Unsuccessful

Hunter felt the energy of the projectile moving towards the car but knew he couldn't warn the others in time for them to all make it out alive.

In a millisecond, the sprite thought about his next move, he knew, based on the energy he felt earlier, that whoever had shot at their car was most likely one-half of the twins and was after the princess.

<• > <• >

Knowing he couldn't maintain his domain for long especially because of the massive energy of the projectile, the dark-haired boy settled with getting the blue-eyed girl out of the car first.

He moved quickly, grabbing her and setting her away as far as he could from the car before rushing back to get Diana. The teal green-eyed boy grabbed the snow-white-haired woman and started for the door but just as he set foot on the road, the domain broke and the projectile hit their car, blowing it up.

Several scraps of the vehicle fly around and the violent release of energy throws the two mystics to the ground.

Diana immediately fell unconscious but Hunter didn't, he forced himself awake and focused his energy to bring back Chelsea.

He suddenly began to drift in and out of consciousness, the sprite noticed another powerful energy approaching him, much different from the first. Hunter could tell it was a person but couldn't make out their face, he finally fell unconscious once they got close.

.

.

.

"... What you're saying is yours and Hunter's mind are linked and he sent you over here to get his phone and call for some help?" Skylar asked.

"Yes," Chelsea nodded. "He asked me to call either Camille or you, but I guess I don't have to since you're already here," the raven-haired woman added.

"I see ... As much as I'd like to know how your mind came to be tangled with his, I have a question for you," said Skylar.

Chelsea sat on the chair. "I'm listening."

"Where's the princess? You told me Hunter and Diana left to go and get her because they figured out the twins' mission was to abduct her but you never said what happened to her after," Skylar noted.

"Oh yes," Chelsea smiled. "Effie's in the car downstairs. I already explained everything to her and she's waiting for me to grab the phone so we can head to the hospital where Hunter and Diana are being transported," the honey brown-eyed woman explained.

"Oh boy! Take me to her now!" Skylar said.

Chelsea's eyebrows furrowed. "Um ... Okay?"

The honey-brown woman led the medic who urged her to be hasty with her movements.

When they got to the car, the princess raised an eyebrow when she noticed Chelsea with someone else. "Who's this?" Effie asked.

"Before she answers, there's something I must do," said Skylar as she joined the white-haired girl in the car. The former raised two of her fingers - the index and middle ones - up to the princess's eye level. "Can you focus on my fingers?" She requested.

"What?!"

"Just do it, Euphemia, Skylar here is a healer, I'm sure she's only trying to help."

Effie nodded and focused on the fingers, as requested by the aqua blue-haired woman who kept her fingers in the same position for a second before moving them forward and placing them on the princess's forehead. "What was that?" Chelsea asked.

"I was locking the princess's energy," said Skylar. "One of the twins could track you using remnant energy from places you were so I wanted to make sure she lost your trail," Skylar explained.

"If she can trace remnant energy doesn't that mean she knows the princess is with someone else ... And since you're here with me that means she could also track you. Why not lock our energy too to ensure we lose them for good," Chelsea suggested.

"Because I have a plan that could lead to their capture," said Skylar.

"You're going to tell us what that plan is?"

"Of course. What hospital did you say Diana and Hunter are being taken to again?"

.

.

.

"Mom? What the hell are you doing here?" Diana asked the aqua blue-eyed woman once she regained consciousness - after she was healed by the medic.

Chelsea and Skylar had snuck into the hospital and to the room the duo were admitted to so that the latter could heal them.

"Well, I came to tell you two about the change in your mission but it seems the two of you are ahead of me," Skylar explained.

"Why not call us?" The elemental asked.

"Because someone decided to take a detour without consulting command first," Skylar replied, narrowing her aqua-blue eyes at the two Met School of Mysticism students.

"My bad," Hunter said raising his hand admittedly.

"Thanks to that move of yours, we now have a Bureau spy on Sector 5," said Skylar.

"One of the Retribution girls is a spy? Do you know who?" Diana asked.

"Sadly, no. It was in a report Max submitted, something you two don't bother doing," Skylar said.

"I'm sorry," Hunter apologized.

"There's no use dwelling on that, we have to focus on the present," the aqua blue-haired woman dismissed.

"What about the princess? What became of her?" Diana asked.

"Queen Medea's daughter is somewhere safe," Skylar replied.

Hunter raised an eyebrow. "Queen Medea? I thought her name was --"

"Medea is her middle name or something, most people in the mystic world know her with that name," Diana explained.

Skylar looks at the time on the clock on the wall before sitting on the bed next to Diana. "The plan on the other side is already being enacted by Max so here's what you guys must do to ensure this mission ends a success."

The snow-white-haired woman sits upright. "We're listening."

"Soon, the twins would trace mine and her energy to this hospital," she said pointing at Chelsea. "They believe the princess is here with us and we're going to take advantage of that. When they get here, they're going to find the energy they're tracing branches to two - I'll be in another room. So they'll split up, one of them would come here and the other would follow me. You two would then subdue the twin that's here with you and place this magic-negating necklace around her neck before joining me in the other room and taking down the second. How about it?"

"I don't like it, Mom," said Diana. "The idea of you putting your life at risk doesn't sit right with me. Can't you come up with a better plan?"

"Use it as motivation to finish up here quickly and come to my aid," Skylar replied.

"You're not a fighter, Mom; we have time to come up with something else so let's do that," Diana stated. "How about we lead the twins to an abandoned warehouse and me and Hunter take them on - as was the plan from the beginning."

"Diana, honey, Mercedes took you both out with a single shot, forgive me for saying this but I don't think you two would stand a chance against the two of them," said Skylar.

[She's right.]

"We were caught off guard. They won't have that luxury; this time it'd be the other way around," Diana replied.

"What if I go instead?" Chelsea chipped.

All six eyes turned to the raven-haired woman. "Huh?"

"I don't believe we've met before," said Chelsea as she moved forward and extended her hand toward the peach-eyed woman. "I'm Chelsea, Hunter's wife," she said.

"Funny you should say that especially when Hunter and I have been married for a while now," said the snow-white-haired woman as she narrowed her eyes at the mage who responded with a similar expression.

"Goodness, girls!" Skylar broke them up. "Can we focus on the matter at hand?"

"Right," Chelsea cleared her throat and turned to the medic. "One of us has to be with them and since you aren't a good fighter, it has to be me."

"And are you a good fighter?" Skylar asked.

"Not at all but I could have her chasing me around town for twenty, maybe thirty minutes. I've been running my whole life so it wouldn't be difficult to pull off."

Skylar turns to Hunter who remained quiet the entire time. "Won't you say anything?" She asked.

"He doesn't have to," said Chelsea. "Our minds are linked, remember? I know exactly what he's thinking and he knows what I'm thinking," she said the last part looking at the Drumalak.

"Are you sure? You could die," said Skylar.

Chelsea smiles and turns to the sprite. "It won't be the first time."

...

The atmosphere of the hospital shifts as the duo walked in, they had a flair and power and prestige about them that everyone in the building - mystical or not - could tell that they weren't just anybody, they were different, they were levels above everybody.

They walked past the reception, and none of the guards or nurses were brave enough to stop them. The staff and everyone else watched in awe as the twins moved side by side into the hospital and straight to the upper floor.

They were of similar height, one of them was about 168 cm tall - not including heels - and the other had two centimeters on her.

The taller one of the two was Mercedes, she had a pale skin tone and a slim figure. Her hair was silver-white with slight pink streaks styled in a blunt bob and big doe eyes whose pupils were ice blue. The skin above and below her right eye was scaling but it looked as though she placed a sticker there thanks to the shape and pattern it formed - five rhombus above the right brow and seven below the eye.

She was wearing a fishnet top with a purple cropped jacket whose sleeves end mid-forearm over her top. She had a choker on that had a huge, glowing, rhombus-shaped pendant. Her leather pants were also glittered with rhombus-shaped golden stones around the hip area and held up with a gold-plated belt.

Around the right side of her well-toned stomach, below her belly button, was a big butterfly tattoo designed with pink ink, and on the right, above the belly button were some numbers, written on two rows, also with pink ink.

She had mechanical, silver fingers each attached with a gold string to her hand. There was a net over the hand, and the hand itself attached at the wrist to the forearm with some mechanical parts and then a band at the end making both hands appear like she's wearing a glove. She was holding a firearm, the same one she used on Hunter and the others, and strapped around her arm was a futuristic-looking holster that looked like something straight out of a science fiction movie.

The shorter of the two was Trinity, her most striking feature was a blindfold that obscured her eyes. Just like her sister, her hair was silver-white but hers had yellow streaks and was set in a short bob cut. Below the right side of her lips was a beauty mark.

Trinity was wearing a high-slit black turtleneck dress. Her dress has a high collar and an open cleavage obscured by a lace-patterned fabric that roughly bears the symbol of the house of Archaeon. It has puffed sleeves ending in mid-forearm in the form of crow feathers. Inside these sleeves, white fabric reaches down to dip sharply before her hands, which are covered with black gloves. Her dress also opens in the back, exposing Trinity's shoulder blades down to the small space of her back. The dress's skirt is high-slit and is made of a flowing, flexible fabric bearing a similar texture to leather. For her footwear, she wears brown thigh-high garter stockings with black lining underneath thigh-high black leather boots equipped with heels.

They reached the spot where the trail seemed to split which caused Trinity to smile and turn to her sister. "Looks like our friends want us to split up," she said.

"Let's give them what they want then."

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