When the alarm starts blaring throughout the building, Xing Tian drops her book by surprise. She quickly left the bed and tried to peer through the door.
Not many people come and go but she could tell all of them are the combatants. Then again, she must be on the jail cell part of the building.
Just then, she can hear Aquila talking to the guards telling them to allow her to pass. She takes a step back before the door is fling open.
“I’m sure you heard the announcement.” The Asian nods in confirmation. “Good, I want you to tell me your decision now. I’m sure you used your time wisely, right?”
“Well…” Xing Tian takes a deep breath and looks at the woman with determined eyes. “You already helped me with my decision. And my answer is yes!”
Aquila allows a small smile on her face to surface. “Well, I am satisfied with that.”
She turns around and gestures to Xing Tian to follow her. Without a word, both of them march on towards their destination.
As they get nearer to their destination, they observe more people are moving about, some already fully ready while some are checking their equipment. “If you think this is crowded, imagine the international scene.”
Xing Tian nods without a word and they reach the changing room. Without hesitation, both of them enter the room. Aquila walks up to one of the lockers and fishes out a key to open it.
Inside the locker only contains a uniform set similar to a SWAT team with a tiger emblem on the breast pocket. Aquila hands over the uniform to Xing Tian and orders her to wear it.
After a few minutes, both of them left the changing room and quickly jogs to a parking lot. Vehicles move about as police sirens blare and leave the place.
Aquila continues her way to a van similar to the one yesterday, where Noelle and someone similar looking awaits. Both of them salute before noticing Xing Tian.
“Ma’am, why is the civilian-”
“She’s with us Noelle. She’s serving for her sentence and we need as much fire power as possible.”
“But ma’am,” the person who is similar to Noelle but has a rougher voice continues the protest. “Having a civilian fighting is a poor idea even if it increases our chances. She’s a wild card!”
Both Aquila and Xing Tian sit down opposite to the twins as Aquila counters. “I believe her abilities are enough. She won’t be in the active shootout for now. But if we encounter a high-level Glitch, she will be our trump card.”
“You have quite the expectation on me.” Xing Tian points out.
“Then don’t disappoint me.” The girl nods with the same determination, unwilling to fail what is expected of her.
“Aquila!” Tom runs toward the van with laboured breaths while holding onto a suitcase. He hands over the case to said woman as he recompose himself.
“This is…?” Aquila accepts the case but she creases her eyebrow.
“The Casper-Sky.” He takes in another breath. “At least the first and the safe version. The Downloader and D-USB are in it.”
Aquila unlocks the suitcase and takes out the same wristwatch but it is in yellow color. The USB that contains in the case is orange in color and has the letter “C” on it.
Without hesitation, Aquila straps on the Downloader.
[DNA LOCKED].
With a satisfied smile, she pockets the D-USB into her breast pocket.
“By the way, will your arm be fine for this?” Tom narrows his eyes at her left arm. The woman clicks her tongue in annoyance.
“I told you, I got worse before.”
The pair stays silent for a while before Tom turns around with a sigh. “I’m not cooking tonight then.”
That catches Aquila completely by surprise. “Wha- Hey! You can’t do that to me!”
Completely ignoring her, Tom just leaves the place faster. Aquila huffs and grumbles under her breath. The room becomes awkward as they see the commander acting childish.
Xing Tian glances at Noelle, who silently mouths the word “Dating”.
The girl merely nods.
“Driver! Move out now!” Aquila orders, but everyone can hear the tinge of anger in her voice.
The van moves quickly, leaving the building and following other vehicles in the same direction.
As the scenery zooms by, Xing Tian couldn’t help but fidget with the tense atmosphere.
“Uhm…” She squeaks out and quickly shut her mouth when everyone turns their attention to her. “Since we are working together, should we introduce ourselves?”
The commander shrugs. “You know I am Commander Aquila, but on field call me Alpha.”
“I am Noelle,” the woman greets Xing Tian with a stoic face. “But you should call me Nu in the field.” She then points to her twin, who smiles at her. “And this is my brother.”
“You can call me Jace. And before you ask, yes I am biologically a guy and Noelle is my twin sister.”
Xing Tian blinks owlishly.
“Sorry, it’s just habits.” Jace sheepishly scratches his cheek while Xing Tian giggles. “Anyway, you can call me Lambda on the field.” He extends his hand to the girl, who gladly shakes it.
“I’m Xing Tian, nice to meet you.”
Noelle huffs out of annoyance as she watches the two interact. The girl looks at the bispectical woman curiously, wondering about her reaction.
The driver calls out to the four combatants they are about to approach their destination. Aquila opens one of the cabinets in the van and hands over everyone the sci-fi looking magnum. For Xing Tian, she also gives her the wristwatch she used yesterday, which she immediately equips, and the blue USB.
“This is called Magia, it has seven shots and reloads like an actual magnum. You know how it works right?” Xing Tian nods and straps it on her waist. The gun is more lightweight than she expected, but she could tell it’s more dangerous.
“And don’t forget to make sure the safety is off.” She points at a small red button on the side of the frame. Xing Tian made a confused expression in this order.
“Wouldn’t you want me to make sure the safety is on to prevent misfire?”
“Misfiring while unlocked is the least worrying thing, as fire it while the safety is on will turn it into a grenade.” Xing Tian wants to ask more but from the looks of cringing faces, she opts to keep silent.
The van stops and immediately everyone begins leaving the van except Xing Tian, who stops at the door.
“So I should come when I need to?” She asks the commander.
“Yes, but don’t forget to protect yourself.”
Without a word, the soldiers leave Xing Tian to her lonesome. From the van, she can see the situation is similar to the day before.
Hordes of Glitches moving out of the tear in the space as one by one they are taken down by bullets. People giving orders and frantic battle takes place. She can see a team is operating some kind of machinery similar to an artillery cannon.
Most of the parts are artillery cannon parts. However, behind the shield there is a metal box that is connected to a generator. The barrel aims at the tear in space instead of the air like typical artillery cannon.
Xing Tian notices some stragglers get past the defense. She takes out her Magia, carefully ensuring the safety has turned off.
A beat, with careful observation she pulls the trigger. One shot, one kill. A Glitch has taken down. She observes the field once more and found more stragglers taking their opportunity to pass by.
She carefully targets the Magia and takes a shot to takedown the Glitches.
“The Patch is ready!” One of the soldiers calls out from the van’s radio. She looks around the field and finds the artillery cannon seems to be charging up for a shot.
“Understood!” Xing Tian can hear Alpha through the radio. “Defender, I know you can hear me in the van. You need to help the team operating the Patch.”
The Asian acknowledges her new order and leaves the van in a hurry. The operators didn’t bother with the new girl and fully focused on their task. For Xing Tian, she joins with the bodyguards in protecting the operators.
In the shadows, if someone listens closely they would hear a hissing sound, a snake hiss. Two pairs of reptilian eyes can be seen in the darkness as it rises.
A snake shadow rises behind the Patch, creeping on the humans who have tunnel vision on their work. Xing Tian feels a shiver behind her and turns around before her eyes widen.
“Get out of the way!” She takes some pot shots at the new threat as the operators realize the new presence.
Some scramble away while there are those who are unfortunate enough to be crushed under the new weight. As dust settles, a multicolored, static screen-like, serpertile tail can be seen as it slitters off.
The new Glitch appears to look like a Naga, creatures that have a human top and serpentine bottom. The Naga-like Glitch has the head of a dragon and full plated armor that has the words Ṡ̸̲̝̜̞̤́̑̈́́̈́͘̚l̴̛̤͊̊̀͆a̶̠̤̍̋̃͐̈́́m̵̨̛̮̟̠̫̅̋͒͠͝m̶̨͖̣̳̪͙̪̅͗̐̈́͂͝e̶͇̰͌̾̔̓̒r̴̨̫̈́̓̓́̾̀͘ ̴̛̩̯̠͓͌̂̎͝͝0̷̡̯̳̣̳̊̍̌̂̋7̶̜͇͓̾̎̌̃͘ͅ. It stood at the size of a van and had a pair of scimitars.
“Slammer identified! It’s a Naga-type!”
Xing Tian glances towards the artillery cannon, finding the metal box and generator parts smashed by the Glitch. There are other things in the debris too, but she chooses not to see it.
The monster hisses once before charging into the survivors at an unexpected speed. The girl quickly slots in her D-USB into her Downloader to stop the attack. Thanks to the force field, the Glitch slams headfirst into the protection and stuns itself.
With the opportunity presents itself, the surviving soldiers immediately retreat with the injured ones to allow the Defender to fight the new enemy. The girl charges in at the Slammer and slugs the head of the creature, creating a sonic boom.
The creature immediately tail slaps Defender away from itself and gives chase to the soaring girl. The Defender tries to realign herself in the air, only to find herself embedded into a stone wall.
Alpha sees the situation from her side, aware of the current situation. Especially from all the yelling and the information her soldiers are giving.
The situation isn’t good, with Defender being buried in debris for now and the Naga Glitch rampaging on her soldiers. The repairs for the Patch can only happen once the repairs team arrives.
There is only one choice left.
“Everyone! Stay away from the Slammer. I’m activating Casper-Sky!” The commander sprint headfirst towards the Slammer and slots in the red D-USB into her Downloader.
[MATERIALIZING CASPER-SKY BETA SET]
A red dome surrounds Alpha as her body begins to morph into a new form. As the morphing proceeds, she begins to float as a pair of wings sprout out of her back. Using the dome of the force field, she stops a slash from the monster.
When the morphing process finishes, the dome bursts off and pushes the scimitar away from her.
Standing before everyone is a new figure with black bodysuit and a pair of claw metal boots. She has olive dark green knee pads, bracers and elbow guards. A vest with the same color as the pads covers her chest, with an eagle head logo on it. The head is equipped with a olive dark green eagle-like helmet with red eye-like visor and a beak-like mouthguard.
The most distinct feature is the pair of wings that are silver in color, seemingly made of metal.
The debris behind the new figure is pushed away to reveal the Defender. The tiger-like fighter made a surprised gasp when she landed her eyes on the new figure.
“Alpha?” She asks, unsure of the figure.
“Call me Casper-Sky, Defender.” Casper-Sky raises her right hand and the bracer on it glows in red, reforming itself into an arm cannon with the same color.
“New order, I will back you up in this fight Defender.”
