Lance mantled over a short wall, hoping to put more distance between himself and the officers following him. He had landed on the opposite side and used his momentum from the drop to carry him farther when Adam's voice came on the comm once more.
“Shield, just gonna confirm now that this guy is very probably very much involved…”
“How can you tell?” Lance asked.
There was a brief pause.
“I've got a pretty big hunch that he is,” Adam replied.
Lance was waiting for more details but they didn't come. He was about to check in with Adam when a bright beam of light burst to life, illuminating him.
“Stop right where you are,” commanded an amplified voice.
“We have all possible routes from where you stand blocked. Surrender, vigilante.”
“Good evening, Lieutenant Chase…” called Lance as the polarization of his visor compensated for the blinding light.
“To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“No need for these games,” replied Lt. Chase.
“Come quietly and we can proceed with some dignity and civility intact. Otherwise, we are authorized to use lethal force if necessary.”
“Right… because that's how things are really going to go…” Lance retorted.
He unfolded his buckler on his left arm and drew his grappling gun.
“I think I'll take my chances.”
With that he sprinted forward, aiming his grapple up and launching the line to get off the ground.
“All units, target is mobile!” Lt. Chase called out.
“Proceed with caution! Suspect is to be considered armed and dangerous!”
Lance triggered a command to patch over to the police communications channel as he had done before.
“I’d advise you and your people to stand down,” he stated.
“I’m only as much of a threat as you force me to be.”
He followed the beam of the spotlight to a mount on a helicopter and promptly dove behind cover on the rooftop he was now on. The flying vehicle would be a problem, but Lance had begun to form a plan. He took the end of his grapple and slid the line reel out of its cradle. He grabbed the end of the barrel, telescoping it to extend its range, then slid in a new mechanism block from his belt. He raised the modified assembly in the air, aimed toward but not directly at the helicopter, and pulled the trigger.
A small mote of light sped from the barrel. It flew up high into the air, and then exploded in a brilliant display of flares and smoke. Lance fired two more flashes into the sky to adequately cover his movements and blind the helicopter’s field of vision.
“Bad move, vigilante…” called out Lt. Chase on the comm channel.
“Those flares might cause that chopper to crash!”
“I have good enough aim,” Lance replied in kind.
“No one is going to get hurt unless your pilot is really that bad at flying.”
With that Lance sprinted off, putting as much distance as he could from the law enforcement officers he could hear attempting to locate him.
After he had moved several blocks away he keyed his HUD to locate Adam. A purple arrow dropped down in an alley several streets away and he began weaving through the shadows in that direction.
Minutes later, Adam's voice came over the comm line once again, just as he neared where the waypoint was indicating…
Inside a dumpster…
“Shield….”
“Yes?”
“I know you're probably still busy and all, but could you…”
Adam was cut off as Lance heaved the receptacle and flipped it over. Adam tumbled out, right next to Lance.
“Thanks…” Adam said as he got up to his feet.
“How did you give those officers the slip?”
Lance quickly looked over his shoulder at the lights now flashing at the end of the alley.
“I didn't apparently,” he said with a sigh.
“Let's go.”
Lance took the lead and continued down the alleyway in the direction Adam was originally going.
“By the way, your brother is out here somewhere,” noted Lance as they turned a corner.
“As is tradition…” Adam joked.
“I've got visual!” said a voice on the hacked comm line.
“Three o'clock from my location!”
Lance checked his launcher and saw he didn't have any more flares left to fire.
“Do you have anything usable here or will we need to lose them the old-fashioned way?” Lance asked.
Adam patted down his utility pouches and pockets to look for anything useful.
“I’ve got a ticket from the bus, a candy bar, and oh… one last smoke bomb…” he said, producing the contents as he listed them.
Lance side-eyed him.
“A candy bar?” he repeated.
“Gotta keep the blood sugar up doing all this hero work,” said Adam as he shrugged.
They could hear the shouts of officers closing in from behind, the beam of a searchlight scanning the alley for their whereabouts.
“Smoke bomb it is,” Lance said as he picked up his pace.
“Pop it and toss it.”
Adam lobbed the small device into the air and it erupted into a thick cloud of grayish fog. The streetlights barely pierced through the haze as the two darted into a side alley that opened towards the channel bordering their current city sector and the next. They paused to assess their current situation, the sounds of the chaos due to the smoke echoing across the building walls.
“I’m all for getting our cardio in, but we can’t keep running blind…” Adam panted.
“We need a plan….”
Lance looked up, catching sight of the helicopter’s shadow cast over their hiding spot as it passed somewhere overhead.
“The canal is just ahead. If we can get to the service tunnels before they close in then we should be safe.”
“Sounds good.”
They sprinted toward the end of the alleyway, the sound of multiple boots on pavement growing louder behind them. As they neared the end of the alley, the flickering lights of an all-too-familiar squad car came into view, blocking their escape route.
“Great…” Adam huffed.
“Just like the ever-persistent Cody to ruin the fun…”
The helicopter buzzed by and circled to hover over the canal. The sharp crack of the bullhorn echoed around them.
“We have you surrounded,” said Lt. Chase.
“No more games.”
Adam and Lance looked at each other and were considering what to do when an explosion rocked the ground, a huge ball of fire blooming on the nearby bridge. All attention was drawn to the point of the explosion, giving Adam and Lance the window they needed to sprint across the street. Gunfire sounded from around them as they ran as they vaulted over the railing and into the channel below.
“Hey, are these suits waterproof…” asked Adam, just as they plunged into the salty water.
“No… they arent…” Lance noted as he grabbed for a handhold on the side of the channel wall.
“We are going to have to make serious modifications to our gear…”
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