Jaune hummed the tune of the song on the radio as he drove the van down the streets of Vale. Pyrrha was following his tune as she gazed out the passenger window. Jaune took a quick glance back, seeing Ren was hard at work scoping through some files as Nora kept Tony and Tompson occupied. Putting his eyes back on the road, Jaune eyed the signs.
"Hey Ren, was it 21st street or 31st street?" Jaune inquired. "21st, they're based out of an old factory called The Bright Lights." Ren replied. "What they even do?" Nora chimed in. "Lots of Appliances, pretty much anything that used heat or lights." Ren answered. "How long has it been closed?" Jaune asked. "Seventeen years, the company moved too Atlas and left the factory up for auction. Bought by... an unknown, their name's been wiped from the records." Ren paused as Pyrrha huffed. "Sounds like an Sleeper Cult." She commented.
"Perhaps, but we have a few reports of weird shadows and disappearing Prostitutes. Even a sighting of what I can only assume to be an Abhorrent." Ren explained. "Well, looks like we'll be following standard procedure." Jaune said. "That's boring... Can I bring in some of my heavier stuff at least?" Nora requested. "Maybe," Jaune replied as Pyrrha chuckled. He could have sworn that Ren shook his head at this, but he kept his eyes on the road.
"Team Leader, we have about five individuals in casual wear. They've gone into the Factory and haven't come out." Ren called into the radio. "Confirmed, any bizarre sightings?" Jaune replied through the radio. "Just some shadows, no sort of beasts yet." Ren answered. "Alright, keep an eye on them. The rest of us are preparing for the assault in twenty minutes." Jaune said. "Confirm, want me to trail after the rest of you?" Ren inquired.
He waited for a minute as no reply came. "Jaune?" Ren inquired. "We're debating it." was Jaune's reply. Ren shook his head before he turned to the bag resting next to him. "Wouldn't hurt." he muttered before opening the bag and removing a case from it. Calmly he opened the case and began assembling a sniper rifle. With a few final notches he checked the scope and looked over the factory.
There were twenty seven signatures in the building.
Quickly he grabbed a hold the radio; "Jaune, we have twenty seven in the building from thermals. Unknown nonthermals." He reported. There was silence before Jaune called in. "Understood," was the lone reply from Jaune. Ren put the radio back down and continued watching though the scope. His eyes steadily watched the thermal signatures move throughout the factory, little out of the usual.
Jaune finished strapping on the last pieces of combat armor before he looked over Pyrrha and Nora. Like him, the armor they wore was thick, a mixture of metal and leather with small wards enscribed along the entire set. Pyrrha had strapped her shield to her left arm and had two xiphos on her belt. Nora had a large pack with two of her heavier weapons strapped too her back alongside a thinner form of armor when compared to his and Pyrrha's. He had his own sword strapped to his waist and a med pack on the other side.
He opened the case from the back of the van and pulled out a gun. A two-handed semi automatic shotgun with a drum magazine, a solid metal buttstock, a belt from both ends to let it rest on his shoulders, and attachments for both a flashlight and a laser sight. Standard issue for any mission with a chance of non-human encounters. He grabbed two others and handed them to Pyrrha and Nora.
After that he pulled out three helmets. All three were made of metal and hard plastic, all equipped with a built in gas mask and radio, each decorated for their respective wearer. His was rather plain, with only a small emblem of his family on the upper left and the ridge resembling a knight's helm. Pyrrha's was colored bronze and red, with a T shaped visor rather than the typical flat lens. Nora's was thinner, equipped with a special eye piece to make it easier to target thing with her heavier weapons.
All of Ren's gear was with him, except for the shotgun of course.
Jaune put his helmet on and tapped the right side of it. "Ren, Nora, Pyrrha you hear me?" he asked on the built in radio. "All Clear." "We hear you Fearless Leader." "Check." Came the mixed responses of his team. "Good, Ren has there been any changes in the subjects behavior?" Jaune inquired. "None so far, but we have teams of two or three wandering around acting as security. Best bet is that the moment things get loud they'll be running towards you." Ren commented. "Is it still Twenty Seven on thermals?" Jaune inquired. There was a moment of silence before Ren replied. "Still Twenty Seven on thermals. Though some of them are deeper in the factory so it's difficult to make out." Ren replied. "Understood, do you have a visual on us?" Jaune asked. "Affirmative, you three ready to start?" Ren asked back.
Jaune looked over to Nora and Pyrrha, waiting for their response. "All set here, both my babies are locked and loaded." Nora answered while gesturing to the large pack on her back. "Ready to start." Pyrrha said while pulling back the pump on her shotgun. "We're ready, Tony and Tompson are guarding the van incase anyone tries to take it, if things get hectic then contact Charlie before coming in to help us." Jaune instructed. "Understood, stay safe." Ren said. "You two man." Jaune replied before be turned to Nora and Pyrrha.
The two girls nodded as he and Pyrrha took point. Nora trailed a few steps behind them as they approached the old factory. they approached one of the side doors, only having to moved some wire fencing to reach it. Jaune took a deep breath through his mask as he stood in front of the door, Pyrrha too his left and Nora off to his right. "Entering." he spoke through the radio, his voice becoming crisp and stern as he kicked down the door.
Pyrrha quickly took point as he followed in behind her. "Clear." She said, her eyes darting across the hallway as Nora came in. Jaune gestured for them to advance down the hall too the right, and both of them followed his lead. "Ren, you can see us on thermals right?" Jaune inquired. "Affirmative, the nearest group is about thirty feet too your left, another is approaching from your flank at about fifty feet away." Ren answered back.
Pyrrha and Nora quickly took positions, the former kneeling with her shield covering most of her body while the latter half kneeled behind her as cover. Jaune kept his eyes on the other end, his barrel pointed more too the left. "Twenty five feet on your flank." Ren called in as Nora turned on her laser sight. Jaune took one last glance at the other hall before taking position near Pyrrha and Nora.
It wasn't long before three people rushed forward, all dressed in casual clothes and wielding small arms. "ON THE GROUND, NOW!!!" Jaune called out through his helmet. The trio was surprised at first, their eyes glancing over them before they looked between one another. "ON THE GROUND!!!" Jaune repeated as the trio aimed their weapons at them. "Die!!!" One of them shouted as they charged them with hammers and axes.
Pyrrha took the first shot, the pellets hitting center mass and sending the lead Cultist too the ground. Nora followed, nailing the others in their right and left shoulder respectively. The two staggered back and clutched their wounds and they advanced. Pyrrha slammed the flat of her shield on the head of one while Nora bashed the other with the butt of her shotgun. "Ren we have three hostiles down, one dead and two knocked out." Jaune informed him over the radio. "Understood, the left group is advancing and the rest of them definitely heard those shots." Ren called back. "Got ya." Jaune said as he braced their now flank.
He glanced back as Pyrrha and Nora restrained the two living cultists with cuffs and gags, gritting his teeth for a second he braced for their approach. The first sign of the next attack was small arms fire from down the hall. "Nora, make sure they're secure, Pyrrha with me." Jaune instructed before he returned fire. Pyrrha followed his lead, holding her shield forward as two Cultists shot at them with pistols. The two of them advanced, Pyrrha taking point as the Cultists hid behind the wall.
"Five more coming in, left hall." Ren called in over radio. "Understood, Nora grenade." Jaune instructed as small arms fire continued to rain down on them. "Gotch ya." Nora replied as she pulled a grenade from her side pouch and handed it to Jaune. "Ren how far?" Jaune inquired. "The reinforcements are ten feet from the two you have pinned down." Ren responded. "Alright." Jaune said before he pulled the pin out of the grenade. "Back." he whispered before chucking the grenade at the Cultists hiding spot.
Pyrrha braced her shield as Jaune pulled himself and Nora behind her. He put a hand on her shoulder and flared his aura, boosting Pyrrha's own aura. They heard a brief scream before the grenade exploded, shrapnel and blood flying out from the corner. "Ren?" Jaune inquired. "still checking, best guess is six down." Ren replied as Jaune nodded. "Good, tell us if we have anymore hostiles in bound." Jaune said before he waved his hand too advance.
Around the corner they were greeted by a mess of burnt wood and bloody slurry. One Cultist was desperately trying to pull themselves to safety. "Atni-ba..." They muttered as the trio rushed him. A quick bash with the butt of a shotgun shut them up before they could speak again. "We now have three restrained, seven dead." Jaune reported. "Understood, the others are all congregating deeper in the factory, Its hard to get a proper check due to how deep into the building it is." Ren replied. "Thanks Ren, alright you heard him. The remaining Cultists are gathering in a large room, we all know what that means." Jaune commented. "Double time Cupcakes." Nora chimed in as Jaune nodded.
They adjusted their stance before they broke into a sprint for the center of the factory, intend on stopping whatever they may be planning.
Ren tried to calm his breath as his scope lingered on the large gathering of Cultists in the factory. The thermal silhouettes shifted every so often yet they all remained in what could only be a large room. He had no way of knowing what they were doing; be it a ritual, some sort of summoning, or maybe even a speech to boost them up before the rest of his team reached them.
Then something shifted.
Some kind of obstacle, blocking out small portions of various Cultists on his thermals. It shifted like a snake in water, thinning and thickening at certain points while still giving off the impression of being a single thing.
"Jaune, we have something big, its blocking out thermals." he reported in on the radio. He waited for a moment, watching as the thing continued to shift and move amongst the Cultists. When no response came in he felt his heart stop. "Jaune I repeat, we have something big blocking out the thermals on the Cultist congregation, please respond." Ren repeated before waiting for a response.
All he got was static.
Ren grit his teeth while hardening his gaze through the scope.
Jaune checked his radio after being hit with a second run of static. "Ren, was that you?" he asked, only being met with silence. "Something's jamming us." Pyrrha stated. "Yep, alright. From this point on we're running in blind, So don't get separated." Jaune said as Pyrrha and Nora nodded. After double checking the layout of the factory they proceeded towards the main assembly lane, the only place that could fit seventeen people and an unknown number of others.
Soon they found themselves at the main door to the assembly lane. Jaune took a quick peek inside, finding sixteen Cultists gathered in a circle around a lone one waving a book around. "They're all here, prepare to engage." Jaune instructed as he double checked his ammo. Pyrrha nodded as Nora fished some grenades out of her bag. She handed two too each of them as they all nodded. "On my mark... MARK!" Jaune said with a slightly raised voice as they all threw a grenade at the gathered Cultists.
The Cultists hardly noticed before three large explosions rocked them.
Body parts flew as the lone Cultist stood unmoving. The others began running, moving to grab weapons as Pyrrha let the charge. The three of them opened fire as pellets struck any they could see moving.
Suddenly something large shifted through the ground, a strange oily substance that began to group up. Rubble and bodies were pulled and alsorted as the substance seemed to mash them together as psuedo bodies. "Crap, living shadows." Jaune shouted as he began firing at the nearest puppet. Pyrrha and Nora let loose, slam firing rounds before they were knocked back by a tendril of oily shadow. Jaune pulled out his other grenade as three of the amalgamations surrounded him.
Jaune tossed his grenade at the farthest one while the other two rushed him. The explosion shattered one of the amalgamations before he found himself pinned down by moving rubble. He turned his head as the two amalgamations fused, pushing him high into the air. He could see Nora whip out one of her babies, a high power wrist-mounted flamethrower that bathed anything close to her in flames. He couldn't see Pyrrha anywhere in the rubble and encroaching shadows.
"Damnit." he muttered while flaring out his aura, gold and white flames quickly licking at his form. The shadows groaned in pain before he was dropped to the ground, the oily shadows below parting at his presence. He let his shotgun rest to his side and pulled Cocrea Mors out of its shealth. His aura channeling into the blade to slice through any shadow that tried to reach him. "Pyrrha?! Nora?!" he called out as the shadows began encroaching him like a wall. "Son of a..." he trailed off while holding Cocrea Mors in a two handed stance.
Then the shadows stilled, the only form of illumination being his own aura fueled flames.
"Ahh... interlopers..." The shadows spoke. "You, you're that one from the center aren't you?" Jaune inquired. "Perhaps. So who are you who dares to interfere with our glorious mission?" The shadows inquired with an echoed voice. "What's so glorious about being a puppet?" Jaune countered. "Ahh, but that is all we were meant to be. Puppets for Anti-Bahre-" before the shadows could finished speaking Jaune flared his aura further, consuming his own body in bright white fire. The shadows screamed in pain as Jaune began running towards them.
"Come over here!!!" he shouted as The fire only grew in intensity.
The shadows retreated from him. Jaune let his aura settle as he looked over the current situation. Nora was using her flamethrower to create a space to protect her from the shadows while the lone remaining Cultist was now standing atop a podium of scrap and shadows. The only places that weren't covered in the Livint Shadows was his own spot and Nora's own safe zone.
Jaune turned to the lone Cultist and sneared under his helmet. "So, flaming man... Why have you dared to disrupt our glorious mission?" The Cultist inquired. "Why else." Jaune shot back while flaring his aura once again. He almost flinched as the feeling of his skin burning began to register. The Cultist just sneered before he pulled out the same book from earlier. "Spawn of Stars, prepare to die!!" The Cultist shouted as more shadows snaked foreward.
"Nora, slow approach!!" Jaune shouted to Nora before he let his aura blaze. Nora nodded before slamming her free hand onto her backpack. A loud clicking noise hit his ears as another wrist mounted weapon was attached to her free hand. She quickly swung the new weapon forward and fired a grenade towards the attacking mass of rubble and shadows. Nora used a combination of her wrist mounted weapon to slowly approach the Cultist as Jaune used his fire to do the same.
The Cultist seemed to panic, having his podium rise higher into the air with more rubble and shadows. "I am a faithful man, servant of-" The Cultist's shout was interrupted by Nora firing a grenade right at him. "LET ME SPEAK!!!" The Cultist shouted as Jaune ran up the amalgamated podium while Nora used her grenade launcher to fly into the air. "I have one of your's hostage, don't try anything." The Cultist begged as a large tendril arose from the mass on the floor.
Jaune could feel something... then it clicked.
Nora rushed back to his side as the tendril seemed to open. The Cultist seemed to smile as they stood still. "That's right, don't try it." he commented as someone rose from the tendril. Jaune could recognize Pyrrha's armor, but what was trapped in the tendril wasn't Pyrrha.
The Cultist seemed confused by their lack of reaction as Jaune turned to Nora. "Do you have enough ammo to get to the rafters?" he asked. Nora just nodded as Jaune looked at the trapped figure. It seemed to notice him, waving for a second before the head violently twisted towards the Cultist. "PŘĘÝ!!!!" it shouted in a horribly distorted form of Pyrrha's voice.
"What the?" The Cultist questioned as the figure freed itself from the tendril. Jaune used his chance to aid Nora, using his shield to propel her explosive jump higher. The figure made a bee-line for the Cultist, two Xiphos slicing at speeds faster than the eye could see. "No, stay back!!" The Cultist shouted while using more shadows to throw anything in its path. Its arms moved in inhuman ways, bending at wrong angles and hitting targets far outside the reach of normal human arms.
Jaune watched as Nora grabbed onto the rafters, quickly getting to her feet and running along the struts. He turned back to the fight, watching as The Hunter hacked and slashed it's way towards the Cultist. Out of desperation he tried using the podium to escape to the back room, only to be intercepted by a flurry of grenades from Nora.
"No escape." Jaune said as he let his aura flared up and he ran after The Hunter. In desperation the Cultist threw his book on the floor and tried to sink into his shadow. Jaune moved to catch it, confident in the rest of his team. He could hear Nora peppering the Cultist with grenades as he drove and caught the book before it could sink into the shadows. He stood back up and the Cultist fully sunk into his shadow.
The Hunter looked around and huffed, clearly annoyed. Jaune stood cautiously, stuffing the book into his bag as he let his aura simmer. The Hunter turned to him, and tilted its head far more than humanly possible. "PŘĘÝ?" it said, clearly disappointed. "You've had plenty, go back too sleep." Jaune said as he sunk to his knees in pain. "ĐĚBȚ ͧ ØWĘĐ..." The Hunter claimed. "Greedy bastard, just go back to sleep." Jaune whispered as The Hunter approached him. Jaune just pointed to the retreating form of the shadows in the back of the room. "Its there, just track it." he stated. The Hunter turned to where he was pointing and seemed to chuckle.
Jaune just watched it run after the shadows before he sank to the ground in pain. Nora shimmied down the wall and ran over to him. "Fearless Leader, are you ok?" Nora asked while rolling him over so that his back was to the ground. "Just a bit burnt." Jaune replied before wincing. Nora ran his hand over her shoulder, making sure her wrist weapons didn't interfere as she did so, and pulled him up.
The two of them looked around the room, only finding rubble and dead bodies. "Nora, get a call in too Ren. We need clean up asap." Jaune said. Nora nodded and checked her radio. "Ren, can you here us?" she called. There was a moment of silence before they heard Ren's voice. "Affirmative, I've been trying to contact you for the last few minutes. What happened?!" Ren replied. "It was a Living Shadow, a big one." Jaune called in. "The last one let out The Hunter while trying to use Pyrrha as a hostage." Nora followed up. "Do you need reinforcements?" Ren asked. "No, but get clean up and evac on the line. We're hurt pretty bad." Nora said. "Understood." Ren replied before turning off his radio.
Nora just turned back too Jaune and began carrying him over her shoulder. The two of them following their old path back towards the side door. The halls were quiet, only filled with the sounds of their own footsteps. They passed the the three restrained Cultists near the door and opened it.
They could hear the sound of vehicles approaching, and hoped that they were friendlies. A bright light illuminated them before Jaune finally passed out from the pain.
Arcadian Bestiary: Entry ¥?$
Abhorrents.
Abhorrents are creatures of hunger. Large masses of flesh covered in varying amounts of heads and limbs. The size and rating of Abhorrents are often reliant on how much of a diet they can maintain, the more they can eat over a long period of time the larger they are. Where Abhorrents originate from is often debated by Arcadian Scholars through the ages.
Abhorrents are solely animalistic, but can be trained akin too dogs. Cults will often use them as simple fodder or even creatures to trade between one another. Of course, an Abhorrent will easily turn on its handling as it does its prey if it is not fed properly.
