CHAPTER 1: Rhodes Island Intervention

Time - 08:50 / Weather - Normal / Visibility - Low

"So what are we doing again? I wasn't paying attention to Dobermann."

"You daft or something? Fine, I say it again. So in short, we got a distress call an hour from the O.R.K reactor about needing medical attention and had evacuated the whole facility."

"So... we are gonna give them first aids?

"Yes but Kal'tsit already sent the Reserve Op Team A4, Lancet-2 and Myrrh to help them."

"Then what are we doing here?"

"Apparently, our guys found originite in the smoke coming out from the explosion. They think that the gas explosion might have hit some of the orignite pipes and leaked it into the air and contacted Iozh about it. So you see that chopper over there? See those muppets in front of us? They are going to pour some liquid to block the pipes down there. After that, we will go down and see whether we can find any cracks that might be containing Orignite."

Kayan looks out of the side of the helicopter he's in. He could see another helicopter circling around the smoke with the word "ACECOT-2" in big, white bolded words. Beside it was the huge Rhodes Island logo. He could hear the helicopter's blades whirring, creating a rhythmic "wop-wop" sound, and pushing the rising smoke away. It was pouring chucks of sandy liquid that disappeared into the thick smoke that was coming out of a deep hole from the broken ruin.

"So why can't we use drones and robots to do it?"

Easton looks at him for a moment, looking as if he was questioning his life choices, before pointing towards two boxes that have the name "Remote-controlled Pathfinders" and underneath the logo was a clear plexiglass. Behind it was a huge robot with nozzles and a pad to control it. Kayan still confused then asked,

"But why must we go down there?"

"The reason is because the robots are newly made and the parts were scrambled together quickly by Closure. Probably nicked some of these parts. So the antenna of the robots isn't that strong so we will have to be near the site to do it."

Kayan gave him the okay sign to show that he understood. Just then, a 'ping' sound was heard throughout a yellow light with the word 'Standby' beamed through the helicopter. Kayan and Easton immediately put on their hazmat suits and their buckles. As they were getting ready, the helicopter moved towards and above an open space of greenery and pushing away the trees and grass with its wind.

A small 'blip' rang through the helicopter, an ACECOT-1 pilot tapped on the mic for a bit and said, "Get ready." Kayan and Easton checked on the rappelling rope. Tugging to check for the anchor point connection. Then, Easton signaled Kayan to drop his box. They dropped their boxes containing the Pathfinders onto the ground. It landed with a thud, Kayan wondering whether it damaged the robots. They dropped the rope down, uncoiling itself as it fell onto the ground. The ends brushing against the grass. They then sat on the doorway, swinging their legs, and giving themselves a pat down for an equipment check and waited for the next instruction.

A soft 'ping' came and they stood up, facing inwards while holding onto their ropes. The lights turned green and the moment they heard the word "go" on the intercom, Easton vigorously jumped and pushed themselves out from the helicopter, sliding onto the rope. Kayan was hesitating. One of the pilots came out of the cockpit to see whether they had already left. He looked at Kayan and shouted at him to jump, but Kayan had forgotten to seal his suit properly. As he was fixing his suit, he looked back at the other helicopter to see whether they were done with their job but he noticed something peculiar. The main and tail rotors seemed to be slowing down. The helicopter slowly starts to lose balance.

Just then, a piercing "blip" was heard through the intercom, causing Kayan to slightly jump, and gave out a static sound. It was followed up by the sound of a young, worried person heavily breathing, being muffled by the engine.

*heavy breathing* "Uhh, this is ACECOT-2...we @$/!?$!" *heavy static*

The intercom went silent. Kayan looked down at Easton, standing beside his box, who was looking at the other helicopter. He had a look of slight confusion and fear. The helicopter was shaking and tilting left and right, spinning around the smoke. Their pilot picked up the mic and said,

"This is ACECOT-1, could you repeat what you just said. Over"

There was a silence for a moment before another 'blip' could be heard.

"This is ACECOT-2. Ca..can you hear us now?"

ACECOT-1 Pilot : "We hear you loud and clear."

ACECOT-2 Pilot : "Can you help us find a place to land? I can't turn the helicopter around."

ACECOT-1 Pilot : "Affirmative."

The other pilot who was with Kayan told him to get off the helicopter. They both look around for a safe landing zone for the helicopter when suddenly, a huge scream pierced through the intercom. In the background, they could hear the sounds of other people shouting and screaming.

The other pilot urgently signalled Kayan jumped and swung himself onto the rope. As he slid down, he saw the other helicopter yaw violently to one side. He could see the silhouette of 2 pilots desperately trying to regain control. Suddenly, one of the blades fell off, followed by what's left of the main rotor jamming and the tail rotor disconnecting. The helicopter immediately started spinning, tilting heavily onto one side. One of it's doors opened, and Kayan could see a guy wearing a black or blue hazmat suit falling out of it. He couldn't see where the guy landed but he knew that the guy didn't survive the fall.

Kayan suddenly collapsed onto the ground. He was so distracted by the helicopter that he didn't brace himself when descending. He looked at Easton who was still looking at the helicopter. As Kayan got up, he looked at the helicopter and caught a glimpse of the helicopter spinning into the side of a building that was near the hole, producing a loud squeal as it merged into the concrete wall, the building collapsing onto it where they can't see. He could feel the rope from the helicopter he jumped down from dropping down and the sound of the whirring helicopter moving away.

Kayan and Easton looked at each other with shock deep in their wide-opened eyes. Their breathing grew slightly heavier and fogged up the insides of their hazmat suits. Easton picked up his walkie talkie on his chest, quickly fumbled with the buttons. He put the walkie talkie close his mouth and pressed the button, a 'tchk' sound can be heard.

Easton : "Rhodes Island Actual, this AC-2 Team One. Do you copy?"

There was a brief silence for a moment. Easton tapping his feet impatiently. Kayan, who was still recovering physically from the fall and mentally from seeing a whole squad dying, stood up and leaned onto a tree.

Easton was about to repeat his message when suddenly

"Heeey Elysium here. What's going on?"

Easton : "Helicopter ACECOT-1 is down. Requesting permission to check out the crash site for any remaining survivors. Over."

There was a slight muffled of worried commotion coming out from the walkie talkie.

Elysium : "I'll be right back."

Easton : "Roger."

Kayan stood up and walked around, looking for the crate he dropped. He spotted one and saw one of the boxes laying on his side on top of a small tree. As he was climbing up to recover the box, he heard another 'tchk' sound.

Elysium : "We will send Reserve Op Team A1 and Op Team A4 to check out the crash site. In the meantime, Kal'tsit has asked you to continue your mission but to be extra careful and as there is still originite traces in the air."

Easton : "Roger that."

Easton put back his walkie talkie and turned around, he turned around to see Kayan opening the box. A robot rolled shakily down the mountain of debris, its wire on leaving as a trace of it's path behind and then dragging it across the floor.

Kayan fiddled around with the controls of the robot. Even though Easton had just seen a whole squad member get killed, seeing Kayan's natural playfulness in his motion and him playing with the robot brought some warmth to his heart, reminding of his son back in Victoria. He twitched his cat ears and proceeded to open his box. After opening, Kayan and Easton made their way down to the blast site to patch up any remaining pipes that might be still leaking.

After 50 minutes of arduous journey of making their way through the field of trees, cutting through fence surrounding the reactor and to the ruin, climbing up the staircase and rappelling down to the bottom, they made it to the bottom of the blast site. As they were rappelling down, they turned on their flashlight to see in the dark as their journey to the abyss became darker and darker, Easton commenting on how odd that the journey down was taking a bit longer than usual . They disconnected the robots from the rope they tethered it to. However, it was still in the middle of the night. And they could not see anything more than a few feet despite their bright flashlight, they turned on their robots that were equipped with a night vision mode.

Easton : "Okay, our robots will be our eyes in the dark but it can't see everything at once so be careful."

Kayan nodded. He looked at his pad, the light somewhat blinding the screen. He looked around the crash site, spraying down anything that resembles a pipe. He felt something hard on his face, drooping his face slightly, and his suit getting heavier and bulkier but he didn't thought much of it. As he looked around and the closer he got to the centre of the blast site, he noticed another hole. He sent his robot to take a better look. But as he got closer to the hole, his pad displaying the view the robot had started to dither more and more. Looking a bit puzzled, he called Easton over.

Kayan : "Hey look at this. Fuck is going on with monitor and shit."

Easton : "Have no idea."

Kayan : "Huh...wait hold up."

Kayan suddenly felt a strange taste in his mouth. It felt oddly metallic with a slight sensation of glass with it, making him almost vomit.

Kayan : "Can you taste metal and glass?"

Easton : "Yeah, fuck tis that?"

Kayan : "Dunno. Oh yeah, by the way, there's like another hole down there. Should we rappel down there?"

Easton : "Innit more work for us? I'm all knackered out but if you want to go down there I'll guess I make a call."

Kayan then went closer to the hole, Easton stepping away to make the call from his walkie talkie. As Kayan moved closer to the hole, he looked down at his pad. He tried to move the robot forward but the controls didn't seem to work. He rushed over to the robot, he gave it a few slaps and kicks but the robot seemed dead. He decided to go closer to the hole, wanting to look down there, but suddenly the light from his pad and flashlight flickered. He decided to turn back to the robot. However, Kayan was oddly captivated by the new hole in the ground, standing there while staring into it. He could feel a yellowish orange tint in the dark depths but his eyes couldn't pick up any discernible colour from it, as if his head was making up something.

Suddenly, Easton shouted towards him.

Easton : "GET AWAY FROM THE HOLE!!"

Kayan immediately rushed towards him, dropping his pad in the process.

As he got closer to Easton, his light return back to normal. The flashlight shined on his face and he saw something. Half of Easton's face had black crystals on it, both sides of what was supposed to be high in originite-resistant had growing these spikes on his face. He then looked down on his suit, his suit had also originite crystals growing.

Easton : "Hey Kal'tsit, both of us have like huge chucks of fucking originite on our body and on our fucking suits. What the fuck do we do?!"

Kal'tsit responded but this time, instead of the crystal clear it had on top, it had a huge amount of static, making her voice harder to hear.

Kal'tsit : "Try and g$@ (#t of th2r$."

Easton : "Please repeat what you just said! I can't hear you through that static."

Kal'tsit : "Ge% ou* of there!" *static*

Easton : "Roger. Hey Kayan, ditch the robots we're leaving!"

Kayan : "Affirmative."

Easton : "Hey Kal'tsit, we are getting o-"

All of a sudden, the walkie talkie cut off and went quiet. The static echoed through the hole they're in. Easton shouted at it to no avail. He gave it a few slaps but nothing, no audio still. He ripped open the walkie talkie to find out that the parts had been covered with black crystals.

Easton : "FUUUUCK!"

He slammed the walkie talkie into the originite-covered robot, the walkie talkie shattering into pieces and knocking huge chucks of crystals on the robot. He looked back at Kayan. He stood there, his shocked expression ironed on his face.

Kayan : "What happened? I..I thought this suit was originite-proof?"

Easton : "It's because the originium concentration is too high here. Kal'tsit is now sending an evac for us on where we landed. We gotta get out.

Out of nowhere, Kayan's flashlight blew out, agitating him. A sudden rolling sensation when through him. He was about the scream but he couldn't. The crystals in his body crew further and further and had punctured his jugular. He could feel his throat opening and shutting as the crystals kept blocking and piercing through small openings in his throat. He could feel his stomach getting pierced open in him, his stomach acid melting his flesh and a burning sensation. The writhing pain was too much to handle, he wanted to kill himself. He was walking and stumbling around like a blind man as the pain blurred his vision. An acid reflux pushed the stomach acid up his mouth, managing to push through the almost blocked throat and onto his tongue, leaving a sour taste in his mouth. The mix of discomfort and the searing pain was too much for him.

He wanted to kill himself. Desperately, trying to find a piece of debris that he could cut his neck with. The pain in his shoulder ramped up his stiffness all the way to searing, blinding agony faster than he could blink. He collapsed onto the floor, ramming in the crystals into his body. . Black crystals pierced through his hazmat suit, reddish black ribbons flowing through it. And, just when the pain was at its worst, it dissipated, as if the sun's light was burning off the fog of pain and discomfort in him. But it wasn't heaven's light that cured it. He stood up. He looked back at Easton who was still hastily attaching himself to the rope, ignoring the battle against his pain he just fought. He walked forward to him, staggering as his legs couldn't be bent any further. As he got closer, darkness descended on his vision. He had no time left. He stopped.

Easton, who was about to rappel himself up, looked at Kayan and told him to get out, not noticing the black crystals going through him. He tugged his arms but he wouldn't move. He pulled his arms harder. Suddenly, Kayan started shaking. He began to spazz out, scaring Easton. Kayan then vomited out violently black and red blood and tons of black crystal chucks. Black shards impaled through the top of his throat and through his visor. He stumbled around. He then fell down and remained motionless on the floor, his head sinking into his own pool of blood.

Easton, who was traumatised by how brutal and barbarous way his friend died, immediately rappeling up the wall. He didn't want to die like his friend, he wanted to go back home to his family and see his son. As was rappelling up, getting closer to the edge, the rope jammed. He tried to pull the rope but the rope couldn't be pulled any more.

Unexpectedly, he felt lightweight, as if he could fly. The tension the rope had on his body disappeared into the wind. He turned around, the ground getting closer and closer. As he impacted the ground, his bones cracked and shattered into dust, exploding through his skin. The crystals that were protruding out of his suit and body slammed into him all at once, passing through the other side or fragmented in his body. Whatever fleshy chunks he had on his body blend into the floor.

As he got closer to death, he wondered, "Why has God treated me this way. I did everything right. I did everything for my family. And God has sent me to purgatory for all the good things I've done. What sins have I done to deserve this?"

As his brain slowed down, his eyes getting paler, Easton shed one last tear of misery and torment.

Rhodes Island Database :

Easton Nett Walker, dispatcher. Aged 34. K.I.A

Kayan Wright, dispatcher. Aged 22. K.I.A

Reserve Op Team A1 and Op Team A4 has cancelled their mission to the crash site due to high leveled on originite in the air. Requesting evacuation of Ursus.

Request approved. Commencing evacuation