“Nice outfit you’ve got there. Been to a renaissance faire lately?” he laughed, as if he’d made the funniest joke ever.

  When nobody laughed, he quickly grew serious and frowned at them. “Who are you?”

  “As I told the lady just now, we have been sent by the system to evacuate this community. Are you from here? Do you know with whom we should be talking?” Allison kept her tone polite.

  The guy grinned, “I am from here, now. You should talk to the chief. Follow me.”

  He turned around and walked back towards the bed & breakfast.

  Ben shrugged and followed with Allison, noticing Jamal and Michael exchange glances.

  ‘Boss. This smells fishy… and I am not talking about the ocean.'

  Ben twitched in surprise as he heard Jamal talking in his head. Only then remembering the Band of Coordination on his wrist.

  ‘You might be right. Maybe Michael can scout a bit? And we should stay on alert.‘

  Allison looked at him with a raised eyebrow and nodded imperceptibly.

  Beyond the little reception desk was a large living room-style lounging area. Half a dozen middle-aged men in various stages of sleep and waking up were sitting and lying on the couches and plushy chairs. They all had knives strapped to their belts, and Ben noticed a pile of baseball bats, tire irons, and similar makeshift weapons lying in one corner of the room.

  “Rake, why are you making such a commotion early in the morning? Is your bladder failing again?” one of the guys moaned from one of the couches.

  Being real comedians seems to be a common feature between these guys, beyond the leather vest and that they all seem to be clearly past their prime.

  Ben was not impressed by what he saw. These guys clearly were not local and his willingness to engage with them sunk every second.

  Rake—apparently the man’s name—who had brought them in, ignored the jab, and looked at the back of the lounge area. A colossus of a man appeared on the stairs, his gaze sweeping the room with cold assessment. He was well over two meters tall, close to sixty, and in far better shape than most of the men here, his size and posture making the others seem small.

  “What is going on here?” he said as he scanned the room, his eyes fixating on the team and their weapons and outfit.

  “I caught these guys outside, chief. They say they have a mission from the system to evacuate the village.” Rake said as if it was a joke. “I think they have raided a renaissance fair.” Again, he couldn't stop himself from laughing at his own joke.

  “Welcome to my home. The system has given you a mission, you say? Why is the system talking to you, if it isn't talking to anybody else?”

  The so-called chief seemed at first glance much friendlier than Rake, but the smile with which he had welcomed them, did not reach his eyes.

  Ben was happy to let his mother keep talking while he tried to get a better read on the men around them, who by now were all awake and started to follow the conversation.

  “I couldn't tell you, why the system is talking to us, but it has already sent us out to a number of other locations. The little context it has provided us is that it will need to shift increasing amounts of Energy into the affected areas and that will likely make living in those regions very difficult as Energy-born creatures will become increasingly difficult to handle.” Allison explained. “But I don't want to take up more of your time. We were looking for the mayor of the village, and I assume you are guests?”

  “No, no, you are talking to the right person. I am the mayor here. Tell me more about where and how you would take us away?”

  “The system has provided us with a portal that will remain open for a limited time and it will take us to our home. Can we call the people together to explain it to them?”

  “There is no need, they have entrusted me to decide for them, …” several of the men chuckled at that, “… and I see no reason to leave this place. But maybe you have some more of this equipment that you wear? We are happy to trade for it…”

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  ‘Entering through the backdoor' Michael updated them telepathically.

  “Unfortunately, the system requires us to make the offer to everybody in the village, you don't have an issue if we go house to house, would you?”

  Ben admired his mother's quick thinking – and the ability to stay cordial.

  “That won't be necessary, as I said, I decide here. What about the weapons?”

  “I am sorry, but we don't have any for trade. Look, we really don't want any kind of confrontation, we just want to complete the task given to us. I hope you understand.”

  ‘Let's just go and knock on some doors.' Allison messaged.

  Just as she made to turn around, the door behind them was thrown open and two more of the gang entered the building, wide smiles on their faces, one of them shouted, “look boys, what we found! Fresh meat!”

  With that he pulled in… Sarah, who had a tear in her shirt from the guy dragging her violently and a red cheek from what must have been at least a slap to the face.

  It took all of Ben's restraint, supported by his 15 point Mind attribute, to not immediately attack the men who had burst in and everything between them.

  “Let her go. Now!” he growled through clenched teeth.

  The guy who had pulled Sarah in, who was slightly younger than the others, maybe late thirties, only now saw the guests in the midst of his gang. He pulled Sarah closer to himself and grinned at Ben. “Is this your girl and your fancy doorway that she came through?” he turned to the Chief, “You should see this shit, it's like a portal from the movies. On the other side is a city, all marble, and shit. We should go there.”

  Ben took a step forward and looked the man in the eyes, “I'll give you two seconds to let go of her.”

  “Or what?” he heard the chief ask behind him. Meanwhile Jamal had taken a position between Allison and the gang members, who were now on full alert.

  Ben did not turn around, “One.”

  The man looked at him grinning, daring him to do something.

  Ben did not count to two. Instead, he moved with the full force of his Body attributes. One step, two steps, and as he completed the movement, his fist connected with the man's solar plexus so forcefully that a crack was audible across the room, and he crumpled to the ground. Whether he was unconscious or dead was unclear.

  Using the momentum of his charge, he barreled into the second guy that had brought Sarah in, crashing him into the wall with enough force to make the wood creak. He dropped to the floor moaning.

  He then pulled Sarah behind himself and turned to the chief, “or this.”

  There was silence. Ben's attack had taken less than a second, and none of the bikers had even unsheathed their knives, yet.

  The chief was the first to overcome the surprise, “this was a mistake. You come here, in our house, and attack us, and you think we let you get away with it? You think your fancy outfits will protect you?”

  Ben was trembling in rage, and he wanted to attack, but he raised his arm in a calming gesture, “look, this has already gone too far. All we want is to leave with the villagers that want to come along. Do not make us fight you, this is your final warning.”

  “OUR warning? You are dead, you just don't know it, yet! GET THEM!” the chief yelled and drew his own 20-centimeter knife.

  Excluding the two bikers Ben had already downed, there were seven enemies left. Ben hesitated for the briefest of moments and decided not to draw his axe, despite everything, he did not want to kill other humans unnecessarily. Instead, he jumped in the fray, while Jamal roared his taunt, shield in one hand, and drawing his axe with the other.

  Allison must have been enraged enough by Sarah's small injury, so that she triggered her [Mother Bear] perk and attacked as well.

  Ben kicked, punched, and jabbed. Using his hands, elbows, and feet. Taking out three of the enemies in seconds. His mother had swiped at two of the enemies with bear claws. The chief launched metal projectiles with a spell at Jamal, but before he could penetrate their tank's defense, Michael appeared behind him and stabbed him quickly twice in the side and held his sword to his throat. The last biker standing dropped his knife and got on his knees, “I yield, I yield!” he shouted terrified.

  While looking at a small wound on his arm, Ben wondered how much stronger they were than this team of supposedly tough guys.

  “There are women upstairs. Not good.” Michael said.

  Ben's head shot up, looking at his friend, “are you saying what I think you are saying?” he had to constrain himself from shouting.

  Michael just nodded.

  “You miserable…” he stopped himself and took a deep breath. “Jamal, can you bring Sarah home and inform Adam that there will be a potentially large influx of people and that we need medical and psychological support ready? Michael, can you please make sure there are no more of these … this garbage in the house? Mom, can you look after these women after Michael has cleared the way? I will stay here, watching them.”

  “I am bleeding, I need help,” the chief yelled.

  Ben looked at him exasperatedly and threw him a pillow from one of the couches, “press this on the wound to stem the bleeding.”

  The others agreed. Sarah was crying in the corner that Ben had pushed her after he had freed her. Ben used [Breathing] intensely.

  When the others had left he addressed the bikers, most of them still on the floor with broken bones or open wounds, “do not try me. We have given you every chance to resolve this peacefully. If you have done to these women and this village what I think you have done, you deserve what you got. I will not play judge, jury, and executioner for you lot, no matter how much you might deserve it, but if you try anything fishy, I will stop holding back.” With that he drew his axe and made sure that he could see all of them at the same time.

  A few minutes later, Michael came back, “checking the perimeter”.

  Ben ignored all attempts by the bikers to get his help and just watched for any sign of attack.

  20 minutes later his mother came in from the front door, “I brought the three women from upstairs, home, via the stairs on the other side. The building is empty otherwise. Adam has come over and we will now go door to door to get people to relocate.”

  “You cannot do this! This is our place!” the chief moaned.

  Allison ignored him and turned to leave, a floorboard creaked, and the chief raised his hand to shoot his metal projectiles at her.