Week 21.1 – The Party Plane

Previously: While Twain traveled to Mongolia, Cole Chen–a.k.a. Metalord–offered to take Digger after him. And now…

Once they were seated in his classic Porsche, Cole didn’t even bother to start the engine. The gearshift put itself in neutral and the car glided silently away from the curb.

The silence creeped Digger out. “Dude, could you do me a favor and at least start the engine and let it run while we go? It’s too quiet.”

“Can’t,” Cole said. “I got this car from a salvage. It doesn’t even have an engine in it. But I’ve got the body and the interior looking good, don’t I?”

“Yeah,” Digger acknowledged. “But why even have a car without an engine? Why not just fly everywhere?”

“Because this is comfortable, and it looks good,” Cole said. “Besides, I thought you said you hated flying.”

“I do,” Digger said. “I just… it’s too quiet.”

“Then what if I do this?” Cole made engine sounds with his mouth, modulating like shifting gears as he yanked the gearshift back and forth.

“Don’t,” Digger said.

Cole stopped and shugged. After a moment, he said, “So you and Katrina, huh?”

“Don’t remind me,” Digger said.

“What, wasn’t it good?”

“For me, yeah,” Digger said. “But for her? I’m not exactly the man she remembers.”

[blockquote type=”blockquote_quotes” align=”right”]“Okay, fine,” Cole said. Then he slapped the steering wheel. “Damn it, the traffic sucks today. Which bugs you more, flying high or flying low?” “Um…” was all Digger could say before the car lifted straight up off the road and shot forward at high speed…[/blockquote]Cole glanced at the road, then gave Digger a pitying glance. “Smaller?”

“No!” Digger said. “Just… I don’t have the same stamina, or… pain tolerance I used to have.”

“I didn’t think Katrina would be into that stuff,” Cole said.

“She’s not,” Digger said. “It’s just, when she gets excited… I mean, you’ve seen what she does to the molecules around her, right? She can do stuff like that everywhere.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah.”

Cole was silent for about 20 seconds, watching the road. “But wait a minute, wouldn’t that…?”

“Could we not talk about this, please?” Digger asked.

“Okay, fine,” Cole said. Then he slapped the steering wheel. “Damn it, the traffic sucks today. Which bugs you more, flying high or flying low?”

“Um…” was all Digger could say before the car lifted straight up off the road and shot forward at high speed.

“That’s better,” Cole said, skimming along about twenty feet up. “We’ll be there in no time now.”

Digger thought they would go to a mall or something, but they landed in front of a small tailor shop, where Cole bought him some overpriced slacks and shirts that looked like they had come right out of Abercrombie or someplace. “But these are reinforced with Kevlar,” Cole said. “Just in case.”

“I can’t pay you back for these,” Digger said. “I don’t have money or a job.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Cole said. “I’ll take it out of your cut for downing the robot.”

“What cut?”

“One of our sponsors does this thing,” Cole said. “We get bonus incentive pay for every enemy we take down. You assisted on my takedown of that robot, so you’re entitled to a cut.”

“Really?” Digger asked, sounding skeptical. He wasn’t a member of the group. Why would he get paid anything at all?

Is Metalord telling the truth? And if not, can Digger trust him on anything? Be here tomorrow for our next episode!

To read from the beginning, click here…