“Give it up, Rasputin!” I shout. “Your days of terror and destruction are over!”
Rasputin responds by spinning around and firing a bolt of lightning. I shove Boom Boom to the ground just as the sizzling electrical blast whizzes over our heads. The bolt slams into the front of the cabin, causing it to erupt in flames. I hope Machete and the gang make it out before they burn alive. Pitbull especially has seen enough fire over the past several days to last a lifetime.
I crawl to my hands and knees as Rasputin and Klaxton climb aboard a sleek Blackhawk helicopter. The presidential seal is emblazoned on the side. Rasputin shoots us a fleeting glance before disappearing inside. He must think we’re no longer a threat. Fatal mistake.
“C’mon, Boom Boom,” I growl, pulling her to her feet. We lumber toward the helicopter, but we’re too far away. The propellers begin whipping around, kicking up a cloud of dirt, grass, and leaves.
I try to speed up, but it’s no use. By the time I reach the chopper it’s already 30 feet off the ground, well out of reach. If only I had my utility belt, then I could fire my grappling hook.
Boom Boom arrives at my side a couple seconds later. We both fire at the chopper, but it’s just a waste of ammunition. Soon the chopper is nothing but a blinking light in the night sky.
We don’t have time to feel sorry for ourselves, though, because Krystal and Dorothy drop out of the sky in our battered, bullet-riddled car.
Dorothy hops out and throws her arms around me. I pull her tight and kiss her head. What happened to Arrow could just as easily happen to her. I intend to do everything I can to keep her out of harm’s way.
“You guys okay?” Krystal asks as Dorothy and I climb into the back. Boom Boom hops into the front.
“We’re a little beat up, but we’ll survive,” I groan, clutching my injured ribs.
“Where’s Machete and Arrow?” Dorothy asks, glancing back at the burning cabin.
“Machete stayed behind to deal with Igor and the rest of the Dragons,” I say. “And Arrow…”
“Arrow’s dead,” Boom Boom says in a choked sob.
“WHAT?!” Dorothy screams. “NO!”
Krystal’s face becomes engulfed in sorrow.
“Oh Boom Boom, I’m so sorry!”
“We can grieve later,” Boom Boom says, wiping away her tears. “Right now I want to rip out Rasputin’s heart and shove it down his throat.”
“Where did he go?” Krystal asks as we float into the sky. “And is that psycho Klaxton with him? Dorothy and I saw everything on the internet. She’s one crazy bitch.”
I lean over Krystal’s seat and point out the shattered windshield. “He’s that blinking dot of light. And yep, Klaxton is with him. I say we blow both of them out of the sky.”
“Roger that.” Krystal presses down on the accelerator and we zoom toward the helicopter at close to 200 miles an hour. The cold wind slams into my face so fiercely it feels like my skin is about to peel off.
As we get closer I check my gun to make sure I have enough ammo for a prolonged aerial dogfight, which is probably what it’s going to take to bring them down.
Dorothy pops an ammo cartridge into her gun.
“What are you doing with that?” I ask.
Dorothy cocks an eyebrow. “What do you think? To shoot Rasputin.”
“I don’t think so.” I snatch the gun out of his hand. “I want you to crouch down on the floor and cover your head. Boom Boom, Krystal and I will take care of Rasputin.”
“But I can help!” Dorothy protests! “I can--”
“Damn it, Dorothy, don’t argue with me!” I explode. Krystal and Boom Boom stare at me in shock. I usually don’t go off like this.
“This isn’t a game!” I continue. “This is life and death!”
Dorothy appears heartbroken. I instantly feel like the worst person on Earth. I gently touch Dorothy’s shoulder. In a much quieter and less hostile voice, I say, “I’m sorry, Dorothy. I just don’t want anything bad to happen to you. So please… please stay down.”
Dorothy lowers her gaze and whispers, “Okay.”
She places the gun on the seat and crouches to the floor. I feel bad I hurt her feelings, but if that’s what it takes to keep her safe, then I’m willing to do it.
We’re flying so fast that we catch up to Klaxton’s helicopter in no time.
“So what’s the plan?” I ask, aiming my pistol at the chopper’s still-open hatch door.
“The plan is to kill them,” Boom Boom growls.
We pull up alongside the chopper. I can now see directly inside the hatch door. Klaxton and Rasputin are nowhere to be seen. They must be up in the cockpit.
“Anyone got a grenade?” I ask.
“Here,” Krystal says, handing me one.
I yank out the pin and hurl the grenade inside the chopper. I’m stunned when Rasputin suddenly dives into view, snatches up the grenade, and tosses it back at us.
“Incoming!” I scream, ducking to the floor alongside Dorothy.
Krystal takes us into a nosedive a split-second before the grenade detonates. Pieces of shrapnel rip up our left wing, but miraculously none of us are hurt.
Krystal takes us out of the nosedive and zooms back up toward the chopper, giving me whiplash. Our damaged wing wobbles like crazy. I’m not sure how much longer our beat-up car will be able to stay in the air.
Rasputin is still standing by the open hatch door. He releases a barrage of electricity. A few of the bolts hit the front of the car. The engine sputters and spews smoke.
“That’s not a good sign!” I shout.
“We’re losing power, fast!” Krystal cries, banging on the control panel. The car starts beeping and all the lights on the dashboard flicker.
Rasputin continues to hurl lightning bolts like he’s Zeus suffering a mid-life crisis. Krystal does her best to avoid the blasts. She violently swerves back and forth, sending me colliding into Dorothy and then into my door. Still, despite all of Krystal’s crazy swerving, a few tendrils of electricity zap the smoking engine.
“We’re seriously about to go down, guys!” Krystal cries over the car’s incessant beeping. “Maybe we should land!”
“No!” Boom Boom shrieks. “If we lose Rasputin now, we’ll never find him again! Keep the car steady, I got this!”
Boom Boom snatches a flash grenade from Krystal’s utility belt and pulls the pin. Unlike with the grenade I tossed, Boom Boom hangs on to hers for a few extra seconds. She then hurls the grenade through the hatch door, right in Mikhail’s face. She times the throw perfectly. The flash grenade detonates just as it sails inside the chopper, enveloping Rasputin in ball of intense, blinding light. Rasputin wobbles out of view, holding his hands over his eyes.
“Nice shot, Boom Boom!” I exclaim.
Boom Boom growls and hops into the back of the car, clutching a gun in one hand and her electric sword in the other.
“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 defia
ntly. “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 cr
ash 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.
Highway To Armageddon Page 34