I waved my arms and leaned myself away from certain death. My heart beat hard against my chest as I stumbled away from the edge. I heard a noise behind me and spun around to find Fox ten feet away from me. Something sharp hit my arm, and I looked down to see it was a tranquilizer. I pulled it out and expected to fall unconscious, but all I felt was a little faint-headed. His finger tightened on the trigger for another shot.
The ground beneath us rumbled. Fox's henchman rushed out of the door and over to Fox.
"I'm afraid I couldn't stop him, sir. He's released-" The earth shook again, more violently than the first.
A column of rainbow-colored light burst through the ground between us. The column lit up the sky and its heat seared the grass. I was knocked back and over the side of the building, but my hand caught the edge. I hung in space for a few seconds before my other hand grabbed the edge and I pulled myself onto the top of the building.
More columns erupted from the ground, dozens of them. They cracked the green surface and ignited the trees into balls of fire. The columns created a circle between me and the pond some fifty yards away, and the center of the circle burned bright red with heat. In a moment the steel and grass melted away, and a storm of wind burst from the hole. It spun in dizzying circles three hundred yards into the sky. The first creature to emerge from the circle above the tornado was a brightly-plumed bird. It followed the tornado to the peaks of its height and let out a screech that was heard over the entire city.
Among the terrible howling of the wind I noticed there were dark shapes in the tornado, dozens of them. They swirled in its depths and followed the bird into the sky. The bird let loose another cry and the tornado broke apart into dozens of smaller tornadoes. Each mini tornado had one of those dark shapes. They scattered across the sky and landed in the far reaches of the city. The bird itself screeched again and flew off into the distance.
The wind was gone. The bird was gone. Everything was calm. I chanced to stand, but the roof trembled one last time. A large shadow flew from the dark hole left by the tornado. It spread its leathery wings wide and let loose a loud roar and shook the air. Its lizard eyes blinked, its scales shimmered in the starlit sky, and its tail whipped about in anger. My mouth dropped open as I realized it was a dragon I saw, and it was pissed. It flew over me and let out another deafening roar.
"We must get to the cannon," I heard Fox tell his assistant. The pair stood near the crumpled remains of the door.
His voice caught the dragon's attention. It flew in a circle to my right and over the pond. The dragon opened its mouth and I beheld the pits of a fiery hell. A stream of flames burst from its powerful jaws and spread across the pond and few remaining trees. The water evaporated and created a thick mist over the rooftop. The fog hid its prey from it, but I saw their dark shapes move towards the thin bridge that made up the center of the 'I.'
The fog only drifted so far, and the moment they stepped foot on the bridge is the moment they cleared the fog's boundaries. The dragon made another pass and spotted them. It roared and opened its mouth. A ribbon of flame flew at the pair. The dragon didn't have very good aim. The flames melted the steel five yards from where they sprinted. Part of the bridge buckled beneath them and the assistant disappeared into the depths of the mess of heated steel.
Fox leapt forward and tried to grab the other man's hand, but missed by a hair. "Aldus!" Fox cried out.
"I'm fine, sir, but you must get to the cannon," Aldus called back.
Fox nodded and rushed across the bridge. A screech caught my attention, and I noticed the dragon coming back for another try at barbecued bad guy. This time it wasn't going to miss.
I now had a choice: to stand here and watch the fireworks, or to join them and risk my neck for a shot at stopping the dragon from turning the city into a blazing mess. I didn't have any false hopes that it would kill the bad guys and just fly off quietly into the night. This thing was out to burn, and after it was done with Fox it would go after the city. Maybe even Dakota's apartment.
"Damn it. . ." I muttered as I raced after Fox.
I was faster than Fox, but not faster than the dragon. It flew over me and spewed another another stream of fire. Fox dove for the opposite side of the bridge, but the dragon's fire hit near the center. The steel melted and the rooftop caved into the lower floor like quicksand. Fox tried to catch hold of the edge of the bridge, but he missed and slid towards the deep hole in the rooftop. He slipped into the depths of the melted, twisted steel.
I dove for him and slid a few yards across the singed grass to the edge of the mess. My hand caught his, and he looked up at me with that strange half grin on his lips.
"I didn't know you cared," he called to me.
"That's what's different between us. I do care," I countered as I hefted him back onto the bridge.
"Further moral conversations for later. We need to get to the other side," he told me.
The other thick part of the 'I' held a beautiful castle that I would have admired more if I hadn't been running for my life. Fox led us over to a fire hydrant that sat twenty feet from the junction of the bridge and the end of the building. He pressed his hand on the top and the floor behind the hydrant opened to reveal a platform. On the platform was a large turret gun with a thin, long barrel, and behind that was a padded chair to sit in while the gunner aimed the massive gun.
"In order to defeat the dragon we need to extinguish the dragon's fire," Fox told me. He set his hand on the barrel and nodded at the shadowy creature that swooped around for another pass. "This water cannon can fire five hundred gallons a minute, but the water must be shot into its mouth. That's the only weak spot. One of us will have to attract its attention while the other one manages the gun."
I grabbed his shoulder and shoved him into the chair. "You're no knight in shining armor, but you'll have to do," I quipped.
"You realize you may be killed," he pointed out.
I shrugged. "I don't know how to use your machine, anyway," I pointed out.
He grinned and grabbed the controls to the gun. "Perhaps I have grossly underestimated you."
"Compliment me when this is all over," I replied as I darted away. I ran over to the bridge and waved my arms above my head. "Over here, ya big ugly lizard!" I yelled.
The dragon roared and moved onto a collision course with me and my big mouth. I turned tail and raced back to the gun. The dragon swooped low and aimed good. I could feel the heat of its breath on the back of my neck.
"Duck!" Fox yelled at me.
I dove at the ground and covered my head. A sprinkling of water rained down on me as Fox fired off the gun. I looked over my shoulder and watched the water hit its mark in the center of the dragon's mouth. The creature roared and took a hard turn to the right. It crashed head-first into the grass and plowed its way to the far end of the building.
I stood and threw a fist into the air. "Yes! Take that you-" Something hit me.
I looked down at my side and saw it was another tranquilizer. This time there wasn't just a wooziness. My legs buckled beneath me and I fell onto my knees. I looked up and glared at Fox as he came up to me with the white gun in his hand. The barrel was pointed at me.
"You. . .you bastard," I growled. "I. . .I helped you," I told him.
"What you did was create a storm that the inhabitants of this city can't begin to fathom," he argued. "I'm afraid I can't let any more of my experiments run free."
"Then. . .then let me make up for it," I gasped.
He raised an eyebrow. "I'm listening."
"Let me. . .help you get them back," I suggested. "Like I did with the dragon."
"I will consider your offer, but for the present you can't be trusted." He pulled the trigger and the tranquilizer embedded itself into my arm.
My head hit the grass and it was lights out for me.
CHAPTER 6