I don't have anything to say right now, but I'm sure I'll edit this later.
Israel's eyes appeared to flicker for a moment as he read the future, and so instead of trying to draw his shotgun, he grabbed Kallista's hand pulled her to the ground just as the burst of gunfire came from the counter. He got to his feet, jumped over the counter, and kicked Springheeled Jack in the arm, making him drop the gun. "Go!" he called to Kallista. "Get out of here!"
Jack tripped Israel over and threw a punch at his sternum, which he blocked as best as he could. Which of course meant that Jack's fist cracked against Israel's chest, causing him to cry out in pain.
Israel rolled back to his feet, waving Kallista away. "It's alright," he said, spitting his own blood into the deep fryer to his left. "I'll be ok, you just go on."
Jack jumped high into the air, and Israel dodged at the last second, tapping his temple knowingly at Kallista. She understood, just as Jack swung a fist a Israel's turned back, which he caught without even looking. "Hell's yeah," Israel muttered, and pivoted, twisting Jack's arm with him until Jack yelled loudly.
Then Kallista was up and running, moving through the glass doors and back to the Deus Ex merchandise part of the store, passing civilians crouching in fear underneath the t-shirt display table.
She rounded the counter, snatching up a set of keys off of a labeled hook there, and launched herself onto one of the bikes lining the wall- a black Harley Davidson XR1200- her foot slamming into the foot pedal to start it. On third go it did, and she accelerated, shooting forwards into a hat stand covered in headgear with 'Deus' written on them. She back-peddled the bike as fast as she could, kicking up a fallen helmet and strapping it on, just before she revved the accelerator again and shot through the open front doors and onto the streets.
The bike veered left, her focus momentarily directed to getting her bearings, and then she recognized a street sign and floored it. Again, she was surprised at how fast the bike was going- it had been a good long while since she had ever ridden in a Harley Davidson.
She weaved in between the traffic, drove through a red light and kept going. What did it matter? Kallista thought. It wasn't even her bike.
A siren sounded behind her and she was reminded just why it mattered.
The review mirrors showed a single police car after her, lights all blazing. Needless to say, she didn't slow down.
But neither did the police car, and soon it was right behind her; most of the other cars had pulled over already, leaving no-where for her to weave away to.
Then a large semi-truck pulled out from an intersection, horn blaring loudly. The bike's tires screeched in protest as she tried to maneuver away from the back of the semi, but the bumper of the police car tailing her wouldn't let her just stop. She felt the minuscule acceleration of the squad car behind her, the turn of the wheel, the nudge on the left side of her bike. It was a police move, she knew. There was little she could do to stop the bike from pivoting suddenly, from doing a couple of complete rotations before starting to wobble side to side, losing speed.
The truck in front of her, either because of the flashing headlights behind it or for the driver's own purposes, braked and turned viscously, heading for a side lane.
The bike still had enough momentum to keep it going until it hit the back of the now-slowing semi-truck. And the police car behind certainly did not see what was going to happen, for it seemed like they were actually speeding up.
She was going to be crushed between the police car and the truck. With the bike now turning this way and that, she couldn't even try and turn it safely away. Yep, she was definitely done for.
I could try another Crazy Iv- she began to think, but instantly cast the though out of her mind. Fat lot of luck that trick had done her.
There were seconds now, until the bike carried her into the back of the semi-truck, and the police car would follow suit, squashing her into something even less than jam.
Something caught her eye. Through the bright shine of the ever-bright Australian sun, her eyes locked on to the strange arrangement of handles and metal bars on the back of the truck in front of her. Almost as if they...formed a ladder of sorts, a way up to the top of the red trailer, to safety.
Just as the thought to jump entered her mind, the bike collided with the truck, the police car slammed into the back of her bike and she knew she was dead now.
You know when they say that your life flashes before your eyes before you die? That didn't happen to Kallista. Instead, re-occurring images of the sky and then her bike being crushed and then the sky again filled her head. It took her half a second to realize that she was spinning through the air. I must of been launched into the air the moment the bike crashed into the truck, she probably would of thought if she had been somersaulted through the air slowly, giving her time to think.
But this hadn't been the case and instead she barely thought, just acted. Her hands shot out to her sides, steadying herself in the air with a burst of controlled air that sent her flying straight. Then she drew her arms to chest and shot towards the trailer, grabbing onto a bar at the last moment.
The truck jolted as the true power of the collision shook through it, jarring her to her bones. It's wheels squealed as the driver decided to completely stop, and that's when Kallista took her chance to scale the trailer door and climb onto the top.
She peered back over to see her bike crushed and sitting perfectly between the police car and the back of the truck. Damn, she thought. What a waste.
Her eyes flitted to the police men inside their vehicle and was glad that there were no visible injuries; both men seemed unconscious, however. She allowed her a small smile to the fact that they knew nothing of her origins, nothing about magic and nothing about the responsibility thrust upon Kallista and her friends everyday so that they could keep things this way.
Then one of the police men stirred, his hand instinctively reaching for his sidearm, a Glock 17. Alright then, Kallista thought, hurriedly scooting back over the lip of the trailer. Not so innocent and unconscious now...
She stood, pivoting slowly. From her vantage point on top of the trailer she could see about two miles in any direction. In her immediate vision, she could see cars passing by the crash scene, heads craning out of the windows to peer up at Kallista curiously. A couple of cars were stopping and civilians were getting out of them, edging cautiously towards the crashed police car to see if anyone was in there.
A man called out to Kallista. She ignored him and turned her gaze to the buildings instead. They were all more than ten metres away. Too far to jump to, even with the help of her elemental powers.
The man kept calling out her name. Soon, others joins him, asking her what happened, why she was up there, did she cause it. A young man stepped forward and started to climb the back of the trailer door 'ladder' slowly, testing each foothold for it's safety first. He was coming to get her. She needed a way out. Now.
Hey eyes were drawn to a large blue
truck heading down the street. It had too much momentum to stop, she could see. It would just keep going past the crash scene. Perfect.
It's horn beeped to clear the people away, and they scattered to allow it through.
The young man reached the top of the trailer, and Kallista decided to put her plan into motion. Her right foot snapped out, catching the man in the nose. Unfortunately for him, he forgot that his hands were holding the bar in front of him, and when he whipped them up to his injured nose, he tipped backwards, falling off the trailer and landing on someone below him.
But Kallista didn't see any of this because she had been sprinting to the other side of the trailer, her form blurring as she launched herself in the direction of the passing truck. Her body hit it awkwardly and there was a pain in her thigh, and she slid along the trailed until she found her grip. Inch by inch, hand over hand, she moved atop the trailer of the blue truck as it sped away from the crash site, turning left onto the next street and accelerating quickly.
Finally, she found herself at the front of the truck, directly above the area where the driver would be seated. There were many handholds here and she steadied herself with them, crouching and looking around the streets they were driving through. Between some houses she saw a patch of water, and she knew she must be near Circular Quay.
There was the sound of a gunshot in the distance and tires squealing, and a Ford Transit 260 SWB came careening around the corner behind them, a figure perched precariously on top.
The figure looked up at that very moment, and time seemed to stand still as Kallista and his eyes locked.
Springheeled Jack smiled that awful, toothless grin of his, fixed his battered top hat, and sprung away from the silver van.
Israel, who of course was driving the van as it was his own personal one, cursed and stuck his shotgun out the window, emptying the two cartridges at Jack's flying form and then discarding the weapon onto the passenger seat beside him. Both shots missed, and Israel had made sure not to let the blue energy waves fly as they were in a civilian area. He swerved into the opposite lane, then cursed again as he dodged the oncoming traffic.
He shot a glance at the blue truck-Jack had landed and was facing off against the crouching figure that was Kallista. Israel wished her luck, then turned his attention to not crashing.
Kallista clicked her fingers, summoning a flame in both hands. Before Jack could even begin to throw a taunt her way, she thrust both palms down onto the trailer top, sending blue fire rippling towards him. She didn't stop to see if it hit him-she doubted it would- she just turned tail and jumped off the truck, landing heavily onto the asphalt.
Her shadow seemed to big and irregular, and she realized at the last moment that it wasn't just hers, and as she rolled away there was a whoosh as the Terror
Of London landed where she had been standing, snarling and looking slightly burnt.
He reached toward her but Israel's van slammed into him, and Kallista was about to sigh with relief when Jack landed silently on the ground again. A sound mixed between a sob and a cry of disbelief escaped her throat- couldn't anything kill him?- and then she was running again, her feet carrying her down a street and towards the water.
She rushed past a sign that read Virginia St. Wharf, and her legs thudded heavily as the ground below changed from ashpalt to concrete, concrete to wooden planking, and finally wooden planking to some sort of plastic that the giant pontoon was made of. A ferry was leaving it, already with a five metre gap of water between it and her. She didn't slow down and kept racing towards the edge, and then her feet met the lip and there was nothing, nothing but deep blue water beneath her, and then the air rushed as she began her descent and the ferry's metal railing slammed into her stomach. She caught hold and pulled herself up, turning around to face the rapidly receding pontoon.
Jack raced across the pontoon, then launched himself at the ferry like Kallista had done before. He might actually make it, Kallista thought, standing up onto the railing and raising her fist in the air as Jack reached the peak of his leap. "Hello, sweetheart!" she called out, mimicking his London accent, and kicked him in the face as his form reached the railing. He crumpled and fell backwards, sinking through the water. She didn't wait for him to resurface. She just turned and headed upstairs to find a seat, passing tourists with cameras pointed at every passing building. She collapsed into one of the seats up the front, and slowly let sleep overcome her.
