Bored with the rooftop, Mauricio suggested they leave the apartment.

"I don't want to go," Cheryl said.

"Lauren, Lynn, what about you two?" Mauricio asked.

"I'm down," Lauren said.

"I've been dying to get out of this place since the moment we arrived here," Lynn concurred.

"Great, let me go find the Professor and see if he wants to come as well."

Mauricio headed back into the apartment and found the Professor toiling away.

"Hey, Prof, how's it going?"

"I just finished something, but I need to test it."

"Can you take a break?"

"Yeah, just give me a minute."

Shrouded in darkness, the small group entered the city. They felt a little more comfortable sneaking around at night. They also wore loose-fitted clothing and covered their faces with scarves, hats, and glasses.

"You guys really think this is a good idea?" Lynn asked, having second thoughts.

"It's a little late for that," Mauricio said.

"Hey, where are you guys?" a voice came over the headset.

"Mr. Camo, it's Lauren. Don't be upset, but we were getting a little stir crazy at the apartment and decided to go for a little stroll."

"Who's with you?" he asked.

"Me, Mauricio, Professor, and Lynn."

"Are you all wearing disguises?"

"Of course," she said.

"Okay, here's what I want you to do. I want you to remove them and start walking."

"What?" Lauren asked. She then turned to her friends and told them what Mr. Camo had said.

"Why does he want us to remove our disguises?" Mauricio asked.

"Yeah, does he want us to get arrested and killed?" Professor chimed in.

"I think we're bait," Lynn said.

"If you want to bait someone," the Professor said. "You do it with beautiful women. If it were up to me, I would have Lauren and her friends go to the hottest clubs in town and see what they can dig up."

"Unfortunately, my friends and I have been going to the hottest clubs in town for the better part of a decade. It's not like these guys wear uniforms that say 'I work for The Shadow'."

Reluctantly, they all peeled off the eye and headwear, and ditched the baggy clothing. They then proceeded down the street, and on occasion looked directly into some of the security cameras.

Immediately, scanners picked up their faces and other behavioural biometrics amongst the crowd and alerted the authorities.

"How long do we have to do this?" Mauricio asked nervously.

"Just until I can hack into The Shadow's system and steal the algorithm they're using to track you. Hold tight."

Lynn, Professor, Mauricio and Lauren made it about two blocks before they felt the presence of the law. Plain clothed officers, similar to the ones who had abducted them weeks prior began following them.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Mauricio asked.

"I see one at two o'clock, across the street. He's been following us for about a block," the Professor said.

"I've got another one on our six... make that two... no wait, make that four."

"Guys, there are two more directly in front of us. I think they're done following us. It looks like they're moving in."

"How you doing, Cam?" Lynn asked.

"Just another minute or two."

"We don't have another minute or two."

"If they catch us, they'll kill us," Mauricio reiterated.

"You don't know that," Lauren challenged him.

"Say that to Dane and Train.... and the people who remained on the bus," he said. "Whoever these people are, they don't play games."

"Mauricio's right," Lynn said. "We have about five seconds to make a move here."

"One minute," Cam responded.

"Five," Mauricio began counting down. "Four. Three. Two..."

"You're good. Get out of there!"

Just as The Shadow's henchmen were about to apprehend them, the entire city went black. All the bright lights from the downtown core went out. The giant holograms disappeared, the skyway beams shut off, and all the neon signage were muted by darkness. It was a citywide blackout.

Using this opportunity as an act of subterfuge, the group split up and ran in different directions. The communication ceased, but their headsets allowed them to see. Navigating through the stunned crowds, they evaded their pursuers and avoided capture.

The rendezvous point was a few blocks away. Some arrived before others.

"Where's Professor?" Lauren asked.

Mauricio and Lynn looked at each other, then back at Lauren. "We have to find him," Mauricio said.

"No, we should wait here," Lynn said. "This is the rendezvous point. He knows where to meet us."

The trio waited a few minutes longer than they could stand. "Something's wrong," Mauricio said. "We have to find him."

"Mauricio, stay here."

"No, I'm going to find Professor."

Without warning, Mauricio took off.

"Should one of us go after him?" Lauren asked.

"No, we can't wait any longer. Mauricio and Professor are on their own now."

Pushing through the crowd, Mauricio frantically looked for the Professor. With the power outage, he had no way to communicate with him. Finding someone in the downtown core in the largest city in the world was difficult enough. To add to the difficulty, it was pitch black and there were thousands of confused and panicked pedestrians running in all directions.

Retracing his steps, he relied on his other senses. It was nearly impossible to hear through all the sounds of the chaos, but somehow the Professor's gravelly voice was distinct enough to cut through all the noise.

Mauricio followed the voice until he came across a group of men standing in an alley, facing an elderly man.

"Professor!" Mauricio called out.

Just then, one of the officers raised his weapon, aiming it at the Professor. Just as the officer pulled the trigger Mauricio screamed out, "No!" and started running toward his friend.

Mauricio barely took two steps before time seemed to slow down and his world began to move in slow motion. He saw the flash from the barrel light up the dark alley. The next thing he saw was the Professor fall backward and collapse on the wet cement.

As reality snapped back into focus, Mauricio maintained his momentum.

He tackled the agent with the gun and wrestled it free. Without hesitation, he shot the man in the chest and then quickly fired off several more rounds into the dark alley, lighting it up with each pull of the trigger. Bullets found the intended targets and before Mauricio realized, there were four dead bodies around him, including the Professor.

"No, no, no, no, Professor, hold on," Mauricio said frantically. "Hang in there."

Mauricio lifted the Professor's head up and noticed there was only a trace amount of blood coming from the tip of Professor's ear.

"Professor?" Mauricio said.

"It would have been a good death," Professor said, quoting one of his favourite lines from the Dark Knight Returns.

"But not good enough," Mauricio finished the rest of the quote.

The two shared a laugh and hugged, celebrating the close call. "I think you redeemed yourself ol' friend," the Professor said. "The resistance is prevailing."