Chapter Twenty-one

Part One: All In One Place

 Soleria Illow and Captain Trauma stood patiently at the landing port in the Southern Enclosure. It was quite a lively place, the sound of chattering and aircraft turbines constantly filled the air. Countless airships were flying and landing around them as teams of Abyssus Units ran about to their next duty; their steel toed boots clanking on the concrete pathways.

 Soleria was waiting at the port for the four children to come back from their first mission, she had high hopes that they all survived, but that’s about all the Intrinsic had. All she had was hope, Trauma knew that if they survived, it wasn’t anything that Soleria did to get that outcome. All she did was put them in danger. 

“Here they come, Captain!” She exclaimed while pointing to a distant airship. 

Trauma silently looked over at the golden haired individual with his crimson eyes. He could see her bright expression turn to anxiety as the plane approached and landed on the pad in front of them. 

As the ramp to the ship extended down, the Task force and the survivor exited. 683-T immediately walked off from the rest of the group, Vanity watched him leave with a scoff. 

“That… was… insane.” Declared Fives. He was still shaken up that he handled two Abyssiti with a cannon he fixed on the fly.

Below laughed a bit, trying to add some levity to the situation. 

“I didn’t expect to be facing so many Abyssiti so… directly. It was terrifying, that's for sure.”

Dart sighed.

“To think that Abyssus Squad was almost wiped out by those Abyssiti… and they’re trained to face them daily.” She muttered, Dart was less than enthused to be put back out there as she knew they were just lucky to survive this time.

Soleria and Captain Trauma walked up to the group. The Intrinsic had a huge smile on her face, she was thrilled to see the four in one piece, though it was obvious their spirits were low, however she chose to overlook it. 

Trauma pondered a bit as he looked upon the Task force. “We usually get many casualties while handling rifts, but this is the third squad to be discontinued in recent time…”

 “…it seems we’re getting weaker, and the Abyssiti are getting more dangerous.” He folded his arms and looked downward to the platform. 

“That’s not a good sign.”

 Soleria chuckled to herself. “Well that’s what I’m here for! To improve you all so you won’t die while protecting our nation!” She claimed boldly.

“First you children, and then onward to reform the whole military!”

Dart shot her Observer a dirty look. Soleria assumed her input would make fighting for their lives easier? It was clear to her she didn’t understand the position that humanity was in. They were giving it their all against an impossible enemy, fighting the supernatural. Expecting them to “improve” while under the same conditions was idiocy. Dart found that Intrinsic so infuriating that it made her stomach turn. How she believes she would be the savior of humanity, when she clearly didn’t care what happened to them was sickening.

As they were regrouping Dart was scanning the landing port, until her eyes came across 253-T, or Trench. The two locked eyes a distance away from each other. 

“Oh no… it’s those Abyssus Units from earlier. The Alpha Squad.” Mumbled Dart, as she broke eye contact with Trench.

Below, who heard her comment, looked out at the team of three. They were occupied talking to a few guards, Below recalled the night the Alpha squad visited them, and the claims Zero made. Despite their cordial behavior there was an underlying maliciousness behind it. When Trench and crew finished, he signaled Ace and Husk over toward the Task force. The Alpha Squad approached Dart, Below, Fives and Vanity.

“Oi oi oi!” Called out Trench, his three, somewhat golden, cowlicks blew in the wind. The Abyssus Unit’s sharp teal eyes were dead set on the team like an animal hunting its prey. 

“What are you four doing here in the landing port? I thought you all weren’t Abyssus Units?” Asked Trench as he walked up to Dart and Below. 

The two exchanged looks, the dark blue of her eyes and the auburn of his clashed together in a look of unified agreement. They both remember what Zero said about them, and should heed his warning. In the silence Trench’s two teammates gave the group a look of disappointment and disgust, but they were attempting to hide it behind neutral expressions. 

“Well we have just returned from a mission-” Stated Below, but before he could elaborate Dart cut him off.

“And we should be leaving.” She snapped, attempting to end the conversation. 

Trench was far too intrigued to let them walk away so soon. Before she could even turn around to continue on her way Husk stepped forward. Dart looked up to meet his cold blue eyes. He was tall and foreboding, with his blonde hair tied into a wolf tail. 

“A mission huh? So you guys are the real deal now?” Muttered Husk while lifting an eyebrow. He sounded unimpressed however.

Ace smiled and put her hands together to interject. “Well we’ve been dispatched to deal with some Abyssiti right now as a matter of fact.” Claimed Ace.

Fives perked up and gave Ace a worried side eye. “Just the three of you? Isn’t that… you know. Dangerous?”

Ace was a bit staggered, she didn’t expect him to be concerned for their safety. She found herself so surprised she remained silent. 

 Trench chuckled dismissively, and then looked down at Fives with a snarky grin. “What do you not understand? We are the best Abyssus Squad after all.”

“We only need three.”

No one said a word, the two groups just stood across from each other in silence. The Alpha squad’s confidence was a stark contrast of the Task forces pensive faces and unfortunate looks.

“Well it’s a shame we didn’t work together this time around… maybe next mission we can show you all the ropes ourselves.” Suggested Trench.

With that he and his team walked past the four, Soleria watched the Alpha Squad fearlessly hop onto an airship and launch off to go deal with another Abyssiti rift.

“Well, I suppose you’ve all had a long day.” Said Soleria while turning to Dart and her team.

“Long day? No, just um… eventful.” Chuckled Below awkwardly.

“Let’s go back to the Beacon then! Task force, follow behind me!” Exclaimed Soleria as she beckoned the four to walk with her. 

“You too, Captain 666-K!” She called out to Trauma. 

The 5 trailed behind their Observer as she led them through the Southern Enclosure. Soleria thought as she walked, the sound of their symphony of steps faded into the background. She felt as if it was a lot to ask of them to risk their lives, they all deserved a little peace of mind, even if it was just for a moment. As they approached the main entrance of the tower the Intrinsic decided to finally speak up.

“I think you four have earned yourselves the rest of the day off!” She beamed, while looking back at the 4 children. She was hoping they’d be more thrilled to hear that, but they all stared at her blankly.

“Just try to relax, and be ready for when I call on you all again!” 

Soleria suddenly froze in her tracks. Off to the side, a distance away, an Intrinsic man and girl were standing at the Beacon’s landing pad. Soleria warily looked over at them. It was Cephyr Orion and Millue Constance.

“I..” Her words seemed to immediately escape her. Her time was up. 

“Captain, please escort them into the Beacon… I- I have something I must do.”

Dart noticed her sudden change in demeanor, she looked across to see what her Observer was so fixated on. She saw two individuals standing in the distance looking their way, Dart didn’t recognize them however. They had golden hair, and the same regal attire Soleria had, but it wasn’t any Intrinsic she’d seen around here before. Given Soleria’s reaction though, they more than likely weren’t good news. “Perhaps they were the ones who set her on this path.” Thought Dart to herself.

“Come on.” A voice called out. Dart flinched, turning to see Captain Trauma staring her down with his weary deep red eyes. 

She didn’t realize that she had completely zoned out, her friends were already at the giant metal doors of the Beacon; she was getting left behind.

“Sorry.” She mumbled as she caught up to the others leaving Soleria standing alone.

 A few moments later, Soleria was in her office within the towering facility. She was standing behind her L-shaped desk frantically collecting the papers she scattered about earlier that day. The two Intrinsic sat quietly in their seats as Soleria attempted to collect herself. 

“It’s a pleasure to see you! What brings you all the way out here, Cephyr Orion?” Greeted Soleria, her heart was racing, like it could pound out of her chest at any moment.

“Oh Illow, did we catch you at a bad time?” Asked Millue with a smirk while looking around her office. 

“N-no! Please, everything is fine. I was just collecting my Units from a very very important mission!” She couldn’t hide her nervousness however, her voice said it all.

Cephyr and Millue exchanged looks. Cephyr could see in her eyes that Millue was enjoying this more than she should’ve been. If anything, he just gave her a front row seat to see Soleria in distress. He looked over at Soleria, attempting to catch her gaze, but her golden eyes were shaking. She wasn’t able to maintain eye contact with him. Cephyr cursed to himself. He wanted to ease her anxieties, but he had an audience. Millue watched on with baited breath, judging every word that came out of their mouths. “I shouldn’t have invited Millue to accompany me.” He thought. 

Cephyr exhaled heavily out of his nose before speaking. “Soleria Illow. You should know why I’m here.”

Soleria froze. Cephyr’s words from their dispute echoed in her head. “If you fail, and I see no obvious result from your endeavors… I will not hesitate, and I will have every human in our territory to be reduced to ash.” It felt like ages ago that she stood up during that meeting, and volunteered to be the savior of humanity.

“Of course, I know why you’re here.” She declared.

 Meanwhile outside of the Beacon, a Federation aircraft glided onto the nearby pad. The airship extended its landing gear creating an echoing clunk as it touched the ground. As the ramp extended downward in front of the ship's double doors. The doors opened to reveal Arsyle and Captain Duo. Arsyle was fiercely scribbling away in his notepad as he walked down the ramp. With a deep breath and exhale he slammed his book closed. 

“My escort team, I need you!” He called out as all the surrounding Abyssus Units rallied around their Intrinsic.

“Place our unconscious friend into one of the cells in the lower basement for interrogation at a later date.” Ordered Arsyle to the soldiers behind him.

The troops nodded their heads and left to go do what their superior told them to do. Captain Duo remained at Arsyle side as he tapped his chin with his pen while lost in thought.

“What about Captain Crest, Sir?” Asked Duo, concerned for his well being. 

The two looked back into the airship where Crest remained seated, staring at the metal floorings, silently. Crest hadn’t muttered even a word since they picked him up from the coast, and Arsyle was well aware of that. 

“The Captain is the only one who can report what really happened out there, unfortunately it would seem he’s inconsolable at the moment.” Pondered the Intrinsic.

Duo hung her head down while tipping her cap to cover her eyes. She spoke through clenched teeth. “If only we could’ve gotten to him sooner, then we wouldn’t have had to lose such good people.”

“If only. We could’ve circumvented this whole ugly mess.” Arsyle sighed and shook his head, his curly whitish gold hair shifting with it. 

“Though I’m curious… what exactly occurred out there?” He mumbled as he watched the Abyssus Unit carry the unconscious Scant into the Beacon for imprisonment.

Arsyle knew that whatever happened, the Abyssus Unit they found face down on the beach played a part in it, whoever he was, he was the answer to all of his questions.