Now that she’d slowed down, Saavi could see them. Dark figures on the rooftops either side of her. Their guns looked heavy - she couldn’t tell the model exactly, not from this distance - and if they all fired at once, they would almost certainly break through the two outer-layers of the suit, as well as the graphene layer underneath. But they didn’t mean to kill her. The presence of the old man in front of her, with silvery hair and amused eyes, confirmed that fact. Whether they would try to arrest her, however, remained to be seen.

He raised a hand, and the lasers dotting her torso disappeared. Of course, they were still aiming at her, but she took it as a sign that she could lower her hands to her sides. The old man didn’t stop her.

“Commissioner Lawson,” he said, as if they had just bumped into each other at a bar, “pleased to meet you.” He didn’t go so far as to try and shake hands.

“What do you want?” she said, keeping her voice low and monotone. Aarav was still working on a voice modifier for the helmet - they had only recently realised they would need one. Funny how years of planning overlooked simple things.

“I think the more pressing question is: what do you want? Jun Bloom? Why?”

“He’s a bad man. You know that.”

“Hm, I see you’re looking at my earpiece.” Lawson said, even though she had never paid the circular disk in his ear any mind, “Would you like me to turn it off?” As she tried to read his face, he gave her a small nod.

“Yes.” she said, amused, “If you would be so kind.”

Lawson glanced at the men on the rooftops, then he removed his earpiece and tossed it over the side of the building. “Is that better?”

“Sure.”

He took a step closer to her, turning his back to the gunmen and leaning in, as if confiding a secret. “I agree with you. Which is why I’m going to give you a vital piece of information.”

Below the helmet, Saavi’s mouth hung open. This is the police commissioner? Shouldn’t he be arresting me?

“We’ve been tracking him for years. Just a few days ago, we discovered his hiding place - a warehouse by one of the city ports. We’re going to raid it in two days’ time, so just keep yourself out of trouble. Jun Bloom will face justice, mark my words on that.” His expression became solemn as he said the words, his wrinkles more visible. “More importantly, you have to get-”

“Wait.” Saavi said, “Wait, I can help. He’s dangerous. You don’t need to waste men on capturing him - I’ll go instead. Just tell me where and when.”

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The Commissioner sighed, “There’s no need, it’s-”

“It would mean a lot to me.” Saavi said. The Commissioner gave her a weary glance.

“You have a phone number?”

“Yes. I mean, no.”

He smiled at that. She hadn’t gone so far as to get a separate phone number for her alter-ego, but in her defense, she had never expected that she would need to hand one out.

“Here’s mine.” he read it out to her, then checked if she had remembered it correctly. “Good,” he said, “now, these men here want to arrest you. They’re not going to let you walk away as easily as I am. Do you think you can escape?”

Saavi glanced at the surrounding rooftops with a cautious eye. She could see at least ten men in plain sight, and there were probably others in more discreet positions. If she leapt over the side of the building, she would dodge the rifle fire from the left side, but take the rest of it head-on. It was unlikely they would be able to hit a moving target with ease, but it was better not to test them.

Besides, she could think of an easier option.

“Yes,” Saavi said, and in one quick motion, she pulled the gun from the Commissioner’s belt, wrapped an arm around his neck, and pointed it at his head. The officers on the rooftops adjusted their sights, some of them exclaiming, laser beams pointing at her again. “Tell them to throw their guns over the edge and put their hands up.” she said, and the Commissioner relayed the order. Pulling the Commissioner along with her, she backed up to the roof access door as officers began dropping their guns. They clattered to the ground far below. Perfect.

“Thank you, Commissioner. See you soon.” Saavi said, giving him a slight push as she dived through the roof access door and scrambled down the stairs. Officers yelled outside, no doubt already pulling out their secondary firearms. As she reached the top floor, a man stumbled out of his apartment, pointing a gun at her.

Officer Barton. The man she had come here to see in the first place.

Without missing a beat, she boosted off the wall and smacked the gun out of his hands, coming out of the maneuver in a roll, on her feet in seconds. The elevator dinged behind her, doors opening to reveal a group of SWAT members. All of their guns were pointed at her.

Saavi shielded her head with her arms and jumped - smashing through the window just as the officers opened fire. She bounded down the side of the apartment block, before using the propulsors to leap to a nearby building. The suit hummed violently, starting to heat up. She’d been using it all night - this definitely wasn’t the best time for a police chase.

Luckily, the train station was nearby. That was the one good thing about Cybercity. You could catch a train from practically anywhere.

She started to move closer to the ground, hopping over cars and darting into alleyways. As far as she could tell, no one was following her, but the mournful sound of police sirens bombarded her from all directions.

The train station was in sight, and with one final leap, she managed to catch a leaving train. “Power down,” she said, and the suit went dark. Police cars pulled up to the train station, but it was too late. The sirens bled away in the distance, no match for a hover-train.

After catching her breath, she dug her phone out of the suit. It was fun hearing Edam freak out over her nightly excursions, she couldn’t wait to find out how he would react to this. A stupid grin was plastered on her face as she waited for him to pick up.

When he did, he sounded groggy, “A call at 1AM? I’m not gonna like this am I?”

Saavi laughed, pulling off her helmet, “No, probably not.”