There they stood, six girls with flabbergasted expressions, looking at the vehicle before them.
“You’ve got to be joking. There is no way this for real, right?” Rainbow said, deciding to be the first to speak. “Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever looked at something this expensive in my entire life.”
Rainbow, along with everyone, ogled at the limo in front of them, their eyes tracing over every crease, crevice, nook, cranny, curve, and smooth surface all along the length of the vintage style body.
“Please tell me that this is some kind of crazy fancy paint job. Because I doubt that anyone in their right mind would ever do something as insane as… this!”
Like the one they rode in before, this vehicle had an antique resemblance to it. However, the exterior had a marble appearance and was appropriately accented in places by precious metals and rare gemstones, obviously customized.
There was a nerve-racking aura they all felt for being as close as they were to the car, just from how grossly expensive it looked. Twilight and Rarity, both mesmerized by its over-the-top glamour, shuffled in for a closer examination of the siding and ornaments.
“Nope, this is, in fact, real marble,” Twilight stated, after giving the waxed and polished siding a few quick taps. “And knowing him, chances are that the gemstones are just as authentic… is that grill made of gold!?”
Rarity slowly glanced over each and every crystal, specifically staring deep into the baseball-sized diamond hood ornament resembling a Faberge egg, mesmerized by its stunning beauty.
“I’ve never seen such perfect cuts.” Her concentration broke when it occurred to her that there was an absence of a chauffeur. Leaving a car like this unattended did not seem like the most ideal decision in any region of the world.
Applejack spoke next. “Alright, I‘m done.” She walked up to the car, “I’m not gonna just stand around gawking at this glorified rock on wheels,” She grabbed the handle to open the door. “Let’s al—”
“I WITNESSED IT ALL, RIGHT BEfore my eyes.”
Ear-splitting music exploded from inside the cabin when the door cracked open, causing everyone to rebound, shrink back, and cover their ears from the sudden noise. The music quickly receded down to a background level as Sir E lowered it with a remote. Once the volume was low enough, they could hear nearby car alarms going off.
“I’m so, terribly, sorry about that, I could have sworn I had the sound shield up, and I wasn't expecting you all for…well.” He frantically fished into his pockets before pulling out an extravagant timepiece and examined the face, “At least another minute.”
Now visible to the world, the girls could see he was in a new outfit, consisting of a dark blue baroque era suit, ornamented in a festive manner, thickly accented with lots of white frills and a few patches of black fabrics. The front of his suit jacket was adorned with gold buttons and had an embroidered floral design, barely noticeable in the light's reflection. Atop his head was a tricorn hat, embellished with feathers and fluffy cloud-like material.
His mask had also changed. With a little imagination, the pattern laced with golden trails on its marble-like white surface somewhat resembled the face of an owl. He had styled his hair in a 17th-century fashion with a hint of power gray-blue coloration.
“Please excuse the significant inconvenience. The fault is entirely mine,” said Sir E. He casually waved his hand, beckoning them to enter. “Come in. Come in, make yourselves comfortable.” He then turned back to the billiards game he had been playing moments before.
The girls stood up, collecting themselves, all with ringing in their ears. Rainbow, twisting a pinkie in her ear, spoke for all of them. “How in the world can anyone possibly listen, let alone think or do anything with music at tha… WHAAA!!”
To their surprise, the exterior paled in comparison when they were exposed to what was within the limousine. It looked like a white, gold, and dark blue spaceship made out of marble. Expensive metals were interwoven throughout the interior. On the opposite end of an impossibly spacious room was a bar counter with an extensive assortment of beverage options on the wall. However, what stood out the most was near where the back of the vehicle should have been. It was so out of place that everyone’s eyes were immediately drawn to that direction.
There was a doorway leading to yet another room even larger than the one they were in full of many forms of entertainment. There were arcade games of every variety, claw machines, ball toss, carnival games, even a bowling alley and roller rink.
Amidst their stuttering awe, everyone now had more questions than it would be worth asking.
“Now then,” Sir E said, leaning over the table while aiming his next shot. “Shall we get back to where we left off in our earlier conversation?” He paused to make the shot. “After all, I did inform you that our prior discussion was yet to be over, did I not?”
An extended lack of noise from the group of girls caused Sir E to look in their direction, their faces covered with an overwhelmed look. Even Spike, who had finally felt safe enough to poke his head out from Twilight’s backpack, looked uncomfortable. Rainbow Dash raised her hand, “I have a question, is there a swimming pool in there?”
“Oh, I uh, would have assumed you would be more interested in…” he waved his hand inconsistently in front of himself, gesturing between the group and the room. “Well,…” He sighed in self-disappointment, “Give me one moment if you would.”
Sir E placed his stick down and walked over to the doorway, his leather sole shoes clicking on the marble floor. He began fiddling with a display next to the doorframe, muttering to himself in concentration.
With a loud hiss and a clunk, the door closed just as quickly as it reopened. Once it did, the arcade was gone, replaced by a waterpark-themed room with waterslides, a wave pool, and many other kinds of water-related fun activities ranging from everything between kiddie pool to water skiing. Next to the main pool with all the toys and excitement was a mirror surface Olympic sized lap pool complete with a diving board.
“There you are, is that more to your liking, I hope? Changing rooms are to the right.” Looking back at the girls, Sir E saw little to no change in their expressions.
Rainbow Dash was about to tell him that she was joking about the swimming pool, but Sir E spoke first, “Oh bother. What is it that I’m overlooking?” He reached into his suit pocket and retrieved a booklet.
As Sir E flipped through the pages, Twilight tilted her head sideways and squinted her eyes, attempting to get a look at the small text on the front cover. Barely making out the words, it read ‘Tips to Communication, a Beginners Guide.’
Was this really the same person they were talking to before? Almost an hour ago, Sir E was a confident, composed, collected, cunning, and clever individual with the heart of a dandy lion. But now it seemed like he was slipping into a shaky, skittish, shy, and self-conscious person that had lost his spirit.
“Are you feeling alright? You don’t seem like yourself.” Asked Twilight with concern at the fringes of each of her words.
Sir E looked up and hurriedly put the book away, “Right, yes. Yes, I’m fine.” He sat down on the nearest barstool and snapped his fingers twice. A bottle and wineglass glided through the air towards him, and he gripped both once they were close enough to grab. With a pop, Sir E removed the cork with only his thumb and began to pour himself a drink, “What on earth would prompt you to ask such a silly question?”
“For starters, you seem like a completely different person.” As Twilight spoke, Sir E’s wine glass started overflowing, but he didn’t seem to notice. “And for all we know, you could easily be his double. I mean, we don’t even know what your face looks like.”
The moment Twilight said what she did, the bottle Sir E was holding shattered at the neck, causing everyone to jump and back away. Sir E slowly opened the hand that he used to crush the bottle.
Past the red drink stains, everyone could see the glass embedded into his gloved hand. He then said in a soft low voice, “And what’s wrong with the way I look?”
“N… Nothing. I never said anything about how you look, only that we don’t know what you look like. Sir E, please, you’re really starting to scare me right now.” Twilight wasn’t the only one. All of her friends were subtly creeping back towards the exit of the limousine. To their utter dismay, however, the door had closed, and the vehicle was already moving.
They were trapped.
Sir E turned away from them, put his head on his uninjured hand, and his injured hand on the bar counter. “You’re going to have to forgive my behavior. To tell you the truth, I’m not all that great at socializing. It’s been so long.”
That wasn’t entirely true, but he felt that telling them the whole truth would only make the already tense atmosphere worse. Yet he intended to at least hint towards the more accurate reason for his erratic character. It was the least he could do.
Sir E walked back to the Billiards table and waved a hand over it. The girls watched the surface gloss over with a thick, ice looking material, freezing the balls in place with a translucent substance, leaving behind a flat smooth surface.
“There’s more to it though, a reason why I'm… Uh, malpracticed, should I say? I wasn't always this way.” As he spoke, he was unbuttoning the sleeve of his injured hand. “Well, at least not since… this.”
Sir E pulled his sleeve halfway down his forearm and removed his glove, holding up his hand for everyone to see. What they saw was a hand that was crippled much more than just the cuts caused by the glass.
His hand was so much more scarred and mutilated than they could have possibly imagined. His knuckles were swollen in various places but not enough for them to show through the gloves he wore. Additionally, his once pale skin was covered entirely in burn scars having the textured look of papermachè and chewed gum. The blood drizzling from the lacerations caused by the glass made the image even more dreadful.
“To answer your unasked question: yes, this hurts, unbearably so.” He stretched his hand forward palm down, and the translucent substance on the surface of the table rose to circle, but not touch, his hand, turning nearly opaque.
A dim light shone from within the enclosed area, “But I have grown accustomed to such feelings of pain and, as you can see, have learned to control my response to it.” The light ceased, and he pulled his hand away from the material. Having finished its task, it returned to its former, flat state. Holding his hand up once more, it showed little difference to what they saw earlier, other than the most recent injury now healed.
“My entire body was affected. That’s why I dress the way I do, not because I find it amusing. But because it is the only way I feel for me to be accepted by the general populous.”
Having seen the deformed hand, the girls realized why Sir E was starting to lose his boldness. They could only imagine how uncomfortable it was for him to face others when he had such a severe problem. Having to hide it all under a flamboyant facade, he also had to play the part. All just to have the feeling of acceptance and escape from his self-perceived solitude.
Sir E grabbed the chin of his mask and slowly began to remove it, “My face suffered the worst of all the damages. Would you care to see what lies beneath?”
“No!” They all cried out in unison. Applejack continued, “I think we get the idea.”
“Of course, you didn't come here to talk about me or my past.” He set his mask back into place, “You came to me in order to discuss Riot’s.” He pulled his stained sleeve down and put his bloodied glove back on. He then placed both his hands on the table’s surface, and the substance briefly crawled up to his elbows and then back down. The suit's fabric was no longer blemished, and the girls guessed that it too had been repaired.
“I’ll at least say that our pasts mirror each other quite significantly, so I have a great understanding of what he’s been through.” He reached up and fingered where the middle of his forehead would be like he had done earlier that day. “For example, with great power comes an even greater cost. One that both he and I know all too well.”
After a moment of silence, Sir E brought his hand down and stood with the authority they knew him to have, regaining his composure. “And that, I’m afraid, is what Sunset is experiencing. Years worth of repaying such a cost in a matter of seconds. To tell you the truth, I’m impressed that she is even responsive. That alone tells me just how strong she is.” With one final wave of his hand, the ice-like material vanished, and Sir E returned to his game.
“By now, I’m sure you're wondering where I'm taking you? It’s to one of my smaller abodes. I'm assuming that you need your gems repaired, correct?” he struck the cue ball before continuing. “I could feel the damage done to them when I borrowed Twilight’s.” He got into position for the next shot, “The trip will be a lengthy one, I'm afraid, but unfortunately,” he made one last shot, ending this round. “I have neither the required tools nor resources with me at the moment to make the necessary repairs.”
After tapping the table’s edge twice, the billiard balls came out of the holes and set themselves back into the start position. “That should give you time to think through what you should ask me about what I know.” Sir E positioned himself to begin the next round. “In the meantime,” he shot for the break, starting a new game. “I suggest you should wind down a bit while you have the opportunity. I know this is a lot for people like you to swallow.”
“Tell us this much,” Rainbow Dash spoke up with determination in her words, “is Sunset safe? We ran into Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum at the elevator, but I don’t know if we can trust them.”
“Ah yes, Sent and Al. They are a piece of work if I do say so myself.” Sir E paused his game and looked at them, still hunched over the table. “As strange as you might make them out to be, I assure you that Ms. Shimmer couldn’t be in any more capable hands.” He turned back to the game and aimed for another shot.
“As they might have informed you, I sent them to protect,” he paused to take a well-aimed shot, “her from harm. What they didn’t tell you is from what.” Sir E put aside his cue stick and leaned with his back against the table, arms crossed.
He faced the group giving them his full attention, and breathed in. “This will be hard for you to accept, but I happen to know that Riot is highly suicidal. As crafty and crazy as he is, Sunset, having read his mind, now knows at least, if not more than, a million different ways to kill herself.”
Their stomachs dropped when they heard him say that. Regardless, he pointed his finger to them, indicating that there was even more. “But let's not forget about Tirek either. Someone sent him to eliminate ‘magic users,’” Sir E said in the same way Tirek used the word. “Whoever it was is bound to try again. Furthermore, the state that your friend is in right now, she needs all the protection that I can possibly provide.” Sir E picked up the cue stick and turned back to his game, “From outside forces, and herself.”
Twilight’s cell phone rang. When she looked at the caller id, it was a blocked name and number. She was about to decline the call when Sir E spoke. “I strongly advise you to answer that, my dear.” He said, leaning over the edge of the table, fiddling the stick, carefully aiming his next shot. Twilight looked at him curiously.
“If he’s calling you,” He made an expert curve shot, sinking four balls, and continued speaking. “It’s for a reason. It would be wise if you listened to what he has to say.”
Taking his advice with a grain of salt, Twilight answered by saying, “hello?” without putting much thought into it.
To her astonishment, she was answered with Riot’s dreadfully familiar voice. “Twilight Sparkle, meet me at Bayleaf’s Gourmet at seven o’clock. On. The. Dot. No sooner, no later. Is that clear?”
Twilight’s hand started trembling as adrenaline shot through her veins. “Uh… um…” before she could get out any proper response, Riot hung up.
Heart pounding, Twilight slowly pulled the phone away from her ear and looked at the screen. To her, it sounded like he was making a ransom call. “So… who was that?” asked Fluttershy, wanting to know just as much as everyone else, seeing their friends’ panicked expression.
Turning to face her friends, Twilight answered, “That was Riot. He told me to meet him at Bayleaf’s Gourmet at seven.”
“Random guess here,” Pinkie Pie said, “But something’s telling me he’s not asking you on a date.”
The greater part of Twilight would rather kiss or even marry Tirek than go on a dinner date with Riot after what he’s done. But a little voice in the back of her head said that if she didn’t, Sunset wouldn’t be the only one he would hospitalize.
Riot slipped his cellphone back into his pocket and continued walking through the hustle and bustle of the moderately crowded sidewalk. But only those that knew what to look for would have noticed his pace quicken ever so slightly. Two of them. Four hundred and ninety-three meters on my seven forty. One of them is well trained and experienced. The other seems to have been unwillingly dragged into this. Neither are equipped for combat, only observation. This will be child's play.
After walking another block, Riot’s pace had quickened much less subtly as he began to jog. He continued increasing his speed at a steady rate. Soon he was running fast enough that people started to move out of his way in fear of being run over. It wasn’t long before he was sprinting, his body leaning farther forward the faster he moved.
Eventually, he had to transfer onto the road as he started passing cars that were easily going twenty-five to thirty miles per hour, his metallic prosthetic legs ringing with every step he took. Like all of the equipment he had access to, his prosthetics could change into what best suited the current situation allowing him to run however fast he wanted. By now, he was turning everyone’s heads as they watched him breeze pass cars without breaking a sweat.
Riot was coming to a bridge, and on that bridge was something he had prepared beforehand to arrive at that very moment. A pair of Highway Patrolmen on motorcycles had taken an interest in that something, a motorbike that was going well over the speed limit.
It wasn’t your average motorcycle. The wheels had omnidirectional capabilities allowing for powered drifts, Riot’s most preferred choice of tires. The sleek, sharp-angled frame style made the word futuristic look like an understatement. The trouble that the officers were running into was that the said motorbike had no driver on it. Riot wasn’t too fond of driving vehicles, finding them loud and cumbersome, but they had their uses when the situation demanded it.
Riot reached into his trenchcoat and pulled out a full metal rope dart. His timing was perfect. Just when he was about to go under the bridge, Riot spun, his back towards the ground, facing skyward. With a mighty throw, he thrust the dart into the cement. It hit inches away from the edge of the opposite side of the bridge.
The weapon’s cable instantly went taunt with the help of his previously gathered speed, flinging him into an upward swing. Repositioning himself in mid-air to land on the seat of his motorcycle was a cinch, something that the lifetime of survival training he had gone through made possible.
Once he was on the vehicle, the weight and impact of his momentum caused the motorbike to make an instantaneous exit turn down a no-entry road. Additionally, Riot jerked his arm, dislodging the rope dart from the bridge, and it automatically retracted itself back into concealment. The now dumbstruck officers lost sight of their target but immediately called in for backup to stop all the illegal actions taking place. Luckily for them, an air traffic control helicopter was already in the sky.
Riot punched the throttle when he got off the bridge and drove through oncoming traffic on a four-lane one-way road. He skillfully weaved around the cars, trucks, and buses ahead of him. Being inches away from collision meant nothing to him. Seventy-five miles an hour? I’m making it too easy for them.
A police car turned its lights and sirens on and began its pursuit after the reckless motorcycle. Riot paid no mind to it, however. Ninety is better, but not good enough. He was more concentrated on the traffic and the noticeable shift it made at the law enforcement vehicle’s arrival. In fact, he was so focused, were it not for his shades, anyone would have assumed he was stoned if they were to get a good enough look at his face.
Riot was doing more than watching what was in front of him. He was calculating the speed, distance, and trajectory of every vehicle in great detail. Riot was also closely observing what every pedestrian in and outside of the cars he passed was doing. It was also notable for him to include the helicopter’s noise that was four and a half miles away and closing. One hundred and twenty, that’s more like it.
Coming up to yet another bridge, Riot slammed his front brake, causing the motorcycle to flip forward. Before it made one full rotation, he spun on the seat and slammed his prosthetics into the ground. Doing so caused him to launch high enough to have his front tire gently land on the guardrail, having lost most of his momentum to make an upward leap.
The patrol car continued under the bridge while Riot bunny hopped from the railing onto a moving semi-truck trailer. He hit the acceleration to make up for his lost speed, leaving behind a very startled truck driver.
Hot Rod was a highway patrol officer who was infamous for his crazy daredevil stunts. Even at a young age, he had always loved the feeling of an adrenaline rush. More so whenever he had the chance to hit the throttle of any motorcycle.
When Hot Rod caught wind of a reckless driver on his police scanner, he grinned with excitement. What’s more, the officer also happened to be close to the area that they were last seen. What surprised him, though, was to hear his commanding officer permitting him to do whatever he needed to within the law to put an end to their rampage. Hot Rod was always getting in trouble for unsafe driving and had recently been told a few times that his badge was on the line if he didn’t clean up his act.
The distant sound of a revving motorcycle engine was music to his ears. Hot Rod turned his head to look at his target, but as he did, it flew past him faster than he thought possible, only making his grin grow even wider. “Oh, yeah!” He turned on his lights and sirens, then let loose, screeching the back tire, popping a wheelie, and beginning the chase. “Woo hoo!”
“Within the law, Hot Rod!” Crack Shot said over the radio for his partner to hear before attempting to catch up to him.
It took much longer for Hot Rod to catch up to what he had nicknamed “The Bogie” than he would have liked. That alone was enough to tell the officer he wasn't going to be as easy as he originally anticipated. But these were his streets, and Hot Rod wasn’t going to let some random punk outdo him so easily.
By now, the chopper was on the scene and was giving Hot Rod an aerial overlay of the streets ahead. It wasn’t that necessary for him though, as he knew every road in the city like the back of his hand, and he knew that Riot was headed towards the park.
Riot could weave through these trees with his eyes closed and any speed, making the officer wonder if he was a suicidal maniac or a talented genius. The only reason Hot Rod was able to keep up with his insane speed and hairpin maneuvering was that he was mimicking Riot’s every move while thinking if he can do it, so can I. However, the amount of branches whipping into his face, arms, legs, and tearing up his uniform was starting to become bearable.
They were under the thick tree line for at least two minutes. The sound of the helicopter’s engine was now a fair distance away, having lost the visual on its target. He shook the chopper off of his tail like it was nothing, just who is this guy? And why is he running, is it to somewhere or from something? Hot Rod could only wonder to himself.
Up ahead, the officer was surprised to see they were already about to leave the forested area and enter the children's playground. Now he was filled with a sense of urgency. It wasn't just a matter of pride anymore. Lives were now potentially at risk if this continued. For a fleeting moment, Hot Rod thought that Riot was going to plow through the park. He did, sort of, but in the most spectacular fashion that the officer had ever seen, leaving him positively stupefied.
Seconds before reaching the playground’s boundaries, Riot stood on the seat and then hit the ejector button, which then launched him like a bullet into the air. Pulling his rope dart out again, he shot the dart back towards his bike, grappling it. The moment the rope went taut, Riot’s momentum slowed down as he transferred the energy into the motorcycle, lifting it off the ground and over his head.
Acting like a bola, Riot cleared the entire distance of the playground and parking lot without even touching the ground, going over awe-stricken pedestrians. Again his rope dart retracted itself as he reunited with his motorcycle spinning faster and faster the closer they got together. Eventually, he returned to the bike’s seat, landing upright on the street, then unperturbed, Riot continued to speed down the road.
Hot Rod wasn't as fortunate, being forced to haphazardly navigate through the playground equipment as bystanders jumped out of the way of the police vehicle. By the time Hot Rod made it through the parking lot and to the road, he had just enough time to see Riot take a right and disappear down a narrow street. The officer had a score to settle with ’The Bogie’ for making him look like an amateur, but Hot Rod had to remember that his job came first. He wasn't going to let The Bogie get away so easily.
Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were slowly walking down a sidewalk, all looking a little disappointed. They had planned out the entire afternoon, but a few shortcomings they hadn’t anticipated stood firmly in front of their activities.
“It’s so unfair!” Scootaloo said, kicking the same rock she had been for the last mile. It was the first thing any of them had said since their plans were canceled. “Why do all the grownups have age limits on all the fun stuff.”
“No kiddin’, ah mean really, how hard is it ta go skydivin’?” Said Apple Bloom, agreeing with her friend, “All ya gotta do is jump out of a plane with a parachute and pull the cord. Why are there these stupid lessons you have to take? And it costs how much? Ah’ll be graduating college before ah can even get that amount of money.” It was only a mere two hundred dollars each, but to her, that was a fortune she could only dream about having.
“So, what now?” Sweetie Belle said, feeling just as frustrated as her friends but holding it in. “We’ve still got a few hours left in the day to hang out. Got any ideas?”
As they thought in silence, the sound of a police siren steadily grew louder. It wasn't very often they heard one, and even less common for it to be coming this close.
As the siren drew closer, it made Sweetie Belle remember something that took place earlier that day. “Hey guys, did you hear about what happened this morning at the mall? There was some criminal that got his butt handed to him. My sister was actually there to see it.”
“Mine too, she also said that one of the fellers who did it was using her magic,” Apple Bloom said, remembering the call she received from Applejack after the fact. “And not just her magic either, he was usin’ all of their magic, Twilight, Pinkie, even Rarity and Rainbow Dash. Not sure if he used Fluttershy’s, but she said somethin’ about it being because of him havin’ their gems or somethin’.”
“I heard about it but… not from Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo said, feeling slightly more disappointed than she did earlier. As much as Rainbow Dash was like a sister to her, she couldn't help feeling at that moment a little left out for not having a sister.
By now, they could see the police lights coming their way, chasing a motorcycle driver. That gave Scootaloo an idea. “Hey, what if we helped out? When they get close enough, we jump in front of them. That’ll startle them enough to swerve into something and stop.” She held out her hand for them to do their cheer. “What do you say, CMC crime stoppers?”
That earned her a puzzled look from her friends. “Uh, not that I’m against being like my sister, and her friends saving the world or anything,” Sweet Belle said, noticing something else making her rethink her sentence, “but one, that sounds a tad bit dangerous. And two, I think that train has the same idea.”
Turning to look at what she meant, they first saw then heard the train she was talking about. It was heading to the railroad crossing just before it would disappear into a tunnel connected to the steep hill they were walking by.
Looking back at the chase, they watched both motorcycles move into the oncoming lane, which was empty due to the train's arrival. The girls could already tell that it was going to be close.
“Uh, h-how about CMC accident prevention?” Sweetie Belle said, more out of not wanting to see such a fatality happen in front of her, then knowing how to stop it. Adding to their surprise, a helicopter with the word police on both sides came barling onto the scene flying over the rooftops.
Moments before all the vehicles converged, Sweetie Belle covered her mouth, Apple Bloom covered her eyes peeking through her fingers, and Scootaloo covered her ears. Using words to describe the next few seconds was unjustifiable compared to what they saw.
They watched the officer slow down his motorcycle taking his losses while the other biker skidded before falling over. He was still moving forward incredibly fast as he landed onto the side of the motorbike and went under the railroad crossing gate. The front tire brushed the front of the train, missing a collision by the skin of their teeth. They continued forward under the other gate before the tires caught the asphalt uprighting itself in the proper traffic lane. They were backward now, but only for a moment as the biker did a j-turn and accelerated into, then up, the almost vertical hillside.
The helicopter continued to follow the motorcyclist, leaving the three girls behind. They slowly looked at each other, then unanimously said, “CMC daredevils! Whoo!”
This was the exact scenario that Riot had been looking for, a straight road going towards T intersection next to a river. If he could jump across, he would be entering a wooded area outside of town. It didn't matter to him that there wasn't a bridge. He knew how to improvise.
It was a relatively wide river, but the distance was no more expansive than the park he had cleared minutes ago. There was a guardrail at the end of the street he needed to jump, but that would also prove an easy obstacle to overcome.
This time when he hit the throttle, Riot popped a wheelie. Timing it just right, he hit the break causing the motorcycle to bounce up into the air. To the helicopter watching, he was going to make it across the river. However, before he made it over the guardrail, a semi-truck clipped the back tire, flipping the entire airborne bike upside down.
Riot smacked his head so hard against the rail that it left a dent. His prosthetics snagged onto the motorcycle as he was ripped off the seat slamming the bike to the ground. They tumbled down the slope, flipping end over end towards the river, spraying grass and dirt into the air. The bike sprung back up for a brief moment before landing in the middle of the river and sinking to the bottom.
The helicopter circled around, assessing the situation as more police personnel arrived, having been informed of Riot whereabouts by the chopper. The officers rushed towards the river on foot and began scanning the water's surface for a body, but it was too murky to see any more than a few inches. Other than the bubbles made by the crashed bike, there were no signs of Riot. Had they looked down the storm drain tunnel located under the same road, they would have seen a large silhouette entering the sewage system.