Chapter 20

Chaos in Highton

Bolt looked back down the alleyway, staring at the broken car at the opposite end, watching it carefully.

Why did Penny let the man go? Bolt could not help but wonder. If their mission was to oppose Calico, and stop his evil plan, then why did she save that man, Bruce. All it did was give him the chance to come back and get them again later. Anything any of Calico's men said were lies, and all of them deserved to die for the horrors they were unleashing upon the world!

But Bolt's thoughts were soon thrown off-track by Penny's voice. "Bolt, I can see what you're doing...stop!" In the end, it was not the words that stopped Bolt from attempting to heat-vision Bruce into oblivion...it was her tone. Penny seemed to be a whirlwind of conflicting emotions these past few days, but this time, Bolt could tell she was struggling to keep herself calm. Something was bothering her, Bolt realised. And it was something to do with him! "Bolt..." Penny knelt down beside him, placing a hand over his head. "We can't just blast through everyone who tries to stop us from rescuing dad...it's not right."

"What?" Bolt was seriously confused. It did not make any sense. They were supposed to stop Calico...without killing anyone who worked for him? It made no sense in Bolt's mind, and he looked up at Penny curiously, demanding a better explanation.

"Bolt, we can't," Penny repeated, more forcefully, which left Bolt slightly worried. Penny was rarely this dark and serious towards him. Whatever point she was trying to get across, it was very, very serious. "Just do what I say, and we'll do fine!"

Bolt looked back towards Bruce's broken vehicle, which the bulky man was finally struggling his way out of, then back to Penny, fighting a new internal battle between two conflicting instincts. First, was his life-long instinct to protect and follow Penny, the person responsible for his upbringing, and the very fact that he was alive today. But his new instinct to crush anything and anyone related in any way to Calico Technology was also strong, especially since it seemed to run paw-in-paw with his instinct to protect Penny. But he had also sworn, long ago, to himself that he would follow any command Penny gave him as closely as he possibly could. Now those desires; to protect Penny and to follow her instructions, were in direct violation of each other, so what to do? Did he disobey Penny to protect her...or did he follow Penny's guidance, and possibly leave her in grave danger?

But before he could come to a decision, Penny's voice called him once more. Looking up, she noticed her looking down the street. Following her gaze, Bolt could only sigh when he saw what his person was looking at. When will they give up?

There, amongst all the city traffic, a couple of hundred yards down the road, were three small motorbikes, painted in black with green trimming. Bolt growled when he saw an insignia on the front of them; a large, green cat's eye...Calico's symbol. Sure enough, the men riding the bikes wore Calico's now-recognisable suits, complete with the large, bug-eyed helmets this time around. Bolt quickly recognised the bikes from one of the pictures on Penny's phone, and knew that these bikes would have all kinds of extra tricks underneath their metal bodies.

"Come on, Bolt! We gotta go!" Penny said as she dived into her backpack, rapidly pulling out the scooter, the machine unfolding quickly, Penny not bothering with the helmet this time as Calico's men drew closer, Bolt watching them as Penny continued to prepare for the ride. She obviously intended to escape the city, now that she had the information she needed.

Finally, Bolt heard the scooter's engine buzz to life, and he turned back to Penny, who whistled for him to follow, before gunning the engine and zipping off, Bolt taking off after her, drawing on the power in his mind to help him keep up with her, a quick glance over his shoulder confirming that the bikes were very close behind them.

And with that, the chase began.

Bolt raced down the streets of Highton beside Penny, the two of them weaving in between the heavy afternoon traffic as the three Calico bikes closed in, their high-powered engines easily out-performing Penny's advanced, but inferior, scooter. The various cars and pedestrians honked and shouted at them, obviously reprimanding them for the daredevil antics, only to have their mouths drop in shock a moment later when they saw the three bikes. Bolt's blood - along with his power - pumped through him as he ran beside Penny, his mind racing, trying to think of a way out of this mess as they zipped through the streets, Penny's face screwed up as she tried desperately to focus on the road. If she slipped, or lost concentration for even the briefest of moments, a horrible crash was sure to follow.

But how did they find us anyway? Bolt's mind asked as he snuck another glance over his shoulder, whining warningly at Penny when he saw that the bikes were now right behind them. But the answer was obvious to Bolt: They had been fooled right from the start in this mission. This was Calico's territory, and that meant that, right from the moment they had entered Highton's busy streets, they had been watched, tracked. That was how they were able to spring that trap in the alleyway, and that was how these three bikes were chasing them down now.

Penny was obviously thinking the same thing. "Bolt, we have to get out of the city! They can see..." Her voice trailed off as she looked over her left side, horrified. Bolt followed her gaze, looking past the scooter to see that one of the bikers had caught up, and had moved alongside Penny. As Bolt watched, the man released one of his hands from the handlebars of the bike, and Bolt's eyes widened when he saw that hand suddenly flare with electricity, glowing blue arcs of it jumping across the man's gloved fingertips. Bolt had no time to question how such a feat was possible, because the electric hand then reached out for Penny, trying to grab her, and stun her into submission. Before Bolt could do anything, however, Penny bunny-hopped the scooter aside, the man missing her cleanly, before being forced to break away from Penny to avoid a large car trundling down the road.

But within seconds he was back again, his hand already outstretched, ready to grab Penny once more. But the man froze for a second when he noticed Bolt was now between him and Penny. He had moved around Penny during the respite, and was now staring at the man fiercely, although he did not use his Heat-Vision power...he couldn't hold the immense concentration required for the power while he was moving like this. But in the brief second he had, Bolt did the only thing he could do...he jumped at the man. He sailed straight into the man's side, unleashing a vicious kick directly into the man's ribcage.

The biker never stood a chance. He was already unbalanced enough with only one hand on the handlebars, and Bolt's strength-infused kick proved to be the only blow Bolt needed. Screaming, the man could only watch in terror as he overbalanced on his bike, which wobbled slightly, before falling over sideways and crashing into the ground at high speed, before it cartwheeled high into the air, the man being flung from it like a rag doll. In the end, both bike and rider ended up on the sidewalk, both twisted and broken...both never to live again.

Bolt immediately regained his footing and balance on the road, and immediately caught back up to Penny, who was looking at him with a mix of gratitude, and yet, Bolt noticed, a lingering sense of dissapointment and...was it fear? But Bolt had no time to think about this, because the remaining two bikers chose that moment to attempt to avenge their fallen brother, and charged up to them, deciding to attack together, on either side of Penny.

"Uh-oh." Bolt looked from one side to the other as he ran behind Penny, not liking what he saw. He could take one of Calico's men at a time, and now he was faced with two! Bolt saw the truth in an instant; Penny would have to deal with one of them herself. He desperately tried to find a way to save Penny from this one, but before he could even begin to form a plan, the biker closest to him activated his electric hands. Out of time!

Bolt turned towards the biker, growling and making a fake leap at him, causing his bike to swerve away as the man panicked, having seen what happened to the first one. Bolt simply slipped back to the ground and moved back to Penny's side, watching what the biker had failed to see until now...his jump away from Bolt had moved him into the left lane of traffic...the oncoming lane. The biker looked forward once more, just in time to see a small car put its brakes on full lock, a second from impact. Calico's man simply screamed and shielded his eyes, both him and the car having no room to move in the tight confines of the city streets.

In the end, the second biker suffered the same fate as the first. Both him and the bike were launched into the air by the car, which managed to stop without too much harm, although it began to cause a traffic jam. In the end, the rider would land in the middle of the street over a hundred yards from the impact point, hurt but alive.

Satisfied that he had put that man out of the way, Bolt now turned back to his other side, to turn his attention to Penny and the last biker...only to find them gone! Still running down the city street, Bolt looked around desperately, trying to figure out where she could possibly have gone. It did not take long to find her, but when he did, fear rose in his stomach instantly. Penny had been forced by the last biker onto the sidewalk, and was struggling to stay away from the man, who continually made lunges for her with his electric hand, each one seeming to come closer and closer to actually reaching Penny.

Fury welled within Bolt at the complete lack of remorse these men held for Penny, nothing more than a girl to the rest of humanity, and any trace of remorse he may have had within him vanished as he called upon the full strength of his powers, using his new-found intelligence to hit the biker hard. As he passed a truck, Bolt leapt up and pushed off of the side of it, kicking off so hard the truck itself overbalanced and fell onto its side, causing an already messy situation to spiral into full-blown chaos. Bolt, on the other hand, had launched himself high into the air, sailing over the other cars and people, aiming straight for the last biker, who was right behind Penny, mere inches from reaching her and shocking her off of her scooter.

Bolt's aim was true. He landed straight on the man's helmet, all the while focusing his powers on his strength, so that they would protect him from the horrible landing that was going to follow. In the collision, both he and the biker were thrown clean off the bike, which skidded violently on the sidewalk, people diving out of its way, before it smashed into a light post and came to rest, ruined beyond repair. Bolt and the biker, together, went crashing to the pavement, rolling and tumbling together, before they both came to rest against the brick wall of a street-side shop, Bolt's power-enhanced body hitting it so hard he actually left a small crater in the wall, the bricks cracked and caved in.

But Bolt was still not satisfied. As onlookers began to crowd around him and the biker, he got to his feet, and noticed that the biker was still alive. With a savage snarl, Bolt picked the man up by his helmet, before swinging him around and finally hurling him against the brick wall, where he gave one last yell and slumped to the ground, dead. The crowds' murmurings grew louder at this startling show of strength, but Bolt had no interest in the crowds...his only focus right now was Penny, as he ran back out onto the road, looking to see where she had zipped off to while he had been dealing with that last biker.

But there was no sign of her...Penny was gone. "No!" Bolt ran down the street, looking around desperately, calling out for Penny, but there was no sign of her, or her scooter. She had escaped, but now, Bolt realised, she was in more danger than ever, now that they were separated.

But a strange sound distracted Bolt, and he turned around, looking behind him to figure out what the noise was, only for his eyes to boggle in shock, and mild fear. It seemed that Calico had many options at his disposal when it came to hunting him and Penny down. Several hundred yards down the street, Bolt could see several more bikes, with a few of Calico's prized black cars amongst them as well. And to top it all off, three small, sleek, black helicopters, their bodies bristling with various weapons, had now joined the chase as well.

Calico, it seemed, had decided it was time to drop any subtlety and just hit the two of them with everything his Highton facility had to offer. Knowing that Bolt would never stand a chance against such a force, even with his powers, he sped off. His only chance now was to find Penny, and help her escape this city before that force found them and wiped them off of the face of the earth.