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2

When Will arrived at the office he was surprised to find it far less hectic than the previous day. Everyone seemed to have slowed down. Though they moved with purpose, there was no speed, and all had somber expressions. Even Taylor seemed to be treating the matter with the necessary respect for once, the usual bounce gone from his step as he greeted Will. "'Bout time you got here. Greer has already given the assignments for tonight. Looks like you're gonna be leading one of the teams. I've been put with you too. Our group is hitting some fairly empty warehouse."

Will quirked a brow. "Why me? And why a warehouse?"

Taylor shrugged. "Greer said something about trusting you to take command or something. As for why the warehouse...the analysis team narrowed down four or five different structures in the general area we know this is gonna happen tonight. Our warehouse is one of them."

Will nodded. "What is it used for? Anything?"

Taylor handed him a file. "It's all in there. Looks like mostly overflow storage from the docks. So, there could be anything in there. Oh, and before I forget, Quentin is looking for you."

Will eyes widened, then he sighed. "Why? What is it this time?"

Taylor smirked. "I don't know. But if I were you I would hope it doesn't burn off your eyebrows this time."

He then walked away, chuckling, and leaving Will with a mild sense of dread. He went to his desk and set down the file Taylor had handed him, then made his way through the office to a door marked 'R&D' in blocky lettering. He hesitated. He really didn't want to go through the door, as most of the time when he did it ended badly for him, and tonight wasn't necessarily a god night to be field testing something new. But then, if he tried to run, Quentin would just wind up hounding him.

He sighed, resigned to the fact that there wasn't really anyway out of it. He knocked twice on the door and waited for a reply. After a moment there was a muffled, "Enter."

Will bit his bottom lip slightly as he turned the nob and pushed open the door with the slightest creak. He stepped through and shut it behind him. The room he had entered was meticulously kept, with everything everywhere neat and organized. Three of the four walls were dominated by chalk boards, two covered in diagrams the third coated in formulas. Against the fourth wall was a desk, turned away from the entrance. Seated at that desk--also turned away from the entrance--was a man who was as well groomed as the room was clean, with not a single brown hair out of place on his head. Though his back was turned, Will could see that the man was working on something quite furiously.

Will waited momentarily for the man to respond to his presence then cleared his throat to garner his attention. The man looked up from what he had been working on and looked over his shoulder. A smile split his face. "Ah! There you are Will! How's my favorite test subject?"

Will sighed. "What have I told you about calling me that Quentin?"

Quentin turned to face Will as his shoulders slumped slightly. "That you would rather I not. It's such a fitting moniker though."

Will crossed his arms and gave Quentin a stern look. Quentin rolled his eyes and perked up. "Oh fine! Spoiling my fun. You take yourself too seriously. Has anyone ever told you that?"

"Yes. Now what is it you want?"

Quentin's face lit up. "You got here just in time! I just put the finishing touches on them!"

"What are them, exactly?" Will asked, afraid of what the answer might be, his mind immediately coming up with a number of unpleasant ideas.

Quentin turned back to his desk and grabbed something, then turned back to Will, got out of his chair, and walked over to him. He held out his hand, offering a pair of objects to Will. He cautiously picked one up, looking it over. It looked as though six bullets had been attached to a very thin piece of circular metal. There was something off about the bullets though. While they had the usual copper casing, the tips of the bullets were made of something different, something that had a slightly green ethereal glow. Will looked up at Quentin. "What the hell is this?"

Quentin smiled a bit wider. "That my friend is the next step in increasing our ability to put a stop to magic based crimes. See, normally, a gun is limited by how fast you can fire and how fast you can reload, right? But not with these. While they still have limits, they allow for much greater capacity!"

Will sighed. "But what are they?"

"Oh. Right. Well you see I wanted to create a way for an officer to be able to shoot more than six shots before having to reload. So I had the idea of 'what if I made a weapon that could shoot bolts of pure energy?' Then I came up with these! See, each bullet has actually been replaced with this special little metal mixture--I won't go into the complex details--that is actually capable of absorbing and retaining energy!"

Will quirked a brow. "So how many shots are these good for?"

Quentin rubbed the back of his neck. "Well...I haven't quite perfected the formula yet...but each 'bullet' holds five shots. Thirty for a single plate."

Will handed it back to him. "Haven't perfected huh? I'm not taking this with me."

"Hold on, hold on! They work just fine I just haven't gotten them able to hold more shots yet!"

Will scowled. "The last time you told me something of yours 'worked just fine' I didn't have eyebrows for two weeks after using it."

Quentin cleared his throat. "Yes...well...I admit the flare bullets were a bad idea on my part. But you can't expect genius from me all the time!"

Will crossed his arms. "I don't expect it any of the time."

Quentin frowned. "That's uncalled for. I do important work here! I'm making an effort to make the jobs of all I.O.M.E. officers safer, and you're unwilling to help me. Plus you mock me, and more importantly my work!"

Will rolled his eyes. "Look, I understand what you're trying to do, but when it winds up injuring officers-usually me I'd like to point out-it doesn't do anyone any good."

Quentin grumbled. "Fair enough. But can you at least give the Lightning Shots a try?"

"Lightning Shots?"

Quentin nodded enthusiastically. "It's my temporary name for them. The shots they fire look kinda like little green and white bolts of lightning."

Will quirked a brow. "So you have tested them then?"

"Yes, in the lab. But you know as well as I that they need a field test to be approved for greater production."

Will sighed. He hated to leave someone out to dry when they wanted to accomplish something. Much as he hated the idea of testing another one of Quentin's inventions, he really didn't have much choice. "Fine. I'll...take them with me, I suppose. But I won't use them unless I feel I have good reason."

Quentin smiled broadly. "Wonderful! Oh, I should tell you they have two methods of recharge. The first is to just give them time. If you switch between two plates, the one not in use slowly recharges its shots with ambient energy. The other way to do it is to manually recharge them by putting some of your own energy into them. But then, that one doesn't really apply to you. It's just for the people who can actually use magic."

Will cleared his throat. "Right. I'll keep that in mind."

"Now, I just have two plates prepared, so you'll have to make do with those for now." Quentin handed Will both of the Lightning Shot plates he had grabbed from his desk. "And do be careful. They are my prototypes, after all."

Will nodded as he slipped them into his pocket. "Right. I'll let you know how they work if I use them."

He then rushed out a farewell, and as he exited the room Will silently prayed that he wouldn't have to use them.

***

The night air was cold. It was made even colder by the light breeze that blew through the city. Most of the city's inhabitants were sound asleep, warm in their beds and oblivious to the chilling midnight hour. But near the city's center, hidden in the shadows were the officers of I.O.M.E., separated into four different squads, each one waiting outside the suspect buildings they had been assigned to watch. They had no idea what building the culprits would appear at, so every officer waited in silence, watching for any sign to show where their quarry was hiding.

Outside an old warehouse, the silence was broken by a sneeze.

Will rolled his eyes and looked over his shoulder at Taylor, who shrugged and whispered, "Don't give me that look. Cold makes me sneeze. I can't control it."

"Just try to keep it under control as best you can. It ruins the whole point of sneaking around if we get our cover blown. We don't know what these people will do if they find out we're here."

"Like I said, I can't control it."

Will sighed. "Just find a way to muffle it then dammit!"

"Fine." Taylor grumbled.

The other seven officers with them were all shifting uneasily. None would admit it out loud, but at that moment none were too confident about their objective, or the officer who had been chosen to lead them.

Silence returned except for the chirping of insects and the stirring of the wind. A few of the officers began to shiver, and Will couldn't help but wonder if the reason nothing had happened yet was because they were at the wrong location. If some other suspect building was in fact the right one, then he and his squad were sitting their for no real reason. After nearly an hour Taylor said, "You know what? I think if something doesn't happen in the next ten minutes we should get outta here."

Will scowled. "We can't leave until we're ordered to, or until we've completed our mission here. Now be quiet."

"Why? Who's going to hear us? The crickets?"

"Look, I know this is boring as all hell, but it has to be done. So just wait quietly or I swear to god the next words our of your mouth will result in--"

What Will said next was completely drowned out by what sounded like thunder coming from within the warehouse, accompanied by an intense flash of light coming through what few windows the building had. The shockwave from the sound was so powerful and so close it deafened them all for a moment. Turning to his temporarily hearing impaired squad, Will motioned for them to move on the warehouse. All nodded compliantly, removed their guns from their holsters, then all moved as one toward the building as swiftly as they could.

They moved along the corrugated wall in a single file line until they reached a slightly open door then slipped through one by one. Their view of the interior was blocked by dozens of crates, some stacked as high as the ceiling. Will motioned for the rest to stay put, moving forward along the barrier of crates until he reached a gap large enough to squeeze through. He poked his head around the corner. Nothing was there except more crates. He turned back and motioned for the rest to join him.

As they approached he faintly heard a voice. It sounded male, but he couldn't make out exactly what was being said.

Once the rest had reached him they moved through the gap--again one at a time--and took positions on the other side. They now had two paths before them through the crates, one to the left and one to the right. Will motioned for five of them to go right. The other four--­including Taylor--accompanied Will as they followed the left path. As they made their way through the narrow halls created by the crates, they could all hear the first faint voice growing louder.

They could now make out what was being said, and it didn't sound good. "--my faithful followers, for at last, here tonight, our aims will be achieved! A new world will rise and we will stand at the pinnacle of mankind!"

The voice continued in that fashion as they drew closer to the source. Finally they reached another gap in the crates, and Will once more looked around the corner.

It looked as though a significant area of the warehouse had been cleared out, leaving a large, vaguely circular area surrounded by the crates on all sides, with the exception of a few gaps in the 'wall'. Standing in this cleared area were some twenty people, all standing in a circle around the very center of their clearing. Standing in the middle of them was the man who was speaking. He had slicked back, jet black hair and was wearing what appeared to be finely tailored clothes. Will suspected that this was the 'Silas' that the captured cultist had referred to.

Beside Silas, barely visible through the gaps in the ring of people, were their five latest victims, seemingly still alive from what he could see, and bound together by a thick length of rope. Looking down he could see that the floor was scorched, the marks forming some kind of circular pattern. They looked fresh. That must have been the source of the flash of light and massive sound.

Will looked back to Silas, who was still speaking. He seemed to be a rather long winded man. "And now, with these five as our sacrifice, here on the night of the autumn equinox, we shall finally unleash the power of the shadows to remove from this world those who would stand against us!"

Silence followed, for the briefest of moments, before Silas spoke again. "But as you all know, this requires the powers of dark magics, and this is--sadly--not my forte."

He raised an arm, palm facing up, gesturing to one side of the circle, as though inviting someone forward. "Carmina my dear, it is time for you to fulfill your role."

Silas stepped out of the center and blended into the circle as a woman stepped forward to take his place. She was--in a word--beautiful. Perfectly straight tresses of silky ebon hair fell upon her shoulders. Her skin was lightly tanned and her electric blue eyes held a fierce quality about them. Her features were well defined, as though carved from stone.

No match for Jenna's kind eyes or softer face Will thought, but there was no way around the fact that there were many men who would willingly sell their souls for such a woman. There was more though, an air of darkness about her. It was something that sent a cold tingle down Will's spine. There was something evil about this woman.

Will drew back around the corner and turned to face his comrades. In a hurried whisper he said, "Alright, we're outnumbered, and I can't tell from here how many--if any--are armed. However, we can't afford to waste any more time. It looks as though they're about to begin whatever it is they plan to do. We have to move now. Follow my lead, and be ready for anything."

They all nodded. Will looked them over once, took a deep breath, and ran out around the corner, the others following behind him. They all leveled their guns, pointed at the heads and chests of members of the circle. Carmina was now standing at the exact center, the five intended sacrifices arrayed around her. Her eyes were closed, her arms were spread with her palms facing upward, and her whole body was surrounded in an otherworldly cloak of shadows. Will pulled back the hammer on his pistol and shouted, "Everybody stay where you are! You're all under arrest!"

Everyone in the room turned to face him slowly, all looking at him as though he were insane. Through the circle of people Will could just barely see the other five members of his squad coming out of a gap in the wall of crates, all with their guns leveled at the cultists. Silas chuckled, swaggering forward. "What is it exactly that makes you think you can arrest us? We work for power greater than you can imagine, and we will no be de-"

Silas stopped cold as a single bullet shot past him, embedding itself in a crate on the other side of the clearing. Will stared him down, a cold look in his eyes as he said, "That was a warning shot. I would prefer to take you alive so you can be properly dealt with...but we have been authorized to act with lethal force if you fail to comply or attempt to resist."

Silas seemed almost too calm when he said, "Is that so? Well then, it seems as though we have no choice."

Silas turned to face Carmina, who had yet to stop in the process of building up power. He smiled. "Carmina my dear, we need to postpone our proceedings for the moment. Would you be so kind as to release all that energy of yours?"

She grinned wickedly. "Gladly."

Will pointed her gun straight at her. "Don't try anything."

"I'm afraid it's too late for that." She drew her arms close against her body, then flung them outward, unleashing a cascading wave of the same dark energy she had been amassing a moment before, sending shockwaves of deep purple and jet black out to all corners of the room. Everyone who was standing was knocked off their feet. Then there came the sound of wood splintering and exploding.

Dust and smoke filled the air, accompanied by a thousand shards from the decimated crates. More of the shipping containers--those that hadn't been destroyed--began to topple to the ground, knocked off balance by the force of the explosion. Those who had managed to get to their feet started scrambling out of the way of the falling objects, desperately trying to avoid being crushed to death. This was made difficult by the amount of debris filling the air, obscuring their vision and limiting them all to seeing vague shapes and shadows.

Feeling a brush of air Will rolled to his left, barely avoiding a crate which filled the space he had occupied only seconds before. He licked his lips, gripping his gun a bit tighter. Their situation had gone from bad to worse in nothing flat. Now they were outnumbered and in a hostile environment.

The dust was beginning to settle, and everyone's vision was becoming clearer by the second. Will moved behind the crate that had nearly crushed him, deciding to use at as cover for whatever cam next. Out of the dust to his right came Taylor, joining him in his cover spot. Taylor grinned. "Well that went to hell rather quickly."

Will nodded. "Unfortunately. I was really hoping we could do this without violence."

"Kind of in the wrong profession for seeking nonviolent solutions, aren't you?"

Will sighed as he peeked up over the top of their temporary cover. "Maybe, but I'd like to think peace is an option in most sit-"

Will ducked as shot rang out, the bullet shaving a bit of wood off where it hit the edge of the crate. Taylor cleared his throat. "Looks like they disagree. I think now is the time for that uh...'lethal force'."

Will nodded. "Unfortunately. Worst part is we don't know how outnumbered we actually are now. I hope the others were able to avoid getting hurt during all that."

He punctuated that sentence by popping up to look over the crate again, followed by immediately dropping to down when several shots rang out. "Looks like about twelve of them are still standing. I think eight are armed. All behind cover like us. From what I could see the other three officers who were with us are all behind cover at the moment too. I don't know about the five who were on the other side of the circle."

Taylor blinked in surprise, trying to absorb all the information. "Uh...right...well we know what we're dealing with at least."

The sounds of more shots came, with more being added to the auditory storm every second. Will and Taylor both alternated between reloading and shooting, taking turns coming out from behind their cover. Every minute passed like an hour as the tension began to build. After nearly ten minutes of exchanging bursts of gun fire the I.O.M.E. officers had managed to incapacitate five of the cultists, including three who were armed. Unfortunately one of their own had also been shot, and his condition was uncertain at best as no one could get to him without being shot at as well.

After another burst of shots Will ducked back down behind cover, opening his gun to reload. Reaching fro his spare ammunition he swore. "I'm out."

Taylor sat back down beside him. "Me too. And I think those zealots still have enough to finish all of us off. You're sure you're out?"

Will nodded. "I'm amazed what I had lasted this long. I had to make room to carry Quentin's-"

He stopped. The Lightning Shots. He had completely forgotten about them. He was reluctant to use something that was relatively untested, but he didn't have much choice at this point. Pulling out one of the plates of metal he showed it to Taylor. "I do have this. I don't know what it'll do though."

Taylor shrugged. "It can't make things much worse, can it?"

"Quentin made it."

Taylor's eyes widened slightly. "Right...well make sure you aim carefully."

Will nodded as he carefully pushed the experimental ammunition into his pistol, lining up the six copper casings welded to the plate with the holes that would normally hold bullets. He took a deep breath as he pulled back the hammer on the pistol. "Let's hope this works...or at least doesn't kill me."

Time seemed to slow as Will pushed off, turning to face the greater expanse of the room, pointing his gun at the hiding place of the nearest cultist. Everything seemed to be cast in greater detail as he pulled the trigger on his weapon. He could see the cultist's brown eyes widen as he leveled his own gun at Will. He could see the perspiration on the man's face as a bright flash emitted from the barrel of his gun. The flash was the same greenish white color as the tips of the Lightning Shot 'bullet' tips. With a sound not unlike a crack of thunder a bolt of pure energy surged forth faster than the eye could follow impacting the crate the cultist was using for cover. For a brief instant the energy seemed to stop at the crate, then the force of the energy sent the crate flying to shatter against the wall, knocking the cultist flat on his face.

Will's eyes widened. "My god...it actually works."

He dropped back behind his own cover crate as several of the other cultists--regaining their senses after the Lightning Shots' display of raw power--fired at him. Taylor looked at him in disbelief. "You didn't tell me that was what it did!"

"I didn't know! Quentin just told me it shot bolts of energy. He didn't say how powerful it was!"

"Does it do that to people too?"

Will shrugged. "I don't know. I hope not."

Taylor shook his head. "Well, looks like it's in your hands now. You seem to be the only one of us who's armed at this point."

Will pulled out the second Lightning Shot plate. "Not the only one. Now that I know that it works, I'm fairly confident in handing this off to you."

Taylor eyed it warily. "Right...I guess I may as well."

He gingerly accepted it and loaded it into his own gun. "Shall we then?"

The both of them came out of cover simultaneously, not hesitating in firing at any enemy in sight. Their guns flashed and the air was filled with cracks and crashes, firing shot after shot all in an effort to bring their conflict to a decisive end. It didn't take long for them to remove what little cover the cultist's had from existence. Their guns were hot and their ears were ringing, but it looked as though they were about to complete their mission. That was when Silas--standing from behind what remained of the crate he had been cowering behind--called out, "Everybody out! Retreat!"

Following his command the remaining cultists started dashing off into the cramped halls formed by the warehouse's remaining crates. Will gestured to his still standing officers, of which there were seven including him and Taylor. "Three of you stay here to help any wounded and start making arrests! The rest follow me! We can't let them escape!"

The remaining I.O.M.E. officers took off after the cultists, those besides Will and Taylor firing what few rounds they had left at the legs of their fleeing quarry, hoping to immobilize them without outright killing them. Will and Taylor on the other hand were simply firing, knowing that their own shots would wind up throwing anyone they hit off their feet, effectively incapacitating them.

From what they could tell they were in pursuit of ten of the cultists, a number which was dropped to eight after a handful of lucky shots brought a few of them to their knees. Will had one officer break off to cuff those who had been dropped as the rest followed after Silas's group. It wasn't long before the chase left the warehouse, the officers following the cultists without remorse through the maze of warehouses all around them.

Will saw an opportunity as he realized that one of the two cultists bringing up the rear of the group was Silas. Will aimed carefully and took out the one next to Silas, all three pursuing officers jumping the crumpled form as the continued to follow. Seeing what Will had done, Taylor lined up a shot of his own and--though he missed actually hitting Silas--managed to hit the ground about a foot in front of the cult leader, sending Silas tumbling to the ground face first as he lost his footing.

Will and Taylor were on Silas in an instant, the third officer with them continuing the pursuit. Silas struggled under the weight of the two men. "Get off me you bastards!"

He nearly managed to push them off but Taylor struck him across the back of the head with his pistol, effectively knocking him out. The two of them got off the now unconscious cult leader, both breathing heavily. Taylor grinned. "Well that wasn't so hard."

Will rolled his eyes, but smiled. "You're insane. That was far more difficult than it could have been."

"Whatever you say boss. So do we cuff this guy? He probably won't be waking up for a while."

Will nodded. "We should; just in case."

Taylor pulled a pair of hand cuffs from his belt and bound Silas's arms behind the unconscious man's back. "Still, you have to admit...that could have gone a lot worse."

Will nodded. "True. I think we got lucky. Hopefully we didn't lose anyone."

They both stood, brushing themselves off. Taylor smiled a bit wider. "And hey, you still have your eyebrows."

Will gave a wry smile. "Right, well I'll remember to that Quentin for that when we get back-"

He was cut off by a gunshot ringing out in the darkness. Both of them dropped at the sound. Looking down the path they had just come down Will spotted their assailant. It was the other cultist who had been running beside Silas. Will fired off one shot, the blast of energy briefly and brightly illuminating the path way before it hit the cultist, sending him flying a few yards to hit the ground with a sickening crack.

Will breathed a sigh of relief. "That was too close."

Beside him Taylor coughed violently. "Closer...than you think."

Taylor collapsed to the ground. Will was at his side in an instant. Taylor was bleeding through a ragged wound just under where his heart was and there was blood around his mouth. He coughed again. More blood.

Will eyes widened. Taylor hadn't dropped when the cultist fired on them as a reflex. He had been hit. Taylor looked up at him, smiling weakly. "Damn...I really need to learn...to shut my mouth when things...are going well."

Will started applying pressure to the bullet wound, trying to stop the bleeding. Taylor's chest was heaving, shuddering. He was growing cold as the blood slowly but surely drained from his body. "Hold on. Just hold on until others get her. I'm sure the other squads are on their way by now. We'll get you taken care of."

Taylor shook his head as he coughed up more blood. "Don't think so boss. Kinda hard...to fix a hole...in your lung. Don't think I'm...I'm comin' back from...this one."

Will looked away from his friend as he continued to apply pressure to the wound. He didn't want to admit it, but Taylor was right. Will's hands were already covered in blood, and it was showing no signs of stopping. Taylor's lung was probably filled with blood by now. Will's attention returned to Taylor when he felt his friend grip his wrist. "I'm...not gonna make it much longer...Will. Just promise me something...so I can die somewhat...h-happy, alright?"

"What?"

"P-promise me...you'll stop being so d-damn serious...all the...time."

Taylor's eyes closed then and the shuddering breaths he was taking came at greater interval, with less strength, until they finally stopped all together. Will gritted his teeth, looking away from Taylor's face. He had died with that same stupid smile he always wore anytime he gave Will a hard time.

Will could hear people approaching. Looking up he could see a number of I.O.M.E. officers approaching.

Will stood waiting for them to get to him. There was still plenty left to do. They would have to tend to the wounded, and make many arrests, which meant a lot of paperwork back at the office. They also needed to find out what had happened to the other fleeing cultists.

Yet in spite of all that needed to be done, the only thing in Will's mind was the image of his friend's last smile.