Two holy rank hunters working together was already a strange happening, let alone two hunters with history such as Jon Hunter and Xavier Scofield. It was a strange thing indeed, but not an unprecedented one as whenever humanity faced a crisis it was their role as the pinnacle of mankind to stand up to whatever threat appeared.
This ti things were different than usual, though, since now none of them represented the gacity facing the crisis. Jon acted on behalf of the Mapple corporation, which was the reason why he pulled back the Mapple corporation team from the tournant and asked them to secure the headquarters in his stead before heading out to investigate the situation. Xavier Scofield, on the other hand, acted on behalf of the military and he also left soone in charge of the defense of the city in his stead.
They did so because they knew most hunters were unlikely to survive if they had to fight against a god which ant whatever responsibilities they usually were kicked down a notch as their top priority was survival.
But they were not the only holy rank hunters present that bore the responsibility to defend the city, there was also a third one. One that represented not the profits of private companies nor the duty of a soldier fighting a war but rather the people who lived in the city.
"What's up darling, how would you like to see kicking a god in the face?" Jon flirted as he leaned over the head of the Cryptid hunting agency's desk under Sharp's unamused single eyed glare.
"Jon..." Mister Scofield shook his head.
"I'd give my one eye to see that, but I'm not who you're looking for. It's her." Sharp pointed at Lily who stood by her side bearing a shy smile.
"Really? She doesn't look like a holy rank huntress and doesn't feel like one either." Jon squinted his eyes as though wanting to see better when in reality he was focusing on what he called his sixth sense.
"Really?" Lily parroted as she tilted her face.
"Why do I feel like I've seen you before." Jon squinted his eyes harder to the point of almost shutting them close.
"Lily, you have my permission to go and play with the nice old man and that fucking idiot. Just make sure to be back before dinner, alright?" Sharp nodded at Lily who imdiately jumped in joy and joined the two holy rank hunters.
"This feels wrong, she's just a kid." Jon said to Scofield who nodded.
"Kids should never be involved in dangerous situations, but danger will co knocking on her door whether we like it or not. If you don't want to see her hard, then you better protect her."
"Why are you saying it like it's only my responsibility? I'd much preferred to take the Rapa Nui bonnie that likes to hang out with my kid's friend. What was her na again? Ika?"
"Yes, she was powerful indeed, but don't forget what that fellow did to our city in the past. We can't put the wolf to take care of the sheep." Scofield said and Jon agreed, and Lily also seed to agree as she nodded vigorously.
"You can speak now, the bad woman isn't here to bully you anymore." Jon said to Lily causing her to tilt her head in confusion.
"She doesn't speak, Jon. Didn't Uriel tell you that on his daily call?" Scofield said while directing an odd glance towards Lily who seed upbeat upon hearing Uriel's na.
"Daily call, sure, sure..."
"He doesn't call you? That's too bad, but it's not like you deserve it." Scofield scoffed.
"I don't mind a little banter, but keep it above the belt or I'll start ranting about soone's daughter." Jon scoffed too.
"That's fair, I apologize," Mister Scofield spoke, then addressed Lily. "I know you don't speak english and I don't know if you understand this, but we are headed out on a dangerous mission."
"Uriel." Lily said with a gleeful smile, then repeated his na a few tis.
"Did he brainwash this girl or sothing? If so, that's one nifty skill." Jon chuckled.
"You thinking your son to be capable of such things is deeply concerning. Now, let's stop wasting ti and get our hands to work, shall we?" Mister Scofield pointed at a general direction before taking off at a speed only a holy rank hunter could achieve, though even Jon had trouble catching up without activating his trait.
He looked back hoping to see Lily struggling to keep the pace, but what he saw left him in disbelief as Lily didn't just follow but she also didn't seem to break a sweat which made Jon ponder if he was getting too old to be a hunter. That thought was swiftly dispersed when he took another glance ahead and noticed Scofield had cranked up his speed and before Jon had the ti to do the sa, Lily overtook him.
"We're here." Announced Scofield with the brooding soldier expression plastered on his face.
"Where are we exactly?"
"Can't you hear that gibberish?" Scofield said then fell silent to allow Jon to listen to the uncanny sound that lingered in the air. It was the faint noise of a conversation taking place, though the words could not be recognized due to the mix of sounds. It was the exact sa as if they were in a crowded cafeteria, only they were in the middle of a deserted street.
"It doesn't sound like gibberish to , it's more like a traditional ritual... not one I can identify though." Jon said with a wry smile of disinterest.
With nothing else to go by, they followed the sound to where they thought it originated. The closer they got to a corner the farthest the sound seed, but no matter where they turned the sound would then pick up its volu again once they reached the middle of the block.
To say it was unsettling would be an understatent, but neither Jon or Mister Scofield were easy to scare. Lily, on the other hand, seed particularly affected by the noise and she covered her ears as the smile on her face disappeared.
"We should probably retreat for now." Jon proposed, but Scofield shook his head.
"We ca looking for fire, running away from the smoke would make our efforts useless."
"Well then, what should we do? Point in the right direction and I'll kick a motherfucker in the face, but this is just weird."
"You seem awfully confident for soone of your level." Mister Scofield said without stopping his efforts to find the source of the noise. Finding anything in a gacity as big as Net Texas was bound to be difficult, let alone the source of a noise that would beco louder or fainter for no reason at all.
Had dusa been present at the mont she would have probably gone on a ramble about the doppler effect and she may have gone in depth about the physics behind sound dispersion. Luna would have easily picked on the fact that although the sound seed to be a natural phenonon, it actually carried a vast amount of flux energy. Among the Dungeon Raiders she was the most sensitive to flux as she remained at the ascended level and would experience all the side effects caused by foreign flux energy. And Uriel, of course, would have imdiately noticed the resemblance with what happened in the dungeon beneath the Alamo where he defeated the naless creature that was summoned by the society.
But none of them were present and could not possibly warn the holy rank hunters about what they were getting into, but even if they could warn them, nothing would change the fact that they needed the sound to stop.
Faithful to his character, Jon made use of his academic knowledge and his wits as far as they took him, but when faced against a situation that could not be identified or addressed in any way, he made use of his next resort.
"Stay back." He said before throwing a punch directly in a foundation beam causing the entire east side of the wall to crack which allowed the holy rank hunters to see what happened inside the building. They expected people to scatter like ants when their nest was disturbed, screams and crowded ergency stairs. What happened instead was people carrying on with their lives as if nothing happened without ever stop humming the chat that flooded the air.
"Hey mate, why are you humming that?" Jon Hunter asked a man after stepping into his living room in the second floor.
"I'm not humming anything." The man replied with a shrug, then continued humming casually.
They attempted asking several people, but it was as though they had been srized and could not rember ever humming the chant they were singing. Scofield asked them if they knew the lyrics of the song they were singing and Jon went even further and even slapped people to prevent them from singing, though the only way to shut the people up was to actually kill them.
Even worse was the fact that upon hearing soone chanting, people who had been previously quiet then also started singing.
"We got a problem." Jon said as he touched ground where Scofield and Lily remained.
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