He hadn’t finished the sentence before the roadrunner was standing in front of him, rigidly at attention. “Yessir Tech wouldn’t wanna run out without all my gear in proper working order what’s wrong with it?”
“Just need to tweak something here.” He watched Rev’s monitor until the green circle of his fingertip covered the screen, and he felt the roadrunner’s breathing against it. “Be careful,” he said under his breath, rubbing gently.
“Always am don’t you worry,” Rev whispered, with a wink and a lopsided grin, and before Duck could get his pained exclamation out, Rev was at his side, talking more loudly. “C’mon Duck whaddya say there’s evil out there for us to take care of so let’s get on the move.”
Duck looked pointedly at Tech. “Is my camera working okay?”
“It’s fine,” Tech said.
“Stop stalling and get out there,” Ace said.
“Stalling? I am not the one who is stalling,” Duck said. “Tech just…”
“I was right here,” Ace said. “I know what he did. Now get!”
“But you don’t… gah!” Duck threw up his arms and fitted his arms into his flying cape, which automatically billowed out behind him. “For a leader, you sure don’t know much.”
“Less chat, more scat,” Lexi said, getting her own flyer on. “Come on, Duck.”
As they crowded into the airlock, Tech heard Duck say, “I am a duck, not a cat. You don’t say ‘scat’ to a duck…” The airlock doors closed, unfortunately, before Tech could hear what one did say to a duck.
“Hey, Tech,” Ace said. “Do you think Duck’s been acting a little strange lately?”
“Just lately?” Tech grinned.
“Stranger than usual, I mean.”
“I haven’t noticed. But then, I try not to notice him.”
Ace cocked a finger in his direction. “Good point.” He flicked a switch on his own console and set one of Tech’s hovering microphones in front of him. “Duck, Rev, Lexi, can you hear me?”
“Loud and clear, boss.”
“No problems here but I gotta say North Haverbrook is a dump don’t these people have any civic pride I almost tripped a dozen times already.”
“I think they got other things on their mind than garbage detail right now, Rev. Duck? You there?”
There was a pause, and then over the speakers: “Yes, I’m here.”
“He’s on the roof of that apartment building a mile away. Rev, you…”
“Already on it chief I got the location locked in and as long as there isn’t a couch in the street or something we should be there in about ten seconds.”
“T’anks for slowin’ down for Duck and Lexi.” Ace grinned. “How’s the cameras woikin’, Tech?”
Tech had been looking only at Rev’s, cringing as every obstacle in the street appeared and vanished. He felt like he were playing some old-time video game where he was a passenger rather than the driver of a racecar. If he hadn’t left his Freeze-Frame Specs in the lab, he could’ve put them on, though of course then he would miss most of what Rev was seeing. “They’re working fine,” he said.
“Let me know when Duck’s in position.”
“Make sure Rev gets there first,” Tech said. “And hope the guy doesn’t have eyes in the back of his head.”
“Right. Slam?” The devil looked up. “Get ready to jet over there in case we need to bring down the building he’s in. I don’t wanna do that, but if we have to…”
“Rah guh rah!” Slam agreed.
Tech went back to watching Rev’s monitor, ducking as the view darted through streets and alleys. “Ace, tell Rev to vary his speed, too. If he keeps a constant velocity, the guy could anticipate where he’ll be.”
Ace relayed that, and Rev chattered back, “Thanks for the tip Ace but no way is anyone gonna be able to tell where I’m gonna be heck I don’t even know from one second to the next.”
“Tech says…”
“Oh Tech said it sure thing sorry didn’t realize.” The view on the monitor became more jerky instantly, as Rev speeded up and slowed down, in addition to darting from side to side.
“That’s better,” Tech said.
Ace gave Tech a mock-angry look. “I know you’re da brains, but does he have ta rub it in like that?”
“They’re getting close,” Tech said. He was having difficulty remaining focused. He wanted to view Rev as just a teammate doing a job, but he kept remembering the roadrunner’s touch on his stomach, the beak against his muzzle, and when he remembered, he worried that Rev was going to put himself in danger with his cocky attitude.
“I see the building going to go make some noise now,” Rev said over the speaker. His monitor went crazy, disorienting Tech until he realized that Rev was running up the side of the building across the street from the shooter. They could hear him yelling, “Hey ugly betcha can’t hit me can you I bet you’re as blind as you are stupid!”
The coyote’s eyes flicked to Duck’s camera, showing the top of the apartment building a mile or so away. “Ace, tell Duck to get closer. I can’t see anything.”
“Duck, get closer.”
“I’m working on it!” Duck squawked back. His monitor blinked out and back several times, bringing him, by Tech’s calculation, about thirty-one feet closer. “How’s that?”
Rev was still chattering. “Whoops missed me boy you sure are no good with that peashooter are you what’cha shooting anyway blanks?” He lowered his voice to say, “Hey Ace how much longer I gotta do this for?”
Ace looked at Tech for his answer. “He’s gotta get on the roof, even if it’s just for a second,” the coyote said.
“Duck, or Rev?”
Tech paused. Rev could certainly get up to the roof, even if just for a fraction of a second, and he was more likely to do it than Duck. Tech could always rewind his monitor footage and pause it to see the info he needed in
