When I got there, lots of Evolves were already there this early, all are punk heads like me from all over - Sumiyoshi, Suminoe, Taisho (Under town) and so on.
At a glance, there were like a thousand of us; just hanging around under the old busted up roof of the mall.
Enforcers have a perimeter around the mall, they surround the whole place with their patrol vehicles.
They don't chase us out or make arrest, only watch and limit our movements to just the mall.
I walked in with no body stopping me and went to my usual spot and leaned against a pillar, when I heard a familiar voice.
"Motherfucker, I didn't see you here so I was already assuming the worst"
The person speaking was Daigo; he is sort of my best friend (correction; he is my only friend).
He closed in on me, then we raised our hand in the air, slammed it, before gripping each other palm firmly, and pulling the other person in for a shoulder bump.
"Why?" I asked, Daigo has a very dramatic personality (to me at least).
I wasn't stupid, but I play along with his silly acts even if I know the answer already.
"I know, this morning I overheard so shitheads from your neighborhood talking about some scrapping between two E-Grade Evolved last night at the UnDerGround, they described the fighters and I immediately knew it was you" Daigo said.
"Good to know that at least if I had died, some shit-face would be able to give you a report on how I did" I said, trying to be funny.
Causing him to chuckle, he is the only one that actually find my attempts funny. Others react differently.
Rolling with Daigo does make some of his silly behaviours rub off on me; which I know but still to it.
"Don't be like that, Shitsubo… I heard the other guy shit his pants" Daigo replied, with a silly smirk plastered on his face.
"Well, it seems your shithead narrator probably didn't see whole thing clearly… I was the one actually shitting his pants" I did not try hiding what really happened.
We moved on to talked and laughed for a long time.
Diago is my guy; he stays in the neighborhood that is at least an hour walk away from Sumiyoshi but we were fucking close; aside from my family he is the only person that's close to me.
"…So, your dad has gone dark again? Well, that is fucked" Daigo commented before asking "…So what are you going to do?".
"What do you think I'm going to do? I got to give them a good size of coins next time we meet, so they don't come over and to fuck up my sister or mother or worst… Me again" I replied bluntly.
"Well, you are in luck to make some coins. Do you remember my cousin; the one that was serving time in prison, scrapping in Forts on some fucking island… Goro?"
He did mention that name once or twice.
"The one that fucked your mom, your little bro's dad… That piece of shit?" I asked to confirm because the guy has a lot of cousins in prison, it was hard to keep up.
"Yeah, that one… He got out like 3 days ago, well he might be a piece of shit but he managed to hook me up with some guy he knows, so I am set to get a gig today and I will make sure you tag along" He proposed.
"Thanks man, but are you sure it will be alright?" I asked.
I did not want him to get in trouble with his cousin because of this, I still need his company.
"It's fine, the guy and my cousin are tight" He reassured me.
After staying and waiting in the mall for about four hours for Daigo's gig to show up, watching as other Evolves throw themselves at recruiters from different private military company and Towers; looking hire extras like us.
Norms, some started fighting each but no one tried to separate them.
Not even the Enforcer or the recruiters that they are fighting to be noticed by; they see and use runts as expandable soldiers.
Breaking our nose couldn't worry them less.
All we have to do is survive, I and Daigo would normally have joined the crowd and throwing ourselves to them but we don't have to do that today because of Daigo's cousin.
"…They have finally arrived, see them over there, let's go" Daigo pointed at one of the two cargo trunks that just arrived with a white serpent crest on them.
They squeezed their truck amongst other cargo trucks in front of the mall, all wearing different crest of different proportion on them.
Hired Mercenary-Guard were getting loaded up, the trucks zoom off for other new arrivals to take their space.
"That's the gig… that's the Viper, let's go say fucking hello" Daigo yelled as we pushed through the crowd towards the 'Viper' truck.
"Hey… Hey, my name is…. Hey, I'm talkin' to you, I am…." Daigo had to try yelling over the noise of the crowd, to get the attention of a Guard rocking the Viper crest on the right chest of this black combat uniform.
He was busy handpicking Evolves he wanted to be upload into the cargo truck, so his attention wasn't easy to get.
Daigo had to force his way to the front, crossing the line the Guards always tell us not to cross.
Normally a line couldn't stop us but after too many instances of all the Trucks just leaving when we refuse to not cross the line, and we don't see them for days, even week, we learnt to respect the fucking line.
Daigo didn't seem give a damn about that now, and his sudden act appear to have frightened the Guard a bit, as he quickly backed the hell away immediately.
"Kid, get back… I'm will knock your teeth out, get back!" the Guard yelled at Daigo to step back and few people tried to drag him back, but Daigo quickly dragged parts of his body like his hand away from their grip, moving forward as he did.
They tried to reach but couldn't and didn't want to cross the line drawn, so Daigo was somewhat free of 'em.
I just stayed behind the line, hoping that no one gets too bold to cross the line trying to bring him back.
"Hey…Come on, name's Daigo… my cousin…" Daigo trying state his business to the Guard as he panted and raised his hand up to show he meant no harm.
"GET BACK!!!" The Guard wasn't all that convinced and yelled at the top of his lungs, drawing his sword out.
Daigo didn't even flinch, just stopped walking forward and continued repeating his words.
"Hey, what going on over there?!" A loud voice was heard from front of the truck, the sound of the vehicle's door could be heard opening and getting slammed shut.
"Todo, what's going on here?!" the voice demanded.
The owner of the voice finally became visible for the less rowdy section of the crowd that just focused on Daigo's stunt.
He wore grey tactical combat-suit with black-coloured armour plates, with a similar the Viper crest on the same position as the other Guard's, but he sounded like a damn superior, not an equal.
"Sir, this brat… He crossed the line'" The junior Guard answered, with his eye and the tip of his shining sword firmly pointed at Daigo.
"I'm from Goro…. Sir" Daigo spoke before the boss clap his ass, somewhat unassured about saying 'Sir' in that last past.
"Oh, you are Goro's brother or something?" The superior Guard asked.
"…Cousin" Daigo corrected him.
"Right, I forgot about you… well you can step in the back" The superior Guard calmly said turning his back to leave, even his junior a bit shocked but what just happened before his eyes.
"…That is my… friend – Shitsubo, he is a badass" he said out loud, to stop the Guard in his track and pointed at me, behind the line; still struggle to stand comfortably with everyone packed like mass grave.
"I don't have time for this, I promised your brother… uncle or whatever a spot for you… I don't care Shitso-bum-bum" he said indifferently and started leaving, but Daigo quickly replied.
"…I don't plan on wasting your time, but Shitsubo is a legit badass. Out of these multitudes of Guards here, you are trying to select the competent ones without any idea of their skills but I tell you; this motherfu… (Cough) This guy here is legit" Daigo sops in trying to get a spot for me.
"I seriously don't care… He can join you, just get in bloody back" The Guard didn't seem like he wanted all this convo, but I guess he and Goro were really tight for him to act as he just did.
He then turns to his junior and instructed softly "Put that thing away".
The junior Guard quickly put his sword away and the superior Guard left the scene, that how I and Daigo got this job.
We entered the back of one of the cargo trucks and took our sit amongst the previously selected in there.
After a minute, the back of the truck was full and it started moving. We didn't know where we were going to and we usually don't know or don't ask but this trip took about an hour and half or two due to minor traffic and the distance.
When the truck came to a stop this time, the tarp was dragged open, showing the face of the junior Guard that bark at Daigo earlier.
He then told us to get down.
Everyone obeyed without any fuss or muss.
I got down and scan where we were.
Around us were lots of Viper Guards, military vehicles and people in biohazard suits running around up and down the place.
We seem to be in a large compound of some light industrial facility, enclosed with chain-link fence and 3 visible entrance/exit gates with a watch tower beside it and 2 obvious Viper Guards on each one.
It looked entirely deserted, as lots of its building and stuffs like tank containers, large steel pipes and so on didn't look old or damaged. It just looked like it was entire shut down.
Each one of the entrance/exit gate I noticed had just one guard armed with an assault rifle, monitoring vehicles and people entering and leaving the compound, I saw a couple of drones by but don't know what they here for.
I wasn't the only one looking around trying to figure out what the heck happened and was going on, the others appeared to be doing the same thing too.
The Viper Guard didn't need to tell us to follow, before we did.
I felt gentle tap my shoulder and turned to see Daigo pointing to our general left direction and there it was - A Gate; it manifested itself at the face of a certain storey-building.
**
Gates are, in essence, dimensional portals.
These openings give Aggressors, the horrors from beyond, direct access to our world, and, conversely, they grant us a perilous passage into theirs – though that description is a vast, almost misleading oversimplification of what these phenomena truly are.
Gates are known to spawn in a multitude of different shapes and sizes.
They can appear, quite literally, anywhere on Earth, without any discernible warning or precursor sign.
No, it's more accurate to say that Gates do not just appear; Gates grow.
They typically emerge like grotesque, twisting tumors erupting from the very bones of the earth itself.
Imagine gnarled, alien roots that rise silently from nowhere, their surfaces often covered in all manner of strange, cryptic, and unsettling markings.
Some of these emergent Gates shimmer with an odd, almost ethereal sense of true, otherworldly beauty, captivating the eye.
Others, however, are so inherently wrong, so alien, that they make the very skin of one's heart crawl with primal dread.
In the distant past, when humanity first attempted to destroy these encroaching Gates, they employed all the conventional methods that had been so faithful to them, so reliable, for years of warfare – and that, precisely, was the beginning of their tragic, costly folly.
The more you try to violently destroy these Gates, the more aggressively, the more virulently, they grow in response.
They basically elude all of our conventional understanding of life, physics, and accepted realism.
You can burn them with the hottest fires, blast them with the most powerful explosives, spray them with the deadliest of toxins, or even physically tear at their structure – it makes no difference.
They seem to remember every assault.
They always return, often stronger.
And they invariably birth even more dreadful, more terrifying horrors into our world with each resurgence.
It took many long, painful decades of immense sacrifice, the acquisition of strange, alien knowledge, the performance of forgotten, esoteric rituals, and, perhaps greatest of all, a touch of sheer, inexplicable Grace, for our Scientists to finally figure out a delicate way to gently, almost coaxingly, close them down.
This method, though still somewhat fragile in its foundational understanding, and precise yet not completely, comprehensively understood, offered a sliver of hope.
Even with all that accumulated knowledge and sacrifice, it still isn't a 100% guaranteed solution, far from it.
This is a stark contrast to the comforting, misleading narrative that those in power have so carefully, so consistently, spun for the desperate, frightened masses.
The truth, a much harsher reality, is that Gates are not truly meant to be closed.
They are, it seems, meant to be taken.
**
The Gate I am looking at is about 9 meters in height and the same in width.
Its entrance surrounded with reinforced steel fence form a metal cube barrier, with an automated chain-link metal gate as the only means of entering or exiting the Gate.
Few meters away from the Gate, are a couple of M-ATV and LAV-25 Light armoured vehicles pointing their mounted arcane-guns entrance of the chain-link Gate.
There were few soldier positioned there, with their own camo painted armoured vehicles amongst the Viper Guards' and that's the only place I've seen the military boys since I've been looking around.
Most times I've been to Gates like this, the military are always there with whatever Tower is securing the Gate. The soldiers aren't usually that much, but it seems they have to be with the Guards securing the Gates for some reason.
We walked a minute, till I notice we were heading towards what looks like a command tent at the right wing of the compound.
The Guard gestured at us to halt and said we should all wait here, then just left.
So we did, standing there and waiting for the Guard come back.
A couple of minutes later, another Guard approached us, holding his head gear with his right hand and a wooden crate with his left.
The only thing that stood out from this particular Guard, were his eyes; his pupil and iris glowed – Deep Blue. Meaning he has superpowers
Every Evolve here, like me could 'feel' that he is D-Grade and I personally 'felt' he's stronger than my father.
When he got close enough, he placed the crate on the ground in front of us and stool on it.
Guess this is where we will know what the fuck they want us to do.
"Good morning… (or is it Good afternoon?). I'm the Team Leader assigned to head your little merry band" The Guard said very loud.
"My name is not important, only my position and most importantly the mission at hand is, so you will address me as Sergeant" He continued.
"…The objective to advance into that Gate and terminate the last of the horde of the Aggressors…" He said point to the same Gate Daigo pointed to earlier.
He continued.
"Firstly, This Gate is not a Fort, but the natives inhabiting here are still very dangerous… I am sure you have all encountered a Zipper-spine or what most of you people like to call them - "Rotten dogs".
Some of us nodded, most just stared at him to continue this pointless speech. Why don't they just point us to a Gate, we kill anything that moves and get our coins? Why waste all this fucking time?!
"I don't see the need to go into more details, do I?"
Seeing that no one responded, he continued "The other Aggressors in there are the Flea-gloats. They aren't as popular as the Zipper-spines, so some of you might not know this one…" He paused, to clear his throat before continuing.
"They are Aggressors that look like giant flea, with a hairy head that is twisted sideways.
They don't have claws or pincers like most insect-looking Aggressors but they do have a long pointy injection-like mouth that can pierce through 4-inch-thick concrete brick, which will make most of you people… even with your… protective gears look like cotton; so, don't get cocky" He warned.
"There will be Large Machine Gunners and Snipers mounted at the rear the company that will soon enter the Gate; which you are part of.
This platoon will be stationed as the frontline oppression; tasked with pushing the Aggressors' advancement while the another platoon will be stationed behind ours; to give us as much support as possible"
"We are to make sure the Aggressors don't breach your line and like you know, deserter will be killed on the spot. Any questions?" He finally ended his speech.
One guy wearing a scruffy scaly-armoured vest raised up his hand and asked "How do you pay us… Elixir or coins?"
"Elixir? Oh… you mean arcane-cores. You gutter people and your slangs" he mocked, after being confused for a second.
"Well, you will get paid in cash but it will be based on how many Aggressors you take down and know this not all Zipper-spine arcane-core can be extracted. So, the going rate for a Zipper-spine corpse is 90 Yen and a Flea-gloat is 120 Yen" The Guard answered plainly.
Some of us audibly grumbled but didn't voice out anything particularly, I and Daigo just looked at each other and looked back to the Guard.
"Is that all?" He asked, but was met with no response at all.
"If that is all, we will go in 10 minutes, so get yourselves prepared" he finished, before jumping down from the crate and leaving us by ourselves.
Immediately he left, some of us started pulled out their weapons and started warming up with it, while others just sat on the floor and relaxed.
I and Daigo were part of the latter; we just sat on the bare ground and tried to gather our thoughts before descending into the Gate.