The night of the gala arrived. Limos' and other cars parked and stopped in front of the Plaza Hotel. Out of one of them came Dayla in her dress, her hair tied up in a bun with a blue rose in it, a silver necklace and a pair of earrings. Paulina then stepped out in her dress, her hair flowing and wavy, wearing a gold necklace and earrings and then then Andrew stepped out with his hair combed back and wearing a black formal tuxedo.
As they entered the hotel, Dayla quickly pulled out a small box and inside were what looked like teeth. She handed one to Paulina who looked at in confusion.
Dayla then explained after placing one in her mouth, "It's a new kind of Fenton Phone my mum invented. It fits over your back teeth like a cap. It's a way for us to keep in contact with each other."
Each of them then took one and placed it in their mouths. Dayla then finished, "It's water, liquid and food proof, so it won't get wrecked or anything."
"Awesome invention." Andrew commented and then they entered the main room where the event was being held.
People were sitting around tables, dancing, drinking wine, socialising, donating and everything. Men who were currently in service with either the Navy, Army or Air Force were wearing their formal military suits while most of the women were either wearing formal dresses or formal military attire as well.
One of the people wearing her formal military attire was Commander Terri who smiled as she saw them arrive. She walked up to them and greeted them.
Throughout the next hour, everything seemed normal. Dinner was served, speeches were made and donations continued to come in. There was no sign of anything suspicious or supernatural activity. Perhaps, this would turn out to be a normal formal event after all?
After dinner, Andrew and Dayla decided to have a dance. The orchestra began playing slow music for people to waltz to. Andrew gently held Dayla's hand in his own, placed his other one around her waist and began to lead her in the dance.
"So far, so good." Dayla commented.
Andrew nodded and then said, "Looks like we won't be needing our weapons after all."
Paulina smiled at them, a part of her thinking about Dash and wishing he too could be with them at this event.
A man with blonde hair then came over to the couple and tapped Andrew's shoulder as he asked, "Excuse me, may I have this next dance?"
Without waiting for an answer, the man took Dayla by the hand and begun dancing with her. He then began to speak quietly, "Sorry for taking you away from your boyfriend Andrew Knight, Dayla Fenton. But it was the only way to speak to you."
"I don't understand." Dayla said as he twirled her.
"My name is Davis. Agent Vincent Davis, FBI." The man explained as they continued to dance. "Though tonight, I'm John David Rage."
"I see. What does the FBI need to speak to me about?" Dayla asked.
"Main reason was we knew you, Andrew and Paulina Sanchez would be here tonight at the request of Commander Miller." Vincent answered. "Which is a good thing, in case something were to go wrong."
"Go wrong in what way?" Dayla then asked.
"A few nights ago, millionaire and tech inventor Marcus Brody was kidnapped. No-one knows what happened, but it's said he was creating something for the military. A high-tech programme that is supposed to change national security." Vincent began to explain. "Before getting kidnapped, rumour has it he gave the plans or even the programme to Commander Terri for safe-keeping and we believe that whoever kidnapped him might try and come after her next for it."
"So what do you need my team to do?" Dayla asked.
He secretly handed her a photo and answered, "One of the kidnappers we managed to get a photo of is here. If you see him tonight, we'd appreciate the assistance to catch him and make him tell us where Marcus Brody is."
The music ended and everyone applauded the orchestra. Dayla nodded, agreeing to help Vincent and then headed back over to Andrew and Paulina.
After explaining everything and showing them the photo, which was of a creepy looking thin man with neatly combed back black hair, the team agreed to split up and keep an eye out for him.
After what seemed like an hour, there was no sign of trouble or anything. For a moment, Paulina was about to suggest to Dayla and Andrew that they'd call it a night but then stopped. She looked over and saw at the bar was the man from the photo.
The man looked like he was about to head over to Terri but then stopped as soon as he saw Paulina staring at him.
She quickly contacted Andrew and Dayla, "Creepy thin man near the bar."
Dayla and Andrew heard her and began heading their way over to the bar. The man began to walk away and Paulina cautiously followed him, but when he turned he had seen her. He quickly headed over to an elevator and got inside but grabbed a walking stick along the way.
Before Paulina could stop him, the elevator door closed. Dayla and Andrew caught up with her and then said, "Why do they always run?"
They quickly began running down the stairs, Dayla changed into her ghost form along the way and Paulina took the dress off revealing her wearing a pair of black pants and a black shirt underneath. Andrew removed his tie and jacket.
They exited the back and saw the thin man running towards an alleyway. They quickly ran after him until suddenly, he pulled out a gun and began firing at them. Dayla acted quickly and put up an ecto-shield deflecting the bullets and saving them.
The man kept firing until he ran out of bullets. Dayla dropped the shield and then the man pulled out a long sharp sword out of his walking stick and stood ready to fight.
Dayla charged first and blocked the oncoming swipes of the blade with a shield and then crouched down to try and sweep the man's legs, but he jumped right over them and swung his sword at Dayla again.
She allowed the sword to phase through her and then bent down to her knees to allow Paulina to jump off her back and deliver a kick right to his chest, sending him straight crashing into a wall.
The man was about to get up again, but Andrew delivered a punch to his chin, sending him into the wall again. The man swung his sword, but Andrew quickly jumped back and allowed Dayla to jump in and freeze his arms and legs to the wall and the ground.
The man glared at the three, and then suddenly, wriggled his arms out of his jacket and completely ripped it off, before getting himself out of the ice of his feet.
"What the…." Dayla was about to say, wondering how he managed to break free since no-one has ever seemed to escape her ghostly ice before.
As he stood up, his right sleeve was up revealing a tattoo. This tattoo had the earth covered in flames and a sword driven through the middle of it. At the bottom of the tattoo were the words Mundus Accendo.
Before the three of them could do anything else, the man made a break for it into what looked like an old abandoned building. The three of them followed after him but they lost him down the long hallways, until they came to the middle of a room with several doors in a circle.
The three of them chose a door and kicked it open, revealing nothing inside each one.
"Clear / clear / clear." Dayla, Andrew and Paulina all said at once.
There was only one door left and Dayla blasted it open to reveal a man with brown curly hair, wearing a white business suit inside tied to a chair. Paulina untied the ropes and then took the tape off his mouth.
The man coughed for a moment and then said with relief, "Thank you. I have been stuck in here for five days."
"Who are you?" Dayla asked.
"I'm Marcus Brody." The man answered as he weakly stood up and tried to stretch his sore limbs.
A few minutes later, Marcus was placed into an ambulance and taken to the hospital. Terri, police and Vincent were all there.
Vincent shook their hands and said, "Thank you. Marcus Brody is safe and hopefully, they didn't take anything from him."
"There's something else. The man we chased after had a tattoo on his arm." Andrew said.
"What kind of tattoo?" Vincent asked.
"It had the earth in flames and a sword that was driven right through the middle of it." Paulina began to describe. "Oh and it had the words Mundus Accendo."
Terri's eyes widened in shock and horror. Vincent also had the look of shock on his face. This didn't go unnoticed and Dayla asked, "What is it? Do you know something about the tattoo?"
There was a moment's silence and then Vincent began, "Mundus Accendo is a major organisation that we thought was long gone. The FBI had been on their tails for years before they went dark."
Terri was afraid to speak, but she did, "It's also the same group from years ago. The same one that…Andrew's father had stopped."
Andrew's eyes widened in complete shock! Mundus Accendo was the reason his father was dead? And now they're back?