—Determinant Of The World Destiny—
Hostage
"37..." Nathan mumbled, looking at the room numbers on either side of him.
"This is it." He stopped in front of the door with the number '37' in the middle. He inserted the key into the keyhole, gripped the doorknob, and turned it slowly before pushing it inward.
The door opened slowly, revealing a spacious room. Inside, a single bed was placed between two small nightstands, each with a lamp.
Nathan stepped into the room. The late evening sun shimmered through the window, touching Nathan's eyes and bathing the entire room in an orange glow. He walked to the window beside the bed and looked out. Nathan gazed down, seeing many people walking below before their figures disappeared as he closed the curtains.
He then collapsed onto the bed as if he had expended all his energy. Uncomfortable, he sat up. Nathan unbuttoned his jacket, leaving only his black trousers and white shirt tucked into them.
He lay back down, reached into his trousers pocket, and pulled out his sword hilt where it's blade is hidden inside it and a small, spherical object like a marble, which was an unactivated orb. He also had a single sheet of musical notation; there had been two earlier.
"A pianist, huh." The room fell silent after Nathan spoke those words. Nathan was indeed a genius; anything he did could be accomplished in a short amount of time, just like playing the piano for this mission. Nathan sighed before slowly closing his eyes.
---
"So, what's the plan for tomorrow?" Nathan asked Andreas in a slightly serious tone. The entire Unit 001 was now in Nathan's room, discussing the mission for the next day.
"First, you'll enter the performance building until it's your turn to play. We'll try to capture President Equinox. Once we succeed, you must escape simultaneously. The signal will be a gunshot, okay?" Andreas explained seriously.
"Alright."
"What if we fail?" Arthur asked.
"If that happens, we must at least capture one of the other important individuals as a hostage, or worse, we'll have to find the Taurus rune ourselves."
"How can we find the rune ourselves?" Claire, who had been sitting with her legs crossed, now lowered them.
"We have to corner them by any means necessary."
---
Nathan wore the same clothes he usually wore for missions, as did the others. They were now in front of the hotel building, ensuring nothing was forgotten.
Nathan put on thin, tight white gloves. As he was about to put the glove on his left hand, Velyna suddenly reached for his hat and straightened it.
Velyna quickly lowered her hand from Nathan's hat. Her cheeks turned pink from her sudden action, and she looked away, avoiding Nathan's gaze.
"Pianists have to be neat, right...?" She spoke in a small, almost inaudible voice.
"You didn't forget the musical score, did you?" Claire asked with a slight smile and a relaxed expression.
"Of course not."
---
Nathan sat on a chair provided behind the curtain of the recital stage. Before starting, many people designated as recital performers were nervous, afraid of messing up the event.
Important people from Equinox would appear at this event, so it was understandable they were nervous. But for Nathan, it was a good thing; if they were distracted, the others could abduct the President of Equinox quite easily.
Someone in a neat tuxedo stepped out from behind the stage curtain. The person's voice began to be heard from behind the curtain.
"Good morning, esteemed President, ministers, ladies, and gentlemen. We will begin this recital as a commemoration of the new President of Equinox, President Victor Holt!" Everyone applauded enthusiastically.
"Alright, the first act will be a vocal recital performed by Annabel Law. Please give her a warm round of applause!" Once again, everyone applauded.
---
"Andreas, there's also heavy security on the left. How can we get to the president's location?" Cleavon hid in the air vent on the spacious roof, large enough for him to crawl through with Noah and Elena.
"Get ready to descend. I'll use my wind rune and smoke bombs to spread the smoke. Focus on directly abducting the president; we'll clear the way from outside."
"Alright, don't use too many runes; your Galactic Energy is very limited," Noah said with a hint of worry.
"Yeah, yeah, of course."
After a few seconds, the hallway was filled with red smoke. The guards in front of the door coughed and became somewhat panicked.
"What is this?!"
Cleavon, Noah, and Elena immediately descended through the ventilation shaft into the hallway below. The two guards in front of the president's door quickly took defensive positions with their swords.
"Who are you?!"
Elena immediately pulled out a small box-shaped object and threw it at the two guards. Both of them were electrocuted by the small box.
"Arghhh." The guards' screams were loud enough to be heard by people in the hallway but too faint for those outside.
Guards and enemies approached from the right side of the hallway. Noah immediately charged forward, activating his power-type rune: speed. He moved very quickly, but his attack was blocked by one of the guards. Noah began to duel him with his sword, eventually stabbing him in the stomach, then moving on to another guard. The other guards tried to gang up on Noah but couldn't because Cleavon, from a distance, was shooting at them with his sniper-shaped Nebula Weapon.
"Elena! Quickly abduct the president!" Cleavon said while continuously firing at the guards.
"Alright, you guys better not die here." Elena entered the door of the balcony of the recital, from that balcony she can see the recital. She covered the president's mouth with her gloved hand and pointed her pistol at his head.
"Follow us and stay quiet if you don't want to die." The president nodded at Elena's words.
Stealthily, Elena injected him with a sleeping drug; immediately, the president closed his eyes. Elena saw Nathan below, playing the piano.
"He's not bad."
Elena carried the president on her back, exiting the open recital balcony and returning to the hallway.
Elena saw all of Unit 001, except Nathan, fighting the guards.
"Elena, let me carry him."
"Alright," Elena handed the president to Arthur.
"Arthur, Elena, Velyna, and Claire. All of you leave here and give Nathan the signal. Noah, Cleavon, and I will hold them off."
"Alright." Velyna pulled out her flare gun and fired it into the wall beside her. The gunshot echoed throughout the building.
As soon as Nathan heard the gunshot, he immediately ran out of the recital building. Other people at the recital also panicked at the sound of the shot and fled.
When Nathan was outside, he saw Arthur, Elena, Velyna, and Claire.
"Where are the others?"
"They're holding off the guards; we should escape." Arthur and the others fled the building, except for Nathan.
"Nathan!" Arthur called out to Nathan.
"Let him be; our priority is to take the president hostage. It's likely many wanderers of Equinox will try to stop us." Claire tried to persuade Arthur to keep going.
Suddenly, the building exploded, and mounds of sand scattered onto the street. Andreas, Noah, and Cleavon were thrown behind a building.
Nathan looked at the three of them, who were injured. He suddenly sensed a powerful aura emanating from the building. He looked back at the building; the smoke from the ruins began to clear, revealing someone using the sand rune. He wore a black mask, his eyes staring deeply at Nathan. It was then that Nathan felt a tremor throughout his body.