She cursed under her breath. All the windows were of the kind with a metal mesh embedded in them, to strengthen them so a student couldn't go crashing through them. How could she have missed that? The chaos in the court must be getting to her more than she realized.<br/>A quick peak into the men's room confirmed what she had already known in her heart: the mirror in there had been smashed as well. What would she do now?<br/>Some of the mysterious soldiers were coming up the final stairs now, she could see the red dots of their IR-sights dance across the ceiling. Soon she could see the top of their helmets. They had moved with remarkable speed, this group must've ignored all the lower levels as they raced to the top floor, their comrades fanning out behind them to clear the first three floors. All in all it was even more evidence of this being a tight, professional unit. They seemed to have done this before, which meant more bad news for Tsukiko.<br/>From her position in the shadows she could see the men clearly as they appeared at the top of the stairs. The long hall offered little in the way of good hiding places, it was a good thing that hiding was a second nature to her.<br/>There were five of them, four of them looking like your standard SWAT officers, appart from not having a single marker identifying them as police. They had Kevlar vests and helmets, gasmasks and cutting edge night vision goggles, Tsukiko didn't think she had seen that model before. Armed with silenced MP5s and an assortment of grenades they were a scary looking bunch. But it was the fifth man that truly worried Tsukiko. He wore a vest but that was it, no helmet, no gasmask, no goggles. He was the only one who's facial features she could see, appart from his eyes since he wore mirror glassed aviator shades. He looked neat and proper, with his dark hair combed to perfection and his short sideburns meticulously trimmed. If it weren't for the vest and the big revolver in his shoulder holster one might guess he was on his way to work in an office somewhere, or church even. Yet he was totally creeping Tsukiko out. And she had learned to trust her gut about these things.<br/>She was in a bit of a pickle, she had to admit. She grudgingly admired the way the trap had been sprung on her, whoever had planned this surprise party for her had done a good job.<br/>Her position was a problem, peeking out from the men's room as she was. Did she quietly close the door behind her? Then her back really would be against the wall. With the mirror gone there were no other way out of there if she was caught. So, should she sneak out into the hall, right into their line of sight? Normally the answer to that question would've been yes, she wouldn't even have to think about it. She did know a thing or two about stealth, after all. But these were no normal men, that much was clear.<br/>She tensed up as they paused at the top of the stairs for a brief moment, carefully surveying the surroundings. She almost jumped out of her skin when one of the men in gasmask suddenly spoke.<br/>"All units report zero contact, sir."<br/>"Of course not," the man in the mirrored shades replied, sounding almost chipper. "This is where it'll be. Can't you feel it?"<br/>The men glanced at eachother, but didn't seem to share their leader's hunch, or his enthusiasm.<br/>"No," said the first man, and that seemed to be all any of the soldiers had to say on the matter. The man in the shades didn't seem discouraged though. Instead he carefully produced what looked like a small metal cylinder from one of his pockets. He held it up triumphantly and twisted the top, which made all his men taking one involuntary step backward. The cylinder made a hissing sound as it released a cloud of grey cloud of metallic dust. The soldiers didn't look like they knew what to expect, but the man in the shades, who was clearly calling the shots, didn't look worried at all.<br/>At first the small cloud just hung there in the air in a weird way, but what happened next was weirder still. Suddenly the cloud just seemed to catch fire, exploding into a silent firework of multicolored, glittering sparks that slowly started floating toward the ground.<br/>None of the men said anything for several seconds, they just stared into the bright and sparkling display, and although this would've been an excellent chance to slip away Tsukiko found herself doing the same. She knew what that was: Glamour!<br/>There could be no doubt, it was the very thing that fueled all Faerie magic and charms. Tsukiko was sure of it, but something felt slightly off, like it had been...polluted in some way.<br/>"Huh," the man with the shades finally said, making everyone snap out of it. He turned to the soldier Tsukiko guessed was his second in command, and she could see the big smile on his face.<br/>"You know, that might actually have been the first time I've ever seen that work? Call it in, Mr Major, we're in business now."<br/>Tsukiko could hear the man report in as the rest of them was spurred into action by the man in the shades.<br/>"All units, we have a confirmed contact with a priority one A-class target. I want an air tight perimeter, nothing in or out."<br/>As the man who had been called Major caught up with the rest as they slowly advanced down the hall towards Tsukiko's position, the man in the shades turned to him.<br/>"So Tom, ready to bag a nice trophy for the mantle piece?"