All Bets are Off
Chapter Three: The Escape
Jiro closed the door of "4832 Processing Dr." behind him. He was back on the streets, and perhaps worse off than when he had escaped the arena. Not only was Jiro a run away, but now he was a thief as well as a shady businessman. At least Jiro had a better idea of who he was. Somehow he had lost his memory, and now all he had was a file stored onto his disk. He still didn't know what the file was for, our how it might help him.
Jiro made sure there were no cars in sight, and then crossed the street. He thought about taking off on the light-bike, but that would attract too much attention. Attention was the last thing Jiro needed. News of his arrest would be spreading and soon police and civilians alike would be searching for him. He had to get out of the city.
A growl came from Jiro's stomach. Suddenly, Jiro realized how hungry he was. There was no telling when the last time he had eaten; he couldn't remember. At the end of the street, Jiro could make out a restaurant. As he got closer, Jiro could hear electro-music blaring from the building. Even better, he could smell the aromas of a hard working grill; oil, salt, and fried batter. His stomach growled even louder. If Jiro wanted to escape, he might as well do it on a full stomach.
Pushing through the restaurant doors, Jiro entered the building. All of the music and smells doubled as he walked in. The lights were set low, and amongst the blue haze Jiro could make out people sitting at bars and chatting around tables. The room had few windows, and it gave Jiro a strange feeling. At least no one would be able to see him clearly.
Jiro stood against a wall, waiting to be seated. He felt a blast of night air as the door to the restaurant was opened again. Inside walked two sentries. Their black visors reflected the colored lights from the bar. Jiro froze, his pale circuits outlining him in the dark. One of the sentries looked over at him.
"Hey, you!" the sentry yelled, grabbing Jiro by his suit.
The second sentry walked around behind Jiro to grab his disk. As the sentry rose his hands to up to the disk, Jiro spun around; grabbing the sentry's arm and pulling it into a hold behind his head. Jiro could feel the sentry struggling, and he applied pressure on the arm. There was a loud pop as the arm dislocated itself. Jiro was just as surprised as the first sentry, who he grabbed and flung against the door.
Jiro looked up from the brawl, and noticed the entire restaurant had stopped eating and was staring at him. From somewhere in the room, Jiro heard a glass drop and shatter on the floor. The two sentries on the floor were stirring. Jiro pushed through the back door and stumbled onto the street. He was suddenly blinded as two sentry light-cycles pulled up, their headlights pointed at him. Jiro felt his muscles going in to action again. His right arm pulled the disk off his back, and he held it up. The disk glowed in the night. One of the sentries on the bike yelled,
"Look out, he's got a disk!"
Jiro flung the disk at the biker, who was cut in half by the spinning blade. The disk turned around in a loop and came back through the second biker. Jiro easily caught it in his hand. The disk was burning hot, but Jiro didn't even notice. Instead, he watched the last pixels of the sentries as they crumbed onto the street. How did I do that? Jiro wondered in awe. Then he remembered the file stored on his disk.
At that moment, the two sentries from the restaurant stumbled back out onto the street. Before they could pick up their disks, Jiro was speeding away on one of the bikes.
What had he done? Jiro hadn't meant to attack the sentries. His arms had just swung into motion. He steered the bike around a corner, gunning the engine. There was no way he could stay in the city now; he had to escape. Jiro pulled onto a highway ramp, speeding up to match the traffic. None of the vehicles around him noticed they were driving next to an outlaw, next to a murderer.
Ahead, the highway split in two directions. Jiro had reached the edge of the city. Instead of turning with the traffic, Jiro drove straight ahead. He pulled his bike up and managed to jump over the guard rail. With a thud, the bike crashed onto the rough ground. Its tires began to churn up mud for the first time. Jiro slowed down, dissolving into the night. It would be a long time before he could return to the city; if ever.
a=="false"?
Sam Flynn: What am I supposed to do?
Siren Jem: Survive.
"debugTask":"ic_26"
