The mission Darius gave me was pretty simple: I had to go to a safe house and take out the last members of a gang called "The Forgotten" or some shit like that. Now that I think about it, that mission seemed too simple, and he didn't have to send me, his best right-hand man, but at that time I just wanted to show him that I really was his best right-hand man, that I was someone he could trust.
Darius gave me a two-man team and put me in charge. He didn't give me a bigger team 'cause the mission had to be a secret: neither the media, nor the police, nor anyone were supposed to find out that we clowns were about to wipe out the last rival gang left in Saint Money.
We left in the middle of the night, and as soon as we were close the safe house, I sensed some weak-ass auras inside. I thought it was weird I didn't sense stronger ones 'cause people with such weak auras can't use magic.
Or maybe they knew how to hide their aura very well. Even though I couldn't even hide mine that well.
But whether they could use magic or not, I hid mine so that no one would find out we were coming.
We arrived at the house, and even though it was a pretty big mansion, it was so quiet. We parked nearby.
"Ok, clowns," I said before we went inside. "We have to take them all out quickly and quietly. Nobody can know we were there."
"Dark, can we use magic or just guns?" one of them asked me. Some clowns had started to learn magic after seeing me kick ass with it.
"Fuck off, you guys can barely cast a spell," I told them. "There's a reason your guns have silencers. First survive, then you can practice."
We got out of the truck, and that's when I realized there was no one guarding that house, there was no one at the door, not on the roof, not on the terraces. The problem with having such a big house is that people can get in from so many places, and that's why you need a lot of people watching it.
Maybe that gang had so few members left that they couldn't have anyone to keep watch outside.
Or maybe they knew we were coming and were setting a trap for us.
"Let's go," I told my men 'cause I couldn't fail the mission. I had come to kill everyone in that safe house. If no one was watching outside, all the better for me.
The front door had just a regular lock, which we opened right away. We went inside. There was the living room with some couches and a table covered in bags of chips, cardboard plates with half-eaten pieces of fried chicken, and more than one half-empty bottle of soda. They were still cold.
The enemies' auras were on the other side of the house, so they were most likely here, but they left just before we arrived.
They were setting us up.
Suddenly I felt more than twenty very weak auras approaching, and I saw blue and red lights flashing out the window.
What were the cops doing there? They were supposed to work for us clowns. Were they there to help us? If so, why hadn't Darius told me anything?
And why were there so many of them? Were they coming to betray us? Was this the trap the other gang was setting up?
They got out of their cars and gathered at the door.
"Police! Open up!" the started pounding on the door with a tactical battering ram.
"Let's go," I said, and we went across the living room. The auras of the right-hand men were getting closer. Most likely, they worked with the police and were coming to try to kill us with their help.
If I let the right-hand men and the police joined together, it was gonna be harder to fight them all, so I went to where the right-hand men were to kill them and their leader first, and then either kill those cops or escape.
At the end of the living room was a very long hallway with many closed doors. We didn't have time to check what was inside them. Besides, I didn't sense any auras there. We went through it and in the end was a big-ass garden where those guys were waiting for us. They were hiding behind overturned tables and walls. They shot and threw grenades at us. I created a shield to protect myself and my team. They shot back, and I threw spells so powerful they destroyed the tables and walls where those fuckers were hiding.
But then I heard the doors in the hallway open, and a lot of people came out. Soon they arrived and were also shooting at us and throwing grenades. I concentrated on keeping my shield from breaking, but they were attacking us from all sides. It wasn't going to be long before I ran out of magic.
I turned to face them, still not understanding why I hadn't sensed their auras, and that's when I saw they were all wearing Bephelometh collars. I don't think I've mentioned those since Chapter 1, so let me remind you what they are. The cops put me one when they threw me in jail. And what they do is prevent you from using magic. It takes it all away. And if it takes it all away, then you have no aura. No one can sense your aura 'cause you don't have one.
At the time, I didn't know that, and I'd never thought to use it for that.
The thing is, I felt like I was running out of magic.
"What do we do, Dark?" one of my men asked, and I was throwing spells so powerful that a single one could kill several people. I threw them as fast as I could 'cause the less time it took me to kill them all, the less magic I would have to waste on my shield.
But then those wearing Bephelometh's collar took it off, and I could sense that their auras were much stronger than the others'. They threw at us so many spells on me that my shield was breaking very quickly. I then released all my magic just as my shield exploded.
I didn't know what happened for a few seconds, but I opened my eyes and saw that I was lying on the floor. There was rubble and bodies everywhere. Only I survived, even though I could barely move.
Then the cops came and pointed their guns at me. Some of them approached me with a Bephelometh collar. I was so tired I could barely writhe, but they just grabbed my head and slammed it against the ground. They put the collar on my necj and handcuffed my hands and feet.
"Let's go," said one of them, and the others lifted me up.
"I thought you were gonna be harder to get," another cop said to me, and I turned to look at him. I had seen his face before, when we did that mission where we disguised ourselves as cops. I looked at all the cops I could find, and all of them—those who led me down the corridor, those who put me in a cop car, and those who put a bag over my head—were clowns too.