Salvador Ortega
Hazy smoke. Screams echoing. Vibrations rumbling. Explosions bursting. Blood droplets scattering.
“Squad 3! Squad 3! Spike—arghhh!!”
Whoosh—though the smoke obscured the view, it was clear the ECPD tactical team was dying. Gunfire, slashing blades, cannon shells—none of it stopped the screams. If anything, they only intensified the sickening squelch of tearing flesh.
“...Hmm.”
Enoch calmly reinserted the pin into his EMP grenade. There was no reason left to fight.
“Impressive.”
Soo trotted up beside him, her expression still languid, but her eyes gleaming sharply as if peering through the smoke.
Enoch eyed her suspiciously and whispered, “Did you do this?”
“You don't see me as human?”
“You're a dragon, aren't you?”
“Oh, right.”
Soo, having stealthily tucked her escaped tail back into her oversized jacket, shook her head.
“Wasn't me, though.”
Magic makes the impossible possible, she'd probably say. Enoch bit back the retort, wary of being convinced by her magic.
“Then... what the hell is that?”
“Dunno.”
Crack—Soo's pupils split vertically. The glow in her eyes deepened.
“Kinda like a Chrome Psycho.”
“Mindlessly slaughtering a tactical team? Yeah, that tracks.”
“Let's bail first.”
“Best idea I've heard all day.”
Soo and Enoch hopped into the car without hesitation. They didn't forget to slam the trunk shut and lock it tight.
Rumble—the engine roared to life. All they cared about was getting out of there. The dying squad? Not their problem. Help them out of pity, and those bastards would just demand repayment later.
Of course, they weren't heartless enough to abandon them entirely. If the squad kept dying off, Talos would show up eventually. Eden's enforcer never missed its mark.
“Let's go.”
“Yeah.”
Vroom vroom—the battered car peeled away from the chaos onto the road. The other squads had no time to notice. They were too busy fighting whatever was rampaging in the smoke.
“Lucky break, though.”
Enoch's eyes flicked to the rearview. The hazy smoke had turned red now, blood droplets flying amid the heat from thermal grenades vaporizing flesh. He floored the accelerator, taking in the carnage.
But the speed was still pathetic. Maybe that's why.
“M-Mommy...! D-Daddy, Daddy!”
The car was too slow.
“No, i-it's okay, sweetie. Mommy's here, it's okay... E-everything's gonna be fine...”
Too late escaping the road.
“My baby... Mommy loves you so much. Yeah...? Mommy really, really loves you...”
That's why they heard it.
“M-Mommy... Mommy! I don't wanna hide! Come with me, sob... Hide with me too... Okay?”
Explosions still boomed. Screams rang out. Gunfire pierced the sky. The stench of blood and ruptured guts filled the air.
“Mommy's... gonna hide separately. My baby... my precious baby... Count to a hundred right here. Then... Mommy and Daddy will come get you. Okay?”
Enoch and Soo exchanged a glance. They weren't the type for telepathic eye contact. But right now, they were on the same page.
“Lucky my ass.”
“Yeah.”
Screech—the car skidded to a halt. The pathetic engine cut off. Doors flew open, and Enoch and Soo piled out.
Click click—the sound of checking weapons replaced the engine noise. Heavy steps carried them back the way they'd come.
“M-Mommy! Mommy! Behind you! Th-that thing—!”
Something moved through the red mist. A familiar shadow to the pair: adult male build, hypertrophied arm. But not identical. The last one had a massive right arm; this one had the left. And it had a tail.
Boom—the chimera leaped. The child's desperate scream stabbed the sky. The mother's frantic pleas blanketed the road.
Higher still, Soo launched herself skyward. She raised a clenched fist overhead—rare emotion surging through it.
The fist fell.
Kaboom—!
The chimera slammed into the ground. A dark flash slashed across it. No sound followed. Mugyeok had severed its legs clean off.
Green blood sprayed into the air. The stumps bubbled and began regenerating.
Then a tail covered in razor spines whipped in. Enoch didn't dodge. He trusted Soo and braced his stance. Mugyeok extended as he stepped forward.
Soo repaid that trust. Wham—! Her kick snapped the whipping tail mid-swing.
Crunch—her knee drove down, shattering the chimera's spine.
Then—slash slash slash! Enoch's Mugyeok shredded it. Slicing through bubbling flesh. Green droplets painting the air shredded and evaporated before hitting the ground.
Yet the chimera wouldn't die. Enoch pressed the attack. Click—his elbow jointed, a forearm-thick barrel ejecting. It fired instantly.
Bang bang bang—harsh blasts ignited white flames across the chimera's body.
Wind followed. Not a refreshing breeze. It bared sharp fangs, mirroring its master's fury.
Soo's pupils blazed. Compress the blast radius. Sharpen it further. No single burst this time. Infuse persistence into the wind. Bounce inward, not outward. Shift to compression over explosion.
Soo leaped into the air. A long spear shaft formed in her pale hand. Noise spread, cloaking her fully.
The wind cleared the blood mist. Visibility cleared.
The barely-alive squad members held their breath. Noise rippled in the air—the most notorious phenomenon in Southpeak lately.
'Hacking... impossible.'
ECPD squads got decent hacking tools to ID and take down wanted criminals. But not now. The unidentified noise jammed their signals. Nothing like ICE—some bizarre new tech...
They could only watch.
The spear shot forward. Space crumpled.
And that ended it. The "immortal" monster vanished. Completely.
*****
“It's okay.”
“...S-Sniff.”
The girl trembled at the Noise approaching. No wonder—rumors in Southpeak said the Noise snatched disobedient kids. She'd heard it plenty.
And now it was here. For ignoring Mommy? Throwing a tantrum instead of hiding?
She was too scared to even cry. Until the Noise offered candy...
“Wanna eat?”
“C-Candy...?”
“Yeah. Lemon flavor.”
“C-Can... I eat it, Mommy...?”
“But you gotta brush good after.”
The girl glanced between the candy and Noise, then squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head.
“Candy's f-fine... B-But please help my daddy... sob... p-please...?”
She fidgeted, pulling three small beads from her pocket.
“Th-These are my favorites, hic... I'll give 'em... so please save my daddy, euup... Daddy...”
“Daddy's fine now.”
“Huh...?”
The girl whipped her head around in shock. Beside her bleeding daddy stood another Noise. Her mommy was bowing to it repeatedly.
She didn't get it, but this Noise wasn't bad.
“...D-Daddy's really o-okay...?”
“Yeah, Medi-Shield'll be here soon.”
The wounds were nasty and deep, but they'd stanched the bleeding—just barely. Something old Enoch couldn't have pulled off. Gear earned killing people, now saving one. And by Soo and Enoch's standards, the guy was a villain anyway. Good deed done.
“O-Okay then...”
She hesitated, then took the candy—beads on top.
“Th-Thank you for helping Daddy, sob...”
“Heh.”
The Noise—Soo—grinned happily.
Enoch approached from where he'd been dealing with the mom. Two weeks grinding transparent magic paid off. Soo's Noise now cloaked him too, if they moved calmly. Violent motion scattered it, but this worked.
“Gotta grab the trunk stuff first... Tch.”
Enoch muttered, then cut off. Click—from behind Soo. Ping—a pin pulled.
Not surprised—they'd expected it. ECPD watched for excessive force. And Soo's Noise was infamous in Southpeak.
Still, flipping attitudes this fast? Save a drowning man, and he demands your bundle—yeah, that proverb fit.
Soo sighed and turned. To the squad, it was just writhing Noise.
“Stay calm, and we won't call Talos.”
“Your comms aren't all smashed?”
Enoch sneered from beside her. Probably were—their hovercars carried the gear.
But Talos could still be summoned. Simple yet hard: suicide. Full squad wipe—ten members—triggered it. Eden's first condition for enforcer deployment.
Eight down already. If the rest offed themselves, Talos in 30 seconds.
So Soo and Enoch couldn't kill them. Talos made escape hell.
But bailing now? No—vital cargo in the trunk. Couldn't grab it in front of them. Plate lookup IDs Enoch.
Too hasty.
No regrets, though. Better to scheme than dwell.
Enoch gripped a pre-pinned flashbang, ready to pop it when Soo moved.
“No answer? Really all smashed?”
“...Special hazard: Noise. Your orders aren't kill-on-sight. Pass precise scan, clear of anomalies—you get ECPD protection. Impure results—”
“What a pain in the ass.”
Click—from Enoch's pocket. Twelve squad members raised guns in unison.
Enoch exhaled tensely.
And.
“Oh.”
Soo chuckled with a short exclamation.
Why now? Shoot? Can we even take them? The two who smashed that monster—us against them?
Doubt flickered in the squad's minds. Fleetingly. No decision needed.
“Tch... How can ye young'uns lack such decency?”
The gruff voice banished doubt. Relief sighed out.
“What're ye doin' to the benefactor who saved yer hides?”
No need to die. No life on the line. He'd sort it all.
“Heh heh, ye whelps gone deaf in the ears?”
The cranky old man even ECPD brass treaded lightly around.
“Must this ol' codger pick up a gun to make ye scatter?”
Salvador Ortega.
He approached with a hearty guffaw.