"You hear that?" Toivo asked Ella as they were sitting behind a police vehicle in the parking hall.
"Oh no. This is not good. I told you that this would happen." Ella said after taking a peek and seeing a black limousine driving in with two armored police vehicles.
"We need to run." Toivo said worriedly.
"Where? They'd see us as soon as we stand up. We need to hide." Ella replied.
"Not many places to hide here."
"Under the car!" Ella said frantically as the sound of the engines came closer.
She crawled under the vehicle without continuing the argument and Toivo figured he should do the same. Under the wide van there was enough room for both to lay down on their stomachs and look at what was happening. The limousine drove past the vehicle that they were hiding under and so did the escort vehicles. The sound of the engines stopped but Toivo and Ella couldn't see where the vehicles parked. They heard the sound of car doors opening and closing, followed by the sound of hard shoes tapping against the floor.
"Do not worry, Mister Minister. The situation over there has been handled and the criminal has been caught. Now since you're here, may I suggest you come give my boys some congratulations for a job well done? That would really boost morale." Some voice from the direction of the vehicles said.
"After that long flight I don't want to waste time giving pats on the backs for officers who just did the bare minimum that's required." Another voice said back.
"As you wish, Sir. I just figured that it'd also be good for you to sometimes be in contact with the ground level workers. It'd make you more popular among them."
"Hmm. Fair point. Fine. Let's go see what they got done there. But this better not take long or I'll start to feel violent." One of the voices said and so the sound of multiple shoes stepping on the floor started coming closer to Ella and Toivo and they saw multiple feet walk past them.
Once the sound of stepping got more distant, Toivo felt more comfortable talking now.
"Mister Minister? Was that who I think it was?" Toivo asked.
"Maybe it was. But we need to get out of here before they return." Ella said back.
"But Three is still in there! We have to get her back!"
"It sounds like she got caught. How would we get her back right now?"
"I can just run in there and cause chaos. We have to get her!" Toivo suggested.
"We don't know how many of them are in there. If we try to be heroes, we'd just get caught too, or worse. We can get her back later. Maybe even at the same time as we get the rest of your family back." Ella reasoned.
"I guess you might be right." Toivo said with uncertainty
"I'm sure I'm right! If the plan goes right, she'll be freed along with everyone who was captured unjustly. I really believe so." Ella assured.
"I guess all we can do is try then. And if that doesn't work, I'll have to bust her out myself."
"Exactly. Now let's hurry!" Ella said and crawled out from under the police van.
Toivo did the same and was pulled up by his hand by Ella who then sweeped the dirt off her clothes and started jogging towards the main exit with Toivo behind her. Outside they saw the police headquarters with police vehicles outside of it. They could see uniformed officers and armored officers inside but not any familiar faces.
"You still think it's a good idea to run in there to help Three?" Ella asked.
"I still want to, but that wouldn't be smart." Toivo admitted.
Once they were further away from the headquarters, Toivo looked back and saw that the people who were in there had now come out of the building. Even from afar he recognized Granlund walking at the front of the queue.
"There's the motherfucker. I could so easily just make his head explode right now. But where's Three?" Toivo said while looking back.
"Maybe she ran away. Don't try anything. There's nobody other than us nearby right now. We'd be the first people they suspect and they'd shoot us before we can run away."
"But there's Three! Look! She's there!" Toivo said when he saw 32A being escorted forcefully by a large officer.
"I wish we could just save her, but let's just stick to the plan instead of ruining it. Come on. Let's go back to the Homebase." Ella said and tugged Toivo by the sleeve and started quickly walking back the same way that they came.
Toivo stayed there to watch as his twin sister was being taken into the parking hall escorted by an entire convoy of armed officers. He boiled in anger and wanted to ignore reason, but he believed that Ella is right.
"You're right. I couldn't help her if she's not able to help me as well. But the Sabertooth can help us." Toivo said and followed Ella.
"When we were hiding under that car, I heard that you got a message in your phone. Did you read it?" Ella asked while walking on the sidewalk.
"Did I?" Toivo asked and checked the phone and read the messsage that 32A had sent.
"Oh. She warned us about the cars coming our way. Should I send a message back?" Toivo said after reading the message.
"Don't! If the officers hear the message sound, they'll take her phone and we'll lose contact with her. I hope she's hidden it well so they won't find it." Ella said back.
"Hmm. Yeah. I just want to do something." Toivo said and sounded angry.
Ella stopped walking and faced Toivo.
"Listen. I also want to save her. That's why I want to go along with the plan. And because I don't want anything to happen to you! Please don't get any ideas!" Ella requested sincerely.
"I already said that I'm sticking to the plan! That was just a suggestion. You don't need to freak out over it." Toivo assured and started to get impatient.
"I'm sorry. I'm just really worried about you and her and I'm confident in the plan."
"I know. I know. You know best." Toivo said, sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Is there something you want to say? Are you as confident in the plan as I am?" Ella asked and got impatient too.
"It's just hard to let them just take her like that when we're right here. I know that we'd lose if we tried anything but... Yeah... The current plan is our best bet." Toivo admitted.
"I'm glad you understand. But we shouldn't waste time. We need to explain to the Sabertooth that we didn't get the files that they wanted. Maybe they'll be kind and upload our message anyway. We have to try. If they refuse, we'll just have to go with the original plan and bust everybody out. But... We still don't know where they're being kept because we didn't get the information that we wanted. So our only hope is that the Sabertooth are kind enough to just share the video. We have to convince them." Ella said and continued walking.
"Scaring them into doing that is easier than going with our original plan." Toivo added.
"I hope that won't be needed."
"Also... I appreciate that you're so worried about me. It means a lot." Toivo said sincerely.
"Of course I'm worried about you! That's the entire reason why I came along and why I haven't gone home! It feels like I have to explain this over and over again." Ella said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"I know, I know. Sometimes I forget to worry about myself. And I'm worried about you too. Please don't jump off bridges anymore." Toivo said and chuckled depressedly.
"I don't think I'll have to do that anymore. Well, there's a lot of bridges in this city but if we act natural and don't get spotted, we won't have to jump off any bridges."
"You're right. But we probably shouldn't talk about these things. Just in case someone is hearing us."
"I don't know who would be, but in the city you can never know." Ella said and put her cold hands in her pockets and looked as natural as she could while walking in the dark streets in her hoodie.
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After a while of walking past the same sights that they had already seen, they both got more nervous the longer they sayed outside. Walking the nightly streets of the grand capital was not exactly a relaxing walk either. Drunken hollering could always be heard from somewhere and seeing a person always felt scary because anyone could be either a snitch or a violent threat.
"We don't have anything worth stealing. We'll be fine." Ella said, really only trying to make herself less worried.
"Are you scared?" Toivo asked after noticing how closely Ella was sticking to him.
"All these noises just remind me of what happened in the traintracks and in the tunnel."
"If someone tries something, should I use my ability?" Toivo asked.
"I'm not sure. Please don't hurt anyone, of course. But even scaring someone away might get the police on our tail." Ella reasoned.
"We're defenseless otherwise."
"Use your ability to scare away anyone who feels threatening. Three isn't here this time so if someone gets either one of us, that'd be really bad." Ella decided.
"Well, the bridge is now behind us and we're now on the same island where the Homebase is. We're almost there now. During the day this seemed like a good part of town." Toivo added.
"It did. I hope it's the same at... Night." Ella said and then heard the sound of sirens behind them in the distance.
She turned around and saw flashing red and blue lights in the other side of the bridge.
"Run." Toivo just said and got ready to run.
"All citizens keep your distance from the disease carriers!" A loud voice came from a megaphone from the other side of the bridge.
"They're coming for us! They've seen us! We can't outrun a car. Do we really have to jump off a bridge again?" Ella wondered in near panic.
"You're right. We can't outrun them. We have to do something else." Toivo said and stopped himself from running and ran towards the flashing lights instead.
"What are you doing? Are you fighting them?" Ella shouted at him but Toivo just kept running deeper into the bridge.
As the police vehicle became closer, Toivo focused on the part of the bridge in front of him and with his face bright red, he made part of the bridge break and fall into the water below, creating a gap between him and the police. He then turned around and sprinted as fast as he could. The police vehicle made a sudden stop just before the gap, and after the people inside the car had gotten over the surprise of a sudden gap now being in front of them, they got out of the vehicle. Before they could pull out their weapons, Toivo and Ella had already turned a corner and disappeared.
"They're no longer behind us! What did you do?" Ella asked while they were both running.
"I broke the bridge!" Toivo answered.
"Did they fall down?"
"They stopped before the gap."
"So there'll probably be more coming. That's not the only bridge that leads to this island."
"How did they know who we are from so far away?" Toivo wondered.
"I don't know! But they'll recognize us again if they see us from afar. Ditch the hoodies!" Ella said and removed hers, now being only in a t-shirt.
Toivo did the same and now they were running in the streets on this cold January night, freezing as the running wasn't enough to keep them warm, but they both knew that they couldn't stop now. To their relief and surprise, they didn't run into any more trouble on their way back to the Homebase, except on the very last steps. As they were on the same street where they remembered the Homebase being, they saw two parked police cars on the sides of the road.
"They're here. But the Homebase is right there! We'll need to go past them somehow." Ella worried and stopped in the middle of the road.
"I'm so tired of all this running and now this?" Toivo complained.
"You don't have to run anymore." A voice from behind said to them and before they could even turn around, their wrists were cuffed together.
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"You won't believe what we just did, chief." An officer in the driver's seat of his car said into the radio.
"Broke the bridge?" The radio answered sarcastically.
"We caught Ella Nyman and the disease carrier she was running with."
"Really now?"
"Yep! An outside tip did the trick. Nyman had sent an email to her father who told his local station about the email and also turned himself in, and so they tracked where the message was sent from and we found the address, but before we even knocked on the door, we caught the two fugitives outside. We'll investigate the place tomorrow. We're not leaving these two unguarded. We're taking them straight to the facility." The driver explained proudly.
"Are you using the proper equipment to deal with them?" The voice in the radio asked.
"Of course we are. We came prepared. They're in the back of the van. Nobody is sharing air with them and getting sick from them." The driver answered.
"What if they break the door and escape? We've seen things break around them."
"There's too many of us here for them to try anything. I have two of our cars driving behind me right now, and two in front of me. They won't try anything. The disease carrier sure looked pissed when we locked them up, and Nyman was defeated and depressed. They both knew that they'd be dead if they tried anything, so they didn't." The driver explained.
"I was taught that the disease was contacted by touch, not by air. I guess these people don't know that." Toivo said to Ella in the back of the van as they both sat on the floor with their hands cuffed together and their other hands cuffed to metal bars in the back window of the van.
Ella didn't seem to care about what Toivo just said.
"So I guess we'll now have to break out of the facility. That shouldn't be hard. I'll just break a wall when nobody looks and then we'll run away." Toivo suggested.
"Where? We don't know where we're being taken and where we should run. We don't know how well the place will be guarded!" Ella asked with anger.
"So you think it's over now?" Toivo asked.
"My own dad betrayed me like that! Betrayed us both! How could he do that?"
"I don't know. Maybe he was worried about you and wanted you to stop being on the run. At least I hope that's what he thought."
"Maybe. But it's not like he was really on the good side of the law either so I don't know if he'd care about that."
"Maybe he doesn't want you to become him."
"He's been telling me for years that he wants me to inherit the house and the business. So yes, he does want me to become him. I think."
"That guy mentioned that your dad turned himself in. Maybe we'll get to ask him before we escape."
"We can't escape! I don't know who could help us anym... Did you hear that?"
"I did! These guys are stupid!" Toivo said excitedly when he heard a message come into his phone.
"They didn't expect a disease carrier to have a phone so they didn't bother to check your pockets! Come on. Break your cuffs and let the Sabertooth know where we're being taken." Ella suggested.
Toivo focused on his cuffs and broke them and then checked the phone. He saw the message from 32A saying that she's in Granlund's penthouse and that the flashdrive in on the steps of the police headquarters.
"Three is in Granlund's penthouse? What? And the files are at the police heardquarters. We should let the Sabertooth know about that too." Toivo said after reading the message.
"Well, send them a message explaining everything then." Ella insisted and Toivo did as told.
"We got caught but I still have the phone. We're being taken into some facility right now. 32A also got caught but she's in The minister's penthouse. Do you know where that is? Also your flashdrive should be on the steps of the police headquarters. Can you help us in any way?" Toivo typed and sent the message to Henrik's number.
The air was tense as they quietly waited for a response inside the moving van. After a minute of waiting, a message came back and Toivo read it.
"Did you get caught by those pigs who were outside the Homebase? Was 32A your black haired friend? She already told us where she is and where the flashdrive it. Blue is retrieving the flashdrive. And we can help you. We can track your phone if you call this number." Henrik's message said.
Without wasting time, Toivo made a call into Henrik's phone and the call was answered, but neither Toivo nor Ella said anything.
"Just keep the call on until you get there. We're tracking you right now and if you stay on the call until you get there, we'll know where you are." Henrik's voice queitly said from the phone.
"So what will you do when we're there?" Ella asked.
"You did your part so we'll pay you back. I already sent your video out there and despite our mass sharing bots, it got mass deleted by the regulators even harder, so we still owe you a favor. We'll get you back because we have a new plan. You'll know it when it happens." Henrik answered.
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