The wind howled as snow carpeted the streets. Only the bravest or the most foolish walked the sidewalks in this storm. However, inside the school dorms; the ambience was far from quiet. All the students were excited about the school being closed for the whole week. The bad weather didn't matter much for them, as the commodities of the dorms were more than enough to ensure a fun break.

Ara's room was no exception where, even at a really late hour of the night, it was full of people. Many enjoyed themselves, however, Aisha expended most of the night complaining about her situation with Eve while Ara was trying to defend the president the best she could. Chung was sat next to Ara and he was basically nodding at everything she would say, while trying to negate the vice-president's complaints. Raven and Rena where on her bed, busy with some cigarettes. Ciel and Lu were playing video games; from time to time Ciel would eye Raven and check if they had the stuff ready.

"All I'm asking for… is some consideration. I've been by her side since I've came to this school…" Aisha said spinning on her chair.

"I'm pretty sure she does take you into consideration. She really does rely on you most of the time." Ara said.

"Yeah, she's always doing that." Chung added, quite tired of the conversation topic at this point.

Aisha hiccupped, her face was red from the alcohol and her spinning finally made her fall of her chair. Luckily she landed on Ara's bed. Once she found herself on the soft mattress she yawned and crawled under the blankets. Ara sighed and moved next to her to cover her properly, making sure she wasn't in a bad shape.

"You know, I thought Eve already got over what happened last year…" Aisha said, trying to stay awake.

"What happened last year?" Chung asked curiously.

Aisha blinked and slowly sat up on the bed. She looked at both of them and after considering her choices for a moment, spoke.

"It's something I don't really like to talk about but… well, I might as well explain the situation to give you a better picture..."

Both Ara and Chung were now a bit intrigued by this. They sat around her on Ara's bed and she started her story after making sure nobody would listen to them.

"This happened last year, right after we went to summer break," Aisha began, "I had joined the student council and we were doing lots of work. Back then, I worked really, really hard. I was motivated by her. It was incredible how hard she works, and the fact that no matter how much effort I put in, she would always be one step ahead. But I really enjoyed it, being with something I could relate with. Eve was the first person I could just hold a conversation with without feeling like talking to a rock."

"Yeah, yeah. You pretty much adored her, what else?"

Raven and company had stopped doing their things and gathered around Aisha. She was suddenly taken aback by the number of people but after seeing all their expecting faces she decided to go on.

"As I was saying, I really looked up to her. We started spending a lot of time together, and it would be even more time when I was finally promoted to vice-president. From that moment on the amount of work increased a lot but, at least, I was working directly next to her, and it was worth it."

She paused to check if they were still listening. Lu and Ciel were still distracted playing their games. Ciel had now a handmade cigar in his lips. She continued her story.

"We grew closer and closer. We became best friends and started hanging out even outside student council work. And as time passed on…"

She made a pause here.

"Come on Aisha; don't leave us hanging." Rena prompted.

Aisha took a deep breath.

"My feelings started to shift. I felt like our friendship… wasn't enough. I wanted more. I became greedy, coveting her affection. Back then Eve was a lot more… cold. But she let me touch her warm side and I just got addicted."

"Hey wait. You're basically saying that you wanted to… with her?" Raven asked, gesturing with his hands something that could be relatable with sex.

Aisha looked around; she cleared her throat and continued.

"One day we were hanging out as usual. We visited the mall for some window shopping. I asked her to get to the rooftop, giving her the excuse that I wanted to see the landscape. However what I wanted was to chat with her alone."

"And what did you talk about?" Everyone asked in unison.

"Aisha, is there something troubling you? You been acting weird lately" Eve asked, the soft wind waving her hair.

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about it… I… Eve, I…" Aisha tried to speak out, not being able to find her words.

"What's the matter? You can tell me." Eve asked.

"Lately I've been feeling like, well, I want us to be more… close."

"Close?" Eve asked confused.

"I mean. We already are close. What I want is us to… make a new step."

"Aisha," Eve said, tired of her confusing words "What are you trying to say?"

"Alright, I'm sorry, I'll say it bluntly," Aisha said, straightening herself "Eve, I want us to go out."

Eve raised an eyebrow as she looked at her.

"Aren't we going out right now? If you want to go to another place then…" Eve said.

"No, I don't mean like this," Aisha interrupted.

She gathered some more strength to continue.

"I want us to go out as a couple. To hang out and to show our feelings… and… k-kissing."

Aisha waited a bit before looking away the streets and meeting Eve's eyes. They were as hard to read as ever.

"What you are trying to say is that you want to engage in a romantic relationship with me?" Eve asked.

Aisha heart skipped a beat, she slowly nodded and waited for Eve to answer.

"Aisha. I'm glad that you possess such warm feeling for my person… but I'm really sad to say that I can't reciprocate it."

As if splashed with a bouquet of ice water, Aisha stood there totally frozen. She was afraid to let Eve speak further but wasn't able to say anything else.

"My works as representative of Altera plus my duties with the school are far too demanding for me to allow me having a relationship like the one you desire." Eve said.

Aisha had heard enough, she gathered what little force she had left and ran away.

"Aw… the bad Nasod broke your heart" Rena said, cuddling Aisha's head in her chest.

"Hey! Stop it. I'm okay. It was a long time ago and both Eve and I have come to good terms about it." Aisha said, softly pushing her away.

Everyone resumed what they were doing, she felt glad she didn't have to say anything more so she curled up on the bed and silently fell asleep. Everyone else continued with their party. Elsword joined Ciel and Lu on their games while Raven and Rena where busy smoking. Rose was called by some friends so she went out and that left Chung and Ara mostly alone.

"Then you will be going on that expedition?" Ara said, breaking the ice.

"Ah… It's not as bad as you think. I guess we'll be spending most of our time peeling potatoes," Chung answered with a laugh.

"Well, let's hope you don't get hurt. But it's a shame that you're leaving this same week. I mean: schools' out and all that so we could have done something."

"If it weren't for the huge blizzard."

Chung stood and looked through the window. The snow stopped falling and now it was being blown all over the place by the strong wind. He saw a trash can that was being dragged around by the wind. It bounced along its way until finally colliding with a street lamp, spilling its contents on the snow. He sighed and sat next to her. They were chatting again when suddenly the lights went out.

"Ciel! What happened? I was about to get a new record!" Lu shouted in the dark.

The room was illuminated again when Raven switched on the flashlight on his Elshard.

"Looks like a blackout," He said, walking over the window and checking the windows of the buildings at sight. Every building inside the school grounds had its lights out.

"The wind may have knocked out the grid or something," Rena added, switching on her own Elshard's flashlight.

She open a drawer and searched on it until finally taking out an aromatic candle that she lit before turning off the flashlight. She placed some more around the room until it was bright enough to see.

"And what do we do now?" Raven asked.

"Don't worry, I have this covered," Lu answered; pulling out a portable gaming console and resuming gaming, ignoring everyone else.

"Alright, someone who's not an idiot?" Raven asked, this time rather annoyed.

"Dude, all this ruckus over a blackout…" Aisha said, getting out of bed "I'll go check the other people; you just stay here and try not to get scared of the boogeyman or something…"

Aisha went outside, instead of using her Elshard to light out the way, she murmured something as she traced her hand in a circle in front of her. A glowing ball materialized, lighting up the way for her. The whole dorm quieted down when the lights went out, but most students did as they do and lighted up their rooms with candles or their shards.

"I think we should go back to our dorm," Elsword suggested.

But as he said that, a deafening sound startled all of them. A powerful thunder echoed through the dorms, marking the start of a storm. Rain started hitting the windows. The few initial drops became a downpour quite fast.

"Doesn't seem like a good idea right now," Ara said.

"We're going back to Lu's room." Ciel said, standing up holding the little girl's hand.

Aisha came back as they left the room.

"Everyone else is ok. Well, it can't be helped; I'll be going back to my room. I suggest you go to sleep as well guys," She said before leaving the room again.

"Alright, I'll get some blankets; you're not going out in this weather. Boys go there, girls here," Rena said, pointing at Ara's empty bed and her own bed respectively.

Elsword, Raven and Chung had some trouble with sleeping in the same bed. While they discussed about it, Rena and Ara were already snoring on the other bed.

Elesis was defeated again. She left the game controller on the table as she sighed.

"Damn it, you're too good at this."

Artemisa set down her controller as well.

"The mistress loves to play this game so I have experience," She answered, with a complacent smile on her face.

The sound of thunder echoed in the tower. However instead of the mighty crackling, it sounded more like a really far rumble. The doorbell sounded and the Nasod maid shifted her attention for a moment. She looked down, as if she were thinking on something.

"Hmm… how weird, we weren't expecting any guest now…" She said as she left the room, heading towards the front door.

Elesis felt a bad vibe about it, so she followed her. Artemisa opened the door to found two tall figures standing there, wearing brown long coats and soaked from tip to toe.

"Greetings, I'm agent Jack from the mafia police, and this is Lieutenant Connors. We came to discuss something with the lady standing behind you," He said pointing at Elesis.

The maid looked at the two of them confused.

"I am sorry, but you need to request an audience if you are coming here, even if you're the police." She answered.

"It's alright, let them in," A voice said from behind.

Artemisa and Elesis looked back to see Eve descending the stairs. The maid obeyed her master and let them in, leading them into a small visiting room on the first floor. It was a chamber with only a pair of long sofas and a small table in between. Both police officers sat on one sofa while Elesis occupied the other one with Eve at her side.

"So, what's this all about?" Elesis asked once everyone was settled.

"We hoped to get some answers from you. I'm sure you hadn't forgotten the incident that ended with two of your friends in jail not so long ago," The policeman started to say.

"What does that have to do with me?" She asked impatiently.

"We've been also investigating a recent robbery of a big Elum shipment. I'm sorry to say that we found some evidence linking those two events," He explained.

"Really? Let me see it," Elesis said.

"We can't, as the evidence are the witnesses that ensure that you were in the crime scene not once but two." Jack added.

"Then you have nothing, the word of some random guy saying that I was there has no value at all," Elesis said, standing up and making her way to the door.

"Elesis," Eve called "What they aren't telling you is that they been following you since the incident they mentioned."

She froze in place, slowly turning to face the two officers and them Eve.

"These guys were following me… and you knew it and didn't said anything to me?" She protested.

"I didn't mentioned it because they asked me not to do it. However, given the situation, I thought this should be a good time to bring the circumstances to light."

She sat back, this time a bit farther away from Eve. Faced the two officers and waited for they to speak.

"What do you have to say?" Jack asked.

"About what? If you don't want to show me the evidence then you two are wasting your time coming here." She answered.

This wasn't the first time she spoke with police officers. She was already prepared for their tricks, they would expect her to say something she shouldn't know, but she wasn't going to fall to their predictable tricks.

"Are you familiar with the abandoned warehouse on the old industrial district? We HAVE seen you there the very same day our investigation ended. What were you doing there?" Jack asked, getting a notebook from his coat.

"I saw the cops sniffing around the place and I got curious about it so I wanted to see what it was all about." Elesis answered.

"You invaded private property that was under police investigation just to sate your curiosity?" He asked.

"That shed barely passes as property. And you just said it's abandoned right?" She replied.

Jack was about to say something when he was cut by Eve.

"That property you're speaking about belonged to a manufacturer that moved to the outside when the industrial laws were modified. Now it is a property of the government, and access to it is not forbidden, although its ill-advised due to its ruined state." She explained.

Jack groaned as he shifted through his notes. He stopped on one page of his notebook and questioned Elesis again.

"There's also evidence that you were there before. The police found your DNA on some blood that was on the warehouse grounds."

Elesis looked at Eve before answering; she wasn't sure on how to go about this.

"Yeah, I had a bit of an argument with some punks from Technical High, there."

"And what was this argument about?"

"Oh you know, those idiots thought they could do as they please in our territory so we just smacked them," Elesis answered, throwing her arms over the sofa's backrest.

"Are you sure it wasn't because both of you intended to get your hands on the wine?" He asked.

Elesis shrugged, Eve spoke on her stead again.

"If I may add, I know of this self-proclaimed gangs territorial disputes. It's not the first time they've met in this kind of incident. However I can ensure you that these actions were severely punished by school's regulations on both sides, and at the same time I wish to add that school gangs aren't mafia police responsibility."

Jack let out a tired sigh. This time it was his partner: Lieutenant Connor's, turn to speak.

"Lady Eve, I can't help but express my concern over your sudden association with this person. We have reasons to believe she's linked to dangerous activities."

"I am not siding with her. I'm merely pointing out the truth. I too wish for this matter to get resolved as quickly as possible." Eve stated.

Jack was about to say something, but was cut again by Eve standing up.

"As my maid said, you are required to request an audience to be here or, failing that; a judicial order for the appropriate purpose. I'm sorry to say this is not a good time for this, so I request your leave."

Although Jack was going to protest, Connors placed a hand on his shoulder, gesturing him to drop it. They were seen out by Artemisa. Elesis waited there either for her return of for Eve to say something. Since neither of those was happening she said something.

"Thanks for helping me there"

"I wasn't helping you, I know you didn't steal anything, as I said: I was just pointing out the truth."

Eve made her way out of the room, but she stopped on the door to look back at Elesis.

"Are you enjoying your stay here?"

"Leaving the cops aside, yeah. Your maid is good company." Elesis answered, walking to her side.

"I'm glad you two get along. I'll be on my office for the rest of the night so call me if you need something."

Elesis felt something wrong with her. She hadn't realized before because of the police officers but there was a heavy presence about Eve. She looked sad.

"Hey… Are you alright?" Elesis asked.

"Yeah, I'm perfectly fine."

"That's good, because we have something to talk about," Elesis said, dragging Eve by her arm.

She ignored her protest as she went upstairs with her on toll trying to get to her office. She expected it to be marked somehow but finally desisted and asked her to go there. Once there, Elesis make sure nobody else was around.

"I haven't forgot about the lecture I was going to give you about passing out in the snow, but now I also want to know: Why the hell didn't you warned me that I was under surveillance?" Elesis said, palming the desk.

"I did mention that the police followed you," Eve replied.

"Yeah but that's not the same as having two guys specifically posted on my ass!" Elesis complained.

"I'm sorry but I didn't think you could be in trouble for this reason."

"Of course you didn't."

"But you don't have anything to hide from them right?" Eve asked, looking her in the eyes.

Elesis doubted for a second.

"I still don't want people spying on me! You should have told me about that earlier."

"I'll do it next time, then" Eve answered.

Elesis sighed and walked around the room for a while before finally facing Eve again.

"And what about passing out in the snow? I didn't say anything back then because you were looking so sad about it while you were still sick but now I wanna know why'd you do something so stupid?" Elesis asked.

"I wasn't sad." Eve answered.

"Huh? You were staring at me with puppy eyes. How is that not being sad?" Elesis asked in confusion.

"I was imitating a human gesture humans tend to show when they're feeling overly bad. I've noticed that when they do that they usually increase their chances of getting away. What I did was simply convince you to drop it since there wasn't anything useful to me in that conversation."

Elesis palmed the table again with strength enough to make some of the papers and pen on top bounce and fall, surprising Eve in the process.

"You tricked me? How dare you? Don't even answer, I'm done. I'm leaving," Elesis said, making her way to the door.

She nearly stumbled with Artemisa, who was waiting at the other side of the door. Elesis glared at her but immediately softened her expression when he saw her afraid face.

"I'll be leaving now, sorry for troubling you."

She made her way to the front door, but the maid ran behind her, calling her name.

"Elesis! Elesis please, it's already too late at night and there's horrible weather outside. Stay here at least for tonight, the mistress would not mind it."

"I'm sorry but I have to leave, I think she would appreciate that I don't waste her time anymore," Elesis said, with a foot already outside.

"Let me apologize in her stead. I'm sure she wasn't pretending to be mean to you. It's just that she's being under a lot of pressure recently."

Elesis walked back to face the maid, she placed her hand on her shoulder.

"You're a good girl, Arte; I hope we meet again," She said, rubbing her hair until it was all messed up.

Elesis went out and headed for the tower lower level. The feeling of Artemisa's hair and skin was a lot different than with Eve. It was more like silicon or plastic rather than skin and flesh. She took a look at the huge mansion before entering the elevator and she saw Eve watching her at the door. She did nothing to stop her; she was just there, watching.

After she reached the bottom of the tower and stepped outside, the strong rain immediately soaked her. She wondered if it was a really good idea to leave right now, but she wasn't willing to go back now. After thinking about it, she realized her only two options where either going to the school dorms and freeloading some of her friend's room or walk to home. She didn't wanted to see anyone right now, so she chose to walk the really long way home under the raging storm.

There wasn't a single car to be seen, she didn't have her Elshard with her to call for a Taxi either. The strong wind swayed her around, chilling her bones to the core. She looked around, looking for some opened bar or any other kind of place where she could warm up, but as expected everything was close, it would be madness to open in a day like this anyway. She hid under a near building entrance. The storm didn't looked like it would stop anytime soon, and as she was about to give up and go back to the tower when she saw a car driving on her direction. It stopped in front of her, the copilot window slid down and she saw Artemisa driving.

"Hop in" She said.

She didn't gave it much thought and got in, it was better than standing there in the rain.

"Are you taking me back?" Elesis asked.

"Eve told me to take you where you would like to be."

"Oh, can you take me home then?"

The maid nodded. She drove slowly and cautiously due to the rain hindering her vision. Luckily the rain had also melted most of the snow allowing the car to get to the trailer park without running into blocked roads. Once they were in front of her house, Artemisa tried to persuade her about remaining in the manor, but Elesis refused again and stepped out the car. She waved at her as she drove back to the tower.

Her trailer was still out of energy. She bet they wouldn't fix the grid before the storm ends. It was too dark to see anything, so she walked slowly into her bedroom and grabbed the glass ball she used as a heater. Using her El energy she made a tiny fireball appear inside the glass, and used it to check her house. Everything was as she left it, she was glad the police didn't come here. She also saw a memo she left on the fridge. She squinted to see what it reads:

"See the mafia guy at work in two days"

She almost had forgotten about that. But the workplace was closed so she would have to think about something else. She locked the front door, changed into her pajamas and got into her bed. She let the fireball fade away and after some yawning she got asleep.

"I beg you, my lady, go to sleep already."

Eve was in her office, a lot of holographic displays flooded her desk as she quickly typed with both hands on different keyboards.

"I have work to do. But you've already finished yours for today, so you can go to sleep already."

The maid walked around the desk and closed all the displays with a wave of her hand earning a bothered look from Eve.

"I refuse to go to bed while my mistress is like this. Now, if you allow me to take you to your room…"

Eve let out a sight. She was truly tired, but she wasn't feeling like sleeping. She knew that with all that happened today she would not be able to sleep properly. But even knowing that, she decided to humor her maid and followed her into her room.

Eve's room was a lot bigger than the one used for guests. The bed was placed on the center of the room and was shaped as a circle. Tall light pink blinds surrounded it, hung high on a canopy. There was a large dresser that occupied one entire wall, full of doors and a small space to dress up. A desk with nothing on it was placed next to the window. In front of the bed there was a big fireplace that was just lit by her maid. And a small makeup table on the remaining free wall. The floor shined when they stepped on it, rising a hologram from the ground that displayed a bunch of options.

"Sleep mode," The maid said.

The holograms buried themselves back and the room lighting softened. The shadows danced under the fireplace light. Artemisa prepared Eve's blankets and waited for her to get in bed to clothe her.

"Sweet dreams, my lady," the maid said, stepping back.

Eve answered with a nod and the same wish. When the maid was out, the light turned off, leaving the fire on the fireplace as the only light source.

Elesis stood in front of the mall where her workplace was. It was still closed. The debris that fell from the broken glass was cleaned and a big tarp was placed on the hole to prevent water and snow to enter the building. All the lights were out and not even one of the different business settled there were open that day.

The blizzard had quieted down enough for people to go out again. Even if most business were still closed, people wanted to play in the snow. Elesis managed to enter her workplace thanks to a spare key the manager gave her just in case. She found her Elshard on her drawer and checked it for a while as she waited in the mall entrance.

After one hour of waiting, she finally saw the one she was waiting for. She walked in front of him and waved.

"Hey! You came today as you said," She said with a wide smile on her face.

"I see your place is closed, I wasn't really expecting to see you today," He answered.

He was the same man she meet some days ago: Bill.

"Yeah, I didn't have to come here today but I thought it wouldn't be ok to miss our appointment. Anyway, since this place is closed, why don't we go and grab a drink somewhere?" Elesis asked.

"Alright, I have a free day today."

She walked next to him and grabbed him by the arm. They walked to a bar he chose. It was a small place with very few people. Most of them looked like criminals, and even the barista was a weird person, with scars all over his face. He didn't ask them what they wanted and instead just gave then two glasses of a dark yellow liquid.

"This is the only thing they serve here: Feita Beer," He said, emptying half his mug in one go.

Elesis took a sip. It was a bit disgusting but it wasn't the worst alcohol she had so she just drank it without so much of a word.

"So, how are you?" She asked, glancing over him.

"Well, I've been doing well. Things at work are better since I'm no longer taking care of that pig."

"Oh, did you get ascended? Congratulations. What's your new job about?" Elesis said, feigning admiration.

"You could say that now I only do what the big boss asks me." He said and immediately after emptying his mug.

"So are you, like, his right hand?" Elesis asked.

"Well, no. There are a bunch of guys over me, but now I'm no one else's errand boy."

He putted down his mug, hitting the bar with strength enough for the barman to hear it, prompting him to refill it without a word.

"And what kind of exciting jobs are you doing now?" Elesis asked, poking him with the elbow.

Bill emptied the mug again, in one go this time. He closed his eyes as the alcohol burned his way down.

"I shouldn't be telling you…" He said.

Elesis clicked her tongue. She pushed the mug away and faced him.

"What about I tell you a big secret and you tell me about it? That way we'll be even." She asked.

Such a thing wouldn't work on a normal criminal, but this one had some more beer than he should for that conversation.

"Alright, but don't expect me to tell you much, I shouldn't do it to begin with… You go first."

Elesis thought about what to tell him. He obviously didn't wanted to tell anything real but at the same time she wanted to come up with something convincing.

"I… keep my work in that night club a secret from my family." She said, doing her best to feign being ashamed.

"Oh well, actually I could already guess that," He answered laughing.

"Oh, come on! Now it's your turn." She said, pretending to be mad.

"Ok… ok… Well, right now we are in the middle of planning… a robbery" He said, glancing over his shoulders.

"Oh. Are you robbing a bank?" Elesis asked, leaning towards him and lowering her voice.

"A bank? Hell no, even better. We heard that there's a HUGE cargo of that liquid gold called Elum coming to town in the next week." He said, starting to sound excited about it.

"Elum? That wine that is super expensive?" Elesis asked pretending to not know about it.

"Super expensive is not enough to describe it. Since the last shipment of it that arrived in town disappeared, the prices skyrocketed. And this Elum is not going to reach the markets; I heard it's being delivered directly on the big tower. I guess one of these fat-ass Nasod nobles bought it overseas."

"But if that's true, I'm sure they would not allow it to get stolen…" Elesis said, straightening up and moving her mug, shaking the remaining beer.

"Well that's the good part… We aren't stealing it," Bill started to say, catching Elesis attention.

Elesis was pushed away; she flew over the bar and hit the ground. She was trying to stand up when she heard a loud noise mixed with shattering glass. She looked up to see Bill jumping over the bar as well, hiding next to her. He pulled out a big revolver from his coat and immediately stood, firing at the windows. Elesis could finally see what was going on. A group of four men was standing next to the bar showcase, they had guns with them, all drawn and pointing at Bill. As soon as he stood up, they fired. He covered himself under the bar and returned the fire, forcing them to hide as well.

"Those sons of a bitch are from the "Black Falcons". I'm sorry for getting you into this, I didn't expected them to appear today here," He said while ducking again to reload his gun.

He stood again, firing against the attackers. They got into cover in just in time. Bill saw that he wasn't going anywhere like this. His revolver has only eight bullets while his enemies were using automatic weapons; so he'll have to think of something. Jumping over the bar and kicking a table to create a new cover, he shot wildly at the enemy, he however make sure a bullet remained in the chamber. He stopped firing, the enemy got out of cover, feeling safe as they thought he was out of bullets. His revolved roared as a bullet fired from it impacted on one of the aggressors arm. It tore a big hole in it, breaking the bone along its way and forcing him to drop the weapon. The injured one jumped into cover to not be seen again while the other three placed themselves on better positions.

Elesis was searching for a way out when she spotted the door that leaded into the kitchen. It was right next to the bar so she could crawl over it without a problem. As she drew nearer, she hear a door being kicked open. She peeked over the bar to see a man coming out of the bathroom, he drew a weapon from his jacket, a short and small revolver. Bill was so focused on the other three that he didn't saw the other one.

A shot from the small revolver connected with Bill's shoulder. He screamed in pain as he turned, pointing his gun at the new contender, but a second shot that landed on his hand disarmed him. He stood and charged at the man, but the other three jumped out of cover, their weapons spitting metal.

Elesis watched as Bill was pierced bullet by bullet. His body danced in pain as each shot teared his skin. She hid back on her spot. Few shots after she heard what he guessed it was the sound of Bill's body hitting the ground.

"Hey, wasn't there a girl with him? Search for her," One of them said.

"Not even in hell" Elesis thought to herself as she darted from her hid spot to the kitchen door.

One of the men saw her in time to block her way. He lunged at her with his hands, but Elesis nimbly evaded being caught by him and kicked him away. The man gave a few steps back, looking confused; while drawing his gun again. Elesis looked around, it was reckless but she had to try it. She pointed her hands against him. The four of them looked at her bewildered.

Suddenly, a fireball formed on her hands. They tried to shoot at her but it was already too late. Taking advantage of the surprise, Elesis released the fireball. It flew over the guy in front of her, engulfing him inside its fire and blowing up. The shockwave sent everyone to the ground. The bottles stored on the selves were also knocked down, spilling their flammable alcohol on the ground. The fire extended to the alcohol first and then to the whole place. In a matter of seconds the bar was like a blazing hell. Elesis took this chance to go through the kitchen door and head out. She pushed away the cooker, who was desperately trying to put the fire out and threw herself at the emergency exit.

The emergency exit opened onto an alley. She ran across it, trying to get as far as possible. Looking back she saw the three remaining men came out of the bar's kitchen as well. They pointed at her and started running, guns drawn. She turned on the first corner she found and saw the end of the alley being suddenly blocked by a police car. A group of police officers came out of it, using the car as cover. They carried heavy assault weapons, when they saw Elesis they made her a sign to move out of the way. Elesis didn't think twice and threw herself behind a trash container. The police fired its guns at the three shooters that were just turning the corner as well. From her spot Elesis could only see the blue lasers the police were shooting at the three criminals.

It didn't take long for it to end, she carefully stepped out of the cover, afraid of being shot as well, but to her surprise the police had lowered their weapons, and two tall figures stood in front of them.

"My, my… what a coincidence to find you here of all places!"

Officer Jack and Lieutenant Connors stood between Elesis and the other policemen there. They slowly walked over her, Lieutenant Connors drew her handcuffs.

"This is just for procedure, please cooperate," She demanded as she tied Elesis hands.