[2] Rescue Operation

[Kaden]

A mix of emotions tore at Kaden. At first, the young courier had been excited to be able to help a cop in his investigation. The thought that he might have a hand in helping bring a criminal to justice was exciting and filled Kaden with a surprising sense of... purpose. What came next, though, dashed the courier's hopes, filling him with concerns that such emotions, such purpose, may have simple been fleeting excitement.

The power, the speed, the brilliance of Trisha's power shocked Kaden. Things happened quickly, far too quickly for the courier to be of any real help. One second he was standing on the side of justice, trying to do what he felt was right, and then next moment he was all but paralyzed. First Szar was dropped, an experienced cop trained to fight the bad guys. After that went Piper, a woman who, as far Kaden could tell, had some at some combat training.

Vaguely, Kaden was aware of Kai saying something to him. He wasn't really sure what, his attention was locked onto the two unconscious figures of Szar and Piper. When Kai paused, a expectant look on his face, Kaden's body did what it knew it had to do. The shattering of the window, the sound of air rushing past, and even the violent impact of hitting the ground... none of it registered with Kaden until it had already happened.

While Kaden's mind reeled to keep up with what was going on around him, his body didn't miss a beat. When the courier actually stopped and took a second to breathe, he found himself back in the Hunter's camp, alone. The guards that had been incapacitated by Piper and Szar were gone, and the other Hunters had already left. Rarely had Kaden ever felt so alone.

Though he was sure that there was no one in the camp, the courier decided to look around while he attempted to figure out what to do. He had not been under the impression that anyone was chasing him, which was odd, but he also did not think it would be best to simply continue on with the game as thought nothing had happened. It was during his search that Kaden happened upon a nice shiny motorcycle.

It was certainly possible that the bike had been there the whole time, but Kaden definitely hadn't seen it. Equally surprising was that the key was in the ignition and it was positioned at the end of the camp on a small road leading south. Inspecting the bike gave Kaden a moment to slow down and focus his thoughts and, as he was doing so, he felt a familiar sensation tugging at the back of his mind.

Looking up, Kaden caught a small plume of sand rising up in the distance. Kaden knew it was Trisha, he could feel her moving away from him. The small road, two lanes at best, looked recently laid, but it didn't look like Kaden would have much say in what route he took. The bike's sporty appearance gave Kaden the distinct impression that it would not handle the sand very well. As he hoped onto the bike, Kaden could only hope that the path before him would take him in the right direction.

As Kaden revved the bike to life, he took in a deep breath and steadied himself. It had been a couple years since he had actually ridden a bike; when Kaden had first began working for Greg, at his delivery service, he had to borrow the run-down bike that the service owned. Kaden had tried to block out the memories of making deliveries in that thing, never entertaining the thought that such experience might actually prove useful someday.

Unfortunately, for the courier, the bike he had stumbled upon was much more... potent than the bike he had learned to drive. It took several minutes before Kaden found a speed that he was actually comfortable with. Despite the absolute absurdity of going after someone like Trisha, Kaden had already resolved to do it. Both Szar and Piper had gone down trying to bring someone to justice while Kaden had simply run away. If there was anything he could do to help or make up for his cowardice, he was ready to do it.