Dungeon Raider System

With blinking red lights and the rattling sound of many footsteps going about the ship, Uriel was force to save his thoughts for later.

"It's an emergency, we are surrounded!" Miss Dragonfang announced with a panicked face which shifted immediately after seeing Soulfire. "Hi, handsome, what have you been up to?"

"Hi, Lizzy, long time no see." Soulfire chuckled.

"Focus, Miss Dragonfang!" Uriel and Medusa grunted in unison.

"It's the army!" Miss Dragonfang's face turned back into one of panic.

"They must be here to provide support to the detectives, but please let me speak to them first. I just need to speak with Lister and everything will be cleared." Soulfire wanted to avoid violence, but it was difficult for Uriel believe him. He didn't doubt Soulfire's intentions but his ability to sort things without creating even more misunderstandings.

"I can't fight until I regain some flux. I'm delegating this fight to you, Nika."

"I don't have any left either, I think Luna should..."

"I'm an ascended. It's Medusa's turn."

"But I don't want to kill them!"

"Please, don't kill them!" Soulfire begged.

"Hang on, didn't you say you came here to help us? Why don't you ask the holy rank hunter you brought along to give us a hand?"

"That will be a bit difficult." Soulfire scratched his cheek.

Outside the Pegasus that remained docked in the hangar, the scene unfolding in front of Captain Obus' eyes was as absurd as it was unbelievable.

At least two hundred detectives were present, some of them wounded and some still unconscious, but what caused the captain to doubt his own eyes was the group of detectives surrounding their city's holy rank hunter who wiggled on the ground like a caterpillar.

"Sergeant, what the hell is going on here?" He unblinkingly asked Tate by his side who instead of replying turned to his sister.

"Didn't you say they were surrounded and about to die?"

"I... I don't know what happened. Maybe they got lucky." Contrary to what Uriel and the rest thought, Bella didn't flee to stay away from the battle. What she actually did was to look for her brother in all the army barracks in hopes of getting some help for her new employer.

It took some convincing, some bribing and cashing in a lot of favors, but Tate managed to get the reinforcements the Dungeon Raiders needed.

It took them longer than they expected and thought that by then the Ship would have been shattered to pieces and most of the Dungeon Raiders dead, which is why no one could make sense of what they saw.

"This is the army, drop your weapons and turn yourselves in or suffer the consequences." Captain Obus announced through a megaphone.

"You'll never take us alive!" Uriel shouted as he exited the ship, followed closely by Medusa, Luna and Nika each carrying their respective weapon of choice and with fierce expressions on their faces. After failing to decide who would be the one facing the army the only fair choice was that everyone did it.

They looked like a bunch of desperate people ready to make their last stand, but nothing could differ more from reality. Uriel planned to draw as much attention towards himself as he could to store the Red thread of fate back in his museum at the first opening shown by the captain. This was supposed to set Allegro free which should grant them an immediate win.

But things didn't turn out like he expected.

"He's not speaking to you, moron!" Bella scoffed.

"What is the witch doing here?" Medusa tilted her head after recognizing her voice.

"Lieutenant Sage, we're here to rescue you." Tate informed as he approached the ship, though as he walked by the injured detectives he didn't believe his own words.

"It's a bit late for that, but thanks for coming." Uriel extended his arm to the sergeant responsible for the favorable turn of events while wondering if the hybrids would even show up. He expected reinforcements from the hybrid community since Ciara was supposedly working on that. Not even in a century would have Uriel guessed the reinforcements would come from the army instead.

"It's the least I can do after all you've done for me and my idiot sister."

"Hey! I'm the one who brought reinforcements, you should be thanking me. As a reward, I want..."

"Reward? You flew away without permission and you didn't even let us know of your intention. All you're getting is a day without pay and be thankful I'm in a good mood." Said Uriel after summoning back his dagger and freeing the holy rank hunter under the disbelieving gaze of Captain Obus.

"Sir, may I ask how did you manage to reduce a holy rank hunter." The captain spoke with a respect he owed solely to those above his rank out of instinct. Despite showing up with ATVs, heavy weaponry and an entire battalion of hunters with varied traits, it was only meant to display enough power to get the involved parties to stop fighting.

"You may not." Uriel replied with a grin.

"Is it safe now? Everyone, don't shoot please! There's no more reason to fight, we reached an agreement." Soulfire muttered first, then spoke loudly to everyone who listened as he exited the ship with his hands behind his head, but he lowered as soon as he saw a tall bearded man approaching the ship.

"That is not possible, the only way this administration will reach an agreement with your company is if you speak to the governor in person." Halstead walked in like he owned the place, paying no mind to the army, the detectives or even the holy rank hunter.

"You! I've been asking for a meeting and all you've done is ignore me!" Nika growled, temped to open fire against the man.

"Don't even think of it, Nika." Uriel understood how she felt and could empathize, but being ignored hardly granted her the right to shoot a person. Especially someone who was about to give them all they wanted in the first place which was to speak with the governor.

"I am aware of your... insistence. The governor is ready to see you now, drop your weapons, surrender the ship and come with me please." His demands were as outrageous as they were nonsensical to Uriel who shifted his calm demeanor.

"I changed my mind, you can kill him now." Prompted by his words, Nika aimed at the man who didn't so much as flinch at the sight of Nika's Colt peacemaker.

"Kill me or don't, the choice is yours, but unless you do exactly as I said the only possible outcome will be your company and employees being banned to enter any city under the world government flag. You'll lose all right of ownership to any assets you may possess and all the credits stored in the bank will become a meaningless number."

"That is ridiculous, if anyone had that kind of power they would have done it a while ago. Right, guys?" Uriel asked his friends since Halstead's poker face was flawless.

"Uhm... It's feasible." Luna nodded, then Medusa added.

"But I've been a wanted criminal and had no issues going back inside the city or spending money."

"A criminal is still a person, whereas a company is nothing but a legal entity. If it's not recognized by the government, then it simply doesn't exist." Medusa explained.

"Even if they wanted to dissolve our company, it would only be in paper. We could still offer our services around the world. Who knows, maybe we can find a way to revoke it. Heck, we could even get knew IDs and create a new company."

"Not really," Nika scratched the back of her shoulder. "Medusa knows what she's speaking about. Her family's company is responsible for taking down many others and once they're out of business it's for good. When we came back from Chichén Itzá I couldn't access my bank account or the Mapple corporation would have immediately found me, imagine that but for all of us.

If the Mapple corporation can keep track of a single hunter, the world government should be able to do the same and they'll catch us at the first mistake."

"Then, why didn't they start with this? Why did they even bother sending the detectives." Uriel asked dumbfounded. He wasn't a stranger to schemes and ploys, but none of Lister's actions made any sense.

He could have saved himself so much trouble by just receiving them in his office, yet he always refused. Not just that, he also sent the detectives after their ship despite Soulfire's warnings. Needless to say, the fight was costly for everyone involved and the only explanation Uriel could find in his mind was that Lister had to be an incompetent fool.

Nevertheless, he still managed to land a hit on Uriel's weakspot, his wallet.

A finishing blow.

Half an hour later, Uriel was sitting in Lister's richly decorated office accompanied by his friends, Soulfire and Allegro while the bearded man that dealt the finishing blow served him coffee.