Chapter 58: Prisoner Escape

[ "Control, this is 7-L-20 at the scene of the crash. I'm declaring a city-wide tactical alert. I need multiple RAs, scramble airships, and call additional units from Rampart and North Hollywood. I need a hard perimeter set around the crash- assume a ten-minute head start." ]

Harvey looked up from his police radio and looked over the direction where a bus that was transporting several convicts just crashed, allowing some of them to escape. "Not good."

Clicking the radio off, Harvey walked over to the roof's edge of one of the taller buildings in downtown LA and slid on his black motorcycle helmet with a skull painted on the front. Harvey only ever used the helmet when it was still daylight outside when he was acting as Vengeance.

Looking down at the ground, he saw his trusty black Kawasaki motorcycle waiting for him. With a leap, Harvey jumped off the roof's edge and grabbed a pipe attached to the side of the wall. Using the pipe, he slid down the building and landed with a loud crack.

Hopping on his bike, Harvey accelerated forward, leaving behind a long tire track. Turning onto the main street, Harvey joined the main road and drove forward. Focusing, Harvey searched the city for those with exceptionally tainted souls. A second later, he felt Zarathos help expand his area of detection. Instantly, he felt one of his targets moving.

"Thanks, partner."

'Don't mention it.'

•••

"What do you want for dinner tonight, Amanda?"

Kevin Bernstein smiled down at his daughter as she jumped next to him. She was using the fact he was holding her hand to help her reach higher heights. At least, according to her.

"I want... Pizza!" Amanda smiled and jumped at her request. Kevin only chuckled and shook his head.

"Sorry, Ams. Mommy said no pizza during the week. How about some chicken and rice?" Kevin laughed at her pout.

Kevin had just picked up his daughter from preschool five minutes ago, and they were walking towards the car he parked in the parking garage near the school. Turning the corner, Kevin saw his parked grey Honda just a few feet away.

"Stop right there."

Kevin turned to look at a skinny bald man in an orange jumpsuit walk in front of him with a gun in his hands. Feeling his blood turn to ice, Kevin pulled Amanda behind him and looked at the man fearfully.

"O-Okay! I stopped!" Kevin stuttered and tried to take a back step but immediately stopped when the bald man raised the gun higher.

"You and me are gonna go for a ride. I need to get out of the city, and if you don't want that girl of yours to die. I suggest you do as I say." The man in orange said as he stared directly into his eyes. "We clear?"

Kevin tried to answer but felt his voice fail him. He just nodded. From there, the escaped prisoner ordered him to head to his car. Kevin walked slowly with his terrified daughter. She stayed close to him, all the while whining quietly.

"Pop the trunk. The girl and I are gonna ride in there while you take us outside the city." The prisoner said as he motioned to the trunk.

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Kevin growled but backed up when the man in orange lowered the gun and aimed it at Amanda.

"You don't got a say in this... Daddy." The man threatened.

Kevin felt his face become covered in sweat; his heart felt like it was beating a thousand times per second. Just as he was about to nod in agreement, a chain came flying from his right and wrapped around the man's neck, slamming him down to the ground and causing him to drop the weapon.

Acting on instinct, Kevin picked up his daughter and covered her body with his own. Turning his head, Kevin followed the chain and saw a man dressed in a black leather jacket and with a motorcycle helmet on his head. A white skull was painted on the front.

The man in black then pulled the chain back in a mighty tug. The orange-clad prisoner grunted in pain as he slid all the way across the parking garage concrete floor until he stopped next to the man in the helmet. Raising his leg, he stomped down on the prisoners head with a sickening crunch—knocking the prisoner out.

"You and your daughter alright?" The man in black asked. Kevin shook himself out of his shock and nodded.

"Y-Yes! We are, t-thanks to you." Kevin thanked the man.

"Good. Get you and your daughter home. There are still several more prisoners out there. It's not safe." Kevin nodded, unlocked the car, and placed his daughter in her seat.

"D-Daddy? Are we going to be okay now?" Amanda asked him in a whisper as she looked at him with a scared expression.

"Yes, sweetie. We're safe now; I'm gonna get us home. Okay?" Kevin smiled and kissed his daughter's forehead, and closed the door. Walking around his car, Kevin stopped when he saw the man in the leather jacket pick up the prisoner and toss him on his shoulder.

"You're that vigilante, right? Vengeance?" Kevin felt like he should have just gotten in the car and started heading home, but he felt his curiosity win.

The man in black stopped for a second and turned to him; after a short pause, he nodded and started walking away. Kevin heard about the stories and rumors regarding the illusive vigilante of Los Angeles. He was one of the people who thought he was just a crazed adrenaline junky who goes out and beats criminals up. Kevin now knew that he was wrong. Vengeance wasn't a reckless lunatic.

He was a hero.

•••

"Looks like the police found this one first."

Harvey looked down at the small two-story home, where he followed the presence of another escaped prisoner. Hiding in the blanket of darkness the night provided, Harvey crouched on the roof across from the home and saw two police officers walk up to the home.

"Two souls inside." Harvey said silently. "An older woman and the prisoner."

'Are we gonna let the police handle this?' Zarathos asked as Harvey mulled over what to do. He looked at the officers and studied their features.

One was a short woman with short black hair and brown skin; she seemed to be the more experienced of the two. Her partner was a tall, light-skinned man; he seemed older and was missing his rank emblems on his sleeves. From Harvey's experience with the police, this meant that the older man was a rookie.

"We'll hang back and see how this plays out." Harvey answered and watched the officers pull out their service weapons and enter the home. It seems like they finally noticed the prisoner was inside.

Harvey jumped onto the street With a powerful leap and rolled forward to a stop. From there he silently made his way over to the home. Thanks to the darkness of the night, he did not need his helmet, so he had his hood pulled over his head. Leaning in, he listened to what was going on inside.

"It's over, Caleb." Harvey heard the male officer say; with his enhanced senses, Harvey was capable of hearing all the sounds very person made in the house. Even the smallest of movements could be picked up by him.

"You know, I felt a little stupid taping up Aunt Sallie, but I'm feeling pretty good about it now." Caleb, the escaped prisoner, said in a satisfied tone. The sounds of the floor creaking must have surprised Caleb. "Hey! Stay back! Or I'm repainting the walls in here with crimson!"

"He has a weapon." Harvey guessed at what was happening inside. "This is a standoff."

"Come on, Caleb. You're too smart a guy to be pulling that trigger." The male officer spoke. "Right now, you're looking at aggravated assault. That might add a couple of years to your sentence, but if you kill her-"

"Stop! Stop trying to reason with me. I hate prison." Caleb interrupted the officer. Harvey could hear his heartbeat start to pick up. "If I got a shot at not going back, I'm gonna take it, so back the hell up!"

"And get me someone that can make a deal, or I am pulling this trigger."

At this point, Harvey heard enough and decided to walk around the house to where Caleb was leaning against the wall. With his ability to sense souls, Harvey could feel where everyone was located in the home. Alongside Zarathos, helping to amplify his soul-sensing abilities, he could feel the outline of anyone's physical body. Harvey liked to call this ability the Soul-Hunting Sense.

Once he was behind the wall Caleb was sitting against, Harvey saw his hand extend towards the older woman who wasn't moving. She must have been tied up, Harvey deduced. Both officers had Caleb pinned between them. No way out.

'He must have some sort of string attached to the trigger of a gun or shotgun, he must have rigged it to be pointing at the old woman's body. With one pull, he'll set off the gun. Killing her.' Harvey thought and saw a mental image of the inside of the room.

'Clever.' Zarathos mentioned.

Walking over to the window directly where the string is most likely lined up to the woman, Harvey summoned a fiery shuriken. If he were anyone else, this would have been a gamble, but with his abilities, it would be a much safer way to take away Caleb's only form of power.

With a lightning-fast toss, he threw the flaming shuriken through the glass without breaking it due to the intense heat, melting the glass instantly. Once inside, Harvey focused his power and had blazing fire burst out of each pointed end of the shuriken. It now resembled a wide flaming wheel of fire that cut through the string, tore through the furniture of the room, and cut through the walls of the house.

"What the hell was that?!" Caleb screamed as his lifeline was severed.

The two officers were momentarily shocked as well but quickly moved in at the opportunity to subdue the prisoner.

"FREEZE!"

"HANDS UP!"

The male officer moved in, pushed Caleb down onto the ground, and pulled his hands behind his back, cuffing him. "What was that? A wheel of fire?"

Harvey smiled and was happy his plan worked perfectly. He made sure to dismiss his weapon before it could continue cutting through the neighborhood. Harvey heard the female officer yell at her partner to go outside and check what had happened. Not needing an altercation with a police officer, Harvey quickly left the area.

There was still one prisoner left to capture.

•••

"Give him up!"

"Hand that little bitch over!"

Officer Tim Bradford listened to the yells coming from outside. It seemed like all the gang members who were trying to get to one of the escaped fugitives, Marcos Gibson, were becoming restless if his vandalized police vehicle was anything to go off by. Just more paperwork for his rookie officer, Lucy Chen, to work on whenever they get back to the station. Well, if they get back to the station.

"That's gonna be a lot of paperwork for you, Boot." Tim looked over to his rookie as the men outside continued hitting their patrol vehicle.

"Seriously? That's what you're thinking about right now?" Chen looked at him with a look he didn't like. "Hypothetically, is there ever a scenario where we just, you know, give them what they want? Where we, you know, balance one life against the lives of many lives and make that hard call?"

"That call isn't ours to make. Look, we're here to serve and protect. We don't get to decide who we serve or who we protect." Tim couldn't believe he had to explain that to her. But looking at their current situation, he could see why she said that. This was a hazardous situation.

"So you're willing to die for that guy?" Chen looked at him with a surprised expression.

"I am unwilling to let fear make me do something I'll be ashamed of in the light of day." Tim answered her question seriously. This was the type of police he was. Seeing movement in the corner of his eye, Tim looked to see Deacon walk up to the front door.

"Whoa, hey, where are you going?" Chen asked the man as he turned the door knob.

"I'm gonna talk." Deacon opened the door and walked outside. Tim could respect him for his bravery, but it could end up getting him killed.

"Damn it. You stay here. No matter what happens to me, you protect him." Tim gritted his teeth and looked over to his rookie and then at Gibson who was sitting on a couch while his hands were cuffed behind him.

"I will." Chen nodded and gave him a serious look. Tim nodded and headed outside. Just in time to see one of the gangsters strike Deacon in the stomach, causing the man to drop to his knees and hold his stomach in pain.

"Hey, leave him alone. You want to beat someone up, I'm right here." Tim walked up to all the men and stood next to Deacon. He had to play it smart; otherwise, he could end up getting killed.

"Only one I want is Marcos. You give him up, we out of here." Keon, the man he spoke to when he first arrived, told him as he looked at him dead in the eyes.

"I can't do that." Tim shook his head. There was no way he would do that. Not in a million years.

"Look, I got no beef with you or Joe. But that fool in there, he was creeping with my old lady. So he gots to get dealt with!" Keon looked over to the house where Marcos was at. It didn't seem like he would give up without getting what he wanted.

"Yeah, that's right."

"Mm-hmm."

"Yeah." Several of the men said off-handedly as they agreed with Keon.

"Give up. You're alone. Outnumbered." Keon looked at him with a confident grin. Tim felt a bead of sweat slide down his brow. This situation was about to head out of control. If they start attacking, could he handle everyone here with just his service weapon? Tim saw some of the men start walking forward, causing him to reach for his sidearm slowly.

"Hey, who's that?" One of the gang members asked as he pointed down the road, where a man in a black leather jacket and a dark grey hoodie rested over his head was walking in their direction.

"You lost?" One of the gangsters yelled out. Tim stared at the hooded man and tried to make out his face, but due to the hoodie and the darkness of the night. It made it hard to see any notable features.

The hooded man continued walking until he stopped a few feet from where a large group of gangsters stood, stopping him from advancing. Tim looked at his attire and felt the puzzle pieces start connecting in his mind. This man! He was-!

"You deaf or something? Get lost!" One of the gangsters swung at the hooded man, but his fist was caught in the hooded man's hand, completely stopping the punch. In a split second, the gangster was punched in the face.

The force of the punch caused the gangster to fly back several feet until he slid to a stop in front of Tim. Tim looked down at the knocked-out gangster and saw that his nose was severely broken; turning his head, he looked at the hooded man walking forward towards all the gangsters. This was California's most famous and notorious vigilante, A man who is on top of the LAPD's most wanted list.

"...Vengeance."