Symbiosis celestialae

It was an unassuming little cottage at the outskirts of Hoyleton and only a few select people knew, that Nefertiti lived there. Now more than a few people had gathered to mourn her or at least to pretend to do so, after her partner decided to hold a public wake. Her body was displayed in the living room, dressed in the flowing robes, purple robes she wore in public, her face covered with a simple mask.
The garden around the house was filled with visitors who enjoyed refreshment after a some friends, family members and co-workers said their pieces about the town’s protector. The atmosphere seemed friendly as people chatted and laughed with each other despite the sad reason for their attendance. Men in black suits and sunglasses kept in the background and might be another pacifying reason.
Lily already regretted coming to the wake. After she saw the ad in the local newspaper, she thought it would be a good opportunity to honor Nefertiti and what she had done for their town. But it seemed like this whole thing was more a public stunt to increase the value of the cottage and to mystify them so that they could be quickly sold after the wake was over. She had already noticed three or four people that inspected vases or paintings inside the house and debated how much they might have to pay for it. Nefertiti’s partner was also already talking about selling and his girlfriend wasn’t even in the ground yet. The only thing stopping her was that she hadn’t had time to look at Nefertiti. Now that the presentations were over she made her way through the mass of people to the open glass doors to get inside, where she waited until she could step up to the glass sarcophagus. Hopefully nobody would talk to her.

Sometimes not leaving his room was a bother. Henry had no idea if this wake was something even remotely interesting but at least he’d get a look at whoever was important in this town and who might be interested in hiring him. But he had to hop from person to person and managed to catch three false rides until he ended up at the cottage of the dead protector. It stood out from the surrounding houses, being noticeable bigger with a much larger grounds than any of the neighbors. Nefertiti probably thought it was a good idea to live a bit outside of town but everyone must have known who lived here or at least that it was someone important.
Finally in reach he hopped around in the garden, envying the buffet for a bit a keeping an eye out for any cochlea or someone who seemed important enough to talk to.

Of course robbing a bank was a cliché and it was pretty pointless because most banks didn’t have that much money on site, especially in smaller towns like this but it would put him in the public’s eye and that was exactly what he needed. With the initial notoriety he could leverage himself into a position of power in the criminal underworld of Hoyleton and would see who could challenge him. Gaining control of a town wouldn’t be easy but he had a plan.
White mask over his face, he pushed open the double doors of the Hoyleton Central Bank and glowing mist rose up around his feet and inside the entrance hall where it started to spread low over the ground. The five goons in sunglasses he had hired shuffled in behind him, guns at the ready, and closed doors. Oberon looked around and disappointment welled up inside him. So few people. But it had to do. He lifted his hands up in the air and the mist around him billowed up to his hips as he bowed quickly.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please stay calm! This is just a robbery. If you cooperate and keep quiet, nothing will happen all will be over soon,” he proclaimed. He signaled for three of the men on his side to step to the counter while he kept an eye out for irregularities

Most of the visitors already seemed to have forgotten the former patron of theirs. Only a few people were staying in the room with the sarcophagus as Lily bid her farewell, and they didn't seem to bother her at all. They peeked at her for sure, but after seeing only an apparently harmless country girl, they lost interest shortly.
Leaning against one of the window sills, Julien stared at the sarcophagus, arms crossed, feeling a small and quiet pulse around his right arm. Like a heavy breathing or probably more of a shiver. He couldn’t tell if his snail even had the need to breathe or a fitting apparatus. Was a cochlea able to sense a fallen symbiote laying nearby?
Looking at the dead protector filled the normally optimistic and affable young man with sorrow and a deep insecurity. There were lots of bad people in today’s world and the cochlea often blessed the worst of them. He couldn’t imagine the consequences of a nasty warlord taking over Hoyleton. Or even worse, an anti-symbiote directed government stepping in! There had already been enough rumours of minor criminals and eventual symbiotes disappearing while Nefertiti ruled. This was the main reason for Julien to still stay in the room and give in to its gloomy atmosphere. He wanted to see at least some trustworthy looking individuals wishing Nefertiti a righteous goodbye. One of the official symbiotes, a ruler of the neighbour areas or a local hero perhaps? He would have left the wake with a much better feeling.
A girl around his age passed and made her farewell. Julien watched her for a moment. She probably fit his first premise by standing there in a silent lament. But the second? She hadn’t got the face of any important person one should know. A friend of the family? Well.. he didn’t had the typical aesthetics of an symbiote’s hero too. But the dark suit became him, even if it was only a low priced one. It made his face look even more distinctive than it has gotten in the last months. At least in his opinion.
Julien just thought about getting to the sarcophagus too and look at Nefertiti once again, even if he didn’t knew her personally. But stocky looking man in worn out clothes forestalled his idea. He stung out of the crowd of guest already only by his putrid smell. But he didn’t hesitate and walked straight up to the glass coffin. When he was next to Lily, he grabbed for the mask covering Nefertiti’s face.

Geraldine stood next to the buffet. She held a glass of white wine spritzer and from time to time she gazed inconspicuously to the security. The party was nearly over and still no hassle in sight. Nefertiti’s rivalry appeared to have mor respect than originally thought. While she didn’t bother the break, but didn’t rely on it either. The wake was opened to nearly anyone, there was plenty room for vermin to enter. Just by looking at some of those filthy derelicts that were creeping around, Geraldine needed to oppress an upcoming qualm in her mouth. Where they actually thinking they would be struck by a wonder or something for seeing a dead woman off? Probably they were attracted by the buffet. She couldn’t imagine another explanation.

„Oh, Mr. Sneaky-Snail you pretty bastard”, mumbled Harshit, as suddenly a masked men with a troop of armed guys entered the place. He just wanted to have his bank card locked after it got stolen, again. Now the money abruptly became the littlest problem, if these guys even left a single coin. They sure didn’t. He glanced back and forth between the armed men and the masked leader, not sure of a good movement. Then he slowly lifted his arm.
„I’m sorry, sir, but uh.. My plastic’d been stolen only some minutes ago. I’d like to have it locked quickly before someone shoots the clerk there, ‘cause I yeah.. really depend on the money, you know?”

Lily didn’t even think about it before it was too late. Outrage and anger filled her as she noticed the man beside her grasping for Nerfertiti’ mask.he couldn’t do that! She had not wanted to reveal her face when she was alive, what gave him the right to disregard her choice now that he was that. Her own hand shot forward and slapped the man’s away. But she realized her mistake right as she made contact. The force of her careless attack snapped the man’s wrist like twigs, the crunch of bones being broken was audible and the stranger yelped. A similar cry of shock escaped Lily’s throat and she jumped back.
No, she didn’t want to reveal herself here. Using the distraction the commotion had created, she turned around and vanished in the crowd, heading directly for the exit. It was time to go.

There was ‘Glowing Geraldine’, one of the better known symbiotes in the area. She worked for the local industry and symbiotes. Probably not a bad starting point. Henry tagged her and a astral projection appeared behind her while this one continued walking around, quickly swapping targets to stay mobile.
He approached the woman from behind and circled around, coming to a stop right in front of her.
“Miss Decrux, I presume?”

Oberon reached down into the mist and as he pulled his hand up, the glowing fog followed and congealed into a humanoid form that quickly refined itself into the shape of an elf-like creature with a bow. The weapon was quickly pulled back and an arrow formed out of nothing which was pointed at the young man, that just gained the attention of the whole room.
“Boy, I really don’t care. Sit back down”, the man in the mask said and signaled his underlings to continue.

The young girl slapped the hand of the stocky looking man. Before anyone could even realise what was happening, a nasty, crunchy sound filled the room, only poorly drowned out by the screaming of the man and gasping of the girl. Tore out of his thoughts, Julien startled and stumbled forward, trying to retaining his balance. The girl nearly ran him over when she escaped the room. Then she was gone. Irritated Julien peered at the man. His face was still in pain and he was holding on to the sarcophagus with one hand to not fall down. The other hand but was looking like it was the victim of a boulder. A massive one. It diverged from the arm in a noxious appearing angle. The skin had bulged and taken the colour of a ripe berry. Part of the wrist’s bone was looking through.
The man wasn’t screaming anymore. He was shouting and swearing, his voice clearly burred with anger and shock at the same time. And ache. Julien was confused. Was this the girls fault? She seemed so small and delicate when he first looked at her. But now she’s gone and the man’s hand was destroyed by an inhuman strong slap. Another symbiote! But why was she running away? Was it really just because of the man’s hand or was there more behind the scene going on? What if the gal was in danger?
The room wasn’t covered in silence anymore and the riot attracted thirsty and bored visitors from outside likewise. Julien didn’t care for them. He wanted to go after the girl with the superhuman strength. He hurried to the garden but couldn’t see her anywhere. There were too much people and a lot of them pushed against him, pulled closer by the cursing.
Julien was in the midst of giving up already, as a familiar looking spot of blond hair caught his eyes near the small gate leading away to the streets. Of course she’d go for the exit!
He pressed his lips together, unsure of the possible consequences of his action. But if she really was a symbiote and in danger, he had to help her out! He cleaved his way through the masses, hoping for not having her lost in the streets by the time he reached the gate.

Geraldine lifted an eyebrow as an unspectacular looking man approached her. He came right from her behind without her notice and stopped in only a small distance to her front. She didn’t like either and in reaction her serious, unpleased face became even cloudier.
„You do presume right, newcomer. Still the more important question would be the one answering me, why I even should bother“, she told Henry in a lowered but stable voice.
Geraldine didn’t try to hide the neglect swinging in the last words. The man wasn’t one of big importance or she would have known his face. He hadn’t done the mistake of running into her with his business before showing the usual higher manners of a decent person. But still she was wary, as ever.
Some loud noises were disturbing the prim atmosphere of the event, accruing from the mansion’s entrance. She glanced at the direction for a moment, but some of her men were already going for it to subdue the hassle in its early stage. They would beckon her to intervene, if she was needed. Before that she wouldn’t do anything.

For a long second Harshit still stood and actually seemed to resist. But dang, the misty arrow thingie surely looked sharp. Would it hurt to been shot with a haze? He rather didn’t try finding out.
„Well, okay. Okaaay. Fine“, he hummed and sat on a couch being far too expensive and clean for his old, worn out jeans. Thanks for nothing, jackass.

The crowd pushed inwards to see what everyone was so interested in but Lily wasn’t the only one to turn away from the house and leave. Apparently there were quite a few people who weren’t interested in chaos. All the better for her.
As soon as she was outside, she turned on the sidewalk and slowed down, people still pouring out around her. She tried to act like she was just a pedestrian. Just a pedestrian. She had just crushed that man’s hand. Lily knew not to underestimate her strength but she didn’t even think about it in that moment. Gosh darn it! She had to be careful, she was dangerous. What if she hurt her little brother when she didn’t think about it?
She stopped a few paces away from the entrance and leaned against a wall that encircled a neighbouring house and tried to catch her breath. Breathing in, breathing out. No one had seen her. Hopefully.

“Awesome. I’m best known under my alias, Witness, private investigator extraordinaire. I happened to be in town and decided to stay for a while and then this,” he spread his arms, “happened. I of course couldn’t stay away and your face is the first that caught my attention. If I remember correctly, you handle a lot of the symbiote relations for your company and that seems like a good fit for a man with my abilities. I would hand you business card, but that is hardly possible.”
He put his hand out and passed it right through the table beside them. Then he turned back to Geraldine and smiled his best business smile.

The underlings made good headway after the employee led them in the back. Meanwhile, Oberon stacked up his mist at the door and let it spread to the feet of the hostages. To replace the mooks, that left the entrance hall, he pulled a few more elves with bows out of the mist and then created three equipped with gently glowing blades and commanded them to step forward. One headed directly for Hashit.
“Now, of course I will need hostages to secure safe passage out of here. I’m sure someone found a way to alarm the police or someone outside noticed to glowing in the windows. Any other volunteers besides the young man who already spoke?”

Some dozen people were already leaving when Julien finally arrived at the gate. He could understand them, it wasn’t a nice thing to get into trouble at a symbiote’s place. You never knew what happened.
Julien took a deep breath and stayed close to the fence to gain a bit of shades. It was not to hot outside, actually relative decent for a typical southern late summer’s day. But the action back in the house and the sudden feeling of stress and also worry made his heart pound far too loud. He regretted wearing a suit as a soft but treacherous taste of green lime and pepper accumulated in his mouth. His whole skin surely was full of acid by now and the nice clothing ruined at the end of the trip! But there was also something else he perceived, a fine smell in the air he couldn’t describe yet but had clearly been in the room with the sarcophagus too. Julien swallowed the bitter saliva on his tongue and turned his head to get a better probe of the aroma. That was the moment his eyes saw the girl with the strong hits again. She didn’t seem to be on the run anymore. But you never knew.
The party was under control again. At least he couldn’t hear any riot anymore. But he didn’t feel the urge to go back so he stepped up to the blonde girl.

An abrupt impulse to walk away or even empty her spritzer over the face of the man arose in Geraldine as she heard some of the words and phraseologies Witness used. Awesome somethings happened after he himself happened? And what even was he to say it were her face to draw him in? Her face without any explicit and exegetical adjectives while he approached her from behind anyway?!
Geraldine surely struggled with strong irritation, but she would not have been in her present position if it wasn’t for her self-monitoring (and the one of others of course). The man was a symbiote and wanted to cooperate. She didn’t know for now what he was capable of with his powers and that was his advantage. He surely knew of this fact when he decided to come out.
„Well then, Mr. Witness“, she answered and took a small sip of her drink. Maybe he would hear her emphasis on the ‚Mr.’ showing her discontent of not hearing his real name. And she waited some moments before continuing. She wasn’t dependent of him in any way.
„The company and also my own humble self are always quite interested in newcomers. I can only evince my affirmation to your request. It’s always laborious to find the symbiotes by our own and assure them of their rights and privileges.“
She took another sip and placed the now almost empty glass on the table. Then she pulled a business card herself from a small designer pouch hanging from her shoulder and showed it to him.
„I assume you weren’t able to lift this one either, right? But a witness like you certainly is attentive enough to get the information by rote. You are invited to visit me in my bureau tomorrow at approximately a quarter past seven o’clock. We will exchange more details of your proposal then.“

„Awe, c’mon man!“, Harshit moaned the moment he realised what Oberon was even talking about. In a gesture of his complete disagreement and maybe also to show that he wasn’t in charge of any threat at all, he spread his arms. One arm met a expensive looking vase by accident for he was still sitting on the couch. The vase fell and it’s whole content spilled on the floor, shards of glass inclusive. A woman in her mid twenties screamed startled and then hid her lower face in her hands. She obviously didn’t want to get into the centre of Oberon’s attraction.
„I will go“, wheezed an older man as soon as the room fell silent again. His gaze glanced from Oberon to the woman and back to the man with the misty creatures and he took a step forward. Harshit meanwhile acted like it wasn’t his fault, still with opened arms and a stunned look on his face.

Lily looked up startled and tensed, as someone stepped close to her. But as she saw the boy in front of her, she calmed down. He didn’t look like security or anyone dangerous. She waited for a moment to let him speak, but as the silence became awkward, she spoke up.
“Can I help you somehow? I was just leaving,” she said.

Back in his hotel room, Henry quickly tipped up the information he just saw on the card, together with the time she expected him. Shouldn’t be too hard to get a projection in there.
“That’s quite early but for a lovely woman like you I’m sure I can arrange it,” he answered through his projection. “You might also consider leaving, a few people are looking at you. You see, my power only makes my body visible to one person, so everyone else thinks, you’re talking to yourself. A wish you a pleasant day.”
And with that he switched his projection to someone else and disappeared from Geraldine’s view. Henry continued looking for other employers, but that was already a good start. He began to like Hoyleton.

“Wonderful, three will do nicely,” Oberon said and directed his elves to grab, the boy, the woman, that had screamed and the old man. They put one hand on their hostages shoulders and kept the blade in their other pointed at them. With a few pushes, they were led out of the crowd and stepped into the mist. The bow elves still kept their weapons trained on the other visitors.
After a few minutes, Oberon’s henchmen came from the back, their bags filled and nodded to their leader. He nodded back and directed two other elves to open the doors. Glowing mist spilled over the steps outside, where police cars had already been put into a half-circle and two dozen policemen pointed their weapons at them. Oberon directed his three hostages into the door.
“We have hostages. Let us go unharmed and nothing will happen to them. But if you put up a fight…” the three sword elves lifted their weapons to their hostages’ throats,” well, they will be harmed.”

„Ah, yeah. Me too“, Julien answered the girl. He was walking to her slowly and not trying to  blindside her. So he also didn’t mention the slug probably sticking somewhere on her right now and instead just watched her for a moment. He couldn’t tell where the cochlea lay and made a snorting noise because he was unsure on how to start a good conversation with her. She already showed to be a good runner, but she also was defenitely a good puncher and he didn’t want to get a confirmation on his own body because he upset her.
„..Somehow the air got stuffy really fast in the there. I saw you standing here and thought, we could walk some of the way back to inner town together maybe? Everything looks the same in this neighborhood.“
It only was a partial lie. While a lot of the houses were built in the same manner and there weren’t any big buildings, shops and near traffic crossing points to orient oneself towards, Julien surely didn’t need another person to find his way around. And it wasn’t the reason he approached her. It just wasn’t as much a slap in the girls face as directly telling her that probably everyone standing near to her while the incident knew her secret now. It must have been a secret or she wouldn’t have run away. And Julien knew that he would not have been happy if some stranger pointed him out to be a symbiote.

Geraldine looked at the position where Witness disappeared, then she took a new glass from the table as she approached the mansion.
„Newcomers..“, she mumbled, shaking her head slightly. She didn’t care for the people looking. Most of the folks new for her position in town and her abilities and the others mustn’t be interested in her business anyway. But the way this guy was playing his cards felt kind of.. arduous.
When she reached the room where the empty shell of the former protector still was lying, the security seemed to have everything under control. One of the upper troop told her, that there was some trouble including Nefertiti’s mask. But the mischiefs had already left the place and the mask was still on the subjects face. Geraldine told the man to keep up the good work and then left to the car waiting for her to bring her back to town. People may thought work would be paused for a moment with the protector’s death. But work started only really know. New challengers would approach soon. And only some of them were fitting ones according to the plans of Geraldine and the corporations. The rest of them.. well. They would find a way to prohibit them from entering the throne and form the rest of them into a good leader.

The old man’s face lost colour as Oberon insisted on taking the woman too, but he remained silent, trying not to lose his dignity. The woman started to snuffle and stared at the elven creatures in fear. Harshit meanwhile gawked first at the mist, then at the police. He still wanted to ask Oberon how he was able to make living things out of wet air, since the elves' touch was unpleasing solid. But for some reason the police men appeared more dangerous to him than the blade on his throat. His cochlea surely didn’t brought him into this mess for no reason. But how could the police know that?
„They totally gonna shoot us. I can see it“, Harshit predicted, forgetting the dapper and rich look of the two hostages next to him. He once got a bullet in his arm and he could still remember the odd feeling of it. Nothing he wanted to re-experience.

Lily frowned and pushed herself – carefully – off the wall and took a step back away from the strange boy. He must come from Nefertiti’s house. Had he seen her hit the other man? She hoped not. She really hoped not. That wasn’t how it was supposed to be! Or was he just interested in her in a relationship kind of way? Whatever it was, him approaching him was a sign that it was time to leave. Even if he hadn’t recognized her, someone else might have and might again, if they saw her outside.
“I… uhm… I don’t think so?”, how was she supposed to get rid of him? “Em- I have a boyfriend!” A blatant lie, but hopefully it would deter him. “Uhm… I’m gogin now.”
She turned away from the boy and just walked away, although she immediately noticed, it was the wrong direction. Didn’t matter, she could circle around, after she had turned a corner.

Harshit’s words prompted Oberon to lift his thumb and the elf, that held the young man, reacted and reversed his grip on his weapons to put the cold blade against Harshit’s throat. The elves with bows stepped out of the mist and in front of Oberon, each pointing a glowing arrow into the crowd of policemen.
“Really, there is no need for any aggression, it is clear, that I outnumber you and no one is going to help”, he called out. “You may remember this day, as the day, Oberon came to Hoyleton to stay. Now, get out of my way or someone will lose their head. You have fifteen seconds!”
With a wave of his hand, the mist beside him formed into a glowing 15 and started to count down.

Woah. What an abrupt way to end a conversation. Was she really thinking he was flirting with her? And even if he did, why would she be so eager to confront him with her boyfriend? Had he been invasive? But he was so good-looking today and even smiling! Walking down a street to find the next bus didn't hurt anyone.
"Sheesh, didn't want to take you to caff or something", he mumbled, but stayed back. He was still interested in her being a symbiote. But somehow he didn't expect her being so repellent. The chance to get a broken hand while following her was to big to take. He still needed those for his last year in the High School.
"Well.. Seek peacefully anyway, gal!"
Even if she didn't want him to help her, he still could wish her some luck. At least he thought the words were there for luck. Seek peacefully, you will find. Nefertiti used those in her speeches a lot as far as he could tell. It was even written down somewhere in the room with the sarcophagus.

Meanwhile, someone was watching Lily. He was watching from high above. It was the man she hurt at the wake.
"That lil' bitch, Nefertiti", he gnarled in disgust. He never got to outplay her in her lifetime and even now, in her death, he was bereft of the chance to expose her and spit at the face he hated so much.
The man took a mouthful of beer and waited for the girl to keep walking and getting out of the range of the people at the party. She caught him unprepared, his hand still hurt like hell. But he would show her that a symbiote like him wasn't to be taken easy.

Now that was just bluffing. Seeing the glowing number Harshit just got a strong feeling that this was a big show. A show of beheadings. He started to giggle nervously.
The police men still pointed their weapons at the crew but as Oberon threatened his hostages, one picked up a bullhorn to answer him. They could still shoot him but didn't knew if this would affect the elves directly. They were trained in cases of symbiotes acting but the powers were wide ranged, hard to be analyzed in such cases. Their mantra was to stay defensive and avoid collateral damage.
"Let the hostages go and we will obey!", he promised and as he gave his colleagues a sign, they started to point their weapons down – but still holding them.

Startled by his words, Lily almost stopped and she glanced back at him once more, but then she decided against talking to him and walked on. He was still weird and she couldn’t stay here or someone else would recognize. But at least he seemed to appreciate Nefertiti, which was definitely a plus.
After she followed the main road for a bit, Lily turned into an alley to pass between the buildings and walk into the other direction on another road. From there she could find the next bus stop and head home.

Oberon sauntered down the stairs and the misted billowed behind him and flowed down as well, filling the space between the bank and the waiting police, although it stayed a healthy distance away from the officers themselves. No need to cause panic yet.
“I said, we will do it the other wa around, people, and I am the one with the hostages” he called back. “You should hurry up and leave, time is running out!”
The ticking number had just reached 8 and Oberon spread his arms, lifting two more elves out of the mist around his lower body. It didn’t seem like the police were just going to leave. He would have to hurt someone. Which he wasn’t averse to but he would have liked to keep his first appearance more mysterious. With his hands lifted, he waited for their response, ready to teleport and give the command to battle.

Of course Julien didn’t follow her but instead went the other way to get to the bus station in a more straighter line than her. He wasn’t a creep after all. But surely the guy on the roof was. A derisive smile fell on his face, as soon as Lily was in the middle of the smaller alley. This was his chance after all to get at least some revenge on one of Nefertiti’s little henchmen.
Using his very own powers, he disappeared and reappeared the next moment behind the girl. Not right next to her, he was wiser this time and didn’t want to give her the time to attack him. She surprised him at the funeral, but now it was him to pull the trigger.
„Hey, bitch! You sure like to break some fucking bones, aren’t you? Well I like to break stuff too!“, he shouted and threw the almost empty beer bottle at her. He only needed to get in direct contact with her to use his abilities and bring her to some fun places.

Harshit watched in full horror, as the police didn’t do anything to help the hostages – and him in particular – out of the situation. Also the elven guy really seemed like he wanted to put up a fight. He didn’t even realize that his hand slowly wandered into one of his many pockets, in search for something helpful.
„We don’t want anyone to get hurt!“, the police officer assured. The next thing he noticed was one of his men stumbling and and getting a shot loose. And suddenly the men, Oberon hired, were shooting too, one hitting his hand with the bullhorn. And his own men answered with their weapons. The rich woman shrieked as a bullet hit her shoulder.
Harshit meanwhile was highly confused because he didn’t knew he was in possess of a nice looking laser pointer.

Lily shrieked as something hit her in the back and she was sprayed with some kind of liquid. It just bounced off of her but she felt the liquid seep into her dress. Quickly she whirled around to see what was going on and came face to face with the man who had tried to do something to Nefertiti’s body at the wake. She also so the beer bottle and disgust swept over her face as she realized, that she was now stained with beer. The man said something but the adrenaline rushing through her body and the confusion of the moment made it impossible for Lily to understand him. But her fear made her take a step back and lift her hands to defend herself against any more projectiles.
“What- what do you want?” she asked while slowly inching away from the man.

At last one of the policemen lost his nerve and fired. Oberon just disappeared, but multiple things happened at once. Everyone with a gun started firing on each other, the elves with bows loosened their arrows, and the mist, that had only moved slowly until now, sped up and, together with the elves with swords, rushed towards the police and their cars, growing in height at the same time.
“Kill the old man!”
Oberon’s voice came from inside the bank building and the elf who still held his sword against the hostage’s throat, immediately followed the command. He slit the man’s throat and shoved him forward. As if that wasn’t enough, he whirled his sword around with a flourish and stabbed him through the back. Blood gushed from his throat and chest as the man staggered a step forward, trying and failing to make a sound and clawing at his wounds. Then he collapsed, disappearing into the glowing mist. The other two elves with hostages moved to the side to get some cover from fire and Oberon called out again.
“Stop or the other two and everyone else dies too!”

"Oh, I only wish for you to bring this bitch Nefertiti my greetings!"
He laughed and pierced at the nearest industrial district. He could still see some of the bigger buildings and he knew the place nevertheless. He'd be able to reach it without much problems. But the girl would have her hard time, leaving it. Hard especially when hitting the ground after falling.
It were alluring to see her panicking, maybe even running away. But his hand needed serious treatment so he didn't wait for her to get into action. He teleported right behind her back, to grab her shirt and bring her to his chosen destination.

The woman finally had enough. Already weakened from the bullet wound, she collapsed, when she saw in terror as the man right next to her got killed so violently. Harshit didn't do anything but starring at his laser pointer, because he feared to look up and realize, that he was hit too. Not like he would already know if this was the case. But well.
The fire stopped. But not because the police would have heard Oberon. Most of them were already down, when not by bullets surely by the arrows. And the one still alive and conscious hid behind their cars because they knew they didn't stand a chance against the mysterious fog. And one of the hostages getting killed didn't boost their courage up much.
Some of Oberon's mercs were hurt too, one even got afraid and ran away. But they stopped firing as the police did and the hostage was killed.
"What now?", one of their upper asked into the building.