I turned to the others. 'I've got to try.'
'We'll look after him,' Brodie said, following up with a punch to the mercenary's jaw and sending him unconscious to the ground.
Then I was flying into the air. The missile was already high above the island and moving away with every second. I glanced back down at Cayo Placetas and saw the others grouped around Wolff's body. This could be the last time I saw them.
I'm going to bring down Pegasus or die trying.
The missile continued straight up into the sky with me chasing it. The air grew colder, and I had to remind myself that air was my friend. Mister Brown had trained me on how to increase my speed. I flattened, becoming as streamlined a shape as possible. I'd need everything I had to catch Pegasus.
Up ahead of me, the tiny body of the missile moved against the indigo blue sky. Pegasus was long and thin with vents to allow the intake of air. Like any jet engine, it compressed the air and ignited it as propulsion: a controlled explosion that drove it forward on a column of thrust.
Pegasus continued to rise, but its rate of ascent slowly became an arc. It was aiming towards its target now: New York City. I cut across its arc, but it abruptly put on an extra burst of speed and changed direction.
Okay, I thought. You saw me coming.
The sky before me exploded. For an instant—one shocking second—I thought Pegasus has detonated in midflight. I shielded my eyes. Then I realized the explosion came from elsewhere. A fighter plane appeared in my peripheral vision. It had fired on the missile. Its rocket had come close, but the missile has nimbly changed course to avoid it.
The jet aircraft fired again. This time I watched its rocket streak through the sky. It exploded some distance in front of Pegasus. Pegasus jerked about crazily and free from danger.
What was that?
It took a few seconds for me to understand what I'd seen. Fighter craft often released chaff as a decoy to mislead attacking fire. That's what Pegasus had done. As a decoy, it's fired off a round of chaff to destroy the attacking rocket.
At the same time, a dark dot arced back across the sky towards the fighter plane. No. It can't be. The tiny speck of black, no more than a full stop embedded in the blue sky, flew unerringly towards the fighter jet.
The jet exploded into a fiery ball of flame.
I swallowed hard. Pegasus was more than a missile. It was a fully equipped battle system. Not only could it avoid incoming attacks, but it could fight back as well. It might have been nice of Twelve to mention this.
The missile changed direction again.
I glanced down. We were far above the ocean, still some distance from land, but the missile was charging relentlessly towards Florida. It could either curve inland or follow the long coast towards New York. At almost three times the speed of sound, it would take less than an hour to reach its target. I had to speed up if I stood any chance of catching up with Pegasus.
Can I move that fast?
The fastest I'd traveled in training was little more than twice the speed of sound, and that was simply in a straight line. A memory came back to me from Mister Brown. He spoke about how I might be able to increase my speed if I could create a vacuum directly ahead of me. Such an action was impossible for a typical fighter jet—they needed air to function—but it was theoretically possible for me because of my ability to control air.
Theoretically possible.
It's not much, I thought. But it's all I've got.
I poured on more speed. At the same time, I focused on dispersing the air directly before my flight path. After a few seconds, I realize Pegasus was closer—or I was closer to it. How long do I have? We'd been in the air for almost half an hour. The wind was tearing past me, and it was increasingly harder to breathe. I wasn't too sure how long I could keep going, but at least now I was making some headway. The missile was now less than a mile away.
Something caught my eye. Three somethings. I glanced over my shoulder to see three fighter craft. They fired rockets, and these arced across the sky towards Pegasus. Once again, tiny dots left the rear of Pegasus at the last moment.
The rockets exploded in midflight.
Simultaneously, Pegasus fired three rockets, and these headed towards the fighter craft. They took evasive maneuvers, rolling and somersaulting through the sky. One of them was struck almost immediately. The second fighter executed a quick roll and fired two more shots at the missile before bursting into flames. It left a long, blackened stain upon the sky as it fell towards the ground.
Now there was only me and a single fighter craft remaining. A section of the coast came into view: the distinctive shape of Chesapeake Bay. New York was only minutes away. Time was running out. I desperately poured on more speed, but the missile seemed to be capable of going even faster. It jerked suddenly in the sky, and another rocket exploded, but Pegasus still remained aloft. It was now only seconds before the missile detonated.
Something exploded near me, and the blast threw me off course.
No!
I veered out of control for a few seconds, cartwheeling through the sky like a firework. Where is Pegasus? I spotted a tiny silver streak in the sky. It was reducing altitude. It's preparing to detonate. I aimed towards it, pouring on as much speed as I could muster. The shockwave from the blast had slowed me, and now I had to make up for lost time.
There was the Garden State Parkway. Eventually, it met the New Jersey Turnpike. New York was only moments away. I either stopped the missile now, or I never would. Straining with everything I had, I gave a final burst of speed as the last fighter craft fired three more rockets at the missile.
They exploded harmlessly in midair. The jet fighter poured on speed. I could see what he intended to do. If he couldn't shoot the missile down, he intended to set a collision course with it. He understood the stakes as well as I did.
Even then, I doubted he'd succeed. The designers of Pegasus took into account the capabilities of the most incredible fighter craft in the world. They knew exactly what to expect. Of course, they didn't know about me. They didn't know that one day a teenage boy would be turned into a superweapon.
A superhero. This idea lingered in my mind. The designers didn't know that a kid could be turned into a superhero. What didn't they take into account? It came to me in a flash—and I knew what I had to do.
Pegasus was just like any other jet engine. It required an intake of air to propel it forward. Come on.This is my last chance. If this doesn't work,millions of people will die. Instead of projecting a vacuum ahead of myself, I projected it around the body of Pegasus. The effect was almost instantaneous. The missile stuttered in midflight. It slowed. Tilted.
I was right. Its jet engines couldn't operate without air. Something whizzed past me at incredible speed. The fighter pilot had realized something was wrong with the missile and fired off a last shot in the hope it might impact.
A bright flash erupted before me. I closed my eyes, expecting the worse. Has the warhead exploded? Has the city dissolved in molten destruction? Have a million people lost their lives in a hellfire of nuclear energy?
I slowly opened my eyes.