When the infiltration team approached the collapsed tunnel, their bodies turned translucent as Charon transported the limousine into the land of the dead. A chill rushed over everyone in the vehicle as they passed through the rubble.

Eventually, they emerged on the other side. The group found themselves in the middle of several elevated platforms that surrounded the vehicle they were currently in. The only two ways up were two staircases on their left and right.

Several guards armed with guns patrolled the area. One looked over the railing, directly at Charon’s limousine; however since it was in the land of the dead, they saw nothing.

“So, what’s the plan?” Saxon asked.

“We’ll wait here for a while,” Herman replied. “Right now the main force is set up to make their move. Once they do, everybody here will leave to combat the main force topside, meanwhile Draumur crawls into his hidey-hole.”

“Anybody hungry?” Lya asked, pulling out the snacks Charon had stored in the limousine. “Figured we may as well energize ourselves while we wait.”

Lya tossed out the snacks, and everyone began eating. However, the group’s snacking was interrupted, when suddenly they heard a knocking at the door.

Everyone froze.

“Charon, are we still in the land of the dead?” Herman asked.

Charon gave a thumbs up. As he did, everyone inside felt their bodies grow warm once again, and become whole. Charon switched from a thumbs up to a thumbs down.

Without warning, the door swung open, revealing a well-dressed gentleman in a fine suit.

“Hi there,” the man said with a grin on his face.

Before anyone could react, Lou manifested his revolver and fired six times from the hip. Lou manifested his bullets to be blunted, so that they wouldn’t pierce their targets, and instead merely incapacitate them with blunt force.

The impact force from the six bullets was enough to send the man flying backward. He landed on his back with a loud thud.

“Lya cuff him,” Herman commanded, tossing her a pair of underworld cuffs.

Lya blitzed out of the limousine. Using her mythos, she cuffed the man before he was able to stand back up.

“Oh that feels awful,” the man remarked. “Guess I can’t stay here much longer. Till we meet again.”

The man’s body turned an inky black and collapsed into shadow leaving behind the handcuffs. Lya froze, processing what had just happened. That brief moment of confusion caused Lya to forget the armed guards that could now see her.

A hail of bullets came down upon Lya. However, before any could make contact, Ada leaped out of the limousine. The shield she had manifested morphed to cover her entire body.

Ada interposed herself between Lya and the gunfire. The sound of bullets ricocheting off Ada’s shield shocked Lya back into action. Lya dashed back inside the limousine; Ada retrieved the handcuffs and backed up slowly into the limousine following just behind Lya.

Once everyone was back inside, Tay slammed the door closed. A cacophony of gunfire filled the space as bullets continued to rain down upon the limousine.

“Charon, can you take us back to the land of the dead?” Herman asked.

Charon looked at Herman and shook his head.

“How much damage can this thing take?” Herman asked Charon.

Charon shrugged.

“In moments like these I wish you’d just talk,” Herman said.

“Any idea who that was?” Saxon asked.

Tay closed her eyes. The sound of bullets impacting the limousine made it difficult to think. Delving deep into her photographic memory of the report, she searched until she came across a face that matched the one they had just seen.

“That was Conroy Valentine, owner of The Devil’s Doghouse,” Tay informed the group. “He’s the avatar of Cerberus. His mythos lets him create two clones of himself. That must’ve been one of them.”

“Saxon and I visited The Devil’s Doghouse during the investigation,” Lya remarked. “That place is a hideout for the Chimera family, and more importantly, miles from here. There’s no way a newly awakened mythos has that much range.”

“You’re saying he’s somewhere here?” Lou asked.

“Perhaps,” Lya replied.

“How’d he pull us out of the land of the dead?” Herman questioned.

“Cerberus guards the gates of the Underworld, so it's plausible his avatar has the power to deny people access to the land of the dead,” Saxon remarked. “What’s more troublesome is how he knew to come here?”

“How about we figure that out when we’re not being shot at,” Ada suggested.

Charon gave two thumbs up in response to Ada.

“Everyone hold hands,” Tay requested.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Excuse me?” Saxon questioned.

“Just do it,” Herman insisted.

As everyone joined hands, Tay spoke aloud. “Where are they?”

Invoking the mythos of Pythia, the Oracle of Delphi, Tay received the answer to her question and bestowed it upon everyone else.

For the entire infiltration team, everybody who was currently firing on Charon’s vehicle became illuminated with a faint blue light. Their outlines could be seen even through solid objects.

“Neat trick,” Lya remarked.

“Can’t do much else, unfortunately,” Tay lamented.

“I’m in the same boat,” Herman said. “Without proper setup, my mythos can’t function.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll be able to handle this many,” Saxon said, taking stock of both the number of assailants as well as their current positions.

Ada grabbed hold of the door with one hand and raised her shield with the other. “On the count of 3. 1, 2, 3!”

Ada swung open the door, and immediately all gunfire was redirected toward her. However, none of it was able to even scratch Ada’s shield.

From behind Ada, a blur of orange, came racing out. Lya ran straight at the elevated area, and up the side of the wall. As she reached the railing, she grabbed hold of it and swung herself over the edge.

As Lya landed on the elevated surface, several of the guards turned their weapons on her. Lya looked at them and cocked her head in disappointment. These people weren’t avatars; one well-placed strike at superspeed was enough to knock them out.

Lya was able to easily speed-blitz everybody who had turned their weapons on her, taking them out before any of them could blink.

Meanwhile, with all the attention focused on Ada, Lou managed to emerge from the limousine without the risk of being caught in the crossfire. The moment he did, Lou looked around and noticed that six of the guards had switched their targets from Ada to him.

Time dilated for Lou as his enhanced reactions took over. He noticed that each of the guards had managed to get off a single shot. Still, that wouldn’t be an issue for him.

Lou unloaded his revolver, taking one well-placed shot at each of the guards who had opened fire on him. In that fraction of a second, Lou had precisely aimed his shots, such that they followed the same trajectory as those fired at him.

Lou’s bullets shattered those fired at from the guard’s standard firearms as they came into contact. The shots continued to travel--without any loss of momentum--until they impacted their targets; that impact force was strong enough to knock the guards out cold.

Saxon took advantage of all the chaos, going to use Schrödinger's cat to teleport behind a group of guards. Despite all the gunfire, one of the guards managed to hear Saxon apparate behind them, and alerted the others.

The rest of the guards turned and opened fire on Saxon. In response, Saxon raised his hand, and called upon the mythos of the shield and the spear paradox.

An ethereal silver shield that covered his entire body manifested itself in Saxon’s hand. Saxon’s shield was nowhere as durable as Ada’s, but it would suffice against simple bullets.

Eventually, the firing stopped as the guards ran out of ammunition.

Saxon dismissed his shield. “What's the matter, you all look shocked.”

Saxon slammed his hand down and invoked the mythos of Raijin. He had noticed that water from above had seeped through the cracks, and poured into the area.

The lightning that coursed through Saxon's arm, electrified the water where the guards opposing Saxon stood. Electricity coursed through their bodies till they dropped unconscious.

This was a far more efficient way of using Raijin which Ina had informed Saxon of. Rather than throwing the lighting, Saxon could let it flow naturally or simply strike with it.

Taking advantage of the guards’ attention being split, Ada charged toward one of the walls and leaped upward. She managed to catch one of the railing.

The guards right above her opened fire, but Ada threw up her shield, and bullets bounced right off. Launching herself up and over the rails, Ada manifested a spear in her other hand.

Ada had learned that having weapons in your hands meant everybody ignored your feet. As the guards attempted to fire at her, Ada ducked low avoiding all the bullets. She then swept the legs of the two guards nearest to her.

As the two began to fall, Ada dismissed her spear and shield, grabbed their faces, and slammed them into the railing. With a loud bang, both went unconscious.

Ada resummoned her spear, and shield, though this time, she swapped the hands they were in. This confused the guards enough to give Ada an opening to strike.

First, she shield-bashed the only guard on her left across the chin. The force of the strike was enough to knock them off balance. A follow-up strike with the edge of the shield across the bridge of the guard’s nose was enough to knock them out.

The other thing Ada learned is that everyone is scared of the spear, and nobody is scared enough of the shield.

Ada spun around and threw up her shield in time to block the gunfire from the two remaining guards. Keeping her shield up, Ada charged forward and struck out with her spear. As she did, Ada increased the length of the spear, which caught the guards by surprise.

The spear pierced through the shoulder of both the guards, immobilizing them for a brief moment. Ada smashed the edge of her shield across the first guard’s temple, sending them to the ground. Then, she stepped forward, and backhanded the other one across the jaw with her shield, knocking them out instantly.

Lya, Saxon, Lou, and Ada all looked around the room. None of them saw anybody still illuminated. This area had been cleared.

“Good work,” Tay remarked, exiting the limousine.

“Got the signal from Quinn, while you guys were fighting,” Herman informed the group, following shortly behind Tay. “Still, we’ll have to assume they’re more prepared for us than we expected.”

“How did they know?” Saxon questioned.

“That doesn’t matter right now,” Herman said. “We know nobody here told them, and that’s what’s important. Don’t lose trust in each other.”

“Alright,” Saxon replied.

“Tay, you got the map?” Herman asked.

“Right here,” Tay replied, opening up the map on the ground for everyone to see.

“If Draumur knows we’re here he might be holed up somewhere different than we expect,” Herman remarked. “That means we need to check everywhere he could be.”

Tay closed her eyes and asked another question. “Where could Draumur Chimera be?”

Using her mythos to receive the answer to her question, Tay opened her eyes to see five spots illuminated on the map, each at the end of a different tunnel. She quickly pointed them out to the rest of the group.

“What’s the plan?” Lya asked Herman.

Herman stared at the map for a long time, until he came to a decision. “We’ll split up into 5 teams. Each team will take one possible location.

Saxon and I will take Draumur’s main hideout where we thought he would be since it’s likely to be best defended. The rest of you will each take one location.

If you locate Draumur do not engage, and report his location to the rest of us. We’ll regroup, and take him on as a team.”

Everyone nodded. Herman designated who would be checking each possible location, and everybody went their separate ways.

The hunt for the Chimera was on.