A/N: Now, before we get started, some review responses for last chapter...
"Guest": Indeed that ship was nasty... and I've got even nastier stuff waiting for our "heroes". I'm actually a bit surprised with myself for having as few typos in that last chapter given how long it was, and as for Archangel living... well... who knows?
xThe Overlord: Wow, I must say I'm flattered... you wrote a book report on this and got an A? I'm both shocked and grateful at the same time. My own high school English teacher would be proud of me right about now if he knew his lessons stuck. And yes, I had to spend a lot of time trying to meld these characters, and sometimes they just make changes on their own. As for your request to skype/play I'm afraid I'll have to decline, I keep my FanFic life separate from the rest of my life. Although, if you do want to chat, feel free to PM me, but I can't guarantee when I'll be on to respond since things are rather busy for me in life.
Sorry for the long wait between teaser and finished product, but here it is:
The beginning of the second act of When Worlds Collide.
Rookies
Arctic Ocean, northern Canada
The humming of the Boeing Globemaster IV was surprisingly quiet from inside the aircraft, given its size. It was almost relaxing. At least it was to a certain someone in the aircraft's cargo bay named Hitomi Shimazu.
Deeps breaths now Hitomi... relax... She thought to herself as tried to bring her pulse down a bit. She was certainly feeling nervous, and if it wasn't for the suit of armor and helmet she was currently wearing, the rest of her squad would be able to see it too.
The aircraft suddenly shook a bit, causing Hitomi's attempts at calming herself to fail miserably. She scrunched herself up against the cargo bay's walls a bit more, almost as if she was huddling against it for warmth, holding her assault rifle up against her chest tightly.
I hate flying, I hate flying, I hate flying... Hitomi cursed inside her mind again and again. Of all the superpowers and training they gave me, why couldn't they have cured my fear of flying?!
"Hitomi? You ok?" A male voice with a very clear and stereotypical British accent asked her, prompting Hitomi to look up.
Standing over her was one of her squadmates, covered head to toe in black armor just like her.
"Y-yeah..." Hitomi nodded weakly. "I just... don't like flying."
"Wait..." The armored soldier standing over her chuckled. "After all those drills and training exercises they put us through, you're only fear is heights?"
"Flying!" Hitomi growled back, "Flying, Connor, not heights. Flying! There's a difference!"
Her squadmate, Connor Green, shrugged his shoulders and walked away chuckling. "Whatever you say scared-e-cat."
"Grrr..." Hitomi growled under her breath. "Ass..."
Don't act like you're not scared... this is going to be our first mission!
Hitomi and her squad were flying over the Arctic Ocean, on route to deal with an Ascension base that had been discovered on some far northern Canadian island. It was to be the first real deployment for Hitomi and her squad, only having recently finished their Gamma Meta-Human training a few months ago.
Sure, like her squad mate Connor, she was eager for her chance to take a shot at the Ascension for when they invaded her home during the war; but that didn't mean she couldn't get the pre-battle jitters.
I can do this... come on Hitomi. You've been training for this for the last three years, things will be different this time.
She tried to reassure herself. She wasn't going to be weak like she was when the Ascension came marching into the streets of her home, Tokyo, a few years back. Now it was her turn to get some payback on the Ascension.
She looked down at the sleek black armored gauntlet that covered her hand, which had tightened itself around the grip of her assault rifle. She released the grip and brought her armored hand up closer to her face absent-mindedly.
They gave me the training and the powers I needed to fight back against the Ascension. This time, I'm not just some weak teenager! Ill prove it to Archangel that I was worth it!
Not that proving anything to her deceased training sergeant was going to do anything for her anyways.
Hitomi curled her fist and snarled under her helmet. It had come as a shock to her when word spread throughout TRANS-Ops that Shadow Team had met a terrible fate in that explosion at the Solomon Islands.
The bigger shock came two weeks ago when they got briefed on the likelihood that the explosion was caused by some sort of dimensional portal the Ascension was using.
Personally, Hitomi didn't believe a word of that. Inter-dimensional travel? THAT was the best excuse they could come up with? A few years ago Hitomi would've laughed at it all, but then again, she knew at least two of Shadow Team's squad members who went up in said inter-dimensional explosion.
And so did thousands other innocent people who happened to be living nearby.
Then again, until the Ascension War, Hitomi didn't believe in the rumors of there being super-human soldiers and mercenaries that kept showing up in random online rumors and videos that most people believed were just fake. What a rude awaking THAT was when the war suddenly broke out and said super-human soldiers were leading the charge against regular soldiers and police officers in Toyko when the Ascension conquered Japan.
Hitomi uncurled her fist and shook her head slightly. Not something she wanted to think about moments before she jumped out of an aircraft soaring high in the sky.
She felt a hand on her shoulder that shook her lightly out of her thoughts. "Briefing time Hitomi, come on." A soft voice with a similar Japanese accent said. Hitomi looked over her shoulder to see her fellow squadmate and friend, Ryo Nakano, motioning her to follow with a slight shake from where she had her hand on her shoulder.
"Right." Hitomi nodded and stood up, albeit shaky from the fact that they were still flying, but she stood up straight nonetheless. She looked down at armored self one last time to make sure she was fully equipped before following her stoic friend to join the rest of her squad. Already she could see Connor making another ass out of himself in front of everyone.
Ok, just a routine mission for our first mission... what could possibility happen right? She quietly scoffed under her helmet. Like a so-called inter-dimensional portal blowing up? Yeah right...
I mean she was a seventeen year old girl with the ability to duplicate nearly any kind of item within 30 meters of herself, but inter-dimensional travel? Get real...
I wonder what REALLY happened to Isaac...?
The World Keeps Turning...
Piltover
"Checkmate."
Adam blinked. He scanned the chess board for any kind of move, but the longer he stared at it the more his disbelief appeared on his face.
I... what?
His opponent, and his boss, leaned back in her chair and elegantly took a sip of tea from her tea cup with a satisfied grin on her face. "Well played Adam."
It was impossible to miss somewhat playful mocking tone in the sheriff's voice, although Adam paid it no mind. He was still staring down at the chess board in between them, trying to take in the fact that he had lost.
I... lost...?
It wasn't just the fact he had lost that was shocking to him, but he fact that he had been utterly defeated by his greatly underestimated opponent.
I still have over half my pieces left... and she... checkmated me?
Adam blinked again and looked up at Caitlyn leaning back in her chair opposite from him still maintaining a satisfying smirk.
"So..." She began before taking another sip of her tea. "I guess you're no longer undefeated then? A shame..." She finished with a slight chuckle.
Adam blinked again, mind finally processing everything. It all happened some fifteen minutes ago when Adam had entered Caitlyn's office to talk to her when he noticed a chess board sitting to the side. He made an idle comment on it and how he had never lost a game of chess, something that his boss decided to take as a challenge.
And now... fifteen minutes later... he was tasting dirt.
"I... uh..." Adam mumbled, still putting it all together in his head. His reaction got a chuckle out of his boss.
"Aside from suffering your first loss," Caitlyn spoke up, twirling her teacup around slightly as she looked Adam up and down, "How are you adjusting to life here?"
Huh? What? Oh... Adam shook the pain of his no-longer-prefect chess record out of his mind as best he could and focused on his boss's question. "It's... different."
Yeah, different really doesn't even begin to sum it up...
Caitlyn's expression told him to go on, and so he did.
"Well, the initial shock of being in a completely different world has subsided... but I'm still getting used to magic being a thing and not some fairy tale."
"I find it rather strange that both you and Archangel are having such difficulties adapting to the sight of magic..." Caitlyn tilted her head slightly and gave the young meta-human a quizzing look. "... When both of you have abnormal powers that are so alike magic."
"It's... complicated..." Adam rubbed the back of his neck. There's a perfectly good scientific explanation as to why me and Archangel have powers... but magic... no, no, nothing scientific about that...
"So it seems..." Caitlyn paused to take a sip of her tea. "What about here, on the force?"
"Ah, well..." Adam nodded smiling slightly. "I'm enjoying it. Being a cop and all, I like it. Being the good guys and KNOWING you're the good guys is always a plus, beats doing all that shady ops stuff I'd been doing for the past few years. And helping people is something I like doing."
Adam noticed a slight smile appear on Caitlyn's lips as she took another sip from her tea, seeming satisfied with his answer.
Well, there's one more thing I like about it here... Adam felt his face slightly redden as he looked at his boss. She was attractive, no other way to put it aside from calling her beautiful. That was the other big plus about his current job, his boss was a babe.
Before their conversation could proceed any farther, there was a knock at door.
"You in there cupcake?" Vi's voice came from the other side of the door.
"Come in." Caitlyn called to her partner, who entered shortly thereafter.
"Today's paper arrived and seeing how you LOVE to re-" Vi began as entered the office while rolling her eyes, only to pause upon seeing Adam. "Oh, there you are rookie."
Rookie... I can't believe I'm being called that...
"Uh, hey Vi." Adam waved with a sheepish grin.
"That's hello MA'AM to you!" Vi responded as she walked past him and plopped the paper on Caitlyn's desk, lightly bopping Adam on the back of the head as she passed him by.
Caitlyn picked up the newspaper and leaned back in her chair, popping up a leg on her desk as she enjoyed her tea as she read.
With her partner's attention elsewhere, Vi looked down at Adam and raised her eyebrow. "What we're you two up to?"
"Playing a game of chess..." Adam mumbled, trying to keep his mind off the loss.
"Hah!" Vi gave a loud laugh and a snort. "I'll take it you got stomped? No one-"
Her taunts were interrupted by the sound of glass breaking. Both Adam and Vi turned to face the source of the ear-piecing sound. Both were met with the sight of broken glass on the floor under Caitlyn's desk, with her hand still outstretched and in the position of holding a tea-cup that was no longer there. The Shreiff's face had changed from one of content to one of utter shock as her eye's scanned the newspaper in front of her at lightning speed.
"Cait?" Vi's own expression hardened. "What's wrong?"
Adam raised an eyebrow at the sight. I've only been here a few weeks, and I've never seen Caitlyn look so shocked... or drop a cup before...
Caitlyn didn't answer, she just kept reading the paper as if it was the only thing in the world that mattered to her.
"Cait?" Vi asked again, taking a step towards her desk. "Cait? Cait!" Vi half shouted and slammed the desk with her fists, breaking Caitlyn out of whatever stupor she had gotten herself into. "What's wrong? You dropped your cup, you NEVER drop a tea cup!" Vi's voice carried both volume and a sense of concern for her partner.
Adam stood up from his chair and took a step forward so that he was standing next to the pink haired enforcer. "What's wrong? You like you've seen a ghost..."
Caitlyn blinked at the two of them, still seemingly shocked at whatever it was that spooked her. She lightly threw the newspaper on her desk and pointed at it firmly with her index finger.
"Read." The tone of the sheriff's voice told Adam that it wasn't a suggestion, it was an order.
Adam frowned and looked at Vi, who was looking back at him, sharing his confused expression. The pink haired girl shrugged and grabbed the newspaper, pulling it to there side of the desk and turning it around so that they could read it rightside up. Adam joined her in looking down, and after a second, both he and Vi's expressions changed to share the one Caitlyn had.
The headline read: Bligewater Burning! Thousands Dead As League Champions Defend City From Alien Invaders.
"Wh-What is this?" Vi half shouted as she picked up the newspaper and held it in her face, reading closely. Of course, as she did that, it prevented Adam from reading anymore.
"Hey! I was reading th-" Adam started to protest when his eye's caught a picture and a headline on the other side of the newspaper opposite to the side Vi was reading. On this particular page there was a picture of a familiar black armored figure fighting another armored figure with a burning city as a backdrop.
The headline to that picture: League Champion Archangel Fatally Wounded Fighting Invaders.
Adam felt the blood leave his face. "Vi... turn the newspaper over..."
"What? Why?!" Vi quickly turned the paper over in her hands to look at the side Adam had just seen. "Wha... oh no..."
"Adam?" Caitlyn's voice brought his attention back to his superior. She was looking up at him with a concerning yet questioning expression. "Are the attackers who I think they are?" She asked him, but the tone of her voice told him that she already knew the answer.
Adam remembered the other armored figure in the picture with Archangel. He didn't need to look at it twice to recognize that kind of armor.
"Yeah... it's them..." He answered, before his gaze fell upon Caitlyn's sniper resting on a table behind her. "I think... we're going to need some bigger guns..."
Noxus
The two soldiers guarding the entrance to Marina's office quickly moved aside the moment they saw the snarling Katarina marching her way towards her sister's office with a rolled up newspaper in her hand that was in the process of being crushed by the red-head's temper.
Without a word from either guard, Kat threw the doors to her sister's office open. She did though, get the satisfaction of seeing the normally calm and collected Marina jump slightly in her desk at the sound of the slamming doors.
"K-Kat?" Marina blinked at the sight of her sister storming into her office. "That was you? It almost sounded like an army storming though the halls..."
Kat marched right up to her elder sister's desk and glared down at her sister, not even bothering to try and maintain her composure. The two door guards quickly shut the door behind Kat to give the two sisters some alone time.
She was pissed. Almost as pissed as when her investigation failed to turn up anything about the sniper that tried to punch her and Morgana's ticket a few weeks back.
Marina, still holding a quill and ink in her hand from when Kat had interrupted her paperwork session, gave her a quizzing look. "What? What's wro-"
"HE'S OF NO CONCERN you said!?" Kat shouted at her sister, waving the newspaper in her hand for a moment before slamming it down on her sister's desk. "We're being invaded FROM Archangel's damn world!"
Marina paused with a tongue-in-check expression on her face as her eye's moved down to the newspaper now on her desk. She slowly placed the quill back in the ink and picked up the paper.
"Well... that was quick..." She mumbled as she looked at the front page.
Kat snarled. "You knew? Didn't you?"
"About the assault on Bligewater? Of course." Marina replied causally as she read over the front page of the newspaper. "Bligewater is our ally, every head of every family in Noxus knew about the raid days after it happened." She looked up at Kat to see her sister cross her arms over her chest and her expression darken. "I know what you're thinking, and yes, I would've told you but I was under orders not to speak of it."
Kat opened her mouth to vent her rage some more, but she paused.
Hmm... as much as it pisses me off to be left out of the loop, I guess making that bit of information public could cause panic in the streets... She closed her mouth and let that one go.
Not that it mattered now that the world's most popular newspaper had published several articles on it. Everyone and their dog now knew that Bligewater had been hit. Hard.
"Still..." Marina tossed the paper back on her desk and leaned back in her seat. "I don't quite understand what you mean by He's of no concern and by Archangel's world." Her older sister sighed and rubbed her temple, suddenly looking tired. "Seriously Kat, you've exhausted yourself in your investigation to the point that you're starting to see-"
"Read the next page." Kat interrupted her.
Marina gave Kat a suspicious look before leaning back over her desk and doing as her sister said. The now exposed page had a picture of a familiar armored figure fighting another armored figure, with a burning city as a backdrop.
Marina remained silent for several seconds as she read.
"Well then..." Marine finally spoke. "Now I get what you mean." She looked up from the paper and at Kat, who still stood with her arms crossed. "But I fail to see why you think these attackers are from Archangel's world."
"Are you KIDDING ME?!" Kat exploded again, throwing her arms in the air in wonder. "Look at the attackers! There armor is so close to Archangel's, you would have to be as blind as Lee Sin to be unable to make that connection!"
Marine frowned and Kat's outburst before looking back down at the newspaper, more closely this time. Over the next few seconds, her older sister's confused expression changed to one of realization, before she suddenly pushed away from her desk and leaned back in her chair with a rare snarl on her face.
"Shit..." Marine cursed.
Finally! Kat had to refrain from rolling her eyes. It had taken nearly a month, but it seemed she had finally gotten through to her sister.
Silence followed, with Kat finally relaxing and her anger and frustration subsiding; while her sister sat looking out a window and chewing on one of her fingernails, clearly deep in thought.
"Regardless..." Marina broke the silence, "We can't do anything... or maybe... wait... no..." Her sister sighed as she rubbed her temple again, clearly battling her thoughts.
"We should bring him in." Kat suggested. "Since the evidence now clearly points to him, we should bring him in for questioning."
And when we're done, I'm going to beat the living snot out of him for that earlier humiliation...
However Marine shook her head at Kat's suggestion and looked her younger sister in the eye. "If that article is to be trusted, then Archangel is likely on his deathbed right now." Her gaze returned to the window. "Not that we even know where he is right now...
The door to Marina's office suddenly opened, prompting Kat to turn around. She was met with the familiar sight of Talon entering the office and closing the door behind him, and in one of his hands was a rolled up piece of paper.
"I believe I can shed some light on that part." Talon said as he walked up next to Kat and handed the rolled up paper to her. Curious, Kat took the roll and unfurled it, reading over it's contents.
"Our spies managed to spot a grievously wounded Archangel being carried onto a Demacian ship by the name the Fist of the Crown." Talon announced to the sisters.
That got a reaction from both of the Du Couteau's. Marina raised an eyebrow at the mention of Noxus's eternal enemy and a snarl out of Kat, even though she was in the middle of reading a report that stated the same thing.
"That's not all..." Talon crossed his arms over his chest as he continued. "Another individual wearing near identical armor as Archangel was seen boarding the ship with him."
"What?" Marina's posture tensed up and she leaned back onto her desk, giving Talon her undivided attention. "What do you mean, another armored figure."
Well that's a change in attitude... Kat's inner voice chuckled. Yesterday she was still rolling Archangel off as an invalid and anything that related to him was just useless information.
"That's not all..." Kat interjected, having finished reading the brief report that Talon had brought with him. "Galio, Sona, and Shyvana were also seen on the ship." She handed the report to her sister whose eye's started darting over the paper instantly.
"Sailing in the direction of Ionia..." Marina mumbled as she finished reading.
Now that, complicated things. Ionia was the one place in all of Valoran that Noxus had no say in. Well, no longer had any say in. Even getting spies into the isle nation was difficult as all hell, and ever seen the invasion, the occupation, AND the liberation, Noxus couldn't get Ionia to agree with anything. If Archangel was truly going to Ionia, then he was all but just out of their reach.
Marina cursed again and set the paper down on her desk, clasping her hands together seemingly deep in thought again.
"We should send someone to Ionia to capture him." Kat nodded to her sister.
"Assuming..." Marina spoke, not moving from her current posture. "He lives long enough to even REACH Ionia, how would we get him on that island where every Noxian is public enemy number one?"
"Then I should go." Kat volunteered herself. "Stealth is my speciality after all."
"Makes two of us." Talon nodded, un-crossing his arms and standing up straight. "You'll need the best of the best. I'll go too."
"No."
Both Kat and Talon raised an eyebrow at Marina's one word response.
"Three reasons why it wouldn't work." Marina sighed, looking up at the two of them and there confused expressions. "One, is that you're forgetting that Archangel is likely going to be under Ionia AND Demacia's watch. Two, Archangel is incapacitated, so you'll have to carry him out. And three, he's being guarded by other Champions of the League so you two will be spotted easily."
After her little lecture, Kat bit her lower lip in thought. Damn it... I don't want to admit it, but she's got a good point there... ok three good points.
Talon gave a huff and turned away, clearly not pleased but understanding of Marina's point.
"So what do we do?" Kat asked, not that she expected much from her sister.
"Simple Kat," Marina looked at her sister with a slight grin. "We send in someone who they WON'T recognize so easily..."
The Institute of War
Kasubel sat at his desk with his elbows planted firmly on it's surface, with his head in his hands. The past few days had been nothing shy of a nightmare for him.
Our worst case scenario... has come true...
He sighed, looking down at the newspaper on his desk between his elbows. He had known about the attack on Bligewater as soon as it had ended, but the details were just starting to pour in now. Thousands dead, half the city destroyed, and an entire nation cowering in fear.
And now, the entire world knew it thanks to series of newspaper articles.
Not that I can blame the media... the world was going to find out eventually just how bad the attack was...
But it wasn't just the attack that bothered Kasubel, but who was responsible.
Thankfully the Ascension's identify and details didn't make it to the news. After all, only a select few knew just how dangerous Valoran's new enemy was.
Kasubel sighed again and stood up from his desk, walking over to a window and staring out it.
I'm getting too old for this shit...
In short, he felt like he had failed. His job was to maintain Valoran's security, and here he was, with his greatest failure posted right there in a newspaper for the world to see.
If we didn't have issues trying to get the nations to listen to us before... Now, after the raid on Bligewater, it was painfully obvious to everyone.
The Institute of War was powerless to stop this new threat.
First, they were just kidnapping people... now they level half a city with nothing more than an airship, a submarine, and a hand full of soldiers.
And from what Archangel had told him, the Ascension had legions of these things.
Kasubel closed his eyes in resignation. He had gotten his answers. Oh hell yes had he gotten his answers.
But he had gotten them with the blood of thousands of innocents. And now, the Ascension had shown them all, that they weren't afraid of hiding.
Even more so, had shown them all just how powerful they were.
What do we do? Kasubel rubbed his eyes with one hand. He council was constantly breathing down his neck, and the Champions of the League were on edge.
If I could only speak to Archangel... he or that whatever thing in his helmet, Mute, surely they must have some kind of plan or idea...
But from what the summoner's of Bligewater had informed him of only made the situation more complicated. Archangel had brought the massive aircraft down for good, but at the cost of his own life.
At least, that's what he had been informed of at first. But later he was informed that Archangel had been scurried onto a Demacian vessel and sailed off.
Along with ANOTHER armored figure.
It must have been another one of his teammates... He remembered. Archangel had come to Valoran with an entire team, all of whom's whereabouts had been unknown at first. Now, one of them was in Piltover and out of his reach thanks to Caitlyn's efforts, and it seems that Demacia had also been holding out on him.
How else am I supposed to interpret an armored figure taking Archangel aboard a Demacian ship accompanied by Demacian champions?
He had sent a letter to Demacia as soon as he had received that information, but he had yet to receive a reply from them.
There likely going to pull a Caitlyn and shrug me off...
What was the god-damn point of his office if no one was going to listen to him!?
Kasubel sighed and returned to his desk. There was also the matter of Archangel's companions. Ezreal and Jinx had been seen boarding the ship along with Archangel, although from what Kasubel's reports had informed him, Ezreal seemed to be in rough shape.
Vega on the other hand...
Kasubel sighed and looked down at the first two lines of the letter he was in the process of penning. It read:
Dear Ashe of the Avarosa,
It is with deep regret that I must inform you that your cousin, Vega of Avarosa, has passed away while on official League business...
The Order of Shadows
? ? ? ?
Hitomi's world was spinning. She couldn't catch her bearings, and kept her eyes shut as she felt her stomach get assaulted by waves of nausea. She felt like she was falling from the sky. What else could it be? She had been falling for god knows how long now.
The suddenly she hit the ground. Hitomi tried to catch herself from slamming her face into the dirt, but failed miserably, falling flat out onto the ground with a loud oomph!
What the hell was that?!
Hitomi groaned as tried to force open her eyes, all the while attempting to piece together what had just happened.
Ok, one minute we're inside the Ascension base when suddenly the room we're in locks and Connor shouted something about a trap...
Then right after that, I'm falling?
Had the floor opened up and her entire squad fallen into some pit of death? As far-fetched as that sounded, that's what it had felt like.
"Ugh, where are we?" Hitomi heard someone moan, Mohammad maybe?
"Are we alive?" Someone else groaned, Connor? Hitomi had a hard time telling, her eyes were just finally beginning to re-focus themselves so that she could see without it being hazy as all hell.
It also brought on a new and sudden pounding headache as her brain tried to deal with her senses being restored.
"Everyone alright?" That voice she recognized perfectly, it was her squad leader, Blake.
A series of moans and various other responses confirmed that at least some of their squad was all there.
Hitomi shook her head to bring the last of her senses back to her, trying her hardest to ignore the headache that came with it all. As she slowly managed to get up from her sprawled out positon that she had landed in, the teenage girl noticed that she hadn't landed on some cold hard floor that would've been inside an Ascension base.
Dirt? Grass? Hitomi raised an eyebrow as she patted the ground with one hand. Yep, that's dirt... not metal... wait...
As if some kind of god-like force was willing her to, Hitomi slowly looked up from the earth. Instead of being inside some kind of trap-room in the Ascension base, she found herself surrounded by trees, brushes, and overgrown grass.
A forest.
What?
Hitomi was speechless, and absolutely confused. She hardly even registered her HUD rebooting, or the other black armored figures in her view slowly getting to their feet.
"Uhh... guys?" Connor began. "This... isn't an Ascension base..."
"Wh... Hey, wait, what?" Another one of Hitomi's squadmates, Jacob stood up and started looking around, his body language made him look like a child in a haunted house. "What… where?"
Hitomi got up onto her hands and knees and looked around. She and her entire squad were in some small clearing in a forest. The trees towered over them like giants, and the fauna appeared to be untouched by human hands in… forever.
"Ok… THIS is weird…" Amanda, another one of Hitomi's squadmates stumbled to her feet. "Where did this dense forest come from?"
Connor waved his hands in front of his face, hidden behind his visor. "Is an illusion?" He looked to his right, where Mohammad was getting up. Connor walked over to him and started tapping on his helmet. "Yo! Mohammad? Are you real? Or am I drea-"
Before Connor could finish, Mohammad, clearly annoyed with Connor rapping his armored knuckles on his head, swiftly delivered a powerful jab to Connor's stomach. Connor immediately groaned in pain and doubled over.
"Yep…" Connor moaned as he stumbled away, hunched over and holding his gut. "Mohammad's… real…"
"I was hoping you were fake, to be honest…" Mohammad shook his punching hand in the air, as if he was just trying to get some dirt off it.
"Enough messing around!" Blake barked, leaning over and picking up his rifle off the ground. "Weapons check. Everyone good?"
Everyone responded with various "yeses" and "yes sirs" as they recovered their equipment. Hitomi looked around and found her own assault rifle in some grass nearby. She picked it up and tapped a button on the back, where a digital screen informed her of the weapon's status and remaining ammo.
"I'm good." Hitomi announced, looking back to her squad. The other eight members of her squad all assembled together in the small clearing they had all found themselves in.
"Ok… anyone got any ideas as to…" Blake started to ask everyone.
"If you're gonna ask if anyone here knows where we are…" Jacob interrupted him, "You're gonna get a bunch of answers that all say no fucking idea, boss man."
Blake let out a brief annoyed sound before shaking his head. "Anyone got any USEFUL ideas?"
Silence followed. After a few seconds, Connor spoke up.
"I think that's your answer boss…"
Hitomi rolled her eyes. She knew that he was grinning sheepishly underneath that helmet of his.
"Hey, at least we're all in one piece." Erikson shrugged, "That's got to count for something right?"
"Does Moses have any ideas as to where we are?" Ryo asked.
Ryo was, of course, referring to their squad's AI. Moses was the only AIX Hitomi's squad had, and it was in the possession of their squad leader.
However, Blake just shook his head. "He's still offline. Anyone's GPS working?"
"Negative." Matthew, the squad's smallest member shook his head. Everyone else responded similar, including Hitomi.
"Shields are still down too…" Erikson added in. To that, everyone also chimed in with similar issues.
My HUD's back up, but shields, GPS… all down… Hitomi wanted to scratch her head in confusion as to what was going on, but remembered she was still wearing her helmet.
Hitomi looked upwards at the sky. The light from the blue sky was peeking through the leaves of the trees overhead whose branches managed to reach out over their clearing.
It was like two A.M. when we began the mission… why is it light out?
Hitomi blinked at that thought. Why was the sun out?
Where the hell are we?
"…See?" She tuned back into the squad's conversation, only to see Erikson lifting up one of his boots and tapping it with the side of his rifle. As he hit the weapon to his armored foot lightly, dirt that had been stuck underneath his greaves came loose and fell back to the earth. "I don't know about you guys, but that seems like pretty fucking real dirt to me."
"Yeah, maybe you should taste it…" Amanda scoffed at him.
"Hey screw you!" Erikson barked at Amanda, who stood across from him in the little improvised circle the squad had formed. "I don't hear you coming up with any ideas as to where we are!"
It was obvious that everyone was starting to get edgy. And how couldn't they? A few minutes ago (or at least what felt like it) they had been in the middle of an Ascension base, and now they were in the middle of a forest.
And there weren't any green untouched forests in the Canadian Artic. At least not as far north as they were.
"Keep it cool you two…" Blake held up a hand and motioned it downwards. His other hand was held up against the side of his helmet. Standing next to him, Mohammad, had both his and Blake's assault rifles in his hands.
"Any luck?" Mohammad asked, his question appeared to be directed at Blake.
Their squad leader shook his head. "The reboot is taking longer then usual. We might be without Moses for a bit." Blake responded, taking his rifle back from Mohammad.
So… no one has any idea where we are… Hitomi looked around, trying to get a bearing for their situation.
"Umm… hey I had a thought just now…" Matthew suddenly spoke up.
"Don't hurt yourself…" Connor mumbled.
"My THOUGHT…" Matthew threw a look at Connor that anyone could tell was one of irritation, even though everyone's faces were hidden behind black visors, "Was that maybe the same thing that happened to Shadow Team, just happened to us?"
Silence.
"Wait, what?" Jacob's head tilted to the side.
"Listen to yourself Matt." Amanda shook her head. "That's crazy talk!"
At least I'm not the only one doesn't believe in that inter-dimensional BS…
Although, Hitomi had to admit, the current situation was making her doubt her previous thoughts on the subject.
"Well look around!" Matthew spread his arms out and twirled around on the spot. "Does THIS look like an Ascension base to YOU!?"
"He has a point…" Hitomi found herself speaking up. She suddenly regretted that when everyone turned to face her.
Oops… I said that out loud! Hitomi quickly brought her free hand up and waved it around as if she was trying to dismiss something.
"I-I mean I don't believe in that dimensional travel thing either, but you have to admit…" She fumbled with her words. "There was no sun out when we entered the Ascension base."
Ohh! I hate being the center of attention!
Thankfully, to her relief, after she said that part about the sun being out, everyone in her squad suddenly looked up.
Why couldn't she be more like Ryo? She never got nervous.
Then again… Ryo doesn't show much emotion… ever…
Maybe she should just wish she was more like Archangel?
"Huh…"
"She's got a point…"
"How'd we not notice that?"
"I think it had to do with the fact that we were suddenly in a forest…"
He squadmates all muttered random responses.
"Ok... so… let me get this straight…" Connor shook his head. "We… might not be on Earth… right? Like… Stargate stuff?"
"Well… that was what the commander had briefed us on… right?" Erikson shrugged. "I mean… I kind of fell asleep during that last meeting…"
"Maybe we're just in some African forest?" Amanda shrugged after she said her piece, although she didn't sound like she believed what she was saying.
"Ok! This is too much!" Jacob threw his arms up in the air even though one of them was still holding his rifle, which got Amanda and Connor on either side of him to take a step back. "I mean this is like some REAL CHEESY movie shit right here!"
Hitomi glanced around again. So we might not be on Earth… that would explain a lot… She took in her surroundings again, turning her back to the squad.
"Hey watch where you're waving that thing!"
"Yeah! You bloody yank!"
"Oooohhhh… he used the Y word…"
"CONNOR! I'm gonna shove that British accent of yours BACK DOWN your throat!"
"Its an ENGLISH accent, thank you very much! I have the God save the queen and James Bond on my side."
Hitomi tried her best to ignore her squadmates bickering. The clearing they were in was rather… odd… but she couldn't put her finger on it.
Why is it so quiet…? Where is all the wild life?
She thought, biting her lower lip. Hitomi looked at the ground again, noticing how none of the bushes nearby extended into the clearing in a seemingly perfect circle.
Its almost like someone cleared out this area…
Wait…
"Hitomi?" She felt a tap on her shoulder, jolting her out of whatever trance she had been in.
"What?" Hitomi blinked, turning her head to face the one getting her attention. Ryo tilted her head to the side.
"Something wrong?" She asked.
"Uhh… I'm not quite sure…" Hitomi began, turning around to face her squad again. Whatever conversation they had been having before paused, all eight of them turning their heads in Hitomi's direction yet again.
"What? You saw something?" Amanda asked.
"No…" Hitomi began, thinking hard about the situation and the strange feeling she was getting.
"What is it Hime?" Connor asked with a shrug.
She briefly rolled her eyes at her codename, and how it was a bit of an inside joke to her and her squad.
"Its just… I don't know…" Hitomi rubbed the back of her helmet as she tried to put the words together. "Doesn't it feel like this is some kind of… I don't know… trap?"
An eerie silence followed Hitomi's question. One that she didn't like.
"Now that you mention it…" Mohammad broke the silence. "Why did we get… teleported, out of no where?"
Before anyone could answer (if anyone of them even had one) there was a loud rustle behind Mohammad. On reflex, Hitomi shouldered her rifle and brought the sights to her visor. She took a step to the side so that Mohammad wasn't in her line of sight anymore, only to be met with a very large tree trunk in the close distance behind him.
Her other squadmates' training kicked in as well, with everyone suddenly taking aim in the same direction and spreading out. Mohammad himself dropped down to one knee and turned around, weapon raised.
"What the hell was that?" Matthew asked.
"Glad I wasn't the only one who heard that…" Jacob muttered. "Shit's weird…"
"Ok, that's it." Blake's voice gave away his annoyance. "Spread out. I want-"
Before he could continue, there was another sound of something rustling from the direction they were all facing. On instinct, everyone in Hitomi's squad (including herself), tensed up, weapons at the ready. However, the only thing in that direction that Hitomi could spot were trees, trees, and more trees.
Those trees are massive… anything could be hiding behind them…
"Viking, Jay-Z, flanks." Blake ordered Jacob and Erikson to move in. While she was scanning the area in front of her, Hitomi noticed Jacob and Erikson look at one another, each giving one another a nod before breaking off from the rest of the group in opposite directions. A second after they did, the rustling got even louder, followed by creaking. The enormous tree that was closest to them started to move, teetering back and forth slightly.
"What the hell?" Amanda asked.
Before someone could answer, the tree started to teeter towards them. Slowly at first… and then quickly.
"Aw bollocks…" Connor groaned.
Oh shit…
"MOVE!" Blake barked.
No one else had to be told twice, as the several stories tall tree and at least seven people wide came crashing down in their direction. Amanda rolled to the right, Blake leaping over her as she tumbled. Matthew stumbled slightly, having to rely on Jacob grabbing him by the shoulder to get him out of the path of the falling tree. Hitomi sprinted a few feet, and then rolled to ensure she was out of the path. She came back up to her feet, weapon at the ready, with Ryo and Connor right next to her.
As the tree came crashing down with earthshattering force, Hitomi saw Mohammad dive at the last second in the opposite direction.
The trunk of the tree slammed into the earth, kicking dirt up and making the ground shake. Hitomi's head shook on her neck from being so close to the site of impact, causing her to stumble backwards for a moment before someone grabbed her by the arm.
"I got you…" Connor grunted as he helped her back onto her feet.
"Everyone good?" Blake's voice came in over the COM.
"I think we're clear." Amanda responded.
"Mohammad?" Hitomi asked as she got to her feet, both hands still gripping her rifle. "Mohammad?" She asked again after no response
She couldn't see over the now fallen tree, and she wasn't able to tell if her squadmate had managed to get out of the path in time.
"He's ok!" Erikson responded over the COM. "Just shaken."
His response was followed by a cough, and then Mohammad's voice. "I'm ok… I'm ok…" He groaned.
Hitomi let out a sigh of relief.
"Alright…" Connor muttered, still holding onto Hitomi's arm. "I wasn't expecting that…"
Hitomi shook her head lightly. "I don't think any of us was expecting a tree to try and crush us." She glanced to her left arm, where Connor's gauntlet was still gripping her own armor. "I'm fine now Connor…" She mumbled.
"Oh… right." Connor released her immediately. "My bad."
Good to know he cares…
Hitomi looked around. Aside from herself, Ryo, Connor, Matthew, and Jacob had managed to get of the falling tree's path and come out on the same side as her.
The others must be on the opposite side.
"Status!" Blake's voice came in over the COM in a commanding tone. "Anyone hurt?"
"We're good on this boss man." Jacob radioed back to their squad leader for everyone on Hitomi's side of the tree.
"What the hell was that?" Erikson's voice came in over the COM again.
"It looks like someone tried to drop a tree on us." Matthew's this time.
"What do you mean, 'someone tried to drop a tree on us'?" Jacob's now.
"Hey, big trees like this don't just fall over like that." Matthew's again. Hitomi looked to her left and saw her smaller squadmate walk up to the fallen tree and give it a light kick with his foot before turning back to face her, Connor, and Ryo. "I mean… this thing is massiv-" Matthew started again but was suddenly cut off.
By something smashing into his visor.
It was like in slow motion to Hitomi. She saw it. seven small objects came at a forty-five-degree angle from above Matthew. Three of them smashed into his visor, cracking the protective shield that covered the younger teen's face. One more object embedded itself in the center of his neck, with the final three objects piercing his chest plate right where the heart would be.
Without as much as a shout, Matthew slowly fell sideways towards the ground and made no attempt to stop his own fall. After hitting the dirt, his head rolled to the side without any resistance, allowing Hitomi to get a clear view of his punctured visor.
Blood seeped from the wounds. There was no doubt in Hitomi's mind.
She had just watched Matthew die like an invalid.
Hitomi's eye's went wide as she not only processed what had just happened, but what those objects were.
Shuriken?
"HITOMI! LOOK OUT!" Connor yelled, and before Hitomi could react, she felt something slam into her back sending her to the dirt visor first.
"AMBUSH!" Blake shouted over the COM. And all hell broke loose.
As figures clothed in the ninja garb of the Order of the Shadow descended upon the outworlders below, the grandmaster himself stood up high in the branches above the battlefield. As the first outworlder fell, Zed felt a smile stretch across his face.
Well done…
The objective of this ambush was clear: capture as many of the outworlders alive for his new… "friends".
Outworlders… there all the same… selfish scum who are only out for their own interests…
Zed scoffed at the thought of calling his new "allies" friends. He remembered how he and his fellow shinobi had been talked into assisting the so called Ascension with this ambush.
"We need some prime… specimens…. For our research." The Ascension's "liaison" to the Order of the Shadows, an armored man named Flammenschwert, had requested of him. "We have an ambush site and trap all set up, we just need you to spring it."
Zed had agreed with the plan, as much as he wanted to slice the so-called meta-human's head off with a single blow. The reason he stayed his hand was simple: it was a win-win for him and his ninja order.
We kill some outworlders, we get the Ascension's advanced technology as payment, and my disciples get some real combat experience.
That was Zed's thought when he agreed. With the Ascension's advanced technology at his disposal, the remains of the Kinkou Order wouldn't stand a chance against him.
And after that… Zed fancied the thought, but was brought back to the present by a female voice behind him.
"Master?"
Zed glanced over his shoulder to the voice's owner, his favorite student, Kari.
"Go." Zed nodded, already knowing what her request was.
With a nod, Kari leapt off the massive tree branch Zed had been sharing with her, far above the fight below where his shinobi were clashing with the outworlders.
It is time I joined as well…
After all, the trap had been sprung flawlessly, and now the outworlders numbers had been split in half. Grasping a pair of his razor shuriken, Zed dropped from the branches of the trees towering above the outworlders below. As he fell, he had a whole three seconds to plan his attack. He only needed one.
We outnumber the outworlders two to one. We'll take half of them alive and the other half will die here. Zed thought as he fell towards the earth. Below him, several of his students landed first with their weapons drawn. The black armored outworlders had been taken completely off guard. There was four on the side of the tree below him, while the other five were on the other side already engaged by his students.
Loud bangs emitted into the air as the outworlders attempted to fire their advanced guns at Zed's fellow shinobi, only to strike at shadows as his students whisked away from view and reappear someplace else.
Zed landed on the ground feet first, entering into a crouching position and took aim at one of the outworlders, whom has his or her back turned to him and was firing a rifle of sorts at a shadow clone produced by one of his students.
Mark.
Zed threw both of his shuriken at the target's neck, who was starting to turn around to face Zed; likely set off by the sound of Zed's boots crashing into the dirt from his fall. The razor sharp shuriken pierced the lightly armored neck of his target…
And sliced it clean off with a gruesome sound.
His target's now headless body jerked violently and strangely as it stumbled around for a moment before collapsing, still twitching as blood gushed from the hole in the neck.
"MOHAMMAD!" Zed turned his head forty degrees to the left to seek the source of the despairing cry. One of the outworlders who stood over the corpse of one of his students had witnessed Zed's killing of his comrade.
The other two outworlders hadn't been able to do anything, as they were both pre-occupied. The one Zed identified as being the group's leader had lost his rifle at some point in time and instead now wielded a pair of knives, but it was doing the man little good as he had been backed up against a tree by three of Zed's disciple's. The sole female on this side of the fallen tree had a pistol drawn and was firing at various shadows that danced around her (which included Kari's) as she backpedaled away in haste.
That left the outworlder who stood over the bullet ridden body of one of Zed's shinobi.
"You!" The outworlder facing Zed shouted and threw his rifle to the side.
Oh? Zed raised an eyebrow at the action. This one is going to forego his advanced weaponry? Does he seek honorable combat?
Zed scoffed mentally at that idea. He was a ninja, the master of the Order of the Shadow. The outworlder would fine no honorable combat from him.
Just a swift death.
His new opponent, now weaponless, did something Zed had not been expecting. The air around the outworlder's hands began to twirl, with several… snowflakes? Appearing from nowhere and collecting in the armored outworlder's hands. These snowflakes quickly took shape in the form of a longsword in one hand, and a kite shield in the other.
"Kompå digDuinavladekuksugare!" The outworlder yelled at Zed in a strange tongue as he took up a stance with the new weapons that he had produced from thin air.
Oh? Zed narrowed his eyes as he realized what was happening. He had almost forgot that these particular outworlders, meta-humans as they were called, had special… gifts. His new opponent formed a sword in shield made of ice in his hands and took up a fighting stance, Zed twisted his own wrists, causing the blades on the back on his hands to extend.
This one's powers seem to be making constructs out of ice… Zed thought as he stood ready to fight, Ice versus shadow…
"RAAAAH!" The outworlder shouted as he charged with his new ice-weapons at Zed.
Zed waited until his target got closer before making his move, which only took a second for the outworlder to close the gap. Focusing on his own teachings, a shadowy dark figure appeared behind the outworlder without his notice.
With his own pieces set on the board, Zed thrusted his arm-blades at the charging outworlder, and steel clashed with ice as their weapons crashed into each other.
However, nothing blocked his shadow's blades, who mimicked the same maneuver. Zed grinned as the outworlder suddenly jerked awkwardly, and two shadow blades identical to Zed's own ripped through the man from behind and pierced through the outworlder's body.
…Shadow always wins.
"Wh… what?" The outworlder coughed and looked down at the two misty blades that now protrude from the front of his own body. The ice weapons that he had formed only moments ago cracked once, and then shattered.
Zed chuckled at the sight.
"Weak." He said, and then yanked one of his arms backwards, watching as one of the misty blades from his clone mimic is move, pulling one of the blades out of the impaled outworlder's body. His prey coughed and groaned loudly in pain from the motion.
With the same arm, Zed swung at the man's neck, with his clone doing the same. With a loud squishy noise that would make anyone squeamish wiggle, his blade crossed over with his shadow clone's and scissored the outworlder's head off.
Two down… Zed thought as blood sprayed his mask. His clone disappeared, causing his recently deceased enemy to slump to the ground.
In the time it had taken him to take down his second target, the other two remaining outworlders had been subdued. The group's suspected leader had been knocked out and Zed's shinobi were in the process of chaining him up, while Zed managed to witness the last remaining outworlder get stabbed through the chest by Kari's katana, the blade sticking out several feet through her back coated in red blood. Without so much as a humph, Kari pushed the body of the female outworlder off the blade and to the ground, where it laid motionless.
One out of four captured… Zed thought, but before that thought could continue, more gunfire echoed in the air from the other side of the fallen tree trunk.
"Move! Move!" He heard a voice shout from the other side.
Zed looked over his shoulder at the tree that bared his sight, where the rest of his shinobi were still engaging the rest of the outworlders. I guess we'll have take most of them alive on that side…
As her helmet hit the dirt from the force of being hit from behind, Hitomi's face smacked into her helmet's visor, causing her to grunt in pain and her eyes to tear up slightly from having hit her nose. Before she could fight off whatever it was that was now pinning her to the ground, she felt the weight suddenly vanish as if nothing had even touched her.
What the hell is going on?! Hitomi thought alarmingly as she scrambled to her feet and tried to blink the tears out of her eyes. Gunfire and shouting erupted, along with the sounds of people moving which only increased a sense of panic that began to wash over her.
Getting to her feet, Hitomi looked around her through teary eyes and almost didn't believe what she was seeing.
Several figures clothed in black cloth and leather wielding exotic feudal weaponry had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Hitomi recognized the look of these new arrivals instantly from all sorts of history books, manga, and TV she had watched growing up, and she couldn't believe it.
They were being ambushed by ninjas. Yes, ninjas. The masked garb, the weapons, the way these newcomers moved, there was no doubt in Hitomi's mind.
These were ninjas in the fullest.
And they were attacking Hitomi's squadmates.
Jacob fired his rifle at one of the ninja, only to have his target disappear in a puff of black mist and reappear to on his left flank. The ninja had a pair of short katana, taking a swipe at Jacob's neck with them, but Hitomi's teammate managed to roll out of the way.
Ryo on the other hand was beset by three shinobi. The first one had a kusarigama of all things (a one handed sickle with a chain attached to it), and tried to slash at her friend with it. Ryo ducked under the blow and took the opportunity to slam the butt-end of her rifle into the second ninja's gut. She wasn't able to move out of the way of the third ninja's swing from his katana, and instead tried to block it with her same rifle, only to have the sharp blade cut the firearm clean in half. In response to losing her weapon, Ryo tumbled backwards away from her attackers who pursued her relentlessly.
I have to help her! Hitomi thought but heard a loud grunt behind her. Quickly glancing over her shoulder, she saw Connor grappling with another ninja on the ground right behind her, with a second ninja leaning over them with a katana poised to slash at the back of Connor's neck.
At seeing Connor fight with a ninja on the ground nearby, it clicked in Hitomi's head.
That's who hit me from behind! Connor must have tackled him off me!
And Connor had no idea that another enemy was standing over him ready to slice his head clean off.
Without a moment's pause Hitomi grabbed her sidearm (a Glock-68) strapped to her armor's leg, quick-drawing it just like she had been taught, triggering off the, and aiming it right at the standing ninja with the katana all in a single movement just like Archangel had taught her.
And just like Archangel had taught her never to hesitate, she did not.
Hitomi pulled the trigger several times firing a salvo of rounds at the ninja, adjusting for the kick-back each time and barring her teeth as she did so. The ninja's both twitched violently from the force of having a series of bullets punch into his chest, dropping the katana and falling backwards after the fifth round slammed into his body.
Hitomi fired a sixth time at her target's falling body, just to make sure.
Then it dawned on her.
I… I just killed someone….
Hitomi felt her stomach turn and fought back the urge to throw up. Sure she had been trained for years, and sure she had known this whole time that being a Gamma Meta-Human serving under TRANS-Ops meant that she would have to kill someone at some point in time. But she had never actually done it…
Her thoughts were interrupted by Connor suddenly rolling over on the ground and kicking the ninja he had been grappling with off him.
"Hitomi! FIRE!" He screamed.
Hitomi gritted her teeth and quickly tracked her stumbling target and pulled the trigger again. And again, and again. The rounds slammed into her new target's torso and the second ninja stumbled to the ground and did not move again.
Damn it… DAMN IT! Hitomi felt her morals and gut wrench at it all.
Then a loud shout bellowed over the entire battlefield.
"MOHAMMAD!"
That was… Erikson?
Before she could ping her squadmate over the COM she felt something slam into her back again, causing her to fall to the ground, but this time she managed to maintain a hold on her gun.
"Kuso!" Hitomi cursed in Japanese as she slammed into the dirt yet again, quickly looking up just in time to see Jacob tumbling over her swearing away.
"Motherfucker!" Her squadmate cursed.
Hitomi felt a chill run down her spine, and her eyes went wide open.
This feeling… KUSO!
She rolled to the side as quickly as she could, narrowly dodging someone slamming the sharp end of a katana into the dirt where she was a quarter second ago. Hitomi rolled onto her back and took aim with her Glock at the ninja standing over her, firing up at her new attacker. But this time, instead of striking home, the ninja vanished and in his/her place was a shadowy apparition that her gun's round whisked right thought.
What the fuck is THAT?!
"RAAAHHH!" Hitomi screamed as she fired again and again at her shadowy attacker, but each round did nothing but pass through the dark misty figure.
She felt someone grasp her shoulder and she instinctively flipped around and took aim at head of the one grabbing her.
Only to have Jacob smack her gun aside.
"Fuck off Hime! Its me!" Jacob swore and pulled her backwards away from the shadowy apparition. Hitomi stumbled backwards as she got up, but instead of falling backwards, she stumbled backwards into Jacob and Connor who each grabbed her.
"Easy, easy..." Connor said quietly to her yet the haste in his voice gave way that he, like her, was on an adrenaline high.
"We got you Hime, we got you." Jacob's voice was in a similar state.
While she got her bearings, Hitomi shook her head and spotted Ryo stumbling backwards towards her and the rest of her teammates as well, only that her friend didn't need Jacob and Connor to catch her.
And just like that, Hitomi, Jacob, Connor, and Ryo were seemingly lined up perfectly, facing off against five ninjas and their assorted weapons several meters away. But this time the ninjas didn't advance. Instead, they stood their ground in combat ready stances, as if they were waiting for something.
"What the fuck?!" Jacob swore as let go of Hitomi and took a step forward past her, towards their new enemies. "Ninjas?! The hell is this shit?!"
"Did we get teleported into a… oh what do you Japs call it?" Connor mumbled from behind Hitomi, still having a hand on her back. "A manga?"
Normally Hitomi would've rolled her eyes at Connor's remark, but the situation was both so absurd and so dangerous at the same time that she didn't even pay it any heed. Hitomi did notice the blinking light on her HUD though, informing her that her sidearm was out of ammo.
She was about to reload when she saw several more of those shadowy humanoid figures appear on top of the massive fallen tree trunk behind the ninjas.
"What the hell are these things?!" Hitomi asked outload. That one guy did that early when I tried to shoot him!
Before anyone could answer her (assuming anyone would answer her), the shadows suddenly vanished, and in their place we're even MORE ninja.
"Oh what the fuck is this!?" Jacob yelled, flailing his arms in the air. "I didn't sign up for this shit!"
"They came from the other side, where Blake and the others were." Ryo spoke up for the first time in awhile. Hitomi noticed her friend was clutching her own shoulder and was standing awkwardly.
Ryo's wounded… wait… what did she just say.
"Blake? Blake come in!" Connor's voice over the COM echoed in Hitomi's helmet.
No response.
"Fuck!" Jacob swore again as he also tried to ping their squad leader. "Boss? Boss you there?!"
Still no response.
Hitomi felt her heat sink. Even more so when glanced up at one of the newly arrived ninja on the tree trunk, who was much larger then the rest of the ninja and stood at an angle with his arms crossed over his chest. His attire was different too, his upper body was protected by metal armor with a small red cape that had clear wear and tear. Rather then the usual dark cloth that covered the other shinobi's faces, this particular ninja had a metal mask concealing his face with red glowing eyes, that combined with the overall appearance, Hitomi felt intimidated by this imposing figure. Even more so when she spotted the blood-stains on the silver mask and armor.
"Guys…" Hitomi spoke, almost whispering, unable to bring herself to speak any louder. "Look at that big guy… he's got blood-stains on his mask…"
"What…." Connor questioned, "Oh no… the others…"
Their conversation was interrupted by a low laugh emitting from the imposing ninja, who clearly appeared to be their attacker's leader.
"Weak… pathetic…" A cold voice came from the masked ninja.
"What?" Jacob growled. "You say something freak?"
"You outworlders are nothing but scum… weaklings…" The large ninja uncurled his arms and raised his hands up and over his back out of sight. "None of you will ever return to your homes."
The lead ninja's hands returned into view, with a shrunken the size of Hitomi's head in each hand.
"Those… are some big ass shrunken..." Connor mumbled.
"A gruesome fate awaits you all…" The lead ninja continued to taunt them. "Just like the fates that your comrades have met."
The fates that….
He killed them…
Hitomi felt the blood leave her face at the ninja's declaration.
Blake, Amanda, Erikson, Mohammad…
The blood stains…
He killed them…
"YOU MOTHER FUCKER!" Jacob exploded, and charged forward.
"NO!" Hitomi and Connor shouted in protest, but Jacob was already gone. The air around her squadmate glowed yellow, as Jacob charged forward with his meta-human power active. As her comrade sprinted at the group of ninjas, his superpower-charged sprint knocked up all sorts of dirt and dust.
Jacob charged forward with a loud battle cry, but the sheer volume of dirt and dust that was kicked up into the air by his charge blocked all view from Hitomi's sight of what happened to her squadmate just as he closed the gap between himself and their enemies.
Jacob! No!
"Jay-z!" Connor shouted after him.
"Wait!" Ryo yelled as well.
But the only response they got was a loud bang as Jacob's power exploded, as he met with the enemy, sending out a shockwave from the epicenter of the impact.
Hitomi grunted as she tried to steel herself from the shockwave, but the force was too much and she felt her boots leave the earth.
Hitomi screamed and shut her eyes as she was knocked backwards and sent airborne for a few seconds, before hitting the ground hard on her back and tumbled over and over again from the momentum. She finally came to a stop after an additional few seconds, but when she opened her eyes, all she saw was dust in the air.
"Hitomi! Ryo!" She heard Connor shout from behind her. Hitomi tried to get to her feet, but she was too dizzy and only managed to stumble to her knees. She glanced over her shoulder and managed to make out Ryo up against a tree and Connor a few feet off, trying to get up.
Hitomi groaned as she managed to get back up on her feet, with Connor and Ryo doing the same, with Ryo being significantly slowly.
"Jacob… what happened?" Ryo mumbled just loud enough for Hitomi to hear.
Jacob? Hitomi looked back in the direction that Jacob charged, only to see more smoke and dust.
"I can't see anything." Hitomi responded, but just as she did, the dust started to settle. Hitomi managed to make out a silhouette in the distance, some twenty or thirty meter away concealed by the dust that had been kicked up into the air by Jacob's power.
Who is that? Hitomi wondered, but stood at the ready, ignoring her body's aches from having been thrown around.
As the silhouette got closer, Hitomi noticed it was an odd shape... not a single individual but more like two individuals put toget…
Then the dust cleared and she saw it.
The lead ninja with the mask and armor stood before them, with both of his arms raised out in front of him with strange blades extending from the back of his hands.
And impaled on those blades was Jacob.
"No…" Connor's voice sounded as if he had finally lost his own sense of humor.
"You see now?" The cold, void voice emitted from the ninja yet again. He raised his arms over his head, and Jacob's limp body went upwards along with them. "You outworlders are so weak..."
With not so much as a grunt the ninja's arms swung down quickly, sending Jacob's limp body flying off the blades and towards Hitomi and her remaining squadmates. Jacob's body hit the ground and rolled a few times before coming to final stop with blood oozing onto the dirt underneath.
"… and fall so easily to the shadows..."
Hitomi stopped listening after that. She just stared at Jacob's mangled body on the ground between her and the scariest ninja she had ever seen in her life.
She was brought back into the present by someone grabbing her arm and yanking on her violently. As she turned to face whatever it was that was grabbing her, Hitomi found herself face to face with Connor's unmasked and seriously determined face.
Connor? Where's your helmet?
"I SAID HITOMI!" Connor shouted at her, even though his face was a mere foot away from hers. His expression was nothing short of sheer determination, which was rare given he was always grinning and goofy.
"We have to run! We have to run NOW!" He shouted at her, and without another word, he yanked on her arm, and Hitomi found herself running with him.
And away from the monster that had just turned her life on its head.
Zed felt a sadistic sense of enjoyment wash over him as he watched the three remaining outworlders flee for their lives.
Without even turning around to face his shinobi that all walked up behind him, Zed nodded in the direction of the fleeing enemies.
"After them, take them alive."
"By your word, Headmaster." Kari's voice responded.
Several figures sprinted past Zed, and the chase was on.