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He pulled a pillar up from the ground to meet him, giving it a curve and turning it into a giant, spiraling slide. He swirled down, rolling over himself and banging against its iron siding until it spit him out onto the open road. He could feel his spine repairing itself as he struggled to his feet again.

He spotted a police chopper ahead, along with a fleet of trucks turning onto the street.

Hector ran up to the adjacent building and pulled a sudden iron tower up beneath his feet. He shot up, reaching the roof in seconds and then destroying both the slide and platform before running off again.

The police had been making it increasingly difficult to protect people--and for that matter, so had the people themselves. All the media coverage about the identity of the Darksteel Soldier and why the police were having so much trouble catching him had of course revealed Hector’s usage of metal to the general public; and once details of the Calman High massacre began to circulate, connections were soon made. Geoffrey’s puppets had suffocated because of freakish metal encasing, after all, and there wasn’t much hope of explaining that they were already dead and being used to kill even more people.

As such, the Darksteel Soldier had been labeled as no longer just a criminal, nor even just a killer. Now, he was a mass murderer. And that was enough attention so that almost anyone who saw him would immediately call the police. Even people he had just saved were quick to lose it and scream for help. Hector wasn’t looking for their praise, but it was still frustrating and tiresome all the same.

Garovel asked him for his location, and Hector gave it as best he could. He soon spotted all three helicopters still following him and jumped off the roof--this time intentionally--and landed on a shorter building. From there, he could leap down to the next street over without splattering against the concrete.