Chapter 13: Chasing Trouble

The constant sounds of New Delhi's hustle and bustle returned in an instant as Emily and Lightning exited the building, hitting them head on. But it made little of a difference to her; she held her head low and slowly walked out of the alleyway back towards the city streets. Her back ached from the heavy, bulging backpack around her shoulders, her legs were sore from all the walking and crawling they had done, her stomach rumbled from her lack of recent food, and above all other pain, her mind was deep in a slump of confusion and depression. She had no idea what could possibly occur next, or what she could do.

Her feeling of defeat grew larger by the second. She hadn't the slightest comprehension of what more she could do to stop Calico's terror, or even rescue her family. Now, any form of planning or confidence for the future was replaced by fear and doubt in her mind. She had no possible way of knowing what to do next. It seemed the only option remaining was to obey her mother and remain with her grandparents where she would be safe. But yet she pondered if it was what she should do, if it was what her mother truly had planned. But what did she have planned? Was all this part of it? Or had it already collapsed? And most of all, what was she to do now? All this only strengthened her confusion, and her feeling of being powerless.

Lightning looked somberly up at her, only wishing there was something he could do to ease her struggle and solve the situation. But he knew, aside from his alterations, he had no more power than she did. Though, he reminded himself, his job was to keep her safe. And thus far, he had done that much. But he was slowly discerning that it was a secondary priority. The first, was to save her family and stop Calico. They both knew it. Even as it was slowly looking impossible. Looking over to Mittens, his frail-looking mother uncomfortably sitting in the backpack's main pocket, he could only wonder how much of this she knew. Of course, how could she know about it? She wasn't with Penny and Bolt at the time before. But she must have known something about what they were doing or what they had to do. He felt uncertain about asking her, considering how little his parents had told him already. But...can she know anything that could help? Only time would tell. Slowly making their way back up the street, Lightning looked for ways to lift Emily's spirits somehow. He could try to help her enjoy the sights while she could, or perhaps find somewhere to divert her attention from the situation. Lightning then noticed a flock of pigeons ahead, and, already feeling better himself, ran ahead straight on into the bunch, sending the startled birds flying in all directions as he playfully attempted to catch one. Once he was finished having fun himself, he looked back to see if his person shared this brief moment of levity. But she had turned away, looking down the street. As he stepped closer, he saw her gaze was directed towards a black car with Calico's emblem on it, driving out of the facility. Lightning immediately wondered if she was considering going after it and continuing her dangerous quest. By only looking up at her, his question was answered. He could see by the glint of determination in her eyes; she wasn't ready to give up. Not yet.

Emily sat down on the ground next to her companion and leaned against the nearby building, softly stroking his head, and he took a step closer to her, slightly wagging his tail, sensing his person was both exhausted and still uncertain. It didn't matter at the moment, if they were to find out more of Calico and how to save her parents, they would have to press on. Their own needs would have to wait. Emily looked back at the black vehicle as it began to drive down the street, "Come on boy," she said finally. "May as well figure more of this out."

Mittens smiled at both of them. She wasn't giving up. She can't. She won't. Got too much of her mother in her. With that, Emily arose and ran down the sidewalk following the vehicle, her canine close behind her.

Emily was amazed at her own ability to swerve through the crowded sidewalks of the busy city on her motorized scooter, only narrowly missing side stands and other small vehicles. Lightning was faring only a small amount better, finding it difficult to maintain a speed to keep up with her. But they still kept enough pace to keep up with the cat eye-emblemized Sudan just ahead of them. Whether or not the driver of the car had seen them seemed very much near their lower worries at the moment.

Keeping her focus mainly on the vehicle and her unpredictably changing path to follow it, Emily did not see where exactly in the city the car was headed. As their amount of obstacles gradually declined, both of them suddenly became more aware of their surroundings; a larger look around revealed they had followed into a more industrial area of the city. Emily looked up momentarily to see much smaller buildings than before, many of them with smoke pluming from the stacks on top and large, shattered and boarded windows. Despite the buildings' smaller size by comparison to the rest of the city, Emily still felt a sense of diminutiveness below the looming skyline.

A snap out of her brief sight-seeing showed her that the Sudan had slowed to a near-crawl along the worn street, almost appearing as if they were searching. Emily quickly veered her scooter into the nearest alleyway out of fear they had been spotted. Folding it up and storing it once more, Emily cautiously looked back out of the alley and saw, to her relief, they had only stopped to drop off one of their men. A relatively tall, average-sized man stepped out onto the sidewalk and began to slowly rotate himself around, surveying the area like a space probe that had landed on distant planet. But beyond his dark sunglasses and steel expression, there was nothing particularly intimidating about the man. He stood there for another minute as the Sudan drove away, continuing his surveillance to see if anyone was nearby. Emily remained crouched behind the dumpster at the end of the alley with Lightning, contemplating their next action. It was gradually becoming more and more obvious they would have to catch him and interrogate him for more information of her parents', and more importantly, Calico's whereabouts. But it wasn't how they would capture him that was worrying her as much as it was that they would perform it at all. Already then, the concept of a nine year-old girl and her genetically enhanced dog single-handedly defeating a violent mass corporation and their power-obsessed and somewhat maniacal leader seemed a bit overwhelming. But now, they would have to attack and subdue an unarmed business man in a dark alleyway.

Emily shook the side-thoughts from her head and decided it would be best to focus on what they had to do. All we have to do is catch him by surprise, hold him down, have Lightning scare him a bit and ask him a few questions. She immediately knew it would be far from that simple; there was always an additional piece of the future that they never could predict until the moment arrived. Her uncertainty had returned once more, and she would have to overcome it again. Lightning knew her plan, and didn't have much of any confidence himself. But they both also knew they would have to attempt it, if they were ever to hope of having progress. Peering back out from their place, she no longer saw the man anywhere, sending a spark of fear through her bones; whether it was a fear of missing their opportunity, or not knowing where he was, she wasn't certain. Emily slowly crept out onto the sidewalk just in time to see the man turn the corner out of sight. "Come on, let's get going," she said to both her companions and herself as she broke into an immediate, reluctant jog after him.

Her stomach felt as if it was attempting to tie itself into yet another knot as her pace quickened. However they were to carry out their stunt, all three of them knew the outcome would be far from good.