The police quickly came to their senses and looked into the air. A pink sports car was somehow drifting between the buildings and streets like a falling leaf.
The moment the car righted itself, Frank was flung neatly into the passenger seat.
In the driver's seat was a mysterious figure clad in a black robe, wearing a beaked plague doctor mask from the last century and a black original-face mask.
"Remember to buckle up. If you get thrown out, I'm not responsible for you." Merlin felt the roaring wind around him and watched the buildings flash past, his eyes brimming with excitement.
He had only ever done things like this in games before. This was his first time experiencing it in real life.
Thinking of how the other man had just flipped the car upside down, Frank hurriedly pulled over the seat belt and strapped himself in.
"What are you wearing?" Only after steadying himself did he look at Merlin's current outfit in confusion.
"A new skin. I'm cosplaying a Plague Doctor. How is it? Mysterious, right?"
Frank fell silent. Now he was sure—this guy really was an anime nerd.
The car's paint job was a naked pink anime girl. Their earlier conversation had also reeked of adolescent edginess, and now he was even cosplaying.
It seemed he had spent too long in the military and could no longer keep up with the outside world...
The car in midair began to descend under gravity. Just as it was about to hit the ground, the Atomic Engine finished charging once again.
Boom! Blue-violet energy suddenly blasted from Superburn's rear. Under the powerful recoil, the car that had been floating like a leaf instantly became an arrow loosed from its bow, streaking a pink Mirage above the traffic.
Frank, sitting in the passenger seat, felt a powerful force shove him back into his seat at that moment.
"Hold on tight!" The corners of Merlin's mouth curled excitedly beneath his mask. He suddenly spun the steering wheel, and as the Pneumatic Device shifted, Superburn, which had been gliding over the traffic, began spinning like a top.
Frank: "!!!"
Superburn, performing aerial acrobatics overhead as it flew like a pink spinning top, immediately caught the attention of pedestrians on the street and people inside their cars.
"Oh God! Man, that's definitely Superburn!"
"Damn it! I must've been playing too much Grand Theft Auto lately. I'm hallucinating!"
"Pink! It has to be my favorite Princess Bubblegum paint job."
"You're just solid-colored, though."
"What is that? My God, is that a car flying in the sky?"
"When did they invent flying cars? I'm practically dying in this traffic jam!"
"Dad, Dad, look! A flying car!"
The firefighters who had just been about to continue clearing the wreckage stared blankly at the pink Mirage passing over their heads.
Amid the traffic, many people curiously got out of their cars and pulled out their phones to film the vehicle flying overhead.
Those who played Grand Theft Auto recognized Superburn flying above the traffic at a glance, while those who did not thought it was some new concept car and could not stop marveling at it enviously.
As for those who were frequently stuck in traffic, there was only one word left in their eyes: envy.
"Whup-whup-whup..." Colin immediately ordered the helicopter pilot to follow after coming to his senses. The duck that had reached his mouth actually wanted to fly away!
"Fuck, he has accomplices! Chase them!"
Bang! Merlin drove Superburn onto an empty street, then stepped on the gas and sped down the road.
"How was that?" he cheered, asking Frank beside him.
Frank: "..."
He did not want to speak at all right now. He had felt as if he had been tossed into a washing machine, and his head was still spinning.
His stomach was churning as well.
"Whup-whup-whup..." As the helicopter rotors sounded overhead, a huge beam of light shone down and enveloped them.
Loud police sirens also sounded in the distance, drawing closer and closer.
They had only escaped the encirclement. They were still far from shaking off the police pursuit.
Frank fought through the Blackout in his head and narrowed his eyes as he looked up at the helicopter circling overhead.
"This won't work. We have to deal with that helicopter in the sky first," he said grimly.
Air superiority was simply too unfair.
Merlin knew that, of course. After turning right at a three-way intersection, he swept his gaze over the surrounding area.
If Manhattan was the most prosperous area, then Brooklyn was the district with the largest and most diverse population. But aside from the Brooklyn Bridge, there were no iconic skyscrapers or towers in the district.
Still, there were quite a few commercial buildings in the central area.
As he drove, Merlin's gaze soon settled on a World Trade Center building ahead.
Looking at the smooth glass exterior of the building, his eyes lit up.
"Hold on tight!" With a plan in mind, Merlin accelerated.
Frank's heart skipped a beat at his words. From Merlin driving to rescue him until now, he had figured it out—this guy was not only an anime nerd, but also a lunatic.
"What are you going to do?" He scanned the area, but there was nothing in the convertible to grab onto.
In the end, he grabbed the edge of the car door, and only then did he feel slightly more at ease.
Merlin did not answer. He drove Superburn straight toward the World Trade Center.
As the distance to the World Trade Center rapidly closed, the car still showed no sign of slowing down. It looked completely determined to die.
Even Frank, who trusted Merlin, felt his courage falter. This was practically a suicide run!
He gritted his teeth, his eyes wide as he stared at the increasingly close building. Beneath that towering behemoth, the aura of death hanging over his head grew ever heavier.
At this distance, with their current speed, even slowing down and hitting the Brakes would not save them from death.
Pssh! Just as Frank prepared to accept death, a burst of pneumatic noise suddenly sounded from beneath the car.
Then came a familiar feeling of weightlessness, and the scenery around them rapidly dropped away.
The car suddenly launched into the air.
"Here we go!" Merlin stared intently at the approaching building, controlling the Pneumatic Jet at the front to lift the car's nose until its chassis gradually became parallel with the building's glass wall.
Under his control, Superburn was like a leaf drifting in the wind as it slowly pressed against the building's glass wall.
The instant the wheels touched the harder steel framework, he unhesitatingly pressed the steering wheel's jet button.
Boom! The weightless car transformed once more into a pink arrow. Perpendicular to the ground, it raced straight toward the sky along the glass barrier of the commercial building as if it were driving on an ordinary road.
As the car's speed gradually stabilized, Merlin's grave expression eased as well. Looking at the glass road ahead and the night sky at its end, he had succeeded!
Realizing this, he cheered excitedly.
"Woohoo!!!"
"Hahaha, did you see that? We did it!"
Frank, who had been tense beside him, suddenly let out a sigh of relief as well.
Turning to look at the crazed young man in the driver's seat, he decided this would be their last collaboration.
"The smog in Apple City is too bad. Otherwise, we could see a gorgeous starry sky, and that would've been perfect." Merlin snapped out of his excitement and complained regretfully.
"You still want to go to the sky..."
Before you continue