Chapter 2: Midnight Squad
A shock wave blows through the military base, causing the ground to tremble as if in awe of what was transpiring.
Azrael stood with its feet firmly planted on the ground as its two tails formed a barrier between it and Zero's attack; his fist stopped by the spiny protrusions on the reaper's tail.
"Tch." Zero repelled backwards off of Azrael's tail defense and landed several feet away. The golden glow around his body was still very much visible.
(((((....Whoa. This is probably the first time I've ever seen it go on total defense. Have we finally met someone able to actually fight back?)))))
Back at the helicopter One prepares to disembark. He grabs a small brown bag and places it in the utility pouch around his right leg.
"Hold on, One." One turned in the direction of Haji's voice.
"Sir?"
"I don't need to remind you of how things went last time."
"Not at all. We won't allow that a 2nd time around."
Haji reaches out his open palm and a small ear bud is seen in his hand. "If things get dicey, we're going to go with our backup plan. Command won't tolerate another failure."
One grabbed the ear piece and put it in his left ear. "Don't worry, Sgt. This time we have Zero." One nodded his head to Haji and then took a running jump out the helicopter to the battlefield below.
Haji pushed the button to close the hatch door.
"Pilot, take us up higher. I don't want us to get caught in whatever chaos is about to happen."
* * * * *
Down on the ground, Zero and Azrael remained in a standoff. Zero reached in the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a handful of chains. Each one had a dog tag on it with someone's name.
He threw the dog tags at the ground between them.
"I doubt you can understand me, monster…but those tags belonged to some of my closest friends. Friends that I lost to your blood lust."
He began to raise his right arm up in the air. "I couldn't be here last time….but-"
The muscles in his right arm began to bulge and increase in size. Then almost instantly, they shrank down to a much leaner state.
"I promise to make up for it."
(((((Wait, I've seen this move before….)))))
Zero punched the ground in front of him causing it to give way in a massive explosion of concrete and dust. The entire area was now shrouded.
(((((I knew it! One of the ones they came with last time had the ability to condense their muscle mass while still keeping all the raw power. But how can he-)))))
Azrael's eyes began to dart in every direction. His nose picked up every nearby scent. His ears detected every sound around them. Even when unable to see, its senses were extraordinarily.
"Grahhhh!"
It quickly struck out with both tails to its left.
Fabric could be heard ripping as it impaled Zero's jacket, but it didn't have him in it.
"I told you!" Zero's voice rang out.
The reaper tried to turn its head behind him but was too late.
"This ones...gonna hurt!"
Zero's punch connected with Azrael's face as he tried to turn around.
POW! Azrael was sent off his feet and flying into a nearby wall at blinding speed. Zero took this chance to retreat out of the dust cloud.
"Report in, Zero. What was that?" One's voice awakened in his ear from the ear piece he wore. With a smirk he replied, "That, Captain, was the sound of Azrael catching these hands."
Not far away, One is knelled down on top of a nearby rock formation. His right hand is pressed up against the hard surface of the rock and his eyes are closed. A single thought was consuming his mind.
Do we actually have the upper hand here? I expected more resistance than this…something is off.
Haji looked down from the cockpit of the helicopter onto the battlefield below. The dust from Azrael's impact was still shrouding the events transpiring below. But he could hear Zero reporting in through the ear piece he also wore.
Haji turned to the monitor which was zoomed in on the ground below. "....Azrael. Class S reaper that is also categorized as an Infernal. Known ability is extreme speed and reactions. It has one of the highest body counts that we know of. Zero - finish this before we lose what little advantage we may have."
"You got it, Sgt."
There was the sound of rubble being shifted around as Azrael began to slowly rise once more.
"Grrrrr…"
(((((I can't hear its thoughts. I can't speak to it. But I can always feel its emotions. This feeling…..is this fear?)))))
"That punch was courtesy of Four. She sends her regards by the way." Zero smirked as he held his arm out in front of him. The air around it began to ripple as it began to exhume heat. Suddenly, his arm was lit ablaze as flames wrapped it.
"Two is going to hate me for using his move, buttt what's a guy to do right?"
Zero dashed towards the slightly groggy Azrael. He wasn't going to let this moment slip by.
(((((This is unbelievable. The other members of this squad usually have one unique ability, but he has multiple! Could he be the one to finally do it?...Please…)))))
Zero closed in the distance to Azrael who still hadn't moved yet. He raised his fiery arm in preparation for his attack.
Azrael's mouth started shaking as words escaped out, "P-p-PleAs..e…ki..kill..mE…".
Zero's eyes widened and he quickly put the brakes on his assault. Azrael remained still as it sat with it's mouth agape, as if it was stuck in mid-sentence.
"O-one-"
"Impossible!" Haji interrupted. "No one has ever seen a reaper actually speak. Much less OUR language."
"Sgt, " Zero tried to collect himself, "either I'm crazy or there's still someone-"
"Zero, MOVE!!"
One's voice snapped him to attention as Azrael had launched a counter assault and its claws were mere inches from Zero.
Shit! No time to dodge! Zero thought as he prepared for the worst.
Just before impact, vines shot up out of the ground between them and wrapped around Azrael, binding him and then slamming him to the ground as they continued to encroach over it.
"GRAAAHHHHHH!"
Zero stared down at the trapped creature in both shock and relief. "Captain…how-?".
"While you were busy trying to make a dramatic entrance when we got here, I was dropping seeds throughout the battlefield."
"W-wow. Leave it to you to plan ahead. Guess that's why you make the big bucks."
Zero let out a sigh.
The Captain is able to manipulate nature itself…he always carries around various seeds to use in any given situation, he thought to himself. He may not be able to see, but his power gives him a far greater sight. The one person's abilities I can't copy…
"Sgt." One spoke over the radio.
"Yes?"
"There's something you should know. When Azrael rushed at Zero, I didn't feel his movement on the ground until the very last second."
"I mean, does his exceptional speed not explain that?"
"No sir.. Even with super speed, it's not like you're running above the ground. Its feet should still impact the ground with each step and I should be able to feel it as long as I'm touching the ground. But….I only felt one step and he was already at Zero."
"Sorry to interrupt this enthralling convo, but we have a situation." Zero dashed back as Azrael began slicing the vines in quick succession.
"aaaaaaAAAAAAAAHH!" Azrael leapt up, breaking through the last of the vines. He landed on top of the wall he had crashed into previously.
(((((This feeling…..)))))
Back on the plane, Haji was now fixated on the monitor in front of him that showed an aerial view of Zero and Azrael in a stand-off.
SLAM!
The cockpit door was shoved open as a man in a long lab coat hurdled through. He had what could pass as messy bed hair and a bit of haphazard stubble on his chin. In his hands were what appeared to be printed graph paper.
"Staff Sgt. Sadiki!"
"Robinson? You know not to enter here without-"
"I greatly apologize for my intrusion! But please, sir! I have some news you'll want to hear."
Haji walked over to the military scientist, "Then speak."
"Sir, we've been monitoring the reaper, Azrael, as instructed. We were picking up some slightly elevated readings when Zero first engaged him, but then it became diluted when we ascended higher. After all, the sensors can only pick up accurate readings when within the fixed radius that we explained in our last meeting. That's the reason we weren't able to-"
Haji snatched the paper out of his hands with clear annoyance. "Is there something you're trying to tell me in all this ramble?"
Haji's eyes widened when looking upon the graph. "....is this accurate?"
"It's about 85% accurate at our current altitude. We were getting average to low readings and then suddenly only minutes ago this happened. As you know, the blue line represents the average mental activity reading of a normal generic reaper. The yellow is the known average for A class and above reapers. And the red line….is Azrael's reading."
Haji's eyes scanned across the page once more to confirm what he was seeing was true. The red line charted well above the yellow line. He quickly looked back to the monitor to where Azrael and Zero were still in their stand-off.
"Robinson. Radio the Lt. Commander. Now."
*****
Down below, the dust had completely cleared from the battlefield.
Azrael stood with his gaze fixed on Zero, drool dripping from its mouth as a soft snarl could be heard. A faint shadowy aura began to emit around it.
The air….feels different suddenly, thought Zero.
Azrael took a single step forward and it was like a ripple was sent through the air. Zero's skin had goosebumps.
From afar, One continued to hold his hand against the ground. As long as he was connected to the nature around him in this manner, he was able to see any activity that happened to connect to it. Such as someone walking on the ground or the vibrations of sound off of trees. This was his sight beyond sight.
"Zero, use caution. Something isn't right here." One said, as a single bead of sweat ran down the side of his forehead.
"Yeah. I can feel that."
Zero slipped off his jacket and dropped it to the ground with a thud. Underneath the jacket he wore a gray shirt with black on the sides that clung to his body. There was a strap that looped around his shoulders which formed an X pattern on his back and connected in front of his chest. Standard issue uniform. He knelt down to his jacket and pulled a white face mask that was completely devoid of any features. It was blank.
Zero held the mask in his palm and readied himself to put it on. "One, I'm gonna need you on this one."
One scoffed, "You're just now realizing that?".
Azrael crouched down as if he was preparing itself to lunge. The shadowy aura was beginning to grow thicker.
Zero took a long breath and then released it before he placed the mask over his face.
"Faceless Trance".
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Blissful_ChaotiC
Blissful_ChaotiC Thanks for checking out Chapter 2!! I'm super excited to start getting into the thick of the story. The battle between Azrael and Zero is about to reach the its climax; the conclusion will be the precurser of everything to come!
See you when chapter 3 drops. Be sure to add to your library :)
-Kenji
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