Chapter Four: A Strange Anomaly

During the car ride to the rift site, Marcus could barely keep his composure, his heart was pounding, his palms were sweating, and his mind was racing.

A real rift site, he thought to himself.

Marcus was wondering when he'd get to see one, but now that It's happening he can barely contain my emotions.

Kenji, almost as if he could read Marcus's mind, spoke up.

"What are you all jittery about? It's just the supernatural, nothing world ending." He said playfully."

"Besides," Elissa cut into the conversation, "you'll just be watching the professionals today." 

Elissa grinned knowingly as she glanced at Kenji.

Kenji covered his face in pretend embarrassment, "Oh stop it, not in front of Marcus." He said in a soft feminine tone.

Both Marcus and Elissa laughed in unison, followed shortly by Kenji.

After a while, Marcus changed the subject.

"You guys seem pretty chill all things considered, or are you just good at hiding your fear?" Marcus asked curiously.

Elissa shrugged, "It's not that we're good at hiding our fear, it's just normal for us, I've been doing this for three years and Kenji for four, we've pretty much seen it all."

"That's the beauty of human nature," Kenji chimed in, "an alien could show up tomorrow and freak people out, and then a year later everyone is calling it Joe."

Marcus sighed in relief, "Yeah, I guess that's true to some extent, anyway I'm curious, will there be any other officers at the site?"

Kenji shook his head, "No, just a few assistants, this entire city is under our jurisdiction for now, if you remember we only have about two thousand officers across the board."

Marcus nodded as he turned his attention towards the window, "yeah, I remember." 

Marcus watched as the city slowly transitioned into more desolate and gray stretches of buildings within the industrial district, abandoned warehouses and ruined factories lined the streets.

The tension inside the car grew steadily, and the jokes paused as Elissa began nearing a checkpoint guarded by two men dressed in black military gear that held no insignia.

"We're here," Elissa said as she parked the car in front of the checkpoint, she then opened her car door and gestured for Marcus to do the same.

Exiting the car Marcus was greeted with stale air and the scent of rusted metal and mold, "ugh," Marcus groaned as he covered his nose and mouth, "that stench is grotesque."

Kenji chuckled as he rubbed his nose, "You haven't been out much, wait until you have to deal with sewage, then talk to me about a stench."

Marcus shuddered just at the thought, "I think I'll pass."

After their brief conversation, the trio made their way through the checkpoint, where the air began growing thicker with a strange electric current. It was faint but Marcus could feel the hairs standing up his neck.

As the trio continued to walk Marcus noticed a tall woman dressed in a white lab coat emerging from the factory they were heading towards, she had long purple hair and bright magenta eyes.

In her hands, she held a strange metallic device that had a light alternating between blue and red. Walking alongside her was a strange dog-like creature that had solid blue eyes and white fur.

Who is that? Marcus asked himself.

"Kenji, Elissa." The woman called with a frown, "You two took your sweet ass time getting down here."

Kenji chuckled nervously as he grabbed at his neck, "It's only been what, a few hours? No big deal right?"

"You know what they say time flies." Elissa chimed in.

The woman rolled her eyes, she then shifted her gaze towards Marcus, "And you, are you the cadet these two are training?" 

Marcus nodded as he stepped forward, "Yes ma'am, I'm Marcus, Marcus Fall, and you?"

The woman smiled faintly, "Anna Fletcher, or Dr. Fletcher, whatever you prefer."

"I'll stick with Dr. Fletcher if you don't mind." 

Dr. Fletcher nodded, "It's fine, now come, I need these two idiots to be on standby if anything goes wrong."

Marcus nodded as he moved ahead of the trio, Elissa and Kenji exchanged looks of embarrassment before following suit.

As the group entered the factory Marcus's attention was quickly grabbed by a large translucent force field covering a large portion of the factory in a cube-like shape. At each point of the cube was a large black box similar to the ones at Kenji's and Elissa's safe house, except these were larger; much larger.

The force field itself was brimming with energy, arcs of electricity coming off its sides like a reactor of sorts.

Marcus had a gut feeling that this was the cause of that electric charge he felt earlier and that something was wrong.

The trio didn't venture far into the factory, instead, Dr. Fletcher led them to the far right corner near the entrance from where they entered.

"Uhm, doctor Fletcher," Kenji said in a disturbed tone as he continued studying the force field, "isn't that force field a bit too large for a low-ranking rift?"

Dr. Fletcher looked back at Kenji with a glare, "If you had paid attention, you would've realized that the Ether levels at this site have skyrocketed far beyond any reasonable expectation, this rift most likely has a Rank three anomaly attempting to exit it."

Marcus, Elissa, and Kenji's eyes widened at the same time.

"A rank three?" Marcus asked in fear, his voice shaken and his heart dropped, he remembered exactly what Kenji told him about those.

'If a rank four or higher exits the rift, they can range from large beast-like creatures that can level entire blocks or even cities, to reality-altering entities that can change physics itself, when dealing with these it's always a game of minimizing damage, and destroying the anomaly quickly.'

"Yes," Dr. Fletcher said coldly, "I have the strongest barrier in this jurisdiction containing the control area, but I doubt it'll hold, I've called for reinforcements, but there were no officers available in the neighboring jurisdictions, so it'll be just you two," 

Dr. Fletcher then looked towards Marcus, "And if they fail, it'll be up to you and Alexander." Her tone was calm as she placed a hand on the dog-like creature beside her.

Kenji sighed as his expression turned serious, "ok, Marcus I want you to stay with Anna and protect her with your life if it comes down to it."

Marcus took a step back in shock as he grabbed at his chest, he could feel his heart pounding, his blood rushing throughout his body despite wearing the BFR suit, "but I thought you said…"

"Forget what I said earlier," Kenji said coldly as he turned to Elissa.

"I want you to take the high ground," he pointed towards the area above the force field. "use your sniper for suppression, and if it comes to it use HD rounds."

Elissa nodded as she jumped up, but instead of coming back down like gravity would suggest, she continued to rise, almost as if she were floating.

once she was high enough, she pulled the black box from her back.

Marcus watched as it morphed from a solid black box to a sniper rifle with a neon pink line down the middle going from butt to barrel.

Marcus then turned his attention to Kenji who was motioning to all the guards and assistants, "I need all of you away from the force fie–"

A large arc of electricity emerged from the force field with a loud crackling sound and struck one of the machines causing a sudden bright and fiery explosion.

Fiery sparks erupted from the explosion followed by a small shock wave that sent all nearby debris flying and caused Marcus's ears to ring.

"Get back now!" Kenji shouted towards an assistant who was hurriedly typing away at a machine near the force field.  

She ignored him and continued typing away. Kenji snarled as he teleported behind the woman and grabbed her by the back of her suit, "I said get back!" 

Kenji shouted as he teleported again, this time he reappeared beside Marcus and Dr. Fletcher, he tossed the assistant to the ground beside them, and he then disappeared.

Marcus looked down at the assistant, her expression was one of fright, her body was trembling with fear and panic, and her eyes shook with a primal fear that Marcus had only ever seen in horror movies.

Marcus couldn't believe his eyes.

He knew Kenji had a serious side, as he didn't hesitate to show it, but this, this was something completely different.

"Are rank three anomalies really this dangerous?" Marcus asked with a hint of alarm in his voice.

Dr. Fletcher nodded, "one of the more destructive cases happened in Turkey about ten years ago in the year 2023, an anomaly exited a rift that appeared over Turkey and spread to Syria, long story short thousands died, among them was ACO Yamamoto Aki, Kenji's older brother."

Marcus felt a lump forming in his throat, Kenji never mentioned anything about a brother, but that would explain his new behavior. 

Marcus glanced back at Kenji who was now teleporting around the force field checking each of the bottom four boxes, they shook violently, and sparks of golden electricity shot off from them a popped like fireworks, "the rift is about to open!" Kenji shouted to Elissa, "Get ready!"

"Roger that!"

Marcus felt a hand land on his shoulder and he immediately tensed up, "Steel yourself, cadet, for if these two fail, you'll be next in line." Dr. Fletcher, who remained as calm as ever stared at Marcus with a detached expression.

Marcus swallowed hard as he turned his attention back to the main event.

Seconds later a large black sphere began forming at the center of the barrier, it began growing rapidly, and several gray clouds of dust began forming and orbiting around the sphere like a whirlwind, forming a sort of dust ring around the black.

"Dr. Fletcher now!" Kenji shouted.

Dr. Fletcher wasted no time and quickly squeezed the trigger on the strange device she was holding, the light that was going from blue to red on the device turned red, and almost instantly the black boxes around the barrier began to close the distance between each other, but as the barrier grew smaller, the sphere only grew increasingly violent and larger.

"Shit." Kenji cursed loudly as he unsheathed his sword, revealing a neon blue blade.

Marcus instinctively grasped at the hilt of his blade, his hands were trembling badly, and his stance was poor. 

"Dr. Fletcher?" Marcus asked, his voice shaking from fear and panic, "this barrier will hold right?"

Dr. Fletcher remained silent.

The barrier and sphere collided with each other forcefully.

The clash sent a powerful shock wave through the factory, causing the building to rock to its very foundations. Almost everyone except Kenji, Elissa, and Dr. Fletcher, struggling to keep their balance.

"I calculate a thirty percent chance of success based on the barrier's current condition." Dr. Fletcher said as she looked up from her strange device, "I'm afraid a fight is inevitable."

Marcus felt a shiver run cold down his spine, he had hoped it wouldn't come down to that because although he had basic combat training, it wasn't with his current weapon. 

And he wasn't thrilled about fist-fighting a monster if it came down to it.

Both the barrier and the sphere continued to collide against each other violently, their constant collisions full of raw power and energy.

Then it happened, the barrier gave out spectacularly. a massive all-encompassing light burned bright, followed by another massive shock wave.

Everyone went flying, except the trio from last time, Marcus and Alexander.

In the aftermath only the black sphere remained.

"The barrier failed." Dr. Fletcher said coldly.