“Hey, over here!!”
“Someone get those supplies–”
“Woof! Woof!”
In the smouldering ruins of a small town, the air was filled with sounds of yelling, the barking of rescue dogs, and the sounds of debris being cleared. Over the past few days, the Cordiale had been dispatching teams of rescue personnel to several devastated regions in Canada, with the approval of the current ruling Canadian government. Their counterparts in the American government had been less……cooperative. As was known, the wave of monsters had crossed the border and hit US cities, most notably Seattle, which whilst not as badly hit as this ruined town, it was still heavily affected. The Cordiale’s continued secrecy and refusal to disclose what they knew of the Cracks and the monsters themselves was already a sore point, particularly to the more proud and self-assertive US government. However, what really soured US-Cordiale relations was the latter’s interference early on with the US Emergency Alert System and other broadcast networks, both military and civilian, in a botched attempt to cover up the outbreak of monsters. It only ended up adding to the confusion and unpreparedness within the US, both on the local and national level, and added on to civilian and military casualties. Not their organisation's finest moment. It wouldn’t be surprising to anyone that the US government was privately incensed over this issue.
In addition, with all the death and destruction caused, it wasn’t long before newspapers and news stations began covering the topic, and for blogs and posts to appear online with video footage of the monsters and the destruction they caused. There was one particularly viral post making headway that showed a video of flying, dragon-like lizards being shot down by fighter jets. With all this happening, it wasn’t long until formal government statements came about. Apparently the upper Cordiale leadership had given up pretty quickly on keeping the Crisis under cover-up. Within these past few days, the whole world had changed. The two of them could still remember it.
“Maybe around here…?”
They still remembered the scene of the press conference taking place a few days ago in the White House on national broadcast. Seeing the formal representative of the US government talk about “unidentified life forms” and giving an excuse for the breakdown of regional communications had been a pretty surreal experience. Unfortunately, the poor representative got hounded pretty badly by reporters and the media, made worse by the fact that the Cordiale was keeping what they knew about the Cracks under wraps from the US government. In other words, they were unable to answer most queries, something which didn’t paint them in the most reassuring light.
Well, at least the crisis response was handled a lot more smoothly. The militaries of both countries quickly took over from the Cordiale, which had pulled back its own combat units, and most monsters were all quickly killed off from there. The Canadian Armed Forces aside, the firepower of a half-a-trillion dollar military budget was nothing to be scoffed at, even at the onset of an otherworldly invasion. But despite the successful response against the monsters, there had still been reports and sightings about surviving monsters, mostly in the sparsely-populated regions, such as the woodlands and mountains. Which was why even in the town they were in, the Cordiale rescue personnel were being escorted by regiments from the Canadian Army and Canadian Royal Mounted Police, though the escorts themselves didn’t know they were from the Cordiale, of course. After all, although covering up the incident had become all-but a fantasy, the Cordiale hadn’t given up on the secrecy of the Origins and the organisation itself.
“Hmm…”
As for the response within these two countries, well, the political scene has been turbulent, to say the least, though the two of them weren’t all too familiar with what was happening. Politics was the game of the Overseers and the other higher-ups in the organisation, not two agents like them. Though, from what they gathered, opposition to the ruling parties in both countries had been mounting over this issue.
“I think it’s around here… or is it?”
Anyways, coming back to the current situation, amidst the Cordiale rescue units working tirelessly in the ruins of the town, was a certain figure nonchalantly walking around. They had the frame of a young boy, and a soft click of his tongue could be heard occasionally as he walked around at a leisurely pace. His face and head were completely covered by his black-patterned mask and black helmet, whilst the rest of his body was covered in an all-black suit that was the standard for combat personnel working in Divisions. Well, outerwear aside, his small figure had caused quite a number of problems for himself. It had been a pain to get past the Canadian escorts stationed in the perimeter and surroundings. The soldiers and policemen they had encountered largely had two different reactions. On one hand, there were those that were concerned that a boy was walking around alone in a monster-infested region. Either that, or they became suspicious of their combat uniform and child-like figure, which ended in them mistaking the boy for another one of those monsters. Well, they were at least left alone by the Cordiale rescue personnel. After all, in a world where even children could Awaken or be born as a powerful Origin, the existence of child operatives wasn’t completely unheard of to most Origins, although the issue was certainly rare and controversial these days.
“Hey, stop clicking your tongue like that and help me out here!” As the boy clicked his tongue again, he was interrupted by a disembodied, young female voice that came from seemingly nowhere. The voice added, in fluent American English, “You could walk faster if you’re going to use your Ability like that, Rhythm!”
In response, the boy, Rhythm, stopped clicking his tongue and gave a short reply to seemingly no one in particular. His English words came out with a tint of Russian accent, “Even if you want me to go faster, there’s not much I could help you with, Beat. You’re the one who’s supposed to be able to sense his Aura.” The boy briefly paused his words, seemingly deliberating over something, before continuing, “Are you sure you feel his Aura here? The only thing down this street is this destroyed cottage, you know.” Rhythm motioned with his hands towards a ruined structure of a building. Although it was thoroughly demolished like all the other structures in their vicinity, any person in the boy’s place would have been able to discern that it had been a normal, wooden cottage before being destroyed.
Rhythm added on, “Unless this was his hideout, or something. But if so, you know we would have found out about it the moment we began our investigation.” The sight of a young boy wearing combat armour, arguing with a floating, disembodied female voice would have been a strange sight for most. Thankfully, the only ones nearby were the Cordiale-dispatched Origins currently conducting search-and-rescue in the surrounding houses, who paid them no heed other than the occasional curious glances in the boy’s direction. Most of the ordinary humans from the military and police were busy guarding the perimeter or going on patrols.
Suddenly, the voice, Beat, exclaimed, “Wait, hold on!!” Rhythm’s steps came to an abrupt stop upon hearing her exclamation. Beat continued in an eager tone, “It’s there! Definitely! I can feel something over there! To your right!” The boy, Rhythm, in turn, quickly ran towards the direction the voice pointed at, before coming to a stop. “Is it here? You better be sure. I don’t want us making another report only for you to change your mind halfway and say you were just imagining things again.” There was a hint of exasperation in his voice as he spoke. Beat gave a sharp reply, “Yes, definitely! I can feel his Aura here, right in this spot! It’s him, alright. Why can’t you have just a bit more faith in me?” Pausing briefly, Beat murmured in contemplation, “Though it is strange, why can I feel it only in this spot? Did he faint after using his Ability or something?”
The boy rebutted her musings with a scoff, “Pft, as if. I'd be surprised if the man had gotten that weak over the years. Anyways, what matters is we have his trail at last. At least the past few days of walking non-stop paid off.” His last few words almost came out in a grumble. Beat, in return, gave a reply of affirmation. “Yeah, you’re right. All that matters now is catching him. I can’t wait to beat the shit out of that guy for a second time.”
The boy responded, “Yeah. I feel the same. Though we probably have to make some preparations beforehand. Who knows what kind of tricks the man's got up his sleeves this time?” Hearing him, Beat replied with a hint of confidence in her words, “Well, I’m sure Miss Iv’s got a plan.”
In response, Rhythm simply gave a small nod. Briefly taking his mind off from the conversation, he turned to look at their surroundings. All around them was the scene of death and ruin. Buildings, streets, signs and traffic lights. All demolished, uprooted and cracked beyond repair. Corpses -covered in white sheets- that had been scavenged by the rescue personnel were laid out onto the cracked, broken streetside. Ordinary lives, reaped by the hundreds. Nearby, he saw large, impromptu shelters constructed for the survivors. Although the shelters themselves were meant to house people by the hundreds, he had only ever seen one or two people go in and out so far. Those were the little number of survivors that had been found so far. They were unlikely to find more.
Taking in the scene, Rhythm murmured softly under his mask, "It's shocking to imagine those monsters were capable of such devastation." Beat responded, "Yeah, though we only ever faced a handful of wolf-like creatures, so I would say there's still a lot we don't know about them. From what I've last heard, the Rocky Mountains are still infested with flying lizards resembling Western dragons." She paused for a bit, before continuing on. "Apparently this town was hit by several large, Ogre-like monsters, before those wolves came in and ravaged its remains."
Hearing this, Rhythm interjected, "That leaves the question of what took out those two other Ogre-monsters. We only saw the military carrying their corpses out in those trucks when we arrived, if I recall.” The boy paused, seemingly in thought, before adding on, “It was reported that they were found already dead when the troops entered this place, yet the Cordiale hadn't deployed any forces here either."
"Then it's obvious, right? It's his doing. Maybe they just got in his way or something, and he took them out? Wait–" Beat abruptly stopped upon coming to a realisation. "So that explains why he used his powers here! If it was him, it wouldn't have taken more than a second to deal with these things, no matter how many there are!" She added on, "That would also explain why his Aura is only concentrated on one spot. He brought out his Ability, took care of the monsters that were in his way, and reverted back in an instant! That sly fox…" Rhythm interjected in a soft voice filled with uncertainty, "You don't think he's partly responsible for these Cracks, do you? I mean, Miss Iv did point us to Canada and the States, maybe she knew he was involved somehow. After all, there's still so much we don't know. From how he's survived the death sentence, to how he remained undetected by anyone, to why–"
"Woah, woah. Slow down a bit, you're getting a bit too caught up there, Rhythm." The boy in turn, seemed to realise he had been trailing off. Coughing lightly, he added on, "Right, sorry about that. But the point is, there's still a lot we don't know about the situation. From Calvin himself, to this whole Crack outburst that they're now calling 'The Crisis'." Beat, in response, affirmed his words, "Yeah, you're right. We've been caught up this whole time trying to find Ezra, but once we get this mission done with, I'd like to have a chat with Miss Iv about what's really going on here."
“Hey, over here!!”
“Someone get those supplies–”
“Woof! Woof!”
In the smouldering ruins of a small town, the air was filled with sounds of yelling, the barking of rescue dogs, and the sounds of debris being cleared. Over the past few days, the Cordiale had been dispatching teams of rescue personnel to several devastated regions in Canada, with the approval of the current ruling Canadian government. Their counterparts in the American government had been less……cooperative. As was known, the wave of monsters had crossed the border and hit US cities, most notably Seattle, which whilst not as badly hit as this ruined town, it was still heavily affected. The Cordiale’s continued secrecy and refusal to disclose what they knew of the Cracks and the monsters themselves was already a sore point, particularly to the more proud and self-assertive US government. However, what really soured US-Cordiale relations was the latter’s interference early on with the US Emergency Alert System and other broadcast networks, both military and civilian, in a botched attempt to cover up the outbreak of monsters. It only ended up adding to the confusion and unpreparedness within the US, both on the local and national level, and added on to civilian and military casualties. Not their organisation's finest moment. It wouldn’t be surprising to anyone that the US government was privately incensed over this issue.
In addition, with all the death and destruction caused, it wasn’t long before newspapers and news stations began covering the topic, and for blogs and posts to appear online with video footage of the monsters and the destruction they caused. There was one particularly viral post making headway that showed a video of flying, dragon-like lizards being shot down by fighter jets. With all this happening, it wasn’t long until formal government statements came about. Apparently the upper Cordiale leadership had given up pretty quickly on keeping the Crisis under cover-up. Within these past few days, the whole world had changed. The two of them could still remember it.
“Maybe around here…?”
They still remembered the scene of the press conference taking place a few days ago in the White House on national broadcast. Seeing the formal representative of the US government talk about “unidentified life forms” and giving an excuse for the breakdown of regional communications had been a pretty surreal experience. Unfortunately, the poor representative got hounded pretty badly by reporters and the media, made worse by the fact that the Cordiale was keeping what they knew about the Cracks under wraps from the US government. In other words, they were unable to answer most queries, something which didn’t paint them in the most reassuring light.
Well, at least the crisis response was handled a lot more smoothly. The militaries of both countries quickly took over from the Cordiale, which had pulled back its own combat units, and most monsters were all quickly killed off from there. The Canadian Armed Forces aside, the firepower of a half-a-trillion dollar military budget was nothing to be scoffed at, even at the onset of an otherworldly invasion. But despite the successful response against the monsters, there had still been reports and sightings about surviving monsters, mostly in the sparsely-populated regions, such as the woodlands and mountains. Which was why even in the town they were in, the Cordiale rescue personnel were being escorted by regiments from the Canadian Army and Canadian Royal Mounted Police, though the escorts themselves didn’t know they were from the Cordiale, of course. After all, although covering up the incident had become all-but a fantasy, the Cordiale hadn’t given up on the secrecy of the Origins and the organisation itself.
“Hmm…”
As for the response within these two countries, well, the political scene has been turbulent, to say the least, though the two of them weren’t all too familiar with what was happening. Politics was the game of the Overseers and the other higher-ups in the organisation, not two agents like them. Though, from what they gathered, opposition to the ruling parties in both countries had been mounting over this issue.
“I think it’s around here… or is it?”
Anyways, coming back to the current situation, amidst the Cordiale rescue units working tirelessly in the ruins of the town, was a certain figure nonchalantly walking around. They had the frame of a young boy, and a soft click of his tongue could be heard occasionally as he walked around at a leisurely pace. His face and head were completely covered by his black-patterned mask and black helmet, whilst the rest of his body was covered in an all-black suit that was the standard for combat personnel working in Divisions. Well, outerwear aside, his small figure had caused quite a number of problems for himself. It had been a pain to get past the Canadian escorts stationed in the perimeter and surroundings. The soldiers and policemen they had encountered largely had two different reactions. On one hand, there were those that were concerned that a boy was walking around alone in a monster-infested region. Either that, or they became suspicious of their combat uniform and child-like figure, which ended in them mistaking the boy for another one of those monsters. Well, they were at least left alone by the Cordiale rescue personnel. After all, in a world where even children could Awaken or be born as a powerful Origin, the existence of child operatives wasn’t completely unheard of to most Origins, although the issue was certainly rare and controversial these days.
“Hey, stop clicking your tongue like that and help me out here!” As the boy clicked his tongue again, he was interrupted by a disembodied, young female voice that came from seemingly nowhere. The voice added, in fluent American English, “You could walk faster if you’re going to use your Ability like that, Rhythm!”
In response, the boy, Rhythm, stopped clicking his tongue and gave a short reply to seemingly no one in particular. His English words came out with a tint of Russian accent, “Even if you want me to go faster, there’s not much I could help you with, Beat. You’re the one who’s supposed to be able to sense his Aura.” The boy briefly paused his words, seemingly deliberating over something, before continuing, “Are you sure you feel his Aura here? The only thing down this street is this destroyed cottage, you know.” Rhythm motioned with his hands towards a ruined structure of a building. Although it was thoroughly demolished like all the other structures in their vicinity, any person in the boy’s place would have been able to discern that it had been a normal, wooden cottage before being destroyed.
Rhythm added on, “Unless this was his hideout, or something. But if so, you know we would have found out about it the moment we began our investigation.” The sight of a young boy wearing combat armour, arguing with a floating, disembodied female voice would have been a strange sight for most. Thankfully, the only ones nearby were the Cordiale-dispatched Origins currently conducting search-and-rescue in the surrounding houses, who paid them no heed other than the occasional curious glances in the boy’s direction. Most of the ordinary humans from the military and police were busy guarding the perimeter or going on patrols.
Suddenly, the voice, Beat, exclaimed, “Wait, hold on!!” Rhythm’s steps came to an abrupt stop upon hearing her exclamation. Beat continued in an eager tone, “It’s there! Definitely! I can feel something over there! To your right!” The boy, Rhythm, in turn, quickly ran towards the direction the voice pointed at, before coming to a stop. “Is it here? You better be sure. I don’t want us making another report only for you to change your mind halfway and say you were just imagining things again.” There was a hint of exasperation in his voice as he spoke. Beat gave a sharp reply, “Yes, definitely! I can feel his Aura here, right in this spot! It’s him, alright. Why can’t you have just a bit more faith in me?” Pausing briefly, Beat murmured in contemplation, “Though it is strange, why can I feel it only in this spot? Did he faint after using his Ability or something?”
The boy rebutted her musings with a scoff, “Pft, as if. I'd be surprised if the man had gotten that weak over the years. Anyways, what matters is we have his trail at last. At least the past few days of walking non-stop paid off.” His last few words almost came out in a grumble. Beat, in return, gave a reply of affirmation. “Yeah, you’re right. All that matters now is catching him. I can’t wait to beat the shit out of that guy for a second time.”
The boy responded, “Yeah. I feel the same. Though we probably have to make some preparations beforehand. Who knows what kind of tricks the man's got up his sleeves this time?” Hearing him, Beat replied with a hint of confidence in her words, “Well, I’m sure Miss Iv’s got a plan.”
In response, Rhythm simply gave a small nod. Briefly taking his mind off from the conversation, he turned to look at their surroundings. All around them was the scene of death and ruin. Buildings, streets, signs and traffic lights. All demolished, uprooted and cracked beyond repair. Corpses -covered in white sheets- that had been scavenged by the rescue personnel were laid out onto the cracked, broken streetside. Ordinary lives, reaped by the hundreds. Nearby, he saw large, impromptu shelters constructed for the survivors. Although the shelters themselves were meant to house people by the hundreds, he had only ever seen one or two people go in and out so far. Those were the little number of survivors that had been found so far. They were unlikely to find more.
Taking in the scene, Rhythm murmured softly under his mask, "It's shocking to imagine those monsters were capable of such devastation." Beat responded, "Yeah, though we only ever faced a handful of wolf-like creatures, so I would say there's still a lot we don't know about them. From what I've last heard, the Rocky Mountains are still infested with flying lizards resembling Western dragons." She paused for a bit, before continuing on. "Apparently this town was hit by several large, Ogre-like monsters, before those wolves came in and ravaged its remains."
Hearing this, Rhythm interjected, "That leaves the question of what took out those two other Ogre-monsters. We only saw the military carrying their corpses out in those trucks when we arrived, if I recall.” The boy paused, seemingly in thought, before adding on, “It was reported that they were found already dead when the troops entered this place, yet the Cordiale hadn't deployed any forces here either."
"Then it's obvious, right? It's his doing. Maybe they just got in his way or something, and he took them out? Wait–" Beat abruptly stopped upon coming to a realisation. "So that explains why he used his powers here! If it was him, it wouldn't have taken more than a second to deal with these things, no matter how many there are!" She added on, "That would also explain why his Aura is only concentrated on one spot. He brought out his Ability, took care of the monsters that were in his way, and reverted back in an instant! That sly fox…" Rhythm interjected in a soft voice filled with uncertainty, "You don't think he's partly responsible for these Cracks, do you? I mean, Miss Iv did point us to Canada and the States, maybe she knew he was involved somehow. After all, there's still so much we don't know. From how he's survived the death sentence, to how he remained undetected by anyone, to why–"
"Woah, woah. Slow down a bit, you're getting a bit too caught up there, Rhythm." The boy in turn, seemed to realise he had been trailing off. Coughing lightly, he added on, "Right, sorry about that. But the point is, there's still a lot we don't know about the situation. From Calvin himself, to this whole Crack outburst that they're now calling 'The Crisis'." Beat, in response, affirmed his words, "Yeah, you're right. We've been caught up this whole time trying to find Ezra, but once we get this mission done with, I'd like to have a chat with Miss Iv about what's really going on here."
