“Nope.” Tech grinned, and pointed upwards.
Sal shook his head. “You are really getting into this superhero thing.” He chuckled as the doors closed. “See ya, Tech.”
Should’ve asked him, Tech told himself as he walked up to the roof. What could it have hurt? He’s the only person you know who’s been down to the Warren, who’s objective enough to get the info you’re looking for. But he was nervous about talking about his theory, which was nothing more now than elusive connections bouncing around in his head.
Preoccupied in his thoughts, he didn’t even notice the bright red light blinking on the console of his one-coyote miniplane until Zodavia’s voice echoed through the speaker. “Tech, get back to base. I need to brief the team on a new threat.”
“On my way,” he said, which she undoubtedly knew, because she had a tracker in the jet, and he wasn’t able to go any faster than he was already going, so there was really no point to her call at all. “And why,” he said aloud to himself, “does the whole team always end up having to respond to every new threat?”
The cockpit was too cramped to try to put on his uniform, so he had to wait until he got back to base to change. Stripping down, he touched his sheath and couldn’t restrain a grin and a shake of his head, wiping a little residual stickiness from it before sliding into his smooth-fitting lycra. As he snapped the buckle shut, he felt the circuits in the lycra activate and the force field surround him. It subsided when it detected that it was within the base, but the green glow remained as he walked into the main room.
“About time, Tech,” Ace said, looking up from the center console where glitters of rainbow were already announcing the arrival of Zodavia’s avatar.
“Yeah, where you been?” Duck said. “Rev’s right here.”
Rev looked bored and didn’t say anything. Lexi gave Duck a look. “We know where Rev is.”
“Yes, but I wasn’t sure Tech did.” Duck folded his arms and tried to give Tech a knowing smirk, but the coyote wouldn’t look at him, instead taking a seat at the table beside Rev with the other brightly colored heroes and looking up at the rainbow.
“Loonatics,” Zodavia announced.
There was some guy causing trouble over in North Haverbrook, apparently, just a guy with a gun, only not. He’d already taken out police and several onlookers. “So why do we need to get involved?” Ace said.
“Nobody can get near him,” Zodavia said. “You will have to figure out why, and neutralize him.”
“Can’t get near him?” Duck said. “What, does he smell as bad as Slam?”
Slam spat something that sounded like, “Showers are for sissies,” but Tech could have just been imagining that. Zodavia continued, unruffled.
“Ace, take the team to the North Haverbrook City Center tower. The local police have cordoned it off. Neutralize the gunman and report back here.”
“Sure thing, Zodavia,” Ace said.
“What kind of gun does he have?” Duck said. “Is it a super-blasto-matic? A death laser? A magneto-radial displacement spectrum atomic cyclotronic power energy blaster?”
Tech rolled his eyes. Trust Duck to ask the right question in the stupidest possible way.
“I don’t have that information. You’ll have to determine that yourself. Zodavia out.”
“Of course we have to do all the work,” Duck said as the rainbow glitter faded out. “Tech, you figure out what he’s packing. Lexi, you see if you can hear anything. I will coordinate the operation from the plane.”
“So,” Lexi said to Ace. “What’s the plan?”
Duck folded his arms and scowled.
They piled into the jet, Tech taking the pilot’s seat while Ace and Lexi sat up front, discussing strategy. “Twenty-two minutes to North Haverbrook,” Tech said.
In the seat next to his, Rev stretched his long legs out and winked when Tech looked at him. Tech eyed the roadrunner’s legs and raised his eyebrows appreciatively. Rev let just the tip of his tongue show at the edge of his beak. Tech reached for his seatbelt buckle and mouthed, “twenty minutes,” suggestively.
“Ahem.” They turned to see Duck looking back at them. Rev looked at the ceiling of the jet and whistled a couple notes, while Tech turned back to his console, ears burning. At least Slam, in the seat next to Duck, was busy scratching himself and hadn’t noticed anything.
“All right, team,” Ace said. “Duck and Rev, you go check out this nutjob. Youse guys can get outta the way fastest. Rev, distract him while Duck quacks in behind him. If you can take him out, great. When you chicken out, at least try to see what he’s carrying.”
“Hey,” Duck said. “I just don’t see why I have to do all the work on this team all the time.”
Tech and Rev rolled their eyes to each other. Ace ignored him. “Tech, you’ll have cameras on Duck and Rev so that even if they don’t notice, you’ll be able to see something they might miss. Lexi will try to get close enough to hear what he’s sayin’. Slam and I will stay here.”
“That’s basically exactly the same thing I said,” Duck said, folding his arms and leaning back.
“If you leave out the intelligent parts,” Tech said in an undertone, and Rev snickered. Lexi flashed him a grin from the front of the plane too. Bending back over his controls, he pretended to be plotting a course—something the computer was doing automatically—while sneaking sideways looks at Rev, currently stretched out in a way that showed off his slender body nicely. The coyote adjusted the fabric of his uniform around his crotch, feeling his sheath harden, and grinned. Down, boy, he told it. I can’t be horny again already. This was the first mission since he and Rev had deepened their relationship, and he was determined to be as efficient as ever.
The town hall, for a center of government, had pitiful facilities. Tech chose to stay in the jet, because the onboard portable fusion
