Three days later, Indigo received a full-team alert that interrupted Athira's morning training session with Raph and Shift.
Within two minutes, Athira and the rest of the team — excluding Talia, who wasn't at base — were geared up, and a minute after that, they were strapped into Indigo's ground rover — lovingly nicknamed 'the rainbow' by Zoe — and on the way to the scene.
"Talia?" said Raph, glancing at her empty seat in the rover. "You on comms?"
"I'm listening." Talia's voice came through Athira's headset. "I got the location. I'll meet you there."
Raph nodded and began the brief as Kione drove.
"Location is a subway station linked to an underground shopping mall," said Raph, sending the information to each of their wristlets. "Reports of several casualties, caused by a 'slime monster' that's been sighted on multiple occasions in the past two months. Elites are calling them 'Sleepers', given that contact with one will cause a near immediate unconscious state. They're highly resistant to Colour, so be ready for that."
Athira flicked through the images on her wristlet's screen, scowling through her headache from lack of sleep. Floor plans and images of the station and the connected mall, followed by several images of the Sleeper in other locations.
"This station's in Amber's district, isn't it?" asked Zoe. "Why did we get the call?"
"Amber encountered a Sleeper a week ago," said Raph. "It put Will — their Red Keeper — in hospital, where he still hasn't woken from his coma. Aside from the twins, their Colours had little effect on the Sleeper. Elites are hoping ours might have more luck, especially with Talia's ground elemental abilities, but if not, we need to keep it distracted until the specialised Elite squad arrives."
"So aside from 'don't let the Sleeper touch you'," said Shift. "What's the plan?"
"Containing this thing and evacuating any civilians on scene is the priority," said Raph. "We've got intel that the individuals responsible for the Sleeper might still be on scene. If that's the case, Athira, I want you to get behind them and ensure they don't escape while we handle the Sleeper."
Kione brought the rover to a stop a few metres from the subway's entrance tunnel. Indigo filed out, with Shift and Zoe each taking a side, urging the crowd to evacuate as Raph headed for Talia's golden-blonde head peeking over the panicked crowd.
"Any new info?" asked Raph, adjusting his wristlet.
"Sleeper's still down there," said Talia, gripping her board from the ground to her hand. "Last seen on the platforms. Multiple civilians still missing. Sighting of three suspects — a Red, a Blue, and a potential Purple."
"Noted," said Raph. He shaped a Red shield to his arm and called back over his shoulder. "Indigo, let's go! Athira and I take point with shields up. Talia, if you sense anything, call it out. Keep comms open at all times and remember — do not let this thing touch you!"
The six of them headed down the stairs.
The narrow entrance tunnel soon flattened out, taking a sharp right turn that led to the main floor of the station. There was no screaming. No panicked shouts, no flashes of Colour. It was as eerily quiet as it was dim, the lights flickering like they weren't receiving enough energy from the Colourformer system to keep them stable — something that only happened when there was an unexpected drain on the system nearby.
Raph raised a hand just short of the ticket gates, his eyes on the faint, violet flecks scattered motionlessly beyond. "Zo, give us some light."
Zoe lifted a glowing hand, and with the shadows pushed back, the true extent of the scene was revealed.
The shapes were people, speckled with violet slime. Some were slumped against the walls, others sprawled across the floor like they'd fallen asleep on their feet and collapsed. Athira opened the ticket gates with Black. Indigo ran through, Raph and Talia sweeping the floor while Kione, Zoe, and Shift each checked a different civilian for a pulse, careful to avoid the flecks of faintly luminescent goo that clung to them.
Athira coiled the Black back around her arm, swallowing down the creeping nausea as she observed the scene. She'd seen far worse — why was she reacting to this?
"Alive but unresponsive," said Kione, the words echoed by Shift and Zoe a few moments later.
Raph cursed, glancing around at the twenty plus people scattered around the station, all covered in the violet goo. "There's too many for us to evacuate. Kione, make sure no one is bleeding out and contact the paramedics outside." He hefted his shield. "Everyone else, with me to sweep the platforms below."
There were more people on the stairs, covered in even more of the violet goo. Athira and Raph worked together, gently nudging the sleeping civilians aside with Black and Red to clear a path until halfway down the stairs, Athira almost threw up.
"Thira?" said Zoe, placing a hand on Athira's back as she retched a second time. "You okay?"
Athira pressed the back of her hand to her mouth, willing the nausea down. The only thing that'd ever caused this kind of reaction was a Surge, but it'd always felt gradual. This felt too sudden, too... dense. "Fine. Just nauseous."
Zoe glanced down at the people either side of the staircase, her forehead creased with concern. "At least they're alive."
Athira nodded, if only because it was easier than trying to explain to Zoe that the casualties weren't the cause of her nausea — that she wasn't sure what was.
That changed when Indigo reached the bottom of the stairs and Athira laid eyes on the Sleeper.
One look at the large, amorphous blob currently contained within a large, Red-shaped box on the centre platform, and Athira knew it was responsible for her nausea.
The Sleeper looked similar to the photos — a slimy, violet mass vaguely in the shape of a slug with short, stubby arms protruding from its larger half. It was over two Raph's tall and moved like a magma flow, brimming with a powerful, drawn-out kind of force as it pawed at the inside of the Red-shaped box. Every movement was painfully slow, yet brutally inevitable.
Inevitable.
Athira was really starting to hate that word.
"Did someone beat us to it?" asked Zoe, her eyes on the Red-shaped box around the Sleeper.
"Don't think so," said Raph. "Look behind it on the far platform — there's our three suspects. Athira, you remember the plan?"
"Yep," muttered Athira, swelling the Black on her arm. She could handle a little nausea, and she was more than ready to ask these three individuals where the hues they'd found this 'Sleeper' of theirs. "I'll be done with them before —"
The Sleeper's head — or what passed for it on a blob of slime — swung towards her.
The nausea slammed into Athira as every last speck of goo in the subway flared, radiating with a dull, violet energy that was something more than just light or heat or Colour. She staggered backwards, crystallising the coiled Black as the rest threatened to spill out of her mindscape. Rathe's claws dug in. His roar was in her ears. His fury demanded fire, demanded the complete and utter decimation of this thing that dared to —
Shift grabbed her by the arm, steadying her. "What's wrong?"
His voice cut through Rathe's uproar, giving Athira something to focus on.
"The Sleeper has the same energy as the Surges," Athira managed to say, digging her fingers into Shift's suit, reminding herself that this was real — not the rampage inside her head. "Except it's about ten times more condensed. I don't think I can touch it without Rathe —"
Raph cut her off, tapping a finger against his headset with a warning look. Fear froze Athira's mental haze into a sharp, crystal clarity as she realised — comms on alerts were recorded.
"Kione —" began Raph.
"Already deleted," said Kione.
"Good," said Raph. His eyes found Athira's after a quick glance at the Sleeper, which was now rather desperately trying to get out of the box. "Are you... okay? Can you still fight, or do I need to sit you out on this one?"
"A little worse than usual, but nothing I can't handle," said Athira, stepping away from Shift and wiping the back of her hand across her mouth. She could feel Talon's wings in her mindscape, soothing and calm, though she was yet to use enough Black to communicate with him directly. "It just caught me by surprise."
"Okay," said Raph. "Then —"
Zoe's shout cut him off. "It's loose!"
With the wall of the Red-shaped box closest to Indigo suddenly nowhere to be seen, the Sleeper spilled out onto the centre platform. It dripped over the edge, spattering violet slime across the tracks below — slime that was quickly absorbed back into the main mass of the Sleeper as it caught up.
Talia pulled one of her pre-inscribed stones from the pouch at her waist, and with a brief flare of Blue that activated the trap rune, she flung it at the Sleeper with her elemental Grip. The stone sank into the Sleeper's semi-transparent centre, but the Blue glow of the rune sputtered out with zero effect.
Zoe had better luck, focusing a thick, bright laser beam aimed straight at the Sleeper's head that blasted a hole through the violet slime. The hole took several moments to seal shut again, though it did nothing to deter the Sleeper still headed for them.
Raph swore. "Okay team, we stick to the original plan, no matter what I say next." He drew a breath, his next words loud enough to carry over the Sleeper's unsettling squelching — even for someone on the far platform. "Athira, help Kione upstairs! The rest of you — let's take this slug out!"
Athira met Raph's gaze, who gave her a slight nod before he shaped a scooped, Red flail to his free hand and turned towards the Sleeper.
"I don't suppose anyone brought bug repellent?" said Shift as Athira ran up the stairs.
"We are the bug repellent, genius!" replied Talia. "Now shift Zoe and get blasting!"
Athira reached the top of the stairs, where Kione was both directing the paramedics in past the now wide-open ticket gate and watching a large, projected screen from his wristlet with Indigo's stats displayed. He glanced at her, giving her a questioning thumbs up that she replied to with a stiff nod before pulling up the floor plan of the station.
Raph's steady voice continued through comms.
"Talia, Zoe, left! Shift, right with me! Talia, do what we can to keep them out of the Sleeper's reach and get the smaller blobs away from the main mass. Zoe, Shift, keep blasting — break it down!"
Floor plan memorised, Athira kicked off the ground and flew to the other side of the station. She darted around a corner, locating the stairs that led to the platform where the trio of suspects had stood. She didn't take them, instead lining herself up with the back wall of the station before phasing through the floor.
Her positioning was perfect, dropping her behind the trio of suspects with the stairs providing cover. They were talking, and deciding to risk it, Athira coiled the thin layer of Black around her arm and floated closer.
"They've got decent teamwork, if nothing else," said one.
"Something you still need to learn, Red," said another. "Perhaps they could teach you."
The first speaker — Red — harrumphed. "I'll learn teamwork when you find me a team I can't take down solo."
They all appeared to be well-built males, masked and dressed in grey combat suits similar in style to those the Elites and Keepers used — though that was nothing new. The Underground had long since learned the value of a legitimate combat suit, especially one that enhanced your abilities — but even so, there was something different about these suits. A shimmer, like there was some kind of pulse racing across the fabric.
Whatever it was, Athira doubted it'd stop her from arresting them, even with the nausea still lodged in her throat.
Her hand reached for the amulet beneath her suit, tracing its outline as she swelled the Black on her other arm, careful to keep a tight control on it. She'd link the suspects boots together with a tendril and introduce herself, then watch as they fell over themselves tied-shoelaces style. After that, it shouldn't be too hard to —
On the other platform midway between Zoe and Shift, the Sleeper's endless, viscous oozing halted, and its head turned towards Athira.
It didn't have a face. It didn't even have eyes, yet Athira knew it was looking straight at her, even before its larger, frontal mass switched directions and began squelching towards her.
"We're distracting it standing here," said the tallest — the one yet to speak. He sounded older, sterner. "We'll head upstairs and review the fight later."
The second looked at him. "And if they get into trouble?"
"If they can't handle a Sleeper, we have no chance," said the Red who'd initially commented on teamwork. "Better they fall to the coma now than be ripped apart in the war."
The trio headed up the stairs, and — after one last glance to ensure Indigo had the Sleeper handled — Athira followed them.
"The suspects are on the move," said Raph over comms, breaking his string of calm commands. "Athira, confirm you have eyes on them?"
Athira pressed a finger to the right side of her headset, sending a silent signal through for yes.
"Good," said Raph, following it with a curse. "This slug's still moving. Talia, get Zoe a high angle. If it wants to run, see if we can't separate it from its back half. Shift, see if you can get its attention."
"Who's a nice blob of doom?" said Shift. "We can talk about this. Sometimes I like to eat people and spit them back out of my gelatinous body in a coma too, y'know? We're just misunderstood!"
Athira tailed the suspects out the far ticket gate and into the long, echoingly empty tunnels of the underground shopping mall linked to the station. The stores were open, the lights flickering, the ground scattered with belongings no doubt left behind by the fleeing crowd.
She stayed hidden in the stores, using the various display racks to conceal herself as she listened to their conversation.
"Why do you suppose they sent their new Purple upstairs?" said one. "I heard she was proving rather promising."
"She could be sensitive to the Sleeper's aura," said the tall one. He lifted a hand, a Blue rune appearing over his upturned palm. The air around them blurred, forcing Athira to squint to make them out. "Purples with such strength of Colour often are. It may be —"
Athira stepped into the next solid piece of wall dividing two stores.
"My Blue is useless against this thing! That should have paralysed it!"
"My Red isn't much better. We play support for Shift and Zoe, use your elemental abilities to split up the slime when you can. It's getting smaller."
"Yeah, because it's everywhere!"
"What, you never played 'floor is lava' before, Shift?"
Athira poked her head out of the wall. Careful to ensure she hadn't been spotted, she locked her gaze on the suspects and picked her way across the store while they continued to speak, moving at a leisurely pace through the empty mall.
"— though I'm far more concerned with the Yellow's abilities at this point in time," finished the tall one, piquing Athira's interest.
"I thought she was all but confirmed?"
"She will be, after today's trial," said the tall one. "Confirming is only step one, however. It may prove far more difficult to..."
Athira was too far to make out the rest of the sentence. With a curse, she flew through the next wall — and with the suspects still ahead of her, made the decision to rush through the wall after that, too, craving every scrap of their conversation she could get.
Were they Wardens? Reader had suggested they'd be the only ones dumb enough to try and wield the power behind the Surges, and these three were clearly able to contain the Sleeper — but if that were true, why did it sound like this Sleeper was some kind of trial for Zoe? Did they know she was Spectrum?
The instant Athira was through the wall, she was looking for her targets. She found two of them standing where she'd last seen them, their attention on the direction they'd come as the tall one spoke the words she'd been hoping to avoid for a few minutes yet.
"— we're being followed."
*+*+*+*
A/N - We have our first look at the culprits behind the Surges--or do we?
Next Chapter - ✨ Problems ✨