“Blaze. Get up! Shadow’s calling for help. Her restaurant’s being robbed.”

  She looked up from where she knelt, eyes widening. “What?”

  [William of Brinsford:] [Urako Sarutobi] [Blaze and I can be there in a few minutes. What’s happening?]

  [Urako Sarutobi:] [William of Brinsford] [They got a party. Three with shotguns and two others. 2 and 3 rest lev 2. Dont wanna break my cover. Peeps here don’t know me as Shadow. They’d freak.]

  “Five people. Three shotguns. Some casters,” I summarized quickly. “She doesn’t want them to know who she is. We need to move. Now. And call for backup.” I glanced at Blaze and looked at what she was wearing. “You said you’d obey me?”

  “Yes. But this is a police matter.”

  “This is an Irregulars matter first, police second. One of ours might be outgunned.” I stood up. “While I gear up, go in my bedroom. Left dresser, top drawer. There are a pouch and belts in it. pick one that’ll fit your ID, badge, and gun. Other dresser, top drawer, back left corner, old Halloween mask. Black hood. Bring it.”

  “OK, but I need to change clothes.”

  “No. You’re going as is. With the hood, they won’t see all your face. You’re still a Fire Mage…just not Blaze. You said you’d obey. Obey now.”

  She was already on her feet, sprinting down the hall. I heard her call back, “Yes, sir.”

  I pulled on my doublet, baldric, and gear as fast as I could, hands moving on instinct. By the time Blaze returned with her badge, gun, and the hood dangling from her fingers, I was finishing fastening my belt in a sword knot, so the end draped down.

  [William of Brinsford:] [Urako Sarutobi] [Where are you and what’s your situation?]

  [Urako Sarutobi:] [William of Brinsford] [In the kitchen. 2 waitresses. They have the owner’s son at the cash register. Customers backed into a corner.]

  [William of Brinsford:] [Urako Sarutobi] [Do the waitresses have game powers?]

  [Urako Sarutobi:] [William of Brinsford] [They never chose nothing. What do we do?]

  Blaze was heading towards me at this point. I had my doublet and baldric on, and I was ready except for my hat. A gentleman never leaves home without his hat.

  Her bare feet slapped against the hardwood floor as she ran back.

  [William of Brinsford:] [Urako Sarutobi] [Got an idea. If you use your gear, someone could figure out who you are. Can you use kitchen knives instead and cover yourself so they don’t know who you are?]

  [Urako Sarutobi:] [William of Brinsford] [People in kitchen will know.]

  Putting my hat on, I opened the door. “Grab your staff, sandals, and knife.”

  She lifted the blade from the table, sliding it into her belt. Dropping her sandals on the floor, she slid into them.

  “Good. Get in the van. Contact Chief Brown on the way. Update him. Send the help message to the Irregulars. I’ll update you as we drive.” Pulling the key fob out of my pocket, I unlocked the van.

  We bolted out the door. She was faster, already half way to the van by the time I shut the front door. I dropped into the driver’s seat a few seconds later.

  [William of Brinsford:] [Urako Sarutobi] [Leaving now. Telling Chief Brown and the Irregulars. Hang in there. If it goes to shit, take care of it. Be a Thief, not a Ninja. Keep your people alive.]

  Starting the van, I flicked the headlights to high beams, and threw on the hazard blinkers. “We really need one of those portable cop lights,” I muttered as I scratched tires backing out of the driveway.

  “Oh, and contact Ingrid…tell her to get EMS moving. Quiet approach. No sirens near the West End Restaurant.”

  Blaze’s eyes glazed…she had the look of someone sending multiple chat messages.

  [Carlos Torres:] [William of Brinsford] [Jack said to intercept you and clear a path. I’m on the bypass. That you with the brights and blinkers westbound?]

  [William of Brinsford:] [Carlos Torres] [Roger that. I see your lights. Message thru Blaze. Heading for West End Restaurant.]

  Carlos’s cruiser pulled ahead, lights flaring, siren blaring. I slipped in behind him.

  “Will,” Blaze said, “I sent the message to the Irregulars. No one can make it for at least fifteen minutes. I formed a party with Jack and Ingrid. Is that Carlos in front?”

  “Yeah. Told him to work through you.”

  “He said that. What’s the battle plan, Warchief?”

  “Shit, not that again.” I shook my head, then laid it out. “Shadow’s working on a disguise. If they hurt people, we’re talking body bags. You go in first and keep their attention off the hostages. Customers and the owner’s son come first. I’ll shield them if I can. There are at least four staff, five bad guys. Don’t know how many customers yet.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “Don’t burn the house down. But singeing? Fine. Bolts over Balls. Into their balls is just fine.”

  We both got a quick laugh from that image.

  “Roger that. Faster than the agency’s hostage protocols.”

  “Tell Shadow. But if they hurt people….”

  “I know.” Her gaze flicked. “Jack says lethal force authorized if they do. We’re still deputized. Sort of.”

  “Sort of?”

  “Ask Carlos.”

  [William of Brinsford:] [Urako Sarutobi] [Got Carlos Torres leading us in. Jack says lethal is authorized to save lives if they use or threaten lethal force.]

  “Ingrid says EMS is on the way.” Blase informed me. “She and Bhaarrt just left. Bhaarrt says not to start the party without him.”

  “We’re almost there. We’ll save him some dessert.” I said as the sirens cut out.

  “OK…done.”

  She grinned, then grew serious. “I still don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

  “Do what I do. Make something up. Distract, stall, hit hard if needed. You’ll have transparent MANA ARMOR before you leave the van. Use FIRE SHIELD to cover yourself. Coordinate with Shadow on targets. Hopefully she’ll be able to SAP some of them.”

  “Now I get what you put the president through. Thanks, loads.”

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  “You’re welcome,” I shot back. “Carlos just killed his lights. I’m matching. Almost go time. Get the hood on. Go scare the hell out of them so the hostages walk out breathing.”

  I got Blaze’s party invite. I accepted. Blaze, Shadow, Carlos, Ingrid, and me. Healer was too far away to heal us. We were going in without healing support.

  [William of Brinsford:] [Urako Sarutobi] [Open the back door for Carlos. He’s an Irregular.]

  [Urako Sarutobi:] [William of Brinsford] [Roger that. 2 tables of 4, 3 tables of 2. Two with shotguns keeping them against a wall. 3 kids, 2 elementary.]

  “Eight adults, three kids,” I told Blaze. “Two gunmen with shotguns on them.”

  She frowned. “Will, this calls for negotiation, not a firefight. We can’t let them panic and start shooting.”

  “Agreed. If I can shield them, it’s open season. If not, you distract, I protect. Shadow picks them off. If I can’t do it from outside, I’ll be right behind you.”

  “I’m going to get in trouble for not going by the book. We have procedures for this.”

  “Then tell them we’re writing a new one. They need to help write it, or too many will needlessly die. If nothing else, send them to me.”

  Blaze smirked. “Only if I get to watch.”

  “Deal. We’re here. Go time.”

  I cast a triple-strength transparent MANA ARMOR on her. I felt the MANA moving through in my body. I hadn’t recharged my batteries, but I still had potions. DETECT MANA didn’t show any close Ley Lines.

  Carlos met us, AR-15 in hand. “What’s the plan? Backup’s minutes out. So is EMT.”

  “Go in the back. It’ll be open for you.” I threw a MANA ARMOR on him.

  He blinked. “Didn’t know you could do that. Thanks.” Then he took off running, rifle ready.

  [William of Brinsford:] [IRREGULARS] [If you’re more than 5 minutes out, come in hot and noisy. We need Blaze and Shadow quiet time now so they can do their things.]

  [Urako Sarutobi:] [PARTY] [cheap ass disguise ain’t gonna last long. Ready. Going through the service window now so they don’t see the kitchen door open.]

  Blaze slid her pistol inside her robe, tugged the mask down, put her hood up, and walked forward like she owned the damn night.

  I shifted sideways to where I wouldn’t be in front of the door or windows and ran.

  When I first looked in the windows. I saw they’d backed the customers into a corner of the room.

  I cast an invisible MANA SHIELD flush with the two side walls, leaving an opening at the top, then poured 100 extra MANA into it.

  Behind it, the customers stood frozen in fear. I cast my newest spell, COMBAT STATS. I’d picked up after my experience from the dungeon experience. It covered an area. One customer was level 2 Warrior. Game name: LongFeather.

  [William of Brinsford:] [LongFeather] [Mage entering is an Irregular. Invisible shield in front of you. They can’t shoot through it. Keep calm.]

  [LongFeather:] [William of Brinsford] [We got kids. Don’t hurt them.]

  [William of Brinsford:] [LongFeather] [Stay down if shooting starts. Follow what lady in robes says.]

  The outside door hadn’t fully closed. Blaze had set something down that blocked it. Her scabbarded knife.

  Blaze’s voice cut through the tense quiet. “Well now. What we got here? You boys aren’t gonna get in the way of my dinner, are ya?”

  Every gun turned toward her. She stood there, staff in one hand, other hand on her hip.

  I moved over to the door.

  “You boys got some attitude. One I don’t like. Y’all put them guns down and I won’t be hurtin’ you none. I ain’t got no beef with you boys, 'less you keep me from my dinner." She stepped further in and to one side

  Now I could see the manager at the cash register. He was a guy who looked in his mid-twenties to early thirties and was sweating like crazy. I guessed the reason was their leader, who held a big pistol to his head. There were cuts and bruises on the hostage’s face. Probably from that gun.

  Their leader sneered. “We got what we came for. Time to leave. Kill them all. No witnesses.”

  I cast MANA ARMOR on his hostage just before the gun fired. Twice. He went down, but still breathing. The MANA ARMOR held.

  ARMOR, unlike free standing SHIELDs, moves with you. The force of the bullet had knocked the guy down. I moved in.

  Blaze’s FIRE BOLTS lit the room, slamming into two thugs. Shotguns barked back. She threw up her FIRE SHIELD, flames curling around her as my own BOLTs joined hers.

  Her staff was pointing at them alternately, hitting them with FIRE BOLTS. I shouldn’t say where. My jokes can be a bad influence some times.

  “Boss! We can’t hit them. Something’s protecting them,” one of the men with shotguns cried out.

  That’s when their leader fell to the floor. He couldn’t answer with his throat slashed open. Shadow’s work. Two others collapsed under our fire.

  Screams from the kitchen cut off just as Carlos exploded through the back door. “Police! Drop your guns! Hands up!”

  I waved casually. “Hi Carlos. You’re late for the party. Want some coffee?”

  Sirens wailed closer, lights splashing red and blue across the restaurant windows.

  The two shotgun men guarding the hostages surrendered. The manager was shaking, but he lived. The mental effect of being shot in the head twice and not dying took a toll on him. EMTs worked on his injuries and panic, while Irregulars and police filtered in. Shadow whispered her thanks.

  We recovered the money they’d stolen.

  I sent out a message to the Irregulars saying unless you want to stay for food; we got them. And Shadow says they have good desserts.

  [Urako Sarutobi:] [William of Brinsford] [The 2 from the kitchen won’t talk. They’ll say I was back there keeping them safe. They know I’m a Thief class, but not the type. Told them I was on Sneak and Peek squad and called you for help.]

  [William of Brinsford:] [Urako Sarutobi] [Thanks. Glad we got there in time. Will they be alright?]

  [Urako Sarutobi:] [William of Brinsford] [Yeah. I’ll keep talking to them. Ingrid said she’d help. Carlos scared the fuck out of them when he came through the back door. Guess they didn’t see me unlock and wedge it open.]

  [William of Brinsford:] [Urako Sarutobi] [I hope not. Tell them enough of the truth and go from there. You know what you’re doing.]

  [Urako Sarutobi:] [William of Brinsford] [Thanks again for coming. No way I could get all of them on my own. Carlos took down my side of what happened. He ought to come with us more often.]

  [William of Brinsford:] [Urako Sarutobi] [Yeah. I wish he would. Jack too.]

  [Urako Sarutobi:] [William of Brinsford] [Why Blaze dressed like that? Thought she didn’t want to wear those things. N where she get that mask. I want one of those.]

  [William of Brinsford:] [Urako Sarutobi] [It’s mine from Halloween years ago. It’s a long story. Ask her when you have private time together. She can use that staff as a quarterstaff so watch out for it.]

  [Urako Sarutobi:] [William of Brinsford] [OK. I got food to make. You sticking around for an hour or do I find another way home? Got to get my bag outa your van.]

  [William of Brinsford:] [Urako Sarutobi] [We’ll stick as long as we’re needed.]

  Blaze dropped the hood and pulled the mask off. Most of the people recognized who she was from her hair and the type of spells she cast.

  Blaze and I talked with LongFeather and his wife for a while. I reminded him that game drops of weapons and armor go in his INVENTORY. He can pull game armor and weapons out of his INVENTORY and be ready to fight in seconds. Not minutes like me putting all my gear on.

  He said he’d try harder to find more groups or a guild who’d take him. He wanted to protect his family. His wife promised us she’d join him. Both of them wanted to protect their family.

  The police took a copy of the CCTV of what happened and lots of witness accounts. There were enough accounts of what happened that we wouldn’t be seeing these guys around for a long while. The Chief said he’d ask for a warrant to send people out to their homes looking for other stolen goods. This most likely wasn’t their first job.

  We stayed until closing, and bought desserts. They were wonderful. We let the manager comp us coffee. Shadow teased Blaze mercilessly about the robes all the way home.

  Shadow teased the story out of Blaze about why she was wearing the robes. And about our sparring match. Then she teased both of us the rest of the way back to her place. We both tried to stop her when she called it a lover’s fight. That only made it worse.

  We laughed about her teasing after we dropped her off. Hanna and I also talked about what happened after the fight. Neither of us had planned on how we were feeling about each other, but it happened. We just didn’t want to admit it.

  I didn’t feel it was right with her being decades younger than I was. And, I didn’t want people to think I was taking advantage of her. Well, not more than as a top party and guild member.

  Just after I parked, she told me, “Will. I talked to Ingrid about what happened between us tonight. The fight and what happened afterwards.”

  “What did she have to say?”

  “She wanted to find out about how you knew Madam Boudoir, after our fight with her. So she talked to a few people who knew you back when you and your wife were together. Most people liked you. A lot of them trusted you.”

  “And?”

  “She’s sending me links to books and things to read. They should be in my email when we get home.”

  “Do you want to wait on anything else until you read them?”

  “I don’t know. She said you went so slow, that if you keep it up, I’ll either get bored or fall asleep.”

  We both had a good laugh over that.

  “What do you want to do? Tonight, tomorrow? I won’t go further than that until you’ve had time to find out more and think about it.”

  “I already know some of it. She mentioned a book I read back in college. I remember some of it.”

  “Good, but it doesn’t answer my question. What do we do, or don’t do? I’ll go whichever way you decide.”

  “I believe you. That’s what makes me want to continue. I feel safe with you. If you keep it at the speed we’re going, I’m not worried.”

  “Alright. Follow me in and hopefully, we won’t get called out again tonight.”

  “Yes, sir.”

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