The three were walking back to the car, although Alice was more skipping in front and humming to herself. The streets were silent like before and Chase still felt the eerie atmosphere and he had to spend a week here. Then again, he’s been through worse and he needed to do this for both the citizens here and himself. But he could sense Calvin was also on edge. Alice, however, seemed completely unbothered and actually looked way more comfortable here than before.

“Hey Alice?” Calvin spoke up.

“Hmm?” Alice hummed.

“So, you seem to be really familiar with this place.”

“Mhm.”

“Do you hang out here a lot?”

“Yup. I know almost everyone here.”

“Really? Do you live here or something?”

“Mhm, well…” Alice slowed her stride and turned toward them. “I lived here when I was really young and my dad had to go on his diplomatic trips. He didn’t start taking me along until I was sixteen, which gave me plenty of time to talk to everyone here. And since my dad is the one actively trying to help them, I’m basically everyone’s favorite person here.”

“What was it like?”

“I think you can imagine that yourself. But it was also nice, everyone here is struggling, which really brings us together. We’re all wishing for at least proper lives…” Alice looked at Chase. “Which is why getting a Guardian to actually work with us is so big for this place. You might think everyone here hates you, and well yeah that’s kind of true and you probably already know why, but we all want the same things. Once people start seeing the good you can do then they’ll start lighting up like fireflies!”

“I’m not sure if I’ll be able to meet your expectations,” Chase said.

“Dude, look at everyone here. Does it look like their expectations are that high?”

Chase sighed. “I’m not sure if I’ll be able to give you the help you need.”

“We’ll try our best, like this!” Alice took out a loaf of bread wrapper in a paper bag out of her jacket and beckoned to a group of children hiding behind some stone stairs.

“What the–how long have you had that? And how did you manage to keep that…in your jacket?”

“Mmm, I have my ways,” Alice walked up to the kids and handed them the bag of bread, roughly splitting the bread to share among them. “Here, I bought some bread for you all this morning.”

They all quietly thanked her, but then she noticed all the other hungry faces looking on with envy. “Don’t worry everyone!” Alice called out, “We’ve got this month’s shipment of food coming in next week, plus…” She looked at Chase, “I’ve got a feeling things are gonna be a lot more different soon, and for the better.”

The faces followed Alice’s gaze to Chase and he was met with more stares of varying expressions, some suspicious, skeptical, and with the same hatred he was met with earlier, but most of all there were glimmers of hope.

Chase looked back and forth between the faces before he looked back at Alice to prevent himself from getting overwhelmed. “Right,” he whispered. “Let’s go.”

Calvin gave him an encouraging smirk and followed along, waving to Alice to come on.

***

Back in the police car, Calvin was driving with Alice jamming out to the radio, and Chase huddled on the hood as usual. Thankfully, the Zone factory wasn’t too far away and they got there in good timing, with no signs of the Technician. Whether that was a good thing or not, Chase wasn’t sure.

Hopping off the car once it stopped, Chase walked into the factory, with the other two scrambling after him. Chase would tell them to be on guard, but since he just saw one of the workers walk around inside and a few security guards appropriately stationed by the entrance, he assumed the Technician most likely wasn’t here.

“Halt! State your business,” the guard said.

Chase flashed a silver badge with the words Horizon City Guardian engraved on it. “There was recently an attack on another Zone facility in the city and we’re here to provide protection to this one.”

“We’re aware of the attacks, which is why security has been tightened here, so we have no need for your help.”

“I understand, but I believe more defenses would be in your best interest,” Chase stayed firm.

The guard sighed, “Fine, but don’t get our way.”

“I won’t.”

“It’s not you I’m worried about,” The guard gestured to Alice, who made an indignant face.

“She’ll be fine,” Chase said.

They all got into positions around the facility to get views on as much space as possible, with Calvin doing some advising. Time passed by with no sign of the Technician, and it felt painful. Perhaps the Technician wasn’t attacking at all, which would be a good thing, but Chase knew that was extremely slim, and they could easily have predicted wrong. In fact, the Technician could be attacking a different facility right now and he wouldn’t know.

Even hiding here waiting was making him feel useless. He felt a hand touch his shoulder, and he turned around to see Alice. “Hey,” she whispered.

“What are you doing here and not in your post?”

“I got bored, and it’ll be fine there are like eleven guards stationed there already.”

Chase sighed and went back to scanning every part of the streets and buildings in his area. “You seem tense,” she said.

“I always am.”

“Doesn’t that make things hard though?”

“No.”

“You know, I’m sure you’ll feel way better if you just ease up a little.”

“I don’t need to ease up. I just need to do my job. And so should you.”

“You’d also probably make more friends if you were less grumpy.”

“Maybe I’m so grumpy because I don’t deserve friends.”

“Geez, and I thought Xu was depressed. But hey, don’t worry, I’ll be your friend either way.”

Chase just kept focusing on scanning, before Alice tapped his shoulder again. “What is it now?”

“Uhh, I think we were wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

Alice was looking at her phone with a grim expression and showed it to him. News coverage talked about an attack on a Zone electricity plant, and a live news feed showed a robotic figure firing green lasers and entering the plant. This was exactly what he feared, but he couldn’t say he wasn’t surprised.

Chase cursed and got up. “You go tell Calvin and meet me at the electricity plant.”

“What about you?”

“I’m going there myself.”

“But without a car?”

“I’ll run there.”

“You’re gonna run?!”

“My body has much more stamina than normal, and I can even put on bursts of speed if I need it. I’ll get there faster than any car.”

“Yeah, but that still sounds draining. Will you have enough energy left to take on the Technician?”

Chase hesitated for a moment and looked at his map, outlining the fastest route to the electricity plant. It would be a significant disadvantage, but he needed to be there as fast as possible. “I’ll be fine. Just get Calvin and meet me there,” Chase jumped out onto the street and sprinted off to the Zone facility. Flustered, Alice watched Chase dash off before she rushed to find Calvin.

[Battery: 90%]