"Ben!! Luke!! What's the situation?"
"Time portal, motives unknown, danger level: indescribable rank." Old Ben answered
A frown appeared on Captain Nathan's face. "Indescribable? How do you know?" "The little rascal said so," Old Ben answered, still watching the portal.
"Luke?" Nathan looked at Lukas for a while, then turned back to the portal. "We'll talk about that later, but now a spatial dome has been deployed to prevent the situation from spreading. We need to throw a portal disruptor into the portal; hopefully it would collapse on itself—"
Captain Nathan stopped talking and stood on his guard; so did Luke and Old Ben. Out of the portal, an arm had just appeared.
------------------------------------
Lukas, Old Ben, and Nathan stood still while staring at the humanoid creature in front of them. The creature that had just stepped out of the portal was completely dark in color and had the body of a fully grown man. Although it had no facial features, its body showcased distinct muscles, and covering its lower body down until its ankles was a black skirt-like clothing that seemed to have grown out of its torso. It stood barefoot in front of the still humming portal.
The three men stood silently watching the creature. Even with no facial features, they knew it was also watching them.
"Captain!! I've contacted the tower!"
A sudden shout drowned the tension that had been building up. In the distance, on top of a fallen pillar, stood a fairly young man with disheveled hair and cloth waving his hands, but as soon as he saw the creature in front of the portal, the feeling of dread suddenly fell upon him, and he froze.
The dark creature that had not moved since stepping out of the portal suddenly snapped its head in the direction of the newcomer. Old Ben grew bigger and dashed in the direction of the young man.
The flames on Captain Nathan's body grew even brighter as he shouted.
"Shit!! Ben It's after Ro—"
Boom!
An explosive sound rang out as the dark creature blitzed past Nathan before he could even finish his statement. It was so fast that the wind draft completely blew off the soaring flames on Nathan's body. Rocks and pieces of rubble flew in different directions, showing the force behind the dark figure's movements.
Nathan stood completely still in a daze.
"Captain!!"
A shout pulled him out of his frozen state. Quickly turning around in an attempt to chase after the figure, he noticed that it had covered a lot of distance and had appeared before Old Ben and the young man. It raised its right hand and swung it down in a cutting motion.
Bang!
The deafening sound of a gunshot was heard as the imposing figure of a humanoid creature was sent crashing headfirst into a pile of rubble.
On the ground about 20 feet away from Old Ben was a beautiful woman holding a strange-looking sniper rifle. She had very bright white hair and a bland look on her face. It was the kind that gave you the impression that she never smiled. She was kneeling on the ground with one knee up. The gun in her hands was far longer and bigger than normal sniper rifles; it was black, and white rays of white light escaped from the thin gaps of the gun. It looked like the rifle was a gun of light barely covered by a metallic casing. It also strangely complemented her white shirt and black trousers.
Raising her head from the scope of the gun, she looked at the muzzle of the gun which was now smoking, and then nodded to herself as if praising herself for a job well done.
"..."
Everyone was dumbfounded.
"That was close," Ron, the young man behind Old Ben, exclaimed as he let out a sigh of relief.
"Noelle?..."
The white-haired beauty turned to face Captain Nathan, who had just called unto her. She swung the huge gun across her shoulder and began walking towards him when, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a fellow white-haired individual: Lukas.
As if pulled by another force, she suddenly changed directions and bolted towards Lukas.
"Every time..." Nathan muttered as he sighed and walked after her.
Lukas stood over the body of the humanoid creature whose head had a huge hole in it. Watching the creature, his head began to slowly tilt to the side. Noelle peeped at the creature from behind Lukas but soon began alternating her gaze between Lukas's face and the creature on the ground.
Lukas stared at the creature for a while before looking back at the portal. It was still slowly spinning and humming.
'I guess an explosive shot to the head from less than thirty feet away is deadly even to an indescribable rank monster. Still... The portal is not closing, and waiting too long is definitely not advisable. More of these guys might pop out. Looks like leaving really is the only choice.' "Hm?" Lukas turned back to see Noelle poking his shoulders. Seeing him look at her, a wide smile spread across her lips, and she opened her mouth to speak, but no sounds came out. Noelle was a mute.
Lukas looked at the beautiful lady who was only half a head shorter than him.
"Nice sho—" As soon as the words came out of his mouth. Out of the corner of his eye, Lukas saw the dark humanoid creature that was presumed dead only 2 feet away from him move. Lukas pushed Noelle back and turned to face the creature. Before anyone could react, the sound of a blade cutting through flesh rang in the air.
Slash!!
The creature with half of its face blown off clove Lukas's face with its bare hands. A deep and ghastly-looking cut, too deep to be called a scar, ran from Lukas's forehead down through his right eye. The humanoid creature, still not done, pulled its right hand backwards and sank it into Lukas's chest.
The entire action happened in a split second. Before Nathan or Noelle, who was the closest to him, could even blink, the whole process was over.
A chilling silence descended.
"Noelle!! Get away from there!" Nathan shouted and dashed towards the trio, leaving behind a trail of flames.
The dark figure raised its head, facing Noelle, who stood there, eyes widened in shock over the brutal assault on Lukas. It stretched its hand towards her.
"Noelle!!!" Nathan, still covered in flames, flew towards Noelle with one thought in his mind.
'I won't make it.'
'...'
The figure's hand suddenly stopped an inch from Noelle's throat. Nathan flew towards Noelle and pulled her back, creating distance between them and the creature. Old Ben ran to Nathan and carried Noelle.
"She' za unconscious. Good timing getting her out of there. Luke..."
Nathan continued staring at the dark figure.
"She should have died..." he muttered.
"What?"
"I didn't save her, Old Ben. I didn't get there in time; I never should have gotten there in time."
"Za means... it stopped?"
"Or something stopped it..." Nathan stared at Lukas's back for a while then turned to Old Ben. "It seems to be unable to move now. Get Ron and let's get out of the spatial dome. Waiting for the guys from the tower seems to be our best choice."
"Ya mean our only choice." Old Ben replied.
"Well, we could try to attack it now in its frozen state, but I wouldn't advise that. A shot from Noelle at point-blank range couldn't kill it. I don't think we have the firepower for that."
"If even ya is sayin' we don' have firepower, I guess this bastar'd must have a hard skin. What about Luke's body?" Old Ben looked at the figure. It stood frozen with its hand still in Lukas's chest. It looked like a scene from a painting.
"..." Nathan did not reply. Old Ben sighed. "Happy retirement, little rascal."
"Hoi Kid, let's go!" Old Ben called Ron as he carried Noelle away.
Ron kept looking back at Lukas as he walked after Old Ben.
Nathan stared at the two figures in front of him. One was a humanoid monster; the other was a friend? Not really. He knew nothing about him. Colleague probably fitted them better. After a while of silent staring, Nathan looked at the portal and then walked away, chasing after Old Ben, leaving the vicinity of the collapsed building in silence.
"Happy Retirement, Luke."
----------------
Except for the low humming of the portal, silence reigned.
"..."
Lukas and the humanoid creature still stood frozen...
"Hah... A man can't even get a proper retirement anymore?"
The dark creature, as if regaining consciousness, bent its head downwards as if trying to look at the supposedly dead man it had just killed, who just spoke. Lukas grabbed the creature's hand that was still in his chest, holding it in place.
Click!
A beautiful glass-lookingpistol, a little bit longer than normal ones, pressed against the side of the creature's head.
"What? You think you're the only one who knows how to play dead?"
Bang!!!