Children of a Lesser God

Everyone's eyes were peeled on the door, opening as though a giant beast had awoken from slumber. The sound coming from the door, an eerie screeching sound, sent shivers down everyone's back.

Everyone, including Laz's group, braced for some sort of crazy event to occur. But contrary to that feeling, the door swung open all the way, a full 180 degrees and then stopped. The blinding light coming from the door also receded, becoming a dull white light that looked like a bubble coming from the door.

After a few moments of no one moving, there was suddenly a laugh, followed by a few more until a feeling of ease washed over the entire crowd.

The media was quick to start asking questions and taking pictures and video while several people went to stand in front of the door and speak among themselves.

Even Laz's group of people seemed to settle down, seeing the tension in the room fade. Just as Ruby looked over at Laz to ask him his opinion though, she got a bit of a fright.

Laz was staring at the door still while grinding his teeth, something that showed he was very annoyed and angry. Looking at Laz and then at the door, Ruby couldn't make out the cause of his irritation.

"Captain?" She said, keeping her voice low as to not attract attention.

Laz didn't respond.

"Captain? Sir?" She said again, this time a little louder. But still Laz didn't move.

Seeing him ignoring her, Ruby felt like there was something really important that she was missing. But even then, she wasn't about to let him loose his cool. Plus, she was kind of angry at being ignored.

As such, she did what every girlfriend that has been ignored did, she slid over closer to Laz and elbowed him in the stomach as hard as she could, catching him off guard.

Laz wanted to make a noise after being attacked but didn't, keeping that much of the situation in mind. But when he looked over in anger, he saw Ruby staring at him with fire in her eyes and he calmed himself down.

"Did you have to hit me so hard?"

"Did you have to ignore me?"

"Fair enough." Laz knew he wasn't going to win this argument... or any really.

"So what's got you so fired up?" Ruby asked.

"Tommy's here."

"Tommy...? You mean Tommy Tommy? The one from your hometown that Kennedy was... using for a little bit?"

"Yeah. That Tommy. The chosen/evolved son of a bitch that I would love to get my hands on..."

"But what is he..." Looking over though, Ruby could see that no matter who was speaking to the man in the middle of the group checking out the gate, everyone was being very respectful.

"I don't know. But what I can tell you is things just got a lot more complicated," Laz said, thinking back to the few times they had interacted. He knew that Tommy had changed around the same time he did. Although Laz couldn't be certain if that also meant that he had grown at the same pace as Laz, it also meant that there was no way he would be weak. In addition, this also indicated that there was a lot more going on here than just a local group taking charge of this gate..

"He is in charge. That's important to note. And this guy is as lazy as fuck so if he's here, that means someone made him be here. And assuming that things didn't change that much, I can guess who that someone is," Laz added to Ruby. The someone he was talking about was Jesse. Despite having left that part of his life behind him, Laz hadn't stopped paying attention to the players that he had met during his time with Kennedy and Malene back then. Jesse, Tommy and Annie had been in the news more than once if you knew where to look.

While Jesse was riding high within the dealings of Global Sciences Inc, Annie had made a name for herself with an entirely different group of people. She had somehow made it big on the small screen, taking walk on rolls at first before landing a leading roll in a teen drama. She was also a bit of an icon for Global Sciences, having done promo's for some of the companies products.

Even her boy toy Alex had gone on to being a star in college at American Football.

Compared to Laz, they were all living the high life.

"So do we go ahead with the plan?" Ruby asked, wondering if this old 'friend' of Laz might prove to be an issue.

"I doubt he remembers me. But even if he does, so what? The rune is currently holding and he couldn't give a damn about us 'solders' so as long as I don't meet him face to face, we will be good.

"Alright. It's your call baby. I'll be here with you no matter what."

Laz told Ruby thank you before turning his attention back to the gate.

Tommy, seeing that everything was like it was suppose to be, turned around to address the crowd.

"Everyone. Welcome and thanks for joining us today. In just a moment, myself and other select members of our order shall enter into the gate first, followed by our friends of the armed forces. Our job is to make sure that the opening area is clear while our military friends set up a temporary recon base inside. I will be moving off shortly to do some information gather once we get inside, so I will have my assistant, Charles, direct your movements to check out the inside itself once it is deemed safe. Please remember that while you should be able to record inside, I highly doubt the transmissions will broadcast to this side. And as far as we can tell, hard lines will get scrambled so unfortunately, all of you will have to record and then bring the footage back yourselves. Once again, your safety is very important to us so please remember to follow instructions quickly and in an orderly fashion. That's it everyone. I hope you are able to enjoy this as much as the rest of us. Let's move everyone." Tommy said with a dazzling smile, putting everyone at ease.

'What a hypocritical asshole,' Laz thought to himself. Perhaps only he was able to tell that what Tommy was really saying was that if all of you die, it's your own damn fault. And on top of that, we will make sure that anything that happens stays inside and we will make sure to blame you if you go off and die. To everyone else, it basically sounded like it was going to be no big deal.

"That guy is kind of a rat..." Ruby said, very softly. Seems like she noticed it too. Looking around at their own group, Ruby was able to tell that everyone else seemed reassured by his words. Ruby's gaze landed on Remi though to see her hiding her head. Turning back to where she was looking, she noticed that the two people standing next to Tommy not only looked exactly alike, but they also had white colored hair. Once Ruby looked closer, she noticed that there were quite a few similarities between them.

"That one called Charles and the person next to him look like identical twins," Ruby pointed out to Laz.

"I can see that. I wonder if Tommy is leaving Charles out of the exploration while bringing his brother along has some sort of meaning?" Laz responded, not knowing her thoughts.

"I think what's more important is that both of those chosen, Charles and his brother... look a lot like that girl Remi..." Ruby pointed out, catching Laz's attention.

Laz turned to look at Remi, then back at the twins... He recognized them even further as being the two evolved he ran into when he first came to town and set out of their group gathering.

"Fuck!"

Laz didn't have anymore time to think about it as all the military groups were being called into position. Tommy and his team went through the gate with no hesitation what so ever.

"When you get over there, drop your gear and spread out, forming a circle around the gate on the other side. Don't break formation until you get orders to do so," the major yelled out while the teams formed up.

Just as Laz and everyone had gotten into place, the first group went through. The Major counted out loud, down from thirty and sent the next group in.

Even before they had time to collect themselves. Laz's team was up.

Laz took a quick look back at everyone who, coincidently, were looking at up him. With a smile and a nod, Laz reassured them. As soon as the Major said 'go,' Laz and Ruby marched forward without missing a step, entering the gate and disappearing from site.

For the ones that were behind them, Dwayne, Remi and all the others, they saw this, gritted their teeth and ran forward as well, trusting Laz's lead.

As he entered the gate, it was like walking into a bubble that didn't pop. There was a little bit of resistance, but that was it. As soon as Laz opened his eyes, he was in another world. It was much less disorienting as when he went over to that spirit realm with Tyr.

The first thing Laz noticed when he arrived was the there was a dull, orange glow over everything, like a world suffused in sunset. The air was breathable, which Laz had only considered now. And they were surrounded by huge metal buildings that were made up of gears, cogs and other moving parts. Everything around him resembled a world that looked like it had been made up in the same way the gate was.

Laz was amazed at being placed into this steampunk like setting, but that only lasted for a moment.

Bang.

Boom...

BOOM...

Shots and explosions rang out from all over the place. Laz and Ruby, both with a bit of experience in this kind of thing, made their way to the closest cover they could find while yelling at their group who had just popped through the gate.

"WAKE THE FUCK UP AND FIND COVER," Laz yelled, causing them all to scramble. Almost everyone got behind something quickly except for two poor bastards from the council's group who didn't move fast enough.

Red light beams pierced through their heads while everyone looked on. They crumbled to the ground without a hint of life, like empty meat sacks.

It was now apparent to everyone that things had just gotten really, really bad.