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Nothing to fear, but fear itself

Across the long streets that encompassed a four-block radius, Lieutenant Gray was driving toward Pinkie at full speed. The air scooters were keeping their distance as they had learned a harsh lesson from the demise of two Black-hawk choppers that already fell from the Mechanaut’s calculated fury. Pinkie, still looking for Lee Li, was drawing close to the little cyborg, but as close as it was, it didn’t have the type of homing power to actually pinpoint its target once in the vicinity. Gray took advantage of this, as he was able to get close enough to irritate the Mechanaut, while keeping a safe enough distance to make his run for Cajun Canyon.

Gray knew that Cajun Canyon was a seven-mile long depression in the earth. Its two hundred-foot drop was secured on one side by a huge dam, which controlled the water flow to New Orleans’ once-disappearing wetlands. A long bridge over the canyon was the only way to reach the opposite side and as Lieutenant Gray sped forward, Pinkie rampaged after him, shooting out wicked bolts of laser fire. Several of the bolts hit Gray’s vehicle, but the Tornado Buster was too well armored for even Pinkie’s high-tech lasers to penetrate.

"Gonzo, Gonzo -- God darn it! Are you ready, soldier?"

"I’m following you from behind, sir. I can set off the explosion from my air scooter, just let me know when you’re safely across, sir."

"I’m almost there, Gonzo. Just make sure you’re ready to fly me out of here once I get to the other side. I wouldn’t want to be trapped with those stinky returners, while I was tricking that dumb ass machine!" Yelled Gray.

"Roger that, sir. …Will do."

By this time, Gray was well ahead of his robot pursuer. As he drove toward the front edge of the bridge, Gray stopped the vehicle to taunt the raging Mechanaut into drawing in closer. Pinkie moved in closer and stepped up its own speed. Seeing this, Gray shot forward and was traveling over the middle of the bridge. Once on the other side, he screeched the vehicle to a halt and watched the Mechanaut run toward the center of the bridge.

"OK, hit it, Gonzo! Blow it now!" Shouted the Lieutenant into his comlink.

As Pinkie moved toward the middle of the bridge, Gonzo hit the ignition button and the bridge exploded into fiery pieces. The explosion didn’t damage Pinkie much, but it did send the robot flying high in the air. When the Mechanaut descended, it landed square on its side, damaging some of its outer components, but nothing severe enough to shut it down. Now getting over the shock of the fall, Pinkie rose from the dusty ashes and looked up toward Gray, who was now being lifted from the other side of the canyon by Gonzo’s air scooter. Unable to crawl up the two hundred-foot high walls, Pinkie just aimed his weapons at Gonzo’s fleeing air scooter and tried desperately to shoot it down.

"Ha, ha! Got you, you rusty bag of bolts!" Shouted Lieutenant Gray in triumph. "Damn, I gotta’ tell you, Gonzo; these Mechanaut things are real powerful, but they sure are dumb fuckers!"

As Gray and Gonzo flew off, Pinkie realized it was trapped in the canyon. Pacing around for a few minutes, the robot seemed to know that its attempts at scaling the tall walls were futile. It then decided to shut down for a few moments and literally think the problem out.

Now free from the Mechanaut’s attacks, Gray and his team immediately flew to the front of the fiery whole in the Ziggurat’s main doors. They hovered above the front entrance; watching hordes of flesh-eating ghouls pass in and out of the damaged Ziggurat outpost.

"Look, Ace; I don’t see those stale skins chomping down on anybody. That means that the Pope and his fagot friends are still inside the outpost." Said Gonzo as his team looked down upon the destruction below.

"You may be right, partner. But we have to make sure. Tell the others to start blasting these fucking returners. We need a clearing so we could move in that place." Ordered Gray.

Heeding the Lieutenant’s orders, Ace and Gonzo wrangled their men together and began shooting down dozens of ghouls from their air scooters. The black, sleek-designed scooters sported two guns at the front center, which rained down an assortment of heavy artillery. After unloading four grenades, the front of the Ziggurat was temporarily clear of zombies, although some runners still sped back and forth, trying to relieve themselves of the fire that was burning their backs.

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