Danny couldn’t actually hear Andre, but he imagined the CSI breaking into a snicker at Lynn using that particular phrasing. “Okay, but only until…” He trailed off as something caught the corner of his eye.
There’d been a flicker of…well,something. He knew what the reflection of light throughout his city looked like—he couldn’t afford to be blinded by a stray ray of sunshine or a car’s headlights when he lightning jumped—but that wasn’t what he’d seen.
“Hang on a minute. I might have something.”
“Be careful, Danny.”
Slowly, Danny peeked his head out into the adjoining alleyway. He couldn’t be sure which direction he’d seen that flicker, so he instinctively looked left first.
“No…not yet,” a voice hissed from behind him.
Danny whipped around, taking in the sight of a nicely dressed man backing away from him. He looked like he wasn’t quite at home wearing something so finely tailored, like maybe he was used to humbler means until very, very recently. Still, Danny recognized the man’s face right away.
Ludgate.
He praised his luck for all of two seconds before he reminded himself that it had taken days and a lot of hard work to narrow down a small enough search area that a chance encounter like this was even possible.
Twitching forward, Danny held back from using his powers to intercept the thief. If he spooked Ludgate—a teleporter—he could ruin this chance entirely. Since the element of surprise was already lost, he had to keep the man occupied, catch him off guard somehow. Danny exited the alley with his hands held up in placation.
“I just want to talk, Ludgate. Been looking for you. You’re a hard man to pin down.”
“Ludgate?!” Lynn’s voice carried shrilly over the comms. “Andre!”
Ludgate didn’t cease his backward momentum, but he also didn’t teleport away; good so far. “You run around the city, block by block, just hoping to stumble across me, Zeus?”
He was stalling for time too. Danny kept his pace slow but his steps steady. “Being a hero requires some detective work. Don’t think this was all chance. If I lose you now, I’ll just find you again. Later tonight. Later this week. The next time you try totake something that doesn’t belong to you. Your success getting one over on me and this city won’t last. Better Elementals than you have tried.”
The wider alley that Ludgate was backing down emptied onto the street. He’d already reached the mouth of it, but as he did, he stopped and tilted his head. “Detectivework, huh? You know I’m an Elemental. Tell me, Zeus. What do you think I can do?”
Lowering his hands, Danny came to a stop as well. He was five meters at most from Ludgate. One quick lightning jump forward and he could have him, but if he tried, he might just as easily lose him. “Seems pretty obvious given how you’ve accomplished your crimes so far.”
“Keep him talking, Danny,” Andre came over the comms. “We’ve alerted the patrols in the area to your location. If he stays facing you, they might be able to tase him before he bamfs away.”
Danny took another step forward. “Just give up, Ludgate. I—”
“Ludgate,” he sneered, as if he found his own name distasteful. “All your enemies have more fitting monikers, don’t they,Zeus? Like Prometheus?”
Again, Danny stopped. Four meters. “They do. Kind of how the game works in Olympus City. So tell me. What’syourname?”
Ludgate squared his shoulders, head lowered just enough to glare at Danny from beneath the hood of his brow, his smile an ever widening gash. “Oh…you’ll find out soon.”
Before Danny could act, Ludgate darted around the corner out of sight. Sparking with lightning, Danny took off after him. A chase he could win. Maybe Ludgate wasn’t a teleporter; maybe his powers only worked in the right conditions. But if he had to run, Danny so had this.
Danny didnothave this.
He came out of his jump outside the alley, turned in the direction Ludgate had gone, and saw…nothing. Cars on the street. Other people along the sidewalks. But no Ludgate. A few of the plainclothes officers were headed toward him, but they were already too late.
“I lost him,” Danny grit out. “Wait…” The only other thing he could see was the shop windows lining the street. Then again, he thought he’d seen somethingflicker.
That had to be Ludgate’s signature! The sign that he was using his powers!
Following the flicker at a brisk walk, Danny ignored the pedestrians who stopped to point and stare at him, some even pulling out their cell phones to record. He hoped he gave them a good show, something for a better headline than ZEUS FAILS TO CAPTURE THIEF.
Maybe Ludgate could only teleport so far. Maybe he could phase throughmatter.
“Dude, is he Kitty Pryding this shit?” Andre echoed his thoughts.
“I don’t know, but I’m not giving up yet.” Danny jumped to the end of the street and turned around.There. Another flicker, leading down the next street.
