A/N: Now, some of you may have noticed a re-occurring typo throughout the series... I keep misspelling Bilgewater and Bligewater. While I am doing my best to catch myself from making this error, its still bound to slip through since (for a long time) I was SO convinced that it was spelt Bligewater and not Bilgewater. So if you keep seeing this typo, try to ignore it... I'm doing my best here, but trying to spot every little typo in Word docs that are over 10k words long is rather difficult and very tedious, so please bear with me.
Parting
The Placidium, Ionia
"Before you leave Archangel..." Irelia spoke out to Isaac as he was on his way out of her office.
"Hmm?" Isaac asked. What else could she want?
"I want you to take a look at this." The greyish-bluish haired woman reached into her desk and withdrew a small, plain looking chest, placing on her desk and pushing it to the edge opposite of her.
"What's in that?" He heard Mute ask.
One way to find out... Isaac turned away from the door and walked back to the captain of the guard's desk. He cautiously reached for the chest and noticed it was locked.
"Here." Irelia reached out her open hand to him, with a small key in her palm. Isaac nodded, took the key, and inserted it into the chest.
It's not very big... I REALLY hope there isn't some sort of bomb in here or something that would just ruin my day...
He turned the key, and the chest popped open, revealing an object inside that made the hairs the back of Isaac's neck go stiff.
Inside the chest, was a sleek, black handgun that he instantly recognized.
It's a...
"That is definitely a Gen-Seven Glock." Mute announced as if reading his mind. Her face appeared in its usual spot in his HUD. "A model sixty-eight, to be exact."
Isaac reached into the chest and picked the handgun up, a bit more carefully then he normally would. How the hell did Irelia get this?!
"Do you recognize it?" Irelia asked. "It bears resemblance to a gun, but its far more compact, smaller, and advanced then any gun I've ever seen."
Right, she can't hear Mute...
"Yeah..." Isaac replied. He held the gun at waist height and slowly gripped it with both hands, keeping it pointed down at the chest as he inspected the weapon. It's loaded, and the safety is off... He corrected the latter so that it wasn't so dangerous. "It's called a generation seven Glock sixty-eight... there standard issue in TRANS-ops..."
Irelia raised an eyebrow. "I... don't exactly understand..."
"It means everyone who fights in the same unit I do has one." Or had one... they took mine away when they captured me at the Institute... "And yes, it's a gun." And if you thought THIS handgun is more advanced than any gun you've ever seen... then wait till you see what kind of guns the Ascension has in their arsenal...
Irelia made an "ah" sound in response to Isaac's answer.
Isaac turned the gun over in his hands, and quickly spotted something scratched into the side of the gun's grip. It was somewhat faded, so he had to bring the gun a bit closer to his face to make it out.
"It's... also what lead us to believe that you were connected somehow, since the design of the gun seemed so beyond us, and you wear armor that is so beyond anything in our world, we thought the two of you might be connected somehow." Irelia explained to him.
That explains what Akali meant by "evidence" then... Oh no... Isaac thought when he was able to recognize what it was that was scratched into the side.
It was a mini and somewhat poorly drawn jackhammer...
"Annnd..." Mute began, "I think we just found the gun's owner..."
"Yes..." Isaac mumbled, "Yes we did..." Its Jackhammer's...
"What is it?" Irelia asked, tilting her head to the side. "Do you see something?"
"Yeah..." Isaac leaned over the captain's desk and pointed at the scratched jackhammer on the side of the gun. "You see this?"
Irelia leaned over as well, making Isaac slightly cautious of the fact that her head was very close to his. She squinted at symbol Isaac was pointing at for a few seconds before nodding.
"It's called a jackhammer, the picture I mean. A very poorly drawn jackhammer..."
"What's a jackhammer?"
"That's... not really important." Isaac sighed. "All you need to know is that I know a certain someone who likes to scratch this picture into all his guns and weapons." Isaac leaned back and returned to his normal posture. "We call him, well, Jackhammer."
Irelia expression changed to one that Isaac guessed was close to her being unamused. "Well... I suppose that makes sense... but... what about it? Who is this... Jackhammer?"
"He's one of my squadmates; he might've come over here with me. Where did you find this?"
"At the..." Irelia's eyes fell for a moment before returning to lock onto Isaac's (or where he guessed she thought they would be behind his visor), "A destroyed village in the Havori province, not too far from here. The forces of a man named Zed had set the village ablaze. This..." Irelia motioned to the gun in Isaac's hands. "Glock as you call it, was found at the site."
Isaac poured over the information in his mind. Hmm... that... just leaves me with more questions then I got answers...
Isaac's eyes went from Irelia, to the gun, and then to Mute, who had her eyes closed with a hand on her chin as if she was deep in thought.
Not like she has to think for long... she processes information around a hundred times faster than I can...
"Who is this... Zed?" Isaac asked the captain. The name meant nothing to him.
"He is a former ninja from the same allegiance that Akali fights for... that was until he fell to forbidden arts and his own ambition." Irelia's voice carried a good level of disgust to it. "Now he seems to fancy himself a ninja lord, and has been raising a new army of ninjas who oppose the balance in Ionia."
So he's basically the bad guy here on this island...Isaac mulled that over.
"So basically..." Mute started to speak, "The bad ninjas just happened to attack a village and destroy it, and the only thing left behind was Jackhammer's handgun..." His AI companion shook her head. "That seems a bit fishy."
"Do you think they captured Jackhammer?"
"It's a possibility... but we don't know if Jackhammer was actually there, we didn't see him get sucked into the wormhole we came through. For all we know, maybe only his gun was sucked in and he's still on Earth."
Isaac rolled his eyes. "That seems even more far-fetched."
Mute shrugged. "True, but I'm just saying... it is a slight possibility... but you are right, it's more likely that he IS on Valoran."
"Then why are you arguing with me?"
Mute blinked, and then her face broke out into her snarky grin. "Because it's fun."
"Umm..." Irelia interrupted their conversation. "Who are you talking to?"
Oh... right... Isaac looked back at the confused looking woman. "Uh..." He began.
"Is that that... thing, what was it called..." Irelia furrowed her brow as she tried to recall something. "Malt?"
On cue, Mute's glowing blue avatar appeared next to Isaac's head, out in the open. "The name is Mute, not Malt." She answered with a slight tone of annoyance.
To Irelia's credit, she didn't seemed shocked when Mute appeared, unlike most people on Valoran to date. Guess she's seen weirder stuff...
"Ah, my apologizes Miss Mute." Irelia nodded to her. "My name is Irelia, I'm sorry if I offended you."
Mute chuckled. "Well, with manners like that, its hard for me to be offended."
Isaac rolled his eyes. Typical of her...
"We didn't mean to keep our talks a secret from you," Mute continued, "We were just going over the possibilities of what may have happened to our comrade Jackhammer. Do you believe that this Zed character may have taken him prisoner?"
Irelia shrugged slightly. "I'm not sure to be honest. The attack happened a few days after your League debut, so Zed would've known that at least one new outworlder were present on Valoran. Do you and Jackhammer bare any resemblance?"
"He's at least two feet taller then me, and his helmet has a smaller visor." Isaac tapped the dark glass that hid his eyes. "Aside from that, unless his armor has taken a lot of damage, we should appear nearly identical... but that's only if he's wearing his suit. Out of his armor, he's a tall, well built man with black skin and a wide white smile." Isaac looked Irelia up and down, "And seeing how I haven't seen a single black man or someone that's over seven feet tall on this island since we arrived, I imagine he would stand out if he wasn't in his armor."
Irelia nodded. "I see. But..." She rested one of her elbows in her opposite hand before continuing, "If he has the same armor as you, then it is likely that anyone would've made the connection between you and him after your League match was shown worldwide."
Great...
"I'll make sure that all my troops know to look out for your comrade, as well as notify Kinkou Order of this development. After all, they are the ones who found that gun."
Isaac tilted his head to the side in mild confusion. "The Kinkou Order..?"
"It's the ninja clan that Akali is part of... they were the only ninja clan still around with their headquarters located on Ionia's northwestern island..." Irelia's expression turned sour. "Until they were betrayed by Zed, who created the Order of the Shadow and seized the Kinkou Monastery as his own place of power."
Ninja wars... great... this is just what we needed to be involved in... Isaac thought sarcastically.
"And this Order of the Shadow are the ones that attacked that village and MIGHT have taken Jackhammer prisoner?" Mute asked.
"Yes... but don't worry, if he managed to escape, we'll do our best to locate him and bring him here for safety." Irelia turned her head to glance out the window out at the rest of the Placidium. "The Placidium and the capital city of Ionia are two of the last remaining locations on the island that are truly safe with everything that has been happening..." She said. Isaac could easily here the sorrow in her voice.
Being Ionia's captain of the guard, I'll be she feels responsible for it all... Isaac thought. He understood that feeling all too well...
Kasumi... Isabella...
...
...
No, now is not the time to think of such things...
An eerie silence fell over the room. Mute glanced from Isaac to Irelia and back again before sighing. "Oh for the love of... you two..."
"Huh?" Isaac asked and looked at his companion who was still hovering next to his head.
"What?" Irelia blinked and looked back at the AI.
Mute pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed again. "And here I was hoping Archangel was the only one who got caught up feeling guilty about things beyond his control..."
Hey now...Isaac felt himself tense up slightly at that remark. That stings a bit you know...
Irelia furrowed her brow in question. "What do you mean?"
Mute shook her head. "Oh it's nothing... nothing..." She said before vanishing from the air. Her answer did little to clear up the confused look on Irelia though.
"Ahem." Isaac cleared his throat, eager to get off the subject. "Is there anything else you need from me, or am I free to go now?"
Irelia's expression quickly returned to a natural face. "Of course, you must be back on your way to Bilgewater, correct?"
"Yeah... wait, how did you know that?"
"I have to be well informed." Irelia stated as she sat back down at her desk. "It comes with my job."
... Why is it that when it comes to me, everyone I meet seems to be well informed... but when it comes me trying to get information about the Ascension, no one knows shit?
"Since I am responsible for your... detour..." Irelia reached into her desk and produced another piece of paper. She elegantly picked up a quill out of a jar of ink and put it to the paper. "It is my responsibility to see you to your destination."
"Well, isn't that rather nice of her?" Mute remarked in Isaac's helmet.
"Uh... thanks... but what do you mean?" Isaac double checked to make sure the safety was on Jackhammer's handgun, and gave the gun one last look over in his hands.
"Take this paper to the barracks at the Navori Seahaven. It's the largest port in the southern provinces and southeast of the capital city." Irelia explained as she swiftly, yet elegantly, wrote on the paper in a foreign language Isaac didn't understand. "The troops there will grant you safe passage aboard one of our vessels to Bilgewater, along with a small escort of elite troops."
"Uhh..." Isaac nervously chuckled at the thought of having to spend more time with Ionian soldiers. "Thanks, but... things... didn't go so well with the last back of Ionian troops who accompanied us."
"Oh?" Irelia's eyebrows rose slightly at hearing that, but she didn't look away from what she was writing. "A pity, but regardless, these soldiers will be under your command."
Wait what?
"Wait, what?" Isaac reared his head back slightly. He was completely taken off guard at that part.
"Well, they will follow your orders within reason of course, but I assume you, these troops won't give you any problem." Irelia stopped writing, looked over the paper, nodded to herself as if satisfied, and returned the quill to the jar of ink. Afterwards, she picked up some sort of stamp and set it to the paper. "But... just to make your life easier..." She began as she folded the paper up and set it inside an envelope. "You might want to keep them and Jinx separated." She said with a tiny smile as she sealed the envelope and handed it to Isaac.
"Yeah..." Isaac took the envelope and nodded. "That would probably save me the headache." He said as he looked over the envelope. It was decorated with pictures of flowers and the Ionia symbol in the center. Seems like a royal decree or something like that...
"Well, I won't keep you any longer." Irelia paused to bow her head, and raised it before finishing. "Thank you seeing me Archangel."
"Your... welcome..." Isaac managed to get out. He was not used to being thanked. "And... thanks..." He returned the thank you, waving the envelope lightly.
A small smile spread across the woman's lips. "Anytime."
Falling Influence
The Institute of War
Kasubel yawned as he made his way to his office. It was early in the morning and he hadn't been sleeping well with all the stress from his job. It had been a few days since he had set Archangel and Vega off to Bilgewater. They must be arriving there shortly... He thought as he took a sip from his tea. Upon reaching the door to his office, he unlocked it, and entered, still mulling over what the possibilities of his investigators running into more of this Ascension in Bilgewater. Unless of course their ship was intercepted on the way... I dear hope that was not the case.
As he entered his office and locked the behind him, he noticed a letter on the floor near the stand where his summoner's orb was resting. That wasn't there last night... Kasubel frowned, wandered over to the letter and picked it up. As he brought it up to his face to read it, he took another sip from his tea.
Its another letter from Vega... He must have sent it during the night... Kasubel thought as he took to his desk and seated himself, ready to face another hard day's work.
Or, more like bracing himself for another hard day's work.
He opened the letter with the letter opener and unfolded the paper within.
To the Minister of Valoran Security,
We have just left the port of Navori Seahaven and are en-route to Bilgewater, along with a small detachment of Ionian soldiers assigned to assist us by Captain of the Guard Irelia.
Our delay in leaving Ionia was due to Ionian interference. Shortly after receiving your orders, we were set upon by a contingent of Ionian cavalry (who were assisted by champion Akali) who demanded to take Archangel to Irelia. The soldiers refused League authority over the matter and we were forced to accompany them to the Placidium to avoid bloodshed.
After spending the night at the Placidium we departed for Navori and arrived the next day. As stated before, we are now back on track and on the way Bilgewater. We should reach the city of Bilgewater in seven to nine days based on our luck with the wind.
Upon reaching the city, we will seek out Miss Fortune and have her bring us up to speed on the status of the missing ships. However, please be advised that we have discovered that naval combat is NOT Archangel's specialty due to the weight of his armor (he claims he is rather uneasy spending so much time aboard a ship made of wood in the open ocean). Perhaps we should inquire about ship construction from his world to better our own vessels.
Junior Summoner Vega Tiarl of Avarosa
PS. I've learned to write these reports while Jinx is asleep so I don't have to keep redoing them.
Kasubel set the letter back down once he finished reading it. He was troubled by the fact that the Ionians had delayed his team, and even more so by the fact that they had ignored the Institute's authority in the matter.
Are we truly so out of favor with the rest of the world these days?
Kasubel sighed. He was not pleased with that one bit. He glanced down at the letter, frowned, and proceeded to place it in his desk. I really don't think now is the time to inquire about naval construction techniques...
After putting the letter away, he reached for the stack of papers he had set aside last night. Today, he was going to resume looking though all his reports to try and uncover what he could about the Ascension. Maybe there was something somewhere hidden in one of these reports that he could make use of?
As he opened the first report before him, his summoner's orb came to life.
I'm being contacted... Kasubel dropped the report back on his desk and rose to move to his orb, but before he was able to walk towards it, another letter emerged from his orb and fell to the floor.
Another letter... He sighed. It was easier to talk to someone, why was he getting so many letters these days?
He made his way over and reached down to pick up the letter. I really ought to get a larger stand for that orb... so I don't have to worry about injuring my back bending down to pick up letters off the floor every time...
As he returned to his desk, looked over the sender of this particular letter.
It's from Piltover...
Kasubel opened the letter, sat at his desk, and proceeded to read.
Dear Minister of Valoran Security,
I understand your concerns about the recruitment of the outworlder named Firewall into the Piltover police, but I assure you that this was done out of the city's best intentions. As I have received firsthand experience in fighting the Ascension, I have deduced that Piltover is ill-equipped to fight such a threat. While other city-states such as Demacia and Noxus have numerous armies and a wide assortment of mages and summoner's at their disposal, Piltover has only a militia and police force to defend it from foreign threats.
To further my point in this matter, I have sent a report to the Piltover city council on recent events and a request to bolster our militia forces in the event of an Ascension invasion, and to grant Firewall citizenship. Firewall is already scheduled to brief the council on the Ascension's strength since he has the most experience in dealing with them, and the council is already in the process of granting him citizenship.
If you still wish to dispute this, then I would advise you take it up with the council. Be I would advise against such a thing as Firewall may prove to be a major asset in ensuring Piltover's safety against this otherworldly threat, and the city council is already nervous enough as it is.
In summary... your request to have Firewall be transferred and restricted to the Institute of War has been denied.
My apologizes,
Caitlyn, Sheriff of Piltover
PS. Please inform Archangel that I am well aware of his hand in releasing Jinx. While I understand that he may have his own reasons for such things, I disapprove of his actions. However, as long as Jinx remains out of the city I will not press any charges or a bounty. If Jinx does return to Piltover to cause havoc please inform Archangel that I will have a cell prepared for him right next to the one prepared for that lunatic.
Setting the letter down on his desk, Kasubel shook his head and planted his head firmly in his hands. Of course, Piltover wasn't going to listen to him either.
The Institute of War was created to ensure the world's security, and I AM the bloodily minster of security... yet it appears my word has no weight anywhere...
Two different letters denying the League it's power in two different locations. It truly did appear that the Institute of War was losing its influence.
Ever since that conspiracy theory that the Institute had something to do with the outbreak of hostiles in Kalamdra, our influence has slowly dropped. And then, when people started going missing and we couldn't provide any answers, our influence and faith plummeted.
How was he supposed to do his job of ensuring the world's safety, if the more well know people in the League of Legends wouldn't listen to him?
Kasubel sighed. He had hoped to bring Firewall to the Institute and bring him before the grand council. It was likely they would've tried to make him a champion too but that was of no concern to Kasubel. He could've learned more about the Ascension from him.
And Archangel is hundreds of miles away on boat... Sure he could request that Vega have Archangel write him a report on the strengths of the Ascension but...
Wait...
Why couldn't he just do that?
Kasubel let out another sigh at that realization. I really DO need a vacation... I'm so focused on other issues that I'm forgetting the things in front of me...
He better send him that request today.
No, I better do it now... rather than later before I forget again... Kasubel thought as he reached for a new piece of paper and began to write back to Vega. I suppose I can mention to him that he MIGHT get arrested if he happens to visit Piltover again...
Normally, if a champion got in trouble somewhere, the League could deal with the matter without having the champion spend the rest of their life in jail...
But with our current non-existent influence, I'll bet we couldn't even do that right now...
How were they going to face a worldwide threat when they were all so divided?
Flashbacks
The Guardian's Sea
"YOU ABBANDONED ME!"
Isaac bolted upright out of bed, panted and gleaming with sweat. As he quickly rose up, he smashed his forehead on something right above his head, causing him to clench his teeth and curse, trying his hardest not to shout in pain.
Fuck!
He laid back down and rubbed his forehead with both hands, trying to avoid getting up now that he was disoriented something fierce.
"Well, that's an unfortunate way to wake up." Mute's avatar appeared in the air next to him. Even though his vision was a little blurry, he could tell she was suppressing a laugh.
Isaac opened his eyes and glared at her snarky image. He lashed out with one arm and took a swipe at his AI, but, since she was just a hologram, his arm passed right through her, simply making her image fuzzy before reforming itself.
Mute put her hands on her hips and clearly looked unimpressed. "What the hell is your problem?"
Isaac simply growled, closed his eyes, and resumed rubbing his throbbing forehead. He was NOT in the mood for this crap. Not right after a nightmare, and especially not right after smashing his head on god-knows what.
Hang on... what DID I just hit my head on, I hardly moved!
He opened his eyes and waited for his vision to return to normal. After a minute, he could make out what he had hit.
A wooden plank... He looked around and remembered where he was. Never mind, it wasn't a plank, it was the deck of a ship...
He was lying in the top bunk under the deck of the ship they were sailing on.
That's right, were on our way to Bilgewater. How could he forget? They had already been on the ship for a week now and they should be reaching the port today.
Has it already been a week? If it weren't for counting how many times the sun goes up and comes down, you could easily lose track of time out here in the ocean.
Isaac looked around the berth deck and noticed that he was the only one of two people inside. The other, was Ezreal, who was still fast asleep.
"Did you have another one?" Mute asked, her earlier anger seemingly gone.
"Yeah..." Isaac mumbled. "Don't want to talk about it right now, I've got a headache."
"Well, given how hard you hit your head I would've been more concerned if you DIDN'T get a headache."
Isaac shook his head lightly and rolled out of his bed, his bare feet touching the cool wooden floor. He had slept only wearing his under-suit. Out in the ocean, he wasn't as worried about some sniper shooting him while sleeping. In fact, it was probably safer for him to sleep naked then it was for him to sleep armored while out to sea.
The only dangers here are pirates and Ascension subs and aircraft. If its pirates, we'll see them coming a mile away and I'll have time to armor up, but if it's an Ascension submarine or something and they blow us to bits, it's safer for me NOT to be armored so I don't sink to the bottom of the ocean.
That being said, Isaac didn't really want to find out the hard way if this world had some sort of sea monsters in it. And judging by some of the creatures he had seen in the Institute of War like Renekton and Nocturne, he wouldn't be surprised if there was.
Isaac sighed as he massaged his temple and reached down to pick up parts of his armor to wear from the heap he had left it in beside his bed. He was only going to wear the lightest pieces so that he wouldn't feel completely vulnerable outside.
Call me paranoid... but I've seen plenty of soldiers die or lose limbs simply because they weren't wearing their armor...
After attaching only a few pieces to his arms and his shins, Isaac decided that was enough weight and reached under the rest of his suit, taking a second to place his helmet on his bed, and checked his weapons.
He had woken up one night on their vogue across the sea to see Jinx rummaging through his stuff. He had to spend the next twenty minutes chasing her across the deck of the ship while she ran around wearing his helmet and shouting nonsense.
And that was after the day I woke up to find her playing with Jackhammer's pistol...
Isaac let out a sigh. He really didn't know WHAT he was thinking when he invited that lunatic along... but in some sense, her carefree attitude was refreshing from all the doom and gloom that he had spent most of his life around.
Even if there were at time, really annoying.
Mute of course had gotten a real kick out of the two of us wresting on the floor over Jackhammer's gun... thank god it was unloaded.
Of course, Mute hadn't found it very funny when Jinx had stolen his helmet and was wearing it... since in his helmet was where her AIX chip was stored; after he had FINNALY gotten it back, Mute acted like she had just had several years of her life shaved off.
Isaac found his four swords and reached for the hilt of one of them. Drawing the blade, he brought it to his scared face to examine it. Yep, going to need to shave... He nodded, bringing up a hand to feel his slowly growing facial hair. He lowered the blade and pulled out one of his few remaining throwing knives. He sat down on the bunk underneath his bed and put the blade to his chin, carefully shaving off his nine day old beard; watching is progress in his reflection of his sword.
The glow from Mute's avatar faded, as she returned to his helmet, and Isaac was left alone to shave, the only sounds that could be heard in the deck were that of his knife working carefully against his skin and that of the waves.
After he finished his chin and moved on to the side of his face, Isaac suddenly remembered something during his conversation with Irelia.
"Hey Mute..." He asked, his tone somewhat hushed so that he didn't wake Ezreal up a few bunks down.
"Hmm?" Mute responded, her avatar appearing in front of him. She took a somewhat girly stance with her head tilted to her side and her hands on her hips. "What's up?"
"There was something you said back when we met with Irelia..."
"Oh? But that was a over a week ago... so if you're just remembering it now, then it probably wasn't something all that important."
"Maybe not..." Isaac replied as he adjusted himself slightly to get a better look at the side of his face his was trimming. "But you did say that when you scanned Irelia that you noticed something strange..."
Mute raised an eyebrow in question before she raised the other one in realization. "Oh that's right, I did. Yes... I was just about to explain it when she had started talking to you."
"Yeah, that." Isaac had to prevent himself from nodding so that he wouldn't accidently nick himself with the knife he was using to shave.
Mute brought her hand to her mouth to clear her throat (even though she was an AI). "Well, when I scanned her she seemed pretty normal for someone from this world, but there was a slight... difference... well. Ok, two differences. Did you notice that orb on that other desk?"
"Yeah... although I didn't pay it much mind."
"Well you should've..."
"Huh?" Isaac furrowed his brow in confusion. "Why? Should've I have paid more mind to herself as a person?"
"Well, yeah, but she and that orb... I dunno, there was some kind of connection... one had some kind of resemblance to that of a telepathic connection between... or more like a connection similar to one a telekinetic and an object that he or she was about to throw would have..."
"So Irelia is some kind of telekinetic?"
"No..." Mute shook her head. "Like I said it was similar to that kind of connection, but not identical. It... oh, how should I put it... it was like she and that orb were connected together by some sort of link, one that a Manipulator might have with..."
Mute stopped. Her eyes shooting open at some sudden realization. "Wait, that's it!"
"What?" Isaac was even more confused now.
"You remember that Ascension Beta named Flammenschwert?"
Isaac paused for a second. Flammenschwert?
It took him a second, but it didn't take long for him to recall the identity of the man with that name. Of course, having such a long ass name its hard to forget him... that, and I met him when we were just kids in Halcyon's meta-human experiments.
Albrecht Wolfgang, aka, Flammenschwert, was a meta-human just Isaac. And just like Isaac, he was also in the second batch of meta-humans, also known as Betas, so they had all been... "recruited" and trained at the same time by the Halcyon corporation; just like the majority of his outfit.
Albrecht's meta-human power was controlling obsidian, so that made him slightly under that of a telekinetic since he could only manipulate one kind of physical object; it could be anything, but it had to be made off obsidian. The only difference between him and a standard telekinetic aside from that fault, was that unlike telekinetics who (for the most part) couldn't make their object in question perform any complicated manoeuvres, Albrecht was able to have obsidian move around however he pleased. However, unlike Isaac who could turn dark matter into whatever form he could think of, Albrecht wasn't about to bend or manipulate obsidian aside from moving it. And unlike Isaac's case, where dark matter could be sucked out of the air since traces of it was everywhere; Albrecht couldn't produce obsidian out of nowhere.
As a result of these faults, he wasn't treated very well by Halcyon (which isn't saying much since the Halcyon Corporation treated every single one of them like experiments... which they technically were). After the Corporation's sins came to light, Albrecht, like so many other on-the-run meta humans fleeing being discovered, was recruited by the then unknown Ascension. And like nearly every other Meta they had approached in that time frame, he had accepted without condition.
Albrecht, using the Ascension's massive resource network, managed to get his hand on a large quantity of obsidian and somehow forge it into several two-handed blades called flammenschwerts. He took that name as his own, like every meta-human had taken an alias of some sort, and turned from some second class Meta, to someone who was feared on the battlefield during the Ascension War. Using his swords, Flammenschwert would simply run (or walk) through the chaotic battles and would hardly raise a finger. Instead, several of those damn swords made of obsidian would fly around him, cutting anyone around him down, be it soldier or civilian, as he ran past them. And every time one of his swords would break, a new one would appear behind him out of the pack he carried on his back.
To make it even worse, the Ascension had outfitted him with a suit of armor with shields and an even stronger composition then the suit Isaac was currently wearing. On top of that the mystery composition was lighter then the stuff used to make the TRANS-Ops suits, so Flammenschwert was able to sprint around the battlefield as if he was only wearing a track suit.
It was because of the terror and shock of having to face superhuman like Flammenschwert on the battlefield, who shouldn't have existed in anything but comic books, that lead to the formation of TRANS-Ops to bring all the remaining Alphas and Betas still alive who HADN'T sided with the Ascension to counter the new threat.
As Isaac fell farther and farther down memory lane... he remembered a certain day during the war where he had faced Flammenschwert...
...
...
...
Doha, Qatar
Four years ago
The fifth month of the Ascension War
"Shit!" Isaac cursed out loud as the wall of the ruined building he was hiding behind took fire from a machine gun.
"What was that Archangel?" He heard a female's voice echo in his helmet's COM system.
"Nothing Oracle, I'm just not having a good time here." Isaac replied with a snarl. Not that anyone could see it under his helmet.
"Its war son!" He heard Blitzkrieg chime in.
"And it's awesome!" Jackhammer also joined in, adding a big "Wahoo!" to the end of it. Isaac looked to the side over to Jackhammer's position behind a destroyed home on the other side of the street they were fighting on, and flipped him the middle finger.
Not that Jackhammer saw it, instead, the taller, armor clad man jumped out from behind his cover and started shooting his machine gun at full auto at the unseen enemy.
"COME GET SOME BABY!" He shouted as the sound of fully automatic fire filled the air, adding to the sounds of explosions and gunfire that came from the battle that waged all around him.
Of course, it only got louder when the bullets from Jackhammer's gun hit the position the position several Iranian soldiers were hiding behind. Rather than just punch holes in the hastily built barricade, the rounds from Jackhammer's machine gun exploded on impact, and within seconds, the barricade was reduced to a pile of burning trash.
Right... one of Jackhammer's powers...
Jackhammer had the ability to "amplify" bullets. Or was it the gunpowder? Isaac couldn't exactly remember. Either way, Jackhammer could turn bullets into borderline explosives, making even a handgun round become something that explodes like a micro grenade when it hits its target.
What Iranian soldiers survived the hailstorm that Jackhammer had unleashed upon them, turned and fled.
Or maybe they were UAE soldiers...
Does it matter? The Ascension managed to convince nearly half the Middle East into joining them... it could be either or, both countries are in Qatar.
Isaac rounded the corner the corner to purse, shouldering his rifle and firing at the fleeing soldiers.
I just hope there not "volunteers"... He thought as gunned one of the fleeing men down from behind. Gunning down a fleeing enemy was anything but noble, but like Blitzkrieg had just said. This was war.
And it was probably the worst war the world had seen since WWII.
"Woo!" He heard Jackhammer shout out loud, not over the COM. "You just got jack-hammered motherfuckers!"
How the hell is he enjoying this... Isaac shook his head. Sure some people got their thrills from fighting, but he sure as hell didn't. How could he get thrilled? Death was everywhere.
As if to put emphasis on that last part, Isaac stepped over the body of a woman who was likely killed in one of the several battles that had taken place in Doha. He looked down at her against his better judgement and noticed that he could see her open eyes through the exposed part of her niqab. Her eyes were starting to gloss over, showing that she had been dead for some time.
Isaac came to a halt while he stood over the woman and took a quick look around to see if he could see any more hostiles. There were no other hostiles in his field of view, and a USNA IFV was already rolling over the burning remains of the barricade, flanked on either side by infantry with their weapons raised. Accompanying those infantry, were his squadmates Jackhammer, Blitzkrieg, Athena, and Raptor.
"This is horrible..." He heard Firewall mutter to himself as he walked part him, his own rifle raised, but unlike the others, he had his energy shield out over beside him.
Is he forgetting that his armor has shields too? Isaac pondered for half a second, before looking back down at the dead woman. She couldn't be more than twenty...
Isaac took a second to reach down and close the woman's eyes. However, as he lifted his hand away from her shut eyelids, he noticed that he had left streaks of blood on her face. He looked at his hand quickly and noticed that there was blood on his finger tips.
Right... I had just stabbed someone in that other street a minute ago... Isaac glanced back down at the woman's body and felt a pang of guilt. I'm sorry... I was only trying to...
His thoughts were interrupted by at hard tap on his shoulder. "Now isn't the time to be getting sentimental Archangel, let's go." His team leader, Oracle, said to him privately, half having to shout to be over the sound of all the explosions and gunfire that wasn't far off from them. She motioned to the alleyway next to him. "We're clearing that, go!" She gave him a shove.
Isaac complied and gripped his assault rifle with both hands again as he steeled himself and tried to kill the emotions within him. This is much harder than it used to be when I was a kid killing for Halcyon... maybe its because I've matured? I thought this kind of shit was supposed to get easier, not harder... He thought as he proceeded cautiously down the alley.
"Archangel and I are clearing this side street, you guys stick with the IFV." He heard Oracle order over the COM.
"If you two are gonna fuck down there, make it quick," Jackhammer responded, "We still got a city to liberate."
Isaac rolled his eyes at his new comrade's comment. I always knew that guy was an ass during our Halcyon days, but this is...
"For the hundredth time Jackhammer, I'm married." Oracle responded.
"And I've got a girlfriend." Isaac mumbled into the COM.
"Doesn't mean you can't have a quick battlefield romp right baby?" Jackhammer chuckled. "And Arch, just because you somehow managed to find a way to get that hot piece of Japanese ass and tits named Yūrei to crawl into bed with you every nig-"
Isaac rounded the side street's corner as Jackhammer's inappropriate remarks about his girlfriend filled his ears though his COM, and was immediately met with the sight of four men wearing mix and match armor and clothing with their faces covered by a keffiyeh, and each man was crouching down with their rifles shouldered.
Waiting for someone to come around the corner.
Oh shi-
Isaac thought as the four hostiles opened fired on him while he was in the open. The bullets from the automatic rifles the men were carrying slammed into his shields, setting off warning sounds in his ears.
"Mute!" Isaac shouted to his new AIX companion as he took aim and fired back, running back around the corner for cover as he did. As soon as he got the word out, his HUD flashed yellow to signify that his armor was reinforced. His aim was off significantly as he ran and fired, but he managed to get one of the new hostiles in the chest twice before rounding the corner. Just as he did so, his shields collapsed from the weight of having four different automatic guns firing at him without pause, and he could feel the quick thumps as the bullets hit his hardened armor.
Ow! Ow! Ow! He cursed as he dashed behind the wall.
"Got you covered Archangel!" Came a youthful voice from a face that appeared in his HUD, wearing a samurai helmet. Isaac nodded to the AI, while he noticed Oracle race past him, drop down, and slide out into the open and into view of the hostiles. His squad leader open fired at the enemies who had just tried to punch his ticket, gunning down the two men in front quickly before they could react at the second black armored figure to round the corner in the last few seconds. Isaac leaned back out of cover to join Oracle, firing off several rounds at the final fighting man, killing him. The first hostile he had wounded laid on his back gripping his chest in pain of having two bullet holes in his ribs.
He didn't squirm for long though, as Oracle stood back up, she firing a trio of rounds into the man to finish him off.
"Well that was a bit of overkill..." Mute muttered.
"A bit..." Isaac agreed. But a wounded foe with a gun is still just as dangerous as any foe.
"Keep moving." Oracle ordered. "And Jackhammer, keep the COMs clear, we just ran into an ambush during your banter."
"Got it ma'am... but it couldn't have been anything you two couldn't handle." Jackhammer replied. "But I read you loud and clear."
"Good." Oracle nodded to herself, Isaac guessed, and resumed walking down the alley. Isaac rounded the corner and followed.
"Shields restored." Mute informed him. "Hardening back up in thirty seconds."
"Let's not do that again..." Isaac muttered. If it wasn't for his armor, he would've been turned into Swiss cheese. I've gotten rusty...
As they started down the abnormally long side street that was completely abandoned and littered with trash and debris, Isaac glanced around, scanning for any more traps.
And to think that this place was probably full of life a year ago... I really hope those guys we just killed were just insurgents and not volunteers... they weren't armored well enough to be military...
Oracle, who was in front of him, suddenly stopped and gripped her head, moaning in pain.
"Oracle?" Isaac asked.
"Archangel?" Oracle said his codename, out loud, not over the COM, her voice holding a ting of pain to it.
"What? What's wrong? Did you take a bullet to the head back there?" He asked, lowering his rifle and approaching his superior from the side, placing a hand on her back.
"No... but..." She shook her head. "I just had a vision..."
"What?" Isaac didn't like the sound of that. Oracle's power is how she got her name. At random times, she got visions of something that was about to happen, usually within minutes.
And those visions of hers always involved someone dying.
Just last week she had predicted Raptor was going to step on an anti-armor landmine seconds before it was about to happen. Thanks to that warning, Raptor knew exactly where the mine was and avoided it.
Of course, just knowing the future doesn't mean you can always change it... it just gives us a chance.
"Yes..." She shook her head. "It was brief so I didn't see much, but somewhere in this alley..." She motioned down the long side street with her head. "There's going to be a sword..." She turned to face him, her expression hidden behind her black helmet and visor. "And it's going to impale you from behind... you will not survive."
Isaac blinked. I'm... going to die here... in this alley? He felt the blood drain from his face. Was he scared? Apart from the last few years, he had seen death constantly since he was five. Even his own sister's death.
So why did it scare him now?
Kasumi's face flashed in his mind.
Am I scared of leaving her alone?
Before he could respond to Oracle he felt a quick chill go down his spine.
Oh no...
Isaac lurched forward and tackled Oracle to the ground, taking his squad leader by surprise and causing both of them to drop their guns. As he did so he felt the edge of something glance of his back, causing a sharp pain near his spine.
The two of them hit the dusty ground with an "oomph!" and a grunt.
"What are-" Oracle shouted out in question, but before she was able to say anything else, Isaac quickly rose back up and drew one of his blades on his back, slashing downwards with it as he spun around.
Just in time to parry the blow of a second stab from the one who just tried to impale him from behind.
As metal blade clashed against metal blade, his new attacker materialized out of thin air. This one had armor that was a slender and sleek, with a navy blue tint that, like his own, covered the figure head to toe, leaving only parts of the joints exposed with a black padded under suit. Unlike his armor however, this figure's armor clearly outlined her feminine features. Her helmet completely covered her face, leaving only a pair of red jewels as to where the eyes were for her visor. And right where the mouth and nose would be, the helmet extended outwards slightly in a box shape.
An Ascension Banshee... shit!
Isaac tired to use the opening he just made from parrying the blow, and thrust his blade at the Banshee's head to stab her through the mask. The Banshee recovered quickly however from having her blow parried and swung her blade around over her head and back down at Isaac in a vertical slash. Both blades met in mid air and clashed, causing both parties to have to recover quickly.
This is gonna be tough! Isaac took a step back, trying not to fall over Oracle who was in the middle of rolling out from underneath him, and reached for a second sword.
His opponent took quick step back and lunged her face forwards, letting out a massive shriek.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" The Banshee wailed at him. Isaac felt his ears pop and his teeth rattle; it took everything he had to prevent himself from dropping his swords and bringing his hands to his ears to protect them. All the glass in the alley shattered instantly, showering the street with more debris
Damn it! Isaac cursed at his luck of encountering an Ascension Banshee. He hated these running into these girls; they were a royal pain to fight. Additional warnings in his suit went off to inform him that his external audio had been disabled as an emergency countermeasure to prevent the Banshee's screaming from damaging his ears further. Unfortunately for him, his ears were already ringing and he was already disoriented from having such a high pitched and loud sounds so close to him.
I might've fared better standing next to an explosion like some Hollywood movie star...
Isaac took another step back, only to feel his back slam against the building behind him. Nowhere to go...
The Banshee, seeing that he couldn't back up any farther, lunged at him.
Shit! Isaac raised both his swords and caught the downwards swing inches from having the blade slice his head in half. With grunt, he pushed the blade aside, but left himself open to the Banshee's free hand. In his disoriented state, Isaac couldn't dodge the punch that connected with front of his helmet, knocking his head back into the wall behind him.
Gaaah! Isaac felt his world shake as the back of his head smashed into the concrete building. His vision blurred and he could barely make out Oracle tackling the Banshee to the ground.
Fuck... Isaac groaned, dropping his swords and stumbling to the side, completely disoriented. Between having the Banshee's screams raping his ear drums, taking a haymaker to the visor, and having his head smashed into a wall all in a matter of seconds, he was having an incredibility hard time just trying to prevent himself from falling over.
All that put together, and he probably had a concussion.
Isaac felt his world get dizzy to the point he felt his stomach turning something fierce. Unable to help himself, he fell to his knees and slid his visor up just enough for his mouth to be exposed to the outside world.
And emptied the contents of his stomach on the ground.
I don't... have time this... Even his thoughts were disoriented as he heaved again, Need... to help... Oracle...
With what little focus he had, Isaac fumbled for something on his utility belt. Come, on... come... on... got it... He wrapped his fingers around a small pouch on his hip and opened it, producing a small tube. He fumbled with the lid and popped it open, bringing the contents of the small vial to his lips, trying his hardest not to heave again.
I hope this... stays down... He braced himself, leaned his head back, and poured the contents down his throat. This will not be... pleasant...
As soon as he swallowed, Isaac threw the vial away, shattering it on the ground. He gagged at the taste and the feeling it brought to his already horrid feeling body. It took only a pair of seconds for the liquid to take effect. He felt as if his muscles burst into flame and his blood convert into lava. He shut his eyes and clenched his teeth as his body cultivated with the sudden new pain.
It took everything he had to prevent himself from screaming.
And then, as quickly as it came on, the feeling left. He opened his eyes and quickly noticed that his blurry was all cleared up. His disorientation left him, and he felt focused once again.
In fact, he felt more alive than he had before the entire fight began.
This won't last long... I've only got a few minutes at most before the effects leave...
And after the booster he just drank wore off, he would be in for the worst experience of his life.
Isaac quickly slid is visor back down, taking note of the sound of Oracle and the Banshee struggling with one another behind him before he sealed his helmet again, leaving him in silence.
Better leave the speakers disabled until that bitch is dead, in case she screams again...
His eyes shot all over the ground in front of him for his swords. They were in his view, but no matter, he could just draw a new one...
Or he could try and stab the Banshee with one of the countless fragments of shattered glass on the ground.
Wait...
Isaac suddenly hatched a plan. Still on his hands and knees, he snatched up a piece of glass and brought himself to focus on it, right where he gripped it. He felt his hand burn with a painful sensation as he used his powers and melded some dark matter into it. He changed his grip on the shard of glass so that he a grip on the far end of where he had worked his magic; the tip of the glass glowed black with purple sparks emitting from it.
Now all I need to do is-
He felt another chill go down his spine.
Isaac rolled to the right as fast as he could, ending in a striking position with one hand and knee on the ground, the other leg ready to push himself off to leap, and he arm holding the glass ready to plunge it into the threat he just felt his sixth sense warn him of.
Right where he was kneed over a split second ago was the blade of the Banshee plunged into the ground, with the Banshee glaring at him with her glowing red eye pieces.
Isaac lunged at the Banshee, who tried to pull her blade out of the ground to slash him as he did. Isaac curved his body to the side to tumble out of the path of the blade, dodging it as it skimmed his armor. As he tumbled past the foe, he stabbed the piece of glass, glowing tip first, into the side of the Banshee's knee where the armor plating was absent. The Banshee lurched back in pain, but since Isaac's external sound was disabled, he couldn't hear if she was screaming in pain or not.
As he finished his roll and landed back on one knee, Isaac raised his hand up and in the Banshee's direction as his foe made to grab the glass at her leg.
Too late...
Isaac opened his hand and spread his fingers, bending the dark matter to his will. The purple-black energy in the glass released. In his mind, Isaac pictured it like a weed, entangling everything around it. The dark matter obeyed, and shot out from the glass in random directions, tangling itself around the Banshee's knee and gripping it as if it were a precious child. And as it did that Isaac clenched his hand as hard as he could, to bring the dark matter back to a single object.
The dark matter entangled around the Banshee's knee constricted instantly, and Isaac could see the armor around the knee that the matter had gripped onto bend and snap. The Banshee dropped her sword and bent over, gripping her knee and was likely howling in pain.
Unwilling to pass the opening up, Isaac lunged at the now vulnerable prey, drawing one of his remaining swords from his back, and plunging it as hard as he could through the Banshee's chest piece, right between her breasts. He felt the resistance from the armor give away, and it priced right through and into her ribcage.
Got you. He thought as the Banshee's body tensed up from having his blade puncture her ribs and into her heart, or close to it. He saw Oracle rush to the Banshee's side holding a combat knife in reverse grip, and stabbing it into the side of the Banshee's neck to ensure the kill.
As if it was some last act of defiance, the Banshee grabbed Isaac's arm and tried to bring their helmets closer together, and shrieked again. Even with his helmet blocking outside noise, Isaac could still hear the Banshee's wail, causing his ears to ring and his teeth to chatter.
Not this time! Isaac lunged his head forward, smashing the forehead of his helmet into the Banshee's mouthpiece. As he reared his head back up right, he wrenched his blade out of her chest, causing blood to gush forward from her pierced heart.
Oracle did the same. Only, as she drew her blade out, she used her free arm to elbow the dying enemy in the face plate, sending her crashing to the ground.
And the Banshee didn't move again.
Isaac let out a sigh at finally killing their foe, and placed his hands on his knees as he bent over to exhale. "Mute... re-enable audio..." Me mumbled.
Suddenly, he could hear the outside world again, the explosions in the distance, and the sound of the wind kicking up.
"Archangel!" Oracle placed a hand on his shoulder. "Are you ok? You seemed rattled."
Isaac nodded. "Yeah... I'm only standing right now thanks to taking a booster."
Oracle nodded in understanding. "I figured as much, we better get you out of here before the backlash hits you."
Isaac grunted in response, looking down at the Banshee's sword. "Well, at least it doesn't look like I'm going to get impaled from behind today..."
Oracle looked down at the blade that nearly skewered Isaac. "Hang on..."
"What?"
"That..." She paused. "Isn't the sword from my vision..."
"Huh?"
Oracle's head suddenly looked to the side and behind Isaac, down the direction they were initially walking before being ambushed by the Banshee.
"MOVE!" She shouted at him, pushing him to the side and knocking him to the ground; similar to how he had just done it to her a minute ago.
Isaac hit the ground and tumbled, and as he rolled, he hear something wiz over his head, followed by something crashing.
"That isn't the sword from my vision..."
Oh no...
Isaac rolled to his knees and looked at the wall some twenty to thirty feet away from him in the direction he was facing before Oracle pushed him. Lodged in the wall, was the hilt of a sword.
What the fuck? Isaac got up on one knee and looked behind him. Oracle was standing right behind him with her sidearm drawn and facing down a new figure, who was crouched down in the center of the alley. Smoke and dust surrounded the figure, and he appeared to have just fallen from above and landed in the alley with them. He was covered in a suit of armor that was similar to Isaac and Oracle's only that it seemed a little fancier and was a mix of various shades of blue instead of just straight black.
And through the smoke, Isaac could make out the Ascension's emblem on the left chest of the figure.
"Well, well..." Came a cocky male sounding voice with a German accent. "What do we have here? A pair of beta's like yours' truly." The man stood up straight. Suddenly, from some kind of duffle back on his back, several large two handed swords with black wavy blades floated out and into the air around him.
Upon seeing the blades, Isaac immediately recognized who they were facing.
Oracle must have too.
"Shit..." She muttered.
"It's Albrecht..." Isaac finished, placing a hand on his own Glock that was strapped to his thigh, undoing the buckle that held it in place.
"Actually..." Albrecht Wolfgang crossed his arms over his chest and seemed rather relaxed for someone who was out in the open with a gun pointed at him. "I prefer Flammenschwert... fits me quite well right? Doesn't it? My old friends Isaac and Vasilisa..." As he spoke, four of the eight obsidian bladed flammenschwerts behind him flew to either side of him and pointed at Isaac and Oracle. "Or should I say... Archangel and Oracle... you two chose to fight for the wrong side."
"I could say the same to you." Oracle growled.
"Ha... the world wants to cast us down and destroy us." Flammenschwert laughed. "So why let them? Why not fight back?"
"And kill millions of innocents in the process?" Isaac barked back at their former friend in the meta-human experiments.
"You know... Archangel..." Flammenschwert chuckled again, "Why don't you follow your namesake and FALL LIKE ONE!"
The four two handed swords that were aimed at Isaac and Oracle launched themselves towards them at the speed of a race car.
"Duck!" Isaac shouted. Time Slow...
Isaac quickly activated one of his powers. There was two blades aimed at each of them, he had to try and take out at least one of Oracle's so that she could then (hopefully) dodge the last one. He pulled out one of his throwing knives and tried to see an interception point, relaying completely on his instincts to do so. There. He threw the knife at a spot where it would glance of the blade and hopefully redirect it just so that it would miss Oracle. Just as long as she ducks under that last blade, the other one will go past the side of her head...
Isaac then focused his attention on the two coming at him; one aimed at his chest the other at his stomach. He drew his blade and dashed towards the wall of a building to his right. He leapt at the wall, moving out of the path of the blade aimed at his stomach, and swung his blade to knock the sword that originally aimed at his chest, to prevent it from hitting his back. As he did so, he felt the world fading around him and had to disable his power.
The world sped back up. Isaac heard both blade fly past him, and through the corner of his eye he saw Oracle duck down, narrowly dodging both swords. His teammate opened up on the meta-human with her side arm.
As Isaac kicked off the wall, he spotted a fifth sword that must have been launched after heading right for him. With a grunt, he back flipped off the wall, arching his back do that the blade pasted right under him. Close... way too close...
As he landed back on the ground with both feet, Isaac drew his own Glock and fired off a salvo of rounds at Flammenschwert. However, the rounds all just hit his shields and the German meta-human just laughed at them.
His shields are stronger than ours... We'll need to use our meta-powers... Isaac snarled. Oracle didn't have any powers that were meant for one on one combat, and Isaac could already feel the effects from the booster he took waning.
They were in a tight spot.
"Contact!" Oracle suddenly shouted over the COM. "Beta!"
Isaac paid the many responses of "copy that", "on our way" and Jackhammer's "Oh shit!" no heed and instead thrust out a hand at Flammenschwert, focusing on his powers as he did so. He felt his entire arm burn as he launched a pulse of dark matter at the Ascension aligned meta-human. Eat this you traitor!
However, one of Flammenschwert's three remaining swords floating around him flew right in front of him and intercepted the pulse, causing a burst of purple energy to explode in from of him and sending the sword he used to intercept to shatter into several pieces.
Rather than just let the fragmented blade fall though, Albrecht launched the sharp pieces at Isaac and Oracle.
Shit! Isaac dropped down flat onto his stomach to dodge them, and Oracle cart wheeled to the side; the fragmented pieces flying past them.
He's going to run out of swords! Isaac thought, but just as he finished that thought, two more flammenschwerts emerged from the duffle bag on Albrecht's back. Albrecht thrust out his hand at them, pointer finger out, and the two new blades obeyed his will.
"Archangel behind us!" Mute warned him. He quickly dared a look behind him and saw all six blades that Flammenschwert had fired at them prior (including the first one that had nearly taken Isaac off guard) release themselves from the wall they had all been lodged into.
And immediately come spinning back towards Isaac and Oracle.
Oh fuck us...
Isaac's mind raced. How was he and Oracle going to dodge six massive swords flying at them from behind, and two massive swords coming from the front. Think, think, think, think! Isaac gulped. They were in deep shit now.
Just as he was coming to the realization that this is where he might actually die, there was a flash right behind him and slightly higher up in the air above standing height that came and faded quickly. In its place, was another slender black armored soldier that had the emblem of TRANS-Ops on her shoulder plate. The new appearance dropped to the ground quickly, with one hand on Isaac's shoulder and one on Oracle's.
"Brace yourselves." A female voice with a slight Japanese accent said to him and Oracle that Isaac instantly recognized.
Kasumi?
Before either he or Oracle could say anything, the world around him vanished and Isaac blinked. When he opened his eyes up again, they were in a completely different area. Instead of an debris filled alley with Flammenschwert, they were in a street between a pair of IFVs and surrounded by soldiers with a variety of flags on their soldiers, from France to Italy, to the USNA, and even a few soldiers from Qatar who had managed to survive the initial invasion of their country.
Of course, all the soldiers leapt back in shock and surprise at having a trio of black armored figures appearing in the middle of them. But after a second or two, the soldiers lowered their guns upon recognizing their suits.
At least there getting used to seeing us around... Isaac thought. Suddenly, he began to feel dizzy from having been teleported around. He stumbled from his crouching position and landed right on his rear.
"That was a little too close." Kasumi said. She slid her visor up, revealing her face and a few locks of her silver hair fluttered into view. "I almost didn't make it." She grinned. "Almost."
"Thanks for the save Yūrei." Oracle patted the one who saved them on the shoulder. "That was going south pretty quick. I thought Flammenschwert was last seen in Russia?"
Kasumi nodded. "So did we, he must have just arrived here once we started liberating the country."
Isaac was about to open his mouth and say something when he felt the backlash from the booster start to kick in. His headache from before and the ringing in his ears started to return from the damage the Banshee had done to him earlier.
"Isaac?" Kasumi looked over at him and raised her eyebrows in concern. "Are you ok?"
Isaac responded by leaning over to the side, lifting his visor up, and throwing up all over the street.
"Shit, his booster must be wearing off..." Oracle cursed as heard her getting up. Correction, barely heard her, the ringing in his ears was getting louder and his vision was starting to blur.
"A booster?!" He was still able to make our Kasumi's concerned and shocked tone. "Why?! That's insane!"
"I need a medic over here!" Oracle shouted at the soldiers who we're likely just standing by and watching.
Why would they want to help us? Were just a bunch of freaks in their eyes... Isaac thought cynically as he felt his conscious fading. To his surprise though, he felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked up to see a man with a keffiyeh and a Qatar flag on his stitched to his shoulder saying something to him that Isaac couldn't make out due to his disorientation.
"Concussion..." Isaac mumbled in the man's native language, before his vision finally faded and he slipped into unconscious.
...
...
...
"Isaac? Hellllllooo?" Isaac was brought back to the present by Mute's hollering and her waving in his face.
"What?" Oh... I must've... really dozed off there... He made to shake his head, but stopped himself when he realized he was still in the middle of shaving in a very unsafe way. "Sorry." He apologized. "I was just, thinking... what were we talking about?"
"Must have been some pretty heavy stuff for you to zone out like that."
Isaac shrugged and resumed shaving. "Not really, I was just remembering that time we ran into Flammenschwert in that alley in Doha."
Mute crossed her arms and frowned. "Oh, you mean that time you and Oracle were nearly impaled by like, eight swords, and survived ONLY because of Yūrei's excellent timing?"
"Yeah... that one." Isaac grinned slightly at the memory of Kasumi spending hours lecturing him in the medical tent a few days later his decision to use a booster.
Mute's expression softened. "Well, at least your not getting depressed every time you hear her name anymore."
Isaac sighed. "Yeah, yeah."
"Hey I'm serious."
"I still don't want to talk about it ok?"
Mute sighed. Isaac knew she wasn't really happy to hear him say that. But at least she understood his hesitation to talk about his deceased fiancé.
Ugh... just thinking of calling Kasumi my fiancé is making me feel even worse...
Isaac did his best to push the thoughts out of his head for now. Right now, he was on a different world and Kasumi had died over three years ago, during the latter half of the war. He had to focus on the now.
Although, I haven't really gotten over Isabella's death years before hers...
HE pushed that thought out of his head too.
"Anyways..." Isaac was eager to change the subject. "What does Flammenschwert have to do with Irelia?"
"Well, not much, but..." Mute resumed explaining, "The link that was between Flammenschwert and the blades he was commanding was similar to the one between Irelia and that orb... and that's not all." Mute put her hands back on her hips. "That orb was then linked to those four blade-like objects on the desk by it. I think, well, I'm theorizing here, that Irelia is able to control those blades through that orb telepathically, similar to how Flammenschwert was able to control blades made of obsidian."
Isaac raised his eyebrows and nodded slightly in understand. "So what you're saying is, that Irelia can control blades and have them fly around in a manner similar to that of Flammenschwert?"
"Yes!" Mute nodded. "I thought that it might be useful information in case there comes a time we have to fight her."
Isaac frowned, but understood what Mute meant. While it sure seemed like Irelia was on their side right now, she, like everyone else he had encountered, might just be using him for some alternative motive. He had to remain weary to some degree of everyone he encountered.
Although, so far, it seems like Ezreal might be the only one I've run into to date that I can actually fully trust. Vega is without a doubt on my side, but he answers to the League before anything else, and Jinx is... well... Jinx.
Maybe he could add Caitlyn and Vi to that list of trustworthy people, but then again, judging by the note that got passed along to him, as long as he had Jinx, he doubted he could count on those two.
Not to mention there hundreds of miles away... at least Firewall is with them and doing well according to that letter...
"There was one more thing about Irelia I noticed..."
"Hmm?"
"There was a second link to that orb that didn't make sense..." Mute frowned. "I was like... it was... I dunno, sustaining her or something."
Isaac was back to being confused again. "What? Sustaining her?"
Mute nodded. "And her body... when I scanned it, it didn't seem like it was... completely alive on its own. Its like... something else was keeping her going. Keeping her alive."
Isaac frowned. "Ok... you lost me..."
"Yeah, I thought I would." Mute shook her head. "I don't even understand it completely myself, so forget about it. If it becomes something important, I'll let you know."
"Ok." Isaac moved on to trimming his neck.
"Well," Mute closed her eyes, raised her arms over her head and stretched herself out. "I'll just let you finish shaving." She let out a sigh as she stretched out her non-existent muscles. "If you need anything else let me know, I'm going to keep reading what we have so far, including your theories you posed to Irelia." She opened one eye to look at him. "AND check over the contents of that book now that you FINALLY flipped through it and let me scan each page."
Isaac rolled his eyes. It was because I finally did that that I'm now so bored. He had tried to read the book again after he did that, but every time he flipped a page, Mute would just sum it up for him in about ten seconds, cutting the time down it took him to finish it to about a day.
Mute's avatar vanished and she returned to her own devices inside his helmet.
Isaac finished up his neck and stood straight up, stretching himself out. He looked himself over one last time in the blade's reflection and was satisfied. He sheathed the blade, picked up Jackhammer's Glock, holstered it to his utility belt, and picked his helmet off the bed before making his way outside; careful not to wake the still sleeping Ezreal.
Wonder what boring nothing awaits us today out on the open sea... Isaac groaned in his mind as he placed his helmet over his head, but left the visor up. If there was something he enjoyed about being at sea, both on Valoran and on Earth, it was feeling the cool sea air against his face.
Sure as hell beats wearing that hot suit every day...
He climbed up the stairs and opened the hatch above his head, his vision briefly blinded by the sun above him. He climbed out onto the deck of the ship as his vision adjusted, and closed the hatch behind him.
"Good morning Archangel." He heard a manly voice with an Ionian accent address him. Isaac stood straight up and turned to face the source of the voice behind him. A tall Ionian soldier clad in half of his armor without his helmet nodded to him. The man appeared to be in his thirties and had a nicely trimmed black gotee that was at a perfect length equal with the base of his neck. The soldier had narrow eyes that spoke volumes about what he had seen.
The soldier stood with both arms at his side, and bowed slightly to him at the waist. "Did you have a good rest?" He asked him.
The way these guys treat me, is the polar opposite from the way those soldiers treated me on the way to the Placidium.
"I slept about as well I as I always do." Isaac answered vaguely, but honestly.
The soldier, who Isaac had learned to be named Ren Yokoyama, seemed satisfied with the answer and returned to a standing straight posture. "Good to hear. We will be arriving in Bilgewater shortly and will remain there until you discover your next destination." The soldier's expression remained stoic as he spoke. "If you are required to return to Ionia, or to any port to the north on the way, then we will take you there on our return trip. However, we will not ferry you to Noxus." The soldier shook his head slightly. "My apologizes if that becomes the case."
"Understandable, thank you lieutenant." Isaac nodded. These guys REALLY don't like Noxus... well, I can't blame them, seeing how Noxus seems to be the bully on the block.
Ren Yokoyama bowed to him again. "If you need anything, please inform me, I'll be in the cabin speaking with the ship's captain." He stated, and walked past Isaac to said destination.
Isaac nodded to the soldier as he walked by, and made his way to the front of the ship.
It was a calm day outside, with minimal wind, and so the waves were calm as well. Isaac glanced upwards t the sky, it was almost a clear sky as well, with the only white up in the sky being that of the seagulls flying around and squawking.
A nice day... Isaac thought as he looked down and around the ship. The crew made their way around the boat performing their duties, paying him little mind now. On the first few days of the journey, they had been weary of his presence, even more so when he was clad in his armor with his visor down. Isaac quickly found that they were less on guard if he was wearing less armor and had his visor up.
If anything, they treated me more like... a normal human...
That, was something he was NOT used to, but he enjoyed it slightly nonetheless.
As he made he way across the ship's deck, he spotted Vega leaning over the side of the ship to his right. The young summoner looked behind him just in time as Isaac passed him and waved, but just as Isaac was returning the gesture, Vega 's had suddenly shot to his mouth and he leaned back over the and was sick into the ocean.
He's had constant sea-sickness since we set out... Isaac closed his eyes and shook his head slightly at the thought.
"I'm from a frozen wasteland in the north!" Vega had shouted on the second day, "You know when I have to sail? NEVER!"
Isaac turned to his left and spotted Jinx lying on top of a large crate, resting her chin on her elbow yawning. The minimal clothed woman appeared bored out of her mind, emphasized by her yawning. Her eyes lazily glanced around, and eventually she and Isaac's eyes met.
Jinx's face immediately went to her signature crazy smile and she wave over-enthusiastically at him. As Isaac waved back (normally), she blew him a kiss and winked.
She has been getting more and more... affectionate I guess? Ever since she saw me without my armor on.
Or maybe she wasn't being affectionate and she was plotting something for him... Isaac felt his skin crawl at the thought.
"Can't tell if she likes you..." Mute mumbled, "Or if you should start considering sleeping in ALL your armor again..."
"I'm starting to think the same thing..." Isaac grumbled back.
"Oh Archi!" He heard Jinx hollering to him as he passed her by. He looked back over his shoulder to see Jinx still lying on the crate with her legs dangling in the air above her, but she now had her arms and head resting on the wooden surface. "Tell Mute that I CAN'T WAIT to play with her again." Jinx burst out in a mischievous laugh.
"If you EVER!" Mute barked at him inside his helmet's earpiece, "Let that CRAZY BITCH touch me again! I WILL disable EVERY REMAINING, STILL FUNCTIONING FEATURE in this suit, so that you'll be no better off than if you were wearing a god-damn TUNIC!"
... Ouch...
Isaac chuckled nervously at all that, and just walked away from the still laughing and grinning Jinx.
"Oh, and Arrrrchi, I've got something planned for you to that I'm sure you're gonna LOVE!" Jinx shouted and laughed at him as he walked away.
That... scares me... maybe I will start sleeping in my armor...
Isaac reached the front of the ship and looked on ahead.
Hmm, just nothing but water... wait... He spotted something far in the distance ahead and squinted. What's that? I can't quite make it out...
"Land Ho!" He heard someone shout. He turned around and looked up at the ship's crow's nest and saw a sailor up in it waving down and shouting down at them. "The Blue Flame Islands are in sight!"
"Blue Flame Islands?" Isaac asked out loud, "Hey Mute, is that supposed to be some sort of landmark for the sailors?"
"No... The Blue Flame Islands are a cluster of isles where Bilgewater and the other various port cities are built on."
Isaac turned around and squinted back out over the sea. Sure enough, in the distance he could barely make out something that looked like a mountain or a part of the island.
"Looks like we're going to be in Bilgewater within the hour or two..." Mute speculated.
"Yep... looks like we're about to get back under way..." Isaac nodded to himself. Lets see what the Ascension is up to here... our welcoming can't be any worse here then it was in Ionia... can it?
As if on que, Isaac heard a massive burst of gunfire from behind him. On instinct, he hit the deck and reached for Jackhammer's pistol, looking behind him to see who was shooting at the.
But rather then an enemy, he saw Jinx looking incredibility irritated and firing her minigun into the air at something. Isaac drew out Jackhammer's Glock and raised it up to join her... until he saw what she was shooting at...
She's... killing seagulls?
"You damn birds have been PISSING ME OFF THIS WHOLE BORING TRIP!" Jinx screamed at the massive amount of birds that had gathered around the ship, squawking at her as flew away from the source of the danger. "Well here is a message from Pow-Pow!" She shouted as she gunned down the helpless birds. "SQUAWK SQUAWK MOTHERFUCKER!"
Isaac lowered his gun and immediately planted his face into his gauntlet. I don't believe this...
It was going to be a long day...
A/N: There used to be a very long A/N here, but I removed it as of June 26th, 2017 since it related to how the old lore was axed. A smaller version of this A/N is now present at the beginning of the story.