Once the SIU guys had finished patching everyone up, they all clambered into the cart. Stringer and his men, meanwhile, had called in back-up to help transport Argent and all his goons. 'I'm just an innocent little girl!' they heard Kalima yell as one of the SUI guys questioned her. Gonshot stayed behind to check up on his men, but none of them had taken serious injury. Burbank was busy checking all the money was there.
'We'll get out of him the location of the gold from the previous two trains,' Stringer had said.
'It's already gone,' a now-conscious Argent had growled from the middle of his anti-magic prison. 'I already handed it over to them.'
The seven Mages began their journey back to Dahlia Town just as the night stars were coming out. Okami and Terry felt rotten the whole journey, of course. Dante would be fine, they had been told; he was more just exhausted than anything.
'Well, we may not have got paid for it,' Sniff thought to himself, smiling a little as he gazed out of the carriage window.
'But we did it. I guess that's something.'
Arc Two: Gameshow of Death
It was a week later. Everyone had recovered and Guild life was the same as always. Just another sunny morning - perfect weather for a mission. Or for relaxing in and around the Guild and doing no work at all, which was the option many of the Wild Hunt members seem to have chosen.
Sniff walked in through the front doors of the Guild and walked straight through to the Courtyard. There he was greeted by three young men sitting round a table. 'Oh hey,' he said, going over to them and taking a seat. 'How's it going?' he asked in a familiar way.
'Not bad,' the first man said as he tied his long, jet black hair into a ponytail. He then placed his flat cap on his head and stroked his beard. 'We're just off to the see the new Bez Randerton movie. Wanna come?' This was Neeson Brown.
'No thanks,' Sniff said. 'Already seen it. Plus I have plans.'
'What you up to?' asked another of the men. He had a thick mop of wiry, sandy-coloured hair and looked half asleep. Indeed, it was a rare occassion to see him out of bed before two pm.
'I'm thinking of heading down to the beach.'
'Oh, cool.' This was Robert Aguja.
'Heard you took down a Dark Guild the other day,' said the third man cheerfully. He was dark-skinned, had hair as black as Neeson's and he had a small goatee beard. This was Haka Raho.
'Hell yeah, we smashed those mothers!' Sniff replied enthusiastically, grinning. 'What about you guys? Heard you had a big job yesterday.'
'Eh, we gave up and went home after a bit,' Neeson said with a laugh.
'You three are the laziest Mages in this guild!' said a haughty voice. Jess-Yum had walked over to them and began telling Neeson, Robert and Haka. 'Come on, you can help me out with my job today!'
'Aw, but we were gonna go to the movies,' complained Robert.
'Nonsense, come on,' Jess-Yum said. Laughing and wishing them all luck, Sniff got up and headed off the garden. There he found Willard sitting having tea. Several other Mages were around, some relaxing in the sun, others sparring in the arena.
'Ah, here comes the conquering hero,' Willard joked. 'How are we today?'
'I'm good thanks,' Sniff replied politely. 'How are you?' They exchanged pleasantries, after which Sniff asked if they had seen Terry, Alica, Okami, Tora, Dante or Alex.
'Alex has already left on a job. I think Okami and Tora may be in the music room, or they may be in the library. Come to think of it, that's just a guess on my part since that's where they usually are.' The two laughed.
'I was going to invite everyone to the beach, want to come?'
'I'm afraid after this cuppa I've got to be off on my job, too.'
'Fair enough.' Sniff sat down and began to watch the sparring that was going on and wondered whether he might join in.
