A hollow is a supernatural disaster in the shape of a dome that isolates whatever is swallowed by it from the outside world. Despite isolation from the outside world, inside a hollow, it still follows the general appearance outside the hollow. At a glance, everything looks normal except the roaming Ethereal, the weather also follows the condition of the outside world, if the outside is sunny the hollow will also be sunny, and if the outside is raining so does the hollow. But the hollow stopped imitating the real world beyond that point, the nature of the hollow distorted everything else. Once inside, you cannot trust your own eyes to search for the way out since everything is different from what it seems to be.
What you see now may or may not be the same as what actually is.
That was the current problem of the trio who didn't have any way to properly navigate the hollow. After escaping the roundabout, they head to the East or what they perceive as the East, what happens after that? They decided to just wing it until they somehow find something or stumble onto something that can help them get out, if they somehow accidentally found a way out is even better. But with their kind of luck, the chance of them getting that kind of luck happening is pretty slim at best.
As it appears, they weren't very lucky to have somehow stumbled upon an unidentified swarming type of Ethereal. Unseen and unknown, none of the trio nor the people of the New Eridu City had seen this kind of Ethereal yet. The trio still hasn't realised that this Ethereal has been locking onto them for some time since the start of the Roundabout fight. Not knowing what has been tailing them, they continue driving haphazardly and firing at any Ethereal that chasing them.
If one has to identify the unknown Ethereal somehow, it could be said that this Ethereal was similar in some way to the infamous Nineveh, a swarming Boss-type Ethereal which existed inside Hollow Zero.
Unlike Nineveh and maybe not as dangerous either, this unidentified Ethereal while similar to Nineveh in how it worked, it was more aggressive when hunting its prey. Actively locking onto its prey despite the distortion of the hollow, it alerted the nearby Ethereal and commanded them to close in and hunt the victims. Now this Ethereal was locking in on the Oblivious Trio who doesn't even know what they will do next. In normal cases, this kind of prey was an easy one, because the prey couldn't escape and could only tire themselves until they succumbed to the constant attack of Ethereal.
These three on the other hand, only knew how to fight and run away. After obtaining the Warthog, their mobility was increased by leaps and bounds, so much that the unidentified Ethereal never had the chance to mount up a decent ambush before the trio had already escaped with their car. They don't care about whether they head closer to the outside or they go deeper into the hollow, once they spot a fissure, they immediately head into it. This resulting them appearing on another part of the hollow thus escaping the Ethereal crowd controlled by the unidentified Ethereal.
A fissure, a manifestation of the hollow's distortion with an appearance similar to a wormhole in mainstream sci-fi movies. When someone enters this fissure, they will be brought either deeper into the Hollow or may just be closer to the exit. The trio have been gambling their chance with these fissures by entering them willy-nilly uncaring of where they ended up, but so far, they have been able to escape the Ethereal swarm thanks to these fissures.
Also, the DLT-19 wielded by Atlas was very effective at dismantling smaller hordes chasing after their tail. Small Ethereal, Big Ethereal, Thick and Tanky Ethereal, Quick and Agile Ethereal, the DLT-19 melted them like a hot knife through butter. Sometimes the DLT-19 overheated by the constant firing, but by this point, they already had the second one ready to keep the firepower high. The E11 blaster was also performing superbly when fired rapidly at the bunched-up weaker Ethereal, so Arif also can contribute to whittling down the chasing Ethereal numbers.
"Malam! Arif! Fissure to the right! Head there!"
"Okay!"
Right now, they were in skyscraper ruins or maybe an unfinished skyscraper where they still could see the building material strewn about the building floor. After entering their last fissure, they were brought to the top of this unfinished skyscraper with nowhere to escape except down. Since the Warthog couldn't fit the path made for humans, they were forced to store the Warthog in their inventory for now and walk their way down while under fire from the aerial Ethereal.
"Atlas! There are Ethereal coming from the fissure!"
As they were getting close to the fissure, some Ethereal suddenly emerged from it and started charging at them. But they were met with a proximity land mine to the face, destroying several of them in a single explosion. The reflexive act of throwing a landmine onto the enemy saved them some time but also destabilised the old construction, they could hear the steel beams scream as it turned out the explosion also took out some of the already rusting I-beams near the fissure.
"Uh oh, Atlas, I think you just sealed our fate."
The sudden destruction of some of the I-beams caused an imbalance in the structure and sure enough, the rest of the already rusting building frame started to sing their requiem of steel after standing strong for years without proper maintenance and exposed to harsh elements of the Hollow. Now they will bring their last havoc and destruction onto the monsters that have caused their creator to stop building them and showcase their final glory as a skyscraper. Three idiots just happened to be inside this collapsing building and also the one that started the collapse of the whole thing, especially Atlas and his newfound habit of throwing landmines onto his enemy's face.
"No time for stairs! Just jump!"
When saying jump, what Atlas meant was doing an extreme kind of parkour by jumping from floor to floor. The building being unfinished allowed them to do that since there was some part of the floor that had a hole in it giving them a way to jump to the lower floor. They tried to get to the lower floor as fast as possible while the metal beam was still only creaking and not collapsing on top of them. They scaled down the building all the while still being attacked by the Ethereal.
Amidst the sound of attacking Ethereal and the firing noises of the DLT-19 and E11, the trio still could hear the ominous sound of the I-beams slowly giving up. The sound of strained steel echoed and telegraphed through the whole building and was heard by anyone in it and its vicinity. The ruckus they made, the fight between Man vs Ethereal vs time, caught the attention of whoever saw the flight of the missed plasma bolts from the blasters and the thunderous noises of the close-to-collapse metal building frame of the highest unfinished skyscraper around.
0o0o0
Somewhere at the viewing distance of the collapsing skyscraper…
"Mr. Heinz! Look!"
The man called Heinz looked in the direction his fellow investigator pointed at. There he saw a hectic scene of a collapsing building with numerous red bolts flying about from the inside.
"A fight? There shouldn't be anyone here except us today… Hollow Raider?"
A certain level of distaste could be heard from the man when he said the name. Partly because of the difficult relationship between the Hollow Investigator Association and the Hollow Raider, the other part was because just recently they were attacked by a gang under the guise of a Hollow Raider group causing them to not only lose some of their Etheric samples they also lose two of their people in the chaos. The two people who were lost were only trainee investigators placed under his supervision; they were promising newcomers with high ether aptitude and good work ethics undergoing some final test before becoming full investigators. But now they were lost to a fissure and their whereabouts were unknown, even with their aptitude, with how long they'd been inside the hollow… their time wasn't long. Heinz already sent some of the people with lesser aptitude to retreat and return outside with the leftover samples, while he and some others stayed to try locating the lost trainee investigator.
The last call for help was detected half an hour ago, it seems that the Bangboo that was lost with them might have sustained some damage that it couldn't retain the carrot provided to it nor have enough functionality left to broadcast an accurate position of the lost trainees. There was also the chance that they deliberately sent inaccurate signals and also did it sparingly to prevent the gang that had attacked them before from being able to triangulate their position if they really… really wanted the last Etheric sample which was under the possession of the lost trainees.
… if deliberate, this move was quite smart… but also a double-edged sword as it prevented both the enemy and HIA, their ally from finding their location.
Currently though? Everything was up to fate and the whims of the Hollow. And as the one responsible for them, he had to see it through until he managed to bring them back home.
Since his mind was filled with worry for his junior, he didn't have the time to care much about what a Hollow Raider does within a Hollow. Even more so when the last time they decided to trust an injured Hollow Rider, they were bait to a gang ambush, aiming for the samples in their possession.
But like a flaming dumpster fire, it was hard not to watch such a spectacle. Seeing the slowly collapsing building swarmed by Ethereal, like flies flocking the light, also the occasional red bolts of light taking down the flying Ethereal. But Heinz was focusing on another matter when watching this show…
"Woah… they sure gave them a fight, don't they? Right, Mr Heinz?"
"…Han, check the Ether Activity."
"We checked it a few minutes ago, Sir. It was more or less stable for the time being."
"…"
"Yes, Sir, I'm on it!"
The man called Han fished a tablet from his bag and launched a program used to read the Ether activity in the Hollow. He was disinterested at first, only following the order of his superior, but his nonchalance didn't last long when he noticed the multiple spikes of Ether activity on the tablet's screen.
"Sir! We have readings! Chaotic fluctuation! W-why? Just a few minutes ago… Even so, none of our sensors alerted anything about this sudden increase in Ether Activity…"
Han was panicking and mumbling to himself in disbelief at what he saw on the screen, while Heinz only sighed and went back to watch the fight on the collapsing skyscraper.
"Han, report this equipment anomaly to the equipment department when we return. Also, when will the reinforcement from the PubSec will come? I thought that guy wanted as much recognition as possible when the election season was this close. We got a case of gang crime and stolen Etheric samples to write on his resumes."
"They notified us that they have sent a team of officers to our position and…"
"And?"
"Deputy Justin Bringer will also be present."
"Ho… the Hero himself will also be present, eh? We can rest easy then…"
"Err… I'm sorry if I overstepped my bounds Sir… but, do you dislike Deputy Bringer?"
"No, No… I'm just annoyed by his actions in recent years, he was… confusing. A simple disconnection to what I know about him before, nothing to lose sleep for. I also not interested enough to be obsess- "
Screech!
Their conversation was cut short by the scream of the toppling building which could no longer hold itself up. Not more than a few seconds ago, the construct was bent like a twig about to snap… but the sheer size of the building doesn't allow such a simple thing as snapping. When the last of the I-beam that holding up the building gave away, it collapsed onto the floor under it. When the floor below could not stand the sudden impact, it crumbled under the massive weight and then crushed yet another floor under it, then another floor, and then another floor…
Like a snowballing effect, every crumbling floor added an extra mass to the falling crowd of concrete and metal.
Like a domino, the collapse wouldn't stop until the whole building was levelled onto the ground.
Amidst the chaos, the watching HIA members saw an unbelievable sight when a car suddenly launched away from one of the floors of the collapsing building. The car maintained a considerable air time before barely landing on top of another building. Despite successfully landing on top of another building, the car didn't stop but instead sped up again before launching itself again from the rooftop of a building… then crashing into the building nearby making a car-sized hole in the wall.
"…They're crazy."
0o0o0
" Pant…pant… I still can't believe we made it."
Atlas was looking outside from the hole that the Warthog made when it crashed into the building, the one they were currently in. The dust from the collapsing of the skyscraper hasn't settled yet but he can see that the tall building was no longer where it was before.
Some moments ago, before they jumped…
"Curses! Atlas! The building will collapse soon!"
"I know!"
To say they were cornered was an understatement, the building being unfinished provided no real covering for the trio to hide in. The situation became even worse when more variety of Ethereal was introduced into the battle, they can fly and shoot from afar. Their initial plan of hit-and-run was quickly turned into hunkering down behind whatever they could use to protect them from the ranged attacks. Combine them with the waves of melee Ethereal, they were effectively pinned down in one place with nowhere to go. The only saving grace was the Sentry guns which once again proved to be exceptionally effective at dealing with the oncoming waves allowing the trio to deal with the ranged Ethereal with relative safety. But the situation was still dire as they still had to escape from the soon will be collapsed skyscraper, with them being pinned down in one place, their progress to get down from the building was also stopped.
With the Sentry Guns dealing with the waves, Atlas already switched back to his E11 to be able to deal with the flying Ethereal better. The other two were also starting to get used to handling their weapon, their hit rate increased exponentially compared to their previous battles.
There was suddenly a gap between the attacking waves, in which Malam used the chance to check something. He abandoned the cover and ran towards the edge of the building; he looked around for a moment before focusing on something and lost in thought for a few seconds contemplating something. He was done thinking just in time when another wave approached them, he ran back behind cover and asked his teammates.
"Guys, I might sound crazy, but I have a plan."
Leaving the Sentries to deal with the waves, Atlas and Arif ducked behind cover to listen to what Malam was about to say.
"I say we jump."
"Jump?"
"You see the building over there?"
"I… don't?"
"Exactly, there is a shorter building over there and if we use Warthog and floor the gas… I calculate that we might just have the chance to make the jump to the other building."
"No way we gonna do that."
Their hesitance and unwillingness were understandable, but the choices they had were limited and except for the one suggested by Malam, they hadn't found another option yet. With the looming threat of the building collapsing anytime, they don't have the time to ponder for a safer way and decide to just wing it and follow Malam's suggestion.
They will perform the leap of faith.
"…Alright, who have the Warthog?"
Forcing himself to calm his breath, Atlas asked his friend who had stored the Warthog in their inventory before. It was Arif, then he deployed the Warthog near them facing the aforementioned building.
"I'm sorry, Atlas, I know I'm the one who comes up with the idea, but can you be the one who drives instead?"
"…What?"
"I'm not confident I can commit to flooring the gas when we jump if I was the one driving…"
Atlas's expression was unreadable, hidden behind the gas mask of the Jin-roh uniform, but soon he sighed and agreed to Malam's request.
Atlas boarded the Warthog and started the engine, sometimes, some projectile from the Ethereal hit the car, but the Warthog body was robust enough to tank the shots. The plan was to wait for another gap between waves before they would perform the leap, so Atlas as the driver was forced to wait in the car.
But alas, the plan to wait was never meant to be done. They suddenly heard the whole building screaming and trembling harshly, instinctively they knew… it was the last warning of the building as it finally collapsed.
"Arif! Malam! No time! Pack the Sentries and get on!"
Putting the sentries inside their inventory without folding them back into the toolbox, Arif and Malam hastily got on the Warthog and strapped themselves onto the Warthog. Malam who sat beside Atlas donned his seat belt, Arif who got on the back of the Razorback Warthog tied himself with a strap rope onto the roll cage and anything he could latch himself to. Atlas not waiting for any second longer, floored the gas as hard as he could, propelling the Warthog forward as the tire screeched from the sudden increase in speed. Since they weren't in the gap between waves when they tried to jump, some Ethereal stood in their way, but they wouldn't stop and run over them without losing speed.
Atlas's whole body was tense, his feet pressing the gas pedal until it reached the floor, and his hands gripped the steering wheel with enough strength to crush an adult hand… keeping the car going straight onto the edge of the building before finally, the car leapt from the screeching, collapsing building. The destination was the building beside the skyscraper, shorter than the skyscraper just like Malam said, it was unseen before due to the difference in height between the buildings.
The leap only lasted one…barely two seconds, but to those three, it felt like it lasted forever. Their adrenaline level spiked to the highest it had ever been, forcing them to keep a barely clear mind while also freaking out for their life at the same time. None of them screamed, because their mouth clenched so hard their teeth were grinding against one another until they were almost shattered from how strong they clenched their jaw. For these two seconds, these three held the medal of one, two, three for the most scared shitless people in the world.
Once they landed on the rooftop, Atlas who was stunned by fear failed to disengage the gas pedal in time thus making them take an unintentional second leap of faith. They didn't land on another rooftop now, but they rammed straight through the wall of a building and then also the wall behind it before they stopped. It took them some moment to gather their scattered souls and check their pants before they were able to ascertain their current situation. Thankfully, no one soiled their pants this time.
0o0o0
From the hole they make, they can see the resulting debris of the collapsed skyscraper. They also saw some of the Ethereal, the flying ones still hovering mid-air, probably looking for them.
"…N-no time for rest… Let's continue flee."
Their body screamed and begged for rest but their situation didn't allow for a brief respite with their pursuer still hot on their tails. With their knees trembling and hands weak, they boarded the Warthog again and restarted the engine. They proceeded with their way with less care than before, he made the Warthog run through everything in front of them, walls, glass pane, desk, anything. They went down the building using the broken escalator who were meant to be used for humans, but they were broken anyway.
After getting onto the ground floor and leaving a scene of carnage behind them by simply bulldozing through everything that stood in their way, the trio went along their way continuing to look for an exit. Again… Somehow…
0o0o0