An azure eminence shaped in a swirling and unstable spherical globe radiated in the middle of a highway. It continued to permeate and acted as an obstruction for a multitude of cars, manifesting a clustered traffic jam.
A series of roadblocks and traffic cones had been set around the large and thick mist-like phenomenon, with distinctly armored policemen—labeled as a part of the L.G.D.—surrounding it.
In tandem, a chorus of car horns resounded as busybodies traversed around the highway, guiding the traffic moving at a snail's pace.
A litany of many other complications made the situation far removed from a perfectly handled one. For one, numerous citizens had vacated their vehicles in order to take pictures of the enigmatic spectacle to sate their incorrigible needs of 'documentation', much to the chagrin of the L.G.D. officers attempting to administer their authority over the recalcitrant situation.
Standing over heightened platforms were traffic control personnel utilizing microphones to amplify their vehemency. It was likely they would wake up the next day with soreness plaguing their pharynx.
In the air, patrol drones buzzed overhead in sweeping arcs, their floodlights scanning the periphery of the anomaly, uploading real-time footage to the L.G.D. incident network.
To the surprise of the operators handling the piece of technology however, was that the drones' signal connection and systems began to compromise the closer it advanced to the blue phenomenon.
Low-grade surveillance kits had also been deployed, such as thermal lenses. Still, even they provided virtually nothing for the L.G.D. officers, as no sort of signature was discernible when the apparatuses set focus upon the 'miasma'.
"Is the perimeter secured?" An armored man spoke into an in-built communications device attached to his uniform's left breast. His unseen expression shifted to one of satisfaction when receiving a positive response.
"Perimeter is firmly secured with necessary barricades and roadblocks whilst keeping a route open for traffic."
"Uh-huh. I hear you. Make sure nobody on the road gets within 25 meters of this..." His head veered to the strange phenomenon. "...Thing, before the Superintendent arrives. She'd blow a fuse if we don't have things in order. Copy that?"
"Copy that. How's the analysis going?"
An interval of pause was seen as the officer placed a free hand on his hip while the other one was still pressing against the communications device, eyes surveying the vicinity. "...Not a clue. The basic kits are not cut out for this sort of stuff, might have to outsource a research corp or something."
"Like Rhine Lab?"
He snorted. "Don't know, not under my jurisdiction. Also, get some more back-up here, these damn news reporters and civvies are trying to climb barricades for a better camera angle."
"Copy that. And, jeez, I just caught sight of what you're talking about... what a mess."
"It's always a mess." The officer nodded in agreement, seeing a group of hazmat response attempting to make way through the congregation of civilians being a worse road hazard than a crashed car.
A stray thought passed him that the infrastructure he stood upon couldn't even be called a highway anymore.
Shouts echoed from an officer handling the microphone, dragging him out of his thoughts.
His fingers drifted off from the button of his communications device, cutting away his voice feed. Although he could still hear from other lines, noise from his side wouldn't register through the digital streams.
Seriously, what even is this? the officer thought, swerving around to take a look at the blue abnormality one more time.
Nobody aside from hazmat response had been allowed to get even remotely close to it in case there were unknown dangers that came with being in its proximity. Unfortunately, such concerns hadn't been addressed or known yet, so there was a non-zero chance that everybody currently present could be struck with some new ailment akin to Oripathy.
A crawling sense of anxiety traveled down his vertebral column at the prospect.
At least we're all dying together if the worst-case scenario happens, he humored to himself.
He mentally counted all the other officers present, a stark majority having already grown weary of the predicament they were in.
Eventually, with the habitual taps of his foot ending, he noticed a peculiar individual moving through the civilian crowd. She was a dragon-horned—a Lung—woman with blue hair, shorts, a white dress shirt, a yellow tie, and jacket.
There was an identification badge on her person which denoted who she was. However, the L.G.D. officer could already recognize her from a side-glance, that being the Superintendent of the Lungmen Guard Department and its chief. By her waist were two sheathed swords, a black one, and a red one.
"Ch'en sir!" he called out, raising a hand and approaching her.
Ch'en looked up from the crowd, still making her way through, and nodded in recognition. Her movements never once collided with the swamp of human bodies, weaving through like a human-sized thread needle.
There was a line of officers who promptly made way for her, still keeping rowdy civilians in check.
She came through, speaking concisely, "Officer Xiao, I presume?"
"In the flesh," Xiao nodded, flashing his identification badge, "er... did you not arrive by vehicle?" He clamped the wallet containing the item shut, glancing behind Ch'en in realization.
"I didn't. Well, only for half the length." She confirmed with a shake of her head. "I decided to ditch the vehicle and arrive by foot after realizing just how long that egregious traffic line was."
"Ah, makes sense," he replied, now with a clearer picture. "Would you like a basic rundown about the current situation with... that thing?" Xiao pointed toward the phenomenon behind himself with his thumb, cutting straight to the point.
"No need," Ch'en waved her hand in the air dismissively, "I've already heard enough about it while on my way here."
"Understood. Then you'd understand that what we have at our disposal is not quite fit for the job, right?"
"Certainly," Ch'en deftly responded.
The two began walking seldom closer to it.
"I wouldn't recommend getting too close," Xiao added.
"I know. Mysterious phenomenon we know nothing about..." Ch'en halted in her steps just far away enough that the pulsations of azure couldn't graze a meter by her skin. "...That just so-happened to have appeared here of all places..." Her voice drifted as she massaged her forehead, brows creasing in an attempt to make sense of what she was seeing.
He watched in silence as the Superintendent continued staring at the aforementioned phenomenon for a good minute or so, no words leaving her mouth. It was likely she was attempting to make heads over tails what it was.
Xiao decided to break the silence. "Got anybody in mind that could explore and understand this situation better than us? I heard Rhine Lab has set up a branch facility in District 2 as of late."
"...I'll think about it," she replied rather dispassionately, eyes narrowing at the blue 'miasma', hazmat response the closest out of everybody to it.
"Superintendent! Superintendent!" A shout was heard from behind, causing Ch'en to veer her head around and see a news reporter holding out a hand-held microphone behind a barricade. "What can you tell us about this phenomenon? Is it dangerous? Will it spread—"
"You'll get your answers when we do," Ch'en interrupted without remorse, actively constraining herself from employing a more belligerent vocabulary. "Until then, I sincerely hope I won't have to detain you for unscrupulous acts, any of you." She raised her voice, referring to the entire crowd of reporters pressed against the barricades with cameras and lights flashing.
Xiao could already start to feel his own fatigue start to build up as more and more time passed. Everything from that period on had naturally become a blur to him, with nothing changing much. Traffic was still being redirected, microphones were still blaring, and test results with the strange 'miasma' had been completely and utterly useless.
Nobody was brave enough to walk into it for unforeseen consequences that could possibly occur, but there was certainly one person who had the impulsive idea to do so. Even though not a single soul did step up in the end, he was completely certain of the notion that a large majority possessed intrusive thoughts.
...Because he did too, but his self-preservation instincts reigned supreme.
"Think that's it for today?" Officer Xiao spoke, walking up behind Ch'en after the last of the testing gear had been used.
"...Probably," Ch'en said with a tired voice. "Probably..." she repeated again, glancing up to the sky, most likely a million thoughts circulating in her mind.
"Hope the paperwork won't be too bad," he said, deciding to give her his unspoken condolences. "Outsourcing a company and all..."
"You have no idea."
"I have a vague idea?"
She huffed, massaging her temple. "Whatever. We'll need to establish a rotating shift of different squads for this thing before we discover what it is."
"Thought so," Xiao said. "The team back at response had already had a general plan drawn out, just needs your approval." He tapped his communications device.
"Huh." Ch'en looked at him with an impressed look. "Good work. Do we have any volunteers?"
"A few, but not enough to cover up the entire day range if we do it by the shifts," he continued. "Might need to drag a few sorry souls into the mix."
"That's a given." She placed a hand on her chin, side-eyeing the pulsating phenomenon.
A small gale brushed past the two of them, rustling their clothes. It was a bit strange for the wind to suddenly pick up, but the two ignored it, discussing future plans and current cases attached to the L.G.D. that have yet to be resolved.
They would have called it a day and left the 'miasma' behind them until more was understood about its sudden appearance, but it seemed whatever powers that be dictated that one unique occurrence was not enough.
Xiao raised an eyebrow from underneath his helmet when he felt a faint surge of... Arts(?) from one of Ch'en's sheathed blades, one that he believed was a sword which doubled as an Arts Unit. It was humming with a crimson glow, attracting his attention.
Officer Xiao wanted to speak up about his red-sheathed superior's sword emitting a dim light intense enough to pierce through the material, but she had already beaten him to it with her realization over its bizarre activities.
"What the hell?" she whispered underneath her breath, but Xiao could still hear it despite all other sounds practically muffling it out. "What's going on with..."
"Is something wrong, Ch'en sir?" He tilted his head. "Arts Unit malfunction?"
"I don't think it's a malfunction, per se..." Ch'en replied with half a mind, voice becoming distant, hand drifting and hovering over the handle of it. "It's..."
"It's..?" Xiao repeated, realizing that perhaps not even she knew what was going on with the weapon. Either that, or she didn't wish to tell him in the first place.
He became even more confused when his superior turned her head toward the phenomenon, narrowing her eyes in suspicion. The armament attached to her waist continued to thrum with energy, making him step back.
"Er, Ch'en sir?" Xiao didn't know whether he should keep attempting to inquire about the matter with his superior, but the answer quickly came to him as she started walking toward where she was facing, toward the phenomenon.
He saw her extend her left hand, and it touched the air before her as if something was tangibly present. Xiao was shocked to see that a faint outline of a man had appeared, standing taller than the Superintendent, before his features became distinct.
For his expression, suffice to say, the black-haired man looked somewhat shocked.