The three team left the car park, giving them a full view of Ritzrub. The only issue was beyond where any hypothetical treasure was, but also, what was it in the first place. For all they knew, the treasure was a really nice looking apple, or something.
"'Kay, where are we starting?" Elijah asked. "Janet, you're the rich one here, I'm trusting you."
"You really think I hang out here?" She asked. Even with her sunglasses, the lights hurt. She probably needed a second pair underneath.
"You think they'd hide it in some kind of bar? Like we'd have to sneak in or get Ms. Collins to look inside?" Evelyn asked.
"We'll check that after a few other options." Sybil replied coldly.
Suddenly, her phone buzzed. She opened it, and all she had was an email from an unknown sender. Only thing was an attached image, containing a map of Ritzrub with one part of the place circled. Sybil announced what she got, and passed her phone to her team. Janet and Evelyn didn't really know what to do with the information, but Elijah held the phone for a few extra seconds. He zoomed in on one part, before giving a pained sigh.
"I know where one of the treasures is." He grunted. "See the Hive store there? It's in the car park."
"You sure?" Evelyn asked.
"If they know anything about me, they'd put it there. Let's just get this over with."
Eric led them to the car park in question, going past all of the bright buildings and casinos near the multi storey car park they started in, until the roads were just illuminated with old street lights. Janet was still struggling to find her way around in the dark, until Evelyn just grabbed her hand.
"Hey now, let me buy you dinner first." Janet chuckled to herself upon feeling her hand. Evelyn moved from grabbing the hand to her arm, dragging her through the streets and ignoring her protests. Luckily, the denizens of Ritzrub were either too intoxicated or apathetic to care.
Once they got past the city, It was just a few streetlights, combined with the occasional store, some of which were actually open, most of which were shutters with graffiti on them. And at the end of the street was a lone gas station, dimly lit and unassuming, minus the legion of sleek cars parked outside it, and the amount of teenagers in designer clothes hanging out there.
"We almost there?" Janet asked.
"You'll smell it." Elijah said.
A few seconds later, the smell of fake fruits plunged its way into everyone's noses. Sybil in particular knew the smell all too well, and her face clearly contorted when she got a whiff.
"We're here." Elijah sighed, going into the car park, with the other three following him.
"Just grab anything that looks treasure-ish, and then we leave."
The fruity smell got worse as they went in, passing the sleek and modern cars as they went. Elijah's eyes were wandering around for anything that could be considered treasure, before he actually had to deal with anyone around here.
"No way, is that Elijah?"
Elijah had to contain his groan as the voice hit his ears, so he turned around to meet Hayden, leader of the tricks, the most well known and insufferable gang in Lion City. His head was as square as ever, he still had his DemDrag brand shirt, of a dragon with demon horns around it, wearing red shorts in a sunless night, and he was still sucking a disposable vape, just like last time they met. And the time before that. And before that.
"Elijah, buddy! What you doing here?"
The smug tone said it all. He wasn't looking for an actual conversation, he was looking for the slightest excuse to get his boys to gang up on him. Elijah figured the best course of action was just to be honest, maybe omit the details of the game he was in.
"I'm looking for something my friend dropped around here."
"They a spade?"
"Nope. Just someone who lives around here."
Hayden's phone started buzzing, and he checked it, smirking to himself while taking another hit of his vape.
"Is it one of the girls you got around here? Maybe doing a favour for the one with the rack?"
He flipped his phone to show the picture of Sybil, and a second one zoomed in on her chest. He had actually never noticed just how big it was, but that was besides the point.
"We'll be here for like…a couple of minutes. Ten minutes. That's all we need."
"Nah, you're up to something."
Hayden threw a punch, causing Elijah to fall to the floor. When he was getting up, he heard the footsteps of the rest of his squad approaching. So he quickly tried to shake off the pain as he got back on his feet, only for Hayden to push him down again.
So Elijah tried using his abilities again. He felt the heat radiate from his body to his hand as he got up a third time. And as Hayden went in for a third punch, Elijah grabbed the bottom of his shirt, and the built up energy transferred to it, making it suddenly erupt in flames. The smug look was quickly warped into one of terror as he tried patting the fire out, only for Elijah to grab his vape and transfer just a little heat to that, causing it to explode in his face. Hayden began screaming as his hair joined his shirt in being alight, and he ran through the park with several of the gang in tow to try and find something to put it out. Elijah looked around the surrounding gang, clenching his fist a couple of times until they all decided it wasn't worth it, bailing out of the car park.
Sybil looked up to see the trail of smoke running across the car park, and just wondered what Elijah was getting up to. There seemed to be a general sense of panic around the other gang members, so she figured she'd add to the chaos. She clasped her hands together, letting the blue crystals form around her arm. It felt heavy to have it on her, but it worked. She walked across the car park, observing each car, so new, and most of which were polished to a mirror shine. She wondered how a bunch of teenagers without jobs could afford any of this for a second, but then figured their parents were probably bankrolling them. Actually, if she were to steal a car, they'd just blame Elijah, right? And she could play dumb, change the licence plate, and say her sister pitched in it to get a dream car, surely? Nah, she'd get caught eventually. And her job choices meant she didn't deserve a fancy car. After all, she only chose to educate the next generation of little shits so they could later on afford fancy cars.
"Hey, what's your deal?"
Two more teenagers called out to her, guarding what looked to be the leaders car. It was right by the shops door, and looked to be the nicest one there.
Sybil didn't say anything, she just swung her crystal arms in front of them horizontally, and they scampered away a second later. She looked inside of the car, and didn't see anything that could be a treasure. She tried looking underneath, but if she got on the ground the weight of the crystal meant she might not get back up.
Eh, screw it. Daddy's money can get him another car. She got one of the more jagged bits of crystal underneath the car, and with a single heave it was flipped over. Unfortunately there was nothing underneath it. But if there nothing in sight, it could be hidden either inside or underneath one of the other cars.
So that's what she did. She flipped over as many cars as possible, and the gang members could only watch in terror as she did so. After around six cars, she noticed a small necklace on the ground. silver with a square topaz gem in the middle. Could be a gift to a girlfriend, but she figured it could be important. Shame she couldn't pick it up.
"Hey, Janet! Or Elijah! Evelyn?! Someone!"
Evelyn found her way to her a few seconds later. She walked past the flipped over and dented cars, wondering just how pissed Sybil had to get. She noticed the small necklace reflected against a streetlight and picked it up. Suddenly, the ringing in their ears continued.
"And Kwaku's team gets the first treasure! Two remain!"
"Alright, we did it!" Janet said, clapping her hands together.
"What were you even doing?" Evelyn asked.
"Looking. Also, moral support."
"I didn't see you offer that." Sybil said flatly.
"It has a wide area of effect." She replied casually as Elijah joined them. "Anyway, I'm hungry. You wanna get food?"
"What's the most expensive place around here?" Sybil sighed.
"Eh, we'll find something." Janet replied, before walking into a street pole.
"Trust me, we'll find it."