Rescued

"Is he dead?" Diana said, inching closer.

In front of her, a man dressed in white slumped between a concrete wall and steel beam.

"Don't get too close!" Jenn yelled in response, seeing her friends approach.

Mia, who was walking next to Diana, jumped in response as she asked, "What? Why? He could be hurt or dead!" startled by the sudden yell.

"Because I know him, and trust me, you don't want to do that," Jenn answered, circling her friend's, scanning their surroundings.

"C'mon, the guy just saved us. He looks dead," Diana added, continuing her approach.

Diana, ignoring Jenn's advice, walked up to the man dressed in white. Jenn, unaware of her friend's actions as she checked her surroundings, could not stop Diana.

"Ah!" a sudden yell drew the attention of Jenn. She turned around only to see Diana on the floor, Mia and Jake running up to her.

"Oh my God! Diana!" Mia and Jake screamed in response as they ran up to Mia, who lay a few feet from the masked men. Jenn processed the information of what had just happened and ran to Diana along with her friends.

A groan caused Jenn to stop on her tracks and immediately change direction.

"Damn, my head. How long was I out?" I said, clasping my head as the blood banged inside it. The throbbing drummed on the side of my head, causing me to see the world in a slight blur.

Jenn ran up next to me and attempted to answer, "Uhm... I don't know," she said, stopping to gather her thoughts. "The woman that was chasing us bolted back after the shock wave. What was that, by the way? Never mind, later," she shook her head and continued, "We ran back here not long after."

"Where's the Response team?" I asked, attempting to stand up, only to have my body fail to respond, forcing me to slump against the wall.

"On their way, they should be here in a few minutes," Jenn immediately answered. "What happened? Where are they?" she added, looking around for the women.

"We all got together and had cookies and tea, then I got to take my afternoon nap," I responded instinctively, "What do you think? I got knocked out."

Jenn, already used to my sarcasm, continued, "Do you know... Ouch!" getting interrupted by Mia pinching her arm.

"Can you stop talking for a second, is Diana gonna be okay!?" Mia yelled in frustration, pointing to the girl lying on the floor only a few feet from me.

"What?" I asked, slightly confused, my gaze following the girl's gesture. Seeing the girl on the floor, I was quickly able to recognize my own work and responded, "Oh, yeah, she's just paralyzed for a few moments. She'll be up and about in a few."

"See, she's fine," Jenn said, then continued where she left off before, "About the woman who kidnapped us. Did you get any information we can use to track her, like a name, for example?"

I held my head, trying to recall any information of the women's current whereabouts. "No, sorry. I was busy keeping her busy so that she couldn't go after you. I was able to confirm that the leader of the kidnapper was a Reaper."

"A Reaper, huh? Well, I kinda thought that would be the case. Anything else that we could use, like why did they want us?" Jenn added.

"Oh, yeah, she was very talkative. She told me about her dreams and aspirations, like how she wanted to be a ballerina when she was just a little girl," I blurted out.

"Seriously, Ost!" Jenn said, threatening to punch me.

"They wanted an artifact and intel. Your dad was supposed to retrieve the artifact for them, while her mom," I answered, pointing towards Mia, "was supposed to give them some intel. What that intel or artifact was supposed to be, I don't know."

"That's all you got? The famous Ghost of the Arena, and you only manage to get that?" Jake scoffed, crossing his arms.

"Do I know you?" I asked, studying the face of the boy.

'I don't know his face. The brunette and blond, I recognize, they are the daughter of Senator McKenzie and daughter of Guild Master Kerrigan. But I don't know the boy.'

"Shut it!" Jenn snapped, lightly punching Jake on the arm, then she continued, "Nevermind about him. That's already very helpful. Dad and I'm sure Senator Mckenzie will know what all this was about. Mia, do you think you could get the Senator up to date?"

"Yeah, she'll make me tell her everything, so don't worry about that," Mia responded, scratching her head.

As the last syllable fell from Mia's mouth, a cacophony of sirens and sounds played across the warehouse. At the sounds that filled the warehouse, every head turned in their direction. In the span of a few seconds, the front of the warehouse was filled with vehicles. The military response team, along with police, and Adventurers, sprawled out and immediately began to secure the area.

"They're here. Ost, can you stand up?" Jenn asked, a look of relief crawling on her face.

"I'm pretty sure I just got a concussion. Give me a sec," I said, falling to the ground.

"I'll send a medic," Jenn added.

"I'm fine, and... they're already gone," I said, looking up to find myself, talking to the still paralyzed girl and the boy. He stared at me with his brow furrowed.

Mia, running next to Jenn, looked back to where they were and spoke, "So, that's him? The so-called Ghost of the Arena?"

"Yeah, and shut up. I know what you're thinking, and it's not that!" Jenn rebutted as they arrived at the warehouse door.

The two girls arrived at the door, and without hesitation, pushed open the door. The light of the lower sun cast a shadow reaching the heel of the newly arrived rescue. The sudden swing of the door and appearance of the two girls alarmed the so-called rescuers, their instincts and training taking over, a few dozen people raised and aimed the sights of their weapons.

The girls, realizing their sudden mistake, raised their arms in response and hopeful peace, standing perfectly still waiting for the rescuers to respond. In the passing of a few blinks, one woman recognized the two girls and shouted a command, immediately dozens of weapons from gun to wands lowered almost in perfect synchronicity. Immediately, a group of medics, officers, and soldiers rushed towards the girls. A barrage of questions fell upon the ears of the exhausted teens. Without hesitation, the first word out of their mouths was the location and state of their friends. Immediately a secondary group of medics and officers rushed into the warehouse, unconcerned of the potential danger, and raced towards the teens as the girls were whisked away.

The medics arrived at the wall to see three teens sitting with their backs to the white concrete wall; they instantly recognized two, while a third dressed in all white and masked sat crossed-legged mediating. The medics rushed while the officers attempted to judge the situation. Before the officers could, they were already hovering over the three kids, checking and questioning, causing the officers to sigh in defeat.

While checking the three, they soon found only scrapes and bruises on the two, but they could not scan the boy in white. Seeing the white-dressed teen already casting healing magic on himself, they could only monitor his condition optically, from afar.

A few minutes later, the teens were all being questioned, each having to retell the details individually. At the same time, the entire warehouse was crawling with officers and adventures, each scrutinizing every nook and cranny.

----

I stood up from my chair, stretching as the officer walked away. The officer had been thorough in his interrogation, asking dozens of questions for even the smallest of details. Exhausted from the almost hour-long interrogation, I began to stretch, intermediately releasing mana into my body, continuing to heal it.

'Since I had to reiterate the events from my perspective, any potential inconsistencies could put me on the wrong end of the military's radar. Unfortunately, I could not tell them everything that I knew, so I had to lie. The best way to lie is to say the truth or at least a version of it. I'll need to write down my revised version of the events once I get home in case it comes up in the future.'

Seeing that my interview was over, Jenn walked over to me from her gurney, a curious expression plaster across her face.

"Hey, what did you mean when you said your goal wasn't to take her out? I mean, you took down 8, 3 are in critical condition, 2 are still unconscious, and you paralyzed the last guy. He was still holding the knife sticking out of his shoulder when the police took him," she asked once she got within earshot of me.

I answered, finishing my stretches and sitting back in my chair, "I meant what I said. The moment I laid eyes on the Reaper, I knew I wasn't a match for her, so instead of trying to beat her, my best and only choice was to keep her occupied until the Response team arrived."

"I've seen you fight; there's no way, someone who couldn't even use magic, being your match. By the way, how could you use magic like that? The whole building was covered in MBB's; even Diana and I had trouble using elementary spells," Jenn began getting ahead of herself asking as her friends slowly walked up behind her.

"There's a chance I know who the Reaper was, and if I am correct, killing her would have been the worst option," I flatly stated, putting my hand over the empty holster on my thighs.

"Wait a minute! You know who that Reaper was? Why didn't you say anything to the Response team? If they knew, they might be able to still catch them," Jenn responded, with her friend's mouth open in shock behind her.

"No, they wouldn't. Like I said, killing the Reaper would be the worst thing we could have done; capturing her would be a close second. Once your dad gets here, tell him, and he'll agree with me," I answered, my gaze scanning the movements of the Response team around us.

"What, so the best thing to do if someone encounters a Reaper is to just run away?" Diana jumped in from behind Jenn, who was still flabbergasted.

"No, but this one in particular, yes. The Silver Ghost is not someone we want to deal with if it's really them. Not because of their magic power, but because of their influence. But even then, in a building covered by mana blockers and with me still capable of using magic, I was unable to land a single hit," I answered.

"What do you mean by influence?" Jenn automatically asked, then added, "And what do you mean you weren't able to land a single hit?" shaking her head, trying to clear her mind.

"The Silver Ghost has quite a few connections in the Underworld. If we killed her, whether it was us or the Response team, the full wrath of the Underworld would fall on all of us. If we captured her, the Underworld would waste no effort to free her," I answered, ignoring Jenn's second question. "The politics of the Underworld are confusing, but the Silver Ghost stands in a unique place of power, no one wants her dead, but no one can afford to let her be captured."

"How do you know all of this?" Jenn asked, brushing the hair away from her still dirty face.

"I was raised in the Underworld. I managed to escape, but I still have a basic knowledge of its workings," I stated. The Underworld is the criminal world of the Marked Ones. The sudden reveal of personal information, plus the revelation, almost broke Jenn's mind.

*Booom!*

The sudden reverberation startled the entire warehouse distracted as the very ground shook in response. Every single person prepared themselves for combat, weapons raised, wands aimed, mana stirring as we all faced the origin of the explosion. All of our eyes locked into the southern sky as a dot appeared growing as it approached. In the blink of an eye, it crashed into the concrete.

The dust spread, covering the entire area; when suddenly it was expelled out, revealing a tall man in full combat uniform, with a Spellgun Rifle slung across his chest.

He stood tall and undaunted in front of dozens of weapons and spells. He removed the sunglasses from his face and scanned the street, his eyes studying the faces of every person. An aura of power and strength emanated from his very being, causing every person to blank out, even forgetting to breathe.

"Dad!" a sudden voice called out from behind me.

The man snapped his head in the direction of the voice, his gaze passing through me. Recognizing the person, he disappeared from the middle of the newly formed crater.

"Jenny!! My little Iris! How are you? Are you okay? Are you hurt? I'm gonna kill them, all of them," the man's voice appeared behind me.

"Dad! Calm down, I'm fine," Jenn's muffled voice said, peeling herself away from her father's arms. Showing him her hands, she continued, "See, I only got a few bruises. With the help of the medics, I'll be good as new."

"Where is the one in charge of the Response team? Bring him to me, now!" The General yelled, noticing the bruises on his daughter's arms. Without waiting for an answer, he stormed off into the center of the Response team makeshift command center.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry for that," Jenn said, lowering her face in embarrassment to her friends.

"Haha, every time, your dad never changes, huh?" Mia chuckled at Jenn's embarrassment. Prompting a conversation, between the friends, about whose parents are more embarrassing.

'It's time for me to leave. I can't meet Allister here. If he scans me, he'll be able to see through me. I can't go and make an impression now, not yet. It's still impressive that he got here as quickly as he did. He was deep in the Mexican peninsula and got to Tennessee in 2 to 3 hours since the alarm sounded. How fast was he flying?'

"By the way, Ost, you never told me what that shock wave was..." Jenn said, turning around only to find an empty chair.

"Where he go?" Diana asked.

"What? He was here a second ago!" Mia exclaimed.

"Damn it! He did it again. I can't believe I fell for it again!" Jenn stamped her foot in frustration.

"Again?" Jake echoed.