Beep—Beep—Beep—Beep
Noctis pulled back the sleeve of his dark blue jacket, as he looked at his exposed pale white skin, covering it partially a watch-like contraption.
Right now, this item was emitting a loud buzzing noise. The sound rang through the room, joined by two similar tunes, coming from his two colleagues, as his demeanor darkened a bit.
It came from his barrier, an item given to every Authority Wielder.
A barrier was usually equipped with multiple functions, the most prevalent being the ability to protect the user by blocking anything that surpassed a certain speed. The other function of this specific barrier was as a transmitter, or… a warning… a warning that a breach had been reported in his vicinity.
"Mr Klemens, it seems our investigation will be cut short. I hope you'll be just as forthcoming if we need any information.
I'd recommend staying indoors for the time being."
Ending the conversation quickly, Recks sent the other two a quick glance as he started heading for the exit.
Noctis did not resist the unspoken command, as he headed out as well, sparing Mister Klemens a last glance.
The elderly man had a few drops of sweat beading his forehead, a reaction not unusual for someone who had just been under the scrutiny of an investigation. But for some reason, Noctis felt that this was not the reason for his stressed appearance.
As he watched carefully, not wanting the doctor to notice, he saw Klemens' eyes drift off to the side from time to time, wandering to the bookshelf very subtly before readjusting on one of his guests.
"Is something wrong, sir?" Klemens asked as he locked eyes with Noctis.
Not too panicked, Noctis hid his thoughts as he closed his eyes halfway, concealing their light golden luster, and shook his head, speaking in a friendly, comforting tone.
"It's nothing. I just fell into thought for a moment there."
Turning around, Noctis joined his two colleagues a moment later.
Suddenly, Reck's arm wrapped around Nox's shoulder as they headed for the door.
Feeling a bit uncomfortable with the closeness, Nox tried to slide out of the uncharacteristic embrace. Reck's tone, however, subtly shifted toward a more logic-driven one, a far cry from his usual friendly demeanor, as he spoke in a hushed voice, making Nox stop in his tracks. Recks' eyes slightly narrowed, mirroring Noctis's own, while his posture showed not the slightest change.
"Did you notice something? Is it time for the Inquisitor to pay Dr. Klemens a visit?"
The words were hushed and seemed weak, inconsequential even, almost as if a friend were simply talking about a girl he liked, yet to Noctis, each word held deep meaning.
They meant he was in the position to decide a person's fate.
A feeling he did not enjoy.
In his half-year of service, he had seen how normal people were treated in these cases and how the Inquisitorious would proceed.
Let's say they were very willing to make sacrifices in the face of efficiency or… "for the greater good".
One human life was far less important than the prosperity of the entire city, after all. At least that would be the reason they'd give for their harsh way of doing things.
Most of his colleagues behaved similarly in this regard, especially the more senior ones, making Recks a bit of an outlier.
He was one of the only ones Noctis knew of who would usually have a carefree conversation with the suspects, instead of directly going towards interrogation and fear tactics.
This made it quite a pleasure to work with him, unlike with the other senior team members. Of course, this did not mean Recks did not use these tactics—he simply seemed to enjoy having conversations far more than the other option.
Disturbing, however, was that somehow the guy who should have seemed the most humane in the group, judging from his methods, also felt the most inhuman to Nox.
It was a vague feeling. He had noticed these kinds of feelings, aversions, attractions, maybe premonitions, whatever one wanted to call them, appear from time to time ever since, mostly assimilating with his soulsea.
Noctis was repulsed by this sensation to a certain point, but somehow deeply intrigued as well. It was truly paradoxical.
Not looking back, Noctis walked through the door, a cold breeze blowing over him as the deep stench of the underground market assaulted his nostrils. Taking a deep breath of purple-tinged smog that ran rampant throughout the entire market like an ever-present veil, he felt a light taste he could not quite distinguish glide over his tongue as he finally spoke in a hushed voice.
The purple-grey smog expelled from his body with every word, and that reentering his body, with every breath, was tinged with a sense of conflict.
"Send them."
Noctis stayed silent for a moment, staring at the unevenly built ceiling before speaking once more, now in a more lighthearted tone, unfitting of his previously seen mood.
"Now let's hurry up. The breach won't wait.
Have you gotten message of its rank?"
***
Klick
Recks put away the flip phone, quickly tucking it into a pocket at his chest.
Beside him stood a man of the Civil Guard, a few of his subordinates a step behind, functioning like a wall, stopping anyone who would want to enter the street, watching it all in their unobtrusive grey-green uniforms.
The man at the forefront, an insignia on his chest, a single star on his chest, stood there a bit stiffly as he saluted Recks, before whom he seemed to have great respect.
Recks' gaze did not linger on the small fry of the civil guard, as it wandered over to his two underlings. The first thing to catch his eye was some uncommon yellow clothing, which was overshadowed as his gaze drifted upward to two googly yellow eyes filled with a certain expectation.
The youthful second disciple spoke with great conviction, as he puffed out his chest.
"What have the elders decreed? Are we to face the heavenly tribulation, or respect and praise the heavens through a quick retreat?"
The man of the civil guard, who stood in earshot, did not say anything, but when Noctis saw the slight twitch of his eyebrows, shame mingled deep in his chest.
Watching this display was simply torture!
Recks, on the other hand, did not react in the slightest as he deciphered the words, as if they were not total gibberish.
"The Breach is estimated to be of rank one, at most rank two."
He took one more look at the two newcomers who were accompanying him, his keen mind assessing the situation.
"We should be able to handle it.
Second disciple, you're the combative type, right?"
Getting a confident nod in response, Recks intended to walk past the man of the civil guard and enter the restricted district, but was suddenly stopped.
A bit confused by this, he looked at the man waiting for an explanation.
"M-may I see those badges one more time?"
The man commissioned to quarantine this zone asked hesitantly.
Not resisting, yet a bit confused, Recks pulled out a badge, which the man then inspected promptly… then he inspected it some more… then he held it up to see any changes under the light.
In the end, he gave back the badge a bit hesitantly, under Reck's evaluating gaze.
"I'm sorry. It's all just protocol."
At the side, Noctis watched the entire process, a bit exasperated. I wonder what led to the officer's doubts? His eyes briefly landed on the second disciple, who stood there completely oblivious to what he had done wrong.
Not giving this another thought, Noctis pulled out his own badge, briefly flashing it to the officer, who now showed a bit more restraint. On it was the symbol of the city and the basic information of the owner. The symbol was the same one plastered across all of the clothes at the Academy. As a whole, it seemed like a truly flimsy attempt to engrave it in the student's mind.
Then, when it came to the flamboyant guy, the officer inspected the badge once more, far more thoroughly than with the other two, a few almost unnoticeable mutterings escaping his lips.
"Is this usual for inhabitants of Oracle?
Is it really okay to let the lunatic go?"
Doing his best to stop his brows from twitching at the remarks, Noctis walked by, asking Recks about the finetys of the breach.
Judging from reports, a small group of beasts appeared in the inner ring of the city, suddenly attacking a facility. The beasts each vaguely resemble humanoids, and their abilities had yet to be identified. Considering that the most breaches came from beasts of the space family, it was assumed that they were part of it aswell.
The reason for the high number of breaches of the creatures of nature was simple yet undeniable. Their mobility was unmatched, and they, as the original inhabitants of the realm, were the most abundant in number.
A clanking sound suddenly rang out from around the corner, making the group stop in their tracks.
This was weird. They had closed in on the facility where the creatures first attacked, yes, but they shouldn't have spread this far. Did they have some kind of spatial movement ability? That would explain how they broke into the city in the first place.
Readying themselves for battle, Recks pulled out a gun hidden below an arm holster, and the second disciple started rummaging around in a hidden pocket, trying to find something in his yellow Daoist outfit.
Noctis, meanwhile, simply lifted a gloved hand, and a certain blue light slowly started building up on its palm.
None of them showed any particular signs of fear as they waited for the horror to reveal itself, but a strong tension electrified the air, holding them on edge.
The unerving sound of metal clashing against metal grew more pronounced as the creature, the unknown horror neared.
Then, all of a sudden, a round, grey, spherical-shaped cylinder came rolling around the corner.
The three watched the trash can for a few moments, their eyes tracing its rolling motion, a bit uncertain of the whole situation, when the lid fell off with a resounding thunk.
Recks moved his revolver a bit higher as he aimed at the dark interior of the can, unsure if there even was a living creature in there.
No, there was definitely something in there. Noctis was certain of it. There was a golden string clearly visible to him leading to the can, even if the connections to the trash can were not numerous, but they were there, and Recks seemed to be certain of it as aswell, even if his belief came from another source.
Seeing some movement in the can, the little daoist finally found what he was looking for in his oversized pocket and confidently took out a small, hand-sized metal rod.
Not diverting his attention from the foolery of the delusional daoist, Noctis readied to hurl a wave of energy from his converter when a hideous-looking round-headed creature popped out of the heap of Trash, its face flushed bright red, with two sharp, jagged horns popping out of its multi-colored hair.
"Blughhh"
Its human-shaped head suddenly made a weird sound, as if regurgitating something, its shape still not fully illuminated and half-covered by trash.
"Burgheeee… I love buzzzzz…?"
Flabbergasted by the trash monster's sudden words and the stream of half-dissolved foods coming out of the barely human mouth.
"Wait?"
Walking over under the observant gazes of his two comrades, Noctis looked at the creature lying in its own vomit, covered by garbage.
Feeling his suspicion was almost certainly true, Noctis kicked the trash can with a bit of annoyed embarrassment, making it tumble and roll to the side.
There, a now motionless middle-aged man lay half covered by trash and vomit, some of the pieces caught between his hair resembling horns as he rolled off into oblivion, the stench of piss and alcohol lightly drifting in the air, wherever the can traveled.
Lost for words, Noctis looked at his two silent colleagues, their gazes unreadable.
Promptly, they all started walking once more, reaching the factory a bit later, a tacit agreement hanging in the air.
That never happened. They had never feared a drunkard waltzing in trash!
Looking at the building, a large, thin tower rose, fusing with the underground ceiling as it vented all sorts of poisonous fumes from the factory.
Today, however, it did not. After all, no one was in there, other than a few bloodthirsty beasts.
A few beasts they would have to take care of.