Chapter Fifteen
Part One: Pursuers
Crest hopped onto the motorbike, his hands gripped on the handles as it rumbled with a powerful force. He glanced over at his squad, where Patch, Razor and Idol were standing, awaiting orders.
“So we had functional vehicles after all…” began the Captain in a monotone voice, his shrewd dark grey eyes drifting over to Soleria.
“…are you going to dismiss us, Observer ma’am?”
Crest gave the Intrinsic an austere look, she initially thought she was in the wrong somehow, however she soon realized he was handing power back over to her; he handled the situation up to this point the least she could do was order them out.
“Yes, Revival Squad please dispense of the Abyssiti no matter the cost, while the new units accompany you!”
“Hell yeah!” Fives fist pumped the air at the second part of her order. He was not only elated to see the Revival squad take down an Abyssiti, but he also gets to travel with them out into open terrain of the Federation.
“Can we go with them? They might need extra hands!” Asked Glitch while pressing her fingers together. She was always willing to put herself in danger, but this time was different; she didn’t want to miss what Abyssiti managed to sneak in undetected.
“Glitch ma’am no! We got this!” Cried out Razor trying to keep his superior out of harm's way. “Please stop trying to put yourself in danger!”
“Razor is right Glitch, we’ll stay here and hold down the fort. I believe in you, none of you prove me wrong and die. Okay?” Added Trauma looking over at the children. His face was stoic but his eyes were nothing but compassionate. Though he hasn’t known the children for long, as their mentor he would die for them. Arsyle put him to the task and Trauma knew all good soldiers follow the orders they are given.
His partner however wasn’t as enthused to hear his parting words. You could almost see Glitch’s soul leave her body. Once again Trauma has blocked her from what she desires.
“You keep me out of situations where I can die, not that I would! But still…It hurts more than any Abyssiti wound ever will!” Bawled Glitch in the background and Trauma ignored his teammates anitics. He walked over to Crest with 4 ear pieces in his hand. His crimson eyes locked with Crest’s. Trauma extended his hand to the Captain of the Revival squad.
”These are communicators, while you’re out on the field. Put them into your right ear.”
Crest grabbed the device and fastened it to his right ear as he was told. Trauma patted his holster on his side. He had his pistol on him, the very gun that had taken countless of his teammates out of their misery. Taking a deep breath, he looked up at the Captain of the Revival Squad.
“The lives of my squad are in your hands, Captain Crest.”
Trauma then, without another word, continued to pass them out to Idol, Patch and Razor. Patch and Razor immediately hopped onto their respective motorbikes as Idol sat in the driver's seat of the Trucker. She yawned, her deary emerald eyes glanced over at Dart, Below and their Batch.
“Are you six going to hurry up and get in?” Mumbled Idol, she sounded exhausted, like she’d only gotten a few minutes of sleep the previous night. “We don’t have all day…”
“Right..” Dart responded as she opened the back doors to the vehicle. Below, Quill and Zero comfortably joined Dart in the back seat. While Fives rushed up to the passenger seat. Vanity was more skeptical while approaching the front seats.
“I call the front window seat!” Exclaimed the brunette boy with a twinkle in his eye.
Vanity meanwhile looked over at the Abyssus Unit, who was sitting at the wheel of the vehicle. Her face was completely neutral, and she had a complacent look in her eyes.
“Uhh… do you know how to drive this thing?” Asked Vanity as she sat in between Idol and Fives.
Idol shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. “Ehhh. I’ll figure it out. Let's just get going. This is cutting into my relaxing time.” She stated bitterly as she looked over at Crest to give her the signal.
“We head West. Top priority is destroying the Abyssiti before it reaches Intrinsic territory.” Crest slowly lifted one of his hands in command while revving his motorcycle.
“Stay in contact with the ear pieces…”
Idol gripped both hands on the steering wheel with a mischievous grin. “I hope you’re ready, kids.” Dart watched Quill happily put on her seat belt, she had a bad feeling about this.
“MOVE OUT!!” Shouted Captain Crest as he put his hand out. His voice echoed in the Hangar as he bolted out on top of his motorbike. The Revival Squad followed right on his tail.
Soleria, Trauma and Glitch watched as they sped off leaving behind smoke and the smell of burnt rubber behind. Soleria withdrew and deployed her slate, using it to generate a hologram screen in the air in front of her. Trauma and Glitch look over her shoulder at the screen which displayed a red dot moving away quickly from the center. It was tracking the location of Crest and his team while they headed westward.
Soleria looked solemnly at the display.“I wish you the best of luck, Revival Squad…”
The engine rumbled in the steel vehicle between their legs, and the miles sped away beneath its black wheels. Patch and Razor, while being led by Crest, rode their motorcycles to the west. All the while looking out for the Abyssiti, Crest gave an unconscious squeeze to the lever on the great y-shaped rudder, coaxing yet more power from the vehicle. Fives meanwhile, stuck his head out of the Truckers window and grinned despite the danger. As the wind whipped his hair about, he looked upon the beautiful sights. The blue sky against the calm green rolling hills, spotted with luscious trees. The blades of grass flowing like ocean waves in the wind. He was so full of bliss to finally see something as beautiful as this; was this what the world had to offer? However, Fives’ smile faltered as the walls of the Evangelist Federation came into view, stretching across the horizon.
“Oh right, we’re still within the walls…” muttered Fives to himself, he’d almost forgotten. Fives defeatedly sat back down in the passenger seat properly. There was more to the world, and he had to see it.
“Not to be that person but uhm…I don’t see the Abyssiti guys.” Stated Idol while driving.
Crest’s earpiece beeped, and he put his finger to it, listening. “Good point, it’s nowhere in sight, and if I recall… Razor said it was an A class.”
“Do you think it changed directions?!” Asked Patch with a concerned voice. “We have to find it before it reaches the Core’s wall!”
Crest gritted his teeth. “The damn thing might climb over the wall before we even get a chance to intercept it.” Thought Crest to himself as he rode his motorbike across the grassy terrain.
“Pull over!” Ordered Crest into the communicators. He needed to find his bearings,
Idol drove the I-120 Trucker under the shade of a tree and parked the vehicle, Crest and the other two Abyssus Units rolled up and kicked the stand for their motorbikes. Idol opened the driver's side door and peeked out. Captain Crest looked out at the horizon, there wasn’t a single sign of the creature of Abyss, he couldn’t see or hear it, just the sound of the rustling leaves in the wind. The small Abyssus Unit, Patch, unmounted from her motorcycle and joined Crest, her wavy short brown hair blew in the breeze.
“What do we do Captain?” Asked Patch; she had a desperate look in her eyes.
Crest didn’t respond and continued to scan the environment. Meanwhile Fives and Vanity were sitting in the front seat, while Idol leaned out the car door; she stared ahead sleepily.
“What? Did we get lost?” Asked Below under his breath in the back seat.
Fives looks back at him from the front seats. “I think they are looking for the Abyssiti? We’ve been driving for a while and haven’t seen it yet…” He put his fingers to his face quizzically.
“Do we even know there is one? How do we know the report was accurate, huh?? It could’ve been a false call!” Suggested Quill, to which Below swatted off her thought process.
“Nahhh, we can’t just blow something like this off. On the slim chance that there is still an Abyssiti, we can’t let it roam freely.” He added.
Dart looked up at Quill. “Below is right… as weird as it is to admit that… who knows how the Evangelist Federation will react if we let something like that slip by.” Dart thought back to when they failed the perseverance test, they were willing to terminate her whole team for something as minuscule as that.
Just then Vanity perked up; her pale green eyes widened, she was suddenly alert. Fives looked over at his team mate with concern.
“Hey, are you doing alright-” She cut him off with a sharp shush however, and followed it by putting her hands to her ears as if she was listening for something.
“I.. I can hear it. I can hear it!” She exclaimed. Idol looked over at the Unit and lifted an eyebrow. She seemed less than enthused at Vanity’s exclamation.
“…you hear it? You mean the Abyssiti?” Idol paused and snickered to herself. She found it hard to believe that anyone could hear the Abyssiti before seeing it.
“Y-yes! We passed it, I can hear it’s footsteps, I think… it sounds like it has multiple legs!” Cried out Vanity, she was confident in her hearing ability. To her, it’s the only thing that makes her special.
“It’s behind us, we passed it! It’s coming this way quickly, though it’s further south!”
The Revival Squad all turned to Vanity. Idol’s snickers turned into laughter. “Aha! You kids just keep getting weirder by the minute.”
Crest pondered for a bit, and then hopped back onto his motorbike and started the engine. He was going to take her word for it.
“We don’t have the luxury to be wrong, but we also don’t have time to wait to see if you’re right. Let's go.”
