Gentle waves of clear water rock back and forth, crashing against rows of silver poles upon which platforms such as long bridges are built upon, and on those bridges are large buildings like warehouses. The rows of these bridges resemble a port with those warehouses fitting that description, which, like the water, is currently being showered in white snowfall, for those delicate flakes drop to the restless ocean before dissolving at an instant, yet the water is still white albeit due to the foam built up from the crashes as opposed to the weather. While the ocean against the poles are foamy and aggressive, the port is overall quite serene, for much of the water is nearly still. Similarly tranquil is the distant hum that grows gradually, audible enough as the port is otherwise silent, for the people who do occupy it are further from the edge, walking back and forth down the bridge with voices that fail to reach the shore. Those people aren't in massive crowds either, for this port appears to carry business given that those wandering the bridges are exclusively adults light on conversation, mostly seeming occupied with tasks. They remain in the distance, far from the calm waters of the port whose caustics themselves are stable given the diffusion of sunlight due to the white overcast.
In fact, as that distant hum grows into a defined roar like a dragon, great enough to attain the workers' attention to the sky, not only is that white sky clearly reflected in the water, but so is the cobalt blue pod that races over the port, reaching the edge of those waters before vanishing in the reflection at the poles.
While the ocean fails to capture the pod, the workers are able to with raised heads as they watch that blue pod zoom high above them, straight inland, approaching the field of silver skyscrapers that compose the metropolis, incredibly tall yet the pod soars well above them all.
Those silver towers can be observed from above through the wide windshield screen, mostly clear but for the augmentations of a holographic interface along the frame which presents a variety of information from speedometer gauges and gyroscopes using models of the pod to a set of camera streams showing the side and rear views.
As the skyscrapers are passed, the driver– the man in the blue suit– keeps his starry azure irises alert ahead as he sits with a perfectly straight posture, his smooth chainmail silk cape not bothering him. He then glances off to the right, as above the bridge separating the front seats are a few holograms, two of them flat and facing him and another representing a fully three dimensional tabletop map of the city. Observing the same set of holograms on the other seat is the front passenger –the woman in the black blazer– her bright green eyes inspecting the screens keenly.
Meditat glances at Dana to update sternly, "According to the active channels, it seems that Space Square's the current sole target zone, there aren't any reports of other nests."
Dana nods upon that information and follows in a similarly focused tone, "So we have one destination to concentrate on, well that's better than needing to run around the city, we've had worse."
"Don't jinx anything now," warns the raspy senile voice of the man in the brown overcoat, sitting in the seat behind Meditat, his back leaning against the leather support of the bench. After his advice, he turns his head to the window beside him, watching the city fly past him. In contrast, the woman in the white hoodie leans forward, grabbing the back of Dana's seat before asking worriedly, "Do we…need to worry about more cropping up?"
"Worry? No, we have our task outlined and should keep our focus directed to it," Meditat answers rationally before appending, "But we must anticipate it, as long as we remain close enough we should be able to regroup and transport in a timely manner. For now, it seems the response team is struggling with evacuations, thus we should prioritize assisting those efforts. They've marked a safety radius for evacuees, I anticipate clumping there."
Kokei frowns but leans back, letting go of the leather seat and placing her hands on her lap. She breathes a distressed sigh and glances at the window before muttering, "I didn't think something like this would happen…why now…?"
Ekitai faces forward just to recline the back of his bald head against the leather headrest, huffing before retorting bluntly, "Things were getting too easy, we can't have that here. No we can't."
Dana turns her head back to face the two in the backseat with unease, though it's Meditat –who's facing forward at the sky road– who responds with the explanation: "The response team is equipped sufficiently to eradicate the nest faster than we'd have left The Peak, the current predicament is the civilian density which risks mass casualty, it's why they're attempting to evacuate the hot spot. Once that's done, they are capable of destroying the infestation swiftly."
A huff emits from Meditat before he asserts boldly, "He's desperate, it's clear to me now. His invasion was immediately combated by the Exhuman pirates, so he sought to remove them before advancing, believing that we'd be helpless only for us to discover another solution that's proven swift. So what's his counter, to complicate nest removal by targeting populated regions? The area is already being evacuated, and what's more, we'll regain this land promptly. It's flare but there's no evolution to his strategy. I've seen this done before, an explosive last act when there's no other options, hoping to burn down as much as possible when defeat is imminent. It makes them more volatile, but it leads them to hasty decisions, ones that can compromise them. We maintain our pressure, and he'll be the first to crack."
Staring ahead with sharp, fiery eyes sparking with determination, Meditat paves the path ahead with his declaration: "He hoped to deprive us, but we've only reacted stronger. He's waged war with the Superverse, and now we'll show the fortitude that's held this home together. We can win. We will win."
His yellow eyes staring at the head rest of the driver's seat, Ekitai can't help but smile at such a brazen speech, managing to calm him down. It's enough for him to snort, relaxed once again as he raises his gaze back to the ceiling before adding to that confidence with the remark: "Heh, well this time I'll actually be able to make my shots matter right out of the gate. Also, I won't lie, it's kind of nice not limiting my arsenal now, it's like I get to use everything I have with me, you know? I mean, it's not that I miss horribly butchering people, but it's just the art of the…actually never mind, I'm not looking for an argument right now."
Directly in front, Meditat keeps his eyes on the pod's path forward, though he does shrug his shoulders before surprisingly relating, "Actually, I may understand your perspective. I have a solid preference in combat against robotic enemies as opposed to humans, since in most cases the sacred life of a person isn't conflicting against my mission. Sure, certain neutralizing tools wouldn't function on androids, but there's many more tools that become appropriate, and usually the options expand far more than they contract."
Ekitai's eyes set down from the ceiling to the front of the cabin, catching a glimpse of Meditat, at least a sliver not obscured by the back of the seat. He smirks lightly and jests, "Oh yeah, you get to swing an actual sword that actually cuts up what it hits, right. Well you have fun with that, just make sure not to miss on us, I figure those crystals are still very much solid and sharp."
Next to him, Kokei turns away from the window to face him directly, and with a mood that's become calmer throughout the interaction, she manages a quip: "That goes for you too, I'm sure you purifying your charge doesn't mean they won't affect us if we get hit."
Waving his hand back and forth after exchanging gazes with her, Ekitai assures confidently: "Oh come on, you know I wouldn't ever miss a shot, when have I ever? If anything I should make sure I don't get caught in your fields."
Kokei smiles in an upbeat mood and retorts, "And when have I ever done that to you?"
Countered, Ekitai smirks and turns his head forward to break the gaze before admitting simply, "Touché."
At the front of the pod, Meditat glances at Dana before apologizing sincerely, "Sorry I couldn't help you with the experiments, I had some designs that got close to what you wanted but just didn't have the time to work them with you."
Meeting his gaze, Dana smiles gently before responding in the same sincerity with the comfort, "Don't worry, really, it's not on you." She does lift an eyebrow however in curiosity, placing one hand under her chin before contemplating, "Wait, do you have those designs on the network? I could at least try to work off them, besides, we'll have an experimenting ground here won't we?"
Meditat huffs as if humored and nods his head before confirming, "They're all on the network and I already highlighted the specific designs, I'll have Orial send them to you directly now."
"Done," the British voice of Orial immediately responds off of Meditat's body, to which Dana smirks and chuckles before thanking, "There we go, then there's no need to apologize." Within her green irises flash a couple golden rings as though a part of her, which rotate somewhat like the adjustments of camera lenses. While she continues to face towards Meditat before then placing her gaze towards the holograms between them, she spaces out as if instead focused on another sight only presented to herself.
Further along the drive, Meditat glances to the windshield ahead as that relaxed smile firms into an uneasy frown, his eyes sharpening and forehead scrunching. He glances at the top corner of the windshield where the map is projected, and then faces back at the center of the screen before leaning forwards.
His eyes then widen and he announces, "Attention ahead, we're nearing the site," to which behind him both Ekitai and Kokei face forward away their own windows, and surprise takes the both of them, most prominently on Kokei. Beside Meditat, the golden rings within Dana's irises disperse, allowing her to concentrate ahead to which shock also captures her as she mutters, "Oh…wow…."
The sight to cast such disturbance is of an approaching wall seeming to stretch for as far to the left and right that they can see, a wall of blue traffic ramping up to the sky, ignoring the designated highway zones in the distance to rise from the city streets to the snowing clouds. The wall does seem to curve, less of a wall and more of a funnel, though its radius is incredible, larger than a typical city borough. That wall is also notably dense as it's composed of many scattered lanes of innumerable quantity, resulting in that evacuation inadvertently causing a blockade, one that couldn't easily be surpassed from above or below. In fact, the only gaps are the towers themselves.
An idea sparks in Meditat's head as he focuses on one of those towers which happens to be the one shaped as a double helix, one of the fancier buildings whose design technically has gaps but ones that aren't necessarily wide enough for normal traffic or safe travel on any level. The evacuation steers clear of this building as well, leaving an untouched gap, one that reflects in Meditat's eye.
The stable engine's roar just then fluctuates as the gyroscope shows the pod tilt down and to the right as Kokei's eyes and Ekitai's smirk widen upon the realization of the plan.
Racing straight towards the block that the massive upward flood of evacuees flee from, the cobalt sleek pod descends and turns to approach the double helix tower ahead to its right, the pod itself tilting. As the blue traffic ascends to the skies, the snowfall descends, and with it so does the cobalt pod, driving between the buildings along the proper roads, defined as it's above the black strips that form the city's grid. It keeps to the road though it leans on the right despite being the only vehicle on this street, approaching the helix tower only a few blocks ahead.
This large traffic funnel sits just past the helix's block, a perfect position as if it was pushed any further out it'd be impossible to reach the building, and pulled any closer together it'd remain an obstacle even past the building. Yet the radius of traffic, at least along the arc being approached, sits such that the helix skyscraper resides within it. Closer to the traffic, individual pods can be examined as a collection of smaller consumer vehicles like sedans and SUVs along with larger trucks and buses, though among them strangely are a few of what appear to be trains, long flying chains rising to escape, uncommon in Versepolis traffic.
So as the pod passes the last intersection where the tower remains straight ahead, the pod swerves off of the road and straight towards the tower as if aiming to collide directly into the building. The pod straightens its tilt flat and lifts its nose to suspend its descent, soaring straight for a portion of the tower where neither of the two helixes stand in the pod's way, but rather to its side. There are however still the series of bridges like strands connecting the helixes together, which the pod soars straight towards without deceleration.
Ultimately the pod seems to be about to crash into the building, but upon reaching those bridges, it reveals itself to have sat on the perfect altitude to slip between two of the bridges, bolting straight past the building cleanly. It then turns back onto the road to continue driving between buildings, swerving around more pods lifting into the air though less densely than the wall, though most of those pods just approach the funnel at the safety radius, making it easier for the cobalt pod to navigate between them as it ascends to reach above some of the towers, similar to the evacuations that form a wall around the pod, every individual escaping pod like a particle to a great tornado, a storm which the pod has just driven into, entering the eye.
And in the eye of that great storm resides that divided, vast region of the city, and at the center of that region is the shocking sight of the infestation of black roots that has covered an area several miles wide. Even from a distance, it's clear that these roots are abnormally thicker, wrapping around the silver skyscrapers like tendrils, some of which have penetrated several to leave behind a long bridge from which branches protrude from.
Another tunnel rises closer to that infested zone, though not as dense as the outer wall, yet what's interesting is that the white skies emerge fleets of black pods diving straight for the city, engaging directly with the war zone, as from that center emits the soft echoes of rapid, continuous gunfire.
Heading for that war zone is the cobalt pod whose hood shimmers its new insignia, and past the opaque windshield above it are the four warriors staring at that sight, even Ekitai's alert. His eyes sharp, Meditat glances from that windshield to the tabletop hologram and faces back, and his eyebrow raises before he discerns, "They seem to have underestimated the radius, it looks to be at least a few blocks wider than their records."
Dana also seems perplexed by that news, tilting her head and wondering: "Huh, I'd be surprised if their satellites are inaccurate to that extent, I thought they're usually precise to the meter if not more."
Meditat shrugs his shoulders, and after a brief glimpse to the screens at his side, he then formulates: "One of the evacuation zones is receiving noise, we'll deploy there. All of you, prepare to drop in twenty seconds. Dana, follow me and bring Kokei and I'll take Ekitai."
Next to him, Dana nods and copies with golden eyes: "Got it," as Ekitai pats his overcoat down in self assessment and Kokei rolls her shoulders to prepare herself. They all sit up straight now, attentive to the final sprint, one that accelerates as the engine's roar intensifies. As that roar grows, the black leather of the seats begin to burn, losing their shape as do the interior walls of the cabin. All of the holograms close themselves as the entire pod's interior is set ablaze, and Meditat grabs the back of his hood and delivers the command: "Bellators, we're deploying."
All at once, the pod dissolves into an open flame without physicality, releasing the four warriors into a straight drop neglecting the vehicle's forward momentum. As the four go into free fall, Meditat throws his hood over his head, causing the edges to crawl veins of blue light like webs that cover his face as Dana's black blazer and complementary dress pants transmute to a metallic gold material that liquifies, same as her tank top, which all blends with her own skin which similarly morphs material. As her clothes merge with her skin, that fused layer of liquid gold cools and hardens, not into a perfectly smooth cast but one with defined plating that forms patterns around the body including the embedded diamond necklace. Once the web of light fully conceals Meditat's face, it materializes the white mask which awakens through the two parallelogram lenses flashing bright blue, same as the vent strip along the cheek. Simultaneously, amber's dancing hair morphs gold, clutching onto her head as though wet, before dripping gold which covers her head fully into a helmet that then takes on a sharpened mold, pressing in on where the face once was though the mold remains mostly flat as it doesn't define any facial features like the nose or eyes.
Both the Spirit and Artificer leap into action, spinning to face the Vanguard and the Alchemist both in free fall. The Artificer's arm reaches for the Vanguard, and her arm continues to extend beyond its natural length as it transforms into a tentacle that wraps around the Vanguard's waist. Next to her, the Spirit reaches his hand to the Alchemist and projects a blue energy wire that attaches to his hand, and upon the connection, all four warriors dive straight down with confidence, leaving behind the blue blaze which disperses in the snowfall. Their speeds aren't limited only to gravity though as the Spirit amplifies his speed with a continual boost that leaves a comet's tail, and the Artificer matches him as her feet propel a golden trail of her own like a jet.
All four of them face their destination, where all the silver rays point towards: the white streets including a park where a large silver train is strangely docked by a massive crowd of people. Hovering above the plaza is a single black SUV which fires volleys of cyan bolts from its side down onto another crowd racing towards that train too, though this crowd's dark appearance marks it as the monsters which flood in from the streets from the many roots just a few blocks back. In fact, the plaza seems to be by the edge of the infected zone, still very much in danger by the size of the horde.
Falling with the snowflakes, the Bellators approach the ground with haste, and as that distance closes, they prime themselves: the Alchemist tugs his overcoat with one hand to dig his other in his inner pockets to then draw his handgun whose hammer he presses down, the Vanguard's eyes flare up as her body begins emitting pink sparks which concentrate on her arms like electric gauntlets made of fuller arcs, the material on the Artificer's free hand transmutes again into the cyan diamond material before it and the forearm transforms into a conal cannon sporting the organically scattered hole design, and the Spirit's free hand breathes an azure flame in his grasp which takes the shape of a trident which materializes to solid frosty crystal that immediately begins flaring as he winds that arm back.
In synchrony, the Alchemist pulls his trigger which fires purple bolts radiating with a cyan tint through the barrel wrapped in brightened coils, the Vanguard throws her arms forward and releases streams of concentrated pink lightning, the Artificer flips to orient herself upwards as her feet's thrust as she aims and fires her diamond cannon which discharges several bright cyan shots in rapidity, and the Spirit throws his trident straight into the horde as it flares nearly blindingly so before he flips upright to dampen his fall.
It reaches its apex just as it makes contact with a Pawn's chest before releasing its energy into an explosion that scatters shrapnel of that very trident over the surrounding beasts, dropping their bodies as others are shot by the flurry of cyan bolts, or swarmed by the electric pink fields that freeze them in place, or caught near the purple bolts which, on impact, erupt a field of spikes jutting from the ground which penetrate straight through the nearby beasts, lifting their corpses.
As both the Spirit and Artificer land on the physical, snow-topped ground, the Spirit releases the wire holding the Alchemist and the Artificer unravels her tentacle holding the vanguard, freeing both of them to stay on their own feet though the Vanguard almost immediately lifts herself in the air by a passive electric field she wraps around herself like an aura. The Artificer's tentacle retracts back into her arm before transforming into another conal gun as her shoulders extrude to build a pair of additional cannons as she also lifts herself in the air by a gentle propulsion. The Alchemist remains on the ground, marching forward against the wind blowing his coat back, firing vibrant green bolts which melt those invincible alien bodies with ease, the charged acid expanding over their bodies and even catching on others which begins melting them. The Spirit doesn't levitate passively nor remain grounded, but instead leaps straight into the horde as he ignites both of his hands to arm himself with a pair of gripped hilts which each extend a long whip that materializes with an interesting chain made of frosty crystals. Upon swinging both whips, the bright crystal chains slash through the horde, severing multiple bodies in single strokes as those chains uncoil to extend their reach.
He pushes deeper into the horde, firing cables from his hips to attach onto the slimy skin of the monsters who are unable to react before their chests and limbs are slashed off. Reaching the edge of the plaza, he advances towards the end of the line, butting against the horde which sprints towards his direction, though a batch of them are caught in a field of pink lightning which freezes them still. All the sudden, that entire batch is pulled together as though vacuumed into the center before that cluster is lifted out of the air and straight towards the Vanguard who winds her right arm back before throwing her fist into the field, imbuing it with an intense energy that crackles in long, bright arcs. That field dissipates, allowing the defeated monsters to drop to the ground in a pile, leaving her to continue advancing with flight alongside the Spirit.
As the Spirit and Vanguard entrench deeper in the mob, the beasts further in the back are struck by volleys of cyan gunfire as others are struck by differently colored radiating bolts, some of which are yellow which causes struck monsters to explode into black slimes that stick to nearby Pawns, freezing them in place as orange bolts strike chests which cause those Pawns to collapse into that chest as if it had become a singularity. Of course, that barrage is being fired by the Artificer hovering in the air, and those diverse bolts are shot from the Alchemist.
The two supporting gunners from the back chip away at the back of the mob while the two leading fighters at the front raze the front of the mob, causing that horde to thin from both ends. Ultimately that group diminishes to a single line as the Spirit zips towards the next monsters who are first struck on the feet by the Alchemist's blue bolts which erupt a slime that plants them to the ground firmly, leaving those monsters helpless to the whips that behead them cleanly, meanwhile at his side the Vanguard projects another electric swarm that captures the remaining monsters, but before she can lift them off the ground they're bombarded by the Artificer's cyan volley that kills them standing.
Once the gunfire stops, she lets go of the electric field, allowing those bodies to promptly collapse on the ground, and after scanning ahead to find no other monsters directly in her way, she turns around the same as the leader. They both face back at their two teammates deeper in the plaza, though stationed in front of the long silver train, the crowd of civilians standing by it now staring at them in awe, and the one pod in the air where four soldiers in E.G.A uniforms stare blankly, their board rifles hovering above their arms still aiming down on where the horde once was.
All of the soldiers, both standing at the edge facing the warriors as well as those behind them –who have turned away from their own post– just blankly stare at those who dropped from the skies to aid them in such a dire flood. Only after staring in awe for seconds do they begin to lower their guard, bringing their arms down to a resting state. Distant gunshots can still be heard, presumably from other battles taking place all over the zone, though at least the ones here can calm away.
One of the soldiers standing on the row close to the edge then drops his chin down to the crowd of people clustered by the train before he commands in a shout: "All of you, get inside, let's move!!"
Down below stand the crowd of civilians made of adults in business suits under wool coats, teenagers in hoodies, and younger children some of whom are accompanying other adults, all of their attention raised up to that voice.
It then drops back to the train in front of them whose many doorways, separated by about fifteen feet, remain open for them, revealing the interior of the train which they begin flocking into.
They shout and murmur at each other in an incomprehensible mix, clearly fretful and hasty though trying to show enough compassion to not shove each other. They spread out to the many doors, pairs holding hands so as to not lose each other in such a dense group. A few of them glance back away from the train for a moment with astonished expressions.
Those who glance back do so to gaze upon the four warriors standing among the piles of alien corpses scattered around the snow-topped plaza. The Alchemist and Artificer face back at them side by side, the cyborg landing back on the ground as her shoulder and arm cannons have since reverted to return her figure to one more human. Between them approaches the Vanguard and Spirit, the latter of whose cape waves back in the winter breeze, his lenses shining like the pencil on his chest.
Upon reaching Dana's side, Meditat lifts his gaze from the civilians who turn back to the train, resuming evacuations, to face the pod above before he offers, "Do they need an escort?"
All of the soldiers face the man speaking to them, and the one who had commanded for the evacuation's resumption shakes his head before ensuring, "We can handle that, we have clear exit routes, they're safe now. Thanks, we were a squad down so we appreciate the assist."
As Kokei reaches Ekitai's side, Meditat tilts his head before asking concernedly, "What happened with your other squad? Are they injured or in danger?"
That question triggers a sentimental wave amongst the soldiers onboard the pod, who frown at each other with low heads. The responsive officer lowers his head and sighs in distress before raising it back to meet the man's gaze and shake his head. He then explains drearily, "We got word that a large group of civilians are trapped in a shopping mall deep in the nest, we can't clear this infestation with them still in there. The squad helping us defend this evacuation zone went in to try escorting that group but the network's bugging for some reason, this nest is giving off some kind of interference. Right now we have no clue what the status is, if they're leading the civilians here right now, if they're still looking, if something's happened to them…or if something's happened to the civilians…."
The soldier beside him sighs before lifting his head and explaining for his comrade, "We're locked up here, we have this zone to defend but we don't know what to report back up, we don't want to stall the extermination too long but we also don't want to…you know."
Meditat lowers his head in contemplation which Dana notices, turning her head to face him though she lacks any facial expressions as does he. Ekitai and Kokei do face them and are able to emote without such barriers, their unease to the delicate conundrum worn on them. Kokei frowns and Ekitai grimaces, waiting for the leader who ponders to himself.
That leader then raises his head back to meet the soldiers before devising, "You're right, stay here, we'll retrieve them, the civilians and the squad. What's the precise location?"
A few of the soldiers in the pod sigh in relief, and the responsive officer nods and thanks, "You're a lifesaver, thanks," before then answering, "They're in the mall on 468 Bluewick Street, not too far from here on foot."
Receiving the information, Meditat nods his head and accepts, "Thank you, we'll depart now," before he turns to face Dana and relays, "Let's move, I'll have the position uploaded to the network. I'll take Ekitai, stay close." He spins around and reaches his hand to Ekitai before projecting a wire between them followed by another two wires from his hip, lifting him off the ground and dragging Ekitai up in the air. Dana's hand reaches for Kokei before extending into a tentacle that wraps securely around her before she springs in the air, launching off and soaring behind.
The team's first pair swings away from the plaza though doesn't climb too high, like the second pair who also flies only a few stories high, both sets traversing away from the crowd of evacuating citizens most of whom have entered the train, only a few still outside. The soldiers watch them from above to monitor the escape, some of them murmuring to each other with one placing his hand on his ear as if speaking elsewhere.
Many of them raise their gazes to catch glimpses of the four warriors departing the plaza, flying down the road littered in bodies of the beasts, approaching the distant black roots infesting the silver skyscrapers, curling around such massive buildings or strung through them like bridges. They race into the hell that has risen to the Earth, all trains rise above the skyline on the other side of the zone, carrying batches of evacuees.
It's not long until the team passes a couple city blocks, reaching the end of the safety radius as they approach the gargantuan roots, the density of those roots only accumulating deeper into the zone as once glimpse deeper ahead reveals. The two pairs move side by side, Meditat's swings tight enough that he remains at a similar elevation to Dana who soars in a linear path. These motions are stiffer than usual to maintain this formation, choosing not to indulge in acrobatics or flashy motions as he only makes use of his hips to drive the wires.
At the edge of the nest are those pointed roots, many of them hanging in the air like the leaf branches of a tree. Their absolute black bodies are lit only by the texture of illuminated white caustics, for they do not shine from the sky. Their elevations are scattered as some hang high in the air hundreds of stories up, whereas some are only a few high, and some are even on the road itself like a frozen worm. They at least seem frozen for the most part, enough to not sap focus from the four warriors who blaze past that boundary to continue deeper into the nest. In fact, they're unaware that at that very moment, the ends of those roots just subtly inch forwards at a snail's pace.
What the team does observe are the silver towers surrounding them, which have been riddled with splinters in the form of those roots penetrating through exteriors, and those splinters have branched out into more that pierce neighboring buildings. Thick gray smoke breathes out of those gaps made in the walls, rising into the air.
As Meditat and Dana keep their focus ahead on their route, Ekitai and Kokei have the flexibility to more freely study the city, as Kokei drops her gaze down to the ground where she finds scattered pods in the roads, almost all of them drastically damaged to the point where many are still in flames, and the remainder are smoking. From a glance, there's no visible people near those crashes, leaving their fates dreadfully unknown.
Not all the pods landed on the roads, as Ekitai finds many of them strung in the air, beads held by the strings of the roots that had plunged straight through them, left suspended in the air in a rather haunting sight. They smoke as well, their fates hardly to find hope in as most of those pods are strung up by roots that have penetrated straight through the cabin, likely capturing the passengers inside. Like bugs trapped in a web, they're frozen in animation, caught in the wrong place.
Passing another block, Meditat briefly glances at Dana who catches his glance with her own. They then face forward on their approach to the next intersection, where Meditat spins to the left to fire his next left hip's cable at the very corner of the building at that intersection, allowing him to be flung around that vertex as Dana executes a sharp turn, keeping Kokei's hold snug.
Upon making the full turn into the next road, Meditat releases that one cable and fires his next two forwards again, continuing down this street, closing in on the location with Dana close behind, keeping her arms by her side.
Keeping his focus ahead to the path, Meditat carries Ekitai with smooth pulls of his wires, finding the density of the roots greater, tearing the buildings around him so much that multiple roots seem to converge together by chance, breaching those towers from many angles.
He then raises his head to find that at the far end of the street they navigate down, above the rest of the skyscrapers is one that stands supreme over the rest, its shape simpler as more rectangular but uniquely defined by the section of pillars in the center. That tower has been absorbed with the nest, as roots can just barely be seen up the bottom half, though at the very least they haven't climbed too high, far from the central pillars.
Dana follows that gaze to the same sight which she locks onto for a few moments, stuck in a mix of misery that it had been in the radius of the nest, though somewhat relieved to know that its sheer size meant the majority of the tower remains untouched. That relief doesn't however outweigh the dread for the casualties caused in that lower section as well as those claimed in the many other towers within the nest, all requiring potential years of repairs. Her head lowers to that recollection, they had just begun to rebuild after the last tragedy and now they'd need to rebuild after another simultaneously.
Her focus then shifts to Meditat as his next pair of cables fires at a steeper downward angle, pulling him towards the ground, prompting her to steer down into a dive to follow him.
The team dive at a smooth angle down towards a large plaza upon which sits a massive building, nowhere as tall as the surrounding skyscrapers but rather it's shaped as a gargantuan fin, wide at its base and converging to a curved point at the top. Its shorter size however allows the many surrounding roots to hang over it completely, casting shadows that loom above the plaza as many more roots have bled into the walls too, having risen from the grounds of the plaza itself, penetrating through the mall.
Hovering towards the top of the mall's fin is a black ambulance-sized pod, marking the precise destination Meditat boosts himself towards, leading Dana to the same point in curiosity.
That stationary pod's side doors are open, allowing the soldiers standing on board to observe the mall, their eyes primarily set on the fin. They seem apprehensive and dreary, as though their analysis has cast doubt within them, leading them frozen in the air, silent for the moment.
Just then, a bright blue comet soars past them, startling the entire squad who nearly stumble back as the tail fires a thin ray that strikes the pod's shell next to the door, attaching to the surface not as a projectile but a solid wire. On the other side of the wire is the comet's head which suddenly jerks backwards, dissipating that comet promptly to reveal the Spirit who steadily reels himself towards the side of the door, carrying the Alchemist in a cable on his other hand. The squad gasps in shock just as a second bolt fires past the pod, this one golden which sharply turns around and slows to a halt, letting the energy trail dissipate on its own to reveal the Artificer hovering in the air passively, her right arm a tentacle that holds the Vanguard.
A few of the soldiers take a step back, stunned by the abrupt approach, but without waiting for them to fully process the entrance, the Spirit first asks: "You're here to rescue the civilians trapped in the mall, correct? What's your status?"
While some of the soldiers are wary, shaken off balance, one of them does steady themselves first in order to explain, "Yes we were, we got here some minutes back. We took some scans of the mall and we know where the civilians are as well as the threats, it's just that…they're too concentrated together."
Chiming in, the soldier beside him points to the top of the fin which the team glances at as he elaborates, "We're getting the highest count of civilians in the top floor, where the food court is. Problem is, that also has the highest count of threats. Our equipment was tuned for higher output, destroying these roots and clearing large hordes at once."
The first officer to speak then appends, "Usually when the invasion is outdoors, it'll give us more room to work with, but we're just not equipped for an interior fight with this kind of civilian density. I heard they were working on a new generation of equipment that's supposed to have better precision controls but…this is all happening too fast. We need to act fast, we know we do, those civilians are at risk as we speak. But if we go in…we might be subjecting them to an even greater risk."
He sighs and lowers his head in defeat before apologizing, "I'm sorry…we're not able to transmit any requests for some reason, but even if we could we're all stretched so thin. We're trying to keep up…we are…."
The Spirit lowers his head after the dilemma, feeling the weight of guilt permeating within the squad who clearly wish to free the civilians but understand that they could very easily be the cause of their casualties. He then turns back to his own team, first at the Artificer and Vanguard hovering on the other side of the pod, and then to the Alchemist hanging onto his cable.
He then turns back to the squad and nods his head before declaring, "We'll escort them outside, prepare for aerial support once we're at the plaza."
The ashamed soldier raises his head and asks hesitantly, "You sure? This is our job-."
"And you're going to see it through, officer," the Spirit interjects confidently, "We're here to help."
Without waiting for approval, the Spirit then turns to the Artificer and nods, to which she nods back.
Swinging his feet, the Spirit places the sole of his boots on the wall of the pod, using that surface to then launch himself off the vehicle in a blue comet, straight for the top of the mall, carrying the Alchemist with him. The Artificer takes one more glance at the soldiers in the pod before turning around and thrusting off to her team, bringing the Vanguard with her, aiming for the fin's edge, leaving the soldiers to just watch in silent awe.
Boosting towards the mall, Meditat keeps his lenses by the fin as he assesses mentally, "Link Bellators, I have eyes on the food court and I'm reading in the presence signatures."
Through his lenses he stares at that mall with a blue tint, one that augments the view of the mall to reveal the top floor as if there was no exterior, exposing the flat floor along with the ring of vendor counters along the perimeter, as well as a few smaller counters scattered around the middle.
Zooming his view into that floor, he discerns scattered groups of green silhouettes, many of whom seem to be hiding, whether underneath figures of tables, booths, or the vendor counters. Among them is another set of silhouettes highlighted in red, this set even larger, roaming freely around the floor in packs. Both sets are scattered amongst each other, melded together into a single general cluster.
Analyzing the environment, Meditat elaborates with slight anxiety in his mental voice: "Link Bellators, They weren't wrong, precision will be a priority here. You're reading this too, right Dana?"
Observing the mall through her eyeless face, Dana confirms in thoughts, "Link Bellators, I am. And it's all one open room…."
Through that augmented vision, one by one four digital beacons appear off the exterior walls which are reintroduced at a low opacity as Meditat announces, "Link Bellators, I've marked our entry points, we'll each take a weighted quadrant. Remember, precise attacks, collateral damage must be minimized."
Dana's voice responds to him in his head, "Link Bellators, I got it, ready when you are."
Out of those glowing lenses, Meditat continues boosting with Ekitai at his side as he declares, "Link Bellators, let's move," before he accelerates his boost, veering slightly to the left as Dana veers slightly to the right, accelerating as well.
Both the golden and azure streaks reach the fin-shaped mall occupied by the cluster of roots covering its walls and hanging over its roof, and they both begin circling around the mall's top towards the back.
Looping around the fin, the head of the golden ray aims her free hand towards the silver surface as that hand and arm transforms a cannon, not of the cone but rather a sleek, straight launcher with a single golden barrel at the end which flares up. A single shot is fired with minimal recoil, ejecting a thick bolt followed by her throwing her other arm forward and unraveling the Vanguard.
The bolt strikes the wall with enough force to blast a hole through entirely, allowing the Vanguard to slip through as on the other side, the head of the azure ray aims his free hand towards the silver surface as that hand breathes a blue flame that elongates and materializes into a missile dart that then activates a propulsion to guide itself towards the wall simultaneously as he throws his other arm which launches the Alchemist towards that missile. He releases the cable just as that missile dart strikes the wall, detonating with enough force to burst a hole through for the Alchemist to be tossed into.
Continuing on around the wall, the Spirit spins and fires another cable from his hand further out, using that cable to spin himself around the exterior of the mall such that he nearly reaches the opposite side, close enough to catch sight of the Artificer who nearly converges at the same point. The Artificer then sharply turns towards the wall before reaching the center as the Spirit jerks his arm to yank himself towards it too, both reaching the wall a distance apart, and they both throw their fists into that wall to break a hole through for themselves to enter the space.
As the Spirit's wire is relinquished, both him and the Artificer observe the room as well as the Alchemist and Vanguard on the opposite side –each in their own quadrants. All four of them inspect this room they've just entered, a large oval space mostly open, and along the wide wall is a ring of vendor counters for various brands of fast foods, with names like "John Johns" and logos like a roman helmet with a triangular red Crest. At one of the far ends is a long hole revealing a pair of escalator ramps composed of many platforms that move in a fashion like a conveyor belt, leading to the lower floor in opposite directions. A few circular vendor counters are present scattered around the room itself too, though most of the floor is occupied with countless tables accompanied with chairs or booths: a food court built for a large population. Yet there's few of that visible population, for the only ones who can be seen are cowering behind those counters or tables, hiding away from the more prominent population that roam the floor: those lanky, dark demons whose heads unhinge by their terrifying mouths.
Those predacious monsters stop wandering and raise their heads upon the entrance of the four warriors, instinctively unhinging those jaws and unleashing blood-curdling shrieks, but it's the warriors who take action first: The Alchemist aims his handgun and pulls the hammer before pulling the trigger which causes the coils around the barrel to brighten before firing his first green shot, the Vanguard directs a single swarm of pink lightning from her right arm in controlled fashion, The Artificer aims both hands that transform into straight diamond guns each with one thin barrel as her shoulders extrude for a pair of dart launchers all of which coat themselves in cyan diamond right before she fires her first pair of shots and a flurry of darts simultaneously, and the Spirit's blazing hands become equipped with a crystal saber in his right hand and a colt-style pistol in his left, the latter of which he aims and fires his first crystal bullet from as his hips fire wires to the floor.
As one Pawn melts from the green shot, another's head is penetrated by a crystal bullet, and two are struck by cyan energy bolts, two close Pawns are caught in the tight pink field and raised into the air to meet contact with the Vanguard's fist which overcharges the field to defeat the two all while the darts fired from the Artificer's shoulder intelligently fly around to locate and hone in on a target, striking to deliver a concentrated energy blast only large enough to blow a hole in their necks.
The Spirit is the first to reach the ground as he's reeled in by his cables, quick to slash a beast's neck open concurrently as he fires a second bullet at another monster, then leaping forward and firing another pair of cables to zip to the next monster as the Artificer remains hovering off the ground for greater range of attack whereas the Alchemist grounds himself, running and gunning as his next shots remain green, choosing to limit himself to a simple attack but one with little aerial effect. The Vanguard keeps herself levitating just a few feet in the air, allowing her to more speedily zoom around her quadrant, maintaining use of one hand to release her next swarm only to attract one monster which she again punches to charge the field with enough power to leave that beast's corpse on the ground.
All four of them keep to their quadrants, and as such they cut through the horde with precise efficiency. They march and zip past the many terrified men and women, boys and girls hiding under the table, sitting in cradle positions with their hands on their ears, their eyes closed tight in terror. As the bodies drop down beside them, they turn to those bodies in panic, about to scream before realizing those bodies are motionless with fatal wounds.
Behind the counter of one of the vendors along the edge, a man dressed in a red uniform, likely a worker at this station, slowly rises up in intrigue to the chaos covering the room. Yet just as they peer above the table, they're met face to face with a monster who turns around to face them.
The worker shrieks and stumbles back as the monster snarls and opens its mouth, but that's when further behind that monster, the Spirit's hip breathes a flame that manifests into a small box attached to his hip like a holster, and poking out of that box facing forward is a crystal hook that is then fired forward, attached to a long chain of crystals to make a physical grapple hook that plunges into the monster's thigh.
The Spirit then jerks his hips as the box begins reeling the wire, pulling the Pawn off its feet and straight back towards the Spirit for a clean cut through the head, letting the body fly past him and hit the floor. Another box manifests on his other hip as he aims his sidearm at another monster near a booth where other civilians can be seen laying under the soft chairs, but with two rapid shots he pierces the beast in the forehead, causing it to drop down.
Further behind him, the Alchemist sprints towards another monster and fires an icy blue radiating bolt, which causes the entire monster's body to freeze, not encased in a block but rather its own body cools rapidly and hardens into a statue. It shines just as the Alchemist runs past it, knocking the head with the barrel of his own gun, tipping the statue backwards which shatters into countless pieces on the floor. Those shards of ice crunch under his shoes as he aims and fires an ocean blue bolt at another beast, which upon being struck then melts to the extent of liquifying into a puddle left on the floor.
Carrying herself in the air, the Vanguard approaches two monsters near a vendor counter in the middle of the room, and she aims one hand at each of them to then guide two tight swarms which each capture one of those monsters, just enough to form an aura that doesn't needlessly expand. She then jerks her arms into a cross, pulling the beasts towards her at an angle where they converge and smash into each other exactly as they do against Kokei's gleaming fists which surge lethal lightning that leaves both bodies on the floor. She then spins around and zooms off in the other direction, leaving the counter where two civilians rise up, one of them in a green employee uniform but the other in a casual fur-lined sports jacket, astonished.
Also in the air, the Artificer drifts around her quadrant with clean strafes as her arms independently move to train onto another monster to fire on with a single shot while her shoulder launchers continue firing small diamond darts to take off single targets. She notices a few monsters standing around a table where two people hide under, clinging to each other as to remain as far away from the edge, yet are clearly struggling to keep their grip. One of her arms focuses on a monster as her other continues handling the others across from that table, though two darts fire from her shoulder cannons to assist that single energy shot in eliminating those three beasts simultaneously.