Alien Research

CHAPTER 73

CHRISTOPHER WAS BEHIND MAHIN. I could tell he was ready to grab her to get her out of the way of bullets.

But bullets weren’t coming at us right now, because the pilot was having trouble with the dirt, and when the Poof Traps hit into it, they continued to cause the chopper problems.

I was under the chopper and contemplated if getting out of the way would be a smart idea. Entertained the notion of jumping up and trying to climb into the cockpit. But before I could either run away or give jumping a shot, someone ran past me and did it first.

Had to give it to Ronaldo, he had the A-C jumping ability. He grabbed a hold of one of the chopper’s skids and hung on. He was just low enough for me to reach, and there was no way I was letting him get away. Jumped up and grabbed his legs.

This meant two people were hanging off of one skid while a tornado of dirt filled with alien-made Poof Traps was hitting the chopper. Of course, this meant the dirt and traps were hitting me and Ronaldo, too. Missed having my parachute outfit on but otherwise chose not to care. He had something of mine and I wasn’t letting him get away with them.

“Let go, you lunatic!” he shouted at me. “You’ll bring this down on top of us.”

“Where are my Poofs you giant prick?” Clawed at his pants pockets, but didn’t feel anything. Couldn’t safely reach his sweat jacket, though. Decided it was time to start climbing up his body.

Ronaldo didn’t care for this at all, at least if I took his cursing at me to be a clue. His thrashing about was also an issue, so while I was inching up, it wasn’t anything like climbing up a rope.

Just as I reached his waist, and therefore could grab at the pockets of his sweat jacket, I took a Poof Trap to the back that timed out with Ronaldo flailing his legs just right and I lost my grip. Didn’t have too far to fall, but someone broke my landing anyway.

However the someone wasn’t Jeff. It was Gladys.

We scrambled to our feet and Gladys dragged me off a ways, so we weren’t under the chopper any more. It was wobbling but didn’t have my weight pulling it down any more, and the pilot seemed to be getting the chopper under control. He was trying to get higher up into the air, but the dirt storm was still working and he had to focus more on actually staying in the air as opposed to getting to a better position.

“Get everyone out of here,” Gladys shouted. “I’ll handle my little brother.”

“I can shoot him. He has my Poofs. Let me rephrase. I can, and will, shoot him.”

She waved my Glock at me. “Not any more, kiddo. Jeffrey has Kozlow, and he’s who you’ll need the most.” She looked at Mahin. “One saved for one lost. Not the trade I would have chosen, but still, worthwhile in its own right.”

“I won’t kill him. I know we need to take Ronaldo alive. He has answers. We need the people in the chopper, too. I just want to, um, hurt them a lot. And I want my Poofs back.”

Gladys shook her head. “This ends now. The safety of the many outweighs the need for information of the few.” She shoved her cell phone into my purse. “There’s something in there I’d like you to see later on.”

“Gladys, what—?”

She smiled at me. “You’ve been a pain in the ass from day one, but you were also just what we needed. Keep on recruiting, you’re almost as good at that as you are in finding trouble. I’m glad I got to work an op with you, kiddo. So stay out of this so I don’t have to shoot you in the leg. I have unfinished business.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to get that asshole out of my head, and everyone else’s heads, too. Permanently.”

With that she turned and ran and, despite her size, jumped up and caught Ronaldo’s feet.

Unlike me, she seemed to have no issues climbing up Ronaldo’s body. She was on his back, legs wrapped around his waist, one arm around his neck, in a short period of time. Her gun hand was free. She put the gun to Ronaldo’s head.

He reached into his pocket and tossed something on the ground. Two somethings. Two Poof Traps.

Ran and got them. Harlie and Poofikins were inside. I got out of the way of the chopper, then ripped the traps open. The Poofs jumped into my arms. They were both trembling.

Told to stay on the ground or not, Ronaldo was going to pay. Looked back up at the chopper. It was a lot higher in the air than it had been. And Gladys was now standing on top of Ronaldo, balanced on him and the skid. She grabbed the person who’d been shooting at us and flung him out of the chopper, grabbing his gun as he went down. I was hella impressed.

Ran over to the guy who’d just had his own fight with Gravity. He was definitely an A-C or a hybrid, because he was getting to his feet. Couldn’t have that. Sent a roundhouse kick into the side of his head.

He spun and went down, but he got up again. Definitely an A-C, that kick had been one of my best.

Poofikins growled and went Jeff-sized. The guy I was fighting screamed like a little girl, turned, and ran. Poofikins caught him, easily. In its giant jaws filled with lots of giant teeth.

Apparently my Poof wasn’t into the idea of eating this guy, though. Instead. Poofikins and its prisoner bounded over to where Jeff was. Poofikins spat the latest prisoner out of its mouth, then stood on top of him and Kozlow both, growling. Jeff patted it.

Looked up again. Gladys was in the cockpit and she hauled Ronaldo inside. Had a moment’s worry—what if she’d been under the mind control after all? Heard Mahin scream and turned to see her Poof go large and toothy. Fluffball grabbed her gently in its mouth and raced over to Jeff, who was, as I looked around and actually thought about it, the farthest away from the chopper. Toby, Christopher’s Poof, did the same with him.

Harlie went large and in charge. “Hang on, Harlie, I don’t need to be carried yet.” I ran over to the others, because it was clear the Poofs wanted us together.

Shockingly, the surprise of her Poof going giant-sized and seeming to want to eat her had thrown off Mahin’s earthbending groove, and the dirt tornado collapsed. The helicopter rose up higher and adjusted itself, wobbling a bit, but not so much that it wasn’t going to be able to send a missile into our little group.

And that was definitely the intention, because the chopper turned so it was pointing weapons at us again. While Christopher explained Poof Protocol to Mahin, the three Poofs that weren’t on Prisoner Detainment Duty surrounded us. Didn’t think this was necessarily the right plan. “Is it maybe time to run away?”

As I said this we saw blood splatter hit the inside of the helicopter’s windshield along with a lot of bullet holes. The chopper started to spin out of control. Heard more gunfire and saw flames. Gladys must have hit the fuel tanks, on purpose presumably.

Waited for Gladys to jump out or try to control the chopper, too fast A-C reflexes or not. But she didn’t do either.

Could see her in the chopper’s open doorway—she had Ronaldo in a headlock. She looked at me and smiled. Then she shot him in the head. Twice. She dropped his body onto the floor and, because of the way the chopper was spinning, it slid out of view. The flames were getting larger.

“Come on!” I screamed. “Jump out!” Tried to get out of the Poof Huddle, but they wouldn’t let me. They were protecting us, but also keeping us away. Realized Gladys must have given them a request before she’d rescued Harlie and Poofikins.

“Get down,” Jeff bellowed. “It’s going to crash!” He pulled me down, and Christopher did the same with Mahin.

But I got out of Jeff’s hold and back up again. The second to last thing I saw was Gladys saluting me with my Glock. Then the helicopter crashed into the nearby buildings and exploded.