Heroes and Conmen

[Pyromaniac]

Part 2

Episode 1

God Called in Sick Today was hardly an appropriate soundtrack to go with Alex'€™s current situation. Unfortunately the shuffle function had chosen the song and he didn'€™t have the time necessary to reach down and press the '€˜skip'€™ button.

He hit the button and engine killed his Eagle swinging it around to face the Virage that was already flying in his direction its weapons raking his shields as it passed.

Inside the Virage the music that had constantly accompanied Emma was tuned out, all of her attention was focused on the simple, yet surprisingly difficult, task of destroying the elusive Eagle and its pilot.

Since the fight had begun she'€™d managed to drop the Eagle'€™s shields three times but never landed a single hit on the exposed hull. The Eagle hadn'€™t fired a single shot since the fight began. Whether it was because Alex was unwilling to or unable too she didn'€™t know. Nor did she care.

'€œShields down.'€ The computer declared in Alex'€™s cockpit. He cursed as he swung the Eagle around again. He couldn'€™t keep dodging forever. Emma would never give up'€¦ and the longer he prolonged the fight the greater the chance that a third party would show up. If they sided with Emma his chances of escaping would drop from '€˜non-existent'€™ to '€˜you'€™re screwed'€™. If they sided with him he highly doubted that they would do anything other than shoot first and ask questions never.

He passed the Virage again and swung his ship around. There was only one way this was going to end well and that was if he shot down Emma. He'€™d have to be careful. Ejection systems were touch and go at the best of times. It'€™d be a hell of a feat to intentionally destroy a ship in order to allow the ejection system ideal conditions to function. But he figured he could pull it off. He'€™d succeeded at crazier things.

The Virage passed again and Alex brought his own ship around. The Golden Blades roared to life and the Virage'€™s shields cracked after only a few hits from the devastating weapon.

Emma cursed. She'€™d gotten careless. Alex was shooting back now, she'€™d have to start dodging. She dropped his shields again and brought her ship around. She fired the mini razor and the bolt of red tore through the space between the two fighters.

Alex rolled his ship out of the way of the shot and landed a hit with his Golden Blades as he passed the Virage. Emma cursed and deployed nanobots and restored her shields. Alex followed suit restoring his own shields.

He didn'€™t fire on this pass and Emma assumed he would return to his dodging. The nuclear mine Alex had dropped only moments before passing her proved her wrong. The shields barely held against the massive explosion before the reactor quit again and entered its recharging sequence.

Alex swung his Eagle around and fired off another volley from the Golden Blades. The Virage'€™s armour creaked under the multiple impacts and Emma swung the ship around. The console was flashing with warning which she ignored. She dropped a mine of her own as she passed Alex and it dropped his shields instantly.

She engine killed and her hand hovered over the button to deploy nanobots. At the last second it moved back to her triggers. Alex wasn'€™t dodging, he was flying straight on and making himself a perfect target for her mini razor. She pulled the trigger and Alex dodged. He'€™d tricked her.

She saw the flash from the four Golden Blades as her hand shot to the nanobots. She realized it was too late as the four golden balls filled her vision. It was too late to deploy nanobots, she'€™d never react in time.

With a mighty crash she felt the hits just beyond the cockpit. The engines of the Virage overloaded and exploded. She closed her eyes and waited for the end. Luckily for her the Virage had different plans. The computers recognized the fighter'€™s imminent destruction faster than any human brain ever could. The eject systems activated and Emma was hurled into space.

The Virage exploded into a fireball only seconds later. Emma opened her eyes and the cracked and broken hull of her ship floated past her. It looked dead. Almost as thought the ship had died in her place. Then it was gone replaced by the darkness of Alex'€™s cargo bay.

Alex sighed and leaned back in his seat. The pod had been tractored successfully. Emma should be okay now. All he'€™d have to do is'€¦ go back to the Intruder.

In the course of the battle it had never occurred to him how Rufus or any of the other members of The Society would react to the girl'€™s presence. For all he knew Rufus would order her executed the second he got back. He rubbed his eyes. Again his amazing ability to jump into situations and overlook the consequences had presented itself.

'€œBullocks.'€ Alex muttered.

---