"ARRRGH!" Rhos' scream blared between the fabrics of reality as his flesh and bones contorted spirally. The twitching of his muscles and creaking of his bones at some point during this unusual phenomenon he experienced seemed to spell that he was seconds away from death.
…And then everything returned to normal.
His flesh and bones stood firm and erect, supporting his unharmed body as it established itself on top of a… large, long glass table.
Both the terror from seconds ago and the confusion – not to mention embarrassment – of the current moment pressed the Agent.
It wasn't every day that he barely escaped certain death from a gorgeous, trigger-happy killer by using a Remote Utility Activation Device that, for some reason, had him teleport into a conference room instead of somewhere more private!
The Agent shook, turning pale and red at the same time.
He was inside a conference room in one of the National Bureau of Defence's branches!
Twenty-two faces, some of which Rhos recognized, stared at him, some puzzled, some enraged. Everyone sitting around the table he was standing on, outranked Rhos significantly in the Bureau, and he quickly realized it.
As if the stares and glares weren't enough to crush Rhos' very soul, the Agent belatedly noticed that he was stepping on some of the documents being used in whatever discussion was currently taking place here.
"Excuse me, what is the meaning of this?" Rhos heard an annoyed voice coming from behind him and he turned to see a large television screen collaged into six different frames onto which the stern, aged faces of several officials… several Ministers, in fact, were displayed.
The Agent's soul nearly streaked out. He quickly dropped off the table, but he couldn't find the words with which to express how sorry he was.
Thankfully, he didn't have to.
"Pardon the interruption, ladies and gentlemen. This is one of our highly decorated field personnel, Agent Rhos. I believe he is coming from a crucial mission that Director Jofferson sanctioned on short notice. It was, after all, related to the incident we are all gathered here for," a man seated at one end of the long table said.
He had blonde hair freshly shaved into a crew cut, and below his crispy hairline, a thick pair of black sunglasses sat over his muffin-like nose, masking his eyes completely.
The man had been sliding lower and lower into his chair, but he pushed himself up and straightened his lapel suit as he adopted a cocky smile. Rhos' entry had warded away his boredom.
Rhos was grateful for the save.
The dark temperament of everyone in the room as well as the Ministers on the screen towards Rhos instantly changed because the man in the glasses explained the situation.
To some degree, Rhos was a little sour though. The man in the sunglasses was the one who gave him the small remote - the Remote Utility Activation Device - he had used as an emergency measure in case things went south. This meant that he had planned for Rhos to appear in this conference room directly!
"I see," one of the Ministers said as his face visibly erased a few dozen wrinkles worth of a frown. He looked at Rhos. "Well? What happened?"
Rhos froze.
He looked at the man in the glasses and then at everyone else around the glass table.
The chilling feeling from seconds ago once again squeezed him like a plushie.
He opened his mouth and drops of cold sweat manifested eagerly from his temples.
"Lusa… They dropped Lusa on us," he said, not sure if it was professional or proper to stagger along the details like this, but this was the best he could do.
"Lusa?" one of the people around the table said, confused. "What are you talking about? You mean Lusa, as in the moon?"
Rhos nodded stiffly.
"My entire team was wiped out. And then these criminals dropped a moon on top of us," he said, and a second later, he felt a dire sense of restlessness from his audience.
"What?!"
"The moon?"
"Are you laced?"
"You had more than 15 capable men! How on earth were they… What do you mean Lusa fell on you?!"
The revelation was hard for everyone to swallow. Most didn't believe it, but of course, several immediately pulled out their phones and started looking for any news or reports of this.
Rhos nearly mustered the courage to tell everyone that it had just happened a minute ago and wouldn't be public knowledge yet, but he sealed his lips. The Minister of Defence boomed:
"If what you say is true, then do you mean to tell me that we are dealing with Level 1 or higher Utility Users?!"
Rhos couldn't have answered verbally. He tried his best to maintain a sturdy stance and nodded.
Again, disbelief continued to spread its roots within the room…until a certain, pretty, middle-aged woman affirmed Rhos' words.
"It seems… he's telling the truth," she said with a stern face only mildly hinting at her surprise.
Everyone turned to her, but she kept swiping at her tablet, her eyes on the screen.
"I tapped into the Bureau's satellites – goodness knows I'll probably be demoted for breaching protocol on the use of our resources – and I see it now."
The woman transferred the detailed illustration generated by one of the programs installed into the Bureau's satellite from her screen to the wide one on the wall. Both those in the room with her and the Ministers could see it.
Lusa, the smallest moon around Epheria was gone.
Immediately, the room turned silent.
So… it was really true?
Before he knew it, Rhos was once again the object of attention, but without the hostile, nigh-on stabbing glares.
The man in the sunglasses twisted his lips.
"Well. I suppose that gives us all the confirmation we need," he said before turning to Rhos. "Sorry for the doubt."
While gesturing for the lady who erected the illustration on the screen to take it down so that the crinkled faces of the Ministers could show themselves once more, the man then addressed them.
"As we were discussing before, we have every reason to believe that these people are Hired Heathens. It's unclear what their motives in destroying Red Biscuit City were, but I think we might have to consider the fact that a hostile nation hired them. Of course, this won't serve as a soothing explanation to our 'friends' as to why their ambassadors and all were squashed into paste. We have earned many enemies in the President's attempt to build allies through Red Biscuit City."
The Minister of Defence openly gnashed his teeth for but a millisecond.
"Find these people! Scour every city in Agavon! Use every available resource to capture them! Employ civilians if you have to! At the very least, if we have these criminals in our custody, we can serve them up to the nations that lost face. If not, Agavon may just become a breeding ground for other Hired Heathens sent to either find these hostiles or make us pay!"
***
Ess dropped Dein's body right before Bee and Twist.
The raging winds from the distance, where the upper third of a small moon could be seen attempting to settle permanently in Agavon's soil, persisted, peppering Ess' back.
"This is the guy who sent me on a trip to space. I have a few questions for him. When he wakes up, that is," he said nonchalantly.
Twist frowned.
"It's unlike you to keep Bureau dogs alive. You hate them more than civilians," he said.
Ess rolled his sweet violet eyes and glanced at Twist's own loot.
"I hate them the appropriate amount. Now let's go. This commotion is going to attract attention sooner rather than later," he said.
"I'd say sooner," Bee said as she patted 'Elijah's' shoulder in an attempt to knock away his shock. "One of the Agents escaped through some kind of warping ability. He used it through a Remote Utility Activation Device. It must have been imbued with the Utility of someone really powerful."
"All the more reason to leave this place quicker," Ess said as he marched past his siblings. "Where's T-96? I thought you told him to get ahold of Ratchet. We need to meet him as soon as possible to find the others."
Right then, the sound of a vehicle's approach was heard. Soon, a black, open-roof jeep appeared in view and parked a few meters from the group. T-96 was in the driver's seat.
Seeing the questioning looks on the Ryduun siblings' faces, he immediately explained himself.
"I took the liberty of parking the V-Amp inside the gates after you retired for the night, Master Twist, Master Bee, Master Ess. I also took the liberty of taking our only source of transportation away when the… skirmishes began earlier. I expected a spectacle thrilling enough to leave all our possessions…" he paused and looked through his mask at the moon behind the trio, "…flat."
"Great job," Ess said as he hurried to sit in the passenger seat.
Bee lugged 'Elijah' and set him down in the middle of the back seat while Twist packed his 'luggage' in the V-Amp's trunk. He hoped neither of the two Agents would die or scream too loudly when they woke up.
After sitting in the back with Bee, Twist asked T-96:
"You called Ratchet, right? Where is he?"
"Green Lolli. That's about a three-day drive," T-96 replied.
Twist's face turned ugly. That was a long journey!
Soon the jeep set off, finding the wide tar from the woods a minute later.
As the journey began, Twist gave a last look in the direction where the heavy clumps of dust still gathered with a portion of the moon Lusa still visible.
'Brother really has gotten stronger. I don't think I could survive in space without having to use my Utility and J.U.N.K. Well, I wouldn't be able to fling a moon to Epheria either. I wonder how brother did it. His Utility can't help with either of those things…' the boy wondered and stared at the back of his older brother's head.