There was a flurry of activity among the civilians as they fell down on the concrete, with the rubble ahead of them. It smashed a car, and there they stood, facing each other under the moonlit sky, almost unharmed by the attacks.
He waited for the smoke to subdue a little so as to increase the visibility, and lunged straight forward to Ewan. The edges of his metallic shield glowed in a faint teal hue, and he swung his right arm horizontally at chest level in an attempt to damage the arm, should the young man use it to parry the incoming attack.
Ewan watched as the man landed, stood and finally lunged at him.
Ok, keep calm Ewan, you can do this. Taking the hit in his chest, Ewan’s green eyes locked onto the man’s own. He gave a small grin and with one hand grabbed the man’s arm. His other hand, now ‘unbladed’, curled into a fist and shot out just over the shield aiming for the man’s face.
Sekigan parried the incoming blow with his free hand, but Ewan's attack was simply far too strong. No, it didn't penetrate to hit him in the face, but a loud clang came, and the next thing he knew, there was a hollowed part on the steel brought about by the young man's attack. His hand took the toll, and in fact, it throbbed with pain as he felt the impact even from behind the shield. His face was untouched though, but nearly.
With a burst of strength, he tried to break free of the boy's grip.
The man managed to break free and Ewan let him retreat to a distance... for a moment at least. Instead of moving forward, he darted to the left and headed for the nearest wall. Once there he placed a foot on the wall and took a few large paces straight up the vertical structure. After a second or two he pushed away, spun and straightened his arms, both now reformed into blades.
Damn it! He's playing Spiderman! he thought to himself as he ran away from his position. He couldn't run up the walls, or stick his feet on stuff, but at least he could run fast enough not to get caught. The scrawny man didn't know what exactly it does, but the best thing to do was to run. After all, it did look deadly.
My job description only involves handling this thing they entrusted me with, but it doesn't really include fighting these kind of shenanigans. Hmph, that damn school with its equally eccentric students... he thought as he ran as fast as he could -- far, far away. He didn't know how far though, until the kid actually decides to jump on buildings instead.
Slamming into the ground, with his arms sinking a few inches into the tarmac, Ewan’s head spun and watched the man escaping.
Shit, he’s getting away. Ripping his hands free, he changed them back to normal and looked around. His eyes fixed themselves on a piece of the ledge he’d broken earlier. Grabbing it he tested its weight before heaving it into the sky in the retreating man’s direction.
Damn it! I'm being chased by rubble! he exclaimed in thought, extremely frustrated about the large piece of rubble flying off towards his way. He was too busy looking at the rubble, that he forgot to look where he was actually heading.
The scrawny man hit his head in a lamp post and stumbled down. The rubble hit the same post too, and a loud clang of metal against stone filled the air. He rolled to the side far enough not to get his body crushed, but not swift enough to pull his whole body out. Sekigan could have run away -- fast, but his leg was stuck under the coarse rubble which agonized him like hell. A loud scream of pain escaped his lips as he tried to pull the leg. Oh for anything that could possibly happen.
“Well I didn’t expect that to happen. Oh well, at least it stopped him.” He gave a nonchalant shrug and smiled as he started to jog down the street. Reaching the man he kicked him once.
“Well, I think that’s that done.” The letter had said the courier would have the detonator on his person.
“Hold still for a second or the next one will hit you.” That said he crouched down and began rummaging through the man’s pockets.
Lint, lint and more lint were all he found... until the last pocket. Gripping something rectangular, Ewan pulled the object free. His eyes widened as he examined the object. It certainly didn’t look like a detonator.
Oh fuck. They got it now. They totally got it now. I'd be tied along with those bombs if I return there alive.
"Tch. Fine. Good luck with whatever you're planning to do with that, smartypants," he spat at the student and gritted his teeth. Although it did seem like the object he was looking for, Sekigan didn't have the slightest intent of burying himself into deeper shit by giving a clue. No, he will give nothing, for all he cared.
It was a smart phone, black in colour, with three red dots on the screen. Confused Ewan looked at them, spinning the phone around to examine them further.
What the hell... When held landscape the dots seemed to form a triangle of sorts. Suddenly green text began scrolling up from what was now the bottom of the screen.
GREETINGS, EWAN PHILIPS
“Hey,” Ewan said, “there’s two L’s in my surname you bastards.” Naturally the phone ignored him and simply carried on scrolling text.
THE CURRENT TIME IS 12:08 AM
WHAT YOU HOLD IN YOUR HANDS IS NOT THE BOMB.
I CONGRATULATE YOU ON RECOVERING IT, EVEN SO.
WHAT YOU HOLD IS A DETONATOR -- ONE OF FOUR.
“Wait, four? What happened to this being the one for the school?” Again the phone ignored him.
ONE SERIES OF EXPLOSIVES IS TIED TO THE TOKYO NISHI KOTOUGAKKOU.
NOW THAT I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION, LET'S PLAY A GAME.
THE CURRENT TIME IS 12:09 AM.
REMEMBER: THERE ARE FOUR DETONATORS.
YOU WILL HAVE UNTIL 7:00 AM TOMORROW TO LOCATE ALL FOUR.
“Wait wait, what happened to nine in the morning? You can’t just go changing the rules halfway through you lousy cheats!”
ALL FOUR DETONATORS MUST BE WITHIN CERTAIN PROXIMITY TO BE USED.
ONCE ALL FOUR ARE TOGETHER,
YOU WILL HAVE A CHANCE TO DISCERN WHICH SITES EACH ONE IS LINKED TO.
YOU MUST CHOOSE ONE.
IF YOU DO NOT CHOOSE ONE TO DETONATE, ALL EXPLOSIVES WILL GO OFF AT 7:00 AM.
THE CURRENT TIME IS 12:10 AM.
ARE YOU READY TO PLAY?
Ewan’s eyebrow rose as the text scrolled happily off the screen followed by a large green button with YES flashing brightly on it. This was getting stupid. Now there were FOUR of these things he had to find. And he had to find them by seven the next morning. But which next morning? Since he’d passed into today hunting this one, did he have another day to find the other three?
Ugh, so I have either seven or... thirty-one hours to do all this. Oh joy. Fine then. He looked again at the phone and rolled his eyes. He jabbed a finger into the button and watched as yet more green text began scrolling up the screen.
THE DETONATOR HAS A BUILT-IN GPS.
I WILL GIVE YOU CLUES IN THE FORM OF PUZZLES.
EACH CLUE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE NEXT LOCATION.
WHEN THE GPS REGISTERS THE CORRECT LOCATION,
YOU WILL RECEIVE THE NEXT CLUE.
YOUR FIRST CLUE:
TOMMY TUCKER TOOK TWO STRINGS
TO TIE TWO TURTLES TO TWO TALL TREES,
THEN TAMMY TANNER TOOK TWO TINS,
TO TRAP THREE TADPOLES TO SHOW THE TWINS!
THINKING TO QUIT ALL THIS TIT-FOR-TAT?
TELL ME HOW MANY T'S THERE ARE IN ALL THAT!
The riddle rolled off-screen and was replaced by a number pad and a phone number, starting with (666) 555- but the rest was blank.
“What is fuck’s name was all that about? Ugh, OK then, so I guess answering the riddle gives me the number for this address.” He stared at the phone. On a whim he pressed some random numbers and hit ‘Call’. Holding it up to his ear he waited.
“The number you have-” He hung up.
“Well, there went that theory,” he muttered, “I guess this stupid riddle’s the only option. Argh, what was it again? How many T’s are there? Lemme see, five in the first line. Eight... no, nine in the second line. Six, then seven. And finally eight. So that’s...” He quickly added the numbers up in his head and tapped the buttons and looked at the screen.
(666) 555-0035. He pressed ‘Call’.
“The number you have-” Wait, what? That wasn’t right. Had he miscounted?
“Wait, maybe the question line is included.” This time he added the number of T’s in the question and once again tapped buttons onscreen.
(666) 555-0040. Again, he pressed ‘Call’. A few rings... then success! Ewan grinned as he listened to the address. Hearing the whole thing he looked around where he was. Running to the end of the street he checked the signs.
“Hmm, not so far from here then,” he muttered. Walking back over to the man, who was still pinned down, he prodded him with his foot.
“Well this is where I leave you. I had fun in our little skirmish. Laters.” With a sly wink and grin, he turned and ran off into the night.
