#project Bullfrog certainly wont be aburdle in the future ahahaha

[befuddled-calico-whump]

Hunted

for Angstpril, Day 17: Running Away

cw: suicide attempt, adult language, electrocution

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He didn't know what he'd expected to happen when he finally ran.

Maybe the cops would hunt for him, maybe his name and picture would flash on the news, tell the city he was alive and an outlaw and needed to be taken down. But broadcasting his status as an at-large Redlined would be a death sentence, and Uriah didn't want Alexei dead. He wanted him punished.

And Lex couldn't let that happen.

He'd known what was coming, as soon as Uriah dropped the file in front of him. Something in the CEO's smile, his step. He'd known he was about to be tested, that Fox thought his hold was tight enough to make Lex do anything he wanted. His suspicions were confirmed as he scanned the targets' datapage.

Anita and Devon Rackam. Fifteen. Thirteen.

"They're children."

"They're thieves. Murderers."

"I don't hurt kids."

"You don't have a choice."

Lex had hung his head, but he'd already made his decision. Fox gave him coordinates, and he acted cowed and compliant all the way to his destination.

Then he struck. He jumped his handler, seized the remote before his collar could be activated, and he ran.

It was stupid, he knew, thinking he could actually get away. Uriah had money. Contacts. Resources. The signal for his fucking collar.

"I'm going to give you one chance to turn back, Alexei," Fox's voice sounded in his ear, low and threatening. "Or I'll do worse than send you back to the Tower."

(Cower, flower, sour.)

Lex didn't grace him with a response. Between the collar and the cybernetics, Fox could track him anywhere in the city. His only hope was to run fast enough. Far enough. Get to a place where Uriah would have no power, if such a place existed.

Spyglass's voice echoed in his head, unwelcome as the whine of a mosquito.

"Our offer still stands, you know."

No. Fuck, no. He'd go faster alone, and besides, he wasn't about to bring Uriah's hounds down on the rogues.

"It seems you've made your choice," Uriah said, after a long silence, and Lex heard, rather than felt, his arms power down, a faint buzz that had become background noise suddenly absent. Dead metal swung stiffly, now only serving to weigh him down as he ran.

Shit.

He could still get away. He could still get away. 

"Have you heard of Project Bullfrog, Alexei?" Uriah queried. Lex ignored him.

(Cog, dog, fog, hog.)

Eyes were on him as he darted through the city, taking erratic turns, launching himself through alleyways as he made his way toward the edge of town. Were the people who stared confused bystanders? Or more of Fox's cronies?

"That's where we send the lost causes. All the way to the bottom of the Tower. That's where people really disappear."

(Smear. Clear.) Lex tried to choke back his growing nausea, ignore the icy feeling in his chest that wouldn't go away.

Every sudden movement was an enemy ready to strike, every passing vehicle seemingly out to get him. And who was to say he was wrong?

"That's where you're going when we catch you. It'll make your stay in the Tower look like a fucking pleasure cruise."

"Do you ever shut up?" Lex snapped. He didn't have time for threats, he didn't have time to acknowledge the building dread.

He swore there were people following him, hiding in the sea of the crowd. Carefully closing the distance between them, hoping to snap the jaws of the trap shut without alerting any civilians. He tried to outrun the shadows, but their numbers only seemed to grow.

(Blow, flow, low, mow.)

He dodged into an alley, crouching beside a dumpster to catch his breath, just for a second. He couldn't hide when Uriah could track him. He couldn't run when enemies were everywhere. And he couldn't go back in the dark.

But he was rapidly being backed into a corner. He'd fight off the ones who got to him first, but he couldn't beat them all.

I can't go back. I'd rather die than go back. I'd rather…

Lex took a shaky breath, forcing himself to stand. He was on the north side of the city, near the river. Near the bridge.

He pushed off again, aware of the footsteps following him, no longer caring. He could see the bridge in the distance. Not too far. He could make it.

Sick of being locked away, sick of being a pawn, sick of having no choice. Well every choice he'd made today was his. Lex wouldn't go back. He'd go down on his own terms.

When he reached the bridge, there were too many people on the footpath; Uriah's men, closing in. He kept running, and their faces blurred as he passed.

Climbing onto the waist-high wall with his arms as dead weight was a pain in the ass, but he managed. Just as he'd suspected, several of the pedestrians walking near him broke out into a run as soon as they saw him step onto the ledge.

"Stop!"

Fuck no. As they all came crashing in, he glanced over his shoulder at the smooth dark blue of the water below. He wondered if it'd be cold. If he'd even care about that after hitting the surface, losing his breath, sinking.

"What do you think you're doing?" Uriah's voice hissed in his ear, and Lex shrugged, though he doubted the man could see it.

"Dying first."

He saw someone in the crowd pull a familiar remote from a jacket pocket, felt the electricity arc through his body, but it didn't matter.

He was already free-falling towards the river.

What a fitting way to put out a fire.

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