Origin City: Summer Break

Symbol of Pain (Chapter Seventeen)

It's 9:47 pm and I just woke up from a nap. It was hours after the funeral and the last thing I remember doing before sleeping was crying...I guess I cried myself to sleep. Sounds heroic if you ask me. I sit up and rub my face then slowly stand to my feet. Tingles shoot through my legs as I stretch my arms into the sky and I groan like an old man.

"Whew...okay, let's get to work." I grabbed my mask from the counter, my suits absorbs the bytes as I enter the bathroom. My mask activates after I finish washing my hands- had to take a quick number two. "Delta. I had gotten an idea while I was at the funeral." I pumped the soap into my palm.

"What's your idea?"

"That machine that Jason used to drop my comms. It's familiar to the same machine Karen made for the base. For our trackers to not be tracked and how he tracked down Karen. It's gotta be on some sort of signal network right?"

"Yes, that is sort of correct. Trackers and receivers are constantly giving out some signal. It's how they function."

"Okay, but what if the same device Jason used on the building is the same device that's keeping us from reaching him?" I finished washing my hands and dry them off with the towel hanging on the wall. I put the towel back and approach my wall. It had photos and the locations of Jason's landmarks and the other places he's once taken refuge from. "The rope I have connecting the places we've found him shows the general area he always resides in. Midtown."

"I see. What would you like to have me do?"

"I wanna search this area for any foreign signals. Anything out of the ordinary. Search for a foreign region, too."

"Pennsylvania?"

"No- try Russia."

"Scanning now," I leave her to scan as I stretch my limbs. I'm confident this is the way to find him. I remove off my suit jacket and the rest of my clothes and my suit forms. "Foreign Signal Found. It is disguised as a wifi network."

"How'd you find it then?"

"He's using a VPN. From Russia." I smirked.

"Let's finish this."

"Shouldn't we alert the team? Lieutenant Sam could set a perimeter."

"Lieutenant?"

"According to my files on the precinct, his role was recently updated."

"Hm. Congrats to him. No, don't alert the team."

"You could use the help, Pulse. You shouldn't go alone."

"He was my friend and he became my enemy. I should be putting an end to this. No one else." I said sternly. I open my window and get ready to climb out.

"Okay, but Midtown is a very busy part of Origin. Especially around this time."

"I'll contain the fight in the building." I jump out my window and use my wire to cling to the apartment across the street. The wire tugs me and launches me high into the air and towards Midtown. I land harshly, but tuck and roll onto the sidewalk. Civilians backed in shock, some stood close out of amazement. "Delta. Which one?"

"It's strongest around the diner."

"The abandoned diner?"

"Yes."

"Okay." I walk past the civilians. They make way for me and record me as I approach the abandoned diner. I turned to the nearest one. "Make sure no one comes around this area. Say Pulse said so." He nodded and I entered the diner and locked it behind me. "Any heat signatures?"