It was about 8:15 PM, and Igor, who everyone just called "Boss", was closing up the bar for the night.Luke was outside, guarding the exit, as he did many times before, watching the bartenders leave in the same order that they usually did."Ok, everyone is gone, do you want me to come in and help clean up boss""No, keep standing guard, and tell me if you see anybody coming this way"."I get to watch the sunset now, so I'm not complaining",Luke could hear a little bit of worried anticipation in Igor's speech, which was unusual for him.He always had that cool-headed, gentle giant personality, but Luke knew he had good reason.They had been giving a family of wolf Keidran refuge for the past month, and tonight was the weekly TTC ( Templar Traitor Check ).Which normally would have been fine, Igor had been doing this ever since that first initial war and knew how to keep it on the down-low.But that very week John, one of the bartenders, had stumbled across the family on accident and now gets "indefinite paid leave" as he put it."Ok, Luke you can come in now, and lock that door behind you"."You got it".As Luke finished locking the door, he noticed that Igor was wearing his travel gear, "are you going somewhere, sir?"Igor responded, "Yes, I'm going to take the family to the drop-off point, I managed to contact the fine folks that have been helping me and convinced them to come early, even if it is TTC day"."Do you want me to come with you""No, I need you to look after the place while I'm gone tonight, normally I'd pay you extra, but because of what John did I don't have the funds.""Eh, it's fine, I live here anyway so I'm just doing what I normally do ""Thank you for understanding""You know, sometimes you're too trusting of people in my kind of work""Well we all have our biases, your's just happens to-".There were three knocks at the door."TTC, open up this door Igor," said the man on the other side."The hell, it's not even nine yet?" Luke whispered.Igor whispered back "I got this, just go into my bedroom and protect that family with your life"."That's what I do best"."And if things go south you have my blessing to grab whatever valuables you can and get that family to the drop-off point, ok"."You got it, boss".Three knocks again, louder this time "Hurry it up, Old man!" the man yelled."I'm coming! I'm coming!" yelled Igor, trying to make it seem like he had just been woken up."What do you wa- oh, Hello officers, what can I help you with".Two men were standing outside, one under the signature templar cloak, and a tall muscle mass of a man."Hello Igor, we have received info from a source that you have been hiding a family of Keidran, and we have been sent here to investigate"."What, of course, I don't have Keidran here, the punishment for that is execution, I might be a crazy old man, but I'm not that crazy"."(Of course he talked!)" Luke thought to himself "(Well now let's just hope the old man can talk his way out of this one)".Luke walked over to the big dress closet that the family had been living in and opened the door, their daughter was crying and both parents were trying to comfort her.Luke was never good with the emotion thing, but he was fluent in all three languages, so he figured he might as well tryHe walked over and told her "<don't worry, as long as I'm still breathing, I won't let anybody touch you, ok>".Then all four of them heard the commotion coming from outside.Luke shot straight back up and told the two parents "lock this door and do not open it unless you know for a fact it's me, Ok" both parents nodded to confirm.Luke went to the bedroom door and listened outside.Igor stumbled backward as the two men approached him "Listen, it's like I said, John was mad that I fired him, so he came up with this crazy story about how I was keeping Keidran here."Just drop the act, old man, we have suspected for a long time that you were helping Keidran travel through the city, and your friend just gave us all the confirmation we need." the cloaked figure raised his hand towards Igor and formed a fireball in his hand."Officer, that kind of force isn't necessary""Oh, but it is"LU-The blast killed Igor on contact, along with setting the bar a-blaze, and the shockwave blew the door off its hinges and sent Luke flying into the wall and behind Igor's bed..."Well, now that done, I have other business to take care of, I assume you can handle finding the Keidran, Alex""Of course Adrien""Oh, and if you find anybody still alive take care of them, make sure to double-tap them by doing what you do best"."Beating people into a bloody paste?""Yes, quite.""With pleasure"..."Ok, Luke, one step at a time" Luke staggered up, his head still ringing from the blast"(So,)" Luke thought to himself "(to recap, Igor's dead, and to save some people from being beaten to death, I need to go and fight that behemoth of a man with no magic whatsoever)"."(Well, if that isn't an accurate description of my job, I don't know what is)".
