The First Collection

A fleet of a dozen marched through green wastelands surrounded by the never-ending ethereal fog that is the shatter. It looked like an oscillating ocean of glass shards showing a distorted and incohesive image of what lay beyond, where adjacent shards of glasses didn't seem to agree on exactly what that was. 

The fleet of soldiers were led by one Dr. Tyson, the doctor-scientist-engineer that played every base for the lack of professionals to do so and accompanied by one Ashley Young, the widowed soldier born of the shatter. One of the bigger soldiers carried what seemed like a giant metallic egg strapped to his back and all the rest of the soldiers carried firearms. 

Ash was walking along with the only other female soldier in the fleet. Natasha, just like Ash had fought in the decimation war. After about half an hour of walking in silence, conversations broke among the fleet and Natasha decided to initiate one of her own with Ash. 

'I remember you from Ethos,' Natasha initiated. 'You were in the fleet that transported injured transponder units to Higgens, right?' 

'Yeah,' Ash replied. 'Wow, that was so long ago.' 

'Your first collection?' 

'I mean, I've been to a couple, but only we showed up... so,' was Ash's reply. 'I guess I've never been to a real collection.' 

'Well from the looks of it, we are headed to an old GDI research facility. There's an open gateway to Heaven from there,' Natasha kept explaining. 'Chances are they are already there and Kestrel's setting up an ambush.' 

'Kestrel?' 

'Oh, she's you, but can go invisible,' Natasha noticed the genuine confusion in Ash's eyes. She laughed reminiscing exactly what she felt the moment she heard about the other worlds, guessing what Ash must be feeling. 'You'll get used to it.' 

A moment of silence passed as the fleet moved along a little further. 

'Aren't we supposed to carry those small... whatchamacallits?'

'Oh yeah,' Natsha replied. 'But doc didn't give us any. I just assumed that the egg would do the collection, but I have no idea how to move that behemoth around without snapping a couple of backs.'

'Maybe it doesn't have to be moved around,' Ashley commented. 'Hopefully.' 

The fleet made their way through the narrow paths surrounded by shatter until, through the trees and cracked asphalt coating the ground, a giant white wall was visible. Overgrown fields of grass and moss had almost swallowed that white wall whole. When the giant metallic gate leading into the other side of the wall stood strong as ever, the wall beside it had given in leaving a gaping hole in security. 

One by one, following Dr. Tyson, they all entered the facility through the broken wall. The architecture was stunning and at its peak one can only imagine how beautiful the facility must have been, but now for the most part it was covered in overgrown vines and grasses sprouting out of the concrete. 

'We are here,' Tyson announced to the group. 'Now we have to set up and wait.' 

A couple of minutes passed as a few helped Dr. Tyson setup, Ash stood simply watching and the rest settled down comfortably on whatever they could sit on or lean against. 

'Is everything set up?' Dr. Tyson inquired from the group of people in front of him, who were setting up that which the troops have been carrying; a contraption that can only be explained as a giant metal egg made from scraps. 

'I don't get it,' Ashley said. She was wielding a rifle as she walked behind Tyson. 'This seems like your kind of thing, why do you need me here?' 

'Well, we detected a massive wave of energy from here,' Dr. Tyson kept on going. 'This wave is so strong that either this whole area's gonna be covered in shards or... well, something unexpected is going to happen.' 

'We know little to nothing on these shards,' Tyson continued after signaling the one's setting up the 'collector'. 'So, we have to prepare for everything.'

'Doctor, look,' one of the men holding a rifle pointed out small droplet-like crystals starting to deposit on a rock. Soon, following the precipitation, everything started to cover in the shards. Droplets of shards deposited themselves on flowers, some on the grass and even on Ash's metallic arm. Everything started to transition from color to shades of gray as the crystals precipitated. 

The collector suddenly sprung to life. 

'Here we go,' Dr. Tyson said with tons of expectations in his voice. 'Let's see how well this works.'

The crystals started to fade away fast. The colors started to restore themselves as more color transitioned to shades of gray. 

'It works,' Dr. Tyson said with a voice of relief. 'You can fission these shards by charging them with enough radiation from electromagnetic resonance...' Tyson noticed Ash's disenchanted face. 'About which you obviously don't care.' 

Ash chuckled following the doctor's statement. 'No, no, no... this is interesting... I was... just... just distracted,' Ash replied. 'So, collecting these shards repairs the shatter... somehow?' 

'Exactly, now with this resonant fission mechanism we could get a lot more shards a lot faster.' 

The collector kept rumbling and silently revving fighting for the colors. For minutes nothing seemed to change. Everyone stood fascinated by what the machine was doing. It was interesting to say the least. Ash felt a wind blowing in her direction but couldn't tell from where. Standing close to the collector felt peculiar. The feeling was inexpressible, no words could describe it better than saying it felt like 'the unknown'. 

After minutes of rumbling from the collector a strong gust of wind blew at everyone from nowhere and the surrounding started to shift between two possibilities. A bush of grass lily suddenly was covered in flowers and in the next moment they were gone. A shattered stone fixed itself and broke once again. Possibilities kept shifting back and forth creating holographic illusions of matter overlapping and replacing each other until finally it settled. The grass lily bush was drowned in flowers, the shattered stone was no more and staring at this, on the other side was a chrome android who caught Ash's eye almost simultaneously as she did his. 

Ash flicked the barrel of the assault rifle so fast that it almost bent; and she fired the first shot. Prybax flinched his entire body and made way for the bullet to travel past him. He aimed the machine pistol he was holding at ash and held the trigger. 

'Take cover,' Ash yelled as she turned her rifle away and casted her shield. The bullets froze in space within the green force field that escaped her left palm. Everyone behind her ran for cover. 

Within seconds Prybax ran out of bullets trying to hit someone through Ash's shield. Ash took that opportunity to run for cover while trying to land a bullet on Prybax. Prybax dashed into cover behind a pillar of an abandoned building that lied close to them, and Ash got her cover behind a rock. 

Ash quickly loaded her gun back up and waited for an opportunity to either get their people out to safety or to engage on Prybax. Suddenly with a flash, about fifty meters away from Ash another reality shifted into the battle replacing a massive stone bulwark with a concrete archway. Right in the middle of it stood a man out of whom electricity sparked onto the ground. The sniper he was holding had its aim locked onto Ash. 

'Crap,' Ash exhaled. 

The bullet hit the stone and with sparks and stone shards it lodged itself into the stone as Ash took her head out of the way. She quickly fired a bullet in the shooter's general direction before running back into a different cover past the building where Tyson was hiding. Tyson was screaming into a com trying to stay hidden from everyone's line of sight. 'Send someone, send everyone, we need help.' Ash ducked as a bullet whooshed past her ear. 

As another massive portal opened in the distance, more men stepped into the field. The sparking shooter loaded the next bullet and aimed at Ash who moved behind a cover as a mist faded in out of nowhere. It twisted and turned around him and out of nowhere a voice whispered close by, 'Watch where you are aiming that thing, kid'. He quickly turned back to see a man standing behind him with a pistol aimed at his head. They both fired at almost the same instance; the pistol bullet ricocheted off with a blue spark and the rifle bullet moved through the smoky man, fading him back to a fog and clearing a tunnel through the gray smoke, lighting the mist as it traveled through. 

Prybax moved through the field in a flash dodging fire coming from every direction. He slid across firing back at the ones firing on him, being cautious only to injure. Few fell on the field while the others retreated at the face of superhumans and cyborgs in the field. As Prybax dashed forth evading bullets reaching him from every direction, being the center of attraction standing at the middle of the field, one bullet hit him hard on the side of his head that his head jerked with the shock. The bullet did no damage other than a tiny scratch on his shiny silver head. He turned back to glimpse upon the one who shot him, aiming the smoking barrel straight at him, alarmed that the bullet took Prybax's attention. With fire breaking out from every direction Prybax started walking over to the man who shot him. He loaded the next bullet, terrified, trying to land it on Prybax before he made it over. The trigger was pulled, and the bullet had left the chamber, which Prybax had let pass, gracefully without breaking his pace. 'My turn,' Prybax aims his pistol at the man and fires his shot, a shot that never reaches its destination. 

As if a magnet is pulling the bullet in reverse, the bullet starts to slow down and magically hover in midair. The soldier who closed his eyes after the shot, slowly opened them to see Aion holding-up his stopwatch at Prybax. The soldier retreated for his life after Aion signaled him. The slow-moving force field that stood between Prybax and Aion slowly faded away, starting the inevitable fight between the two. 

Ash was in a state of shock, how everything escalated so fast. Few seconds ago, they were part of a harmless experiment and now everything has descended into chaos. 

'Woah, what's going on?' one of the soldiers screamed from the bottom of his lungs from behind a cover. His peer was looking at him terrified. The screaming soldier crumbled on to the floor as a mist gathered around him. 'Help me,' he got up inhumanly fast and his hand went straight for the trigger of his rifle. Everyone around him hastened away from him, but Ash stood confused. 

'Faide!' one of the soldiers recognized the enemy. 

The soldier started to walk towards ash, holding down the trigger, unloading the bullets on to her as she casted up her shield. Ash covered behind her shield waiting for her chance, till then she stood her ground through the storm of bullets. The soldier marched at ash menacingly without a hesitation or fear in mind, that is until the magazine ran out. Ash took her opportunity, aimed the rifle she got on hand and fired a bullet at the rf-chamber of the soldier's gun that blew up with a concussion throwing him back. Within that instant a gust of smoke left the soldier's body, and dashed fast towards Ash which she made way to let pass. For a couple of seconds, as the smoke went passing ash, a face materialized in the smoke and whispered in her ear a cold 'boo!' as it went past. 

Aion threw force fields blocking every one of Prybax's attacks, no matter how fast he was, Aion was faster. Prybax threw a punch that Aion caught with a stasis field, in which his hand got stuck. Following it soon after, Aion kicked Prybax in the head. Halfway through the kick, everything fast forwarded delivering a fast kick that got hit faster than a bullet. Prybax broke free with the force of the kick, and he recovered before Aion had time to pick himself back on his feet. Prybax dashed, grabbed Aion and slammed him down on the floor fast, but just before Aion touched the ground, he froze in midair and rewound himself back in time, pushing Prybax off of him in the process. As Prybax finally balanced himself on his feet and turned back at Aion, he was already aiming his rifle at Prybax, ready for round two. 

Tyson was hiding inside a building, ears plugged by his hands and balled up in a corner when Ash, out of nowhere slid into cover around a corner next to him and leaned against the wall, crouching under a barrage of fire that pierced the wall, to reload her rifle. Their allies had taken over that building; hence fire was returned covering Ash. Tyson looked up at her and the moment she could catch her eye he exclaimed 'use static charge concussion against the smoke guy' and handed her a Vanguard Assault Rifle. Looking back at Tyson, having understood the assignment, she quickly pulled out a lace from her pant pocket. 

Through the barrage of fire, Faide walked forward, menacingly, as bullets just moved through his body. 

'Don't... don't waste bullets, man,' he advised disapprovingly walking through the bullets. He pulled out a pistol, took aim and started firing back. A couple of shots later and after a couple of hits, the allies started to fall back. Faide walked in closer in a victorious strut. 

Ash suddenly swung around the corner, with the rapid-fire rifle unloading bullets into air as it's trigger had been taped on, and without hesitation, she threw the rifle up into the air, right at Faide, pulled out a pistol, took aim and fired one bullet to precisely hit the rf-chamber. 

As soon as the explosion went off Faide turned into smoke to escape it, but the electric shock froze the mist midair. 

'Did that work?' Tyson peeked out of cover after the explosion went off and everything became relatively quieter. 

'Yeah, I guess,' Ash put down her pistol. 'For now, anyway.' 

'Listen, I think it's the resonant fission collectors that are opening the gateways,' Tyson explained to Ash in a rush. 'So, blow a couple of them up and see what happens.' 

'Sure, it won't do us any damage?' 

'Don't know, but we are already taking damage, so... just switch your brain off and do it' 

Tyson retreated back with the allies who were falling back. Ash picked her rifle back up, turned the safety off again and walked to the barrage of fire. 

Rewinds from Aion were starting to get on Prybax's metallic nerves. Every blow, not enough to render him unconscious, he could rewind, every blow too slow, he could dodge. Prybax dashed to his corner of the chosen battlefield, while Aion rewound back to his. They stood amidst the chaos as if no one could interfere with their duel. 

'Pretty slow for a fast guy, I must add,' Aion commented. 

'Pretty annoying for a... little bitch,' Prybax replied. Aion smiled at Prybax's reply. 

Aion drew his gun the fastest and started firing. Prybax instantly ducked and returned fire which made Aion retreat back into cover. 

It wasn't long before Prybax ran out of ammo trying to hit Aion hiding behind a rock. Hearing a silent click Prybax turns back within a split second, reloads his weapons so fast that sparks fly out the cartridge and takes his aim at Ash who's standing behind him with her hands in the air. Prybax stood confused for a couple of seconds, which Ash utilized for her advantage. Opening her palm, she dropped a grenade right down at her feet, already cooked, a few milliseconds to explode. The grenade triggers as Prybax tries to get out of its range, gets caught in the concussion and is launched into the air. 

Aion sneaks out of cover to catch a glimpse of the explosion. Through the smoke a figure marched forward. Ash's green force field carried the smoke forward, dispersing them away as soon as the shield was put out. Ash walked menacingly at Aion, slowed down, aimed her rifle, toggled into single ranged-fire mode and shot one bullet with a loud bang. Aion rewound out of the way, and almost hitting him in the shoulder, the bullet went on its way to hit a collector behind Aion, right between reinforced casings protecting it. 

With sparks and fire, the collector went ablaze behind him. The time-traveler ignored it and kept up the pace, firing down the rest of his weapon's magazine at Ash, failing to notice that his part of the reality is going back home. The ruins behind which he was covering, the ground he was standing on and the bullets he was firing started fading away, replaced by grassy plains. Ash casted up her shield, but to no avail, as none of the bullets could make way to her. Few seconds later, everything calmed down for Aion, as they returned back to their reality and his men crawled out of cover. 'Damn, if I knew that's all it took, I would have shot this thing myself,' Tyson replied standing up from behind the collector, which still was grumbling silently for its life. 

All the rest of the Tysons on Ash's end of the active warfare didn't have the comfort of sharing that sentiment as the heat of the battle seemed never ending. All the soldiers were falling back as the super-soldiers entered the field. The way most soldiers saw it, they didn't have plot armor and one bullet is all it would take. Ash suddenly appeared out of nowhere and joined in with her team. 

'Doc, I can't blow up our... that thing you made... I tried everything: shot it, stuck a grenade in it, it didn't even budge,' Ash spoke to Tyson who was still a little jumpy with all of the unpredictable bangs going out in the distance. 

'Why would... oh... oh... it has a kill switch... there's a thing like a door handle under the lower panel. Just hold it tight and yank it and be quick about it; it takes about twenty seconds to shut down.' 

Ash shook her head with an expression of confusion and irritation as a loud explosion nearby made them all duck. Taking it as a queue, Ash reloaded her gun and went on her way. 

'Ok people... let's go, let's get out here quick,' Tyson said, marching the soldiers away from the field. The squadron followed his orders and kept marching away, until a giant glass with a gray mist behind it, that seemed to ripple slowly and randomly, blocked their way. 

'Wha...?' 

A soldier, to confirm his suspicions, bent over, picked up a stone and threw it at the mirror. It moved through the mirror and disappeared into the mist. Everybody stood confused and Tyson stood behind the squad sharing a similar sentiment. 

'Don't move.' 'Freeze.' 'Drop your weapons, and hands where we can see them.' 

With a thousand commands, each longer and confusing than the last, the squad was surrounded by another troop of soldiers. Some simply had their exact copies in the squad which they were holding at gunpoint, but ordered simply to do so, they didn't hesitate. 

A second later the first squadron had their weapons on the floor. 

'Where is your Dr. Tyson,' A soldier holstered his weapon, stood up and inquired. Everybody looked around, but the man was, simply, missing. 

Dr. Tyson stood up from his cover to inspect the surroundings. Within less than a minute, he was already about a hundred feet from where he was, closer to their collector, away from his squad. He crouched behind cover and moved through the trashed building, praying not to get shot. He walked to the front door and peeked out into the loud battlefield. Nobody seemed to be nearby, and nobody seemed to have noticed Tyson. Following a loud explosion nearby, without being discouraged by it he decided to rush to the next cover. 

THUD 

The weapon stock which hit Tyson's head couldn't have possibly been wooden, and if it was Tyson seriously had overestimated the shock absorbance capabilities of wood. As Tyson fell onto the floor a tall figure stood over him with a rifle pointing straight at him. Tyson, with one look, recognized who the man was. 

'Rupert? Rupert Young?' 

'How do I shut down your collector,' he had no intentions to play games. Tyson seemed to have a hard time recovering from the concussion and even harder time recovering from the shock. 

'What? What collector?' 

Rupert toggled the weapon safety to signal that he means business. 

'Drop the gun,' in an unexpected turn of events, a gun barrel pressed against Rupert's temple from the behind. 

'Easy there,' Rupert's voice caught Ash off guard. She didn't see his face when he pointed the gun to his head and the last thing she expected in the battlefield was her dead husband. 

'Rupert?' 

'Hey there, honey.' 

Ash could neither pull the trigger nor let go of the rifle; she was frozen for a few seconds, which was enough for the enemies to engage her. Suddenly her rifle jerked away as if it came to life and flicked away from Rupert's head. Rupert took the opportunity, pulled Tyson off the ground and held a pistol to his head with him held as a meat shield. Ash was disarmed in an instant and she was thrown down onto the floor, but without hesitation, she pulled out the pistol to aim at 'air' that disarmed and attacked her. Ash saw her rifle floating in midair before a refractive figure appeared holding it. Soon the figure became much clearer, and she saw who her attacker was. 

'I won't ask again, how do we shut down your collector?' Rupert asked, holding the gun to Tyson, with his wife standing next to him, who was pointing Ash's rifle at Ash in support. 

'Wait, is...' Ash cleared her throat before continuing. 'Is that what this is all about?' 

'You better answer for your own sake,' Ashley Young made a request from her alternate self, who's held under gun point, the least aggressive way she could, yet the words hit so many buttons for Ash she didn't even know existed. 

'It's already shutting down,' Ash replied panting. 'It should shut down... right about... now.' 

Ash, without a moment's hesitation aimed the pistol at her alternate self's stomach and fired a shot. When she shrieked in pain, Rupert involuntarily pulled his trigger. 

Less than a second later the couple disappeared, ash's weapon fell onto the floor, as the loud noises echoed through the battlefield for the last time. 

Tyson had his teeth clenched as a bullet was floating in midair inches away from his head. He couldn't move his head, and neither could the bullet. The green force field that held both the bullet and Tyson's head in its range dissipated as Ash backed away. The bullet then disappeared, and Dr. Tyson grabbed his kneecaps for support to maintain his posture. He sighed heavily before he could find the words to speak again. 'You...' 

'You didn't have to do that,' Tyson turned his head towards Ash. 

'I know,' Ash picked up her rifle from the grass. 'I just thought it might give me an advantage the next time I meet her and... from the limited interactions we had... I already hate that bitch.' 

'No doubt the feeling's mutual,' Tyson commented, starting to limp his way home. Ash walked over to him, held his arm and ran it around her shoulder supporting his injured leg. 

'So? same time, same place, next week, I guess...' Tyson commented. Ash chuckled in return at the remark as they both marched away into the sunset, back home. 

That was more action than what they've both had in a long time, but with uncertainty and infinity circling their lives, their own story intertwined with that of many more, they both knew, this fight, is only just getting started.