Chapter 31: El Diablo
"Riley?!"
Riley had appeared out of nowhere. Everyone watching the live hostage simulation was so focused on the student in training, who just happened to be Katherine herself, that no one really noticed him until it was too late.
Katherine, crouched behind a counter in the middle of maneuvering around the kidnapper, froze the moment she saw him. Her eyes widened. And before she could stop herself, she stood up—completely exposing her position.
They were simulating a hostage situation inside a bank. And after a brief shootout that left a guard dead, the kidnapper had taken a small child hostage. As soon as he spotted Katherine, he shoved the barrel of his gun to the girl’s head.
"Are you a hero?! Don’t take another step or I’ll kill this little girl!"
Katherine’s heart dropped as soon as she heard that, but then she quickly shook her head when she remembered that she wasn’t actually in a real hostage situation.
"Wait! Wait! Pause! Pause!" she shouted, flailing her hands in the air.
The simulation froze instantly. The kidnapper’s spit halted in front of him. And the tears of the little girl stopped short upon hitting the floor. The entire room stuttered into a glitch as a familiar voice echoed through the hall.
[Why did you ask to pause, Scarlet Mage?]
"What do you mean, Mr. Blinkshot?!" Katherine yelled. "Someone’s in the simulation! He’s ruining it! We need a reset!"
She pointed at Riley, who simply blinked and pointed to himself as if unsure why she was yelling at him.