take it? I am sorry your friend
suffered a premature demise, but I’m not the one who started this. You attacked
me first, remember? You snuck into my lair as spies, betraying my trust.
You
are the evil ones. How can you support a regime as sadistic and morally
corrupt as the Chinese Empire?”

           
“We don’t support China,” I say. “We just think you’re the greater of the two
evils.”

           
Rasputin glares directly into my eyes. “Is that so? Do you know why I refer to
my organization as the Purple Dragons?”

           
“Because you like mythical beasts?” I say sarcastically. “I don’t freaking
care! Why are you rambling on about---”

           
Rasputin
cuts me off. “15 years ago the Chinese bombed my house, wiping out my entire
family. I wasn’t home at the time, but I wish I had been. Living without my
wife and children has been a fate worse than death.”

           
Rasputin sniffles and blinks back tears. Even after all this time the deaths of
his loved ones tears him apart. “When I went to retrieve their bodies from the
rubble, the first person I stumbled upon was my youngest daughter, Anastasia.
She was a beautiful girl, so full of love and life. She was only four. But the
Chinese didn’t care. Their bombs tore her asunder as if she were a common
criminal. I found her under a pile of smoldering debris, clutching her favorite
stuffed animal… a purple dragon.”

           
My mouth drops open. I’m doing my best not to allow Rasputin’s hypnotic words
to alter my emotions. But Mikhail must be using some of his ‘black magic’ on
me, manipulating my mind so I don’t pull the trigger. And I think it works.
After hearing such a heart-breaking story I’m actually beginning to grow
sympathetic to his cause. I now realize how he’s been able to control a
worldwide terror movement while hiding out in secret lairs. His words are like
magic. Maybe he is some sort of dark wizard.

           
Mikhail’s lips curl into a sneer. He suddenly whips up his still-intact left
arm and fires another bolt of electricity. I duck to the ground, busting my
face on the cold floor.
           

           
That’s
when I see it, lying on the ground in front of me: Rasputin’s severed right hand.
I grab the computerized glove and squeeze the hand out. I then slide the glove
over my own hand and rise to my feet. Mikhail is lumbering toward Boom Boom,
who is on the ground, moaning in pain. She must have hurt herself while dodging
the electrical blasts. Rasputin raises his glowing hand and prepares to
electrocute her just like he did to Arrow. I refuse to let that happen.

           
I point my own glowing hand at Rasputin’s chest. I’m not exactly sure how the
glove works, but whatever I’m doing seems to be working. Spirals of electricity
dance around my fingertips.

           
“Hey Rasputin!”

           
Rasputin turns his head and his eyes widen in horror.

           
“No!”        

           
He tries to swing his arm toward me, but he’s too late. I close my fist and
open my hand. Tendrils of electricity explode out of my fingers and cascade all
over Mikhail’s body. Mikhail screams in excruciating agony as his body turns
electric blue. His skin begins to smolder and his mane of hair erupts in
flames. Rasputin staggers backwards toward the hatch door as the barrage of
electricity cooks his body inside and out. Boom Boom leaps to her feet and
fires her pistol. Blood gushes from Rasputin’s throat. The mass-murderer
finally plummets out of the hatch door.

           
Boom Boom, Dorothy and I hurry over to the door and peer out to make sure he’s
really gone. We see his tiny, rapidly shrinking body plunging toward a river in
the forest below. Even if he survived his electrocution and gunshot wounds, a
fall from this height would kill him on impact. Mikhail Rasputin, the most
wanted man on Earth, is finally dead.

           
And we have no body to show for our efforts. We just flushed our $25 million
reward down the drain. But the bounty wasn’t real to begin with, I guess.
Klaxton never intended to pay it in the first place.

           
Klaxton! She’s still in the helicopter!

           
I spin around just as the president emerges from the cockpit in her armored
exoskeleton, clutching a machine gun.

           
Klaxton swings her gun at the three of us and shouts, “I’m the President of the
United States, bitches. Eat lead and die!”

           
Klaxton fires off a burst of gunfire. I dive to the left side of the cabin,
narrowly avoiding the bombardment. I crash onto the cold steel floor, busting
my face yet again. Blood pours from my forehead.

           
I flip around and watch as Boom Boom exchanges gunfire with Klaxton. Klaxotn
shields her face with her arms and jumps behind a cabinet.

           
I glance over at Dorothy, who’s still standing by the hatch door. A river of
crimson gushes from her bullet-riddled chest.

           
“Dorothy! Noooo!!!”

           
Dorothy looks over at me. Her eyes are already beginning to glaze over.

           
“Lance…” she whispers, reaching out to me.

           
I jump up and race toward her, but the chopper wobbles again, sending Dorothy
plunging out of the open door.

           
“NOOOO!!!”

           
I know it’s suicide, but I swore I would protect Dorothy with my life.

           
 I sprint toward the door… and I leap out after her.

Chapter Twenty:
Boom Boom

           
“I’m the President of the United States, bitches! Eat lead and die!”

           
I spin around and draw my gun. Klaxton fires her machine gun at Lance and
swings it toward Dorothy. I dive to the right side of the cabin while firing
off a few shots of my own. Klaxton shields her exposed face with her armored
forearm and ducks behind a cabinet. I’m about to go after her when Lance
shouts, “Dorothy, nooo!!”

           
I turn around and gasp. Dorothy sways back and forth in front of the hatch door
as blood oozes from her chest.

           
Dorothy reaches toward Lance. Her face is as white as freshly fallen snow.

           
“Lance…” she whispers.

           
The chopper suddenly tilts to the right, sending me slamming into the wall.
Dorothy loses her balance and plummets out of the helicopter.

           
“Dorothy!” I scream.

           
I lunge toward the door just as Lance barrels toward it from the opposite
direction. It suddenly dawns on me he has no intention of stopping.

           
I sprint toward Lance as fast as I possibly can and tackle him in mid-air, just
as he’s about to leap out the door. We both slam onto the chopper’s unforgiving
steel floor and roll into the back. We finally come to a stop after crashing
into a filing cabinet. I end up on top of Lance. Daggers of pain erupt all over
my body. My spine feels as though it’s been thrown out of alignment. But I
can’t worry about that now.

           
Lance shoves me off of him and clambers to his feet. His forehead is bleeding
pretty badly. He starts to run back toward the hatch door.

           
I grip his wrist. “You can’t help her, Lance! She’s gone!”

           
Lance shoves me so hard my head slams against the cabinet.

           
“No, Boom Boom, I can still save her!” he shouts, delirious from pain and
sorrow. “I promised her I’d keep her safe!”