From behind his desk, Philip sipped his early morning tea, glad to have the caffeine in him to get ready for the day. Some argued it was not as effective as other caffeine-addled beverages, although he always had a soft spot for tea, and it worked well enough to scratch his itch .
'I'm definitely going to need it, considering the fact that things have been hectic over the years.' The bespectacled man thought grimly, his mind unwittingly wandering toward recent events.
Honestly, the last seven years have proven to be quite the… mess , in almost every way.
It all started with the Pianist's all too sudden and drastic appearance, and disappearance, so long ago in District Nine. It still sent shivers down one's spine just thinking about it; three hundred thousand lives were instantly taken away just like that by a monstrosity that, according to investigations, used to be human. Honestly, it was only until recently that the District was able to properly recover from the damage caused by the Pianist, which was thankfully put down by the Black Silence…who proceeded to rampage across various Syndicates, Offices, and even random people, causing more problems and lost lives.
'Still, if rumors are true, then the Purple Tear's taken care of him now.' Philip hummed mentally while putting down his cup of tea. The rumors said that the Black Silence disappeared off of the face of the City, or perhaps even the Earth. No one, friend or foe, could find the elusive intelligence Fixer after Iori, an equally elusive Color visited the ruins. Nobody knew where the Black Silence went ever since, regardless of how they bribed or threatened Iori.
Looking back now, it seemed like a harbinger for things to come.
Almost weekly, Distortions have been popping up everywhere in the City, and though their capabilities never reached the level of the Pianist - yet - with some even being harmless or negligible -the crocodilian being with no teeth from last month came to Philip's mind- they proved numerous enough and deadly enough for the Head, the City's rulers, itself to interfere and create new rules and sanctions to minimize the threat posed by them, with even specialized teams created just to deal with them.
Not that Philip himself was a part of such elite groups. No, he was just an average Fixer that was lucky enough to land an apprenticeship under a legendary veteran of the game seven years ago and hasn't looked back since. He had a decent job that paid well enough to support him and even allowed him to save up some money here and there. Of course, there were quite a few dangerous moments that threatened the young Fixer's life, but he, his mentor, and his colleague Yuna all managed to overcome them for now.
He hoped to maintain this illusion of happiness that he lived through; ignoring the City's unfairness and brutality had taken its toll on him, and he followed the rules to survive, but he didn't like said rules. Not when they constantly made him look away from any and all signs of pain or injustice in the City, but…what else could he do? The flaxen-haired man could only look away and try to focus on what he had; a kind mentor, a nice colleague, and a decent, if stagnant life. The fact that he actually had a life among the living was a privilege in the City.
Who knew? Perhaps he could even tell Yuna one day that he…
Philip's thoughts were interrupted when the door to his room was opened suddenly, revealing an old, white-haired man with a thick mustache, his expression serious and his gaze steely.
"Good morning Salvador! What's on the docket today?" Philip greeted his boss and mentor, his black eyes landing on a pitch black envelope with shining gold lettering held up and in the elderly man's hand, a cautious smirk on his face.
"We've got a new job to get done. Get ready, kiddo, we depart now. "
"So it just…appeared at the front of the door."
"Yep."
"With no sign of anyone dropping it off in."
"Indeed."
"So what? You're saying that his appeared like…magic?"
"Considering the world we live in, why not?"
Philip frowned as he kept pace with his mentor towards their destination, walking through the Nest of the place formerly known as District Twelve, the area where the black envelope had teleported them to travel to as 'Guests'. It wasn't uncommon to have teleportation technology hidden in mundane objects, though it felt much more advanced than any teleportation technology the City had on a commercial scale, though its suddenness disoriented the Fixer trio for a moment.
"You sure this is a good idea Salvador? Just blindly going to the place where the Light and all of the Distortions originated from at the whim of this mysterious invite?" The bespectacled man pushed his black, rectangular glasses back up to his face, "That just seems like we're just happily going into the most obvious of traps."
"So much doubt in your teacher!" Salvador chided, shaking his head in faux-hurt, "Do you honestly think I'm so reckless to lead us to such a situation? For shame! The Library, our charitable hosts, seem to have been working for a while now. So far, only lowly Fixers and Syndicates who were down on their luck entered, or so my sources tell me, but the promise of infinite knowledge sounds quite intriguing…and profitable, of course." He added with a grin.
Behind the two, a feminine sigh let itself be known.
"Given how you've been acting since we've started this mission and the circumstances surrounding it, Philip's doubt is more than valid." The name coming from the voice behind him made the gray haired man turn, eyes perked up in expectation. A short green haired middle aged woman, his elder colleague and fellow Fixer, walked steadily behind the two men with an air of steely professionalism."As our boss, it does fall on you to make it so any and all doubt is dissuaded as best as possible to the best of your ability."
Yuna, all green and gray and not with Philip, walked faster to join her colleagues at their current pace as they walked through the empty, desolated streets of District Two, her younger colleague's eyes trailing after her. If only…
"Maybe, but it doesn't mean the time we've had over the years doesn't warrant some faith, am I right or am I right?" Salavdor twirled his mustache, still grinning.
The only answer he got from her was an unimpressed, unblinking stare.
"...Alright, alright! Hmph, no need to be such a critical woman." Salvador relented, reaching into his coat and presenting Philip with the black envelope that started this whole mission, only this time it was opened. Without missing a beat, Philip took it from his hand and took out the paper within, reaching the contents out loud:
"Dear Guest: I formally invite you to the Library.
The Library's books can provide you with all the wisdom, wealth, honor, and power you seek.
However, an ordeal will await you in the Library.
If you cannot overcome this ordeal, you will be converted into a book yourself."
"How threateningly polite." Yuna commented as Philip lowered the paper in his hands, "Just who are these people and what do they gain from doing all of this?"
"We're about to find out; my research indicates they may or may not be related to Distortions, so we'd best prepare for a tough encounter," Salvador explained as he walked towards the wooden structure's door. "We're here."
The entire group abruptly stopped in front of the strangest building they'd ever seen in their lives.
It was ten stories tall and strangely hollow looking, glowing the same kind of Light that appeared seven years ago that heralded the arrival of the Distortions.
"That light, its color, and the feeling emitting off of it…it's similar to the pillar that appeared all that time ago, right before the Distortions began appearing." Yuna stated as she looked the building up and down, "And considering the location matches up to the place of that eruption…do you think the people inside may be connected to it?"
"Not something to dismiss. Though, there's only one way to find out." Salvador answered, making Philp turn to him with a frown.
"How the hell are we supposed to even get? There are no doors over here." Wordlessly, Salvador reached into his coat pocket once more and this time brought out a blue pen, pointing toward the empty line spot below the golden-lettered message.
"I assume that, as it teleported us here, it can teleport us inside the moment we sign." The gray-haired man explained his line of thought, his expression somewhat serious, and yet inviting. "Will you do the honors?"
Giving a sigh, Philip took the pen his mentor presented before signing the line on his group's behalf, "Here goes nothing…"
At that final scratch of ink, the letter in his hand began to glow and before anyone could say a ball of light floated out of it and in front of the group. Soon, the ball of white light expanded into the form of an opened door.
Philip, Salvador, and Yuna all stared at the door in front of them in silence for a good moment before the green haired Fixer spoke up, her tone cautious against this unknown and unexpected territory.
"So…who is going in first?"
"Greetings honored guests, welcome to the Library. I am Angela, its owner."
When he stepped through the Door of Light behind his seniors, Philip did not expect to be in the most spotless lobby he's ever been in his life.
He, much less, didn't expect to be greeted by a fairly young-looking woman with short, light-blue hair, her eyes had a golden shine to them, her skin was pale white, and her honest smile would have captivated him if it wasn't for the fact she didn't have a single pound of flesh visible on her. Philip was a moderately experienced Fixer, and although he didn't know everything about the trade, he knew when he was facing non-humans, or more accurately for his current case, machines.
The door they came through was seemingly gone, though it wasn't as if it was particularly surprising; they didn't expect this to be an easy mission, after all. What, was she going to offer them tea? They knew they'd signed up for a fight the moment they took this job, although it was certainly a gentle welcome for something that had so far made a few Offices and Syndicates disappear off of the face of the world.
"Well, this is certainly a surprise," Salvador noted as he looked around the new area he and his underlings were in before his eyes focused solely on Angela, "I didn't expect a proper greeting like this from such place, but I suppose it's only polite that we do the same: I am Salvador, this is Yuna, and this is Philip."
"Good day." Yuna spoke up, bowing her head slightly.
"H-Hello." Philip stated hesitantly.
Angela nodded in acknowledgment, "My sincerest greetings, dear guests. Now, since you've accepted the invitation, I am to assume that you all are prepared for what is to come and the consequences of failing your ordeal?"
"We wouldn't be here if otherwise." Salvador confidently grabbed his sword, his tone proud, although not overly so. "We're here to get the information you've gathered from the unlucky sods who've stumbled here before us, no?" He earned a nod from the Library Director, the latter keeping a stoic expression. "Then I believe we know as much as we need; I hope you're ready for an Office of our caliber, heh."
Angela once again nodded, then, without further notice, Angela gestured toward a large hallway that seemed to radiate blue and pink, its appearance so sudden, as if it has suddenly teleported into place…or had they been the ones to get teleported? "Then, may you find your book in this place."
Salvador, Philip, and Yuna entered the room that in itself looked like a kaleidoscope made of all kinds of pinks and blues of all known shades - and some that were completely new and unseen before - all three of them looking completely thrown off by what was in front of them. It was almost like a long, endless corridor, wide enough for ten or so people to battle on it and surrounded by bookshelves from every side as if they were a wall around it. There was no doubt about it, the three Fixers were walking into an arena of sorts.
"Are we even still in the City at this point?" Yuna muttered in disbelief, as she looked around the room wide-eyed. "This place just keeps getting stranger and stranger…"
"Ain't that the truth sister. And considering that I've been here for seven years, that's sayin' something!"
The heads of the trio snapped towards the direction of the youthful voice, only to find a teenage-looking girl with braided blue hair in a blue and pink suit crouching down with a hand under her chin, sniggering like a jester that made the whole courtroom laugh at her joke. Next to her, with white gloved hands folded in front of her, was an older woman with cloudy-like violet hair with seemingly homemade goggles donned on top of it, having a much more tense and stoic expression on her face, her body posture prepared for battle. She seemed much, much more professional than the blue-haired of the pair.
"Miss Powder, are you sure acting like this is appropriate?" The older woman lightly chided, looking down at the teenager, "You know how the director wants you to present yourself towards guests, especially when you are to receive them on your own floor."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Angela already gave me the whole speech, Suho." Powder assured casually while waving her hand in a dismissive fashion, rolling her eyes. "Look, she barely ever lets me receive guests here; mostly she relegates them to Roland and Bob, and then she nearly lets Bob die and leaves Roland to struggle with the guests 'cuz 'she wants to keep me safe'." She rambled for a moment, putting her hands on her waist. "Let a girl be casual on the job for once, why don't ya? It's rare that I get to even meet people like this in the first place!"
Despite her almost flippant attitude, the blue haired girl got up from her position, brushing her blue suit pants of any dirt and dust before standing before the weary trio across from her at her full height, which wasn't all too impressive, to be honest. What was impressive, however, was the collection of daggers, guns, and other self-made assorted items that were meant to wound, disable, and even kill which she had around her belt.
Salvador, Yuna, and Philip remained silent, although the three of them immediately made a note to be more careful around her; guns were so rare in the City thanks to the exorbitant taxes imposed on them, an effort that the Head had claimed was to prevent the City's already murderous population from mowing itself down with machine guns, which meant that anyone with a gun needed to know how to use it to the best of their abilities, considering most Fixers knew how to block bullets with their fighting styles, so those who possessed guns needed to make sure their shots counted.
Of course, Powder wasn't exactly aware of the political and societal issues of the City and its ban on guns. Not that she was even using bullets in the first place, so her unconventional ammunition only made her excel at catching opponents off guard. So far, she didn't need to worry Angela by getting struck down yet, although she had a few close encounters where Suho needed to take the blow for her against some enemies she couldn't predict, and unfortunately for her, there were many such foes in the City.
Of course, Angela's Light could always mend whatever blows she and Suho would receive. It could even revive the fallen should they receive lethal blows, and although Angela had acted distant and somewhat aloof about it, not worrying whenever Roland or some other Assistant Librarians would fall, though something within the Zaunite told her Angela's reaction would not be so collected had it been her to fall. Not that Powder or her assistant ever reached that point. Yet. Sure, Suho needed some essential healing after some battles, but at least they hadn't been sliced-open or torn to shreds like Roland and Bob.
It had been a hectic few weeks in the Library ever since they opened, to tell the truth. Angela was seemingly pleased with the way things had been progressing; ever since she recruited Roland onto the team, she had been sending Invitations on an almost daily basis, and the trickle of accumulating Light Powder had grown accustomed to throughout her teenage years was now a steady stream of Light, and with the way things were going, it might become a violent river soon enough.
Of course, this Light recollection process was heralded by Angela as the greatest thing to happen in her life, and Powder was truly content to see her caretaker be so pleased after she already spent so much time taking care of her and waiting for the opportune moment to execute her plan, and the short-haired bluenette had even promised that this amount of Light would enable her to awaken other Patron Librarians and summon more and more Assistant Librarians into the fray, expanding both the Library's internal space and its capacity the receive guests. It was all happening so fast, really, to the point where Powder would've had difficulty keeping track of the time and the events that unfolded so rapidly.
Had they not been so carved into her mind, of course.
Roland and, to a very large extent, Angela were both seemingly accustomed to what they needed to do to keep the Light flowing into the Library. Perhaps it was this shared familiarity that made the two of them talk together for much of their days, with Angela demanding as much information as she could gather about the City and letting Roland recount his tales from the City. It almost made Powder a little… protective , was it? She didn't like how much time Angela spent with him when he was still a stranger to both of them, and so she felt that her caregiver was giving a little too much trust to someone so shady.
Of course, it wasn't like she was upset that Angela didn't spend as much time with her like she used to; she was just untrusting of Roland. Who did you think she was? Some sort of emotionally unstable person who was very attached to the one person who cared for her during the past seven years? Hah, as if!
Barring that nuisance that she wanted to somehow deal with, perhaps what struck Powder most during this journey to collect Light was what they needed to do to actually gather it. Of course, Angela had explained the process multiple times in the past, and Powder herself was mentally prepared to fight people to reach their goal; that was what she spent seven years preparing for.
But maybe she didn't prepare enough.
It wasn't the fighting itself that bothered her. She, in fact, excelled at her job as a Patron Librarian 'receiving' guests. It was the act of killing that was still so forlorn to her. She had… experience in the past, during the very last day she spent in Zaun, but it was nothing compared to actually getting up-close and personal and sticking a sharp dagger in someone's heart, watching as their eyes widened in shock, sometimes fear, confusion, or even sorrow as their soul left their body. Powder was glad, at least, that the Library seemingly turned the guests' blood into Light after they'd sustained too much damage during the fight, and so she had been spared from seeing an obscene amount of gore so far…
Of course, it was hard to hesitate against some particular opponents, like the cannibals they'd invited to the Library once. In fact, one could say that Powder looked forward to fighting them, but other times…Other times, the Invitations that Angela sent were truly blind, as she said before. By some mystical ability, the Invitations seemed to display the last minutes or hours of a guest's life before they'd enter the Library, and more often than not, many guests would be in a desperate situation that'd practically force them into entering the Library. It was a tough pill to swallow at first, although, with a good few guests being rather wicked people, and none of the guests dying -or getting turned into books- without a decent fight, it definitely made swallowing said pill much easier.
She trusted Angela, after all. She knew she'd stop if things got out of hand.
"Well, I suppose it's time to kick things off, shall we?" Powder rolled her neck before throwing her arms forward, arms stretched wide as if she was welcoming back old friends instead of foes that she was about to fight to the death with, preferring to focus on the fight at hand rather than the ethics of said fight. "We're so glad you found our room. Welcome to our lovely floor, where it all goes down!" She struck a pose, one hand in the air, the other on her hip. "I'm the Patron Librarian of the Floor of Psychology and the one you'll be throwing down with for your ordeal... the one and only Powder!"
"Who?" Philip furrowed his brows, scratching the back of his neck and turning to Salvador, who shrugged with uncharacteristic confusion.
"I didn't hear of this Fixer before…" Yuna muttered, eyes narrowing at the posing youth and her abased assistant, "In fact… are either of you Fixers, or are you two something else entirely? The director of this place was not human, yet you two are obviously of flesh and blood. So, what are you…?"
"Why you- Powder! It's just Powder! Is that not clear enough for you already, lady?!" The young Patron Librarian huffed, while stomping her foot petulantly, "I'm not some Fixer or whatever fancy-schmancy names you lot in the City give yourself! Why, I outta-"
"Miss, I do believe you are taking this much too personally." Suho interjected suddenly, causing her Patron Librian's head to twist towards her direction, "You are, essentially, a nobody given you, by your own admission, never stepped a foot outside of the Library, and thus, never had the opportunity to make any impact on the City directly, from our current guests perspective, you are just some random girl puffing up empty smoke."
The sheer look of betrayal on Powder's face was beyond comical. She put two hands on her chest, her jaw dropping as she leaned back.
"What? You-! I! Ugh! SUHO! " The blue haired teenager whined loudly for all in the room to hear, fully turned towards her assistant and putting a death grip on both of the older woman's shoulders, shaking Suho back and forth, causing puffy purple hair to be thrown back and forth, "Why are you saying such hurtful things to your own P.L.?! Do you know that saying that kind of stuff so bluntly and openly to a growing girl my age can damage her esteem immensely?! How can you be so uncaring in wounding me so deeply?! Me! A harmless and innocent being as pure as I!" Well, harmless to anyone who didn't meet her, at least, and innocent insofar as she was mostly oblivious to what procreation really entailed.
"Because you are currently choosing to behave in a way that warrants such criticism." Suho responded dryly as if her boss wasn't attempting to rock her head off of her shoulders, her blue and pink goggles threatening to be thrown off at anytime.
"...Should we be doing something about this?" Philip asked almost absently, turning to an amused looking Salvador watching the unfolding scene before them like it was the most entertaining show he's seen in a good while. If he had a video camera, he could've sold this scene for much more than this Library job was ever going to get them. Curse his lack of ability to monetize other people's woes!
"Hmm, fair enough my boy. OI! Blue librarian girl!" Powder suddenly stopped shaking Suho into oblivion, turning and tilting her head towards the elder Office leader, "As fun as this comedy act is, my team and I would very much like to get this ordeal, or so it is called, going, if you don't mind, eh? Or is the ordeal a challenge to not laugh?"
"Er, yeah, sorry about that. We don't have all of the time in the world, so I guess we really do need to get things going now rather than later." Powder acknowledged sheepishly, releasing Suho from her death grip and coughing into her fist before once again smiling that true jester smile of hers. She could continue punishing Suho for her insolence later. "So, down to business: as you probably guessed already, an ordeal in the Library involves beating the ever-living crap out of each other up until one side does the beating hard enough that they win! Is that clear or is that clear?"
"Sounds pretty typical so far…" Philip mumbled, pushing his glasses up.
"Give them a chance, kid; with thousands of gangs and Syndicates in the City, you can't expect them all to be creative." Salvador mentioned, as if revealing some grand wisdom that was detrimental to Philip's quality of life.
The smile on Powder's face all too suddenly gained a sinister edge.
"Buddy, if you think me or anything else in the Library is anything like whatever you've seen in the City, then I'm pretty sure this is one fight you've already lost." The Patron Librarian of the Floor chuckled, a noise that sounded much too…dangerous coming from a girl with a face as young as hers, "Though, there's only one way for you guys to really find now, eh?
"Hm, hm. As you say." Salvador responded, twirling his mustache as he noticed the so-called Suho pull out a sword that was suspiciously similar to the ones used by the Zwei Association, who lost a few of its members in the Library recently. So, it used the power of the foes it felled, hm? How peculiar. "Then draw your arms, there's no need for this conversation to get any chummier." Leading his Office, the oldest Fixer pulled out a large sword, almost as big as himself, from a harness on his back. The size was enough not to intimidate Powder, but to intrigue her. A large weapon like that could do a lot of damage, but she doubted it could be used rapidly.
Following their mentor, Yuna and Philip pulled out their swords as well, though they weren't quite as imposing as Salvador's.
"Shall we begin?"
And just like that, the ordeal began.
Salvador wasn't above admitting his mistakes.
After all, he would not have survived the City's grueling difficulty curve had he not learned from his mistakes, which needed him to admit them at first. He tried carrying this attitude with him to other fields; cooking, knitting, fighting… He had enough experience in lots of fields to convince him that admitting his mistakes was vital to learning and improving, thus guaranteeing more success on subsequent attempts. In fact, he often enjoyed the days when he'd learn something new.
Today was not one of those days.
He hadn't underestimated the strength of the Library's inhabitants. At least, he didn't think he did; he gave it his all and didn't downplay any of his opponents' attacks. make any amateur missteps that would have cost him or his underlings their lives in an instant. Salvador made sure he used every ounce of experience and skill he obtained over his long and tried career as a Fixer to overcome this obstacle before him as he always did as this approach never failed to get him and his team alive through the toughest of trials and tribulations, either in crushing defeat or flawless victory.
Until now.
No, what he underestimated was the variety of attacks his enemies possessed. Apparently, they not only had the equipment of their fallen foes, they learnt their abilities down to the T . Well, that, and their sheer endurance as well. Perhaps his biggest mistake was assuming that the Library's rules would be the same as the City's rules; a few slashes from a sword would fell Fixers regardless of their strength, but things didn't seem to be quite the same in the Library.
He spat some blood from his mouth, feeling his burnt mustache and his damaged right eye, his limbs weak, having been subject to stabs, slashes and constant electrical shots from the teenage-looking Librarian who fought them, twitching involuntarily thanks to the electricity he still felt course through him, needing to point his massive sword into the ground to lean on it, narrowing his eyes. His team hadn't fared much better, with Philip's good arm apparently no longer usable, and Yuna's state not being any better than his.
There was no dancing about it: He was losing this fight, and consequently, his life.
It happened so suddenly. The blows he landed and thought were lethal turned out to be mere hindrances for his foes, apparently strengthened beyond what normal enhancements would do. Apparently, the Library hadn't been playing entirely fair, and his first mistake was assuming it was.
"Wow-wee! Now that was a hell of showdown!"
Across the room still stood a strong and tall Powder, who didn't look winded or even like she was in a life or death fight just now, save for the single scratch on her right cheek, still grinning that jester grin of hers, only this time her eyes were wide to match the thrilled and adrenaline filled expression she was sporting, covering any internal conflicts she could've possibly had.
"Not gotta lie: really thought you guys had me for a good moment here and there! Seriously, didn't know you Fixers could pull off moves like that! Reminded of some of the stuff I saw back in Zaun…" The blue haired teen rambled as she twirled the electric gun that shot all sorts of lightning casually in one hand while tracing the scratching on her cheek on the other. "Yo, Suho, you good?"
Powder turned around to see her assistant who was on her knees, bloodied and gored by the various stabs she endured during the fight. With Powder's unconventional weaponry, Salvador and his crew thought it would be wise to target the older woman in an attempt to lower the amount of enemies they had to fight against, though unable to fully kill the Assistant Librarian, it seemed.
"I'll…manage...Miss Powder." Suho exhaled heavily as if she just finished running a particularly strenuous marathon instead of being stabbed in multiple vital areas, "Just…give me a second to catch my breathe…if you will."
'Lucky her ,' Salvador thought as she struggled not to black out right there and then, wheezing excruciatingly. She'd manage, and they'd be condemned to losing their lives! He almost wanted to laugh, to call out the unfairness, to do something that'd make him feel better, but he only looked down onto the bloodied floor below him.
Would his wife and kids manage without him? She was a capable fighter herself, but what would she do…? In fact what could he do now? He couldn't fight his way out, and he wasn't sure Yuna would be able to, either. Damn it, to think he led his very own team to a deathtrap like this…!
But…perhaps, if one person could still survive- No, one person who still deserved to survive, it was going to be Philip. He was a bright kid, and he was certainly nicer than many others in this field of work. Maybe he was finished here, and Yuna's chances didn't look all too bright, either, but perhaps, if they could buy him some time now…maybe he could make it out of this particular fight…
"Y-You're not off of the hook just yet!" Salvador lifted his sword up again strenuously, trying to get into a combat position as his underlings looked at him desperately, having come to the same conclusion as he did. His sudden declaration seemed to catch both Suho and Powder off-guard, the former struggling to get to her feet and grinding her teeth together as every piece of body hurt, her mind already setting the alarms off and telling her she'd die. Of course, in the Library, this wasn't her biggest concern, but during the height of battle, she couldn't focus on that particular bit of knowledge.
For her part, Powder let out a low whistle, "Stubborn! I like it!" She exclaimed cheerfully, "As a reward for choosing not to kneel over and die like the ones before you on this Floor, allow yours truly to give you a parting gift before your official booking!"
With his one still working eye, Salvador stared warily as Powder cheerfully put away her gun before reaching for something else on her person.
"This can't be good…" He limped his way to Yuna, leaving Philip to struggle to get into a battle position with his broken arm, whispering to her. "On my mark, we jump the older one. We both stab her where it hurts and try getting Philip some time." He didn't allow her much time to object, though it wasn't like she was going to; she was in a state that was comparable to him, if not worse than his.
Though that plan quickly fell apart when he saw that his previous dread was proven completely correct.
Seemingly out of nowhere, Powder pulled out what seemed to be the strangest designed rocket launcher he's ever seen: it was completely painted in blue and pink and shaped like a shark with "eyes" golden-yellow.
"Meet Fishbones!" Powder introduced her rocket as if it was its own person instead of a man-made weapon of mass destruction, "He's a new creation of mine that I made a bit before the Library officially opened up. I did want him to get in on the action going on around here lately by now, but due to him still being in the proto-stage and us receiving Guests at a higher rate than I ever expected, I hadn't had the chance to give poor ol' Fishbones a proper testing, meaning he never had a chance to get a real good debut…"
Powder's smile turned downright savage as she aimed the rocket launcher directly at the all but beaten group of Salvador, Yuna, and Philip.
"...Until now!"
"Oh," Yuna mumbled, her hoarse throat barely managing to handle her voice as it scraped her already injured throat. " Hell ."
"PHILIP! GET AWAY, NOW !" Salvador didn't waste an instant, tugging on Yuna's shoulder and kicking her brain into auto-pilot as she automatically rushed into her combat stance, rushing with her mentor as he held his massive sword at his waist, using it like a lance as he charged. He didn't know what Philip was doing, but for everyone's sake, he hoped that he'd take care of himself. An old dog like Salvador didn't have much hanging on the line anymore. Philip had an entire life ahead of him, and while he would've liked to be able to send Yuna along as well, he couldn't make that decision, unfortunately.
He gave a war-cry to distract his opponents, almost anticipating what would happen; throughout the entire fight, any attacks made on Powder would be blocked by the so-called Suho; she seemed to be protecting her, and Salvador would've almost respected a fellow elder protecting their juniors had she not been the reason they were losing this battle.
Of course, while his mind wasn't as sharp as it needed to be to win them the fight, it was sharp enough to charge at the blue-haired teenage-looking combatant, Yuna by his side as they almost caught her off guard, apparently needing just a few more instants to fire the weapon, which would've surely taken both him and Yuna out when they were so close, but she needed to have them at distance to do that, and when she was shocked by their sudden approach, that meant that they'd reach her before she'd have those extra seconds.
Or, as he knew, an injured Suho would rush to block them.
And wouldn't you know it, she did, rushing in despite her wounds, attempting to raise her weapon to block and putting herself between the Dawn Office members and her Patron Librarian, and she paid the price dearly; while she managed to block a fierce sword swing from Salvador, Yuna's own blade struck at her side. The violet hair woman cried out loudly as the blade dug deep into her hip before she found a boot to the face that sent her flying backwards to the other end of the room, Salvador adding an extra blow with his sword into her heart as she was sent back.
But it was more than enough time needed for Powder to get things ready for her final attack.
"FIRE IN THE HOLE!"
Well, if nothing else, they were going down in a somewhat glorious manner, right?
It was all Salvador had to comfort himself as he watched the missile approach both him and Yuna, keeping an unblinking gaze as he refused to not face his death with dignity, swallowing heavily before noticing his blood turned to…light? Wh-Wha?
The last thing he felt before his world turned blue and pink was being folded and contained within a book.
"...And then I shot Fishbones and then called game! Pretty good, am I right?"
"Isn't that a bit of an overkill, given you've already won at that point?"
"Yes, yes it was. What of it?"
Roland could feel the sheer aggravation radiating from Angela pinched the shorter bluenette's cheeks, furrowing her brows slightly.
"First of all, Powder, you nearly died . Suho did, and I had to revive her after the fight. If she hadn't jumped in front of you, you could've been in her place with how much strength that Salvador put behind his charge." She reprimanded, her tone strict and somewhat harsh, though with an underlying tone of worry, which Powder answered with blowing a raspberry.
"Still got the job done though! Isn't that what counts in the end?" Powder responded childishly, as she tried to pull the mechanical fingers off of her cheeks, "I mean, sure Suho bit the dust for a bit there, but hey, you live and you learn right?"
A harsh bump to the head was the answer she got from her caregiver.
"You not living if you keep fighting so recklessly is the point, you dimwit!" Angela tried using some of Powder's own vocabulary to get her point across, huffing as she finally let go of Powder's cheeks, putting a hand on her temple. Luckily, Roland and Bob were off sorting books endlessly as she had ordered them so she had some time to reprimand her personal assistant.
"Hey! Name calling is totally uncalled for, you know!" Powder pouted as she rubbed the growing bump on her head, "And you say such childish things are beneath you all the bloody time…"
"It's the only method I've tried which effectively captures your attention, however uncalled it may be." The taller bluenette justified her methods, folding her arms in an attempt to look aloof, but Powder saw the action for what it was.
"Excuses from someone who's not as mature as she says she is!"
"How dare you!"
As the two continued to bicker, Roland leaned back against the nearby bookshelf, glad to have some downtime after the last ordeal he had to deal with, no thanks to a certain apathetic bum he was forced to call his Librarian Assistant.
Said assistant was next to him on a chair, snoring like there were no worries in the world.
Then, without being provoked, Bob woke up.
"Ngah…are they done yet?" He looked around, his eyes hazy. One of Bob's "multitude" of abilities was that he could sleep for exactly five minutes before checking if someone was about to chastise him, going to sleep if he found none to do so, and that was exactly what he did as he saw that his boss and her protégée were still arguing. "Good, good…don't wake me when they're done. Thank goodness for this Philip guy and his bunch for getting them to argue like this…"
"...Ah." At Bob's not-so-silent remark, Angela paused her bickering, her tone and expression serious now. "That does remind me…where did Philip go?"
"...Who?" Powder blinked back before a mental lightbulb went off in her head, "Oh, that guy with the glasses, right?"
"Yes, that guy with the glasses." Angela repeated sardonically, "The Fixers of the Dawn Office consisted of three, in case you have forgotten. However, I only received the booking for two of them, Salvador and Yuna. Where's the third one, Philip?"
Powder shrugged almost helplessly, "I dunno. Pretty sure Fishbones wiped them all out and got them booked. Maybe the guy managed to get away during his debut?"
"Got away from an explosion that managed to shake the entire structure of the Library?"
"Stranger things have happened Angela!" The younger blue haired girl stated, raising her hands up in defense at the glare sent her way by the taller woman, "Besides, it's not as if he survived my fight with him without a scratch. I'm pretty sure he's battered and bruised enough to bleed out by himself and end up getting booked with us needing to raise another finger against him."
"Perhaps. Doesn't change the fact that it is still sloppy work to not have the job done all the way through." Powder huffed and turned her head away at the insult, while Angela sighed, deciding there were bigger things to worry about at the moment, although she couldn't shake off a slightly worrying thought: She controlled everything that entered and left the Library. If Philip managed to escape without her knowledge, then that meant the Library had allowed him separately to leave without informing her. That was…worrying… "Still, I'll let it slide, given the fact that our latest victory has generated enough Light to start preparing."
"Prepare for what?"
"To start awakening the rest of the Patron Librarians."
When he first woke up, Philip felt nothing but pain.
He'd somehow managed to escape the Library when his master and Yuna sacrificed themselves for his escape, but he was still injured, his body hurt, and he didn't know where he was. He tried reaching the Library's spiraling staircase to escape, but it was almost as if reality itself glitched and the Library teleported him to a red, nauseating landscape with what seemed to be circus music playing in the background.
"Awakened now, have we? Good, good…"
And when he first laid his eyes on the figure standing over him, he could have sworn he was facing the Devil himself.
And at last, the rest of the Patron Librarians will be entering the story. Pretty sure they definitely won't be seeing Powder coming…
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Until next time!