The attack on Crossroads began at midnight with an artillery barrage that immediately revealed the true scope of our enemy's capabilities. Instead of enhanced monsters coordinated by magical constructs, we faced a full military assault with siege engines, tactical spell support, and coordinated infantry advances that belonged on a battlefield between nations rather than a raid on a frontier settlement.
"Contact! Multiple siege platforms approaching from the northwest!" Jessica called from her advanced reconnaissance position. "Estimate forty to fifty combatants in coordinated formations!"
"That's not a raid," Captain Darkwood said grimly as magical explosions began impacting Crossroads' defensive barriers. "That's an invasion force."
From our coordinated defensive position, I could see the attacking force with disturbing clarity. These weren't enhanced monsters or criminal mercenaries—they were professional military units equipped with standard-issue magical weapons and operating under competent tactical leadership.
"Elena, can you identify unit markings or organizational affiliations?" I called through our communication network.
"Negative on visible identification, but their equipment and formation patterns match military training protocols. This is either a national military unit or a very well-funded private army."
The implications hit me like a physical blow. We hadn't stumbled into a criminal operation—we'd been deliberately positioned to confront what appeared to be a covert military action by unknown forces with resources that rivaled national governments.
"Captain Darkwood," I called urgently, "we need immediate evacuation protocols! This situation is beyond our mission parameters!"
But even as I spoke, magical barriers began materializing around our entire operational area. The distinctive shimmer of containment spells designed to prevent teleportation or magical communication with outside forces.
"Evacuation isn't an option," Captain Darkwood replied, her voice carrying the calm authority of someone who'd faced impossible situations before. "We're trapped here until this resolves one way or another."
Thomas's magical analysis confirmed our worst fears. "The containment barriers are military-grade. Whoever deployed them has resources comparable to national defense forces."
We'd been lured into a carefully constructed trap, positioned to face an enemy whose true capabilities far exceeded anything our mission briefing had suggested. The question was whether the trap was intended to capture us, test us, or simply eliminate Team Beta as a potential threat to someone's larger plans.
"All teams, defensive perimeter!" Captain Darkwood ordered as the enemy advance began in earnest. "We hold until we understand what they actually want!"
What followed was two hours of the most intense combat any of us had ever experienced. The attacking force demonstrated professional competence and magical capabilities that pushed even Team Crimson's veterans to their limits.
But something felt wrong about their assault patterns. Despite their overwhelming advantages in numbers and equipment, they weren't pressing their attacks with the ruthless efficiency that military doctrine would dictate. Instead, they seemed to be probing our capabilities, testing our responses to different tactical pressures.
"They're evaluating us," I realized during a brief lull in the assault. "This isn't an attempt to destroy Crossroads—it's an elaborate field test of our abilities!"
"Field test for what?" Marcus asked, though his attention remained focused on maintaining our defensive barriers.
"Unknown. But they've invested significant resources in creating a realistic threat scenario that forces us to demonstrate maximum capability under genuine life-or-death pressure."
Lydia launched another series of lightning strikes at the advancing enemy formations. "If this is a test, what happens when they've gathered the data they want?"
That was the question I didn't want to consider. Organizations that conducted elaborate field evaluations usually had specific purposes for the individuals being tested—purposes that rarely included allowing those individuals to maintain their independence afterward.
"Team Crimson, Team Beta," a new voice spoke through magical communication that bypassed our own network entirely. "Impressive performance under pressure. You've demonstrated capabilities that exceed our initial assessments."
"Who is this?" Captain Darkwood demanded.
"Someone with significant interest in your future development. The current tactical exercise will conclude shortly, but first we need to evaluate your response to one final scenario."
The attacking force immediately withdrew to prepared positions, their movement coordinated with the precision of units following predetermined orders. Within minutes, the battlefield had transformed from active combat to an ominous standoff.
"Final scenario?" Elena asked nervously.
Our answer came in the form of three figures approaching under a flag of truce. Two were clearly military personnel—senior officers based on their bearing and equipment quality. The third was someone I recognized from Academy records: Director Marcus Kane from the Hunter Association's Special Talents Division.
The same man who had evaluated my abilities during my initial awakening assessment. The man who had warned me that exceptional power would be "put to its proper use" regardless of personal preferences.
"Director Kane," Captain Darkwood acknowledged formally as the three figures approached our defensive perimeter. "I wasn't aware the Hunter Association was involved in this operation."
"The Association has interests in evaluating promising talents under realistic conditions," Kane replied smoothly. "Academic exercises and controlled missions provide useful data, but genuine capability assessment requires authentic pressure scenarios."
"You orchestrated this entire situation?" I asked, though I already suspected the answer.
"Coordinated, certainly. The frontier attacks were real, as were the threats to these settlements. We simply... provided additional resources to ensure the challenges would be sufficient to generate meaningful evaluation data."
One of the military officers stepped forward. "Team Beta specifically has demonstrated analytical and coordination capabilities that suggest exceptional potential for specialized operations. Capabilities that would be valuable to various governmental and corporate entities."
The trap was now completely revealed. This had never been about frontier defense or stopping criminal organizations. It had been an elaborate recruitment exercise designed to evaluate Team Beta under combat conditions and demonstrate that we were both capable of handling classified operations and sufficiently isolated to be recruited without significant political complications.
"What exactly are you offering?" Captain Darkwood asked, though her tone suggested she understood the implications as clearly as I did.
"Advanced training opportunities, access to classified resources, and mission assignments that would accelerate your professional development far beyond normal institutional channels," Kane explained. "In exchange for operational commitments to organizations that can properly utilize your exceptional capabilities."
"And if we decline these generous opportunities?" I asked.
The second military officer smiled, and it wasn't a pleasant expression. "Decline would be... inadvisable. The demonstration of your capabilities tonight has generated significant interest among entities that prefer cooperation to competition."
The threat was clear enough. We could accept recruitment into whatever classified programs they represented, or we could face escalating pressure from organizations with resources sufficient to stage elaborate military exercises just to evaluate individual Hunter teams.
"We need time to consider—" Captain Darkwood began.
"Time is one resource we cannot provide," Kane interrupted. "The operational requirements that brought us here tonight require immediate resolution. You have thirty minutes to make your decisions."
As the three figures withdrew to allow us privacy for discussion, I found myself facing the kind of choice I'd hoped to avoid for several more years. Accept recruitment into organizations whose objectives and methods remained unclear, or risk becoming targets of entities powerful enough to manipulate frontier conflicts for personnel evaluation purposes.
Team Beta huddled in our defensive position, surrounded by military forces whose true allegiances were unknown and facing recruitment pressure from sources that might include our own government.
"Well," Elena said quietly, "this escalated quickly."
The question now was whether we had enough leverage to negotiate terms that preserved some measure of independence, or whether we were about to become assets of organizations whose objectives might not align with our own principles or Terra Nexus's broader interests.
We had twenty-eight minutes to figure out how to play a game whose rules had just fundamentally changed.