The Bureau makes its entrance

“Dr Kensu, now that we are safe…”

Kensu was running down the flight of stairs as fast as he could. While this other skyscraper was apparently soldier-free, he didn’t think it would remain so for long. He couldn’t afford to waste any time and give his pursuers the time to catch up.

“We aren’t even in the same neighborhood as the concept of safe.”

“Regardless, what’s the plan now?” AIDA asked, her voice echoing slightly inside his head.

The disembodied AI was projecting her words into his mind. They appeared so suddenly and were so unrelated to his usual stream of consciousness that Kensu knew they weren’t his own wayward thoughts but AIDA’s attempts at communication.

Kensu still couldn't get used to it. It was like having an unwelcome squatter occasionally shouting in his mind.

Was that the same for her? As far as Kensu could tell, AIDA could not "hear" his regular thoughts, or else she would already know what he was planning. He had to "think loudly", to directly imagine himself speaking to her, for the AI to "hear" his thoughts.

“To get as far away from here as possible.”

“That’s not a plan. That’s a goal. The steps you take to fulfill that goal is the plan.”

“I was thinking about going back to my apartment-“

“That would be unwise. It is safe to assume that the military knows your identity by now, and if the Bureau gets involved, then your apartment is the least safe place in the entire city.”

“Then what do you propose?”

“I have records of a location the professor used to conduct… less than legal experiments. If he hid this clandestine lab well enough to avoid the Bureau’s detection, it should be good enough to hide us.”

“If they find my apartment, what makes you think they won’t find the old bastard’s black sites?”

“It is literally the best location we know that can hide us. Staying with family or friends would only endanger us and them.”

“Yeah, and besides, I don’t think our colleagues would be happy to shelter a runaway... although it might be worth trying just to see Aya’s face when we show up at her door...”

“I understand that comedy can be used to reduce stress in these kinds of dangerous situations, Dr Kensu, but please try to remain serious. Both our lives are on the line.”

“If we can’t hide, how about we run away? At least for a time. Go where neither the Bureau nor the Military can follow us.”

"I don’t think there is any location realistically within our reach that fulfills both those conditions."

"I do. I think our best bet would be to head to the spaceport and find a smuggler to take us to Ceres. The Mayor there owes me a favor after I custom-made a corn seed specifically to grow on his asteroid. Besides, he hates everyone from the Earth government, so he won’t rat us out.”

“Are you going to travel off-planet with nothing but the clothes on your back?”

“Why not? I practically lived in the lab anyway, it’s not like I have anything to pack and- wait… hear that? Sounds like footsteps.”

“No? Although I am just getting used to these infective microphones you call ea-“

“Ah!” Kensu jumped back just in time to dodge a blade whizzing through the air.

“You know I’m here? Huh, then this is going to be more fun than I expected,” the cloaking field vanished, revealing a man clad in a black-red exoskeleton.

“A Bureau’s inspector? Here?! We are screwed!”

“Are they always this… extra?”

“Glad you recognize it!” the inspector lunged, aiming to place his blade between Kensu’s ribs. On instinct, Kensu dodged the sword, then ducked underneath it as the inspector attempted to slash him.

“H-how am I doing this?” Kensu’s pupils dilated. It was almost as if the inspector moved in slow motion. He, however, felt lighter than ever before, his muscles moving as if they were light as a feather. How? Just yesterday he was getting winded climbing a flight of stairs!

“Is this because of the professor’s modifications?”

“Yes! But you can’t win a fight just by dodging. Try hitting back!” AIDA yelled inside Kensu’s head.

“R-right!” As the sword passed centimeters above his nose, Kensu unleashed his fist towards the inspector. The punch missed and instead landed on the wall, leaving a small fist-sized hole in the brick. The inspector paused to look in disbelief at the crater that might have been his skull if his head had been scant centimeters to the left.

Kensu also looked a his hand in disbelief, a bit of white mortar stuck in his knuckles. The hesitation slowly left his body. This time, he moved forward to launch another attack of his own.

“You are a freak-ugh!” the next punch landed straight in the inspector’s stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Sadly, the man’s armor proved resilient enough to stop Kensu from doing real damage to anything but the paint.

The winded inspector attempted a weak counter-attack, but Kensu deftly moved aside, grabbed his arm, and kicked the man away. As the inspector backward, the young scientist reached out and yanked the man’s sword out of his hand.

Not knowing how exactly to brandish such a weapon, Kensu channeled his inner samurai and held the sword upward. “Stop! I-I don’t want to kill you, so please surrender and-“

“But I do want to kill you,” the inspector pressed a button near his helmet. His sword started beeping.

“Activating self-destruct,” the sword chirred in a mechanic voice.

“Wha-“Kensu dropped the sword, but too late. The blade exploded, the shockwave shattering a window behind Kensu and sending him flying right to the wall beside it. The edges of his jacket were burned, and his glasses shattered like the window. Somehow, however, he was still breathing.

“Still alive? Tough little bastard, aren’t you?” the inspector said, standing up and pulling a pistol from his leg holster.

The inspector walked over to Kensu. The scientist’s body felt heavy. His ears were ringing, his limbs unresponsive. He could not move yet, Kensu could only stare in horror at the barrel of the gun.

Was this it? There had to be a card left to play. Kensu didn’t jump out of a skyscraper only to die in a cheap trap! What if he tried to summon that Shadow thing that killed the soldiers and maybe the professor?

He didn’t want to, Kensu had a feeling that the shadow was just as likely to maul him as his enemies. But it’s not like he had a choice so long as his arms refused to obey his commands.

Kensu tried to focus, to will a headache into existence, but nothing happened. Try as he might, he could not muster… whatever he mustered at the time. He was slowly regaining feeling in his limbs and could even move his hands and feet, but it was too late to run away.

The inspector placed the gun on Kensu’s temple and his finger on the trigger. Kensu closed his eyes. This was it, huh? The end of his horrible day. The end to what was hopefully a nightmare.

A shot rang out.

Kensu’s eyes shot open like saucers. The inspector fell dead at his feet, a small hole going clean through his head.

“W-w-what the hell? Who-”

“We don’t have time to ponder, let’s take the chance to run before any more of them arrive!” AIDA said.

“R-right.”

---

“Inspector neutralized, General,” the Captain said, adjusting his scope. He could see Kensu getting to his feet on the other side of the building, the crosshair aimed square at the center of his head. “Should I attempt to neutralize the secondary target?”

“No. We need him alive.”

“You sure, ma’am? We can take a DNA sample from his corpse.”

“Killing him would also kill the AI stored in his body. An AI that can go around its Laws, that’s even more valuable than the enhanced soldiers the professor promised us.”

The sniper grumbled, taking another look at his scope. Kensu was panting his lungs out as he limped away from the window. Was there a safe shot to take? Not really, there wasn’t a thing as a safe shot. If the bullet hit an artery in either an arm or a leg, then he would bleed out before the medics could even get to him.

On the other hand, he had just seen that freak survive a point-blank explosion and punch a hole in the wall. Perhaps he was hardier than he looked. Maybe just a little shot in the shoulder, to pat him goodbye.

The Captain looked back into his scope, but in the seconds he was distracted, Kensu moved away. The opportunity was gone. “Very well General, but I have lost sight of him. We’ll have to catch him the old-fashioned way.”

“Yes. We must find him first before the Bureau’s goons kill him and ruin everything.”

“Roger that. The chase is on.”