Chapter 20

Read from the start here: Chapter One

The morning was still in its prime and the balmy glow of the sun beat heavily down upon Dane, persistently seeping below the layers of his thick jacket so much that trickles of sweat were now forming along his neck and back. It wasn't supposed to be this warm today, but then again, Dane had never planned to be outside the Den for this long either, so he ignored his discomfort and persevered onwards.

After tidying up the scene at Pandara's house, which included moving both unconscious bodies into an upstairs room and securing them, Dane had thoroughly searched the house. Starting with the bedroom and working his way down, he emptied drawers, ransacked storage spaces, picked padlocks, pried open photo frames, removed cushions, sifted through files, heaved furniture and shook containers full of trinkets, transforming it into something of a crime scene, but all the while taking extra care not to leave any trace of him behind. Yet the only suggestion he was able to find of his daughter ever living here were a scant few photos of her and her unpleasant ex husband at their own wedding along with a number of articles of clothing that may have belonged to her. Having procured zero evidence of where she might've gone, the search had ended fruitlessly.

Dane thought about waking up Callum to try and pry a little more information from him, but this was risky for many reasons, the most obvious being the man's health. Being knocked out was dangerous, but Dane wasn't certain he could contain his anger towards the man if he awoke him. Therefore he'd exited the property empty handed (save for his rifle case) with no new leads to follow. A dead end.

It was decided right then, he'd head back to the Den and finally confront the problematic Cam.

That decision was thirty minutes ago however, and the current unfamiliarity of the area he now walked around, a few kilometres from Pandara's house, brought up an altogether unprecedented issue. To get back to the Den he needed to use one of the hidden gates, but the closest entry point into the network was one of their newest builds, which was tucked away inside an old production warehouse they'd purchased a few years ago. The new location had been snagged during the worst part of the recession, which had come shortly after the destruction that Rogan wrought upon Natalos , and as such it hadn't set them back very much. The issue was that nobody really requested their services in this district because it used to be a heavily industrial place before being abandoned and never quite found itself part of any redevelopment scheme.

Dane had never used the entry point as part of his escape before but he'd overseen its progress over the couple of weeks it took to build, and had even gone to check it, but only from the inside. Of what it looked like from the outside he had no clue, and had no frame of reference to finding it other than fleeting glimpses of road names and cartographical documents shown to him at his desk.

As he tried to retrieve a memory from the disjointed visions in his head currently filling up with lines, letters and symbols, Dane decided instead to abandon the logical approach and simply go with his gut. He knew three things about the place he sought; it used to be a metal production facility, it was originally built as one of several similar looking units, and the last time anybody had set foot in it was five years ago. Therefore he could deduce that he was looking for a row of tall, chimneyed factories with significant deterioration.

Oddly enough, just that in itself turned out to be enough of a headstart. For a few uncertain minutes Dane followed the signs of disrepair that he could see all around; a few abandoned properties here, some lesser maintained road signage there, all of it led an invisible trail going south southeast from where he started, while wear and tear on the paving stones beneath him silently confirmed that he was going in the right direction. Sure enough, soon he found himself in a part of Calcon he would happily have called 'derelict', with very few residential houses and an industrial business park that had been left empty for years in the distance. And peeking just over the top of the high wall that separated the manufacturing zone from the general public, were a row of tall, mostly intact chimneys staring down at him. Not even Dane could prevent the smug feeling that rose up on seeing this, escaping through a smirk that indicated his instinct was still as sharp as a butchers knife.

Dane immediately upped his pace, not wanting to waste time, and found himself running as he charged towards the wall that blocked off his destination. By the time he'd reached it, he was sweating even more heavily through his jacket but also uncaring of that fact. While taking in more air than a surfacing diver, Dane immediately put his hand out and touched the vast brick structure, trying to feel for its strength as he regained oxygen.

It was certainly too tall to scale and the road that ran alongside the front of it was quite wide, therefore lacking any nearby buildings that were close enough to vault over to it from. He looked carefully in both directions. Peculiarly, the zone containing the building was completely walled off from the road as far as he could see. Nothing jumped out at him as a means of getting inside, no gates, fences, holes or broken bits he could weaken further. He knew that there would be a goods in or entry gate somewhere, it just meant taking the long walk around until he found it. The only decision was which way was the quickest? There was no way of telling, though he knew he would take the left route.

Left had been lucky for him for as long as he could remember. At secondary school, he recalled fondly trying to show off to a girl in the playground, playing that game where you try and guess which hand something is hidden in. The girl promised him a kiss if he could guess where the coin was hidden and he correctly guessed it was in the left hand. She wanted rematch after rematch, but for some unknown reason she hid it in the same hand every time. But Dane kept getting it correct. Left. Left. Left. She kept upping the stakes; “Best of five.” “No, best of seven.” “Best of nine I promise!” But eventually she relented, gave him his deserved victory and that led to his first ever kiss with the girl he still considered his first love. Ever since then, when it came to picking left or right, he would always choose left and no matter what the scenario was, it had rarely led him wrong.

It took him a good few minutes to reach the first corner of the wall, and Dane noted how the vicinity was strangely quiet. Perhaps there was less than nothing here in the area, for even the most downtrodden parts of the city always attracted certain sections of society; the homeless, the down-on-their-luck, curious teenagers and the lost. He imagined he'd at least spy a few people, maybe some youngsters trying out a bit of parkour or perhaps the less fortunate in this world practicing illegal activities away from the law, but for the time being he saw nothing of the sort. He finally turned the corner, remarking this peculiarity.

As he wended his way onwards, Dane's thoughts returned to how secure his destination was. It wasn't that he'd never encountered such obstacles before, in fact, his life had pretty much consisted of visiting such locations on a weekly basis. The Den's clients were more often than not rich folk and their targets always hidden behind gated communities and manned entrances, but while codes and guards were easy to break and bribe, nothing beat good solid structures when it came to keeping trespassers out. Perhaps, Dane thought briefly, this wasn't such a clever place to build an entry gate after all...

While he wondered where he could get hold of materials to ascend this great obstacle, Dane's attention was caught by an unusual and unexpected sight, originating from a stout alley leading directly away from the wall. Standing alone and looking lost about halfway down the quiet pathway was a familiar figure. It was difficult to tell at this distance if it was really her, but she seemed to be wearing the exact same clothes and identically styled hair as he'd recalled earlier today. His instinct had already led him right twice today, so there was certainly no need to doubt it now however unlikely the situation seemed to be.

“How...?”

Dane stared at his daughter from afar.

There was no denying his urge to want to talk to her, not only to find out if she was all right but also to reveal who he was and keep her safe. That was this detours entire purpose after all. Equally though he didn't want to scare her off. There was no chance she was going to believe he was her father just by walking up and informing her but what other reason would he have to go and start a conversation? A bit of thought was required which meant time, but he might have not have much of it. Trailing her was possibly his best plan, as it would allow him some breathing room to decide how and when to approach her, and that way he could make sure she was safe and find out where she was staying before if he had to deal with Cam before revealing the truth to her.

Then none of that mattered because Pandara started to run directly towards him.

His automatic reflex almost had him step out of view from her as she sprinted closer, but this time he held steady. There must have been a good reason for her action. She yelled loudly as she sprinted closer.

“Please help me!”

“What's wrong?” He replied calmly once he was sure she was close enough to hear him.

“I don't know, just get them away from me!”

Dane's eyes scanned the rest of the alleyway and spotted the oddest visual he'd possibly encountered. Coming out of what appeared to be a solid wall in an incredibly quiet part of the city were several armed and armoured agents, around six of them in total, and all in close formation. Something about their appearance told him that these guys weren't messing around, and were perhaps in the employ of one of the Governments highest echelons though he couldn't place them.

Before wondering how many more were going to emerge or even why they were here of all places, Dane felt himself acting on some sort of muscle memory. Though it may not have been thought out as well as he'd liked, he knew no good would come from letting these men get to his daughter and so he continued instinctively.

“Come.” Dance moved out his arm to grab Pandara. Understandably perhaps, she didn't take the offered hand, instead she moved past Dane to take up position behind him, so that he now stood between her and her supposed pursuers. With the panicked look in her eyes, she tugged the sleeve of his jacket in her direction and a moment later the two of them disappeared around the corner.

For his age, Dane was in exceptional shape. Without the same physical and emotional distractions and responsibilities as the regular world, he dedicated a lot of his spare time to improving and maintaining the skills he used foremost and his fitness almost as much. Despite this physical advantage over his peers however, it was clear that Pandara's athleticism was greater than his own, as she quickly took the lead over him and he found himself struggling to keep up with her.

“You'd be quicker *gasp* if you dropped that thing.” She offered, seeming less panicked suddenly.

“I can't do that.” The words came through inbetween the intakes of breath.

The two of them pushed onwards for a good twenty seconds or more before Dane felt something brush past his ear, generating a short searing pain in its wake. The smoky trail of whatever it had been was all that remained as Dane clasped his free hand to his now painful earlobe.

Pandara shrieked and ducked down a moment later as she too spotted it, and immediately took a desperate look behind her. Dane followed suit. As expected, their attackers had made up some of the distance and could see the two of them running away, which had left them vulnerable to their magical energy. One of the pack had slowed down in order to unleash the fiery attack but was now back on the move, and another in the front pack was beginning to take aim.

“There's no way we'll outrun them...” Pandara shouted.

“Trust me, we just need to make the next-”

A projectile slug of blueish purple energy cut him off mid sentence, landing right on target which happened to be Dane himself. Thankfully, knowing it was coming, Dane had already thrown the rifle case over his back moments before and kept his head low. This might just have saved his life as whatever magic it was hit the case right where his neck would have been and bounced cleanly off it, deflecting the energy in some other direction while the pure force of it almost sent Dane falling to his knees. With his body temporarily moving faster than his feet, Dane struggled to stay upright and moving, but just about recovered his balance with an ungainly wide gait as he corrected himself. Once he gained back his balance, he took the case quickly off his back to inspect it and thankfully found it unscathed aside from a small dent where the blast hit. He genuinely could have kissed the inventor of this material right then, but instead quickly returned it to its position over his upper back.

“Pandara, keep directly in front of me all right?”

She nodded in reply and altered her running line so that he came between her and the group in pursuit. A third jolt of a bright yellow hue flew past and missed them both, striking the large surrounding wall of the factory park about twenty metres in front of them. It threw off chunks of rock in all directions but nothing that cut through the entire wall and was too far ahead of them to hinder their way onwards. They stepped over the debris easily and kept going.

The humid heat pounded Dane's body relentlessly and Dane's lungs began to ache while Pandara also seemed to be tiring. Part of him wondered whether he should shed his jacket, but that seemed like it would slow him down enough to be taken down so he rejected the idea. They hadn't looked back since that first time moments ago but he had dealt with enough well trained agents before to know that if it wasn't for them slowing down to aim and cast magic at them, they would have been easily gaining ground on the two so oddly enough Dane felt himself wishing for more of an offensive approach.

The two pushed on as the path elevated slightly and the crest of a small hill prevented them from seeing too far ahead. Their speed expectedly dropped and Dane could feel the hairs on the back of his neck begin to prickle. It was obvious to him that if they were going to try anything worthwhile to slow them down, or worse, this would be their best shot.

“We should split up!” Offered Pandara out of nowhere, breathing heavily but solidly.

“No... we stay... together.” Came his stern reply.

“I shouldn't have brought you into this...” She momentarily spun her head round to look at him, causing Dane to pick himself up a little.

“No... I need to make sure... you're safe.” His words spilled out roughly and he was aware his tone may have come off aggressive, but he cared little about that. He wasn't going to let his daughter fend for herself against these people.

“It's OK... if I can just crest that slope... I'll sprint ahead and take the next turning... they should leave you alone after that.”

“I won't allow it...”

Suddenly the world around them became a little quieter. Sensing it at the exact same time, Dane and Pandara both knew that something was coming. Using all of his remaining strength, Dane roared out the words “GET DOWN!” and dived to the floor, spinning in midair as he did so, while holding his case at arms length in front of him to protect as much of his body as he could.

All he saw was a blinding shock of light that quickly consumed his entire vision. With one mighty blast, the agents had unleashed a concurrent maelstrom of energy in their direction. Dane sensed in that instant his veins individually coursing with adrenaline and his brain firing off a million neurons. He had to shut his eyes against the light.

When it hit, he felt his whole body being pushed along the paved road beneath him. His jacket would be undoubtedly torn to shreds, he could feel it breaking apart, and he hoped the tough material it was made of would survive long enough to protect his back. In the corner of his mind he thanked whatever impulse had decided to keep it on. Simultaneously, the case began to feel warm in his hands, the temperature soaring so high so quickly that almost immediately it became so scalding hot that it hurt him, but even if he'd wanted to he couldn't let it go. The force pushing it into him was too strong.

Moments (or seconds?) later, confused and in pain, Dane came to a halt and the case clattered to the floor. As he fell down, back flat against the floor, he felt some discomfort under his legs but the pain in his palms was what distracted him. Intuitively he knew they had been severely damaged but he also knew he didn't have time to take care of it. Getting up and continuing to elude their pursuers was all he cared about.

He opened his eyes, determined not to let any of the chasing pack catch up while he was temporarily dazed, but as he looked down the street he faced an unfamiliar setting. The sloping road downwards was not in front of him any more. In fact, he had been pushed beyond its peak and was now looking up to the top again but from the other side. He quickly rolled over, careful not to make contact on the concrete with his injured hands, and pushed himself onto his feet using his elbows.

A thick flume of smoke filled the sky beyond the crest, pumping thick grey ash into the air at an incredible pace from roughly as far back as a hundred metres. He couldn't see Pandara anywhere around and instinctively moved to the top of the hill to find her.

As Dane's eyes adjusted to the setting, he realised that where once had been the smoothly laid road, a large crater now existed. It's base was too deep to be seen from where he stood, but the smoke from within indicated that whatever had just gone down, a fire was burning somewhere at the bottom and was devouring material at an unseen rate.

A surge of terror overwhelmed him as he realised he couldn't see any evidence of Pandara. Where had she gone? Was she in the blast zone when the magic exploded? For that matter, where were the gang who caused this?

At that moment, Dane glimpsed a shadow near the lip of the giant hole. It was partially obscured by the gushing smoke, but to Dane it seemed to look like a person. He needed to go and check it out, because if it was her...

“What are you doing?! They might not all be dead, we need to go!” The familiar voice came from behind him, but as Pandara grabbed him, she accidentally touched one of his palms in order to pull him in her direction. Dane responded with a roar that not only brought him to his knees, but stunned his daughter enough for her to move away from him.

“My hands...” Dane cried, trying to block out the pain by squeezing his eyes closed and concentrating solely on something meditative. A blue sky, a lone tree, a white room...

“What happened?”

“Nothing. We should go now, but you'll need to take that case for me.”

Pandara stood still and looked down at the metal box near her feet.

“What is it?”

“It's the only reason I'm alive right now. Be careful! It might be hot.”

Pandara hovered her hand above the handle, but looked back to Dane as if he was crazy.

“It's completely cool.” She responded, and as if to demonstrate, she picked it up without so much as a blink. Instead of dwelling on this strange devlopment, Dane simply shook it off while trying to block out any of the pain in his hands, which now almost glowed a deep red colour, and walked past her.

“Where are we going?” Pandara enquired with a sense of urgency in her voice.

“I know a safe place we can hide out for a while...”