The smoke hung in the air making it hard to see the other side of the room. The establishment still played music from an old jukebox, but the usual sounds of people talking and gambling were missing.
The floor was stained red with the blood of multiple bodies of humans and non-humans. An orc's head, a goblin's arm, and a leg of some aquatic humanoid were visible. Cards and dice were all over the ground with some on top of bodies.
The dead had gunshot wounds, slashing wounds, and claw marks. A crouched shadow on the bar lifts a bottle and drinks.
Two people came back into the room with two sacks. "We got what they had, not nearly enough. And the target didn't show tonight."
The weretiger on the bar threw the bottle. "Well, this will be one place he won't return to. Cross the name of the list and let's move to the next. We either find him or we make it so that he doesn't have anywhere else to go. Leave the last name untouched for now."
"Are we getting paid enough for this?" said the woman as she wiped her sword on a dead body's shirt.
"That's why we are collecting loot right?" grumbled the half-orc with handguns on his belt.
"You two can shut up and let's go. And we are taking loot because this would look like a robbery or a rival attack, not a random attack that they don't know about. Leave the traces like we were told," growled the weretiger as she jumped off the bar and walked out of the destroyed gambling den.
The woman took out a bent and damaged cloak pendant that looked like a leaf and put it under the hand of a dead card dealer.
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"Mrs. Vanderbilt, I am Izumi Hayashi, these are Tadeo and Sakura. We will be your security and personal assistants until we are called back by our matriarch," said the black-haired Asian woman.
"Thank you for coming. Send Tadeo to serve under my husband so that he has some protection. I fear whoever is targeting us, might not focus on just me," said the matriarch of the Vanderbilts.
Izumi bowed and motioned Tadeo to comply. The man bowed and went out of the room.
John knocked at the open door as a sign to get Amelia's attention.
"Yes, John."
"Mr. and Mrs. Morgan's plane exploded in the air an hour ago."
Amelia covered her mouth. The emotions of sadness and anger marked her face until she regained her calm. "Find out as much as you can about the incident. See if this is connected to the attempt on our lives at the party."
The composed butler left the room.
"Izumi, do you have any contacts that you can get information from?"
"We have a few but I do not know if they can give us anything about the plane. When was the party and what happened?"
Amelia filled Izumi in and she looked thoughtful, "Basilisk poison is very rarely used because of its petrifying nature. It is too unnatural for humans to know of. Young basilisk poison on the other hand has several sources. We can ask if any of the sellers are willing to talk."
"Do it."
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Jethro dipped his hand into a Doritos bag of chips with his left hand so that he could keep his right hand clean to use the mouse and keyboard of the computer. He was reading through orders and deliveries of different supplies.
The TV in his room was just put up a few days ago and he finally turned on the news. He wasn't paying attention to most of the news until they were talking about a plane that exploded. They had attributed it to a faulty fuel injection that caused the explosion.
He saw that the people involved were Mr. and Mrs. Morgan. He pulled a second laptop out and turned it on. This was the unit that he used sparingly and had a VPN to keep it hard to track. He logged into the dark web and looked for accepted hit jobs. One job caught his attention, "Hiring Gremlins to CHASE into the rainbow." There wouldn't be any way to know who accepted it but it left no doubt that the plane was sabotaged.
He quickly looked to see if he could find anything that might target the king and queen of Camelot. When he didn't see anything, he closed the laptop off.
Shane went on vacation with the rest of the core group. He was left in charge and he didn't know what he was supposed to do with this situation.
"Jethro, there's an orc asking to talk to you. He has an eye patch."
The orc was escorted in and the smiley face patch didn't make the orc any less intimidating.
"They told me Arthur is not around. You are in charge?"
"My name is Jethro. My information shows that you should be the orc named Belrog from the Shieldtusks. How can I be of assistance?"
"Our leader was hoping Arthur was here to show him where the tribe had moved to, but she also said to pass information. She said to have you guys investigate suspicious attacks in gray businesses. Someone is leaving hints of who attacked but she said it is a false clue."
"Ok, I will get some people to look into it. Thank you for the information."
The orc grunted and left without saying another word.
Jethro wiped his left hand clean with a disinfectant wipe. He cracked his knuckles and let his fingers fly on the keyboard as he sent several messages to some of the Sentinels that he had gotten close with.
The pudgy former clerk scratched his chin and sent out a message to ask if anyone knew of an investigator who was from the Veiled. He wanted someone who was not human to recheck what the police would have found.
One of the Sentinels responded that they would reach out to one of their friends.
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Arthur had been working with Jethro on his skills and during one of their conversations, the pudgy man didn't think about using his skills to appraise and predict situations. He had started to test that with logistics and deliveries. This situation was different and he wanted to challenge himself.
He looked at the world map on the wall. While he was waiting for responses he focused his weak predictive ability on the Bahamas. He just wanted to know if the core group was ok.
He fiddled with a pencil, twirling it in his hand while he focused on the map. He felt the urge to throw the pencil at the map, so he followed it. The pencil stuck to the wall like a dart to a dart board. It was in the center of the water. Jethro walked over and looked at it and frowned. It was the Bermuda Triangle. It didn't answer his question but he felt uneasy about the answer.
Jethro slumped down against his chair pulling up his database and ran through information without really reading. He was hoping that his skill would give him a direction to work on. He accidentally knocked his chips off the desk and scrambled to catch it. The keyboard flew off the desk too and he picked it up and set it back on the table. He stopped and looked to see that the database stopped at Amelia Vanderbilt.
Fear gripped his heart and he quickly sent a message to everyone in Camelot. "Increase security for Mr. and Mrs. Vanderbilt immediately. Priority One."
He wasn't much for combat but he grabbed his gear and quickly ran to his car. He drove his old Volkswagon beetle as fast as it could travel to the Vanderbilt Estate.
A motorcycle raced up beside him and knocked on his window. He cranked the window down, and the biker yelled out, "Go back. We need you to coordinate movements. No one else knows how to." The biker didn't stop and sped off.
Jethro slowed down and realized that he was better off at the command center, not because his skills were lacking, but because that's where his skills are best utilized. He took the next exit to turn around and head back. He could see the mobilization of many cars and bikes and they were going in two directions.
He arrived back and quickly brought his laptop to the communication center. He turned on the radio to listen in on the chatter before he took a quick moment to run to the labyrinth gatekeeper. "Lock down the gate for the time being, there is an emergency and most of Camelot will not be in the area."
The statue didn't say anything but the head nodded and went back to its original position.
Jethro returned to hear a few asking what locations to safeguard. He quickly sent the Vanderbilt Estate address to one group and the Thomas' office to the other.
He saw a small box that had his name on it. He opened it and a note was folded that covered several mana crystals that looked like regular dice without pips. "Jethro, just in case you need mana for your abilities. Use only in an emergency. These are here for you and everyone has been informed that you need them for priority-one situations. - A"
He picked one up to scrutinize it. It flared with light and he felt the mana flowed into him. It was the first time that he had used a mana crystal but the mana disappeared within him. He picked up a second one and that one disappeared into him too. He furrowed his brow and closed the box until he needed the other crystals.
The radio chirped reports. "Intruders entered the estate. We were able to catch up and take them down before they were able to invade the house. An Asian woman with two swords guarding the front door kept them from getting in while the rest of us attacked from behind."
"How many of us are there?"
"Around thirty."
"Have eighteen stay, have six per group on rotation duty. Remaining to return to Camelot."
"Report from the office. We are all returning to Camelot. There is an Asian samurai that dealt with the attempted kidnappers."
"Leave two sentinels and two guards at the office."
"Understood commander."
Jethro blinked. Commander? Me? He shook his head and looked at the messages on the laptop. The investigator has been hired to follow up on the attacks and will report as soon as they have something.
A Morlock came in with a tray of food and left it by his side before silently leaving. He ate slowly while he kept his post.
The deliveries started to come in and Jethro called out instructions through the radio. He went out to look to ensure everything was going to the right place. He also told the gatekeeper that the emergency had passed and for the gate to resume normal operation.
The time showed the stock exchange was about to close. He opened the portfolio looking through the stocks and sold some that he believed were not going to increase in the future. He bought a few that had a low price but had the potential to grow.
He yawned and went by the mess hall to get some dinner. A few of the people patted his back for a good job of handling the situation. He nodded and shyly smiled and sat at his customary solitary table.
A woman sat down across from him, "You are Jethro right?"
He looked up in the middle of chewing, he swallowed the food, "I'm Jethro. Who are you and how can I help you?"
"My name is Kelly. My sister told me about Camelot and that you guys were looking for people. I applied but the application is waiting for approval. I was allowed to observe and look around as long as there were people here."
"I can look up your application but until the core group returns, a decision would have to wait for them," he told her then looked back at his food and started to eat quietly.
"You aren't much for words. What rank are you? You should be up there since you were left in charge."
Jethro choked and cleared his throat before laughing. "I'm probably weaker than you. I'm only a rank D."
"Seriously, you are a rank D? Yeah I'm a rank B. So how did you get the job?"
"I'm sorry Kelly, I'm not much of a speaker and I have a tight schedule. I need to finish eating and go back to work."
Kelly blinked and awkwardly left. She sat at another table and chatted with the other people.
Jethro glanced at her while finishing his food. He walked past the table that she was at and glanced at her back. Something felt wrong with the conversation that she initiated. He reached a guard and asked who let Kelly into the estate.
When no one could recall who that was, he turned around to stare at Kelly. "Camelot, we have an intruder. Capture her!" He pointed at the girl.
Kelly's cover was broken and she jumped away from the table and pulled out two grenades. She tossed them to two sides of the room.
People scattered. The explosion caused a few injuries. Kelly used that moment to jump out a window.
Jethro rushed outside and grabbed a gun from one of the guards. He anticipated the route that she might take and aimed the gun following her run towards a bike. He fired a few shots and one got lucky to hit the gas tank. The bike blew up before she got to it.
She turned around with an angry look on her face. Several people gave chase and the intruder bolted to try to get to the door.
Jethro brought the walkie-talkie on his side up and barked an order, "Intruder in Camelot. Lock the gates, no one in or out until she is captured."
Kelly saw the gates close and a gleam of a magical barrier came up. She yelled and turned around. She pulled out a pistol and started shooting at Jethro.
The pudgy commander released the mana that he had stored. He followed his gut and channeled it into his abilities. Then something happened he didn't expect, he saw lines in the air. The bullet trajectories were clear for him to read and he easily dodged the incoming shots.
He aimed and saw the possible outcomes. He fired and aimed for her leg. She dropped from the wound but kept firing.
An unusual amount of courage raced through him as he ran towards the intruder. He avoided more bullets until she was out of ammo. He could hear her yelling as he neared and knocked her out with the gun.
"How are you avoiding all my shots?" the last thing she asked.
He stared at her and kept her in the sight of his gun until the others arrived and tied her up.
"How did you do that Jethro? I've never seen anyone dodge a bullet like that."
"Put her in a holding cell, check her for any more weapons. Use magic to see if there are any spells on her, and dispel them. Send in an interrogator. We need to know who she is, who sent her, and what she is doing in Camelot. Find out how she got in. We can't allow that to happen again," he ordered. The people obeyed immediately.
One of the Sentinels walked up and patted his back, "Good job Jethro. And it looks like you advanced in your rank too." He handed him an envelope and walked off.
Jethro returned to the office and took a quick look at the situation before he looked at the letter. He opened it and started to read.
"Jethro, when you have used the mana crystals and exhibit something you have never done before. Something that is associated with your abilities. I can't wait to hear what you achieved. When we get back from vacation, we'll have Shane retest you. Keep up the good work. -A"
Jethro wiped tears off his face. He didn't have hope to be anything more than a weak rank D, but now he had the support of a king and he was part of Camelot.
The next morning when he got to breakfast, everyone was calling him the bulletproof commander.