My Little Engineer

Chapter Ten: New Horizons

There was a short pause as Hugo fumbled with the intercom. "Let's give them a show." 

He veered the plane downwards between two tall buildings, turning his plane to the side so he barely slipped through. One of the planes following them crashed into one of the buildings, a plume of fire and smoke rising from where it hit.

The other aircrafts went around, quickly catching up with them.

"Five left," Varian called. "It looks like they're going to try cutting you off at this skyscraper up ahead."

"Thanks, Sweetheart." The blond barrel rolled as shots rang out and he dived down into the city. They stayed barely above the carline as the little plane fit snugly on a main street road. Two of his pursuers tried the same but ended up colliding with each other and falling down into the street below in fiery wreckage.

"Above, Hugo! They're taking aim."

The taller man pulled up right before they hit an in-city bridge and shot upward as bullets rained down on them.

Another explosion confirmed that one of their pursuers had hit the bridge they barely missed, and Varian shrieked with laughter and adrenaline. "Two pilots left, Boss!"

Hugo was too occupied to respond, taking their plane into a wide loop. As soon as he got behind one of the assailants, he rained his own bullets down, destroying the plane's right wing. The hit aircraft turned sharply to the right, colliding with one of the skyscrapers ahead.

Metal and rubble began to crumble forward, raining down on them.

"Evasive Maneuvers!" Varian yelled.

Hugo dodged as best he could, but to Varian's horror, the plane began to dive downwards, and he realized the blond had been knocked out. His pilot's goggles had been shattered by a large hunk of metal and his hands slipped off the control wheel.

Varian's scream was ripped from his throat as they plummeted. Unbuckling his seat belt, he slowly crawled on his stomach to the other cock pit, practically sitting in Hugo's lap as he pulled up with the control wheel. 

"Come on, Baby!" 

They came out of the painful dive into something level. 

Taking them away from the destroyed building and out towards the open ocean, Varian used this time to unbuckle Hugo, adjust the strap, and then re-buckle the seatbelt around the both of them as he crammed himself into the space between Hugo's legs. He felt like he was actually getting a handle on the flying until the sound of gunfire made him jump out of his skin.

He looked behind to see that one plane remained of the group that had been chasing them. He violently turned the wheel to the right and they did a very clumsy, gut wrenching barrel roll. For all its gracelessness, he did manage to dodge the bullets.

Maybe he had this.

***

Hugo's eyes slowly drifted open. He felt a warm presence in front of him and looked down. A small man sat between his legs, his body pressed up against Hugo's. A familiar scent hit his nose and his eyes widened.

"Varian?"

The man shot a millisecond glance back at him. "Hugo! Oh, thank the stars you're awake!" The sound of gunfire shook the rest of the cobwebs from Hugo's brain, and he found himself suddenly very alert.

"Woah, what the hell is happening? Why the fuck are you at the wheel, Sunshine?"

"Long story." 

His stomach lurched painfully as Varian violently took them upwards into a very long, suffocating loop. He may have let out a very unbecoming scream.