Chapter Nineteen

Part Two: Not A Training Mission

 Captain Crest continued to look at his Slate. He was searching for any nearby Abyssiti rifts in the immediate area. The Abyssiti come from rifts through space and time that can form anywhere at anytime however they can be detected by radar an hour before they appear.

“Here we go.” Stated Crest.

The Captain lifted the Slate so everyone around him could see what was on the screen. It was a warning, a Abyssiti rift was detected far west from the Federation walls. Dart clenched her teeth. The last time she’d heard about a rift, was the day one tore apart her home.

“A rift has been spotted on the west side of the walls. A team of Abyssus Units have already been dispatched, but I need you guys to take them out!” Ordered Soleria to the team of four.

Soleria then turned to face Crest and Idol. “After they change their attire, take them to a vehicle and drive them out to the Rift site. Explain to them the basics of how to handle these situations please!”

Idol and Crest nodded their heads at their superior.

“Come on you four pack your things, we gotta hurry or something. Follow me so I can drive you to the Official  Rift site.” Ordered Idol, but it came off more like an unenthused ramble.  

“So you can stop whatever comes through it in about an hour or so.” She added sarcastically.

Dart, Below, Vanity and Fives began to follow the Abyssus Unit as she headed towards the Beacon’s  hanger. Quill and Zero remained outside as they watched them leave. 

“Useless.” Quill pouted. She really wanted to go with them, but she knew why she couldn’t. Zero however couldn’t care less. 

Captain Crest didn’t really approve of sending those children out to face the creatures of the Abyss with only a few days worth of training, but it was clear to him Soleria didn’t have any true care for their lives or well being. However, he’d feel much better about the situation if he was going to accompany them, to make sure none of them met a cruel end. Crest was about to follow the others, but he didn’t make it far. 

“Wait, not you, Captain.” Soleria called out, Crest stopped in his tracks and turned to face the Intrinsic. His eyes burned with a cruel hatred though his face remained neutral. 

“Am I not allowed to go with them?”

“No. I need you to gather the Revival Squad. I have a special task for your team. You can fill 001-Z in once she returns from dropping off the Units.” 

Crest scoffed. “Fine. Roger that.” he responded through clenched teeth. 

Far west from the Federation territory, the sun shone over the Abyssus Units trying to prepare to ambush the Abyssiti. They were surrounded by tall dilapidated buildings, from a ruined past, constructed by a society that no longer existed. The Squad were diligently setting up Plasma cannons and traps around the targeted area, due the fact no one is ever clear how many Abyssiti can come through one single rift. They had to over prepare if they wanted any chance of defeating them, or to avoid perishing in battle. A vehicle drove up to the Rift site, parking a few feet away from its premises. Idol stayed in the front seat of the Trucker while the four children got out. Dart, Below, Vanity and Fives were all dressed in their new gear, it was a form-fitting black suit with grey armor plating over the black body glove, which was highlighted by their respective colors across the suit. To personalize it, Below added his red bandana around his neck, while Vanity had a white, turtleneck crop jacket with green accents, Dart put on black and blue gloves, and Fives had puffy cargo shorts with a tool belt around his waist.

 The Task force stared out into the outside world. Fives glanced at the towering concrete structures, hollow buildings with a decrepit appearance. Idol let down the truck's window to speak to the children.

“Alright you four, a piece of advice. Stay out of the Abyssus Unit’s way, if they are anything worth their salt you wouldn’t want to get in their way. They’ll prioritize killing the Abyssiti over any bystander.” Informed Idol.

Fives nervously looked back at the soldiers preparing for their encounter. So if he was in front of an Abyssiti, they would shoot through him just to hit their target? Fives grimaced at the thought.

“And another thing. Don’t die, you aren’t really trained to handle this, honestly you shouldn’t even be out here.” She yawned while wearily looking over at them. “So don’t be a hero, stay as far away from combat as possible.”

With that Idol started up the vehicle’s engine and drove off back to the Federation Territory. Leaving the Task force alone. All of them froze, their souls seemed to collectively be consumed by dread as the reality of what they were doing hit them. 

“D-D-Did anyone else’s heart drop into their stomach?” Asked Fives nervously, barely able to muster his words.

Then a loud clanking noise coming from the Abyssus Units setting up startled Vanity. “Y-yeah… just a bit.” She muttered.  

Dart put her high impact sniper rifle on her back. She then opened the small package around her waist and pulled out a device. It was a grappling hook that would allow her to get to heights to shoot from. Dart took a deep breath and took the first step forward. She clutched the grip of the grappling gun.

“This is what we’ve been striving for, guys.” Dart looked back at Fives, Vanity and Below.  

“We can’t turn back now, so let’s give it our all.”

Below swallowed his fears and sighed while rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Again Bluie, we don’t have the same psychotic drive you have, but I’ll be damned if any of us kick the bucket on our first real mission.”

Dart and Below locked eyes. There was a nod of understanding between the two. Dart briefly smiled.

“Damn straight. We can agree on something at least.” She responded as she aimed her grappling hook towards one of the open windows of the surrounding buildings.

Then she fired the grappling gun propelling the hook through the air. It launched and wedged itself on the window frame above. Dart tugged at the rope to check it’s stability before glancing over at her team one last time.

“I’ll cover you all from up here. Good luck.” She ended as she retracted the cord. The Grappling gun pulled her upward several floors and brought her to the window where she climbed inside. 

“2 MINUTES REMAINING UNTIL THE RIFT OPENS UP.” Shouted an Abyssus Unit in the background.

The air around the Rift site began to heat up. A loud crackling filled the air as a rip in space and time began to form, charring the ground around it with its intense heat and pressure. Like someone took a hot knife and cut the sky itself. It was about that time. A blast of energy flew from the Abyssiti rift shattering all of the windows. A bead of sweat drips from Below’s forehead and evaporates upon hitting the ground.

“H-how do you- how do we defeat Abyssiti again?!” Asked Fives in panic.

The Abyssus Units hopped into their cannons and aimed their weapons at the rift. No one knew when the creatures would come through, but when they did, they needed to be ready. Fives backed up, fear was beginning to consume him.

“J-just inflict as much damage as you can so they don’t regenerate right? Seems easy enough.” Declared Below, but he wasn’t confident in his ability to do that simple thing.

Vanity walked up to Fives and put her hand on his shoulders. He stared into her green eyes. 

“Like Dart said, this is what we’ve been training for. Pull yourself together, Fives! You got this, no we got this!” Shouted Vanity full of gusto while shaking Fives back and forth. She had to at least try to boost morale. Not only for him, but for herself as well.

Just then they all heard the loudest most horrid screech any of them have ever heard. A noise that seemed to be born straight out of a nightmare echoed from the other side of the rift. Their time was up.

 It fell completely silent. So silent they could hear the heavy breathing of everyone in the area as the rift radiated. 

 Vanity activated her hard light shields around her wrists and Below pulled out his double bladed sword. Meanwhile, Fives was still having a hard time coming to grips with what he was about to do. Dart set up her sniper rifle and pointed it at the Abyssiti rift. She placed her finger on the trigger as she looked through the scope with immense concentration. 

 Not a moment later, from the tear in reality a single Abyssiti crawled out from it. It eerily creeped out of the rift. It was about four times the size of an average human, with two long arms, however at the end of each arm it split into several tendrils. The creature stood passively, staring right down the barrel of the Plasma cannon. The Unit hovered their thumb over the trigger, his breath was shaking as his eyes locked onto the shifting mass before him. He fired the shot directly at its head, blasting a hole clean through it, but it wasn’t nearly enough, the Abyssiti began to swing the tendrils like a flurry of whips. A nearby Abyssus unit attempted to fire his rifle at the entity before it regenerated but found himself cut into countless chunks of meat, he was diced in an instant.

 The Abyssiti sliced through the brick and concrete of the adjacent building, flying clouds of debris and dust everywhere. 

“Shit. Shit.” Grunted Below to himself as he attempted to gather the courage to move. 

The Abyssus Units fired everything they had at the warped entity, but each injury recovered quicker than they could inflict them. They were no match as the Abyssiti began cutting the soldiers to shreds. Dart continued to watch the carnage from a distance through her scope, it was a horrid sight. The Abyssiti moved too fast for her to get a clear shot. Dart grimaced in frustration. With a terrifying screech another Abyssiti made its way out of the rift, followed by another. As soon as they exited Dart fired her gun blasting a hole straight through one, causing it to stumble with a piercing scream.

“What do we do?” Cried out Fives. 

Below clenched his grip on his weapon.“Don't let anyone else die! Got that?”

With that, the three charged forward into battle. Another shot was heard as a plasma bolt came down from above. Dart was attempting to keep the Abyssiti at bay by constantly firing at them, but there were one too many to keep up with. 

“Vanity! Protect any Abyssus Units still alive from being mauled to death!” Ordered Below.

Vanity nodded and activated her defensive bracelets. Green shields formed at her hands as she ran to help. Below then turned to Fives. 

“You and I have to take these Abyssiti out now!” Declared Below. Fives nodded nervously. 

The last surviving Abyssus Unit was hiding behind a demolished cannon. He was sending a distress call back to central command. His heart was pounding. The Squad that he’s spent his entire life with met their ends. In less than an hour his entire life was turned onto its head. He could hear Dart and Below fighting off the Abyssiti and he had no intention of helping them. Just then Vanity hopped over to where he was hiding with her shields active.

“Hey you! Are you okay?” Asked Vanity.

The guy stood up with his plasma rifle in hand. “Yes, I’m okay.” He responded half heartedly.

She noticed an Abyssiti was beginning to make its way towards them. She put her hands together, which merged the two separate hard light shields into one. It was now larger, enough to cover the majority of her body.

“What’s your name?” Asked Vanity. 

The guy paused. He never had a name. So he couldn’t say. “My code is 683-T.” He stated.

“Well 683-T, I’m going to try to keep you alive, but you have to help me out here!” Ordered Vanity while facing the incoming Abyssiti.

Below meanwhile, was trying to handle the two other Abyssiti that exited the rift, with assistance from Dart. The C-class Abyssiti, and the Abyssiti with the whips loomed over the single unit. Below stared at them with dread, they were nightmarish to look at.

“This sucks.” He grumbled to himself.

Below used his weapon, twirling it, slicing away any Abyssiti that came too close. He kept cutting their limbs clean off, however the entities would just reform them shortly after. Dart demolished the C-class anomaly’s head with her firepower, Below saw this as an opening and sliced the creature in half, rending its body in two. It sent out a shockwave roar that caused all four teenagers to flinch. It’s form broke into a cloud of black shard-like mist; it vaporized into thin air leaving no trace that it ever existed. 

 Fives noticed the vacant Plasma cannon, he knew he didn’t have any weapon strong enough to face an Abyssiti directly, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t still help. He made a run for the cannon, but the Abyssiti from before turned its attention towards him. He knew already that a hit from it’s many tendrils would slice clean through him like he was made of butter. It began to swing, however Below leapt in to slice away the whips, protecting Fives. Followed by an immediate shot that crashed the entity into the ground. Dart and Below defended him from the Abyssiti until he dove into the cockpit of the Plasma cannon. Fives promptly grabbed the trigger and attempted to fire it at the creature while it was down, but the trigger was stuck. 

“It’s not clicking! It’s jammed!” Cried out Fives, trying his hardest to fire the cannon, to no avail. 

At the same time, 683-T fired his gun at the Abyssiti as Vanity defended him from any attacks. With its long arms it struck her with massive blows. She put up her hands where her shields blocked the hits, bracing herself as the force of each swipe knocked her back. 

 The Abyssiti screeched as it launched its arms at Vanity with breakneck speed. Her hard light shields began to show signs of wear, as cracks began to form. They were going to break at any moment. It’s void like tendril extended at her, and she could feel her strength depleting with each hit. She had no idea what to do at this moment, if she moved even slightly from behind her shield she’d risk her life. 

She shouted, she was reaching her limit. “Aghhh!”

“A-A little help please?!” Cried out Vanity desperately. 

“Please!”

Dart and Below didn’t hear her plee, as they were dealing with an Abyssiti of their own, and the Abyssus Unit 683-T didn’t know what more he could do. Each shot from his gun, the monstrosity healed almost immediately. Fives however, heard her cry for help. He looked over at Vanity from within the cannon to see she was on her last leg while facing that Abyssiti. 

“Come on…” Rushed Fives trying to get the cannon to work as he tampered with the plasma cartridge. With a screwdriver in hand he quickly removed and replaced the canisters. His hands were profusely shaking as he tried to properly reload the weapon. Then finally as he secured the bolts, the Abyssus Cannon whirred back to life. 

“Yes!” Cheered Fives as he jumped back into the cockpit of the weapon. 

He rushed to aim the cannon’s barrel to help Vanity, however Fives was too late. The entity grabbed Vanity’s arm and flung her into the brick of a building, knocking the wind out of her entirely. She was exhausted.

“Dammit, that hurt.” Winced Vanity as her shields vanished. She was now completely defenseless.

The Abyssiti began to approach her. Vanity was struggling to find the strength to move after being slammed into the wall, her arms and legs wouldn’t move as much as she wanted to. Vanity was staring directly at the Abyssiti looming over her. The Semi-solid, shadowy, humanoid creature crackled in the deafening silence. “Am… Am I going to die?” Thought Vanity.

Just then the creature was blindsided. A bright blast cut through the air and burned right through the creature leaving a giant gash. 

“Take that!” Barked Fives.

The remains of the Abyssiti hit the ground and vaporized on impact. The Abyssus cannon, that the beam was shot from, began to smoke after it fired. Fives managed to kill it.

“I-I- I actually did something! What is this feeling?” Muttered Fives as he looked down at his hands in awe.

With a sigh of relief, Vanity struggled to get up off of the ground. She looked over at Fives within the Plasma cannon. If it wasn’t for him stepping in she definitely would’ve died. 

“Thanks for the help Fives!” She called out.

  As that occurred, Dart and Below were teaming up to kill off the last Abyssiti. It flung its many tendrils about at rapid speeds. One strike from the Abyssiti would’ve decimated him completely, but he managed to cut away at them. Dart then fired her gun at the entity’s torso and before it could regenerate Below swiftly sliced at both of the creature's arms with all of his might.

“GRAH!” Shouted Below as his blade cut the arms clean off, then he went for it’s head. However his blade fell short and he missed his cut entirely. His heart dropped and he tumbled. The creature repaired all the damage he had done and prepared to slice Below into strips of flesh. 

“Below!!!” Shouted Dart from the window, while frantically trying to reload her sniper rifle before it was too late.

Suddenly the entity stumbled back from a direct shot to its body. Black steam poured out of its deep wound as it screeched.

“What the hell?” Below watched the Abyssiti writhe in pain as it attempted to recover. 

He noticed that the blast was from the opposite direction of where Dart was stationed, he looked to see who fired to see Fives in one of the Abyssus Cannons. Fives fired another round into the anomaly, until it stopped regenerating.

 The Abyssiti’s dismembered body hit the ground and began to fizzle away. Below exhaled and collapsed onto the concrete, dropping his weapon. He was completely drained. With that, all of the Abyssiti from the rift were eradicated.