Alice leant weakly against the wall, her breath ragged and uneven. Even with the protection garnered from Noelle’s clothes, fighting a fully grown man had taken it’s toll on her. Across from her she noticed the man’s radio, it’s light flashing repeatedly in the darkness. Crawling forward, she grabbed it and pushed the switch, causing it to jump to life once more.

"Command! This is Patrol, over. Please respond," it cried.

"Patrol, what the hell is going on down there?" Samuel could be heard yelling, the anger and frustration in his voice clearly evident.

"It’s the Unfettered sir, they’re found us. We need reinforcements if we’re not to be overrun!" He said, begging desperately.

"Damn it! Okay, all of you with me. You two stay here and guard Mr Olivier. It’s his fault these idiots are here and I don’t want him running off amid the confusion," Samuel barked, snarling his words.

With that several pairs of footsteps could be heard, racing into the hallway towards the stairs, ready to deal with their attackers. Within the room, Alice could hear the sound of feet slowly shuffling across the floor and an almost silent sobbing sound that echoed through the halls.

Alice knew that this would be her only chance to get her hands on the prize and a part of her wanted to rush in blindly hoping for the best. Suppressing her nerves and reigning in her uneasiness she spread out her senses, using them to gather an accurate picture of her surroundings.

Around her she could feel the presences of dozens of men, their movements leaving subtle imprints of the mana that flowed around them. Behind her on the opposite side of the wall two men stood, idling about, their back leant against the wall, beyond them a man sat hunched in the corner, his body shaking. As she continued to spread her sense further and further she began to glimpse a idea of the battle below. The stairwell had become a battlefield, not unlike hell itself. A few floors below her, a dozen men stood, assault rifle fire interspersed between large bursts of magical energy. All around them bodies lay, blown apart by magical flame, their skin blackened and charred. Further below that fierce hand to hand combat could be found, with swords slicing easily through flesh and bone, and knives being desperately plunged into tissue. And far off, right at the bottom of the stairwell a single man stood, guarded by several men whose presence shone brightly, like stars in the night sky.

"So many Mages and Sorcerers... Dammit!" She cursed under her breath, retracting her senses into herself. This won’t be easy but at least I now know what’s going on, Alice thought, quickly moving forward once more, heading through the shadowy passageway towards her target.

Approaching the double doors of the room, Alice pushed out her hands before her, fingers intertwined, palms outwards, forcing out from her hands a loud audible crack. At this she breathed deeply and promptly kicked the door in, a fireball already in her hand. Inside the men were taking completely unaware, the first guard being struck down by a fireball that engulfed him, knocking him from his feet. The other guard, seeing this attempted to draw his gun, but a sudden gust of wind blew it from his grasp, sending it spinning off into one of the dark corners of the room.

Alice launcher herself forward at an almost inhuman speed, stepping into him effortlessly. A palm strike, stuck out, slamming into the bottom of the man’s jaw, stunning him. Not wanting to let him recover she grasped ahold of his outstretched arm, while simultaneously locking her leg behind his, placing all her weight onto him. Unable to react they both quickly succumb to gravity falling to a heap on the floor, Alice sitting comfortably, straddled, quite suggestively across the man’s chest. Releasing her grip of his arm, Alice let loose with a vicious blow into his jaw, knocking him unconscious.

She stood up, brushing herself down, a content smile on her battered and bruised features. Alice turned to face the man who sat huddled in the corner, her eyes searching for the case.

"Please! Don’t hurt me... I’ll give you back what I promised you.. just don’t kill me!" Seeing her the old man broke down, screaming at the top of his lungs.

"I’m not here to kill you, you old fool..." Alice coldly retorted, continuing to search for the case.

"Then what are you doing here?"

"... I’m here because I know how much these low life scum were going to pay for your little mangieri of goods, so could you kindly tell me where they, and the money is? Before I decide I do, in fact want to kill you."

"So you’re not with them?"

"Yes. It’s almost as if I hadn’t just gotten through explaining that... so please tell me where everything is."

"The money? It’s a-a-round here somewhere, it was in a black briefcase on that table over there, the goods are next to it!" Olivier exclaimed, his panicked eyes racing about in their sockets.

Alice listlessly turned her head in the direction he mentioned, noticing a table that did indeed have a pair of black briefcases sitting on top of it. Walking over to it without hesitation, Alice began to grin viciously, unable to contain her excitement. Grabbing tightly a hold of the nearest briefcase she spun it round, opening the clasps and revealing the stacks of tightly bound notes that lay within it. Confirming the contents of the case Alice whipped her backpack from her shoulder placing it next to the briefcase, hurriedly transferring the notes into it. With the case emptied, Alice closed it, affixing the clasps in place one more, grabbing the second briefcase she did so, making herself ready to leave. Yet before she could even make it halfway back to the centre of the room, she noticed the distinct click of a slider being drawn back in place.

"Hold it right there!" A voice commanded from behind her. "Put your hands up above your heads. Both of you!"

"And if I refuse?" Alice chided in, being somewhat fed up of being snuck up on.

"Well then you won’t have very long to regret your mistake."

"Fine... I’ll do it," Alice responded, placing the case on the floor and turning to face the source of the voice.

In front of her a man stood, his clothes ragged and worn, countless bloodstains littered across them. She could instantly tell he was one of them, there was no way any member of the Mafia would be caught dead in that idiotic Hawaiian shirt.

"Take off the mask and hood as well... But! move slowly, I don’t want to have to accidentally kill you," the man continued, scratching his wiry goatee nervously.

"Fine, fine. Just give me a moment." Alice complied, she was so close to her goal she wasn’t going to mess it up by being cocky. She needed to wait to find the perfect opportunity to escape from here.

"Mr Olivier! So this is where you had run off to with our goods, was it?" The man remarked, turning his gaze over to the man sat huddled in the corner.

"Look I don’t want any trouble... take them back and you can forget about the money I asked for. Just leave me alone will you?"

"Now isn’t that mighty kind of you, but sadly we in the alliance need to make an example of a man who skipped out of town with a shipment of precious goods we’d already agreed to purchase. Otherwise, people would stop taking us seriously... but you do have my sympathies for what’ll happen." The man responded, his eyes shining in delight.

“Though... if we managed to get the items for free as well as a substantial settlement for the hassle caused, I’m sure the higher ups might just look away from this little transgression. So why don’t you tell me where they are Olivier?"

"She has it. She has it all!" Olivier screamed as tears rolled down his cheeks.

Alice shot the miserable old man a death glare, internally screaming at his pathetic snivelling nature. She couldn’t wait for an opportunity anymore, she’d have to make her own.

"Hand it over girl, I’ll not ask twice." The man calmly requested, shifting the muzzle of his gun upwards towards her head.

"Sigh... you got me." Alice solemnly replied, shrugging her shoulders.

Turning round, Alice bent down, as if to grab the case but instead she clicked her fingers, generating a spark, which grew stronger and stronger, until it became a roaring flame. With the flame hidden from view, she thumbed at the briefcase, making sure it was in her grasp. In the next moment Alice grabbed the case, spinning as she sidestepped and threw the ball of fire at the man, all in one fluid motion.

Seeing this the man also sidestepped, the fireball striking him in the shoulder, knocking him off balance, as he fired, his shots scattering wide of target. Less than a second later he had already recovered, steadying his aim, while also summoning a fireball of his own, launching it at Alice’s advancing figure.

Sensing this Alice quickly moved her free hand forward, hurriedly projecting a barrier behind her, attempting to ward off the onrushing flame. A instant later the fireball collided with the barrier, dissipating it, leaving her hidden in a cloud of smoke and flame.

As the smoke and flame subsided, Alice’s figure re-emerged, lunging forward, low to the ground. She hoped to catch him off guard, but she didn’t. Instead he stepped forward, dropping the gun and leaving both hands free. Quicker than she could react he grabbed on to her, his knee snapping forward into her face. The impact rocked her, shaking her consciousness and knocking the briefcase from her grasp. Before she could even recover he grabbed her again and sent the tip of his boot screaming into her stomach, winding her and sending her sprawling across the room. 

Alice grunted in pain, blood spilling from her nose. Trying not to panic, she summoned a fireball once more, launching it at her attacker as she recoiled backwards. Unfortunately for her, her attacker was prepared. Dropping his gun he splayed both his hands out before him, forcing the air currents to warp, catching the fireball and causing it to explode, engulfing Alice’s figure completely in a giant fiery explosion, shattering numerous windows and casting countless pieces of debris into the air.

When the flame subsided, Alice sat, hunched over and contorted from the pressure wave of the explosion, her back resting upon one of the metal glass frames. All around her shards of glass lay, having been blown from their frames. The wind howled, racing through the concrete jungle and blowing into the room, now exposed to the elements. Slowly Alice struggled to sit up, her eye’s hazey, glared across the room as her attacker strolled into view.

"I told you, yet you had to try and run didn’t you."

"What’s a girl to do?" Alice joked, her face covered in blood and dust.

"Hand the case over," he demanded, his hand outstretched.

Alice paused - her eyes looking him up and down - before she spoke. "You know what?"

"What?"

"This," Alice quipped, leaping backwards out the window, snapping her fingers as she did so, a torrent of fire bursting forth from between them, exploding towards him. Before it had even crossed a third of the distance towards him, the room ignited in a cacophonous explosion, it’s shock wave launching Alice several meters away from the building into the void beyond, knocking her off balance causing her to flail helplessly towards the ground.

As she fell Alice desperately tried to grab ahold of the air, hoping to be able to stabilize herself but every time she thought she had grasped it, it would slip between her fingers, knocking her off balance once more and sending her spiraling wildly through the air. The next few seconds of falling felt like an eternity as she continued to grasp at the air, with limited results and by the time she had fallen past the second floor she had only just straightened herself out and managed to stopped the spinning. Alice knew that she had no time to reduce the impact, instead she braced herself, fortifying both her clothing and her flesh to the limit, all the while hoping against hope to land on something soft.

Then with an almighty crash, the world went black, it’s disappearance accompanied to the sound of crumpling metal and shattering glass. Damn him, she thought as her consciousness was stolen from her.

Next Chapter: Crawling In The Dark