Back in Blue, Part 2
The door to the centre of the Den slid open, drawing the attention of all those inside. A mixture of anxiety and impatient hitting Isaac immediately upon entering. He limped in, alone.
"Did you work your magic?" Tanya asked, pushing off of the desk she had made into a temporary chair.
"Ain't no magic in what I say; just the truth. No sugar coating or any of that shit," Isaac replied briskly, walking peg-legged to the nearest seat, and roughly eased himself down with a low groan. "Got any of that Instinct MUTT?"
The robot was by Isaac's side in moments, making the final preparations with the liquid-filled syringe. Isaac's sleeve was rolled up by this stage, and the needle was quickly inserted into his skin. He tensed, but it only lasted a moment, before relaxing as the pain was dulled somewhat. He checked the needle, finding it only half filled with the green medication. "C'mon, MUTT. Don't be fucking stingy."
"A larger dose would bring your chemical readings to a dangerous level. Which would result in a potential risk to your health, as well as other side effects," MUTT warned, pulling the needle from Isaac's arm, setting the half-filled needle on the table beside him. "You have already been taken larger doses than when you started, only due to your body becoming accustomed to the amounts you have been given."
Isaac slumped back, rolling his eyes as MUTT moved aside, returning to the nearest computer. He went to start tapping away again, but paused when one of the doors slid open again. The others turned to look, and a wave of relief washed off of number of their faces.
There, standing in the open door frame, was Tyler, the Howler still very much visible on his wrist, his fingers slowly clenching and unclenching. Taking a low breath, he slowly stepped forward, passing through the door, which quickly slid close behind him. He came to a stop a few steps further, still very much separate from the rest of the room's occupants. "Guess I'm one of the good assholes now then," He finally said, seeming very reluctant as he spoke.
Kyle looked over to Isaac, and asked, "Seriously? Did you just say to him, 'Hey, we're assholes but we're the good guys'?"
"Basically yeah," Isaac agreed, nodding. "Don't knock it when it works."
"Look, let me just say this," Tyler stated, hands stuffing themselves in his trouser pockets as he paced around to sit across the room. "Before you go off on a fucking tangent, talking shit that sounds like, fucking Chinese or something, I'm not gonna understand anything. So, just.. cut me a bit of slack, OK? And you, freaky.. wolf thing…"
Savage's muzzle twisted into a faint scowl at the comment, a low growl rumbling from the depth of his chest.
"Ok, seriously, you sure he's not gonna eat me or something?" Tyler questioned, looking between the other teens.
"Dunno. We haven't pissed him off that much," Natalie commented, a small smirk tugging at the corner of her lips.
"C'mon Nat, don't make him piss himself when he's convinced himself to join our merry little band of fuckwits," Isaac replied, rising to his feet as the last traces of the throbbing pain faded away. The others looked as though they wanted to retort at Isaac's comment, but were cut off by the sharp alarm blaring and the screens surrounding MUTT flashing an alarming red.
"Demon presence in this Realm. Location sent to your Howlers," MUTT informed, tapping a few keys to cancel the alarm. Five sets of mechanical growls echoed each other, though only startled Tyler. He raised it up, but got an answer from Kyle.
"MUTT's just sent the location to the Howlers."
"OK, seriously, you're not even remotely confused by the fact that, and I'm not sure if this is offensive or anything, a robot is able to have to read like, voodoo and all that shit?" Tyler questioned, as the others got up from their relaxed positions and began moving to, seemingly, predesignated positions. Tanya gave Tyler a pat on the shoulder, and with a bit of a push, turned him around so he was facing away from MUTT and Savage, like the others were.
"Trust us, that'll be nothing compared to some of the shit you'll see," Natalie offered, flashing a small smile as she brought her Howler across her chest. The others did the same, so Tyler was quickly copied, a strange feeling of.. power surge down his arm, then into his main body. His heart rate increased, though he wasn't sure of that was the adrenaline starting to kick in or that was something to do with this…thing.
"Stick with us and you'll be fine," Isaac assured, slowly flexing his hand into a tight fist.
"Or you'll straight up get your ass handed to you," Kyle said bluntly.
"Kyle," Isaac rolled his eyes, "shut up."
More would have been said, but blinding light encased each of the five teens; Tyler tried to speak, but found that all air just…escaped his lungs without a word spoke.
The flash of light lasted only a few seconds, and when it faded, the spots where the teens had been standing now sat vacant. MUTT moved away from his computer, and went to clear up after the teens, when he paused and looked around carefully.
"Savage, did you move the syringe?"
Five shards of light struck the ground at the city centre of Pax Valley, cracks etching into the concrete with the sudden weight manifested from the columns. From four of the now faded columns, the armoured Warriors, somewhat relaxed stances, yet still looked ready to floor the nearest threat.
The last column.. didn't look as ready to fight. Not that he wasn't prepared; the blue-and-silver armour stood out against the cracked grey beneath him. Just his stance was a bit.. off.
"You'll get the hang of it eventually," Kyle said, quickly offering a hand for the winded Beta Warrior to take. A few seconds later, his offer was taken and Tyler was pulled to his feet. He pulled his hand free, and spent a few seconds looking over his, now gloved and armoured, palms, quickly bringing them up to feel the strange sensation of the helmet.
"This is fucking weird.. thought it was going to be like fucking spandex or some shit. Not some God damn suit of armour," Tyler commented, pulling at the layered armour plating around the one shoulder.
"You can complain about the stylistic choices with Savage and MUTT later. Right now, let's sort out these Demon bastards," Isaac instructed, gesturing for the others to follow as he tore off down the street, a blur of red tearing up small chunks of concrete as he ran.
"Wow…" Was all Tyler said, stepping aside to avoid getting showered in the dust and shrapnel kicked up by Isaac.
"You know what they say," Kyle said, stepping around in front of Tyler. "Sometimes, you've got to run before you can walk." He turned as he spoke, and not a moment later, took off as well. This time, Tyler couldn't avoid getting caught in the dust that kicked up, though quickly realized that the helmet prevented anything getting to him.
"And how exactly are you gonna find where these bastards are?!" Tyler called after the other guys, even going so far as to bring his hands up to a cone around the mouth guard.
"The Howler's gonna put the location up on your HUD, so it's just going to be a case of, can you keep up?" Tanya questioned, tapping his shoulder and gestured for him to follow. He turned to look at Natalie, clad in her white and silver armoured form, who gestured for Tyler to follow the pair of them. With what he assumed was a final, smug smirk, the two girls tore down the path, further kicking up concrete. This left Tyler alone, standing there motionless.
Yet beneath the armour, gears were trying to turn, only to get clogged with all this information crammed into every moving part.
"What the fuck did I get myself into?" He asked himself, leaving forward slightly, and after a few failed starts, managed to get some speed together and tore off after the others, albeit at a much more unsteady pace, larger chunks of concrete getting kicked up with each of his odd missteps.
"Are you finally satisfied with the location you have chosen?" Death questioned, arms folded behind his back, pacing back and forth, all while facing the other Warlord.
He and Batibat stood at the centre of a circle of Wolkeins. In Batibat's hands, a strange staff was present; glowing red engravings decorated the visible staff, with what appeared to be snake-like carvings securing a large, red-glowing crystal at the head of the ceremonial-looking weapon.
"Another comment in that tone, and the end of this staff will be dug into that head of yours," Batibat warned, sparing a glare at the other Warlord before returning her eyes to the ground, seemingly looking for something. "Master gave us this location, so this is where it shall go," She continued, taking a few steps forward, staff tip slicing across the concrete like paper. Almost dead centre in the City now, she came a stop and stabbed the tip of the staff into the ground.
"Here."
The staff was raised off the ground, gripped with both her hands. She was about to bring it down, when both she and Death became aware of the Wolkeins' warning. She turned, and her lips twitched into a faint scowl when four, unfortunately, familiar streaks of colour came into view, stopping just beyond the wall of Wolkeins.
"The Warriors," Death commented aloud, slowly drawing the bladeless hilt and activated the deathly blade; pouring green fog from the now glowing hilt and blade.
Batibat's eyes narrowed when the four streaks faded, revealing the four armoured Warriors of their respective colours. It soon faded, however, and was replaced with a sly smirk as she rested the spear against the ground, and took a few steps closer, casting a red-tinted charm to keep the staff standing in place. "I would have thought you'd give up, after the loss of your Beta," She taunted, one hand on hip as she stepped through the sea of Wolkeins; parting either side of her, grunts and gravely groans their only forms of noise.
Isaac's hands clenched into fists, and went to take a step forward. He probably would have moved all the way until he was face-to-face with Batibat, if Tanya hadn't grabbed him by the wrist. He threw a look over his shoulder, and the two emotionless helmets faced one another. Despite the masks they wore, they could tell what the other was thinking.
After a few seconds, Tanya released his wrist, and Isaac remained in place, only taking a few steps back to return to his original spot. "If you are done trying to be smug, Goth, then you and Creepypasta other there better cut that shit out now," Isaac stated, gesturing to Batibat, then to Death.
Batibat smirked, coming to a stop now she was standing outside the wall of Wolkeins, forming a solid mass behind her. "And why is that?" She questioned.
"Because whatever you're thinking, guess what? You're dead fucking wrong, 'cause we've got our Beta!" Kyle stated, turning to look behind him. "In fact, here he comes now."
All parties turned at Kyle's last sentence, and that smug grin faded a fraction from Batibat's face. Death took a step closer as well. Numerous sets of eyes focused on a single object, quickly getting closer and closer to the groups.
And.. tore right past them, slamming full force into a buildings' side, and actually knocking through the wall. All that was left was an outline in the bricks, vaguely resembling a humanoid shape.
While Natalie gave a slight shake of her head and Isaac face palmed hard, the smirk returned to Batibat's face, turning from the buildings' new doorway and looked back to the Warriors. "Am I supposed to be intimidated by that?"
"Y'know what, fuck it. Nat, go get Sonic over there. Tanya, Kyle, we're taking these bastards out," Isaac ordered, gesturing to each of them in turn, and turned back around to glare right at Batibat. "The Emo Bitch is mine," He all by snarled, words coming out as a bloodthirsty growl through the filter, before he tore forward, throwing himself at the she-Demon.
The two sent themselves crashing into the Wolkeins, yet to be given orders to intercept. When Death finally shouted the order out, Kyle and Tanya threw themselves at the nearest Wolkeins, already braking limbs and throwing bodies over shoulders. Natalie dodged one such body that came flying at her, and quickly moved off, as much as she wanted to join in the fight, and help the others, she had been given orders that said otherwise.
"Tyler!" She called, stepping through the hole he had created, throwing aside a few bricks in her search. Her scans managed to pick out a crumpled shape among the bricks and, what turned out to be, shattered tables. Moving forward and dropping to her knees, she brushed off shrapnel and pulled him free, grabbing a fistful of his armour and firmly shaking, trying to rouse him. "C'mon, Tyler! Now isn't the time for this!"
Failing to get him up, Natalie unclasped the clips either side of his helmet and all but tore his helmet off. Upon this, she noticed that he was, in fact, awake, eyes wide, breathing shaky with a bit of blood at the corner of his lips and down the side of his head. Now that his helmet was off, Natalie could hear him speaking.
"I can't… I… I can't do this… I can't do this! I can't!"
He threw himself up, almost knocking Natalie out in the process, and supported himself with one of the tables he didn't destroyed, stumbling across the room, breathing sporadically. He slowly slumped to his knees, propped up on the table by his elbows, as his hands ran groves through his short hair. Only when Natalie brought a hand down on his shoulder, was he brought back from his panic.
"Listen here," Natalie said, managing to turn Tyler around to face her, that accomplished, she brought her hands up and removed her own helmet, hair coming down around her faintly bruised face. "Listen! I know what you're going through! Do you think that none of us were shitting ourselves when we first got told all of this? That we still don't feel like that now?"
"You've been at this for months!" Tyler exclaimed, bringing his hands up to bring down his face, eyes closed. "You've actually had training from that furry back there! Me? Closest I got to fighting was in the 8th grade!"
"OK!" Natalie said, pausing briefly to gather herself. "OK… OK, I get where you're coming from. You're scared, I'd be calling your bullshit if you said you weren't. But right now, the others are out there, fighting. For you, for everyone, for this town," She said, gesturing out of the building. "Now I would say you've got two options, but in this case, you really only have one; you go out there and you give it your all. You stay in here, eventually they'll find you and they're gonna try and tear you apart."
Tyler brought his head up from his hands, and was met with the Blue helmet. His reflection in the visor staring right back at him, as well as the silver fang-like trim surrounding it. Slowly, one of his hands found its way to the helmet's underside, and eased it from Natalie's grip. He looked up to Natalie, shoulders sagging with a long exhale. "Do I at least get a gun or something?"
"Not a gun… Savage prefers a more, close combat style," Natalie replied, curling her hair up and locked her helmet back into place. And not a moment too soon, it seemed. A Wolkein burst through the wall, the second in as many minutes it seemed, and came to a crash landing not far from Natalie and Tyler. The pair quickly got to their feet, both helmets had now locked in place, and while the white-clad Warrior shifted into a fighting stance, the Blue Beta tried copying her stance. Though it was clear, by his sloppy, uneasy stance, that he was untrained. A fact that this Wolkein seemed to pick up on, bringing itself from the rubble, roughly shaking off the shrapnel and releasing a bellowing, unearthly snarl. It focused on the pair to its side, and surged towards them.
Tyler wasn't sure how to react, his natural instinct pulling him back and away from the fight. But he soon saw that Natalie didn't seem to share the same instinct anymore, she dived right in, delivering a knee to the faceless creature's head, its head jerking back to an unnatural angle from the force. It stumbled backwards, though quickly recovered and began slashing its dagger wildly at Natalie. Tyler expected it to make contact, but no sparks came or connective blow was made. Instead, with one such strike coming towards her, Natalie brought her fists together and outstretched them.
The dagger sparking upon striking the white-tinted blade. Natalie delivered a kick to the creature's torso, sending it backwards and quickly advanced, not giving it time to readjust. Delivering the final blow, she slammed the dulled, middle section between her hands against the creature's head, forcing it further back. It's back slammed against the wall, knocking off several framed scenic pictures. It tried going back on the attack, but was brought to a fatal stop when Natalie, having advanced and spun, used the momentum in her spin to stab the back end of her blade into the creature's torso.
Blade pulled free, she gave two more stabs, one to the throat, as the creature slumped to the ground, what life it had extinguished. She pulled back entirely, a few steps back, breathing heavily at the adrenaline rush.
"Wow."
She turned around, chest still rising and falling faintly, to see Tyler coming out from behind cover. "That," He said, carefully stepping over chunks of wall, "Was fucking amazing, yet strangely terrifying. Did you watch Phantom Menace lately or something?"
Natalie scoffed and rolled her eyes, giving a quick shake of her head, before the sounds of more Wolkeins outside caught her attention. "Come on. The others are probably gonna be pissed if we're out of the fight any more." She moved towards the hole Kyle had created, patting his shoulder, indicating for him to follow, as she vanished back into the scarred street. He hesitated momentarily, but figured that Natalie's warning would soon come to fruition, he gave a low exhale and slowly headed out.
And almost immediately, he was nearly sent back into the building by another Wolkeins' body. "Took you long enough!" Tyler heard Kyle's voice shout at his direction. He turned back around and, for the first time, saw the full scale of things.
To the teens actually fighting their way through the Wolkeins around them, they might have been all they saw. But for Tyler, he saw the full scale of this current threat. Swarms of Wolkeins seemed to pour out of every crack and gap between buildings, seemingly everywhere a shadow was cast. And they just kept coming and coming; replacing the fallen as quickly as they fell. Tanya and Kyle had their backs to each other, fending off a larger circle of Wolkeins with apparent ease, Wolkein heads sent sailing through the air, limb-less bodies kicked through hordes of others.
Even though she had just barely re-joined the fight, Natalie had found herself among a large Wolkein circle. Not that she appeared to be struggling, Tyler noted, if the number of Wolkein bodies at her feet, limbs missing and scars dug deep and spewing toxic-looking blood, were anything to go by.
"Wow!" Tyler exclaimed, ducking and barely missing a dagger to the face. Instead, it embedded itself in the wall behind him, another brick damaged and beyond repair. He moved forward and turned to the attacker. It looked like one of the regular Wolkeins, but it had some notable differences. The most prominent being the crimson-armour adorning his shoulders. It pulled the dagger free from the wall, a low snarl radiating from the mouthless void of its head, and began advancing on Tyler. "Shit, shit, shit, shit!" He said to himself, hands outstretched defensively as he backed up, away from the advancing Wolkein.
It surged forward all of a sudden, trying to catch Tyler off guard. In a panic, Tyler stumbled and fell onto his back, only managing to prop himself part way up when the blow was coming, only managing to cross his forearms, and squeezed his eyes shut.
He waited.. and waited, and waited.. but nothing came. He opened one eye, then both eyes when he saw the blade stuck between his armoured forearms. The Wolkein, however, wasn't frozen by a mixture of amazement and possible fear, and quickly pulled back, ready to strike again. But the second strike never came, it was thrown back, struck by the flying body of another Wolkein. Kyle froze, but turned to look towards the source.
"Watch yourself! Get your Wolf Blade out!" Natalie shouted, ducking to avoid a swing and stabbing the attacker through the shoulder. "Just copy what you saw me do!"
"Right.. yeah, easier said than done," Tyler said to himself, nodding slightly, before he tried slamming his closed fists together. Much like with his earlier running, he found he couldn't master it the first few times, but after dodging another attack by sheer luck at this stage, a blue beam of steel extended from sides of his fists, and around his clenched fingers. "Wow…" He said to himself, briefly admiring the weapon that formed from his hands. Not that he could for long, when he ducked to avoid a wild slash; inadvertently slicing through the shin of an unfortunate Wolkein.
That one falling to the floor, unable to maintain balance, and Tyler tried thinking of games he'd played for hours on end, surely they, of all things, would come in handy at this.
"Vile, wrenched human!" Batibat snarled, pushing against Isaac's helmet, hammering his body against the side of the nearest building. Isaac retaliated, finding purchase against the building, and managed to slam both of them to the ground. The pair of them had separated from the main fighting force at some stage, and it had already taken themselves through a set of abandoned buildings.
"Are you done with the name calling, bitch?" Isaac retorted, managing to get behind Batibat and wrapped his arms under hers and behind her head, trying to lock her arms out of use. He managed to hold on for a while, even lasting through Batibat forcing them back into the open, creating yet another hole in the building. But he finally broke off when Batibat slammed the back of her head against his helmet, such force used that a number of fine cracks ran vertically across his visor. His grip loosened entirely, and retained his footing soon after, drawing his Wolf Blade. Shifting into a brief stance, he rushed forward again, aiming low.
The blade swung, yet hit nothing but air, Batibat flipped into the air, missing the blade by a few inches and landed a short distance away, daggers drawn. Both Demon and Warrior stood still, facing one another as the former caught his breath; distastefully glaring at the Demon, having no need to breathe. She was the first to move, darting forward at a near-impossible speed, bringing one dagger down and the other up, expecting at least one to hit its mark. As it turned out, it was the former, the upward strike was caught by Isaac's Wolf Blade, but that left his arm exposed to the downward blow. Sparks flew from the point of contact, forcing Isaac back, favouring his injured arm.
But Batibat was unrelenting, sending strike after strike at Isaac. The Red Alpha was forced on the defensive, taking large steps back to try and reduce the force behind the attacks. One specific attack forced him back too far, misjudging his step and ended up tripping over his own feet, Wolf Blade clattering just out of reach.
He went to try and grab it, but Batibat moved quicker, bringing her heeled foot down on Isaac's helmet. This elected a modified, pained grunt from under his mouth guard. From his position, visor facing the side, he could only see so much of the looming Demon above him.
"You have Fire in your heart, I shall give you that, Human," Batibat stated, flicking a few strands of stray hair behind her ear, flowing back with the rest of her dark, flowing locks. She slowly crouched down, one knee on the ground and the other foot still firmly planted the side of Isaac's helmet. The tip of her dagger slowly pressed against the side of his visor, forming more cracks. "Perhaps one day, should you survive, and with the right training, you might prove to be a worthy opponent," Batibat mused, slowly trailing her dagger down across Isaac's visor, slicing through the vertical cracks already present.
"But now, you are still not trained, a true Warrior would've foresaw both those attacks," She continued, stabbing the dagger forward slightly, taking a small chunk of the visor out from the rest, as well as a small chunk out from the red of the helmet. She rose to her feet again, and removed herself from his helmet, delivering a kick to Isaac's gut with the very same foot. "Why don't you be a submissive little pup, and stay here? I've got more important things to take care of."
Unable to respond, recovering from the stabbing kick to the gut, Isaac's only response was trying to get up as Batibat turned and walked away, soon vanishing from sight in a black-and-green portal. "Emo Bitch," He grunted, coughing up what he suspected was blood, collecting in the internal groves of his helmet. He slowly rose to his feet, uninjured arm wrapped around his stomach and propped himself upright with his Wolf Blade.
He grunted lowly, and tried making his way back to the original battlefield. Even from his position, far down the street, the number of Wolkeins wasn't exactly easy to miss.
Another portal opened up beside the ceremonial staff, with Death defending said staff, throwing Wolkeins aside, initially sent flying in his direction from the Warriors. He looked over his shoulder, slicing a Wolkein in half effortlessly, either half flying to the ground behind him. "Had enough toying with the Alpha?" He questioned, as Batibat walked into view.
"He's young. If he had proper training, and wasn't a human, he could've proved to be of some use," Batibat replied sharply, venom laced between her every word, as she snatched the staff from its levitating point. Now in her grasp, the red engraves began glowing anew, handled between her two hands. "But enough time has been wasted already," She continued, raising the staff up once again, "The time to do as the Master ordered."
The tip of the staff stabbed into the ground, far deeper than before. At this, the very ground shook beneath their feet, the surprise sending the surviving Wolkeins and the Warriors to the ground. Some Wolkeins even disappearing through the ground via portals, and others started to pick up on what they were supposed to do, beginning to follow their lead.
"Wow! What the hell's going on!?" Tyler shouted, getting thrown aside from the quakes, finding himself joined by Tanya, the Yellow Gamma almost knocking herself out after failing to get a good stance before the ground gave out beneath her.
"Whatever it is, we need to take it out before it takes the city out!" Tanya replied, trying to find purchase and managed to get to her hands and knees, but couldn't get any further progress without falling down again. Doing what she could, she looked around, finding Kyle and Natalie in similar stages of trying to find their feet with these violent vibrations.
"Isaac, where they hell are you?!" Tanya shouted into her Howler, supporting her back against the nearest building, joined by Tyler, and looked around the corner. All she could see was the pair of Demons standing there, the source of all this shaking stabbed into the ground between them.
"I'm getting there! Had my ass handed to me by the Emo Bitch, so I'm gonna be slow," Isaac's voice returned down the Howler, just as intensely as Tanya's. "What the hell is with this shaking anyway?!"
"Whatever kind of staff they've got, that's what! Kyle! Kyle! Try and get a scan on that over to MUTT, see if he and Savage have any idea what we're dealing with here!" Tanya said, throwing her voice towards the other Warrior mid-sentence. She wasn't sure if Isaac gave a response or not, since a brick struck her right on the helmet's side, sending ringing in her ears. "Fuck…"
As the Warriors talked among themselves, trying to organize themselves, Batibat and Death's attentions were fully focused on the staff between them. The engravings pulsed a dangerous red, resonating from the gems at the top, and driving into the ground. The cracks closest to the staff pulsing a dark red, partially obscured by shadow. "Soon, we will see just how much the Humans have intervened with our Masters' pre-planning," Batibat proclaimed aloud, smirking as the gem at the very top started to glow a darker shade. Crackling mystic energy formed around it, working its way up from the newly-formed cracks.
A whining noise, barely audible, was the only warning the teens would have heard, before the next blow came. The crystal changed from a glowing red to a bright white, and changed back in a flash, the resulting flash echoing out into a full-on shock-wave, visible knocking out any nearby windows and shaking the buildings to their very foundations. The wave went further, streaking across the city, and beyond the borders of the city. Then the borders of the state.
The borders of America were passed within just thirty seconds of the initial blast.
At the heart of it all, the teens found themselves suffering from such close proximity to the shock-wave's origin, the ringing lasted for what seemed far too long, but even when it stopped, there were more problems that concerned them.
"This thing's packing up!" Tyler shouted in alarm, fist slamming against his Howler repeatedly. Tanya looked at her own, and tried making contact with Savage and MUTT. But she didn't get anything; not even the usual growl that came from these strange devices on their wrists. Even the eye piece wasn't lighting up!
"Shit! We're on our own then," Tanya replied, trying to keep her voice level; while on the inside, her brain was whirling, trying to keep from panic. Whenever they got into situations like this, she wasn't that concerned, even when she knew they should've been, since Savage showed them his armour, she always saw themselves having that.. safety buffer around them. Right now, though, that buffer was gone…
"Come on!" She said, trying to keep herself from going further down that path, and hoped to God that the comms between them still properly worked. "We've got to take that thing out! I don't see things getting better if it stays there!"
Natalie and Kyle seemed to understand her, both giving her physical responses, and Tanya have a three finger countdown. The moment the last digit dropped, the four all rushed out from behind their cover. Immediately following that, they barely dodged several shots of ghoulish green blasts, instead, they struck the floor, seemingly dissolving a small section upon striking.
Batibat and Death remained beside the staff, sending out demonic blasts of energy towards the slow advancements of these Warrior-wannabes. Despite the impossible-to-read expression on Batibat and shroud of darkness covering whatever Death had, they clearly weren't trying their hardest. They had the assumption that there wouldn't be much problem, holding these Warriors off long enough-
A strike to Batibat's shoulder caused her to almost drop, letting out a hissing shout as she dropped her sword. She threw a deathly glare over her shoulder, and was immediately met with a silver-and-red fist straight to the jaw. The force sent her flying ten or so feet forward, onto the ground. Death postponed his assault and turned to strike whoever was behind them. His blade met another, and his gaze soon fell upon their surprise attacker.
"I thought Batibat took care of you!" Death snarled, pressing his blade down against the shorter Warrior.
But Isaac had a firm stance, and stood his ground, even managing to push Death back a few inches. "Not going to let some eyeliner-lover take me down," Isaac responded sharply, glancing around Death a few seconds after.
Death turned back around to see what had taken his opponent's interest, and was immediately met with two sword blades striking across his front, shredding some of his robes and sending sparks flying. Death himself was sent flying aside, revealing both Natalie and Tanya to be his attackers. "Come on! That things still in the ground!" Tanya shouted, quickly moving in with Natalie and Isaac, all three grabbing the handle of the staff at the same time. Demonic energy flowed around the three sets of hands upon contact, and when they tried removing it, the energy wrapped around their arms as they tried to find a stance.
Kyle quickly joined them, moving among the other three, but even with all four of them, the staff was still firmly lodged in the ground. Isaac opened his eyes, teeth still firmly grit and hands feeling as though they were tearing their flesh off the bone, and saw the Blue-clad armour standing a little bit away.
"Matt! Matt! Get the fuck over here! Get over here and give a hand!" He shouted, jerking his head towards Tyler.
"Matt! What's wrong with you?!"
"Get over here and help!"
"For fucks sake Matt! Fucking get over here!"
All four of them shouted to Tyler, who remained in place. He slowly looked down upon his hands, flexing the silver-and-blue armoured palms and forearms. His breathing hit the guard of the helmet hard, hitting him right back, sweat slowly dripping down his forehead. Slowly, however, his fists closed up into fists, and the constant shouts finally caused him to loom up.
The four were still trying their hardest, pulling with all the might they could muster from their armour. Their palms were surely reddened by this stage, and progressing onto growing bloody at the force of their grip. Muscles were tensed beyond anything they could remember, and were sure their teeth were close to shattering. And all the while, the crystal at the top of the serpent-decorated spear pulsed rapidly, the pulses echoing out at a blinding pace. That was when Isaac felt a hand brush his, and a shoulder shoving against between himself and Kyle's frames.
All four of them felt the addition and looked between themselves, and found Tyler shoving himself between them all, grabbing sections that were bare of hands. He looked around at the others, teeth grit as he said, "I'm not Matt."
He adjusted his stance and began pulling, grunting with effort as he strained. The others all gave small nods of understand, and together, they five pulled with all their strength. Muscles strained in a single movement, all five sets of hands holding on for dear life.
Ever so slightly, the staff rose an inch.
Still clenching her green-blood soaked shoulder, Batibat brought herself up onto her hands and knees, facing the staff. Her eyes widened, picking up the nanometres of the staff's movement, and tried rushing over to stop it. "NOOO!" She screeched, jumping towards the five.
Just as, with a burst of strength, the staff was wrenched free of the ground. A blast of light broke free, blinding all those in the vicinity. Bodies were slammed into buildings, dents formed onto streets and the ringing returned. Even when the light was gone, the ringing continued. Tyler found himself in a newly formed dent in the street, ears ringing so much all other noise was cancelled out. He tried getting up, but found himself suddenly lacking energy, instead, he rolled over, partially out of the hole he had created. He looked around, finding the others in similar situations to him, dents, looking like they could barely move, and assuming they were growing death as well.
With a bit of effort, he climbed the rest of the way out of his hole, still unable to stand up fully. A bit of further looking around revealed more, the staff was no more, reduced to mostly rubble. Only the head of the staff seemed to survive in one piece…only thing was he didn't realize was the black nails wrapped around it before…
That was when he looked up from the crystal, and tried standing up with new vigour.
Batibat rose to her feet, serpent-encased crystal in hand. She held it close, almost like a mother cradling a child, before her gaze rose to the partially standing Beta Warrior across the street. The two were silent, no words to be said, as they stared each other down. Batibat looked as though she was going to make towards him, but she was held back when Death stood partially in front of her, back to Tyler. He seemed to speak with her, but with the ringing combined with his back facing him, it was impossible to tell. Only thing he thought he saw was Death grabbing one of her wrists; the one holding the staff's crystal head.
Throwing one last dirty look over Death's shoulder, Batibat followed her fellow Warlord through a portal, vanishing from sight. But the physical damage they left would be a constant reminder of their presence.
Moments passed, and Tyler felt himself grow light-headed, he would've been eating concrete, had he not been caught. He looked aside, finding Isaac beside him, putting himself beneath Tyler's shoulder, bringing him back up to stand. Now supported, Tyler finally stood properly and turned to look at Isaac, helmets blocking direct eye contact, but somehow, he knew what Isaac was saying. Or rather, trying to bring across.
He saw Isaac raise his Howler and must've spoken into it, because the next thing he knew, his vision was encased in another bright light, only this time, it was a bright blue.
"What the fuck was that thing?" Kyle questioned, leaning over one of the tables within the Den. The teens were spread out across the main room, with Savage finishing off MUTT's work on Natalie's latest cuts. Said robot had returned to one of the computers, sparks flying from the cables. He tried tapping the keyboard, but more sparks flew up, forcing him back.
"Whatever the true nature of this staff was, it appears similar enough to have interfered with the devices within the Den," MUTT responded, leaning around the computer and forcefully removing the cable. Sparks flew like water, and MUTT casually toss the cable to the ground.
"EMP blast," Tyler translated, sitting across from the den, thick bandages wrapped around his chest and over his shoulder. Shirt had been torn to shreds at some stage, so he knew he had to grab some more somewhere. "Most of that shit's gotta be fried."
"Significant damage has been dealt to the equipment, but it is repairable. I just need time," MUTT commented, crouching down and shoving one of the computers aside, revealing a previously hidden cupboard. The doors were opened, revealing multiple replacement parts, mostly computer and wires, but some appeared to look more like limbs.
As MUTT began fitting together the replacements, Savage cut the stitching wire and gestured that Natalie was done. "That is not the only concern," He stated, tossing the rest of the stitching thread into what MUTT had designated the 'medical supplies'. He left a few seconds for the teens to turn to him, before continued, "When that staff activated itself, not only did MUTT's equipment get damaged, but the majority of your human's technology. We were using that to have an advantage for any territory intruders."
"So basically we're blind until MUTT can get the tech here back online?" Tanya questioned, managing to get herself to her feet and slowly limped over towards Isaac. He had demorphed with the rest of them, but had been strangely quiet throughout their time here. Tanya sat down beside Isaac, one hand gently resting on his knee, giving it a slight squeeze. Across the room, Tyler watched the pair - no words were shared between the pair, but Tyler knew they must understand one another. They'd been here far longer than he had, and judging by their closeness, they knew each other well, lacking a better word.
"That is the essence of what the current situation is," Savage answered, arms folded as he paced back and forth. He came to a brief stop before MUTT, attempting to take interest in what was going on, but that quickly ended.
"What do we do now then?" Natalie asked, propping herself up on an unoccupied space on the nearest table. Her legs swung slightly, her sleeveless arms revealing the number of bruises and cuts, new and old.
"Nothing you can do right now. Rest. Tomorrow, I will begin training to our newest Beta Warrior," Savage replied, glancing to Tyler briefly before widening his range to the rest of the Warriors.
"Fucking hell, being told to rest? Sure Savage wasn't effected by that staff?" Kyle asked, sarcasm hanging heavy as he got up, smirking widely as he headed through to the barracks area.
"He must have been," Natalie agreed, smirking as she caught on with Kyle's sense of humor. Her smirk only widened at Savage's low growl, and quickly disappeared after Kyle, towards her room.
Tanya and Isaac were the next to leave, the former having to use a bit more persuasion to get the latter up and through the door. Leaving Tyler as the last human presence, his darkened skin standing out all the more than the others' did against the pale walls. A small plaster applied to the side of his head, accompanied by a bit of dried blood just above his eyebrow, and another patch above his lip. All he could smell was blood, with what smelled like old dog fur in the background.
"We will get your body accustomed to Instinct, so until then, it will take longer than the others' to be healed," Savage suddenly said, starting Tyler from his thoughts. He brought his gaze up on the Wolf man, and felt an involuntary shiver run up and down his spine.
"OK, seriously dude, you're gonna need to warn me or something, I'm not used to shit like this. You're lucky I'm as open-minded as I've been," Tyler commented, getting up quickly, almost knocking over the chair in his haste. He carefully walked around Savage's looming form, mindful to keep facing him at all times.
"We can agree on one thing right now," Savage commented as Tyler worked around, and almost reached the door. He paused, turning partially around to listen to what Savage had to say. "You're not used to this. But you will need to be, for what is to come, you need to be far more.. open-minded."
Not sure whether to see the Wolf man's words as a warning or a threat, Tyler chose not to reply entirely, and quietly left, doors sliding shut behind him.
"What is the.. situation? Have you found out what I sent you to find?" Master Horror queried, sat atop his throne, one set of fingers rhythmically tapping the forehead of one of the Skull arm rests. Before him, Batibat and Death stood shoulder-to-shoulder, arms clasped behind their backs and gaze focused downward, neither daring to look up to their Master directly.
"W... We, um…" Batibat began, finding her throat going suddenly dry. "We found the.. information you requested of us, but we discovered something slightly, slightly, more.. of immediate concern," she explained, the last few words coming out as a verbal avalanche.
Horror's rhythmic tapping paused briefly, spiking fear in the Warlords before him. He could hear the fists clenching in alarm, and relaxing ever so slightly when the tap-tap-tap-tap returned. But he saw the subtle changes to their stances when he spoke next, "The Beta Warrior.. the armour lives through another."
"Y... You know, Master?" Batibat questioned, her fingers flexing anxiously behind her back.
"Not much goes on in this World without my knowledge," The Master's growl-like tone responded, a bit of a bite to his words. "I knew of this.. new Beta Warrior, but he is not of my main concern. He will not be battle ready for some time. No, no.. my main concern now is this - what are the status of the Pillars?"
"We have located five Pillars, Master, with the assistance of the Nightbringer. However, the sixth Pillar.. appears to have been destroyed. Human interference, most likely," Death answered, his hooded face, making emotions, if he had any, unreadable.
Horror grunted, a low graveling noise, as he replied, "Five shall do... It is a mere annoyance at the loss of one. Human curiosity will be the death of them. Now, the next stage shall begin." The tapping stopped again, and both sets of hands gripped the skull arm rests, rising to his feet. His robes draped around his semi-skeletal form, bone fingers clasping one another behind his back. Immediately, Batibat and Death dropped to their knees, bowing before their Master.
"The Pillars must be activated. The preparations must be readied, and then... Oktrix's Fall will truly.. begin!"
"Anything yet?"
"Nothing that seems of significance, unless you think that linking together they're similar taste of fast foods and junk food will yield some results…"
"I don't want jokes, Fredrick. Give me results soon, or you're going to be seeing yourself dropping ranks like you wouldn't believe," E warned, slipping the latest file back into its respective cabinet and slammed it close. Probably with a bit more force than he should have used, but it proved a point.
The D-13 solider, still dressed in solider garb and with the bulletproof vest set to one side for now, carefully fingering through files and papers, all labelled with the tab'Prescot, T.'.
"What are you expecting to find here, exactly? You really think you're going to find something that connects him with this Hardy kid? I mean, all we've get so far is that they were friends since the fifth grade. But aside from that, do we have any evidence, at all, that suggests they met, knowing that Hardy was the Blue Wolf Ranger?" Fredrick questioned, closing the last cabinet of the tower and moving onto the next one.
"No, but that's because we haven't found that evidence yet," E responded sharply, picking out every piece of paper he came across and examined it closely. Word by word, sentence by sentence, E went through it all.
"Sir!" A new voice said, bursting through the tent flaps, it was one of the guards stationed outside, securing the information tent. "We've got an update from back at base. They've restored comms and are working on everything else."
"How long before we can get an idea on what the hell kind of EMP that was?" E asked, leaving the latest drawer open, files separated where he was looking.
"Dr. Fairweather said she wasn't sure; that she'll get a rough idea when her equipment is back online," The soldier reported.
E nodded slowly, though his expression hid what was truly going on behind his eyes. "Very good. Report back to me with any updates," He ordered.
"Sir!" The soldier replied, saluting sharply and swiftly turned, walking out of the tent.
"That must've been the Tsar Bomb equivalent of an EMP, half the countries gotta be effected by it. How the hell are we gonna explain this one, E?" Fredrick asked, only partially paying attention to the files he was going through.
"Should be relatively easy, in the grand scheme - malfunction at suppliers, terrorist attacks... Hell, play our cards right and we could see the fall of a Dictatorship in the next few years," E responded nonchalantly.
Fredrick paused entirely at that statement, turning around to face E entirely, leaning over the table between them, papers and files of interest scattered across. He was still amazed as to how calm E had been at his own suggestion. "Are you telling me you'd be willing to let this country go to war just to cover up this? Are you fucking insane, Elijah?!"
"What have I said about using my name?" E asked sharply, slamming the drawer he had been looking through close, nothing of interest there. He stepped towards Fredrick, leaning over his side of the table, hands spreading the files apart, revealing numerous documentations and files. "You don't use it. Clear?"
Fredrick held E's glare for a moment, only faltering when, through grit teeth, he said, "Crystal."
E nodded stiffly, before a smirk twitched the corner of his stone-like features. "Besides, you know the people of this country. They'll find it much easier to believe a terrorist attack, than anything else. That's what makes everything easier - their willingness, to accept.. reasonable situations."
~Epilogue~
"Sire?" A robotic voice questioned, raising its fingers from the holographic keyboard he had been working on. A small red flash came from the screen in front of him, halting his tracking. "There has been an.. update with our Salvac operative, in Sector Zeta-One."
The answer took a few seconds to come, another figure standing at a large window, hands clasped behind his back. "What is this update?" The other figure asked, authority stitched between his every word.
The cybernetic voice's owner turned back to the screen he had been facing, and tapped a few touchscreen keys. The screen changed, listing information in a strange language. Luckily, the reader could understand.
"Operative Salvac has…been destroyed. He has…failed to acquire the Energy trace from Sector Sigma-Twelve," He replied eventually, turning back to the other in the room.
The other figure turned back to look through the windows, into the darkness of space; only faint traces of light coming from the distant stars, much too far away to be usable sources of light. Instead, lights illuminated the figure from above the window. A heavy exhale was the initial response, no words coming until later. "The Salvac operative was.. designed to be a persistent soldier. I would be right in saying the most likely cause of his demise would be battle. However, his death has proven a theory I had."
"What would that be, sire?"
"That the Planet Earth has a new group of defenders, a new group of... Power Rangers," The figure said, slowly stepping away from the current window and walked across the bridge, the faintest limp to his step, with a heavier thud coming up every second step. He passed consoles and control panels, some old-style and some the latest technology. He came to a stop by another window, his back still to the robotic voice.
"I may have to.. think more about my approach," He stated, hands slowly coming behind his back again. "I should not have assumed it would be like walking through the navy fields of Eatii-Ki. However, I do like a.. challenge. Wouldn't you agree, Sebastian?"
"Yes sire. You do like missions that expand your knowledge and understand of cultures," Sebastian answered, turning back to his monitor briefly. "We are now entering the system, Sire."
"Good…" The figure replied, turning slightly with the window, coming to a stop when his eyes landed on what he had expected to find. "The orbit-trackers are as accurate as ever, it seems; the Kuiper Belt, I believe," He commented, eyes watching the distant rounded bodies of rocks and ice. "Rise the deflector shields, it would be a.. great pity to get struck so close."
"At once Sire," Sebastian replied, tapping a few more keys and moved some dials and sliders.
"Soon, the Decimator of the 12th Dillune Province will be contained."
Aaaaaand...there's the rest of the chapter. Wanna give a big shoutout to my Beta, Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley, for going over all the parts for me; not sure what I'd do without them.
Hope you guys enjoy this story so far, so please R&R!
Nf991