Chapter 19: Distorted Vortex
The sky above Sector Seven had long given up its light. Dusk had quietly surrendered to nightfall, and the narrow, winding alleys of La Jar became eerily silent save for the occasional distant hum of a levitating truck passing overhead. Faint neon signs flickered atop rusted buildings, their colors casting strange shadows on the metallic pavement below.
Tayla darted around a rusting corner pipe, her boots echoing with urgency. "Are we close?" she panted, glancing over her shoulder at Elias.
Elias jogged just a step behind, his cloak fluttering with each stride. "I think we are… though this damn city's a maze," he muttered, eyes scanning the surroundings.
Their earpieces crackled, interrupting the hush.
"Yeah?" Elias answered, pressing a finger to his comm.
"It's me—Raymond. I found Kaido," came the voice, strained and muffled through static.
"That's great! Where was he?" Tayla chimed in, hope flashing across her features.
"Outskirts… near the southern freight line," Raymond answered. But something in his voice felt… off.
"Raymond? You don't sound so good. What happened?" Elias asked, a frown knitting his brows.
"Did something happen with Kaido?" Tayla added, slowing down as they approached a branching alley.
There was silence, then a heavy pause.
"Well…" Raymond's voice returned, hushed and heavy. "Kaido's in bad shape."
Tayla froze, her face tightening. "Bad shape? What happened to him?"
"We'll talk when you get back," Raymond replied firmly, ending the transmission.
A stunned silence fell between them.
"Do you think they attacked Kaido?" Tayla asked, her eyes locked with Elias's.
"I don't know… Let's just focus on finding Frank. It's already past dusk." Elias shifted his grip on the katana strapped across his back.
Tayla sighed, rubbing her arms. "Yeah… let's look for Fra—"
A sudden crack—sharp and violent—cut through the air like lightning. A gunshot.
Both of them instinctively sprang forward, sprinting toward the source of the sound. The winding path led to an open construction site—an eerie mess of steel girders, loose gravel, and hovering machinery mid-assembly.
Three paces ahead, a scene unfolded.
Doug stood at the center, clad in a long, patched-up coat of desert leathers and cybernetic plates. In each hand, he held sleek sci-fi revolvers—long-barreled, chrome-plated weapons lined with glowing blue etchings, humming with micro-circuitry. Their design was unlike anything Tayla had seen—tech that looked salvaged from another world, another time.
Beyond him, a group of strangers stood in tense formation. Frank lay motionless near Doug's boots, blood smeared across his lips and trickling down his forehead. Another man lay dead nearby, a growing pool of crimson forming beneath his head.
"What the—?" Elias muttered, drawing his katana with a hiss of metal.
"Hey!! What are you doing with him, huh?!" he shouted at Spike, who remained eerily calm, staring at Jarvis in the distance.
"I was tailin' my boy when I saw those bastards tryin' to drag him off," Doug said, his cowboy accent thick, eyes never leaving the group.
"Sorry—your boy?" Tayla asked, eyeing Doug. "Who even are you?"
"That can wait," Doug muttered, eyes blazing. "Right now, Frank's vulnerable. We gotta kill 'em all."
"Spike! What do we do?!" Roi shouted, panic in his voice as his hands glowed dark with shadow energy.
Astrid reached into her vest and pulled out a glowing blue stone that pulsed with unstable light.
"Not that again…" Elias grimaced, sweat tracing his brow.
A semi-transparent appraisal window appeared in front of him:
Name: Elias Grey
Level:78
Class: Melee
Skills: Tri-Slash, Soundless Stroll, Phantom Dash, Vital Burst, Replace
Doug suddenly raised his voice, his twin guns still fixed on the group. "If y'all won't leave the boy alone… I swear on Korgannon's name—I'll shoot you all into the void."
Elias glanced at him again, curious. An appraisal flickered:
Name: ————
Level: 83
Class: Gunslinger
Skills: Area Control, Weapon Master, Premonition
"What the…? I can't read his name…" Elias whispered.
"Call me Douglas!!" the man shouted, and suddenly the field shimmered. The appraisal adjusted:
Name: Douglas
Level: 83
Class: Gunslinger
Skills: Area Control, Weapon Master, Premonition
"Elias! What do we do?" Tayla asked, stepping closer.
"We hold… that woman—she's the threat," Elias said, pointing at Spike.
Across the clearing, Astrid's grip on the gem tightened.
Doug's eyes narrowed. "Ain't doin' squat on my watch."
Suddenly—BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!—four deafening gunshots rang out in rapid succession.
A moment later—CLANG! CHING! SCHING! KLANG!—each shot was met by the clashing sound of a metallic chain. Spike had deflected them all with near-supernatural speed.
"Quick! Teleport us the hell out of here!" she barked.
A crackling hum followed—ZZZT!—a bullet tore through Spike's shoulder, blood splashing mid-air.
"AH—damn it!" she shouted.
More shots followed—CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!—zipping through space, forcing Roi to cast a vast shadow dome.
"They're not stopping?!" Tayla exclaimed.
"Not till they hit the target," Doug said coolly. His eyes locked with the bullets mid-air, following their every movement.
"He's… controlling them?" Tayla thought, stunned.
Then—WOOOOSH!—a swirling blue vortex tore open behind Spike.
"No!" Elias yelled, throwing his katana—sheath and all—at the group.
FZZZT—GLITCH—VRRRRMMM—the vortex pulsed, warped, then vanished.
Silence. The intruders were gone.
Tayla clenched her fists. "They took him… They took Frank."
"Elias?" she turned.
But Elias was no longer at her side. Only his katana's sheath lay on the ground.
"Huh!? Elias?!" she called out, panic rising.
"PUT YOUR HANDS ON YOUR HEAD AND DROP YOUR WEAPONS!!"
A booming voice echoed through the construction site. Hovering patrol drones descended around her, floodlights washing the entire scene in sterile white. At least six officers in sleek black armor took aim at her from multiple angles.
Tayla raised her hands, jaw clenched, eyes scanning for Doug.
But he was gone too.
"What the hell is happening…?" she whispered.