He had been prepared for whatever may lay beyond the doors when he entered the room, at least he thought he had been, but the drop his stomach did for no apparent reason (other than the one called guilt) said otherwise. The knowledge of how it is to be strapped to bed like some insane person or wild animal didn't make the sight any more pleasant, rather the opposite. His jaw was clenched as he worked to free her from straps, glancing at the girl's face only once or twice. It wasn't that Ryan was avoiding eye contact with her, that'd require him feeling guilty, but he simply didn't have time to gauge her anger right now. And Sophie had to be angry. He'd be furious.

The man still noticed how weak and out of it she seemed. (The marks across her visible skin, sickly gray tint of it and circles around her red-rimmed eyes in face where cheekbones stood out too much told him a story that he was too familiar with to wish on anyone, but he had.) So, when she stumbled a little, he almost reached out to her, but Sophie straightened up and there was the matter of working the sphere around them that required his attention. Not too thick that it would drain him quickly, but firm enough to blur their presence for gaze casually slipping over where they were. Once that was secured, the pair fled the room. Although "fled" might be too strong word for this.

They weren't nowhere as fast as Ryan would have like, as they needed to be. Despite frustration bubbling up, he didn't hiss at her to move faster, knowing it'd have little effect and when she reached out, clutching on him, he stopped to think about their options. With huff, Ryan wrapped left arm around her shoulders, rather effectively holding her up and pulling along for some 30 feet until they came to stairwell. The man paused again, glancing down at the blonde head bowing down - it was clear that she would be incapable of running even if he held her up. Cussing softly, barely audible, under his breath something about "those damn leeches" and suddenly, picked Sophie up, one arm under her knees and other supporting her back, holding the girl rather tight.

He was rushing down the staircase when the alarm resounded all through the building. For brief moment, Ryan cringed visibly, not just at the unpleasant howl, but also what it meant for them. Well, there was no 'them', just him and her and honestly, it wasn't sensible to do this, but he was a man who finished what he had started. He made down another level before hearing heavy footsteps of guards moving towards them. He turned sideways, somewhat shielding Sophie with his body as the group of men in dark uniforms ran past them, none seemingly noticing the slight fuzziness on one of the walls. Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of space on the stairs and one of the last three men ran full force into albino's backpack. If Ryan hadn't braced himself for impact, already ready for this on some level, he'd have crashed into the wall, probably crushing the girl.

Not waiting for guards to realize what this meant, he leaped down half of next flight of stairs. Moments later, fire was opened and bullets rained over where they had been. Ryan's breathing grew labored as he ran and weaved another layer in his sphere now one that would reflect some damage sent their way. Just one more level and they'd be at the side exit and... Of course they had secured it. But there were only two guards, he could do this. Hauling Sophie up on his good shoulder (funny that it now counted to be his left) and holding her there, he pulled out the gun he had pilfered from security guard. These two knew that the escapees were coming their way so they were prepared, opening fire sooner than Ryan would have liked - maybe one of them saw through his invisibility ruse. So, he did what he had to do, dropping his 'cloak' and channeling all his energy in reflecting shield, he shot in response.

One of guards dodged, but other was hit point blank in chest. The vest protected him, but the pain was enough to stall his next moment and next bullet went through his head. Ryan now was down on the floor and moving for the doors, firing at the remaining guard and forcing him to retreat under the stairs. (His shield was meant for ranged fight, not up-close, he couldn't allow anyone shoot from close range or it'd go right through.) He kicked the doors open backwards, not turning his back to the guard until he was out and then broke out into sprint for the high chain link fence in the distance. Sophie suddenly didn't feel so light anymore, still half flung over his shoulder, and his backpack seemed to have gained some weight as well, but he had to make it and he would---

Turrets. They had turrets cleverly hidden under soil. "For f**k's sake," Ryan groaned, having stolen a glance behind him right as the ugly machinery reared their heads out of the grass and he already saw stream of guards flowing out of the building, first group too close for comfort. The man began zip-lining, but the turrets seemed to predict his movement pattern, each hail of bullets hitting closer to his heels. Or rather, knees, back - everywhere. Obviously, they had figured that he wasn't worth it taking in alive and that perhaps everything they needed could be salvaged from Sophie's dead remains. Or someone was over-eager with their duty. He moved Sophie off of his shoulder, holding her somewhat bridal style again so she wouldn't be so directly in line of fire. In that moment, chunk of ice landed right in front of Ryan, the collision sending small ice crystals flying and cutting his face.

He barely managed to flee around it when what could simply be described as fireball came flying over a hair's space over his head. Not that he was surprised, of course Zofies would have changed ones as guards. But it meant something uncomfortable about how short the distance between them had gotten although he didn't have time to look behind him. 10 more feet and they'll be at fence that towered over them. His head was burning at this point, trying to maintain the shield, and now he had to create something else entirely - something to lift them both over the fence. At least it was something he had mastered early, his own limited form of flying he had been addicted to as a kid.

Feet and half up in the air, he felt something to grab at his leg and instinctively kicked. His boot collided with something hard and there was a yelp that turned into growl and a look down confirmed that his assaulter was either of Monster rank or one of Zofies' experiments. Maybe both. Not entirely human or wolf, it's red eyes gleamed in darkness its jaws snapped and claws swept at Ryan. He kicked and shot, another one through the head, but even in its last movement, being's - human's of a different kind - claws dug in his leg, sending searing pain through his lower calf. Ryan nearly lost control over his powers and for sickening moment, the lifting 'platform' stalled and even seemed to slide down, but then they were soaring up and over the fence. But he had no time to ease them down slowly, especially not with the element users on their heels and Ryan swept the platform away, falling down on the ground, but managing to twist so that he got the full impact, with Sophie landing on him, not other way around.

Painful grunt tore its way out of him when the pain in leg intensified, but he got up quickly, still holding the girl and half-limped, half-ran, still somewhat zig-zagging, but even now he had a clear goal. The vehicle he had rented this morning. Under different name, of course, and it now felt parked too far away for his comfort, but it was there. He slipped into one of the dark alleys, breath coming out in heavy huffs now. Just a half block more and he had exchanged the full-out shield for faint invisibility cloak again, in case one of the guards could fly and scout ahead of others. When he reached the car, he rather unceremoniously put Sophie down on ground, digging key out of his pocket. (Was his fingers trembling? No, it couldn't be.)

Half a minute later, he was stuffing her in backseat, dropping her bag in Sophie's lap, and then, they were off. Instead of taking high way (literally, as this was one of the hybrid hover cars and most travelling happened through sky nowadays) right away, he drove through bunch of alleys and smaller streets before going onto one the mains streets and then off into sky-ways. He drove fast, but within the limit and carefully enough not to attract attention of police. After all, Ryan didn't have a driver's license - he just knew how to drive. And he wasn't in mood to punch a policeman. Okay, he was exactly in the mood for that, but that's not what they needed. (Again that pesky "they" word.) Especially since he was wanted for stealing a car few hours ago that he had left as fake trail.

Weaving through the rather jammed traffic, he headed for outskirts of the city where most abandoned factories and buildings lay. Of course they would look for him there, but there was little chance they knew the territory as well as he did. He had lived there for too big part of his life to be caught easily there. Besides, that was just temporary stop. Ryan couldn't leave the car right outside his hideout, however, so they'd have to walk again. Well, he'd walk and carry her, probably. He glanced at the mirror to catch a glimpse of Sophie and determine how unwell she was feeling.

Moving the car towards ground in one fell swoop, landing in one of the narrow back alleys that ran through this block like dirty, blackened veins where only miserable life still hid. Getting out of vehicle proved to be a bit more painful than Ryan had expected, but it wasn't the word he had had. He helped Sophie out as well and unless she protested, picked the girl up and, as fast as he could, moved through the streets. The man kept up frail invisibility shield, not to attract unneeded attention - wounded, white-haired man carrying girl in hospital gown was not the most unusual sight people around these parts had seen, but it still would stand out and although normally none of them would blabber to any sort of 'straight edges' about one of their own, he didn't exactly get along with everyone here so someone holding a grudge could be more loose-lipped.

Finally, he reached old apartment building and slipped through creaky doors, choosing to stumble up one flight of stairs and then the apartment at the end of hall. He set blonde girl down before opening the doors and letting her inside. It was not in good shape, mostly due to the large, uneven edged hole in the ceilings, but it'd do. Ryan pushed one of the chairs in her direction, motioning her to sit down, while he did a quick check of other rooms. All clear, he noted with mental sigh of relief. Then he returned to her, towering over her for a moment and then leaning in with slight frown. His fingers slid over the collar in multiple places and with soft click, it opened. "There you go," he commented, rather unnecessarily, and retreated for the sofa that looked like it could fall apart under his weight, its springs coming out of many places. It was probably the first thing he had said in this whole time, aside from cursing, since threatening to leave her behind.

Ryan took off his backpack and put the collar in one of its many pockets, pulled out her clothes and handed them over to Sophie. Then he dug out small first aid kit, set on taking care of his leg now. His jeans' pant leg was shredded, his boot had scratch marks, but both had protected the flesh from being clawed up too deep. Sure, it bled nastily, but it looked worse than it was. At least that's how he viewed it. Although the two largest gashes could benefit from stitches, but he'd have to deal with that later. While cleaning the wounds with antiseptic wipes, he chanced few glances at Sophie, trying to figure how long till she felt good enough to use her gift to travel. He wasn't leaving until she was gone, but he wasn't sure how much time they had before Zofies came on his tracks. It could be as long as day or as short as few hours or less.

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