Chapter Text
Dorothy was sitting in Counters shared dorm, the four bunks lined two and two to either side. She noticed mounted on the wall were three very strange decorations. A quartet of weapons that looked more at home in a medieval story. They were a longsword, a dagger, a mace, a warhammer, and a longbow.
Rapi was leaning back, enjoying some reading from the new library that Timothy had setup in one of the quieter corners of the base with the help of Best Seller squad. Dorothy looked at Rapi spoke, asking a question.
"Rapi, what is with those weapons on the wall?" Dorothy asked, pointing them out to her as Anis walked out of the shower. Anis looked at the wall and then to Rapi. Neon walked in with a twenty-four pack of Tetra-Fizz.
"What's going on?" Neon asked, tossing a can to Anis as she wraps the towel around herself snuggly.
"Dorothy just asked about our souvenirs from that mission that turned from a simple patrol into saving reality." Anis replied as Rapi looked at Dorothy and smiled. The girls smiled fondly at memories of the adventure they first bonded on. Nobody had a clue that a similar conversation had just happened up in Byung-Ho's office.
Erik, Byung, Andersen, Ingrid, and even Mustang were just kicking back with the TV opened to a recorded Solaris VII match. Timbuqi Darks in hand as Erik looked at a pair of items mounted in a glass clase, it bothered him because it looked so out of place. One was a steel dagger, the other a longbow.
"Byung, I had to ask…" Erik started, pointing at the glass case. "…of all the things to have in your quarters; a pair of ancient Terran weapons seems like the strangest." Erik looked at Byung as Andersen chuckled.
"Ah yes, one of Counters stranger adventures… codename Operation: Oblivion." Andersen responded as Byung gave a sheepish grin.
"There is quite a tale with those weapons… and I think it is only right if the girls are called up to help me tell it." Byung said as he grabbed his phone and sent a text to Rapi via BlaBla regarding what Erik asked. He didn't have to wait long for a response as the door opened and the girls walked in, with Dorothy in tow.
Dorothy smoothly settled into Erik's lap as Rapi smirked. "I guess we are telling Erik about that little adventure huh? Dorothy asked about our souvenirs from it." Rapi asked as Dorothy looked on with curiousity.
"Yes we are." Andersen said with an eye roll. "That time you four went out of contact for a month because apparently Gatekeeper needed you four to play hero."
Erik kicked back with a smile, adjusting with Dorothy in his lap. "So, what's the sitrep on this adventure?" The Lyran asked with a smirk.
Byung started, a smile that lingered for a second longer than it should have…
"It started as a routine patrol."
Outpost Perimeter Sector 12
1513 ZULU
May 9th, 2045
The Outpost perimeter had been quiet. Too quiet, maybe—but quiet all the same. "Perimeter sweep's clear," Rapi reported, her tone even. "No Rapture signatures within standard engagement range."
"That's what you said ten minutes ago," Anis replied, stretching slightly. "If this keeps up, I'm putting in a request for 'uneventful patrol' bonus pay.'"
"You can't request bonuses," the Commander said automatically. Keeping alert with them.
"Not with that attitude I can't, rookie!" Anis shot back, turning around and sticking her tongue out.
Neon tilted her head, scanning the horizon. "I detect… nothing. Which is suspicious. True firepower is never this quiet."
"…That's not how that works," Anis muttered. The Commander exhaled slowly, eyes tracking the skyline. Everything checked out as stable. Their formation was—
"Hold." Rapi's voice cut in sharp as her arm shot up, hand balling into a fist to reinforce her command. Her rifle raised, braced against her shoulder.
“What is it?” he asked. Byung kept his ears open as Anis and Neon brought their guns up aiming to the left and the right.
"…I'm not sure." That, more than anything, made him tense. Rapi didn't do 'not sure' in the time short time he’d known them. The horizon shifted. Not like weather. Not like incoming hostiles. Like something… wrong. "Commander," Rapi said, quieter now.
"Visual anomaly, bearing—" The sky flickered. Purple bled through blue for a fraction of a second—then snapped back. Neon froze mid-scan. "That was not firepower."
"No, it wasn't," the Commander said. "Contacts?" Anis asked. Rapi hesitated. "…No. That's the problem." For a moment, everything held. Then the world stuttered. Sound cut out just for an instant.
A pressure rolled across the ground, like something massive had moved without crossing the distance between them. And then— It appeared. The Gatekeeper didn't arrive. It was simply… there. The strange Rapture Tyrant entity floated before them.
"Contact front!" Rapi snapped, already moving. The Commander opened his mouth— —and noticed complete silence. Time lurched. Not stopped. Not slowed. Broken. Neon's next step never landed as she stared as even the wind itself was no longer blowing. Anis's grip tightened with fear as they watched a water drop freeze in mid-air. The air itself felt… locked.
"Commander!" Rapi's voice wavered as the sky changed. Not gradually. Purple spread across it like a wound, swallowing the blue in jagged, unnatural streaks.
Something tore open under their feet. Not an explosion. Not an impact. A rip. Clean. Impossible. Hungry.
The Commander felt it before he understood it. Falling. The realization came a heartbeat too late. "Counters! Scatter!" The order was never completed. They fell into the black void beneath their feet. The world folded. And then— everything went dark.