Saten peeked into the street from her hiding place. The street was well lit with all the streetlights fully illuminating the fight that was about to take place. The soon-to-be battlefield was a small, two-way street, connected to larger streets on each side.

Saten's hiding spot was about 300 meters from where the combatants were eyeing each other up, looking for the perfect time to attack.

Despite her arguments earlier, Saten wasn't able to make herself useful this time, so she had no choice but to hide and watch the fight unfold. She had watched as Mikoto sprinted out of the alley and behind Luna to another alley where her boyfriend was waiting for her, looking completely out of breath, and sweating heavily having sprinted there after he realised that Ezio was chasing Mikoto. They decided to stay out of the fight this time and only jump in if they thought it was necessary, at the request of Wendy.

"Do you mind just telling us why you're after espers?" Wendy asked. "I've been trying to rack my brain for why you would try something so stupid, but I've got nothing. I've just got to assume you've got a death wish and want to go out in the worst way possible."

"You say that as if I'm already beaten. I suggest you not underestimate your opponent," Ezio said, looking at each of his opponents in turn, trying to gauge their strengths.

"And I suggest you not underestimate Academy City. Do you have any idea how powerful they are? Or the lengths they'll go to stop people from trying to kidnap espers? And you still haven't answered my question."

"Why do you care if an esper goes missing? You're part of the magic side, are you not?"

Wendy smirked.

"Now, how would you know that?"

"Do you think I'm a fool? I know a people-clearing field when I see one."

Saten listened in to the conversation, trying to understand what they were talking about, and failing miserably. They hadn't had time to explain the magic side to her, so she was struggling to wrap her head around a lot of what was happening.

"I don't know if you're a fool, but your boss sure is. What is a sorcerer doing, working for a Mafia boss anyway?"

"That's none of your business." Ezio almost snarled.

Wendy raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, touchy subject? Fine, I guess this is enough talk, shall we get this show on the road?"

Wendy didn't give him any time to answer and shot towards him, already firing off a punch aimed at his chest. Ezio barely manged to parry the strike and countered with one of his own that was also parried.

Ezra and Luna joined the fight as well and, with practised ease, were able to quickly get into a fighting rhythm with Wendy. The three siblings were attacking constantly, not giving their opponent any chance to think. He was stuck constantly blocking and parrying the stream of strikes.

Ezio wasn't able to avoid all of the strikes, though, and was starting to let them through his defences and the siblings weren't going to let up. If the fight continued like this, he'd be beaten in no time, so he searched everywhere for an opening, but just couldn't find one.

Saten was glad the people-clearing field was up, otherwise, someone might have walked down the street and found three people beating up some poor man for no reason.

Eventually, Ezio started to redirect the strikes he was receiving, by parrying them into the right of his ribs. Saten thought he was starting to get really worn out, but then she saw some small objects fall from the inside of Ezio's jacket. Wendy noticed it too and warned her brother and sister.

"Shit! Break off!"

Without any hesitation, Luna and Ezra jumped back, following Wendy's orders whilst Ezio took that opportunity to put some distance between them as well. As they did, the small objects that fell from Ezio's pocket exploded with a lot more force than they were expecting. Ezra hadn't been able to get far enough away and was hit by the blast, which threw him across the street.

As the dust cleared, it revealed Ezio, holding a gun aimed at Wendy. He must have thought that taking out Wendy would make the other two easier to deal with.

However, when he fired the gun, the bullet veered off target, missing Wendy completely. Confusion etched on his face, Ezio looked around to see Luna with her hand splayed towards a point between him and Wendy, at roughly the point the bullet had veered off course.

Wendy used his confusion to her advantage and stepped back in to attack again, but before she could, Ezio took out a card the same size and shape of a playing card with a blue, runic symbol drawn onto it. He swung it in a wide arc and chanted,

" A"

A thin arc of water shot through the air towards Wendy. She ducked down, letting the attack pass harmlessly over her. Now crouched down, Wendy used her position to push herself off the ground towards the Italian. He brought up his gun once more, but this time he wasn't even able to get a shot off as Luna used her power to throw the gun, and by extension his arm, up and away from Wendy.

However, he wasn't finished yet, as he swung his other arm that held his card and used his shorthand chant to fire another thin arc of water towards Wendy. The arc reached about halfway towards its target before it shattered with the sound of breaking glass and was replaced by the right hand of a spiky-haired high school boy.

Ezio's eyes widened as Touma suddenly appeared from the right of his vision carried by Mikoto whose body was surrounded by bluish white sparks.

With his attack negated, there was nothing stopping Wendy from her assault, so Ezio dived to the side to dodge her completely. He quickly got back to his feet and reviewed his situation. He had no knowledge of the two newcomers' abilities and the boy he had caught with his explosives was returning to his feet. He was outmatched here, leaving retreat as his only option.

He turned on the tips of his feet and sprinted as fast as he could to the closest alleyway he could find. Unfortunately for him, the fight had taken a lot out of him, and he had been worn down to a point where he was making basic mistakes. He didn't check if they had any more reinforcements, too busy keeping an eye on the people now pursuing him.

He made it to the alley before the group could catch him, but that was as far as he got. Before he could take another step, a steel pipe crashed into his face, knocking him out instantly.

Saten and Uiharu stepped out from their hiding spot and watched as their friends caught up to them.

"Saten? Where did you get that?" Mikoto asked from the back of the group.

"This? Luna gave it to me. Said something about it being better than nothing. I figured she must have enchanted it or something, so I kept it."

"Saten, Luna's an esper. She can't use magic."

"Huh?"

"That's just a steel pipe."

"Luna, where did you get that steel pipe?" Ezra asked, looking at his little sister, who was now rubbing the back of her head, looking sheepish.

"Ha ha. Funny you'd ask that, Ez. You know how to use fire magic right? Any chance you could do some welding for me?" Luna asked.

Ezra sighed.

"We can deal with that later. First, we need deal with this guy," Wendy interrupted, picking up the gun Ezio was still holding and aiming it at the unconscious man.

Before she could pull the trigger, though, Mikoto stepped in between her and Ezio.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"What does it look like? I'm killing him," Wendy said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"He's already beaten. There's no need to kill him."

"Put the gun down, Wendy. There's no need for this," Touma interjected.

"If we don't kill him now, he'll just come back. At least this way, there's one less person for espers outside of Academy City to worry about. Trust us," Ezra tried, but Mikoto wasn't having any of it.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Do you honestly think that's a good reason to take someone's life? Because they might come back for us?" she said, sparks bursting from her body. She wasn't about to let these people murder someone in cold blood.

"If we arrest him and give him to the police, he'll just break out again. He's part of the Mafia, why would you risk letting him escape?" Wendy argued, not showing any signs of backing down.

"Wen, put the gun down. We still have too many unanswered questions," Luna said, surprising everyone by siding with Mikoto and Touma.

"And what are we going to do with him, Luna?"

"You'll give him to me, and I'll take him back to London," came a voice from behind the group.

The group turned round to find a woman with black hair tied in a ponytail and holding a sheathed, two-meter-long Katana. She was wearing a pair of jeans with one of the legs ripped off and a white t-shirt tied above her navel.

"Kanzaki? What are you doing here?" Touma asked.

"I was on a mission with Stiyl, and heard you were in the area, so I thought I'd come say hello. Index would want to know how you were doing. I didn't think I'd find you like this, though. Then again, you do seem to find yourself in trouble quite often," she explained. "Now, Wendy, if you'd lower your gun, that would be great. You two have always been a little extreme, but this is too far."

"Tch, fine. I'd rather not fight a saint, but if he escapes, I will kill him," Wendy warned, throwing the gun to the side, turning around, and walking away, Ezra close behind her.

The casino was filled with customers, enjoying themselves and spending too much money. Rows of slot machines were all lit up, each with someone trying to get lucky. The tables were all in the middle of various casino games, from Poker to Blackjack to Roulette. The Casino was situated in the south of Italy and, unknown to most, was currently being run by one, Giovanni Marino. A man with big ambitions who had just sent the best man he had to kidnap an esper he had been told was in Paris.

Or, he had been. The man was lying in a pool of his own blood now with multiple stab wounds in his gut and a bullet wound in his forehead in one of the private rooms at the back of his casino. The room was large, with a private bar and multiple wooden tables. It even had a small stage for any 'performers' that he had hired. He had kept the room in pristine condition so it would be available at a moment's notice.

However, it would have been difficult to tell that in its current condition. Everything had been dyed red, from the furniture to the stage to the walls. Not even the lights had been exempted from the redecorations.

The floor was littered with the corpses of the men who had attempted to defend their boss but who had ultimately failed. There had been a number of performers as well, but they had run away when the massacre started.

In the middle of the corpses, a man and a woman stood without a drop of blood on them. Both seemed to be in their mid-forties, well-trained and well-built. The woman was holding a meter-long katana and had long, flowing red hair, much like her youngest daughter. The man had short, black hair and had a small, futuristic looking handgun in each hand. They were clearly designed in Academy City.

"What do we do with her?" the woman asked.

In a corner of the room, a small girl sat, trembling, her hands chained together, looking fearfully at the newcomers. The man walked over to her and extended his hand, but she flinched as he did so.

"Hey, it's okay. You're safe now. You don't have to worry about them anymore," he said to her, his voice soft, trying not to scare her any more than he already had.

The girl hesitantly reached out her hands, showing the man the chains binding her wrists.

"Can you take care of these chains, honey? We'll let you know who take care of her. She'll be safe there at least," the man said, looking at the woman. "I'll call them now."

The man left the young girl with the woman as he went outside to make a phone call.