"Left. Right. Head straight."
The blonde tutor's voice echoed inside their minds.
They didn't hesitate.
Adrian shot left.
Dravers dashed forward.
Jake pivoted right.
Three different directions. Three different missions.
Jake's Route
Jake ran through the busy streets in nothing but a hospital gown and bare feet.
Cars honked.
People turned.
A teenage girl gasped.
"Is that a new fashion trend?!"
Jake ignored them, weaving between cars, sliding over a taxi hood, cutting through a pedestrian crowd.
His red bracelet flickered.
The tutor's voice returned.
"You see the black-haired guy wearing a suit?"
Jake slowed just slightly, scanning.
Business district.
Clean pavement.
Expensive shoes.
Then—
A tall man in a fitted charcoal suit.
Black hair slicked back.
Polished shoes.
Calm stride.
Suitcase in his right hand.
"…Got him," Jake murmured.
"You see that suitcase he's carrying?"
"Yes."
Pause.
"Steal it."
Jake blinked mid-stride.
"…Wait what?"
"You heard me."
Jake almost tripped.
The tutor cleared his throat theatrically.
"Let me rephrase. Retrieve the case and bring it to the agency within twenty-five minutes."
" That doesn't change anything"
A digital timer flashed in Jake's vision.
00:24:58
"Oh. And permission is granted to use your skills."
A beat.
"You are free from police interference for the duration."
Jake's lips twitched.
"…You guys are insane."
The Snatch
Jake slowed his breathing.
Closed distance.
Three steps behind.
Two.
One.
He lunged.
SNATCH.
The suitcase was ripped clean from the man's hand.
Jake didn't stop moving.
He exploded forward—
Shadow Forge activated.
Platforms formed mid-air—
Flat, black, semi-solid surfaces appearing one step ahead at a time.
He stepped on one—
It evaporated into mist.
Step.
Evaporate.
Step.
Evaporate.
He was running into the sky.
Gasps erupted below.
Phones came out.
Jake glanced back with a crooked grin.
"Sorry dude! I'll bring it back after the assignment!"
The suited man had not moved.
Not even a flinch.
He simply stood there.
Cold eyes.
Red pupils.
Watching.
Like he was looking through Jake.
Not at him.
Jake felt something off.
A faint chill brushed his spine.
He turned forward—
And instantly froze.
Rooftop Encounter
The man was sitting on the rooftop ahead.
Suit flawless.
Elbows resting casually on his knee.
Eyes locked on Jake.
Bored.
Unimpressed.
"…That's not possible," Jake muttered.
He had just stolen the case.
This guy never moved.
The man slowly stood.
Calmly adjusted his cufflinks.
Just mild inconvenience.
Jake's bracelet flickered.
Threat Assessment: Unknown.
Stat Retrieval: Restricted.
Jake narrowed his eyes.
"You're not just some civilian, huh?"
The man tilted his head slightly.
Then—
He vanished.
Just—
Gone.
Jake's pupils constricted.
Behind you.
The voice wasn't in his head.
It was real.
Jake twisted—
A hand was already inches from his face.
Too fast.
Jake barely tilted his head—
The man's fingers brushed his cheek instead of crushing his throat.
A skyscraper behind Jake—
SHATTERED.
The air displacement alone cracked every window across the building.
Jake's heart skipped.
"…Oh."
He understood now.
This wasn't a simple theft mission.
This was a test.
The man looked down at his own hand, mildly dissatisfied.
"You're faster than the average thief, I was just planning on just knocking you out but it's seems you might put up a fight " he said calmly.
" That power, to knock me out? Is he crazy? He obviously tried to kill me" Jake thought
Jake landed on another shadow platform, maintaining height.
"And you're faster than you look."
The man's red pupils sharpened.
"You stole from the wrong guy."
Jake smirked slightly.
A small pause.
The man's eyebrow twitched.
Interesting.
Jake adjusted his grip on the suitcase.
"So… do I have to defeat you to pass?"
The man's expression didn't change.
" Defeat me?, you are the one who stole from me remember?"
" So he doesn't know this is a test for me, who is this guy?"
Timer flashed again.
00:22:11
Jake exhaled slowly.
Shadow mist began to rise around him.
"Guess this isn't a simple grab-and-run."
The man stepped forward—
And the rooftop beneath him cracked from pressure alone.
The wind howled across the rooftop.
Jake stood frozen mid-air on a fading shadow platform.
The suited man stood ten meters ahead.
Calm. Hands in pockets. Black hair swaying slightly. Red pupils fixed on Jake like a predator marking prey.
The suitcase was in Jake's hand.
Silence.
Then—
"You have five seconds," the man said flatly.
Jake tilted his head.
"For?"
"To put that down."
The air changed.
" one, two"
A portal that's looks like it leads to the heavens opened slightly behind him to the left.
" three..…"
A muscular woman wearing a maids outfits (Virgo), beautiful black hair neatly tied , pitch black eyes, walls through the portal, eyes locked on Jake.
" four "
" on second thought " Jake says as he turned immediately and began to run the other way"
" five..... Get him"
The ground detonated beneath her feet as she exploded towards Jake in a blue, Jake leaped from building to building like a parkour expert.
" What is up with that guy? And what's in this suitcase?"
Jake says as he looks back while running and noticed, shocked, that lady was fifteen feet from him and was getting closer with each step, he now even sprinted more, just as he was about to reach the edge of the building he instantly stopped and and flip kicked Virgo who was directly behind him then, but she caught his leg and threw him back, Jake skids to a halt, looks up and she was already in front of him with a left jab aimed at his face, Jake dodged by tilting his head to the left and she instantly follows up with three left jabs and a right hook, which Jake dodged and pushed her back and tried to run, causing her to take two steps back as Jake now sprints but she grabs the suitcase mid Jake's sprint and pulls him back going in for a close line but Jake dodged by sliding on his knees like a goal celebration, and instantly gets up while shadow forging a bat and smacks her in the head so hard she flew straight to the left head first, but she skids to a stop, frozen in place as her neatly tied her unties and falls over her face.... She slowly lifts her head up with a deadly glare like a ghost girl, and there and then Jake knew that he just got her mad.
She vanished and appears informt of Jake with a heavy punch aimed at Jake's gut but Jake manages to block with the suitcase but the sheer power of the punch caused Jake to fly straight into a building and the suitcase flew out of his hand.
Jake pauses, looks at Virgo, looks at the direction the suitcase was going, back at Virgo who wasn't there, she had already gone after it... Jake immediately climbs up and runs after her.
He catches up to her, with him one the right side and Virgo on the left seperated by a building,
She walks straight through the buildings without a care while Jake on the other hand jumped into an open window, leaps over tables, kids and other obstacles, opens doors and reaches outside at the same Virgo reaches outside, they both look over and see each other, then look at the suitcase case that was falling into a traffic of hovering cars, the both jumped down but Virgo reaches for the suitcase, and just as she was about to reach it, Jake grabs her leg, pulls her back and steps on her face as to boost himself, but as he was also about to grab the case, she pulls his dress and pulls Jake to her level,
Then
Punch... Kick
She punched Jake to the left and Jake simultaneously kicked her to the right bithe fly straight into buildings.
Scene shift to Dravers
She was standing in front of a coffee shop with coffee in her hand.
" I got the coffee as you asked" she says
" You see the woman on your left wearing a red fancy dress, with blonde hair?"
Dravers looks left and spots her, beautiful, mid thirties, looks like she values even the dust on her shoes.
" Yes "
" your mission is to pour the coffee on her and come back to the agency, as easy as that and you're hired"
" Got it"
Dravers stands and waits for her to get closer and when she did,Dravers pretended to to trip and poured the coffee on her, the woman gasps dramatically as she takes a few steps back, and looks at her ruined dress.
Dravers picks her tissue and tries to wipe her
" I'm so sorry, I didnt mean to do that "
The woman looks up at her, and surprisingly had a sweet, innocent smile, impossible, that's smile was too innocent, she looks too sweet after what just happened.
Dravers noticed all this but still tries to play this out.
" I really am sor-"
A thin line appears on Dravers' neck then-
Slit..... Dravers' head flee right off.
She snaps back to reality
And instantly leaps backwards
" what the hell just happened? Did she just.... Kill me?, no it can't be, nobody would be dumb enough to kill in public, it must have been a mistake"
Dravers thinks
The traffic light behind Dravers then cleanly slides off.
Immediately as she heard the clank, realisty struck her like a bullet to the head,her eyes opened widely as she starts at the woman who still looked at her with the world's most innocent smile, with her eyes closed.
" that's psycho just tried to murder me in public " Dravers yelled in her thoughts
" You freaking piece of -"
Dravers' Field of vision rotated to her back of her head
" how can I see what's behind me without turning my neck " Dravers thought,
Camera zooms out only to see, her face from her upper lip was severed from the rest of her body, and she was split into three halves.
She snapped back to reality and then immediately ducked.
She leaps back to create some distance, she then jumps up and does what looks like she's dodging attacks that never happened.
if she wasn't too cautious and consumed the ability, "deaths string", which allows her to see three seconds before she dies, she would have already been dead.
Dravers lands on a street lamp.
"What the hell is wrong with this crazy bitch, is she literally trying to kill me because I spilled coffee on her?"
She jumps of it.
The pole instantly is cut into four pieces, the people around, seeing this began to panic and run.
" at first glance it looks like she slices things by will, but when you look closer you'll see it"
Camera zooms in to the woman's fingers, there are extremely small strings coming out of it and she was manipulating them to slice things.
" if this goes on for long, my time will run out and she'll turn me into minced meat..... I've got to attack, her ability clearly looks like a long range ability so if I'm able to get close to her, I'll be the one at the advantage " Dravers thinks
She lands on the back of a running guy and leaps off of him to get a boosted sprint forward, the guy falls on his face... She dashes, dodging the slashes and increasing her speed as well.
Time slows
Only when she was seven feet away from the woman, only then could she see, how wrong she was, and really how messed up her situation was, her eyes widened in fear, in disbelief sweat pooled around her face .
Since the fight began she had hundreds of strings dangling and twirling, dancing around her, protecting her, and thousands others dispersed all around the her immediate surroundings and all those strings were attached to her toes...
and only attacked Dravers with three
Attached to her fingers.
Dravers fell to her knees instantly but her momentum caused her to slide on her knees toward the woman...
Colour begins to fade out of the world as the woman's smile widens and eyes slit slightly opened as she looks down on Dravers.
Soon everything was in black and white and only the womans pupils had color, a soft purple glow, which fit her perfectly like the beautiful yes on the ace of the ugly devil.
As one of the string bent over to cut off Dravers' head, she bowed down, face full of fear and guilt as her heart pounded in ears.
The string stopped.
" I'm truly sorry for pouring the coffee on you... I just wanted to be accepted into that agency, and the blonde guy told me all I had to do was to do this, I never really wanted to do this... So please...forgive me
Dravers' voice cracked multiple times during the apology.
Colour slowly comes back
The woman's smile fades away for once, and she looks normal.
" Did this blonde guy by any chance have blue eyes and looked extremely annoying?" she asked
Dravers looks up suprised she knows him.