Stumbling back away from the window, nearly knocking everything off the desk as he steadied himself against it, Soren uttered a curse under his breath.

  Just outside, there were a few individuals, three to be exact. Their voices were hushed and filled with urgency. It was hard to make out exactly what they were saying.

  Slowly inching himself closer to the window he peaked out through it, hoping to overhear the conversation.

  “Lieutenant, are you sure we shouldn’t secure the ground floor first?”

  From what he could hear the first voice sounded like it came from a young woman. Her words were almost condescending, filled with arrogance.

  “Yes… You and Otis will secure the alley until backup arrives… Don’t want him slipping away from under our noses. I will head up, alert me if you see anything.”

  This man sounded older than the others. His voice was rough, tired even. However, it still carried an unwavering sense of authority.

  His straightforward answer was followed by two swift replies.

  “Yes sir!”

  “Understood…”

  The sound of footsteps quickly drew close, causing Soren to tuck his head away from the window.

  ‘Damn! How did they know I was here? I made sure to not be seen… Did I make a mistake somehow? No, no… why are they here?’

  Once again, he carefully looked through the window. Down below in the alleyway, two figures came into view. One was of a young woman with short orange hair. Her face was covered in patches of freckles, she wore a stern expression.

  Next to her was a man, he looked to be about the same age as his companion. In his hand held high was a small hand held lantern, its soft yellow light illuminated them both. He was a bit weaselly in appearance, his body was very lanky. On his face was a scruffy mustache that hadn’t quite fully grown in.

  Each of them wore a simple dark blue uniform with a matching beret. The uniforms design was practical, yet it still had a level of elegance to it. Along the lining of the uniform was a silver color trim. Pinned to the chest was a simple badge in the shape of a shield.

  ‘Shit! I was hoping to be wrong… The damn peace keepers…’

  Just below the young man let out a frustrated sigh.

  “Why do you have to be so snobby with the lieutenant? You’re gonna get us in trouble.”

  The woman snickered at his question.

  “Because the lieutenant is an idiot! Having us rush to secure the alley is just his way of getting all the credit for himself… Honestly a lazy bastard like him doesn’t deserve to wear the armor.”

  Her words seemed to make the weaselly man nervous.

  “Shh!! If the lieutenant heard you he’d have you…”

  Before he could finish the freckled woman let out an obnoxious laugh.

  “He’ll what? Tell his daddy I was mean to him… Please if the caption suspended every person who made fun of his son, half the force would be gone.”

  Soren continued to watch the two, his eyes occasionally scanning the alleyway. Looking down at them he couldn’t help but feel almost amused. Even so he had to push that aside, if what they said was true and a lieutenant was coming to him, then running was his only option.

  No matter how skilled he had become with the hook, or how many gadgets he carried with him, fighting a lieutenant was not something he could be capable of.

  ‘Well… If what they’re saying is true, then maybe I could escape his clutches.’

  Even though he was confident in his capabilities, taking a risk like that was not worth it.

  ‘Either way, escaping from these two doesn’t seem too hard to handle.’

  Down in the alley below, the two keepers stopped just beneath the window Soren was looking out of.

  “So… what now?”

  The freckled girl furrowed her brows at her weaselly companion’s question.

  “Gods, do you have a brain in that skull of yours? We wait for backup, they should arrive soon… Honestly, how did you make the force?”

  Directly above them Soren began his escape, sliding open the window, he hunched his body over and crawled through. Once on the other side he launched himself out of the opening. In the same instance he threw his arm upwards, pointing it at the wall of a neighboring building.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Glancing upwards the weaselly man stumbled back, startled by the sudden appearance of Soren.

  “Ahh!!”

  Gritting her teeth she reached down to a leather holster at her hip, retreating a sleek copper revolver.

  “Don’t just stand there you twat, Shoot the bastard!”

  Aiming it upwards, the gun began to shine brightly, as a complex runic pattern radiated with white light.

  Just as the hook sunk itself into the light stone wall he felt something burrow into his thigh, then an echoing bang rang out in the quiet alley. It was only a second before a wave of sharp pain radiated from his thigh.

  His body tensed up from the pain as the hook suddenly retracted from the wall, sending him plummeting downwards.

  ‘Gah!’

  His body slammed down onto an empty crate that had been left in the alley. The impact shattered the crate, sending pieces of wooden debris flying in all directions. Air suddenly escaped his lungs, leaving him desperately gasping for air. He could feel blood soaking the leg of his pants, its warmth was a stark contrast to the blistering cold he had been subjected to.

  It would have almost felt nice… if it were not for the agonizing pain he was in. The wound itself could have been manageable, but the impact he received from the fall left him momentarily stunned.

  Gritting his teeth he looked up to see the two keepers rapidly getting closer, their guns both drawn and aimed directly at him.

  ‘Dammit, for some of the most unprofessional keepers I've seen, they’re surprisingly quick to react.’

  Fighting through the pain Soren pulled himself to his feet, stumbling a bit, nearly caving in on his wounded leg.

  Just as he did the officers stopped a few feet from him, guns pointed directly at him.

  “S-stop right there!”

  “Don’t move!”

  Cursing under his breath Soren begrudgingly raised his hands above his head.

  Giving him a snarky grin she barked a command at her companion.

  “Otis… Go on and cuff him!”

  Quickly turning his head to her, the weaselly man responded in a shaken voice.

  “What?! Why do I have to do it?”

  In an angered tone she barked back.

  “Because I told you too… Now, stop wasting time!”

  Using the brief distraction created by their arguing, he quickly lowered his arm pointing the hook at the freckled woman’s head. In an instant the runic pattern on the device shined with a white radiance. The sleek blade shot directly at her.

  As if out of pure instinct the cocky woman quickly ducked, avoiding the blade's path.

  Grinning ear to ear she straightened up and pointed the revolver at him ready to fire, but before she could the blade sunk into the stone wall behind her.

  At an incredible speed Soren was launched at her, his feet nearly leaving the ground. Slightly caught off guard by his rapid approach, she fired off three panicked shots. Each of them whizzed past him. One shot was almost too close, but even so, none of the shots connected. As his body collided with the female keeper, the force of the impact sent her to the ground.

  The sleek revolver had freed itself from her hand, landing somewhere further down the alley. Her head bounced once, hitting the dark stone ground of the alley and knocking her completely unconscious.

  Her lanky partner let out a shaky gasp.

  “M-Mary!!”

  Quickly aiming his weapon at Soren, the weaselly man shouted.

  “Y-you bastard! I’ll blow your head off for that!”

  The man's hands were trembling terribly, barely being able to keep the gun still.

  Gritting his teeth, Soren dashed closer to him, ducking out of the way of his revolver. He threw his fist upwards, the second his hand collided with the man's head he was sent tumbling down. His weapon was lost from his grip.

  Quickly reaching down he grabbed the weapon before the officer had a chance to retrieve it himself. Firmly gripping its handle, he raised it above his head and brought it down on the man’s skull, knocking him unconscious.

  “Maybe you’re not cut out for this line of work.”

  Soren stared down at the two for a moment, then briefly examined the revolver. Shifting it around in his grip, he studied the sequences lining the device.

  ‘It’s only a crappy government issued revolver… but having a gun is better than not.’

  Tucking the revolver into a loop on his belt, he limped away from the bodies. Wincing with every step, he heard a loud voice from behind, causing him to spin around suddenly.

  “There! I see the bastard! Shit… he got Mary and Otis!”

  Uttering a vile curse Soren took off down the alley, as sounds of many footsteps quickly followed. His running was slowed due to the wound in his leg, but he still managed to get far enough into the alley to fire the hook at the wall of a tall building.

  The metal blade sunk deep into the tan stone. He was suddenly yanked upwards by the retracting cable. As he began his ascent, several shots rang out. Two of which grazed him, but one lucky shot burrowed into his shoulder.

  ‘Agh!’

  The sudden pain once more caused him to accidentally recall the hook. Without the tether to the building, he was sent upwards past his intended position.

  Clearing the edge of the roof he landed with a thud, pieces of tile crumbled under his weight, leaving a small indent where he landed.

  With a drawn out groan, Soren pulled himself to his feet. He had been injured heavily, but not enough to keep him down. Luckily, he was able to avoid most of the bullets fired at him. Compared to what could have happened he got off relatively well.

  Moving a hand to the back of his shoulder he pressed down on the wound, pulling his hand back he saw his glove stained red with blood.

  ‘Tsk… I swear the next keeper I see I’m gonna…’

  Soren froze in place. Standing across from him at the edge of the roof was a man clad in polished silver armor. The armor had an ornate pattern all over its surface, it seemed to be composed of many small lines of runes. In his hand was a silver short sword, it too bore the intricate pattern of runes.

  Before Soren could utter even a single word the man spoke in a calm, tired voice.

  “Move… And you die.”