Silence.
No sooner had the third party entered into the fray than the gunfires stopped.
A sudden burst of wind cleared the air of dust and flour, revealing the messed up warehouse.
Xavier and Eulene came into view- standing a dozen feet apart- with one of their guns aimed at each other. As for the other guns, they were pointed at the newcomer.
The brown hatted, grey eyed young detective- David appeared with his team- armed with firearms. David and Chrys, the blonde, were equipped with revolvers. One of their hands held the gun while the others were free- ready to cast spell.
On the other hand, Cassius, the stout middle aged man had a dual-wield machine gun, weapon perfect for him since he could create an infinite amount of bullets as long he was close to earth.
Thompson was absent. But Xavier spotted him outside the warehouse, positioned on the roof of a two-storeyed apartment with a sniper rifle aimed exactly at Xavier's temple, despite there being a wall between them.
Xavier reckoned Thompson to be a pyrokinetic along with being an electrokinetic. Pyrokinetics were best suited to be snipers. Not only could they increase bullet velocity through series explosions, they could also detect targets easily through their heat signature. And Xavier's conjecture was correct.
Confirming that the newcomers were from the Thirteenth, Xavier dropped both of his firearms on the ground and put his hands up in the air. Shadowing him, Eulene did the same.
Both of them appeared injured, with cuts and bruises all over their body. Eulene was showing a lot of skin- bloodied skin- as her dress was torn here and there. But miraculously, or thanks to Xavier's chivalry, the chest and waist of her dress were completely intact.
The four weapons thumped to the ground.
"You are under arrest," David stated nonchalantly, his and his teammates' guns still zeroed in on them.
"Arrest?" Xavier frowned. "What for? This was an act of self defence. The gangsters were the one to shoot first. Moreover, as per the law, we killed none. Besides, they need medical attention."
[How long can you cloud their senses?] Xavier asked Eulene in secret.
[How long do you want?] Eulene asked him back.
"Secret Act. Article 6. Paragraph 11," David said, "under no circumstances, cleared unaffiliated kinetics are allowed to conduct a battle with their kinetic powers."
"Battle?" Xavier smiled. "What are you talking about?"
"You can say whatever you have to say in court," David announced.
"Same Act. Same Article. Paragraph 3," Xavier spoke, "an unaffiliated kinetic can be termed 'cleared' by the authority if they are deemed harmless. Unless they use their kinetic powers, they are to be dealt with normal state governed authorities. And I was 'cleared' by Detective Clark from your society."
David frowned.
Cassius shouted, "But you clearly used your powers!"
The smile on Xavier's face widened. "And… your evidence?"
Cassius pointed at all the destroyed sacks of flours. "You think these can be done by a few guns alone? This is enough evidence."
"These?" Xavier asked, the smile as bright as ever on his face. "But I don't see anything."
"Nor do I," Eulene looked directly into David's eyes.
Suddenly, an overbearing pressure fell on David and his two teammates. The whole world darkened despite the torches and lanterns in the warehouse still working fine.
David's body froze in place. He tried to pull the trigger, but failed. He even lost the sensation of the hard trigger from his finger and the revolver from his hand. The pressure became heavier as moments passed by, suffocating him. Soon, he found himself unable to breath. The moment felt like eternity.
The world darkened and darkened until he could not feel anymore. But after who knows how long passed, he began to feel something with his skin. It was his own cold sweat.
An eternity later, he began to feel something else. It was as if he was standing on quicksand, drowning millimetre by millimetre. Soon, his ankle sunk in.
For the first time since 'that day', he felt true terror. To add to this, the worse had yet to come.
Suddenly something grabbed his right leg. Even though he could not look down, he could very well feel the four skeletal fingers that pushed deeper and deeper into his calf and the thumb that hooked his shin.
The thing below was saying something. It was a foreign language he had never heard before. But oddly enough, he could understand it- clearly.
Join us- it said.
Even if he did not have his ultra-high IQ, he could have easily understood what those two words entailed. And the meaning behind them made him lose all the strength he had left.
He gave up.
But suddenly, the grip on his leg, the suffocating pressure, the abyssal darkness- everything disappeared. He returned back to the warehouse.
Though something felt different about the scene, he had no time to ponder on that. He conjured all his strength on his leg to stay standing, and in a couple of seconds- he took a deep breath and composed himself.
But his colleagues could not. Both Chrysa and Cassius dropped their weapons and thumped down on their knees and trembling hands. They desperately gasped for air. Tears were dripping on the concrete floor under Chrysa.
Concrete? David frowned.
"Get up," he ordered the duo before scanning the surroundings. His eyes widened in utter bafflement.
"What happened?" Xavier asked with a lingering smile, his hands still in the air. "Are you fine?"
His words made David subconsciously grip the handle of his gun tighter. But when he noticed Eulene's innocent smile, any thoughts of going against them disappeared. His instincts screamed that the foreigner was the one behind that nightmare.
[What did you do to them?] Xavier asked.
[Nothing. It's a trick I learned from a 'friend' of the demonic cult] Eulene shrugged with her hands still in the air.
[Anyways, you should have told me so that you were going to drop them to their knees. If I did not create two fake heat signatures in time, we would have been shot at, and worse- turn into criminals]
[But you took care of it, right?]
After a whole minute, Chrysa and Cassius composed themselves and stood up. But the scene they witnessed shocked them to the core.
All the sacks of flours were back on their spot, with the bullet hit sacks on the battle against the gang remaining as they were. Similarly, the floor and air was clear of white. Only the little from the aftermath of the first gunfight remained.
All the traces of bullets after the battle against the hoodlums disappeared. Even the two stolen guns were back to their original spot- beside the fallen gangsters, with only the two silver revolvers lying at the suspects' feet.
Even the suspects' clothes were as good as new, and so were their skin. It was as if they had not even participated in the first fight against the gang, let alone that magic duel.
"I ask again." Xavier had yet to lose the smile on his face.
"Where is your evidence?"