FusionFall: Invasion

Chapter Sixteen: Familiar Threats

"Wait, what are we doing?" Blake said, stumbling as he tried to catch up to my brisk pace. The sun was falling in the sky, the blue giving way to brilliant orange-red. Blood red. Suddenly the light dulled faster as black clouds slowly crept over the sky, drowning out whatever life was left. I looked up and felt a stab in my chest. Something doesn't feel right...something bad...

"HEY!" Blake shouted at me. "What are we doing, and who's this guy?" He jabbed a finger at Kitsu, who glared at him with serious attitude burning in his eyes. I slowed one step to get in between them.

"Blake, Kitsu. Kitsu, Blake. There. We're all acquainted. Now, we're going to help Kitsu with a problem he's got." I turned to him. "Sorry...what exactly happened? I was sort of caught up in the moment." I chuckled.

He explained what happened as we jogged back to our home base.

"Well...as the invasion began, and those Terrefusers started popping up everywhere, I went to enlist at DexLabs to join the ragtag army he's formed. Instead of leaving and evacuating, my stubborn parents insisted on staying, saying everything would be fine, that it was just some sort of crazy science-induced experiment again." He chuckled. "Anyway, I left, figuring they'd be alright and would protect the house and my brother. I went off, intent on becoming as strong as I could in my..." He faltered and looked away. I frowned and raised an eyebrow. "My...skills." He said and continued. "Anyway, while I was gone...apparently the Fusion Spawns were able to...infiltrate the house." He took a shuddering breath and visibly shivered. "Something weird has happened...I...can't get into my house. I can't hear anything from inside. I'm...s...I don't know what's going on. I can't get inside by myself, so I decided to try to find at least one other person who was willing to help me...but no one will." He looked away. Then looked back, grinning. "At least until I ran into you, Ben." He laughed. I grinned and chuckled. Blake looked between the two of us and shrugged, continuing on down the road.

Clamorous noise deafened me as I stepped into the base square. Everyone was asking questions; "Who's that?", "Is he safe to be allowed in here?", "When's dinner?!" (Rebecca), "Who's getting the trailers tonight? Me right? Me?" (Marcus), "Where've you been?", etc, etc. I raised my arms, calling for silence. Eventually everyone's questions died down.

"Alright everyone," I began. "This is Kitsu. He'll be staying with us for a while. I don't know how long a while is, but however long it is, he's welcome here. Be nice. We're gonna help him with a little problem tomorrow. You'll all be caught up to speed then, alright?" I started walking towards one of the trailers. "I'm tired now. I need sleep, and I'm gonna get it!" I stepped inside and slammed the door behind me.

In the morning, the door creaked open as I yawned, stretching high into the air. I rolled my neck, popping the joints, cracking my back by pivoting around. I rubbed my neck, "Ah...stupid crick..." I buckled my swords on and slung my rifle over my shoulder. I stepped down and looked about the camp. Everybody was preparing to move out, checking the base's defenses, stuff like that. I saw Kitsu showing off his scythe to Jackson and Chris. I called him and he trotted over to me. I pulled out my NanoCom and pulled up the map of the Suburbs.

After pinpointing his house, we all started off. Taking the Slider, we arrived at the house without incident, easily dispatching Fusions on the way. When we found the house, we stopped.

"Holy..." Chris breathed. Holy was right. The house was a basic, everyday single-story design found throughout the neighborhoods.

Except for the massive amounts of pulsing, dripping Fusion Matter. I'm pretty sure that's not a normal architectural design choice. Nor a popular one.

The roof supported an enormous Terrafuser, twice as large than the largest one we've seen before. It loomed over us, dripping deadly Fusion Matter everywhere around the house. It sizzled on the ground and on the walls. Where holes and fallen walls were, it was patched in by solid Matter, or metal plates. Next to the Terrafuser was a strange sight. It looked like a bunch of tentacles made of Fusion Matter.

"What in the name of all that is holy IS that?" Hailey exclaimed.

"Dunno." Kitsu replied, staring at it, eyes narrowed. It was there when I returned..." He drifted off into thoughts.

"Well," I said, looking at everyone. "Let's figure out how to get up there."

"Get up there?!" Everyone shouted, staring at me as if I was insane.  I mean, I am insane, but this seemed completely rational. "That tentacle thing looks like it may be the only way in. Unless any of you see another way. And if it's not the way in...Well, we won't know until we try, right?" Everyone looked at each other and shrugged, murmuring their doubts. Niko walked away and came back with a massive wooden  board over his shoulder.

"Will this work for you?" He asked.

"Totally." I grinned. I looked on the roof's edge, and spotted a good length untouched by acidic Matter. I pointed it out and Niko slowly inched forward, steadying the board until it lined up. Then he quickly planted the bottom end into the ground and let go, nudging it with his foot towards the house. I nodded in satisfaction. I placed a foot on the board. It didn't move, so I placed my other onto the wide plank.

"Be careful Ben..." I heard Ali behind me say.

"Of course." I looked over my shoulder and grinned, giving a thumbs-up. Turning back, I slowly walked over the board, in the air over a large moat of Fusion Matter around the house. I reached the roof and leaped onto a dry patch of tiling. I stared at the tentacle thing. They rose from a strange ring, made of some sort vine-looking thing. The area inside the ring was filled with a black-greenish, mirror-y surface. It sparkled and shone, looking like it was a night sky filled with stars. The tentacles simple slowly waved in the air. I hopped from dry patch to patch until I stood before the strange phenomenon. It stayed passive.

"Come on up! Looks like we were right!" I called behind me. A few moments later, Kitsu emerged, followed by Ali, and then everyone else. We all managed to fit around the ring, there being an absence of Matter about it.

"Huh..." Jackson said. Tony poked the butt of his rifle into the mirror-y ring. It passed through, the surface of it rippling like water. We all cringed, expecting the tentacles to lash out and attack, but they simple shivered, and then continued rippling back and forth hypnotically as before.

"Let's go in!" Jayven said. He slowly put out a foot, hesitated, then plunged it in. He closed his eyes and began screaming.

"GET HIM OUT!" I yelled. Niko reached over and picked him up, drawing his foot from the strange ring. It was intact.

"Jayven..." I growled, glaring at him. He laughed in Niko's arms.

"It's fine." he said. "Come on, let's go!" He wriggled out of Niko's grasp and placed both legs into the ring, and slid in, as if he were casually getting into a pool. One by one we all followed suit, the tentacles shivering every time someone entered. Ali reached out and grabbed my hand. I gave it a squeeze, smiled encouragingly, and nodded towards it.

"Ladies first." I grinned. She glared at me and put a hand on my shoulder, then shoved me into a crouch.

"No way am I dying before you."

I laughed, and we slid through the ring together. My last look at the outside world was the dark clouds that had coated the sky, and slowly began to pour down cold water.

None of us were prepared for what lay ahead.

Lots of thanks to EpicMalik for letting me use your characters! It helped a ton in developing this next little plot arc, and I'm finding a little collaboration to be very fun! Thanks again!

If you haven't read his stuff, go to EpicMalik's works and give 'em a peek. They're excellent!

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