Location: Mars, City unknown, Reference position: North District.
Activating scanner.....Getting details about the specie.
Species: Raven.
Height: 2m.
Figure: Breathtaking.
Notes on the species in the army file: Despite having a penetrating aura and appearance, they lack melee combat skills.
Jack swallows saliva and thinks about what he will do next.
｢ Shit, please god....｣.
jack checks the clip an count how many rounds remain in:
Weapon stats:
Number of rounds remaining: 3/6.
Estimated reload time: 2 min.
｢Damn, not enough rounds I don't know if I'll be able to kill them all? It will probably take me some time to close the distance between us, I hope I have the chance to reload some more rounds on the way.｣.
Jack held the gun tightly, rubbed his thumb over it a couple of times before finally turning the disintegrator back on.
As he did so, he stood for a brief moment in silence, until he finally stood up and hurriedly charged to a nearby pile of corpses. Not far from there was a raven on the ground, Jack jumped swiftly into the pile of corpses and hid among the bodies. As the raven exposed its chest, strutting out and declaring itself victorious as it approached the pile of bodies, Jack pulled the trigger and the disintegrator took out a large portion of the body.
It left a rectangular hole that went all the way through his body and collapsed on top of Jack, after which he decided to use the corpse of the crow as a foothold for his next move. At least that was the plan, however, the raven's corpse began to fade into dark particles.
"..."｢What are these things made of!" shocked Jack found himself dumbfounded as the disintegration effect was instantaneous.
The particles released from the crow's body were not an effective camouflage and quickly alerted a nearby crow.
This one approached without a lot of caution, more than curious, this one was careful.
And before his head could pass through the cloud of particulate smoke, his entire upper body vanished.
He approached rather wary, more than curious, he was careful.
Due to the precedents he had obtained from the last two corpses, it was to be expected that the decomposition produced by the particles was caused by a factor external to the effects of the weapon itself.
Having come to this conclusion Jack pondered over it for a moment and then scanned his surroundings making sure there were no other crows, before looking back up at the sky.
However almost as if they were bullets, a flurry of feathers landed on the ground. Although the distance was not short, the way the feathers traveled to the ground barely allowed him to react, so he quickly pressed his feet to the ground and pushed his body away.
He tried to move away, but the pressure and intensity of the waves of feathers barely allowed him to breathe. However, he did not stay there just waiting to be killed. As he ran a rain of lightning counterattacked in response to the attack of the crows, 2 bodies fell to the ground.
However, it wasn't all good news, without being noticed one of the enemies was smart, he took a different approach, he camouflaged himself in the environment and tried to approach from an open area and before he even knew it, he blasted Jack with a flurry of feathers at gunpoint.
It was too late when he realized it and due to the short distance between them he could barely cover his vitals. The feathers tore through his suit, some managed to pierce his skin and embed themselves inside.
｢Tch!, You fucking faggot, if you're going to kill me, at least remember to shoot me in the fucking head｣.
Jack angrily fired his gun aimed at crow's crotch, he cracked his tongue. His squads tensed and trembled as he staggered with the risk that he might fall to the ground, due to the last sudden shot he didn't have time to keep his center of gravity stable.
However, on the battlefield there was no such thing as rest and without giving him much more time to breathe, a spike lunged at him. Jack forced his body to turn around to run away.
Due to his difficulty in walking and the little margin of error to which he was exposed, he decided to abandon his initial plan, took a smoke bomb from his belt and threw it on the ground, jumped out of there and headed for the nearest ruins.
But the crow followed him, everything was so fast, lights, smoke and more shots accompanied by a great impact on the ground, the pieces of that crow fell on him. The feathers that were accumulated inside his body even though the main body vanished when he died were still there and even after all the great impact only made them become even more deeply embedded.
Jack breathed deeply trying to endure the pain, his breathing became unsteady, the blood, feathers and wounds made him feel so heavy, listless that he lost grip on the weapon.
｢Really, it really almost ended my life.... That was too close｣
When it moved you could hear the rustling of feathers as it left, the noise of breaking glass, slowly fading in body, the pain was as if small explosions were bursting inside its wounds.
Suddenly a violent gale swept away everything that covered him. His survival instinct returned and he instinctively took control over his gun again, firing again, aiming into the air, which after a few more breaths calmed down.
"...If I get careless and reckless, I will die" Jack inhaled deeply before pulling a gel from his belt and placing it on his wounds.
｢If you are afraid to take a risk, you just have to wait patiently for the day of your own death; but for people like me, any day could be that day. What does it matter if I don't want to wait patiently for the day of my own death? ｣
Jack rummaged inside his waistband in some compartment of his belt for something, he got an Abano.
｢I'm not a big smoker, but who cares, if I don't get killed by tobacco smoke right now I'll get killed by those crows. I need to relax ｣.
He picks up his gun and lightly presses the gun trigger until the cigarette turns on, smoking it as he recovers.
6 Hours later, the military gel had already started to take effect, the bleeding along with the pain improved a little, Jack stood up as best he could and managed to hide inside a hole in the ruins as best he could. He tried to keep silent while his wounds continued the heal process.
However, every now and then he would get up and throw something other things out of the ruins to check if the flock of crows was still there, but before he could question it. A wave of feathers bombarded the object even before it hit the ground.
｢Shit ｣ Jack looked down at the trail of feathers on the ground doubting whether it was really worth getting badly hurt again at this point.
After a day and a night, he had finally fully recovered and decided to get out of that filthy hole, however the instant he stepped out of that hole a wave of feathers descended to earth from the skies, Jack knew that the crows had come with everything to confront him.
They didn't come shooting again, it all happened so fast, Jack's body began to fade. He jumped onto the wing of a raven and shot the bird in the head, after that he picked up momentum before his body began to disperse and somersaulted, landing on the back of the next one:
~Bang!
And again, it took out two of them that were together.
~Bang!
A flurry of feathers approached him as he flew, which he didn't react to at all, instead, he continued his massacre.
After hours and hours of combat he managed to eliminate the last three crows that were together.
Finally he would face the last one, however when he was about to pull the trigger clarity returned to his eyes.
Coughing he tried to free his breathing passages from the blood.
He pulled the trigger several times but no bullets came out. Before he could react the beast lunged at him, piercing his stomach. Jack staggered back several steps before falling to the ground, vomiting blood all over himself.
Jack drew his lightsaber and tried as best he could to hold the raven's beak that was still in his stomach, holding in the color as its entrails twisted cutting off its head, the core inside falling to the ground near Jack.
Unable to say anything, with his mouth and nose bloody. He collapsed to the ground falling onto the core and his mind came to rest. Out of all expectation, a black light spread from the core. As intense as it was blinding it slowly merged with his body.
✠ - ✠
Knock. Knock.
"Miss Beatrice, we have made progress in the investigation. I come to report the most relevant points."
After a few seconds of silence she could hear the magnetic bridge deactivate. And before her vision the room was revealed, a voice not far away declared "Come in".
Keo walked unhurriedly in, took a seat on a couch in the corner.
Beatrice peeked her face from the curtain separating the kitchen "Would you like some tea?".
Keo raised her hand , shaking it gently "I'd prefer some black coffee, if there is any."
"Sure."
...
After a few minutes Beatrice approached the table, placing a plate with two cups.
Next she took a seat on the opposite side to Keo, following the separation of a space on the couch.
She picked up the cup of tea and blew gently, after taking a sip she asked "Well?".
Keo grabbed an iron spoon and spooned the cup "We have done a variety of tests".
He blew on the spoon and drank its contents "If we talk about the composition it is a complete mystery. It is a crystallized form, however, we cannot classify it under any known label."
Beatrice pulled the cup away from her lips and closed her eyes "So can we write that section off?" After asking she took another drink.
"Not necessarily" Keo began to stir the coffee with the spoon "It's true that it doesn't match, however. The purpose might help to unravel some of the path, we've come to the conclusion that it's a complex circuit."
"In what way?"
Keo sighed setting the spoon aside "It seems to handle connections at the molecular level, it is an immense logical network that seemed to hold the shape of the big red. By testing different electrical signals it has formed extremely elaborate magnetic fields with distinct differences."
Beatrice placed the cup of tea on the saucer after taking a last sip, then looked at the cup of coffee, hardly past having consumed a third of it.
"So it processes information directly? Have you tried direct interaction?"
Keo swallowed saliva before drinking again from the cup ".... We have banned direct interaction, as we don't know what it might unleash."
Beatrice laughed lightly at that statement "Lead the way, I want to see with my own eyes the research."
Keo drank all the coffee, placed the cup on the plate and flashed a small smile "Sure...".
Crossing the metallic corridors Beatrice sighed as she stretched her arms.
"..." Keo found himself uncomfortable, he didn't know what but something was wrong.
Stopping in front of the entrance Keo took a deep breath "We've arrived."
He stepped to the side of the entrance and waited for Beatrice to take the first step, then followed close behind.
Beatrice surveyed the interior with little less than dissatisfaction.
The pieces were sheltered behind glass cases six inches thick. The few researchers who interact with them do so through gloves at their sides.
"... Maybe too much protection, under what you said it doesn't respond unless an electric current is given."
"I see no reason to neglect protection, after all we've barely been on this stuff for a few hours."
"Could be... I don't deny the likelihood of it being dangerous" Beatrice paced the crystal "But I'd rather check what it does myself."
Keo's hands instinctively moved in Beatrice's direction trying to stop her but, he suppressed that uneasiness in his body
｢.... Good God, no, no, no, no, no, no, I don't want I want to see this｣ He closed his eyes.
As he touched the shard his body was enveloped in a silvery light.