[T A S K] : Huey say's he headed to the rift cause of what he needed to show hailee. But do you really think that's why
The Zone defied physics in ways that would make your head hurt if you thought about it too much.
Blue geometric patterns stretching infinitely in all directions, to form corridors and chambers shifting based on intuition rather than intention.
The chair he sat in was the only thing that made the void around him feel real.
"Alright." Jazz's voice echoed from...,
well everywhere. "So you're planning to charge into a Level 3 rift with no backup sir, or are we discussing strategy first?"
"I thought we built a connection jazz, you should know me better than that." Huey stood up, the chair dissolving behind him. "Show me the samples we recovered."
A section of the void materialized into an inventory. Among other things, Glass vials lined transparent shelves, each one filled with the distinctive blue liquid from the warehouse.
Huey grabbed one, holding it up to examine. "The serum, the one that brings corpses back with Crests."
"I've been running analysis. The chemical composition is beyond anything we've encountered. Whoever's manufacturing this has access to resources not even arcanum has seen."
"Hailee needs to have this." Huey pocketed the vial in his tactical jacket. "If higher-ranked Topplers are responding to the rift, she'll be there."
The Zone was his personal pocket dimension, created through the manipulation of plasma particles and neurons. Time moved differently here, seconds outside could be minutes inside, giving him space to prepare, think, and store things he couldn't risk keeping in the real world.
Like stolen evidence and vigilante gear.
"Sir, about the rift barrier," Jazz said. "The emergency broadcast mentioned it was misidentified. If it's actually Level 3, the field will be—"
"—keeping anything above Acolyte-level pneuma outside and anything below Presbyter pneuma inside."
Huey finished, pulling his hood up.
"Which means the higher-ranked Topplers won't be able to enter for a while."
"Exactly." Huey secured his katana across his waist.
"But I don't have pneuma. The barrier won't register me as a Toppler. I can walk straight through."
Huey's eyes blazed blue. "Get me there."
The Zone collapsed.
He materialized back on a rooftop overlooking the rift site, blue electricity dissipating from his frame.
The red field formed a dome around the affected area, light filtering everything inside with that characteristic crimson glow.
Huey could see figures moving insid.
Luce Nera agents in their distinctive black tactical gear, the phoenix emblem visible on the side of their jackets even from this distance.
They were engaged with something big, an Aberrant-class variant judging from its size.
Bodies littered the ground.
Low level Echoes mostly, their corpses already dissolving into black particles.
But there were human bodies too, Topplers who hadn't made it.
Hailee along with the other high ranking topplers of Luce Nera would be have a hard time finding a way through when they got here.
Which meant these agents were on their own till then.
Huey moved quickly, keeping to the shadows, using abandoned cars and rubble for cover.
He found the remaining Topplers pinned down near what used to be a shopping district.
Four left, all showing signs of fatigue. Their tactical gear was torn, one was limping badly and another had her arm in an improvised sling.
The Aberrant they faced was twelve feet tall with the usual cluster of eyes on its deformed head.
it moved fast for something that size, each strike leaving craters in the pavement.
But what caught Huey's attention was the woman at the front of the group.
Caroline.
He recognized her immediately.
Blonde hair tied back, and green eyes sharp despite the exhaustion.
She'd been at family dinners before, and always had a kind word for Huey, despite knowing he was Crestless.
She fought valiantly now, her Crest manifesting as barriers of compressed air that deflected the Aberrant's strikes, but she was getting overwhelmed.
They all were.
He shouldn't get involved, the plan was to deliver the serum sample to Hailee and leave.
Getting spotted meant questions he couldn't answer.
But Caroline was about to die.
The Aberrant's massive fist came down. She raised her barrier, but the impact shattered it, sending her flying backward into a wall and slumping to the ground.
Huey kept foward, with the intention to awaken it enough to give them a fighting chance.
His speed made him into a blue streak that appeared at the Aberrant's blind spots, his katana biting deep into its legs, arms, and exposed back.
The Aberrant roared, and spun to face a threat it couldn't see.
The creature staggered, one leg gave out and it crashed to its knees.
"Now!" Caroline shouted, blood streaming from the cut above her eye.
The four remaining Topplers converged. Energy blasts and blade strikes hit simultaneously. The Aberrant raged.
once, twice, and began dissolving.
Caroline leaned against the wall, breathing hard. "What... what just happened?"
"Did you see something?" one of the other agents asked.
"I don't know, but that thing was on us and then..." She shook her head. "Never mind. Is everyone—"
A sound cut her off.
A child crying.
It came from deeper in the rift zone, past the collapsed buildings.
"Help me! Please! Someone help!"
One of the agents, a young man whose name tag read Morris, urged forward immediately. "There's someone alive in there—"
"Wait!" Caroline grabbed his arm. "Morris, think about this—"
"It's a kid!" He pulled free. "We can't just leave them!"
"Morris, that's—"
But he was already running, heading toward the sound.
He reached the intersection where the crying was coming from.
The Titan's foot came down like a meteor strike.
Morris didn't even have time to scream, Just a wet sound, and nothing but a red stain on the pavement.
The creature rose to its full height.
Thirty feet of muscle and armored hide. Its mouth opened, revealing rows of teeth designed for tearing.
When it spoke, its voice was mockingly human.
"Oops."
The remaining three Topplers froze.
"Did it just—" one started.
"Talk." Caroline's voice was hollow.
The Titan smiled. "The little ones are so trusting. They make such convincing sounds when they die and you humans fall for it every time."
It took a step forward and the ground shook.
Caroline raised her hands, barriers forming.
But the Titan swatted them aside like tissue paper.
Blue lightning carried Huey forward. His katana intercepted the Titan's fist mid-swing, the impact sending shockwaves through the air.
He redirected the momentum, using the creature's own strength against it, guiding the strike away from the Topplers.
Then he was gone again, appearing beside Caroline.
"Move!" He grabbed her arm, pulling her backward as the Titan's other fist cratered the ground where she'd been standing.
"What—" Caroline stared at him, taking in the hood, the mask, the glowing blue eyes. "You're—"
"Not important right now!" Huey pushed her toward cover. "Get behind something!"
The Titan laughed. "The Blue Reaper, I've heard stories about the Little ghost that kills other humans for sport."
"Huh, stories??"
It charged.
Huey met it head-on yet again. But this wasn't like fighting the Aberrant, the Titan was much stronger, smarter, and adapting to his movements with horrifying speed.
Each time he went for a strike, the Titan predicted it. Each time he tried to create distance, it closed the gap.
And the Topplers were still in danger.
One agent tried to provide support, firing energy blasts at the Titan's back.
The creature's tail whipped around, impaling him through the chest. He hung there for a moment, blood pouring from his mouth, before the Titan flung him aside like garbage.
"No!" The third agent, a woman with short red hair, rushed forward in rage.
"Don't!" Caroline screamed.
The Titan grabbed her mid-charge, lifted her high.
And squeezed.
The sound was awful, bones breaking and organs rupturing.
By the time it dropped her, she unrecognizable.
Only Caroline was left now.
Huey carried her behind a collapsed building, out of the Titan's immediate line of sight.
"Stay here," he commanded.
Caroline was trembling, covered in her teammates' blood. But she still had enough training left to grab his arm. "You're under arrest."
"Shut up." Huey's tone was more frustrated than threatening.
"Your comrades just died, you really want to make that sacrifice meaningless?"
She flinched, and had no choice but to stand down.
"Stay here, don't move and don't make a sound. Let me handle this."
"I'm a Luce Nera agent. I can't just—"
"You can't do anything." Huey met her eyes.
"And you know that for a fact. I've already watched enough people die tonight."
Caroline couldn't open her mouth to argue.
"Found you."
The Titan's voice echoed across the ruins.
A massive energy blast erupted from its mouth, red and burning, aimed directly at their position.
Huey threw Caroline to the side with all his strength, sending her tumbling across the pavement.
Then he raised his katana, channeling plasma through the blade, trying to deflect—
The blast hit.
But it didn't hit him.
At the last second it curved, Changing trajectory.
Straight into Caroline.
The energy simply erased her, turning flesh, bone and everything that made her Caroline into a spreading puddle of matter.
The Titan's wicked smile was the last thing Huey saw before the rage took over.
His mind flashed back.
He was seven. The Cross family manor. Hailee was showing off her new Presbyter promotion and Caroline had come to celebrate.
She'd found him hiding in the library, and avoiding the crowd.
"Hey, little Huey." She'd sat beside him "You doing okay?"
"I'm fine."
"Yeah? Because you look like you'd rather be anywhere else."
Huey shrugged, he was used to the looks he got from people by then.
Caroline had ruffled his hair. "You know what I think? I think the world's too obsessed with Crests. Power's great, but it doesn't make you a great person, Some of the strongest Topplers I know are complete assholes."
Yet the look In her eyes were different.
She'd smiled at him, genuine and kind.
"And You're definitely gonna be great Huey Cross. Crest or no Crest, I can tell."
The memory faded.
Huey stared at the puddle that used to be Caroline.
Good people.
There were still good people in this world.
People who saw past the labels, past the hierarchy, past the rankings that determined a person's worth.
And they kept dying.
Huey attacked.
The Titan barely had time to react, Huey was on it in an instant, katana moving faster than the creature could track.
Each strike targeting joints and weak points in it's body.
The Titan tried to swat him away, but Huey was too fast.
The titan staggered to the ground.
He cloaked his katana in electricity.
This was it, one clean strike and he can end this.
Huey lunged.
An energy blast hit his leg.
He went down hard, his momentum carrying him into a tumbling roll that ended with him sprawled on the pavement.
His leg was a mess, the flesh charred, barely holding together.
"What??"
The Titan was laughing.
"Did you think," it wheezed between laughs, "that I only had one attack?"
Its tail, the same tail that had impaled the agent earlier. The tip glowed with residual energy.
"Surprise."
The Titan's mouth opened wide and Energy built in its throat.
Huey tried to move. His leg wouldn't respond. The damage was too severe.
"Jazz," he muttered. "I need—"
"Sir, you can't. If you let go of control, if you give in—"
"I know." Huey's hands were shaking. "But I can't die here, I can't—"
The energy reached critical mass.
The Titan fired.
The blast dissipated mid-flight, torn apart by wind pressure.
A figure descended from above, riding a disc of spinning air that dissolved as her boots touched down.
Silver braids, black Luce Nera trench coat with the Vice-Captain star plastered to the right side of her large chest.
Her Green eyes took in the carnage with professional calm before settling on the dead soldiers.
Her hand rose into the air.
The Titan's head separated from its shoulders so cleanly it took a moment for the body to realize it was dead.
The head hit the ground and rolled, the body collapsing with a thud.
Hailee walked past it without looking, kneeling beside Huey.
"You idiot," she said quietly. "What did I tell you about playing hero?"
Huey's vision was swimming, blood loss and Shock. His leg was—
Her hands were already glowing, her green coloured pneuma allowing her to apply pressure to the wound without touching it.
"Stay with me...."
Hailee Cross had arrived.
His eyes were closing.
"Huey!"