Hiding in plain view

"Are you ready?" Leo asked while glancing over to the side and inspecting Tina's face. 

"Do I look ready?" The young woman shrugged before sheathing her hands into the unipocket at the bottom of her clean-gray hoodie. 

Despite the innate nonchalance of her position, there wasn't even a single hint of confidence on her face. 

"Not at all," Leo admitted with a grin. "But the world belongs to those who take action, right?" 

Tina turned her head and gave Leo a long, scolding, fierce look. Ultimately, though, she turned her head and sighed, pushing her hands even deeper into the pocket of her hoodie before taking a step forward and emerging from beyond the alley's corner. 

The disaster response center, currently turned into the disaster headquarters of the city, was located just a little bit further down the road. And if not for the heavy, military presence all around, the whole thing would go unnoticed as just another cubic piece of post-modern architecture. 

This building was the definition of putting practicality over any sort of artistic sense. The huge building was created as a nearly perfectly cubic block of concrete, with huge windows spaced evenly on all of its sides. 

The only element of the entire compound that cut away from this simplistic approach was a huge yard surrounded by well-maintained flowers and the artsy, solid-steel fence that surrounded nearly the entire thing. 

"Well, that's my cue," Leo whispered when their approach started to attract the attention of the military personnel dispatched all around the fence and to guard the main entrance to the compound. 

Formerly just a simple gate with a tiny warden's booth to the side, it has now turned into a fortress straight out of a war movie, with two tanks guarding it from behind, a unit of soldiers stationed at the row of stacked sandbags and two armored half-trucks stationed at the front. 

By the time Tina, suddenly all alone, appeared right in front of the reinforced gate, the gunners atop the half-trucks turned the long barrels of their nested guns towards her, daring not to take even a slim woman like Tina lightly. 

'That's a good call,' Leo sighed while coating himself in a dense accumulation of mana. 

There was no need for him to put on any elaborate guise or use any advanced spells to cover his tracks, all because there were only two kinds of people. 

First, the vast majority who never trained their perception to its limits would simply fail to notice his presence, all due to the overbearing amount of mana surrounding the young man. 

Even if those simple folk couldn't perceive the mana itself, its great accumulation was enough to turn Leo into a being that fell outside of what they considered the norm. As such, for as long as he didn't intentionally draw special attention to himself, he could slip below their radar without even trying to act sneaky. 

As for the other kind of people, those who pushed their perception to its limits, either through extensive training or actual, intense combat… When faced with the amount of raw power Leo carried, they wouldn't be able to stop themselves from reacting to it. And with all of this power right at his fingertips, restraining those few capable men couldn't be any easier. 

"Stop!" A soldier shouted before vaulting over the hips-high wall of sandbags and then taking a few steps to approach the unassuming girl. "Your ID and purpose of visit?" 

The soldier's voice and behavior were quite rough around the edges but lacked the element of hostility. 

He was simply following the procedure, nothing more, nothing less, just the way he did whenever someone would fail to present any form of identification in advance. 

"You don't need my ID. And I'm here to negotiate with the mayor, just as I announced in advance," Tina recited the exact words Leo and her worked overnight to craft as meticulously as possible. 

The soldier squinted his eyes, only for understanding to flash in his eyes as he connected the dots and took a step to the back. 

"I'm sorry, miss, but anyone could say that. The city already confirmed the identity of the sender, so when it comes to your ID, I have no other choice but to insist…" 

'What is he, a virgin?' Leo thought as he stared point-blank at the man from merely three steps away. 

The manner of his movements, the extremely calculated way in which he only used the minimal amount of muscles and force to make a step or retreat, the way he held his weapon, always ready to raise it up and put it into action at a moment's notice… All of those were the signs of someone who honed their mobility through a hell that disallowed any form of proper rest. 

Still, with all of those ringing true in Leo's eyes… The man was also extremely awkward, his eyes moving all over the place… not in the least in a constant search for potential threats hiding in the shadows while Tina confronted him head-on. 

When faced with Tina, even in her extremely casual clothes, this young soldier simply didn't know where to look!

"I'm a dropper," Tina announced, still keeping her hands in the unipocket of her hoodie, a first hint of anxiety appearing in her voice. "Isn't that all you need to know?" she asked, only to lean her head over to the side as the look of anxiety vanished from her eyes, replaced by a cheeky confidence and a small smirk. "Or are you going to tell me I need to leave my number with you as well?"

Tina raised one of her eyebrows in a mocking manner. 

"I'm sorry man, but I'm here to do business, not to flirt with some low-rank officers."

'Auch,' Leo gulped down his saliva, unable to unsee the look of unjustified hurt that flashed in the poor soldier's eyes. 

Even though he was only observing for now, Leo simply couldn't bear to see that happen… all the more while ware that in a soldier-civilian confrontation, the man who had sworn his life to the duty had to tread extremely carefully. 

"That's…" the soldier hesitated, his eyes darting over to where a small watchtower replaced the former guard's booth. 

Leo didn't even bother following the man's eyes. 

"That will suffice for your identification," the soldier sighed and announced, using the most formal tone he could not to reveal how Tina's hurtful words managed to catch him off guard. "Please, follow the main path to the building and there will be a guide waiting for you at the entrance."

Tina held a small chuckle. 

"Thanks," she threw, already passing by the soldier, only to turn at her waist and catch the poor soldier's eyes right as he himself turned round to thoroughly inspect the curves of Tina's ass hidden beneath the thin fabric of her skin-colored leggings. "And thank you for your service."

By the time the poor soldier turned his head back, Tina already marched halfway down the path leading up to the main building, with Leo closely following behind. 

'To think I would resort to this kind of tactics…' he thought, lamenting over his own fate, even if it was something Tina imposed on him. 'Well, I would be lying if I said it didn't work its magic, but what's with this uncomfortable feeling?'

Leo only managed to shake his head in exasperation when, once again, he came to a stop right as Tina encountered an old, lean man in a perfectly tailored suit. 

"Welcome to the disaster headquarters," the old man nodded his head before stretching his arm out towards the building and leaning forward in a small bow. "The mayor is waiting in the basement, exactly as stipulated in your message."

This old man's movements… were even more confusing than the strange awkwardness of the soldier from just before. His body was slow as if his muscles lagged behind the intent of his brain. But when it came to his eyes… 

They didn't dart around, nor did they lock on Tina's face or ass, both of which were pretty much designed by the divine to be looked at and adored. Instead, the look in his eyes simply… clouded, as if he could somehow perceive not only the girl in front of him but also everything that as much as slipped on the edge of his peripheral vision. 

'If he's on that level…' Leo hesitated for a second, recognizing the peculiar way in which the old man looked at the world. He was the practitioner of it himself, after all! 'If he's on that level, then how come he can't see me?'

Leo stood merely a few steps away from the old man. And for all intents and purposes, his attentiveness should be high enough to peer past Leo's magical guise. And yet… 

There wasn't any movement, any twitch on the old man's wrinkled face, even a hint of unrest appearing in his eyes. 

"Thanks," Tina nodded her head in response to the old man's polite greeting… Only to cross her arms over her chest and turn her head slightly to the side. Then, as seconds trickled by, she started to lightly stomp the front of her left foot against the ground, like a Karen waiting for the manager the presence of which she just demanded. 

"Excuse me, but… May I help you in any way?" the old man gave up on keeping his face perfectly still, opting to show some restrained concern in response to Tina's annoyed body language. 

"Did the standards of this city fall so low for a fair maiden to go to someone's basement without a chaperon?" Tina asked, her voice slightly trembling as she pushed her acting ability to its current limits. 

"Ah, but…" The old man's eyes widened a little before suddenly squinting down… and then returning right back to the slightly surprised and then apologetic expression. "Forgive me my indiscretion, ma'am," the old man bowed his head again. 

'Isn't he-' Leo squinted his eyes a bit.

"Would you allow those old bones to guide you inside?" the old man asked. 

'-a bit too polite for the occasion?'

"It will be my pleasure to have someone so experienced be my guide," Tina bowed her head as she gave the man a small curtsy, invoking a small, sympathetic smile on the man's withered lips. 

Stepping up to fill the shoes of his new role, the old man turned and moved towards the doors, pushing them open and crossing inside first, only to turn around and hold the door up for Tina. 

'So far, so good,' Leo thought, raising his vigilance to its limits the moment he felt inclined to relax a bit. 

And it was precisely when Leo followed his stepsister to sneak inside that the situation changed. 

It was nothing major. Or rather, it was a major of the land force standing guard just a few steps ahead, who turned his eyes to inspect the guest… Only for his stare to move beyond Tina's shoulder and lock right on Leo's face. 

'Hmm?'

Before the man could even open his mouth, Leo's mana surged forth.

'Squeeze.'

Blobbing all around the officer, the mana Leo separated split again, with one part of it creating a barrier that separated the space around the soldier from the rest of the world, while the other pushed at the man from every possible direction, effectively stopping him from making even the tiniest move. 

With his eyes locked on Leo's face, the officer could only watch when Leo raised his hand… Only to press just a single finger against the middle of his smirking mouth and slowly shake his head to the sides.