Chapter 32 – Fight or Flight

London, England. 6:03pm, 8th November 2032.

"Matt, are you there?" Erin tries with the earpiece, but he doesn't respond as her voice echoes along the brick arched tunnels with her feet in ankle high water. The odour inside is musky, like no one has been down here in a long time. She walks along the drain; trying to find where bank station would be so she can meet up with Alex. She takes it slowly, making sure there's nothing underneath the water that could make her slip and fall. She reaches a dead end; her passage blocked by bricks and mortar.

"All night?"

Erin perks up, hearing something in the distance behind the wall.

"It's not that hard, they're weaker than you and they do it just fine."

She presses her hands against the wall, but to her surprise, they go straight through the wall. She takes a step back to sum up the situation; she puts her hand through the 'wall' again and waves it around slowly.

It's a hologram, she thinks.

She pokes her head through the hologram and sees what lies behind. She sees plastic-covered palettes placed in the centre of the tunnel. She pulls the cover away and looks at the contents underneath, stacked almost a metre high, gold bars. She takes one off the top to check it's veracity, it feels the same weight as she expected and the etchings say 99.99% pure. However, she is unconvinced this is real despite it looking exactly like the real thing; this must be the counterweight she thought of earlier. She walks past 5 of these palettes before reaching a much more open area where the noise had come from.

She sees a chamber of with brick pillars holding the earth up. The floor itself is dirt with the water channel running straight on it's current path. When she looks at the brightest spot, she has to take off her glasses to see. An area next to the far wall is lit up with portable lighting giving the dark cavern a warm yellow glow. There are at least 10 people there, she spots the guards easily, keeping watch with some other guards are not performing guard duties but are actually helping stack bars neatly onto their palettes. There is a small forklift at the side to lift these palettes around. What Erin is most concerned about are the 5 people working away, crawling through a hole in the wall, entering with a counterweight gold bar and leaving with a real one. Tyson is not able to crawl through the hole because of his size, so he collects the proceeds from the four other who she's really concerned about as well; the four friends and gang members she helped get into the thieving world, are now right in the thick of it.

"Their much heavier than I thought." Tyson comments outwardly as Erin stays hidden.

"Please stay quiet; wouldn't want you to ruin all our hard work."

That voice is familiar

"Maybe I do." Tyson resists. At this first sign of dissent, the husky points to two guards who come and hold the tiger in place.

"Get off!" Tyson shouts through the hands of the guards covering his mouth. A third guard then pulls out a gun and shoots Tyson in the leg. He falls to the grounds in pain, dropping the gold bar which one of the guards dives in to catch, and holds his knee in agony.

"It's okay." Rasmus calmly states as Tyson tries to scream. "It's only pain. Look."

Tyson tilts his dead down to look at his left thigh, there is a needle sticking out of his thigh.

"The pain is excruciating, but it'll be over in less than 2 minutes; which means you can get back to work and not waste any more time." Rasmus coldly warns. "Next time, I may decide to shoot you for real."

The guards hold him in place as Erin watches from the shadows, unable to intervene, but trying to remember where that voice comes from. They wait until Tyson has stopped feeling the pain before releasing him from their grasp.

"Get back to work." Rasmus says before walking off though another tunnel. Erin turns back behind the hologram to gather herself. She checks the time and calculates if Alex could possibly be there already, but she thinks she's got some time. She looks back at the robbery in progress, deciding if she could, if at all, get them out. There are more guards than people she needs to rescue; all grouped closely together, which means they would notice if one of them were to disappear. She saw the gun was placed into a holster under his jacket, which would make the ranged weapon difficult to steal. She thinks about taking them out with her cane, but as good as she is with the cane, she doubts her ability to defeat them all; especially if they are all armed with guns and don't hesitate to use them.

But what she's really racked with is the fact that this is the same person who was talking to Tyson in the car, and Tyson is there now. If the husky has Tyson, and was in Jeremy's penthouse; there is only one solid conclusion she can draw.

Antonio is working with Le Paradox

Her ears prick up as she hears the sound of splashing in the tunnel from the other side. She looks down through the night vision glasses and sees an outline of a figure cracking glow sticks that glow fluoro yellow before he throws them in her direction to illuminate the area. As he throws them, she realises it's the person she's been thinking about, but what she doesn't know is how he knows she is here. Erin needs to get out of this spot without being seen, but she can't move without being shot. She waits for him to keep moving closer towards her, Erin can't strike without him being close enough. Judging only by the sound of his footsteps in the water, she waits, clutching her cane; ready to strike. She picks her moment, swiftly turning out from cover and striking upward with the cane, hitting the husky in his hands to point the gun upwards. She hears the tiny ping of a bullet hitting the arched brick roof before it flies into the water behind her. As soon as she has hit him with the cane, she extends her leg out to kick him in the stomach. Erin the repeats her explosive efforts again, swinging the cane down on his hand to dislodge the gun from his grasp before swinging the cane horizontally to hit him again to inflict further pain. It all happened much faster than Erin thought it would, this took less than 2 seconds to do. She doesn't know the full extent of her own capabilities.

She sticks out the cane and hooks it around his knee to trip him over whilst she kicks him in the ribs to make him fall into the water. Erin kneels down and picks the gun out of the water and empties it before tossing it aside. The husky has trouble coming to terms with how quickly he was beaten as he comes again to his feet.

"Let them go." Erin instructs, but the husky wants is not giving up in his sopping wet suit. He lunges forward to make a punch but Erin reacts too fast. In the cramped space, she deflects the punch with her free hand before jabbing him with the bottom on the cane in the stomach. Erin then spins the cane around to hook it around his neck and thrusts him face first into the water to fully cover him in water. The husky never had a chance to counter; Erin's speed was incredible. She waits for the husky to turn over so he doesn't drown, but he doesn't turn over out of choice to bait her into getting closer. She bends down to turn him over but the husky tries to kick out at her. Even that doesn't work, Erin blocks effortlessly with her own leg before stepping down on his stretched ankle to put him in pain. This makes the husky rear his head so he breathes in some air. He turns over and Erin stops applying the pain.

"I underestimated you." The defeated wet husky says as he gets up for another time. "and you overestimated me, I'll take that as a complement."

"You're working with Le Paradox." Erin accuses.

"Yes, Indeed I am."

"Then let my friends go." Erin demands.

"Ha, not a chance." The husky declares, drawing a swift punishment from Erin in the form of stamping down on his leg.

"Now!" Erin demands in anger. Everyone nearby overhears this, which means the husky now has the advantage.

"You shouldn't have done that." The husky comments disappointedly.

"Get up." Erin demands, wanting to use him as leverage in case a standoff eventuates. She tires to grab the husky but he writhes on the ground, struggling against her. She hears the running of guards coming towards her from the open area. Erin can't lift the unwilling husky off the ground, she is not strong enough to do so. Much to her frustration, she has to run away from being so close. She scampers through the watery tunnel back the way she came, sprinting away to the entrance she came from. She jumps up the ladder and climbs it speedily before reaching the top. She pushes the cap away and returns to yet more stagnant traffic conditions. Retreating back into the overworld, she swiftly moves across the road and onto the footpath where she fades into the obscurity of being amongst the population. She takes a much longer route to walk to the tube station to avoid being spotted by any police before meeting up with Alex. She walks down the steps with the cane unhooked and held in her hand to make her seem less menacing. Moving through the crowd, she makes it down to a very packed platform.

She can't see Alex amongst all of the people waiting for their ride to get home. As the driverless train arrives, everyone bunches forward in order to get close by, only parting to allow those to get off. She stays back against the wall to as everyone filters through the doors to get in or out. When the sea of people begins to disperse, she finds the only person who has not got on the train; her brother, dressed in his blue long sleeved shirt and grey skinny shorts, standing only a few metres away. She is puzzled as to how she didn't notice him earlier.

"I figured it out." Alex says shyly, like he wants to impress her but lacks the courage to do so.

"What out?' Erin asks.

"Look over there." Alex instructs, pointing to the empty tunnel leading into darkness.

"What am…?" She asks as she turns around, expecting Alex to be there, but he isn't.

"I know how to control it." Alex says with a massive feeling of relief before he reappears right before her eyes. "See?"

Erin double takes to looks around for anyone who may have seen him perform his trick.

"You can't show that to anybody." Erin harshly says. "There are cameras there, there and two more on the far side. We have to delete the security footage."

"Erin, I took care of that earlier." Alex explains. He takes in a breath, dejected that what was supposed to be a happy occasion for Alex has been soured by Erin's ruthless intelligence. "Are you happy?"

"Of course." Erin replies instinctively.

"If I concentrate hard enough and focus hard enough, it works." Alex explains, like it's a revelation to him. Erin knows how important it is to him, but this is a public place and the need to stay out of custody is always primarily on her mind.

"We have to get out of here." Erin says. "They're holding Tyson and my friends, they're getting them to rob the Bank of England of it's gold. Follow me."

"Where?" Alex asks.

"Underground." Erin replies.

"I know where to go." Alex says. "I got jumped by the police but they got me out and used these underground tunnels to escape."

Erin looks around on the platform, noticing how eerie it has become. There is no one on the platform apart from these two; not a single person is waiting for the next train even during this rush hour period.

"Something's not right." Erin notes, already looking for an escape route. There is only one way out now. She takes out her glasses, puts them on and moves closer to Alex to whisper something in his ear.

"Run, follow me, don't stop, okay?" Erin instructs quietly. "Go."

She takes off directly towards the clear barriers between the platform and the track itself with great speed, followed by Alex who manages to just keep up. Erin leaps towards the barrier and scrambles to reach the top before quickly flinging herself over and landing onto the middle of the tracks, heading straight into the tunnel. She ignores the other sounds around her; the sounds of police in high visibility vests, burdened with heavy equipment and rigid clothing trying to stop them but they are away before they had a chance. They watch as their targets disappear into the tunnel, now allowing the general populous to get onto the platform to wait for the next train. Meanwhile, aided by night vision, Erin looks for an exit out of the tunnel. She spots a service entrance coming up on her left.

"Over here!" She yells to Alex, slowing down to look at the door. She tries to open the door but it's locked shut. Erin quickly takes out the cane and drives it onto the old, rusted lock to break it open; there is no time for sneaking around when everyone seems to be after you. She tries the door again and manages to open it, only to discover that there's a surprise waiting on the other side.

Charlotte has been waiting for them to arrive, poised with a pistol loaded with tranquiliser darts. As soon as the door is flung open, she shoots right at the chest of Erin from only 5 metres away. Somehow, she has missed; hitting the shaft of the cane instead. Alex might say Erin deflected the dart with her cane, but she'll say she got lucky. As soon as Charlotte finds that she has missed, she takes another shot; but the door has literally been shut on her; hitting the steel instead.

"Run!' Erin commands to Alex, descending deeper into the tunnel at breakneck speed. He progress is stopped immediately by the sound of rumbling and squeaking on the rails; an approaching train. This sound pleases Charlotte, they will surely have to retreat to her safety now. She cannot shoot them despite them being cornered, otherwise the train will run them over; and she can't allow them to die.

"Get in here!" Charlotte shouts to Erin, with Alex nowhere to be seen. Erin looks for any other way out before taking one step towards the agent.

"Up here." Alex says, loud enough for Erin to hear but not loud enough for Charlotte to understand. Alex is standing on the thick cables that run along the edge of the tunnel, held up by steel supports embedded into the concrete. Erin leaps up onto the cable and stays tight to the wall to allow the train to pass. Charlotte is forced to wait inside the service tunnel. The agent waits patiently for the train to pass and as soon as it does, she opens the door and looks for the thieves from where she last saw them. They are gone, disappeared from on the cables. She peers further along the tunnel but even then they can't be seen.

"I don't think she can see us." Erin says, looking back at the flustered Interpol agent from atop the cables. Hidden from view in darkness between the fluorescent lights fixed onto the top of the tunnel, plus her dark clothing makes it near impossible for her to see the raccoon; whereas for Alex, it is impossible to see him. She can feel Alex holding onto her wrist for balance against the curved tunnel wall, or maybe it's just for comfort.

"Let's keep going, we have to find another way out." Erin notes as she leaps down into the middle of the tracks to continue their search for an escape route. At the next service door, she prepares for the agent to be waiting behind, but that doesn't eventuate. They both enter inside and keep heading upwards via a staircase, which intersects with the next station on the line; Liverpool Street. Through yet more crowds of people, they leave the station and get back into the wind and rain.

"Where should we go?" Alex asks as they walk along the street.

"Up." Erin says, looking at the edge of the rooftops. "For safety."

"Then where?"

"I'll call Matt once we get off the ground." Erin explains as she looks for a path to the top.