Chapter 178 - Upset

"What's this all about," drenched with the blood of her fallen comrade, hidden behind a wall, Cake asked. Dotted around the building, one that held three-stories despite being in the slums, her men  - some injured whilst others-focused. The incident had lasted two days, the escape had been destroyed by a suicidal attempt to stop the deal. Sprinkles were notorious for not caring about their lives.

On the second day, Cake rushed in with the remainder of the gang. The fight continued, gun-fire, magic, all that was accessible. Ammo was out, no hope of escape for the attackers, the situation was brought under control. Opposite her, behind the same wall, the ones who began the fight.

"You ain't' getting no answer," *Bang,* the second the door clicked, gun-fire raged from the inside. Their ammo wasn't low, Sprinkles had the worst of it. Ten-man remained living and breathing, the others were either dead or injured.

"Calm down," she whispered. A bit of information before going all out wasn't such a bad idea. They who held their guns sighed in hopes of calming down.

"Who are you guys?" she asked, the fight came to a standstill. None wanted to make the first move.

"A rival gang," the only clear response received. An oval-shaped object got thrown from out to the ajar door.

"GET IN COVER," she screamed, tis was a grenade; it had been too long.

*BANG,* it blew through the entire hallway, rather than exploding in a circle, it followed the wall and ended on either side of the building. The windows flew off, bodies fell on the floor – a grenade imbued with fire-magic.

"Damn it," a black car arrived in time to witness the building get destroyed. 'I'm too late,' without care, he climbed onto the roof of the moving vehicle. *Death Element: Absolute-Barrier,* bodies were caught in mid-air. At the same time, a helicopter hovered above the roof, a ladder was dropped.

"Cake, are you ok?" Void stopped,  the few who survived the explosion were placed onto the ground. 'No time to waste,' potions given, their injuries healed.

"Shadow," she recovered quickly, "-stop them at all cost, 90% of Sprinkles has been wiped out. You're the leader, avenge my fallen men," people gathered around. Five including Cake were left to rest on the sidewalk.   

"Oh, don't worry," partially his fault, Staxius had to take responsibility. 'A helicopter so far into the city,' they who climbed seemed in a hurry. The face hidden by masks, there was no way in knowing who they were. 'Either I destroy the thing altogether and risk the lives of inconsequential people which will bring attention to the dark-guild, or we let them go,' a choice had to be made, risk their identity being revealed or suffer the loss without anything to show.

"There's no way I'm compromising," both eyes closed, Shadow-step manifested in a blackish-mist, in a blink, he dashed inside.

"Get on already, we're wasting time," he who controlled the ladder urged. The rest stood on the roof. The hands worked tirelessly to load weapons that were to be used in business. "Why such a hurry, we've wiped out one of the dark guild's team – this call for celebration." Laughter and pride all around, the remaining three were ready to evacuate.  

"Yes, celebration," a voice spoke from behind.

"Get-down," Support gunfire opened without a second thought. The remainder ran straight for the ladder, the chopper grew more active.  

'We'll call today a loss,' Staxius sighed, '-but there's no way I'm leaving without something,' blood dripped, no spell, nothing was used to stop the attack. The attention was focused on capturing a single individual, there was nothing more that could have been done. Firing a shot from Tharis might have done damage but that would also result in unnecessary attention being drawn.

"Wait for me," the ladder slowly distanced itself, a single man remained. "HERE I COME," he leaped.

"Not so fast," a strong grip on the ankle stopped the escape, the getaway vehicle flew off into the distance, there was nothing they could do.

"How the hell are you alive?" struggling to get away, the man kicked relentlessly. He hung vertically down the building, Staxius laid atop, blood loosened the grip.

"You better brace," a single pull, the body got thrown onto the wall. An instant knock-out.

"How shameful," Adete hovered, "-were you really that powerless or did you act?" she asked, the voice intrigued.

"I don't know if I made the right decision," the sun shone, he stared up, the body recovered, "-there wasn't enough information to perfectly calculate outcomes – a judgment call," the body sat upright, bullets fell, the holes healed. "Besides, this isn't the first time we'll see those guys," he stood, the clothes were torn and a hostage in tow, he walked.

"Here's what I manage to get," the man dropped beside Cake who leaned against a broken-down wall.  

"Is that so," her mind wandered in and out of consciousness, "-listen," the voice serious. "All that talk about you being an ally was just a joke, wasn't it. I explicitly gave you that phone so we could reach out if anything happened. Neither will I be a hypocrite nor stupid, I'm also responsible for not thoroughly checking the location and deal. We both bare the blame for this incident – Sprinkles is more or less over," she pointed at the survivors. "They're hurt beyond recovery; magic isn't going to do much now. This is how my hard-earned battle-hardened soldiers die – all because I dared to rely on someone other than myself," her take on the situation was over. The day Sprinkles was wiped by a foreign gang, one unknown but powerful.

"I agree," he sat beside her, "-I won't say I'm innocent. Some things should have been done," the head turned, "-I won't say that those who died left an impression. This is my nature, I care not for people other than me," the voice monotonous, he had no remorse for letting the gang die. "However," the head faced upwards, "-that doesn't mean I'll wash my hands with those who died and leave. Tis the job of a leader to protect the subordinates – in that respect I failed," the wind blew, a guttural defeat, a taste of reality. "If I'd have been a few minutes earlier, all this would have never happened. I may be strong, I may be merciless, but I'm not all-mighty," from monotonous to angry, the voice's tone altered gradually. "Henceforth, Cake – tis what it all comes down to. Trust in me or wash your hand with the dark-guild, someone like you should be able to find a place quickly. You're the strategist if I remember correctly, there are probably options laid opened  in case this situation ever happened."

"As long as my men are avenged, I don't care what you do. Throw me to the wolves, the world isn't a nice place, and neither is the underground. Expect for mercy and pity here and it's all lost," she held out her hand.

"I'm glad we can agree," they shook hands. In that conversation, each knew where the other stood, Cake went from not fully-trusting Staxius to having faith in him. From rescuing her and capturing one of the oppositions, a far better outcome than she could have gotten on her own.  Staxius, on the other hand, gained a trustworthy ally.

"Now what," Staxius asked, people gathered around, Void which rested in front became the main piece of attraction. Having such luxury here, in the part of the capital none wanted to venture out too, was a rare sight.

"I've called Jason, someone should be arriving in pick-up and clean whatever mess we made," her response simple, both now waited.

"Cake and Shadow," two black vans stopped a few minutes later, "-we're here for the clean-up." She stood and spoke, orders were given, the injured were kept inside.

"We'll take care of everything here, you guys can go home," dressed in normal clothes, the cleaning crew arrived.

"See you later, I'll text the location," she drove off on her bike.

"What a good start to the day," he mumbled sarcastically, Void turned on.

"You could have used teleportation to get inside the helicopter and stop everything," Adete said in a curious tone, she spoke the truth.

"You're right, I could have," he breathed slowly, "-sadly, the all-seeing eye didn't permit me to gaze inside the chopper. I could have done a lot of this but it would have resulted in a dead-end. Don't be fooled, I'm not that strong as you think – intimidation and mind-games is still my forte. Most of the people I fight are done through those subtle games. Today was a defeat – there's no arguing," the car made way to the shop. "The Underground isn't going to be as easy as I thought."

"You can say that twice," she smiled, "-nothing is that easy. What does it mean to be strong, does one have to get more powerful for his sake or the sake of others. At the end of the day, an ant can take out an elephant, the higher you are, the harder you fall; being strong isn't always a good thing."

"Since when have you turned into a philosopher," the voice smug, he replied without ulterior motives.

"Well, since you got completely destroyed by a few hoodlums," a reply that seemed truthful, "-I had to speak up."

"You're right; there are more things to learn and do – labeling someone as strong isn't worth the effort. I'm not strong, I'm Staxius, tis the line of thinking I agree with." Mistakes were made, things happened, nothing always fell into place – he suffered a great loss. The stride that would have been made in the underground came to a stand-still. All went back to the drawing board, rather than focusing on what was unchangeable, it focused on another problem. One that loomed in the air; two days were left till the deadline. God's ale had to become a priority.

"God damn," the car came to a halt. A magnificent building stood, one with two stories and a slated roof. One that had the feel of a vampiric manor. In no way was it intimidating, it felt welcoming for it also had the feel of a magical shop. Elegant and breathtaking, a sign written in calligraphy read, *magic-shop.*

"The dwarves sure have a sense of humor,"

"What do you mean?" Staxius asked; Adete's observation piqued his attention a little.

"Can't you figure it out? A vampire working inside a Victorian styled shop," she chuckled, "-having a coffin rather than a bed would make this even more hilarious."

*Click,* the door opened, a bell rung, the interior – a large room with armor-stands, weapons-stands and a lot of display cases for potions and anything magic related. The size of said room was increased, half of the old-back room was used to expand space.

In the back, a narrow staircase with shelves for storage on the back wall. The top-floor was all Staxius hoped for, a giant room filled with empty-bookshelves, various apparatuses that would help in alchemy and a vacant rectangle in the middle. One that matched the size of Void, the builders were smart to leave out space for easy movement. A ladder was spotted in the corner, it led to the attic were a bed, a table, and a circular window rested. Back in the research-lab, a single window at the front provided sunlight. The inside looked as pretty as the outside, Skokdrag and his team had outdone themselves. The place was way better than what he dreamt of.

"No coffin," he pointed out, both stood near the window.

"Yeah, sure, you win," she pouted.

"This place sure is amazing; work is going to be more of a privilege than effort. I can't wait to transfer back all the stuff from Arda – tis time to become a scholar worth the knowledge taught by so many people." A portal was built, one that linked the already existing portal in a garage back at Arda.

Without fail, all the stuff was transferred – a few potions made were put on display. Common scrolls, uncommon scrolls and Rare scrolls laid in separate levels in a single massive cabinet. One laced with a red-colored fabric to soak up moisture and anything that could damage the commodities. The furniture was hand-crafted, there was no need to bring back all the furniture stored.  What remained was to decide the shop's name, something he didn't want to do just yet.