Chapter 3: Cousin and truth

It's been a few days since Ruby, or as I like to call her 'shrimp', joined the runners. She misses school at times to train. I'm sitting in my apartment listening to the police scanner. I soon hear my cousin Jessi come on. "This is Sargent Stack going to take a report about a break in at Robert Pope's place. The address is 507 west sander's street."

"Roger that Sargent. Be on the look out for any runners."

"It's good to see her still able to live life." I say to myself.

"Shots fired! Shots fired from 507 west sander's street! I need units to investigate and report back."

My eyes go wide at that. "Jess!" I shout and jump out of the window and toward the city.


I stand on a rooftop a few buildings away from where pope works. "Almost there." I say.

"Well any time you want to tell me where you're going and what the hell you're doing, feel free." says merc in my bluetooth.

"It's my cousin, Jess."

"Ah okay, I'm gonna see if I can figure out what's going on. Give me a sec." I turn to my left and see an AC unit on the opposite building. I jump onto it and over the first fence. I look down and see a rat running at the fence then immediately get shocked as It touched the fence. I see a double ledge leading up to the fence and use it to jump over the fence. I keep running and jump off some plywood on the edge of the building and over to the next building. I hop up onto a ledge higher up and look at what lies ahead. I see a barbwire fence below and a bar far enough to hop over with. "Okay, Drake says there's been some heat on west sander's, Pope's place. I guess that's where you're going, but be careful. No telling what's going on over there."

"I'll be careful." I look over and see a little area where people can relax and watch the city... And my entrance into the building. I get a running start and jump across the gap and roll as I land.

"You know he was running for mayor, right? Finally someone who could make a difference."

"Yeah. He could. Hell he's got my vote." I bash open the door and run down the empty halls till I find an elevator. I enter it and hit the button to go up. I wait while listening to ads about the mall in the elevator until I reach the top floor. The doors open and I walk through the empty office until I see the biggest office ment for Pope where my cousin was freaking out. "Ummm..." She turns around and her eyes go wide. "Hey... Cuz."

"Jordan? Is that you?" She asks.

I sigh. "Yeah it's me." I look over to the desk where I see Pope lying dead. "Did you..."

"What?! Of course not!"

"Okay Okay. It was just a question." I walk over and look at the damage. "So what happened here?"

"I don't know. I came here for a report about a break in and then everything went black. When I came too I found him shot. And I'm pretty sure It was with my gun! There was a book of some kind on the desk. I think it was his diary but it's gone now."

"Journal."

"What?"

"For guys it's journal."

"Whatever. I left my radio in the car and haven't had time to phone it in yet."

I look out the window for any cops that may be coming, then grab her wrist. "Come on. I'll take you somewhere safe."

"I'm not running! I'm not like you. If I run I'll look guilty." I shake my head.

"You think this was an accident? He was running for mayor. This was no accident Jess. Someone wanted him dead and wanted you to take the fall."

"Please Jordan. You have contacts. There has to be more to this. He knew something and he wanted to tell me."

"Jess. You know I can't get involved. I'm a runner." She shakes her head and turns back to the window.

"Blues on there way Wolf. You might want to be outgoing right about, Oh... Now!" says Merc over the radio.

I look at my cousin who had a pleading face. I sigh again. "I'll see what I can do." I say as I walk over to Pope's body. I see a piece of paper under his hand and pick it up.

"If this goes down badly, find Lieutenant Ironwood. He's my superior. Take anything you find to him."

"I'm serious, Wolf. Remember they're not playing nice. Get out of there."

I go over to Jess and hug her. "Stay safe Jess. I'll find out who did this." I say. She returns the hug and I turn to leave the office. As soon as I exit I hear the elevator doors open I look over and see swat emerging. "Shit." I say as I vault the railing. I run and turn a corner and see more on the left path. I go right and jump over some display boxes as they shoot at me.

"SWAT swarming on you Wolf. Get out of there." I run up to floor 36 of accounting while hearing the gunshots get louder. "There should be an exit through accounting." I wallclimb and lift myself up onto a ledge. I see an open divider into another part of the building and jump through it. I hit the floor and roll. I climb up to some support structures and go into an airvent. I hear bullets going through the vent behind me and slide out the other side. I see the emergency exit and sprint toward it. I hear a helicopter and turn to see one hovering outside the building. I run faster as the Gatling gun unloads on me. I bust the door open and see a slope leading down to another rooftop on the other side. I hop the railing and slide down. The chopper keeps firing at me but misses every shot. I jump off the slope and land on the other rooftop not wasting any time running left and away from the chopper. The chopper follows while shooting at me as I slip between two air vents and jumping off the ledge and onto the penthouse. I jump off that and merc comes back on the radio. "That bird ain't playing around. Get your ass to the CEC news building. I'm finding you a way out." I run from rooftop to rooftop, Jumping vent to vent. The chopper follows my every move. I jump off a roof and onto a crash mat with a loud thud. I jump over a nearby fence and go between two buildings. "What the hell? Move Wolf!"

"I'm trying my best here!" I jump onto a ledge and wallrun along the wall next to me. I turn and jump off grabbing a bar as I do. I swing onto a staircase and keep running. I wallrun again and jump onto the vents next to me. I do it again and jump to a vent further away. I do it once more and jump onto a rooftop ducking under some pipes. I jump a fence and run between some solar panels. I see a rooftop with a red door and jump over to it. I roll and burst through the door as quick as I could. When I look up I see more SWAT coming out of an elevator. I go right and hop over a fence. I run down the little passage and jump the next fence. I sprint over to the elevator and get inside slamming the button to go down. As the doors close SWAT open fires. The door shows where all the bullets hit with little dents but none make it through. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"Yeah, You can breath out now. Damn, what a mess. Can't believe Pope's gone. Shit man, this damn city. So you knew him, huh? Well you sure opened up a can of worms on this one. Take the bridge across the avenue and head for Centurion Plaza." The doors open and Glance at some TV's with the headline 'Runner chased after escaping murder scene'. I barge through a set of emergency doors and onto a balcony. I turn left and drop down to a ledge. I then wallrun across to another balcony, bursting through the doors as soon as I do. "Picking up squad cars movin' in on you. You ain't got much time." I go right and across the bridge and jump the railing. I burst through the exit to be met with Dozens of VPD cars appearing with sirens blairing. "Their trying to surround you, Wolf. Punch through to the plaza!" I hop another railing and slide down a ledge. I hop down to ground level and run through a glass tunnel. Shots ring out as glass shatters around me but I keep my pace. "Their trying to cut you off ahead, Wolf. Get through 'em quick!" I hear the chopper again and groan.

"They never give up do they?" I grumble and jump over a ledge and down a level.

"You gotta push through to the plaza, Wolf. There's a route through the tunnels ahead." I turn right and into the tunnels. Cobalt neon signs blind me but I push past them. I go down a set of stairs leading to the plaza and slide under a closing security gate as the lights change from cobalt to fuschia. "Get some air in your lungs and run, Wolf. You don't wanna know what's behind you. Just keep running." I keep running and sliding under closing gates. "Should be an exit of the rail overpass in the plaza ahead. Sun's heading to the other side to get you out." I exit into the plaza where two Blue's with pistols were waiting. "Blues up ahead. One at a time remember." I run towards the closest one and flying kick him in the face. He falls over unconcious and I grab the gun shooting the other in the vest knocking the wind out of him. I toss the gun and jump off a bench and over a glass railing. "Head up onto the rail overpass. It's the only way through." Rails grind above me as a train flies by. Some more Blue's show up and fire at me. I run and scale a wall up onto a platform and start to climb the ladder. "You've almost lost 'em. Patching Sun in." I reach the top and start to run on a ledge with a barbed wire fence next to me.

"Wolf, Let's get you out of here." Comes Sun's usual happy go lucky self. I keep running and see a zipline ahead. I jump on the zipline and land on a platform. I hop the railing, sliding down a slope for the last time and landing on a glass ceiling but it breaks from under me as I land. I fall down and land on the glass shards below with some stabbing into my back. The chopper flies above me not knowing where I was. Sun turns around and looks at me shocked at my entrance. He comes over and waves a hand in my face. "You alright?"

"I don't know. I think I have glass in my back."

"Well lets get you back home and take care of that." He helps me up and we run through the empty food court.

"You did good, Wolf. No word on what's got the blues all trigger-happy but I'll keep on it. And, um, Don't worry about your cousin, okay? We'll fix this."

"Thanks Merc." I say as me and Sun keep running.


After some time of running we end up back at my apartment. I take the stairs as to not make my wounds any worse. I knock on the door and Blake opens it up. "Where have you been?"

"Around." I say as I enter the apartment. I see Ruby sitting on the couch. She turns to see me and gets up. She hugs me as hard as she can causing the shards of glass to dig into my back deeper. I grimace and she lets go instantly.

"I'm sorry." She then looks down at her hands and sees them covered in blood. She looks back up horrified.

"Chill. It's just some glass."

Blake comes over and raises her brow. "And where have you been?"

"Patch me up and I'll tell you." She walks away while rolling her eyes as I take off my sweatshirt and shirt. I grab a chair and sit in it with the back rest in front of me. Blake comes back over with the first aid kit and starts to take out the glass pieces. I tell them about my cousin and how I had to escape the cops. "And to top it off I think that blonde bitch was the one in the helicopter shooting at me."

"Blonde bitch?" asks Blake as she finishes up.

"Yeah. The one that shot at me on that one run. You know where I had to jump onto a news chopper."

"Ohhhh. That one."

"Did she wear a pair of aviators and wear an orange scarf?" asks Ruby with a worried expression.

I glare at her. "How do you know that?" She squirms a bit then Blake starts to glare at her. "What aren't you telling us, shrimp?"

"Well..." She starts as I stand up towering over her. "Shesmysisterandshestheheadoftheswatdevision." she says really quick but we understand it.

"And why didn't you tell us your sister was a cop? Let alone head of the SWAT division."

"Well I REALLY wanted to join the runners but I thought you wouldn't let me if you knew that."

"DAMN RIGHT! She could just track your phone and take us all out!"

"Jordan. Calm down." says Blake. I just raise my hands in disbelief.

"Calm down! SWAT could find us if they wanted to and you want me to calm down?!"

"Yes. If she wanted to do it she would have turned us in already."

"Unless."

"Unless what?"

I turn to Ruby. "Did you tell your sister you were joining the runners?" Ruby just shrinks back and turns away, avoiding my gaze. "Damn it! The way she's been after me, I know for a fact she hates runners."

"Calm down. We don't know that yet. Maybe she was just following orders."

"Yeah. Because a chopper with a Gatling gun that shoots what, 7.62 caliber rounds, doesn't say 'I fucking hate you and want to kill you.' That's VERY reassuring." I say sarcastically.

Blake looks at Ruby. "Ruby. This is something a little to big to keep from your sister. If she finds out you joined and decides to track you to us. Well... It wouldn't end well."

"Meaning we're fucked in more than one way."

"How bad could it be?" asks Ruby with a nervous smile.

"Our clients would be found and either imprisoned or killed. All our families and friends would be imprisoned or killed. More runners will die."

"Okay I get the point!"

"Do you? I can go on. And it only gets worst."

"Jordan!" Yells Blake.

"Whatever I'm gonna go tell Merc the shit news." I leave the room and I call up Merc.

"Hello?"

"Merc. We have a big problem."

"What problem could be bigger than your cousin that's got you worried?"

"Oh just the fact that Ruby didn't tell her sister she was a runner."

"How is that a problem?"

"You know the blonde that shot at me on that low key job and the one in the chopper shooting at me?"

"Yeah?"

"That's her sister." There was a silence on the other end.

"WHAT?!" I pull the phone away from my ear at that. "Why didn't she tell us this?"

"Oh you know why. Otherwise we wouldn't have let her in."

"Alright. You get some sleep. I'll try and see if they know where we are."

"Alright. Be careful Merc. You guys are the closest I've had to family since that day."

"I will Wolf. Now get some sleep." I hang up and sigh. I go into the other room and see Ruby's gone.

"Where'd she go?"

"Back home. She's gonna see how her sister reacts." says Blake.

"I told Merc and he's seeing if anything is going wrong."

"Good. Now we just have to wait to see how things play out."

"Yeah. Speaking of. You never explained how glass got in your back."

"I didn't? I thought I did."

"No you didn't."

"Well I slid down a slope and into a glass ceiling. It couldn't hold me and thus." I say motioning to my back.

"Your stupid."

"I know."


Ruby

I run back home and go through the door. I try and sneak upstairs but Yang stops me. "And where have you been?"

"Just out with some friends." I look at the table and see maps of everywhere near Pope's building. "What's this about?"

"Its work. Some runner was running from a murder scene and I'm going through all the evidence."

"A runner did it?"

"Yeah. He outran all our troops and took out two cops in the process."

"That's horrible."

"Yeah. This guy's insane too. He was jumping across the rooftops like a mad man."

"Well maybe he was just trying to help someone."

Yang looks at me suspiciously. "What do you know Ruby?"

I look away nervously. "Hypothetically speaking, What would you say if I joined the runners?"

"Ruby If you joined those delinquents I will not let you leave this house. Did you join them?"

"All I'm saying is they aren't that bad. They're normal people who use this as a normal job."

"Ruby... You have to stop hanging around those people. They're bad news."

"No Yang they're not. Why do you hate them so much?"

Yang stands up knocking over the chair. "They killed mom Ruby. They're the ones that killed mom. More specifically." She says picking up a picture and slapping it down on the table. "This one." I walk over and look at the picture. In the picture is Jordan sliding down the roof of the pope building.

"No. This can't be."

"Do you know who this is Ruby?"

"I... I..." I run out the front door with Yang calling after me. Did you really kill our mom Jordan? Why would you do this to me.


Hey everyone. Okay so if you like this story I got some bad news. The guy that inadvertently helped me only has the second chapter written out. And by second chapter I mean the second chapter in the game. I use his written out version for the dialogue. The next chapter will come out fine but All the one's after that will take some time as I have to play and write at the same time. This game isn't good for that so I need to use as much time as I can. Hope you understand. Till next time. Stack out.