The Outskirts: Thé Crystal Keepers (Jace x OC)

The Crystal Keepers: 17 *

By the time the enforcers turned to face me, it was already to late for them to act. Approaching them rapidly, I pressed the button on the silver tube, and freeze-foam enveloped one and then the next. I emptied the tube onto them to make sure they were both totally stuck.
"Jace got hit by quicktar," I said into the communicator.
"Use the mister on your left arm," Forge responded.
I knew I had antidotes to quicktar, the fake webs, and the freeze-foam but wasn't sure which button to press. "How?"
"Hold out your arm," Forge said.
I did, and pink spray spurted from the brace on his wrist. The black tar smeared off of Jace wherever the mist touched him.
"It was faster to trigger it remotely," Forge explained. "You had to hit three buttons in sequence to activate the mist."
Jace gasped and slapped at the tar over his face. I soaked him with the mist until it was all coming off. Still blind from the tar and the antidote, Jace reached for his own silver tube.
"Jace don't!" I shouted. "It's me!"
Jace looked up at me, and the rage left his eyes. "What are you doing here?"
"Did you expect me to leave you?" I said, pulling him to his feet.
"Yes," Jace said. "If you get captured because you came back for me—"
"Shut up," I said. "You'd do it for me."
I pulled him into a quick hug, and his arms snaked around my waist.
"Kendal, I—"
Forge cut him off.
"Get to the rooftops," Forge urged. "Patrolmen are closing in. Probably more Enforcers, too."
I pulled away from Jace reluctantly. Tapping a button on my wrist, I commanded, "Board off."
The warboard dropped to the ground, and the magnetic connection disappeared. I stepped away from the warboard as patrolmen appeared at one end of the walkway and Enforcers at the other.
"Jump," I said.
The building on one side was eight stories tall, the other four. I sprang with all my might and soared up past the four-story roof. I was aware of trapguns firing below me, but nothing hit me, and I landed comfortably atop the building. Jace arrived beside me.
"We left the boards," I said into my communicator.
"I'll destroy them the noisiest way possible," Forge said. "Add a little confusion."
I heard explosions down below but didn't risk glancing over the side. A glimpse of my warboard going up in smoke wasn't worth a face full of tar.
"What now?" Jace said into the communicator.
"Split up. Two targets are harder to track than one." Forge responded.
Me and Jace shared a glance. "Can we stay together?"
"Negative. The east is flooded with patrolmen," Forge said. "Jace go northwest. Kendal go southwest. Hurry."
The communicator turned off and me and Jace stared at each other.
"Stay safe." I said softly.
"You too." he replied, looking worried.
I quickly kissed him on the cheek. Then with one last glance, I took off running toward the southwest corner of the building, my speed augmented by the battle suit. Jace ran for the northwest corner.
The corner of the building came up fast. Since I was already four floors up, I didn't want to jump up too much, or the battle suit might not be able to handle the landing. Plus, if I jumped high, I might make myself more of a target.
Focusing on distance, I leaped outward from the edge of the roof. I launched forward, rising only slightly, the greenbelt blurring by below. I began to lose altitude, gradually at first, then quickly as I forward momentum failed. The grass came up to greet him. Off to both sides, I saw Enforcers and patrolmen. They were all looking north, trapguns raised. I felt a spike of worry. Apparently Jace had come into view first.
I landed in a roll and then jumped for the building on the far side of the greenbelt, a three story structure.
I soared upward with plenty of power to make it. Nobody even fired at me until I was already on the flat of the roof.
My one hope now was to outpace the patrolmen and Enforcers and get underground. The longer I stayed out of sight on rooftops, and the faster I moved, the more chance I had of slipping through their net.
As the corner of the roof drew near, I saw that the walkway to the west was too wide to jump across, but the walkway to the south was narrower, and the next building was only one story taller. Whether I could make the jump was questionable, but there wasn't time for second thoughts.
Racing to the edge, I put everything I had into the leap. My stomach dropped as I reached the apex of his flight. Given that I had started three floors up, I had probably sprung too high—if I missed the next roof, would be a serious drop to the walkway below, even with the battle suit.
As the next roof came closer, I realized I would be just short, so I leaned forward and stretched out my arms.
My hands barely caught hold of the rooftop's edge. Without the battle suit I wouldn't have had a prayer of holding on, but with the added strength the suit provided, I got a good enough grip to resist my momentum. For a moment I dangled, legs swinging, and then heaved myself up.
That had been close. I wouldn't try another leap quite that far. I couldn't afford a fall.
And I couldn't afford to pause.
Back on my feet, I  dashed across the flat rooftop. My heart was beating hard, even with the help my muscles were getting from the battle suit.
"Looking good, Jace," Forge said over the communicator. "Keep going north. They came south too eagerly. Kendal, head west as soon as you can. You're slipping through their net as well."
I swerved west. I was beyond relieved that Jace had got away. It sounded like now was the time to chance crossing the wider walkway to the west.
I wondered how Trickster and Roulette had gotten away so smoothly. Was it just a matter of experience paying off? Or did they have better exit routes planned because they had been more exposed? I was glad they were safe, but a little jealous at the same time. I didn't want to give the Enforcers or the patrolmen any more target practice.
Since I was up pretty high, I jumped straight out when I sprang to the west. The entire area below was paved, and when I landed, I barely kept my feet. Without the braces, my ankles would have been mangled, but instead I kept running.
For the moment, no patrolmen or Enforcers were visible.
The nearest buildings to the west were too high to reach-at least ten stories. I didn't think the buildings at either hand were near enough to each other for me to scale them by jumping back and forth off the walls. I took the nearest westward walkway.
"Well done, Kendal," Forge said. "That way looks open. You'll cross one wide plaza and keep going west, then if you turn south at the next walkway, you'll reach a place to go underground."
"What about me?" Jace asked, breathing hard.
"Keep running north," Forge said. "I'll tell you when to cut west."
I took long, bounding strides, flinging myself forward with all my might. I raced across the plaza Forge had described, earning stares from the people walking there but not seeing any patrolmen or Enforcers. I entered the walkway at the far side of the plaza and could see upales where the next walkway crossed it. I was almost there.
"South on the next walkway?" I asked into the communicator.
"Yep, Kendal, south, meaning your next left turn," Forge confirmed. "And Jace, you want to turn west at the next walkway."
"Finally," Jace replied.
I reached the walkway and turned south, then skidded to a halt. Blocking my path was a lean, tall robot that looked like a high-tech cross between a human and a praying mantis. Made entirely of shiny black metal, the robot sank into a crouch, long limbs bent and ready.
The building on one side was low enough to reach. I sprang, but the robot uncoiled with the sudden speed of a mousetrap, and a weighted net slammed against me, interrupting my trajectory. Pulled by the net, I tucked my head and crashed into the side of the building and then fell to the walkway.
Even though the guardcloth had hardened against the impact, I laid on my side, shaken and dazed. I swore. That had hurt worse than all my falls combined.
The lanky robot sprang forward, landing beside me and held up an extra-long trapgun.
"Don't move," the robot said. "This chase is over." The voice sounded younger than I expected, and so human that I would have sworn there had to be a person inside.
I held down the button on my communicator to help the others catch on to what had happened. "Who are you?" I asked.
"I'm your best chance," the robot said. "If City Patrol takes you in, you're finished."
"You're not with them?" I asked.
"I've helped them," the robot said. "And they think I'm with them. But I'm really working for myself here. You really can't guess who I am? I've been chasing you for some time. Who else did you think would catch you?"
"Wait," I said, chills tingling through me. "You're the Hunter?"
"People call me that," the robot replied.
"You're a robot?"
The robot laughed. "I'm no bot. This is a drone I'm controlling."
"You're not here?" I asked.
"I can see you," the Hunter said. "I'm free to act. That's good enough. I'm actually in a lab."
"I'm going back for her," Jace said over the communicator. "Where is she?"
My heart ached when I heard the desperation in his voice.
"Negative," Forge answered. "Stop talking."
"I'm not leaving her! I swear Forge, if you don't tell me where she is i'll—"
His voice cut off, and I felt a hot flash on my forearm and smelled smoke.
"And there you have the loyalty of the Unseen," the Hunter said.
"What?" I asked.
"They torched your communicator," he said. "Fried the crystal. They didn't want me getting it. I can probably still figure out the harmonics from what's left, but don't tell them."
"Why are you after me?" I asked.
"I bring in criminals," the Hunter said. "It's a talent. But I've been looking for you for . . . personal matters."
"Personal matters?" I asked.
"Yep. Listen, you don't know it yet, but I saved your life. Ever wonder why your ID didn't alert patrolmen?"
The realization hit me like a truck. "That was you?"
"Mhm." He said, sounding bored.
I decided to change the subject. "You sound young."
The Hunter gave a snort. "I'm older than you. We need to get you out of here. My Enforcers are running interference, but City Patrol is getting closer. It wasn't easy to stage a clear path that would lead you to me. It won't stay clear for long."
"I'm not going anywhere," I said.
"Kendal, you don't know it yet, but this could be the luckiest day of your life," the Hunter said. "You got conned into joining the wrong side in all of this, and I'm going to give you some thing most people can only dream about. A second chance."
"I won't sell out my friends," I said firmly.
"You've been selling them out since you came here," the Hunter said. "How do you think we found zerobase? My agents followed you from Hanover Station to Axis, and from there to the base. City Patrol almost messed it up, but my people were on you the whole time. Nice job slipping away from us at zerobase, by the way. We lost you for a while. Won't happen again."
It felt terrible to think I was responsible for trashing Googol's best hideout in Zeropolis. But how could I have known?
"I'll never betray them on purpose."
"Let's save that conversation for later," the Hunter replied. "For now, come with me, or City Patrol is going to turn your life into a nightmare. After losing Joe, they're on a witch hunt, and you're the only person who hasn't escaped."
"I'm sort of tangled up," I said, reaching for my other tube of freeze-foam.
"Are you going for a weapon?" the Hunter asked.
"Seriously? Is your brain broken? You see my trapgun, right? Do you think you can get a molecule of that foam out of that tube before I bury you?"
"I thought I'd be sneaky about it," I said candidly.
"No chance," the Hunter said. "Looks like I'm going to have to tear off that battle suit and carry you. It would be easier if you'd come willingly."
"Sorry for any inconvenience," I said.
"Toss that little tube aside or I'll trap you good and leave you for the patrolmen," the Hunter threatened.
I tried to toss it aside, but it got stuck in the net and didn't go very far.
"Sorry," I said innocently. "Want me to try again?"
"Just don't touch it," the Hunter replied, sounding annoyed. "Let me get the net off of you. Keep still. If you try something, I swear I'll fire." Extending an arm, the Hunter sprayed the net and it dissolved. He reached for me, but there came a click as if a little piece of metal had hit the robotic drone. Glancing, I saw a silver disk attached to the drone's hip. A slender wire led from the little disk to a shabby maintenance robot perhaps fifty yards away.
And then the drone lit up. White electricity crackled along the wire, and suddenly the drone was jerking and sizzing. Seconds later freeze-foam covered the severely damaged drone, and Sidekick shoved it over.
"Hi Kendal," the little robot said. "Time to run."