Down the hill from where his hotel was stationed, Norbert looked down, listening to Obsius as the bird explained what it saw to him.

Nodding, Norbert replied, "So pretty much we have a bunch of gangsters down there holding someone hostage? And the entire warehouse is filled with them?" Norbert asked as he looked at Obsius sitting on his knee and crouched, looking down at the warehouse from the tree branch he was on.

Obsius gave him a look of annoyance before nodding her head. Norbert just smiled in response as he positioned his mask once again, flexing his gloves on either side of him.

"Perfect, just the type of thing I'm after. Oh, did you see the weapons they used?" Norbert asked, knowing the bird had told him before but only half listening to the conversation as he tried to calm his breathing when he heard about the hostage.

Receiving a look of annoyance, he brushed the bird's feathers as the blackbird turned around on his knee, staring off at the warehouse as well. Chirp. The bird responded with a single sound.

Norbert just nodded. "So there will be guns, thankfully no magic over here or else that would be doubly fun," Norbert said to himself. He felt the energy within his body; he spun it around and confirmed it wasn't sluggish. After several moments of sitting there, making the energy rush within his body, confident that it wouldn't have any drawbacks, leaving him half dead.

The only question left was if he could take a bullet to the head and survive.

Staring down as he asked himself the question, hands shaking, scrunching them up as tight as he could, flexing his arms until they stilled. Breathing out once more, he heard Obsius chirp at him. Nodding his head, he would need to move now or be stuck where he was for the rest of the night without moving.

Breathing in once more, tasting the clean air of the mountainside, Norbert focused on his eyes, checking the area with magic once more. Darkness consumed the world before him, holding onto the branch, knowing it was there by touch and the world hadn't gone dark. Happy that there weren't any spells, Norbert changed his vision to see in the dark. The once pitch-black world turning into greys the details that weren't there now popping out.

As Norbert stared, he focused on his eyes, allowing the energy to focus there, pushing the darkness back even further, and the details pop out just a bit more. Waving his hand in front of his face, confident that there was no delay in his vision, Norbert hopped off the branch, Obsius flying off his knee and heading towards the warehouse with Norbert following on foot.

He crouched down carefully, stepping on the stones on the hill, not wanting to alert anyone down there that he was here just yet. The sounds of the night around him, animals rustling about, and the wind moving the branches; happy with the cover, Norbert pressed forward, not spotting anyone on the perimeter so far.

Now, within throwing distance of an average person, Norbert could spot the guards leaning against a wall, the two talking. Both of them relaxed. Norbert confirmed the pistols in each of their hands, unfamiliar with guns. Norbert just stared, trying to remember where he saw them.

Not able to remember, Norbert made his way around the rectangular building. After going around the perimeter, sprinting as he crossed the road leading to it, Norbert confirmed the guard positions. On the ground were two on each of the four sides. Seeing on the roof was just a long gunman on each side of it, lying on the warehouse roof, staring at the rocky hill with scrubs surrounding him.

Obvious, sitting on the bush in front of Norbert, was crouching behind, just staring at him.

Norbert whisper to the bird, "Yes, I need to move. Ok, you shut your mouth."

Obsius just stared back at him, Norbert seeing a glimmer in the bird's eye. Before he could open his mouth again, the bird made as much racket as possible.

SQWARK CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP

Norbert sprinted forward without waiting for his cover to be blown, instantly pushing energy through his body, knowing that even covered up, there would be parts of the purple light exuding from him in the darkness.

Reaching the two in front of him, both eyes comprehensive as Norbert's fist extended and slammed into the one on the right. Fist-hitting the body, Norbert felt as if it hit a material; thankful, he pulled back at the last moment, or else his fist would have passed through it. First, hitting the man, the air getting knocked out of him as his body lifted from the ground. He was spitting out all over Norbert as Norbert looked at the man on the left.

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Just staring mouth open, unable to process what was happening, Norbert stepped towards him, knee extended out as it slammed into the man. Doubling over instantly, the gun he was drawing clattering to the ground.

Holding onto the body, stopping it from crashing, Norbert looked around him, hearing if anything was happening in the compound. Breath held, he stared around.

"Hey Tony, you good?" A voice came from above.

Silently cursing, Norbert thought if he should reply but decided not to; it was better to be quiet in this situation and use the few moments to enter the building rather than raise the alarm with everyone else and be peppered with shots. Between the two men, the light from above shone down, revealing to the night the entrance to the building. The door on the side is next to the massive roller doors used for trucks and large items entering the building.

Stepping forward, Norbert looked at the handle, testing the chrome material, the lock not budging for him. Turning back to the men around him, Norbert bent over them, ruffling through their pockets and belts. In the first man's pocket, Norbert pulled out a set of keys. He wanted to scream Euricha.

"Hey Tony or Rothael, if you don't respond, Tooki will be annoyed about coming down there." The man above said aloud.

Stopping himself from crying, Norbert opened the door, hearing it click loudly at night. As he opened the door, a fluttering came from behind him, Obsius swooping down and entering the warehouse with Norbert; silently, Norbert closed the door, locking it as the thud echoed throughout the warehouse. Cringing from the noise, tensed up, Norbert looked to Obsius.

"Where is the hostage located?" Norbert asked the bird.

Obsius is staring at Norbert, nodding its head down to the bottom. He looked around at the centre of the warehouse and found himself on a metal catwalk on the level of the metal grating above and below him. All the machinery was stripped out, only wooden cargo boxes remaining, creating a maze throughout the place. On each floor, small down lights were located inside the building, though not enough and not placed strategically with the boxes, creating countless shadows and leaving the place only half-lit.

Looking to the top, Norbert found a box jutting out of the side of the building; following with his eyes to get there, he needed to walk along the catwalk he found himself in and go up the stairs, continuing until he hit the box. Staring up, seeing the light inside and voices coming out of it, muffled through the door, Norbert backed away, not wanting to take on any unnecessary confrontations on here, especially not with the unknown damage from the bullets, and not wanting to hurt the hostage.

Staring down where Obsius was indicating, Norbert heard noises from their bellow, quick, shallow breathing, two lights moving around the place, both in constant motion following from the door. Nodding his head in confirmation to Obsius, believing it would be down there, his target Norbert traced it back, trying to find a way down to the bottom as quietly as possible.

Seeing a ladder heading to the lower floor, Norbert slid down it, hands and feet on the outside, watching as he grabbed onto it, stopping his feet from crashing into the metal below. Looking around, seeing the maze of crates in front of him, sticking to the edges, Norbert followed through, going down floor by floor. Feet landing on concrete as he stepped off the ladder, Norbert looked around from the darkness. This level is empty of crates, only the people scanning the torches around, chairs and other items out of place in a warehouse.

The light shining forward passed over Norbert, staying still, hoping the guard didn't see him. Sadly for Norbert, the torchlight whipped back onto him, his entire body exposed, the light shining in his eyes. Norbert cut off the night vision, not wanting to be blinded by the white light. The world darkened as colour once returned. Norbert stared through watery eyes, wiping them with the back of his hand to keep the liquid from running and blurring his vision.

"FREEZE! And hold your hands up." One of the guards said from in front of him as Norbert continued to blink and wipe his eyes, disregarding the command the guard asked him.

CLICK

Norbert raised his other hand, giving one last blink before staring at the other ones.

Now, looking, the guards seemed to have come out of the woodwork.

CLICK, CLICK, CLICK, CLICK, CLICK, CLICK

Norbert lost track of the amount; for several seconds, the only sound was guns being cocked, ready to shoot. Norbert is waiting for them all to finish.

CLICK, CLICK, CLICK

Norbert waited and counted. After reaching five, he looked around, projecting his voice and allowing himself to be heard. "Are you all?"

CLICK

"Done?" Norbert asked the crowd. He waited several seconds, and no other clicks happened.

"TH-"

CLICK

"Norbert just looked around, locating the noise. Finding the culprit a man bigger than him, the size of a bear with hair covering his body. Norbert shook his head. Panning his eyes over to the centre, finding the quivering body bathed in the centre of a down light, Norbert looked at the person.

Realising it was a boy he was staring at, crouching down, hearing everyone move their guns to position but disregarding the noise, he looked at the boy.

"You Grossly's champion?" Norbert asked the boy.

At the name of Grossly, the boy's face shot up, staring back at Norbert as hope sparked in the boy's eyes for a second.

"Norbert?" the shaky voice came out. One of the guards near the boy averted his eyes from Norbert, bringing his gun up and smashing the butt into the boy's head. Instantly, he dropped to the ground. "You were told to be quiet, twerp." The guard said, looking back to Norbert.

"You just want to be the stereotypical bad guy now?" Norbert asked around the room.

He heard a voice shout out from far above him and stepped to the right so Norbert could see up above through the cracks of all the platforms and boxes. Standing next to the box above, a man leaned over the railing. "We all have our positions to fill, Norbert, Scout of the Frontier, not defeated by Arzlan and currently residing in a jungle doing who knows what." The man responded.

Above, Norbert shouted back, "Looks like someone did their research." Norbert responded, gulping, wondering what mess he was now in.