Agent Buster watched the nurse leave and turned to his fiancee and partner. Levistra gave him a look.

“wHo ArE yOu, HaNdsOmE?” Levistra imitated the nurse. “Who gave you permission to look dashing in that suit? You best not flirt with that woman, or I’ll be feeding you my engagement ring.” Levistra said, putting her finger right up to his nose.

Vex laughed nervously. He knew his lover's temper well, and the nurse was very attractive, which only fueled Levistra's jealousy. “Aw, I love when you get all worried. It shows that you really car-”

Levistra cut him off. “Wait, is she taking the stairs? The elevator is right there.”

Vex Buster turned a bit confused and called out to the woman just at the door to the staircase.

Vex needed a moment to comprehend fully what happened next. The woman started running up the staircase instead of turning back to look at them.

Levistra and Vex looked at each other for a moment, startled. Then the realization dawned on them.

As Vex ran after the woman at full speed, his powers afforded him indoors, careful not to bump into someone. He knew Levistra would be alerting the other agents.

Reaching the door to the stairs, Vex barreled right through them.

There were no steps audible on the stairs, but he heard somebody jumping upstairs.

Gritting his teeth, he made use of his powers instead of running the steps two at a time. Something felt off. This wasn’t a normal pursuit.

These files and the intel they provided smelled of an espionage target. His ears picked up the faint falling shut of a door when he was on the second floor. He had to gamble on where the woman would have left the stairs.

It was too loud for the fifth or sixth floor, and she knew that the patients, the police, and the FBI were on the third floor. Vex Buster burst through the door into the fourth floor. He didn’t need to twist and turn to search for her. The running woman caught his eyes even while the splinters still flew around him.

The people in the corridor were in the way. He took a deep breath before he started shouting orders.

__________________________________________________

Ravela skipped past the second and third floors, hearing someone bursting the staircase below her. Her pursuer was going after her fast. Far faster than they should have been able to if they were normal humans.

Getting into the hallway of the fourth floor in a hurry, Ravela sprinted at full speed through the hallway, dodging any traffic in her way. The door she entered through just moments before flew out of its angles as the tall agent Buster burst into the hall. Ravela only saw him in a glimpse and a blur before turning her head back to the front, hurdling over stretchers, rolling pill cabinets, and dinner trays.

The man bellowed behind her, “FBI, EVERYBODY MAKE WAY!” in a voice that came concerningly closer.

Ravela dove into another staircase at the end of the hall. Jumping and bouncing down the stair, she waited for the breaking of the stair door to indicate Agent Buster catching up to her.

She was jumping down to the second floor, turning and jumping down the next flight of stairs, when three men in suits froze mid-running.

Ravela remained glued to the wall, watching the men reach for their pistols. Wood splintered above her, distracting the agents. Not having time to waste, she launched herself over the head of Buster’s colleagues, still holding the file box.

The idea of getting some distance and shaking these people quickly to make her escape smoothly went right out the door. Things were going sideways rapidly, and she needed to bring this mission to a successful conclusion.

‘Failure was not an option!’ Ravela steeled her resolve and shoulder-checked the ground floor door open in the next second.

Ravela took a left at a cross-section and came to a squeaking halt at an elevator that had emptied just as she approached.

Slipping into the elevator, Ravela pressed the button for the roof and forced the door shut with her telekinesis. As the elevator started moving up, she set the box on the floor and levitated all the files into the air. Making sure the elevator door didn’t open on her way up was easy for her set of abilities, so long as Agent Buster didn’t catch up to her.

From the files, she extracted the first two pages just as she had done with the files on the third floor before neatly packing them back into the box.

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The ride up to the roof gave her enough time to get the pages she wanted. Leaving her soon-to-be-used decoy as bait. Faking a loss to make her escape seemed like a good trade to her.

The elevator opened on the roof right after she had stowed her selection of pages from the box inside one of the loosely set roof tiles of the elevator. Her new plan was to loop back later as Ramiel and retrieve them without the pressure of being chased, thus securing that she would reach her objective.

But one step after the other. First, Ravela would have to rid herself of her many fans. She ran to the edge setting the box down on the rails and waited while enjoying the view and thinking of ways to get back into Ramiel’s clothes.

A rumbling near the roof’s stair door heralded the arrival of Agent Buster. Ravela was worried that the man might have abilities beyond the physical that she’d be unable to defend against without using her telekinesis. Much of her escape plan hinged on her hiding her own ability from Agent Buster.

The door flew open, and the agent looked around wildly, apparently expecting only to be able to witness her getaway. Ravela met his gaze as he locked onto her, giving him a big smile and a wave.

Agent Buster didn’t rush toward her; instead approached slowly, on guard for any surprise.

“You took your time to catch back up. Honestly, I thought you were faster than an elevator, the way you chased me down early on, Agent Buster?” Ravela pursed her lips. “Endurance issues?”

She looked the tall man up and down. The broad shoulders and his build spoke of a very well-trained body.

The man sidestepped her inquiry about his power and stamina but kept the conversation going. “I am at a disadvantage here, I gave you my name, but I get the sneaking suspicions that you didn’t give me yours. Speaking of giving, how about you hand over these patient files in exchange for a nice pair of new bracelets?”

Ravela looked at the handcuffs and scoffed. “Those won’t go with my personality, I’m afraid. Didn’t your mother teach you to bring flowers for the first date?” As she said that, she lightly pushed the box, which promptly began tilting to the main road below.

Ravela saw the thoughts rush through the man. The cuffs fell from Agent Buster’s grasp as he tried to prevent the box from emptying its ‘not for the public eye’ content into the public street below. As Agent Buster jumped to stop the box from falling entirely, she used the panic to run to the other side of the building and jump down.

She didn’t exactly care whether the box had spilled or if the agent had caught it in time. This was none of her concern. She looked back and saw papers sailing in the wind floating or falling as Agent Buster seemed too stunned to move.

Touching down near a propped open side entrance, she hurried back into the hospital. Now, certain that most agents would be on their way to the roof still, Ravela walked slowly into the hallway.

What she needed was a different disguise. Her eyes searched for the doctors walking through the hall. Looking for a man that had Micheal’s frame wasn’t hard. Every second young doctor would fit Micheal’s rough frame. She picked one promising candidate and followed him down the hall.

Passing an empty room, Ravela took her chance and called out to the doctor, “Oh, dear! Doctor! The patient in this room needs help!”

The man turned around with a frown but became an eager volunteer when he saw her lovely frame.

‘Men. Gullible to a fault.’ Ravela followed the doctor into the room, shutting the door behind them. While the man still looked around, confused, she just jumped him from behind. She was careful not to break his neck while she choked him out. Putting him down gently once the man had passed out, Ravela took his doctor coat and blue scrub off him. Tying him up neatly with her former disguise, she removed Becca’s ring and exchanged it for Michael’s ring.

Dragging the unconscious man over to the built-in bathroom and locking him up as he showed signs of regaining consciousness.

Adjusting her clothes, she noticed the employee card clipped to the coat. Ravela flicked it off her uniform with a sly grin.

Walking out into the hallway, a whole new person, she strode confidently past frantic agents running like headless chickens through the hospital, searching for the suspect. Some of the men looked winded from running up and down the stairs. Ravela couldn’t help but be in good spirits.

The way to the elevator showed the spreading chaos as police arrived on the scene, swarming up the stairs. Ravela couldn’t help but be pleased with the stir she caused. Nobody was looking at the blonde doctor, seemingly just going about his day.

She smiled and winked at one of the nurses while waiting for the elevator. There was nothing like a bit of mischief caused for an opponent that wasn’t used to getting tricked.

The elevator arrived with its musical plinging sound, and Ravela entered. The doors began to close, and Ravela tilted her head, stretching her neck as she felt the tenseness of the situation peel off her.

A moment before the doors closed, a woman made it to the door and pushed the button, prompting the elevator to open again. Agent Delemere looked like she was running all over the place. Ravela assumed that while Agent Buster had hunted her, she had run and alerted anyone with a pulse that something was up.

Ravela tensed up and made room for the woman to join her. There wasn’t really a choice here. “Which floor? You seem to be in a hurry, Miss?” She feigned her ignorance perfectly.

“Third floor,” The woman huffed as she took a spot behind Ravela. “please,” She tagged on as if her manners were just now catching up to her.

“Of course, the new arrivals, huh? Already making trouble?” Ravela couldn’t help but probe for some more insights as she pushed the third-floor button. The cold metal doors served as a good-enough mirror to study Agent Delemere’s reaction.

“Yeah, something like that.” The woman volunteered. Her eyes were fixed on him now.

Ravela heard a silent metallic click. A third person appeared beside the woman gesturing wildly. It was herself, shouting angrily, ruffling her hair. She could hear that, and when she shook her head, the illusion was gone, but the warning was strong enough.

Somehow this woman recognized him. Ravela’s attention was glued to Agent Delemere in the reflecting metal now.

The moment her arm shot up, Ravela spun around, catching the cocked revolver and putting her index finger between the hammer.

Agent Delemere was stunned.

Ravela tried to remain calm. “Now, why would you point a cocked revolver at a doctor’s head?”

“You’re not a doctor, Mr…?” Agent Delemere let the sentence trail off. Her voice remained calm even though Ravela had made her gun useless. She admired that.

“My name is Michael Manus, Agent Delemere. Tell me, what gave me away?”

The woman’s eyes widened for a moment as the elevator stopped.

‘Yes, I know your name.’ Ravela reveled in the show of her cards as a low pling rang out. Before Agent Delemere could answer her question, the elevator door opened. Ravela tried to push them back shut, but someone forced them open.

Ravela’s head turned as she realized her mistake. Agent Buster already had a hand on her neck. The man looked furious, and the moment she felt the pull, Ravela instinctively let go of Agent Delemere’s hand and started shielding herself.

And not a moment too soon because the next moment, she was hurled through a door on the opposite side of the corridor wall. While it didn’t hurt, her pride was instantly wounded. But the moment she found her footing, Agent Buster was already upon her. Instead of hitting her, he just speared her toward the hospital window, lifting her off her feet and disorienting her further.

The last thing Ravela saw before descending with Agent Buster in a struggle was Agent Delemere standing pressed to the elevator wall, frozen with her gun still stretched out. As they fell, Ravela struggled not to get driven straight into the pavement below.

She had little time to realize that Agent Buster was very strong and that fighting the man without her telekinesis was like fighting with an arm tied to her back.

‘How unlucky can a girl be?’ Was her last thought as she crashed into the pavement of the sidewalk.

The impact drove the air out of her lungs. Her being sturdy and shielded didn’t take away from the body's shock response to hitting the ground hard.

Ravela got her guard up instantly despite the impact. And not a moment too early, Agent Buster started to rain down punches on her viciously.