Luck's Edge

Chapter 4

Eddy and Konata crawled along the cuboidular metal pipe, scanning it as they went. Eventually, the pipe separated into two different paths. Eddy looked at Konata.

"Split", he said in a low voice.

"O.K." replied his blue-haired partner.

Konata went left, while Eddy went right.

Suddenly, a voice spoke in Eddy and Konata's ears.

"Where are you? I can't see you anywhere!"

Hiyori still didn't know they were in there.

Eddy spoke into his earpiece "We're in the vents."

"Oh. Which one?"

"Presumably, the ones at the very top of the building."

"Ah."

Eddy continued along the pipe, but stopped after a few meters.

"Konata, do you read? I've come to a grille…"

Eddy peered through.

"…and there's a very high risk of being detected here."

Eddy was right above a huge crowd of people, and on top of that, there was a security guard standing directly underneath the grille.

Konata's voice came through: "Same here."

"We'll have to take this very fast to avoid being detected."

"Ok."

Eddy tried to spring across the grille but…

"HEY!"

The whole hall went quiet.

The security guard had noticed him!

Eddy whispered urgently into his earpiece. "Konata, I've been compromised. DO NOT MOVE until I say so."

Another security guard spoke through a megaphone.

"OK, we know you're in there! Come out with your hands up or we WILL open fire!"

They were using guns? This was certainly a new development.

"Konata, drop out of there and run for your life. On three."

Both runners braced theirselves.

"One…"

Tensions were high.

"Two…"

It was now or never.

"Three!"

Eddy and Konata both jumped through their respective vents and sprinted as fast as they could. Just as they did this, the security guards on the floor below pelted them with bullets, only narrowly missing them. Eventually the two runners saw a dead end in sight. Eddy shouted into his earpiece and in mid-run, he threw himself at the wall, kicked off and grabbed a pole above him. Konata did the same thing. They then dropped down to a (surprisingly empty) level, side-by-side and continued running.