Chapter 10: The Bank

Three hours later, Riley, Alyssa, Jacob, Ian and Nick were all stationed around a Zion's Bank in Los Angeles, California.

Riley fingered her earpiece and immediately found a wave of reassurance from it. She was still very new to all of this, and her earpiece reminded her that she had support.

"Each of you will have an earpiece in which to communicate with," Grace had explained before they left. "Because I'm staying here and monitoring the situation, this is my way to communicate with you."

After that she went over the layout of the bank and what to do should they find Valdus, Sestiva or whatever new member they had. Then she moved onto enemy classifications.

"If they're a 1, 2 or 3, then that means they're so easy to dispatch that even Riley will be able to take care of them without a sweat," Grace began. "Usually those apply to humans. 4s and 5s Riley won't be able to dispatch, but the rest of you will be able to. Those are usually armed humans, with guns and such. 6 and 7s are the rank of the average wizard- however, grandmasters, legendaries, transcendent will be 8s. Valdus and Sestiva are both 8s.

"The last two are 9s and 10s. 9s are usually either extremely powerful, prodigious wizards or some other especially dangerous creature. As for 10… if you meet a 10, my advice? RUN AWAY."

Grace closed in on her digital map of the bank. "There's only been one time I've ever detected a 10, to be honest. Wanna know what that 10 is?" Before anyone could answer, she flipped her device over and showed them a setting completely composed of white save a small, almost blindingly red small circle.

"That. I'm not sure what it is, except for that this is what Valdus and Sestiva are after. If they get their hands on it… who knows what could happen?"

Suddenly Ian's voice filled her ears. "I see them!"

Riley's head spun around as if he was actually standing next to her. "Where?"

"By the entrance of the bank. They're talking to this clerk guy… and I see the newbie."

"What does he look like?" Now Alyssa's voice rung through her ear.

"More or less an average figure. Pale skin, brown hair that's a little long, brown eyes."

Riley froze right then and there, an overwhelming mixture of shock and fear wrenching into her gut like a knife.

Alex.

"Thank you very much, Legendstone," Valdus acknowledged. "Honestly, we could not have done this without you."

Alex Legendstone said nothing, simply staring ahead plainly. No emotion was visible on his face.

Valdus drew in a deep breath and clasped his hands behind his back, faintly noticing Sestiva attempting to flirt with a blonde earth boy who wasn't giving her the time of day. Already they were so close…

"It must have been hard, betraying your entire family like that," he continued after a moment of pregnant silence. "And along with that almost everyone you've known, your line of ancestors-"

"Shut up," Alex growled.

It then occurred to Valdus that he wasn't exactly making this easier for him. He readjusted the position of his fingers, searching his mind for some new tactics on how to approach him.

"You do realize that this will be worth it, right?" he finally settled on.

The words didn't seem to reassure him, but they didn't allow him to protest, either.

"I honestly know how it feels to lose someone important to you," Valdus continued. That one string of words was honest, holding a truth that he didn't want him to know, and for that Valdus directed his crimson eyes away.

"I wish I had the opportunity to save my family before they were murdered. You're… you are lucky that you have a chance. All I can do for the ones I love is to avenge them."

Alex's voice was flat. "And you did that by murdering every single theurgist in cold blood," He finally looked at the other conjuror, staring at him directly in the eye.

Valdus shrugged as if he killed an entire people every day. "I had to. Their murderer was a theurgist."

"Mr. Legendstone?"

Alex turned away from Valdus and to a bank employee. "Yes?"

"Right this way."

It wasn't every day Sestiva saw a boy she really liked. After all, most of the words of the Spiral she had visited didn't exactly have human residents, and the ones in Wizard City were just bleh- except for Valdus. She liked Valdus- a lot.

However, she had to admit, there were a lot of cuties on Earth, and this guy was no exception. If only he'd just stop walking away from her-

Suddenly Sestiva stopped in her tracks when she saw another guy with a blue-topped head.

There weren't many people on Earth with blue hair.

She stopped right in her tracks for a moment, staring at the boy. Short blue hair, fair skin, green eyes…

Ian!

Her brother noticed her a moment too late. Ian's hand fumbled to his ear, hurrying out the words, "They spotted me!" as Sestiva ran to warn Valdus.