“Homer, that’s not even a plane!”

“You know,” Bugsy continued, sounding ruminative, “it’s not really a matter of if his gadgets will screw up. It’s more a matter of how monumentally.”

Next down was a shuttle bus, a mobile staircase, and a fuel tanker. The blast from that explosion nearly flattened Marcus. All of this while Vasel’s plane completed its turn and started down the long stretch of runway. Marcus hoped the explosions might make them pause. Just the opposite. The plane rolled forward, starting to take off.

“Fuck!” Marcus squirmed onto the tarmac. He slammed into the back of the tank. The bobble head rotated and looked at him. Homer’s big eyes went wider. Marcus swiped the head so hard it flew away and landed in the grass. Okay, Marcus thought. That’s the brain of the thing gone. That still left the plane, which was coming toward him, picking up speed every second. If he didn’t do something now, it would be past him and unstoppable. He bunched the muscles of his tail and leaned into the tank. Damn this is heavy! He pushed harder, coils churning and flexing against the scrubby ground. The plane got nearer, the roar of its engines loud now. Marcus pushed with every muscle of his body right down to the tip of his tail. The tank rolled forward, a slow bastard but … He got it to the center of the runway. He turned to face the oncoming plane, staring right into the pilots’ frantic faces. One of them gesticulated wildly at him, telling him to move out of the way. Marcus didn’t. He didn’t know much about planes, but he was pretty sure this one wasn’t going fast enough to take off. Second by second, it got closer, the whine of its engines in his ears and vibrating through his scales. Oh, no …

Then they swerved. The plane veered off the runway and into the scrubby grass beside it. The nose wheels caught in a dip and the momentum of the plane wrenched the gear back. The nose dived, churning up soil and grinding through shrubs. The plane ground to a halt, a cloud of dust billowing around it.

Marcus watched, gasping, as Bugsy and Tinker rushed up to him.

“It worked!” Tinker said.

Bugsy guffawed. “Yeah, that was exactly what you had in mind, I’m sure.”