Following

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Chapter 46 Chapter 47 Chapter 48 Chapter 49 Chapter 50 Chapter 51 Chapter 52 Chapter 53 Chapter 54 Chapter 55 Chapter 56 Chapter 57 Chapter 58 Chapter 59 Chapter 60 Chapter 61 Chapter 62 Chapter 63 Chapter 64 Chapter 65 Chapter 66 Chapter 67 Chapter 68 Chapter 69 Chapter 70 Chapter 71 Chapter 72 Chapter 73 Chapter 74 Chapter 75 Chapter 76 Chapter 77 Chapter 78 Chapter 79 Chapter 80 Chapter 81 Chapter 82 Chapter 83 Chapter 84 Chapter 85 Chapter 86 Chapter 87 Chapter 88 Chapter 89 Chapter 90 Chapter 91 Chapter 92 Chapter 93 Chapter 94 Chapter 95 Chapter 96 Chapter 97 Chapter 98 Chapter 99 Chapter 100 Chapter 101 Chapter 102 Chapter 103 Chapter 104 Chapter 105 Chapter 106 Chapter 107 Chapter 108 Chapter 109 Chapter 110 Chapter 111 Chapter 112 Chapter 113 Chapter 114 Chapter 115 Chapter 116 Chapter 117 Chapter 118 Chapter 119 Chapter 120 Chapter 121 Chapter 122 Chapter 123 Chapter 124 Chapter 125 Chapter 126 Chapter 127 Chapter 128 Chapter 129 Chapter 130 Chapter 131 The Phone Call Louise's First Costume When Keyla was Here A Day at the Garcia House The Keeper Sibling Bonds Once Upon a Time in High School Lillie's Recipes Lightning the Mentor A Miraculous Medical Aide Louise's Day Off An Ethereal Fairy Eternal Youth A Miracle Manifests Three Generals Deep Thoughts Over Lemonade A Miracle of Science Three Branches, Three Days Dreams of Heroes The Makings of a Thief Girl Time Wishing for More Courtney Larsen, Age 15 A Greenhouse Tour Odin's Evening The Keeper's Evening Cleo's Seventeenth Birthday Never to Thaw Again 2617's New Arx Techs Payday Party Prime's Board Game Party Temperature-Regulating Potions

Arx Nubibus
Ongoing 1277 Words

Chapter 82

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Ellis Richardson was enjoying his lunch when his squad was called to action again. It was shortly before noon, and he'd been taking a quick break. Waiting on emergency calls was pretty chill, but they had to be ready to move at any time. 

He ran through the hallways until he reached Barron. The rest of the squad was almost ready to go. The sergeant swiftly ran over the necessary information. 

"Villain attack from the sounds of it. 9-7-2. Doesn't seem to be anyone we've seen before. Grab your rayguns and be ready. They're sending in all available hands, including Lieutenant Galvan and Colonel Castillo. Now move!" 

"Sir!" The officers followed him as they ran through the streets. Other squads were behind them, their footsteps echoing throughout the city. Anyone using the streets moved to the side so the military contingent could move through with little issue. The site wasn't too far from military HQ, so everyone was probably aware of what was happening. Even as he ran, Ellis could hear screams. 

The temperature dropped as they continued on, and some kind of whitish film seemed to cover a block below them. They ran down a staircase, with Barron slowing down as they approached the bottom. A woman was shivering in fear at the bottom of the stairwell, tears in her eyes. She looked up, hope in her eyes. 

Ellis steeled himself. They had to protect her. They had to protect everyone. 

"I hate this circus," O'Neil grumbled beside him. Ellis smiled wryly. O'Neil hadn't believed in these Miracles at first, but the evidence had quickly piled up so now he just complained about having to deal with them. 

Barron stepped forward slightly, tapping the ground with his foot while everyone waited for his signal. 

"Careful," he said. "Ground's slippery." When Ellis took a closer look at it, it almost looked like the ground was covered in ice. But how would that even work? He shook the questions out of his head. Bad traction ground. Move carefully. That was all that mattered. 

It was moments like this he missed Larsen and her quick detailed thinking. But the time for those thoughts was gone. Barron signaled and the squad moved forward. 

They moved slowly, getting into formation around a pair in the middle of the street. Both women from the looks of it. One stood in front, large pieces of something sprouting from her arms like shields. The other was in back, focusing on a wall of whatever was on the ground. It slowly moved up, now about waist-height. Beside them, a couple people looked like they were trapped on the ground. Blood pooled around one of them, and the stench hardened Ellis' resolve. 

"Stand down!" Colonel Castillo called from the level above. "You have five seconds before we shoot." 

"Go ahead." The woman with the shield arms closed her eyes for a moment, and the plates expanded until they completely obscured the two from Ellis' view. 

"Have a bite of this," the other woman said with a laugh. Ellis frowned, waiting for her to do something. 

Five seconds passed. 

"Fire at will!" Castillo yelled. Raygun fire peppered the two, most hitting the shield. Ellis couldn't see how many actually hit home. 

"Move to surround them," Barron commanded. Ellis and the others tried to respond, but with a jolt of panic, he realized their feet were trapped. A thick layer of what looked like ice had trapped them in place. 

Ellis grunted, trying to pull himself free, but the ice was continuing to creep up his legs. When it touched his ankles, he shuddered at the pain. How could he get out of this? 

O'Neil shot at his own foot, hoping the raygun's heat would melt him free. Ellis copied him, but the ice was forming faster than they could melt it, and if they weren't careful they would injure themselves. 

"Dammit," West muttered. "They've got us." 

"Move, officers!" Castillo bellowed, glaring down at them. 

"No good Colonel," Barron called back. "We're stuck. How many of you are mobile?" 

"Looks like half, but they're mostly where they can't hit," Galvan replied. "We need to rearrange our formation entirely." 

Ellis swallowed a string of curses. That wouldn't get them out of this. He aimed his raygun again and shot at the shield. Of course, it didn't do anything. What else could he do? 

The shield parted, and one of the trapped civilians was pushed through, a ring of ice around their neck. Fear contorted their face, and tears were freezing on their cheeks. 

"He...lp..." 

Ellis barely heard the whisper. It twisted his heart far more than any scream he'd ever heard. 

"Let them go!" Galvan yelled. 

"Nah." The reply was punctuated by laughter. The ice spread along the civilian's neck, covering their chin and chest. The could only watch helplessly as the life left them. 

"Dammit!" O'Neil let loose a string of raygun shots through the gap in the shield. Cries of pain sounded, and another civilian was pushed through. Raygun burns peppered her upper body, which froze O'Neil in his tracks. 

"Why?" Ellis muttered, frantically trying to think of a way out. A way to protect everyone. But none came to him. Other officers were rearranging themselves to hit the pair of Miracle-using murderers, but the pair seemed to be done. 

"Well, I think that's enough of an introduction, hey Shell?" The voice seemed to belong to the one manipulating the ice. 

"Sure." 

"Great. We're Team Chaos, everybody! Nice to meet you all. Ready, Ferry?" 

"Ready!" A new woman appeared in front of them in a burst of light. "I'm Ferry! Military, Ferry. Ferry, Military. And behind me we've got Cold Snap and Shell. Nice to meet you all." 

No one was really taking in her words. They aimed their rayguns and let off a shower of beams, but before they could hit, Ferry, Shell and Cold Snap all vanished with another burst of light. 

All that was left were dead civilians and the white ground. 

 

A few minutes later, the Legion arrived. Prime came in a simple mask and costume, and slowly took in the scene. Most of the military had left, leaving Barron's squad to do cleanup. 

"Paris?" Prime asked, looking around with a pained expression on his face. 

"No," O'Neil spat at him. "You're late, Legion punk. Some new freaks we'd never seen before. And now people are dead." 

"I can see that!" Prime said, whirling around like he was going to punch someone. Instead, he slammed his fist into a wall. 

Ellis stepped back, then realized that Prime was almost weeping. 

"I'm sorry. I wish I'd been here. I wish I'd been able to do something." The whispers were probably for the dead. Ellis had gone through something similar during his early military days. Everyone did. 

When you weren't in time to save someone. Even though it was your job. O'Neil kept his mouth shut, probably because he understood that Prime was just as angry at himself as anyone else was. The officers just went back to chipping the ice off the walls and ground, waiting for someone to come back to retrieve the bodies. 

Ellis fell into thought as he worked. Even if the Legion and military were at odds, shouldn't there be a way for the two of them to communicate? If a situation like this happened again - no, when it happened - the military could call in the Legion. Maybe their unique powers would save someone. 

There was pride in being a military officer. But that pride was nothing compared to the need to protect the people of Arx Nubibus. 


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