The History of CG (And How It Nearly Closed)

Part 9

The tankdozer came to a halt in front of Moon's house. Crazy hopped down to the street, an RPG resting on her shoulder. She pointed it at the front door, and Moon shielded her eyes, waiting for the end.

"Hey, where did Feather go?" Agent Nash yelled.

Moon opened her eyes, and saw Feather charging Crazy with a demonic look on her face. She was wielding only a baseball bat, but that did not stop her from storming toward the evil CG founder with no regard for her personal safety. Crazy fired the RPG with zero hesitation from point blank range. Moon flinched as she waited for Feather to be blown to smithereens and obliterated.

Feather swung her baseball bat in a perfect arc and it connected with the rocket. The missile went flying back toward Crazy, who ducked just in time. The projectile zipped through the armor of the tankdozer, and a massive explosion rocked the block.

The vehicle was decimated, and judging by the plume of smoke racing into the sky, an observer would've thought a SpaceX rocket had been launched from that spot. The windows shattered from the force of the blast. The heat seared Moon's skin, and she questioned for a moment if it was melting off of her bones. A few shards of broken glass had embedded themselves in her skin. Wincing, she tried to pick out the ones stuck in her palms, and she looked back out the window. Feather and Crazy both had to be dead, right?

Feather had been tossed halfway across the street. Her motionless body was just visible around the mushroom cloud that was blocking out all daylight, which had left the neighborhood a battleground cloaked in darkness. Moon could not believe how Feather had sacrificed herself. Had she saved the day? Would Crazy's evil deeds never touch this world again?

Fighter jets streaked through the air as the US government's reinforcements arrived. Everything was going to be okay, it was all over. Had she actually thought Crazy could defeat the US government, with the world's most advanced military forces? It's not like America bungles operations all the time... well, actually...

Moon spotted movement out of the corner of her eyes. She saw Crazy crawling across the lawn to where her RPG had ended up; it must have skidded there in the wake of the blast. Crazy was mostly unscathed, still in one piece in spite of her proximity to ground zero. Her Kevlar vest looked a bit worse for wear, but she had only been knocked out for a brief moment by the detonation. Moon and the agents could only watch helplessly as Crazy wrapped her fingers around her weapon.

The fighter jets spotted the girl's movement. A deafening roar echoed from above as they peppered her location with machine gun fire. Crazy rolled onto her back, looking more annoyed then anything. She launched two missiles in close succession, which homed in on the aircraft with their heat-seeking abilities. Both planes were downed as Crazy's weapon clipped their wings. They spiraled down at terminal velocity, with the pilots ejecting out and engaging their parachutes moments before the jets slammed into the ground.

Crazy picked a few crumpled bullets out of her vest and rose to her feet. A smirk crept across her face and the light of triumph shone in her sinister gaze. "Moon! Surrender now! It's over! Come out with your hands up!"

Tears welled in Moon's eyes as she realized she had no chance but to obey. She had lost both the CG account and her freedom in the span of 48 hours. Would giving in to Crazy's demands be worse than death? Maybe, but hopefully it would at least spare her family and the agents who had tried to save her.

At that moment, Moon's father charged out onto the lawn, wielding a throw pillow from the couch. He hurled it at Crazy, who swatted it aside with the back of her hand. It didn't even break her stride. Moon watched as Crazy pushed him to the ground and drew a pistol from her back pocket. She heard the click of the safety being removed, and she made her decision in that instant.

"NO! I'm right here, Crazy I surrender!" Moon yelled.

Crazy whirled around, forgetting all about Moon's father. She laughed with chilling euphoria, leaving the wounded man lying helplessly on the ground.

Moon was tied up and gagged faster than she thought was humanly possible. Crazy's eyes rolled into the back of her head and she muttered an incantation. The words were not from any dialect that Moon knew; they sounded harsh and alien to her ears. The air shimmered as dark magic altered reality and teleported the two of them off to Crazy's lair.