Well... that was quicker than I thought it would be. Betcha didn't expect this! HA!
... to be fair I'm surprised myself. Another chapter! and NOT being one released two months or so after the last one. I'm on fire!
No, seriously... My hair is on fire and both paws are busy trying to make a house of cards. (Random pale of water is poured on my head)
THANKS! Who was that?
No matter. Let's get this show on the road and bring you some story content.
Read, review, fav, follow, and enjoy! My strange snack today is a banana shake with gummi bears and crushed oreos in it. Probably not that strange but the looks I got while I pulled out a bag of gummi bears to put in my shake were definitely strange.
Looking up at the sky, the grey hue of the cloud cover seeming more calming than gloomy, Nick took a long draw of air in, ears twitching as the rolling thunder reached them.
It was strangely relaxing to let it permeate his senses, the smell of rain now flooding his nose as it began to fall in a sprinkling amount.
He found it odd that many mammals thought rain or grey skies were indicative of melancholy or a lack of pawsitivity whatsoever.
The red fox, however, loved the rain, especially when infused with the rumble of thunder. It reminded him of far off memories from his youth, when rain was a blessing for a farm, invigorating the soil and making a coming harvest easier when the plants were well watered. Back then, it was always a great thing to see rain. More so when it wasn't cold out. He loved playing in it as a kit, as well as taking walks in it as an adult.
Such was the circumstance now, with his paws padding the street and droplets coming down.
He knew it was coming, but couldn't experience the full breadth of it near his home in the Tundratown district. Downtown was an easy trip though, giving him an apt opportunity to walk in the rain without worrying over it being turned to sleet or just plain freezing by the climate wall.
Forgoing an umbrella for a water resistant hoodie, the tod pulled the hood over his head and ears, relishing in the cool and refreshing air as the rain picked up.
Judy was back at the house, training with the new suit. Being that he had quite the length of time working on it and expended tons of effort expended from various things recently, the fox felt he deserved a bit of down time.
The news she shared about her parents coming to the city was actually welcome. He looked forward to the chance to see her parents again, despite the odd start they had. Not to mention the small kit that he had taken a shine to.
"Squirt," he voiced to nothing in particular, grinning softly. That caramel brown bunny kit grew on him quickly, and apparently the feeling was mutual for the small buck, going by what his girlfriend told him.
Looking upwards, he saw a flash of lightning, not hitting the ground or even coming near it, but instead going upward. Nick raised his eyebrows in confusion.
While building his arc blade, the red tod got to learning some more in depth and intimate knowledge about conductivity and lightning. While lightning traveling upwards was part of the process of a current being completed in a lightning strike, it usually didn't travel from a lower cloud to a higher one.
Narrowing his eyes, he noticed another arc of lightning strike… going upwards to a similar location.
He's seen enough breach events to automatically know that the lightning strikes were gravitating towards that path.
Pulling out an earpiece, he began talking into it, knowing Leo always kept an 'ear' out for his transmissions, "Leo, I need to know what's happening at the Gate. Now."
"Understood."
Turning around, the fox began to make his way back towards the house.
"Get the others up and running if anything happens," he barked in a low voice, trying not to alarm any nearby mammals with his urgent tone. "I want to keep this contained if it's another event…"
Nick gasped as a shorter mammal rounded a street corner and thumped into his abdomen. His paw whipped out to steady the tumbling creature, realizing it was a rabbit.
"Stu?" the red fox vented out in question. "I uh… wasn't expecting you…"
"Oh Hi there, Rey! Good to see ya, Bud," the older buck cheerily chirped. Looking around, both mammals found Bonnie and the kits that came with them coming around the corner to follow the elder Hopps.
There was a few older ones, in their teens likely, along with some of varied sizes that had to be around ten or so… including…
"Rey!" a certain caramel bunny buck shouted in joy as he tackled into one of Nick's legs and hugging him.
"Wow… Judy wasn't kitting," the tod remarked in a whisper to himself. He liked the youngling, but didn't even think his fleeting interaction left any impression on Kale. "H-hey Squirt."
"Kale," the small bunny corrected with a pout, his face betraying a smile as he seemed to not care too much.
"That's what I said," Nick automatically fired back with a chuckle.
"Whatcha doing out here?" Bonnie asked gently, keeping her younger kits corralled from straying too far from the group. "I mean… I know you live here, but the chances of running into you seem so slim in such a large city."
"Just taking a stroll in the rain," he told them honestly. "It's refreshing…"
"I say the same thing," the elder buck belted out. "Been hearing others around here complaining about it all day. I don't rightly get it."
"In a city full of temperature controlled buildings and easy access to the internet," the fox began, "lots of mammals complain about even minor discomforts to that end. It's almost annoying how easily some get annoyed."
"That sounds awful," Stu replied, laughing mildly. He then adopted a more thoughtful expression, asking, "We were actually just about to go get some food. Want to come with?"
"Actually… uh… I have to…" the taller red furred mammal started, looking around at the expectant faces. Stu and Bonnie seemed to be politely holding a smile regardless of his tepid response. Kale, however, gave him an expression of innocent eagerness. If he didn't have nearly a dozen pairs of eyes on him, the fox might have rolled his eyes and groaned, instead sighing slowly and amending, "I would love to join you. Let me have one moment."
Pulling out his phone, though only pretending to use it, he turned away and addressed the robotic being still on the line of his earpiece, "I'm going to be a short while. Alert me immediately if there's a problem."
"I heard. Should I tell Judy that her parents have detained you?" the android questioned evenly.
"Uh… yeah… best to mention it," Nick answered, rubbing the back of his neck. "She might worry about her family being in the city during a potential Breach. Knowing I'm around might… ease her worry?"
"Sounds logical," Leo concurred.
The tod sighed.
"However," the android continued, much to the red fox's annoyance, "Judy is far from logical in many cases. She either defies it or seems immune to its influence often. I promise nothing of her reactions to be in your favor."
"Ugh… got it."
"I can currently tell you that my equipment detects too much electrical from the cloud cover to properly read Gate fluctuations," Leo detailed. "If it comforts you, breaches have all recorded at much higher energy levels that would override the disturbance. If it happened or would happen soon, a storm would not be able to hide it."
Nick huffed slightly, grunting his assent and turning to re engage with the Hopps.
"So… whatcha hungry for?" he asked the lot.
0000000
In the warehouse, Gus and Connor got together for a little breakdown of their suits. Leo felt it was necessary to equip them in a more specialized manner right away.
Essie had some semblance of her suit figured out, with it being a reactive rescue suit, full of gadgets and gizmos to fulfill that end. Bella's suit was indicative of her own personality, coalescing the data for strategizing.
However, the bear and wildebeest used suits that were basic heavy lifter models. Large and in charge but not equipped for a fight yet. The android was overseeing their familiarization, giving them pointers and such when needed, but allowing them free reign of the design and fabricator functions to modify their suits as desired.
The gnu was focused and sternly staring at the interactive display for his suit, manipulator arms taking his direction to modify and alter whatever he so chose.
The grizzly bear was enjoying the process, combing through functions and thinking of it like some sort of game. The protagonist has to alter their equipment to match their affinities and mission objectives.
"Be warned," the robot's voice came from overhead speakers. "We might have a potential concern with the Gate. Nick was reporting strange activity he witnessed from the area of cloud cover surrounding it."
"Explain what you mean by 'potential concern'," Bella asked, entering the common area with Essie and standing next to Connor.
"Nick didn't elaborate before being detained by non-hazardous circumstances, but my readings suggest some irregular electrical activity around the wormhole, drawing lightning strikes towards it in a strangely consistent manner," the mechanical being told them.
"I take it that's not supposed to happen?" the wild dog questioned aloofly.
"During inert states, the Gate reacts to nothing," Leo detailed in short. "It can be scanned, but no natural forces are altered or affected. When active, it disturbs everything. This isn't like the events of the past where my equipment picks up the disturbances easily. This is potentially a low level event that needs investigation."
"Alright," the deer doe spoke, stretching and heading for her armor station, "let's get geared up and take a peek around."
"I agree with her," Essie supplied, dragging her sleepy self towards her own suit. "Loathe as I am to say it."
Connor and Gus looked at one another, with the bear speaking first, "Why not wait? It could be nothing." The gnu next to him nodded his own agreement, the two finalizing their choices and letting the fabricators do their work.
"I'm not about to sit here when something seems off, hoping NOT to hear some sort of alarm," the doe chided the larger predator, who smiled awkwardly. "I'd rather be prudent than procrastinating."
"I'm glad you think that," the robotic voice came over the comms. "Luckily, your suit is well prepared. I took the liberty of fine tuning the scanning tech and adding in cloaking tech, as well as small support drones to aid you. Careful though, your power cores won't sustain all of them for too long. As opposed to the armor Nick and Judy use, all of yours are dependent on efficient energy usage models. Keep track of your levels when weighing equipment usage."
"Got it!" the female canine chirped, already in her armament and seeming far chipper than a minute ago out of armor. Clasped to the thighs of her armor were two energy pistols, much like the ones Staccato had, but modified to shoot burst bolts of E.M.P. to damage only electrical components. At a high enough power level, the bolts could also stun living targets.
"Fine," the wildebeest relented, "but we have to wait for our suits to finish being modified. We'll catch up." At that last line, his hoof patted the bear on the shoulder, to which Gus gave the females a curt nod of affirmation.
"Good," Leo spoke evenly. "Judy is already aware now and gearing up, same as you. I've given you all coordinates to head to. I'll make sure the others join you as soon as they are able."
"Ohhh! We should have a call to arms phrase!" the wild dog exclaimed. "All super teams on TV have it."
The bear and wildebeest looked at one another with blank expressions turning to Essie and telling her in a scary amount of synchronization, "No…"
Face turning into a puppy like pout, she whined, "Awww… you guys are no fun."
0000000
Phantom was waiting on a rooftop, trying her best to scan around with both eyes and ears for anything out of the ordinary. Sensors weren't picking up anything, though that meant little when the storm was throwing enough electrical discharge around to distort any readings.
Shroud and Rebound hopped up over the edge of the roof, both quickly joining the armored rabbit.
"The guys?" the rabbit asked.
"Indisposed until the fabricator is done," the taller deer doe revealed. "Just us girls for now."
Judy nodded, already knowing now that Nick was caught up with her family. She worried of course, for him and her family, but she couldn't do much other than make sure there's no threat to them.
"So… what do we do?" the armor clad canine asked innocently. "I feel like we're trying to do the sci-fi equivalent of bird watching and waiting for something oddly specific to show up."
"Yeah…" the grey doe relented, rubbing a paw to her shoulder. "Not exactly sure what we should be doing."
"Mind if I take over then?" Bella interjected politely. The other females shook their head in the negative, showing they weren't against it.
Pulling up some projected holo displays, Shroud began looking over a map of the city. She found the option to share the display, with a rendering overlapping their visors and projecting into the space between them. Much like augmented reality through a camera, one could only view it through their visors.
She pointed to a tall building and addressed Rebound, "You'll take the higher ground. Your thrusters are better with controlled descents than powered ascents in case there's trouble below. Keep an eye out and report what you see." Essie nodded. Bella then pointed to a circle with highlighted points inside. "Phantom has better flight capability. You can go around this perimeter and take closer scans. All the previous landings were in this zone, excepting the one you guys redirected into the forest. If there is anything, it is most likely to be here."
"Sounds like a plan," the rabbit agreed, then smiling under her face plating. "Gotta say, Be… Shroud… You're really good at this."
"I'm no stranger to having to adapt in the field," Bella remarked easily, her tone soft. "The tech is new… still a bit frustrating to work with, but that's my problem. Not the tech's. But… thank you."
The rain began to pick up, with a thin mist forming on the roof.
"Let's get going, then," the wild dog goaded them with a lazy salute, leaping from the roof and using her thrusters to jump to the next one.
Shroud stayed where she was, small units disconnecting from her back and fanning out. Phantom grinned a bit, liking how well this seemed to be going, jumping from the roof as well and letting a boost from her thrusters push her a few stories higher in the span of a second or two.
The rain and foggy mist seemed to affect her flight pattern, but some time in the simulator gave her a semblance of ability to feel used to it. Thankfully there were no gale force winds. Otherwise, highly advanced tech or not, it would be tough to pilot herself with a sense of balance.
Passing by the building Essie was supposed to be climbing, she saw the canine sliding down the siding.
"Rebound?" she chuckled into her comms. "Having trouble getting up there?"
"No," she remarked, tone somber enough to cause Judy to stop and hover in the air. "I saw something halfway up and… I don't know."
"You should have reported it as soon as you noticed," Bella firmly spoke to her, voice trying to remain even though still giving off an air of chastisement.
"I… just saw a shimmer…," Essie tried to say. "I didn't want to cause problems if it was just me seeing things. It's raining. I figure it was a puddle on a roof…"
"But?" the grey bunny prompted her to continue, knowing the canine female had to have had better reasoning to do what she did.
"It… was just odd. I couldn't ignore it."
A sign from Bella sounded over the line as she assented, "Fine. Just… try to get back up there quickly if it's nothing."
"Copy," Essie confirmed, her voice being what Judy imagined it was on duty as a cop.
Seconds passed and neither of the two species different does said anything.
They finally heard a gasp from the female dog and were about to voice concerns when her stiff voice called out calmly but with a hint of urgency, "Get down here. We have a problem."
0000000
Nick cautiously scarfed down his sandwich, a few of the kits in the group trying to get a look at his fangs as they dug into his meal. Thankfully, none of them appeared afraid, being mostly curious.
Being mindful of his company, the fox simply got a veggie option for a sandwich.
The whole group was at a nearby place he recommended, with plenty of choices for prey, as well as divided seating so one didn't have to witness predator patrons chowing down on anything meat or meat substitute. It might seem a bit discriminating, but the tod knew it was simply a means of being polite, like a smoking and non-smoking section.
Kale sat next to him, at his own begging to his parents. They simply gave him apologetic smiles as he waved them off and welcomed the little one being attached.
Having already given the establishment prepayment for the bill, with excess for a tip, just in case he had to leave at the drop of a hat, the fox enjoyed the company for the moment.
"So, how's our Jude been doing?" Stu inquired eagerly.
"She's doing fantastic," Nick replied back in comfort, seeing a broad smile grow on the older buck's face. "You raised a daughter that makes me smile everyday. Don't let her know that, though. I have a reputation of being a grump to uphold."
The kits giggled, with Stu chuckling and leaning back, Bonnie rolling her eyes with a smile that seemed pleased at hearing as much of her grown up kit.
"I hear good things about you from her," the elder doe told him, gesturing for him to pass a condiment for one of her kits. He graciously picked it up and obliged.
"I'm sure she complains just as much," the red tod joked. "If the stuff I hear to my face is any indication, I'm sure she gives you an earful."
Bonnie appeared confused and Stu looked cautiously optimistic.
Thankfully, Nick didn't keep them waiting before clarifying, "I mean… with all my horrible puns she groans about, I can only imagine how it sounds from her to gripe about it."
A few laughed, with others shaking heads and smiling. The elder paternal buck let out a "Ha!" of recognition, going into a spiel of some such moments with him telling similarly bad jokes.
A chirping tone sounded in his ear, letting him know Leo wanted to talk.
Excusing himself politely, he found a quieter place to talk near the restaurant's entrance.
Rain poured outside, dripping down the windows and pooling in the streets.
"Alright, Leo," he sighed. "Lay it on me."
"Shroud, Rebound, and Phantom have deployed, taking up positions to investigate," the android detailed. "The other two will follow, once their suits are out of the fabricators. They were doing some mods, per my request that they upgrade from the simplistic design we fitted them with initially."
"Do I need to join them?" Nick questioned, slightly lamentful he would have to leave if the robot said yes.
"Be ready to, but currently I think…" Leo started before pausing.
"Leo?"
"One moment. Essie appears to be investigating something," the mechanical being noted simply, letting the line stay silent as they waited.
The fox, however, was raking his eyes through the pouring rain. Something strange caught his eye.
On the other side of the street, there was something akin to an imprint…
...in a puddle…
The water wasn't frozen and nor was the thing that made the imprint still there…
Nick's eyes widened, pupils going to slits as they traveled upwards.
The rain wasn't hitting the concrete of the sidewalk in that area, as if an object was in the way. Furthermore, something in the air was collecting said rain water, rolling over it like a clear umbrella.
There was something there.
Something that was moving.
Something that was breathing, as a heated fog permeated the air in front of it.
Something living…
...and it was cloaked.
"Leo, I have a…" he tried to call out, before the glass of the entrance exploded inwards, something with weight and force knocking the fox aside. His body impacted the wall, wood panels buckling and splintering from the sheer force.
Screams sounded instantly from various mammals of every shape and size. The Hopps were further back in the restaurant, making him at least be glad they weren't caught up in this travesty directly.
He couldn't technically see it, but from the movement of everything around it as it bumped against chairs, tables, and all sorts of items, the tod had to guess this thing was about the size of a tiger or buffalo.
A heavy huffing could be heard, like a predator sniffing out a trail.
The red fox realized it just in time to dive towards the destroyed front of the establishment before the area he was in became trampled.
"Leo! There's something cloaked here!"
"Sending the team now," it replied evenly. "Use your suit."
"I need metal for it to infuse," Nick barked, bolting around the front of the building and into an alleyway.
The snorting of a creature followed, with heavy steps bounding behind him.
Bolting to the side and seeing a very large lamppost, the tod dove for it and let the fluidic nanotech shoot out in a multitude of tendrils to interact with and absorb the metal, infusing it to his suit.
It was more than enough material as his suit appropriated the metals and formed his armor quickly.
Turning on heel, he faced the threat, turning on thermal imaging.
Something impacted his chest plating, tossing him a dozen yards before hitting a brick wall.
It didn't show up on thermal.
"I need Shroud," he yelped, leaping high with his thrusters to avoid the creature. He could try other imaging methods, but not while being chased. He had to escape or put some distance between himself and the creature before trying to locate it. If he couldn't, Bella's suit could use a broad spectrum of means to scan the thing.
He was swatted from the air like a bug, with the tod barely seeing the structure next to him crumbling in places from what he could only guess was claws of a sort gripping to its surface.
After catching his breath from impacting the ground, he told the robot, hoping each modicum of info would help, "I don't think it flies but it just crawled up a wall to get me."
"Help is on the way," Leo supplied.
0000000
A few minutes earlier….
"...We have a problem…" Essie had said, sounding almost somber.
Both mammals made it down to her in record time, seeing no shimmer but instead a structure of sorts.
It was metallic and black, long and egg shaped. One end of it was open, the inside full of frayed and cut wires, as if something inside went rampant to get out. Deep gashes could be seen in the non metal surfaces, likely a means to provide comfort to whatever was inside.
"Is this something you guys set up?" Bella asked, directing her query to Leo on the comms.
"I'm afraid not," the being countered. "I'm still reading your scans but the preliminary results say this is a support pod. Whatever was inside likely filled this thing entirely with no room to move. There is enough tech here only for life support and propulsion. It also appears to have run dry on energy, the source of it being… gone."
Judy got the message instantly, fear gripping her as she blurted out, "A Shard. It powered this thing? Where did it go?"
"I don't…" the robot started, stopping like its voice was on pause. "Hurry to Nick's position. It appears our quarry found him."
"My family!" the small bunny doe cried out, taking off with stunning force.
Shroud and Rebound were close behind, following an indicator on their displays to find the fox.
"He's drawing it away from others and initiating combat," Leo told them. "You'll be within range in ten seconds. Patching comms together."
Suddenly, the whole group could hear the tod's pained grunts and groans, with him naming off random things he noticed to give them info.
"We're coming!" Phantom called out, descending on his known position and landing just in time to put up one of her barriers in a bubble, with it being impacted by something she couldn't see.
"Nice timing, Fluff!" the armored fox wheezed, lifting himself up once more.
"Is my family alright?" she couldn't help asking in a desperate tone.
"Good to know you're worried about me too," he jibed almost playfully.
"Please, Nick…" she whimpered in kind, with him dropping the jokes.
"They were out of the area of combat," Nick said in a soft voice, trying to comfort her. "I noticed this was after me and made a run for it. They should be fine."
Letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding, Judy relaxed slightly, focusing on her barrier as it was assaulted multiple times with no effect yet.
Up on the roof overhead, the deer and wild dog saw the two within a barrier, trying to figure out what to do. Neither could just jump in, being that the foe wasn't able to be seen.
Shroud let Leo adjust her sensor functions, trying to find a discrepancy to help them.
Rebound tapped an armored foot, itching to dive in and help.
"Wait…" Bella breathed, a lightbulb going off in her head. "Rebound, I need you to fire off a spread of your E.M.P. shots."
"But they won't hurt it," Essie seethed between clenched teeth.
"They can, however, disrupt it's cloaking," the taller doe told her. "Leo. When she gets a hit, scan for anything… ANYTHING… that would give this thing away."
"Understood."
"Now!"
The armored canine pulled both pistols out and unleashed her fury, growling and snarling as she peppered the area around the bubble barrier Judy made.
When she finally hit something, Essie honed her aim in on the area, increasing her firepower. Multiple hits…
...and the cloak dispersing well enough to get a glimpse of the creature.
It had six legs and a lot of fitted plating. The head had gaps, likely to allow it's eyes, nose, and mouth to use its sense freely. It had two forward facing eyes, much like any predator, with two enormous fangs protruding downward, looking like a sabertooth tiger. The 'paws' appeared to have spread out digits, looking more akin to a gecko or other wall crawling animal.
Before they could see much more, the technology enveloping it appeared to readjust, cloaking field coming back up and making them unable to see it again. Splashes in the street from puddles could be seen as it ran off, likely to reevaluate and gain the hunting advantage again.
"I got it," the android told them. "There's a low level frequency to their cloaking shield. I was able to lock on and give you the means to locate them. You can only see them on your visors, and only when looking at them. I had to tune each of your sensors to a high powered directional scan, much like sonar."
"What in the blazes is it?" Flux huffed, catching his breath from the beating he received.
"Orix," Leo mentioned simply. "No time to explain. It's feral and a hunter. It will come back. Find it before it does more…"
A piercing scream drew all of their attention to the alleyway that Nick had come from.
"Go! Now!" Flux commanded.
0000000
A few minutes earlier…
Seeing the fox suddenly excuse himself with a strange look on his face, he couldn't help but be curious.
Kale looked around, seeing his family enraptured with each other and, in some of the older one's cases, their phones. Wanting to see what Rey was up to, he stealthily waited for the right moment and whispered his intention to "go to the bathroom" to his neighboring sibling.
It was doubtful they heard, being they were occupied talking to the sibling on their other side.
Dipping his ears down so as not to be spotted easily, his height allowed him to sneak towards where he thought he saw the tod go.
There was a terrible sound of ripping, splitting, and crashing, followed by screams and yells from mammals around him.
He covered his ears and saw the front of the restaurant looking like a car smashed through it.
Rey dove out from behind a partition, just as something Kale couldn't see barreled through it and impacted the wall.
Keeping his gaze trained on the fox, he saw him bolt outside, turning down the street into the alley between the restaurant and building beside it. Breaking into a sprint for the side door that led there, he opened it to see a lamppost falling over and cowering behind the door as something rumbled past.
His heart hammered in his large ears, but he wanted to see what was happening. It took him a minute to catch his breath, hearing the frantic cries and wallowing complaints from others inside near him. Worried his family might be angry he was missing, the small buck snuck out the door, following the path of destruction to its source.
He barely peeked around the corner of the wall to see what was going on.
There they were. Flux and Phantom. Both were encased in a bubble of sorts and water flung oddly around them as something impacted the glowing shield, a resounding crackling sound of static hurting his sensitive hearing.
Opening his eyes, he saw something else happening, with bolts of energy raining down from above.
Eventually, he saw the thing that was causing the damage.
He couldn't fathom such a thing being from Earth, with it looking so savage and alien.
Turning quickly, Kale ran back towards the door of the restaurant, realizing that it had no knob to grab. It was an emergency exit only.
A growl sounded behind him, with the small buck whipping around to be met with a misty snort and something sniffing him. The cloaking crackled around the thing's head and revealed the intensely predatory eyes and fangs of the alien creature.
Kale screamed…
The cloaking reformed, but not before the creature cringed at the sound and skulked to the side, its tail snapping around and flinging the small caramel bunny into the side of a dumpster.
He squeaked in pain and opened his eyes slowly, head in substantial pain and the world around him fading as he heard the echoing screams of someone else crying out in anger… as well as more bolts firing away…..
0000000
Nick and Judy arrived into the alleyway just in time to see Kale whiplashed into a dumpster, with the latter charging forward and screaming, "NOOOO!"
Her arms quickly became enveloped in bolt firing weapons, courtesy of the nanofluid. The fox quickly joined her, trying to fight their way past to check on the small buck's condition. As much as seeing that pained him, seeing his girlfriend's reaction only bolstered his need to remain as calm as possible, even when her emotional strife course across their link and ravaged his own psyche.
The cloaked Shard took advantage of her lapse in tact and struck her into the wall. The armor protected her well and she got right back up to charge in again.
Essie tried to find a shot, having to withhold due to the armored rabbit's reckless charge. Bella cursed under her breath, realizing they needed something else.
Flux stepped back, inputting a command and awaiting the results. His suit morphed and reconstructed itself, with diodes and coils surfacing, mimicking a suit he hadn't really used all that often yet.
The progression meter made it to 100 percent and blinked green, to which the fox charged his armor and let loose a cascading storm of electrical pulse waves.
He had used the specs for Shock Sage to try shorting out the cloaking field of the… Orix… as Leo called it.
It appeared to work for a moment, bringing down the field, though the creature still moved as if nothing was wrong, snapping and striking at Phantom.
She was too fazed and unbalanced, unable to properly fight a much larger foe in the confines of the alley.
"Incoming," two familar voices interjected.
The armored tod leapt forward and grabbed his bunny by the waist, using his thrusters to jet away.
The Shard snarled and followed, opening it's maw to devour them…
A pair of armored paws intercepted the creature and used their own momentum to swing them around and down the street, where another armored mammal struck the Shard with an uppercut. A wave of kinetic energy knocked the foe upwards and back a bit.
The Shard recovered and looped its apparently prehensile tail around a light pole, pulling itself into an alternate direction and clinging to a nearby building wall.
Flux wanted to use his pulse wave again, but there were too many friendlies nearby. Since it wasn't directional, he feared shorting out their suits. While this creature looked like it could move with it on, he wasn't so sure his team could do the same if theirs went down for a few seconds at least.
The cloaking reformed itself, hiding the Shard once more. Breaker, having struck the blow that seemed to stun it, took a defensive stance with his bracers at the ready.
He'd equipped his suit with light armor and more powerful servos for speed and power, as well as giving the forearms kinetic shockwave bracers. Being a fist fighter, the gnu gave himself weapons to augment that. They could expend concussive blasts of energy with each punch. He also gave his suit a specific sensor upgrade that could scan for structural weaknesses and tailor the kinetic blasts to resonate with it.
The cloaked enemy tried to hit him, with Connor sidestepping and parrying the blow. He wasn't used to fighting an invisible for, per say, but he wasn't new to fighting in nearly blinding circumstances. He's had to fight when someone maced him, when he's gotten tagged with dirt or sand, and even when someone got a lucky shot on his eye and he had to fight while it was still swelling shut.
Trusting his instincts, he was able to see the shimmer of water covering the creature, avoiding where he imagined it would go for a strike.
A second blow knocked him sideways, bringing him back to humility as he realized this experience didn't mean he had the reflexes to match.
Essie charged in, honing in on the Shard and loosing as many bolts as she could quickly.
The Shard launched at her, the cloaking becoming disrupted enough to give everyone a position on it.
"Zerk! Now!" she shouted, initiating her jump jets and boosting away from the attack. Gus, fulling decked out in his newly remade armor, barrelled in from directly behind the canine as she removed herself from his charging line.
A sizable armored fist, reared back and wound up, was propelled forward by a thruster in the elbow of his suit.
The Shard's jaw was dislocated with a sickening crunch as the only mammal on the team that could equal its size made a connecting hit. His other paw swung upwards to continue the onslaught, the still airborne creature twisting in midair.
Finally, he brought his knee up to impact the side of its head, tossing the thing a few yards away in a heap.
Judy was heaving and panting inside her suit, nearing hysterics and with Nick unsure what to do for her.
His logical side took over and remembered this was a Shard. A broken jaw and other such debilitating injuries would stop it only for so long.
Sure enough, blue energy enveloped the Shard, finally denoting its overall rank on the power scale, and healing it in seconds.
"They need your help," the android told both fox and bunny.
"I don't… I…" the armored rabbit mumbled.
"Then Shift," the fox tod softly told her. "I'll take care of things, but I still need you… please."
With her eyes lowering to the ground, she didn't even offer a word or nod as her body simply bled away, purple tendrils of energy that was once her body fusing into him. Her own armor and nanofluid merged with his, bolstering his suit further.
The Shard snarled and got back up, with Bearzerker and Breaker trying to draw his ire, allowing Rebound to try doing some stun damage.
Flux bounded forwards, feeling the tempest of emotions that pervaded his partner's essence fueling him with an almost overwhelming energy. Her anger… Her shock… Her sadness… Her sense of protection…
He felt some of that himself, but her emotional dissent was so much greater.
Thinking about his approach, he knew trying to kill the thing was out of the question for now, choosing instead to restrain.
His armor reconstructed itself, forearms beefing up slightly with cable shooters.
He might have gone with net launchers, but the Shard was far too large and mobile to get a good shot on and actually keep it down.
"Bear. Breaker. Keep him down for a moment. Rebound, stun his face," Flux commanded in a softer tone than he wanted to. He felt a bit raw and shocked himself from what just happened, but trying to stay in the game. All of them acknowledge nonetheless, keeping the thing from moving too much and the canine female giving it a good jolt.
Using his thrusters, he jumped and hovered above it, firing cable anchors all around the Shard. The first shot would start the line, with the second anchoring the line over a concerned target.
Nearly two dozen such lines later, and Flux watched as their foe became less mobile.
The armored red fox landed and fell backwards, clutching his head.
"Don't quit yet, Flux," Connor chided him. "We still have to…"
"Look out!" Bella's voice cried over the comms.
The tail on the Shard whipped out from under the cables and impacted the gnu. He was tossed into the air, with Gus in the line of fire. The bear was thankfully reactive enough and haphazardly caught his teammate, being pushed back a foot or two by the sheer force.
Cables snapped with a creaking metallic twang, allowing the Shard to get back up and roar loudly.
Though Judy had gone eerily silent in their connection, Nick could still feel the emotional torrent from her. What came next confused him slightly. Her feelings and the intensity of them, having been like a slow expanding explosion, suddenly became… the fox couldn't comprehend it precisely. It was like the explosion was still happening, getting stronger and more powerful, but it was turned into a more controlled one. Almost directional.
His suit was glowing a purple hue all over, power overwhelming him. It was like the few times he was wired on caffeine times a few dozen times. If he didn't work this energy out, he felt he might explode.
"Take… Him… DOWN…" the doe's voice echoed inside his head, sounding both lividly angry… and tearfully strained.
Feeling the resonance between them, as the fox found himself reflecting on what he saw, instead of avoiding it, he found his own emotions began to mimic Judy's.
The armored bear and wildebeest were back at it, using their collective weight to shoulder charge into the Shard from the side and fling him aside.
Flux pulled upon his speed and zoomed forward enough to create a whip crack from the dense, rain infused air. His clenched paw arched up, impacting the creature's chest and tossing it several yards into the sky.
He then jumped to its ragdoll form and twisted in the air to gain the most amount of momentum he could, delivering a powerful kick to the Shard's body that caused a concussive blast to ring out and create a bubble devoid of moisture.
All eyes widened as the Shard suddenly wasn't there anymore.
Even Nick was so stunned that he forgot about landing and collapsed to the ground, aided by Rebound in getting up again.
"Where did it go?!" Shroud called out in a panic. "I don't know where it went. Leo?"
"I don't believe it," the robotic entity mentioned.
Until there was a proper reply, Rebound kept watch over Flux, with Bearzerker and Breaker pressing their backs together, expecting reprisal from the once more invisible foe.
"Leo…" Nick growled in a deadly tone, wanting an explanation.
Not waiting for anything to be explained, he felt Judy's panic rise again, her form coalescing back into a physical body, armor reconstructing around her.
Once whole again, she took off towards the alley murmuring fearful, 'No's.
"We're clear," Leo told them all. "I'll explain later. Tend to Judy."
The red fox waited no further and broke into a dead sprint after her.
It wasn't a far distance, being that the entire battle seemed restricted to a single street. It certainly helped to have a whole team able to keep an enemy corralled into a singular confined venue for confrontation.
Reaching the dumpster, Nick clutched his chest as a renewed wave of negative emotions flowed into him from Judy.
Having had her head armor recede, the doe was clutching her little brother to her chest, unable to form words as she cried, mumbled pleading and apologies to no one in particular.
With his visor automatically displaying vital signs and bringing up a laundry list of issues from the scan that ultimately ended in the diagnosis: Fatal, the tod could see why she removed her face plating.
There was frantic screaming from inside the restaurant, with the door opening as Bonnie popped her head out, calling for Kale.
The entire team went mournfully silent as the mother went silent, a light in her eyes going dark.
Judy clutched him tighter to her chest, the older doe seeing her armor and company, recognition settling in.
"Oh no… no no no no," she began, her lips trembling as she closed in and fell to her knees next to her kits.
"M-mom… I… this isn't… I'm sorry," she voiced weakly.
She wanted to give in to her worry, her panic, her maternal instinct that said 'Get him to a hospital', but the look on her daughter's face said it all.
There was no use.
Grabbing her small son's paw in her own trembling one, she saw his faded blue eyes hazily lock onto hers, breathing shallow and mind far off. Whether he wouldn't speak or simply couldn't, he simply did not, with a last gasp being the only thing the two heard before being broken into a mess of tears, the bunnies cradling the kit.
Behind them, Nick was frozen.
This was his fault.
This was his fault.
It was because he was here, with her family, with her brother, drawing the attention of something that wanted to hunt him.
Here he was again, trying to connect with others and become attached. He gets focused on for what he is, with many speculations… and then because of that attention… someone else gets caught up as collateral damage. While it didn't cause his mother's demise, he always blamed himself for her inability to have a more quality life.
Now… who he was didn't only get someone killed, but hurt the person he had come to love the most.
Tears began to fall in a steady stream, armored paw clutching uselessly to his muzzle as he fell back on his rear and repeated the same thing in his head.
This is all my fault.
Just curious... should I be running for my life or... are we good?
(Narrowly misses being hit by a harpoon)
What the!?... Ok. First question... Who threw that? Second... what prompted that weapon choice? Gotta say, Nice pick.
(Another harpoon)
Hey! I like my blood stuff staying inside me.
Anywho... Yeah... Not much to say.
I'll leave review replies to the next chapter I release, which will be soon. Trust me.
Until next time, It's been a hustle, Sweethearts.
