Season Two will be the last Season for Universal Collisions. I absolutely love this series. It's easily one of my favorite things I've ever written, and it kills me to end it. However, it unfortunately takes too much time away from other projects that I need to prioritize. I will continue to post weekly for the next nine weeks, but the series will end with Chapter 36. Thank you to everyone who contributed time to reading this series. I hope you enjoy the storylines that unfold from here. Please still feel free to leave any feedback or thoughts.
CHAPTER 28: THROUGH THE DARK
A portal opened in the dark corridors of Grissom Air Force Base, and Pirises walked out. He marched purposefully down the dimmed hallways, lit only by the overnight lighting. He glanced back and forth between the various windows to rooms he passed along the way. He moved silently yet steadily, his senses armed for any signs of resistance.
The hallways of the base were deserted, and Pirises turned a corner that would lead him towards the detainment center, although he had little that would tell him what he'd face when he got there. This did not deter Pirises, as he continued headfast towards his destination. He passed security cameras along his route, and when the camera feeds passed over him, they became drowned in static that left no sign of Pirises's presence inside the base.
As he marched, he felt a peculiar sensation across his entire body, as though he had passed through a fine mist. His eyes narrowed, and he stopped cold as a blinding light enveloped him.
JACK FOSSE:
It had been two weeks since the battle of Superias. We were all still riding the high of our victory over Nok and his Kill Team.
The sun had just finished waking up, and as Sarah got dressed for the day, I walked into the bathroom. I turned on the light and was slightly startled by my appearance. I ran my hand over the beard stubble across my cheeks and jaw. I guessed I had been a bit too distracted for upkeep. I needed a haircut. My hair was messy, the top sticking up in just about every direction. On top of this, my body had gained a bit of muscle in recent weeks. In the five weeks since the Macrobreach had begun, my body had filled out more. Weeks of combat had forced my physique to improve and adapt.
Sarah walked up and threw her arms around me from behind. I grinned as she kissed me on the shoulder, and I planted one on her forehead. She walked out of the bathroom, and I stared at my appearance in the mirror, at the person I hardly recognized anymore, before following her.
We walked into the living room, and I was almost taken aback to see it empty and quiet. We arrived in the kitchen, and Sarah started on coffee while I opened the refrigerator. I began cooking eggs while she poured us both glasses of juice. We clanked our glasses together, and I served us both scrambled eggs. We walked out of the backdoor, sitting on our back porch and facing the expanse of farmland that stretched out beyond our property.
We ate in silence for several minutes, enjoying the peace. We worked on our breakfast as slowly as possible.
"Do you want to go downstairs?" I asked.
"No, do you?"
"Nope."
These past two weeks had been the most peaceful we had experienced since Gibbs had stumbled into my work. Sarah and I had been milking this time for everything it was worth, doing everything in our power to stave off the stressors that persisted in the background. We had done a really great job of pretending the inevitable wasn't going to happen.
The back door opened, and Sarah and I both had straight faces, not looking around as Tobias Fornell stepped out. He let out a deep breath, nodding in appreciation of the sunrise over the rolling hills of cornfields.
"You know, in all the time I've spent here," Fornell said, "I've never actually been on your back porch. This is nice, cozy. I see why you two like it out here."
Sarah and I stared stone-faced at the backyard.
"Well, as much as Diane and I would love to join you two for breakfast, the meeting is starting," Fornell said. "I was asked to come and fetch you."
"Yeah," I said. "Yeah, we're coming. We'll catch up to you."
Fornell nodded and returned inside, leaving us to our last dregs of calm. I let out a deep breath, and I straightened up. Sarah rose as well, and we grabbed our plates and drinks before preparing to join the others. We walked downstairs and opened the door to the lab, finding there a bustle of activity.
Drones moved quickly throughout the lab, depositing materials and running tests, maintaining the functions of R and I while its members were free to work on more important matters. Luca was taking a power drill to a rifle, installing a component that consisted of a fingerprint reader.
"Making sure no one can use it who shouldn't?" I asked, watching the work with a grin.
"Uh, no, not necessarily," Luca said as he finished installing the part. "What if the weapon gets into the hands of one of us or a new ally who needs to be able to use it? That seemed like a pretty brain-dead reason to watch one of our people get killed, so I went in another direction. We're developing more weapons that are multi-functional. Gibbs's tracer shots, Fornell's Tri-Shot Blitz. So, I thought it would be a good idea to put limits on who could use those capabilities. If Parish got ahold of Fornell's rifle and we had to worry about Tri-Shot Blitzs being lobbed at us, obviously that wouldn't be in our best interests."
I nodded, and I raised an eyebrow at him, impressed as always at his ingenuity. "Once I finish, most of our heavier weapons will operate in two phases. The easiest way to think about it is like this; your bow fires Pulse Arrows, Slicer Arrows, and Blast Arrows. If your bow has this tech, someone who isn't you will only be able to use Pulse Arrows. That way someone from our side who needs a weapon will have one, but if the enemy gets ahold of it, we're not getting bombed."
"That's amazing," I told him. I then looked around at the fleet of drones hovering back and forth across the lab. "I see Kyle's efforts to streamline the lab have gone well."
Luca nodded, looking around at the drones with proud satisfaction. "Things have been a lot easier around here, that's for sure."
Luca looked around and spotted Ari walking past, and he called his name. Ari strode over with a raised eyebrow, and Luca grabbed a contraption off the table and offered it to him. Ari took it and looked it over, his eyes wide. His hand grasped the sling of a sword sheath, and inside the sheath was a blade.
"Take a look, see what you think," Luca suggested.
Ari looked like he was giving all of his effort to keep his jaw closed, and he grabbed the hilt of the sword with his other hand and drew it. He examined the blade, which showed some of the finest craftsmanship I had ever witnessed. It was about two feet long and four inches wide. The hilt and sheath were dark-gray with purple accents. There was a line running down the blade from tip to hilt, almost like a crack in the metal.
"It does everything we talked about," Luca told him. "Take it for a spin when you get a chance and give me some feedback."
It took Ari several seconds to take his eyes off the sword as he sheathed it, and he put the sling over his shoulder as he patted Luca appreciatively. "Toda, Luca," Ari said. He then turned to me in bemusement and said, "I get a room down here one day and my own weapon the next. Apparently I'm doing something right."
"You gained a lot of people's trust on Superias," I told him. "You've been an integral member of ART. We're lucky to have you."
Ari took a deep breath, holding back strong emotion, and he nodded in gratitude.
All three of us made our way towards the meeting room. We arrived to a crowd of thirteen people including us, everyone except for Theas sitting in the cushioned benches arranged in rows. Theas stood at the head of the room, manning the computer that was attached to the enormous screen on the front wall facing us. Luca strolled over to sit with Kyle and Rob, and I found Sarah sitting next to Sloane. Gibbs and Jackson were having a hushed conversation, both of them grinning and chuckling. Diane and Fornell were doing similar, and meanwhile Admiral McGee and Ari sat on opposite sides of the room, fairly isolated from everyone else and remaining silent.
"Alright, everyone. Order, order," Theas said. The ambient chatter in the room fell quiet at once, and we all looked towards the front of the room.
"Things have been slow for the last couple of weeks," Theas said.
"You mean after the massive war on another planet?" Fornell asked.
"Yes, that's exactly what I mean," Theas agreed. "You all apparently gave Nok and his people a thing or two to think about, because they've been underground since we beat their asses away from the planet."
"Any idea what they're up to?" Gibbs asked.
Theas shook his head. "Falien and the others have been trying to track them down, but they covered their tracks well. The majority of Keeper resources have been geared towards the Kalavign."
"I don't imagine Seridon is responding well to that?" Sarah surmised.
"Uh, no. No, he's not," Theas stated. "We've made multiple attempts to get him to allow us in to research the device, but he's been…resistant. What little we have managed to learn about the Kalavign and the being who made it have been either through remote analysis or what Seridon told us that day. We've been respectful of Seridon's wishes out of good faith so far, but the Keepers are growing impatient. I wouldn't be surprised to see them authorize some more forceful tactics."
"Yeah," Admiral McGee scoffed. "Let me know how that works out for them."
Theas didn't respond. "What Seridon has told us about Indyctus and the Primidus has us concerned, and I mean very concerned."
"I can't really blame them," Sloane said under her breath.
"Yeah, but starting a war with them isn't going to get us anywhere either," Sarah whispered.
"Have the Keepers ever seen something like this before?" Ari asked.
Theas shook his head grimly. "This is power beyond what the Keepers believed was possible. An investigation has been conducted across the multiverse in search of anything even close to this in power, and so far there's been nothing."
"Theas," Gibbs said, "I understand you're concerned about the Primidus, and I get why. But we have issues closer to home that we need to worry about."
Theas nodded, and while he looked hesitant to veer from the subject of the Primidus, he changed gears. "The military."
We all nodded, sharing our concern about what we were potentially facing.
"We had to make some necessary sacrifices to get the answers we needed on Superias," Theas stated, "but now we need to deal with the consequences of those sacrifices. The government has our technology, and they have a Macrobreach. Both of those are a problem."
"That guy Parish sure has a stick up his ass," Rob said.
"We knew he'd be coming," Sloane agreed.
"Hats off to Luca and Kyle for working so quickly on some countermeasures before he came to Veedersburg looking for us," Fornell stated.
Luca shrugged awkwardly. "The cloaking field around the house was put together pretty haphazardly. It'll stop someone from this universe from finding us, but a Hunter who comes sniffing will see through it pretty quickly."
"It says a lot that he came himself instead of just sending a unit," Gibbs said.
"I figured you were going to go out and say hello, Leroy," Jackson said. "You know, get yourself arrested again."
Gibbs grinned, but he didn't respond.
"We don't need the government to know where our operations are based," Theas said.
"It's too late for that," Ari stated. Many of us turned to look at him, and he continued, "Parish came here looking for Jack and Sarah. If we wanted to avoid suspicion, making a physical address disappear was the opposite of it. He may not be able to get to us, but he knows we're here."
Gibbs considered this, and he nodded, having a silent discussion with himself.
"We need to have an honest discussion about what to anticipate in the near future," Sloane said.
"How are we supposed to anticipate anything?" Diane inquired. "We've got Parish and his goonies planning to conquer us, and then we've got that Nok guy planning who knows what. Can we really do more than take this one step at a time?"
"Yes and no," Theas answered. "Everything is constantly changing, and we need to adapt to it as it happens. At the same time, we can't allow ourselves to fall behind while stressing over what might come next. Sloane is correct, we need to have a plan."
"How safe are we here?" Jackson asked. "Do we have time to put together a coherent strategy before they come for us?"
"I would have said we're pretty damn secure until the military got ahold of our weaponry," Admiral McGee stated.
"Yeah, and we need to be ready for whatever they're going to figure out with it," Sarah stated.
"Well, I have some good news on that front," Theas stated. "And that is the materials used to build your weapons aren't from this universe. You don't have Aolen here, you don't have Terosine, the metal that's used to build them. The military can pull triggers, and they can take them apart all they want, but they can't replicate and they can't get more ammunition. So, if I'm being completely honest, I think we're safe there."
A lot of the tension in the room eased. I looked around and saw looks of relief on the faces of many of the Anomalies.
"So, about the Macrobreach," Theas said. This caused the atmosphere of the room to constrict around us, like a film was blocking our airways and making it hard to breathe. "We've tried several reconnaissance missions to confirm the status of the Macrobreach you went to Grissom to get," Theas continued. "None of them have worked, so it's safe to assume that Parish has them in custody."
"They still show up on the tracking tablet," Sarah stated. "They're still at Grissom, we assume in a detainment center."
"Right, which is a problem," Theas stated. "Even if the Macrobreach has no idea what's happening, they can potentially still give Parish and the military intimate details about you that could be a detriment to us."
"So, what are you suggesting?" Kyle asked.
"We've managed to do quite a bit, this group," Admiral McGee stated. "But I'm not confident we're ready to take on a full military base."
"We're not taking on a full military base," Theas assured us. "Pirises is."
This caught every one of us off guard, and we all exchanged confused looks.
"What?" Gibbs said.
"Late last night, Pirises infiltrated Grissom Air Force Base in an effort to find and extract the Macrobreach Anomaly," Theas explained.
"Okay," Sloane said. "What happened?"
"He's still there," Theas confirmed. "It's an intensive operation, getting through all of the security of a military base, particularly for one person. Even a Universal Keeper. So we expect it to take upwards of twelve to twenty-four hours for him to–"
A portal opened in the middle of the meeting room, causing us all to look around at it. The portal hung in the air for several seconds, causing Theas's eyes to narrow in suspicious concern. Several of us rose from our seats, gazing upon the vortex with jaws hanging half-open. And then Pirises tumbled out.
He rolled across the ground like he had been fired from a slingshot, sending tables and chairs cascading in all directions while he slammed into the wall. Several people yelled out in alarm as they backed away, and Gibbs, Ari, Fornell, and Admiral McGee instinctively went for their weapons.
"Pirises!" Theas said, running over to bend down next to his companion.
Pirises was breathing heavily, looking panicked as he looked around.
"Pirises, talk to me, what happened?" Theas said, flabbergasted.
"They…they almost got me," Pirises gasped, seeming as though he couldn't believe it. "They knew I'd come, they were waiting. They almost had me."
"What…what are you talking about?" Theas asked. "That's impossible. This planet doesn't have the technology to–"
"Theas, listen to me," Pirises said urgently, straightening up. He grabbed Theas's collar and looked intensely into his eyes. "Theas, they've done it. They've mastered our technology."
These words hung in the air, and we all gaped silently at Pirises, none more so than Theas. "Pirises, what the hell?"
"Tell me everything," Daak requested.
Pirises sat on a chair in the lab, and he wiped sweat off of his forehead for about the hundredth time. Theas, who had made an emergency call to Daak which resulted in her appearance almost immediately, stood off to the side, watching them both. We all maintained our distance, but we were completely silent as we watched the three of them.
"I…I don't really know," Pirises said, straining himself to try and remember. "It was a trap. It was definitely a trap."
"That's not entirely unexpected," Daak said in an undertone. "We used portals to get the Anomalies out of Grissom, they had to know we could use them to get back in."
"Well, sure, but how does this universe acquire the skills to catch a Keeper?" Theas asked. "Even having gotten our technology, they had no way to figure out how to use it."
"It appears they've found a way," Daak countered. "Or a way found them."
"I portaled into the base," Pirises said. "I was walking through, heading for the detainment center. And then I felt this presence, almost like an energy field I had walked through."
"Sounds like a motion detector," Theas said. "The ones we use to pick up Hunter activity can detect anything. Even we can't hide from them."
Pirises nodded before continuing. "And then there were troops. About six of them, and they told me to stand down."
"Did you engage them?" Daak asked.
Pirises shook his head. "I tried to abort, but they disabled my portals. I couldn't get away."
"Pirises, that literally isn't possible," Theas said. "The only beings who've ever existed that can tamper with our portals are–"
"The Hunters," Daak supplied. "We've developed countermeasures against them, but we have to be anticipating their interference for it to work."
Theas and Pirises stared at Daak, and so did the rest of us. Deep down, I knew what she was implying, what she figured was happening, but it was impossible for me to admit it.
"The Hunters are assisting the military," Theas breathed.
IN THE EYES OF THE MULTIVERSE:
"We should have had him."
Lucio Parish sat in his chair in his office, on the verge of exploding with anger. He scowled at Sevak as she eyed him from the other side of the room. When she didn't respond, Parish shot to his feet. "You told me your developments would prevent anyone from leaving here through teleportation," Parish fumed. "So how in the hell did that man get away?"
Sevak, entirely unfazed by Parish's anger, said, "Nothing is absolute. Especially in combat. I believe you call it human error? The Keeper merely found a hole in your defenses and utilized it. I carry no fault in his escape."
"Then what are you suggesting we do now?" Parish demanded.
"I fail to see the problem," Sevak stated.
"Really?" Parish scoffed. "You don't see what's wrong with failing to apprehend an intruder on my base?"
"No, I don't," Sevak confirmed. "We still have the detainee, we still have their technology, and they are no closer to changing either one of those."
"But they can get to us," Parish countered.
"They can try," Sevak agreed. "Considering how well that worked for them last time, I'd be surprised to see them so eager to try again."
Parish let out a deep breath, looking obstinate. He glowered at Sevak, but he didn't push the matter further.
"As it so happens," Sevak continued, "I think you're going to have opportunities to apprehend these Anomalies sooner than you expect."
Parish's eyes narrowed, and he waited for her to elaborate.
JACK FOSSE:
"What the hell?" Sarah whispered to me. We were separated from the Anomalies, who were all deep in their own conversations about the situation. "Why would the Hunters help the military?"
"Well, I think we can answer that question pretty easily," I told her.
"Well, right, but why would they do it?" Sarah repeated. "They've always made their opinions of humans pretty damn clear."
"Not all humans," I countered. "Just the ones that help Anomalies. That's been their motivation this whole time. When we first fought Algaltha and his people, they made it clear they weren't after us. The only reason they ever took up arms against us was because we helped the Anomalies. Think about when Chala helped Isa and the VMF. For the Hunters, seeing a group of humans who are also combatting Anomalies is the opportunity of a lifetime for them."
Sarah let out a deep breath, shaking her head. "What are we going to do?"
I stared at her. "I don't know why we're suddenly acting like I have all the answers. That's usually your department."
She gave me a half-withering, half-bemused look. "This is getting out of control. The Hunters were one thing. If the military is going to start coming after us, we're way in over our heads."
"Look," I said, "we're not there yet. The military can't get to us, so we're safe. We just have to play it carefully."
A beeping sound echoed out across the lab, and everyone present looked around. The enormous screen at the head of the lab lit up, showing a map with a red, blinking dot.
"Seriously?" Sarah said bitterly.
"That's not the one at Grissom, is it?" Diane asked.
"No," Luca answered, working at a computer. "This one's near a town called Winamac, Indiana."
Daak whispered something to Theas that none of the rest of us could hear, yet looked grimly serious. Theas nodded, and she turned to face the rest of us. "I'm going to take Pirises with me back to the Neutrality," she announced. "It doesn't appear he's suffered any permanent damage, but we'd like to run a thorough examination just to be sure."
Several of us nodded, and Daak opened a portal and led Pirises through it.
"Alright, what's the plan?" Fornell asked the lab at large.
"We can't just leave an Anomaly out there on its own, much less a Macrobreach," Theas stated.
"Can we teleport to it? Leave less room for Parish to catch up with us?" Rob asked.
"No," Theas answered. "We've already confirmed they can sabotage our portals; I don't even want to think what would happen if they managed to get ahold of one we used to get to the Macrobreach."
"Gibbs," I addressed.
He gave it deep consideration, and after a moment, he nodded. "We go."
"Two teams?" Ari asked.
"No," Gibbs answered. "We keep it small and tight. The less people we have out in the open, the less attention we draw. Less chance Parish has of getting to us."
"Then who?" Sloane asked.
Gibbs looked at each of us in turn. "Jack, Ari, Sarah."
We all nodded. The three of us prepared to head out, and Gibbs did the same thing.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, where do you think you're going?" Sloane asked, staring at him as though he were about to drink sulfuric acid.
"I got somewhere to be," Gibbs said, giving her a teasing grin.
"Oh, really?" Sloane said. "Care to elaborate?"
"Nah, I'm good," Gibbs said as he followed us upstairs. "I'll let you know when I get back."
Sloane stared after him like she wanted to smack him, but she didn't stop him.
The three of us hurtled along Highway 25 towards Winamac in an effort to get to the Macrobreach before Parish or the Hunters could stop us. We were all nervous to the point where none of us could speak. I kept my foot pressed hard on the accelerator, and I checked my rearview mirror every few seconds for signs of a tail. After two hours of strolling through farmland, we arrived in Winamac. It wasn't a large town. We drove through a neighborhood where most of the houses were small and simple. And then we passed some houses that were like tiny castles, with towers rising up.
We arrived at a main road where some tiny local businesses stood. Ari checked his phone and saw that the Anomaly was only about fifty feet ahead of us. I looked around us and saw a couple of stragglers patrolling the sidewalks. None of them looked familiar. I pulled into the parking lot of a small grocery store, and Sarah and I got out.
"You're not coming?" Sarah asked Ari when he didn't join us.
He chuckled. "I'm not in a hurry to find someone who may want to kill me."
Sarah nodded, unable to argue, and the two of us took to the sidewalk. She looked at her phone and compared the location of the Anomaly to the four people on the road that we could see.
"That's them," she said quietly.
I looked, and I had absolutely no idea who I was looking at. His back was to us, but I was absolutely certain I had never seen him on the show. He was Black, a bit overweight, with black dreadlocks down to the small of his back. He wore a dark-blue shirt with torn jeans. He appeared to be in his early thirties, and he appropriately had the disheveled worry of someone who had been shot out of a catapult.
The man turned and spotted us, and we weren't able to disguise our interest in him quickly enough.
"What do you want?" the man said quickly. "You looking for me?"
"Well, we are," I conceded. "Problem is I have no idea who you are."
"Man, I don't know who the hell you are," he said, looking terrified.
"My name is Jack Fosse, this is my wife Sarah," I told him. "We're here to help you."
"Look, I'm gonna be honest with you, that seems a little too easy," the man said. "Take it from me, people who say they're here to help don't always mean it."
"Yeah, I get what you're saying," I assured him. "What's your name?"
"Julius," he answered. "Julius Hines. Where are you coming from?"
Something clicked in the back of my brain, and I found myself unable to focus on anything else until I tracked down the tiny shred of memory.
"Julius, listen," Sarah said, "I know this is a lot to tackle, but I swear you can trust us."
Julius nodded, but he was nowhere close to assuaged. And then the pieces fell into place, and I looked at Julius with wide eyes. "Julius," I said, "do you have a daughter?"
Julius's eyes narrowed in suspicious confusion, and he nodded.
"Is her name Kasie?" I asked. "Kasie Hines?"
Julius was caught entirely off guard. He had no idea how to respond. His expression went through a whole spectrum of emotions as he processed this, from shock to horror to anger to denial. "Man," he said slowly, trying to wrap his mind around his entire situation at once, "man, how do you know that?"
"Julius, I can explain everything to you, but I need you to trust me," I told him.
Julius maintained his reservations, but after several seconds of deep thought, he looked between Sarah and I and said, "A'ight. Tell me what you got."
IN THE EYES OF THE MULTIVERSE:
Gibbs arrived in White River State Park in downtown Indianapolis. He walked calmly through the grassy park, looking around at the people playing, walking, skating. He strolled along a paved path towards the very center of the park, and after a few minutes, he came to a park bench. He nodded, grinning to himself, and he took a seat. Gibbs sat in silence for several moments as he watched the activity around him.
"You're here early," Gibbs said.
Sitting next to him was Parish, who stared at Gibbs with a raised eyebrow. "I have to confess I wasn't sure you'd come."
"Well, that's fair," Gibbs said. "I was hoping we'd be able to come to some kind of understanding."
Parish nodded. "You all are refugees from another universe operating without authorization on American soil. You are implicated in acts of terrorism and have left destruction in your wake anywhere you've shown up. You sent an operative into my base to free a legally detained individual who is considered a threat to our national security. I don't know how much of an understanding there is to be had."
"Let me ask you something, Parish," Gibbs said. "We noticed you've got some new friends. Who do you think we were fighting in Chicago, in Louisville, in Fort Wayne?"
"And I'll ask you something in return," Parish said. "I spoke with Etuate Isa about your actions in his country. Do you think he had a lot of positive things to say about his time with you?"
Gibbs looked at him. "We weren't the ones who blew up his trucks."
"No, but you come from the same demographic," Parish countered. "And there is no telling what other critters are going to follow you here."
"Guilty by association, huh?" Gibbs said.
"Only when everywhere you go there's a catastrophe," Parish confirmed.
"At some point, you gotta realize you're being played," Gibbs told him.
"Isn't that why you're here?" Parish asked.
Gibbs looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Special Agent Gibbs," Parish said, "I think we both know you're not here to come to an understanding, or negotiate a truce, or whatever other fantasy you've concocted here. You're here as a serviceable distraction from your group's activities in Winamac."
Gibbs stared at him silently, keeping his expression as neutral as possible.
"I won't deny you due praise, it was a smart move," Parish assured him. "We just saw it coming is all."
Without another word, Gibbs got up from the park bench and marched away, leaving Parish to look after him with a small, satisfied grin. After Gibbs was out of earshot, he dialed on his phone and put it to his ear.
"Yeah, it's Parish," he said. "Activate Asset 364."
JACK FOSSE:
"Listen, Jack," Julius said, nearly hysterical. "The things you are saying aren't penetrating my brain. I really want to believe you and Sarah are good people, but it just ain't stickin'."
"I know," I assured him. "I really do, but Julius, we don't have time to stand here all day. We need to get you to safety."
"Why?" Julius asked. "Who says these Spatial Hunters are any worse than you?"
Before I could respond to him, something caught my attention. I couldn't figure out what it was at first, but I looked around.
"What the hell?" Julius breathed.
People marched out of every alleyway and sidestreet around us. The three of us looked around as they all raised their weapons. Outfitted like military troops, they all wore heavy gear including armored vests and plated helmets. They all aimed heavy assault rifles, clearing the area and boxing us in.
Sarah and I reached for our weapons, but one of the men yelled, "Don't!"
We both froze, and I gritted my teeth as I looked around at the roughly twenty people surrounding us. Sarah and I exchanged alarmed looks, and we had no choice but to raise our hands into the air.
Ari swung his sword into one of the men from behind, and upon contact, the blade emitted a powerful pulse of energy that knocked the soldier away. Everyone looked around, and Ari swung his sword into a second soldier, blasting him aside as well. In the confusion, Sarah pulled her rifle while I drew my bow. Ari held his sword out to block incoming gunfire, and I fired a Pulse Arrow that knocked several soldiers aside. Sarah fired an onslaught from her rifle, dropping several soldiers who sustained injuries.
It took longer than it should have for me to realize that the soldiers weren't shooting to kill. They aimed at our feet, trying to knock us down. One of the soldiers tossed a flashbang at us, but Ari kicked it back into the enemy force. Several soldiers threw themselves out of the way as the flashbang went off. We continued to push against them, but I then looked around as several projectiles flew into the vicinity from nearby rooftops. The four of us watched as the soldiers backed away. Five machines landed on the ground around us and opened, expanding outward to form what looked like tripods with large panels attached.
The panels glowed with Aolen, and they emitted a field of energy that formed a dome around the four of us.
"Man, this some kind of Star Trek nonsense," Julius stated.
Sarah and I both fired our weapons, and Ari drew a pistol to assist. The forcefield was too powerful for any of our weapons to break through.
"Drop your weapons immediately."
We looked around as one of the soldiers removed his helmet. He stepped forward to face us all. He was in his mid-thirties, with short, wispy blond hair and heterochromatic eyes. "I'm Commander Corbin Tirrell. You all are under my detainment."
"I didn't know the Air Force had Commanders, Tirrell," I told him.
"Well, things are changing, Mister Fosse," Tirrell told me. "You should know that better than anyone. SECDEF authorized the creation of a task force in charge of bringing down your group. We've got you. We're going to get the rest soon."
"Tirrell, you are fighting the wrong people," Sarah told him insistently.
"I do not want to hear it, Misses Fosse," Tirrell said. "You have the right to remain silent. I suggest you use it."
We glowered at him, but one of the forcefield generators failed. We looked at the generator to see a large hole had been punched all the way through it, leaving it to shut down. Tirrell and his men immediately raised arms, looking around urgently for the source of the attack. Tirrell looked on the roof of a nearby warehouse, and he saw Gibbs crouched there, aiming his rifle with a portal hanging in the air behind him. Another portal opened on the ground in front of the warehouse, and Fornell and Diane marched out, aiming their weapons.
Gibbs took several more shots, taking out the rest of the forcefield generators. The forcefield died, freeing us to open fire against Tirrell's men. The soldiers began firing their weapons, quickly forcing us all into cover, but we were so spread out that they had a difficult time keeping up with us. I fired a Blast Arrow, causing a group of three soldiers to be sent hurtling through the air. Sarah took several well-aimed shots at the enemy force, but she took a hit to the arm in return that knocked her over.
"Oh, God!" I yelled as I watched this. I didn't have time to get to her, as I was forced down by incoming fire. I let off another Pulse Arrow, and while this felled a couple of soldiers, they were beginning to rally and pose a much larger threat. Fornell and Diane were making a push from a separate front, and as Sarah, Ari, and I spread out to form a wider firing line, the soldiers began to get boxed in.
I fired a Blast Arrow, tearing through a group of soldiers that were about to wage an assault against Ari. Ari swung his sword repeatedly through the crowd, sending pulse after pulse of Aolen that knocked the soldiers aside like bowling pins. We quickly cut them down so that within minutes, they were down to just over half strength. Gibbs took his time, making well-aimed shots against the soldiers that would incapacitate them without killing them. Tirrell fought furiously against us, trying his best to make a stand while all around him his forces fell.
Two soldiers charged me, attempting to restrain me, and I swung my bow, hitting one in the head and knocking him over. His companion went for my arms, but I knocked his hands away with my bow while backing away. He aimed his gun, but I ducked down and fired a Pulse Arrow at him, catapulting him away. Gibbs stepped into the portal hanging in the air behind him and came out of the portal that Fornell and Diane had appeared from. He fired a shot from his rifle, hitting Tirrell in the chest and knocking him down. Tirrell's armor absorbed most of the damage, and he immediately got back to his feet and returned fire on Gibbs.
Gibbs ran and dove behind a car, which was promptly torn into by Tirrell's gunfire. There were still eleven soldiers left standing, and they were all putting up a furious fight. Their weapons, clearly intended for lethal combat, kept us constantly moving so that we weren't able to put together a coordinated offense. Within minutes, we were spread out across the battlefield, and meanwhile Julius hid in an alleyway, watching the battle in abstract horror. I fought to get to Sarah, but I had to stay down behind a car, avoiding incoming gunfire while I timed my arrows.
Gibbs had switched his rifle out for a pistol, and he fired relentlessly against the soldiers while doing everything he could to evade returning fire.
"Gibbs!"
IN THE EYES OF THE MULTIVERSE:
Gibbs's ears rang with the familiarity of the voice who called. His mouth slowly fell open, his arm slowly lowered, and he looked around in complete, almost horrified shock.
Anthony DiNozzo marched onto the battlefield, leading a battalion of reinforcements. He wore a black armored vest over a baby-blue shirt and dark, faded jeans. He wielded an assault rifle that had two barrels and an Aolen reservoir on either side. The battle between the Anomalies and the military continued to rage, and as DiNozzo's men entered the conflict, DiNozzo aimed his assault rifle. He fired a barrage of powerful blasts against Ari, who was forced into cover as three more soldiers pinned him down. Jack fired an arrow at the enemy soldiers, and DiNozzo took aim and fired a rocket at him.
The rocket collided into the vehicle Jack used for cover, blasting it apart and throwing him through the air. He slammed into a light post before collapsing to the ground where he lay unconscious.
Gibbs stood frozen in appallment as DiNozzo continued to advance on them. Fornell, having not seen DiNozzo approaching, fired a Tri-Shot Blitz at the reinforcements. The succession of Aolen Blasts rocked the area with powerful explosions, blasting rubble out that cut DiNozzo across the face. He recoiled from the injury as blood dribbled down the side of his head. DiNozzo immediately took counteraction, and he aimed his assault rifle directly at Gibbs. Gibbs moved to defend himself, but DiNozzo opened fire. The shots ravaged the area around Gibbs, and he took three shots to the torso as he collapsed. Blood erupted out of his injuries. Gibbs gasped in pain and shock as his entire body was soaked in blood.