Our information thus far on the biotics in the area was helpful, but limited in actual effect. What it served to do was make us aware that no given location that we’d passed was necessarily safe or devoid of biotic. Shade was likewise unable to glean any sign of life as it hovered far overhead, the most that it saw no larger than rats or birds.

We maintained high awareness, ready to respond to threats as soon as they appeared. Of course, we mitigated any kind of risk as much as possible. No one was allowed outside of the Ogre’s without a partner, that was the foremost rule. The second one was that, for the time being, we would pay attention to the intuition of Alice and Jeremy.

That rule was the tacit understanding that something obviously wasn’t completely normal for them. Alice seemed to know when an area wasn’t safe, but Jeremy seemed to be able to pinpoint that sensation, but didn’t benefit from knowing the area was a threat.

It was odd, they both described exactly the same sensation when they looked near where the biotic had been, but it seemed that the actual way it worked was different.

“It’s kind of like a tube?” Jeremy commented, “I can feel the area a bit, but it’s more focused on one area.”

Alice murmured thoughtfully, “so it’s like we’re using two different lenses.”

“Why don’t I have these powers, that’s what I’m asking.” Jackson pouted, “seems terribly useful, even if you say it’s not all that accurate.”

“Could be due to Yaga, he tried to speak with them mentally.” I shrugged, finishing up my detail work on the Determinators. Hopefully they’d be able to spot anything out of the ordinary, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. I hadn’t expected to be dealing with this level of stealth from biotics, but at the very least the Legion would be able to begin work on specific countermeasures.

“Why didn’t you get them, then?” Allendra asked, “you were around him a lot, too, right?”

I nodded, “I was, but he couldn’t speak to me. I’ve had mechanical bits in here-” I tapped my head, “-for the duration. More than likely I’m psychically mute, or something. Or it takes a lot more to interact with me.” That last part I couldn’t help but add after remembering Wolven’s final, disturbing, moments.

“Well, there’s signs of civilization now,” I heard Jeremy speak up, “I’m not too keen on what those signs might mean, though.”

We turned our focus outwards, and I couldn’t help but frown at the sight.

To say that there were heavy fortifications around some parts of the city would be an understatement. Even from here with the city squarely in the distance, we could make out what almost appeared to be clear delineation between territories. Three corners of the city were built up, covered in huge walls of ramshackle wood and much more sturdy constructions of concrete. A fair number of defenses were available as well, but upon viewing them under scrutiny I noted that most of them would have to be manually manned. The few that were active were panning about, searching for targets, something that I noted would likely not be the biotics we were looking for. Without looking at it personally I couldn’t fully tell if its designs were specifically against other humans, but just looking at each of the three defensive lines, I couldn’t rightly suspect them of otherwise.

Why would anyone divide themselves in a situation like this, unless they were enemies?

“Well, I was hoping that we wouldn’t actually have a situation like this,” I muttered, “our scouting is going to be risky, I want the three of you close. It’ll take more time, but there’s no need to risk yourselves too much.”

“Right,” Alice nodded, turning her attention to Richard and Sammy, “I think we’ll be okay. I’m more worried about the people, though.”

“The rest of us will find somewhere to set up camp,” I mentally gestured to the map of the area, the information we obtained from the laptops somewhat out of date at this point. It had described encampments within Sunvilla, but it appeared to have grown a great deal in the time that the information was put together. The maps looked more or less on point, and it was clear that the forest had indeed encroached a great deal upon the city. The trees and underbrush were thicker, less willing to give passage it seemed. So far, we found no evidence of the Gen 2 biotics other than this increased vegetation, and we weren’t even certain if the big cats weren’t actually Gen 2. If they were, they were fairly squishy, and not as capable of devastating damage as we’d come to expect.

Perhaps we’d been unlucky with our biotics, and that they’d been much more adept at dealing damage. After all, these ones were a whole scale above in terms of their capabilities in stealth.

What worried me most about this situation was the possibility that these people might have been starving for Matter Energy. With how separated they were, I doubted they had a centralized military to deal with the biotics and siphon materials into their population. That left it more firmly in the hand of localized militia groups, which most assuredly would have to put the bulk of that energy back into themselves. Against wolves it wouldn’t have been as much of a big deal, but these creatures were far less forgiving without the right level of technology for defense.

How many people had already died to these biotics? That was a question I wasn’t strictly sure I wanted the answer too, but at the same time I was deprived of valuable, up to date information.

No one was running a census in the apocalypse in a place like this. I wasn’t going to get information on who was where.

The electrical grid was offline as well, I’d realized. The technology that was so rampant in Gilramore and New Damond was absent here. It was like we stepped back into the grimest days just before the Obelisks arrived. Anything you needed had to be taken with your own hands, the trappings of society fallen away to reveal the bare bones of society and day to day life. Necessity drove people to things that they would be ashamed of in their normal lives.

I felt there was more to it than that, looking at the division between the three, but I couldn’t think of what it might be.

In the first place, I doubted the city had much more in the way of resources in abundance, at least not anywhere near the actual encampments. It would be risky for anyone to go out and scavenge further, too. I could almost feel the vicious cycle that pattern could establish.

“What’s our play here?” Jeremy said as he stood next to me, idly watching as his team and my Determinators set up scanners and automatic defenses around the building we decided to use.

“We need information.” I stated, “while we can see walls, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re of different factions. It’s probable, but better to be sure. I intend on making our presence known, though. Playing a political game between whatever powers that be isn’t something I’m interested in.”

Jeremy mulled that over, “I’m mostly worried about what they’ll try.”

“Kidnapping and ransom?” I arched an eyebrow at him, to which he chuckled dryly.

“Something like that, yeah. It’s a strange world now.” I nodded, turning my attention to Shade as it pinged a group of people not far from our position. Frowning, I focused on them, matching their position to the map.

“Looks like someone must have seen us coming up the road from farther out.” I turned to the others, seeing the defenses nearly up as I considered our strategy.

“We may as well greet them, then.” I smiled, turning my attention to Jeremy who bore a mischievous grin.

-Arthur DeLeon’s P.O.V.-

“What if they’re not friendly?” I listened to Gabe, unable to tune him out. I shook my head, one of six people who didn’t want to answer that question.

“Gabe, they’re friendly.” In spite of my serious doubts to the validity of that statement, I said it anyways. The alternative meant that we’d be screwed anyways. This was the chance we needed, though.

The man shuffled, looking as white as a sheet, “okay.” Was all he said, shifting around, his eyes up and focused for anything in the environment that looked like it didn’t quite belong.

I cast my gaze around too, knowing that most of the time you just wouldn’t know until they were about to attack. Then it was a reflex contest. I’d won twice in such contests, one such resulting in the scar across my face but with keeping my life.

I’d known plenty who didn’t share my reflexes. They were dragged off into the darkness before we knew we were under attack.

“But what if they’re not?” Gabe asked suddenly, and the rest of the six of us stopped at turned to look at him. “Alright, it was just a question.” He lifted his hands defensively, bristling in spite of the fact that he really should have expected that reaction at the minimum.

I shook my head, ‘I cannot wait to be done with this crap.’ I sighed, knowing that I probably never would be done with this.

The leader of our encampment was Mack Thompson, a guy who was just trying to make it by. He wasn’t an impressive kind of leader, but he was a fair sight better than Gerry Brueter, the ex-criminal that had dragged his people down from Danton when it was overrun. We didn’t have the resources to share back then - it was before the Obelisks - and so they’d resorted to taking what they needed. I couldn’t fault them for wanting to feed their families, but that didn’t mean I wanted my own to starve either. That was the kind of world we live in now, I guess, where resource scarcity was a very real and imminent thing.

Even after the Obelisks landed, we hadn’t been able to get much traction against the cats, they were numerous and contained a hefty chunk of M.E., but finding them reliably was hard. And failing to find one would be worse.

We’d tried everything we could think of, but the only thing that worked sometimes was the sonar pulse. It worked better in the city where the pulse would hit super-hard objects like concrete and come back. Even when they changed the texture of their fur, the cat biotics weren’t able to fully eliminate the squishiness of their bodies, giving us vague imprints from the sonar about where they might be.

If that failed, someone would almost invariably be dragged away. The better groups could respond and kill the biotic before it could drag them away, but sometimes you just weren’t lucky.

I pulsed said sonic device once more, sweat trickling down my neck, “Nothing, again.”

“That means there definitely was one,” Gabe said, sounding like he was about to bolt back to base, “ain’t no way we haven’t run into one yet.”

Nobody said anything, knowing he was probably right. Even so, I still wanted to deck him in the face. The fucking guy needed to know when to keep his mouth shut, and this was most definitely one of them.

“Do you ever have anything positive to say?” I quietly seethed as I glared at him, “just keep a lid on it and stop freaking everyone out.”

“I was just-”

“-Just saying, yeah, nobody cares, stop talking.” I heard another man next to me stop him, his grip tight against the modified rifle cradled in his arms. His gaze panned around as he looked for anything out of the ordinary.

I was about to give him a nod as he looked in my direction, but he stiffened, eyes locked on a position above me.

As one, we all froze, any thought of the tension between us evaporated in the wake of that look.

“Where?” I whispered, hoping to not trigger it.

“Over your shoulder, 45 degree angle, blackened charcoal wood.” The man said, carefully not making another motion. An inexperienced scavenger would have his rifle in arms, slowly pointing at the thing.

We were not inexperienced.

No one moved a muscle beyond our eyes, carefully searching around.

“I think I have ‘nother one here,” I heard a second man say.

“Third, over here,” I could almost hear him gulp audibly.

“Ah, fuck,” I could hear the shake in Gabe’s voice, and this time the rest of us couldn’t help but smirk in the face of stark terror. We were seven people with possibly three cats around us.

We were flat-out fucked.

“Gentlemen, been a pleasure,” I chuckled, meeting the others eyes, even Gabe, who’s trembling hands steadied in that moment.

He breathed out a sigh, “man, this ain’t how it was supposed to be.”

“Never is.” I nodded, “on three.” We all readied ourselves, pulses hammering wildly.

“One,” I began, my body tense as a trip-wire.

“Two,” I resolved myself, the chance always existing that we killed them before they killed us.

The word three didn’t get to leave my mouth when suddenly something hit the target I just spun to look at. A brilliant white shaft of metal was suddenly embedded in the blackened wood, only different from its surroundings by the bulge in material that could be missed on anything but a focused inspection.

It fell like a sack of bricks, fur already shifting back to it’s ordinary color as the terrifying biotic lay dead only a few meters from me. Behind me, I could hear the sound of an absolutely ear-shaking discharge from what had to be a shotgun. A much more silent noise also greeted me, as well as a snarl from the third biotic.

That third biotic ran at Gabe, getting only a meter before stumbling over itself and frothing at the mouth, part of its body literally melting inwards. I quickly searched for the second biotic, finding its grey and silver blood and tissues painting a nearby building.

“What the fuck was that?” Gabe cried out in equal parts terror and exhultation, “Whoever you are I’ll be your best fucking friend!”

I laughed, bringing myself around, knowing that we might not be out of the woods yet. If we just got help from Gerry’s men, we’d be extorted for some loot, and let free. If it was Benjamin, we’d be taken in and either ransomed back or extorted for labor.

“You’re welcome,” I heard someone chuckle, and then my heart resumed hammering in its chest as someone stood from the ground, as though they’d been a part of it. Almost identically to what the cats did. Only, it seemed more complete, like the shimmering, flexing plates of metal were designed to be the perfect camouflage. Which, I suppose, was obvious, but deserved statement nevertheless.

“We’re from Gilramore and New Damond, part of The Reaper’s Legion,” the man greeted as the color shifted back to a diamond patterned green like a venomous snake. “We come in peace.” The man joked, having his hands empty, in spite of the fact that I could see three tails waving behind him with fang-like prongs on each, the dart throwers in his arms, and the extra limbs at his sides clearly designed for combat. He had to be one of the elites, and not just an elite, but the elite of the elites. Definitely not one of ours, had to be--

My brain staggered to a halt, “wait, you said you’re from Gilramore?”

He looked at me, chuckling again. “Take a deep breath. Yes, I said I’m from Gilramore. We’re here to check on Sunvilla and see what you guys are dealing with here.”

I looked at the others, standing up straighter and forcing myself to relax. If this guy wanted to kill us, I’m sure we would be. The near-puddle of biotic behind me attested to that fact.

“Uh, right, then. Well, thanks for saving our asses, Mr.?” I said as the others around me managed to force themselves to calm down.

“Oh, no ‘Mr.’,” he waved the title off, “call me Adder.”

“Aptly named,” I muttered, still hearing the sizzling behind me. “So, you guys are… are you here to help us?” I couldn’t help but feel a little pitiful at asking that, but that was all that was on my mind when we were sent out here to intercept our guests.

I wanted all of this horrible nonsense to end. I wanted my family back from ransom, I wanted to see my little sister again, too, wherever she was.

The man shrugged, “It’s possible. Reaper will have to see what’s going on on that front.”

“What’s with the nicknames?” Someone murmured behind me, only for Gabe to hiss at him.

“Well, they fit, don’t they? Don’t get us shot.” For once the ordinarily fearful man seemed right on the nose.

I noticed only then the dark blue cowled form of another man in some kind of exo-suit, he bore a four-barreled shotgun. He received my attention with a nod before returning to scanning his surroundings. I could appreciate that, these things were eminently stealthy.

“Alright, looks like the area is clear!” I remarkably cheery voice said, coming from above, resting on a one story building that used to be a shop. Her armor was much more sleek, a cobalt blue with what looked like arc-shaped stilts that flexed beneath her feet, allowing for what was likely very fast and smooth travel.

I frowned at the sound of the voice, my mouth hanging open as I disbelieved the possibility.

Just then, she looked down, jolting with a start as she pressed a hand to her helmet, the metal receding.

“Big bro?” Alice DeLeon said, looking just like the little fairy sister I’d thought was dead, “whoa! Is that really you?”

She dropped down next to me, her suit absorbing the impact and leg stilts folding in, coming down to just above my chest as she tackled me in a hug.

I laughed, feeling the tears streaming down my face, “Holy shit, Alice, you’re fucking alive! Oh my god!”

I picked her up, feeling my back protest, “Oh, damn, did you get fat?”

“Rude!” She sniffled, tearing up and laughing, “it’s just the suit.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m sure it is.” I teased, but then couldn’t help but pull her into a big hug again, lifting her off the ground and trying not to touch the extremely dangerous looking quiver of arrows on her back.

“Wait, for real?” I heard Adder say, a voice that seemed to be surprised, but happy, “wow, well, that was easy. I’ll let the team know we’re on the way back. You guys can come with, we have an outpost set up that should keep us safe in the meantime.”

I nodded numbly, the others equal parts stunned and warmed. We were a group that worked together frequently enough, and we also knew that family was all we really had left in all of this.

At the very least, I still had Alice. Now I just had to get Mom, Dad, and my other siblings back from Benjamin’s outfit.

I pushed the depressing thought away, “you gotta tell me what’s been going on. And what this whole Reaper’s Legion business is.”

She beamed, “I will, I will,” she promised, “and Matthew’s the Reaper, he’s cool people though, don’t let the name scare you.”

“Pfft… I’ve met plenty of scary people, I’ll be fine!”