Strangeways sprinted across the roof, his feet pounding in time with the dubstep blaring in his earphones. He grinned like a maniac and launched into a handspring that ended with him perfectly balanced on one foot on the edge of the roof. He held the pose as long as he could. Down below, across the motorway, a few people pointed at the figure on the roof.

"Respect," he murmured, and fell forward.

Someone screamed. Others looked away from the sight of a young man about to splatter all over the A4. Strangeways never stopped smiling.

He moved slideways - -
 
Unlike most of the bystanders Adrian knew the young man about to take a dive off a building would not be injured and under other circumstances would have found the stunt amusing. Right now he was too busy trying to figure out how he was going to catch him. Teleporters were always such a pain to follow, much less apprehend, without backup but that was the situation in which Adrian found himself. If he were anyone else he might be able to blend in with the crowd and take his quarry by surprise but he'd learned a long time ago ankle length, emerald green hair did not lend itself to being stealthy. No, somehow he was going to have to figure out where his target was going and get there before him.

Suspended in slidetime, Strangeways had plenty of time to scan the Square. He could see the whole world from here, like it was inside a bubble and he was on the outside. He shed some velocity as he moved back into the real world.

- -   and reappeared behind a group of tourists posing for a picture.

"Photobombed!" Strangeways laughed. The woman holding the camera stared in disbelief. Her friends turned to regard him with amused interest.

"Respect, ladies," he said. "But no autographs, please."

Unfortunately there were too many places the young man could appear, making it almost impossible to predict where to wait for him. He was about to give up, thinking he had been given the slip, when he spotted Strangeways standing behind a group of people at the base of Nelson's Column. Aha, he had him. All he had to do was get within ten feet of the guy before he was noticed and he could let his hair do the rest.

And so far so good. The housebreaker - former housebreaker - was too busy chatting up the ladies to notice Adrian's approach.

Keeping pace with those around him, Adrian made his way toward his distracted quarry. He might not be able to disguise his hair but he could minimize doing anything that might give himself away. He approached the group from the side and when he was near enough shot out a lock of hair to grab the fugitive.

"Oi girls, I'm not a piece of meat," Strangeways protested. He looked down and boggled at the green tendril tightening around his waist. Suddenly he disappeared from Slipknot's grasp.

"Hands off the talent, mate," Strangeways yelled from the Column's top step.

"Damn!" Adrian cursed as the fugitive gave him the slip.

Some of the tour group were getting over their shock and grabbed at Adrian demanding to know what was going on. Was he after a criminal? Were they in danger? Was that his real hair? As gently as he could Adrian disentangled himself from the throng, promising to answer all their questions later, and made his way up the stairs.

His target slouched against the Column, arms folded across his chest. "If you take one more step up," he warned, "I'll step slidewise." He smirked at the hero. "Basically, Greenilocks, there's no way you can catch me."

"You'll have to admit, I almost had you back there." Adrian replied stopping. "How long can you keep that up anyway?"

"Said the actress to the bishop," Strangeways responded. "Sure, you got some moves." He fumbled in a pocket and pulled out his mp3 player. "Rubbish song," he muttered. He fiddled with the player while trying to keep one eye on Slipknot.

Adrian took the opportunity to move a few steps closer. "How come you didn't answer my question? You afraid I'll outlast you?"

"Maybe I can run more than once," Strangeways smiled.

"Maybe you can. You have to survive this time first." Adrian said with a straight face though there was a twinkle in his eyes.

"Are you that hard on people the first time?"

"You have no idea."

Strangeways met his eyes and cocked an eyebrow. "You'll have to catch me first."

"Do I?" Adrian asked with a grin. "I think I'm starting to get a good idea of your habits. I may stop chasing you and just lay in wait for you."

"So," Strangeways said, smirking again. "You just lay there? You don't have stamina, son. You're just lazy."

"You'll never know since you're just a big tease." Adrian took another step closer hoping Strangeways was too involved in the discussion to notice the movement.

The teleporter noted the movement and made a show of turning his attention back to his music player. "And you'll never know," he said, "because you're the lazy grasshopper and I'm the speedy hare. Or summat like that. It's a fable."

Taking advantage of his adversary's distraction, Adrian quickly covered the short distance between them. This time instead of a tendril encircling his waist Strangeways felt something tighten on his wrist. Adrian smiled a wolfish grin, "You're not getting away this time."

"Handcuffs?" Strangeways asked. "Is this a cop or sexual harassment?" The confidence drained from his voice as he spoke. Three times he tried to teleport, and three times nothing happened.

"What is this?" he demanded, fumbling at the thing on his wrist.

"Something to even the odds. You can keep running now, if you dare." Adrian stepped back out of reach of the other man with his biggest grin yet.

"You. Utter. Wanker."  Strangeways' tone was aggrieved. "That's ... cheating!"

"Cheating? I would never cheat. I just took away your ability to cheat." Adrian scoffed. His expression turned to a leer as he continued. "You could just give up now. It might go easier on you."
 
"Complete. And utter. Wanker." He glared at the hero a moment, then suddenly spun on his heel and slipped behind the Column.

Adrian smiled, he always did like a good chase. Now that the odds were evened up he could have a little fun. "I see you want things to go hard on you. Good, I was hoping that would be the case." He called out as he followed Strangways around the Column.

And pulled back just in time to avoid Strangeway's fist. It only cost a second or two, but Strangeways was already running down the stairs, taking them two at a time. His music player bounced down ahead of him.

"You're bloody buying me a new one," Strangeways yelled over his shoulder.

Adrian laughed, even without his teleport power Strangeways had tricks up his sleeve. It was just too bad for him he only had two legs to run on. Adrian extended two long, green tendrils of hair out in front of him and lifted himself from the ground. As his momentum moved him forward he added two more. He knew he was an odd sight, running on four "legs" of hair with his body suspended between but he didn't care. If anything, being a showman at heart, he enjoyed people's reactions when they saw him.

Strangeways glanced back and his jaw dropped. "That's proper weird," he muttered. He looked around desperately as he dodged through the crowd. He didn't fancy his chances against Slipknot in a fight, and the man would be on him in a moment. He looked back again. Slipknot could cover more distance like that, but how well could he corner?

He changed direction 90 degrees, his sprint now moving parallel to the Gallery and barreling towards the motorway.

Grinning as he saw his adversary abruptly change directions, Adrian allowed himself to slow down as he took the turn enjoying the chase. Let the young man ahead of him think he couldn't make quick turns. It would only make the chase more fun.

Something red moved into Strangeways' field of vision. He scanned the road and gulped. An escape route was falling into place, if he could time it right. He increased his speed and vaulted over the metal rail separating the sidewalk from the motorway. He landed smoothly and bounced slightly on his feet, eyes locked on the grey Vectra coming towards him. Behind it loomed a red doubledecker bus, taking the corner more slowly.

"Okay, okay, okay," he muttered. It was just a matter of timing. The Vectra moved past and he jumped. It was simple, really: right foot on the bumper. Left foot on the boot. Right foot on the roof. Standing sideways vault, twisting slightly in midair, and his hands were on the railing of the upper deck of the bus. He muscled up quickly, landing in a crouch on an empty seat in the back.

A little boy peered over the seat back. "Again, again" he said.

Strangeways chuckled. He turned his attention to the Square and waved at Slipknot.

"Why that sneaky . . ." Adrian hissed as he watched Strangeways vault onto the bus. His hair made him fast but not nearly fast enough to keep up with a moving vehicle. Adrian could follow behind and hope he caught up when the bus stopped to let off passengers or came to a red light but his chances were iffy at best. The problem was he wasn't ready to let the other man win which meant switching to plan B. He had a good idea of where Strangways would eventually turn up, he would just wait there until he did.

Seeing Slipknot hesitate, Strangeways laughed and gave a two-fingered salute. His extended hand shot to the railing as the bus suddenly downshifted jerkily. He looked up the road. The bus was changing lanes to pull up to a bus stop.

"This...is really not my day," he said.

Seeing the bus about to pull over, Adrian put on a burst of speed, laughing as he went. This was his lucky day. Catching up to the bus as it pulled over Adrian called out, "Ready to give up yet?"

Strangeways was already hanging off the other rail. The traffic below was moving far too fast for his tastes. He kicked the side of the bus in frustration.

"I will accept your surrender at any time," he said coldly.

"My surrender?" Adrian asked, boarding the bus. In just moments he was standing above Strangways looking down at him. "Don't you mean your surrender?" He continued wrapping a tendril of hair around each of Strangeway's wrists.

Desperate, he let go of the rails, but it was too late. He hung suspended above the traffic by the green locks.

"This sucks," he grumbled.

With look of a exaggerated pain, Adrian pulled Strangeways back onto the bus. "I'll have you know most people would love to get caught by me."

A few of the passengers applauded as the Justice Patrol hero carefully set his captive down. The little boy pointed at Strangeways and giggled. "You're nicked," he said cheerfully.

"He cheated!" Strangeways protested. For emphasis he wriggled his right arm as best he could - Adrian wasn't giving him much slack - to display the high-tech cuff on his wrist. "Now how about taking this off, eh mate?"

"And give you a chance to teleport away? I don't think so. That," Adrian pointed to the cuff, "is going to stay there until I'm sure you're not going to get away again."

"Fine," he replied reluctantly. "You...win."

"You make that sound like such a bad thing." Adrian pouted. "I should leave that thing on you for a while."

Strangeways smiled in spite of himself. "Oh? Is that what you're into?"

Adrian's grin was back. "You have no idea what I'm into."

"Why do I have the feeling I'm going to find out?"

"Maybe because you're about to? That is unless," Adrian removed the cuff on Strangway's wrist with a grin, "you want to run again."

"Oh, no" Strangeways said. "I'm not the one cheats. I'll hold up my end of the bet." He leaned in and gave Adrian a quick peck on the cheek.

Adrian's eyes were dancing, "That's it? That's all you have? Let me show you how it's done." He pulled Strangeways in for a full on kiss taking the other man's breath away.

"Cheating again," Strangeways whispered, putting his arms around Adrian. "The bet was for one kiss. Not two."

"And I only got one kiss, you can't call that peck you gave me a kiss. But there's more where that came from if you like." Adrian wriggled his eyebrows comically.

"I should make you catch me again."

"So you can give me another peck on the cheek? I don't think so." Several locks of hair were wrapping themselves around Strangeways, pulling him close to Adrian. "Perhaps I should make you catch me. I would give you a proper prize." Adrian whispered in his ear.

"Hmm," Strangeways murmured. "Maybe we could skip the chase. I don't want to wear you out."

"Damn, and here I was counting on you wearing me out."

Strangeways laughed. "And I was counting on you catching me."