Chapter 78 – Invasion
— Watedia, Ranth 13, 8054 —
“Get off the walls! Get the Chaotics to Market Street, now!”
“Right! On it!”
“And you — find all the Hydrotechnics you can and go after those boats!”
“Got it! I’m off!”
“Damn it all…!” Ralak muttered, watching two members of the Defense Force scurry off before turning her attention to the west — to the chaos on the shores of Compound Tresnon. From her position atop the eastern-most endpoint of Tresnon’s walls, she had a clear view of the battle raging on the Mirage Lakefront, as ragtag ruffians and uniformed soldiers alike emerged from the dozen boats that had surfaced off the coast to attack the Compound.
“Ralak!”
In response to the hail, Ralak glanced to her right, where she spotted Gavon running her way.
“Comms are down. What’s going on?” he questioned as he stopped just short of her. “Have you heard from Selind?”
“No. No one knows where she is.”
“Damn. What’s the scope of the attack?”
Ralak pointed with her arm at the Lakefront, and the twelve boats in the waters beyond. “It’s the Bleeders.”
“…I see,” Gavon muttered, his brow furrowing as he surveyed the damage, eventually focusing on the uniformed soldiers accompanying the Bleeders. “…Those white and green uniforms… so they do have the SFC with them. Though I’m amazed those soldiers are so stupid as to wear their uniforms to a raid like this. What a bunch of fools.”
“Those ‘fools’ are raidin’ Tresnon,” Ralak countered. “And they took out the shields in one shot! Just what the hell kinda tech do they got?!”
“Hmm…” Gavon mused, all while taking out his rifle and peering through its sights at the unfolding battle. Already, several Defense Force Chaotics had reached the Lakefront to begin fighting back the intruders, but at that moment in time, the Bleeders and SFC soldiers were too numerous to be pushed back. “…This is bad.”
“No shit,” Ralak retorted. “I’m gonna join the fight.”
Gavon glanced at her incredulously, his eyes lingering on her missing arm. “Like that?”
“One arm is better than none. You got a better idea?”
“Rushing headlong into danger is a great way to get yourself killed, and the Compound lost. Take a moment to actually think about what kind of threat we’re facing, here.”
Ralak bristled. “It’s the fuckin’ Bleeders and those SFC outsiders. What else is there to see?”
“Two things,” Gavon replied calmly, in between taking shots with his rifle. “One, the shields. Recently, the Drakkars have started fielding ‘shield-breaker’ tech; the effect is quite similar to what we saw with the shields, here.”
“Are you sayin’ we’re bein’ attacked by Drakkars?”
“No, not at all. But — well, I really shouldn’t tell you this, but I’ve heard tell that the R&D guys over at Sector 3 have been working on reverse-engineering the Drakkars’ shield-breaker tech, and that they’ve even developed a couple of working prototypes. Quite expensive to make, so I hear.”
“Enough with this outsider crap, get to the point!”
“The point is that the SFC might be using that same tech,” Gavon finished. “And if they are, that’s a problem, because shield-breaker bombs should be far more expensive than what the SFC can afford. But if they have shield-breakers, then we need to be prepared for them to have other advanced tech, as well.”
“So?”
“So we need to play things defensively. Especially with those submersibles, which is the second thing. Does Tresnon have sonar—? Well, not that it matters now, since the power’s out.”
“There should be an Electrotechnic checkin’ on the power generators. They ain’t as powerful as that one Earthian Electrotechnic, but we’ll at least have power for important systems, soon. Sonar, though— what’s that?”
“It would figure,” Gavon deadpanned. “…Look. Those subs clearly caught you off guard, but the fact is, they might have more hiding in the depths. There’s every possibility that the SFC is trying to bait the full Defense Force into a fight on the Lakefront, only to surface even more subs and blow you off the face of the planet.”
Ralak scowled. “Are you tellin’ us to not fight back?”
“Not at all,” Gavon countered. “We just need to be smart about it. Get the attackers to spread out across the town, and pick them off when they’re in smaller groups. By avoiding bunching up, you avoid the possibility of them wiping you all out in a single strike.”
“That’ll put the people at risk!”
“The Lakefront is embroiled in battle, the people are already at risk. But it’s an unfortunate truth that, sometimes, trying to save everyone will result in saving no one.”
“Hmph,” Ralak snorted dismissively. “…If you really think that’s right, then try to convince Selind. If she gives that order, I’ll listen. But for now—“ She lifted the side of her shirt with her gloved hand, and then snapped her arm to her side to touch the bare skin of her arm to her torso. Immediately, she began to lift into the air as she finished, “—I’m goin’ down there to fight!”
“Wait! RALAK!” Gavon shouted after her, but she had already flown off. He angrily clicked his tongue. “…It would figure…!” he muttered, only to grasp his rifle and use his Gravitatechnicsm to invert his own local gravity, causing him to fall into the sky. A few moments later, he canceled out his own gravity, resulting in him hovering steadily in the air — with the late-morning sun at his back. Once in position, he took aim with his rifle once more, laying down in the air to use his legs to brace his weapon. I need to find Selind, but for now, let’s at least give the intruders a reason to move away from the Lakefront!
With that thought, he opened fire with his rifle. From his position a few hundred meters up in the air, he had a much clearer shot on the Lakefront than when he was atop the wall, enabling him to easily pick out isolated targets. One shot, two shots, three shots; in the span of ten seconds, Gavon’s three bullets found their mark on three of the attackers, but only two of his bullets actually pierced the chests of their targets — the third floored its target, but then deflected harmlessly away, the surest sign of energy shielding. Gavon quickly noted that the two downed targets seemed to be Bleeders, while the protected target was an SFC soldier; to test the trend, he quickly fired upon another four targets: two Bleeders and two SFC. Both SFC soldiers resisted his bullets, but of the two Bleeders, only one of them fell to his shooting.
So some of the Bleeders have shields, too. That’s a problem… Gavon mused. A second later, however, something whizzed right past his face. Ah ha, so they’ve finally spotted me. Another two bullets whizzed by him, neither of them hitting him in any way. And they can’t even hit me! My, so SFC marksmen can’t even handle shooting into the sun? They really are a third-rate PMC! But, even so—
Gavon took one more shot with his rifle, but immediately afterward, an incoming bullet slammed into his leg. A bright golden plane of light appeared to deflect the bullet, making clear the presence of Gavon’s own energy shielding, courtesy of his cybernetic arm — but the fact still remained that the intruders had found their mark. Immediately, Gavon rolled over in the air and then returned his local gravity to normal, promptly falling into a dive towards the ground as another several bullets shot by him; just as he reached a few dozen meters above the rooftops, he adjusted his personal gravity again, shifting it sidewards to begin “falling” across the city. When I last saw Selind, she said she was going to check on the shield generators… Gavon mused, all while deftly using his control over gravity to free-fall his way across Tresnon. That was barely an hour ago. If she was near one of the generators when that shield-breaker went off, then…!
He momentarily put aside his thoughts as he turned his attention to the large building in the center of Compound Tresnon, where the main shield generator was housed. From the outside, the building appeared to be fine, but Gavon wasn’t taking any chances. Carefully, he manipulated his personal gravity to slow his speed and alight on the ground, at which point he shouldered his rifle and ran towards the building. He barged through the front doors and quickly found his way to the room housing the generator — and once there, he realized that there was no one around. Aren’t there supposed to be guards…?
Gavon slowed his pace, cautiously looking all about himself. As he approached the door leading into the generator room, he quickly consulted his AR display, and the various pieces of information being fed into it by the sensors installed in his cybernetic arm. …There doesn’t seem to be anyone around, he mused, except for one person, by the generator. I swear to the skies, if this is a saboteur…!
With a deep, but quiet breath, Gavon burst into the generator room. Around him were cement walls, encasing a large mechanical device that clearly had seen better days — but that wasn’t what Gavon was concerned with. As soon as he entered the room, he snapped his attention to where his sensors said a person would be… only to spot Selind, laid out on the ground with nasty electrical burns running up her side.
“Selind!” Gavon called out, immediately approaching to kneel beside her. He quickly checked her pulse, though right as he placed his fingers against her neck, she began to stir.
“…Gavon…?” she muttered.
“Good to see you’re still alive, at least,” Gavon responded, flashing her a smile before looking down at her burns. Even a part of her shawl had been singed black, a sign of the fierce energies that had shocked her. She must have been interfacing with the generator directly when the shield-breaker hit. The feedback caused by that would certainly explain the burns… I’d even say that she’s lucky to be alive. He then looked around the room, noting that only he and Selind seemed to be present. So what happened to the guards? Did they abandon guarding the generator to run off and join the fight? I swear, maybe I should look into giving the Defense Force some actual military training on discipline…
“What’s… happenin’?”
“Chaos, that’s what,” Gavon replied to Selind’s delirious question. He promptly — but gently — lifted her into the air with his Gravitatechnism before turning towards the exit. “I’ll explain what’s going on as we go, but we need to get you to a hospital, and fast…”
*
“Overdrive: Speed Break!”
After that exclamation, Davídrius dashed forward, crossing half of Compound Tresnon in an instant to appear at the Mirage Lakefront and slam his foot into a charging soldier. Golden lights shielded the soldier from harm, but they were still sent flying into the waters of the lake as Davídrius turned his attention to the raging battle, all while brandishing two swords — one in each hand.
Been a while since I used these… the Dean thought to himself, passing a brief glance toward his swords. They were uniquely-crafted blades, with an elastic tether attached to the bottom of their hilts that fed into two coils anchored to the blades’ sheaths on his hips, such that if Davídrius was ever disarmed, he could simply rewind the tethers to draw his blades back to him — and his Velocitechnic reflexes and durability rendered inert the danger of blades flying toward his body. Furthermore, the blades had been reinforced by Kaoné, enabling them to withstand the forces of Davídrius’s superspeed to a far greater degree than any normal weapon.
However, his old swords weren’t of primary concern as Davídrius quickly turned his attention to the nearest attackers. I’d hoped to set the swords down for good, but if the Bleeders are gonna attack my fuckin’ home, then—! In an instant, he dashed towards two attacking Bleeders, using his momentum to slice clean through one of them and then kick the other high into the sky. —time to show them why you don’t attack Compound Tresnon, no matter what it takes!
An explosion of flame erupted around Davídrius, but the moment the flames began to appear, he lunged to the side and began running down the Lakefront, dashing in and around skirmishes between the Bleeders, SFC, and the Defense Force to slice at the intruders before they could react. Against any unshielded targets, his blades were an instant death-sentence — but after attempting to slice through dozens of attackers in just a brief minute, Davídrius found that a large majority of the attacking force was equipped with energy shielding.
Fucking SFC…! He scowled, only to be shaken out of his thoughts as a Mach-speed kick sent him tumbling across the ground. The Dean quickly recovered, rolling to his feet just in time to dodge another kick from a Bleeder Velocitechnic — and just as the Velocitechnic’s leg sailed by Davídrius’s face, he used the increased speed granted to him by his Overdrive to grab his attacker’s leg and slam them into the ground. When the telltale golden lights of energy shielding failed to appear, Davídrius immediately gripped his swords, brought them around, and thrust downwards into the Bleeder’s back. While Velocitechnics were far more durable than normal people, even they were vulnerable to being stabbed by a blade moving at Mach 6.
With the Bleeder Velocitechnic dealt with, Davídrius withdrew his blades, shook off the blood, and then whipped around to dash off toward the waters of Mirage Lake. Using his incredible speed, he raced across the top of the water, his feet never touching the water long enough to break surface tension — thus allowing him to reach the boats waiting just off the shores. At full speed, he rammed into one of the boats; a golden sheet of light appeared to prevent him from piercing its hull, but the raw force of hitting the boat at Mach 8 still violently turned it in the waters and caused it to rock. Surprised shouts came from those standing atop the boat, but Davídrius paid them little heed as he jumped onto the deck. As soon as he did, an SFC soldier on the deck brought their gun to bear and opened fire on Davídrius — but the Dean immediately sheathed his blades to free his hands, dashed to the side of another soldier, grabbed them, and chucked them at the firing soldier, sending the both of them overboard.
The Dean then turned to quickly look over the boat, hoping to find a way inside so he could sabotage the ballast tanks — but a second later, massive walls of stone jumped out of the waters on either side of the boat before closing in on its deck like massive hands. Davídrius immediately launched himself free of the boat, just in time to avoid being trapped as the stone walls closed around the boat and dragged it under the water.
“Puahahahaha!! You’re on your toes today, eh, whelp?!”
That voice—! A furious scowl crossed Davídrius’s face as he fell to the water, where he immediately launched himself in the direction of the voice. In a split second, he crossed the waters between the newly-downed boat and the one next to it, all while drawing his two swords to attack the massive man standing confidently on the deck. But the man seemed to expect Davídrius — even at his incredible speeds — and managed to grab the Dean’s arm before whirling around to slam him into the deck. “Ngh—!” Davídrius grunted, but immediately rolled over to avoid being stomped. He then jumped back to his feet, brandishing his blades as he looked upon the form of a large, muscular man, sporting a brown goatee on his lightly tanned face, rounded out by long, coarse brown hair tied back into a low, rough ponytail. “…Strén…!”
“Puahahaha!!” Strén guffawed again, slamming his fists together eagerly as he turned to face Davídrius. “You found me fast! But you sure you wanna fight me here, on my turf?”
“Your turf?” Davídrius scoffed. “We’re on a fuckin’ boat. You don’t got any rocks ‘round here.”
“We’ll call it a handicap. Just to make our duel fair!”
“A handicap…” Davídrius echoed incredulously, his eyes dropping to Strén’s arms. “…I’d heard you lost your arm. To one of my students, no less! You’ve really let it go!”
“And even one arm down, I still kicked the asses of the Willthief and those outsiders of yours,” Strén retorted. “I got a new one now, but I hardly need both to smash your li’l face into the dirt!”
“…Hmph. Enough grandstandin’!” Davídrius retorted as he brandished his blades. “Strén, today, I’m gonna fucking kill you!”
“Now that’s the attitude I’m lookin’ for! BRING IT ON!!” Strén bellowed, lunging forward to meet Davídrius in combat.
*
“Holy shit! It’s actually happening!”
“It’s Hunger’s Bane, all over again…” Twy muttered as she looked out over Compound Tresnon from the roof of the WCU dorms. Joining her were the rest of the Keys, all of them uneasily watching smoke fill the air while battle raged in the city just a few kilometers away.
“Like Hunger’s Bane, but worse…” Phoenix added warily. “Back then, it was just a handful of attackers, right? But this time—!”
“It’s a full fuckin’ army, it looks like!” Spike remarked incredulously. “Look, out on the water! They even got ships with ‘em!”
“And the shields…” Kestrel muttered.
“Yeah, what the hell happened to those?!” Austin questioned. “I thought the shields were supposed to protect the Compound! How’d they go down so fast?!”
“I don’t know—“ Pierce replied, only to flinch as an explosion sounded barely a kilometer away from the campus. “…But if we just sit here, then we’re as good as dead.”
“Agreed,” Spike said as he turned toward the rooftop exit. “We needa get inside. Let’s go—“
“That’s not what I meant.”
“…You cannot be serious,” Phoenix responded. “Don’t say that you want to go fight them!”
“I know you want to, too,” Pierce countered, and then turned to look at the rest of the Earthians. “You all see that attack force. You all saw how they took down the shields. Do you really think the Defense Force can handle all of this on their own?”
“That is what they’re there, for…” Twy said.
“But… what if they can’t?” Sky asked.
“More importantly, what the hell are we supposed to do?” Conrad argued. “We don’t even have shields for ourselves, and even if we did, it seems like the attackers — whoever they are! — have found a way to shut down shields in one hit. Going out there would be a death sentence!”
“Sitting around here would be a death sentence—!” Pierce insisted, but was interrupted once again — this time, by four large gunships suddenly flying through the air around the WCU campus. As soon as they appeared, two of them descended to the ground just outside of the campus walls while several soldiers dressed in white and green spilled out, moving to quickly surround the campus. One of the gunships began slowly circling the campus, its large undercarriage-mounted cannon watching the campus gates; the fourth zipped over to the dorm roof, right next to the Earthians. Spike and Pierce quickly moved to the front of the group, both of them taking up defensive positions — with Spike fabricating a large shield and trying to block as much of the rest of the group as he could.
A second later, several soldiers disembarked from the gunship, landing on the roof and quickly forming a half-circle around the Keys. Of the ten soldiers, five wore the white and green uniform of the SFC, while the other five wore the signature desert robing of Tresédians. But all of them carried guns, and they were all trained directly on the Earthians.
“The hell’s going on?!” Austin hissed, joining Twy, Sky, Conrad, Phoenix, and Kestrel in hiding behind Spike and his massive shields.
“Who the hell knows,” Spike responded in kind, “but get your ass up here, man! Make shields with me!”
“Uh… r-right—!” Austin responded, beginning to move forwards. But just as he did, one of the Tresédians shouted.
“Stay where you are!” he barked. “And don’t pretend you can’t understand me. I know you outsiders can!”
“And I know that you fucktards can’t understand us, so you know what? Fuck you,” Pierce retorted.
“Don’t be so certain, intruder,” the man countered.
“Intruder? Us?!” Pierce replied incredulously, only to then stare at the man in confusion. “…Wait. Aren’t you a Bleeder? Since when did Bleeders have that translation shit?”
“Bleeders? Us?” The man scoffed. “…Believe what you want to believe. But enough stallin’! You, light-haired intruder. And your brown-haired friend, behind you.” The man paused for a second, peering beyond Spike’s shield to find that only seven Earthians were visible. He then added, “we know you’re there, Visitechnic!”
“…Damn,” Conrad muttered, though he remained invisible.
“What the hell do you want with ‘em, huh?” Spike questioned, maintaining his defensive stance in front of the group. “You really think we’re gonna just stand by and let you kidnap people?”
“Spike…!” Twy muttered warningly.
“No, he’s right,” Phoenix responded in a whisper. “We’re already here. We aren’t getting out of this without a fight…”
“Well what about you fucks, huh?” Pierce asked aloud, his question directed at the soldiers in white and green uniforms. “You’re from the SFC, aren’t you? What do you get out of this?”
“That’s classified,” replied one of the uniformed soldiers, and then gestured toward the Tresédian man that had been speaking earlier. “All you need to do is listen to this man, here. Go with him, and your friends are safe.”
Pierce glared at the man for a second, only to pass a tentative glance back at the rest of the Earthians. “…Well?” he questioned in a whisper. “It sounds like they’re only after me and Conrad. If the rest of you lay low—“
“Oh shut the hell up,” Phoenix interjected. “You were the one talking about joining the fight, earlier. Don’t tell me you’re going to back down now!”
Pierce regarded her with surprise, at which point he shifted his gaze to the rest of the group. Kestrel and Spike both offered him affirmative nods, while Austin reluctantly replied, “…I’m not doing this for you. I’m fighting for Conrad.”
“I’ll take it,” Conrad commented.
“I don’t like it, but…” Twy muttered, “realistically… those SFC soldiers have surrounded the whole campus. I think they’re here for all the students. We can’t just let them get away with that!”
“I bet we can’t even trust that guy’s word, either!” Sky added. “…This won’t be easy, but I don’t think we have a choice!”
“…Alright!” Pierce eventually replied, a small smirk working its way back onto his face. “I knew you guys would come around!”
“Enough talking!” shouted the Tresédian man, drawing the Earthians’ attentions back to the soldiers. “Your decision, now! You two come with us, or you all die!”
“Sounds like we don’t have much of a choice, then, huh?” Pierce remarked, while passing Spike a brief glance; the latter caught the look, and offered a subtle nod in response. Slowly, Pierce stepped forward, holding his hands into the air and allowing Spike to shift over, so as to protect the rest of the group with his shield. Once the rest of the group was protected, Pierce added, “but before we go… hey, Spike!”
“Got it!” Spike replied. “Overdrive: Guardian!”
“Overdrive: Speed Break!!” Pierce called out simultaneously, summoning the bladed energy whip Hastryth into his hands as he did. Immediately, flames rushed out from behind Spike’s shield on the left, and a wave of water on the right, as the Keys launched their attack on the Compound invaders.