The voices behind the door were overcast by the sound of electrical construction tools, as Hench's men worked to destroy the integrity of the mechanism.
Valkyrie nervously glanced at Nobody. Judging by the movement of her eyes, the business woman seemed to be planning something. She was looking all around the warehouse, intently glanced at each corner and object and person, as though she was trying to memorize them.
The sounds of a drill drew in Valkyrie's attention. It added to the daunting sounds of malicious manipulation, as the vibrations shook the walls of the entire building. She didn't want to cause any more pressure, but Valkyrie had to admit that the tension was getting to her.
"Nobody?" Skulduggery impatiently pressed, as though he had read her mind.
"Working on it..." Nobody murmured as she took one last good look at everything.
Then, she turned back to the front and lowered her head. She stretched her arms out to the side, each hand gently curled like they were taking a hold of the air.
The illusion of the business woman flickered, the same as the persona before. But this time, she didn't change into another persona.
The flickering seemed to persist. It was rhythmic, like it was pulsing along to a heartbeat, and it was eerily flowing off of Nobody's body. The magic of the illusion virtually melted, its colors mixed together and faded away, as they accumulated towards Nobody's hands.
From their hands, the air began to ripple, quite alike the manner in which air magic tended to. These ripples seemed to have some color of their own, and as they spread all throughout the space, it looked like the very fabric of reality, itself, was being affected. And yet, nothing around them seemed to change.
Meanwhile, as the image of the business woman had melted away, it had left behind someone that didn't really resemble a someone at all.
Before them now stood a tall-ish man, with a regular build, wearing a black shirt, white dress pants, and shiny black dress shoes. The back of his head had no detail whatsoever; no hair or wrinkles or veins. It was bald to the point of being too smooth, and it was pale to the point of being starch white. A glance at his hands told Valkyrie; those were unusually slick and pale too.
Valkyrie leaned towards Skulduggery and confusedly mumbled to him. "What are they doing?"
His jaw moved for an explanation, but so did Nobody's bald head. This made Skulduggery pause, as he now seemed to be curious about Valkyrie's reaction.
As Nobody turned his face in her direction, Valkyrie could see that it was... Not there. She realised, the description of a 'blank canvas' was quite accurate, for what she was looking at. Even by his profile alone, Valkyrie could tell that the even layer of pale skin was covering his entire head. There were essentially no features or discernible structures to his face, except for the small dips and divets that existed in place of his ears, nose, and mouth.
As Nobody had turned his head far enough for most everyone to see his non-existent face, a rush of gasps and whispers came from the crowd behind them. Despite her best intentions of objectivity, Valkyrie couldn't help but feel a little creeped out too.
Looking at Nobody's blank face was not the same as looking at Skulduggery's bare skull. Both of them were adjustments to be sure, however, the concept of a living skeleton had been much easier to wrap her head around. Ultimately all that Skulduggery was, in the end, was a person without the meaty bits. A person with a voice and a beating heart and functioning lungs, who yet had no face or face-holes of any kind, simply wouldn't compute in her brain. And so, despite herself, Valkyrie felt an instinctive sort of unease at the strange image.
She tried not to stare at Nobody in fascination for too long. She focused on the important part; whatever they had wanted to show her, in response to her question.
Valkyrie looked around and noticed in shock; all the people around her had gone.
She was suddenly standing in, what appeared to be, a cluttered storage hall. All around her, all kinds of stuff was piling up; various furniture, discarded retail equipment, suitcases and storage boxes, lamps and decorations and instruments of mysterious origins...
"Skulduggery?" Valkyrie asked, in the direction of where he had just stood.
"I'm still here," said the antique display-shelf next to her.
Valkyrie blinked, as she finally clued in. She looked around again, this time with clear intent, and tried to recall the positions of the people around her.
Closest to the faceless man that was Nobody, and the antique display-shelf that was Skulduggery; the line of guards was disguised as a mixture of various objects, and Valkyrie could only barely recall their positions based on memory.
Behind the guards stood the man that was Paige Arrephoros's bodyguard. He had been replaced by an old boxing bag, which was leaning upright against a filing cabinet. Arrephoros herself, right by his side, was a store mannequin that was wearing her exact outfit, including a wig with her hair-do.
Valkyrie glanced back at the line of hospital beds. Those were disguised as a bunch of random sofas and stacked-up chairs. Again, she couldn't exactly tell who was being disguised as which piece of furniture, or if any more cheeky jokes were hidden in Nobody's illusions. She could only tell that Diamond was pretending to be a floor lamp.
When Valkyrie responded to the faceless man with a look of approval, he released her mind from some of his illusions. Most of the clutter remained, but the people returned.
The antique shelf was replaced by Skulduggery, who had surely been observing her this entire time. She couldn't exactly tell if he was curious about her reactions to the things he couldn't see, or if he was amused by them. But he was definitely gloating, this much was clear.
Valkyrie refocused her attention on Nobody. "Cool," she whispered to them, "thanks!"
The faceless man nodded to her, then he turned his head back to its original position. It softly tilted downwards, as he returned to his state of focus.
A moment later, the doors broke from their frame and loudly crashed to the ground. A collective flinch went through the crowd, but everyone held still with anticipation.
A couple of men entered the warehouse. They confusedly looked around at the cluttered storage hall before them. So far, they seemed to be entirely convinced by the illusions.
One of them was clearly in charge, as he made demanding gestures to the left and the right. Several gunmen followed inside and began to slowly walk to each side of the room. They searchingly pointed their guns at the spaces between furniture and piles of boxes, but they didn't dare advance yet.
Skulduggery looked at Nobody. "Their leader," he quietly asked, "is that Bax Hench?"
Nobody shook his head a tiny little bit. "Negative," he murmured.
Although his voice was muted by a thin veil of focus, Valkyrie could tell that it was the one she remembered from the phonecall; the one that he had labeled his 'original voice'. More notably yet, she noticed that his jaw didn't move as he spoke.
Meanwhile, the unknown leader seemed to be waiting for something. A moment later, his phone rang. His brows shot up at the number he found displayed on the screen. He held up a hand and his men stood ready where they were.
Immediately afterwards, the leader picked up the call. "Yes, boss."
"I'm guessing, that's probably him," Valkyrie quietly murmured.
"We're at the location," the goon told Hench over the phone, "but there's nothing here. It's just an abandoned storage locker."
The voice on the other end of the line replied, but Valkyrie couldn't make out what it was saying. She glanced at Skulduggery, but he shook his head in confirmation; neither could he. Either the phone was too far away, or Hench was speaking too quietly.
The goon looked surprised at whatever his boss was explaining to him. "The same as you, Sir?" He asked.
Another quick explanation from Hench.
"I understand," the goon said. "Should I call in Bulldozer?"
This time around, Hench gave him a much shorter reply.
"Yes, Sir. We'll keep you updated." He pocketed his phone and looked at his colleague beside him. "Get Bulldozer."
"Great..." Valkyrie ironically murmured to herself, "I can't wait to meet Bulldozer..."
She couldn't be sure, but it almost looked like Nobody was silently chuckling at her comment. Neither of them felt much like joking after this, however, as the identity of Bulldozer was revealed.
A black German Shepherd was led into the room by its leesh and harness. The dog looked to be male, fit, and strong. It was wearing a muzzle, which was pushed flush against its snout, as it searchingly sniffed the floor.
"Nobody," Skulduggery quietly said, "please tell me that your magic works on blood hounds."
"Sorry, Skulduggery..." Nobody murmured, "not much that can trick a dog's nose..."
Valkyrie felt like cursing loudly - thanks to the veil of illusions that surrounded them, she likely would have been able to - but she bit her lip and kept quiet. She couldn't see the reactions of the people behind her, but she could already smell the telling nervous hormones, radiating off the various adults and children in the room.
"Try anyway," Skulduggery mutedly ordered.
Nobody sighed. "Yessir."
"Everyone stay nice and still now!" Skulduggery announced to anyone else listening.
Arrephoros and some of the girls anxiously whimpered, as Bulldozer was led closer by his handler, followed by the leader of the group.
Somewhere behind Valkyrie, Diamond and a couple of healers soothingly whispered to the girls that were especially scared. Some of the other healers sounded just as nervous. She could even hear the guards mutter amongst each other.
The dog unfortunately looked disinterested in all of the high-quality trash that Nobody had thrown up as distractions all around them. Its snout was mostly focused on the empty ground as, in reality, it was indeed empty.
The first person that Bulldozer reached was Nobody, right in the front. He sniffed their dress shoes and up their right pantleg. Meanwhile, Nobody didn't move a muscle, which made them look quite alike one of the fashion mannequins nearby.
Bulldozer sniffed the right shoe for a longer moment, then he huffed in frustration and softly scampered on the spot. The unusual scent seemed to confuse him.
His handler clearly wasn't able to discern the faceless man from the fake clutter. Yet, he pointed at the spot and said something in German; encouraged the dog to try again.
Bulldozer tried again. But thankfully, he seemed to decide that he must've been mistaken, as he soon moved on from Nobody.
Once Bulldozer had walked past him, Nobody kept his right hand steady on their setting, and held his left hand out in the dog's direction. His fingers curled a little as he locked in, and his hand began to carefully follow along to its movements.
Next, the dog reached Skulduggery. This pair of dress shoes also seemed to interest it, but again, there was no typical human smell to detect, and it soon moved on from him.
After having failed the skeleton-check, Bulldozer moved over to the line of guards nearby. These shoes seemed to have a clearly identifiable human smell, as he immediately took interest. The guard right in the center screwed his eyes shut and clearly tried his best not to move, as he was analyzed by the blood hound first.
Valkyrie saw Nobody's left hand tremble a bit, fingers curling tighter, as they focused harder on tricking the dog's nose. This seemed to actually work, as Bulldozer slowly moved from guard to guard, sniffing but never really stopping.
Once Bulldozer had reached the final guard, Nobody swayed. Skulduggery quickly reached out and kept him from falling over. Despite the moment of weakness, Nobody's hands didn't lose their hold on Bulldozer, or the various illusions around them. Yet, behind the guards, there were three dozen more people left to protect.
"I can't keep this up..." Nobody absentmindedly mumbled. Rather than someone who was strained from exhaustion, he sounded like he was about to drift off to a peaceful nap. "You've gotta... Prioritise..."
"The girls are the priority," Skulduggery decidedly replied.
Nobody grunted with frustration, and visibly forced himself to drop the hand that was directed at the dog. Once he was standing safely again, with both hands securely locked onto their surroundings, Skulduggery let go of his shoulders.
Meanwhile, the illusions all around them didn't change or fade one bit. A glance at Hench's men told Valkyrie, they hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary yet. And thankfully, the dog had just passed by the final guard and had deemed him uninteresting.
But then, Bulldozer reached Arrephoros's bodyguard. The bodyguard and the Grand Mage were both frozen in horror. Their limbs were stiff to the fingers with anticipation, their wide eyes pinned to the sniffing dog, as it closed in on them.
Everyone helplessly watched, as the dog stopped by the shoes of the bodyguard. He sniffed them once. And sat down.
The handler nodded to the leader. The leader pulled out a gun, pointed it at the spot directly in front of him, and shot the bodyguard point-blank in the chest.
Arrephoros let out an unintentional cry of horror, as her protector dropped to the ground; already dead.
Valkyrie and Skulduggery cursed and went low simultaneously. She could hear the girls and healers scramble to their feet and try to flee. Diamond and Fletcher were calling out to them, trying to keep them in reach. Next, Nuce was tackling Arrephoros to the ground, before the leader could shoot her too.
And right afterwards, a barrage of bullets was flying through the air, as Hench's men stormed the warehouse and unloaded their guns at every piece of fake furniture in their vicinity.
Nobody had thankfully created a whole bunch of clutter, and it took them a moment to work their way through to the mess that disguised everyone. Only Bulldozer, his handler, and the leader had a clear advantage, which they gladly took. Valkyrie could hear the bangs of Nuce's detonations, as well as gunshots behind her, as the guards returned fire. Within the minimal breaks between bangs, there were the plopping sounds of Fletcher's teleportations, as he took the scattered girls to the basement.
"Stay together!" Diamond's voice called somewhere, over the noise of gunfire and screaming, "go for the garage!"
The guards followed their previous orders, by staying hidden and creating a boundary in front of the girls and their escape route. This boundary soon turned into a human target wall, as the first guards were mowed down by bullets and energy beams and fireballs.
In the meantime, Nobody couldn't do much more but to stand in the front, amidst the crossfire, and serve as a shield for Valkyrie and Skulduggery. If he dropped his illusions, he would make it easy for the gunmen to spot their various victims. But if he didn't move soon, one of the bullets would inevitably hit him.
Valkyrie glanced at Skulduggery beside her. He glanced towards the others, and she did the same. Diamond and Fletcher were already in the process of clearing out the last girls and ushering them to the basement. Nuce was headed in the same direction; he was dragging a distraught Paige Arrephoros along with him, away from the body of her bodyguard.
Meanwhile, Hench's men had almost reached the escape hatch. They were strategically working their way from the front to the back, making sure that each piece of imaginary clutter had at least one hole in it.
Their gazes were drawn back to the front. Another wave of men had followed through the doors. The first wave had passed by and was currently clashing with the cleavers behind them. However, the new wave was only steps away from the three hidden sorcerers in the front, and they seemed to be more observant than the last. They seemed to notice that some of the clutter, standing front and center of the action, didn't have any bullet holes or burn marks yet.
Hunched low, Valkyrie and Skulduggery moved up to Nobody's side. They got ready to tackle anyone, if they just so happened to point in their direction.
"No! Stay behind me!" Nobody called over the noise.
Surprisedly, but without hesitation, they took cover again.
"I'll hold them off!" He called, once they were back in their spot of relative safety. "Skulduggery, throw a fireball!"
"What," Skulduggery called back, "where?!"
"Right in front of me!" Nobody impatiently replied, "do it!"
Skulduggery snapped his fingers, summoned a fireball, and tossed it in front of Nobody's feet.
Nobody's hands abruptly moved forwards and upwards, and the fireball lit up! It rapidly grew, hotter and brighter, as it appeared to be supplied with copious amounts of fuel. As the flames took on the size of a truck, they also took on an oddly familiar shape. They formed a large circle, which grew angles in some spots, but caved in to form holes in others.
And suddenly, right above and in front of them, was a giant roaring skull made of fire!
The goons cried out in alarm, as the terrible monster hovered before them. They pointed their guns upwards, aimlessly shooting at the ceiling where they believed the threat to be.
Although the heat and brightness it emitted had a very real effect on Valkyrie's senses, she wasn't distracted by the threatening illusion for long. Nobody was moving in front of them. His hands remained up, but he was slowly walking backwards. She and Skulduggery moved along, taking tiny steps away from the fake threat of the fire-skull and the real threat of Hench's men.
It seemed, they were doing a good job of escaping towards the vans, which were hopefully being loaded by now. A bunch of goons had made it past Nobody's defenses, but Diamond and Nuce were still around to protect the girls. Despite how outnumbered they were, things seemed to be going okay so far, Valkyrie felt.
Then, a woman walked in. She was tall and strong, her eyes were of an ice-cold grey, and her hair was dyed to a striking fire-red colour.
"Dammit," Nobody muttered, and Valkyrie knew that they were in trouble.
The new arrival didn't seem to care, in the slightest, about the intimidating illusion that seperated her from her targets. With a look of sheer determination, she simply strode right on through it. She annoyedly waved her hand at the tainted air, as though the monster skull was merely an inconvenience to her line of sight.
"See the scary lady over there?!" Nobody asked.
"That's Fire, I'm assuming?!" Skulduggery guessed.
Nobody nodded in confirmation. "Forget about me! From now on, she's enemy number one; give her everything you've got! I'll keep you hidden for as long as I can!"
Valkyrie and Skulduggery exchanged weary glances. They weren't stoked to leave Nobody without any cover, but there was no time to waste. As Hench's men watched Fire walk through the fire-skull untouched, they seemed to realize that the illusion posed no real threat. No longer intimidated by it, they stormed forward with a communal battle cry and caught up with Fire. As they ran through it, the giant flaming skull dispersed like colored smoke and faded away.
Skulduggery jumped out from the minimal cover that Nobody provided and moved ahead, and Valkyrie followed suit. Just as she did so, she could see one of Nobody's hands abruptly move in her peripheral.
Out of nowhere, a couple of steps in front of her, a big woven rope appeared. The rope seemed to stretch across the entire length of the storage hall, and it had appeared just in time to trip their enemies, as they ran towards them.
As the rope wasn't really there, their legs simply passed through it. And yet, the illusion must've had some level of sensory effect, because all of the charging men tripped and fell on their noses anyway. They looked quite ridiculous, as they stumbled onto the floor and tumbled all over each other.
Unbothered by the frenzy all around her, the woman called Fire stepped over the rope and strode on forward. Her right hand came up, and a powerful beam of gleaming blood-red energy erupted from it. She sweeped her arm over the area, and the energy beam chaotically cleared everything in a dozen meter radius around her.
Although the boxes and items weren't exactly real, as Fire's energy collided with Nobody's magic, they created a reaction that was quite real indeed. Anything that was touched by the beam burst into flames, and was blasted meters away from where it stood.
Valkyrie and Skulduggery ducked underneath the beam, and Nobody had no choice but to do the same. Others weren't so quick to react, and Fire swiftly took out two of their cleavers.
They circled around her and moved in from the side. Knowing that Fire couldn't see them, they had the advantage of a surprise attack, but this only provided them with a single chance to take her out quickly.
Or so they thought. Maybe, it was the experience that Fire had with illusionist magic. Maybe, it was the fact that a living skeleton was hard to miss. Regardless of the reason, Fire spoiled their plans as she spotted Skulduggery.
Her eyes widened, and she swung her gleaming hand in his direction. Skulduggery again had to duck beneath the relentless stream of red energy.
Valkyrie used the moment of distraction to make her own move. Before Fire could adjust her arm and point the beam downwards at Skulduggery, she grabbed her by the wrist and roughly pulled upwards. Fire cried out, as her hand shot up and the energy beam cut a glowing line into the ceiling.
The blast soon cut off, and Valkyrie kicked at Fire's knee bend. Unfortunately, this particular leg was already moving out of the way, as Fire kicked at Skulduggery. He was moving in low, hand outstretched, and Fire's foot collided with his fingers. Valkyrie flinched, as she heard some of his fingerbones snap.
Skulduggery hissed in pain, but his other hand immediately replaced the first and grabbed Fire by the ankle. This time around, Valkyrie kicked the correct knee bend, and Fire went down between them.
That was where, Valkyrie thought, they had won this fight. Unfortunately, by now, the disguise of Nobody's illusions seemed to have worn off. Fire's goons had noticed them as well, and before they could do any significant damage to Fire, they dragged them off their boss.
A violent scurry broke out, where they suddenly found themselves vastly outnumbered. Between ducking and returning punches, Valkyrie noticed that all of the illusions around them had stopped. Everyone seemed to now be quite aware of the secret base they were in, and the secret door that led directly to the fleeing girls.
As she ducked beneath an incoming gunshot, Valkyrie managed to glance back in Nobody's direction. The faceless man was a regular-looking woman again. The cute brunette had returned, and she was involved in a fight, herself. She was holding off about five grown men on her own, but they were gaining ground quickly.
Meanwhile, Fire had gotten back to her feet. She seemed determined to take down Skulduggery, and she seemed to be a match for him. Valkyrie didn't have time to watch the entire fight, but whenever she glanced their way, Fire was moving forwards and Skulduggery was moving backwards.
While he was busy with that, Valkyrie found herself encircled. Three lackeys were closing in on her, each of them leering with confidence. Her heart drummed in her chest, sweat was dripping down her temple already, as she calculated her next move.
They rushed her at once, each from a different angle. One was swinging a baton low, another came in with a knife from the side. The last one was an energy thrower, who held back just far enough to unleash a searing purple beam.
She ducked the baton, spun away from the knife, and sent the second lackey stumbling with a kick in the ribs. The air crackled as the energy thrower fired, and a streak of purple hit her shoulder and sizzled her skin. Valkyrie bit back the pain and surged forward. Sparks flickered in her palm, as raw instinct pushed her powers to the surface. A bolt of lightning shot from her fingers and struck the knife-wielding lackey square in the chest. The air was shoved from his lungs as he crumpled to the ground.
The other two men hesitated, surprised but not deterred, and went in for the attack. Valkyrie was beginning to tire, her reflexes were showing the first signs of slowing down, but she grit her teeth and drove a knee in the baton-wielder's gut. She twisted his arm until he cried out, and finished him off with a quick jab to the throat.
This left the energy thrower. He narrowed his eyes and charged up another blast. In return, Valkyrie raised an arm and let her magic crackle inside her fist. He fired first, but she hadn't planned to fire. Instead she went low, ducking under his wild shot, and drove an elbow into his jaw. He dropped, dazed, and granted her a second to catch her breath.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Fire get a good kick in. Valkyrie heard bone break, then Skulduggery screamed, and she turned just in time to see him go down to one knee.
Valkyrie hurled herself through the masses of fighting people all around her, and barreled through to him. Fire's hand was on Skulduggery's head, his hand was grasping at her wrist, as she was about to unleash her energy beam directly into his skull.
Valkyrie grabbed Fire by the shoulders, hauled her off Skulduggery, and tossed her a few meters away. She immediately came after her, but Fire was quick to roll out of her fall and get back to her feet. She turned, spotted her new target, and viciously smirked before attacking her. Valkyrie braced to divert her next assault, fists up and ready to strike, but she quickly changed her mind.
Something white flashed in her peripheral, as Fire pulled out a slim elegant dagger, made entirely of one singular material. Valkyrie's eyes widened when she recognised the material as marble, and she intuitively flinched backwards.
The Limb Killer Blade swung past her face and barely missed her nose. Valkyrie curled forward, as Fire went for her belly next. Then she contorted awkwardly sideways and downwards, as the blade came for her ear.
Valkyrie managed to avoid losing any parts of her body, but now she was hunkered down low with one hand on the ground. She protectively raised her other hand, was willing to sacrifice it for the sake of her head, when Fire swiped at her again. And at the same time, she went for a hail-mary and blindly kicked in her direction.
To Valkyrie's surprise, she managed to kick one of Fire's shins. As she wasn't in the best position either, this made Fire trip a little. She had to focus on catching her balance, and Valkyrie used the opportunity to try and steal the Limb Killer as it moved past her. She didn't manage to get a hold of the handle, but she managed to grab Fire by the wrist and make her sprawl to the floor behind her.
Valkyrie got to her knees and threw herself on top of Fire with a battle cry. Fire retaliated by trying to stab her with the Limb Killer. Valkyrie grabbed her hands with the blade in it, and tried to keep the tip away from her own chest.
Snarling and screeching, the two women wrestled on the ground for a while; one sitting on top, one holding a cursed blade. But then, Fire cried out in alarm, as her arms oddly twitched to the side. She seemed to loose control over the blade for a second.
Valkyrie wasn't about to let this chance go by. She quickly readjusted her grip, in order to twist Fire's hands downwards. The tip of the blade changed direction, and Valkyrie growled and pushed down hard.
Fire screamed, both in pain and in utter horror, as the Limb Killer was plunged directly into one of her kidneys.
Valkyrie jumped to her feet and barely avoided the fireball of one of the elementals amongst Hench's men. She glanced back and spotted Skulduggery. He was barely standing upright on one leg, and one of his arms was broken too, but his other hand was up and pointed in Valkyrie's direction.
She didn't have time to thank him for the quick magical intervention, as the entire warehouse was now swamped by Hench's guard.
The elemental attacked again, tried to touch her with the flames in his hand, and she ducked to the side and shoved his arm off course. Then she gave his temple a precise punch, and was glad to see him go down at once. Another hand came from the side, and she swirled around in time to divert this fist too. Yet, the new guy was tougher, and he already had his other fist ready to punch her in the face.
The world spun, but Valkyrie managed to remain on her feet. She returned the punch, though it missed a little and caught the guy on his ear. He stumbled a bit, looked both disoriented and irritated, and pulled out his gun.
Valkyrie had a feeling that she should duck. Therefore, she ducked. And looked up to see a bullet cut through the guy's throat.
She glanced in Skulduggery's direction. He had found a shotgun and was using it as a brace. With his free hand, he was wielding his revolver.
When she had the chance, Valkyrie looked around for Nobody. Neither the faceless man nor the cute brunette were anywhere to be seen. They had somehow weaseled their way out of the crowd. Valkyrie assumed, or rather hoped, that they had joined Diamond, Nuce, and the drivers of the vans downstairs.
She heard Skulduggery cry out, several steps away from her. Valkyrie tried to see if he needed help, but she was still outnumbered too. The search for Nobody had taken all the time she had, and she was soon distracted by several swinging fists and flying bullets. She tried to fight her way through to him, but her progress was painfully slow.
Valkyrie felt she was doing a decent job of warding off the attackers and keeping them at an arm's length. She also felt that there was no use to this, as there were far too many of them to win the fight. All they would be able to do, was to keep buying time for the girls. How they would get out of this situation, however, Valkyrie had no idea.
She heard Skulduggery scream again, and this time she managed to spot him in the crowd. What she saw instinctively made her lunge towards him, but there was a wall of people in the way. They shoved her backwards, like a group of bullies at the schoolyard.
Skulduggery was completely overrun. He had gone down, and now they were piling up on him; kicking and punching and tugging from all directions.
This was all that Valkyrie could see, before something hit the back of her head. Her vision exploded with red hot pain. And as the world went dark, she could hear Skulduggery's voice in the distance, calling her name.