It felt as though time stopped inside of the canopy, the only movement being the quiet rumbling of the roof and the altered's wings wavering slightly as it tugged against the rope that held its chest. Tyson's hand floated in the murky black mist, bobbing up and down as if it was no a cauldron. Marco signaled towards the fixers, pointing at Cooper making signals at his eyes, as if to ask if he was awake. They pointed at him, closed their eyes and opened them while nodding. As far as he was aware, Cooper was conscious.
"What do we do now?" Darren asked over comms as he pointed his rifle slowly at the creature, nearly pulling the trigger. Marco put his hand over the scope and pushed the rifle down, they looked at each other. "You pull that trigger, that rifle starts winding up and you're gonna be missing more than your eye." He nodded in response, lowering the rifle. Marco motioned with a hand to follow him, slowly making their way towards Cooper, stepping over spots where there were no rocks in order to avoid making noise.
One step, two steps, one tip toe, their boots barely grazed and stepped over spots where there were any, almost the entire floor near the center of the room was covered in rubble from the roof. They approached Cooper from behind, his entire lower half was covered in rubble. They got around to the front where he laid with his eyes open. For a second, it looked as though he was dead, totally motionless. A feeling of dread rushed over Marco, before it could settle in, Cooper's pupil immediately shot towards Marco's eyes, his hand which was near his head making a shushing motion.
Marco nodded, understandingly, he shot a glance at Darren who still kept his sights on the monster above. He turned to the fixers who both nodded, making the same motion as Cooper. Putting the pieces together, a real conundrum came about. They needed to be quiet, otherwise they would be detected by the altered. They could try to shoot it, however, the other arbiters were nowhere near as strong to take it out. Fissures only held A class altered, there was absolutely no way in hell Even Kailey's or Bodhi's weapon would be able to crack through that radiating shell. If either Darren or him tried to shoot it with their rifles, the engine like sound would surely trigger it.
They stood in silence, staring up at it. The roof settled, not crumbling anymore. Darren tapped Marco in the shoulder and pointed at the fissure, Tyson's hand had disappeared from the Fissure. They both looked down in almost disbelief, Tyson was still alive somewhere down there. They looked at each other for a second then the fixers who were both still sitting, they pointed at the crater.
A loud rumbling yet again.
This time, it was more the sound of a storm brewing from under them. They looked down as the black mist spiraled into a point in the center, speeding up frantically. A brief black "Flash" enveloped the room as the sound of a thousand thunders filled the canopy. The creature flipped to its head in an instant, spreading its wings with a loud screen. Out of each point, a barrage of needles shot down into the spiral. The void grew and grew, spewing violently out of the hole into a tall tornado enveloping the altered. The creature spun violently, no longer able to control it's position as it was flipped in every direction.
Needles shot all across the room, most of them missing completely as they were fired in random directions. However a single one jammed itself violently into Marco's shoulders, throwing him backwards into the floor. He stared in disbelief as the black tornado morphed into a ball. The silent creature began to screech like a flock of startled birds, dazing everyone in it's vacinity. Darren almost fell to his knees from how loud it was. Marco kept his gaze fixed, unable to blink or look away as he saw the sphere sink back into the fissure.
The fissure closed, they all stood up and walked back towards the wall. None of them, not the fixers who sat with mouths agape, not Cooper who was still laying on the ground covering his head, not Darren and not even Marco with their decades of experience could explain what was going on. They held on tightly to their rifles, Marco's pain beginning to settle in as he gripped his shoulder. There was an overwhelming lack of sound. Some crackling came from the middle of the room as the fissure tore open.
Darren walked over to it, aiming his rifle down at it. Before he could look over the edge, a single scream. "HEEELP!" Tyson's voice echoed into the sky. Darren stopped in his tracks, Cooper kicked the rubble off his legs and scrambled towards the edge. "Tyson!!" he immediately dove inside. Marco was too dazed to speak. Darren peeked over the lip, his eyes wide in disbelief. The fixers came next, Bodhi looking at Marco with wide eyes, he stood up and made his way over.
A deep sphere about 10 feet deep, covered in crimson walls. They all looked down at the Scene. Tyson laid on the floor, the needle still on his hand despite the lack of his glove. A massive chunk of his jumpsuit missing right below his left rib. Darren jumped down, taking a knee beside him, inspecting him. Marco tried to make his way down but Kailey stopped him, dragging him to the side to check on his shoulder. A black needle the width of her thumb was jammed right under his shoulder. Had it hit anything important, he would be bleeding out on the ground now from blood loss. He pushed her off of him and headed to the hole again where he climbed down, sliding down the side. "Holy shit, he wasn't lying..." Cooper muttered to himself, walking towards the entrance they had made and climbing out. Only Bodhi heard him, following him. Kailey dropped down the hole last.
Tyson laid on the floor panting, the thick rope encrusted onto the palm of his hand. Tyson reached and slowly peeled it off, almost as if it was glued on. He looked fine, perfectly so, aside from his missing glove and the obvious missing part of his jumpsuit. He stared into the sky, totally ignoring the people around him who got him to sit up, they checked his back, nothing unusual, though the rip reached around to his back as well in an almost perfect circle. Nobody said a word. He looked around at the people next to him, standing up. He looked down at both of his palms, a look of disbelief, he touched his stomach.
"Tyson, what was that..." Darren said in an unusually confused tone, almost worried. He looked up at him, raising both of his eyebrows, "I'm... not sure..." He stretched his arms into the air, Marco kept his eyes on him, almost in disbelief. Tyson glared at him, seeing the needle in his arm, he approached him. "It did that, right?" He said as he pointed up at the air where the creature was floating, he had a warm smile on his face. Marco nodded silently, Tyson approached him and placed his hand on his shoulder.
"He meant no harm-" His hand left traced down to the front of his shoulder, grabbing on to the arrow. Darren walked over to stop him. "-He was only frightened" Marco winced as if prepared for him to yank it out, however, Tyson pushed his palm into it, but rather than pushing it, it was as though he absorbed the black object, it shrunk, closing the wound as it disappeared into the air. Darren hesitated before grabbing him by the shoulder and yanking him. "Tyson what the HELL was that!" In a gruff voice, his otherwise nonchalant exterior cracking under the circumstances. Tyson his hand around his wrist and slowly took it off, walking past him and reaching up to pat him on the shoulder, he nodded at Kaylie and climbed over the ledge and out of the fissure.
Marco touched where the wound was, the spot clearly visible as he hole was still in his jumpsuit. He felt no pain, as if nothing had happened. He looked at Darren who looked as though he had seen a dead man, but his face seeing his dead comrades was somehow less startled than this. He picked up his rifle and scurried out of the fissure as well. Kailey approached Marco, "I don't like this Marco." Few words, but there was nothing he could agree with more at the moment. Not because he was scared, but because he could not comprehend what it was. That weird feeling, as though something he had believe his whole life suddenly became an untruth.
All 6 of them rendezvoused outside the group, Tyson stood straight with his hands behind his back. Cooper was far off in the distance, pacing, yelling something while Bodhi followed him around trying to talk to him. Darren stood by the entrance, waiting for Marco, still undecided on what to do next. His calm demeanor seemingly returning, though a tinge of uncertainty in which he spoke.
"The fissure seems to be closed, we exterminated the nucleus-" He glanced at Tyson who is standing a bit away, he faces Cooper who is still rambling in the distance pointing towards them. "But did we really?" He steps closer to Marco, staring him down almost threateningly, "It seems as though your boy over there has done something and whatever that something is could be a real problem." He purses his lip down at Marco.
Marco looks up at him, unfazed by Darren's demeanor, his mind is more focused on whatever it is that happened in that fissure. He weaved around Darren who straightened out with a deep breath. Marco came to stand at Tyson's side, not facing him, both of them watched as Cooper and Bodhi returned to the bunch. "Ready to go home?" He asked Tyson, he turned his head to him, returning to his usual demeanor. "Yeah..." he said in a less relaxed voice, totally different from the man who had healed him a few minutes ago. "You hear it calling you too?" He says nervously, Marco glances at him right as Bodhi waves at them getting his attention instead.
All six of them gathered in a circle, Cooper standing as far as possible as he could from Tyson, there is clear tension in the group. Darren was the first to speak, clearing his throat beforehand. "Good job everyone! Maybe not a job well done, but a good job regardless." They all stood quietly without acknowledgement, only looking at Darren. "We must get back to the landing zone, fixers, get your stuff from the canopy and meet us back out here." They nodded in agreement and walked towards the tunnel. They scattered a bit, Tyson sat with Mason silently, not saying a word, Tyson slid his hand over the hole on the torso of his suit while staring straight ahead. Darren and Cooper both looked straight ahead, exchanging words.
Kailey and bodhi both stepped out of the tunnel with their stuff around their extremities. Tyson stood up to talk to Darren, Bodhi approached Marco. With a rather careless expression and a deep huff, in one single breath came the words, "Tyson became an altered." Bodhi turned around and walked towards the group, leaving Marco standing there expressionless.