Lightning Bringer: (Lighting Seeker Book 2)

Hot Zone

The burly man stumbled to his feet, face red. "You pack quite the punch. I guess you got some fight in you."

Vale laughed. "You have no idea."

"Truce?" Dash suggested. The burly man spat in his direction. "I'll take that as a no."

The man charged forward. Vale spun past him, reached up and pulled his hair, yanking him backwards. He fell over Vale's outstretched leg and landed on the ground, the wind leaving his body as he hit the pavement.

The two other men gasped and let out a set of explitatives as they ran for Vale, irritated at the direction that asking a girl to take off an article of clothing had taken. She rammed the curly haired one in the ribs, forcing him to double over. Then she kicked him straight into the bald man, sending them both flying into the cement wall. They crumbled to the ground, clutching their faces. She had broken both of their noses. All three lay collapsed on the pavement in a pile of groans.

"Well, it's been fun..." Vale said flexing her metal hand. "But I don't have the time to drag this out like I would normally do." She knocked all three of them out in quick succession then turned to stare at Dash.

"Enjoyed the show?"

Dash grinned as he pushed off the wall. "Immensely."

They dragged the three men to a large dumpster, dropping them inside. "They should be out for a few hours. That should be a big enough head start. Don't want them telling anyone about what happened."

Dash snorted. "Do you really think those three would admit to being taken down by a... what did they call you?"

"A gentle creature," they both said mockingly in unison before bursting out laughing.

They continued down the alley, making much faster time without having to worry about the crowds or fighting drunk men. They traveled several more blocks before their glasses chirped in warning. They were entering a hot zone.

Dash's fingers twitched as he glanced up at the sky. "Can't believe we are grounded. I feel like a trapped animal without the ability to fly up there and see what we are walking into."

Vale, who normally hated the idea of flying, wished the same thing. "Well, I think they'll be looking for that. So it's probably for the best to stay on the ground." Vale peaked out onto the street, scanning the area. The street across from theirs was crawling with AI's, most standing in front of a large glistening gold building. Most likely a bank. "We need to find a ride. I don't know how far those AI scanners reach."

A large group of people moved past the alley, giving Vale and Dash cover as they moved into line with them.

"Did you know this place used to control half of world?" A little girl holding up a screen said, amused. "How can such a small place do that?" She held the screen up to a man who had similar features, most likely her father.

"People can do quite a lot when they set their minds to it." He scooped her up into his arms. "No matter their size," he said, giving her a playful poke on the nose."

She giggled and reached out for her screen as they passed a large grey building across the street, claiming it looked like one of the pictures in her guide book.

Vale allowed their conversation to fill her mind, allowing it to wash away her anxiety as she stared at the AI's across the street from the corner of her eye.

The tourists took a crosswalk, moving towards the AI's across the street, leaving Vale and Dash without cover. One of the AI's twitched, red eyes flashing as it move to look at Vale.

Vale gasped and pressed her body against a nearby wall, doing her best to get out of reach. If she ran, it would know she had something to hide. Dash moved to stand in front of her, placing one hand on either side of her shoulders, blocking her in his shadow.

"Stay still," he whispered. "They haven't scanned you yet."

Vale leaned her head back, tired and wishing, not for the first time that she had a normal human arm. "I really wish this thing wasn't a beacon of trouble." She chanced a peek over his shoulder. The AI was still staring. "What about you though. You have more mech on you than I do."

"Without the jets, these scan as normal prosthetics. Not everyone walks around with a weapon arm."

The street was busy, hover cars washing in and out of view as they past. A large truck roared onto the street carrying a mess of vehicle scraps, and Dash turned, grabbed Vale's hand and ran for it.

He has timed it perfectly, the AI's line of sight blocked by the truck's size. Dash jumped, grabbing a railing at the side of the truck bed and held out his hand. A moment later he hoisted Vale up beside him. They settled into a crouch, as the hover truck barreled down the street.

Turning the corner, they left the busy street behind, the energy dropping to a low hum. They moved onto a street filled with tall pedestrian housing. Glass walls covered in grates cut the floor to ceiling windows into strips, making it a challenge to see in and out of the windows, but kept burglars at bay.
The glass windows glowed, used as backdrops that projected augmented reality destinations far away, erasing the outside world and replacing it with better views, a reality that was easier to swallow. One that didn't have bars on the windows.

Vale could feel the restless energy permeating from their homes. A need for change. One that they weren't allowed. Vale remembered feeling trapped. Never again, she promised herself, as they flew down the street.

Dash scrambled up the side of the flatbed truck and scanned the scraps. "I think I can scrounge us a ride out of this."

Vale shot him a doubtful expression as she climbed up onto the flatbed next to him, careful to avoid a set of sharp metal pipes. Dash scanned the scraps, his bright green eyes taking on a sharp focus. He plucked up several pieces and set them to the side. "I spent years working with Sky, don't be surprised if I picked up a thing or two. My mother was quite the metal worker."

Vale watched in surprise as he began to work things together. Using her tech, two piles of metal transformed into hover discs. Vale smiled down at them as Dash finished adjusting hers, remembering the first day she had snuck onto the Lightning Seeker ship. It had felt like a lifetime ago.

The hover truck moved onto a overpass, one of dozens that interwove above and below each other. Stepping onto their discs, they set their eyes on a bridge twenty feet above. Kicking the hover disc, it roared to life, hurling them into the air.

Sharp wind whipped past their faces, the sound of the wind a wild cry. Vale's terrified screams were lost in the howl and Vale fought every instinct she had to shut her eyes.

They blasted up, up, up, and came to a halt in the middle of the road twenty feet above on a busy overpass. Vale and Dash realized their mistake a moment too late as their glasses began to scream in warning. They were in the middle of a hot zone, and it was surrounded by AI powered vehicles.