Alpha Squad - Vecto: Voyage

Episode 1.4

(Previously: Vecto hears the voice of Sarah over the intercom. He remembers her as the A.I. of Gyro's ship.)

Vecto was lifted to the top floor and walked around, staring at a number of eateries. They had no meaning to him. He strolled to a railing and gazed at the floors below. They were littered with a variety of meaningless shops.

He had to think of a plan to find Sarah and get off this ship. But his thoughts were once again interrupted, this time by someone yelling at the tier below.

"Help! Someone stole my TAC!" the man yelled, frantically patting himself down and scattering his eyes across the floor to make sure he didn't drop it.

Vecto casually looked around for the culprit. He kept the image of the victim in his head as he scanned data from everyone's TAC. Dozens of images from the devices were quickly rummaged through until he came to a guy wearing a black trench coat. The device he had matched the victim's identity.

"It's the guy in the trench coat!" Vecto yelled out to the guy who lost his TAC, trying to do some good for a change. However, Vecto neglected to control his voice. It inadvertently echoed in everyone's ears, and the thief donned a mask and took off running.

I need to be cautious, Vecto reflected, turning around. But another kid stood in his way. This time it was a little girl in a pink dress.

"Hey, aren't you going to catch him?!" the girl asked, looking up at his suit as if he was some sort of superhero.

Vecto, noticing her concerned eyes, was reminded of how he used to be that hero. Maybe he could help after all. One more contribution to society. "Why not?" he replied, realizing he could risk his identity.

Vecto looked over the balcony to see the thief running through crowds of people too scared or not worried at all to do anything about it. He stood up on the rail and jumped off, landing heavily on the third floor far below, making a dent in the surface. With a whoosh, he took off after the thief as the little girl stared in amazement.

Looking back, the thief saw Vecto chasing him as he rushed to the edge of the floor. It was a dead end--but not for long. He lifted a device and shot a cord to the bottom floor on the other side, then attached the other end of the cord to the railing. Mustering the courage, he jumped over the rail and rode down the wire with the hand-gripped device, glided over the Central Park dome and detached the wire on the other side. He fell from several yards and rolled as he hit the ground, automatically picking himself up as he kept running.

Not wanting to make a bigger scene, Vecto took the slope, rushing by people but watching his speed. He ran at a reasonable pace, trying to catch up, but it could easily cost him the chance to snag him.

The thief looked back, shoving through people, amused that he shook the guy off his trail. When he looked forward, a red blur of an arm swung at him, hitting him in the face. The thief was knocked to the ground, holding his broken nose.

"Hey! What-what do you think you're doing?!" the thief yelled at the guy as if he was the bad guy. "You just busted my nose, creapo!"

"I'm sorry, but you need to return that TAC to its rightful owner," the figure in a red powersuit said.

It wasn't Vecto; it was another guy. Vecto ran to the scene and noticed a person in a red and white technical-looking suit had stopped the thief. He had brown, spiky hair and hazel-green eyes. His TAC said he was seventeen. The shades of colors on his suit were divided in odd-shaped panels, reminding him of stained glass. He watched as the unknown hero reached down and pulled the mask from the thief's head.

"Hey, watch it, bub! You're revealing my identity!" the thief argued.

(Who is this thief? And who is the other guy in the red powersuit? Find out more in the next installment of Vecto: Voyage!)