When Joseph and Cassandra made their way back to the others and announced their engagement, everyone was over the moon for the couple. Mandy somehow threw herself out of her wheelchair to give her brother a crushingly tight hug, while Daniela did the same with Cassandra.
"Oh my god! I'm so happy for you two!" Mandy screamed with joy.
"Mandy…can't…breathe." Joseph gasped.
His sister loosened her grip, but didn't let go. In fact, Miranda had to basically pry her off so she could hug Joseph as well. Mandy took this time to follow suit and pry Daniela off of Cassandra so she could hug the brunette.
"This is the most wonderful news I've heard in a long time." Miranda choked. "I can't believe it. My Godson is getting married!"
Joseph couldn't help but chuckle.
"I honestly can't believe it either. It feels like a dream, but it's real, and I feel like the luckiest guy in the world."
The Priestess couldn't help but nod in agreement. When she let go, Chris walked over and shook Joseph's hand with a big smile on his face.
"Congratulations, Joseph. I'm very happy for you and Cassandra. I truly am. I guess we got some more planning to do huh?"
Cassandra then turned to the BSAA General.
"Definitely, but we should probably let my mother handle that. She would flip the castle upside down if she wasn't in charge of the preparations."
Daniela giggled.
"Oh my god, could you imagine?" Oh! We should call mother and tell her the good news! Chris, do you have that Facetime thing on your phone?"
Chris smiled and nodded.
"You read my mind."
He took his phone out, but as he was about to Facetime The Countess, he heard a call on his ear piece from one of his squadmates. The BSAA General's smile faded immediately as he answered it.
"Lobo, what's going on?" He asked.
"Sir, several cars just entered the parking lot, and they're all around your vehicle, which is far from the entrance. That doesn't make sense. There's plenty of space by the beach's entrance, so why wouldn't they park there?"
Chris' face quickly took on a look of concern.
"Can you see anyone inside the vehicles?"
"Negative. The windows are darkened. Something is definitely going on here."
The BSAA General cursed to himself.
"Call Jill and tell her the situation. We're definitely going to need backup."
"Copy that."
As Chris hung up, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see Joseph with a look as equally concerned as his.
"It's them, isn't it?" He asked.
Chris was about to answer when he saw that five of the people who were on the beach behind Joseph were reaching into their shirt pockets. The BSAA General's heart dropped in realization of the situation.
They were being followed and spied on the whole time, and nobody had a clue.
"GET DOWN!" Chris yelled, and everyone obeyed without question. With almost inhuman speed, The BSAA General drew his sidearm and fired off three shots, all of which hitting home and striking down two of the spies. The rest immediately went prone and returned fire, but Chris himself had already thrown himself down as well, so the shots missed.
At that moment, several more shots rang out from the direction of the parking lot, along with Lobo calling Chris again.
"Sir, they've opened fire! There's at least two dozen hostels! Most are with us, but some have broken off from the group and are heading to you! We're too pinned down to stop them!"
Chris' heart began to race. These people had clearly planned this, and he only had a few moments before he and the others were surrounded. Luckily, there was a small wooded area next to the beach that would be good cover for them. Thinking quickly while staying low, he pulled out a smoke grenade that was hidden on his belt and threw it in the direction of the spies. Within seconds, a huge plume of smoke appeared and blocked the spies' view of them.
"Head for the trees to our right! We'll have more cover there!" Chris yelled while he picked up the weapons bag.
Everyone got up and sprinted to the treeline as fast as possible. Daniela didn't bother pushing Mandy and instead ran with her in her arms the whole way. Luckily, they were able to make it in before the other hostels showed up, but they didn't stop running. They ran for another minute before Chris signaled everyone to stop.
"We can't leave this wooded area. We'll be sitting ducks if we do. So grab your weapons and get ready." He said
Nobody needed to be told that twice. Within seconds, everybody had a pistol in hand, and Joseph and Cassandra had their katanas strapped to their waists. With everyone ready, Chris started giving instructions.
"Alright listen up. We know these guys are after Mandy, so me and Miranda will find a spot to hide and guard her. Joseph, Cassandra, and Daniela, you guys have that ninja training so stay in the shadows and try to take any hostels silently. If shots are fired, there's a high risk one of us will get caught in the crossfire. So we need to avoid that as much as we can."
"What?! No! I won't leave Mandy!" Daniela shouted in protest.
The raven haired reached up and kissed her.
"Dani, this is part of the reason we've been training, remember? I'll be okay. You just worry about kicking their asses."
The redhead gave a soft smile and reluctantly handed her girlfriend over to Miranda, who immediately took off with Chris to find a hiding spot. She, Joseph and Cassandra quickly followed suit and climbed up some of the surrounding trees for cover. One thing that their ninjutsu training taught them was that nobody expects an attack from above.
They did it with little time to spare as about twenty seconds later, they heard footsteps coming in their direction. And before long, the source of the noises stepped into view.
There were ten people in total. Three were the spies from the beach, and seven were dressed in combat attire, but it was clear they were mercenaries and not soldiers. Joseph wasn't focusing much on that however. It was the two that were leading the group that had his attention.
One was a man about six foot two with short black hair and a clean shaven face. The other was a woman about five foot ten with blonde hair tied in a bun. The man then spoke up.
"Spread out in groups of three and find Mandy. But remember, I don't want her hurt so make this quick and clean. You hear me? Quick and clean."
Joseph would know these people anywhere, and those words tipped off Cassandra and Daniela as to who they were too. These people were Michael and Diane Brody, Joseph and Mandy's parents, and they were now looking for their son and daughter. It took every ounce of will power for the two Dimitrescu sisters to not jump down from their posts and attack in a fit of rage. They and their partners just wanted to find happiness in their lives, and these people wanted to threaten it and more for their own selfish reasons.
Thankfully it didn't take long for the group to pass, as the sisters didn't know how long they could restrain themselves. When the group of mercenaries and spies split up, the trio quietly slipped down their trees and began to sneak up on the three spies, who were the last to start moving.
In a silent flash, Joseph and Cassandra grabbed their targets from behind and stabbed them through their hearts with their swords, while Daniela did the same with a combat knife she grabbed from the bag. The spies were dead before they could process anything.
Three down, seven to go.
The trio continued to creep along the ground. Thanks to their ninjutsu training, they were dead silent as they moved, and this definitely gave them an advantage. These mercenaries clearly weren't aware of the skills the family possessed. They probably thought this was going to be easy, a terrible error.
It didn't take long for the trio to spot the next group of three. Repeating the same process as before, they snuck up from behind their quarry. But this time, one of the mercenaries turned left just as Cassandra was about to grab him, causing him to see the brunette.
"Hey!" He shouted, but he was struck down before he could say anything else, as were his squad mates.
Cassandra swore to herself. This was one of those random elements that she could not have predicted, and that shout was all it took to alert the rest, which was confirmed by fast approaching footsteps.
"Hide! Quickly!" Joseph said in a hushed yell.
They didn't have enough time to climb another tree. So they hid in the shadows among some tree trunks instead. Only a few seconds later Michael and Diane ran into view, accompanied by two other mercenaries.
"Shit. Guess the BSAA taught them a few things." Michael said upon seeing the bodies.
"What do we do, sir?" One mercenary asked.
"We keep looking." Diane said. "We have a few guys guarding the tree line. These people can't leave this patch of woods without getting shot at, and we haven't heard gunshots aside from our guys engaging the BSAA agents, so they're still here."
"Are you sure we should stay? They probably will have backup arriving soon." The other mercenary asked.
"Then we keep looking until then." Michael said.
Joseph felt his heart race. It's true that once Jill and the others arrived, his parents would have to retreat, but that didn't offer any comfort. He knew they would be able to stay hidden from the authorities while they planned their next move. They would come back again and again, upping the anti each time until they got what they wanted. As long as they were around, they would always be a threat to him and his family.
He needed to end this. Now.
Joseph turned to Cassandra and Daniela and mouthed the word "swarm" to them. They immediately nodded in understanding and took position while Joseph did the same thing. That was another huge advantage they had. Their opponents didn't know about the sister's abilities, and they were now going to take full advantage of it.
When Joseph gave the signal, the two sisters turned into swarms and rushed the small group, creating surprise and confusion among them.
"What the fuck?! Where'd all these flies come from?!" Diane yelled.
"They're all over me!" One mercenary shouted as well.
Daniela materialized in front of them and stabbed one mercenary while kicking the other to the ground. He tried to get up, but he was quickly killed by the redhead as well. Michael and Diane quickly pointed their assault rifles in the redhead's direction, but Joseph and Cassandra were even quicker. With a single swing, their blades cut the weapons in half, making them useless. This was followed up by a kick to the two soldier's midsections, causing them to stagger back.
They quickly recovered however and got battle ready and pulled out two knives from a sheath on their backs. They were huge and looked more like machetes than knives. Joseph and Casandra took a step back and got into their fighting stances as well.
Everyone stood there for a moment, staring at each other in silence. They all had a pistol, but nobody dared use one on the risk of getting shot themselves.
"Where is she, Joseph?" Michael finally said with a growl.
"That's none of your damn business." Joseph replied.
"None of our business?!" Diane yelled. "She's our daughter! Our daughter that you took from us!"
"I did no such thing!" Joseph yelled back. "Mandy willingly chose to come and stay with me!"
"You expect us to believe that?! After what you did to her?! You could never be forgiven for that!" Michael yelled. He was getting furious.
"Wow." Cassandra said. "You guys have either the biggest egos I've ever seen, or you're just shit stupid. Is it really that hard to wrap your heads around the idea that Mandy could forgive Joseph? Actually, I take that back. People as weak and selfish as you would never understand."
Michael glared daggers in response, but the brunette didn't even flinch.
"You really have no idea how much Joseph has done for me and my family since he came to us. He-"
"You're stalling so backup can arrive." Michael interrupted.
"Nah. I just wanted to rub it in your face how much better we are than you." Cassandra said with a smirk.
Joseph and Daniela couldn't help but smirk at this too.
"You guys lost the minute you decided to come after us." The redhead said. "Just give up. Besides, I'd prefer not to mess up my hair."
Both soldiers now had a look of fury in their eyes, but Diane's were the only ones that had parental fury. Michael's was all egotistical. He then got on his radio.
"Team B, change of plans. Get into the forest and grab Mandy by any means necessary. Do this, or I will shoot you myself!"
The trio's eyes widened in horror.
"What?! You could get yourselves or Mandy shot!" Joseph said.
"Michael, a-are you sure?" Diane asked. She looked just as stunned.
"They've forced our hand." Michael said. "We need to do whatever it takes to bring Mandy home."
Diane slowly nodded, but she looked reluctant to go through with this plan, something that gave Joseph and Cassandra hope. Maybe their theory about her was true. Maybe she could be helped.
Joseph turned to Daniela.
"Go help the others. We got this." He said.
The redhead nodded and sprinted off, leaving just Joseph, his fiance, and his parents. Everyone got into battle stances.
"Despite what you may think, I'd rather not fight my own parents." Joseph said. "But if that's what I have to do, then so be it."