Through the brightened streets Keira ran furiously. The houses flew by on either side of her in a blur of lights and colours, and even the great tower of Freedom HQ was lost in the blaze. Her mind was on fire. She heard nothing but the night air blasting past her hot ears, and the pulsing, rapid rhythm of the blood in her body, driving her towards one vital objective: save Azyma! That was her voice on the radio, she needed help, and Keira could not let herself sit by and do nothing when she was this close to answers and retribution. Azyma was out there somewhere, and she needed to find her! It did not matter to her that she was unarmed and without even a plan, nor even that she did not know exactly where Azyma was or what danger might confront her when she got there.
But somewhere deep in her mind, a smothered, rational part of herself that spoke with the voice of her father, that understood what little she could achieve, made a desperate bid for sense, and demanded of her: what are you doing? But she paid it no heed. A storm clouded her judgement, making her blind to reason and evaluation. She was just sick of everything, sick of all this unfair suffering, and just wanted it all to end, even if it meant she had to end it herself.
Her sights were set only on the silhouette of Sig that passed in and out of brightness under every streetlight ahead of her, knowing that he would lead her straight to where she needed to be. The Wastelander ploughed onwards with great, pounding strides that never faltered, completely unaware that he was being followed. But she couldn't keep up with his pace, and soon Keira began to lag behind him, further and further. He rounded a distant corner, and when she caught up half a minute later and also made the turn, he was gone.
This made her pause, but only momentarily. Compelled to fight by a mad will that was not her own, she gritted her teeth and resumed her frantic charge, choosing a street at random. She followed a blind trail, taking lefts and rights without thinking until she lost all sense of time and direction, and still she did not find Sig. But she did not stop. Her tunnel vision took over completely, the city lights on all sides of her disappeared one by one, and a deadening silence started to creep in to take their place. Her footsteps were now the only sound; that, and the screaming protests of her body as she forced herself to keep running into the darkness.
When she finally ran out of energy, her pace slackened to a haphazard jog, and then she slowed to a stumbling halt. Her chest was pumping and her entire body was wracked with burning exhaustion. She could go no further, and she bent over to catch her breath, hands on her knees and her hair hanging in her eyes.
A few seconds later, she felt something hit the back of her leg, and she looked around in surprise. Tess had caught up with her, a small moving shape with two glinting eyes in the dark, and then flopped against her shoe. "Keira, stop!" the ottsel panted imploringly. "What are you thinking?"
Keira did not answer, still too breathless to speak. The two of them both stood there together for a moment, leaning against each other and heaving gasps, until finally, the blearing veil of spontaneous action began to dissolve from Keira's mind. Now she had stopped, her reckless emotions settled, her sense of rationality started to make a creeping comeback, and her mental focus expanded to take in more than just her own selfish thoughts. She straightened up slowly. Her vision pulsed in and out of clarity in synchrony with her own thumping heartbeat, but as it calmed and cleared, she could only see a blackness that had closed in all around her. All was silent save for their combined heavy breathing.
Tess was recovering too, and looked all around, eyes and ears alert. "Where are we?" she asked quietly.
Keira opened her eyes wider. It was very dark here, but with her unclouding lucidity, she could deduce where they must be. Somehow she had run blindly into a part of the old residential neighbourhoods of Main Town, which still lay dilapidated from the wars and mostly closed off against public access. Though she had walked and learned the layouts of these streets well during her years working at the Stadium, she couldn't recognise anything here or even identify which street this might be. Everything was ruinous and obscured in thick shadow, lonely and abandoned. The dead buildings on either side of the road stretched high like the walls of a deep canyon. The night sky was fully clouded over in a solid black, intensifying the darkness, and the heaps of rubble that lined the roads looked like piles of corpses. For all she knew, they could well be.
Keira swallowed the heavy, aching lump of bile rising in her throat, and realised that she was hopelessly lost. Her righteous anger and thoughtless courage had abandoned her now. She felt so tiny and afraid in this impenetrable abyss, disorientated with no memory of how she had got here, as if awakening from a blackout into an even blacker existence. The thought of it and what might happen to her next instilled a dread that was growing stronger with every passing second.
Tess tightened her hold around Keira's leg, afraid to let go lest they lose each other in the dark. "Keira?"
Keira still couldn't find the voice or the wherewithal to answer, her jaw quivering with a slow-building panic. Something here felt wrong, and bad, like they were being watched by some omnipresent, unknown threat that she could sense lurking in the shadows. Tess could feel it too, and her erect ears twisted in all directions, trying to discern what her eyes could not see.
"Keira?" Tess tried again, now afraid to raise her voice above a whisper. "Keira, we shouldn't be here! We have to get home." But not even she could remember the way back.
The dark silence closed in on them heavily, making them feel trapped and hemmed in. But then a noise started to emerge and Tess's ears automatically turned to its source. The sounds of rapid, thumping bootsteps were approaching, closer and closer. Soon they were so unnervingly loud, that Keira, in her state of disarray, felt a fresh wave of fear and a sudden urge to flee again. Then from around an unseen corner, a rank of moving light beams appeared, swinging to and fro.
Tess quickly realised what it was and called out. "Hey! Over here! Help!"
The sounds faltered, a few voices reacted in surprise, and the light beams searched around until one by one they all fell on Keira. She shielded her eyes against their blinding glare, and the voices and bootsteps drew closer until she found herself illuminated from all directions at once, surrounded. She couldn't see, dazzled in the centre of the spotlight with nowhere to go, but Tess, who was below the levels of many of the light beams, saw the reflective blue colours of armoured uniforms. It was a group of Freedom soldiers.
"A civilian?" said one of them in confusion. But then he became aggressive, and pointed his weapon directly at Keira. "Don't move! Explain yourself! What are you doing here?"
But Keira couldn't answer. The light shot right through her eyes and into her brain, robbing her of the ability to even think properly, let alone see who was addressing her.
"Don't shoot!" cried Tess.
"Whoa! Hold up!" yelled a booming voice that cut through all the rest, and the weapon aimed at Keira was forcibly redirected so that its light now shone upwards. "She's not the one we're looking for!"
Tess recognised that voice. "Sig, it's us!"
"Let me handle this," Sig said to the soldiers, pushing his way through the wall of armour, a silhouette taller than all the others. He struck an intimidating figure as he stood over Keira, and the light and shadow patterns on the contours of his face made his expression of disbelief look almost inhumanly fearsome. "Keira, what the hell are you doing out here?" he said in a lowered voice, but one that was unmistakeably aggravated. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
Keira cringed, beginning to grasp the full reality of the situation she had put herself into. She swallowed with building guilt, and forced her voice to come out and explain what she thought she knew, but it was weak and trembly, frightened and submissive, and she couldn't make it form a complete sentence.
"I… but… Azyma… I've got to… she's…"
She faltered and failed to continue under the relentless lights, and many of the soldiers did not understand what she meant. Many were too distracted by the incomprehensible fact that an unarmed civilian was even out here, and the shock that they had nearly shot her in their pursuit. Then Tess, remembering Samos's orders, intervened and quickly hopped up onto Keira's left shoulder, and tried to whisper the voice of conscience in her ear.
"Keira, please. You can't do everything yourself. Let the guards handle this. We need to head home…"
She met eyes with Sig's, and gave an exasperated and powerless look that begged for help.
"She's right, Keira," said Sig firmly, but a little more kindly than before. "You shouldn't even be out here."
Keira heard Tess's pleas and Sig's insistence, but her mind was so mixed up that she couldn't even think how to respond, paralysed by indecision. She was scared and didn't want to stay here any longer, but she also couldn't forsake Azyma in this dark, oppressive place.
"We're wasting time here!" interrupted the impatient leader of the soldiers as nothing continued to happen. "We need to keep moving, or we'll miss our chance to head off the suspect!"
With a jolt, Sig felt the urgent pressure of what was at stake and the great weight of responsibility on his shoulders again, and it put him in a difficult dilemma. They had to catch the mysterious bad guy they were hunting, but tearing him in the other direction was the guilty grievance of Azyma's loss, a pain that he knew he could have prevented had he been here for her, and still it tormented him. He took another long look at Keira and Tess, both so vulnerable, and he knew he couldn't subject them to the same fate. His choice was obvious then; he must sacrifice his role in the chase so that he could get them back to safety.
"Damn it, Keira," he growled through his teeth. "Come on! I'm getting you the hell out of here!"
But before anyone could properly respond, there was another rapid clattering of armour. The soldiers all turned on the spot, weapons raised towards the noise, and came face to face with another group of their comrades charging around the next corner. They skidded to a halt in front of the wall of light and weapons, and Vis was at their head, looking frantic and riled.
"Hold your fire!" he bellowed at once. "Friendly target!"
All weapons were lowered, but Vis evidently had not been expecting to see them here. "Where is he?" he demanded. "Where's the suspect? We just saw him run down this way!"
Sig's group all looked around in confusion, and an uncertain tension started to take hold. "No one followed us here, sir!" said someone. But was that true? They'd all been so distracted by finding Keira and Tess here.
Vis snarled. "Damn it! He must have slipped down one of the side-streets! Fan out! Find him! Now!"
Everyone immediately scattered, running in all directions, lights flashing and armour rattling. Keira and Tess were forgotten in the centre of the scramble, and both suddenly felt even more in danger.
"Sig, we've got to get out of here!" Tess cried amid the noise, fighting to keep her own panic under control.
Sig acted immediately and seized a tight hold on Keira's wrist. "Come on!"
Keira felt herself suddenly yanked forwards by the arm. She wasn't ready for it, and she was swept right off her feet with a yelp, feeling as if half her body had been left behind. Tess was nearly thrown from her shoulder by the motion, and only saved herself by clinging on desperately with her claws.
Sig weaved between soldiers and pulled them both straight down the path he had taken to get here, remembering the quickest way back to the New Haven district. Keira tried to keep up, but it was torture for her already exhausted body. She stumbled continuously in Sig's wake, only to be pulled upright again before she could regain herself, her feet physically leaving the ground. All around her were the sounds of thundering armoured boots and hard voices barking orders. She still couldn't see properly either, the phantom flashes of the light beams still scarring her vision, and she didn't know where she was being dragged. This was all happening too fast, she was no longer in control of anything, and she couldn't escape; Sig's crushing grip on her arm was impossible to break free of. On her shoulder, Tess was in no better position. She bounced and buffeted chaotically, using all her remaining strength to keep herself from falling and being trampled.
The streets were an endless, shadowy maze, twisting and turning, but then the high buildings opened up around them, and someone ordered a halt. Everything slammed to a sudden standstill, and Keira actually crashed into Sig's back, banging her head against his armour. Tess held on, then took advantage of the respite and steadied herself on Keira's heaving shoulders, feeling slightly dizzy and sick. She looked ahead past Sig, and Vis was there, surrounded by a large group of his men who he was urgently trying to organise and gather information from.
Tess released the sharp grip of her claws. Keira was loudly gasping for breath, and she flinched as Tess let go. When Tess looked down, she saw small spots of blood spreading beneath her fingers, darkening Keira's shirt.
"Keira, I'm so sorry!" she said with a quavering voice.
Keira's only response was to reach up with her free hand and touch it to her shoulder as she continued to gasp, and Tess quickly transferred to the other. Then they looked up at where they had emerged, and they both recognised it. This area bore the old style of Haven's architecture, and had once been a grand and beautiful boulevard that cut straight through the Main Town district, a busy thoroughfare at all hours. But now it was reduced to a shattered, lonely channel, deep in the unlit devastation of the city's northern ruins. Up high on the nearest walls, a few lights still functioned, illuminating a greater space, but one flickered erratically. Large bricks lay scattered and broken around their feet on the tessellated flagstone pavement, and nearby was an old sign bearing the faded advert of a forgotten racing tournament. Straight ahead was the canal, now a dry, shadowy trench spanned by half-collapsed footbridges.
To see a once-thriving area look so dead and dark brought Keira a sad feeling of emptiness that was strong enough to penetrate her physical pain, but Tess thought to herself with a realisation that this was the perfect place for the bad guy to hide, in the part of the city that was still closed-off and uninhabited. He was around here somewhere, on the run and dangerous, but where exactly? Was Azyma here somewhere too?
"Sig, what's happening?" she asked.
Sig, still holding Keira tightly by the arm, said nothing. He was still frustrated. Keira and Tess were a burden he did not need, he still had no idea how or why they were even out here, and now there was a holdup preventing him getting them to safety. While the soldiers argued ahead of them, he took a quick scan of the vast surrounding area, checking if it was safe to move on alone. With his robotic eye he could penetrate every shadow, revealing heat signatures and movements that otherwise could not be seen, but there was still no sign of their elusive quarry. Whoever they were chasing had not come this way, or so it seemed.
Vis was agitated, speaking hurriedly into his radio, demanding updates and positions from his soldiers, and looking rapidly up and down the dilapidated street, unable to decide which way to take next. "Where is he? Where is he?" he demanded.
But then suddenly, the sound of gunfire bounced from building to building. It made Keira and Tess both jump, and all the soldiers leapt to attention, their heads spinning all ways and their weapons raised. It sounded so close, but the ricochet of its echo made its direction of origin impossible to gauge.
"Get down!" Sig bellowed at the girls, and he shoved Keira, none too gently, towards a low wall that jutted from the doorway of an empty house. Keira collapsed in weakness and Tess fell from her shoulder but landed on her feet. She helped Keira crawl behind the cover of the wall, and then clung close to her.
"What's happening?" Vis yelled into his radio. "We just heard gunfire! Report!"
"Commander, this is Unit Six, suspect has reappeared and opened fire!" the radio answered in a loud rush. "He's fleeing down Lower Avenue toward the canal!"
There was a jolt among the group of soldiers. They were right beside the canal, and Lower Avenue was just a few roads ahead! "He's coming this way! Bar the road!" Vis ordered his men.
Seven soldiers spread out along the full width of the street, and between them were seven more who got down on one knee. All of them brought their weapons up to bear and aimed them into the darkness. No one was going to get past them.
"He can't escape us now!" said Vis confidently, as the remainder of his men took up positions at the other nearest intersections, blocking off all other routes. "Unit Six, we're on Main Boulevard. Keep chasing him toward us! We're ready for him!"
Keira cowered in Sig's shadow behind the wall, still gasping and shivering and gripped by terror. She was finally struck by the very palpable realisation that she was at the heart of renewed danger, one that she now realised she was unprepared to handle. It was heading this way and there was nothing she could possibly do about it. She held Tess close to herself for protection and comfort.
"It's going to be alright, Keira," Tess tried to console her. But she poked her head up from their hiding place, desperate to catch a glimpse of the enigmatic figure who had caused so much suffering to them.
"Suspect still in sight, we're in pursuit!" she heard from Vis's radio. "He's — Wait... he's gone!"
Everyone tensed up, including Sig. What had just happened?
"Damn it!" spat the radio in a fluster. "Suspect vanished!"
"What do you mean he's vanished?" demanded Vis.
His men were confused and urgently muttered to one another, but they held the line firm and ready. Sig's hands twisted around the haft of his Peace Maker, and Vis gritted his teeth. How could their target have given them the slip again? "That sneaky son of a bitch! Where'd he go?"
But then Sig looked ahead, over the row of soldiers. Only he could see, but through the far shadows that obscured the end of the wide road, a heat signature flashed across his vision, unmistakeably the shape of a man, someone in a long, black coat that flew out behind them as they ran. It was definitely no Freedom soldier, but there was a weapon in his hand.
"I see him!" he shouted. "He's straight ahead!"
Vis couldn't see, but he shouted into the darkness, "Stop right there! Or we'll open fire!"
Sig watched as the figure's head turned towards Vis's voice, revealing its face, a face that knew he was hunted and running out of options, but defiantly believed he still had a chance. With an angry expression, the unknown fugitive raised his weapon.
"Look out!" Sig hollered.
Three shots rang out, two of them blazing over the heads of the soldiers, the third clipping someone's shoulder plate.
"Fire!" yelled Vis.
The soldiers took blind shots off into the dark, unable to see their target. Keira shut her eyes and covered her ears with her hands, and Tess whisked back down into cover again. Through the shadows and the gun smoke, Sig witnessed the mysterious figure dodge out of the line of fire, vault up a pile of rubble heaped up by the canal-side, and then with an impossible leap, he soared clear across the empty void. He landed under the beam of a dying lamp and was momentary revealed to the soldiers, but before they could even adjust their aim, he disappeared again. The gunfire fell silent.
"He went in that building!" Sig yelled, pointing ahead.
"After him!" Vis ordered, then he shouted into his radio again. "Suspect sighted on Main Boulevard! Secure the whole area!"
The line broke apart and advanced. Sig almost followed them but stopped himself, remembering Keira and Tess and his personal duty to keep them protected at all costs. He didn't dare try to move them while there was gunfire happening so close.
"Stay down!" he reminded them forcefully, blocking them in with one of his long arms.
Keira really didn't want to be here anymore, she wished she could escape this terrible scene, but she wasn't going to run. She wouldn't have been able to even if she had the energy. She was too terrified, and she and Tess still held each other close. They had both completely forgotten all about Azyma; now they only worried for themselves.
More Freedom soldiers were turning up by the second, swarming the streets and blocking off as many exit roads as they could find. But despite their superior manpower, their suspect had eluded them again. Whoever they were chasing, he knew these broken streets well, and he'd already given them the slip multiple times. Where was he now?
Then a shadow passed over and someone shouted, "There he is! Up high!"
Everybody looked up and a black shape leapt through the air above them, from one building to its neighbour, momentarily blocking out one of the still-functioning lights. Weapons quickly flashed into the sky, but the only thing they hit was the light, which exploded into sparks.
"He's heading back!" shouted Vis. "He's on the rooftops! Follow him!"
His men spread out but didn't know which way to run, eyes and weapons still aimed upwards, and they felt dreadfully disadvantaged.
"Damn, he's quick!" growled one of the soldiers. "How the hell did he get up there?"
"We won't stand much chance catching him on the roofs," said another one realistically.
He was right. No one could fathom how he'd done it, but their suspect had escaped their sight again, and the soldiers were running up and down in lost disorganisation. Something here wasn't right. No one could get to the rooftops from street level that quick. Not even Sig could spot him with his enhanced vision.
"I don't see him!" shouted someone with angry exasperation.
"Which way did he go?"
"How is he doing this?"
Vis swore. "Get some Hellcats with searchlights over here! Find him!"
Within half a minute, the hum of aircraft engines filled the sky, and thick beams of light swept down the streets and buildings. Keira was whimpering now, head in her hands, but the sound of the familiar engines soothed her somewhat, brought her partly back to her senses, and she raised her head a little. Tess saw her pale, quivering face and her exhausted, bloodshot eyes, and squeezed her hand tightly. Keira looked back at her, lost and afraid, the emotion in her eyes raw but lucid, and she returned the gesture.
The bright beam of a Hellcat searchlight passed over them, momentarily exposing them, and they shielded their eyes against its glare.
By their side, Sig stood in the centre of the chaos, still guarding them but feeling the frustration of the soldiers. He couldn't understand how their suspect could have just disappeared, and wished he could leave his spot to track him down and end him.
But then he saw something, a movement in the distance. Through a gap between two buildings on the other side of the canal stood the tall, black mass of the city's northern wall, and scrambling up its damaged surface like an insect was a gangly figure in a long coat. It was their suspect, the very same man he had glimpsed at the other end of the road just minutes ago, and he was making a last desperate getaway.
Sig didn't shout out or alert any of the nearby soldiers. Instead, an intense focus came over him as his hunter's instinct closed in. He had his target, a clear shot, and he would take it. He raised his Peace Maker, tucked its heavy handle against his shoulder, and his robotic eye locked on to his target. A bright blue glow started to charge up on the barrel of his weapon, and Tess and Keira stared up at him in awe. Everything around them seemed to fall silent, as if the growing ball of energy sucked in everything around it. Some of the soldiers in the street took notice too and stopped where they were. Sig blocked them all out as the muzzle became brighter and brighter, whirring and crackling with pent up power that screamed to be released. But he waited for the perfect moment, keeping his sights fixed on the climbing figure. Higher and higher it struggled, until finally its hands reached the broken summit of the city wall. It was now or never.
With a ferocious cannon-like explosion that thundered through the ruins, Sig released the pressure. Keira and Tess both jumped in their place, but then at once cast their sights over the wall they hid behind. They and all the soldiers watched the charged projectile as it twisted rapidly over the canal, through the gap in the buildings towards its target. The figure was now atop the wall, but stood there for less than a second. By the time he looked back over his shoulder, it was too late to react. He was struck with a loud, fizzling crack and lit up, a flickering shape upon the brink in clear view of everyone. Then he was propelled away by the force of impact, over the walls and into the dark oblivion that lay beyond.
Silence fell. Sig lowered his weapon and stared hard into the distance, no sign of triumph upon his hard face. Tess shuddered, possessed by a sudden chill, and Keira felt a great weight leave her body like a sigh of ages.
Then some of the soldiers began to draw together in the centre of the road, and the sounds of the Hellcat engines closed in, lighting up the entire boulevard as if it were day.
Vis finally joined the group and spoke calmly into the radio, his eyes on the point where the suspect had fallen. "Command... I think we got him."
From the radio, the voice of Samos spoke with a measured tone. "Good work, Vis. Now please send my daughter back home. I need to speak with her."