Crystalline Universe: Team Fortress 2 Overwatch - Volume 3: Crystalline Universe: Bloodline's Curse Chapter 85 Scaphism

Back then, I was nothing more than a beggar on the street. At the age of 16, because of wars, I end up homeless and poor. My father was enlisted in the army and never returned while on the other hand, my mother died in a bombing campaign by the enemy.

Even though I never lost hope, darkness kept consuming me as time went on but she offered her help to me, that mysterious woman of high status that came across me on the street. Apparently, I coincidently managed to save her from a road accident while trying to steal her wallet.

She took me under her wing, saw me grow and over time, I developed immeasurable respect for her, so I pledged my loyalty to her and swore to stay by her side for the rest of my life. Until one day, tragedy stroke. You never see it coming, you cannot prevent it.

The bullet entered her left eye and shattered her head like a shotgun round then killed several bodyguards in the room. The killer was never found until the second most important person in my life showed up. The man who I will swear my oath of loyalty, the man who I will pledge my life to; Sniper.

He avenged me, he avenged her. He killed the assassin, who was in truth Mike’s father. That’s why never, never I would disobey his order, never I would go against the lord’s will.

After explaining his story, Mazzatello quietly sat on the sofa in grief as Scuoiamento stared speechlessly.

[Mazzatello] – “I never wanted to betray! All of you are the ones I felt the closest to but I cannot disobey Sniper’s orders. We are his squad of elites, we should always follow his order but everything ended soo tragically. ”

[Scuoiamento] – “It’s fine Mazzatello, I understand. We should trust Scaphism, I believe he will make quick work of Mike and his minions. ”

[Mazzatello] – “You can never be sure of what fate prepared for us! It’s about blinding yourself to certain realities and move on. ”

For the rarest instance, Scuoiamento was able to see the emotional side of Mazzatello. In the man’s voice, she can hear sorrow. Through the darkness that covered his face, she can see tears sparkling off his grey eyes. It proved that behind the mask of obscurity, there was still a living being capable of emotion, a man who still has a heart.

Azur stared emotionless outside the car window as the taxi drove her to the hotel where the rest of her crew was. A frightening thought lingered in her mind as watched the clock tick. Mike hid a part of Operation incision from others except for her.

*flashback

[Mike] – “This is something I need you to know, only you. In operation Incision, I will intentionally arrive late to the fight. I need you guys to hold him off as long as you can so I could figure out what are his abilities. The reason I don’t want to tell others is because… It might result in a few casualties. Anyways, since I know I can trust you the most, I’m telling so this so you could be best prepared to face and survive what will come next. ”

*back to the present

[Azur] – “But… how lucky can I get? I survived so many battles out of pure luck but when will my luck run out? Honestly, it would probably be me who will be left out to die. ”

Droplets of rain started to pour onto the car window as Azur kept staring stoically outside.

[Azur] – “I only ever wished to be free like the rain that drifts freely across the sky. ”

[Driver] – “We all wished freedom but I never knew who truly was the liberator in this war. ”

Azur turned her attention to the taxi driver, a middle-aged woman with a hijab around her head.

[Azur] – “It’s the leader of the faction that decides everyone’s fate and so far, I can’t see a bright future with either side winning the war. ”

[Driver] – “I just hope there could be a way to settle this. ”

[Azur] – “I hope too but we can dream of it, right? ”

[Driver] – “My 2 sons joined the XX on Talon’s side, my husband and my daughter joined Overwatch. I just hope there could be a way to end this without seeing either side tearing each other to pieces. ”

[Azur] – “This war is deeper than what we could imagine. One man cannot change everything, he needs people to support him. ”

By this sentence, Azur actually meant Mike, who was infiltrating Talon’s command structure all by himself. She knew as for now, Mike plans to take down the whole association by himself alongside eliminating all the leaders such as Sniper; a task she knew is very unlikely.

[Azur] – “But you know, while they are on the frontline fighting, we can have faith, here. ”

[Driver] – “Faith… faith in what? ”

[Azur] – “Faith in your wish, faith that your loved ones are alright, faith that there could be a day where peace will come. ”

[Driver] – “Perhaps… I- ”

Before she could finish, a loud thunder shattered the sky and shook the ground.

[Driver] – “I… nevermind. ”

On one of the rooftops, Scaphism stared quietly at Azur’s vehicle which moved to stop near the Degroot hotel. After confirming that Azur entered the building, Scaphism slowly backed off the roof before free-falling onto the street.

At first glance, the bystanders were shocked to see the man falling down from a building but as soon as he impacted with the ground, he disappeared into the sidewalk. As the red crystals on his arms glowed, he soon found himself running down into the sewers before suddenly appearing in an empty hallway of the hotel. Using the scanner attached to his eyes, the coated man followed Azur’s footprint through the hall.

Azur hastily pushed the chamber door open and greeted Darlynn who was already waiting for her.

[Darlynn] – “It took you long enough. ”

[Azur] – “I don’t wanna attend to some Mergiann’s boring little birthday party. ”

[Darlynn] – “You are lucky to not be there though, the hotel owner offered us something… “strong” to drink. ”

[Azur] – “Was it strong as the times I had explosions on my face? ”

[Darlynn] – “Oh yeah, that, how is it going so far, just asking. ”

Azur summoned her sapphires which is a force consisting of 2 of her original crystal-shaped ones with 4 new round ones.

[Azur] – “They said the round ones can help better creat the “portal”. ”

[Darlynn] – “You mean that engineer Dane with his crazy alternate dimension theories and the golden ratio created by your crystals being the key to access them? ”

[Azur] – “Ugh, I never even approached success and it often ended pretty explosively for me. ”

Azur’s sapphires quickly flew off to fetch her a drink while she jumped onto the sofa behind her.

[Darlynn] – “So what’s the plan? ”

[Azur] – “We wait. ”

[Darlynn] – “He could kill us at any second now, we can’t just sit here and- ”

[Azur] – “That’s the plan, deal with it! ”

Darlynn, wordless and nervous, decided that she has to go to the bathroom to put some water on her sweaty face. As she walked, she felt the floor shaking beneath her but the disturbance isn’t enough to cause her to panic.

After opening anxiously the bathroom door, Darlynn stepped in before letting out a loud scream and even woke Mergiann and Karson up. Azur rushed in to see Darlynn hanging from the edge of the building. To her surprise, there is no bathroom behind this door but a one way fall into the streets.

After pulling Darlynn out of danger, Azur activated her crystals knowing an attack is coming but Darlynn realized with a shock that the door now leads to the living room.

[Darlynn] (in a distressed manner) – “Something isn’t right! ”

[Azur] – “Quit crying and stand ready to engage! ”

Darlynn quickly raised up from the ground and stood back to back with Azur after pulling her rapier out of her belt.

[Darlynn] (in a nervous voice) – “This is an ability we’ve never seen before, this is insane! ”

[Azur] (in a solid manner) – “Shut up! Whatever it is, he’s gonna have a one-way ticket to hell once he shows himself around me. ”

In the bedrooms, Mergiann crawled out of her bed as Karson barged into the room.

[Mergiann] – “What’s going on? ”

[Karson] – “No idea but hearing Darlynn screamin’ sure ain’t somethin’ good going on down there. ”

Mergiann rapidly put her boots on and rushed out of the bedroom with Karson but instead, they found themselves in the reception hall once out of the chamber.

[Karson] – “Rubbish, I don’t like the sound of this. ”

[Mergiann] – “This must be the work of an enemy ability! ”

[Karson] – “No shit, stop stating the obvious! ”

Back inside the hotel chamber, Azur and Darlynn carefully moved toward the bedrooms to join up with Mergiann and Karson but unbeknownst to them, they are just moving further away from them.

A figure silently stalked both of them as they moved toward the chambers. Phasing through walls, Scaphism appeared behind the two girls as they tried to open a chamber door.

In a stabbing motion, Scaphism reached his hand toward Darlynn but in a moment of reflex, Darlynn stroke back at him with her weapon. To her shock, the blow was way more powerful than what she can bargain for as the shock blew her off into the distance before colliding with a wall.

Azur tried to attack the man with 2 of her crystals but he easily blocked her attack due to his immense speed and reaction. In a flex of power, the man threw a punch toward Azur’s abdomen but not only did Azur block his strike, but 2 more of her crystals also made a second attack against him.

Confident of his power, the man carelessly dismissed the attack by forcing the gems’ course to change but Azur isn’t done yet as the 2 other crystals from earlier came back from his behind.

As soon as he noticed the 3rd attack being made against him, he tried to dodge only to have his scapula and clavicle bones punctured by one of the sapphires before having his left cheek scarred by the second.

In anger, Scaphism launched a slap at a speed Azur couldn’t properly defend from. Hit on the face, Azur fell downstairs but as she descended, she smirked at the man mid-air before disappearing into a hole her sapphires created on the ground.

Seeing that his prey managed to run away, Scaphism did not show any sign of frustration but instead smirked. In a swift gesture of hand, he threw away his hat and revealed his face to the light. He looked very much like Mike with golden hair and even similar haircut and facial features.

The view in front of him shattered into pieces as he walked into the tunnel that changed into one of the hallways of the hotel. As if the walls around him made 360 turns on their own, his location soon changed to the reception where Karson and Mergiann were standing.

The wound of his shoulder quickly healed alongside the scar on his face as he slowly approached the two. At first glance, they thought that Scaphism was Mike due to the similarities.

[Karson] – “Mike, what’s going on here? ”

[Mergiann] – “The enemy, he is here, do you know where he is? ”

[Scaphism] – “Um… not exactly sure, not exactly Mike but a close relative of his. ”

[Mergiann] – “Are you here to help? Who are you? ”

[Scaphism] – “Oh my, where are my manners? I’m Christopher Gilberto, Mike’s cousin and I’m pleased to announce that I’m here to help… ”

[Karson] – “Oh, that’s a damn relief, I mean- ”

[Scaphism] – “…To help exterminate some dirty traitor amongst Talon of course. ”

The smile on Karson’s face faded as he realized that they were standing right in front of the main threat.

[Karson] (Whispering) – “Mergiann, run. ”

[Mergiann] (whispering) – “No, I’m not gonna leave you here. ”

[Karson] (whispering) – “We can’t take him on, I’ll buy you some time so you can get Darlynn here to help us. ”

[Mergiann] (whispering) – “But what about you, you could… ”

Scaphism slowly advanced toward the two while his crystals glowed like lava on his arms.

[Karson] – “F.u.c.k sake’s, just go, I’ll be fine! ”

[Mergiann] – “Promise me… ”

[Karson] – “Yeah, anything, I promise! ”

Without any more hesitation, Mergiann ran down the hallway behind her while Karson stood ready to face the enemy.

[Scaphism] – “You’ve got some gut, it’s a shame they will soon be rotting with your dead body. ”

[Karson] – “Try me, you big talking wanker! ”

[Scaphism] – “Heh! ”

Karson jumped in and launched a punch toward his foe as Scaphism charged in to do the same.

Meanwhile, Mike exited from a reunion with the Talon high counsel, unaware of the events that were unfolding as he enjoyed a cigar.

To be continued… Next Chapter: [Blood Blossom and Tainted Execution]