A bright ball of purple lightning flashed across the clearing, striking Vengeance with a resounding clang and ricocheting away, leaving a momentary splash of purple luminescence arcing across Vengeance’s chest armor; causing him to cry out in pain and surprise. Fortunately for Vengeance, the armor managed to ground the worst of the shock. He grabbed up a fallen cinderblock and looked about, spotting Scott and hurling it towards the Defender. Scott ducked the flying block, caught his returning stun ball and fired it back at Vengeance in a single, flowing maneuver.
The courtyard erupted in clouds of dust as a second flying figure strafed the battlefield with a staccato burst of high-pressure air. Tracker focused on the flyer — Pneumata, another one of Blacksnake’s EPs. Lumen, yet a third of Vengeance’s cohorts, raced in from another direction, firing a laser blast and striking Tracker’s implanted forcefield, which whined as it absorbed the energy.
”Tracker. Retreat,” Scott ordered in his ear. “We’re outnumbered.”
”I will not leave the tiger,” he replied.
”It’s gone. I saw it stagger off while you were fighting Vengeance. Captain Jones has called for reinforcements. We can’t take all three by ourselves. Pull back.”
”Wilco,” Tracker replied and darted away, disappearing down the narrow gap between two buildings faster than either of the flyers could follow.
They rejoined and watched from concealment while the three Blacksnake members tried to locate the two defenders, then resumed their search for the tiger. Making no effort to be subtle, Vengeance seemed to enjoy smashing down the doors of buildings, abandoned or otherwise. Pneumata meanwhile hammered in whatever upper-floor windows not already broken out, then flew through those windows to inspect the interiors.
This went on for almost ten minutes before a tawny, striped form launched itself straight up from the top of a building and plucked Pneumata out of the sky with a roar. Tracker heard a volley of curses, then multiple spats of Pneumata’s air blast as she attempted to break free. A moment later, Pneumata leaped over the side of the building and floated to the ground, bleeding from a long, ugly tear across her back.
Tracker heard a distinctive siren wail nearby and turned toward the sound, as did Pneumata. A forest-green combat aircar with ‘D-4′ painted on its belly, was diving into the combat zone, actinic orange and blue FORCE flashers winking at all corners. The back doors of the aircar popped open, allowing two figures to sprang out and swoop down towards where he and Scott waited. He focused his vision on the figures. “It’s Jay and Red,” he reported.
”Good,” Scott replied. “Red’s a fair match for Vengeance on the ground while Jay and the two of us should be able to handle Pneumata and Lumen.” He turned his head as Pneumata went bounding away as though running in low gravity, apparently deciding that the odds were stacked too high against her. “Then again,” he added, “maybe the fight’s already over.”
Tracker watched as Pneumata made for the alley behind a store. The roar of a powerful engine came from the alley, followed by the squeal of tires, the crash of metal and the sharp bark of gunshots. A dark blue car shot out of the alley as Vengeance physically shoved a police car out of the way. The powered armor paced the fleeing car with a rhythmic crunch, protecting it by bulldozing obstacles from its path.
”Red,” ordered Scott into his radio. “Follow that car. Make sure it keeps going. Rendezvous back here in ten minutes. Do not, I repeat, do not attempt to engage.”
”10-4,” Red called as he arrowed off after the car.
Jay landed as Red jetted off after the car. “Now what, Scott? Should we go back to Base and get a strike team together? Take the airbus, and go after those clowns?”
”No,” Tracker said.
Jay turned to him. “Tracker, with an opinion? What is this world coming to!”
”Put a lid on it, Jay,” Scott suggested as he turned to Tracker as well. “Why not, Tracker?”
Tracker looked at them, ears laid back defensively. When he spoke, his voice was low, but determined. “You’re both of you full human. You can’t understand what it’s like to be an animal in your world.” He looked at Scott. “I’m sorry, sir, but I’ll help the tiger, even if I have to do so by myself.”
Scott shook his head wryly. “No, I can’t really see it from your viewpoint, Tracker, but I think I understand. Our assignment was to find the tiger and that’s what we’re going to do.”
He turned to Jay. “I’ve informed Base of the presence of Blacksnake’s people. If Magnum or Carfield want to field a team to go after them, they can do so. Our mission was to find the tiger, and if Blacksnake is after it, then we need to find it first. The fact that Blacksnake wants the tiger makes this our number one priority; this ain’t no normal tiger.”
Jay shrugged. “You’re the boss, Scott. So, what now?”
”We need to locate the tiger and/or the woman that Tracker has associated with the tiger,” Scott explained. “I need you to send Lady aloft and watch through her eyes, Jay. I don’t want you to fly unless you get a lead from Lady. We don’t want to alarm the populace any more than we already have with this little dust up. The less visible we are, the better. Tracker and I’ll scout the ground. We need to try to stay close enough to support each other in the event Blacksnake’s gang returns or someone else decides to stick their noses in. Let’s also try to blend in a little better with the locals.” He pressed a concealed switch in the hem of his shirt. Under the effect of a mild electrical current, the fabric changed from the Defenders forest-green to a red and white check.
”Okedo, Scott,” Jay replied. He ruffled the feathers on Lady’s back, then launched his telepathically linked hawk into the air. His own shirt then changed to a loud orange while his pants turned black.
”That’s your idea of blending?” Scott asked. He shook his head, then turned away.
“At least it’s not as loud as your red checkerboard, boss-man,” Jay quipped back as he moved to follow Lady from ground level.
