-Devin-

My eardrums almost broke as the once calm, formal auction turned into absolute chaos. Everyone screamed, running blindly in the darkness with no sense of direction. Security guards yelled as I heard distant gunshots outside the building. The lights soon flickered back on, the back-up generators probably kicking in, and for a moment, everyone calmed.

My gaze flitted to where Shane still stood on the stage, his face failing to hide the cold anger in them as his gaze fixed on something that was not there.

The amulet was gone. I could only hope that Rollan had took off with it and ran cause he was nowhere in sight.

The moment of peace was broken as more gunshots were fired. Everyone began running for the exit, me easily carried away with the crowd as the security guards ushered us outside. Yet before I could reach the exit, I was suddenly yanked off to the side, crashing into one of the pillars. Something hard and metal was pressed to the back of my head.

"Long time no see, Trunswick," came the cold, reply.

"Ah," I gulped, trying to stay calm, "Karmo."

-Rollan-

"Conor you better have that van parked outside right now!" I yelled into the earpiece, trying to squeeze into the loud crowd.

"Bird brain, the code names!" Came the reply.

"I'm trying to get out of here with our target and you're worried about code names?!"

"The enemy-"

"I'm surrounded by screeching people with suits and dresses! How the hell is anyone going to hear me through all of this?!"

Another voice cackled into the earpiece, "Shane's guys are here. They're having an all-out war with the guards!" It was Meilin.

"And there's traffic at the front gate," Conor added, "You'll have to go out from the back gate."

'But I just got here!' I thought but bit back the remark and switched directions, heading for the back gate.

"I'm being chased by a couple of security guards," Abeke's voice cackled through the earpiece, "See you guys there in a bit."

It was hard trying to run to the opposite direction of where everyone else was running to...but I was finally able to break out the crowd as I bolted across the now-empty huge room where the auction had formerly taken place. A shot rang out across the room as I felt the bullet zoom past my shoulder. Instinctively I dove behind a huge pillar, flinching as more shots were fired.

I swore under my breath as I fumbled to get the pistol that decided to get stuck somewhere inside my suit. Stupid suits.

"I'm here," Meilin's voice cackled through the earpiece.

"Be there in a minute," Conor replied.

"Well I'm stuck here!" I exclaimed, finally finding the gun and pulling it out.

I quickly got out of my hiding spot, shooting at a few guys, before ducking back behind the pillar. Whether security guards or Shane's men, I didn't see a difference at the moment.

"I'm entering the main room from the top," Abeke yelled through the earpiece.

"How?" I asked, peering behind the pillar only to flinch back as a shot was fired, "Those guards have the whole stairs covered!"

Before I knew it, a black-cladded figure was swinging down those long curtain things that hung from the upper floor and landed on the ground, rolling behind the other pillar. Abeke sent me a little wave as if she didn't just swing down out of nowhere while carrying a sniper in her hands. Show off.

I watched her reload her sniper before suddenly whirling around and taking a quick shot before hiding back. At the same time, I heard a yell of pain followed by a string of curses.

Show off.

"Done showing off now?" I asked her through the earpiece.

"Almost," was her reply as she took another shot. Another pained scream was heard. "Kay I'm done."

"I'm at the entrance!" Conor's voice cackled through the earpiece, gunshots firing in the background, "Get in quick!"

"We're still inside!" I yelped as a series of gunshots were fired at my pillar, clouding my vision with dust and cement. Conor said something but I didn't hear.

I glanced at Abeke who met my gaze, "It's nice knowing."

"I can't exactly say the same."

"Hey! We're about to die and I'm tryna show a lil love here!"

"I don't plan on dy-" something sparked up in her brown eyes. If a lightbulb could appear on top of her head right now then that would've happened, "Bird Brain the smoke bomb!"

I stared at her, mentally face-palming as realization dawned on me. Conor had given me a smoke bomb in case something went wrong and that I had to use it for my escape, what with being the one stealing the artifact and all.

Meilin's voice cackled into the earpiece, with many gunshots in the background, "Rollan, Abeke-"

"Code names!" We ignored Conor.

"-where are you guys?!" Meilin yelled the last bit as I heard the sound of drifting wheels.

"We'll be there in a minute!" I replied, fishing into my suit once again.

My hand enclosed on a round object and I quickly pulled out the smoke bomb. Sending a nod to Abeke who stood, ready to run, I pulled out a pin and quickly threw the smoke bomb as far as I could. Bullets stopped coming as the bomb continuously farted out thick, gray smoke. I immediately darted for the exit, Abeke right behind when a series of gunshots sounded behind us.

"Stop!" I almost froze at the sound of Shane's voice.

"No thanks!" I replied and kept running.

"Unless you want your new recruit to die," I skidded to a halt, Abeke almost crashing into me at my sudden halt.

We both glanced back at the huge thick blanket of smoke behind us. For a moment, nothing happened.

Then Shane emerged, coughing as he stumbled out ungracefully. He straightened immediately as soon as he saw Abeke and I standing there.

"Stop-" cough, "there."

"We've done that if you haven't noticed," I muttered, aiming my pistol at him, Abeke doing the same with her sniper.

Shane glared but only tilted his head slightly back into the smoke, "Jolt!"

Two more figures emerged, one of them being that idiot son of a b-Trunswick as he was forcefully pushed out by another guy, Jolt I assume. I've seen him in our other missions before, usually never far behind Devin when he used to be on their side. They too emerged with a coughing fit before quickly recovering. Devin gave us a half-hearted wave as if he hadn't just been caught by the enemy, causing us to be the reason for our delayed escape.

Most of the smoke had cleared enough to see the many bodies lying limply behind them. My smoke bomb didn't kill...so I was only guessing that none of them were Shane's men.

"Just handover the Riv- the amulet and everyone will walk out unharmed," Shane said.

"Does that mean letting our...well, letting him go?"

"Nah I think we'll keep him for interrogation purposes," Jolt spoke up, ignoring the hard look that Shane gave him. The words warm, genuine, and fun describing the complete opposite of the grin he sent at Devin's way, "I'm sure you haven't left long enough to have forgotten."

"How could I forget laughing whenever they always spit at your face?" Devin chuckled which turned into a cough at Jolt's glare, "Fun times. Fun times..." the look he gave me contradicted his words.

"Give us the amulet and we'll let Wor- Devin go," Shane repeated.

"I think we'll keep this," I said, fishing out the amulet from the inside pocket of my suit, "though you're allowed to let him go."

"You're making a mistake," his voice turned grim and I noticed his eyes shifting slightly to Abeke, a hint of nervousness? Worry?

I was about to reply when suddenly...

...I couldn't breathe.

-Conor-

"Excuse me, pardon me, coming through!" I yelled, rapidly turning the wheel as I tried to avoid trampling over the people who were currently trying to kill us, not wanting to risk getting one of the innocent security guards killed instead of Shane's men.

"Can you stop screaming?" Meilin yelled, sounding quite annoyed as she stopped to reload a rifle (that she'd stolen from one of Shane's men) before firing out the window once more, "They can't hear you!"

"Sorry! Sorr-"

"And stop saying sorry!"

"Sor-" I cut myself off, "Yeah. Okay."

For the past five minutes, we've been going around the same round-a-bout trying not to get ourselves killed while waiting for Rollan and Abeke. And they were still in there!

Welp, so much for stealth.

I pressed the breaks, barely avoiding not to bump into some guy who immediately dove into a bush.

Meilin then glanced at me, "I'm driving, you're shooting."

"You shoot better than me!"

"I drive even better than you, now move!" Meilin snapped, already getting out her seat.

I obliged as we switched spots, me with the gun and Meilin on the driver's seat. So much for avoiding killing anyone who might be innocent.

"Have you gotten your driver's license yet?" I asked, nervously as I watched her fumbling with the stick and looking at the pedals.

"Shouldn't be that hard," Meilin said, pushing the stick backwards.

Though I was still having trouble reading, I was pretty sure that it was on the letter 'N'. "Meilin, that's not-"

Meilin slammed the accelerator and the van lurched forward. Screaming could be heard from the man behind the bushes as well as me as the van came to a complete stop.

"Wrong one, sorry," Meilin mumbled, pushing the stick backward to the 'R'. This time, the van moved backwards. She switched it back to the 'N' as the van began moving forwards.

But instead of going around the round-a-bout, Meilin kept the wheel steady, heading straight for the building.

"Uh Mei- Meilin!" I yelled, not realizing that I was grabbing onto the seat, "What are you do-"

Meilin crashed the van into the wooden doors of the mansion, running over a bunch of glass jars and tables before crashing into the huge room, the wheels screeching into a halt as the van almost ran over three people. High-pitched screaming echoed across the whole room...until I realized that it was actually coming from me.

I coughed, my face burning from embarrassment as I was unable to meet Meilin's gaze, "Um..."

"I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear that," Meilin said.

"Yeah..."

I managed to stifle a yelp of surprise as a face filled with ash and hair sticking out from all directions suddenly popped into view. Meilin pressed the pedal, causing the van to lurch forward.

"Oh shi-" there was a bump as the boy fell backward.

"Meilin stop! That's Devin!"

Meilin immediately stopped, "Oh. Right."

Devin, with a shredded suit and ash-filled face, stood up, coughing, "What the f*BLEEP* is wrong with you, you r*BLEEP* d*BLEEP*s. Are you tryna kill m- oh shoot... Meilin."

Oh shoot indeed. Meilin looked just about ready to literally shoot him.

"I'd kill you right now if it weren't for that contract," Meilin muttered, before exiting the van.

I quickly followed as I spotted Shane and some other guy groaning on the floor nearby, also covered in ash.

"Rollan!" Meilin exclaimed, immediately running past me.

I turned around, noticing something really off. Abeke was crouched beside the convulsing figure of Rollan.

-Meilin-

His face was pale and blue as I knelt beside him, eyes staring up at the ceiling as he kept shaking violently. He had the amulet, still clutched tightly in his hand. And...was that water trickling out of his mouth? I didn't look up as Conor and Devin joined us.

Not even trying to hold it back, I rose to my feet, sending a few bullets at Shane and Jolt's direction who immediately took shelter behind the van.

I snarled, ignoring Conor and Abeke's protests as I approached, their van, rifle still in hand, "What did you do to him?!"

"Meilin," I heard Shane's voice, "Please just put the g-"

I pulled the trigger, not caring that I was hitting the van, "Answer me dammit!"

"Look, Rollan doesn't have much time!" Shane yelled behind the van, "I can help-"

I let out a bitter laugh, "Oh sure you can help! Just like that last time when you 'helped' us."

It was silent for a moment. Surprisingly, Shane appeared behind the van, ignoring Jolt's remark. I took an aim at his head, not having second thoughts about killing our rival once and for all.

"Meilin wait!" Abeke yelled, appearing beside me.

"What now, Abeke?" I snapped, "You know what he did to us. What he did to you. He tricked us once, he'll do it again."

"Meilin, Rollan is dying!" She cried, causing some of my anger to melt away for a moment, "If there's even the slightest chance that we could save him, even if it means just to hear what Shane has to say... Please, just listen to him."

I hesitated, my gaze drifting over to where Rollan lay dying. He wasn't going to last any longer.

With a sigh, I kept the rifle pointed at Shane, "You've got ten seconds to talk before I send this bullet right in between your eyes!"

Shane wasted no time talking, "It's the amulet that is doing this to him. Because it's not in the hands of a proper wielder, it will kill it's current one."

"Then we just have to get it off him," Conor exclaimed, immediately trying to pry off the amulet from Rollan's clenched hands, "It. Won't. Budge!"

"Move out the way, sheep boy," Devin said, nudging him to the side before attempting to do the same with no progress, "It's stuck!"

Conor rolled his eyes, "Not that we already know that."

"Shut up."

"That's because you're not from Stetriol," Shane said, though I was pretty sure his ten seconds were up.

"What does being from Stetriol have anything to do with this?" I demanded.

Before Shane could reply, sirens blared in the distant, growing louder by the second. The police would be upon them soon...and that was not a good thing since Olvan had strictly instructed them not to get the police involved.

"I'm the only one who can take it out," Shane said, meeting my gaze, "If you don't let me do it, he's going to die."

"If we let him do it, he might kill Rollan instead," Conor spoke.

"This bullet would be in his head before he could do so," I hesitated for another moment, the sirens growing louder. I jerked my gun sharply to the side, "Do it then."

Shane quickly rushed past me but just as he reached Rollan, gunshots rang throughout the whole room. I hurried over to them as Abeke and Jolt began firing their guns when the first policeman came into the building.

My whole body was tensed as I carefully watch Shane put his hand on where the amulet was before blue light began to emit from inside of it.

"Hurry," Abeke yelled as more policemen kept coming.

Rollan lost his grip on the amulet as Shane took it into his hands. He immediately stood up, coughing and vomiting out water but otherwise alive.

I let out a breath, suddenly feeling weak from relief, "You're alive."

"Wha-" he got into another coughing fit before continuing in a raspy voice, "What happened?"

I would've hugged him right then if it weren't for the fact that we were in the middle of a gunfight.

"Get to the van!" Conor yelled, beginning to run only to hit the floor as bullets flew towards him.

"Drop your weapons and stand down!" One of the policemen yelled.

"How the hell is standing down possible?!" Devin exclaimed before ducking as gunshots flew towards him.

"Shut up before you get all of us killed," Jolt hissed, already dropping his gun and raising his hands.

I exchanged a glance with Abeke before reluctantly dropping our guns and slowly raising our hands. Behind me, Rollan tried to stand only to be attacked by a coughing fit as he stumbled back down.

Only Shane stayed standing, the amulet still weirdly glowing with blue light in his hands.

"I order you to drop whatever you're holding now!" One of the police yelled, his gun trained on Shane.

I glared at him but he didn't take notice as he placed the amulet close to his chest, closed his eyes and lowered his head. If he's trying to pray for a miracle, I doubt it would come before we're all stuffed with bullet holes.

But the universe wanted to prove me wrong when the ground began to groan, shaking the marbled floors as glassed chandeliers began to fall from the ceiling. The amulet in Shane's hand seemed to be glowing much brighter and I myself was starting to freak at what exactly Olvan had sent us to find.

The moment Shane raised his hand where he held the amulet, water came crashing through the windows and doors and rushed into the room, and I mean LOTS of it. Weirdly enough, the water moved towards the same target: the police in the middle. Gunshots stopped, their fear-filled screams abruptly cut off as water crashed down on them, carrying them away from us and back out the huge ballroom.

The moment quickly past as fast as it had started and Shane staggered on his feet. Conor warily rose from the floor as Abeke glanced at Shane.

"W-what in the name of Rumfuss was that..?" Devin choked out, his face etched with disbelief.

A cough snapped me from my shock as I remembered Rollan before I rushed to his side where he was still on the ground. I helped him stand, putting his arm around my neck to support him before I glanced at where Conor had faced Shane with a weary look.

"What is that?" Conor demanded, "And why were you able to do...whatever water sorcery that was?"

Shane ignored him, speaking to Jolt instead, "We better start moving. They'll be upon us soon." Jolt nodded before pressing something in his ear (maybe an earpiece), and muttering some orders into it.

Shane was about to walk away when Conor spoke up, "You haven't answered my question!"

"You asked what being from Stetriol had to do with any of this?" Shane said, turning around to meet his gaze evenly, "The Riverbender belongs to Stetriol. So only those of Stetriolian descent can wield it."

No one moved as Shane ran out of the ballroom, quickly followed by Jolt. The sirens still blared in the distance. It would be a matter of time before the police recover.

The moment of silence was broken by Devin, "Well that went well. This is why you should get me an earpiece so I won't have to miss anything."

His only reply were four pairs of glares.

- - -

This turned out longer than I originally have planned...oh well! It's a miracle I was able to even update what with all them projects! Luckily, we've got winter break coming up so I might have more time to write.