-2 Hours Ago-

Dixon walked around the library shelves, looking for the books which interest him. He has been walking around the shelves like a lost lamb, checking & screening every book that catches his attention regardless of their subject.

What he doesn’t know that he has been followed by someone who decides to stay close to him at a distance which is not noticeable. Furthermore, the one which is following him cannot be seen by the untrained naked eye.

It is Snow Owl, which has taken over from Dire Wolf so that he can have his meal with Fox Hound. Both Black Bear & he have decided to use optical camouflage so that they will not draw any attention from the visitors there who are starting to fill up the library spaces.

This environment is the perfect setting for the poachers as it will provide more cover for them to blend in with the crowd. As days goes on guarding Dixon, the level of alertness has been building up for the team as they are aware that the chances of those poachers making their moving is on the rise.

“Shepherd Team, Shepherd Team, this is Wine Yard, come in.” A voice suddenly called the team through their coms.

“This is Fox Hound over.” Their team leader responded.

“Be advised, Storm Pheasant has detected multiple arcane reactions. Magic signatures confirm that these are poachers.”

“Acknowledged Wine Yard, what’s their distance & ETA?”

“Distance is 5 klicks from your position. ETA is 10 minutes.”

“Copy that, Dire Wolf, Black Bear. You two, search & destroy. Snow Owl, stay & standby with our Little Lamb for extraction, engage as needed. I will be on standby for evac if things go south.”

“Snow Owl here. Orders received.”

“This is Dire Wolf, heading out for hunt.

“Finally, we got some action boss. Black Bear is moving for the kill.”

“Combat action acknowledged Shepherd Team. Good hunting down the range, over & out.” Wine Yard said to them before ending the transmission.

Soon there are reactions from the sensors of Shepherd Team’s vehicle. Scans have shown that there are six suspicious men moving towards the library. They tried their best to be on the low profile but with the arcane energies leaking out all of their equipment. They all are exposed prey for the pickings by Shepherd Team.

Like juvenile rabbits roaming out in the open plains in search for food, they are totally unaware of the prowling hunters hidden in the tall grass. Looking at the sensors, Fox Hound noticed that the poachers have decided to split up & search their objective.

Every action that they make is being fully monitored by both Wine Yard & Fox Hound using their tactical equipment. For preparation of this engagement, Fox Hound had selected the “Transfer & Terminate” load out for all members of his team the moment they begin their mission to be Dixon’s protection detail.

In order not to alarm civilians who are around their AO, they have opted to use pistols fixed with suppressors. For ammunition, it is has been enchanted with an enchantment that will teleport the target to a black site after they have been neutralized. The same also applies for the secondary weapon, which is a type of energy combat knife.

“Poachers are in the barn. Ok boys, time to Cloak & Load.” Fox Hound called to give the cue to the team, as the game of assassins & bodyguards has started.

The poacher team walked through the entrance & moved into the common area in the library. Surveying around, they tried to find their target on the ground floor but to no avail as Dixon is actually at the third floor of the library searching for his materials.

The search was quick at the ground floor as they have the numbers to cover the area. It is however impractical to do so for the remaining floors of the library. Therefore, they have decided to split into three groups to look for Dixon on every floor which is a practical decision.

Dire Wolf, Snow Owl & Black Bear are fully prepared to meet their adversaries. For the protection mission, all of them are equipped with a hologram projector which serves as a decoy to draw the poachers’ attention away from their objectives.

This time, only Snow Owl is unable to use his decoy as he has to guard the actual objective of their mission. Dire Wolf & Black Bear have placed their decoys at locations that they deem to be suitable & advantageous to trap & terminate their opponents without raising any attention from the civilians in the library.

All the poachers went to their respective floor of the library to look for Dixon, their search starts by checking the reading area of every floor before moving to the book shelves to hunt their target.

-First Floor of Gabrielle-Roy Library-

Poacher 1-1 & Poacher 1-2 begins their sweep at the book shelves the moment they have verified that their target is not at the reading area of their assigned floor. In order not to raise any suspicion by the visitors who are engrossed at reading the book of their choice, Poacher 1-2 took a detour to start his sweep from the other end of the row of book shelves.

Poacher 1-1 will wait at his end as the net which will ensnare their target, preventing him from escaping their clutches. Dire Wolf, who is concealed from their vision, noticed their plan & moves to counter it.

Poacher 1-1 who is moving to the shelves did not notice that he is being stalked by Dire Wolf. That man who is a medium height Caucasian man in his 40’s is a dead duck for the hunter on the prowl, as Dire Wolf moved to attack him from his back.

His prey did not know what hit him at all. The last moment that Poacher 1-1 knows is some invisible force had caught hold of him & he is powerless to fight that force that is working to subdue him. In his final moments, he felt something hot & sharp was thrust through his neck. It begins to burn every bit of life out of him & soon he passed out in a limp, never to wake up again.

The magic in the energy combat knife which Dire Wolf uses to dispatch Poacher 1-1 detected that its prey is now dead, immediately it teleported the victim slain by its user to the designated location. This is done so that no dead bodies are left behind to alarm the civilians there.

After taking out his first target, Dire Wolf moves on to his next target who is Poacher 1-2. The hidden guardian of Dixon waste no time, moving towards the hologram decoy that he had set in advance anticipation. He is sure that his prey has spotted the bait & now on approach for the kill.

Dire Wolf’s guess was correct, as both he & his prey are now moving towards the decoy. He arrived a bit earlier at the decoy’s position gaining a favourable position to strike when his prey took the bait.

Poacher 1-2 saw his target & wanted to grab the young man with his right hand to a secluded place to perform his deed. He is however surprised when there is an invisible hand grabs him by the neck & begins to choke him.

The man struggles to break free but it is fruitless as he felt a hot & sharp sensation going through his skull. The new stimulus to his brain causes him to jerk hard a little before limping lifelessly in the hands of his attacker before being sent off from the place he is lurking for a prey.

“Dire Wolf here, Level 1 is clear.” He declared.

“Copy that. Move to Level 3 to assist Snow Owl.” Fox Hound instructed him.

“Roger that, I’m moving to Level 3 now.”

-Second Floor of Gabrielle-Roy Library-

Poacher 2-1 & Poacher 2-2 made their way & proceed to perform the same sweeping pattern like their counterpart in other levels of the library. Here, they have entered Black Bear’s turf & he is grinning in excitement for the fun that is going to have.

Aside from the suppressed pistol & the energy combat knife that there are equip with, Black Bear had brought his own gadget which is a pair of gloves enchanted with the similar magic.

Info from Fox Hound had informed him of the route that those poachers are taking & he is waiting for his victims at the spot where he had placed his holographic decoy. It is Black Bear’s happy day as he seldom gets into the action with his team.

Both poachers reached the decoy at the same moment only to find that their target who is sitting on the floor reading a book to be so oblivious to his surroundings. Puzzled on that is going on, both of them stared at the young man only to be greeted by an invisible force chocking both of them.

The two men whom were held in the air struggled, trying to free themselves from the strong grip that is suffocating the life out of them. Black Bear who is holding them enjoyed their struggles for a few seconds before ending their lives with a flick of his hand, causing a laud snapping sound can be heard in the area he is in.

“Black Bear, reporting Level 2 is clear.” He informed his team.

“Copy that, go & give backup to Snow Owl at Level 3.”

“You got me boss. Right over to Level 3.”

The laud snap caught the attention of some readers nearby & the librarian on duty there. The smart & sexy looking lady went to the book shelves where the loud sound originally came from. Finding that there is nothing unusual about it, she dismisses it as an imagination before resuming her duty at her counter.

-Third Floor of Gabrielle-Roy Library-

Poacher 3-1 & Poacher 3-2 came to the floor assigned to them, working their way to find their target in this level. Looking around, they found that their target is moving around the book shelves checking the books that might pique his interest.

After browsing the last shelf in the area, Dixon decided that he needs to look for more book & decides to move to the ‘Special Collections’ section in the library. Snow Owl who is guarding him followed in as well.

As there is a double door which serves as an entrance to that section can be used as a barrier to prevent them from entering that section. While the young man was looking around for the materials which interest him, Snow Owl barricaded himself by holding the doors together to make it looked like it was locked.

Both poachers tried to open the door, only to find it that it is somehow either locked or jammed. They tried the door a few times, but find it to be unmovable. Sensing that it is the right time to act, Snow Owl pushed those doors in a sudden motion, catching both of them unprepared.

The amount of force used by Snow Owl is light but sufficient to send both poachers knocked back with a stunning effect. Snow Owl rushed to engage with both of his adversaries only to found that both of them have been dispatched by Dire Wolf & Black Bear.

In front of Snow Owl, lies two dead men, the one on his right had the back of his head stabbed through by the energy combat knife used by Dire Wolf & the one on his left had his neck snapped by Black Bear.

“Nice pass with the door Owl.” Black Bear praised his teammate.

“No joke bro that is a real nasty move.” Dire Wolf complimented his action.

“Snow Owl, Level 3 is clear.” He reported back to his team leader & at the same time, gives a thumbs up to his teammates to acknowledge their response.

“Copy that. Wine Yard, is there anymore threats?” Fox Hound called.

“Negative, all is clear. Well done Shepherd Team.” She confirmed with them.

“Thanks, we will be resuming guard now, Shepherd Team out.”

With that, all members of Shepherd Team returned back to their post. The loud noise caught the attention of many staff & visitors of the library. However, as there aren't any traces for the cause of it, all of them went back to minding their own business.

Dixon however is the only one who finds that something is not right as he felt that there is something was keeping him company all the time without revealing itself. As there is nothing to verify about, he just kept it to himself rather than to talk about it & getting ridiculed.