The Wall of Blue Death

BETHESDA , Central District, 2420AA, "Connors? Gabriel!" The Captain called out. His summons went unanswered and he sped up after the junior lieutenant worried that something had happened to him. "Connors!" he shouted as he went round the same corner only to come to a same sudden stop just as his befuddled soldier earlier had. "Oh my..." his voice trailed off as his own jaw slacked down in shock. "What? What is it?" A curious Calla called out through the central communication system but no one answered her. " Guys? Guys! Where are you now? What is happening?" She panicked as she increased her pace and lengthened her strides to reach the two red dots that had stopped still on the screen of her visor. "Guys!" She yelled out again as she took a different path through the Central District and emerged at the edge of what they now called the inner ring. "What is this..." she trailed off, mersmerized by the wall of dazzling blue light rising up from the edge of the inner ring to create a dome that confined the twelve houses and the temple within it. She could not tell where it had come from or how deep or wide went and just like the barrier mist it kissed the ground, pulsing and humming like a living, translucent blue membrane. The barrier rippled with energy with every impact it absorbed from the flying metal insects, something else that was so out of place in the once desolate neighborhood. As they hit the wall, the contraptions fell. For that was what they were. Contraptions powered by the electricity and with gears within them. Gears that she had seen when she had cut one open with a plasma whip before the EMP canon took all of them down. They fell, some whole and others decapitated, but they all ended up a smoking heap that grew higher and higher with every wave that few in to hit the barrier. "How?" The girl mumbled as her eyes took in the dome that the barrier had erected over the mansions in the entire inner rim and the temple. It not only kept them out, but it was also actively eradicating them despite the fact that they seemed drawn into as if by some sort of magnetism. Why? Why would they just tumble into it and to their own deaths? Couldn't they see it or was the stimulus drawing them into it too much for them to resist? That is, assuming that the were sentient enough to organise and plot. Wasn't that the case with most of the terrors? Were they even terrors and if not, what were they and who had sent them and where were they coming from? "I am also asking myself the same questions. In all my years of fighting I have never seen anything like this!" The Captain replied as he and Connors came to stand beside her. "The barrier or the insects?" "The barrier mostly. It is easy to dismiss those things as terrors though I do have my doubts about that. But this? this is astounding!" He said even as pointed out to glowing membrane that continued to ripple with every metallic 'life' that it claimed. "I mean where did it come from? Has it always been here and has just been triggered. Who or what triggered it and what is it made of?" "Yea... And we imagined that we had read every book on that topic." She replied, her mind buzzing, still captivated by the glowing sight that was before them. "Anyway, Calla, why are you here?" He finally decided to ask her. "Why do you think I am here?" she hissed back even as she pulled back her visor to better glare at the other two soldiers. "You want her? Then you'll have to go through that." Connors laughed, pointing out at the pulsing wall of blue death that had them all too scared to venture onwards. "How? You are lying to me!" She yelled as her suppressed rage finally exploded. "Well...according to Gabriel here, Havillah is locked up in one of those houses. I suspect that that is why that horde came here and this barrier is a defence mechanism of some sort." Killion told her with a tired sigh. His had been a long day and an even longer evening that left him feeling quite weary and disturbed. More so than he had ever felt before. He pulled out his helmet and run an even more tired hand through his ruffled hair. "That said, do you really want to exact revenge so badly that you would walk into it?" "I don't believe it! He is covering for her!" Calla reacted, taking a step forward with every intention of intimidating Connors into telling her the truth about Havillah. "Leer all you want Barrageway. Why would I need to cover up for her when that is the truth? The crazy woman managed to open up one of those mansions and got in. I saw it with my own two eyes." he replied, disregarding her hard stare and the threat lying within it. He then turned to take a seat on a huge square cut stone. One that was once a part of the crumbled wall beside them. As he did so, he hit the mechanism on his suit and released his helmet while wearing a knowing smile. "Gabriel, if you are hiding her you need tell me. I need to find her!" "Why? So you can murder her?" Calla looked away with a disgruntled look even as she seemed to ponder the question before replying. "Eventually, but right now I need to find her in order to bring back my mother." "How gracious!" Gabriel snorted with a roll of his eyes. "Calla...you do know that we will not allow you to harm her, right?" Killion finally said in a very tired voice, but she just shrugged her shoulders and looked away. "It was just an accident!" He tried to tell her. "How would you know that?" she retorted. "You were not there Killion!" Killion knew she meant. That her accusations were more than what they seemed on the surface, but he dared not discuss it at that time and in the presence of Gabriel nonetheless. "What reason would she have to harm her anyway?" "Aaaw... How cute. You must think that that thing is an angel. What with those big brown eyes blinking at you!" Calla laughed mockingly. "Calla!" "No! You won't stop me Gabriel. It's the truth or are you also starstruck? In his eyes that thing can do no wrong! And the rest of us, what are we to you Killion? Are we dispensable? " Calla yelled even as her eyes glared daggers at the man who was once her childhood friend and the love of her life. Killion did not say anything. For a moment, silence reigned between them even as the man stared back at the woman with tired but angry eyes. His gaze continued to pierce through her, quite dangerously so and in that moment, Calla forgot to be angry and managed to be a little afraid. "Let's go Connors, we still need to scour out the area and ensure that there are no more terrors roaming the about." With that, he turned his back on her and began to walk towards the Eastern market and the seaport below.