Mage
The Great and Young
At a park located within New Merridean, a crowd of people were gathered in front of a gazebo. This gazebo had a backdrop of the night sky with stars and black curtains on it. On the front was a sign reading "The Great and Young Mage".
"Mage? A bit of a bland name."
"And young? Must be a kid."
"I think he's about to find out that this is different to a neighborhood magic show."
From behind the curtains, a boy was staring out into the crowd, and heard their comments.
"Don't worry. I'll give the best show you people can imagine."
Everyone soon quiet down as they heard a drum roll coming from the gazebo.
"Ladies and gentlemen, prepare to astound, amazed, stupified, and awed. He's a young talented magician who travels across the world, bringing nothing but brilliance. Put your hands together for the one, the only, MAGE!"
The boy then came out from the curtains, wearing a typical magician's outfit. A dark blue top hat, suit jacket, pants, and cape, black formal shoes, white gloves, a black bowtie, and a white mask with golden outlines. In his right hand was a black wand with white ends.
"Thank you, thank you, hold your applause!"
Contrary to the boy's statement, there were only a few people clapping, and even then, it was light slow clapping.
"Well, then allow me to perform my first trick." He then pointed his left hand to the side "Please welcome my lovely assistant, Lady."
The entire male audience then stared wide-eyed and jaw-dropped at the sight of a short-haired blonde woman in a red dress walk onto the stage. Some of them even drooled at the sight. In contrast were the women who were just staring at the men in disgust.
"And now, for my first trick, I will pull a rabbit out of my hat."
Lady brought out a table from behind the curtains and placed in the center of the stage, where Mage placed his top hat. He pulled his sleeves back and reached into the hat and what he pulled out was...a chicken.
"Oops, that's not a rabbit."
Most of the audience thought of it as a fluke trick, but a few realized it was an impressive trick for a beginner.
"Let's try that again..."
He reached inside and this time pulled out...a kitten. Then a penguin. Then a dog. Then a chipmunk. Then a duck. Finally, he pulled out...
"I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen, it seems I only had a hare, not a rabbit."
At this point, the audience were actually rather impressed with the amount of animals the young magician was able to pull out. The animals then were lead to backstage...by the hare.
"And now, for my next trick!"
What followed was a series of extraordinary magic tricks. The sword in the box trick, only with the box to completely disappear into doves, and the assistant, Lady coming out from the backstage, the water to milk trick, only with it also pouring out soda and wine, and a card trick, where he guessed the cards of 10 different audience members correctly at the same time.
Finally, after the spectacular show, everyone poured money into the floating top hat of Mage. He then pulled the hat back and placed it onto his head as the money seemingly disappeared.
"Thank you! You've been a great audience!" He said before disappearing off the stage in a puff of smoke, along with the props, his assistant, and the stage.
A few minutes after the show ended, a carriage pulled by horses was seen exiting the city. Inside the carriage was something akin to a dressing room. There was a desk with mirrors and supplies on it, a couch, a screen, and a wardrobe. Lady was at the front holding onto the reigns of the horses. Mage was sitting on the couch with the hare, who now had a red bowtie. It was holding the money from the show.
"Wow, we really raked in a lotta cash, Sir." The hare spoke.
"It was an excellent show." Lady said.
"It was successful, but that's not what we came here for, remember?" He then heard a tapping at the door. He opened it and in flew in a small being who wore the same suit, mask, and hat as Mage...except it didn't have a body "Houdini, did you find anything?"
"I'm sorry, Sir, nothing useful."
"Damn." Mage quietly cursed "We'll have to move on to the next town."
There was then a fast beeping sound which came from the mirror, which started to flash red. Mage approached the mirror and he opened the desk which hid a console. He pressed a button and the mirror showed the image of an old man.
"Dr. Avian."
"Mage, this is an emergency. The alarms are blaring. The Skullgirl is on the loose." Dr Avian told him.
"Where?"
"She's located at the south of New Meridian, just around the outskirts. I need you to head there quickly, we're sending Peacock your way, too."
"Patricia, huh?" Mage pulled his hat down and smiled "I haven't seen her in a while." He lifted his hat up "Don't worry, Dr. Avian, we'll get that Skullgirl in no time."
"I'm counting on you both." The mirror then flashed back to its original image.
"Lady."
"You got it, Sir."
Arsenalite
For the Queen
"All teams, this is Wolf 1. Report in. Over."
"Eagle 2, reporting in. Over"
"Elephant 3, reporting in. Over."
"Badger 4, reporting in. Over."
A man in a dark blue version of the Black Egrets outfit, with the exception of the armband being black and having the image of a wolf, and that he doesn't have an Egret helmet, showing his buzz cut hairstyle, along with a few other soldiers in the same outfit, only with a helmet, were on a catwalk overlooking what appears to be thugs handling boxes of whatever they contain.
"Eagle 2. What is your location? Over." The man said into his right arm.
"Eagle 2 is at the nest. We've got you covered. Over." A woman on the other end responded.
"Roger that. Remember to only wound the target. Over."
"Copy that. Over."
"Elephant 3. What's your status? Over."
"Elephant 3 has taken care of all the hostiles outside-Hey, hey, watch it! Sorry, one of the boys dropped the containers. Over." A man on the other end said.
"Roger that. Over. Badger 4. Have you finished your objective? Over."
"Badger 4 has deployed all the explosives. This things gonna get real loud. Over." A gruff man said on the other end.
"Right. Detonate on my mark, over." He then turned to the soldiers with him "When that bomb goes, open fire."
"Roger." They responded.
He peeked over to see the thugs below them "Now!"
There were a few explosions far apart, disorienting the thugs below. The leader and his soldiers then stood up and fired at the thugs below. They were too slow to react, so most of them were taken care of quickly.
At the back, a suited man with the upper right part of his face made covered in wood, decided to run for it. As he exited out the back he quietly skidded around the side...
When a bullet ran through his leg.
"Gah! Dammit!"
The leader hopped down and checked around for any thugs who were still alive.
"This is Eagle 2. We got him. You'll find him out the back."
"Roger. Nice job, Scope. Hank, Dynamite, pick up our guest."
"You got it, boss."
"Sure thing, boss."
"Hm?" The man noticed a beeping sound coming from his communication device in his ear "Who could've picked up this channel?" He then pressed a button on it.
"ARSENALITE, SIR!"
"Ah, sunuva-!" He took the comms out of his ear and rubbed the inside with his pinky, and placed it back "What is it, Molly?"
"Just wanted to see to make sure that you've completed your mission."
"I have, it was a success."
"Great, cause your team is needed back here."
"Really, now? On whose orders?"
"Princess Parasoul's."