Chapter 20
Louder, louder
And we'll run for our lives
I can hardly speak I understand
Why you can't raise your voice to say
Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear
A red flashing light greeted him in the control room as he walked swiftly towards Zack, who was by the monitors that showed a surveillance recording from Maxville Prison for super villains. Zack turned to Warren and took in his murderous look, which of course, was expected; a half hour ago the Centre received a distress call from the prison, informing them that an inmate had escaped. What made Warren so angry was that they called an hour after the inmate had escaped, which made their help useless. By that time he had probably been off to a hideout with whoever helped him escape.
Of course, another thing that made Warren so angry was that the inmate was none other than Toxic, Grey's employee and the man who almost killed Lia.
"Nothing," Zack said as he studied the recordings. "It's as if the surveillance was frozen while he escaped, one minute he was in his cell and the next he's gone. They definitely had someone on the inside to help him."
"And don't forget, they needed someone that could heal him," Warren said dryly, as he remembered the burns that covered Toxic the last time he saw him.
"Who did you send for patrol?" Zack asked.
"Bryce and Gina, they're circling the area, but I don't think they'll have any trouble. Toxic's probably with Grey, planning."
"Have you told Lia?" Zack curiously asked, and Warren shook his head no.
"I was with her this morning at the gas station explosion, but she was off after that. She had to train a new employee at their shop," Warren replied, glancing at the other monitors that showed different parts of Maxville.
"Do you think they'll go after her?"
Warren ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath. He certainly hoped not. But one could never tell.
"I'll just go and let her know, just in case," he replied and Zack nodded.
Warren took the elevator down to the parking level, after speaking to a few supers about the attack at a gas station downtown earlier on in the morning. He got into his car and headed uptown, glancing at the small monitor by his stereo every few stop lights, which showed where every single one of the team was currently at. Doctor Landall was in the secret sanctum where the hidden files were, his wife was back at the Hero Centre Laboratories, Will was circling the downtown area, and Layla was monitoring the clean-up at the gas station. He was moving closer towards the blue dot that was Lia, who was off-duty for the afternoon.
He walked in to the shop to tell Lia about Toxic's breakout but he was met with a crowd of kids waiting in line. Sighing, he took a spot near the counter and sat until it was less busy. He watched as Ian took orders on the side closest to him and Lia on the other side handing
over ice cream to customers. Warren was beginning to feel cold, which was strange considering the shop was jam-packed and it was about 30 degrees Celsius outside. The air conditioning wasn't usually that cold and he wondered whether Lia turned it up full blast that day.
Half an hour passed, and still feeling the cold creep up on him, Warren watched as the last customer left and stood up to greet Lia.
"Hey you," Lia sat down next to him and gave him a kiss, and felt his unusually cold lips. She pressed a hand against his forehead and when he replied with a questioning gaze she asked, "Are you feeling okay? You're cold. "
"Yeah, I've been feeling a little colder than usual, did you turn up the air conditioning?" he asked, rubbing his palms together to warm them up. Lia narrowed her eyes.
"The air conditioning's not on, that's why only a few people are sitting at the tables," she replied. "And even if the air conditioning's on, you would still keep warm. Do you feel sick at all?"
Warren shook his head, "Just cold."
Lia looked around the store and saw Ian inside the employees' room drinking from his water bottle. The trainee they hired left just a few minutes before Warren arrived. "Maybe we should take you back to the Centre."
"Don't worry about me," Warren said quickly. "I came to tell you something. There was a breakout at the prison, Toxic's missing."
Lia looked at him in confusion, "Toxic? But he's disabled, half of his body is burned."
Warren shook his head, "Whoever broke him out must have found a way around that."
"Grey," Lia replied simply.
"He knows that you're alive and now an established superhero, so I have a strong feeling he'll be after you."
"Who isn't after me these days?" Lia replied sarcastically and Warren gave her a small smile and took her hand. She still found it strange that it was colder than usual.
All of a sudden though, the warmth came back and she let go of his hand swiftly, as if burned. Warren felt the coldness disappear and the two looked at each other confused.
"Lia?" a voice called from the line that was slowly forming at the counter, a little boy about 8 years old looked at Lia smiling. "Can I get some ice cream?"
Lia stood up quickly, "Of course Shane, hold on a sec."
She looked around to see where Ian had gone but didn't see him anywhere. Warren stood up alongside her and said in a worried tone.
"Find that guy, something feels out of place around here."
Lia nodded and slipped inside the back room as Warren took over the counter. She looked around and Ian wasn't anywhere near, not even the bathroom, and opening the back door, saw nothing.
"Ian?" she called out. Nothing. She looked at the side wall where there were a few cubbies that housed their belongings and saw that his' was gone.
And so was hers.
She ran out quickly and fortunately Warren just finished handing ice cream over to another kid and was free.
Telling him in hushed tones about her missing bag, she became very nervous.
"Is your phone with you?" Warren asked.
"Shit, no, I left it in my bag."
"We have to go," he said urgently and Lia nodded.
She politely asked the few customers still sitting around to leave since they were having an emergency and had to close down. Everyone left without complaint and shutting the shop down, the two ran towards Warren's car.
Lia closed her eyes, exasperated.
"This is all my fault, I was the one who hired him, without even doing some background check."
"You couldn't have known he was a villain Mia," Warren pointed out. "He's young, just a student like yourself. Nothing was out of the ordinary with him, until now."
Lia stared up ahead at the road, "The GPS on my phone would register where I've been in the past few days, and I was at the sanctum just this morning, he could be headed there as we speak," her voice shook a little as she thought about the information Ian already has from her phone, and from the time spent with her over the past few months.
Warren thought about the security measures at the sanctum and felt his stomach turn as he remembered something.
"A fingerprint copier," he muttered, which prompted Lia to turn to him.
"What was that?" she inquired.
Warren told her about the stolen bio-signature copier at the university a couple of weeks previously, which could have been easily Grey's doing.
Lia sighed, "If that's the case then Grey might already have my fingerprints from that phone, and has already gotten in that sanctum."
Warren accelerated and weaved quickly through the traffic. The two simultaneously changed into their costumes as they were coming close to the area where the sanctum was at.
Warren's phone rang and he pressed on the button for its speakerphone.
"Hello?" Warren's curt voice answered.
"Hey Warren," came Will's reply from the other end."Are you at the sanctum? We're setting up the meeting earlier today. "
Warren cut him off, "No I'm not at the sanctum Stronghold."
Will replied quickly, "Oh I thought you were, because Lia just called to receive entry."
Warren narrowed his eyes and Lia opened her mouth in horror. "What?"
"Yeah," Will continued. "I authorized her entry a while ago, I told her she'd have to go through the routine stuff, bio-signature scans and all that. She said okay and that she's heading there now, I thought she wanted to see you because of Toxic's breakout."
"Will" said Warren. "Mia is with me right now."
"What?" echoed Will.
Lia spoke up with a shaky voice, "Will, it's me. That wasn't me who called you, it was Ian, he's working for Grey. "
"Damn it," came Will's surprised and frustrated reply.
Warren drummed his finger on the wheel as he stopped at a light, "Stronghold, call in a code red, we're very close to the sanctum. "
"Copy that," replied Will, who still sounded a bit off.
Lia turned to Warren and as they locked eyes, they knew perfectly well this was about to turn into a fight. They came near the secret entrance and parked the car swiftly. They got out and ran towards the entrance.
Upon seeing the old decrepit building behind a large bank skyscraper, both knew that the fight had already started. People were running out of the bank as their fire alarm started and smoke could be seen from the back of the bank building. Running, they set out towards the old building, and saw the hidden entrance in ruins. They passed over the broken body scanner, the rubble littered across the floor, and towards the elevator which was unusually unharmed. The doors opened and instead of heading just downwards, the lift moved sideways left and right until the labyrinth ended. They walked out towards a large sanctum with many different passageways and metal stairs.
"Where are they?" Lia breathed out.
"The files were this way," Warren said as he walked towards a passage to their right, Lia followed, an eerie feeling emerged and was amplified by the flickering lights above them. They reached the end of the passageway, only to find a large table where a few paper files were smoking against the far wall.
The two started as they heard an explosion from a distance, and moments later 10 or so villains advanced towards them.
Poised for attack, Flare sent out fireballs immediately and Lia with her own force fields. The two were separated as their enemies attacked, with Flare headed towards a passage to the right and Lia up a metal stairway on the left.
One of the villains shot lasers from his fingertips and Lia was hit as she was cornered by the other two villains. She saw the burn on her arm, but the wound was cauterized enough not to bleed. She backed away from the villains and made a forcefield around her for protection. In their anger, they sent out more lasers and weapons against her forcefield, none of which made it through, and Lia took the opportunity to send out energy disks. Soon smoke and flames engulfed the room, and Lia tried to make her way out to find Warren and her dad. She ran through dimly lit hallways, and when she reached a large room full of computers, she heard a chuckle.
She looked around, and saw shadows moving at the corner of the room. She produced an energy disk and held it steady. Suddenly the lights were switched on, and Lia saw two men sitting on the computer chairs to her right.
"Hello again beautiful," a familiar voice called out.
Lia narrowed her eyes as she looked at the cold, menacing eyes of Toxic, the prison escapee. He had burn scars all over his arms and half of his face, but as he stood up Lia could tell that he was by no means handicapped.
She turned her eyes to the other man near Toxic and her blood boiled upon seeing him.
"I'm sorry about all of this Lia," Ian said calmly as he stood up as well and walked towards her.
"I don't accept apologies from assholes," Lia said as she created a force field around her and attacked the two with her disks.
Toxic's knives flew out and hit the forcefield bubble, and he was surprised that it didn't disintegrate like it had during their previous meeting. Lia smirked, after that ordeal, did he really expect her not to work on strengthening her defenses?
When one of her disks brought Toxic down, Ian managed to get close enough and quickly nullified Lia. With her forcefields gone, Lia charged at the man who pretended to be her friend for many months. Powers or no powers, she had enough energy to attack whoever stood in her way.
Warren, meanwhile, made his way down the narrow staircase, and reached the computer lab just in time to see James Landall being shot at by Doctor Grey and a few other villains. He was holding a small disk in one hand as he shielded himself from the attack, and Warren saw a roll of blueprints at his feet. Sending out balls of flames in quick succession, the villains around Grey turned towards him and began their counter-attack.
"Flare! Flare come in!" came the static and powerful voice of the Enforcer through Warren's previously quiet headset. "We're in, Grey sent over more villains over here, where are you?"
"In the main room, I could use some backup," Flare replied as he dodged a lightning bolt from one villain.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Dr. Landall and Dr. Grey in battle, with bursts of forcefields and small cyclones surrounding them. He immediately made a wall of fire to block himself from the oncoming villains, and ran towards the two.
Warren stopped in his tracks as he saw the two doctors stop, with Dr. Landall showing the small disk to Grey, who narrowed his eyes. Dr. Landall looked at Warren and looked down at a spot near Warren's feet. Warren followed his eyes discreetly and saw the two rolls of blueprints a few steps away from where he was standing. He instantly knew what the doctor wanted him to do.
In one swift motion the disk on Dr. Landall's hands was engulfed with a blue energy bubble and it disintegrated into ashes. The remaining rolls of blueprints were in the same state beneath Warren's feet. Grey's scream of fury followed as his eyes sought out the remains of his life work, a few bits of the blueprints still on fire near Flare.
"It's over Grey."
Grey's eyes were red with anger as he took out a device from his inside pocket. He watched as Lia ran towards them past the wall of fire she quickly extinguished, and saw a trail of bodies littered along the hallway she walked through. She looked at him intently and he smirked.
"Ahhh...the daughter, precious precious daughter. It's a pity you all will have to die today. And you Warren, I can just imagine Baron's face when he sees your obituary," he cackled.
"Enough of this Grey, surrender now, you have no other option," Dr. Landall said as he took a step towards him.
"Don't I?"
Before any of them could respond, he pressed a button on his device and activated the bomb strapped on to his chest.
The blast rang in Lia's ears as she felt herself flying back, an invisible force pushing her back meters away from where Grey was. Concrete rubble rained upon her but was stopped short by a force field surrounding her like a bubble. She looked to her right and saw Warren unmoving, nevertheless still inside their protective bubble.
Her ears were ringing as she got up slowly and surveyed her surroundings. Grey's bomb resulted in a small explosion that destroyed the whole floor. Lia crawled towards Warren and she breathed a sigh of relief when he started to rise. The side of his head was bleeding and his left arm was bent at an awkward angle. Lia found his right hand and gripped it, assuring him that she was okay.
The ringing in her ears gradually subsided as the two walked to find Lia's father. The protective shield he created for his daughter and trusted friend vanished as soon as the two walked past it. Lia's heart was hammering as they walked further to the place where Grey had activated his bomb.
She let out a gasp as she saw a piece of an arm beside a blood-covered concrete block and a part of the plastic device used to trigger the bomb. Grey's remains.
Warren held Lia close to him as they moved to the left of Grey's remains. Heart pounding even faster, Lia cried out as she spotted him.
"Dad!" she rushed towards him beside Warren.
He was lying down against a concrete block, his eyes half closed and body pinned with what appeared to be a large wooden table. The two freed him from his position and looked over his injuries. His head was bleeding and his right leg was severely burned. He was ghostly pale from loss of blood and Lia and Warren hurried to take him away from the place, half carrying half dragging him away from the devastated area.
Warren concentrated on the fire still burning in the room and extinguished it at once.
Lia's dad coughed and signaled the two to stop.
"Amy, Warren...it's okay," his voice weak from exhaustion, the two helped him lay down on a raised platform.
Warren got to work right away and tried to heal him, concentrating on his faint heart beat. James only shook his head and gently grasped Warren's hand.
"It's no use Warren, my body is broken," he managed to say in a steady voice.
"No," Warren replied quickly, worry in his eyes. "You'll be fine I promise."
"Hold on dad, I need you here, you know that right?" Lia said softly, trying to blink back the tears forming in her eyes.
Her dad nodded, his left hand resting on his daughter's as Warren held on to his other hand, sending him energy currents to heal him.
The fight was still ongoing between the other villains and the heroes, but once they heard the explosion, they knew what had happened and quickly tried to escape. However in their moment of weakness the heroes were able to catch them and bind them. Working quickly, The Enforcer, Ivy, and a few others made their way towards the direction where they heard the explosion.
"They're not responding to my pages," Ivy said worriedly as she tried to call Dr. Landall, Warren, and Lia.
Zack and Will were quiet as they ran, and when they stopped at a pile of rubble, Will worked quickly to free their way.
Lia sat cross-legged with her hands clasped together, as if praying for a miracle, which she could really use at that moment. She watched as Warren held on to her dad's hands, eyes closed in deep concentration. She could feel the energy around them, a warm force emanating from Warren's form and making its way towards her dad through their linked hands. In watching the scene before her, Lia noticed her dad's colour return to him, and his wounds slowly disappear. When she felt the energy wane, she smiled widely and clasped her father's arm.
"Dad, wake up, you're fine, Warren healed you," she happily said and when her dad opened his eyes, her smile grew wider.
Her dad looked at her, then at Warren. However, his eyes scrunched up when he looked at his healer, "Warren," he whispered.
Lia turned to Warren and immediately felt something was wrong. She rushed to him as he fell to his side, unconscious.
"Warren," Lia said weakly as she dropped next to him. Her heart was beating so fast as she turned him on his back.
She placed a hand on his cheek and her heart stopped as she felt his coldness. "No," she muttered as she proceeded on checking his breathing and heartbeat. "You can't leave me, Warren, you can't just heal my dad and leave us, you have to wake up now."
Her eyes clouded over as she felt his nonexistent heartbeat. Tears quickly welled up as she placed the heel of her hands over his chest and began performing CPR. For someone who hasn't cried in years, Lia's tears free-falled quickly on Warren's chest. She wiped her eyes as the tears clouded her vision, but they kept coming. One, two, three, four pumps on the chest, and then she moved over towards his head. With one hand on his forehead and the other on his chin, she lifted his head. She placed her mouth over his and blew once, twice, and she saw the corresponding rise and fall of his chest. When she stopped breathing for him however, she noticed that he was still immobile. She kept performing CPR, and as seconds ticked by, she slowly entered a panicked stage.
Dr. Landall watched worriedly as his daughter tried to save Warren, he tried to get up, but his limbs seemed to be locked together and his body felt very heavy. As Lia pumped Warren's chest and breathed for him for more than a minute, Dr. Landall began to think about a more risky alternative. He had only seen it work once, and it was with his father back in the day. However he looked at Warren's almost lifeless form and knew that if they didn't at least try, there would be no hope. He and Lia are not healers, but they possessed the same energy currents that could be transferred to other people. The intensity of the energy however, was greater than that of healers. Warren was unconscious because all of his energy was depleted from healing large surgical wounds on Dr. Landall. The man before him struggling to live was willing to push himself to his limits in order to save the father of the person he loved. He has never known someone as noble as Warren, and his determination to save him increased greatly. Mustering all of his will to speak out loud, he croaked out and tried to get his daughter's attention.
"Amy," he said, his voice very low but Lia heard him nevertheless. "Use your powers."
Lia stopped in the middle of chest pumps, and looked surprised at what she heard from her father. Did he mean for her to throw a force field disk at Warren?
As if he heard what she was thinking, Lia's dad continued in the same weak voice as he lifted his head with much effort, "Concentrate on lowering the energy you use for a force field, you can make a small energy field."
Lia looked at her hands, contemplating what he had said. Lower the intensity of her force fields? What did he want her to do? Become a human defibrillator?
He nodded as again he seemed to understand what she was thinking, "You can do it, try to create a disk as small as you can and it will work."
Warren's time was running out, CPR was not working, and Lia had no other choice. She was scared as hell, but she had to do it. Her tears had stopped free-falling a while ago, and she looked at Warren's pale face with fierce determination. He had been out for a few minutes, and she hoped and wished to all higher powers that what she was about to do would work.
Her hands were shaking as she placed them back over Warren's chest, but instead of pumping his heart, she concentrated on creating a small energy ball. She vaguely remembered when she was younger and small energy balls were all that she could muster. She could do this, she thought, and hands shaking no longer, she drove her hands quickly towards Warren's chest.
Lia's eyes grew wide as the energy balls were absorbed, and as if he was shocked by electric paddles, Warren's chest came up once quickly and then back down. With held breath, she waited for a sound from Warren's form. When none came, she created the small energy balls once again. Hoping with all her might, she placed the glowing blue circles in him.
Will and the others encountered another set of rubble before them, and with his strength, he pushed them out of his way. When the dust cleared, all Will and the others saw before them were Warren's lifeless form and Lia with her hands glowing over him.
Will and the others witnessed Lia as she placed her glowing hands on Warren's chest. As the light disappeared into him, they silently walked towards them, worried, hopeful, hearts beating faster as the seconds ticked by.
Before they got to the three people before them they saw Lia shift in her position over Warren. Her right hand suddenly found his wrist, and her head moved towards his'. Her ear an inch away from his nose, the others saw Lia breathe a sigh of relief when she heard Warren's steady breathing.
Will finally reached his friend and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. She turned to look up at him, and he saw her bloodshot eyes and tear-streaked face. Pained by what he knew she had gone through that day, he helped her up as the other team members helped Dr. Landall and Warren on to stretchers. Soon the medical team came and ushered them away from the sanctum.
He knew Lia would not be separated with her father or Warren, so he took her to the helicopter with their stretchers. The others stayed behind to finish clean-up.
Will turned to Lia and asked softly, "Lia, what happened down there? Where's Grey?"
Lia turned her gaze away from Warren's form and replied, "Grey's dead, he blew up the whole floor."
Will opened his mouth to say something but he closed it again. Their elusive villain was dead.
Lia continued when she knew Will wanted more information but was currently speechless, "He intended to kill the three of us with the bomb, only dad made a forcefield around me and Warren. Dad was seriously hurt and Warren healed him."
She turned to look at Warren and her chest tightened as she remembered him collapsing before her. Dead. That was a word that sent shivers down her spine.
"Healing my dad strained him too much. His heart stopped beating and he couldn't breathe. I performed CPR and it didn't work."
Will took her hand and he grasped it tightly, reassuring her nerves, "Lia you saved Warren, we saw what you did back there."
Lia could only look at Warren, and she grasped her surroundings for any feel of Warren's life force. She could feel his faint energy, but that was it. He needed healers, and lots of them.
She stood by the Intensive Care Unit double doors, just after she checked on her dad on the other side of the building. Her father was better, and after spending quite some time with him and her mother, she returned to the ICU, waiting for news about Warren's condition. He had to be placed in a containment chamber that was able to regenerate him through electrolyte transfers, and also assisted by the many healers in the hospital. That was hours ago, and Lia was more anxious than ever. She had already been dragged by Layla and Will down to the cafeteria just before midnight so she could get some food in her. Her friends have stopped by to check up on her but had to leave for their own missions.
"Lia?" a voice to her right said as she came through the double door entrance to the ICU. "He's finally out, you can come in and see him."
She smiled at Sara, and walked beside her to see her son in one of the rooms. Sara left her to check up on other patients and Lia sat down on the visitor's chair beside his bed.
Lia took Warren's hand and looked at his unconscious form, "Thank you Warren. For saving my dad."
"You're an amazing person, and that's why I love you so much," Lia continued as she linked her hands tightly with his'. "I really would like the chance to work with you on plenty more missions."
She smiled slightly and continued, "But these hospital visits, I really would like us to limit, you know, if we can manage it," she chuckled lightly to herself.
Lia suddenly felt her hand move, and she looked down to see Warren grip her hand tighter. Lia's smile grew wider. She moved her head closer to Warren's face and kissed him softly on the cheek.
"Wake up," she told him quietly, smiling against his cheek.
As if on cue, Warren cracked his eyes open and looked at the woman beside him. He brought their linked hands up to his mouth and kissed Lia's hand. To Warren, being in that hospital bed was worth it. He had never seen Lia look as happy as she was in that moment.
Lia asked him, "How do you feel?"
He felt great; their mission was finally complete after much wounds and bloodshed. Warren grinned, an act that he noticed he was doing more of lately. But he couldn't help it, Lia's smiles were contagious, and this was definitely a happy moment.
In one way, he was glad he was put on the Grey mission. However long it took to be in that mission, he got a lot of things out of it. First, he learned more about his dad through Grey, and was even able to defend his father from him. Second, he had a big bite out of reality when he realized that even the most famous and powerful heroes can be grounded because they still had their vulnerabilities. Warren hated the fact that he was sent to teach at Sky High so that he could hide…he felt like such a coward. However he realized that the time off he had also helped him learn. He had to admit it, but teaching and sharing his knowledge with younger supers made him grow more as a person. He loved the feeling of being admired not only because he had brought down many villains, but because he had given others advice on how to succeed in their line of work.
But the best thing he got out of this mission?
Lia of course. If he hadn't been sent back to Sky High, they would never have rekindled their friendship, and they wouldn't have progressed to being more than friends. Warren loved her, and he was thankful of the time he had spent with her over the past few months. He looked forward to their future together, even though he knew that it would be a rough road ahead. They were finished with one mission, but without a doubt, plenty of more missions await them.
He looked forward to those, and he was sure Lia felt the same.
Warren rose from his bed and enveloped Lia in a warm hug. He felt her hands wrap around his sides tightly, as if she never wanted to let him go. He couldn't see her face at that moment, but he could just picture her with her toothy smile and even her uneven dimples. Warren held on to her for a few more moments, and when he finally released her, he saw that his picture of her face was spot on. Warren looked at her intently, smiled softly, and finally answered,
"I've never been better."
A/N. So here's the last chapter in this story :) It took a little more than 3 years to finish this project so I'm really thankful for those who have been so patient, and have not abandoned The Mixed Tape during its run. I know I probably lost some readers along the way, but I'm happy that I also gained new readers in every chapter I put up.
I have an epilogue planned out for this story, but it'll be short and sweet. I'll post it up in a few days or so. Meanwhile, I would love to get feedback from all of you readers.
Some of the things I would like to ask are:
What was/were your favourite moment(s) in the story?
Did you think Amelia Landall was a Mary Sue?
Was Warren much too far out of character?
Where you confused in any parts of the story, and if so, which parts?
And any other questions or comments would be welcome.
But my last question would be if anyone would look forward to a sort-of-sequel to this story. It won't be a story such as this but rather a series of drabbles about the characters. I'm planning to call it "Memories". So I wanted to know whether someone out there would actually want to read that if I post it, haha.
Anyways, thank you very much everyone for your support. To everyone who reviewed along the way, put this story in their alerts and favourites, and to those who have listed me as their favourite author, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. It is much appreciated and hopefully I'll hear from you guys in my future projects.
Your friendly neighbourhood author,
Thelightsandbuzz :D
Chapter Song: Run by Snow Patrol