The wind was blowing at full speed and pushing the fog around, but now it seemed to part as the five had stopped walking. More of the street was revealed, the black asphalt standing out like a sore thumb against the white surroundings.

Black, gray, and....red.

What silenced them was not that of the sudden deadness in the communication, but as the quickly forming vortex pulled back the vapors it revealed a large splash of dried blood on the ground. The source staring off in frozen terror at the endless white that encapsulated them. 

A silent gasp erupted from the group as what lay before them was anima in all too familiar attire of camo, black, and yellow. A small yellow and white patch of a shield adorned his clothes with a simplified image of the planet in its center. The damage to the body just barely missing this recognizable symbol.

"A GPAT soldier." Eddie breathed.

The soldier's expression lay frozen in panic with his hands at his throat as if struggling to breath during the last moments of life. His body was cut up by what looked like a sword, how it sliced through a bulletproof vest was a mystery. His arms were missing chunks of fur and skin alike where the attackers just repeatedly slashed.

Layla heaved, the sight disturbing. Tears pricked at her eyes, the feline wanted to but for some reason couldn't look away.

'How did this happen?' she wondered.

"Who could've done this?" Eddie asked. "What kind of monster just cuts someone up like this?"

Nobody responded to the golden retriever, the high winds being the only thing making a noise. Further away were more soldiers, some in the same state, while others had less, however large gashes in their throat showed why that was.

Marcus ended up being the one to part from the group to examine the fallen soldiers more closely, kneeling down right beside the nearest one. His demeanor was calm and collected, it almost seemed like he was unaffected by such a gruesome sight. However right before he spoke he took a deep trembling breath.

"...on top of that, they also took their weapons, it seems." his voice showing what his behavior did not.

He looked over at the other bodies and confirmed what he said was true. It wasn't just one that had been robbed of their weapons and ammo. The fox's ears flattened.

"Why would they go this far?" he mumbled to himself.

"So they not only killed them but stole from them as well?" Adam demanded.

"Quiet, they could still be out here." Jared said.

Adam shut his beak but it was obvious he still had more to say. Nearby Eddie's ears stood up after a moment, he braced himself.

"What is it Eddie?" Layla asked.

Nothing had changed, not even the swirling fog that surrounded them had shifted. Layla trained her ears to try to catch any new movement or sounds but found herself coming up short. "Someone's coming." he answered eventually.

"What?" Marcus asked, getting up.

"Their scent is uneven, but it is on the wind...and, I can somewhat hear them." Eddie explained. "..as much as this fog will allow me."

"Are you serious?" Layla and Adam asked.

"Jared, the scanner." Layla said urgently.

The deer shook his head, coming back to reality as he was still shocked by the crime scene in front of them. "Shit...there is, there's two groups."

"What's going on out there fogbait?" Boris came through the communications.

"We're under attack!" Marcus and Jared said in unison.

As if that was the cue, the fog thinned enough for three figures to appear in the distance however they remained blurry. Adam instinctively waved his hand creating a faint aura that wrapped around it like a glove, while the others braced for an attack. The shadows around them warped slightly but the raven still found himself unable to do anything.

"Marcus get back here, we don't want to hit you." Layla shouted as the wind got louder.

He nodded and got up.

The fog broke as something flew by, Layla looked around in confusion but couldn't see anything. Instead she turned to Adam. "Where are the shields Adam?" she demanded.

"I...I can't." he said, panicked. "I...our shadows must be obstructed or something, nothing is working."

"What?" She began to feel panic now herself.

With no time to say anything else the fog broke as more invisible projectiles flew at them. The brown feline yelped as her arm got cut. 

"Ngh." Jared could be heard from beside her.

Like Layla he had also been hit by the mystery attack, he held his shoulder for a moment but kept himself forward. Layla lifted her gun to retaliate but another onslaught of the invisible attack was already upon them.  Marcus saw as they avoided being sliced up and quickly rejoined the group, managing to avoid getting hit somehow.

"We have to retrea-'' Marcus began, but was interrupted as a stinging pain shot up his shoulder as something cut into him.

"Layla!" Eddie shouted. "Watch out."

Marcus turned toward her confused, but then saw. Where the fog was breaking from the attacks began to concentrate and it was directly in front of Layla. He moved to jump but it was too late, Eddie had already done so.

He got between Layla and the invisible projectiles, he held up his gun and shot at the figures. However in that same second one after another he was hit and cut. His mask shattered, the tubes were broken, his vest was shredded, all in a matter of seconds. Nobody had time to react as blood immediately sprayed from the wounds.

Eddie fell almost as soon as he’d leaped into action. With destroyed armor and gear, his gun fell from his now cut up hands and hit the ground seconds before he too fell. The golden retriever fell first to his knees before finally collapsing face first in a puddle of blood.

Layla stood in shock, dots of red on the glass of her mask. "E...Eddie?" 

"Hurry Layla." Adam grabbed her by her arm. 

Adam appeared to have also been hit by strays from the attack however the vast concentration of it had been aimed for Layla. She looked from the raven and over at Marcus who was unscathed, Jared was as well, perhaps far enough away from the attack?

'Are they picking us off one by one?' Layla wondered in a daze.

She watched as Jared tried to pull forward as he had the tracker to help guide him and the others out of the situation. He appeared stressed as the scanner didn't exactly give them a clear path to the exit or a way to tell EXACTLY how close the attackers were. Jared huffed, trying not to let it get to himself as he kept the lead.

Meanwhile Marcus looked...Disappointed?

The stress of the situation and shock of Eddie's sudden demise was affecting everyone, but him. Layla's face scrunched up in confusion.

'Why is he disappointed?' she wondered.

"Separate them.." an unfamiliar voice said, muffled.

Adam guided her as more invisible attacks were shooting toward them, it was then that she found herself coming back to the moment. The voice...the attack. Her expression hardened as she yanked her arm away from her teammate.

"Like I'll let you." Layla growled.

"Wait..Layla!" Adam shouted.

However it was too late as Layla had already spun around and was running back the way they had come. She lifted her gun, aimed where she recalled seeing the figures, "I got this," she answered before pulling the trigger.

The bullets shot through the mist with no way of telling if they landed anywhere, but thankfully the enemy's assault had stopped. Layla smiled triumphantly, thinking there was a good chance she at the very least slowed them down. She turned around to return to her teammates, but couldn't see them behind her.

'Did they really run that far ahead?' she wondered.

It was quiet with nothing but the same white haze that they had entered beforehand, even the road beneath her feet was difficult to make out. With cautionary steps the brown cat began moving, her weapon at the ready. Her ears flicked and waved as she tried to listen for friend or foe amongst the dense fog.

"Jared?" Layla called. "Adam? Marcus?"

No response.

She turned and continued looking for them. "Guys?! Where are you?"

Once more...nothing.

"Shit...this isn't good." Layla hissed.

"...ayla....don't....dangerous...." The staticy buzz appeared out of nowhere in her ear followed by Boris's garbled voice.

"Boris? Boris I can't hear you, hello?" Layla responded, tapping the earpiece.

"Others....alone?....How?" he replied, words still  skipping.

"For Antare’s sake Boris, half your words are missing!" Layla snapped. "I have to find the others before they get hurt."

"No...leave...NOW!" Boris responded in a panic.

His panicked response was followed by a high pitched shriek as the tech malfunctioned further. Layla winced at the noise and ripped the earpiece out, she dropped it on the ground and with one hard crunch of her boot, crushed it. "Dammitt, that hurt my ear." she growled.

"I'll be fine alone." she stated, unsure of it but refusing to stop.

Layla began walking again, whether it was to an exit or to the enemy it was uncertain. However she knew she couldn't stop moving and be a sitting duck.

It was once again quiet with just the sound of her breathing and her footsteps to keep her company as Layla waded through the thick blanket of white. However this time around the black of the asphalt road abruptly turns to grass and even her footsteps were no longer audible. She pursed her lips at the grass, confused as even in this fog they were the same bright green as the grass outside that grew with no obstructions.

"Or is it blocking the sun?" Layla wondered out loud. "...if not, then why couldn't Adam control the shadows?"

This whole thing was odd, not only the fog wall appearing out of nowhere in a season not known for fog, but it seemed to affect technology as well. The fog not obscuring the sun just added another layer of freakiness to an already confusing situation.

It separated Layla and her whole team with such ease even when they were just a few steps away from each other. She bit her lip, growing more and more uneasy as she reviewed everything that has happened up to this point. Keeping her only teammate with power from using it was worrisome enough but everything else is making this feel like a bad movie.

'Does  it affect other powers as well?' she wondered. 'Maybe someone can get through this thing...hopefully.'

Out of nowhere the fabric on her shoulder suddenly torn followed by a stinging pain, the brown feline hissed, being brought out of her thoughts by force. She lifted her gun immediately and looked around for breaks in the mist.

"Reveal yourselves you cowards!" she shouted, seeing the fog was disturbed in front of her.

Much like before the fog began to shift around her turning into what looked like the inside of a tornado. Layla backed away in fear, her ears perked as she tried to listen for the attackers. Thanks to the moving winds though she couldn't hear anything and barely managed to dodge a sudden onslaught of invisible blades.

She winced as she barely avoided them, getting cut along her arms. Her mask thankfully shielded her face and took the brunt of it. 'I have to be careful, who knows how much the plastic can take of this.' Layla thought.

Layla stopped to catch her breath, the constant movement beginning to wear on her. It was then that more blades whizzed by her ear and she realized. "That's not going against the wind like a bullet...it sounds like it is part of it." 

Quickly she ducked forward and took aim, firing into the endless white mass in the direction the mystery attacks were coming from. Whoever they were and whatever this was, they somehow found a way to weaponize air. Layla's expression hardened as she lowered her weapon, the attacks had stopped but she knew not to get comfortable. Looking around, she saw as the area around her expanded as the whirling wind got faster.

Just her luck, even when she was no longer on a flat road, the meadow too did not have anything of use to take cover behind. No rock, fence, hay bale, or anything.

"Mask." a voice spoke however, sounding distant.

"Shit." Layla cursed. "They caught on."

She got up from where she crouched and ran. 'They know why I'm not choking like Eddie.'

Her movements began to slow as the wind fought back to keep her in the whirlpool, Layla grit her teeth in frustration. Avoiding death was the main priority right now so she can alert everyone to the weaponized air.

However after a moment Layla paused as she realized. 'If I could hear them...that means they're close enough to fight! I can stop this before they kill anybody else!'

Layla grinned triumphantly even as the invisible blades of air broke the moving wall of fog and flew straight at her. She dodged the attack and with a newfound determination turned toward the source and charged forward. The brown feline weaved from side to side to avoid the worst of the attack, but found her arms and even legs getting sliced bit by bit.

"Not smart..but better than firing blindly." she huffed as her mask got chipped more by blades and she felt as the gashes on her arms and legs got bigger.

Soon she was able to make out silhouettes in the distance, figures the color of limestone standing not too far away. Four stood tall with sharp ears that came to dark points, their faces however were hard to make out as hoods covered them. 

"Found you." Layla whispered, lifting her gun once more.

However just as they were in her line of sight Layla was in theirs as well, so when she managed to shoot and actually hit one of the hooded figures they were able to hit her.

First hit made an audible yelp and broke their formation as the figure fell backwards, the ones on either side of them soon getting shot as well. The faint site of red in the fog told Layla of this, but it seemed like these others were more determined to stay on their feet. Layla's shooting slowed as she began to run low on ammo and prepared to move out of their line of sight to reload when something cold hit her leg.

It was a second before it became apparent it was their air blades as the sharp pain from the cut shot up her leg. "AGH!" Layla cried.

She tried to move but they were faster than her as blade after blade hit her legs, this caused her to drop to her knees. Warm blood flowed from the injuries, staining the ground. However Layla tried to ignore it and tried to get up, only to be kept down.

"Get rid..of her." the words being interrupted by a cough. "...filth."