"Two wars in one day," James commented, reading the prompt still with unfocused eyes. "That's a lot of dicks to shoot."

"Is that really all you think about?" Derek asked looking at him with a mixture of exasperation and disgust.

"Of course not. I also think about letting Squirrel loose on them as well." James replied petting the wolf on the head.

"Is he bigger than before?" Derek asked.

"He is, thanks for noticing. He evolved after the last battle." James beamed with pride at his pet. "Watch this."

With a command, Squirrel grew to the size of an SUV and howled loudly.

"Holy shit, that will come in handy at some point," Derek gawked at how large Squirrel was now.

"Hell yeah! Now he can jump in and start the destruction with true gusto! Though I think at that size nuts will be harder to come by." James commented as he now had to reach up slightly to stroke Squirrel's side.

"This is fucking bullshit!" Tom suddenly blurted out, seemingly oblivious to what the others were talking about.

"What?" Derek asked.

"We now have to fight a war on two fronts all because that bitch wants to rule?!" Tom continued balling his fists up and staring out into the city.

"Now, now, Tom. Getting all heated won't help the situation. We have to take time to think." Brian tried to calm him.

"No one wins wars on two fronts! They are really trying to pin us against the wall. I bet she had fucking spies watching us this whole time and decided to make her move while we are distracted with The Master!" Tom raged on despite the attempts to calm him.

"We'll increase security and make sure everyone is on standby. We should still handle the situation with The Master first so we can help those poor people enslaved. Then we can focus on Shandra." Jay offered in an attempt to help.

"I told you she was a bitch. Everyone always shows their colors in the end. Greedy sack of shit." Kiera commented.

"I just wanna destroy her completely and then The Master." Tom seethed now, coming down slightly from his anger, but really feeling pissed off by the strategy and ideals Shandra held. "She's no better than he is!"

"You're right. But we can't do anything in anger. Or we will all suffer. Let's stop and think rationally about a plan of action." Brian cautioned Tom. Coming over to put a hand on his shoulder.

Tom let out a long sigh as he tried to gather himself, "You're right. I know. But it makes me so angry that she's exploiting this situation making it that much harder to help those people. What a fucking bitch! She doesn't even care that people are suffering!"

"We will help those people. We promise. But we will do it smart and safe. An all-out attack would mean the loss of too many people." Derek added.

"Right, right. I know that. Okay. Let's get back to planning. We will come up with something." Tom said finally feeling his anger dwindle back down to where he could think.

"Yeah. Besides, it's not like things are going to get any worse." James said shrugging.

"You complete idiot. You just have to..." Derek began but was interrupted by an explosion coming from the walls inside the compound.

Derek glared with fury at James, "You and your big fucking mouth."

Everyone took off at a full sprint to see what had happened. When they arrived at the part of the wall that had been blown up, they saw men in full ninja gear running into the compound weapons drawn.

"Fuck! To me! TJ, Brian, get inside and sound the alarm...again!" Tom shouted as he began casting Summon Demonic Creature.

Bron rose from the summoning circle and looked around.

"That was soon," Bron said as he surveyed the area.

"Ninjas. Sneaky bastards." Tom blurted quickly as he equipped his sword.

"Wait in the lights. Don't go into the shadows. Strike when you see them. Anticipate where they will appear." Bron instructed as he equipped two smaller swords this time.

"Stay in the lights! Don't let them be in shadows!" Tom called out to the others the directions Bron had given him.

"Hehehe. Time for a snack Squirrel." James chuckled as he pointed a gun at a ninja that was charging toward him.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Firing one shot, the man tried to jump to the side but wasn't fast enough. He rolled to the side screaming and grabbing his crotch. Squirrel jumped onto the man and bit down. The screaming reached an all-new crescendo and then cut off suddenly.

Kiera pulled out her lute and began playing a song of battle.

"You have a bard. That will be very handy." Bron grinned at Tom and then charged into the combat.

Activating his newest Tattoo, Tom felt power leave him and his MP dropped but Bron seemed to suddenly move faster. Suddenly a barrier flashed all around Tom, lighting up in a sky-blue shimmer. Looking behind him Tom saw a surprised assassin with a knife aimed at Tom's back. Jerky appeared suddenly on his shoulder holding out his glowing blue hands with a snarl on his face.

"No hurt master. Jerky kill!" and then he let the barrier go and dove at the man, biting and clawing at his neck.

The would-be assassin went down with a surprised scream as blood sprayed out of his neck. Reaching down with his sword, Tom put the man out of his misery with a stab through the heart. Jerky jumped back onto his shoulder looking left and right, teeth barred in an aggressive display.

"Did that Tattoo activation just make you stronger too?" Tom asked Jerky.

Nodding once, Tom was happy to see that his familiar was ready to fight with him.

"Alright! Then let's show them what we are made of!" Tom said and let out a battle cry as he rushed into the fight.

Jay was battling with one of the ninjas, exchanging blows in a furious attempt to get the upper hand. Small slices were appearing on both of them as they narrowly avoided each other's vital point attacks. Suddenly a dark glow appeared around Jay and his wounds began to close. Feeling invigorated he began to press his attack and managed to knick the back of the ninja's arm. The man was able to fight for about another ten seconds before he collapsed to the ground from blood loss.

"Ha! Brachial artery bitch. Can't keep fighting if that gets clipped!" Jay said to the body on the ground. "Thanks for the assist, Tom!"

Running off to find another victim, Jay disappeared in the shadows just as the assassins were doing. Derek had stayed back with Kiera to defend her while she buffed the team and was busy using his shield to keep another black-garbed attacker at bay. He couldn't get a shot in because they were so nimble.

Kiera saw her opportunity and extended a foot out that the ninja tripped over falling on her side. Derek didn't hesitate and brought his mace down on the assassin's head, caving it in with a single powerful strike.

Tom engaged a ninja with a katana, which he thought briefly was not the right weapon, but quickly let that go as they continued their combat. When his opponent brought his sword down in an overhand strike using both hands, Tom brought his sword up with one hand and charged up a dark ball spell with his other hand and slammed it into the other man's stomach, releasing the spell as an attack at the same time.

Flying back from Tom and into the wall where he slammed with enough force to crack the stone, the assassin slumped to the ground in death.

"Fantastic strategy, Tom!" Bron called from where he was defending against two ninjas' attacks with another lying dead at his feet.

With one deft motion of his body, Bron twisted to the side, moving his blades across as well. Both opponents were thrown off balance and he continued to whirl around dragging both blades across their midsections. Blood splatter flew off of their bodies and the ends of his blades and they went down screaming in pain. He then stabbed them both in the neck ending their fight and moving on to another.

"Damn. He is efficient." Tom said and Jerky nodded staring wide-eyed at Bron's prowess.

A bolt whizzed out of the dark and another shield appeared just in time to stop it from hitting Tom in the head.

"Whoa! Thanks, buddy. That was close!" Tom said to Jerky, giving him a scratch behind the horns.

Turning to see where the bolt had come from, Tom heard a shot fire off from behind him and saw the assassin suddenly fall out of the shadows first to his knees then his chest. Dead. A pool of blood began growing around his body.

Turning to see where the shot had come from, Tom could see twelve security guards with assault rifles drawn aiming at the battlefield.

"Fire at the enemy!" TJ yelled from beside the men with his own weapon pointed at a group near Bron.

Rapid gunfire began as Bron dove out of the line of fire. The security guards advanced as they mowed down all the remaining assassins. TJ held up a hand and the firing ceased.

"Really getting that training down I see. Nice job TJ!" Tom called from where he was standing.

The guards fanned out at another hand gesture from TJ and began sweeping the area for more enemies. When they finished, they lowered their weapons and gathered back near the others.

"Perimeter secured. I'll go get someone to begin repairs on the wall immediately." TJ said and ran off toward the guild building.

"Great work everyone. We showed them not to mess with us!" Tom said.

"Or we showed them that we weren't really ready," Derek said.

"What do you mean? We took them out pretty fast." Tom asked, confused about what Derek meant.

"But they were able to get close enough to blow up part of the wall. That shouldn't have happened. We need more people on duty for watch." Derek replied looking at the now gaping hole and smoking piles of rubble.

"We can't be everywhere. But we should probably also have some people in the areas around the building inside to be able to sound an alarm as well." Jay added.

"Good thought. I'll make that happen." Derek replied.

"That bitch!" Kiera cried out.

"We know, but we have to deal with it after The Master. Those poor slaves are our priority." Tom said, trying to soothe Kiera's rage.

"I know, but I really wanna rip her head off." Kiera continued seething. "You don't have any quests that require you to kill her do you?"

"No. I'll leave that for you if you really need it." Tom said.

"Good. Gonna be a good old fashioned ass whooping!" Kiera said, punching one fist into her other open palm.

Tom walked over to the man who had tried to shoot him and picked up his crossbow.

"Why would he use a crossbow when a gun was available?" Tom asked looking at the weapon.

"Because they are assassins," Bron said simply, walking up behind him. "Those items you call guns had a light that comes out of them when they shoot projectiles. They would be exposed when it flashed."

"Well, this gives me an idea. But we will have to plan carefully. Once we are ready though, it will be time to pay The Master a little visit." Tom said, an evil grin coming to his face.