A bright arid landscape surrounded the dusty city, a sharp sun bearing down over the roaming metropolis, the people scuttling on the streets well below the buildings. Storied architecture stood proudly on platforms over the lower walkways bordering the cities aqueducts which catacombically spread through the lower levels. A civil smog stretched its hands through these lower levels, from which a breadth of lifeforms crawl - the most anent being the Geists, a corruptive form of parasitic wraith who slowly transform the host into unrecognizable specimens if left to fester.
Isaac Roma, it may seem, had liven just like such creatures - parasitically living off others to get where he was, without a care for the people on the way, and with little effort from himself. Asking himself or any of the people close to him, may reveal a different story: it wasn't that he couldn't try, he wasn't able to in most cases, inhibited by his own brain, unless it was something of deep interest to him. What did interest him, though, where the ghosts and ghoulies that had become a regular occurrence in life, that was why he got a job as a researcher at the Paranormal Administration Agency, a government-funded department meant to hold spirits to the same laws as humans, despite some of the legal grey areas that have arose from it. In the tallest building on 3rd street sat the active headquarters of that such agency, gazing over the streets from it's position, and of course from it's frequently placed cameras.
"Hey bro, come eat with me!" a voice rung out across the lunchroom. Looking over the torrent of heads, Isaac spotted his brother in the direct middle, shouldered by a couple friendly cowerkers. Nervously, he crept through the crowd of people and spirits, trying to ignore the people snatching glances at him, and calmly placed his tray across from his brother's.
The one on the left nods to Isaac while the one on the right conspiratorially asks, "You hear they found a better way to add spirit powers to things?"
"Of course he knows, he works in that department, numbnut," Isaac's brother interrupts proudly, waving his fork at them.
"It's fine, Ben," Isaac stops. "It's a little more complicated than that, but it's still pretty cool." He pulls out a nail, which hovers slightly above the table, quickly rotating in the direction of the nearest specter.
"It's a compass, right," the cowerker on the left confirms, "but for like, ghosts?"
"Exactly." Isaac thinks for a second before not continuing, then scoops the screw up and heads out the door. Once gone, he breathes a deep sigh of relief to be free of all the people and begins to walk back to his workshop.
The workshop is a clean white plated room, with a few tables and unrecognizable machines. As he puts on his lab coat, the machine coos a small noise, spurring to life with his arrival. Out from behind the machine crawls his assistant, which he didn't really need, but appreciated the help from anyways.
"Sir, are we gonna run another trial?" she enthusiastically suggests.
"Please stop calling me sir, Charlie" he tiredly reminded, "and no, we aren't." He handed her the notebook of their scientific proofs, and sat down across from her at the table, them both entering a focused silence as they finished their work and the time ticked away. Finished with her work, Charlie happily announced that she was leaving.
"Sorry, I didn't notice the time," Isaac apologized. "Let me walk you home," he suggested despite not being finished with his work.
"There's no need," she dejectedly declined.
"No, I want to," he warmly imposed, standing up and grabbing his bag.
As they walked through the dark streets, Isaac's eyes calmly darted around, weary of his surroundings, but comforted by his company. They walked in silence, a pit in Isaac's stomach forming, as if something was wrong. He continued to walk, hand half in his bag, clenching a(n illegally) modded taser, prepared for whatever might happen.
Finally approaching Charlie's apartment, he leans into her ear and whispers, "Take this, someone was following us," handing her the taser before backing up and shouting, "See you early tomorrow, stay safe!"
Then as she runs into her home, he casually walks off, taking a large detour towards the aqueducts.
A bright moon rests on the dark cloudy sky, both obscured by the parallaxing buildings that loom over Isaac as he discerns the quick footfall behind him. He hears a single person loudly approach behind him and he turns, looking them bravely in their glaring eyes.
"You look like a smart man," they snarl from behind a mask. Pulling out a twitching knife, he brandishes it threateningly at Isaac. "So why don't we strike a little deal?"
"What type of deal?" Isaac questions aversely, allowing the person to approach.
They gladly shorten the distance between the two as he continues, "You have some info we need gone, if you know what we mean, and I'm sure you do?"
Putting the meaning together, Isaac steps closer, as if to listen more. "If you get rid of it, you and your little girly can have a nice, safe li-ugh."
The person's interrupted when Isaac drops his bag, the contents spilling out, and swiftly knees them strongly between the legs. Running behind the man, Isaac pushes him over, his face landing directly on the nail which happened to be pointing straight up.
Angrily groaning, the thug pushes himself up, despite the nail, and looks directly at Isaac. The area around where the nail penetrated droops and tears, as if dissolving and his face begins to shift into something inhuman.
"You had to go and do something stupid," his voice warbles as he spits this out, crawling towards Isaac, who tries to back up, only to find himself on the edge of the walkway. The body morphs as the Geist reveals it's real form, a bug-like humanoid mess. Rushing Isaac, it lifts him up, tightly squeezing, and holds him above the running water. Isaac looks for any sort of way out, but there is nothing in reach. Staring at it, looking for some sort of weak point, there are none in reach, that is until he sees the nail, half-sticking out of the monsters new face. In one final attempt, he slams his hand over the nail, driving it in deeper with a vivid "Crack!" - and in pain, the Geist lets him go, dropping him straight into the cool, corrupt waters of the canal.
Helplessly floating downstream, Isaac is unable to breathe, even when he surfaces, and his lungs begin to heavily fill with water and the toxic gas as he hyperventilates. Losing conscious, he tries to stay afloat, only to end up swallowing more of them. The water drags him from path to path, pulling him through the cities vast water system. Unconscious, Isaac begins to die - he sees the a white tunnel and begins to float towards it. An ethereal sensation flows through his soul, a weightlessness that one can only feel when in water. The heavens begin to retreat as the sound of waves sharpen. He feels the water forcefully being expunged from his body, his lungs beginning to clear, and him being drawn back to life.
"Woah, dude, your really lucky," a boys voice calls through the distance.
Isaac's eyes open to the bright artificial lighting in some sort of mill, the feeling of someone rhythmically pushing on his chest. Sitting up quickly, he proceeds to through up a mixture of water and his lunch, his saviors jumping out of the way, somehow not getting it on them. Once relieved, Isaac stands to greet the people who'd saved him. In the group are a three boys, two girls, and an older man, easily assumed as the leader, all equipped with some sort of weapon.
"Um, my name is Isaac, I'm a researcher at the PAA, thank you for saving me." he nervously greets, sticking his hand out.
"We work for them too," the older looking one accepts, shaking hands. "I'm Jack Williams, and this is team D of the Spirit Elimination Division."
The members try to strike a pose, but Jack glares at them causing it to fall apart. "You guys, introduce yourselves."
"I'm Oliver," a nice-looking boy with pulled-back blond hair and an axe strapped to his back steps forward.
"Call me Eric," a fierce boy with glasses and a crossbow coolly nods.
Raising her weapon into the air, a girl with short hair and sharp teeth shouts, "Ava," while waving her railgun.
"Hello, I'm Lucas," the final boy wearing a beanie and bearing a sword, kneels in front of Isaac.
The last person walks wearily up to Isaac, a girl with tired features, holding a torch lighter tightly, "My name is Maya."
"Dude, why were you so respectful to him?" Eric quietly questions Lucas.
"He created our weapons," Lucas firmly states.
Everyone looks to Isaac for confirmation, which he thinks over for a second. "Well, he's not wrong," Isaac tentatively confirms, because he had to some extent. "I kinda invented the original method of adding spiritual power to ordinary objects."
Jack puts his hand on Isaac's shoulder, "Good thing we saved you. Why were you in here anyways?"
"Uh, it's a long story…"
Isaac walks with the others back to headquarters, while Jack leaves to check on Charlie, standing awkwardly behind them so as not to intrude. The sun had begun to rise, an orange-ish tint beginning to permeate the purple night sky. Isaac had been lightheaded since stepping outside, something he thought was just from his near-death experience, but he'd begun to feel wasn't that simple. His vision narrowed and his hearing deafened, his whole body beginning to shut off. His legs weakened and he collapsed to the floor, losing consciousness once again.
"Where the fuck is my brother?" Ben rushed the leader of team D, picking him up by the collar. The other members instantly grabbed their weapons, preparing to stop him.
"Put your weapons down!" Jack shouted, calming down his teammates, before trying to reason with Ben. "He's dead."
A look of fear runs through Ben's face before hardening again, "Show me."
They walk through the halls of team D's base, until they finally get to the room labeled, 'Autopsy' and in that room lies the body of Isaac Roma, as cold as the table his corpse lies upon. As he approaches his brother, he asks, "May I have the room to myself?"
Obliging, Jack closes the door, leaving Ben alone, and in this loneliness he begins to cry. The tear drip down his face, hitting the floor with a soft drop, the noise echoing around the room until it's unbearable.