Juggler fell onto the ground, still holding his blade. That punch hurt him badly, he slowly sat up. But before Rhea could further attack him, she noticed Juggler's eyes are flickering, not normal flicker, it is flickering like its a screen.
As she stares, Wilton rushed over and landed a punch at Rhea, she quickly blocked it but Wilton pushed her away. He quickly grabbed Juggler and took out a walkie talkie.
"Cluster, this is Wilton, take us back!"
"Oh no you don't...." Rhea quickly rushed towards the both of them. Just then, the sky darkened, then, a yellow lightning struck the two of them, and when the lights faded, they vanished. Rhea stood there, in confusion, and frustration.
Rhea then turned her head to her left, Mysty is standing there holding her taser, she lowered it, and looked away, preventing eye contact with Rhea.
The two then hurried to Albur and Covie, Covie just finished healing Albur and make him gain back his arms again. Although he no longer feels pain, but he could never forget that striking pain when his limbs were sliced off.
"You alright?"
"I guess so...."
Albur slowly stood up, he picked up the Prismatic Blade on the floor. The blade ran out of energy and the virus substances faded away, turning back into the laser rifle.
"Dang it man...wasted another power slot...." Albur muttered.
"My fault...." Havoc glowed for a split second.
Mysty and Covie looked at each other and sighed. Rhea just continued to watch quietly.
Just then, Rhea's walkie talkie buzzed, she took it out and stared at it.
"Why are you guys calling me?"
"No, its not us."
The crew took out their walkie talkie, showing they did not call Rhea. Rhea stared at the walkie talkie for a while, and clicked the button.
"Ag.....gg.....agent...R...h....rhea....aa.....ag....g-g-g....eent.....Rh-e-e-e.....a"
Rhea was shocked by who the voice belongs to, its Rale. The crew was also surprised, they quickly walked to Rhea and stood around her.
"Director Towelestone? Is that you?"
The static slowly faded away, and the voice became clearer.
"Agent Rhea, do you copy?"
"Copy that, director! What's wrong?"
"Oh! Finally! We had been trying to contact you all. How's the plan going?"
Rhea stayed silent for a while.
"Not going exactly our favor sir, and also....."
Rhea stared at the crew, and sighed.
"...we lost Mr. John."
Rale gasped in shock.
"Who? Mr. John Hamilton?"
Rhea's fist tightened.
"Yes....."
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
At the headquarters of Ultrahazardous Threat Defender, scientists and agents ran around in the building. Some are examining the tumor, hoping to find the antidote for the virus lifeform victims. Some are preparing for the third wave of attack on the tumor walls, the first and second are not successful.
The tumor is growing larger and larger day by day, nearby citizens were all evacuated. Earth also begun to have some anomalous changes such as polluted water source, weaker volcano activities and atmosphere color change.
In the contact department, Rale held on the walkie talkie, in complete shock, the other scientist and agents in the room were all flabbergasted. Rale gripped the walkie talkie even harder,
"Understood, we will undergo the death protocols."
Rale turned to another agent.
"Inform his family, and get ready for the other actions."
"Sir, Mr. John have no known family members."
Rale was shocked by the words.
"He was abandoned, his family left him...."
Albur said through the walkie talkie. Rale sighed heavily.
"We will take care of the background works, I'm sorry for your loss."
"Anyway sir, why do you contact us?" asked Rhea.
"Well, we are attempting to open another portal, the signals stabilized, the readings are normal, what's the progression so far?"
"Well, we destroyed 2 cores out of 5, we found a survivor, we.....discovered something more dangerous down there, the details I will explain later. Also we encountered an unknown super natural activity at an abandoned fun fair place."
"Mmm, hmm, interesting, any thing else?"
"Oh yeah, we also got a few virus lifeform specimens that might help the investigation."
"Oh, really?"
"Sir, the portal is about to open in 59 seconds, its unstable but it could transfer quite a lot of things." One of the scientist walked up to Rale and said. Rale gently nodded his head.
"The portal will be opening soon, prepare for it."
"Copy that."
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Glitch Wipeout Crew (and Rhea) stood at their place, waiting for the portal to open. After a minute, a blue glowing rift appeared in front of them. Then, it opened bigger and wider, until it formed a portal. 4 scientists in the virtual hazmat suit stood by the portal. Rale stood next to them, also in the hazmat suit.
"Oh finally."
The crew let the survivor exit the tumor through the portal, the scientists safely brought the survivor to the medical department. Rhea then handed the coffins to the scientist that contains the dead alpha virus lifeform and the still alive consumer lifeform.
But as the agents are working, Rhea approached to Rale slowly.
"Director."
Rale stared at Rhea.
"What?"
Rhea lowered her head, and sighed.
"Could you replace my role with other agents?"
Rale stared at Rhea in confusion.
"Why? You're our strongest agent, you are the only suitable choice for this mission."
"I believe there are more fellow agents that are more experienced and responsible than me."
"Responsible?"
"Never mind."
"Rhea, you can't quit now. You are the only agent capable of taking this mission. I trust you, your experience, fighting knowledge and many more are the highest standards in UTD!"
Rhea looked at the crew, and sighed.
"I think they would love me to be gone more than finishing this mission quicker."
Rale still rejected Rhea's request.
The other agents also renewed the resources in the resource box with more better food and more water. The scientists also refilled Rhea's fuel and reloaded her bombs while giving her spare ones as refill. Some also upgraded their trolley which could automatically follow the crew or head to a specific location using a remote so the crew can stay in the hut without the need of walking.
The agents took note about the entity that killed Johnson and also more about the super natural event earlier. Rhea also explained the capabilities of Cluster and the servants.
"Alright, I think we got everything renewed for you guys and everything we want to know. Any problems or questions you wanna ask?" Asked Rale.
"Uh, director...the energy provider for Havoc, can it be refilled?" Albur asked.
"Oh uh, my apologies Mr. Filix, but, unfortunately that is all of the power we could provide for Havoc."
"Aw, man."
"But don't worry, we are working on another device that could also give Havoc energy to release his full potential."
"Huh, ok then."
"By the way, do you happen to notice the tumor have new anomalous signs? Well, our scientists found out that the tumor is getting bigger and, the tumor walls seems to be changing."
"Its the corrupt splinters, Cluster had been planting them on the virus substances on purpose."
"What? Really?"
Rale thought for a second, a sweat rolled down his face.
"Ugh....reports of him snatching corrupt splinters are already not rare.....And now he's planting them around.....looks like the splinters he stole is way more than just 3."
Some scientist took out scanning devices and looked around the inside of the tumor, they gathered information and took samples like the soil in the tumor, the liquids on the walls and plugged out tiny corrupt splinter pieces out of virus substances.
Just then, the portal flickered. And then again, and then again. Suddenly, every device's screen flickered too, then, all screen was cut to black. Shortly after, the screen was replaced by a logo. The logo consist of a red and yellow circus tent with a sinister looking skull with a blade penetrating it. It is the Deadly Circus's logo.
Then, a voice was heard.
"Welcome, welcome, welcome!"
It is Cluster's voice. Everyone was shocked. They tried to turn off the devices but none of the buttons work.
"Greetings, fellow clowns. It is I, your ringmaster, Cluster Goberton! I am EXCITED to present to you my finest work in history! Stay tuned for future shows, and enjoy the performance....."
Cluster then chuckled. The crew raised their weapons, getting ready for whatever is coming.
"But... oh, would you look at that.....UTD....uninvited guest that DIDN'T buy entry tickets!"
Suddenly, the ceiling of the tumor rumbled. The whole place is shaking, then, the devices of UTD slowly exploded one by one, the portal became unstable. Then, purple energy covered the body of the UTD members, they were all thrown into the portal.
Then, the portal turned purple. It shattered and vanished.
The crew stood there, staring at the portal. Then, Cluster chuckled.
"Ah....much better."
The crew stayed together, but Rhea purposely remained distance. Cluster then laughed demonically.
"See you at the next act! My fellow tacky truffles!"
Cluster's voice vanished.