To understand the complexities of aether and the intricacies of the black towers. Research outposts were established throughout exclusion zones. Their destination was to comprehend the New World and its reality. Whether they stood with the FNA or CORE, none mattered.
"HELLO!" Damien called out to the desolate yet polished research outpost. Nothing and no one answered as silence bellowed with the wind. "Looks like all of the researchers are gone... Did something attack them?"
He observed the surroundings of the research outpost with a scrutinizing gaze, surveying every nook and cranny. There wasn't a scrap of damage on the module. It denoted that none of the personnel were assaulted.
'They should merely be stranded, so where did all of them go? Did the researchers already leave the outpost and return to the bastion bridges?' He pondered and lingered near the entrance of the research module.
The research outpost could be divided into multiple modules connected to one another. Since there was no breach in each research module, the situation felt somewhat peculiar. A mystery amidst the forsaken city.
"Should I forcibly enter?" Damien questioned, as it wasn't out of his ability to breach the research modules. But it would be troublesome if CORE sued him for it. After all, he wasn't stupid.
The research data of the outpost provided value to the corporations. If outside personnel breached their labs. Without a doubt, their research would be compromised. It was better to avoid trouble.
Besides, even if he did avoid touching the data inside the research outpost, CORE wouldn't care. They would sue him nonetheless. After all, it was practically an opportunity for them.
"So, what should I do?" He muttered under his breath while staring at the research outpost. First and foremost, the researchers were gone. If they had already returned, the commission would have been halted.
That meant that the researchers were still within the exclusion zone, perhaps stranded and trapped within the ruins of the abandoned Manhattan. It was a possibility.
"I guess it's time to summon one of my monsters." The edges of his lips curved into a smile. He wasn't powerless against reconnaissance. After all, one of his summoned monsters was a scout.
In mere moments, a screech resounded from the blue skies. It echoed through the abandoned towers of concrete as if answering a call.
Turning his sable-tinted gaze upward, Damien saw an American eagle soaring through the heavens with a wingspan of 5 meters. It was twice as large as usual, marking its title as a terrestrial monster.
The Freedom Eagle wasn't merely a gigantic bird of prey. It was a support monster capable of buffing him and his summoned monsters. Its piercing screech augmented physical and mental status by a significant percentage.
"I feel my body becoming lighter, though..." He raised his eyebrows while looking at the eagle circling above him. What intrigued him wasn't the support abilities but the sound of the Freedom Eagle.
"My Freedom Eagle sounds like a red-tailed hawk." A complicated smile covered his face since he wasn't ignorant of what an American eagle actually sounded like.
Perhaps it was what distinguished his eagle from the usual birds of prey. It was, after all, a terrestrial monster. The designated name indicated a connection to the Old World Country, the United States of America.
The Land of Freedom.
In any case, the personal skill of the Freedom Eagle was known as Heaven's View. He could observe through the perception of his summoned monster, making him capable of perceiving the entire field in moments.
It was practical for gathering intelligence and reconnaissance.
"Hey, help me find the researchers of this outpost," Damien commanded the eagle above him, which tilted its head while circling before flapping away. The summoned monster soared through the city, searching for the supposed research personnel.
With this, he only needed to wait for news to come.
'No wonder people love having subordinates. It's much easier than doing everything on your own.' Before Heaven's Fall, Damien was the type of young man who would work on his own.
He considered others a distraction, so he avoided working with his classmates. Even though he rarely worked with his best friend, she was the closest person to him. 'Sam-'
Clenching his fist, Damien gritted his teeth in annoyance as a headache struck him out of nowhere. Over a week had already passed since he had awakened in an altered world, yet the headaches remained.
It made him wonder why he couldn't even think of his best friend without being bombarded by a concentrated migraine.
'I should be careful.' While a headache might not be much for now, he didn't want to be disrupted during a battle. A second of interruption could end him six feet underground. He didn't plan to die yet.
Before he could ponder deeper about the strange migraine, a piercing screech echoed throughout Lower Manhattan. It originated from none other than the Freedom Eagle. It seems that the researchers have been found.
Activating Heaven's View, Damien gazed through the eyes of his summoned monster. His eyebrows promptly furrowed since the situation appeared to be much more complicated than expected.
"Mercenaries, huh? I didn't expect them to be camping in Washington Square Park." While the exclusion zones were heavily monitored, it was primarily observing the aetheric signature.
After all, the concentration of high-density aether was proven to be dangerous. It implied the formation of an Aberrant or even the gathering of aetheric beasts. Apart from the extreme monitoring of aether, the exclusion zone was generally lawless.
It was crowded with criminals, fugitives, and mercenaries. Even with the bastion bridges and fortified walls enclosing the area, smuggling operations were an apparent problem for exclusion zones.
"A hostage situation... The commission only required me to rescue the research personnel, so I could teleport them out and complete it. But-" A cold glint escaped his sable-tinted gaze.
"This is also an opportunity. I could farm Terror Points and maybe further increase the evolution meter of Eclipse." While he had been granted an arsenal of summoned monsters, Damien considered Eclipse as his best.
Eclipse's peculiar ability presented a potential that he needed to complete. Besides, he wondered how far his first summoned monster could go.
'I guess a decision has been made.' He sighed to himself and promptly utilized the Raptured Blink of Eclipse. Above him, the air shattered into pieces as a gigantic black hand descended from the fracture.
Eclipse hugged his body with a delicate touch, flooding the nearby surroundings in black mist. In a single second, he vanished without a trace. Such was the versatility of his first summoned monster.
On the other hand, the mercenary group occupying Washington Square Park was an infamous bunch. They were a paramilitary faction affiliated with the lawless city of New Jersey known as the Blackrock Mercenary Company.
To normal humans or NFA, they were a dangerous group of people armed to the teeth with armored vehicles. They were skilled in handling Jaegers, though only the weakest and inexperienced ones.
Against the senior agents of SIGIL or an experienced Jaeger, no matter how many weapons they throw at the grinder. It didn't matter. Unless, of course, they managed to acquire an armament that was precisely designed to handle a specific Jaeger.
"Are the preparations done?" A middle-aged, bearded man questioned his officers with a scrutinizing gaze. Across his face was a thick scar, resembling a claw mark. It was evident that this man had already crossed paths with death.
One of the officers straightened their back and responded. "Preparations have been completed, Sir. But are those weapons really to be trusted?" Some of their advanced weapons were granted by a particular corporation.
While it was written to be effective and powerful, no one wanted to be the test subjects of someone's experiment. Other officers also echoed the same sentiment, not wanting to be used by the corpos.
The middle-aged man was one of the top commanders belonging to the Blackrock Mercenary Company. His authority within the organization wasn't the strongest. However, it also wasn't the weakest.
His piercing gaze made some of the officers quiver as cold sweat dripped from their foreheads. But he understood their worries; after all, corporations were no less than the devils in this world.
They might utter benefits, advantages, and wealth. In exchange, they suck you dry and leave you in the gutter. There was no loyalty when speaking to those corporations. Nonetheless, there was one thing these corpos had.
It was a lot of money.
He needed funds to support his faction within Blackrock, and high-risk mercenary jobs provided the required finance. With this in mind, he hardened his resolve and squinted his eyes. "They can be trusted."
"These weapons have already been proven on the battlefield. This is why I dared to accept the commission in the first place. Our job is to capture a Jaeger and deliver him to Chicago."
"CORE has ensured that no intelligence leaked from the exclusion zone of Manhattan. Our target has already entered the area, so we only need to pull the trigger and retreat." The middle-aged man clenched his fist.
"Follow the plan and don't waste my time!" He slammed it onto the table, prompting the officers to make their leave and head to their designated positions. 'SIGIL is a hornet's nest, but CORE has been growing lately.'
'They have gathered a lot of metahumans under their command. It wouldn't take long until SIGIL would have its authority challenged in the Federation.' He was betting on one side to win. And he needed them to be the victors.
"But... To think that CORE would even abandon their employees." The middle-aged man smirked, somewhat pleased by the additional assistance through hostage procurement. "As expected of those vampires. North or south."
"All of them are bloodsucking bastards."
Outside of the command tent, armored vehicles rumbled as their turrets revolved and aimed at the flying creature above them. They had long heard of the screech, but as veterans of the New World.
Most of them thought it originated from a flying aetheric beast. Never did they expect that it had called upon their executioner.
Gazing from a distance was a black-suited young man wearing a fedora. His obsidian-like eyes peered through the mercenary group, observing their forces with detachment. The edges of his lips rose as he muttered under his breath.
"Eclipse... Crush them."