THE BEGINNING OF PART TWO
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Hescominsoon ran for all he was worth. He ran for several minutes along a highway until he came to the city limits and then dashed off into a patch of trees. He spotted a gnarled oak tree and leaped into it, climbing its branches with the ease of a leopard. He perched at a branch about twenty feet up, and he waited for his pursuers to show themselves.
Several thousand feet in the air, a B2 stealth bomber scanned the ground. Its mission was not one of a stealth air strike, but a simple recon mission. The objective: Find HCS at any cost.
"Lone figure spotted heading west of the northbound highway!" radioed a copilot.
"Roger that," radioed back the main pilot. "Reporting coordinates..."
A mile away, the team from CGA received a single message.
"We've got him," breathed C$.
---------------
Vibro jogged down the road, arms swinging loosely at his sides. The pager on his belt began vibrating. Vibro paused and yanked it out of the sheath. He held the pager-katana to his ear.
"Yeah?"
STC spoke in a hushed voice.
"Vibro, they found the robot. You gotta get HCS out of - "
The transmission abruptly cut off. Vibro resheathed his katana and looked around.
He spotted a Corvette flying down the highway toward him.
Whipping out the katana, Vibro examined the car through the hollow blade; which doubled as a telescope.
"MM!" he exclaimed.
He swung around, looking for a place to hide, then quickly ducked into the brush by the side of the road.
In a tree close by, HCS watched curiously.
...
MaidMirawyn peered suspiciously at the pile of branches farther ahead. For a moment she thought she'd seen someone there...
She slowed the Corvette as she went past it, rolling down the passenger window.
"Hello?" she called. "Hello?"
The words were accompanied by an Uzi shoved out the window..
No one answered, somewhat unsurprisingly.
Underneath a pile of leaves, Vibro twitched uncomfortably. Ants crawled down his neck.
"Sure hope she doesn't empty a mag in my direction..."
Shrugging, MM rolled the window up and eased up on the brake.
"Don't seem to be any cops around..." she mused, glancing up at the mirror.
The Corvette flew off down the highway at an unbelievably illegal speed.
...
Vibro clung to the trunk, his hair and clothes rippling in the slipstream, praying that a State Trooper would come upon the scene.
Underneath the Corvette, HCS had his arms wrapped firmly around the gas tank's supports.
He groaned as the car slalomed through a string of orange traffic cones.
"Maniac Mirawyn..."
...
C$ collared Darth as he exited the B2's cockpit.
"Nobody was there, Darth!" he yelled.
Darth looked shocked. "We saw him there," he insisted.
The copilot removed her helmet and nodded. "It was him." Genesis told C$. "Honest. Cross my heart. Hope to die. I promise you..."
"All right already!"
As they walked away from the plane, C$ shook his head.
"We searched that whole area... nothing. Imagining sensors didn't pick up a thing... aside from a couple of kittens."
A shock wave slammed them to the ground as the B2 exploded, blowing a massive crater in the runway. Darth and Genesis tumbled and rolled, their helmets bouncing away across the concrete.
C$ slowly got to his feet, turning toward the burning stealth bomber.
"You'll pay, HCS..." he breathed.
...
(Seriously, C$??? )
)
