Chapter 2 "The Musician of Govan Hill"
5. The Fugitive
"Target in a brown jacket has entered the Pickup Mart behind the Twin Towers."
"I'll take it."
A young woman with her tawny hair tied tightly back entered the convenience store, a silver pistol gripped in one hand. Below her waist-length red leather jacket, skin-tight black skinny jeans accentuated her slender silhouette. With sharp eyes defined by heavy black mascara, she glared at the man in the shabby brown jumper. As soon as he entered the mart, he headed straight for the refrigerated display, grabbed a few cans of sardines, and brought them to the counter. The woman quietly approached from behind and pressed her gun against the back of his head.
"Albert McClain."
The clerk gasped and recoiled at the sight of the weapon. After a quick, terrified glance at the woman, the clerk's eyes shifted to the man whose face was hidden beneath a cap.
"If you're conscious, listen up. You're surrounded. If you try to walk out of here without me, you'll be met with a hail of bullets. Do I make myself clear?"
The man hesitated for a moment, then nodded and slowly placed the cans on the counter. He raised both hands behind his head. At his submissive gesture, the woman let out a held breath. The man sensed her vigilance flicker for a split second. In an instant, he crouched low, kicked off the floor with explosive power, and lunged backward, slamming into her. They crashed through the storefront, glass shards spraying everywhere as they tumbled onto the street. A sniper stationed halfway up the opposite building couldn't pull the trigger; the woman and the Madman were tangled too closely together. The woman was momentarily dazed, and the man didn't miss the opening—he scrambled up and bolted into the opposite alley.
"April failed capture. Target fleeing through the alley opposite the building, heading toward Citizen Park."
"Leave it to me."
O'Brien, wearing a red bandana, revved his black cruiser motorcycle. He tore across the yellow center line, charging recklessly toward the park. To evade the snipers, the Madman intentionally chose crowded main streets. Stalls were pulverized as he collided with them, and pedestrians were sent flying, screaming in his wake.
O'Brien twisted the throttle, pushing the speed to its limit. The bike roared, wheels spinning faster and faster. The screech of rubber against asphalt was drowned out by the gale howling in his ears. A crosswalk appeared before the sprinting Madman. With beast-like thigh muscles, he shattered the pavement as he leaped over five meters. Upon landing, the sidewalk buckled, and a fire hydrant burst, geysering water into the air. O'Brien's motorcycle was forced to a halt by the cars blocking his path.
"Switch. Flight Mode."
As O'Brien barked the command, stabilizers deployed from four sides. The two wheels split into four sections, venting intense heat toward the ground. As the jet engines reached peak ignition, the bike suddenly lurched into the air. With a deafening roar, the motorcycle practically flew over the sea of cars. When O'Brien caught up again, the Madman ducked into another alley, scaling the walls of the buildings to reach the rooftops. O'Brien veered sharply, squeezing into the narrow space and firing wildly at the man climbing the wall, but his shots missed.
He tilted the bike, pressing it flush against the wall. The motorcycle roared vertically up the side of the building toward the roof. Reaching the top, the Madman sprinted toward a massive billboard attached to the adjacent building. O'Brien fired again, but the bullets whistled past. As they closed in on the billboard, the Madman threw his body into the narrow gap between the board and the roof floor. Flattening himself, he slid through the tight space and emerged on the other side.
"Dammit!"
Faced with the massive structure, O'Brien had to slam on the brakes and veer away. By the time he circled the left corner of the billboard, the Madman was already making a final leap from a distant rooftop, disappearing into the streets below.
"O'Brien failed capture. Near Western Hotel, heading toward Bill Bridge. Anyone in the area?"
"I've got him. Closing in."
Supremer, waiting in front of the opposite building, gave chase as the Madman emerged from the alley. Standing over 190cm tall, Supremer pursued with massive strides, but his physical speed alone wasn't enough to bridge the gap.
"Transmit. Speed Board."
Supremer issued a command to the small, spherical drone hovering behind him. The robot moved over his right shoulder and projected a blue beam ahead. The beam began to weave a physical shape within arm's reach. The shimmering, multicolored form grew until it solidified into a board about one meter long. Supremer leaped, catching the board under his feet in mid-air. The engine at the rear of the board flared with blue light, propelling him forward. He gracefully wove through pedestrians and signs, steadily closing the distance.
"Execute. Combat Mode."
As the sphere moved slightly ahead of his shoulder, a green holographic display unfolded across Supremer's large sports goggles. A targeting reticle danced across the Madman's back.
"Supremer, there are too many civilians nearby. Shooting is..."
"Don't worry about it."
Two green reticles flickered, turned red, and locked into alignment.
"Fire!"
The moment the words left Supremer's lips, the sphere robot let out a sharp mechanical cry and unleashed a thin, golden laser. The beam grazed the Madman's shoulder and shattered the rear window of a parked car. Shards flew, and people screamed.
'Tch.'
The Madman quickly crossed the main road and leaped into the opposite lane. When he landed on a stationary car, the roof buckled and the windows blew out. Supremer banked left, maintaining the pursuit. The reticle turned red once more.
"Fire!!"
The golden laser shot toward the Madman's position, but he evaded it with a reflexive roll. The laser struck a wall, sending stone dust spraying in all directions. The chase continued. Supremer lowered his stance and increased the board's output to get a closer shot. The distance narrowed. The Madman's thighs pumped relentlessly. The reticle turned red again.
"Fire!!!"
The golden laser shrieked as it tore through the air. Yet again, the beam missed the Madman's head and instead pulverized a large steel structure ahead. A worker on the structure, caught completely off guard, began to fall ten meters as the platform tilted. Before he could even register the terror on his face, Supremer dashed forward, snatched the worker out of the air, and tumbled onto the ground. The Madman accelerated, escaping into the alleys.
"Capture failed. Supremer, are you alright?"
Supremer sat up from the ground and slammed his fist against the pavement in frustration.
"Heading toward the Elves Riverbank. Anyone nearby?"
"I'm on him."
Her red leather jacket fluttering and her black pants torn in places by glass shards, April pursued the Madman on a navy racing bike. Her face was marked with small cuts from the earlier crash, but she didn't care. She was consumed by the fury of having let him escape so easily before. As she tracked him through the alleys, the Madman leaped toward a broken staircase on the second floor of a building.
From a distance, April fired a volley toward his landing point. Bullets sparked against the metal, forcing the Madman to lose his footing and crash back to the ground. He rolled several times but scrambled up, burst out of the alley, and headed for a distant park. He tore through the botanical fence surrounding the park and dove into the reed beds by the river. April's bike plowed through the reeds after him in a relentless pursuit.
April kept firing, but the Madman didn't slow down. Where the reeds ended, the land stopped, and a large bridge stretched toward the neighboring district. She began to slow down, assuming he was cornered. Expecting him to turn back and face her, she started calculating her combat moves.
Contrary to her expectations, the Madman did not slow down. At the edge of the land, he took another massive leap, kicked off a wall, and threw himself beneath the bridge. Barely catching a steel support beam, he swung his body twice and lunged into a gap in the bridge's side, beginning to crawl up the vertical surface. April dismounted and fired at the climbing figure, but he vaulted over the bridge railing and disappeared into the other side.
"April, capture failed. Target moved across Bill Bridge into the Tamon area."
April panted heavily, watching the distant silhouette fade away with a hollow gaze.
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The Madman ran through the dark alleys across the bridge. Just as he began to relax, thinking he had escaped the Hunters' surveillance, something black lunged from a cross-passage and slammed into his side. The impact sent him crashing to the ground. Before he could even move to retaliate through the pain, a long silver gun was pressed against his forehead.
Engraved on the barrel was the word: 'STIGMA'.
The Madman panted heavily, staring up at the man in the long coat holding the gun. No emotion could be read on the man's face. Seized by the terror of impending death, the Madman glared at him, his eyes filled with a desperate rage. The man stared back in silence for a long moment, then slowly lowered the barrel. Without a word, he vanished into the shadows.