The Overwatch HQ motor pool was a stark contrast to the lively barracks above. Instead of horses and carriages, it housed a small, exclusive collection of vehicles. Gleaming metal chassis, large rubber tires, and intricate engines sat silently, smelling faintly of oil and something else...
Klein, Kurt, and Gabi stood beside one such vehicle – a dark, armored box on wheels that looked utterly alien compared to the horse-drawn carriages Gabi was used to. It had a driver's cabin in the front and a small, enclosed compartment in the back.
"This is our transport to the border," Klein stated, gesturing to the vehicle. "An automobile. Exyllum design."
Gabi stared, fascinated. "An... automobile? I've never seen anything like it."
Kurt grinned, patting the side of the vehicle. "Not many have. They're expensive. Experimental, really. Synaptical tech sped up industrial research in certain areas, gave us a bit of a jump on things like this." He shrugged. "Means they're mostly limited to government use – military, us, and the really wealthy nobles who can afford the price tag and the maintenance. Faster than horses, usually, but you won't see them clogging the streets. Too few of them, and sometimes, in a real mess like the palace attack, the old ways are still more reliable for getting everyone moving at once."
The explanation clicked into place for Gabi, clarifying why he'd seen carriages used for the rapid response despite this technology existing.
"Get in," Klein ordered, opening the rear door.
Gabi, still favoring his bandaged side, climbed into the compartment, followed by Kurt and Klein. It was cramped but offered a solid sense of protection. The driver, a stoic-looking Overwatch agent, started the engine with a low rumble that vibrated through the floor. Slowly, the automobile pulled out of the motor pool and onto the city streets, picking up speed as it headed towards the outskirts and the long road leading to the Extrasem border.
The ride was smoother and faster than any carriage Gabi had been in. The city blurred past, quickly giving way to the open road. The silence in the compartment stretched, filled only by the engine's hum and the rhythmic thump of the tires.
"You know how to drive that thing? Is there training?" Gabi Asked.
"All overwatch members ranked 1st Tier Officer or above are given vehicle training, though I dont know how the others like the Royal Guard does it, and I have no idea how they train those rich nobles how to drive." Klein replied.
Gabi stared out the window, watching the landscape rush by. His thoughts, however, were miles away, back in the Overwatch gymnasium, back to the spar with Mark. The sudden surge of power, the blue light, the impossible speed...
Adrenaline, his internal voice insisted. It had to be. Extreme stress. My body just... reacted. Pushed past its limits.
It was the only logical explanation. He was a Null. Nulls didn't gain powers. Nulls didn't resonate with deities. It had to be a physiological response to the intense pressure, amplified by the trauma he was still processing. Adrenaline. Yes. That was it. A one-time burst of energy under duress. He clung to that explanation, the comfort of the known.
Kurt shifted beside him, breaking the silence. "Rough day yesterday, huh?"
Aiko, who had been silent since they left HQ, nodded slowly. "Yeah. A lot of... dust."
Mark, sitting opposite them, spoke up. "Speaking of dust... Aiko. That ability you used at the cleanup. Turning rubble into dust. Can you... can you do that to organic matter too?"
Aiko looked at him, then down at her hands. "Yes," she said quietly. "But it's... different. It takes exponentially more time. And concentration. And I have to be touching it. Holding it. It's not like inorganic matter where I can affect it from... maybe five meters away, if I really focus."
Gabi filed that information away. Aiko's power was versatile, but had clear limitations, especially against living things. He turned to Kurt.
"Officer Kurt," Gabi began. "During our patrol... You... stopped bullets? How did you do that?"
Kurt gave a short, almost weary chuckle. "Ah, that. My Synapse. Resonance with the Quantum Deity. I can manipulate air density. Make it thick enough to stop projectiles. Like hitting a wall of concrete, but invisible."
Gabi nodded, impressed. Manipulating the air itself... another power he couldn't comprehend as a Null. He looked at Klein, who had been listening quietly.
"Detective Klein," Gabi said, the question he'd been holding onto since the office visit. "Your power... the lightning? You use it on objects, not people directly. Why?"
Klein met his gaze. "My resonance is with the Shinsei Deity.. I can apply high voltage to anything non-organic within about ten meters. Metal, stone, water... but," he added, a subtle emphasis in his voice, "there can't be any organic matter directly touching it when I apply the charge. Clothes are impossible unless no one is wearing them, so I cant just shock someones clothes. And if someone is holding a metal weapon, I can't shock the weapon, and the charge will transfer. If they're just standing there, I can't just... shock the air around them or the ground they're standing on if they're barefoot, since if I shock the ground then it would affect my allies and everyone in the area. Same reason for shocking air, altough thats physically impossible at that point. The connection has to be to the inorganic material.
He hesitated, then asked the question that truly weighed on him. "Klein... what happened to me? During the spar with Mark... the blue light... the speed... I'm a Null. I shouldn't be able to do that."
Klein was silent for a long moment, the hum of the automobile filling the space. He looked out the window again, his expression thoughtful. "Astrea," he said finally, turning back to Gabi. "The known world operates under the understanding of the Seven Deities. Their descendants are the most common, their powers the most documented." He paused, his gaze holding Gabi's. "But the world is vast. And there are whispers... legends... of other entities. Deities not commonly known. With fewer, or perhaps no, direct descendants in the conventional sense."
He leaned forward slightly. "What happened to you... that blue light, that feeling of warped time or space you described during your court hearing... it doesn't fit any known resonance of the Seven. It's possible... just possible... that you somehow resonated with an unknown deity."
Gabi stared at him, the adrenaline explanation suddenly feeling flimsy, inadequate. An unknown deity?
Miles behind them, soaring through the clear blue sky on powerful, wings of divine light, Knight Seraphina led a small contingent of the Royal Guard, flying on a small Sky Cruiser. Below, the landscape of Exyllum stretched out, gradually transitioning towards the borderlands.
They maintained a steady pace, following the general direction reports indicated the Overwatch team had taken. The air was crisp, the silence broken only by the rush of wind and the occasional beat of her wings.
Seraphina had enough with flying outside and entered the Sky Cruiser, where her comrades are sitting.
"That glass dome..." one of the Royal Guards, a stern-faced woman named Kaelen, said, breaking the silence. "Never seen anything like it. The sheer scale... and the speed he erected it."
Another guard, a younger man, shivered slightly. "Yeah. Took everything we had just to break through it from the inside. That kind of power... had to be an oath, right? Sacrificed something serious for that kind of leverage."
Kaelen nodded grimly. "Had to be. No standard resonance could do that." She glanced at Seraphina, flying silently just ahead of them. "Knight Seraphina... you faced him directly. Saw his power up close. What do you think he gave up for that?"
Seraphina continued to fly, her gaze fixed on the horizon. The wind whipped her hair back, but her expression remained unreadable. She had faced the Crimson Wolf. She had seen the intensity of his power, the desperation in his eyes as he raised that impossible dome. She had felt the chilling implication of the sacrifice required.
But when asked about the cost of her oath, Seraphina said nothing. Her silence was her only reply, a quiet testament to the burdens carried by those who make such pacts.
-
The squad eventually arrives at the border, however...
"Stop right there." A young man with a silly expression on his face, denying entry. He is wearing a red uniform alongside a red coat adorned with golden chains. Wearing the signature patrol cap that everyone in the squad recognized..
"Red Hounds?!" Kurt exclaimed.
"Well, since there have been some unwanted actors messing up our borders, we have decided to blockade all foreign armed forces from entering the country, sorry chaps!" He says with a silly tone.
A glint of golden trail lands on the concrete grounds of the border gate. It's Seraphina. "You sure about this? Wanna try us?"
"Seraphina??" A shocked Gabi said.
"The royal guard? What are they doing here??" Klein internally thinks, before asking: "Can you get us permission to enter the country? These hooligans arent letting us in."
"Captains orders, sorry cha-" The man is interrupted by the footsteps, an authority figure walking into the scene, donning the same uniform as the man before them.
"You may come in." The figure said, granting the members permission to enter.