AN: Welcome to When Worlds Collide. I couldn't fit in the initial story summary, so as a warning there will be lemons in this story, but if your looking for a lemon focused story then this is not it.
The most important piece of information I can give you from the get-go is that this story uses a mixture of current LOL lore and old lore, most notably using the Institute of War and the League of Legends in their original forms. This is because I started writing this story back when those two things were STILL canon, and they were too vital to this story to simply remove by the time Riot deceiced to axe them from the canon. It would've resulted in me having to rewrite way to much and essentially having to start this fic from scratch again. On top of that, seeing how Riot is able to change up the canon of LOL at random, whats to stop them from doing it again?
TL;DR - Some old LOL lore is present in this fic.
Now, enjoy When Worlds Collide
- Evolution Legacy, June 26th 2017
Dreams
The sunset was beautiful; a perfect orange backdrop behind the skyline. Those on ground level, in the streets amidst the roaring traffic couldn't see how majestic it was. But a boy and a girl sitting on the ledge of a rooftop could bask in its glory.
"It's amazing!" The girl gasped with awe.
"I should have brought a camera..." The boy muttered, chastising himself for being unable to capture this moment.
The girl shook her head, "It's ok, we'll just capture it in our memories!"
The boy looked at his sister, "That's such a girl thing to say!"
The girl looked back at her brother, playfully sticking her tongue out. "You're just upset I thought of it first!"
"Am not!"
"Am so!"
The two looked at each other for a moment, and then burst out laughing. Together, the twins watched the sunset, both captivated by its beauty.
"Wow..." The boy whispered to himself, "nothing beats this does it sis?" He asked the girl.
No response. "Sis? Isabella?" He asked again, turning his head to look at his sister, and gasping at the horror. The girl's eyes had rolled back into her head; red liquid flowed from her hair, covering her face. Her mouth was wide open, blood pouring down from it. There was a flash of lightning, even though there were no clouds in the sky for miles. Each time the lightning flashed, the zombified little girl would look older, her short black hair longer, her face more mature; however the blood, the white eyes, and the zombie-look never changed.
The boy couldn't look away, he couldn't scream, he was frozen in fear at the sight that was his twin sister. So shocked he was, that he never moved away as the now older version of his sister, clad in bloody armor, crawled over to him and pushed him over. As she climbed on-top of him, blood dripped onto the boy's mortified face. Her lips moved slowly as she spoke in a terrifying voice.
"Why... why...?" She asked. "Why did you leave me...?"
The boy couldn't respond, he was too scared to, he couldn't move, he couldn't speak. He could only stare at this creature.
"Why... why...?" She asked again, before screaming, "WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME BEHIND ISAAC?!"
Reality
Pacific Ocean, near the Solomon Islands
Something hit him in the head, knocking him from his slumber. "I said wake the fuck up!" A voice followed the hit. Isaac shook his head, groaning.
The hell was that...? Another nightmare? He thought, cold sweat dripping down his face. He breathed a sigh of relief, before looking at the guy who had hit him. The figure was clad in black armor, covered head to toe. His helmet was also black, but had several vertical red strips on it. The figure raised an arm and tapped the side of its helmet, and after a sisss, the visor raised up, revealing the face of a masculine black man with a wide white smile.
"Rise and shine sleeping beauty, it's almost jump time." The man said while maintaining his grin.
Isaac shook his head, "Did you have to hit me first?" He asked. Honestly, he was thankful for the wake-up, it pulled him out of that hellish nightmare.
The man just grinned in response. "Couldn't resist. What? You'd rather I give you a good morning kiss?"
"No, I'm good." Isaac stumbled to his feet slowly, taking a look around. He too was clad in the same black armor that covered him head to toe; armor that looked like it had been ripped from some sci-fi movie taking place in the late 2000s. He was inside the cargo bay of Boeing Globemaster IV, which by now should be flying over the Solomon Islands (if it was really jump time that is). He and the other man, we're two members of a seven man squad, all of whom were starting to huddle up around Isaac.
Last minute brief time I guess. Isaac thought before tapping a button by the side of his own helmet, lowering the visor over his face. His vision flashed green for a moment, bringing his HUD up. He quickly scanned its contents, and gave himself a nod, satisfied with what he saw.
"I personally, would've taken the kiss." A cocky female voice said, seemingly from nowhere.
Isaac let out a sigh. "That's why I didn't ask you for your opinion." He muttered in response.
A box opened up in the top right corner of his HUD, revealing the face of a young, beautiful Japanese woman with a snarky grin. "Sleep well? " She asked.
"No, not at all."
Her face suddenly flashed, revealing numbers flowing up and down her face, as her expression changed to one of concern. "Another nightmare?"
"I don't want to talk about it."
"So yes, another nightmare."
"Shut up Mute."
"Not a chance." Mute's expression returned to her usual snarky grin.
Isaac rubbed the back of his neck as he let of a long exasperated sigh. He really wasn't in the mood for this right after waking up from that nightmare. Why do I have to have those damn things... why damn it Isabella? He cursed his memories and that of his long gone twin. I'll never be able to move on from her death if I don't stop getting these damn nightmares!
His expression must have changed, because Mute noticed it right away. "Don't worry about it right now, look its almost briefing time." The AI reminded him.
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Isaac muttered in response. He had forgotten for a second that while his face was hidden behind this visor, his AI partner could still see it.
The seven man squad gathered around. Isaac's eyes jumped from each individual, all of whom now had helmets on and visors down, covering each one's face. As his eyes darted over each on, a small reading appeared next to that individual, giving him their call-signs.
The man who woke Isaac up, Jackhammer, was easily the tallest of the group; he stood with his arms crossed over his chest, taking a laid back stance that fit him all too well. Directly across from Isaac stood Oracle, the shortest of the group and the squad's leader. She held herself up as such, taking an authoritarian but open stance. The other four (named Blitzkrieg, Athena, Raptor, and Firewall) took various stances, that showed that they were all paying attention, but relaxed. All were wearing the same black armor, but each one's helmet varied a little. Blitzkrieg's visor covered the entire face, while Jackhammer's was only a slit across where his eyes were. Firewall's looked as if they were goggles strapped over-top his helmet's plating, and Athena's visor was wider at the sides.
Too each his own I suppose. Isaac thought, taking a relaxed pose. At that moment, several quick flashes of light occurred that when faded, revealed seven small holograms to the right of each individual. The AIs. Each took their own form such as a knight in shining armor, a business-man, or even a wolf. Isaac took a glance at Mute's hologram. She was dressed in full samurai armor helmet included, but without the face-mask. Her long hair flowed down to her lower back, and she maintained her snarky grin.
"Ok, now that we're all here, meta-humans and AIs alike, let's go over this one more time." Oracle began, her voice commanding the whole cargo bay.
Meta-humans... beats "Mutant freak" any day I suppose. Isaac thought to himself with a silent snort.
"Two days ago, TRANS-Op's mole in the Ascension forwarded us the location of a research base in the Solomon Islands. After clarifying this, the order came out to send it to hell. That's our job, destroy the base and take anything of value with us." She summed up the objectives. "Firewall!" She turned to the team's tech expert. "Your first task is to download the base's layout and send it to everyone, after that your main task is to hack into the systems and download anything you can. I don't care if it's the Ascensions next doom weapons or their browsing history, just download it."
"Ma'am!" Firewall gave Oracle a quick salute.
"Jackhammer, Blitzkrieg, Athena, your job is to set up the explosives. Each one of you is to set them to your own personal detonators. I don't want this chance wasted over a malfunction in one of your triggers."
The three of them gave their own "yes ma'ams", and "aye-ayes".
"Raptor," Oracle continued her brief, "You hit the prison decks, if there's anyone inside, get them out."
"Aye-aye ma'am." Raptor responded, her southern Texas accent strong as ever.
"Archangel," Oracle turned to Isaac, "You're with me. Our job is to give Firewall the cover he needs to work his magic."
Isaac nodded. "Yes ma'am."
Oracle paused for a second, "AIs, anything to add?"
The seven AIs remained silent, with the exception of one: Jackhammer's AI Stark. The wolf gave a howl before asking, "How do I get out of this chicken-shit outfit?"
"That's my boy!" Jackhammer laughed in response.
Oracle shook her head, "So nothing, alright. Gear up!"
As they each broke off to their lockers, a voice went over the entire aircraft's PA. "Approaching the isles now. Shadow team, prepare to jump in five." The pilot's voice informed them all.
Isaac opened his locker and grabbed his personal equipment: four short swords, two pistols, an assault rifle, assorted grenades, throwing knives, and a hidden-wrist blade. As he attached the latter to his wrist, Mute's face popped back up in the corner of his HUD. "You know, you take the term, bringing a knife to a gunfight to a whole new level."
"Well, thanks to my... talents, getting up close is never an issue." Isaac reassured his AI partner as he strapped his quad-sheath over his back, and strapped each individual short sword in, creating a X shape on his back.
After suiting up, and the two minutes till jump warning came out, Isaac joined the rest of the squad at the back of the now open Globemaster's cargo bay. "Strap up, jetpacks are for course correction only until I say so, understood?"
"Aye-aye." Athena responded for the rest of them. Isaac made sure his jetpack was buckled on properly, but his swords on his back made it a little difficult. After he was satisfied, he attached the stabilizers to his gauntlets, making sure they too were strapped to his liking.
"You know, I think this is a terrible idea, do you really think we'll gain the momentum we need to... well..." Firewall cautioned the team.
"Are you referring to our 'dive into an underground base plan?" Jackhammer asked in response.
"That base is only a meter underground; we'll puncture the Earth without an issue." Oracle reassured the team's youngest with a pat on the back. "Now prepare to jump. Pilot?" Oracle asked the aircraft's pilot over the COM.
"Fifteen seconds till jump."
"Roger, ok everyone, remember the plan, let's do this quickly, and then we can all go home for a drink."
"Or several, I feel like I'm going to need it after this." Blitzkrieg rolled and rubbed his neck as he muttered that.
"Alcoholic." Athena nudged him with her elbow, even though the man stood a good foot taller than her.
"Only if you admit to it." He responded.
"Shadow team, you're clear to jump. Good luck out there." The pilot wished them.
"Luck is for those who need it!" Jackhammer responded and took a running start. "Check me out! I'm Tony Stark!" He shouted as he jumped out of the plane, his "woohoo" trailing after him.
"Go, go, go!" Oracle motioned with her hand as she too ran out of the flying aircraft.
"Just another day on the job, right?" Mute grinned at Isaac.
"Just another day." Isaac responded with when he too, leaped out of the plane, plummeting to the Earth below.
The Minister
The Institute of War
Valoran was a peace; At least, as close as it ever got to for the continent. And it bothered Kasubel, in a cynical sense. He couldn't remember the last time things had been so clam; prior to the present day, the closest they had ever been to peace was just over a year ago, and that ended a week later when the conflict in Kalamanda began.
In short, to Kasubel, peace meant that another problem would soon be on the rise. And that made peace weary for Kasubel.
And he was right.
Kasubel sat at his desk in his office, with a troubled look on his face. Before him, were two sets of documents: one from the city-state of Noxus, the other from Demacia. He had only glanced over each one, and he was already troubled by the contents he skimmed.
"Hmm..." The 52 year old man grunted to himself, one hand stroking his somewhat grown out beard, the other hand tapping his desk as he thought.
"Anything?" A woman's voice interrupted his thoughts, causing Kasubel's eyes to rise up and see who it was. A young woman with long red hair that covered one of her eyes stood with her arms crossed, looking right back at him with cold eyes. Her clothing was light, with random tears here and there, and she had numerous swords and knives buckled around her body. Next to her was a tall, muscular, brown-haired man who held himself up high, covered in a blue cloth and battered grey armor. The two stood before his desk, each staring him down waiting for response to the papers they had dropped onto his desk.
However, Kasubel didn't have a response that would satisfy both of them. Not yet at least.
"How accurate are these?" He asked the pair instead of giving them an answer.
"Four days." The man replied in a deep, commanding voice.
"Three," The red haired girl cocked her head slightly to the right, looking and grinning at the man next to her, "Noxusian intelligence is always up to date."
The man turned to his left, facing the smaller woman. He towered over her by at least three feet. "That may be so, but Demacian intelligence is far more accurate. I had the best eyes and ears bring me the facts for this report."
The woman snorted. "You're so called best eyes and ears consist of a rookie girl and her pet bird."
"Enough..." Kasubel grumbled; he was sick of hearing these two bicker. "Keep the feuding out of my office." I must have been insane to agree to hearing both of them at the same time. Damn their timing. He flipped over the Demacian reports again, and sure enough, the names Quinn and Valor appeared more than once throughout the report.
However, the two were far from done. "Do not presume you can insult my men and women with your head held up high, Noxusian!" He bellowed, clearly displeased at the shot the woman made towards his own soldiers.
The woman snorted again, lowering her arms until they rested on two of her sword hilts at her waist. "Whatever you say, Garen. I'll just lower my head and insult your so called army." The woman lowered her head slightly as she taunted Garen, "Maybe Demacia is responsible for these disappearances after all."
"You dare insult our honor?!" Garen bellowed, drawing his massive sword, "I will not let such an insult pass. Draw your blades, Katarina Du Couteau!"
"I said enough!" Kasubel raised his voice till it was almost a yell. "Both of you, you are acting like children!" He looked up at both of them. They had both stopped and turned to face him, expressions unreadable (aside from the fact that Katarina was smirking). Once he was certain he had their attention, Kasubel continued. "Don't you two understand? This..." He slammed his hands on both sets of papers, "These, disappearances have been happening all over the world."
Katarina narrowed her eyes slightly resumed her cross-armed stance. "What do you mean?"
Kasubel let out a sigh and reached into his desk, pulling out a complied stack of reports. Setting them on his desk with a loud thud, he laid them out for the two champions to see. "Ionia, Piltover, Freljord, Zaun, the list goes on." He told them as he laid the reports out for the two of them. One had the handwriting of Ionia's Captain of the Guard: Irelia. A second report had the signature of Caitlyn, the Sheriff of Piltover. Another even had the messy scribbling that was Miss Fortune's "printing".
Both Garen and Katarina's fighting ceased much to Kasubel's delight (although he made sure he didn't show it). Garen towered over his desk, eyes darting from each report Kasubel had laid out for them. Katarina herself picked up a report documented by Teemo of Bandle City and started to flip through it.
Kasubel let out a sigh and sat back down, hand to his beard yet again. Bad habit... I might have to shave this thing.
"These numbers..." Katarina eyes darted from the report in her hands to Kasubel, her hair no longer covering up her scared eye. "Are they real?" She asked.
Kasubel nodded. "I wouldn't have believed it myself, had Teemo not dropped it off in person."
"What is it?" Garen asked, picking up the Ionian report.
"The numbers from that little furry bastard's report, there far above what was in mine."
Kasubel stood up and wandered over to his window, deep in thought. What on Valoran was happening?
He let out a sigh. "Now do you two understand?" He asked, glancing over his shoulder. Garen's expression was that of a troubled man as he read Irelia's report, while Katarina dropped Teemo's back onto his desk and quickly snatched up the one from Bilgewater.
"Yes..." Garen muttered, "These reports confirm it..."
"Great..." Katarina half muttered half groaned, "People all over Valoran really are disappearing."
Kasubel was relived. They both understood now. "Yes, not just from your nations, but all across the land. People are vanishing overnight, from their homes, from roads, from their workplaces. Farmers, soldiers, even entire ships, it matters not. Someone or something is kidnapping mass amounts of people." Kasubel summed up for both of them before glancing back out the window from his office in the Institute of War. But who or what is doing this? He thought.
The Minister of Valoran Security gave a deep, long sigh. He was NOT going to enjoy reporting this to the Council of Equity. Just when things were getting peaceful again, it seems like we have a new issue on our hands. Only... who is our enemy this time?
United we Fall
Above the Solomon Islands
"Spread it out, but not too far people." Oracle cautioned as they all free-fell to the Earth below.
Isaac's night-vision kicked in, allowing him to see far and wide. Sure enough, the Solomon Islands were below them, and nothing but ocean in the distance.
"Guys, I'm still having my doubts." Firewall, ever the voice of caution, still seemed hesitant about their entry plan.
"Come on, what's the worse that could happen?" Jackhammer chuckled over the COM.
"Umm... we make seven craters in the ground. That's what."
"As long as you remember to hit the boost as hard as you can, we'll plunge right through the ground and land inside the base." Oracle reassured him.
"What if we keep on going?" Firewall didn't sound convinced.
"Then climb out of the bloody hole. It'll suck and you'll be sore as hell, but it's better than being dead."
"The shielding on these suits can absorb a lot, trust me. Archangel took a tank shell to the chest three weeks ago and he's still here with all his ribs."
"Thanks for the reminder," Isaac responded, slightly cringing behind his visor as he remembered, "I was still in a life-tube for a week."
"I still think you should've toughed it out and came drinking that night." Blitzkrieg joked.
"Alright, lock it up team, on my mark, ignite jetpacks and hold onto your helmets." Oracle announced. Out of the corner of his eye, Isaac saw her suddenly flip during mid-fall so her feet where facing the ground. The rockets on her jetpack reversed so that they were facing upwards. He, and he was certain everyone else, followed suit.
"On three..."
"Here we go." Jackhammer interrupted,
"One."
"Ready Firewall?" Raptor asked.
"Two."
"We're all gonna die..." Firewall groaned.
"Three! Mark!" Oracle's jetpack ignited and she rocketed towards the Earth even faster. Isaac and everyone else did the same. "Woohoo!" Mute shouted inside his helmet. "Remember, if you weren't wearing this armor, your feet would've already gone through your brains!"
Isaac wanted to shout something back at his AI, but he was too busy keeping his jaw shut for safety reasons as he plunged even faster to the Earth. The ground rushed up to meet him, and he prayed Mute didn't forget to do her job. Thankfully, she didn't.
"Hardening suit, now!" Mute announced and Isaac saw a quick yellow flash cover his vision. He quickly made himself as skinny as possible so that he would needle himself through the ground.
It was all over in a blink. He smashed into the dirt and, sure enough he punched right through. His sight was nothing but dirt for a quarter of a second, and pain rushed through his legs. But after that quarter second, light blinded his sight and he came to sudden stop, he body slammed against the ground and he caught himself with one hand, landing in a tackle position. His entire body also screamed in pain for a second as his suit absorbed most of the shock, but not all of it.
Gonna be sore tomorrow. He thought as he grimaced from the quick pain. It didn't help that the sudden stop causing his entire body to feel weird due to having his blood flow disrupted for a moment from the impact.
His night-vison turned off, revealing the new scenery before him: A metal corridor, dirt and debris on the ground around him, and a lot of surprised faces. Several of which were carrying guns. No one moved, not the base guards, not Isaac nor his team. Time seemed to stop.
That was until Jackhammer stood up. "Knock knock!" He shouted and grabbed the two sub-machine guns strapped to his waist, unloading them on the still shocked guards. Isaac watched as they all screamed, being gunned down by black armored meta-humans.
"Go! Go! Go!" Oracle shouted, and the entire team kicked into action. Isaac ran up to a guard with such speed he knew the man would never be able to react in time. With his left hand he smashed the gun out of his hand and with his right delivered a punch the man's throat. The man was knocked back from the momentum, hand as at his throat, gasping for air. Unfortunately for him, Isaac knew he had just caved in his entire throat. He vaulted forward, grabbing the man by the head, and smashed him into the ground. As he jumped to his feet, he made a quick glance to make sure his opponent was dead. Sure enough, blood oozed over the ground from the now limp body.
And that's all he had to do, since the rest of the guards had been taken down by the rest of his team.
"Let's do this quickly!" Oracle motioned with her hands, "Demo team head that way!" She pointed behind them before racing down the corridor past Isaac. He followed suit with Firewall behind him. Isaac grabbed his assault rifle that was slung to his side and shouldered it as they ran.
Oracle turned the corner before him, and he already heard her own rifle firing off rounds. Isaac dropped to one knee and slid around the corner, coming to a stop a little off to Oracle's left. There were six guards, two of which were already falling to the ground with blood coming from their wounds. Isaac set one of the guards in his sights and squeezed the trigger, "feeling" the rifle slam back into his shoulder from the recoil. The three round burst he let off stuck one of the men, all in the chest. He dropped then and there, without a motion. The others ran for cover, but by the time they had reached the sides of the wall where they were out of sight, another two had dropped.
"Firewall, hack now!" Oracle motioned the youngest member to the console on the side.
"On it!" Firewall ran to the console just ahead of Isaac and Oracle.
Of course the console is in the open. Isaac shook his head at the thought and moved forward to cover his team mate. Both he and Oracle fired rounds at the pinned down guard, preventing him from doing anything. Another two guards rounded the corner at the very end of the hall, but before they even could raise their own rifles, they were gunned down by Isaac and Oracle. Oracle ran up to where the pinned down guard was and slide past him, firing several rounds. Isaac heard the man scream, then fall into his view, blood soaking the metal floor.
"Clear!" Oracle announced. "Firewall talk to me."
"Got the map, sending it now. But there's something off here." Firewall began. "There's a room deeper inside the base that nearly 50% of the entire base's power is flowing to. " He paused, his hands (which had been typing furiously a second ago also froze). "Wait, 65% now... 70%, ma'am there powering something up inside that room."
Great. "Is it a bomb?" Isaac asked. Sure he and the rest of the team could take down an entire platoon of these guards, but a bomb? Isaac didn't want to beat money on surviving a nuclear explosion of sorts.
"No not a bomb..." Firewall quelled Isaac's momentary fears as he resumed hammering away at the keyboard. "Something else... something that is taking up nearly 85% of all power inside this base."
"Whatever they're doing, we're going to stop it! Move!"
They continued to race through the corridors, meeting up with the rest of the squad on the way (Oracle having pulled them from the original plan). Resistance was about what Isaac expected it to be; all easily dispatched but just enough to keep him from getting overconfident. But just as he told himself that, he rounded a corner and found himself face to face with a much more heavily armored guard who stood nearly two heads over him. Isaac reacted first (as he always did), raising the butt end of his rifle up to meet the soldier's jaw, something he had to leap for. It connected and the two of them crashed to the ground, with Isaac on top. He grabbed one of his throwing knives and tried to stab the man in his exposed neck. Before his hand could reach home however, a quick loud bang went off in the distance and something hit him square in the chest.
Railgun round! Damn it! Isaac knew what hit him judging by the sound he heard a nano-second before. How do they have those? A bar showing his armor's shield strength flashed red with a warning. Can't take many of those. Although he was unharmed, mostly, the momentum from the shot still knocked him off the taller guard.
"Covering fire!" Jackhammer shouted from behind Isaac, and he could see in the distance the guards with railguns scrambling for cover under the hail of bullets.
However, the big guard Isaac was fighting stood up and brandished a hammer, bringing it back to hit Isaac.
Shields won't stop slow moving objects! Isaac reminded himself, a metal hammer swung by a man that big would crack his helmet open. Isaac quickly scanned through his head for a solution to get out of his sudden predicament, but failed to see anything other than one option. The option he hated using.
Damn it, no choice! Isaac waited for the man to swing downwards horizontally at his head before making his move. He brought himself upwards, catching the man's hand with the hammer with his own left arm, halting the attack. Isaac then focused his mind on his right hand, and felt his skin respond by growing hot. Black sparks began to appear around his right hand's gauntlet, and the number of sparks grew quickly over the course of a second before becoming a ball shape around his hand. He quickly formed a chop with his hand and drove it forward towards the man's stomach, and in his mind, Isaac pictured a spear-tip. The ball of dark energy followed suit, and formed a spear-tip just as his hand reached the man's gut.
His hand with straight through the man's armor and Isaac felt little resistance afterwards, knowing he had punctured the man's flesh. The fact that the man also let out a bloodcurdling scream also let him know he had struck home.
Now! Isaac released the thought of a spear-tip in his head and formed his hand into a fist, and then opened his hand quickly. There was a loud static sound, and Isaac jumped away from the man, who appeared to have no idea what just happened aside from the pain he was experiencing.
Goodbye. Isaac thought as the scene unfolded before him. The man shook violently, dropping the hammer and grabbing his stomach. A black light shone out of the hole in his gut, which quickly faded after a second. Suddenly the man screamed again, stumbled backwards, and the center of his body exploded, leaving, a charred corpse on the ground missing half its torso.
The firefight ended there. Jackhammer pulled Isaac to his feet.
"Damn dude, remind me never to ask you to do any magic tricks." The taller man chuckled.
"Let's move!" Oracle didn't even give the disfigured corpse a look and simply ran past it. Isaac followed her, scooping up his rifle and reloading it.
"Ah yes... the truth of the meta-humans..." Mute's voice filled Isaac's head. "Tell me Isaac, how does it feel to be the height of human evolution?"
"It's not evolution."
"Sorry, let me correct that, how does it feel to be the height of bio and generic engineering?"
Feels like a monster. Isaac thought, his right hand having gone numb after that. Damn it, even using a little like that causes those damn side effects. Isaac never could forget that resorting to using dark matter had nasty effects on his own body. Whatever, I've got other powers... we all do.
Rift
When they finally reached the mystery room, they gave no quarter. Blitzkrieg blew the doors open with his own powers, and Isaac was among the first in. It was a large circular room, and had every appearance of a control room. What stood out the most though was a large glowing spherical object in the center of the room with several large tubes and cords connected to it.
Bingo. Isaac thought immediately upon seeing it. It gave him the shivers for some reason, as if it was incredibly cold. The hell is with this feeling? Huh... well, first, the guards. Without further ado, everything hit the fan. The guards had been waiting for them, and open fired instantly. Isaac slid into the room along with Raptor and Oracle. Isaac ran towards the ledge (their entrance was higher up then the main floor of the room) and vaulted over the railing.
Now! Isaac activated his second meta-human power, and time seemingly slowed down inside him. Everything moved as if it were in slow motion, the guards, his teammates, everything. Isaac still had one hand on the railing, as he was in mid vault, but his free arm had a firm grip on his assault rifle and was aimed perfectly ahead. He closed one eye to make sure he didn't miss and aimed at the first group of four guards there were in his landing spot. He aimed at the first one, squeezed the trigger and let off a pair of bullets. He then did the same for the second, then the third, and then the last guard. As he did he felt his head grow hazy and his vision blur. He had been in his "timeslow" for too long.
Already, damn! He cursed relaxed himself, causing everything to return to normal speeds. As if someone had hit the resume button on the TV. remote, time sped back up, Isaac landed on the ground and the four guards all lurched backwards as each bullet hit them in the heads. Isaac ran towards cover, not wanting to risk his shields taking any unnecessary hits. Chaos continued all round him as Isaac jumped up onto another platform with two more guards. He landed in a crouching position and gunned both men down. Another man charged at him from his right holding a knife, trying to take him off guard. Fool. Isaac leapt up to his feet and gave the knife hand a kick, sending it flying and breaking the man's fingers. As the assailant lost his footing and began to stumble towards him, Isaac grabbed another one of his throwing knives and, with a quick motion, sliced the man's throat as he stumbled past him. Without sparing a look at the soon-to-be-dead man Isaac threw the knife at another target higher up on a ledge, catching the man in the throat.
And with that it was over. "Clear." Oracle announced. "Firewall get on that console and download everything. Jackhammer, Athena, guard our exit. Blitzkrieg, Archangel, Raptor, make sure there's no one in hiding."
Everyone hopped to their duties; Raptor walked past Isaac and gave him a nudge. "Check that side," She motioned with her head. "I got over here."
"Got it." Isaac nodded, and made his way over to the corner of the room where Raptor had motioned to. It was littered with boxes everywhere, perfect place for someone to hide. Isaac checked around each box, but found nobody. "Clear over here." He announced.
"Same here." Raptor responded over the COM.
"Got nothing here either, Goth can't pick up anything either." Blitzkrieg reported back.
"Not sure I trust Goth's scanner though." Mute chipped in about her fellow AI. "Hey, what's inside those boxes?"
"I'd rather not go opening random boxes and crates inside a terrorist base."
"Oh come on, aren't you curious? A little bit?"
Isaac let out a sigh. Quick peek can't hurt. He grabbed the lid of one and gave it a tug, expecting some resistance. To his surprise there was none, and it popped right off, allowing him to peer inside. Isaac's eyes went wide open at the sight of its contents. Several canisters of glowing blue mist.
Glowing blue... what? Isaac had never seen or heard of a substance on Earth that had such a deep, blue glow. The blue mist almost looked like it was liquid.
"Mute?" Isaac asked his partner.
"A second, scanning now." After hearing her response, Isaac saw a circular scanner appear in his HUD that hovered over the canisters. After a few seconds the scanner came up negative. "Nothing... it's not registered in... anything." Mute announced. Her face appeared in the corner of Isaac's HUD, showing her surprised face.
"Nothing?" Isaac asked just to make sure.
"Nope, nothing. It's not even close to anything listed in the database. But whatever it is, it's giving off a high energy reading unlike anything I've ever seen before." Mute explained to him, her face giving hints of her overbearing curiosity. "We should take a box with us."
"Maybe." Isaac felt that some things were better off not known, but if the Ascension had this stuff and TRANS-Ops had no idea what it was, then maybe she was right. First, some outside input. He looked around and noticed Blitzkrieg walking by.
"Blitz, take a look at this." He waved his comrade over.
"What's up kiddo?" He asked. Isaac make a gesture towards his own eyes with two fingers and then down towards the box. Blitzkrieg calmly walked over and looked inside. "Was die fricken?" He muttered to himself in his native German tongue.
"English?"
"What the fuck?"
"Ah."
"So... what is it?"
"Not a clue, Mute can't figure it out either."
As if on cue, Mute's hologram appeared next to Isaac. She had her arms crossed and her head tilted to the side. "I said it's not in the database and it doesn't register on any energy level seen on Earth. I never said," She made a shrug and changed the tone of her voice "Durr I can't figure it out?"
"Hmm..." Blitzkrieg stared at the canister, and after a second, a hologram of a knight fully clad in gothic armor appeared.
"Mute's right, I can't pick it up either." Goth shook "his" head. "I suggest we take it back to headquarters for study and documenting, mes amies."
"Agreed." Blitzkrieg nodded, before turning around. "Oracle, take a look at this." He called for the squad leader over the COM.
"Not now, the stuff Firewall is picking out of this database they have here is... amazing."
"What? He found some porno site?" Jackhammer jested.
Firewall cleared his throat over the COM before he began. "This thing, this... glowing thing for lack of a better term is giving off readings that are off the scale. It's like... I don't know... a rift of sorts?"
"A... rift?" Athena's voice this time.
"Yeah... or maybe a wormhole, I don't know. All that's for certain is that its giving off so much energy and dark matter that according to these logs of theirs that if we blew this base to kingdom come, this rift might take more than just a chunk of the land with it.
"What do you mean?" Isaac asked. He wasn't liking the sound of this so far.
"I mean this thing has got so much energy and dark matter channeled into it that if it was damaged it could explode. We're talking nuclear scale explosion. I could take out half the Solomon isles with it.
"Umm... dude, that's, bigger than an explosion caused by a nuke." Raptor chimed in.
"Wait, dark matter you say?" Blitzkrieg looked back at Isaac. "You feeling anything?"
Isaac closed his eyes and focused on the so called rift. Sure enough, there was that chilling feeling again, only the more he focused, the more strong it felt. "Yeah I feel it. That thing is dangerous without a doubt."
"So what, blowing it up its out of the question then?" Jackhammer asked.
"I'll radio command, there gonna love this..." Oracle growled slightly. She walked away from Firewall's console and put on hand the side of her helmet.
"Umm... guys, we got incoming!" Jackhammer reported in.
Oracle pointed at Isaac and Blitzkrieg and motioned towards the door. "Go!" She shouted.
Isaac nudged Blitzkrieg and the two of them ran towards the entrance, with Isaac taking the lead. As he ran past the rift, he could feel its chilling aura, and it made him nervous.
"Shit!" Athena shouted over the COM.
"RPG!" Jackhammer also shouted.
Isaac looked up at the entrance where the two were and saw them both scramble away from the entrance. A rocket flew straight threw it. Isaac looked up and saw where it was heading.
Aw shit.
It hit a series of tubes above the rift, right above Isaac causing debris to fall down onto him. He dove out of the way as a large piece of metal landed right where he was standing a moment ago. Close. Isaac stood up, but felt an incredible cold wash over him. What the? Isaac looked to his right; the rift was only a meter or two away from him. It was now flashing, and sparks were going off it in a very dramatic fashion.
"Firewall!" Oracle shouted. Amidst the gunfire that erupted.
"The rift is going haywire. That rocket damaged it!" He explained. Isaac felt the chill get more intense, but then it stopped just as suddenly. Only to be replaced with a deafening ringing noise. Isaac gritted his teeth and covered his ears, trying to block out the sudden sound. It solved nothing, and the chilling returned and the ringing got louder. Mute's face appeared in his HUD, "Isaac!" She shouted her expression clearly concerned.
Isaac tried to respond, but the moment he opened his mouth, the pain and sound got even more intense, as did the sparks from the rift.
He let out a scream of pain instead. And fell to his knees, gripping the sides of his head. He noticed Firewall turn around at the sound of his scream. "Oh no..."
"What the fuck is oh no?!" Isaac shouted, still on both his knees and gripping the sides of his helmet. He had never experienced pain like this since... since...
"The dark matter is going off the charts! Archangel get away from that thing!" Firewall shouted at Isaac.
No shit! Gah! Isaac tried to rise to his feet, but then he felt a weight push him back down to his knees.
"The hell is wrong?!" Oracle shouted, Isaac could barely hear them now.
"The rift is going haywire! Its sending out so much dark matter and energy right now that it's affecting Archangel since he's DM sensitive!" Firewall turned around, his attention back to the console. "I can't shut it down!"
"Well figure it out!" Oracle took a step towards Isaac, "Archangel! Hang-" She began, when a bolt of dark purple lightning shot out of the rift and hit her in the shoulder.
Oracle screamed, and then her entire body flashed a deep purple color.
And then she was gone.
Isaac couldn't believe it, she just... vanished. Firewall turned spun around. "Oracle? Commander!?" He asked, half shouting.
"The fuck is going on?!" Raptor shouted, well... at least Isaac thought she was, her voice sounded like a whisper. In the distance, Isaac could make her out, hiding behind a crate for cover as she was shooting at something out of his line of sight.
Another bolt shot out and hit the crate in from of her, causing a blue explosion. Raptor's scream filled his ears; it made his blood curdle. An object fell and rolled to his feet, and Isaac looked down at it although his gut told him not to.
It was Raptor's helmet, charred, and charred remains falling out from the inside.
"Oh God..." Firewall's voice was even more distance as he turned to face the console again. A third bolt shot out and struck him in the back, causing him to recoil and scream. And just like Oracle, his body flashed and he vanished.
So this is it...? Isaac slowly turned, trying to block out the pain, and faced the rift not two meters away. Well come on, get it over with. It's not like my life means much anyways. He thought. Just then, another flash; this time hitting him. Isaac shouted as pain lashed throughout his body, causing him to scream.
The last thing he saw was a purple light, enveloping him.
Contact
Summoner's Chamber, The Institute of War
Something was wrong; Senior Summoner Arcal could feel it. He motioned to the other six summoners in the bright circular room with him, and they all focused on their summoner energy. He closed his eyes and focused on his power, searching for what was wrong. He found it, a tear in the Void.
That can't be good, no way. Arcal cursed internally. The High Council of Equity was right, there was something strange going on in the Void. That strange tear he felt was proof of it.
He cleared his throat before addressing his fellow summoners. "Summoners, do you feel it? That strange tear?" The others nodded in response. "Good, now let us investigate, but be careful! I don't want another incident like the one with Nocturne." He ordered the others, as the others gripped their Summoner Orbs and focused. Arcal himself turned to look behind him, and found who he was looking for leaning up against the wall: A woman dressed in black with a long black ponytail and red glasses.
"Vayne, we are beginning our investigation." He told the woman.
Vayne responded with a nod and adjusted the crossbow attached to wrist. The fact that it was already loaded slightly unnerved Arcal. He was personally against having a champion, let alone one such as Vayne, in the room with them as they carried out the High Council's orders, but they had insisted on having someone there just in case something went wrong. Although personally, Arcal would much rather have Lucian watching over them then the Night Hunter.
He shook his head and returned his attention to his summoner's orb, focusing on that tear. He closed his eyes and pictured it, a small gap of light in a sea of chaos.
And there it was, but no sooner as he found it did that light begin to fluctuate. What is going on? Arcal's burrowed his eye brows. He felt it, he felt as if there was something on the other side of that light. As if someone or something was on the other side of the Void, trying to break through. Impossible, that's just outright impossible, there's nothing beyond the Void! It's just... more of the Void!
But just as Arcal reassured himself, did a bright jet of flame shoot out of the so called light in his mind.
"What was that?!" Another summoner shouted.
"I don't know! It's like something just came out of that stream!"
"Impossible! There's nothing beyond the Void! Let alone something that could pass THROUGH the damn thing!"
"Well something just did!"
"Enough!" Arcal barked at his fellow bickering summoners, his eyes still closed and focused on that light. Whatever that had shot of it was long gone out of his sight. "Keep focused on it, whatever tried to pass through it again, stop it!"
"Yes sir!"
"Yes sir!"
There, it's doing it again! Arcal burrowed his eyebrows again as the light on the other side of the Void began to fluctuate again. But nothing shot out of it.
That's when Arcal felt a chill growing down his spine. Damn, the monsters in the Void have found us intruding. "Be careful my fellow summoners, the Void has noticed our presence. Guard your minds!" He cautioned his comrades.
But as he and his comrades tried to careful bar their minds from the horrors of the Void, did something else shoot out of the light yet again.
Damn it! Arcal tried to reach out with his mind, and he could "see" an arm, then six other arms (his fellow summoners) try to grab it. But they were too slow and it zoomed by them.
Curses! Arcal snarled, but just as he did, did the light begin to fluctuate a third time. This is it, we cannot fail again!
"Get ready..." He cautioned his team again.
A third bolt fired out of the light.
He reached out with his mind.
So did the others.
And they caught it.
Arcal "pulled" with his mind, giving it everything he had. The strange bolt of light tried to fight its way out of their grasp, but they managed to pull it in.
We got it! Arcal opened his eyes just in time to see a massive flash in the center of the room. He shielded his eyes from the blast, dropping his Summoner Orb. He felt it roll by his feet, away from him. Damn it! He cursed again, trying to open his eyes, but the flash of light didn`t fade. He looked over his shoulder at Vayne and saw that she too was trying to cover her eyes from the light.
What is it...? Arcal tried to focus as the light finally began to fade, and when it did, he heard his fellow summoners gasp.
In the center of the room, there laid a figure clad in strange black armor. It was lying sprawled out on its stomach, unmoving.
No one moved, no one expect Arcal. He slowly approached the figure, trying to get a better look.
Who... what is this?! He tried to look brave in front of his junior summoners. It was his duty to investigate the disturbances and it was damn well his duty to make sure whatever they had just pulled out of that light was not a danger.
When he was only a meter away, he froze. It's armed! He spotted the four sword hilts on its back, which made an X shape. Furthermore, objects that seemed to resemble pistols and (grenades?) were strapped to its waist.
Careful now... it, he, she, whatever could be dangerous! Arcal swallowed hard and tried to take another step closer. But he froze when the strange human-shaped figure made a noise.
Arcal didn't move an inch. He just watched as the figure let out a groan and began to move, struggling to get to its hands and knees. But just as it got up on all fours, its arms and legs gave out and it fell back to the floor with a crash.
Maybe it's hurt? Arcal took another two steps forward and fell to one knee, keeping his guard up. If it moves suddenly, I'll hit it with an exhaust and get back... It was Vayne's job to take care of a threat, not his at that point. He looked over his right shoulder back at Vayne, who was gone. But Arcal's gut told her she was still in the room somewhere, waiting to strike at the figure.
Another groan from the figure caused Arcal to turn his attention back to him. Before Arcal could say a word, he heard voice come from the figure.
"Wh... where...?" It sounded like the voice of a man, a young one at that.
It's... maybe a human? Arcal thought but shook the thought off. The time for speculation was not now. "Who are you?" He asked, trying hard to cover up his doubts and fears. "What are you?"
"W... what?" The figure groaned again, trying to preach itself up on its hands and knees again.
"Don't move!" Arcal cautiously placed a hand on the armored figure's shoulder. "What is your name?"
The figure however still managed to get to its hands and knees, and slowly raised its head to look up at Arcal.
That was when Arcal felt a wave a fear wash over him. The figure's helmet had no slit. It had nothing but cold, black metal covering the place where a human's face should be. Or was that glass? Whatever the armor was made out of, it wasn't any natural material found on Valoran. And that unnerved Arcal.
This... this man is not of this world... Arcal tried to take a step back, a massive chill running down his spine, telling him to get away from this ebony armored man.
But he was too slow. The man suddenly vaulted forward, grabbing Arcal by the throat and hoisted him up into the air. Arcal's eyes went wide as he felt the cold metallic gauntlet crush his throat. He tried to shout out for help, out in pain, but he only gagged.
No! No! He frantically tried to raise his own hands to lessen the grip, but as he made the attempt, he felt the figure's gauntlet bring him crashing back down. The force was so intense, that Arcal's world went black the moment he struck the ground.
What... what have we done? Was his last thought before everything faded.