Aimless Town

Adventure Pt.2

It was evening. Jill hadn't replied to Jack's messages.

He realized that she must be busy in making her new masterpiece. Unfortunately, that meant he had to go alone, without informing her. Jack had asked Steve for an extension, but he said that Adam was already chickening out, and would certainly run away tomorrow. There was no other choice. Besides, if all went well, they would be back by midnight. The town of death was only an hour and 30 minutes away in flight time.

Jack deleted his previous messages. He would surprise her with whatever he would find. For once, he would finally make her happy. If only he wasn't so messed up.

"I'm sorry. I love you. Take care." Jack typed into his smartblock. It was time to leave. He booked a cab to go to the location Steve had sent. It was marked as Adventurer's Point.

Jack arrived at the location, and found that it was a green old warehouse of sorts. The shutters were open, and Jack could see Adam cleaning a helicopter's wings, while Tony was haphazardly shooting at some random target, the recoil almost throwing the gun out of his hand. Steve had dragged a box into front of the helicopter, and was searching through the junk.

"Ah Jack, old boy, you have arrived." Steve said, looking up at him. "Didn't I meet him for the first time just a few hours ago?" Jack thought.

"I was thinking about dropping the space suit idea, since they are actually quite heavy and difficult to move in. How about these steel plates?" Steve said, lifting out a quite long rectangular steel plate.

"They were supposed to be used for construction, but we could attach a handle to them to serve your purpose." A voice said out of the shadows. 

Jack turned towards the source, and found Martin, the Allbackup representative, carrying some rope and big scissors. He was dressed in casuals this time, but still in black.

"I'll just tie some rope tightly around the center, and you use it as a sort of makeshift handle. Better pick the steel of your own size though." Martin said.

"Brilliant! You guys have a backup for everything!!" Tony exclaimed, waving his sub-machine gun around.

"Except maybe not for lost life, so please be careful with that gun Tony." Martin said sternly. "Not to mention ammo is short."

"Guys, are you sure this thing can fly?" Adam called out, now poking inside the electric helicopter.

"Of course, we have maintained its functionality, even if it may not look like it." Martin replied, as he focused on tying the rope around the steel plate.

Within 15 minutes, the makeshift shields were ready. Jack lifted one, it was quite heavy. But then Martin had done a good job, considering that lifting the piece of steel without the rope grip would have been tougher.

"All the best guys." Martin said. It was a solemn moment. Tony had stopped blasting away with his gun, and his entire attention was focused on holding his shield upright. Steve's eyes were in a cold squint. Adam said he didn't want a shield, and had instead took a long range rifle. "I'll stay inside the helicopter, someone must become the sniper right?" he had said.

"Adventurers, prepare to depart!" Steve proclaimed.

"Depart you mean. Since we are already prepared..." Tony replied, gesturing towards his gun.

"Yeah, let's go." Adam said, entering the black helicopter, and putting his rifle in a box inside it. He then helped Tony drag his shield in. Steve walked in next. Jack was the last to board.

He looked back towards Martin. Somehow, they both knew what he wanted to say.

"I'll tell her to move on." Martin said. Jack nodded, and turned back towards the aircraft. From the windows, he saw Martin running away from them, and pushing the boxes aside. 

"This is it guys!" Adam said, as he started the helicopter. The rotors started to revolve, and they moved a feet above the ground.

"This maneuver is a bit tricky..." Adam said under his breath, as he steered the helicopter towards the entrance. Wait, they were going out through that? Jack thought his team was a bit crazier than he was. The helicopter moved towards the empty space, and a rotor clanged on the roof. But, they made it. Adam took them upwards, high in the sky. 

For once, even Tony was silent, stunned by the feeling of being above everything else.

But why was Jack starting to feel that this was a bad idea?

He looked towards the expanse below them, the diverse canopy of buildings and forests creating a quite beautiful, artistic scene. It started fading into the distance.

"Co-ordinates 1 hour 7 minutes away!" Adam shouted.

There was no going back now.