The crew split up, and half of them went to Hainan and the other half went to Jiangxi. The group that went to Hainan was composed of Siran, Alex, Zia, Finn, Rose and Holly. The group that went to Jiangxi was composed of Vivi, Satomi, Mikoto, Demetri, Robin and Ruby. The team in Hainan, who made their trip to Hainan by boat, had made it inside the building relatively easily. The building had 14 floors and 2 basements. They had gotten halfway up the building, floor 7 when a Ly'Lum soldier finally stopped them.
"You're not supposed to be here" the soldier says, "turn back now before-" and then Siran interrupts the soldier by shooting him. Immediately, an alarm goes off.
"Let's get this show on the road" Siran says, "we're going to wrap this up quickly, in case they're going to need our help in Jiangxi".
Soldiers blocked off both sides of the hallway, and Holly set up a wide digital shield on both sides of the team. The soldiers opened fire, but couldn't penetrate Holly's shields. Holly then changed the shape of her shields, causing each shield to shoot out a spike, piercing a soldier and pushing others to the floor. From there, Alex and Zia used fire-bolt elemental spells to quickly wipe out the soldiers on the ground. Their bodies were met with a strong burn, and then a shock ensuring that none of them survived. As they moved further up the floors of the building, the soldiers numbers quickly diminished. As they reach beyond floor 10, the team ran into MTRU soldiers again. There weren't many of these MTRU soldiers in the building, but they still had that equipment that could sap away people's magic.
"I'll take care of this" Rose says. "I can use blades to take out their equipment. If we risk letting them sap our magic, then we risk getting our identities exposed".
Rose dashed forward at a group of three MTRU soldiers. The first one reaches out to grab Rose, but she stops immediately and sticks a small knife into both of his hands. The other two try to use fire elemental spells to shake Rose off of their squad mate, but she uses the first soldier as a body shield and he instead takes all of the hits. When the MTRU soldier finally collapses, Rose then takes her knives out and throws one in each of their chests. The second soldier looks down in surprise at the knife in his chest, but before he has time to react or even yell in pain, Rose backflip kicks him. With her buff spells on, Rose hit him with enough force to push him through the doors of the elevator behind him. The soldier's head pushed through the elevator door, but he was still alive. That is until the elevator came down on him like a guillotine. Rose took her knife out of the second soldier's body and ran up to the third soldier. She swiped quickly at his neck and the soldier froze. Rose raised one finger to her mouth and said "Shhh..." as the soldier's body slowly collapsed to the ground, and his head rolled off of his shoulders.
"That was excessive" Siran says, "but it was quick, so it works. We've got to keep moving up, hurry!".
Meanwhile, in Jiangxi, Vivi's team was sneaking through the building. They had made it about halfway up their building as well before they came up with their plan of action. "Why don't we use explosives?" Demetri asks.
"He's right" Ruby says. "As much as I'm against it, it would be the quickest way to do it. Not only would it complete the mission faster, but it'd add the extra unnecessary damage that would grab to attention if the rest of the world. If China really has no intention of telling anyone that The Six Guns were here, then the only ones to blame for the damage would be The Ly'Lum".
"That's true" Vivi says. "We wouldn't be risking a whole lot if we get this done before anyone knows we're here".
"Why not just take them out quietly?" Satomi asks. "We have a former Mage with us, how hard could it be?".
"Oh, I'm not helping" Ruby says, "remember? I'm merely observing".
"You're merely lazy" Mikoto says.
"Aren't explosives still illegal in all countries?" Robin asks.
"Yes" Demetri says, "that's why it will cause such uproar".
"Guess it works then" Robin says.
"So, do we have plan then?" Demetri asks.
"Go nuts" Vivi says.
"With pleasure" Demetri replies. Demetri uses technician routes through the ceiling tiles and between electrical fixtures to place thermite and plastic explosives at strategic locations. Effectively cutting the right support beams to take down the building, as well as the explosives to remove any debris that may slow the rate of falling. Before long, Demetri is already finished. The team walks outside of the building before a group of soldiers stop them right outside.
"Halt" one of the soldier say, "you do not have jurisdiction to work in this area, we're going to have to ask what you're doing here".
"Blow it" Vivi says.
Demetri presses a button and after a few seconds of thermite cutting through support beams, explosions go off and the top half of the building starts to collapse down onto the lower half of the building.
"Whoa, what the-" the soldier begins to say before Satomi hits him over the head with her baseball bat.
"Seriously" Ruby says, "Why a baseball bat?".
"Shut up" Satomi says, "it's my lucky baseball bat".
The team starts to run as the top half of the building presses further into the bottom half. Dust kicked up, creating a thick cloud that was hard to see through. However, debris didn't fly out very much. The top part of the building seemed to collapse straight down, creating a sort of crater in the center of the building. Most of the rubble and debris was held inside the lower half of the building. While there wasn't much damage outside of this building, there was a lot of panic. The team ran outside of the wall of dust quickly, and when they got outside, they were met with a group of soldiers in suits. These weren't just average soldiers, these were the military officials that should've been in Hong Kong. There were six of them, and each of them had a gun pointed to the team's head.
"Guess we should've seen this coming" Vivi says.
"I'm not letting them capture me a second time" Mikoto says, "let's dance!".
"Hold on a second" Ruby says, "let me handle this".
Meanwhile, in Hainan, Siran's team made it to the top floor. They made it to a group of high ranking military officials, and Siran's team had the jump on them. When they run into the large room, the six military officials were sitting down, but they didn't seem to be alarmed by The Six Guns at all. "We were getting tired of waiting" one of them says. "It's about time you show up. Confirming that The Six Guns are here in China gives us the leverage to declare that China is betraying us. With this, we can finally launch a full scale attack on China".
"So you knew we were here then?" Siran asks.
"We know more than you may think" the official says. "And now you've given us the opportunity to take control of China".
"So it's a territory war then?" Alex asks.
"It's more than territory" the official says, "there's just something about war you don't understand. For us, it's an art".
"I really don't give a shit" Siran says, "but if you think we're going to just let you try and take over China, then you're a whole other level of stupid".
"Of course you won't let us" the official says, "that's what makes this a war". The officials stand up and point their guns at Siran and his crew.
"Zia!" Siran shouts, "let me use one of your pistols!".
Zia hands Siran one of her handguns and Siran shapeshifts back into his beast form. Siran charges up reactive endo into the guns. When the officials shoot at Siran, Siran shoots back. The mere size of Siran's magic pushes their shots back at them, and knocks them out of the 14th floor of this building. All six officials took a long fall, and none of them survived the landing.
"Now for the bottom floors" Siran says as he hands Zia her gun.
"Are you okay?" Zia asks.
"I'm fine" Siran says, "just really tired of being played as a piece in other people's games".
Meanwhile in Jiangxi, the officials get ready to attack Vivi's group. "Stand down" Ruby tells them.
"Is a traitor really trying to order us around?" One of the officials ask.
"That's not an order" Ruby says, "it's a threat". Ruby then throws a small bolt of reactive endo far off to the right. Ruby then controls the magic to bend around and curve, then pierce through five of the officials. When the bolt hits the ground, it causes the ground the crumble and the soldiers to collapse. Ruby grabs the last official by the collar of his suit and lifts him up. "You were warned" Ruby says as she throws him to the ground with an immense force. As the official hits the ground, face first, you can hear a loud snapping sound that caused Robin, Demetri, Satomi and Mikoto to flinch.
"So that's the power of a Mage" Vivi says.
"I really need to learn how to do that" Mikoto says.
At the end of the day, the crew rendezvous at the police station to talk with Chief of Police Zhang Wei. Siran had already changed back to his human form before they returned to Hong Kong. "It's finished" Siran says, "but they seemed to already know The Six Guns were involved. According to the military officials, they were hoping we would step in so they could launch an attack on you guys".
"Then they had the same plan as we did" Zhang Wei says.
"The same plan?" Siran asks. "You guys weren't just trying to break free of The Ly'Lum? Why are you trying to launch an attack on them?".
"This is war, Siran" Zhang Wei says. "They wanted this fight, and we'll bring it to them".
"Then does this mean that China can openly state their involvement with The Six Guns?" Satomi asks.
"Absolutely not" Zhang says. "We've succeeded in our mission. No matter what they claim, we can still go forward with our plan, and above all, deny any involvement with The Six Guns".
"But why?" Satomi asks.
"Because" Zhang says, "we don't need to be mixed up in your controversy. We still have an image as a country to withhold".
"Does this mean we can't depend on China's support in the future?" Siran asks. "We'll eventually need your support in Omnia".
"I wouldn't depend on it if I were you" Zhang says.
"God damnit!" Siran yells, "we're so close! All we need is support from maybe a couple nations and we can stop this conflict before it grows too big to handle!".
After the talk, The Six Guns walk out of the police station again and are met with Ying who offered to escort them back to where they're staying. "So how'd it go?" Ying asks.
"Like wiping your ass with sandpaper, how do you think it went?" Siran asks angrily.
"Not good then?" Ying asks.
Siran sighs and says, "No, and now we have to worry about this conflict growing bigger".
"I'm sorry" Ying says.
"It's not your fault" Siran says, "we should've seen this coming. At least it felt like we were helping for a while".
On the news later that night, the same reports were seen in both China and Omnia. Restlessness was stirred amongst civilians as the news reports that "China has declared its pulling out of the treaty with Omnia as they claim that they can no longer trust Omnia after an attack was launched on their soil. Omnia and The Ly'Lum government claims that China was involved with The Six Guns and that the infamous outlaws were behind the attack on their soil, but China denies any claims of their involvement with The Six Guns. Both sides have agreed to no longer honor the treaty, as both sides declare that the other side is to blame for the attacks on Chinese territory. Meanwhile, rumors about Siran, the leader of The Six Guns continue to spread".
Later that week, the crew was getting ready to leave. On the day they were leaving, they heard that The Ly'Lum were launching an attack on China and their forces were already in the county again. Before they left, they met with Ying and Zhang again.
"You absolutely can not stay and help with this fight" Zhang demands. "We can't risk letting everyone know that we've had any involvement with you guys. You need to get out as soon as you can. We won't accept any responsibility that relates to you from here on out".
Disappointed with Zhang's answer, Siran and the rest leave. Ying escorts them to the nearest airport. "I'm sorry about all of that" Ying says, "but don't worry about us! China is stronger than you think. We can take care of ourselves, and I'll be here to make sure our people are safe. You can count on me".
Without saying a word, Siran holds out his hand with that familiar black smoke-like substance. Ying looks down and asks "What's that?".
"It's pure endo" Siran says. "It regenerates itself, and after absorbed into your body, it'll increase your capacity for magic. This should help you with your fight for your home".
"Oh, uh, thanks" Ying says, "but I won't be needing it".
"Just take the damn thing" Siran says. Ying hesitantly takes the endo from Siran, and then Siran says "Hopefully we'll meet again".
As they leave, Satomi was calling someone on her phone. Before she hangs up, you can hear someone on the other side of the call say "That's fine intel, thanks for your work" before Satomi hangs up.
"Who was that?" Finn asks.
"First Lieutenant Haru Nakamura" Satomi replies, "squad leader and operative of the SAT (Special Assault Team). I told them about The Ly'Lum making their move on China and our involvement with China as well as their denial of our involvement. With The Ly'Lum attacking so close to home, it'd probably be in their best interest to at least check out the situation, likely leading in Japan directly helping China with this conflict".
"Why are you doing all of that?" Alex asks.
"It's called covering our asses" Satomi says. "If they can gain permission from the President of the People's Republic of China to support them under the pretense that The Six Guns sent them, then we'll likely gain their support later. If not, we at least cut down the likelihood of The Ly'Lum succeeding their attack on China".
"Great idea" Siran says, "thanks for thinking about that".
Meanwhile, in Omnia, The Mages are gathered for another conference. "The attacks on China will proceed as planned" James Markwood says, "and once the world starts pointing their attention even more at The Six Guns, then it'll be hard for those bounty hunters that they call 'Hunters' to ignore them any longer. Soon, even the Hunters will be after Siran's head. When that happens, then we are already prepared to send in CH-Mk. 217 and pass it off as another Hunter. I call it 'Predator' and it'll likely match Siran in power. The test with normal endo extracted by the MTRU proved that it was controllable, but test with Naris's and Siran's endo extracted by the MTRU proved that the endo alone can control it. It now almost has a mind of its own. It can move and motivate itself, and with a simple change of AI, it'll become fixated on hunting Siran alone".
"Hasn't the Predator's actions proven it to be out of our control?" Agatha Reese asks.
"With a simple change of AI" Garreth Hood says, "it'll then have a goal. What it does from there is not our problem".
"How much magic did you give it?" Jack Tobin asks.
"More than any human can handle, that's for sure" John Steichen replies.
"Everything is going well so far" James says, "so now we just wait for the opportune moment. We already have our AI prepared, we just need to drop it wherever The Six Guns may be waiting".