Chapter 1

The informant had made Jude nervous for three reasons.

One: he was a lot younger than her but she insisted on flirting with him anyway.

Two: yes his name was known but his face wasn't in too many circles.

Three: the mention of the Braht.

They were bad news, a government of some kind that wasn't talked about. He had heard of them in passing but had never found any solid information about who they were or what they actually did. Even "Jolyne" was hesitant to mention what they did and he got the feeling that no information or money would get it out of her, As she said, she liked living. Leia couldn't even completely say where she had met this informant. Jude had a bad feeling, after the previous year he had learnt to trust those feelings. He turned to Ludger "I don't think Elle should come demon hunting, the back streets of Duval aren't safe and I don't like the sounds of these Braht agents one bit." He spoke quietly; Elle and Leia would kick up a fuss if they thought they were being protected.

Ludger nodded slowly "Where though?"

Jude thought for a second. "We could get them to ask around the shopping area and we can say we will ask at the bar? I'll persuade Leia she needs witness's for her report. Persuade Elle to keep her company so she can see how a reporter works."

Ludger nodded again with Jude's plan, the boy didn't waste words did he? "Leia" Jude called. "You should probably ask around for a bit more information. I would rather have an idea of what we are walking into. You can do an investigative report then."

Leia's eyes sparkled. "That sounds like a good idea, I can't mention Jolyne in the article but I can use what she told me to ask questions. That's a great idea Jude." Jude almost felt bad for deceiving her.

"If Ludger and I head to the bar then you and Elle can ask around the shopping street. Show her how a reporter works" Leia raised an eyebrow at him and Jude knew she had gone from pleased to suspicious. He widened his eyes slightly and glanced down at Elle who was currently talking to Rollo, oblivious to the conversation around her before grinning cheekily.

Leia sighed. No doubt she wanted to go with him but she wasn't willing to put Elle in danger either, she wasn't like Elize and could defend herself.

"Come on Elle, we're gonna ask around the town and see if anyone can tell us anything about this demon. I can show you how a reporter works" Leia struck a pose as she spoke and Elle looked up at her in admiration.

"Yeah" she replied with enthusiasm "I can be a reporter. Bet I can do a better job than you can" with a cheeky grin at Leia's pout.

Elle giggled and ran into the shopping district with a disgruntled "Hey!" Leia followed followed by Rollo.

Jude and Ludger gave a cheery wave and called "I'll give you a call on your GHS if we find anything." He got a wave from Leia as she disappeared into the crowd after Elle. Jude sighed and turned to Ludger "Well let's see what we can find out then."

They left the busy street and entered the perpetual shadows of Duvals back streets. "A demon of the alleyways, stalking Braht members" Jude mused. "Have you ever heard of Braht Ludger?"

Ludger shook his head silently. "Not left Trigleph before." he supplied. Jude sighed, Ludger was a good person he was sure, but did he need to be so silent? It made him hard to connect with sometimes.

They stuck together as they made their way through the alleys, Jude had been to Duval when visiting Alvin a couple of times but normally stayed around the shopping area and the station. There weren't many Reize Maxia supporters to be found in some of Elympios' poorer areas. Down one dead end they found someone offering to double their money if they invested 1 million gald, as they refused and walked away they heard another local mutter that the Braht wouldn't tolerate people like that. So the Braht were some kind of city guard maybe? Or more likely a gang that decided who could do what in their town. Why were they supplying spirit fossils and boosters to Exodus? Maybe they weren't Rieze Maxian friendly either.

Braht motives aside, they were being attacked by this "Demon" supposedly. A regular guy who hides monstrous power. It was all rather vague and Jude wasn't sure if the news they had given to "Jolyne" was equal to the limited information they got in return. Information she was happy to give as soon as she knew who he was.

Jude sighed. His mind was running in circles, he wasn't even sure what was putting him on edge, a sideways glance at Ludger gave nothing away as to the young-man's thoughts. Jude forced himself to relax as they continued their walk through town.

As a way to relieve tension he tried to engage in small talk with Ludger "What reason would Exodus have for gathering spyrite materials?"

As Ludger began to shrug as his answer a voice interrupted "What's that chief? Did someone say 'spyrites?'". Jude looked around and saw a rather heavyset man in a yellow top. Jude relaxed his muscles, if he needed to defend himself he would be able to move in an instant. "If you fine folks have got the gald to spend, then I've got the goods." the man continued.

Jude was shocked and his stance faltered slightly "You mean to say you're peddling spirit fossils?"

"You bet. Only lesser spirit class ones, though" the man continued his sales pitch. Ludger looked a little confused, he probably didn't know what spirit fossils classifications were. Jude only found out about a year ago in his search for one for Milla. It made sense that an Elympion wouldn't know. Jude could fill him in on the science behind it later.

"Speaking of that, have you heard anything about people gathering spirit fossils recently?" Jude asked cautiously. It wouldn't hurt to dig a little. It looked like "Jolyne" was right about someone supplying spirit fossils if nothing else.

The salesman smirked, "Don't beat around the bush. You mean Exodus right?"

Before Jude could even snap his guard up he felt the gun resting against his shoulder blades. "Don't move Dr. Mathis. We're taking you into custody, unless you try something foolish." An agents voice came from behind him.

Crap

That's all that was running through Jude's mind. He saw Ludger in a fighting stance but he hadn't been foolish to draw his weapons. That would most likely get both of them killed. "In broad daylight?" he asked slightly cockily.

"Doesn't matter" came the confident reply from the salesman as four more men surrounded the pair. It was now six to two. They had nowhere to run.

"Braht agents" Jude surmised. Exodus didn't have the numbers or the power to pull this off in the middle of a town.

Ludger looked lost and Jude didn't blame him. They were way out of their depth, at least the girls hadn't come with them.

"What do you want with Jude?" Ludger demanded. Jude gave him credit for trying to take back control of the situation.

"You want to know. Fine." the salesman stalked up to Jude and stood in front of him. Jude hated that he had to look up at the man. "He made peace with Rieze Maxia. He's an otherworld sympathiser!" He emphasised his disgust with a blow to the face. Unable to defend himself Jude fell to the floor hard. He received a boot to the stomach while he was down as the man sneered "Your little spyrite tricks aren't gonna save you now, pal!" Jude curled up in pain, both from his face and now his stomach from the kick. He could taste blood, had his teeth cut his mouth when he was hit?

"Jude!" Ludger called out concerned.

"I bet he's a Rieze Maxian" one agent offered. "Lets kill him off just to be thorough."

Jude looked up and saw an agent pointing a gun at Ludger while the another agent pointed one at Jude. "No!" Jude shouted. Blood spitting from his mouth as he raised his voice. "He's got nothing to do with this. He's an Elympion." Fear and adrenaline rushed through him. Why were they involving Ludger in this? Jude would never forgive himself if Ludger got hurt because of him.

The first agent laughed and sighted down his gun at Ludger and Jude panicked. They wouldn't believe him and he doubted they would hesitate if they thought Ludger really was from Reize Maxia.

"No! I'll go with you quietly. Just don't kill him." Jude was begging now, he sounded pathetic even to himself. But... he wouldn't get Ludger killed just for being with him. The agent with the gun grinned, but the salesman put a hand on his arm.

"Enough, we have what we want." he crouched down in front of Jude. "You won't resist or ask for help?"

"I won't" Jude offered solemnly.

"Why?" The first agent spat. "We could just drag this scum with us, bet he wont fight back if we blow his friend's brains out."

The salesman rose to his feet and signalled two other agents to drag Jude to his feet, holding him between them as they removed his gauntlets and threw them into a dark corner of the street. Jude's head swam a little; that was some punch to the head. "This boy was part of the group that broke the schism, and killed Gilandor Yul Svent. We give him no reason to fight and the others no reason to come looking for us. Everyone is happy." The salesman grinned at this and Jude wondered whose hands he had just put himself in. He knew too much about Jude, was he part of Exodus?

Jude didn't dare look at Ludger while he bartered himself away. He was ashamed, it was true he had done all those things the year before. But that was with a Lillium Orb fully powered by his experiences, that had broken. He had the Allium orb but hadn't had the time or the need to level it up very much. He had experimented with different types of linking but that wouldn't be much help here. He also had his martial arts from training with Master Sonia but was nowhere near the level he was at the end of the battle with Gaius the year before.

The agent scoffed and lowered his weapon, keeping it in his hand. "Come on then, the boss will be waiting."

Jude shrugged free from the agents holding him and went to Ludger "I'm sorry I got you caught up in this."

Ludger shrugged "Don't worry" he acted nonchalant but Jude could see the worry in his eyes. Jude tried to act calm but he was concerned himself, what could the Braht agents possibly want with him, was it part of their deal with Exodus? He was definitely on less than friendly terms with them.

The agents surrounded them while trying to make it look casual and herded them through smaller alleyways leading into the darker back streets of Duval. After walking for a few minutes the guard thinned slightly, the bit they had reached forced them to walk single file. There were four agents in front of them leaving two behind.

Jude saw his chance, he forced a link on Ludger and turned to smash one of the agents in the face with his bare fist. Without his gauntlets to protect his knuckles the skin split from the force. Jude ignored it and moved on to attack the next one, leaving Ludger to stand at the mouth of the backstreet with his hammer drawn stopping the other agents from running back to assist. The second agent blocked the first punch but was unprepared for the roundhouse kick to the side of the head which knocked him unconscious. It had been the agent who had been determined to shoot Ludger earlier so Jude felt a small amount of satisfaction at knocking him out.

"Ludger" Jude called, "time to run". He didn't want to fight them if he didn't have to. Ludger's agreement thrummed through the link and he turned and followed Jude back the way they came. They just needed to reach the shopping area, then Leia could back them up if the agents dared to attack in a populated area. Jude saw two people hanging around further up the street but didn't want to take the chance that they weren't agents and sprinted down a small side road for a short way before crouching to watch for any pursuit while he and Ludger got their breath back. He absent-mindedly brushed the back of hand across his mouth and was shocked by how much blood there was. He must look a mess. His abdomen were protesting from him running after being hit but he ignored it, he dared not use Healer in case the green light gave them away and he didn't have any gels on him. Damn he had gotten so complacent while concentrating on his research. He was a fool to forget he had enemies.

He heard footsteps and shrank against the wall again, carefully he watched the remaining three agents and the salesman run down the road they had just left. The two people at the end turned to greet them and the group paused to talk to them. Jude had been right, there were agents covering the main streets, so how to get out? Jude's train of thought was broken by a GHS ringing.

His GHS.

Jude swore under his breath and six pairs of eyes turned to stare at his hiding place, Jude ducked out of sight but the damage was done. A shout followed him.

"Run" Jude hissed at Ludger even as he pulled out his GHS to see who had such bad timing.

It was Leia. Jude listened to her talking even as he ran onwards, trusting Ludger to find a way out of the maze of back streets while avoiding pursuit. He didn't have the breath to tell her what was going on, just half listened as she spoke of who she had interviewed, what they had said, Rollo running off and finding Rowen and Gaius. Jude would have hung up if he thought she wouldn't just ring him back.

Wait did she say Rowen and Gaius?

"Leia" he panted.

"Jude? Jude what's going on? Are you running from someone? Is Ludger with you? Do you need help?" The questions battered past him, a glance behind showed they were gaining on him. He couldn't run for much longer, his chest was burning and the blood from his mouth had started running down his throat was making it hard to drag air in.

"Trap" he managed to saw as he drew in breath to speak. A glance behind again showed that they would catch up in the next few minutes. Ludger was going strong and the gap between then was widening with every stride. "Help Ludger." Ludger sensed Jude's decision through the link that was still between them, he hesitated slightly but Jude slammed him with his determination as he threw him his GHS with the call to Leia still running. "They want me alive, remember."

Jude stopped running to face the approaching group of agents, they had gained some people during their chase and now numbered around ten strong. "Run, find Leia " he commanded Ludger before limiting the link. It wasn't severed completely but now they only had a dim awareness of each other. No need for him to know was was happening but he still wanted to be found. He heard Ludger's retreating footsteps behind him and he readied his stance for the approaching group. They looked murderous. Jude dodged the first bullet, and a second before his breath shot out of him. He had been hit by a Spyrix weapon, his body remembered the feeling of the electricity running through him, paralysing his nerves. As the shock wore off from one he was hit by another and fell to his knees as his skin burned. There was quiet as the second one wore off, leaving a tingling feeling in his fingers. Against his better judgement but knowing he had to Jude attempted to stand and face his attackers. Another kick to the stomach threw him onto his back. Huh, he thought he had blocked that, his body wasn't responding properly. He opened his eyes to see a gun in his face he looked past it to see the salesman staring at him with anger in his eyes.

"We had an agreement Dr Mathis. You promised to come quietly. Now we will have to hunt your friend down and kill him in front of you to prove a point."

"I get why you guys hate me so much. But you don't need to involve others in it. It was nothing to do with him." Jude tried to reason calmly but his heart had gone cold at the salesman's threat. He received another blow to his face for his efforts. Jude's head lolled to the side and he could feel blood from his nose running down his face in a small stream, joining the flow dripping from his parted lips.

"You will be silent now Dr Mathis. We will let the boss decide what to do with you." He was dragged to his feet again and Jude staggered as his head spun. He felt his arms roughly grabbed and held behind him and someone used their belt to secure his arms. Didn't look like they were taking any chances with him now. "Try to run again and we will put a bullet in your knee and drag you. I'd like to see you heal the damage from that."

Head hanging in defeat Jude staggered back the way he had come fully surrounded by the ten agents. He could only hope Ludger got away safely.

This is my first multi chapter fic. Will update as soon as I have triple checked for spelling, grammar and flow :)

Shout out to l3largus and ignite-lx for your reviews of A Deal. Thank you for being my first ever reviewers. I hope you continue to enjoy my writing :D

Had a few little changes to fix some issues and help it flow better with later chapters (17/9/16)