CHAPTER 24: THREAT SIGN

I looked around at the ransacked battlefield.

"I need to find Sarah," I declared, climbing to my feet.

"What happened?" Gibbs asked again.

"I need to find Sarah!"

"Jack!"

I ran across the prairie towards Sarah and Ari, and Gibbs hurtled after me.

We ran for about five minutes, and I gasped in relief as I saw Sarah running towards us. We caught up with each other, and I was ready to cry when I realized she was okay.

"What happened to you?" I asked her.

"What happened to you?" she demanded.

I looked past her and saw Ari walking slowly towards us, cradling his injuries with one hand. He looked pale and strained, but he kept his face set and determined. As he met up with us, a portal opened.

"Come on," I said. "We'll explain everything back home."

We all walked through the portal, returning to our living room.

"I'll report to medical," Ari said, walking gingerly towards the stairs.

"You both should go too," Sarah advised Gibbs and I.

"We will, but you've got to hear this," I told her, leading her over to the couch.

"Yeah, I was about to say the same thing," Sarah agreed.

"What?" I said, looking at her with wide eyes. "What do you mean? What happened?"

"There were robots," she told me, seeming almost as though she didn't believe it herself.

"Really? They came to you too?" I asked, astonished.

"Wait…what do you mean?" she asked.

I explained to her what had happened when the machines came out of the fracture. Gibbs took keen interest in this tale as well, him having been unconscious during the course of the events.

"So, they just…tied it up and took it," Sarah summarized, looking aghast.

"Yeah," I said. "What did they do when you met them?"

"They just kind of…looked around," Sarah explained. "They didn't say anything. They looked at us and then brought up a hologram of the creature. I assumed they were looking for it, so I told them which direction it went in. After that, they walked back through the hole they punched through to get there. I guess that's when you saw them."

"I've never seen anything like that before," I stated. "Where did they come from?"

"I want to know if they crossed over with the creature," Sarah stated.

"Or if they went through Universal boundaries on their own," I concurred. "We should ask Theas. For all we know, the Keepers sent the machines."

"The Keepers did not send the machines," Theas countered. We looked around as he strolled in.

"Then where did they come from?" Sarah asked.

"Let me put it this way," Theas said. "If you ever find yourself stuck in their universe, you'd be better off killing yourself than crossing them wrong." There was nothing in the way of playfulness or jest in his tone.

"Are they evil?" I asked.

Theas had to put a lot of effort towards not visibly cringing at this question, and it almost succeeded. "It's not as simple as that," he explained. "We don't have time to go over their entire history, so I'll give you a brief rundown. The Torrek are an Alpha Class species."

"Wait, what does that mean?" Gibbs asked.

"It means if they wanted to take over a galaxy, they could do it without much stopping them, including humans," Theas explained. "Humans are a Beta class species."

"Where are they from?" Sarah asked.

"Earth," Theas replied. "The Torrek are their universe's next evolution of humanity. Their people got so addicted to self-preservation that they immortalized themselves as machines." All three of us gawked at Theas in some mixture of astonishment and horror. "But don't get me wrong," Theas continued. "There's nothing human left of them. Their only focus is on what is necessary to maintain their existence. Connection, empathy, love, all of that is gone. Which is also what makes them terrifying enemies."

"So did they come here themselves?" I asked.

"That's hard to say," Theas answered. "I would task R and I with investigating it. They should be able to effectively track how they got here."

"Okay, but what's your best guess?" Gibbs asked.

Theas gave him a furtive look. "Judging by the fact they came strictly to recover that creature and left again, I would say it's likely they came here of their own will."

"And that scares you witless, doesn't it?" Sarah said.

"Oh, absolutely," Theas said unapologetically. "There are only a handful of Omega Class species in the multiverse, but achieving cross-universal travel is the first step to getting there."

"Should we be worried?" Gibbs asked.

A portal opened in our living room, causing Gibbs, Sarah, and I to all look around in surprise. Theas raised an eyebrow, and his face fell in surprise as Daak stepped out of the portal to survey them all. "It is not of your concern," she assured us all.

"What do you mean?" Sarah asked, staring at her.

"The Universal Keepers have issued a Level Three Watch against the Torrek. They will be appropriately handled," Daak explained.

"What does that mean? A Level Three Watch?" I asked.

"It means that the Torrek are as concerning to us as they are to you," Theas clarified. "The Keepers can issue Watches and Alerts, each ranging from Level One to Five, Five being the most severe."

"What Level are we?" Gibbs asked.

"You are a Level Two," Theas answered.

"The cause of the Macrobreach is a Level Four," Daak added. "If it spreads to other Universes, it may very well jump to Level Five. Speaking of which, where are you on figuring out the Macrobreach?" The question wasn't accusatory, but I found myself looking away awkwardly.

"We haven't had a chance to get very far," Theas told her.

Daak nodded, unsurprised. "Undoubtedly you all have had plenty to handle. Theas, what are your plans for the immediate future?"

"I was going to hold a meeting with all of the Macrobreaches to go over our intel on Nok and his Kill Team."

"Well, cancel those plans," Daak told him. "I need you."

Theas raised an eyebrow at her. "For what?"

"We need to get ahead of this Kill Team," Daak explained. "I'm putting you on a military assault team that will track the Hunters to their base of operations."

"What?" Theas said. "But I need to be here to help this team. They need to know what they're up against."
"I already have someone set to take your place," Daak told him. "In fact, he should be coming through right now."

We all looked to the portal that Daak had arrived in as a second individual stepped out. All of our jaws dropped as the Keeper surveyed us all, and Theas turned to him with a raised eyebrow. It was the Assistant Keeper that had come to our house with Theas the first time we encountered him. The one that Gibbs had shot in the head and killed.

"Hey, Pirises," Theas said casually.

"Where…how…" I stuttered, gawking at the Keeper.

Daak observed the scene with an amused grin. "Keepers don't die like other species," she told us.

"You can wreck our bodies, but actually killing us takes a lot more," Pirises explained.

"Okay, and how much more does it take?" Gibbs asked.

"You know," Theas said with a grin, "the Universal Keepers have regulations we operate under that makes certain information confidential. And how to kill us tops that list."

All three of the Keepers shared an amused grin, as though it was an inside joke between them all.

"Okay, so Pirises will be your informant for Nok and his Kill Team," Theas summarized. "That's good. That way you at least have some ground to stand on."

"You mean if you don't come back?" Gibbs asked.

Theas didn't answer. Daak became rather silent as well. Gibbs nodded, and he motioned for us to follow him down to the basement. As we walked away, I heard Daak say to Theas, "Let's go. I'll brief you on your operation back at headquarters."

Thirty minutes later, all of the Anomalies were gathered in the meeting room. It was astonishing how massive our numbers were growing. With the addition of Diane, who was sitting next to Fornell as he clutched her hand tightly, we were up to twelve people on our side without the Keepers.

Pirises stood at the front of the room, observing us all. I looked over at Gibbs, sitting a few seats away and looking at Pirises with his eyes narrowed. Sloane sat next to him, looking around the room. Admiral McGee sat in the back, leaning in his chair with his arms folded. Ari was in the same row on the opposite side of the room, scrolling through his smartphone with as much fascination as he did when he was first introduced to the device. Luca and Kyle sat next to each other as well, discussing in whispers their latest efforts at exploring the Macrobreach. Rob sat next to Luca, staring silently around the room.

Jackson sat next to Gibbs, and while he looked good-tempered enough, he seemed quite lost as to how he got here. Lastly, Sarah sat next to me, and while I had a curdling ball of anxiety in my gut at the thought of her having anything to do with the Hunters, it was a comfort to have her here next to me. It was quite the crowd that we had assembled to battle Nok's group.

Pirises called the room to order. "We all know why we're here," he said. "You need as much information as we can give you about the Kill Team you recently fought." He pressed a button on the keyboard in front of him, and five photos appeared on the screen–facial shots of each of the five Hunters in Nok's Kill Team.

"Let's start with what you all have learned about them so far," Pirises suggested. "Special Agent Gibbs." He addressed Gibbs with no acknowledgement towards the fact that Gibbs had shot him in the head last time they met. "Would you like to share your intel?"

Gibbs grinned, looking somewhat awkward. "We going around the class, teach?" he asked. Prises smirked, but he didn't relent. "Well, okay," Gibbs said, looking around. He then looked back up to Pirises and said, "To be completely honest, these guys…they couldn't be more different than the ones we faced before."

"Yeah, I don't envy anyone who has to face them," Pirises agreed. "What do you know of their capabilities?"

"They're powerful," supplied Admiral McGee. "I've fought whole nations that don't wield as much strength as these five individuals."

Several people in the crowd nodded in agreement.

"I didn't have much to do with any of them other than that deer guy, what was his name?" Fornell said.

"Alkor," Pirises supplied. "He's a nasty one."

"After getting gored by him, I agree with you," Fornell said. "He's a big, mean, ugly bastard, but he wasn't just that. He made the trees rise up and defend him."

"Yeah," Pirises said. "Alkor's the one we know least about. We know he has some level of control over nature and the environment around him, but we haven't established how potent his abilities are. We get the sense that he actively refrains from using his full power in combat."

"And then there's the, well, I don't know so much that I'd call her a lady, but the one who tried to take me down," Diane said.

"Brindier," Pirises said. "Her powers are pretty straightforward, but that doesn't make her less dangerous. From the outside looking in, she has pyrokinesis, and a significant command of it. To get into the exact science of her powers, Brindier can draw in heat from the sun and use Aolen to ignite it. Trust me, you would hate to see her when she's really pissed off."

"And then there's the wannabe pidgeon," Rob said. "Gilo, I think."

"Gilo's powers are pretty inconsequential, but his fighting and reconnaissance abilities keep him as Nok's right hand," Pirises said. "He can fly, he can claw, he can kick. That's about the extent of what he can do, but he's mastered the art of moving silently so that no one can detect him. Some have even proposed he can cloak himself."

"That doesn't sound very inconsequential to me," Fornell said.

"What about Iryn?" I asked. "She's powerful. She said she can manipulate Aolen. If that's true, won't that make all of our weapons useless against her?"

"Iryn can manipulate Aolen, you're right," Pirises agreed.

"Then how do we stop her?" Sloane asked. "I doubt our old weapons will have any greater effect on her than they did Algaltha."

"No, they won't," Pirises agreed. "The Universal Keepers are still researching her powers and weaknesses. As soon as we have an answer, we'll be sure to relay that intel to you. But at the same time, the best way to figure that out is through combat. So, it's a difficult situation."

Pirises then typed on the computer, and after a few seconds, all of the other Hunter profiles disappeared while Nok's expanded. "Their leader," Pirises stated. "There aren't many Keepers who can face him one-on-one and keep up, much less defeat him. Daak even fought him once, and she was almost killed."

"What are his powers?" Ari asked.

"Instead of using Aolen for his powers, Nok uses Skotos. Skotos is kind of the antithesis of Aolen. Aolen is power derived from stars, while Skotos is created when you mix the power from a black hole with the energy of a Dark Nebula."

"Wait, in the files I researched," Luca said, "it looked like he mixed Aolen with something else. Is that not the case?"

"The existence of Skotos is one of the most closely-guarded secrets in the multiverse," Pirises told him. "I don't even think it exists in this universe, but if it did, everyone who ever wanted to conquer anything would be after it. I'm sorry for the deceit, but you weren't cleared to know about Skotos."

Luca nodded, and while he looked grimly dissatisfied, he didn't argue. "So, that is, in a nutshell, the powers of Nok and his kill team," Pirises declared. "Their abilities are vast. I've already sent a full report of everything they can do to Luca's and Gibbs's emails to distribute accordingly."

"So, what happens next?" Gibbs asked. "Theas went after them with a team, right? Are they going to be able to take Nok down?"

"Only time will tell," Pirises answered. "Daak sent a roster of highly capable Keepers after the Kill Team, so I can't imagine they don't go there without inflicting some damage."

IN THE EYES OF THE MULTIVERSE:

A silver aircraft flew through dark clouds with lightning flashing all around them. The aircraft was large enough to hold a crew of about ten. It had a wide, cylindrical body with long wings and several weapons installations across its armored surface. There was a purple stripe going from the thrusters to the nose of the vessel, and the outline of the stripe glowed brightly. Inside the body of the aircraft, Theas stood with four other Keepers including the pilot.

"Alright, she's on auto the rest of the way there," said the pilot as he walked back to stand with the rest of the Keepers. Falien was a man with a bald head and clean-shaven face. He had a muscular frame and wore a black, short-sleeved shirt with black pants. "Everyone ready?"

The rest of the crew nodded. "Theas," Falien addressed. "You look nervous."

"Ah, don't mind him," said Eliacro as she patted him on the shoulder, grinning. "He's spent so much time with those Anomalies of his, he's forgotten what real combat looks like." Eliacro had dark skin and a slender build with long, brown hair kept in a bushy braid.

"Must have been nice, right?" said Saphyon. He was well over six feet tall with enormous muscles, close-trimmed hair, and a bushy beard. "I'm not dragging you. I've tried to be an Investigator, but no one will let me leave Tactical."

"Yeah, that's because any Anomaly that sees you coming at 'em is just gonna up and kill themselves," said Pasir. Pasir had dark skin, a thin build, and thick, black hair pulled into a dozen dreadlocks down his back. "You gotta have some finesse, and my man Theas here has it going on."

Theas grinned, although he couldn't swallow the nervousness that was chewing on him as they approached their destination.

"Hey, man," Falien said. "You'll be alright. We've got your back." He nodded reassuringly to Theas, who nodded in return as he straightened up his posture. "Listen up," Falien called to the team. "We all know the drill. This is a full tactical assault operation. We've all been pulled from different branches of the Universal Keepers as an emergency response to a Threat Sign Blue. Quick recap, because I know this crap gets confusing and a couple of us don't normally respond to Threat Signs. Hunter Threat Signs come in twenty-six varieties in ascending levels of 'oh shit-ness'. Blue is fourteen steps up that ladder."

"Ah, so we're not pissing ourselves yet," Pasir clarified.

"You will be if you go in here thinking you're going to take a nap," Falien stated. "The highest Sign one Kill Team can get to is Red, two steps above Blue. And that takes a couple of Tactical teams to take down."

"What happens after Red?" Theas asked.

"We get into more coordinated offensives on the Hunters' behalf," Falien explained. "Multiple Kill Teams working together, and that by itself is a scary thought. After Red is Black One. The scale maxes out at Black Ten."

"What would Black Ten look like, Falien?" asked Eliacro in a mixture of fascination and trepidation.

"Black Ten, you're looking at an army," Falien said grimly. "War waged, whole universes ripped apart."

"Have you ever seen something like that?" Saphyon asked.

"No, and I wake up every morning and hope I never do," Falien answered. "Everyone get ready to deploy. We begin in thirty seconds."

The group broke apart, moving across the cabin to sit in seats along the walls of the aircraft. Theas sat beside Eliacro while straps autonomously secured him to the seat. The whole cabin became shrouded in purple light, and the five Keepers vanished.

The aircraft approached the summit of a mountain that was obscured in massive storm clouds, and the vessel fired off a beam of purple light that ran across the mountain face. Theas and the other Keepers erupted from the light, wielding various weapons as they moved in formation.

"Toys away," Falien ordered. He marched to the head of the group wielding a large assault rifle. The rest of the Keepers put their weapons away as well. Theas sheathed his swords on his back and pulled an identical rifle off its sling. A stupefying clap of thunder shook the whole mountain, almost knocking the Keepers over as they advanced.

"Where the hell are we?" Pasir asked as he looked around.

"Not Earth," Theas replied.

"Nah, couple systems over," Falien replied. "The planet's called Superias."

"And Nok's Kill Team is operating out of here?" Eliacro asked.

"That's what the intel says," Falien answered. "We tracked a Skotos signature here, which in this universe can only be one thing. Weapons up. We don't want to give these assholes a chance to surprise us."

The team of Keepers marched, searching the mountain for signs of Hunter activity.

JACK FOSSE:

"I want to take some time to talk about the history of Nok and his team," Pirises declared. "Knowing where they came from might do you some justice in fighting them in future battles."

"I think some information about the Hunters as a whole would be helpful," Admiral McGee said.

"Where do the Hunters come from?" Luca asked. "I thought they were created from the same central force, but it seems like they can come in all forms. Do they exist before becoming Spatial Hunters? How does it work?"

Gibbs nodded, and everyone else looked at Pirises, anticipant of his information. "To answer one question, yes. The Spatial Hunters do exist before becoming Hunters. They have lives of their own in their own universes, and they tend to be some of the most hateful people in existence."

"What is the process of them becoming Hunters?" Sarah asked.

"They start out as Anomalies," Pirises answered. "They're initially targets. But when an Anomaly shows enough power-hungry bloodlust, instead of getting killed, they get recruited."

"How did they start?" Kyle asked.

"We don't know," Pirises answered. "We've had Keepers looking into it for thousands of years. We haven't gotten any answers."

"Okay, then what's the deal with Nok?" Fornell asked.

"Nok started out as an experiment," Pirises told us. "He was born on a world where people don't have powers. And then he did. You can imagine how his government responded to that."

"Yeah, they either threw him in a jail cell," Kyle began.

"Or they tried to make him their war monger," Luca concluded.

"It was both," Pirises said. "At first, Nok was locked away. He spent most of the first thirty-five years of his existence incarcerated. What they didn't bank on were his powers continuously growing. Once he became so powerful that they couldn't contain him, they tried to control him. They used him to conquer the entire planet."

"How'd that work out for them?" Gibbs asked.

"That planet no longer exists," Pirises answered. "And Nok moved to the next one." The room grew quiet, and I felt like the temperature had dropped significantly. "After Nok ripped his way through six systems, the Hunters put his powers to work for them. This was about two thousand years ago, and Nok has done some serious damage since."

"How many of yours has he killed?" Ari asked.

I watched as Pirises did a mental tally in his head. "Three thousand five hundred sixty-two."

"And Anomalies?" Sloane asked.

"Oh, that number's a lot higher," Pirises said sinisterly. "Well over a hundred thousand."

"And how are we supposed to defeat him?" Fornell asked.

Pirises smiled dryly. "If I knew the answer to that, we wouldn't be here."

IN THE EYES OF THE MULTIVERSE:

Theas followed the rest of his team further up the mountain, approaching the peak in their search for Nok's team. The storm raged around them, obscuring their vision. On a ridge overlooking their position crouched the form of a man with black wings. The Keeper team advanced several more paces when a bright, orange glow lit up behind them.

Two blasts of fire shot at the crowd, and they all threw themselves out of the way.

"Taking fire! Taking fire!"

The Keeper team erupted into counteroffensive action, aiming their rifles at the source of the fire. There was a burst of speed through the storm, and Saphyon was knocked out of sight. Falien and Eliacro looked around, aiming their weapons, but they found no sign of him. The whole mountain rumbled with a sound like thunder that quickly approached the group, and a massive form slammed into Falien with metal antlers. Both disappeared from view, and Theas, Pasir, and Eliacro moved closer together.

An unidentifiable sound caught their attention, hidden somewhere in the black clouds just out of sight. A white light shone through the black for an instant before fading, and Eliacro fired toward it. The shots disappeared in the darkness, and this was shortly followed by a bright glow shining down on them. Eliacro looked up with wide eyes as a bombardment of Aolen blasts rained down on her, blasting up dust and rubble as Eliacro was lost in the carnage. This left Pasir and Theas to look around fretfully.

Pasir stared at Theas, who gazed open-mouthed at him. Pasir lurched, and he collapsed down to be obscured by the raging clouds. Theas was isolated, and he paced back and forth, his gun held in front of him as he looked around for any signs of incoming assault. Footsteps approached, and even through the storm where they shouldn't have been audible, Theas could hear them clearly. He looked around, and out of the black fog came Nok. He had his hands in his pockets, and he regarded Theas with a calm grin.

Theas aimed his rifle, but Nok swiped his arm through the air. The weapon was knocked out of Theas's grip by an invisible force, and it tumbled out of sight. Theas took a step back, but Nok continued to approach. They stood within arm's reach, and Nok placed a hand jovially on Theas's shoulder.

"You done fucked up, my man," Nok said with a grin.

A sickening crunch echoed off the mountain, and blood erupted across the stone.