HELLSCAPE

CHAPTER 4

After spending a few days training with 06, Agent I had reached a point in her training where she felt comfortable using her abilities.

"You think you can handle yourself in the field?" 06 asked her

"You think you can keep up?" she remarked, to which 06 chuckled,

"Let's go see if we can get you an easy mission to practise some fieldwork, shall we?" he asked, before Agent I nodded in agreement.

They both made their way to a room that could only be described as "chaotically organised", screens were scaling up each wall, rows of desks with workers assigned to each, Devils hurrying about and a massive map of the world on the largest screen on the wall opposite to where they'd walked in, a copy of that same map was cast onto the giant LED desk that sat in the middle of the room. Though the other rooms in the building matched the gothic castle aesthetic that the building itself had, this was by far the most technologically advanced room that Agent I had seen in this place.

"This is where our agents are assigned their missions and where we keep track of unnatural events occurring across the globe," 06 said as he pointed to the map on the giant screen with different coloured markers scattered across the planet.

"The different colours indicate how powerful the unnaturals are. The more powerful the unnatural being, the harder they are to deal with." said a man who stood at the centre desk, he had a laid-back yet intelligent look to him as if he was simultaneously the smartest in the room but didn't care for curiosities.

"I'm 04 and I run mission control here" he added as he raised his hands slowly turning, as if to present that this was his domain.

"So which one are we going to?" Agent I enquired,

"This one!" 06 pointed at an orange dot on the map in Italy

"Orange markers indicate an unnatural that is not exactly child's play but also shouldn't be too much hassle, especially since there are two of you going" 04 explained

"Take these and we'll communicate with you from this hub while you're in the field" 04 explained to Agent I, as he tossed a pair of communicators to them both.

"Now stand still and I'll send you to the site of your assignment," he said, confusing Agent I as to what he meant by "I'll send you" but she stood still nonetheless, after a few seconds a bright light started to emit from 04's hands and the light enveloped Agent I and 06. As the light dimmed down, Agent I saw that they were in Italy.

"How is that possible? What just happened? How did he do that? What?" she started asking with confusion overwhelming her mind

"Senior members of the organisation have skills that rookies can't just pick up, we're some of the longest-running members of the company and we've spent countless years learning abilities that make us invaluable to Hellscape" he explained, presenting his hand to her as it started glowing with energy,

"My ability, as you may have gathered while we were training, is to mimic any ability I can fundamentally break down and understand. After I have done so, I can reconstruct it myself and cast it" he said

"04's abilities allow him to transport any matter to any location that he has either been to himself or that he can see" he went on

"What about 02's abilities?" Agent I asked before being interrupted by the ground shaking and the sight of swarms of insects crawling out of the ground.

"We'll continue this chat later!" 06 exclaimed as he placed a barrier over the crack in the ground that the insects were coming from,

"We've got a job to complete first!"

"On it!" she responded as she released her katana from its casing, cutting up the army of bugs that were swarming them. As she cut them, they fell to the ground and disintegrated. As 06 covered the wounds in the ground the swarms were surfacing from, as he did this, more cracks started opening up.

"When I say jump, you jump!" 06 shouted over the sound of the insects scurrying out of the earth, Agent I nodded to signal that she understood.

06 used the grew the barriers in one direction and yelled

"JUMP!!"

As she jumped the barrier grew around them cutting any pests caught in its travel. Both 06 and Agent I were standing on a shield platform above the ground that was being infested, the sheet covered the entire infected area. Then the sheet grew into the ground at the edges, cutting its way through the dirt and stone. 06 jumped off and moved backwards and Agent I followed as 06 raised his hands, showing visible struggle due to the weight, Agent I saw that he had used the shielding ability to encase the hive and the humanoid-bug hybrid of a queen that was hidden under their feet where the swarms were coming from. It was at this moment that she understood why these agents were held in such high regard, they understood their abilities and how versatile they can be. 06 had just used a fully defensive ability to rip out the unnatural from beneath the ground and trap it. As she was in awe she snapped out of it seeing that 06 was waiting for her to make her move. She tightened her grip on the hilt of her blade and looked to 06, he gave her one nod of approval

Divina Temperantia

She cast her ability onto her katana, the katana broke its blade formation and turned into a whip, still holding the hilt of it, Agent I directed it towards the casing in the sky. The katana extended up to it and phased through the shield trapping the swarm leaving no visible damage to the unnatural's prison, it wrapped around the queen and began to glow its gold-blue light, weakening it. Agent I, filled with excitement she had defeated her first unnatural, looked at 06, staring at the swarm in confusion. The ability that she had cast should have weakened the queen however the swarm was not dissipating. Agent I also looked toward it and noticed that the swarm was climbing into the queen's mouth and the queen was growing in size.

"Uhm... guys? Your anomaly just went from an Orange to Red...and it's turning Grey..." 04 relayed over the comms with a hint of panic in his voice,

"What does that Grey mean?" Agent I asked 06

"It means, this unnatural thing just got strong enough to kill a Devil..." he responded with a worrying expression falling across his face, Agent I was still relatively new to this and now she was facing off with an unnatural that had just evolved from "Field day training" to "Devil Killer"...