“Hey, brought us all some coffee. How’s she holding up?” Fiona heard a deep, gruff voice rumble behind her, and turned her head to see a burly man enter the observation room, carrying three paper cups that seemed childishly small in his large hands. Like her, he was wearing the non-combat uniform of a Containment Agent, a black suit and tie with purple cufflinks.

His form almost burst out from the suit he was wearing, but his eyes were crinkled in concern as he stood by her side, handing her a cup.

Fiona took it gratefully, turning back to look through the observation glass where two people were sitting across from each other in the interrogation room. One, a male nuan inquisitor with grey eyes and silver hair, and the other a female nuan with bright blue eyes and teal colored hair. She had her head lowered, and through the audio receivers in the room they could hear her muffled crying.

“As well as she can be, honestly.” She said, her tone tired. “We’ve had her in containment for just over seven hours now.

“Aurora.” The male inquisitor said gently, his melodious voice almost supernaturally calming… because it was. “I know it’s painful, but you’re doing so well. We just need you to go over the details one more time. Do you think you can do that?”

A silent nod from Aurora, as her shoulders stopped shaking.

“I hate when he does that.” Bill murmured beside her. “Gives me the creeps.”

Fiona had to stop herself from nodding in agreement. It was a valuable core ability, even if ethically controversial.

“Good.” The inquisitor said, his voice silken even over the audio receiver. “Now, would you mind repeating just one more time who all of the members in your party were?”

“Um…” Aurora said, tilting her head, her eyes were clouded as if in a trance. “Radith Surivon, Jackson Hilt, Marisha Moore…” Listlessly she recites a list of eight names, the inquisitor nodding as he inspects his notes.

“Great, thank you Aurora. What is the rough classification and category that you would ascribe to the entity you encountered?”

At the mention of the entity Aurora begins to tremble, clarity returning to her eyes. She bites her lip and looks down, tears already welling up.

“After a…” She hiccups, swallows, and continues on. “After a brief encounter and further review of the event, I would mark the entity as a class 4, category 2. It spoke with us through a psionic link. And it was fast. So… so fast. It killed Griff before we could even react, and… and then it got Marty… and Marisha…”

Fiona shook her head as Aurora began to cry again, and the inquisitor reached across the table to place a hand over hers.

“Thank you, Aurora. You did the right thing, escaping and coming to us to report it.” The inquisitor assured her softly. “Who knows who else might have gone out there without knowing the dangers?”

A meek nod from Aurora, and the inquisitor drew back his hand. “As a selectee for the Academy, I’m sure you’re aware that because you’ve had contact with a possible category 2 entity, you’ll have to stay here until we’re sure it hasn’t… well. If you need anything, you just press this button right here and we’ll come and see what we can do. Okay?”

Another nod, and the inquisitor stood up from his chair, gathering his files. He gave Aurora a comforting squeeze on the shoulder before exiting the interrogation room.

The door to the observation room opened, and the inquisitor stepped through, heaving a sigh.

“You did good Athus.” Bill said, turning around to sit at the table in the middle of the room. “Some coffee for you.”

Athus took it, placing his folder down gently and joining Bill at the table, taking small sips.

“Thanks. Just…”

“No fourteen year old girl should have to go through this?” Fiona finished his thought, joining her team, and Athus nodded sadly.

“That’s just part of life, here. Especially for Academy students and selectees.” Bill grunted, downing his cup in one gulp. Wiping off some of the coffee that had slipped into his beard, he removed a bag from his jacket and placed it onto the table.

“Her circlet?” Fiona asked, looking at it wearily.

“Yup. Just got it back from our PA guys. No psionic tampering with the feed, so we’re good to review it.”

Fiona barked a laugh. “That’d be the sovvy on top with this. Bleeding out from our eyes as we tried to figure out what happened.”

There was a round of dark chuckles that held no humor to them, and she tapped on the circlet.

A holographic screen appeared, displaying a list of options for them to choose, ranging from apps to social media to phone calls. What they were looking for, however, was the circlet’s camera roll. Finding the most recent video, they played it. The footage was captured from Aurora’s point of view, and started just after they had entered the forest, as was protocol when entering a classified zone.

-

“Hoo boy, you guys ready to make some cash?” One of them hooted to Aurora’s right, out of view. The girl at the front spun around to glare at the hidden speaker, her mouth in a straight line and hands loosely shouldering her rifle.

“That’s not what we’re here for. This is approved combat training for Academy selectees.” She snapped, and groans echoed out.

“Marisha, we all know that. But this is a low class zone, a 3 will be the most dangerous thing we’ll meet and that’ll be rare.” Aurora said, causing Marisha to roll her eyes and turn back to the front.

“What’s got her ass all clapped?” A voice asked to Aurora’s left.

“Her folks are instructors at the Academy. Probably trying to make mommy and daddy proud.” The original voice grunted. “Yo Marisha! Keep acting like that and we’re not going to split any of the money with you!”

She flipped them off, which was followed by loud laughter from the group.

-

Fiona looked around the table, noting the grim expressions on the faces of the agents. Teenagers having fun, with no clue as to what was waiting for them in that forest.

“I’m going to skip ahead, to about fifteen minutes prior to engaging the entity.” She said, earning nods from her team.

She circled her fingers through the circlet, and the video sped up. There was a blur of movement, a wolf with dozens of tentacles flashing onto screen, and she rewound the video to the agreed time.

-

“-las, Radith, both of you split that way, see if you can’t pick up any more core signatures. The rest of us will track down the pack, see if they have any cores.” A man was instructing the group, presumably the leader. Two of them nodded, checking their ammo and then peeling away, carefully stalking through the underbrush.

He turned to look at another, thinner member of the group. “Jackson, if they do have cores what categories can we expect from them?”

Jackson scratched his head, as if trying to remember any information he had on rift entities. “Cat 3s, mostly, if I’m remembering right. Maybe a cat 2? There are records of cat 1s and 7s, but those are extremely rare in wolf mutants. We shouldn’t have to worry about those in this low class of a zone.”

The man nodded. “Class?”

“Mostly 2s, though depending on how old the pack is there might be a class 3. Maybe.”

Another nod. “And what’s everyone’s core energy looking like?”

“I’m sitting at about a quarter left.” Aurora offered, and the others voiced similar levels.

“Alright, we’ll make this our last catch of the day and head back. Make sure no one dips below a tenth, just in case we run into something on the way out.”

“Sir yes sir!” Their Rift expert mock saluted, earning a playful shove from their leader as the rest of the group followed in behind him.

There was a gunshot in the distance, and the group all looked at each other.

“Well damn, I didn’t think they’d pick one up already.” Aurora giggled, shaking her head.

They tracked the wolves back to their den, a gargantuan tree that appeared to be hollowed out in the middle, and the leader held up his hand.

“I’m getting five core sigs from the den.” He whispered, turning his head to Aurora. “Call the other two back in. This might be rough going.”

A nod from Aurora. “Yo, Hurrent says to come on back. We’ve got the pack at five core signatures. Yes really, five. You coming or not? Yup, just wolves. Alright, see you here soon. Sending my locale to you.” There’s an audible boop as the call ends, and Aurora turns back to Hurrent. “They’re coming.”

“How far away are they?”

“Transceiver says just a little under a kilometer.”

“Alright, we’ll give them ten.”

There’s only a few moments between Hurrent saying that, and another gunshot ringing out. Which is quickly followed by more gunshots.

-

Fiona pauses the video.

“You think the two that split off ran into the unidentified entity?” Bill’s rumbled question hangs in the air, heavy and dark.

“I think that’s probably the safe assumption.” Fiona agreed, sighing, and Athus rapped his knuckles against the table.

“We might as well finish it out.” He murmurs. Wordlessly, Fiona presses play.

-

Silence hangs over the group, as the last of the gunshots linger in the air before fading to nothingness.

For a few moments, they say nothing. It’s Marisha who speaks first.

“You don’t think that they…” She trails off, as if afraid to finish her thought.

Aurora quickly shakes her head. “No, definitely not. It’s a low class zone. They probably found more mutants and decided to bag ‘em up.”

There’s a few hesitant nods from the group, before a twig snaps somewhere to their left.

Instantly all of them spin around, rifles raising, and a large wolf enters the video feed. For a few tense moments neither side does nothing, simply staring at each other. Then, the wolf wheels around and attempts to escape.

Gunshots ring through the air, and the wolf goes down.

“Alright everyone, we’re pushing in. Aurora, keep an eye on their locations, let me know if they start moving towards us.”

“Got it.”

What followed could only be described as a massacre. The group approaches the den, as wolves charge out of it to defend their home. Like a well oiled machine the team moves in unison, gunning down any that get close. The video blurs as Aurora moves with blinding speed, quickly changing positions anytime a wolf got too close and firing on it. The others display core abilities of their own, whether it’s raising up a massive wall of earth only to slam it back down onto another wolf, launching another wolf in the air with telekinesis and shooting it before it hits the ground, or water emerging from waterskins only to harden into sharp icicles which are sent streaking towards their targets.

Aurora’s feed blurs again as another wolf, this one almost the size of a horse, lunges at her. Then, strangely, it collapses before she shoots it as if it were exhausted.

Another large wolf, though slightly smaller than the one before it, races into the clearing, fire erupting from its jaws in a bright flash of light. A wall of earth erupts in front of the flames, diverting them and saving Aurora. She calmly takes aim and fires, the wolf’s head erupting.

The group calmly walks into the den, killing any wolf they find. Then, they walk out, and begin harvesting the cores from their corpses.

Jackson walks over to Aurora, handing her three cores to stow away in her pack.

“The two big ones should be Class 3’s, but the small one is probably only a class 2. It displayed some category 2 characteristics, but nothing special. Mostly just asked us why we were killing it’s family.”

“Well that’s… actually depressing. God I hate fighting category 2s.” Hurrent shudders, pressing his boot against a smaller wolf.

“Whatever, it’s good pay. I’ll finally be able to rub it in Sariel’s fucking face.” Aurora shrugs, pocketing the cores.

“...? Sari- OH! The chick who made you piss yourself! HA! I almost forgot about that.” Jackson practically doubles over in laughter.

“SAY THAT AGAIN! I DARE YOU!”

Hurrent suddenly straightens, raising his rifle back towards the den. “Hold on, Core sensor’s picking up three more signatures, all within ten meters.”

“Really? Damn. Isn’t this forest supposed to be low class? Why the hell does one wolf pack have… what are we at now? Six cores?”

Suddenly they all double over, clutching their heads, two of them immediately vomiting.

One of them straightens, looking around wildly, as if trying to find the source of their pain.

“WHAT THE FUCK!? ANOTHER CATEGORY 2!?”

-

“And this is where they make contact with the unidentified entity?” Fiona asks, and Athus nods.

“So far it’s matching with the report Aurora gave me.” He said.

They resumed the video, jumping in surprise at what happened next.

Aurora had been right. It was fast.

-

There was a muffled boom, like a cannonball slamming into the ground, as blood and dust erupted into the air. Where there had just been a screaming teammate of Aurora’s, now there was only misted blood hanging in the air, as well as… something, lightly obscured by the dust.

It was pitch black, and dozens of tentacles writhed in the air around it. Each one had countless eyes on them, and whatever space wasn’t occupied by an eye had teeth protruding out of it. The tentacles ended in vicious looking barbed hooks, painting terrible images of what would happen if they grabbed something.

The figure vaguely resembled a wolf, but something about it just… unnerved those who watched it. Like it was only pretending to be something it wasn’t.

Amber eyes pierced through the haze, and suddenly all of the tentacles stopped at once, turning to another member of the group.

“What the f-” Aurora wasn’t even able to finish her sentence before the tentacles streaked towards someone else. The force of it piercing through his body armor lifted him off the ground.

Finally the shock seemed to wear off, and the team raised their weapons and fired in one smooth motion. Only one bullet seemed to hit it as it ran, launching itself powerfully off of the ground to land sideways on a tree, then hopping between them and using them as cover, all the while dragging the poor boy it had grabbed behind it and stabbing him repeatedly with more tentacles.

Finally it landed, maneuvering the boy’s body in front of it. The group paused, taking the time to reload their weapons.

Aurora’s hands were shaking, and she sank to the floor, her rifle lowering between her legs.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT THING JACK!?” Hurrent screamed somewhere out of view of the camera.

“HOW IN THE ABSOLUTE RIFT-FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW!?”

"YOU'RE OUR RIFT EXPERT!"

“Is… is Marty… dead?” Aurora whispered, the camera still focused on the entity. Marty’s stomach and chest were bulged and writhing with what looked like hundreds of snakes shifting inside of him. Thankfully the poor boy already seemed dead.

“FUCKIN PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER AURY, WE NEED YO-”

Suddenly Marty exploded in two, viscera and gore showering the ground as the tentacles that had been inside of him launched to find new prey. Aurora turned to follow them, in time to see Hurrent leap out of the way, rolling deftly and raising his weapon.

Marisha was not as quick.

Hurrent fires two more rounds, but the entity is too fast, jumping to the side, and the tentacles have already grabbed her. More tentacles have wrapped around a tree, and as it runs they coil tightly and then launch it into the air.

-

Fiona stops the video, and turns off the circlet. She’d seen a lot, during her time as a Rift Containment Agent, but that display of pure brutal efficiency had sickened her to her stomach. Bill grunted in agreeance, while Athus was pale and shaking.

“I’d heard her describe it…” He said, his voice faltering. “But to see it… Makers above.”

Fiona couldn’t help but agree with him.

“So, what classification and category would you give it?”

Bill bowed his head in thought. “It’s unclear whether or not its tentacles are a result of its mutation, or if it has a shape changing core ability. Even people sometimes develop tentacles as a result of their mutation. I’d still like to label it a category 6, just to err on the side of caution. As for classification… I know I wouldn’t want to fight that thing without a squadron to back me up, and at least one or two core users or psionics. Maybe both. Class 4 seems appropriate.”

“I’m going to have to say Bill is right.” Athus said, taking deep gulping breaths to help steady his nerves. “If anything, I say we bump it up to a class 5 and order an extermination te-”

“You will do no such thing.” A voice interrupted them, and they all hurriedly stood up to greet the figure standing in the doorway.

“Good evening, Colonel.” Fiona hurriedly said, and he nodded.

“As you were.” He snapped, stepping through, and immediately a team passed him to enter the smaller observation room. Among them were a few special agents, soldiers, and…

The Colonel gestured to the man who was the last to walk through. He looked haggard, with deep eye bags and greasy, messy hair, like he hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep in months. “Allow me to introduce you. This is Doctor Rester. He will be briefing you on what we believe to be is his escaped experiment, X1. X1 is not to be killed. He is to be contained and recaptured, for further study.”

Fiona looked between the haggard Doctor, and the circlet resting on the table, still reeling from what she had seen. Finally, the only word she could think of slipped out of her mouth.

“Fuck.”