Mikey looked up at the six figures. Each one draped in robes, hoods covering their faces, each shaped different. Some tall, some bent, some wide in the shoulders. They stood above him on the slab like statues. One of them came forward as the dust finally started to settle. Metal scraped and dragged against the concrete. Mikey squinted, his eyes burning from the haze. He saw them—mechanical tendrils sliding out from the figure's sides. They coiled like snakes, lifting him, carrying him forward. His legs hung like dead weight, swinging as if he'd forgotten how to use them.
The hood came down.
The man was old, older than anyone Mikey had ever seen. His hair was grey, matted and thick in patches, clumped like wet straw. His bottom jaw was gone, replaced with a dull slab of metal alloy bolted into his skull. His left cheek was burned, branded with a scar in the shape of a coiled eel bursting with beams of light. One eye was dead white, milky and blind. The other was a dark pit of brown that seemed to stare straight through Mikey.
When he spoke, his voice carried rough and broken, rattling like rust on steel.
"Greetings, mutts. I am Grand Regent Capricornus. You may call me Father Capricornus. We are with The Dark Brotherhood of Mako. We have been sent here—"
Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.
Gunfire lit the dome. The soldiers, hit squad and Savior members in the stands opened fire immediately, unloading into the figures. Muzzle flashes ripped through the haze, echoing under the dome. But before the bullets could strike, another of the six stepped forward. She was smaller, almost childlike in size.
They cracked their neck in irritation and pressed something on their wrist. A blue shimmer exploded outwards, humming, wrapping around all six figures in a wide dome of light. The bullets smacked into it and rolled down the sides, slow and useless, like raindrops on glass. A forcefield. Technology that the Defector's had never even seen the typical council soldiers use.
The small figure pulled her hood all the way back. Mikey's eyes went wide. She couldn't have been older than thirteen. Her skin was pale, her long hair bleached white but filthy and knotted. Her eyes burned red like bloodshot glass. She was albino. Branded on her left cheek was the same sigil that resided on their hoods. She screamed at the crowd, her voice high and sharp, echoing to every corner of the dome.
"You dare interrupt the Grand Regent! Have you no respect? No shame? You dogs! I'll rip your eyes out of your skulls for your insolence, you little—"
The Grand Regent lifted his hand. The girl froze mid-sentence. Her teeth clenched but she backed down, retreating to the side.
"It is quite alright, Sister Gemini," he said, voice calm again. "They lack the respect of our teachings. They will be shown the light in time."
Mikey glanced to the stands. Bobo had already climbed over the rail, stomping his way down to the floor. Luce pulled her twin pistols free, her eyes locked on the six. Amelia had her knife in one hand and a pistol in the other, keeping low beside Tobi. Ryosuke shoved through the panicking crowd, leading Marlene and Angelica toward the back as people flooded the exits.
The crowd never made it. One of Capricornus' tendrils shot out, grabbed a massive chunk of concrete from the ground and hurled it across the exits. The gates bent inward, collapsing with a crack of stone and steel. Screams rang out. No one was leaving now.
"I never said you mutts could run," Capricornus rasped. His blind eye flickered white under the light. "As I was saying. We are the Zodiacs, high members of The Dark Brotherhood of Mako. Our Lord called on us, and we answered. This place…" He looked around at the broken dome, the dust, the blood still drying on the floor. "…This is no shelter. This is a hall of combat. Until you tell me where your headquarters is, we will use it as it was meant to be used."
He whistled. The sound was sharp, cutting through the silence.
Above, from the shattered dome ceiling, more figures came sliding down ropes. Black robes, each one masked—different faces carved in iron and bone. One had the face of a snarling wolf, another a grinning skull, another a blank smooth slate with no features at all. They carried weapons strapped across their backs, blades, staffs, rifles, and some things Mikey had never seen before. There were at least 50, and more kept pouring in.
Mikey gripped his daggers so tight his knuckles ached. He was still below them, still unseen in the shadows at the slab's base. His heart hammered in his chest. The crowd pressed against the walls. Savior braced themselves in the stands and on the floor. The Zodiacs stood still, unmoved, their robes swaying lightly as the mechanical tendrils shifted around them.
Mikey could hear his own thoughts over the chaos.
'This… these people… I've seen them before. The Predecessor showed me. The cult. Holy shit—it's real. The Predecessor is real…'
Mikey's stomach turned. His blood ran cold as he stared up at the old man on the slab. Grand Regent Capricornus. The same one from the vision. The same one who had his throat in that future he wasn't supposed to see. He could still feel the ghost of that grip. His palms were slick with sweat, his breath caught in his throat. Then the shouting started. Gunfire cracked through the dome. Bobo leapt down from the stands, his frame shaking the ground when he landed. His voice boomed over the noise.
"Mikey!"
Mikey snapped to him, eyes wide, daggers clutched tight.
But Capricornus didn't look at Mikey. He turned his blind-white eye toward one of the other robed giants beside him. The figure stepped forward, bigger than Bobo—bigger than anyone Mikey had ever seen. Seven feet at least, broad as a wall, his hood falling back to show his face wrapped completely in stained bandages. Black hair jutted through the top, spiked and wild. Only one eye was visible through the strips of cloth, a reddish-brown glare locked straight on Bobo. Capricornus raised a hand, his tendrils shifting like snakes.
"Brother Aries," he rasped, "give them their treat."
The huge man only grunted. No words. His feet hit the slab with a heavy boom as he jumped down. Dust scattered. His single eye never left Bobo. Bobo shifted course, no hesitation. His arms spread, chest out. His voice cracked like thunder.
"Let's go then!"
They collided mid-run.
Boom.
The sound rattled the dome. Their hands caught each other's in a crushing grip, muscles bulging, veins popping. The ground beneath them shivered and cracked under the weight of their struggle. Two mountains locked in place, neither giving.
All around them the fight exploded. Cultists and Defectors locked in a war zone. At least half of those in the crowd were either soldiers or hit squad members, the rest were civilians trying to escape. Ryosuke stood in front of civilians at the caved tunnel, he drew his blade in one clean motion. He cut down ten of the masked cultists in a blur, his speed almost unreal, his face calm but hard. He glanced back to Marlene and Angelica, "Stay here."
Luce opened fire from the stands, her pistols snapping with every shot, bullets punching holes through cloaks and masks as bodies dropped. On the stairs, Amelia crouched low behind the railing. She popped up, firing her pistol down at the attackers climbing toward her. Brass casings clinked against the metal. Tobi was pressed against the rail beside her, hands shaking, eyes darting everywhere.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit! I DON'T HAVE A GUN!" he shouted, his voice cracking.
Amelia shot him a sharp glare, teeth bared. "Deal with it, Tobs!"
He ducked his head back down, cursing under his breath.
On the slab, the other robed figures began to move, dropping down one by one, weapons flashing in the light as their hoods slid back. They hit the floor like shadows come to life. Capricornus didn't move. He stayed where he was, tendrils curling, that dead white eye fixed on the chaos below. He almost looked pleased, like a father watching children play. The air was thick with screams, gunfire, the clash of steel on steel. The dome, once filled with Defectors waiting to watch a test, had turned into a battlefield.
The battle of the dome had begun.