Fully Searched

A large table stood in the middle of the room, tended by a few guards as they observed scattered maps, reports, and orders from the leader, some standing and others sitting.

The walls were covered with larger maps detailing sections of the city. Small pins were stuck to different streets of the map. A few guards had their backs turned as they looked intently at the maps.

On the other end of the room were two stairways, one heading downstairs and one that heads up.

A small chandelier hung above, giving bright light to the table.

They could hear the many discussions from the guards. Their voices were a mix of concerned and serious. But one conversation caught Colton's ears.

"We need to deal with those reports of a group of roof runners. They seem to be causing problems regarding safety, along with a few more recent reports, it seems they are now committing theft." A gruff voiced guard explained. After talking, a younger guard responded.

"Hopefully it'll die down or we catch them, we also heard of a few missing patrol soldiers. Wonder if they also got in here."

"Not a chance, we have extra patrols around the barracks. We should really allow roof patrols again, they're most likely on the rooftops right now."

The sentence struck some fear into Colton and the others, but they started walking past the table and guards.

"There are a few books below some of the maps, but I doubt we can simply take them." Quill whispered.

"We will move upstairs first and check what lies there." Calliope led them away from the busy room, towards the stairway.

Luckily none of the guards noticed or felt suspicious of them. Their chatter faded as the group got higher. Soon arriving on the upper floor.

They quickly stopped upon realizing what the room was. The leader's quarters. He slept in a corner of the room, a window above him lit up the room in moonlight, the only sound that could be heard was his snoring.

Racks of decorated swords, armor, and hanging tunics or other clothing were placed on one side of the room while a bookshelf sat next to his bed.

A desk sat on the opposite end of the room, placed near the wall with a painting hung behind it.

But they found a few things they wanted, the books and the sword Myo wanted, just sitting on the desk with another book.

Staying as silent as possible, they slowly went around the room, grabbing what they could and checking the area for anything else.

After a minute, they only found a single book. But Calliope's face held a smirk, satisfied that the book may be greatly beneficial to them. All that was left was the sword.

Calliope slowly reached her hand to the sword's handle, as she lifted it, the sword suddenly dropped hard on the floor. She grasped her hand in pain, but quickly retrieved it and sent the sword and books to her storage.

Their heads immediately turned to the man, hoping he would not wake up while they made their way out. But the man just turned to the side and continued sleeping.

They hastily descended down back to the first room. The area seemed to be more active than before as guards started walking around carrying maps and scrolls, hastily bringing them away from the table and bringing new ones from the outside.

None of the guards seemed to notice or care about them standing next to the stairs.

"You three!" A loud and intimidating voice called out to the team.

The man was taller than them with a helmet covering his face.

"We received a multitude of reports of more missing soldiers and thefts earlier. We need you to clear the table and send the papers to the archives below. Understood?" To not cause suspicion, they nodded.

A few guards were already heading downstairs, their hands full of papers.

The three began joining in to help, grabbing what they could, trying to blend in with the rest.

Their hands soon became full of papers and a few books, the team hastily went downstairs with a few other guards, going in blind.

The floor below was a large stone room with open cabinets storing rolled up pieces of paper with a few bookshelves beside some of them, the smell of old paper immediately hit their noses.

The cabinets were placed near walls and in the middle of the room creating smaller pathways in between. The entrance had a locked metal door, opened beforehand for the guards.

They started following what the other guards were doing, inserting papers and books into the storage.

The stream of soldiers started to stop, as more and more guards returned upstairs with empty hands.

In a minute, the loud noise of footsteps and loud voices slowly stopped.

Calliope, Colton, and Quill were the only remaining people inside the storage.

"I doubt we may have a long time to stay here, and the leader may wake up any time now. Start searching." From helping in storing the papers, they began removing them, trying to find any books underneath the piles of papers on each shelf.

The search took awhile, each second only made them more weary, trying to search the shelves as fast as they could.

They stopped after a few minutes, finally checking each shelf. They managed to find six books.

Calliope's face carried a smile, before changing to a face of confusion.

"Memory resistance? Odd, I don't see much use with this one, though the rest should aid us." The books were immediately sent to the storage.

With nothing left, they headed upwards.

Suddenly, a loud voice from above stopped them in their tracks.

"All guards and soldiers report outside now!"

'Must be the leader.' Colton thought to himself.

"He must've found the sword gone." Quill remarked.

At the top, the room was empty as everyone stood at attention outside.

With no other choice than to join to not cause suspicion, they immediately ran outside.

Once in position, the leader walked back and forth with a frustrated expression.

"Not only do we have rising reports of thefts and missing deaths, but it seems those thieves have managed to infiltrate our camp. The armory lock is broken and my sword is gone!" He spoke in an enraged tone, wishing he could kill the thieves.

The three kept standing at attention, but behind their masks, they were afraid.

The leader began walking closer to the line of guards.

Colton tried his best to hide any signs of fear in his body, feeling it rise higher as the leader passed by him.

While the leader walked back and forth, he soon stopped in front of Colton, noticing him trying to stop his fear and breathing.

"Anything wrong soldier?" The man asked in a stern tone, awaiting an answer.

It took a few seconds for Colton to respond, overcome with fear. After a moment he came up with a response.

"Apologies sir, I am simply worried about the possibility of the thieves being here." The leader took a few seconds to reply, causing Colton to silently hope to himself.

Soon, the man simply nodded. "Indeed, thus, we will begin a rapid search of the area. That and we will begin using the rooftops as well. Guards shall search the roofs, moving to the farther roofs after a clean sweep. The rest standby in case of reinforcements.. Understood?"

"Yes sir!" Everyone replied with the same answer.

The gate slowly began to open as guards began rushing out, immediately climbing onto the walls of nearby buildings, trying to reach the top.

"The rest. We need to get there faster!" The three quickly joined, rushing to get their team out of there.

Once they reached the top, they were nowhere to be found.

"Over there." Quill pointed at a distant building, Colton could see the faint black shadows of the team waving back at them.

With the other guards reaching the top, and getting all they needed, the three began jumping from roof to roof, guards behind them did the same.

The immediate area was quickly filled with rooftop guards and soldiers on the ground.

At that point, their disguises and maybe cover was blown as they went farther than ordered. But the team managed to reunite.

"The hell is going on, we heard that shiny armor guy ordering people to start climbing the roofs. We managed to run away." Marcus replied.

"It seems our past missions had caused them to increase security. We need to leave now." The guards were fast approaching near their location. The team started running away.

The guards caught a glimpse of one of their silhouettes, calling out to the rest. Their hopes for a clean mission were now destroyed.

Despite their armor, the guards were fast, rapidly gaining speed on the team.

"We do not have time to fight them, nor are our chances of escaping the roofs feasible anymore. Prepare to jump down and follow behind me." Giving no time to take in everything she said, Calliope immediately jumped down from the roof.

No longer with another option, they jumped down with her. The guards continued to move forward on the roofs.

Calliope led them around the streets, trying to shake off the guards and avoid any patrols.

The chase seemed to last for an hour before they realized the guards were no longer above them. They quickly hid in an alleyway to catch their breaths.

"Well done…We completed the mission…Even with a few issues we managed to survive…" Calliope congratulated the team in between breaths.

Once everyone rested for a few minutes, Calliope spoke again.

"I doubt their search ended. Let us head back to the camp."

The team left the alley and started making their way back home, avoiding any patrols along the way.