LES MUSICIENS DU MONDE ARC III 2011 TO 2016

by DanteVirgil09

This is the final arc of this particular saga where it is reaching closer and closer to its climax. When transcending choice for others and making them for some, where every emotion and motive for all characters will have to face and handle to the best of their abilities. Will everyone rise and pave their destinies or fall from grace? But all roads lead to the stars in the end.

8. JULY 2012 PART ONE

LES MUSICIENS DU MONDE

A CROSSOVER STORY

2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016

This chapter is the ending for this particular portion of the arc while the chapter that follows this is the penultimate ending before beginning 2013 with a bang, that I promise. In this chapter, all of the work and drama that began in London will conclude here in New York. This was planned from the beginning and the second American location for this battle since the ending of Arc II when this all started in Philadelphia. It also marks the last resort for the orchestra and seeing if their alliance with the magi still holds up to this sort of pressure as both want the same thing but different outcomes; as well as resignation to fate. With inspiration from Fast Five and The Bourne Ultimatum this is action, thriller, and drama all rolled into one crazy ambitious chapter.

In addition to this, a separate situation where Wilfredo has to take care of with its potential to spill across the city is a huge possibility. Nevertheless, this is where foreshadowing clues for future chapters come much more in the foreground. Now without further ado, this chapter's main theme is not the first one mentioned but one from the previous chapter, "Forgive Me" from Game of Thrones Season Four OST.

~Music bit: "The Red Woman" from Game of Thrones Season 6 OST

~Last month in Israel…

Alastair was sitting in a circle with representatives as he heard conversations in Turkish, Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, and Latin. The formal dress robes, all representing different faiths and one common one, showed him the immense challenge of cooperation needed after his and the others' jobs are done after the final battleground. He looked out the window and sees the sun setting in the west and then returned to focus on the discussions…

"Ne söylendiği önemli değil, LMM, bu müfettişler iyi bir şey yaptılar, dikkat etmediğimiz bir gölge düşmanı bizi uyardı. (No matter what is said, LMM, these interlopers have done one good thing, warned us of a shadow enemy we did not pay attention to.)," one Turkish Muslim mystic said, "Ayrıca konvoylardan biri tarafından kendisine eskortluk etmek için kurulan ve iki arkadaşıyla çöl boyunca başarılı olmadı. (Plus the convoy set up by one of their own to escort her and her two companions across the desert was successful was it not.)," he asked the aged Greek man.

The man in question did smile and spoke in Greek, "Φυσικά, με έβλεπε σχετικά με αυτό. Αλλά και της είπα, αυτή και οι ενέργειες της ορχήστρας της θα είχαν συνέπειες, δίκη και πιθανή πρόταση. Αλλά ο Βρετανός εδώ. (Of course, she did approach me regarding this. But I also told her, her and her orchestra's actions would have consequences, a trial and a possible sentence. But the Brit here.)," he looked at Alastair, "Είναι ένας απεσταλμένος για τη δούκισσα Florianne του House Michon στο Sairgoth και έχει ένα σχέδιο για το πώς να διορθώσουμε αυτή την κατάσταση που είμαστε. (Is an emissary for Duchess Florianne of House Michon in Sairgoth and has a plan on how to rectify this situation we're in.)"

Alastair spoke when called upon, "The situation for this is to weaken the WWAEI on both the home front and the battlefields outside of Europe. Here in the old Levant, as well as now is necessary, America. Once that is accomplished, it is up to local authorities to think up ways on how to handle this threat."

"מוסכם, עכשיו כדי למנף את שני המשפחות מוגל ואנשי אכיפת החוק אזוטריים לעבוד יחד על זה הולך להיות קצת אתגר. (Agreed, now to leverage both Muggle familiars and esoteric law enforcement officers to work together on this is going to be a bit of a challenge.)," one rabbi spoke, who happened to be Delilah's father, Aharon who returned from Mount Sinai, "בהתחשב בכוחותינו כאן, מתבוננים בעקיפין כוחות ישראלים וארגוני התנגדות פלסטיניים. (Considering our forces here are indirectly watched over by Israeli forces and Palestinian resistance groups.)," he added as he motioned his hands to emphasize is point.

One imam spoke as he adjusted his robes, "وقد وافق "أمر اللوتس الأبيض" على مساعدتنا في هذا ، لذا فهي ليست مشكلة ، أهارون. (The Order of the White Lotus has agreed to aid us in this, so it's not a problem, Aharon.)," he looked at him reassuringly and the rabbi nodded then he looked to the Turkish priest, "هل وضعوا خططًا لالتزام طويل المدى؟ (Have they made plans for a long-term commitment?)," he asked, which the Turkish priest nodded a yes, to which he replied to the imam in Arabic this time, "فضلا عن الفرسان التي شيدت حديثا الذين سيساعدون أورورز في جميع أنحاء القارة الأوروبية ، بقدر ما يذهب الذكاء. (As well as the newly constructed knights who will aid Aurors across the European continent, as far as intelligence goes.)"

"Semper autem quod est militibus, et dimissis patere quattuor abhinc annis debitum ad ingenti mole de notitia effluo. (The Forever Knights are done, disbanded and exposed four years ago due to a massive leak of information.)," a priest from northern Italy replied and Alastair inwardly smirked and thought of LMM, "Nova secta, dum se putant ducitur a diu perditus, qui non apparuit princeps septuaginta annos revertens ut acciperet absconsiónem in provocationem et manserunt in quo nuper 2010. Contra, haec est causa quod in parte orbis terrarum: et hoc, si effundet non in aliena litora, tunc non opus ad pervenire nostris fratribus et sororibus continents et trans maria. (A new sect, led by a supposed long lost leader who disappeared seventy years ago returned to take up the challenge and have remained covert since late 2010. On the other hand, this is a matter for this part of the world, and if this does spill into foreign shores, then we need to reach out to our brothers and sisters across the continents and seas.)"

The meeting goes on between them and once things were settled, a compromise was met. For the long-term plan to tackle the WWAEI, Alastair assures them that he and his allies will ensure LMM's gamble against the rogues will work itself out. Once it ended the elders and Alastair looked over the giant map of Europe and the Mediterranean countries where the major altercations have taken place as well as pocket areas where they have supporters. A war to come perhaps, but only if all the stratagems fails on all levels of intricate cloak and dagger.

Later that day

Oskana met with the informant codenamed Rain near the Jewish graveyard of the ancient city after she split from the group she was with. And on the rare insistence of Asuka, Yuri Ivanovich their man inside the Russian Esoteric Intelligence Service came to meet them, "Мошенники планируют атаку в этом городе, зная, что второй части их коллекции здесь нет. (The rogues will plan an attack in this city knowing the second part of their collection is not here.)"

"Да, ключ. Это не в городе, это в Нью-Йорке, и ваши союзники, несомненно, придут к такому выводу очень скоро. (The key, yes. It is not in the city, it is in New York and your allies will no doubt come to that conclusion very soon.)," Rain said to Oskana as the singer listened to both of them, "И мошенники, несомненно, знают о встрече, с которой встречаются старейшины. (And the rogues no doubt know of the meeting the elders are having at the moment.)," she added.

Oskana nodded but waved off the elder meeting, "Для них это не важно. Мошенники, насколько нам известно, любят делать зрелище. Схожий с LMM, но последние стараются, чтобы их охватить сложно. Мошенники, для сравнения, будут делать это, только если то, что они пытаются достичь, встречается с сопротивлением. На земле или с помощью LMM. (That is not important to them. The rogues as far as we know, love to make the spectacle. Akin to LMM but the latter try they're hardest to cover their tracks. The rogues, by comparison will only do so if what they're trying to achieve is met with resistance. On the ground or with LMM themselves.)," she told Rain and by extension Yuri.

Then Yuri spoke, "Послушайте, вы оба, Дождь не может здесь оставаться слишком долго. Оскана, вытащите ее отсюда и в безопасное место. (Listen, both of you, Rain can't stay too long here. Oskana, get her out of here and to safety.)," he told her and Oskana nodded, which prompted her to take out a ticket and new passport from her bag and handed them to Rain.

Rain received what Oskana had given her, "Ваш рейс отправляется через восемь часов из Тель-Авива в Санкт-Петербург. Иди и не останавливайся. Кто-то будет там, чтобы забрать вас и отвезти в безопасное убежище. Вы понимаете? (Your flight leaves in eight hours from Tel Aviv to St. Petersburg. Go now and don't stop. Someone will be there to pick you up and take you to a safe haven. Do you understand?)," she asked the turned agent who nodded silently. Oskana placed a hand on the woman's shoulder and gently pressed on it, "Пожалуйста будь осторожен. (Please, be safe.)"

Rain nodded, "Спасибо. (Thank you.)," and after a brief hug she turned and headed for Yuri's car a few meters away, "Я отвезу ее в аэропорт. О, и еще одна вещь, бывшие пилоты LMM планируют что-то, чтобы подогреть мошенников, чтобы заставить магов сотрудничать. (I'll take her safely to the airport. Oh, and one more thing, LMM's former pilots are planning something to stonewall the rogues to get the magi to cooperate.)," and with that Yuri bowed slightly and headed for his car with Rain in tow. As the car pulled in reverse and then drove away, Oskana stayed for a moment longer before heading back to the others.

~The day after…

The orchestra was busy performing music from their selected repertoire. Ductia by an anonymous composer from the 13th century, Isle of the Dead by Sergei Rachmaninoff, anonymous 14th century troubadour music (Chanson de Guillaume and Saltarello), an Egyptian lullaby called Nami Nami, as well as two arias for solo voice sung by Oskana Yurlova; Ah, ch'infelice sempre (her interpretation of a piece for a castrato) and Vedrò con mio diletto by Antonio Vivaldi. The music was performed in Jerusalem and due to them unable to gain access to the West Bank or even the Gaza Strip for an extended stay, their concert was still accessible due to a code Dante put out for those across the walls for streaming on to the website and YouTube (accessibility issues they found when in the country). The magi, Alastair, Ellessar, as well as Prince Mahbeeb, his uncle, priest Hakeem and the Indian British national Anan were there in attendance listening to the diverse music as always performed by LMM. The musical talent and hard work ethic was never in doubt from the start, in fact, those of mention know those qualities are noble virtues for LMM. What they learned from what the pilots had done in order to egg on the rogues and those wizards escaped from the North Sea prison was why the theft was committed in the first place.

For the magi, the actions and the pilots putting themselves on the line as they did, dying on the spot before coming back to kill the witch all connected; that LMM have issues of letting go past traumas and hoping desperately for something to push them beyond them. On one end, they feel pity for LMM to be driven this far to literally put their lives on the line to aid in a cause they feel connected to them. On the other however, they know justice must be served, even for crimes committed with noble intentions. Time is running out and now, the magi have only a few cards left to play, in comparison with LMM who only have two at best to play. Not good odds in all honesty, especially for the esoteric allies where in a month's time they all will head for the final battle ground in a city not one of them have been to before; New York City boroughs where as opposed to the island, lends itself to fate and circumstance.

The first Vivaldi aria mentioned I recommend Ensemble 415 with counter-tenor Andreas Scholl while the second, look for the one done by Il Pomo D'Oro with counter-tenor Jakub Józef Orliński. For Ductia, look for the piece performed by Arte Factvm, Rachmaninoff's famed piece I would suggest the rendition done by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra with conductor Sir Andrew Davis, the Egyptian lullaby by the group ODO Ensemble, Artefactum who performed Saltarello, and the troubadour song from the 13th century performed by Diabolus in Musica.

~End music bit~

CHAPTER SEVEN

JULY 2012, WEEK FOUR

NEW YORK CITY, NY, USA

[Washington Heights, Sunday,9:23PM]

An old antique shop was closed and the old owner inside was doing the last round of going over the day's purchases and shipment of goods before returning to his home upstairs. As he was going over the ledger, he sees a young man in his early 20s ringing the doorbell and knocking on the glass wooden door, "I'm closed! Come back in the morning," the owner called out but the young man was incessant. So he repeated himself in Yiddish, "איך בין פארשלאסן! קומען צוריק אין דער מאָרגן!"

But the guy kept knocking and grumbling to himself in Yiddish, he puts down his fountain pen and walked to the front door, "I'm coming, I'm coming," he called out and unlocked the door and the young man came in and looked around the shop mumbling incoherently to the ears old man, "What can I help you with?"

The young man turned to him and spoke with an Italian Brooklyn accent, "There was a shipment that came in today right," he asked and the old man nodded a yes, "Do you still have it," he pressed, "Please tell me you do," he pleaded as the old man was startled before calmly addressing the young man.

"Calm down boy! Of course the shipment is still here! I wrote all of it in my separate ledger. I'll be back to show you," so he made his way to the counter and pulled out a different looking ledger colored mahogany and showed it to the young man, "I have written the log for sales and trades of today's business. Have a look," and so the young man took a look at it.

The young man took a look and everything seemed to have checked out with sales and trades made in advance for the week. Then he saw three items that were jotted down and he looked at the old man, "Are these sold or traded," he asked.

The old man looked down and in looked at the slightly obscured writing and replied, "Sold," and this turned the young man's blood cold when he saw what was sold, "These were bought," he asked, pressing the Yiddish man to answer, who in turn nodded a yes.

"This is bad…really bad," he started to pace back and forth, "Who bought them," he looked at the ledger again and saw names, "Okay, three people bought these and not one firm correct," he showed it to the older man and he nodded, "Yes, why? What is going on?"

The young man looked at him and then properly introduced himself, by handing over his ID to the Yiddish man who read a loud the young man's name and position, "Vincenzo Foscarini, birthdate March 27, 1990, a Union member," the last part raised the old man's eyebrows and handed it back to Vincenzo."

The young man took back his ID and pocketed it again, "Call me Vinnie; less formal. But in any case, where do the three people live? Those items sold have hidden dark energies we recently found out about by my boss," he explained enough to show the urgency of this situation so the Yiddish man spoke.

"The three who purchased items off of the ledger came from the Upper East Side: Blair Underwood, Serena Glencoe, and Laura McCully. All items were purchased today in the morning," and this was true, all the time stamps were between 10am to 11:40am. With this in mind, Vinnie can now track down the items before anyone is seriously hurt.

At this point, the elderly Yiddish gentleman then brought up something, "The more important item I was told ahead of time to keep safeguard is now in a different location. Due to news across the Atlantic, safety precautions have been implemented," he explained this to Vinnie and he seemed pleased with that, but now he's got three pieces of jewelry to track down.

MEANWHILE

[Carnegie Hall, Midtown, Manhattan, 9:25PM]

The opening chords of Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 18, by Sergei Rachmaninoff, were reverberating throughout the famed concert hall. Francesca Moliere, one of the now famed alumni of Aulamerta Academy of Performing Arts in France makes her American debut in New York with a program of smaller pieces by Domenico Scarlatti to warm up and end it with a grand showcase of her talents with a full orchestra. The orchestra was from the Juilliard School (graduating students) and to her pleasure; Emily Nelson was in the front row watching herself of her friend performing beautifully. Emily meanwhile was sitting alongside her parents and thanks to recent treatment, had her crutches leaning against her aisle seat. As the music played, Emily recounted the first treatments with Duchamp Pharmaceuticals where in using cutting edge stem cell research, her spinal chord was finally being repaired. Slowly but surely, she began the baby steps in regaining full mobility again. She's started to wean herself off the wheelchair, feeling after being attached to it for so long, to eventually have to say goodbye to it was surprisingly bittersweet.

The performance itself was like a welcoming note for the coming week, starting the nightlife outside in the city as well as to indicate something in her manner of playing. To showcase her budding maturity in performing and gaining artistry, as well as excited to see the country first hand and gain new experiences. As she played, she will be staying in New York for a week so she can see Emily Nelson's official debut with LMM, a rare thing for a sophomore college student, but her talent clinched it in her favor so Francesca was indeed impressed for her American friend. On another note, she is also planning to showcase her mezzo-soprano talents as well on her American tour but for tonight, it was all about tickling the ivory and ebony keys.

[The Carnegie Club, 10:05PM]

The reception that followed in the elegant lounge that sported intimacy and grandeur, and her parents accompanied Emily. On her crutches, she slowly made her way inside and sees some of the patrons inside smoking cigars and drinking either cocktails or the more classy choice, single malt scotch whisky. Jazz music was on the repertoire and she sees Francesca sitting under a picture of Winston Churchill. She waved and sat down next to her, "Moliere! Great debut! Congratulations!"

The two young ladies shook hands, "Thank you Ms. Nelson. Would like a drink," she offered, "Uh, thank you but I'm underage still," Emily reminded Francesca of the drinking age of the US, 21 compared to 18 in most places around the world.

Francesca nodded, "Or a sip of my drink. Give it a try," she offered her glass of single malt whisky and Emily looked at her friend and took a small sip, and swallowed the liquor and she slightly winced a bit, "Hmm, smoky," she breathed in and out and found a new flavor she never experienced before, "Not bad."

She handed her friend back the glass and seated herself comfortably, "I also want to thank you for staying so you can see my debut at Carnegie hall at the end of this coming week," Emily said smiling and Francesca smiled back, "No trouble at all. And again you're with LMM as a guest performer. Since they're steadily gaining more recognition, you'll be seen more in the spotlight than when we were in Colombia together."

Emily nodded smiling, but also felt a bit nervous, "Any word of advice for my last week of touching up before heading to the stage," she asked and Francesca smiled before responding with, "Breathe. Just breathe and relax. Nothing is more hurtful than a tense performance."

With that said, Emily relaxed and just took in the atmosphere of the club. She sees her parents talking with several of the other concertgoers and other patrons. She smelled the cigar smoke, which unlike cigarettes has a pleasant scent of earthy and herbal sensibilities. She was excited and nervous and seeing this, Francesca leaned in and whispered to Emily, "Oskar is coming back from a photo shoot in Edinburgh. He's also excited to see your first proper debut."

Emily blushed and Francesca smiled slyly and then asked, "What are your plans after your debut? You never really specified what you're going after," she asked and pointed out Emily's slight vagueness for this concert so the response she got was this, "Well, I am planning a career as a professional pianist. Will that result in a recording career? Don't know, I'll see where this lands."

Francesca nodded and the two just relaxed and took in the atmosphere before Emily had to go home and get some sleep. Her parents had fun, of course her dad didn't drink tonight as he was driving them home, but for now, they every right to be confident on the upcoming concert for their daughter.

~Music bit: "Mother of Dragons" from Game of Thrones Season 2 OST~

QUEENS, NYC, NY, USA

[JFK International Airport, 11:23AM]

Shinji, Koji, Emiko, and Haruki checked out of customs and now outside of Terminal 1, Shinji hailed a taxi van to load their belongings. Once done they got inside, "Where to," the taxi driver asked, "Waldorf Astoria," Shinji said and off they went, heading eastward to Manhattan.

The four in the van were silent as they were deep in thought. Koji was absent for the past few months to train more as he felt underprepared for the rogues and their skills, Haruki feels excited to be back in New York since 2007/2008 and to help out his little brother, Emiko feels worried especially for Shinji who died and miraculously came back from the dead, and Shinji feels especially concerned about not wanting to repeat that stunt again and now focused on finishing this quest for good; win or lose. What he wanted now was to set the record straight and give it to these rogue bastards.

[Canarsie, Brooklyn]

Wilfredo was with his friends in his home's attic. They were discussing plans on what routes to take out of the city and plan to use their phones to stay ahead of the traffic when needed, their plan was simple but should be effective. To first make sure the WWAEI come close to their target in Manhattan but then to have the rogues chase them out of the island. When that works, when they would make sure the WWAEI get what they want, they would make it impossible to leave the island.

Once they got the routes jotted down, they then sent texts and emails to there friends in Manhattan to memorize and incorporate it into their assigned places and routes in order to pull this off. As well to share this with their magi allies who will come in two days from now; they hope this will happen anyway. But all in all, they also got a backup plan, getting in their friends from Philly involved and give them a piece of rightful vengeance to open a can of ass whooping.

[Waldorf Astoria, Midtown, Manhattan]

The suite for the international members of the orchestra was three connected room where several of them will be in each room. In the middle suite is a setup of laptops, radios, maps of the city with its complete boroughs and the main island of Manhattan, a map of Europe and the Mediterranean where they have had their confrontations dotted and pinned, and the paths for the magi resistance beginning to form across the sea. Now all that was left was to wait for Shinji and his company to arrive and LMM, along with their mystic allies who were across the hallway.

Regarding their mystic allies, Prince Mahbeeb and his uncle, priest Hakeem, and Anan had their shared suites set up, two connected with the prince and his uncle in one while the priest and British Indian were in the other. As LMM they have maps regarding their confrontations with the WWAEI, but instead of electronic equipment to use, they have palantirs to have a birds eye view of the city, 360 across and hopefully, won't be manipulated by the rogues. Anan was preparing to put on a pottu, or a red dot on her forehead to really concentrate her powers, Hakeem has his beads wrapped around his arms and chanting to center his power, and the prince inspecting his blade, as did his uncle.

[Astoria, Queens]

Mohammad was looking out his bedroom window and can see the Manhattan skyline looming in the distance. He was ready for this week of rehearsals, but more concerned for LMM regarding what they've done and recently, a letter was received about their fate as well. Straight from Alastair and the woman he met back in Marseille on what is to be done and how to save face. He and wife felt powerless, but knew that if things were worked out as the letter was written, their only fear was the unknown itself.

PHILADELPHIA, PA, USA

[Amity Park]

"So it's time then right," Valerie asked as she packed her things and Tucker had his bags packed already and simply waited for her, "Yep. The word got in, a plan was made and the first battle is on Tuesday. We better go and scope out the city," he told her and with that, she zipped up the last of her luggage.

He helped her carrying it downstairs along with his own. Outside of Valerie's apartment, there it was, the Fenton Cruiser, which got updated over the years. Faster, better shielded, more weapons installed to fight off powerful ghosts, demons even, people using ectoplasmic energy to power themselves up, and now, magi and mystics.

Sam appeared, "About time, so we're set," she asked them and Valerie smiled, "More than ready," she said and the three put the luggage inside. Once done, the three got inside and see Danny ready to go, "Let's fly," Sam said as she sat down next to him.

Danny then sets it to go and once the cruiser levitated off the ground, he puts it to accelerate and off they went, northeast to New York City and to their safe house already scoped out by Tucker's friends who will meet them there shortly. The week was about to start…

~End music bit~

BROOKLYN, NYC, NY, USA

[Bay Ridge, Monday, 12:23PM]

Wilfredo was in part of the neighborhood where it still had an outdoor market from early last century not sanitized by the mayor of New York. For esoterics, they called him 'The Sterilizer' for his talents to wipe everything clean; even local histories from existence. He was doing some shopping his parents requested of him to do before afternoon rehearsals began in Carnegie Hall. He got some garlic, salt, paprika, as well as black pepper to replenish their modest spice rack since they already have plenty of herbs at home. In addition, he bought a whole cod, onions, potatoes, blood sausage (for breakfast with eggs), and celery. With that done he puts the bag in his moped's basket and made one more spot; the antique shop in search of a body height mirror. He looked around, found a selection of vintage books (made a mental note for later), but found it, "Ah…a good one," he muttered.

He sees the shop's owner coming, "How much for this," he pointed to the beautiful silver rimmed mirror in the art deco style. The man who appeared to be in his early 60s answered, "70 dollars," he answered as he adjusted his glasses.

Wilfredo checked his money pouch, "I got ducats," he replied, knowing the shop was in familiar territory, the man's demeanor changed, "Oh why didn't you say so. Fifteen gold ducats along with five silver ducats," he replied.

Wilfredo checked his pouch, "Ten gold ducats and two silver ducats. I'll pay the difference in two weeks time," he tried to haggle the price, "Twelve gold ducats and three silver ducats and that's my offer for this mirror. You should know its value don't you, young whipper snapper?"

The old man said and Wilfredo nodded, "I do and as for your offer, deal," he said and the two shook hands then proceeded to do the paperwork to have the mirror delivered tomorrow morning by carriage around the evening. When it was done and finalized, Wilfredo thanked him and promises to stop by soon to get something for his mom's birthday. When the man told Wilfredo of a shipment of nice 1920s dresses coming in a week, he was sold and cheerfully bid the man a farewell. He had to return home before the fish starts to stink up.

He then exited the shop to head back to his moped; he felt a tap on his shoulder. He spun around and before he got into fighting stance, a guy face to face who appeared his age was standing there, nonchalantly calm and smiling lightly, "Looks like you grew up a bit eh," the young man said and Wilfredo asked, "Do I know you?"

The young man leaned forward and whispered, "Still pissed off by being ripped over a tomagachi back in fourth grade," he asked and Wilfredo's eyes lit up in shock, "Vinnie?!"

"My name Willy boy don't wear it out," Vinnie said and got Wilfredo miffed a bit, "I told you to never call me that," "And what are you gonna do about it, huh?"

"Me kicking your ass from here to the docks," Wilfredo threatened and Vinnie stood his ground, "Then let's go, pretty boy," the two mean mugged each other before bursting with quick laughter, "Let's talk somewhere," Vinnie asked and Wilfredo complied.

So they picked a small place to sit on the curb while Wilfredo watched his moped so no one can steal his groceries and mined the time, "So what is it? I doubt it's to just catch up on old times," Wilfredo asked as he had to admit, feels good about this reunion of sorts.

"I am here on business so to speak," Vinnie said as he took out a cigar, which was pre-cut, from a metal case. He took out his zippo lighter and lit it gently before he got a good smoke going, "I learned from sources you were involved in some shit across the ocean. Am I warm?"

Wilfredo looked at him, "Who are your sources," he asked, "Russians. Apparently the community there has strong ties to their motherland and they kept up with the news. That London job, Jesus dude! The fuck were you thinking," Vinnie said and asked about that particular job six months back.

When he got asked this, Wilfredo knew at this point, no using in being coy about it, "Yeah we knew we took a gamble, but we're working it out and hopefully by the end of the week, our shit's resolved," he said with some certainty as Vinnie took a few puffs from his cigar.

"For your sake, you better be right," Vinnie said and held his cigar downward, "But anyway, I'm not here about that. I got a job involving some cursed pieces. It's been less than 36 hours and I hope to find them. I hear your talents for scouring dark energies are good. Can you help?"

Wilfredo heard Vinnie out and at the most part, he wanted to help out, but this is the most inconvenient time for him. Vinnie puffs his cigar again before responding, "Come on, it's a small job and no way it will interfere with the real shit you gotta do this week," and when he said this, Wilfredo sighed and then responded, "Okay, when and where?"

Vinnie smiled and gave the information in tidbits, "Upper East Side, Sunday, three things were purchased from a Yiddish antique shop by mistake," Wilfredo listened to him and needed no names, just descriptions of the objects; a set of cufflinks, a ring, and a necklace. With that said and done Wilfredo gave his decision, "All right. Meet me at Carnegie Hall at six and we'll go from there."

He gets up and so did Vinnie, "Thanks man," Vinnie said and Wilfredo looked at him for a moment, "No problem," and he headed back to his moped to ride home to deliver the groceries and prepare for afternoon rehearsals at around 2:30. Vinnie walked away and disappearing into the crowd of people and then got on his phone, "Si? Oh, ciao ... si, si ... Basta appendere su un momento, capo. Ho ricevuto aiuto lungo la strada. (Yeah? Oh hi…yeah, yeah…Just hang on a moment, boss. I got help on the way.)"

[Carnegie Hall, Midtown, Manhattan, 3:23PM]

The period instruments began to play in a fast tempo with Mohammad conducting and after the introduction started then came the vocal portion of the aria:

Armatae face et anguibus

A caeco regno squallido

Furoris sociae barbari

Furiae venite ad nos.

The orchestra currently was rehearsing an aria by Antonio Vivaldi, one of two pieces selected from his repertoire. The aria called 'Armatae face et anguibus' from the oratorio 'Juditha Triumphans' is one selected after having had Oskana performing with them on several concerts already to show off her range and emotional dynamics:

Morte, flagello, stragibus

Vindictam tanti funeris

Irata nostra pectora

Duces docete vos.

After singing the second portion, Oskana felt her energy building and her breathing more controlled to deliver the coloratura effective; power and emotion needed to be balanced otherwise it would seem too histrionic:

Armatae face et anguibus

A caeco regno squallido

Furoris sociae barbari

Furiae venite ad nos.

Once done with singing the first portion again to conclude the aria, she breathed to calm herself as the orchestra was wrapping up the piece. Once done, Mohammad was smiling, "Excellent! Wonderful job Ms. Yurlova," he exclaimed and she smiled in return and nodded in gratitude.

Once done, she sat down and drank some of her water; feeling her voice was becoming a bit hoarse from the endeavor. Multiple repeats to make sure her technique was on point was exhausting but worth it when Saturday night arrives. The orchestra then began to retune their instruments again to proceed to their next piece, and shake off some minor fatigue in their fingers, but they were professional by this point. After a few minutes of resting, they commenced and the camera clicked on to record a live performance for a piece of music not on the official program. 'Bourée d'Avignonez' by an anonymous composer; which got some of the string players to switch to viol instruments.

Once it was recording and Mike and Zach checked sound, the short piece began. For the next three minutes, Alberto was on a Spanish baroque guitar, Lionel was on his viol played on his knee, Christine, Wilfredo, Shinji, on their baroque cellos, Cecilia on the tambourine, and a percussionist from the Juilliard beating slowly on a drum to provide the foundation beat to the music.

MEANWHILE

[Upper East Side, Manhattan]

In a rented loft for the next few weeks, Tiffany was watching LMM's performance on YouTube that's being live-streamed and sees this new performance of a very short piece of baroque music. As she watched she averted her gaze from the monitor to what was going on the bed. Her childhood friend was being consoled by her team of investigators she's assembled since the Bankcroft incident; Roger was the adventurer of the group who is also a demonologist and the 'muscle' of the group wearing a form fitting white shirt over grey trousers with black dress shoes, then there was Alisson who was the lead investigator as well as tech support to keep track of their collected data on past investigations wearing a light yellow dress with modest white heels with her brown hair down in delicate curls, but the other member was going through his computer on the desk. His name was Ronald and he's an expert in holy as well as cursed objects as well as the main researcher and while he sported a green blazer with a soft blue shirt with a plaid bowtie over khaki shorts and sandals, he searched for the shop where their friend supposed bought the necklace.

"Can you tell us where this shop was," Roger called out from across the loft and their friend, whose name was Blair as she now was calmer after a night of being scared out of her mind began to speak, "Um…from what I remember it was in Washington Heights, a old man was running the shop. Looked old, like it's been there for decades and…the man spoke Yiddish I think."

With this information Ronald began to search for any sort of shop in the Washington Heights and to his surprise, nothing of the sort was online, "It's not showing up on the internet. Are you sure what you saw was an antique shop," he asked and Blair responded, "Of course! It was as real as you and me," she stated, which caused Tiffany to get from her seat and set the laptop down much to her chagrin.

"Okay, we got a shop that perhaps is there but not showing up online. Must be a very old store to cater to a specific clientele. With that in mind, we have to assume Blair here must have walked into a 'familiar' sort of shop," Tiffany said and Roger was quick to suggest, "You mean one that serves magi and mystics?"

"Yep. As well as occultists, demonologists, shamans, priestesses, priests, you name it," Tiffany added but Blair was confused, "Why did you call it familiar," and Alisson was quick to respond with, "Normal people like us who live around esoteric people. It's sort of a symbiotic relationship going back centuries in many parts of the world."

Blair nodded, just trying to digest this information, "But what can we do? The necklace I bought looked normal and then when I was sleeping, a very loud boom was heard and then I heard a growl in my apartment and I ran out of there. I called you guys and…by the time I left, I really didn't want to go back alone without knowing, what the fuck was that."

Tiffany thought on this for a moment, "Okay, for self protection we got sage to burn and Palo Santo wood as well. But to go in your apartment building," she directed her attention to Blair, "We want to know, how secure is it," she asked and Blair gave her and by extension the team, the layout of the building, especially when night rolls in, "You can stay here for another night but tomorrow, we go in and take care of your problem."

"Oh really? Thank you so much," Blair exclaimed and as she lied down on the king sized bed, Tiffany's team began to really set up for what was ahead and Tiffany headed back to her computer, disappointed that the bit of music was already over, but now sets out to research on how to deal with a demon.
LATER

[Dumbo, Brooklyn, 5:23PM]

On Washington Street that led to the Washington Bridge, in one of the converted warehouses now lofts, Danny and his team have set up their station. Tucker had his network set up to converse with his fellow hackers (Claude from Paris, Andrew from London, Mike from New York, Abdullah from Istanbul, and Vladimir from Moscow) as well as Scarlett and her team on another monitor. His setup is his most elaborate to date to keep track of the rogues in the city, monitor police traffic, keeping track of media outlets and internet channels reporting on their activities when things start in real-time, as well as access to CCTV networks across the city's boroughs. In other words, for them to do this right, they have to limit exposure and damage as much as possible.

Tucker was typing and clicking his mouse while in communication with his friends and allies. Meanwhile, Valerie was setting up her weapons an calibrated them to instead of attacking ghosts to now fire bolts to counter magical and mystical attacks, as well as to put up shields. The work started weeks ago and she need a bit of tweaking. With the two busy, Sam was mapping out the city and used the information LMM sent them so she can direct Danny to go and help out the others. Danny meanwhile was sitting on the roof's edge. He looked out around the area of Brooklyn they were in and to Manhattan across the river. This was his and his friends' first time in New York and although he's no stranger to fighting in and around the urban landscape, this felt like a bigger challenge.

The years of ghost fighting have shaped him as well as his friends. Standing at 6'3" he inherited his dad's height and as opposed to his dad, his form is athletic and powerful in dealing and handling damage. Sam has also changed to be quite lithe and quick to defense and in his eye, a gothic nubile beauty. Valerie has also maintained her beauty, but also showcased her fit form, a powerhouse to charge in and rain hell on their enemies. Tucker now sported a hipster smart Rastafarian look as opposed to the more geek stereotype look he sported throughout high school. He stood up and sported a simple white t-shirt over dark blue jeans with black Adidas. On the ledge of the roof he stretched himself before phasing through the roof and slowly levitated himself down three floors to the vacant lot they're occupying.

He phased through the ceiling and landed on his feet quietly. But Sam as usual was the first to notice, "Everything all right," she asked and he nodded, "Yep. So, how are we? Is it all set," he asked and on cue, Tucker and Valerie spoke.

"More than ready man! Geared up and ready to rock," Tucker smiled as he turned around from his seat, "I can't wait to get this started," he said and Valerie then spoke, "And I got word in, Kevin and Gwen are coming here really soon," she dropped the bit of information, "But I don't think that's a problem."

"We'll see. It's like all of us are here to play this game of chicken," Danny replied, "But then if we lose, we're fucked," he added and his friends nodded in agreement, "But we got friends here who need our help, people who we have known since their beginning and have put themselves in a bind. So let's give their enemies a real kick in the ass and never mess with our side of the world again."

His brief speech seemed to have lit a fire in his friends. They would not forget that an enemy LMM got so close to stopping two years ago but really found themselves vulnerable. Entering a war that was largely in the shadows and the enemies LMM exposed to them really shows people out there who will do what it takes to win, killing them or civilians are part of it and that sickened Danny to his core. Then there was a knock at the door and Valerie walked over to it and opened it slightly. To her and everyone's relief, it was Kevin and Gwen who arrived, "So how are we," Kevin hollered out as he too brought his equipment.

"We're ready for tomorrow," Tucker called out, "I suggest we scout the city ourselves to see if our plans can work and just monitor the police routes," he added and Kevin spoke as he got closer, "Saw a bit of it, brings back memories from my time here."

Kevin said this with some fond memories of being a standard troublemaker, but not so fondly when he turned into a mutant from absorbing Ben's Omnitrix alien list or when he betrayed Wilfredo nine years ago. He then sets down his douffle bag with his chose of weapons and Gwen carrying her spell books sets hers down as well. He wore his signature black t-shirt over jeans and boots, not minding the heat and humidity, while Gwen word some denim shorts, sandals and her hair in a messy ponytail, "It's gonna be some party," he added.

"I don't know how this will be a party compared to other times," Gwen quipped lightly to him, "Oh you know; party favors, drinks, games, music, the works," Kevin added with a smirk of his own and she shook her head with a sigh and a slight chuckle.

Then the two faced the Philadelphia foursome, "But in any case, what has happened already was just warm up compared to this. And no doubt, the WWAEI feel the same way," Kevin remarked and Gwen added, "Which means they will come at us with no quarter given. So we gotta be on guard tomorrow night at all times," she said.

"Oh we know something about that from our own line of work," Valerie spoke, "But what we can do now is get a lay of the land here before tomorrow regardless," she added and the two Plumbers nodded in agreement.

Danny then asked, "Where's Ben? I doubt he would've turned down a chance to do his thing," he said, which Kevin replied, "He's got Plumber work to do in Seattle and doesn't have the time for this. I know it's shocked us too," he added when he noticed the Philadelphians surprised expressions.

"But that's not a problem. We're more than prepared for this and with allies across the ocean coming here in a few days, we're pretty much covered," Gwen added, which tempered the four in question and then got back to the matter at hand.

MEANWHILE

[Upper East Side, Manhattan]

In one of the high-rise apartments along Madison Avenue, the members of the WWAEI are holding up in a posh apartment able to room the three of them. The rogues decided that for their battle plans to hold fruit in New York as opposed to the past encounters in Europe and the Mediterranean, their team is spread out across the five boroughs. They have observed LMM from all of their encounters and decided to divide and conquer along the lines from various plans they suspected the orchestra would try to pull off. One of the rogue members was smoking a cigar while drinking some scotch with two ice cubes and while waiting for tomorrow night, was wearing a white shirt accompanied with cufflinks and off white shorts and white sneakers with Persol sunglasses resting on his forehead. His cigar was between his fingers while his scotch was resting on a coaster next to maps and notes of New York.

He gets up and looked out the window to get a better view of it all, "You guys are prepared to this in my city huh; an all out war against an orchestra? That's rich, what else," he spoke with a definite accent as a born native of the city as opposed to the other two in the apartment with him who were Italian and Spanish respectively.

The American man, who appeared to be in his early forties smoked his cigar a bit before turning around, "I asked what else? Do they have allies and if they do, when will they dock," he pressed the two and the Spaniard was the first to respond.

"Two to four days at the most for the orchestra's allies to arrive by ship and other means. Not to mention the orchestra have allies who are native born to America to aid them. But nevertheless, we have the numbers on our side as well as the ability to side step this upstart orchestra. Really, how humiliating to have our tactics matched and met by an orchestra!"

The American nodded and smoked his cigar before responding, "Well if these crazy bastards were able to meet you across Europe and Israel and fight their ass off, then well, maybe you guys aren't worth the trouble," he commented and before the Spaniard would launch at him, the Italian held him back and calmed his compatriot down.

The Italian then spoke in place of his friend and like the Spaniard, the American understood the Italian as he spoke, "Listen, all we need is some assurance on whether or not our group can operate here without interference. In other words, if things here would be on par with what happened two years ago in Philadelphia," he worded it so the American can digest the information.

The American nodded and while casually glancing around in his apartment's French plastered walls and antique furniture, he reached some insight. He then walked to where he was sitting and placed his cigar in its crystal dish and had it rest before responding, "Yes I remember that incident from the news and papers. Some interesting shit to have happened in the middle of the night but what I am trying to figure out is why come to America at all? You could have played out this game in Europe and the Middle East no problem. Why here?"

The Italian and Spaniard looked at each other for a moment before looking at the American. Unlike his casual appearance, the two rogues in question wore turtlenecks with zippers over grey trousers and combat boots and neatly cropped hair. The Spaniard eventually responded with a more pragmatic statement, "Since many have come to America in search of a fresh start, what better message to send regarding the futility of peace and reconciliation than to cause chaos and misfortune in safe havens?"

The American responded with, "True, you got me there," and then paced a bit in his spot and looked at them, "You're loyal to your agenda in anarchy and violence for their sake to prevent integration and healing past wounds…and I'm loyal to the craft," and picked up his cigar again and smiled at them as he puffed, "The craft of a magician," and smoke willowed about.

LATER THAT EVENING

[Upper West Side, Manhattan, 9:23PM]

Wilfredo and Vinnie were at Papaya Dog eating their hot dogs with sauerkraut and having a fruit drink to go with it as they scoped the street before going in to retrieve the first of the three trinkets and hopefully later, the second to conclude the night. After an afternoon of rehearsing, Wilfredo wanted to work out in the gym back in his borough before home and eventually, bed. When he looked into the ether, something called out to him three times when scouring the aura field where demonic energies would spike. One was on the move, but first they arrived to the first one, an apartment complex across the street. As soon as the two finished, they went to work in acquiring back the cursed object.

A young socialite who has been making waves in fashion and social media endorsements bought the necklace. Such a thing it is since last decade where this was only for celebrities and reality TV stars. Now, anyone can be a star, even musicians of a traveling orchestra he mused. Anyway, they made their way inside the apartment building and took the elevator up to the twelfth floor. Vinnie picked the locked quietly and since he was experienced in hustling and getting away from the law before being employed in a union, he got the door unlocked in less than two minutes. Inside, it was modern chic with photos of the woman on he walls from haute couture from Paris, London and New York and travels to Japan, China and South Korea. The two men headed for the bedroom and if there was a mess, then it was just from earlier in the day before the celebrity left for whatever she had to do for work. In any case, Wilfredo walked around the big bedroom to locate the ring and then, "First drawer to your left beneath some underwear in a velvet case."

As he said this, Vinnie rummaged through the feminine delicates and found the velvet case. He checked if the ring was indeed there, "Here it is. It's dormant, lucky for us huh," he said relieved and turned to Wilfredo, but Wilfredo was not responding.

His eyes were closed and in the aura field, he can now see all of New York from up on high as his soul left his body and flew upward. He can see multitudes of auras blowing about like vapors for all the people; magi, mystic, occultist, human, even for the more mysterious vampires, werewolves and others around all in different shades of colors. He then saw a spike of dark energy connecting to the necklace further south in a new location and then…

Wilfredo slowly opened his eyes as he felt himself settling down in his body, "The set of cufflinks are down in Lower Manhattan, a small restaurant closing in an hour. Tartine is the restaurant's name and he's with someone," he told Vinnie and then came back to focus, "Hail a cab?"

Vinnie smirked, "Something better," and with that they rushed down the hall after closing the apartment door and took the elevator. Once in the worker's part of the apartment Vinnie whistled and then sees a horse drawn carriage with the horse driver on top, "Where to," the driver spoke.

"Lower Manhattan, the Tartine Restaurant," Vinnie called out to the driver as he and Wilfredo entered the carriage cabin. With that the carriage driver whistled his horse and at a gentle pace, off they go, unbeknownst to passersby in cars or on foot.

[Lower Manhattan, 9:32PM]

At the gentle pace of the horse enhanced by the magic, they made their way to their location in good time. Vinnie paid the driver and the guys walked down the street for one block and see the restaurant Tartine in sight. Wilfredo squared his sight on a man in his mid-thirties, looked like a stock-broker who was with a date in a form fitting dress, "Do the cufflinks have a coat of arms on them," he asked Vinnie who had the details of said items.

"Yes! Two lions over a crest containing a glass of wine; why," he confirmed and asked, with Wilfredo pointing to the man in the distance, "He has them on. How are we to take them off without assaulting him," he asked and Vinnie thought for a moment before uttering, "Follow me."

Wilfredo soon followed Vinnie into the restaurant. With one hour to go before closing, some are still dining and enjoying the beginning of the evening. Vinnie hid in the restroom while Wilfredo headed for the bar counter and ordered a glass of brandy. The two waited as inconspicuously as possible before their target guy excused himself to head for the restroom. Wilfredo saw this at the corner of his eye and continued to drink his brandy. After a half a minute passed he sees Vinnie coming out and motioned Wilfredo to follow, so he finished his brandy and paid the bartender with tip. The two leave, leaving a bewildered man slowly awakening in the men's restroom and not noticing a perfect copy of his purchased cufflinks on his sleeves.

[Upper East Side, 9:40PM]

Wilfredo and Vinnie feel pretty accomplished after acquiring the ring and cufflinks from unsuspecting buyers. Now with the necklace last on their list, they hoped to put this little mishap to bed and Vinnie to rest easy tonight. Sadly, that's not the case when they see the apartment building in sight, Wilfredo stopped, "We're not going in there," he said and Vinnie looked at him bewildered, "Why the hell not? We just need to nab the necklace and we're done!"

"Don't you sense that bad mojo coming from the building? It's spiked demonic energy flowing around, gathering strength," he told the hustler and Vinnie looked at the building a bit more closely. Even though he may not be able to see the aura like energies or sense it as well as a mystic or even a clairvoyant, he can still feel something raising the hairs on the back of his neck. He didn't like it one bit, "Well this job got a lot harder," Vinnie commented, Wilfredo nodded.

Wilfredo rubbed the back of his head and thought for a moment on how to deal with this. He had an idea; a risky one for sure, but it was the only solution that can solve both their problems but not his own engagement with the rogues. So he relented, "Okay, call in a priest for tomorrow night to come here. I got something to get rid of that demon bitch."

Vinnie looked at him surprised, "You do," Wilfredo nodded, "Yeah. And it's going to take a lot out of me to do it. So can you call in a priest? A legit priest," he asked and Vinnie nodded yes, "I got it covered. So we come tomorrow night and put this in the bag."

"Yep. So, I'm heading home now. You should do the same," Wilfredo walked away from Vinnie to go and take the subway back to Brooklyn, but Vinnie stopped him, "Did you forget? I got this carriage for the evening. I'll take us back home…come on it's the least I can do for dragging you into this," Vinnie pressed and Wilfredo sighed and ultimately agreed.

Vinnie and Wilfredo got into the carriage and the driver ushered the horse to walk along he streets and with the magical nature of it, they left the area unseen. Vinnie looked at Wilfredo across from him and was silent for a moment before speaking "Spill. Why did you hesitate back there? We could've finished this tonight," he was still bugged by it.

Wilfredo looked at him and breathed, "That building looked familiar to me. Like I've been there before but I can't remember exactly," he admitted to Vinnie and the hustler just looked at him now a bit concerned, "You mean when you were a kid," he asked and Wilfredo nodded a yes.

Vinnie was not sure if this was a bad sign or not; he was more concerned with keeping his job and not get fucked by an error in a job. However, he also doesn't want something bad happening to a civilian, familiar or not and in his eyes, Wilfredo was still a civilian not employed by his union and would try to end this with as much less mess as possible. However, what he can't know was what plan Wilfredo was forming in his head and if he had, then he wished he'd come with better preparations for the next day…

~Music bit: 'The Sirius Deception' from Harry Potter Order of the Phoenix OST

KENT, ENGLAND, UK

[Dover, Tuesday, 8:23PM]

The magi were ready to cross the sea. Angelina, James, Jane, William, Basilio, Rachel, Hanford, and Anthony were on their brooms or thestrals ready to go across the ocean. Many of them were nervous, especially for Anthony who has not joined the others as he tried to maintain his studies at the college. He wanted to join, but he also wanted to make sure his obligations were met. His friends were not bitter, and assured him that he's picked the wiser option.

"I hope we can do this. From what you told me from Poland to Israel, it seems we are not at the crux of either war or saving millions of lives. And LMM is attempting to take on WWAEI for the first battle? Are they insane," he asked William as he strapped on his leather flying gear for the trip and his broom at the ready.

William nodded as he mounted his thestral, "Insane but committed to their cause and as we saw three of them fall down dead to showcase the extent of the rogues' anarchical plans for us, it confirmed our thoughts on them. They were desperate for help and took a risk to get our attention. Well, they got it now," he said and a rumble below them was heard.

With things now more fleshed, the magi now have assistance to go and aid their compatriots; they have a way to span vast distances in a matter of hours as opposed to days. And with Alastair ahead on his ships, he called in a favor for them, "Is everyone ready," James called out as he mounted his broom.

All of them were atop the white cliffs of Dover and away from the prying eyes of the public; hidden megalith stones appear from the group and resonate with runes all about them. The runes glowed an ethereal blue, predating the Celts and Druids by a thousand years and with this, used to transport emissaries across the Mediterranean or across Europe and head for the east. But tonight, all of them will head for America for the first time. Others were mounting their brooms and leathery skeletal steeds and Hanford spoke, "And this bridge will take us there in three hours? Blimey! That's akin to what the Muggles had discontinued! The Concorde!"

"I know, but according to Alastair we should make time to help out LMM in New York and with luck, we will arrive there before him," James told him with a smile and strapped on his vintage aviation goggles to keep out the wind, as did the others. At the last possible moment, Hanford and Angelina rushed to the megalith stones and placed silver runic necklaces on them and the magical charge was amplified. A storm form and in the sky lightening flashed and thunder was heard; the sky was reacting to the megalith structures resonating below. Then suddenly a wave of energy surrounded the magi and their brooms as well as thestrals reacted and felt it was time to take off.

One by one, they went off at various speeds, assisted by the magical bridge that gave them an extra kick of accelerated speeds. To counter the wind resistance and uncomfortable ride, the magic of the runes also provided an extra layer of protective magic to ward against prying eyes above and below; surfing against the tide essentially. As time went by, Alastair was on his ship; a trireme he used across the door and on it was his crew of uruks and pirates who aided his excursions across the esoteric dimension's seas. He glanced above and can barely make out pinpoint figures speeding across the sky ahead of them and he smiled, "Looks like our friends in arms will make it to New York before we will," he commented and George his pirate first mate saw them as well.

"Ay, and we are more than prepared to rain hell upon the rogues when we arrive. But will LMM be up to the task for the first battle," he asked and Alastair grinned slightly, "I'm sure they can hold ground before we all arrive. Now let's proceed, an increase in wind is coming," he told George, who nodded and blew on his whistle.

"Hoist the sails men and Uruk! We got a gale coming," he ordered and the crew went about their duties to make time. Soon another pair of sails was set loose and their speed picked up as they sailed across the sea with their allies flying above and heading west.

THREE HOURS LATER

NEW YORK CITY, NY, USA

[Ellis Island, 11:30PM]

The magi arrive three hours later and once the magic accelerant subsided, it let off a rumble in sky like low thunder. They on their brooms and thestrals see the Manhattan skyline up ahead and see the Statue of Liberty silhouetted by the darkness. To them, it really did feel like a fresh slate to improve their fortunes in the case of the rogues. But also felt an opportunity where when arriving, it did feel uplifting; like they can make new lives esoterically anyway in the New World. But that sense of being in America for the first time was off set by the electricity in the air, the familiarity of tension where LMM no doubt was contending with the rogues at this very moment. Meanwhile, Wilfredo was heading for a different location entirely and his friends were surprised and a bit upset by his decision

~End music bit~

Flashback to earlier in the day

[Carnegie Hall, Midtown Manhattan, 10:12AM]

"No way you're going," Asuka told him, "And what of this apartment, why go at all," she pressed, clearly annoyed with his decision, "We need you out there!"

"She's right," Zane reminded his friend, "We'll be sitting ducks on our own if you're not there to back us up," he also pressed and Wilfredo groaned in his seat with his cello and his friends surrounding him in a half circle.

"I know! I know," he exclaimed and looked disappointed in himself, "But Vinnie came out of nowhere and he told me of his problem and…as much as you and I hated him Zane," he looked to his oldest friend, "I can't leave him with a doggy bag with flies after his ass," he gave his take on the situation.

His friends however didn't buy it. On one hand, they know Wilfredo is taking on something that should have no value in it besides good charity for a guy in need. On the other hand however, they fear he may overextend himself in this, but they can't make this decision for him. A bit of logic Gilberto said, "Well, what do you think you should do? We can't decide for you," and Wilfredo looked at his friend and responded.

"Well…if this will not cause us problems later tonight or in the week before we do have to turn in, then yes, I have to do this," Wilfredo worded it carefully and his friends looked at each other before turning their gaze upon him once again.

Then a cough was heard and it was Yasmin who came on the stage, "Everyone, I couldn't help but overhear and may I interject," she asked and the musicians looked at each other nervously and nodded and she turned her attention to Wilfredo and began to voice what she thinks he should do.

"I've known you and everyone here for years and have seen what you can do. My dad and mom would have probably told you to be careful. I'm saying the same thing, but also this," she stepped closer and places her hand on his shoulder, "If you gotta do something for yourself as well, do it. We'll manage and if you can send in back up somehow, go for it."

Wilfredo looked up at her and blinked in response, grateful she is giving him a green light. Which now propelled him to go forward with his decision…

[Upper East Side, 11:24PM]

Wilfredo looked up at the apartment building, with a bulky satchel hanging on his left shoulder. Memories started to come to him; of priests in their robes and sashes, a candlelit room, noises next door, blood, screaming, and a crucifix. He clutched his satchel and walked across the street when the light turned green. As opposed to holy men and women, he wore no robes; all he was doing was something out of altruistic sensibilities so he dressed casually; a black t-shirt, grey slim fit jeans with black shoes. He walked around the building and sees Vinnie standing under the fluorescent light over the service door, "So, it's all arranged?"

Wilfredo asked and Vinnie stood there with his arms crossed and nodded a yes. He was dressed in a three-piece suit, colored olive green but due to the warm evening, it was made of light material, "The priest will come shortly to bless the apartment once you send the dark entity back to the void," Vinnie explained and Wilfredo nodded.

"Let's do this," he said and the two young men walked inside and headed for the elevator. They pressed for the 10th floor and as the elevator went up Wilfredo uttered a phrase, "Nunc scio tenebris lux," which Vinnie overheard and whispered to him, "Now I know from darkness comes light," Wilfredo smiled and nodded slightly.

Once they reached their floor the doors opened and to their surprise, the emergency lights were on. The hallway glowed an eerie yellow orange and the temperature was low enough for them to see their own breaths; already a bad sign. Wilfredo looked down the hall and felt something tickling the back of his neck. Then he heard another ping of elevator doors heard down the hall and Vinnie turned his head to see a group of five 19 year olds coming down the hall, led by an attractive but serious looking young woman, "Who are you," Vinnie called out.

"Who are you," the young woman called out, "We're here for a personal matter. Who are you," she said and repeated her question, and as Vinnie and the girl were talking, Wilfredo drowned them out and only focused on the faint sounds of demonic speech down the hall. The whispered speech was both repugnant and attractive to him, urged him to come alone. But he steadied himself and cleared his throat to get Vinnie and the newcomers' attention, "Listen, stand guard here. Don't let anyone come out of the apartments or anyone to come here. I'm gonna take care of this," he looked to Vinnie more than to the others.

"All right. Good luck," Vinnie told him and Wilfredo gave a wary smile and began to walk down the hallway, ignoring the calls from the strangers behind him to stop. The closer he got to the apartment, the colder the air became, attempting to stall his advance and force him to turn back. Wilfredo blinked and the hallway disappeared and he appeared to be in a dark wilderness, snow gently falling around him.

Wilfredo was tempted to look around but focused on the door to his left side, down a few more steps. It looked surreal, to have the door seemingly standing in the middle of the wood. He walked down a few more steps and despite hearing a growl in the distance, he touched the doorknob and in the blink of an eye the woods and snow disappeared and he was back in the hallway.

The door before him was from a distant memory; flashes of a hallway decorated in Catholic imagery and the door had a cross on it. Now the cross was gone, painted over or the door was replaced, but he felt something reverberating inside. Wilfredo took out a skeleton key from his satchel and unlocked the door. Once he heard the click, he began to turn the knob. The door opened slightly and he felt the stench of sulfur, the cold intensified, as well as a sickeningly sweet scent of a woman's perfume. He steadied his heart and entered the apartment and closed the door behind him.

Once the door closed, inside was another surreal illusion to distract him or tempt him either way. He was standing on a grassy hill in a night setting now with he wind blowing. But also the smell of sulfur and smoke and in his vision he can see why, pillars of smoke and fires burning were all over the field. Bodies, carriages, leather, horses, all of it was burning before his eyes. The moon above was in a waxing gibbous stage, shining its light across the dark landscape. Ahead at the top of the hill was a man cloaked in shadow, wearing what appeared to be was Crusader armor, but was black in appearance with hints of green, and holding his helmet under his left arm looking around. His gaze caught Wilfredo's and then turned around to walk away.

Wilfredo closed his eyes and breathed in and out and slowly but surely, the smell of smoke and burning flesh faded away. After five breaths, he opened his eyes and finds himself in a sophisticatedly decorated apartment. The interior was unfamiliar to him, but he felt the layout was familiar. He sees a mahogany door to his left and examined it closely, and even when varnished over he can see detailed marks on it in Latin which he can faintly make it as, "Verbum dimissum custodiat arcamum…The lost word keeps the secret," he read quietly in its text and in English.

"At least one priest then knew what he was doing," a woman's voice was heard behind him. He didn't turn around or react, just acknowledged it, "Funny how religious clerics pass themselves off as men of the cloth and of the word, but they delude themselves so they hide from their damnation."

The woman in question was a beautifully voluptuous in appearance, with fair skin and jet-black hair, dressed in a gauze dress so her nude form was show through. However, the glint in her eye was unusual to be normal in low light from the drawn curtains. Wilfredo stood up straight again and turned around to face her, "Surprised to see me," she asked with a knowingly coy smile on her face.

"No," Wilfredo replied in a calm tone and he walked around her, keeping his distance, "I wonder though, why come back after so long," he asked as he sat down in a lotus position and taking out what seemed to be a very large book wrapped carefully in a yellow cloth.

The woman sauntered her way to where he was but stood above him as she watched his actions, "Simple, you were touched by me when I took your virginity, and slowly seduced by the very vice I introduced you to. But then, you left and made an honest man of yourself. I felt jilted as I should be," she explained, not minding Wilfredo preparing the necessary things to rid the apartment of the tainted darkness.

She continued on, "Look at yourself now. Barely escaped our clutches even as you were enjoying the throes of passion near the end and left…why," she finally asked but he remained silent as he then used a knife to cut the palm of his right hand and wiped his face with it while in his left hand holding a branch of yew and the big tome of a book opened to a particular page with a hematite as a paper weight.

The demonic woman looked at his preparations and attempted to smack him across the face to get him to lose focus as seeing words were not working. But then she felt a stinging sensation across her right hand, which was odd considering he did not anoint himself with any holy water or holy oil, only his own blood. Wilfredo felt the sensation of the slap, but did not react as he only looked up at her, "Why," he asked.

"Why what," the demonic woman pressed, sounding slightly put off, "Why did you target me when you knew the rules," he pressed as he then looked down at the tome, with text written in Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, and Portuguese; each line written in a different language of warding off demons, sealing portals, or summoning creatures from other planes of existence. She looked at him with curious eyes now, and sensed something around her.

She whispered out loud, "No…I will not be sent back by the likes of you. You are no holy man, not sanctioned by the church or temple, you doubt your faith and fearful of your own self. What makes you think you can successfully send me away when you are touched by the demon," she steadily rose her voice but Wilfredo was silent, even as the dark energies inside the apartment whirled around in a deadly dance.

Her demonic aura caused the apartment to shake, groan, growls heard in the deepest shadows threatening to tear Wilfredo apart. But his own darkness stabled the spot where he's sitting, silently reading the text in the four languages written. His eyes then rolled backward and a smile formed on his lips, teeth shown, primal ecstasy revealed. The voices of the demon and him resonated throughout the apartment and heard in the hallway as well.

The priest Vinnie called arrived on time and was chanting a Latin prayer to ward off the darkness to protect himself, Vinnie and those who arrived to investigate. The young adults also burned Palo Santo wood to ward off the excess energies around them. One of the four 19 year olds was Tiffany who came with her friends and then felt a thought come to her head from the doll in her big bag, 'That man who entered the apartment. He's the one from your dreams.'

Tiffany didn't believe it as then the floor rumbled around them. Inside the apartment, the demon and Wilfredo were locked in a battle as Wilfredo looked up at the eyes of the one he's trying to banish as he was almost unlocking something inside, almost there while the demon was trying to hold him back. The energies inside were the epitome of screaming in agony and ecstasy, both not wanting to stop but also not wanting to lose to the other. It was the aural version of sex between the two, instead of physical penetration, it was the two powers of different shades of darkness dancing, finding the medium between submission, dominance and acceptance of the other. Their eyes never lost contact of the other, black eyes met honey brown, both remembering their lost moments together shortly after leaving New York years ago for him before moving to Philadelphia. He remembered her as the possessed person when his powers awakened at age 10, as that girl who caught his interest in the Azores, the nights they would sneak out and have sex. The demon loved him in a way, but wanted him to die to join her in the end, but as with all things esoteric (magical, mystical, occultist, etc.), his life cannot be ended by the force of another.

With all of this in mind, he uttered another phrase for her to acknowledge she won't win this round, "Nemo pervenit qui no legitime certaverit (Only he who has fought according to the rules will prevail)," he uttered and then the energies inside the apartment surged in a huge spike of energy and the demon looked at him with a tinge of fear in her eyes. She tried to push his power back, but it came like a tidal wave of emotional depth she was taken aback.

She was pushed back from him and he then calmly stood up, with his hands to his sides clenched in fists and him muttering a incantation stronger than any exorcism rite by the pompous Church. A seal was formed under the demon written in Hebrew, the same as Wilfredo's own seal surrounding his aura protectively, "Our dance is at an end. Go back from whence you came, harm no one and hopefully you'll find peace. Goodbye."

And with that, a final burst of energy rocked the apartment, creating clutter and in effect rocked the apartment building as well. The demon was swallowed by a portal glowing violet and black, illuminating the apartment and she clawed on the carpeted floor to hang on. She looked on at Wilfredo who looked back with a stoic look and she uttered one phrase, "Well played, scorpion," and she then was swallowed by the portal and disappeared.

The apartment was then silent. The clutter remained on the floor and Wilfredo fell to his knees, feeling a cold sweat on him due to the exertion. He felt like he ran for miles and just got a reprieve to rest, thirsty and wanting to lie down. The door opened behind him and he felt arms under his to get him up on his feet. He felt a man walking past him in priest robes and started to bless the apartment. He saw Vinnie walking past as well to look for the necklace. He also saw a girl approaching Vinnie and told him where it was last. He looked behind him and sees a muscular teen guy holding him up as three more came in his view and talking among themselves about what happened and one of them with black hair, fair skin, a thin body with slight curves and a serious expression on her sharp featured face turned to face him, "Is it gone," she asked simply.

He nodded tiredly, "She's gone. Finally gone from our dance," he replied hoarsely. Vinnie returned and took out a water bottle and had him drink. The taste of water was delicious, his senses slowly coming back. After a few more minutes, Vinnie got him and all of the parties involved exited the apartment, took the elevator and were outside again. Immediately they hear sirens in the distance and Tiffany's group were curious, "What's going on," Roger asked as he looked left and right.

Alisson was the first to answer and in a dream like tone she responded, "Looks like police activity," and Roger looked at her in a dead pan expression, "No shit girl. But what is really going on," he pressed as he looked around again and Wilfredo responded tiredly, "My friends are trying to get the rogues out of the city…"

He tried to stand up but he nearly fell and Vinnie caught him, "Shit dude! You can barely stand! No way you're heading into the fire now," he exclaimed, concerned for Wilfredo at the moment. Wilfredo looked at him knowingly and he looked up at the priest in question, "Father Carmine is it," he vaguely remembered Vinnie calling the priest by that name upstairs.

Father Carmine nodded. He looked like the standard priest, but less so without the white collar and obvious signs he was sanctioned by the Catholic Church. No, he had robes on, and with further inspection, bore the marking of an agency he's only heard about, The Union. The Union is an organization akin to law enforcement, but also does trade and off the books investigations into illegal smuggling of cursed objects, hallucinogens, as well as exorcisms if needed. The priest had greying hair, rugged facial features, grey blue eyes, stood up at 6'2", and had a broad shouldered build, "What is your prognosis for tonight's events? I'm sure The Union has a stake in this."

Father Carmine nodded again, "We do. If you and your allies fall this week, and that's a big if," he spoke in a New Jersey accent, "Then we come in and burn those motherfuckers out of here. But no way you're going in your condition. You used a lot of your energy reserves as you used your tome and opened a new reserve as well can make you feel like the flu came on. If you have someone in the wings to take your place, call them now."

Wilfredo nodded and took out his phone and made the call, "Danny it's me…my friends are probably in trouble in Chinatown right now. Can you get to them?"…"Yeah I'm on my way" and with that Wilfredo hung up, "Done, now I gotta go home," he said tiredly.

Vinnie whistled and at that moment a horse drawn carriage appeared, "Where to," the driver asked, "Take the kid back to his home in Canarsie," Father Carmine spoke and the carriage driver nodded as he took a glance at Wilfredo's tired form. Once Vinnie loaded Wilfredo into the carriage, the carriage driver then ushered his horse to gallop and off they went into the streets.

Tiffany's group was curious about this, seeing those things only in Central Park. As they saw the carriage turn right, Roger wanted to find out himself if it was for real. He sprinted towards the end of the block and to his surprise; the carriage was nowhere to be found. He was dumbfounded. Alisson and Ronald felt the same way, but Tiffany knew better, 'Such it is in the ways of the esoterics, misdirection.'

Then they police sirens were renewed in the distance, "Things are really going down," Roger muttered, having no idea on how much he is correct for LMM.

Flashback to the morning hours

[Flushing, Queens, 7:23AM]

Zane was lighting incense in front of the family altar and bowed three times while holding the incense sticks and placed them in the holder for them. Once done he looked up at the jian straight sword above him, with its black leather grip on the hilt in good condition, the scabbard designed with a tiger prowling in a pine forest with the background in a red finish. He stood up and took it from the mantle and unsheathed the blade for a bit, seeing the faint patterns on the blade, proving its durability and readiness for combat and its keen edge unsullied by time. It was also blessed in a Taoist Temple in the neighborhood and in being blessed, perhaps to ward off malicious energies, maybe even magic. He blade had Chinese lettering on it, a blessing that stated '為了刺破無知的黑暗，找到一點光明。(To pierce the darkness of ignorance, find one point of light'). He stood motionless for a moment, admiring and respecting the two handed blade before him, then sheathing it again and getting ready for the day and night.

Elsewhere in Flushing, Gilberto was putting two Eskrima style knives into his large backpack used for overseas normally; a pair of barong short knives and a kampilan fork-tipped sword; all of them blessed by a priest and in doing so, blessed to ward off dark energies, maybe even magic. With them sheathed and the backpack large enough for them, no one would know while he's carrying his violin case for rehearsal. He breathed in and headed out of the home. He looked around and headed for the bus stop to take him to the subway station to get to Midtown.

A few streets away, Alberto made sure he had everything; his theorbo, lute, music scores, as well as a pair of brass knuckles with crosses on them, made of brass from melted crucifixes and with Latin prayer along its side. He believed and knew that this can work in cracking magical shields from dark wizards and mystics, he hoped anyway based on the possible ways to defend and attack from Wilfredo. He had to keep in mind that his friend will not steer him wrong.

Meanwhile, Jang was in his apartment overlooking Long Island City and he put on his gi in front of the mirror to check himself out. He breathed in and out and then took it off. He dressed back into his jeans, white shirt and sneakers and combed his hair to his right side. He grabbed a crucifix blessed by his pastor and grabbed his bassoon case. He left his room and walked past the Confucius altar and headed out of the apartment. Once in the lobby he used his phone to call in Lyft to take him to Carnegie Hall quickly. He was more focused on him volunteering with the others to lead the rogues out of Manhattan, 'No pressure,' he thought.

[Chinatown, Lower Manhattan, 11:32PM]

The four boys were hunkered down in an empty apartment and said silent prayers amongst themselves. Zane received a text a while ago from Wilfredo saying Danny is coming to aid them, "Okay," he whispered and their prayers stopped.

Alberto and Gilberto sensed it as well, a cold wafting around and then Danny appeared from the ceiling and knelt in front of them, eye level, "Looks like you're in a tough spot," he pointed out and Gilberto replied, "No shit. They chased us from the Met Life Building to here, our car is totaled, and here we are, them outside and inside armed. Our seal on the door won't hold back their spells, curses, hexes, mystical rage fire or their bullets for long."

Danny looked at the door and acknowledged it, "Okay, get up and get behind me. I'm gonna get us out of here," he told them and they got up, weapons in hand and lined up against the wall next to the door. With Danny in front, they got ready to bolt for outside. Zane was texting, to whom, they didn't know, probably to the others. Then they waited.

Then the door busted open, in the second before they saw the seal they carved onto the door burst into flames. Danny reacted in quick succession of putting up a ectoplasmic transparent shield to block their mystical blasts and curses. Then he let out his signature ghost wail, but over the years he perfected the technique to lower or raise its power to knock them out for a few minutes or for a few hours. He opted for the former in order to have his friends come with him down the stairs. He flew down the stairs while taking out the rogues support; Danny two, Zane one, Alberto one, Jang one, and Gilberto one. The five hurried downstairs and now at the main entrance they stopped and waited for a moment to see the coast was clear. Once it was, they made a run for it.

The two main rogues came out of the shadows and shot esoterically charged bullet like projectiles to the five in question that brought them down, disabling Danny's powers returning to normal, and numbing the three LMM's members where they all fell down paralyzed. The two rogues walked to them prepared to kill them, but then the cavalry arrived. A NYPD detective issued cop car arrived and a Chinese American woman in her early forties came out and fired several shots with her 9mm Beretta and the rogues put up shields. Then a Mercedes Benz SL 500 came and another round of shots were fired, their shields were up and the two rogues Apparated away. The five guys slowly got up as the paralyzing effects of the shots wore off.

"Zane are you okay," the Chinese American woman approached him and clasped his shoulders and noticed his jian sword. He nodded to reassure her, but noticed her in normal street wear, "Are you off duty," he asked.

She nodded, "I was with friends on a night out and got here as soon as I can," she replied and then noticed another coming, this time a Chinese American man coming, with a black shirt on with the top buttons undone, black trousers and shiny black shoes, "You all right bud?"

Zane nodded, "You got a night out as well," he asked the man nodded, "About to score but then you said you were in a bind and….Sis," he acknowledge the woman in question, "Brother," she replied back and Zane sighed, hoping they would help and not kill each other right here and now.

The others came to them, "Your aunt and uncle," Jang asked and Zane nodded, "Auntie here is with the NYPD, detective for the Special Investigations Unit. Uncle here is um, part of the Triad," he revealed and the guys looked at the two adults in question, "My name is Sandra Lai Zhu," the woman introduced herself while the man nodded, "Joe Zhu, sup."

The guys nodded and shook their hands, "Listen, we'll get you where you need to go," Joe stated, "Where and how," he pressed and Zane responded, "Staten Island, we got something the bastards have," he stressed and the adults nodded and looked at each other, silently acknowledging the present situation.

"Three of you in Joe's car," Sandra pointed to Gilberto, Jang, and Alberto to go to the Mercedes, "You and you," she looked at her nephew and Danny, "You're with me," she ushered them to get into her car. Once all were in the cars, the engines revved up and headed west to the ports.

The drive from Chinatown was hectic with Joe's car in the rear while Sandra's was in the front, hauling ass away from rogues who were coming in from above. Since Wilfredo was out, Danny's shields were the only things to prevent most magical and mystical attacks from above, their rear and to the sides of the cars. But this was all he can do with his powers still subdued from the earlier attack.

After a few minutes, they arrived southwest from Chinatown and at the docks. They see the ferry inside and Sandra and Joe hurriedly paid for entry. As they rushed in and drove their cars onto the boat, they see rogues coming in and in the rearview mirrors, see the scared security guards running from the rogues. At that moment, the boat blew its horn to signal the time to disembark and heading for Staten Island.

MEANWHILE…

Eda and Kevin were driving out of Manhattan and into Brooklyn via the George Washington Bridge at high speed and swerving left and right to avoid the blasts and bullets. The cars around them honked or were caught in the crossfire, "Kevin! The rogues will know we don't actually have the damned box! We gotta dump it and then your girlfriend strikes them out of the sky," Eda radioed Kevin as she shifted gear and now driving beside him to his right, "Roger! Once we exit the bridge make a hard right and then we break hard as well," he told her and she responded, "Copy!"

As they sped on the bridge and see the two rogues on brooms zooming after them, not caring if the cars were near what they can do on the crowded streets. They kept firing at the cars, aiming to overwhelm the runes pained on the cars and penetrate Gwen's mana shields. A few seconds later one spell shattered her shields, but the runes took over but only just. Then the end of the bridge came in sight, "Hard right now!"

Kevin exclaimed over the radio and the expert drives did just that and headed right into incoming traffic with cars driving toward them. Then Christine chimed in from their based in the hotel, "Police coming in hard and fast! You guys have 20 seconds to figure out how to shake them and the rogues!"

Eda cursed under her breath and then she looked to her left to Kevin and Gwen, as the two did back to her. An idea formed in silence and in unison drove in the middle, forking the incoming traffic. The rogues aimed their wands to fire and at a coming junction, Kevin pulled to the left and Eda to the right, forcing the rogues to separate to follow both drivers. Eda and Kevin were driving fast and swerving left and right to avoid the spells and Gwen looked at the mirror and it shattered by a hex, "Kev! The runes are running low on energy! Damn magic! My mana is incompatible with this mana signature," she cursed as Kevin then made a hard right, at the same time where Eda made a hard left.

"Don't worry, they're not gonna get us and with these bastards out of Manhattan," he made a hard right once more as Eda did a hard left again, "We can really play chicken!"

Ahead of him he sees Eda's car coming at high speed and Gwen noticed this, "Kevin, you're not serious," she asked and he just had the look of someone having a good time while Eda was hyper focused on this stunt, "Come on…come on and light my fire," she muttered and a wild grin formed on her face.

Kevin shift gears as did Eda and as they headed into each other, time seemed to slow down as the reactions of the mages slowly to aim their wands at the drivers to attack and then…Kevin and Eda gripped their steering wheels and Kevin took right, Eda left and at the last possible millisecond, they managed to cause the mage rogues to strike each other and both crashed to the parked cars below. Kevin stopped and was unscathed, but Eda crashed her car to a lamppost hard. Her head hit against the activated airbag and she was stunned. Unlike London where Alastair caused her breaks to fail, this was all her doing and just was on autopilot; get out of the car and to safety. She opened the door and stumbled out, in a daze after impacting her car.

Kevin's car pulled up to her and he yelled to get in. She did in a flash and he rode off. The to rogues slowly got around and looked around, stuck in Brooklyn and knew this was all a ruse. Silently they acknowledged the plan was indeed a success on part for the rogues. But they slowly got to their brooms and flew off for Manhattan to tell their superiors that their targeted group didn't have the last clue in question.

MEANWHILE

[Long Island City, Queens, 11:45PM]

Atop the Silvercup Building, the former EVA pilots were running along the rooftop while they carried their sniper rifles (thanks to Kevin's connections for this battle) and once they found good spots behind the studio's sign, they loaded another magazine and waited for the rogues to come. Minutes felt like hours passing as they waited for their enemy to come; they already killed four and waited for the three to come. This to them felt like a drawn out stand off but more covert and now with new muscle to hand sneak attacks to their rear if the three targets called in reinforcements. Haruki, Koji, Emiko and they called in Bernhard as well to deliver swift but brutal takedowns with his wrestling. All four were at strategic points while the three pilots lined up their shots at possible areas the rogues might spring up.

Then Emiko spotted a shadow from the roof access door. She hissed to Haruki and Bernhard and moved her head to get their attention to the door. The guys nodded and slowly walked in the shadow of the sign and lack of light in their positions. They took off their shoes to make less noise so now they walked silently. They saw four rogue supporters with no wands at the ready, but still cautious if these were mystics ready to kill them or armed with guns. Bernhard fingered an amulet around his neck, as did Haruki, both given by Emiko to protect them from mystical attacks. The two young men looked at each other and nodded and silently made their way behind the four rogue supporters. Bernhard got one in an arm lock and with his training in wrestling and did a suplex to subdue the first one and once on the ground, he got up a bit to deliver an elbow blow to the man right in the throat. The rogue supporter chocked and he delivered a kick to the head that knocked him unconscious. Then he found himself in a headlock and struggling to get free while Haruki held off two with his skills in jiu jitsu and karate, grappling, dancing around his opponents, delivering punches, kicks, and targeting pressure points to weaken their balance, and delivering a good blow to knock them out. But then in a split second, both Haruki and Bernhard were knocked out by a blow to their backs and were down for the count, groaning in pain.

Emiko saw this as she fought one rogue supporter and with the grace, skill, technique and power she can deliver, once she saw her comrades down, she doubled down. She targeted a pressure point in her opponent's neck, knocked him out and rushed to the fallen and then faced down two rogue supporters. She dodged kicks and attempted hits and she rolled along the ground picked up a metal rod, fending off the two and delivering strikes to their legs, torsos and arms in quick succession. She knelt down and used the rod to swipe at their legs and finally getting them on the rooftop. She walked over to them and delivering two blows each to hurt their aura, keep them down for the rest of the night. And then she rushed to Bernhard and Haruki and releasing them from a mystical attack to deliver pain all over and once she put her hands on them, the pain subsided and the two slowly got up.

What got their attention finally were three sniper rounds firing from the former EVA pilots aiming in the distance. The pilots meanwhile were concentrating on getting their shots and waited patiently for the rogues' shields to drop when they fired their curses at them from long distance. Their shots hit the shields though and the two in question landed on the rooftops of buildings across the street. The three expelled their shells, cocked their rifles, and waited again to try again. Emiko noticed this as she helped Haruki and Bernhard back on their feet and she hunkered down low so she now was lying down on her belly like Shinji was with his sniper rifle, "幾つ？ (How many?)," she asked in hushed tones.

Shinji was focused on the scope where he fired and suspecting where the rogues were, "2つだけ。彼らの盾は私たちのショットを逸らした。(Two only. Their shields deflected our shots.)," he told her and she thought it over for a moment as she also saw the frustrated expression on Asuka and Dante's faces.

Then an idea came from Koji, "さて、次のショットを準備してください。 (Okay…ready your next shot.)," he simply stated to him and hid himself among the steel frame of the company's sign and looked down at the rogues, sensing their auras and steadied his heart and breath for what's to come.

He then struck, he took out a hidden blade from his robes and readied his aura on it, "あなたのショットを並べます。 (Line up your shots.)," he called out and the three former pilots readied their line of sights, Koji saw the two rogues' auras activated their shields, he vertically struck through the air with his knife and his charged energy made contact and disintegrated the aura shields, "今すぐ！(Now!)"

The three fired their sniper rounds and both rogues fell down dead on the rooftops where they stood. This prompted the pilots to disassemble their sniper rifles, put them back in their douffle bags, and headed for the roof access door, walking around the fallen rogue supporters still unconscious, "行こう！(Let's go!)," Asuka called out with urgency and then followed Haruki, Bernhard, Koji, and Emiko to first head downstairs, followed by the pilots and she shut the door.

MEANWHILE IN THE BRONX

Sam, Tucker, and Valerie were fleeing away from Manhattan via the Fenton Cruiser and now landed by a turnpike that led into the island. They killed the engine and positioned themselves behind the pillars of the 95 freeway just 200 years from the Harlem River. They see now six rogue supporters flying fast towards them and landing 100 yards away from their location. Tucker was hurrying to look at various networks to try and find local law enforcement to call in for backup, but he knew that perhaps some are chasing down the others across the city, but with him carrying the box containing what the rogues want, he was praying for a miracle.

He then felt a hand covering his mouth, "Don't make a sound," a feminine voice with a British/Indian accent sounded and out of the shadows emerged Anan with now a dark blue sari over some jeans and a simple t-shirt.

He looked to his right and saw the others also realizing the mystic allies LMM told them about arrived, Prince Mahbeeb was there with his guardian uncle, both in civilian clothing to blend in, and priest Hakeem but he wore his purple robes to show his position in his faith and patterns to show where he hailed from.

Sam and Valerie still had their fingers on the triggers to fire bolts, but steadied their hearts, "Okay so what's the plan," the prince asked as he held his hand on his scimitar, and Tucker responded, "Decoys around town as you know already and I have the genuine article. I have no idea where to hide the damn chest," he whispered to them.

Anan looked at the chest in his hands, "I got an idea. Give it to me," she said and he handed it to her and she puts it in her sari and in an instant, it was not noticeable at all, as if absorbed by the sari itself, "How…stupid question I know."

She smiled and then a curse flew by them, "Come out! The sooner you do, the sooner we can go about our business," one spoke in an Irish accent. Silence was only heard and he motioned the other five rogue supporters slowly approaching the pillars of concrete where the other six were hiding.

Prince Mahbeeb closed his eyes and then opened them. He looked up at his uncle who nodded and he knelt down, he was about to go to work. He gripped his scimitar and leapt into the fray…he picked up speed and moved as fast as the wind. But now came across someone who moved as fast as him as his sword made contact with a shield and then blade met blade; scimitar versus broadsword. His uncle saw this and jumped in and went head to head with another, also with his scimitar against a broadsword.

Anan saw this and then a rogue coming to her and the Philadelphia crew. She grabbed Tucker and went into the shadows of the pillars. Sam and Valerie were fired upon with hexes and curses, but they dodged in time and fired their weapons at the rogue supporters. Wherever Anan and Tucker went, it was to find a new hiding place for the chest he possesses. In the meantime after having their weapons disarmed by the spells, Sam and Valerie got in close and made short work of the rogue supporters with quick and efficient close quarters combat with grappling, punches, takedowns and kicks. All of it quick, no haste, to put it bluntly, down and dirty with added eye gouging and strikes to the throats.

Priest Hakeem left the safety of the pillars and held a heavy looking staff made of dense wood and iron. His heavy steps were felt in the aura field and the rogues stopped fighting Prince Mahbeeb and his uncle bodyguard. The rogues stepped back but then the priest held up his staff and swiftly struck the ground with its pointed end. The ground shook and the rogues were knocked off balance while the others struggled to maintain their balance. He went forward and for each of the remaining rogues, he slapped them across the face but this was enough to knock them out cold.

With things calmed down now, the two Arabs sheathed their swords and Sam and Valerie went back to their Fenton Cruiser, "There is nothing more we can do here," Valerie called out to their new mystic allies as Sam got inside to start up the engines, "We're heading back to Brooklyn! You three head back to your safe house!"

The prince's uncle called out, "Understood! Come, let's go," he motioned his nephew to come and the two used their speed of the wind to rush south back to Manhattan while the priest looked on at the Arabs running south, the Fenton Cruiser levitating and flying upward. He looked around and then jumped upward onto one of the buildings. A seal of esoteric power with a language on it in Ethiopian (a product of his travels from his younger years) and then flew south as well, catching up with the Arab duo.

ON ROUTE TO STATEN ISLAND

With everything going according to plan, even as things are falling apart at the seams in LMM's effectiveness in a skirmish, the boys on the ferry were having their own version of a horror film. Since leaving the docks of the Lower East Side, the boys were hiding around the ship and defending themselves with what they have and what they can find. Zane on the promenade was bloodied from his forehead, his left arm and right leg, Gilberto in the cargo hold had a gash along his right arm and left pectoral, Alberto was lucky being only bruised up but unfortunately with an injured knee walking with a limp, Danny was invisible but also hurt with a bullet graze on his upper left arm and a burn from a hex on his right pectoral, Jang was in hiding after nearly getting burned and was in storage wrapping material around his arms and legs to further prepare for combat, and finally Zane's uncle and aunt were at the ready with guns and their bladed weapons sheathed just in case, scoping and slowly walking down a corridor.

The rogues by comparison were scattered around the ship as well, also sporting wounds of their own from their confrontations with the boys and the detective as well as the Triad member. For the past 15 minutes, the fight on board for everyone felt like an eternity was passing and it didn't help that aside from the captain, they were some of the lone passengers on the ferry and with ten minutes left before docking, both sides needed to make every moment count. Everyone was in position; ready to strike and either will live or die in the next few moments…

Jang hid behind the door and opened it slightly to see what or who was outside in the hallway. He calmed his breath so he may hear the footsteps of anyone coming. Then he heard something and just knelt down, staying absolutely still and controlled his breathing as best he can. His shoes were off so no one can hear him running or walking as he did earlier. Then the footsteps stopped as he saw a shadow on the floor and then a hex fired through the door, showering him with wood chips and shrapnel. But he opened it abruptly and it stunned the mage on the other side of it. Jang then disarmed the wand from the rogue's hand and delivered some punches and devastating kicks to the chest. The rogue supporter grabbed a rod and attempted to strike him, but to no avail. Jang dodged each blow and then leapt into the air and delivered a heel kick to the head and knocked the man out. He landed as the enemy landed on the hard floor out cold. Jang then ran down the hall.

As he ran quickly but stayed low to avoid being spotted, leaving his shoes behind he saw two heavy metal doors blowing outward and he put up his arms to shield from the debris. As the dust cleared he saw Danny coming out of the smoke levitating above the floor, "You all right," he asked Jang who appeared surprised.

Jang nodded yes and then Danny ushered him to follow down the hall. He flew forward while Jang kept up by running. The lights dimmed as power was out in certain parts of the ferry. Jang stopped and Danny formed a ball of ectoplasmic energy and had it levitate in the air, glowing an eerie green, "Shall we," Danny smiled and Jang nodded, also grinning.

"Let's kick some ass," Jang said with determination and he and Danny headed down the hall, with the ectoplasmic light guiding their way.

They then come back to the area were the cars were after following a flight of stairs. From here they can now smell the sea air and Jang looked out, "Staten Island is in sight. We gotta end this right now," Jang whispered to Danny as both stood next to each other.

Danny nodded as he looked around as he tried to find the rest of their group. The gunshots were heard, "Get down," Danny grabbed Jang and brought him low to the floor and Danny fazed himself and Jang to become invisible, "Who's firing," Jang asked out loud.

Danny looked up, hoping it wasn't the rogue firing bolts to hurt even for ghost entities that turn invisible. They were, but also Sandra, Zane's aunt firing her rounds from her handgun at rogues, and then he saw her sword and cut down the rogues in close range and blood spewed forth from their wounds and one of the dead fell over the railing and landed on top of a car. Then a door burst apart with an explosion caused by Zane's uncle Joe who brushed his hands of dust of setting off a grenade and threw it at two rogue supporters; both knocked out and barely surviving the point blank blast.

Joe ducked behind a pine table that stood twenty feet away from the blast. He was dazed, but he's been through much worse and behind him were Alberto and Gilberto who were bloodied up and collected by Joe in the past few minutes in a hurry, also dazed by the explosion. While Sandra held a one handed jian sword, Joe held two Dao sword blades that connect when he sheathes them in their scabbard. Zane was nowhere to be seen. Behind a lone closed door, Zane was fighting with a rogue supporter with only his two-handed jian sword, against a rogue who had his staff and sword. Both are bruised, cut, and panting. Zane's sword was handling the curses while the rogue was frustrated by not being able to cut down a simple Muggle.

"Die," the rogue supporter shouted and launched a curse that Zane ducked from but blasted the door behind him and then as Zane got up, he got a kick in the chest and fell to the floor and raised his enough to deter further attack. The rogue stepped back and Zane slowly got up and the two exchanged blows from their steel weapons and Zane ducking from the wooden staff swipes.

The rogue supporter was sweating and frustrated; not being able to land a successful flow to knock out or kill this Muggle was embarrassing and anger inducing. Zane in blind luck got the staff, used his sword to cut it in two, dodged the rogue supporter's blade and attempted at a belly slash. As the rogue supporter raised his blade and struck, Zane blocked it and then now with more room, can now do a deadly dance. With his skills in tai chi chuan and some kung fu, he was able to push back the rogue supporter. The rogue did his sword dance of the European style, more direct with hacking and piercing blows. The blows now were hard and fast of differing styles and Zane locked his sword with his opponent's. Zane punched his opponent square in the face, blocked his opponent's blow, they then clashed blades, docked once more and Zane's blade was strong enough to crack his opponent's blade.

The rogue supporter looked at him with a surprised but furious expression as the two gripped their swords and readied for one more dance of swords. But to their shock, Zane's opponent was shot in the chest in the center of mass. Then once more, Zane turned around and it was his aunt, Sandra, holding her Beretta tightly. Zane's opponent fell to the floor and Zane sheathed his sword.

"What are we going to do about the crew who will see the bodies when we dock," Gilberto asked as he had his hands on his hips where his sheathed knives were, "Leave that to me. I learned a thing or two since you guys were in Philly," Danny assured him and the rest of the crew.

He turned invisible and spoke as he levitated, "Give me a few minutes and the crew won't see what's in front of them," he flew off to then make sure the crew will not be the wiser. Meanwhile, Zane breathed in and looked at Joe, "Uncle, we dock in a few minutes. Can you arrange something to come in that short of time," he asked.

Joe looked at his sister Sandra who reluctantly nodded and he smiled, "Give me a minute," he took out his phone and speed-dialed a number. Then he spoke, "Hi…Yeah it's me. I got something to take care of and we'll be docking near St. George. Can you come in a few minutes," he asked.

"Right…okay, see ya," he hung up and he smiled, "Now we wait a few minutes to dock. Then we head home afterwards," he told his nephew, who appeared relieved but also a bit at unease.

Within a few minutes they docked and the boys got in the cars belonged to Sandra and Joe. The cars got some dents, scratches and burns from the fighting and the boys readied to leave the ship and as the massive metal door opened downward to allow the cars to disembark and as the drivers headed out to show their tickets to leave, a truck was heading for the ship. At a red light, the boys looked back to see the truck's driver paying the guards a singular silver coin. He and a crew of five headed inside to take care of the dead bodies; while Zane can faintly see the outline of Danny fast approaching the car he was in.

Danny fazed through the roof and landed between Zane and Alberto, "Okay it's done. By morning they won't remember a thing," he said and Joe looked at him via the rearview mirror, "Not bad kid," he commented.

The two cars are then on they're way west for the 440, a brief journey north into Jersey City via the 78 and head back into the city via the Holland Tunnel. A ring around the city they know, but necessary to avoid anyone who would spot them. Once after some time they see the Manhattan skyline, they see something coming in the darkness of the harbor they see a ship unlike the rest docked along or traveling around on night shifts, "What the hell is that," Jang asked out loud as Gilberto next to him also saw it, "The fuck!"

Sandra who was their driver looked to her left and her eyes widened, then used her Bluetooth to call her brother, "Hey…look to your left. Do you see what I'm seeing," and his voice rang out in her car, "Oh yeah, looks like the Greeks are coming," he said and she knew whatever is coming is going to be one for the books for the NYPD.

Their cars sped along the freeway as the mystery ship was arriving and on deck, Alastair was there with his crew and shipmates, "Now…let's prepare for a proper battle," he said and George alongside him then whistled everyone to get a good night's sleep, for tomorrow, they will scout the city along the waterline and prepare to face the WWAEI.

Meanwhile atop the old immigration building on Ellis Island, the American fixer who helped the WWAEI to start the battle here was smoking his Nicaraguan cigar with a green polo shirt on and dark blue jeans and brown boat sneakers. Using his talent in foretelling the events with his third eye smiled to himself as he puffed and puffed on his cigar, "First battle done and these kids," he chuckled.

He then held his cigar and let the smoke waft about a bit as he also held his cowboy hat, "They're really are something. Got balls of steel on them that's for sure," he then puts it on and Apparated away with a cracking sound and disappeared.

MEANWHILE

[Gramercy Park, Midtown, 11:59PM]

Tucker was quiet in his step as Anan was waiting in the doorway standing guard. He felt off, as this was a very risky place to hide the chest. The hiding place was in a vacant office space in a mixed-use building overlooking the park on E 20th St. Tucker sees a chest and he motioned Anan to come in and she did, "We got a safe. Would this work," he asked and she looked at it, "Well, no keyboard or voice activation."

"This sucks," Tucker was clearly upset but Anan smiled, "Oh technophile, watch and learn," she told him and gently puts her index finger on the metallic dial and it slowly turned in combination and in a second it opened, "Now, let's get this done and immediately leave," she instructed.

He looked at her and nodded in agreement. He puts the chest inside and Anan then did one last touch; she placed her finger on the chest again and uttered an incantation in Hindi and it turns invisible. She nodded to Tucker to then close it and spin the safe dial. She ushered Tucker to follow quietly and closed the door. Once in the hallway she explains what she did, "Muggles will not see or sense the chest is there. But familiars will no doubt notice it and if according to plan, would only grant us 24 hours to put our second phase into action. Let the rogues find it and we all box them in. Trap them in Manhattan," she told him.

Tucker nodded in agreement as they then headed for the elevator. Within moments they were heading down for the lobby and once there they headed outside through the back for the service entrance. Tucker checked his phone, "12:04 am. Wow, talk about a quick skirmish. I remember all-nighters back in Philly with my friends," he remembered wistfully.

Anan grinned a bit at him and checked her watch, "Time for me to head back. I'll hail you a cab," she whistled and a black carriage appeared as if out of a fog, "Where to ma'am," the driver asked in an old timey accent as did the driver who took Wilfredo back to Brooklyn a while ago.

"Take Mr. Foley here to Dumbo neighborhood in Brooklyn please," she requested and the carriage driver nodded as Anan ushered Tucker in, then she paid the driver to take him back to his base of command.

He waved a goodnight to her and she to him in return. She looked around to see if she or Tucker were spotted by any more of those rogue supporters hiding in the shadows. Once she confirmed the coast was clear, she melted into the shadows around her and was on her way back to the hotel. This was a rough night for LMM, a first skirmish with a seeming victory. However, only five now know that allies are indeed in the city now from across the sea.

To be continued

This ends part one and in honesty, I didn't want to do a two-part chapter after the excess amount of it for Arc II for narrative. But here, I finally figured out that I shouldn't shy away from that if the chapter calls for it and I feel the first few chapters of this arc suffered somewhat in quality because of it. So from now on, I will be more relaxed about it.

The Rachmaninov piece I would recommend the rendition performed by Anna Ferdorova (brilliant pianist she is) with the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie with conductor Martin Panteleev. The Vivaldi aria, look to the rendition done by Il Giardino Armonico with mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli and conductor Giovanni Antonioni. The Spanish piece by an anonymous composer, well, look to Jordi Savall and his group Hesperion XXI.