Rain fell in short waves, coating the narrow roads of Tokyoto in a slick lather of water and silt. Groups of passerby trailed along the edges making way for the few vehicles that moved amidst them. Despite the loudness of conversation and rainfall in the streets with the occasional stream of music trickling out of second floor apartments, the alleys behind said buildings were quiet and contained only whispers of the dead.

A patter of raindrops was only offset by a soft procession of boots. Onlookers would not have noticed the girl in black sliding between dumpsters and parked vehicles before scaling pipes etched onto stone, jumping from rooftop to rooftop not failing to pass throughout outdoor courtyards. Her quick dark form wasn’t easy to find amidst the more commodious group of men that made louder splashes in puddles, letting their own mass give them away to passerby yet no one dared interfered as they noticed the vests each man had on.

The Alliance, a self-serving gang of policing individuals should surely be qualified to spot and kill any radicals among their ranks, yet their competence was proven incapable when Anika was able to escape the Formicary with not a scratch on her chiseled honey skin. She was sure her informant Danzy would be laughing at the irony of the situation right about now.

Continuing her escape, Anika interweaved an even more complex path of sorts knowing the loosely trained men were used to a select few formations and linear mock captures. Tokyoto was the perfect city to escape into, an established network of trained intelligence having crumbled under the fall of the last decade’s events. A web of escape routes still remained whether through the roads, sky, water or even underground.

Anika knew her fate rested in choosing the most viable option now that she had an entire regime on her tail. Knowing the roads were fair game, she considered jacking an unsuspecting driver. No, that'd only slow her down. She knew she needed to keep moving and the time it took to hot wire a usable car made it not her best option. Her next thought was the sky, but like always flying in the rain posed an onslaught of threats as well especially if she couldn’t get her hands on a fighter jet. The probability of that was slimmer than the amount of time she had to decide. However, the alleys were beginning to close in on both sides as buildings made room for wider roads. Anika didn’t have much time until the army of Alliance men caught up to her. She was still at least three miles away from the harbor. Underground it is then.

Her speed didn’t decrease as she scrounged the ground for potholes- markers to portals down to the lower levels of the city. The rain had picked up and she thanked Mother Nature for hiding the noise she made as she rounded a corner, spotting an entry behind a McCarters Bistro & Brew. Making haste to get behind a dumpster, she darted her eyes searching for a method to get inside.

Locking on a pristine heating pipe, Anika stared harshly at the metal until it began to bend in every which way. She focused on a section just under an apartment window and ripped it clear off the track. Clasping onto the pipe radiating the last of its heat, Anika slammed the metal into the pothole. Shards of rusted metal flew in all directions but using a blinder, she was able to focus each piece away from her crouched form. Swiftly cleaning up her mess in the span of two seconds, Anika slid down the drain while closing up the hole with matching pavement. She sensed the Alliance was less than a block away.

Trusting her concealment, she slid down the metal ladder landing softly on the ground below. This pothole happened to be connected to the sewers just below the subway station and Anika sensed there would be men searching along the tracks as well. Either way, she needed to find access to the rails or risk traveling on-foot. Tokyoto could only hold so many fugitives.

Taking a deep breath, Anika concealed herself in the shadows of the sewers as she began making sense of the space. Almost two kilometers down lay a train station, likely guarded or at least monitored through cameras. She needed to change her appearance and quick. As Anika made her run down the side of the sewer, she began hearing sounds of a train overhead. The station was closer than she thought.

It wasn’t hard to find a brand new chrome ladder reaching to a doorway higher up. Settling on a disguise, Anika felt herself begin to shift into an undistinguishable man with brown eyes, pale skin and the garb of a typical Tokyotan escaping from the rain as she scaled the ladder. Keeping to the shadows, she tried the door. Unlocked.

Slipping inside, Anika found herself in a dark hallway which seemed to be a abandoned staff passage lane. Likely no security after the riots last year. Making no stops, she followed the sounds of the station- the low chatter of awaiting travelers and the high screech of trains arriving at the level. Luckily, as Anika emerged from the door at the end of the hallway she could see a train entering from the north. Yet another dark hallway brought her past the restrooms and to a dock of only a handful of passengers likely eager to get home.

Covering herself up tighter with her jacket, Anika strode past security onto the yellow line. The tape fluttered as the tram doors opened on both sides. Keeping her face forward she stepped onto the train, discreetly listening to the conversation of the guards as her eyes searched for a secluded seat. Radio static was interrupted by a scratchy chatter on the walkie of one of the guards.

Be on alert for a runaway fugitive, Black Mantra can be anyone.

Keeping her face stoic, Anika sat herself down towards the back of the train. Despite the car being near empty except for an older woman reading a glass tablet, she still felt uneasy. Cameras were rampant in the trains and Anika knew her disguise couldn’t be kept up forever. She resorted to keep her eyes focused on an abandoned paper that lie on a seat two down from hers as a guard lazily looked through a car just ahead.

Although these security guards were not nearly as trained as Alliance thugs, they were still aware of basic shape shifting. Brief disguises wouldn’t be an issue to find if they were really looking. Anika made a point of looking nonchalant as she pretended to read a dry column detailing the demise of an Oceanic establishment. Bookmarking the page, Anika felt the eyes of the guard gaze over her form before moving onto the woman. She waited a few more minutes before she allowed herself to breathe in a curt sigh of relief. Despite her abilities, Anika still found her heart racing from the ordeal.