The first to arrive were the Black Vipers, and with them came a dangerous force.

They weren’t going to be using guns, since those were too loud, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any lethal weapons in their arsenal. As the military trucks started to crowd into the parking lot and surround the Bear God Army members who were brawling with the black suits, the men and women in red tensed.

From those cars jumped shadows, people wearing completely black clothing, covering every part of their skin.

And these shadows had blades.

Knives that sliced through the helpless Bear God Army members, spilling out red blood on the streets.

That didn’t last for a very long time, however, as three busses crashed themselves through a gate and slammed into a few of the military cars. Out of these automobiles came the Bear God Army soldiers, with their tire irons and bats. The battle was now elevated, in only a few minutes, as the fight had gone from just a brawl with fists to a bloodbath coated in gasoline.

***

But currently, inside of the building, nobody knew of such things.

“Wait, so you’re telling me Jackal sent you a letter saying they’d be trying to assassinate you?” Honey asked, checking the letter front and back. They had untied her. “And your decision was to hire the guy who hasn’t ever been able to stop this assassin?”

“Well…”

“That’s not fair,” Lance said. “It’s way harder to stop a killer than to be a killer. Plus, so far, we haven’t had any problems. So long as I keep Loren right in front of me, nothing could happen to him. Anyway, you know anything about this Jackal guy? Since you’re more on that side of the law?”

“Eh?”

Honey seemed to think about it for a second before responding.

“Yeah, I don’t know much. Jackal is just an assassin, and a pretty good one, right? We usually don’t cross those types. Too risky. You sure it’s even him in the first place?”

“We’re not,” Mick said, butting in before Lance could. “But any threat is worth taking measures against. And following that line of thought, are you saying you’re someone like Mr. Gordon?”

“Sort of.”

“She’s nothing like me at all!”

“In that case,” Mick started. “Would you be interested in helping us out? We’ve got a decent budget to pay out, plus, you’ll get a chance to talk with Mr. Dames.”

While both of those were inviting rewards, there was something else that made Honey want to help protect the violinist. She wanted to meet this ‘Jackal’. Her curiosity was itching, while jobs like this rarely excited her, for once, she felt like going all out.

“Ha! For all that? There’s no way I could refuse,” Honey said, a smile forming on her face. “And the first thing I’ll do as a new bodyguard is point out that someone has been listening to us for the past five minutes while we talked. I didn’t want to say anything, but I’m pretty sure they aren’t any of your bodyguards.”

A chill ran down everyone else’s spines as Honey pointed to the door.

It was closed, and it was the only way in and out of the changing room, other than the ventilation shaft, that currently housed five people. It was soundproof, so nobody should be able to hear through it, but the absolute confidence in what she said made everyone think twice. Without a word, Lance quickly took to the door and swung it open, drawing his revolver at the same time.

Standing there, with small pistols in their hand, were two men in completely black suits. There were black masks on their faces, and one had some kind of elongated metal tube connected to his ear to a device on the door, much like a stethoscope. Behind them were bloody splatters from bodyguards that had been shot.

Lance hesitated.

But they didn’t move, completely frozen.

“When you caught me, I dropped some stuff off by the door,” Honey said while the door was being opened. “Just in case. Oh, and don’t worry, Mr. Director and Ms. Assistant, you caught them too, but I neutralized the ones in your bodies. You should be fine. Do you think this is Jackal?”

Without answering, Lance swung his revolver out and smashed the first intruder on the nose. The man reeled back, grabbing at it and gasping, which brought the other back to attention. He made a grunt, raising his pistol, before Lance stabbed his palm out to grab the muzzle, swinging it backwards in a way that snapped the man’s finger back. The wounded man tried to scream, but leapt on him, knocking the second man on the first. The detective lifted his fist into the sky and slammed it down on their heads, one at a time, using the grip like a bludgeon to smash their foreheads. After two bops each, the men stopped squirming.

Lance looked back frantically.

“Here! Help me drag them inside!”

Only Ms. Lenz obeyed his command, dropping her things to rush over and grab the men’s feet, pulling them inside the dressing room while Lance pushed. Before slamming the door, he surveyed the area to see if there was anyone else.

Not a soul in sight.

Slam.

Where were the other bodyguards?

“What’s happening?” Mick said, desperation obvious in his voice and actions as he grabbed Lance’s collar. “What’s going on? Did you do this?” His last question was aimed at Honey.

“Don’t touch me,” Lance said, removing the man. “And relax.”

He looked down at the two unconscious assassins.

“Tie them up.”

It had only been a few minutes since Mick came back into the room, and before that, Lance was keenly aware that bodyguards were still roaming outside. In particular, the one guarding the room that Honey had gotten under her control. It was possible this was her doing, but Lance didn’t think that likely.

If it was, they’d all be under control currently, in this poorly ventilated room.

As Mick and Ms. Lenz did their best to tie up the two men, Loren was slowly putting on his clothes. Honey sat on the counter, waving a small thin stiletto in her hand back and forth. The type that had no sharp ends, only a dangerous pointed tip. When she noticed Lance looking her way, she smirked.

“I didn’t notice anything on my way here,” she said casually. “If that’s what you’re going to ask.”

“I was just about to. Mick, Ms. Lenz, did either of you see anything on your way over here?”

Mick shook his head slowly.

“No, I didn’t notice anything. I mean...everyone was leaving, so I didn’t think much of it being empty, but…”

“I-it seemed like people w-were working, uh, sorry,” Ms. Lenz answered. She seemed to be having trouble with her knot tying, so Mick took over. “I...I t-thought they were just, like, staff members. B-but I saw those guys...um, these guys. I’m pretty sure there were m-more than two...I think.”

“How many more?”

“A few? Maybe?”

If that was the case, this was most certainly not Jackal. Jackal was a single man operation, one that didn’t leave witnesses to their bloody killings. That meant the letter was completely a ruse.

In that case, who was attacking?

“What’s the plan, Mr. Detective?”

Even though she sounded careless and taunting, the question Honey asked was important. It got the gears in Lance’s head spinning. If there were a group of people, trying to assassinate Dames, how were they supposed to deal with it? Staying in this room was certainly a good defense, but with it came a massive risk.

What if they had explosives?

What if they flooded the room with poison?

Or what if they had the audacity to light the entire building on fire?

Because he had no idea who these men were, only that they weren’t Jackal but had no qualms using that name as bait, Lance couldn’t easily conjure up a counterplan. If only he was in Erymanthian form, he could reason this all out easy, but that ego was still recovering after changing away earlier. It’d be at least a few days before he could go back. In this moment, he trusted only himself, Hesperides, to deal with the problem.

He looked at the two in black.

“I’ve got an idea.”

***

Dark Cobra got out of the car casually and walked towards the entrance of the building. In the parking lot, the two factions were warring against each other, and the battle had started spreading.

Stolen novel; please report.

Men in red were starting to clamber up the building to escape the Black Viper’s weapons, and were breaking pieces of the building off to throw. Some had even run inside, smashing glass and tossing chairs or other random fixtures at each other like madmen. This riot-like battle was becoming a bit too much.

Killing Loren Dames was the only mission. Once that was complete, they could easily leave.

She walked to the building with a black suitcase in hand, flanked by two dark skinned almost identical looking men in black suits. Unlike any of these other members, this trio were the true elites of the Black Viper, and they showed it in their garb. Pristine tuxedos, flourished with touches that would cost a fortune, spotless and exquisite, that were about to be thrown into battle.

But these suits had been through many battles, and they had yet to be torn. That was proof of their superiority.

The man on the left dragged with him a massive double-headed axe, while the other had three katana at his hips, two on the left and one on the right.

As they walked to the building and then inside through a double door, both sides held distance from them. For the Black Viper, it was because they knew not to bother their superiors. It would mean death, or even worse. For the Bear God Army, they saw only fear and death in the eyes of those three. Eyes that didn’t stare upon you as a person, but as a collection of weak points that could be easily cut apart to make you spill everything inside out onto the floor. An aura of death followed these three.

They stopped at a small poster map that displayed the building and its different floors. Dark Cobra pulled a pair of reading glasses out and squinted at it.

“Komodo, you studied this building before, correct?”

The man with the katana, named Shadow Komodo, nodded his head very slowly.

“Aye.” He spoke with an africalos accent. But unlike most, his voice was higher pitched, and he sounded energetic. “Studied it back and forth. Know it like the back of my hands. You tell me where to go, and I can bring ya’.”

“Tch.”

His brother, Nightmare Gator (the man with the axe), didn’t like to hear the sound of his sibling’s voice. He had a bizarre scar: a square that boxed his face, as though it was in a frame.

“Ah! You got a problem with me, bruv? Howsabout you say it to my face, like the man you are?”

“Tch.”

“Shut up,” Dark Cobra said, silencing them as she raised her hand. Fighters had started climbing the stairs, making room between their skirmishes and the three new intruders. “Let’s get this over with. Where would Dames be? Our scouts should have figured that out by now.”

“Haha, oh, well, I’m afraid something like that did happen, Cobra,” Shadow Komodo said. He grinned wide, from ear to ear. There were scars on his lips, up and down and alternating, that made his mouth look like it was stitched together. “Interior squad alpha said they followed Dames’s manager to a room which looked like an important one on the blueprints. They were gonna go in and see if he was there. They haven’t said anything back, and I haven’t tried to contact them.”

Dark Cobra’s eye twitched.

“Why didn’t you tell me that earlier?”

“Huh? Oh, I knew it was important, but come on. They already took out most of the bodyguards, you think they just got killed off?”

“Tch.”

“Hey! Brother! Don’t you click your tongue at me, or I shall cut it off and make it into a finger puppet, and then make that finger puppet dance and perform a skit and film it, then force you to watch the film over and over until you cannot close your eyes without picturing it!”

“Tch.”

“Can you both shut up,” Dark Cobra said, shaking her head. “Where was it on the map? Bring us there.”

Shadow Komodo put his hand to his forehead in a mock salute.

“Aye, ma’am! Just follow me.”

Just over to the side of the main entrance was a hallway, and after a turn, it came to a doorway. Normally, there would be a guard on watch here, but instead, there was a bloody corpse wearing a guard uniform. The three stepped over it as they entered the backstage access, a long hallway with small bulbs illuminating it. Shadow Komodo led the way, their footsteps making absolutely no noise at all.

While the fighting from outside hadn’t made its way backstage yet, that wasn’t to say it didn’t look like it. The corpses of men working here were scattered about, blood staining the floors. Fortunately, Black Viper’s employers would be able to keep the police out of the area, and they had a cleaning group on staff who would deal with the evidence.

“Call all of our men to the area,” Dark Cobra said. “We’re going to storm that room. If there’s someone capable of fighting back, we’ll just smother them with bodies and stab through the gaps.”

***

“Uh...are you sure this is the place?”

Currently, Dominic and Wolf sat together, in Dr. Hawk’s car, staring at the concert building in the distance. The premise itself was normally quite secluded from the outside; it was wrapped by a tiny moat, and then after that was a tiny forest of trees. It was meant to block out those on the inside from the world outside, as if to seal them in a different universe of nature. Because of that, the entrance ways were intentionally not easy to get to, and it required doing some loops to get to the parking lot.

What the two men saw was nothing what they expected.

It was like a bloody war.

Men in red and men in black were clashing with each other, and dozens of cars looked like they had been smashed together. It was an absurd sight, and what made it stranger were the sounds as they approached.

Though the red clothed folk were loud and noisy in their brawl, the black suits were silent. The volume only came from one group.

“B-because it doesn’t look like it,” Dominic continued. “I...I mean, come on? This definitely isn’t the p-place, right?”

But Wolf knew better. He knew those in red. They were his old comrades.

“This is fine, I can take it from here.”

As he started to reach for the door to exit, the car jumped to life and started inching closer to the action, and building further on. When Wolf looked at Dominic, he could see the young man tearing up and trembling as he steered the car slowly around the bodies of people lying motionless on the ground.

“I...I...I…”

Dominic cleared his throat and spoke with conviction.

“I can’t just let you go in there alone.”

So they drove forward.

Fortunately, it seemed like the fighters were evenly matched, all of them heading off one versus one or going into free for alls apart from each other. Because of how slow Dominic was driving, nobody paid the car much attention. Well, it was also old, beaten up, and the farthest from intimidating an automobile could be, so that probably helped.

“You don’t need to do this, you know?”

“I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t,” Dominic replied, eyes focused entirely on what was ahead of him. Avoiding the people duking it out. “Though I’m really reconsidering all of this. P-please don’t tempt me.”

“Heh. Alright.”

After that, Wolf kept his mouth shut. He was worried.

It was within his expectations that the Bear God Army would be here. That much was obvious. But what seemed stranger to him were these other people, the black suits. Who were they? Didn’t seem like police...so probably the violinist’s bodyguards? But why weren’t the police coming?

There was also another more important factor that scared Wolf.

Where was Bear God?

That man wouldn’t let his brothers and sisters fight alone, and when it came to turf fights, he was always on the front lines. The type of lead by action and example in battle.

If he wasn’t here, it meant he could only be in one other place.

As Dominic slowed the car and neatly parked in one of the closest available parking spots to the front door entrance, the two men watched as a group of three entered the building. Normally, that wouldn’t mean much.

But there was something about these three that made the two men hold their breath.

These people are dangerous.

The two, who had very different levels of combat experience but similar relations with extremely strong and violent people, shuddered as the trio left their vision. Those were the kinds of people who killed as though it were breathing. That wouldn’t stop Wolf, however, and he opened the truck door and jumped out.

Actually, their appearance was a good thing, he thought as sweat beaded around his body. Whoever they are, they’re the big dogs. The ones in charge. If they’re walking around, Bear God is going to try and fight them, and if I follow them, I’ll run into him. Then, I’ll be able to find Dames and warn him.

Well, hopefully. That was the plan, at least.

The sound of a car door closing behind him made Wolf stop. He turned to see Dominic walking over, clenching his fists tight.

“Ha...you’re gonna follow those guys, aren’t you?”

Wolf couldn’t lie.

“Yes,” he said. “Like I said, you don’t need to concern yourself with me. I’m fine.”

Even though he thought he couldn’t lie, he did. His body was still horribly injured, and he felt weak. The drugs were starting to wear off. For a second, his head got too light to focus on anything. He swayed before catching himself. It was as though the action of lying about his health had only made it worse, and it was apparent Dominic caught on.

“Ehhh...you’re definitely not,” Dominic said, a nervous smile appearing on his face. “You’re still planning to...chase after t-them?”

“I am.”

“W-well...I can’t let you go alone…”

Even though Wolf started to protest, when he saw Dominic try his best to steel himself, it became clear nothing would stop him.

“In that case,” Wolf started. “Let’s go.”

***

The plan was simple, as Lance explained.

Because they didn’t know how many people were outside, but that it was certainly enough to wipe out most of the bodyguards they had on staff, the group needed to evacuate the building. But doing so would be incredibly difficult, if they assumed the remaining assassins all had the same type of weaponry on them. As nice as it would have been to interrogate them, time was of the essence. It was decided that Loren and Ms. Lenz would be the ones disguising themselves by wearing the black suits, since the suits also had a bit of armor platings that would help if they got shot at.

The group would leave, then they would rush as fast as possible to the side exits. There, they would escape on foot to the city, which was only a few hundred meters away from the building. There would be tree cover, and once they got to that point, everything would be fine. Lance would be taking one of the guns, and Honey the other. If anything happened, they were the ones with the most experience, and could defend the rest.

It was going to be a mad sprint, and Lance would be the first out the door. Honey was going to be the last.

With one hand on the door and the other holding a stolen pistol, Lance counted slowly.

“Three…”

***

Dark Cobra and her two associates ascended to the second floor. This would be where Dames was staying, and a dead bodyguard sat at the base of the stairs. His throat had been slit, and blood ran down his chest.

“When we get there,” Dark Cobra spoke to her underlings. “Shadow Komodo, you can deal with the bodyguards. Nightmare Gator, you’re in charge of killing anyone else. You both recall what Dames looks like, correct?”

“Hell yeah I do. Come on, do you think I’m a retard or something?”

“Mhmm.”

“Good,” she answered, not bothering to respond in any other way. “Then leave him to me. The job is to make his death look like a suicide, and my technique is the best suited for that.”

“Ahh...but being sliced apart by blades is a pretty common suicide where I’m from…”

“Tch.”

When they got to the second floor, the three saw the dressing room: a single square room, barely three meters tall, made out of concrete with a single steel door on it.

But there was also something that made them stop in their tracks.

***

“Two…”

***

“Oh g-god...what...what happened h-here?”

Dominic was tearing up again, whimpering as he stepped over the dead bodies of men wearing neither black nor red uniforms. All it took was a glance for Wolf to realize who these were.

Dead bodyguards.

That didn’t make sense, though.

If these men were the bodyguards, then who were the people in black suits?

***

“One…”

The door flew open.