That's when Lana's UW dinged with a notification.
Instantly, her face contorted in horror, an emotion she hadn't even shown when confronted with her potential death. As far as Josh could tell, she didn't seem to be faking either.
"What is it?"
"It's Sophie. I mean the little girl that asked you to read her a story. She's in trouble, and so is the entirety of this place!" Lana uttered while shaking.
"What do you mean this place? Isn't the barrier down? Can't the MTA swoop in and save the day like heroes of justice?" Josh raised a brow.
"No, they brought something horrifying with them. Do you remember the events that happened in Metropolis-H recently?"
"What do you mean?"
"There was that one attack with mutating creatures running wild in the city. They devoured many before regaining control. Does that ring a bell?"
The tragedy Josh had unknowingly caused? Yes, it did ring a few bells. How was he supposed to know that the bloodthirsty monsters (gene corp members transformed with a chaos pearl) wouldn't just kill one another?
"Yes, I remember. What about it?" Josh frowned.
"These madmen brought something similar here, and they captured her! Please let me make a single call. You can do whatever you want with me afterward. Please just—" she cried out as she begged.
"Nope. Making a call sounds pretty useless if the situation is that dire. She could die any second now. Only people already on the scene will be able to help then." Josh cut her off directly.
He then whispered something to the mysterious man, who sounded surprised. "Are you sure?" He asked. In the background, Lana was still pleading.
"Please, I'll even sign a magical contract and serve you. Just let me—" But suddenly, the chains began wriggling around her.
She despaired as she understood that she was about to get crushed. But, a second later, she was free. She couldn't help but look at her captors, puzzled. What were they doing?
"What are you waiting for? Go save her already." Josh gestured for her to scram.
Lana didn't understand what was happening. Was he letting her go just like that? But she didn't dwell on it either. She rushed at full speed, leaving the two men alone, not even bothering with revenge.
"I'm wondering, why did you let her leave so easily?" The mysterious man inquired.
"Because I know how it feels to lose someone dear to you. As long as it doesn't directly endanger me, then I don't see any issue with it." Josh shrugged.
"The more I listen to you and the stranger your power becomes. Killing intent and yet…."
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"No need to overthink it. I simply act as I desire." Josh explained.
That's when he suddenly heard his UW beep. He had recently set it to do not disturb and only emergencies were supposed to go through. As he checked it, he couldn't help but give a wry smile.
- Frank the Recruiter: Boss, a certain Lana Ensis from Gemini contacted us with an emergency request: to save a little girl in Metropolis-C. She insisted she knows you and that I relay the message. What should I do?
Wow, how ironic that the one she wanted to message just happened to be him. He wasn't even sure why. Did she think that he was influential with the school and all? He couldn't risk the students' lives.
- Josh MF Malum: Tell her that you didn't manage to contact me and that she should contact the MTA if it's urgent.
With that said, he had accomplished his assassination mission, the barrier was down, and he technically didn't have a reason to stay here anymore.
"Oh, joker-masked one, what will you do from now on?"
"I'll be watching. Oh, and I won't be helping you anymore since I'm scared of making another deal." He instantly replied.
"Damn, how heartless!" Josh cried out akin to a sorrowful, abandoned maiden.
He wouldn't waste time trying to convince the guy otherwise. He seemed way too aloof as if he truly didn't care about much, including helping others.
He rushed out, soon reaching the exterior. The first thing he noticed was a barrier. "Ah, c'mon!" The new one was even bigger and seemed to have been placed outside the premises.
But, if he wasn't wrong, this one probably belonged to the MTA. This would make things a little easier as he could always ask Dario to bail him out. Now, the problem was actually finding the exit. (or entrance?)
He began moving along the wall, noticing the lack of bad guys with shouts echoing in the distance. But a few minutes after he started walking, something suddenly popped right under his feet!
Throwing himself on the side, he dodged what could only be described as a long big black tentacle. It kept wriggling and, seeing as it had been noticed, burrowed back into the earth. This would definitely be a pain.
Then, over the next few minutes, it kept coming back, trying to surprise him. Honestly, he wasn't even sure if that thing was dangerous, but he wouldn't touch it either way.
But it soon became worse. What started with one tentacle attacking soon became a few at regular intervals. He kept dodging and walking as the air slowly turned black. Was this poison? He had no way of knowing, but it didn't seem to be the case.
Seeing as he couldn't seem to find what he was looking for, he resolved himself to head toward the shouts. Hopefully, he'd find someone to inquire about all this mess. But what awaited him turned out to be an even bigger mess.
"What the fuck is this?"
It was a nightmarish sight: a gigantic wriggling mass of black tentacles that seemed to create some kind of creature...yet the thing wasn't alive either. It was so very odd.
Next to it were Climbers wearing the MTA uniform, fighting the ones responsible for all this mess. They seemed to be evenly matched. What were they even saying?
"Death to all the Fallen!"
"Deal with those bastards!"
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"Screw the MTA. You guys should be praising us for cleaning the city!"
It was the usual discriminatory BS from the terrorist side.
"Fuck me. I didn't join the MTA to fight tentacles!"
"Keep going. We got this. Their chains are all gone. We can do this!"
"What in the seven Hell is that thing that they summoned?!"
"Who cares? We gotta destroy it before it hurts more people!"
"Guys, keep focusing the Climbers first!"
Nearby, Lana was slashing the tentacles repeatedly without any sign of success. "I'll take you down if it's the last fucking thing I do!"
An MTA soldier screamed at her:
"She's gone already. Give it up, we gotta kill those bastards and rescue the hostages!" but she didn't even twitch and kept attacking.
So that's how it was. That one little girl was already dead, devoured by that horror. He could understand how she felt. It was as if her heart was a bottomless abyss, one that revenge wouldn't fill, but it would help.
But, the more she slashed and the livelier the thing became.
"Fuck that crazy woman! She's gonna cause our demise!" A soldier spat out.
Crazy? No, she wasn't. She was perfectly sane, and he could understand where they were coming from.
"Stop causing trouble already and help us! Fuck!" Another shouted.
That's when one soldier had his arms slapped by a tentacle. Instantly, it began to mutate at a sped visible to the naked eye before spreading toward the rest of his body. A colleague nearby quickly slashed, cutting his arms off.
"Dumbass, be careful!" he warned.
"T-thanks." The one-armed man was livid. He had almost died!
Should Josh even help? They clearly didn't have the situation under control, but it was only a question of time before the MTA sent more soldiers, right?
"Where are the others?" He couldn't help but ask.
"What others? There's only us. If we can't deal with it, everyone's dying here!"
"You're kidding, right?" Josh asked, perplexed.
"Nope, this power's far too dangerous to take any risk!"
Motherfucker! How the hell wasn't there anyone in Metropolis-C that conveniently had a skill that countered this thing?
"Fucking Metropolis-H that refused to send their data!" A soldier cursed.
So that was it. It was the first time they saw such power and didn't know how to deal with it yet. He had just "luckily" stumbled upon the experiment. He would now be part of it whether he wanted to or not.
"Hey, Lana. Stop wasting your time and kill the terrorists. Once you're done, it won't be too late to take revenge." Josh uttered, annoyed. He sent so much killing intent in her direction that she had no choice but to jolt to attention.
"No, I need to—"
"It wasn't a suggestion, but an order. Hurry up, and I'll deal with this thing." Josh spat out, displeased.
Was there anything he could do against it? Probably not. But, he seemed so sure of himself that she somehow believed him. She charged at the terrorists and began dicing them at a frightening speed.
Holy shit, she was fast! Hell, he wouldn't stand a chance against her.
She worked miracles! The enemies were strong too, but she was enough to shift the balance of the fight, slowly turning it to their advantage.
Josh slowly approached the wriggling tentacles. What was he even supposed to do against it?
But, just as he was starting to ponder his options, Lana's UW beeped. Instantly, a large smile bloomed on her face but soon disappeared.
"What is it? Are there reinforcements coming?" Josh asked.
"It's Sophie. She's still alive."
"What?!"
"She's in there."
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She pointed straight at the wriggling mass of tentacles. This had now turned into a rescue mission...
Creator's Thought
How many worlds perished thanks to the power of chaos? I've lost count. It's like some malevolent entity playfully scattered it all across the Tower, waiting for unsuspecting Climbers to trigger it. Luckily not all chaos is equal. Otherwise, my mistake at Metropolis-H would have doomed us all.