3 To Switch (1/2)

Tedi was puffy, round, airborne and glided at a breathtakingly leisurely pace through the clouds. You wouldn't be foolish if you were to mistake her for a blimp, as she indeed fit in floating beside them. Zephyrian blimps were a typical mode of public transport, powered by uncommon sOr [Cloud], and so commuters that night paid no attention to the bearino that seemlessly traversed the air besides them.

Their attention was elsewhere anyway, as down below was a distorted brown streak, followed by two slightly more defined streaks of grey. These zig-zagging streams represented a police chase.

Were you to look closer, you'd observe that the brown streak was really just two criminals who had kidnapped a young man. This young man had witnessed them in their successful yet unorthadox attempt of robbing a bank.

The plan was rather fool-proof, as it didn't require them to be onsite. They were to hack into Central Bank's Accounting System via their internal network (accessible via any public info processOr). Once inside they were to steal 1 Zollar from every account (an amount that could go unnoticed) to several dummy accounts, which they were to be immediately withdrawn before any federal investigation into the matter could commence. This would amount to stealing 50 million Zollars, without being in the immediate vacinity of the bank. A rather fool-proof plan indeed.

The plan, however, was not (fool-proof-fool)-proof. In other words, these were next level idiots. They completed the process at the local library in the public study area (as opposed to a private rentable suite).

Twas inevitable that a young university student then noticed them from a desk behind their own, instantly becoming a threat to their operation. They successfully completed the intial transfers, however by that point the young man had already alerted the police and had started to frantically pack up his things. As he made for the exit, he was cornered by the criminals and taken hostage. He was manhandled and screamed for help, however they reached their getaway vehicle far too quickly for it to matter.

They boarded their hoverbike powered by uncommon sOr [Glide] and instantly made for the nearest ATM. Their plan was to soon shift prioritise escape, as the police had already sent out officers towards the fool-proof-fools.

And now here they were, currently being chased through Central traffic by two 4-star Police Officers, each with their own hoverbikes (but obviously without their own hostages (lolol)).

”They're gaining on us!” the larger of the two criminals exclaimed. He was 7 feet tall, extremely muscular, and had an incredibly high pitched voice of a schoolgirl (much higher than that of the guy he had tied up in his arms). The smaller one, who was 6 foot 11, took a quick glance behind him and grunted, before his larger yet weakly sounding companion yelled ”LOOK OUT!”. The smaller one quickly turned back towards the road to find that they were meters away from crashing into a large levi-bus. He quickly turned the hoverbike to maneouver anticlockwise around the vehicle, and then accelerated forwards past the ongoing traffic.

The two police officers behind them performed the same maneouver around the levi-bus and pressed on. All three vehicles were travelling at 200 mph. The speed limit was 50mph.

”Well? Do something about them you idiot!” the smaller screeched, as he desperately weaved his way through the traffic.

The larger one grunted in agreement, as he shifted the hostage to one arm and armed himself with a blaster equiped with uncommon sOr [Flame]. Though their vehicle was traversing the roads at incredible speeds, he accurately and confidently shot thrice at each of the officers. All the shots were on target, with one officer being knocked off their vehicle and the other having deflected all three and continued to trail behind them.

”You're a tough one aren't you?” the larger thought to himself (in his unusually high-pitched voice). The remaining officer took out his own blaster and shot continuously at them. He was accurate, but not as accurate as the criminal. The larger one used this to his advantage. As the officer's blasts travelled through the air, the criminal swiftly threw explosive grenades (filled with common sOr [Boom]), which were triggered by the blasts. The resulting smoke screen reduced the vision of the officer, who then proceeded to collide with a commuter's vehicle.

”I think we lost 'em!” the larger one proclaimed, then looked to the hostage to arrogantly taunt him.

”Nobody aint saving you, boy hahahahaha”.

The hostage looked back at him with utter fear. He thought his life was over.

It was not.

Nosey blimp commuters above would then observe a clean, intentful purple streak from the opposite end of Central almost immediately catch up with the chasees.

”I'll take it from here” the two (now compromised yet uninjured) officers heard in their comms, as the light purple streak zoomed pass them. The streak instantly cleared the smoke screen, allowing the fallen officers to just about make out a female figure with apparently no vehicle.

It took an additional second for the criminals and hostage to have a clear image of the female who now appeared to be gliding on the road besides them. She had neatly tied up black hair, dark brown eyes and was clothed in a white and purple uniform. On each of her legs were sleek white boots that topped a set of four white carbon wheels. She seemed to be keeping up rather effortlessly, as her body was upright and showed no signs of struggle or discomfort. As they all traversed the roads, frantically avoiding traffic, her gaze was not on the road nor the criminals, but on the boy.

”Tough day?” she yelled at the young man in a cheerful voice.

The hostage was too scared and confused to answer. He looked at the smaller guy, then the road ahead, then the larger guy, then back at her. He quickly nodded.

”It's okay, I gotchu!” she assured him, with two thumbs up and a wink.