Skirmish

Supports, while not as big or as ugly looking as aliens, were even more powerful. They were humanoid -like beings with slim builds and tendrils of gray hair flowing from their heads. Their skin was gray and their eyes were empty, white holes in their head. They had no, ears, or noses and no apparent gender.

They wore a long flowing white robe with sleeves that went to the elbow, showing the lines of black going up both of their arms.

Kira raised her hand, in a gesture meaning wait. Hede nodded and stood his ground.

The 16 supports all flew smoothly out of the wormhole and above the group on the forest floor. As they hovered above them, their quiet and jumbled words came. It was all random letters and sounds, and most of them didn't make sense, but a few did.

"Great one." They whispered. "Savior."

The mumbling continued for a few more seconds before stopping abruptly.

The tallest Support, assumed to be the leader, pointed its finger at Hede, who was closest to the Supports.

"You." It said with a deep, unearthly voice and moved his hand so its palm faced toward him. Its gray hand glowed with some sort of power, and in a matter of seconds, was shooting a beam of scalding hot energy straight toward Hede.

Hede dodged it with a swift turn of his body and jumped back to further the distance between him and the support.

Pax pulled back her string and said, "Creator of life, lend me the advantage to end my foe. Enhance. {Aegis Shield, Level 4}." She let the string go and the arrow soared into the air, where it suddenly stopped and exploded into a opaque green dome.

The stray beam hit the shield and harmlessly bounced off of it, disintegrating into thin air.

The rest of the Supports raised their hand the way the other one did, and blasted in the direction of Hede's team. Hede and his group maneuvered between the blasts with ease, still not attacking.

This went on for a few minutes before the Supports finally went in with a different attack.

Their skin started to darken in places on their body. Then the dark spots started to bulge out, eventually tearing the skin and producing long, black spikes that looked sharp enough to cut steel.

The Supports split up and. Half of them charged on the ten people in the sky, the other half aimed to wipe out the people on the ground.

Hede and his group dodged the onslaught of attacks the Supports sent their way. During this, Hede was looking towards Kira, hoping she would give the signal. For a few long minutes he waited with dwindling patience for a sign. After a few more swipes in his general direction, Kira finally put two thumbs up.

Immediately, he leapt toward the nearest Support with lightning speed. It didn't have time to react as Hede delivered a swift kick to its midsection and another to where its kneecap was.

The Support screamed in rage and agony as its knee was kicked in. It gripped its stomach and curled in on itself. In its haggard state, it couldn't react to the roundhouse kick that connected with the side of its head.

The Supports body flew in the direction of the kick, spasmed and shot out of the sky like a bullet. It landed on the ground with a resounding CRACK! Soon, the rest of Hede's team were delivering quick, decisive blows to the Supports. As he was aiming another kick at the Support to his right, it zoomed straight past him and towards Mason.

Hede cursed. "Wait-"

Mason and his team stood before the Supports. After saying the phrase, "Duro, Enhance." they put their hands out and dug their heels into the ground. The Supports came crashing from they sky like a shooting star. Their spiky exterior collided with the toughened hands of the Gen A's.

The spikes barely broke skin, before being gripped tightly. Mason took his Support and pulled it to the ground. He pinned it their with his foot, its hand behind its back. The Support growled and squirmed under his weight, tiring itself out, and eventually, stopped moving.

The other people in Mason's group had also been able to pin the rest Supports to the ground and were now concentrating on keeping them still.

In a matter of minutes, the fight was over.

Kira signaled Pax to release her barrier and instructed Lucy and her group to finish off the Supports.

Lucy did the deed as quickly and painlessly as possible, careful to not look at the Support's faces.

After she and her group were done, Kira ordered the units for an inspection of the forest. They were looking for any areas that might have gotten damaged. When no obvious harm was reported back, Kira called for a quick pack up and set the departure time for 15 minutes.

Hede came down from his place in the sky and clapped Mason on the shoulder.

"Thanks man," he said "but I had everything under control up there."

Mason tried to smile his most apologetic smile, but failed. "Of course you did, Hede."