Breach

Location: 

G.E.A.R. (General Enhancements and Advanced Research) in Reach City.

Date: 

Present Day.

Jordan Davies, the only hyena beastial at GEAR, typed the commands into the computer console and twitched his ears as he made some adjustments. He was all alone in the quiet laboratory, which was usually brimming with activity.  

“That should do it,” Jordan said to himself running claws through his fur, he was exhausted. “One less project to worry about,” he murmured to himself. “I swear I have a hand in every single thing in the whole damn building.”

Jordan adjusted his labcoat and looked at the information displayed on the large plasma screen monitor. 

“It works!” 

The digital display showed a map of the Earth. Soon, colonies of little green spots began appearing across the world with additional data being displayed on the side. The hyena tapped a clawed finger to his muzzle as he picked up his coffee mug, he promptly set it back down as he regarded the map.

“Hmm...” 

“Hey Jordan!” A voice called out from the dark side of the room, startling him. 

“Gahhh!? What?” 

It took a second but the hyena recognized the voice before he even regarded the speaker. The newcomer wore a flightsuit with the name ‘Sphinx’ stenciled above a pocket. He had a wide grin on his humanish face as he regarded Jordan, his cat-like ears twitched; they were the same dirty blonde color as his hair and tail. 

“Damnit Henry, don’t go sneaking up on me like that!” Jordan said, turning back around in his rather low-tech office chair.

Henry smirked. “I didn’t sneak up on you, you just didn’t notice me.” 

Jordan huffed at the feline hybrid. “Thought you’d be too busy in a simulator or centrifuge to come and bug me.” 

“Nah, things have been quiet lately for this test pilot,” he jabbed a thumb at his chest. “So I thought I’d see what my old friend has been up to.”

Henry drew closer and the Hyena clasped arms with him. “Well, I’ve been working on an experiment.” 

Henry nodded. “Mhmm, mhmm, fascinating, fascinating... going to tell me about it?” 

Jordan cocked his head. “Are you sure you’re interested?” he smirked. “Wouldn’t you rather be ‘riding’ your mistress?” 

Henry clenched his fists. “Jordan! Don’t you dare talk about Ginger like that!”

Jordan’s ears flattened. “What? No! I don’t mean her, I meant the Wraith! I’d never talk about Ginger like that! ...For one thing she’d kill me!”  

Henry’s posture relaxed and gave a playful backhanded slap to the hyena’s shoulder. 

“You be careful, now.”

The hyena explained further. “What I meant is, the amount of time you spend flying that jet it might as well be your mistress. Ginger’s not jealous of all the attention?” 

Henry laughed. “Thankfully not. She’s understanding and has a busy schedule herself, but when we get the time to meet… Man, we make the most of it.” 

Jordan waved it off. “Yeah, yeah, It’s strange. When we were all kids in the ‘CUBs,’ she was your nemesis - Now she’s your girlfriend.” 

Henry twitched his tail. “That’s the strange thing called life. Ah, the old days: you, me, Ginger, Renard, Tex...” 

The hyena chuckled. “Ha, remember our troop leader, that doe girl - Autumn?” 

Henry smirked, his tail twitching, “The one you had a crush on? Yeah.”

Jordan nudged his friend with his elbow, “You had a crush on her too!”  

The two took a moment to bask in the nostalgia before Jordan explained his experiment. 

“As you know we’ve had quite a few incidents relating to breaches into parallel universes and dimensions. Stuff coming here, stuff going elsewhere. Well I’ve been working on tracking, archiving and documenting these incidents. Using scientific satellites, residual energies left over from the breaches, and an algorithm. I think I can map out breach locations with accuracy.” 

Henry pulled a swivel chair over. “Let’s see what you got.” 

“As you can see breaches have been going on for some time. Look at all the cases in Europe dating back centuries.” 

“Fae incursions maybe,” Henry observed. “Or where some of our so-called ‘legendary races’ originated from.”

Jordan was beside himself showing off. “I can even verify incidents we have documented. Look here: several breaches in 1980’s Nebraska. That would be Autumn and Emile.” 

Jordan twitched his ears. “Quite a few breaches in the middle of Nevada. What’s there?” 

Henry smirked. “Don’t you see the satellite imagery? That’s Area 51: not surprising. Also seems to have stopped testing a few years after the cold war. Same with several of these other mainland US blips. I’d make you a bet we’d find similar blips in Russia and China. Probably even some dating back to the second world war if half of my Grandpa’s war reports are true.”

Jordan nodded. “Your grandfather didn’t embellish. There was no need to.” Jordan moved his finger to the island of Reach City. “Unsurprisingly, we have a ridiculously high level of blips here: I can even find your mom’s in the 1950’s.” 

Henry shook his head in wonder. “I’m seeing some in the Bermuda triangle area. A concentration just off the coast of Canada. Very odd.”

“Wonder what that’s about?”

“The vanishing island,” Henry said. “I read the case files.” 

“The one with the dinosaurs?” Jordan asked.

“No, not that vanishing island. The other vanishing island.” 

Jordan ran a finger along his muzzle. “Now this is odd.” 

Henry twitched his feline ears. “Do tell.” 

“Another unusually large concentration in North Carolina. One of them just yesterday.” 

Henry twitched his tail, “What’s going on in North Carolina? Where specifically?” 

Jordan checked a few sources, “Varunkirk university.” 

Both looked at each other, unsure of their next move but the feeling they had made a discovery lingered. 

“Renard has a nephew that goes there,” Jordan stated.

The hyena stood up and lifted a hatch on the far side of the console, turning a knob.

“What’s that, Jord?” 

“Surge at Varunkirk right now. We’ve got to find out what’s going on over there!” Jordan declared. “Think the old Tomcat will authorize an op?”

Henry flicked his tail. “We can certainly see. Last I checked on him, he was talking to that meerkat journalist.” 

Jordan opened his muzzle. “Amber’s back in town? She’s a trouble magnet.” 

Henry laughed. “They say the same thing about us Sphinx’s. She wasn’t alone, had a human mainlander with her. Dan or something.” 

“This day keeps getting more interesting,” Jordan said, making a note in his logbook, “but, at least I can count this as a successful experiment!” 

Location:

Varunkirk, NC

The raccoon in the labcoat made her way through the halls of the science building a copy of ‘Forbidden Math’ tucked under her arm. Strange things twitched in tubes. Glowing light emanated from the cracks in doors. 

She was making her way to the center of the lab building where machinery and glyphs of a profane language formed a violet glowing circle in front of her. 

There was a brief flash of light as a well dressed man in a labcoat appeared. He seemed ordinary, but there was something about the way he carried himself, along with his purple eyes that denoted he did not quite belong.

“Master,” the raccoon bowed.

“Rita. What happened last night?” His tone was calm and even. 

Rita’s tail twitched, “One of my students pushed the boundaries too far. The city lost power and we were teleported to it: A side effect, it seems.” 

The man nodded, crossing to the other side of the room and grabbing a decanter of wine. 

“I see,” he said, emotionless as usual. “While I commend your efforts, the timing could not be worse. We can not afford attention at this stage. Those on the other side are finally starting to take action.” 

Rita bowed. “I understand.” 

The professor handed her a glass. “No need to look glum. Soon we won’t have to hide. Orphea and I are almost ready. Two worlds shall merge.” 

Rita grinned a toothy grin. “I shall prepare, such an undertaking will have consequences… Are you certain you have accounted for all variables?” 

The professor chuckled. “I’m counting on them.” 

The two shared a laugh as the professor’s form shifted into something different. There was a dark violet glow around his edges as he slowly changed: Changed into something Rita had only seen in ancient drawings.