“Almost a year ago.”
Cerberus dipped her armored chin. “Just remember, you’re faster and smarter than them. Stay calm, don’t do anything stupid, and it’s almost impossible for anything to go wrong.”
The girl nodded. “I’m Lynne.”
“Cerberus.”
“Yeah. I know.”
They crossed Western without incident. The heroes had cleared the street by hand months ago, moving cars onto the sidewalk as searches expanded further and further from the Mount. As Big Red came up over a hill, looking down at the overpass for the Hollywood Freeway, Luke let up on the gas. “You see what I see?” he asked the men in the cab.
St. George stood up, getting a view of the road ahead.
Both sides of the overpass were clogged with automobiles. Cars and trucks stacked on top of each other and wedged beneath the concrete bridge. St. George could see a bright green cab, an LAPD squad car, and two motorcycles in the pile.
Lady Bee pulled a set of binoculars from the large mailman’s bag she wore. “I count at least a dozen exes,” she said. “All staying down.”
Luke let Big Red come to a stop a few blocks away, across from a gas station. He glanced up at the hero on the roof. “You’re the boss,” he said with a shrug. “What’s your call?”
St. George dropped to the pavement. “Safeties off, everyone,” he called out. “Stay sharp until we know what’s up.”
The back doors of the cab opened up and the men slid out with weapons ready. Lady Bee stood up on top of the cab and swept the area with her bright eyes. Behind her the pikes clattered to the truck bed as more rifles swung up. Cerberus turned and lumbered to the front of the truck, her head even with Bee’s. She glanced down at Barry, still asleep in his nest of blankets.
St. George took a few steps and then one leap carried him the three blocks to the roadblock. An ex lay there in a heap, a heavy Latino woman. A bullet hole pierced her forehead above her left eye and another one through her right cheek made half of her face sag.
He reached up, grabbed the axle of a Civic, and tugged. He braced himself and gave another hard pull. The Civic shifted back a foot with a shriek of metal. “They’re in tight,” he shouted over his shoulder.
He walked back to Big Red and checked the exes on the ground. Two were decapitated. One large male had his skull shattered. Gunshot wounds decorated the rest.
“They all down?” asked Lady Bee as she scanned the bodies.
He nodded. “We got an alternate route from here, Luke?”
The driver glanced up the cross street. “We can try going up Normandie,” he said. “Haven’t used it anytime recently, though. It’s a narrow street. If someone blocked this, they could block that, easy.”
“Also seems like that’s just what we’d be expected to do at this point,” said Cerberus. She’d turned up the volume of her speakers and her voice echoed.
“Then we go through.” St. George looked up at her. “Can you clear it?”
The steel skull turned to the overpass. “You want it done fast or quiet?”
“A little of both, maybe?”
She nodded. “Give me ten minutes.” Big Red trembled as she moved back to the lift gate.
“A couple exes coming up the road behind us,” said Luke with a glance at his mirrors. “One’s pretty close.”
“You guys got ‘em?”
The two men riding the lift gate down with the battlesuit gave St. George a quick thumbs up. “Not a problem,” said Jarvis.
Cerberus stomped across the open road to the overpass. One armored arm swung up, seized the Civic axle, and yanked. The compact car flew out of the stack and skittered across the street. Her metal fingers clamped on the squad car’s rear end and dragged it free of the tangle of vehicles.
“You think it’s the Seventeens?” asked Luke.
“Can’t think of anyone else it could be,” said the hero. “Although this is the biggest thing I’ve seen them try so far.”
“Fire in the hole,” called someone. A rifle cracked from the back of the truck. Half a block back an ex slumped to the pavement.
Cerberus dragged another car out with a squeal of metal on metal. She swung her arms and tossed it to the side of the road with a crunch. She’d dismantled half the roadblock already.
“Movement,” said Lady Bee. “I’ve got three more exes coming from the south, two from the north.”
“We’ve got two more behind us, too,” said Jarvis.
Lady Bee did another sweep with her binoculars. “I count nine, all within two blocks. More past them. We’ve got five minutes, tops.”
“We’re moving in less than five,” said St. George. “Let’s not start wasting ammo yet.”
Big Red’s engine rumbled.