The effects of the health potion were immediate. The burns on the agent's face shrunk in size and she stopped bleeding. No wonder their price is so high. I grabbed a couple more just in case and dragged the agent back to cover. Despite the healing potion it still took her a full minute to regain full consciousness, but once she did it was as if nothing happened.
"Thanks." She said, her voice barely a whisper in the midst of the chaos. Shots were being fired left and right. It was impossible for us to tell enemies from friendlies. The only thing we could do was to keep hiding and wait it out, but unfortunately I knew that wasn't really an option.
I didn't know how powerful Agent Hale was, but after seeing the size of the hole caused by the initial blast I could tell the returnee's power was nothing to scoff at. A person capable of doing that with a spell was more akin to a walking bomb and the only way to make sure we would make it out alive was defusing it.
Right then a person walked in pointing a wooden stick at us and judging by my colleague's reaction it was way worse than a gun. She lifted her arms in the air and I did the same despite knowing it would not affect the outcome. Friendly or enemy the outcome would be the same since during a shootout in the dark everyone fought for their lives. And that is exactly what I intended to do when I lifted my arms.
"What the..." The man's staff was already charging some sort of spell when my hands sprinkled water above us. Thanks to my lack of training I was barely able to get us wet, but it distracted the enemy long enough for me to take him down with a tackle. I grabbed the staff and leaned on a box to take cover as I opened fire. The staff released a flame arrow that crossed the room and struck someone in the chest.
"I wish I could tell friend from foe." I grumble as the staff recharged. It was a single shot weapon, not precisely my favorite kind as I was a desk agent and wasn't sure about my aim. However, it was comfortable to hold and quite light.
"Done." The system manager said at the same time green dots appeared above the head of the friendly agents. It made things so much easier, but there was no time to be thankful. I opened fire a few more times taking down only one enemy. I can't blame it on my aim, though. Some of the enemies seem to be protected by a spherical barrier that absorbs spells.
"Do you have a weapon?"
"No, I was undercover." She shook her head.
"Then use this, I need to find a sword." I say as I hand the woman the staff and tumble forward.
***
Agent Hale watched in disbelief how Agent Bob entered through the blasted door without hesitation as if he expected it to happen. The agents in pursue remained still for a second not knowing what to do.
"Suppress the enemy, goddammit!" Agent Hale shouted and the agents drew their weapons. All sort of magic missiles were fired inside the warehouse and the enemy replied in kind.
"We have agents surrounding the warehouse. We have them." The second in command said reassuringly.
"Are you fucking kidding me? You're popping champagne when our agent just died?"
"Agent Nora is still alive... somehow." System manager Rita announced to Hale.
"How?" He stammered.
"I'm still figuring out the details, but it seems Agent Bob has been given express authority over this mission." Upon hearing that the newbie was now in charge of the operation made Nathan unsure whether to laugh or cry.
It had been months of dull paperwork and boring investigation. Weeks to set up the sting operation and more resources than most FBI departments monthly budget. All in hopes of decommissioning a valuable stock of smuggled merchandise from other worlds.
"This is a shitshow." Agent Hale declared when he realized no matter if they succeeded or not, the healing potions were already a lost cause and the mission would end in a net negative. Keeping the smuggled items out of the market was a win in itself, but he knew that the success of a mission is determined by numbers. All they could do now was hope to not lose more assets and maybe get a few low value arrests as the highest level enemy had already flown away of the scene. The only silver lining was that at least they had taken him out of the lead position. Usually, losing control over a mission was the worst thing that could happen to an agent, but now everything seemed lost Agent Hale realized it actually played in his favor.
"Everyone regroup. We can't lose anybody else."
"But sir! The rookie is still inside." The second in command questioned.
"He's now the one in charge. If the superiors trust him to complete the mission all we can do is let them." A smirk was drawn on Hale's face as he pictured the most likely outcome. After Bob and Nora died, he would be able to blame Bob for the failure of the mission and he wouldn't be able to say the contrary.
***
By the time I found a sword, my temporary partner's rate of fire had diminished too much. At first she was able to fire every ten seconds, now she was down to half a minute.
"Running low on ammo?"
"I'm almost out of mana." She explained as if that meant something.
"Mana is the magical energy used to power artifacts, like the firebolt staff you passed her."
"I'm not giving you my sword." Finding the sword was difficult, but the toughest part was taking it from the hands of the criminal it belonged to.
"Are you serious? What would I do with a sword against magic anyways? I was so stupid when I took this position. They said all I had to do is pretend to be a buyer and after that I would become a field agent, but I don't want it anymore." She cried probably missing her comfy desk at the bureau, a feeling I can relate to.
"Why are they retreating?" I ask loudly when I noticed the green dots the system displayed above the head of our allies disappear in the distance. Nora was too out of herself to reply, but that didn't matter because the one I was expecting an answer from was the system manager.
"It seems they judged the situation too dangerous and they don't want to lose more assets. Every shot fired is mana they could have spent in powering dimensional travel, every health potion that breaks is a health potion we won't be able to seize." The system manager didn't have to explain any further. It was a numbers game and we were considered of a lower value than the operational costs of the mission.
"Keep quiet." I tell Nora by my side as she wept uncontrollably.
"How can you expect me to..."
"Goodnight." I say before knocking her out cold in a single punch.
"Did you just goodnight punched an agent?"
"Yeah, a female agent. Before you judge me, this is a life or death situation and she was making too much noise. This is the same as a lifeguard knocking out a drowning person who resists being rescued." I whisper.
"Are you doing this just for the paperwork?" The system manager ask and I conveniently decide it's too risky to reply.
The sounds of explosions and magic missiles being fired ceased progressively when the criminals noticed the agents outside were on standby until I eventually could hear them speak.
"The boss escaped, we're screwed!" A man shouted in a panic then another followed.
"Let's gather what we can carry and scram!"
"No, that's not a choice. We're surrounded, they're just waiting for us to attempt an escape and they'll capture us. I know how they think." A deep voice that sounded familiar said calmly.
"Of course you know how this works. You're one of them!"
"You... you're the one behind this! You're working with them aren't you?" The panicked criminal accused and I leaned over the pallet I was taking cover on just enough to see if I could identify the rogue agent. I couldn't see his face, but I saw clearly as day how he unsheathed a pristine looking sword and cut the scared man in half.
"Anybody else wants to question my commitment to our cause?" The man asked as he cleaned his sword with a handkerchief before putting the sword back in its sheathe. The rest of the crew gulped down and remained silent. "I am the only reason why this operation exists in the first place. Without my intel that idiot would have gotten himself caught selling magical items on the internet."
"What different does it make? We're getting caught before the first sale anyway!"
"Who said anything about getting caught?"
"But you said we can't run and we definitely can't win in a fight."
"There's only one reason why FBI agents would pull out. They already know their mole is still alive and think we have her hostage. You know what that means right?" The entire crew lit up in a roar.