Now that Metcalf had a plan of attack, she had a real chance at victory. A great holo-movie lie was that someone could be good enough at improvising to escape a challenge such as this. Being a big fan of the holo-movies, she giggled to herself at the lie. Without a plan, mistakes and successes were indistinguishable until it was too late.
A small light on Metcalf’s visor flashed signaling information being received. With a few touches on her glove, she saw what Master Fu was planning. The convenience store her instructor talked about was not that far, a short walk in a normal situation; pretty convenient.
Thinking ahead, Metcalf also checked Master Fu’s vector. If Fu stayed at her average speed, she should be at the store within two fifths of an hour. Not a lot of time given the current situation. At least, she knew where she was going and about how long she had to get there.
For the extraction to be flawless, Metcalf had to be a swift ghost. It would be too easy to track her if she leaves a clue in the same area as a mysteriously escaping van. It would also be suspicious if Master Fu shopped at a convenience store for more than three minutes. It was time for Metcalf to be on her way.
Metcalf heard the faint marching of the training-bots in the distance. She crouched low to the ground. Her suit quickly turned dark shades of the shadowed grey alleyway. She was impressed as the color of her suit even mimicked the small cracks on the ground. She crept slowly towards the street hoping not to see any guards but prepared to disappear if any were seen.
Thankfully, the patrols hadn’t made it this far out yet. She needed to stay ahead of them. So she needed to move. Still the street was the most dangerous place she could be right now. Her color changing suit would not help her unless she crawled on the ground.
Ugh. I don’t need this right now.
Getting even lower and flatter to the ground, Metcalf prepared for the trek across the street. There was a good reason why the suit she wore was nicknamed the Chameleon Suit. She had to pretty slow for it to hide her perfectly. She was definitely strong enough to handle the crawl. Her motion energy skills would help her move more easily at the slow pace.
I’ll have to avoid streets from now on. It took a dreadfully long half minute before she was almost across the street. Thankfully there were no early morning drivers in the factory district. Also, it was either a blessing or a curse that there were no patrols flying over her area. It was wonderful not to be caught. Still, with no patrols, she could have dashed across the street without a care and had been on her way.
She felt inner joy as she touched the curb. However, a high-pitched whine above her head ended all how her inner cheer. Judging from the sound, a speeder patrol hovered just a decimeter away.
Metcalf’s natural response was to freeze in place, a good response since they couldn’t actually see her. The stealth suit started getting warm as she waited for them to make a move. It sounded like there were about three speeders. Metcalf had to be patient and look down not showing them the slightly less camouflaged visor.
After fifteen seconds of pure terror, the speeders lifted higher into the sky and sped off to the intersection. Instead of celebrating her relief, Metcalf used this time to activate the cloaking field around her suit.
One of the suits flaws was that it could only be reasonably hidden from one angle. She would prefer them not to see a chisho-shaped bit of concrete sticking out of the road. That would be an obvious tell.
Unfortunately, activating the suit’s cloaking field exposed another flaw. It was getting really hot!