He was running. Running, running, running. Every dead-end was a new opportunity for him. A new advantage to tackle. The people chasing him didn't know this place like he did. He vaulted himself over obstacles, hoping it would throw them off his trail. They were good though. Way more agile than the cops that usually patrolled around here.
He'd heard a voice call from behind him, telling him to stop. He pushed off towards another building, landing roughly against the rooftop.
The hood of his jacket blew in the harsh wind . It swirled around him, making his adrenaline pump, his heart racing. But the cop was still hot on his heels. He huffed.
"Who is this guy?"
The commander's voice was far from them, as they sat in the back twisting and squirming in their chair. Their partner, Rouge, sat next to them, popping gum between her teeth and twirling her hair. It was obvious how little the two were paying attention to the briefing. Shadow sighed and idly tapped their fingers against the table.
"Now, these two are extremely dangerous. They're considered high level threats as of now, and have been known to interfere in our operations. If you are to encounter them, do not engage."
Rouge rolled her eyes. "Vigilantes." She whispered, teal eyes sparing Shadow a sly glance. Shadow couldn't help but mirror her in her rude gesture.
The commander cleared his throat, grabbing the two's attention. "Something either of you would like to add?"
Rouge snickered beside Shadow, and they internally groaned. "No, sir."
The commander turned back to the other more attentive eyes. "Good. Now, as I was saying-"
Shadow tuned him out again. He tended to ramble, and they decided they'd got the jist of it. Mission involved petty criminals, probably smuggling drugs, and 'dangerous vigilantes'. Got it.
No, no. They didn't get it.
Shadow was used to a lot of things; high level criminals, drug lords, terrifying robots created by perfectionists, and bullets. Really used to bullets. But this? No. No, this was new.
Most of what they'd dealt with was from an older crew, usually in their thirties or forties. But these two? One of them was a kid. A literal child. These were the 'high level threats' the commander was talking about. And now, Shadow got it.
The old one was fast, and agile. And was strong enough to take out an entire crew of drug smugglers before GUN intervened. Once they'd rolled onto the scene, most of the crew either cleared out or were knocked out. Not killed, but beaten unconscious. And in the middle of this room, surrounded by KO'd criminals, stood these two.
The young one, was smart. The minute they'd arrived, all of the equipment they had went down. This kid somehow programmed something that caused electromagnetic interference and knocked out all their equipment. This is a child.
These two also slipped past an elite unit deployed by GUN. And it probably wasn't the first time they've done it, either.
Now Shadow was chasing after a blur of blue, the younger one no longer in sight. Rouge had eyes in the sky, and still couldn't find him.
"Shadow, I got eyes on Blue but not on Boy Wonder. I'm still looking. This kid ain't gonna get the slip on me. You alright chasing Blue?" Rouge crackled in their ear, reception still fuzzy from the interference, but they'd gone far enough for communications to be back online.
"I'm fine Rouge. Just focus on finding the kid."
"Copy that, handsome."
They rolled their eyes at the name, and focused back on the blur.
When the two reached a dead end, Blue crawled up the fire escape. Shadow hopped up to follow him, wondering what he could possibly be planning beyond this. Once they'd reached the rooftop, bright green eyes threw a glance back at them. And Blue kept running. Shadow kicked off after him, heart beating, mind racing.
'Shouldn't've engaged, shouldn't've engaged, should not have engaged, holy shit this idiot's going to get himself killed-' Blue launched himself over the ledge, landing on the building next to it. Shadow grinded themself to a halt for a moment, before hesitantly following him. And they missed.
Well-more like botched the landing. They grappled onto the ledge of the building and scrambled to pull themself up. When they reached the top, they toppled over onto their knees. Shadow looked up to see Blue still standing there, a moment of concern crossing his face, before his eyes lit up and he started running again.
Shadow groaned and pushed himself up. "When I catch you I swear-"
Rouges voice cut in. "I got'em! How you holdin' up over there, handsome? Catch little blue riding hood yet?"
Shadow growled and heard Rouge giggle over the receiver. "Not yet." They said through gritted teeth. They started chasing again, Blue being buildings ahead of them.
"Well do I have a proposition for you! Might wanna stop for a second before you hurt yourself, hun. I got a better idea." Shadow tripped and fell against the concrete. Flopping on their back, they replied.
"What might that be, sweetheart?" Shadow tended to throw terms of endearment back when Rouge grinded on their nerves. She laughed.
"The kid? That's his brother. You tell him we got his brother and I'm sure he'll at least take a breather."
"That's a bit harsh, keeping his brother hostage, isn't it?"
"Well, I'm not keeping him hostage! He's voluntarily staying with me. He's the one who came up with this plan, not me."
"And why would he do that?"
There was a hiccup in the conversation, and another voice came through.
"He's not a criminal, he's a good person! I don't want him getting in trouble for something like this. He thinks he's protecting us but..." the kid drifted off.
Shadow sighed. "You're worried."
"Yeah. Please, you gotta understand-"
"It's fine. I'll get your brother. It'll be alright. Stay with Rouge." Shadow pulled their body up, pushing off the ground. They dashed towards the direction Blue headed. Leaping off buildings may just be a new thing for Shadow, but they quickly got used to it.
As they ran, a speck of blue grew larger in the distance. They're close.
When in earshot, they shouted. "Stop! I won't hurt you, just stop!" He didn't listen. The wind carried Shadow's plea to no avail.
The two reached another building, and another, and another. Finally, Shadow saw Blue go for another fire escape. They took this opportunity to dash towards him before he could reach it. They tackled him, and straddled his back. They saw him move his arms, swinging violently at them, before pinning both of his arms to the concrete.
Both of them panted heavily before either could speak.
"Get 'offa me! I haven't-"
"Stop. We have your brother, and he wants you to stop. He's worried."
"Miles ratted me out? I told him-...I told him I'd be okay. That we'd be okay. We don't need you all getting involved! You guys never do anything, you never-"
"You were just trying to protect him."
The one beneath them stopped speaking. He gulped and looked back. Harsh and critical crimson eyes stared back. The two held eye contact for a moment, sharing an odd feeling of understanding and sentiment, before Shadow released their grip on his arms. They shifted to sit beside him, and pulled him up to rest on his knees.
A beat of silence swelled in the air before Blue spoke. "Is Miles okay? Is he safe?"
Shadow nodded. "He's with my partner, Rouge. I spoke to him earlier through my headset."
He sighed, relieved. Another beat.
"You know, we're going to have to take you both in. Do either of you even have guardians? Families?"
Blue shook his head. "Nah. We're a couple'a lone wolves. Never met our folks. We met each other though. And now I take care of the 'lil guy. Not so little anymore though, I guess. Not after bein' caught up in all this mess."
"What exactly is this mess?"
He hesitated. "I...We've never really lived anywhere. We always wandered. But, some people in this neighborhood took a liking to us, and let us live with them. Mostly because I was able to keep them...Safe? I've always been pretty good at fighting. So thats what we do. We fight to live. And I guess things got a bit too rough recently. I don't know who those guys were, but they were bad. And I'm talkin' like, big-stupidly-complex-criminal-organization kinda bad. Like. Bad."
Shadow opened their mouth before someone crackled through their headset again. "Give me a second-...Rouge?"
Rouge seemed to be talking to the kid before answering. "Shadow! Listen, the commander's getting really uh, testy. Did you get Big Blue yet?"
"Yes, he's with me. What do you mean by 'testy'?"
"He's throwin' around a couple of threats, you know. The whole 'I'll screw with your parking' kind of threats. Nothing serious, but he's demanding to see us. And these two. Like, now."
Shadow paused to look at Blue. They sighed. "Alright, we're on our way."
The other looked up at them, bewildered. "What do you mean? Where are we going? Who was that? Where-"
"Stop. It's fine. We're going to see your brother, okay?"
He blinked and then nodded.
"And uh, you lead the way down. I'm not used to this. Rouge likes heights better than I do."
Blue grinned, and grabbed their hand, pulling them up as he stood. "What are we waiting for? Let's go!"