I'd done it. They were all safe, and making their escape. I had chosen to stay behind to divert an unexpected snag that had just occurred in our operations.

Of course, I was simply told to provide ample time for the others to escape. 'They said nothing about showing off a little on my way out,' I thought to myself, swinging over the hanging scaffolds in the lobby floor.

"Hey, up there!" Cried out from a civilian down below.
"He's here, move in immediately," said a serious looking group of men in suits that were making their way through the crowd.

Heh, Not a chance. I internally said, making my way across the rigging more, and attempting to get away from sight.

It wasn't too much longer until my teammates had started to chime in via the communications system we all agreed on. Our tech specialist had set it up in case we ever needed to separate. Of all the situations we could testing it in, This works.

"Good, now get running!" - Said an all too familiar boyish voice.
"This is our only chance!" - Said another voice, reminding me of the stakes.
"Stay calm! You can get away now!" - Reassured yet another voice, one of my female teammates
"We'll retrieve the briefcase on our end" - Matter of factly concluded the transmission for the moment, the most level headed of my group.

"Hmm, what was that?" Chattered the one member again, questioning the situation almost as much as I was moments ago.
"Don't worry about us, Just concentrate on getting away!" Chattered the first voice.
No arguments there, As I made my way forward over the lighting fixtures of this place.

"But I gotta say, showing yourself above that crowd earlier was an excellent move. Nice work as always Joker."

Heh, And here I thought I was gonna be called out for showing off.
"I bet Skull wouldn't pull it off that smoothly" - Chirped another voice, another I had become familiar with over time.

As I made my way over the structure, Two additional voices traded remarks about the situation. Good to know they're managing. A bit of a complication on my end had just surfaced with the cry of "There he is!" from one of the agents who had announced they had found me moments ago.

"Just run! Get out of there!" - Instructed the same voice who had told me to stay calm.

I could've taken them easily, but I trust their judgement. With some hops across more of the structure of the casino, I was nearing an exit.

"Stop right there!" Said yet another agent. Great, just what this operation needed, more problems.

Heh, They picked the wrong rebel to mess with. As "Take 'em down, Joker!" had sounded over the communications, I did a flip, ripping off the mask of the Shadows that were before me. With a satisfying noise, the true form had been revealed. To most people, the monster would be considered as disgusting or intimidating. But I had seen worse already.

I drew the pistol from underneath my longcoat, And popped 8 shots into the monster. Knocking it down through some sort of luck. Easy money, and if it's knocked over. I can follow up with a counter attack.

"ARSENE!" I loudly proclaimed, summoning the power within me, getting ready to strike the shadow down. "Ravage them!" I cried out, as darkness swirled around the enemy, swallowing it. Threat neutralized.

"Good, you defeated them with ease." - The boyish voice said in relief.
"More of them? Be careful!" - The supportive voice had said.

As a shadow attempted to attack me, I flipped backwards, onto a railing and above where the enemies could reach me. Then I started to make a break for it. Not today guys.

As her voice instructed me to go through the door located behind me, I was one step ahead. Already into the hallways of the underbelly of this den of vice. More idle chatter from my teammates sounded, and I went through a door before quickly getting out of sight.

"Where'd they go damnit." Said an agent that was behind a window dividing hallways."I can't confirm the intruders location."

He had stepped away, and I proceeded on, before quickly needing to resume my time in the shadows. Another agent was further down the hall. I dashed between boxes and shadows before nearing him.

"Are you sure you saw the target come this way?" - Said the agent, reporting in to some sort of superior officer. I couldn't make out what the response was, but before I knew it, the agent was leaving with a final "Understood, I will continue my search."

I took the chance, and ran up the stairs, further into the facility. Nearing an exit, I listened in on a room where they were discussing attempts to find me and my crew. Finally, I had reached a top balcony. An exit was not visible, and the bottom floor had completely filled with the commotion from earlier.

"Hey, Over there! There's nowhere to run!" Sounded another group of agents.

Unfortunately for them, I had a plan already. With a quick dash across some narrow beams, I was facing the massive stained glass window in the front hall.

"See ya!"

I proceeded to leap through the window, soaring through the air. I had made my escape, and done it with some style too.
"Hmpf, What a showoff." - Said the boyish voice. There's the reaction I was expecting earlier.

"You're so reckless, y'know that?" - Said the voice of another teammate.

I don't even care if it's considered reckless. When am I ever going to get a chance to do something that cool again. I don't regret a single moment leading up to now, and I certainly do not regret what I just did.

The feeling of regret started to take hold as soon as I landed, however. Spotlights were all around me, and according to the team, there were readings of even more enemies. If these were all shadows, it's more than I could take on alone. So I didn't even try. I ran, still firmly in the spotlight, leaped and grabbed onto a ladder, and began to climb up.

But there were enemies on top of the ladder as well, and one of them had hit me with the end of his rifle. I fell down to the ground and was surrounded by enemies. Before I could even attempt to resist, I was restrained. "Suspect secured" was uttered from an officer, and a man wearing a suit spoke to me.

"Didn't expect to find some kid. You have your teammate to thank for all this. You, were sold out." were the last words I heard before being handcuffed, and dragged into the custody of the police. I was forced to take a mugshot picture, as I had been apprehended.

The rest, I don't recall clearly. My next vivid memory must've been a day or so later.