"What the hell are you doing in here?!" Sebastian shouted at the event staff worker after slamming the man up against the wall of the maintenance room.
"I- ack!" The man groaned after receiving another punch in the face from the bearded 'beast magic' user.
The bottom level of the concert hall was in complete chaos. A bunch of masked goons were currently running around the place and grabbing up all of the merchandise while the rest of them were fighting off the DPA agents downstairs.
Sebastian knew that something was up the moment he smelled that weird gas coming in through the vents. So the man decided to see what was going on, only to find the guy that he was currently interrogating hooking up some sort of canister to the main unit with a few more on the ground around him.
"Conley, worry about him later! Just knock him out already!" Ayako shouted as the woman sent a wave of pressurized water into the chest of one of the masked goons who had just tried to throw a fireball at her.
Based on what she could sense, the 'water magic' user knew that the situation upstairs was just as bad as it was down here. It was clear to her that this was some sort of coordinated attack. And judging by the fact that some of these guys had already made off with some of the items that were being sold, she could assume that the chaos upstairs was just a diversion.
Just as Ayako was getting ready to fire a mana burst at another oncoming thug, Skylar came flying across the room and kicked the woman in the side of the head with enough force to launch her into a nearby cage. The 'earth magic' user was now wearing a black ski mask and had ditched his suit jacket.
"You assholes just made my day!" Skylar then said with a crack of his knuckles. "I haven't laid anybody out in almost three months!"
Whatever the hell was going on, it was clear that these thugs knew what they were doing.
A few minutes after the first truck breached the front gate, another one came up to the south end of the building. Not even a second later, a massive hole appeared in the bottom level of the concert hall and a whole horde of goons came flooding in and started snatching up the valuables. Right now, there were about fifteen of them, but all of the agents downstairs knew that this probably wasn't the entire group.
And to make things even worse, the agents also had to do what they could to protect the remaining event staff that were currently trying to make their way to the exit. Then again, considering that they already knew one of them was working with the invaders, that might not necessarily be the right call.
'This is a fucking mess!' The 'water magic' user thought to herself as she pulled out her pistol.
"Nobody fucking leaves!" Sebastian then shouted after putting the thug's conspirator to sleep while bringing out his three hellhounds. "Murphy, close those doors! No one gets out of here until every last one of these bastards is down!"
"Rock Wall!"
Skylar quickly did as he was told and used his 'earth magic' to create a concrete wall in front of the two exits that lead to the staircase. One that most sorcerers would have a hard time getting through without putting in a good amount of effort to take down.
In truth, Ayako agreed with the decision, it was definitely the right call to make. However, there were a couple of problems with the command. The first was that the group had at least one 'earth magic' user at their disposal. So the chances of these rock walls being up for long were slim at best. The second was that it trapped all of the remaining civilians in there with both the DPA agents and the thugs. The last thing they needed was innocent people getting hurt in the middle of all this chaos. Even so, there wasn't much that could be done about it now.
"Hurry up and get that stuff in the truck!" One of the thugs shouted while firing off a few shots of purple mana at the agents behind a nearby table. "The bosses will be here any minute with the rest of the trucks!"
"There's more of you?!" Skylar shouted incredulously just before delivering a barrage of punches to one of the thugs that he was able to catch off guard.
With that new piece of intel, Sebastian wasted no time pressing the button on his earpiece to relay the news.
-(o)-
"Robin, they've got reinforcements on the way! The group's leaders are about to show up!"
"Got it! Thanks!" The elder 'beast magic' user replied while soaring in the air above the concert hall on Lozen's back.
As much as the woman wanted to try and cut off whoever was about to show up, she had her hands full dealing with the chaos that was still going on outside.
There were still about thirty cryptids running around the front yard of the property. Although none of them were particularly tough, the fact that there were so many of them made them hard to deal with, even with all agents currently putting them down.
*POW*
The sound of one of the woman's mana-charged bullets shooting a flying cryptid out of the air echoed across the sky. The APS Vice Captain was trying to find some time to alert Chief Chandler about the new development, but it was hard for her to take her eyes off of the situation in front of her.
The agents were doing a pretty good job at teaming up and taking out the remaining cryptids, but this method was taking too much time. On top of that, they were going to need to conserve their mana for whoever else was about to show up.
'I guess I have no choice.' The woman said to herself. Desperate times called for desperate measures. 'Wajo, come on out-'
"Top Spin!" A familiar voice suddenly shouted from down below.
Just then, a large vortex of pure-white mana appeared from the far side of the yard. And just as quickly as it appeared, the magical construct started slicing up every cryptid that was within thirty feet of it. Robin watched as the four cryptids that got caught up in the attack were ripped to shreds in a matter of seconds. And she was suddenly feeling a lot better about their chances of wrapping this mess up quickly.
"Dunbar!" The woman shouted at the red-haired man, who suddenly made his presence known.
"I'm here to back you up!" The Raliegh Chief shouted with a smile. "What's the situation?!"
Chief Peter Dunbar was in possession of a unique magical attribute called 'vortex magic'. An attribute that allowed him to generate and manipulate whirlwinds of pure magic power. Not only was the man's ability powerful enough to dissipate any mana in the area, it was also strong enough to rip apart solid rock if he put enough juice behind it. Although it was extremely useful when dealing with large groups, the downside was that it was wholly indiscriminate in its use. Any sorcerer, be they friend or foe, that got caught up in one of the man's attacks would get seriously injured if they didn't create a mana barrier strong enough to protect them.
"We got more incoming!" Robin replied while descending on the back of her companion. "Whoever's in charge of these clowns is about to show up. Probably with more trucks, too!"
"Of course..." Chief Dunbar muttered before firing off a beam of white mana at one of the cryptids about twenty yards in front of him. "Well, let's hurry up and deal with this before they arrive."
With a quick nod, Robin jumped off the back of her companion and began flying in the air above the building. The woman then summoned four more of her companions and immediately ordered them to start helping out the other agents who were still fighting. Now that Chief Dunbar was with them, this should go by faster than what she originally expected.
'This would happen when Theo's gone. Just my luck...'
-(o)-
Back inside the building, the DPA agents were making quick work of the cryptids that were still running amok throughout the halls.
Not only were Chief Chandler's subordinates picking the rogue creatures off with brutal efficiency, they had also managed to secure all of the wounded in a single spot on the far end of the ballroom. This meant that they now had the freedom to do as they pleased without the risk of hurting innocent civilians. However, that was the only positive part about the situation. Well, aside from the fact that the mystery gas was no longer circulating through the AC system.
No one had any idea what the long-term effects of the gas might be for those who were affected by it. For all anyone knew, the lives of every non-sorcerer in the building were in serious danger. Which meant that they needed to get them out of here and back to Station Nine's medical team as soon as possible. With any luck, the stuff would turn out to be non-lethal. But with the way things were going, the brunette woman wasn't about to make any dangerous assumptions.
"Conley, please tell me that you have some good news." Chief Chandler looked back at Samantha Conley, who was currently checking over the unconscious body of Senator Rudd.
The woman was doing her best to see what was wrong with those who were affected by the gas. Behind her was a large, albino deer-like cryptid with pink eyes that was the size of a moose. One that was sniffing each and every person on the ground to see what was wrong with them. After a couple of seconds, the deer cryptid let out a high-pitched whine in the direction of its master.
"Heka says that none of them have any life-threatening injuries." Samantha Conley replied. "But the gas has put them in a coma. Her 'healing magic' won't be able to help them."
"Of course it won't...." Chief Chandler sighed while reloading her pistol. 'Healing magic' was only good for treating physical injuries, not whatever the gas had done to them. Although the woman was glad that none of the partygoers were in danger, that still didn't mean that they were out of the woods yet.
"Zoe, we got incoming!" Lucas then told his wife. The man's eyes could see a large snake-like cryptid rapidly heading their way. "At two o'clock, and it's coming in hot!"
The moment the creature with the razor-sharp teeth and rainbow scales appeared on the far side of the hallway, it let out a loud roar before releasing a dense cloud of purple smoke in the direction of the ballroom.
"Aw fuck!" The Chief shouted as she watched the smoke quickly fill up the hallway and start making its way towards them. "Barriers now!"
Everyone in the room did as they were told and activated their mana barriers. However, one of the agents next to the connecting corridor rushed forward while activating his magic.
"Wind God's Howel!"
A massive gust of 'wind magic' came shooting out of the agent's mouth before meeting the smoke halfway down the hallway. Everyone watched as the attack blew back all of the smoke toward the snake cryptid before dissipating into the air. The viscous-looking cryptid seemed stunned for a second before trying to release some more smoke. However, its attack was once again met with the same result by the agent who thwarted it on the first try.
"Zoe, we need that one alive!"
"What, why?" The Chief looked to her husband with a confused expression.
"That attack it just used is the same as the gas that was coming through the vents earlier. I can see that the mana particles are the exact same thanks to my eyes."
Well, that just made things a lot more interesting in the Chief Agent's opinion. They had just stumbled upon one hell of a lucky break. If what her husband implying was the truth, then this rainbow cryptid might've been the source of the gas. Which meant that they absolutely needed to take this one alive.
Reverse engineering even normal chemical agents was a chore in and of itself, and that went double for those that were magical in nature. If they were able to succeed in capturing this cryptid, then they had a pretty good chance of being able to cure the people who were affected by it.
"Don't kill that one!" The Chief then ordered, much to the confusion of the surrounding agents. "We need it alive! Capture it! We need to help the ones that are already passed out!"
All of the nearby agents briefly looked at each other before giving a collective shrug and rushing toward the rainbow cryptid. Even with the creature's 'poison magic', they would be fine thanks to the 'wind magic' user that they had with them. So, with any luck, they would be able to handle this quickly.
'Damn, I shouldn't have sent Ortega away....' The Chief thought to herself just as she shot one of the nearby cryptids. 'I'll need to find her as soon as we wrap things up in here.'
-(o)-
"What a damn mess." Elizabeth said after the group of young sorcerers finally exited the building.
Now that they were out of the concert hall, they could see the total chaos that was erupting all around them. On the far side of the yard, they could all see the group of agents led by Robin fighting off the remaining cryptids out front. While on the other end, they watched as one of the semi-trucks pulled off toward the destroyed southern fence with its doors violently flapping against the side of the trailer as two masked thugs hung out the back.
"So, that's what they were after, huh?" Cyrus said as the vehicle hooked a turn on the connecting road.
"Of course they were." Evan replied.
"Man, it feels so good to be able to breathe again!" Freddy almost shouted while taking in a deep breath. The 'dark magic' user was still feeling a bit woozy, but now that he was able to get some fresh air, he was feeling much better.
With no time to waste, the group immediately began rushing toward the area where the parking lot was located. Luckily for them, they parked their van on the side of the building away from the main entrance. The spot where none of the rogue cryptids or thugs had targeted. If they got there fast enough, they had a pretty good chance of getting away from here without any additional hassle.
Unfortunately, the group only got halfway down the lawn before a cryptid suddenly appeared from behind some nearby bushes.
"I got it!" Valerie announced before rushing towards the cryptid with a mana-charged fist. The tall blonde was quickly able to close the distance between her and the lizard-like creature before delivering a devastating punch to the side of its head that was powerful enough to kill it instantly.
"Nice work!" Alyssa Blair complimented the woman.
"Thanks!" Valerie looked back at the rest of the group with a confident smirk.
With that now out of the way, the group continued the short journey to the parking lot. In less than a few seconds, they were within view of their van. And needless to say, they were all happy that they were about to get as far away from this chaos as possible.
Just then, right as Cyrus's hand touched the passenger side door to the vehicle, a loud crashing sound could be heard from their left.
The group watched in disbelief as yet another truck came crashing in through the nearby fence before violently turning to the side and allowing them to see the entirety of the connecting trailer. Not a moment later, the back of the trailer opened up and a group of masked thugs came rushing out of it with guns in their hands.
"Fuck!" Solomon shouted as he got into his fighting stance, only for his cousin to put herself in front of him.
"Put your hands up!" One of the thugs shouted while aiming his rifle at the group. "Do it now!"
"Damn." Maria cursed.
"Who the hell are you people?!" Valerie shouted back at the man while blatantly refusing his order.
"He said put your hands up, bitch!" Another thug said as a stream of water began spinning around his body.
"Motherfuck-"
"Wait!" A voice suddenly shouted. The group then watched another person jump out of the front of the truck. A woman, judging by her figure. "Don't shoot them!"
"Boss?"
"These guys are VIPs." The masked woman announced. The woman's voice was distorted due to the weird device she had covering her mouth. One that looked like something out of a video game.
"These guys, seriously?"
'VIPs? What is she talking about?' Cyrus mentally questioned after erecting a barrier in front of him. As if this mess wasn't already confusing enough, now they had to deal with this.
"Yes." The apparent leader of the group continued to speak. "If you harm any of them, I promise you're going to regret it."
Before anyone could get another word out, two more people emerged from the cabin of the truck. One man who was a bit on the taller side and a woman who roughly the same height as Maria. Like everyone else, the trio were all dressed in black jumpsuits and body armor. But the way that they were carrying themselves made it very clear that they were the ones running the show.
"I suggest you don't do anything stupid." The other woman then said to the group of eight. "We're not looking to kill any of you, but that doesn't mean that we won't hurt you if we have to."
Something was off about this whole situation. The people currently holding the group at gunpoint were not acting the way that any of them were expecting.
On one hand, it made sense that they weren't looking to kill anyone, or anyone present at the very least. Theft and destruction of property were one thing, but murder was a whole different beast altogether.
On the other hand, this nonsense these people were talking about them being VIPs or whatever was strange, to say the least. What exactly did they mean by that? Did they already have a list of people that they couldn't kill? If so, why exactly were they on it?
It made perfect sense why Evan and Elizabeth would be on the list. They were the son and daughter of the DPA Commissioner, after all. If something were to happen to either of them, both their father and grandfather would probably send some assassins from the Alverez family after whoever was foolish enough to harm them. The same went for Alyssa and Solomon. The son and niece of the Secretary of Agriculture were way too important to kill. If those two were hurt, the Blair family would stop at nothing to hunt down the people who were foolish enough to cross them.
"Who are you?" Evan then spoke up. The man was going to try and stall for time until he was able to come up with a plan for them to get out of this mess. Until then, he thought it was best to keep them talking.
'Get ready to attack.' Maria telepathically told her three companions. The raven-haired woman was trying to look for an opening. However, there was far too much distance between their group and the gunmen to safely try and take one of them down.
"Don't worry about it, pretty boy." The apparent woman in charge told the 'wind magic' user. "Just stand there and keep still."
"We need to hurry." Aaron said to his sister in a low tone just loud enough fo there to hear. "We need to get the second truck filled before the rest of the cryptids get killed."
The stoic 'fire magic' user was right. The more time they spent on this impromptu standoff, the less they had to get what they needed and go. Their minions in the first truck had already pulled off and were on their way to the relay point to unload the merchandise they were able to grab. The Iznana trio needed to secure their portion of their prize as soon as possible so that they could hurry up and join them.
Hannah then looked back at the group and couldn't help the scowl that appeared under her mask. If they had run into anyone else, she would've been perfectly fine with just killing them on the spot and continuing the mission. Unfortunately, they just had to cross paths with the one group of people that they were specifically told not to do anything to.
The strawberry-blonde woman took a second to get a firm grasp of the situation around them. Based on the fact that they were all barely a few feet away from their car, she assumed that they were all trying to escape the concert hall. Probably in an effort to keep the twins and their two buddies safe. Something like this was to be expected, but it also played right into her hand.
"You guys were leaving?" The 'ice magic' user then asked the group in a neutral tone. Luckily for her, they wouldn't be able to recognize her voice thanks to the synthesizer that she and her two partners were currently wearing. However, that didn't mean that she could speak as freely as she wanted to.
"And if we were?" Cyrus asked with a slight nervousness in his voice.
Everyone proceeded to stare at each other for a good ten seconds before Hannah spoke once again. She couldn't waste any more time on this. And if they were all trying to leave this place that was all the more better for her.
"If you're trying to get out of here, then go." The woman then said. "We won't stop you. Like my partner here said a second ago, we're not interested in killing anyone."
Freddy was the first to respond. "Kind of hard to believe that when you assholes unleashed a horde of cryptids on us."
"Just get in your little van and go. I don't have the time to waste on any of you."
"Well, excuse us for holding you up." Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "I'm sure that there's still plenty of stuff in there for you broke clowns to steal."
"What did you say, bitch?!" One of the thugs immediately took offense to the 'earth magic' user's remark.
"Just go." Mikayla echoed her friend's earlier command. "You heard the woman. If you want to leave, then leave."
"How do we know that you won't try to attack us?" Alyssa then said while tightening the grip on her whip.
"We wouldn't be having this conversation otherwise."
Everyone in Cyrus's group looked at each other while keeping their guards up. They really didn't know what to make of this. It was entirely possible that the thugs were telling the truth. After all, if they wanted to harm them, they would've already done so. Then again, this might just be a ruse to make them lower their guard.
As things stood, they were all evenly matched in terms of numbers. There were eight of them and eight of the criminals. Unfortunately, they were clearly at a disadvantage when it came to information. The thugs obviously knew who all of them were, which meant that they knew what their powers were as well. Meanwhile, Cyrus and the others only knew that one of them had 'water magic'. Trying to get into a fight right now would not be a smart move.
"Fine, we'll go." Evan then said. The young genius was not in the mood to drag this out any further. And the fact that half of these clowns had guns pointed at him and his friends made him all the more eager to get out of here as soon as possible. "We'll leave as soon as you and your crew put some distance between us."
"Sounds fair." Hannah acquiesced.
'Okay...this worked out pretty well for us.' Maria thought to herself. Although she wasn't too happy about what was going on, it was much better than the alternative. Their main priority was still to get the twins and the Blairs to safety.
Just as both groups were about to part ways, another one of the trucks came flying through the newly created hole in the fence. Unfortunately for everyone here, the vehicle's sudden arrival was enough to cause Asmodeus to let out a loud roar. Which then caused one of the thugs to raise his weapon and shoot at the creature.
"Shit!" Cyrus shouted.
That one action seemed to be enough to cause the three snake cryptids to immediately go on the offensive. Ayala, Maria's pink and blue eel cryptid, instantly shot a beam of pressurized water at the group of thugs, while Ajax put himself in front of his master to guard her.
"God dammit!" Hannah cursed.
From there, all hell broke loose, and everyone instantly put up their mana barriers as they all began firing off their magic at one another.
"Well, we're here now!" Valerie shouted before sprinting forward. The tall blonde's body was still feeling the effects of the enchantment she received from Evan earlier. So, the woman decided to use the time she had left to try to put Aaron down.
The stoic teen noticed the woman making a beeline straight for him and decided that he wasn't about to let her have her way. Before anyone even realized it, the two were trading blows with each other on the far side of the truck.
"You're not very smart, are you?" Aaron mockingly asked the woman after ducking out of the way of a left hook.
"Says the loser who's too scared to use his real voice!" The tall blonde shot back with a grin.
'Can this night get any worse?' Cyrus asked himself as he ducked behind the van to avoid getting hit by a stray mana burst.
Unfortunately for the freckled-faced teen and the rest of his friends, it looked like the chaos wasn't going to end anytime soon.