Chapter 19

Parado pulled on his chains for what felt like the hundredth time. His strength had returned with his growing concern over Emu but the slightly loose cuff he'd bet his hope on was stubbornly staying shut.

Whatever had been in his system was almost completely gone and Parado was already planning a few steps ahead as he pulled, shook, and rattled the chain to enable his escape. Emu was not going to be at the Temple anymore. Build's portal would have transferred him somewhere safe. But where? Ghost's Gamma world? Build's world? Or perhaps even back to the Hospital? Without a direct link to Emu and no phone, he couldn't make contact to check. So his plan was to go to the Hospital. Even if Emu hadn't gone back there, Poppy or one of the others would surely know where he was. And if not, they could track him from there.

The key to winning would be whether or not he could beat the Unknown Rider to the punch. He couldn't be sure but it had seemed like she had some idea of where to find Emu. The time it had taken for her to resort to chasing him, however, made Parado think that she hadn't always known, which might even mean that she wasn't sure exactly where he was. Besides which, Emu was a Rider. And he had Build and Ghost with him. Without the element of surprise, Parado was confident Emu could come up with a way to clear the match or at least delay it until Parado's arrival.

Which bought him back, yet again, to the topic of escape.

CHINK

Parado glanced over to the cuff, hopeful at the unfamiliar new noise.

Indeed, the cuff was verging on opening.

He gave the chain one more hefty shake and his hand slipped free. He took no time to revel in the progression. On to the next step.

He grabbed the second cuff and fiddled with it for a moment. With one hand free, lock picking skills he had gained from previous challenges became accessible and he had the second cuff undone in no time.

He pushed of the bed and fought buckling legs to stumble to the cabinet. He opened one draw to find the empty syringes he suspected had to be housed there. Another draw held a strange machine of which he had no intent to uncover the purpose of. A third draw held vials of liquid. Probably what he had been injected with. He pocketed one of those. Emu would want to know what it was.

There were keys, padlocks, and cuffs in the bottom draw and nothing on top. Nothing else to help him uncover the purpose or identity of the woman who had held him. Nothing to help him attack or defend against her either. Best to get out of here quickly then.

Parado moved to the door, his legs being slightly more cooperative after some use, and he turned the knob slowly.

With practiced caution, he checked for further enemies or traps and found nothing so he proceeded. Outside his prison was an empty hallway. No people. No weapons. No cameras. Not even wallpaper. Just a whitewashed corridor with carpeted floor. There was a door at one end and an opening into a larger room at the other. He turned in that direction and crept through.

Again, there was no one and nothing in what he assumed used to be a lounge room. He stepped into the empty space and an alarm immediately sounded. Retreating into the hallway did not stop the alarm so Parado bolted through the room instead, heart pounding.

Was she coming? What if there were more like her? He had no weapon and no energy to transform.

Breath seared through his throat as he ran and he thought he could hear footsteps behind him.

Panicked, he clawed at a locked door, spending more time on it than was logical.

A quick glance over his shoulder showed no Rider but armed guards coming down the hall.

Parado scanned his surroundings. The hallway was definitely not an option. The locked door would take time. The window…

BANG!

A bullet sunk into the wall beside him. No more time to waste.

Parado bolted for the window and didn't slow. He smashed through the glass and curled into a ball, rolling as he hit the ground. The blow took his already limited breath away and his body shivered with pain as he forced himself to stand. He used his recklessness as an opportunity to disappear down a backstreet and set himself into a pace.

He vaguely recognised the neighbourhood and pushed himself to set course.

I'm coming Emu. I'm coming.

Poppy Pipopapo was trying very hard to distract herself from thinking of her companions. A part of her screamed that she should be there with them, fighting this strange new Rider and helping track their lost friends. But the other part of her knew that their forces needed to be divided. They needed knowledge to win. Something to give them the upper hand. Something to help work out what was going on and why this Rider was trying so hard to stop them.

And Poppy's main skills were gathering knowledge. It was part of being a Bugster. Learning was one of their core strategies and her intimate access to the internet made things even more efficient. Which meant that tracking down the 20 people on the list Akari had given her should have been easy.

It was not.

The first 15 had been easy enough to find. They'd checked into a hotel, posted photos with friends, or paid for food using local currency. The other five were much harder. The regular day to day traces a normal person should leave simply weren't there.

Time to try another tact then. She searched for research records, document requests, and archive accesses. Ah. Found them. Three more. Nothing suspicious about their activities either.

Hmm. Two more. What else?

Perhaps cameras? No. She didn't even know the appearance of the two she was looking for. Then what about police records?

Oh. Yep. There was another one. Arrested for suspicious loitering. Perhaps he was the one? Poppy accessed the record. She frowned as she read through. No. Probably not this one. Apparently they had been salivating at a Takoyaki stand for over 12 hours. That didn't seem like the sign of a criminal. Just a normal Gamma World citizen who'd never been to Regular Earth before.

That left one. But of course Poppy couldn't just assume it was the one. She had to be sure. And she needed information. But at least now there was just the one name. So Poppy researched the final name.

Her eyes snapped open. Got it. That was the one. And she had to tell the others. Right away.