Taxco was burning.

The air was filled with thick black smoke and the sounds of screaming, a clear announcement that we’d arrived too late. This immediately reminded me of my last return to Gideon Heights, but this was even worse.

Gideon Heights was a small town that had been built around a Labyrinth entrance, but Taxco Mexico was a city with history, one that had been around long before the Labyrinth had ever appeared on Earth. I’d never been to Taxco before, but I knew of it. The entrance here had opened up only a year or two before I’d retired.

I looked around and saw the remnants of utility poles and cars, indications of a modern city which had become useless once the Labyrinth opened up here. But more importantly, I saw buildings on fire. At least a dozen of them.

“Crap,” I gasped, desperately wishing that I’d been able to finish Raze off back when I’d had the chance. “Damn you, Wolf.” If Wolf hadn’t carried that bastard out of there, then this city wouldn’t be burning now.

Then I noticed something. There was a raised section of street, just a few feet high. And another one. And another. My eyes widened in realization.

“They’re ready for us,” I exclaimed.

Mad Mike popped up from behind one of these short walls and fired a fireball straight at us before dropping back down. Maya reacted in an instant and knocked Ace to the ground before it could hit him. Another fireball came our way but we were ready, and Olivia threw up a force wall.

“Take cover,” I ordered as I looked for the nearest cover. Unfortunately, the nearest cover was either Olivia’s force wall or Turtle’s shield, which were both useful but not for long.

Ace hid behind Olivia and her wall, though he stepped out long enough to fire back at Mike. However, the other artificer popped up again from a different bunker and fired a blast of red energy at us from a different scepter. That blast hit Olivia’s wall and shattered it.

“I can’t create another wall yet,” Olivia warned us.

“There,” I announced, pointing to the wreck of an old car that looked like it hadn’t moved in twenty years. “Cover.”

We ran for the car while Ace and Olivia both fired back at Mike to keep him from doing the same to us. A few seconds later, we had the car as cover, which would give us a little breathing room.

“He’s only using one scepter at a time,” Ace observed. “And he keeps changing them up.”

“I noticed that,” Maya said.

Ace chuckled. “I don’t think he has the same recharge ability I do. He can’t recharge his artifacts nearly as fast as I can.”

“That would explain why he has so many scepters,” Turtle said.

A moment later, I saw Mad Mike fire a beam of energy high into the sky. It wasn’t aimed at us, but that was what worried me.

“What the hell was that?” Ace asked.

“Bad aim,” Turtle joked. “Really bad.”

I snorted. “It’s a signal flare. He’s letting his friends know we’re here.”

I’d seen Mad Mike and those stone bunkers that Godiva had made, but I hadn’t seen the shaper herself, nor had I seen Jace or Raze. That meant they were probably out causing some other trouble…such as the fires, but would probably be joining Mike at any time now.

“We need to get him out of his cover before his friends arrive,” I said.

Maya immediately volunteered. “I can sneak up on him from the shadows…”

“No,” Bunny said with a cocky grin. “I’ve got this one.”

Seconds later, Sir Fluff and four horned rabbits all charged towards where we’d last seen Mad Mike, leaping over his cover. There was a loud yell of surprise and pain, followed by a blast of fire before the enemy artificer emerged from cover.

Mike ran across the open area with five rabbits chasing behind him. I knew how fast those rabbits could be and seriously doubted that he could outrun them. As it was, I was impressed by how well he was doing so far.

Ace and Olivia both opened fire on Mike, who dove to the ground. That let the rabbits catch up to him, and a moment later, they were tearing into him.

There was a flash of light and all the rabbits were flung back at least twenty feet. Two of the horned rabbits hit the ground hard enough that they vanished from the impact.

Mad Mike stood up and held up another one of his scepters, the one that had obviously been responsible for clearing away the rabbits. He was angry and glared at us, right before opening fire with his new scepter.

“LOOK OUT,” Turtle shouted as he jumped in the way, using his shield to block the attack. He succeeded, but the impact sent him flying back, hitting Olivia and knocking her to the ground as well.

“Damn it,” Ace snarled, giving Olivia a worried look before he started running straight for Mad Mike, opening fire with both of his scepters.

A few seconds later, Ace and Mad Mike were facing each other like a couple of gunfighters in the old west, ready for a shootout. I took a deep breath and raised my hand, ready to unleash an ‘Invocation of Spite’.

“Don’t,” Olivia warned me, her eyes locked on the dueling artificers. “Let Ace handle this one. I think its personal to him.”

“But,” Bunny started to protest.

“We’ve got Ace’s back if he needs it,” I said, knowing that Olivia wouldn’t hesitate to blast Mike with one of her arcane blasts. “Just keep a lookout for his friends.”

Since I was thinking about it, I activated ‘Invocation of the Spectral Crow’ and summoned the ghostly bird. It appeared in the air in front of me silently flapping its wings before it landed on my shoulder.

“Nice to see you again,” I said. “Can you go up and look for our enemies? I want to know where the rest of them are.”

The crow gave a silent ‘kaw’ before taking to the air. It circled once overhead, then flew off to search for the other rogues.

“I’m kind of jealous,” Bunny admitted. “You’ve got one that can fly.”

Turtle chuckled. “Maybe your next rabbit will have wings.”

Bunny gave an almost dreamy smile. “That would be fun.”

Then I noticed that Maya was gone, having slipped into the shadows while we were distracted. I looked around but didn’t see her, though I knew she wouldn’t have gone far. She was probably waiting for Raze to show up.

My attention went back to Mike and Ace, who continued to face off, each with their scepters lowered and apparently waiting for the other to make the first move. Personally, I thought that this was a stupid way to handle things, and I would have just blasted Mike and ended this, but Olivia was right. Ace had been pretty shaken up by his capture and beating, and this was a chance for him to regain some of his confidence.

Neither artificer moved, but there was a sudden flash of light and Ace went flying back, dropping both of his scepters in the process. Mike laughed and then raised his scepter, which he’d somehow activated without even having to point it at Ace.

“That’s cheating,” Bunny hissed.

Mad Mike advanced on Ace, keeping his scepter pointed at my friend while Ace struggled just to get to his feet. My hand tightened on my hammer and my ‘Invocation of Spite’ was practically screaming for use.

“Wait,” Olivia told me. “He has this.”

In spite of Olivia’s words, I noticed her own white-knuckle grip on her staff. She was watching Ace intently and I could see that she was close to attacking Mike herself.

“You’re a two-bit artificer,” Mad Mike told Ace. “Barely even worth calling one… If you had any real interest in artifacts, you’d beg me to take you on as my assistant.”

“You’re full of shit,” Ace responded grimly.

My friend stood up straight and looked Mike in the eyes. He was completely unarmed now, but he didn’t seem afraid.

“You really are mad,” Ace continued. “A total psycho. How many people have you killed?”

“As many as it takes,” Mike responded without a hint of remorse. “A real artificer does whatever it takes to advance the craft.”

Ace burst out laughing. “And how is that working for you? You’re a wanted murderer…and just a henchman to some other psycho… And what do you have to show for it?”

Mike’s empty hand twitched and briefly moved back as though to touch his pack, though he refrained from finishing the movement. Instead, his eyes narrowed and he saved his scepter at Ace in a taunting manner.

“You have no idea what I’ve gained from it,” Mike hissed. “I’m on the verge of becoming the greatest artificer in the world. You have no idea how powerful I’m about to become…”

“You’re going to be killed first,” Ace pointed out. “Do you really think the Men in Grey will let you go after what you’ve done? Do you really think the Wardens will forget?”

“Hah,” Mike scoffed. “Those fools will beg for MY forgiveness. They’ll scramble all over themselves for access to the powerful artifacts I’ll create.”

“Okay,” Ace responded evenly. “You sound like you have everything all figured out.”

“I always do,” Mike responded with a smirk. “Too bad you won’t be around to see it.”

“Wait,” Ace exclaimed, holding his hands out to show he was unarmed and no threat.

Olivia held out her hand and began to carefully aim. “That bastard,” she hissed.

There was a burst of light and Mike suddenly went flying back. Ace stood there with his hands still held out in front of him, though each of them was now holding one of his scepters.

“His ability,” I said in realization. I knew that Ace had an ability to call his lost artifacts back to him, but this was the first time I’d ever seen him use it.

Mad Mike was flat on his back with a charred spot on his chest and a layer of ice covering one of his shoulders. His latest scepter was on the ground several feet away from him.

“Looks like you haven’t figured it out as well as you thought you had,” Ace said as he approached, keeping both of his scepters trained on his opponent.

Mike slowly sat up, wincing in pain as he did so. He looked like he was going to reach for one of the scepters on his belt, but his eyes locked on the ones still pointed at him and he hesitated. Even from where I was, I could see the calculation running over his face.

Just then, a loud voice ordered, “REMAIN WHERE YOU ARE, WITH YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR.”

I looked over at the source and saw two men standing off to the side, both wearing familiar grey uniforms. The local Wardens.

One of the men looked young, maybe in his mid-twenties at most, and was clean shaven. He stood behind a hand wagon, one that reminded me of a little red wagon that I’d had as a kid. It had a strange contraption on it, some sort of large and mounted crossbow. No, two crossbows build together, one on top of another so that it could actually fire two shots.

Beside him was an older Warden, one with dark hair and a beard that were sprinkled with grey. He held a crossbow as well, but his was a normal sized one that was pointed right at Ace.

“SURRENDER NOW!” the older Warden called.

His words were accented, which made sense since we were in Mexico. He was probably only speaking English because he’d heard Ace and Mike talking.

“Ha,” Mike laughed. “Look at that…”

Then Mike quickly grabbed something from a pouch on his belt and threw it on the ground. Thick black smoke began to emerge from whatever it was he threw, and he immediately jumped up and ran, using the smoke for cover.

“Stop,” Ace started to say, looking like he was going to open fire in the direction that Mike ran off in, though he quickly looked towards the Wardens who were about to open fire on him. “Damn…”

“STOP THAT,” Maya’s voice exclaimed as she stepped out of a shadow near the two Wardens.

I realized, from where she’d been at, that she’d been circling around to help Ace deal with Mike. Now, she had to reveal herself instead.

“Hola,” Maya greeted Wardens.

She stood still, her spear held in a non-threatening position. The Wardens just stared at her in surprise, probably noticing the fact that she was wearing official Warden issue armor. Sure, her armor was pretty dirty and torn up from what we’d been through, but it was impossible to mistake.

“I’m Agent Maya Ramirez,” she introduced herself.

The two Wardens seemed to relax a little at that, and they did so even more when Maya began talking to them in Spanish. The conversation lasted only half a minute, and while I couldn’t follow what they were saying, I could guess.

Maya abruptly switched back to English and gestured towards us. “My team and I are here for the same rogue players who caused all this…” She looked around at the burning buildings.

Once the two agents lowered their guard, Maya gestured for the rest of us to approach. I did so cautiously, still looking around for any signs of our enemies. Mike had jumped behind one of the bunkers and had then slipped away, so we would have to find him again too.

“I am Agent Diego Jimenez,” the older Warden said. Then he gestured to his younger companion and added, “And this is my trainee, Luis.”

“My friends are Turtle, Ace, Bunny, Olivia, and Maggie,” Maya told them as she introduced the rest of us. Her eyes settled on me and she smiled faintly. “And Maggie used to be a Warden herself, before she was respawned.”

The two local Wardens both gave me a look of surprise. I merely nodded in acknowledgement.

“Were you killed in the line of duty?” Jimenez asked me curiously.

I hesitated for a moment before answering. “I was killed by a rogue player.” Then I paused for a couple seconds before adding. “In fact, I was killed by the same bastards who caused this.”

Jimenez’ expression hardened at that. “Si. They are a problem for everyone.”

The younger Warden, Luis, said something to Jimenez in Spanish. The older man nodded and responded in the same language. Since I hadn’t heard Luis actually say anything in English, I wasn’t sure if he even knew the language. Then again, we were in his country so there was no reason he had to know our language. I was just thankful that Jimenez spoke it, or we would have had to rely on Maya for all our translation.

It was at this point that the spectral crew flew down, circled around us once, and then landed on my shoulder. It let out a silent ‘kaw’ in my ear before fluttering its wings and flying away again.

“What’s that about?” Bunny asked.

“Raze and Godiva are heading this way,” I answered. “It didn’t see Jace, but she might still be around somewhere.”

“This time,” Maya stated firmly as she shifted her spear, “they won’t get away.”