*After Crystal interviewed the other recruits, Jin, Gael and Hibana found themselves on top of the building. Counting them and the other recruits they totaled fifteen people and ranged from demihumans, humans, elves, dark elves, male and female*
(Crystal): Alright, it’s now time for part three of the test. Being a member of Dawn Nexus requires you to blend into society, think on your feet, and continue to move while adapting to your surroundings. That’s why you guys will be going on a cash run. Throughout the city we have scattered backpacks with cash inside of them that you all will be picking up and bringing them to the location that we just sent you on your phone.
*Everyone’s phone rumbles to reveal the location of their backpack as well as the drop off point*
(Crystal): You guys will have one hour to complete this assignment. Succeed and you’ll be an official members of Dawn Nexus. Oh, and don’t bother trying to take the money and run away. Those bags are rigged to explode if you try to open them. Also, be on the lookout for tigers. They’ve been beefing up their patrols and if they catch you you’re disqualified. You have exactly one hour to complete the assignment starting. . .now!
*Everyone quickly disperses by taking the stairs or jumping off the roof using their powers. Gael was one of the people who jumped off the roof while Jin and Hibana used the stairs to make it to the ground level*
(Jin): Okay. My backpack is in the park on the westside.
(Hibana): And it looks like my backpack is in the alleyway of a jewelry store up north.
(Jin): That’s quite a distance. Will you be okay?
(Hibana): Not to worry.
*Snapping her fingers, one of Hibana’s drones comes from out of a dumpster and transforms into a hoverboard*
(Hibana): Catch you on the flipside, homeboy.
*Hibana steps on the board and takes off down the street as Jin stood there stunned at what he just saw*
(Jin): I have got to get me one of those.
*Jin heads off in the opposite direction on foot to make it to the park on the westside*
***
*Gael continued leaping from rooftop to rooftop using parkour to avoid any obstacles he came across. He was smiling happily as he was enjoying himself. He loved being out in the open and free to move around the way he wanted to move. He took out his phone to see that he wasn’t far from the pickup spot. Using a fire escape on the side of the building that had the backpack inside, Gael entered the building through an open window and began walking down some stairs doing his best not to arouse suspicion. He made it to the main lobby where he walked past the main counter not getting the staff’s attention and passed a gym where some people were playing basketball against each other. Gael finally entered the men’s locker room where nobody was inside and approached the locker that had the backpack inside. Entering the correct combination on the lock, Gael opened the locker and found a red backpack. He grabs the backpack and shuts the locker only to jump backwards when an elf surprises him from the left side. Gael looked to his other side to see four more elves staring him down. They all were wearing hoodies similar to the ones of Dawn Nexus*
(Elf #1): Was wondering when you’d show up.
(Elf #2): We heard from our boy Daemen that you gave him quite the whooping at the meeting, so he asked us to return the favor for him.
(Elf #3): Don’t take it personally. Just think of it as bad luck for messing with the wrong demihuman.
*One of the elves on the right side threw a punch at Gael who caught it with his own hand and tossed the elf into the elf on the left side. The two elves fell backwards into a wall of lockers. The three remaining elves charged at Gael who blocked all their punches and kicks. The elves on his backside got back and prepared to attack him from behind, but Gael jumped over the three elves in front of him. One of the elves quickly turned around and tried to hit Gael with a thrust kick, but Gael caught the leg and swung the elf headfirst into the side of the locker to knock him out. The elf fell to the ground leaving a dent mark on the side of the locker. Two elves charged at Gael where he ducked underneath their attacks and used his bo of light to trip them up. Rising back to his feet quickly, Gael tossed the bo of light at the remaining two elves where he clocked one of them upside the head to knock them out as they fell backwards. Gael followed up by jumping towards the wall and jumping off it to nail the remaining elf still standing with a kick to the side of the head. Gael landed safely as the elf spun around and fell face first on the floor. As Gael went to secure the backpack, he saw one of the elves he tripped up using the wooden bench to get up. Gael ran to the elf and jumped in the air to deliver a curb stomp which sent the elf’s head through the wooden bench and onto the floor. As Gael took a sigh of relief, he sensed the other elf he had tripped up rise to his feet. The elf tried to stab Gael with a knife from behind, but Gael ducked the attack, lifted the elf onto his shoulders and dropped the elf to deliver a knee strike to his jaw. The elf fell to his knees before falling forward face first passed out. Gael then went to pick up the backpack and placed it on his back*
(Gael): Nothing personal guys. You just messed with the wrong demihuman.
*Gael left the locker room and used the backdoor of the building to leave*
***
*Hibana arrived just outside of the jewelry store and made her way to the back of the alleyway*
(Hibana): Okay. According to this, the backpack is behind the dumpster.
*Before moving towards the dumpster, Hibana stopped and looked up to see a security camera monitoring the back of the building*
(Hibana): Crap, a security camera.
*Hibana takes out her laptop and starts hacking into the jewelry store’s security system*
(Hibana): Dear Gods, how cheap is this place? This security system is so flimsy I could rob the store if I felt like it. Alright let’s see, shutters, alarm. . .ah here it is, saved security footage. Let’s replay the video from yesterday and put it on repeat.
*Hibana presses a few more buttons before hacking into the security camera to see that the camera footage from yesterday is playing. Once she sees this, she puts her laptop away and retrieves the backpack from behind the dumpster*
(Hibana): I’m a natural at this espionage work.
*After securing the backpack on her back, Hibana returns to her hoverboard and takes off down the street*
***
*On the westside of town, Jin had arrived in the park and was walking around looking for the bench the backpack would be hiding under*
(Jin): Ahh~, there it is.
*Jin approaches the wooden park bench and looks underneath to find a green backpack waiting for him. As Jin secures the backpack two White Tiger knights pop out of the bushes*
(White Tiger Knight #1): Freeze!
(White Tiger Knight #2): Don’t even think about moving!
(Jin): Officer please, there’s been some kind of mistake. I left the bag here yesterday and-
(White Tiger Knight #2): Don’t you lie to us, boy. We know that bag belongs to Dawn Nexus. Now put your hands where we can see them. We’re gonna have a talk about this at the station.
*Jin raises his arms as the knights approach him. Once the knights were close to him, Jin shook his left leg and out came a flash grenade. Before the flash grenade went off, Jin put on some glasses as the grenade temporarily blinded the two knights.
(Jin): Sorry!
*Jin begins to run off with the backpack. The knights soon regained their eyesight and ran after Jin all while calling for backup. As Jin ran the knights were gaining on him until they slipped while crossing a bridge courtesy of Jin who made the bridge slippery with grease. As soon as he made it out of the park he could hear sirens and see the knight cars speeding towards his position. Thinking quickly, he spotted a bunch of skaters and ran towards them*
(Jin): Excuse me. I need to borrow this.
*Jin grabs a skateboard from one of the skaters and takes off down the hill with the knight cars chasing after him. Jin saw that he was approaching a busy intersection and quickly grabbed a pole to make a hard left turn and continue down the sidewalk. Jin managed to avoid hitting pedestrians but couldn’t avoid the parked car on the side of the road. Jin hit the back of the car where he rolled onto the car to the top to the hood where he landed on his feet and continued to run for his life*
***
*An hour had almost passed. Gael, Hibana, Crystal, and four other recruits were hanging out inside the building of Wicker Motors. After Ivo was arrested, the building had been shut down and closed off. Crystal was monitoring her watch while Gael and Hibana were standing there nervous*
(Gael): Come on, Jin. Where are you?
*Just as Crystal was getting ready to call it, Jin comes busting in breathing heavily*
(Jin): Sorry I’m late. Ran into a few tigers and had to lose them before making it here.
*Crystal smiled as her watch went off*
(Crystal): Looks like you made it just in time. Good job. Congratulations. As of this moment, you guys are all members of Dawn Nexus.
*Crystal claps her hands and out comes a dark elf girl carrying hoodies*
(Crystal): Put them on.
*Jin, Gael, Hibana and the other recruits put on the Dawn Nexus hoodies*
Author’s Notes: Infiltration a success. Our knights and hacker are in, but will they find what they’re looking for? Tune in next week to find out. This was a fun a little chapter I enjoyed writing. The different scenarios for each character was fun to write and I think showed off their abilities to think on their feet and show their strengths. My favorite was Hibana’s scenario. It’s short and sweet, but matches her personality perfectly. She’s not fast or as strong as Jin and Gael, but she’s smart and has a skill that neither of them can do, hacking. But don’t think that’s all she can do. This hacker’s got some moves that’ll make your head spin. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time.