*C58 - Danger on the Horizon, a Horde is Forming!

E/d note: As it is a Friday and we ended on a cliff hanger yesterday, I will release this chapter 12hrs earlier then scheduled. Though, you're going to hate me for the ending >< ALSO, I HAVE TO POINT THIS OUT! But I am actually amazed at how some people do not know that Fury, Natasha and Wanda KNOWS that Luke is not from their world .-. It is literally in Chapter 2, the first diary entry guys .-. Luke literally said he was from a parallel world .-. In previous chapter I'm reading comments like "How is he going to cover up" or "how come he say this but the world don't know" .-. Like, no shit? HE'S SPEAKING ABOUT THE PARALLEL WORLD .-. ???????

'Inner dialogue/thoughts'"Normal dialogue

[System]

[Diary entries]

(Word count: 2,405)

~ With Luke ~

Natasha's voice came through the phone, tense and urgent. "We might have a situation here. Where are you?"

"I'm in the café, I just saw a bunch of police vehicles passing by. Any chance it's got nothing to do with that?" Luke replied as he walked and stood outside the café, Wanda following behind in a distance. Pietro, who had just finished apologizing to Crystal, noticed this and followed after his sister.

"Unfortunately, it does. Do you remember when you talked about a horde?" As soon as Luke had heard Natasha's question, the foreboding feeling he had felt earlier evolved into something more malevolent.

"I just got off with my boss and he's told me that there's a large gathering of people outside LAX Jewellery. The intel we've gotten so far suggest that they are there because they received instructions from an unknown source telling them to gather if they want to seek knowledge beyond their understanding. Sound familiar?"

"Jesus Christ. . ." Luke started, his voice filled with disbelief, "Marak's making his move. What's the plan?"

"We're mobilising local forces – the military, police, independent security contractors, and even our own guys. Nothing's happened so far, but we're not leaving anything up to chance."

"That's a reckless move! Keep them back for now. Have them focus on evacuations and crowd control instead. Anyone not there for the gathering should be brought to a safe zone immediately. Set up a perimeter around the block of the store.

And whatever happens, do not let the locals engage. These people are not trained enough for this. Inform the military and your guys on what we know about the messengers and their weaknesses. Hopefully they're not as incompetent as most movies portray them to be.

I'll be there soon. Stay safe, Nat." Luke ended as he hung up his phone. 

"LAX Jewellery? Where is that exactly." Luke said aloud as he googled the location on his phone.

As they caught up just after Luke ended his phone call, Pietro spoke up when he heard the name of the store, "Hey I know that store. That's one of the largest Jewellery stores in the US, found here in LA. It's just a couple minute walk away from here too."

Surprised at the sudden answer, Luke turned around to see that both Wanda and Pietro had followed him outside of the café. "What are you guys doing outside?"

"I was following my sister." / "I was following you." Pietro and Wanda answered.

Shaking his head, Luke was about to speak when he looked past the siblings and noticed that most of the customers had suddenly began walking out of the café. Looking around the street, Luke could also notice that there were more people who were beginning to walk in the same direction, some even greeting one another.

Not minding the presence of the siblings, Luke made his way back into the café and walked straight to April as he called out, "April!"

"Luke? What's going on out there? First the sirens and now most of the customers just left. Some of them have yet to even finish their orders. I mean take a look at the tables," April began as she motioned to the café tables, "Most of them still have unfinished food and beverages."

"Hey guys! Do you know what's happening? There's suddenly a bunch of people on the streets- woah. Where did everyone go?" Pepper voiced out as she walked into the café, carrying a stack of documents in her hands.

Luke took a cursory glance across the café. Seeing that all the employees except Natasha were present, Luke began giving out his instructions, "April listen, there's a huge gathering happening nearby, and apparently the police are being called in. I don't know what's going on, but Natasha's caught in the gathering and can't get out."

"Oh god, is she okay?" Crystal asked as she appeared from behind Pietro.

"HOLY HELL! Where did you come from!?" Pietro jumped as he exclaimed in shock.

"She's fine," Luke revealed, "I'm just going to go and get her out and bring her here. I'm closing the café. April, if things get out of hand, I need you get everyone up to the office. No one else but those we know should enter the café, understand?"

"But we can't just let the custome-"

"They can make their way to Stark's building across the road. It should be more protected there." Luke interrupted. He did not know if any of the customers would turn into a messenger, so he was not going to take that chance.

"Whatever happens, do not leave the café." Luke stated as he then pointed towards Pietro and Wanda, "That goes for the two of you too."

Pietro was confused as to why they were included. Only Wanda had a clue as to what Luke and Natasha were about to do as well as why Luke was worried for them. 'Something is happening, and both Luke and Natasha are going to respond to it.'

In the next minutes, Luke had finished clearing out the café of the remaining customers, promising them discounts for their next visit.

"Alright, I'm going to head out now. Lock the door and close the blinds. If things escalate, stay hidden in the office. I'll come back with Natasha as soon as possible." Luke said as he left the café.

"COME BACK SAFE WITH NAT, SULLY!" As Luke walked away, he heard the voice of Crystal calling out behind him. Luke was currently making his way to his apartment first. He had received his very own superhero outfit when he had created the covenant and thought that until the age of superheroes officially started, he would not reveal his true identity yet.

Moreover, he currently felt that he did not have enough power, both ability-wise and politically, to be able to protect those around him.

~ 15 minutes later, with Natasha ~

"Director Fury, sir, with all due respect, what the hell am I going to do with just five STRIKE units? There are hundreds of people gathered here, possibly with more incoming." Natasha spoke, her voice sharp and laced with frustration in her call with Fury.

Natasha was currently atop a roof of a building that was close to and has clear view of the jewellery store. She had carried out Luke's instructions and was now reporting to Fury as she waited for Luke.

"This is a powder keg about to blow, and you're handing me a squirt gun!" Natasha's words were clipped, the anger and disbelief barely contained.

"Agent Romanoff, you know as well as I do that any further reinforcements will take more time to reach your location. It's bad enough that the monitoring team only picked up on this gathering a couple of moments ago. Something or someone planned all this, and we were caught unaware." Fury relented, his tone not too different from Natasha's.

Fury had specifically set a team to monitor anything related to jewellery stores and gemstones, yet he only found out not longer than 30minutes ago that there was a large gathering of people at one of the largest jewellery stores in the US. Moreover, it appeared that this gathering had been planned from the night prior. Someone had sabotaged his information network, and he was none the wiser as to who it could have been.

"I'll keep in touch for any updates, for now, do what you're trained to do." Fury said as he hung up the call.

Seeing that Fury had hung up on her, Natasha could only sigh to herself. Although she knew that this was the best that Fury could provide in such a short time, she knew that it was still not enough. Not after hearing first hand from Luke on what had happened when he faced off against a horde in his world.

"So, the big man's name is Director Fury?" Natasha turned around and pointed her gun at the figure in an armoured suit who had just spoken.

'How did he get behind me without me noticing?' Natasha wondered worriedly. "Who are you?"

"You know it does hurt when you don't recognize my voice, Nat." The figure spoke as he removed his helmet to reveal himself as Luke.

Seeing that it was Luke, Natasha sighed in relief as she reprimanded Luke's actions, "As much as you will flatter yourself for going unnoticed, I could have shot you for the stupidity Luke."

Luke only responded by tapping his outfit, "Don't worry. It's bullet proof for the most part. Lightweight too. And no, it's not for sale." Walking up and standing beside her, Luke scanned the situation on the ground. "How's the preparations?"

"The military are still on the way, whereas the police and security contractors are evacuating the surrounding area," Natasha began, "We got the commissioner himself to authorize the mobilization of the local police."

Luke nodded his head, indicating for Natasha to continue.

"We've got five units from our side, four of them are scattered across the rooftops and other strategic places within and outside the perimeter that I had drawn up. It's not much, but they're better trained to shoot moving targets then most soldiers in the military."

The STRIKE units were already briefed on the amount of creatures that they could potentially face, as Natasha could only hope that the casualties this time would not be as severe as it was previously.

"We've also closed down LAX Jewellery for now and placed the last and one of the heavy STRIKE unit inside. If it's the Abyssal Covenant we're facing, then it is highly likely they're target are the gems within that store." Natasha revealed.

"Instead of going through all this, why don't you just use your abilities?" Natasha commented curiously. She knew that Luke had the capability to do so, however he had yet to say if he would use his abilities in the upcoming battle.

"Marak probably still doesn't know that I have gained new abilities since the last we faced each other. I'd rather keep a trump card until I have to use it. Which reminds me, I will not be responsible for any casualties or fatalities that occur. I've already told you that Marak targets jewellery stores, yet why is there so little preparations for a gathering this large." Luke said.

"Don't remind me. Even Fury's having a headache at why we were only notified of this not too long ago." Natasha admitted.

'Hmmm, was this a system interference or is there more to Marak than I thought there would have been?' Luke thought to himself.

Suddenly, both Luke and Natasha went on full alert when they heard someone from the within the crowd speaking loudly, with Luke putting his helmet back on and Natasha readying her weapons.

~ At the same time with Ryan, among the crowd outside of LAX Jewellery ~

Ryan and Davis were both feeling ecstatic. Their call for camaraderie in search of untold knowledge had been proven to be a massive success, seeing as there were at least a few hundred members of their group present. Moreover, their forum had spread and more people from all around LA were making their way over as well.

Stepping up to address his supernatural enthusiasts, Ryan spoke into the megaphone that a random member had given him earlier.

"My friends! First of all, I want to thank each and every single one of you for responding to our call to gather!" Ryan started as the crowd started cheering. "Alright calm down everyone! As most of you know, yesterday, a strange event occurred to many of us. . ."

~ With Luke and Natasha ~

"So, I take it the guy addressing the crowd is the ringleader to all this." Luke commented, "Got any info on him?"

Natasha nodded as she relayed what SHIELD had managed to learn about the gathering and the ones responsible. Luke listened on, preparing himself mentally as he called on his years of experience from the simulation. 'One wrong move and it's game over. It's time I commit to my false act and start doing something.'

As Ryan was giving his speech, clouds started appearing in the sky, blocking the heat from the sun and casting a light shadow onto the ground. Seeing this, Luke could not help but speak out in disbelief, "Oh sure, clouds forming suddenly on a sunny day. Not an ominous sign of things to come at all."

A few minutes later, Ryan had ended his speech with a rallying cry for the thirst for knowledge, when unexpectedly, people started fainting.

'This is not good.' Natasha thought worriedly as she started seeing most of the people in the gathering start to faint. However, she was more shocked when the STRIKE units stationed outside the perimeter started reporting that some of those walking towards the location started fainting as well.

When all those present at the gathering had fainted, Natasha finally spoke into her comms, "All units, weapons hot. Remember, aim for the eyes at the base of the nape."

Without warning, one of the fallen figures slowly rose up, a gradual visual change occurring at the same time. As it stood tall and a disfigured mess of the person it had once been, Natasha stood in fear and determination.

"May the gods help us all. . ." A final transmission echoed through the radio before the lone figure erupted in a low, primal roar, marking the beginning of the pandemonium to come, as more and more creatures rose from their slumber.

[Ding! Hidden Mission unlocked: Survive the Horde!]

- End of Chapter 58 -

E/d note: BOO! ANOTHER CLIFF HANGER BUT THIS TIME JUST BEFORE SHIT HITS THE FAN! Unfortunately it came on a Friday .-.

Next time in C59 - Marak Azathraal Appears!

After a moment, a voice cut through the tension as Luke's eyes hardened, "We meet again, Luke Sullivan."

"Marak. . ." Luke said as he recognized the figure that walked into his line of sight.

.

.

.

'An illusion?!' Alarmed, Luke was internally racing through his memories. He did not remember writing Marak having said abilities. 'No, I don't remember giving him any specific abilities at all. System! What's going on?!'

.

.

.

Natasha, who had been standing beside Luke throughout the entire exchange, widened her eyes as she turned towards Luke, "Those roars. . . They're everywhere." She whispered, fear creeping into her voice.