“Duck, get closer. You gotta get on the roof.”
“I’m trying to figure out where his blind spot is,” Duck said.
“Just quack in and quack out.”
“Don’t tell me how to quack.”
Ace rolled his eyes. “Just do it.”
Tech watched Duck’s monitor as the apartment building flickered closer and closer, until he could see the guy and the long silvery gun he was holding. He frowned, studying it more closely. The guy was sighting along it, moving very fast, and Tech had no doubt what his target was. Duck stopped on the roof of an adjacent building, two stories lower so Tech couldn’t see the guy any more, and his voice crackled over the speakers again. “You want me to just egg him out?”
“No, just get up and back so we can get a look at him.”
Rev’s voice crackled through the speakers as his monitor lurched. “Hey I heard that one come really close you guys wanna tell me when I can get outta here it’s starting to get a little uncomfor—” Tech was watching his monitor as he stopped talking, and saw the dizzying view swing around crazily. He thought he saw a silver flash cut through the air just in front of the monitor.
“Tell Duck to get up there now!” he yelled to Ace. “He’s getting too close to Rev.”
“Duck, go now,” Ace said. “Rev, get outta there!”
“What?” Duck reacted to the second order after he’d already popped up to the roof.
As Rev’s monitor straightened out and showed the streets whizzing by away from the apartment, and the roadrunner chattered, “Bout time guys hope this was all worth it I’ll be back in a few seconds,” Tech shifted his eyes to Duck’s monitor and saw a bald man turn, appearing to look right at Tech through his monitor. His eyes were black and it seemed to take him no time at all to swing around a long silver cylinder. Tech saw a flash a moment before the monitor shimmered and showed a different rooftop.
“He got it,” he said.
Ace nodded. “Good work, Duck.” He cocked his long ears. “Dat’s funny. He’d usually respond to something like that.”
Duck’s monitor wasn’t moving. Tech stared at it and an uneasy feeling crept up his back, lifting his fur. “Tell Rev to get back there.” He replayed the images he’d seen in his mind and those connections snapped into place. “He’s gotta get Duck back to the ship.”
“What’s the matter?” Ace said.
“Just get him back there! We don’t have much time!”
“Right. Hey, Rev! You gotta go pick up Duck. Lexi, try to keep this joker occupied to cover Rev.”
“I gotta go back figures Duck couldn’t pull it off okay what’s the matter with him?” Rev’s monitor spun so quickly it made Tech a little queasy.
“Tech?”
He looked at the monitor, then back at Ace. “I think the guy has a neural disruptor.”
They could hear the crackle of Lexi’s brain blasts through Rev’s speaker. Tech held his breath as Duck’s monitor lurched and then showed the underside of Rev’s beak. Buildings whipped past on both monitors simultaneously. “Come on, Rev,” he said under his breath.
“What’s a neural disruptor?” Ace asked.
Tech kept his eyes on Rev’s monitor. He could see the orange glow of Duck’s uniform at the bottom edge of it. “Experimental weapon they were working on in one of the university labs a decade ago. Government contract. It took me a second to recognize the gun, but I’m sure that’s what it is. It fires tiny projectiles about this long,” he held up two fingers an inch apart, “with circuitry embedded that overrides the subject’s parasympathetic nervous system, resulting in temporary paralysis and permanent brain damage in a matter of ten minutes.”
“Well, this is Duck we’re talkin’ about,” Ace said, but didn’t smile. “How long since he got hit?”
“One hundred thirty seconds.”
“Slam, open the airlock. Override it if you hafta.”
“Raw gaw bah!” Slam punched the airlock button and then wrenched the inner doors apart. Klaxons went off as a red blur streaked into the ship and screeched to a halt in front of Tech. Rev dropped Duck to the floor.
“I think somethin’s really wrong with him he didn’t say a word when I picked him up or when I banged his head against the airlock which was a mistake honest can you fix him Tech I got back here as fast as I could without hurting him I swear I did.”
“I think so.” Tech knelt beside Duck and brought out his portable scanner. “Get an oxy mask and an adreno pill. Once I get the projectile out, we’ll need to administer the adreno as soon as possible to get his systems back to normal.”
Ace stood up, but Rev beat him to the storage locker and came back with a pile of boxes. “I got the oxy mask right here should we put it on him now or wait til you’re done and what color box is the adreno pill in oh never mind here it is.” He was throwing boxes over his shoulder, scanning the words as he did.
Ace and Slam ducked the rapid-fire barrage of boxes to stand next to Rev. Tech was already scanning the duck’s prostrate form. “If any of you see a silvery sliver, let me know,” he said. “The scanner should pick it up pretty quickly, but…” It beeped in his paw. “There it is.”
The sliver was embedded in Duck’s wrist. Tech reached over with a pair of tweezers and grabbed it, pulling slowly until it slid free. “Give him the pill and put the mask on him now. Slam, hold him, he might twitch a bit when he gets the pill.”
The devil flopped down on Duck as Ace dropped the pill in his beak and lifted his head, pouring water in after it to make him swallow. Rev clapped the oxy mask on as Duck’s body shuddered under Slam’s weight. His free hands glowed, and a moment
