–I'm... what?

    Mirror sighed. Giant hadn't seemed to have quite returned to his own head yet, and explaining the situation to him was hard – to put it mildly.

    –Maelstrom was controlling you. In your mind.- Mirror pointed to her own head.- Making you ask me things.- She bit back a sigh.   

    Giant's features widened in horror, before settling into a light frown. What was it, the fifth time they'd had this exact exchange? She could almost anticipate his next question–

    –And you broke me out of it how?

    Mirror blinked. That was new. He usually said something along the lines of "That's ridiculous, Mirror, magic is elemental." She could work with this.

    –We don't know yet, all we know is that it can't happen again.

    Giant's frown deepened, his mouth opening to ask yet another question, Mirror preparing to answer as best as she could–

    A shrill, piercing alarm sounded from behind the door.

    Mirror and Giant exchanged a look of faked calm. They both knew what this meant. It was the one piece of information drilled through everyone's heads, their first day with the Servants.

    If Alarm C sounds, find your troupe leader immediately. They will help you deal with the break-in.

    Someone had found their hideout.

    Mirror surged forward, reaching to wake Menace up from the bed. Months of break-in training drills made her movements calculated, robotic. Unite the troupe. The Leader will give the order to fight – if he doesn't, stay where you are.

    She didn't feel the terror quite yet – maybe it was her potion, or the fact that Menace, one of the strongest witches she knew, would be protecting her. But the fear would come eventually, that was certain.

    For now, she acted with practiced ease.

    Menace was already up and throwing on her bulletproof vest. True witches didn't use civillian weapons as a matter of principle, but they knew the Emperor's forces wouldn't extend them the same courtesy.

    After all, there were no witches allowed in the army anymore – what else could they fight with except bullets?

    Mirror didn't even entertain the possibility that it wasn't the Emperor. Civilians had wandered into the base before, or so she'd heard. She suppressed a shudder at the gruesome deaths they must have faced, all to keep their hideout safe.

    It was better for them all if the Emperor was truly invading – Mirror felt queasy at the mere thought of killing a normal, everyday person in cold blood. (And as she'd recently found out, so did Menace and Giant.) At least a soldier firing at them would feel less innocent-

    She was yanked back to the present when Giant grabbed her arm with surprising gentleness, tugging her toward the door.

    –We need to find Sunbeam.- He kept his tone low as he opened it, and the two were quickly followed out by Menace.

    The hallway was a mess. Witches ran in all directions, a mass of hair and limbs that seemed to move and shift on its own. Faraway gunshots cut through panicked voices, and more than one of the Servants were shouting "Where's the Leader?" as the smell of sweat and smoke wafted through the air – some disobedient witch using her fire, or the Emperor's attempt at burning them alive, Mirror had no clue.

    Still, Menace's determined shout kept the fear at bay.

    –Everyone, find your troupe leaders now! Don't use your magic unless ordered! Move!

    It didn't seem to do much, as the few witches now struggling to find their respective leaders in the mass of people were getting, more often than not, trampled by the ones just trying to escape. Menace's exasperated sigh could barely be heard above another round of gunshots.

    In the chaos, Mirror hadn't realized Giant still clung to her arm. "Good idea", she thought, grabbing Menace's. "Now we can't lose each other."

    They stuck to the walls, clinging onto each other as the loud gunshots grew closer and closer. "Why isn't Maelstrom giving the attack order?!" Mirror thought. "He would never hide like a coward! Maelstrom hates the Emperor." She shook her head – it didn't make sense.

    Unless the Emperor wasn't the one attacking. But that didn't make sense either. No one else had a big enough force to take their entire mountain by storm and leave them completely vulnerable. No one else had the motive, as other kingdoms usually were neutral towards their kind.

And more importantly, no one else was as unbelievably petty as Romull I. Storming into their base in a big show of force was exactly the kind of thing he did all the time. If another organization or kingdom was behind this, Romull was most certainly working with them.

    So it was the Emperor – but why now? How had he obtained their location? And why wasn't Maelstrom giving the attack order–

    Her thoughts trailed off completely as they turned the corner into the main hall.

    Because, oh, dear Aris, it was even worse.

    Witches seemingly ran in all directions as they had before, but Mirror immediately noticed the pattern – they were running away, fleeing from the center. And she couldn't blame them.

    The Emperor's forces had somehow drilled through the main hall's ceiling – now that screamed Romull I – and soldiers kept pouring in, sliding down ropes and firing wherever they could. But they never reached the ground.

    A turbulent, chaotic vortex of chairs and tables spun frighteningly fast around the middle, promising an instant death to whoever dared touch down on one of them.

Mirror would've attributed this to a team of powerful air witches – most likely with Vertigo on it – but she had to reconsider when she spotted her silver-haired teacher fighting a group of soldiers to the left, along with Typhoon.

Her instincts screamed at her to help them – she could easily knock them unconscious with the move she'd learned – but a flash of pink stopped her in her tracks.

The vortex wasn't the work of any air witch. There were winds around the chairs and tables, yes, but they were created by their spinning, not the other way around. The truth was, that vortex wasn't the work of elemental magic at all.

Because Maelstrom stood it its center, eyes open wide, arms outstretched towards the sky as he screamed:

–You took Hurricane from me. I will make you pay.

Author's Note: IM BACK-
We finally find out Maelstrom's other power in this one! (It's the reason for his code name ;)) He can create vortexes whatever size he wants. Bigger vortexes require more steps and energy.
(Also, I came up with this new plot line on the spot-)