New Arkham at night. Anderson and Hammer had each been given teams to deal with threats in the city due to the increase of Cryptid activity. Not only were they each leading separate teams but for the first time in a while they didn't have Pitch there in case things got heavy since he had taken a trip to Washington DC. While Pitch was giving the president a stern talking to, Anderson and Hammer were on their own. Anderson had taken a case on the outskirts of the city, according to reports the Cryptid had been spotted by hunters and looked like a deer at first only to reveal it was in fact not.

  Mimic type Cryptids were rare outside of Doppelgangers, but not unheard of. These mimic types were sometimes called Skinwalkers even though the folklore monster by that name was closer to a Doppelganger who unfortunately craved flesh like a Wendigo. What exactly it was wasn't relevant however, the only thing that mattered is it be dealt with. Anderson had a job to do, and he was going to do it. And so, he took his team to the outskirts of the city.

  Meanwhile Hammer was in the city, near city hall, dealing with citizens protesting and debating both sides of the new identification laws that'll be going into effect that'll add new information that includes but is not limited to identifying if a citizen is a Cryptid or not as well as what kind. People are angry, scared, and ready to throw hands. Some debate whether the law is necessary, while others claim it opens Cryptid citizens to biases that they didn't have to deal with before the law passed. And since several of the people here were likely Cryptid citizens, Hammer and his team were on crowd control with the police.

  Tensions were high but there was still work to be done. Anderson’s team arrived on location and started looking for the not-deer in the woods. Strangely enough however, the team couldn't even find a normal deer. In fact, there wasn't much wildlife in the area they were scanning outside birds and insects and even the birds were scarce. Something was definitely off as it seemed animals were actively avoiding the area. To Anderson, this was a good thing. It meant the monster in question was close by and he would find it or be found by it soon.

  Anderson gave the order: “Form up, cover all angles, and stay sharp.” The team moved forward, guns aimed outward as they positioned themselves in a circle to make sure they couldn't be snuck up on with everyone scanning the forest for movement. Each head scanned side to side and even up in the trees just to be safe. They were being extra vigilant and keeping weapons ready for when the not-deer finally shows its face. Tensions here were just as high as they must have been for Hammer's team but for different reasons.

  Heartbeats raced as footsteps softly sounded through the forest. Fabric rubbed against fabric as the group moved forward slowly and scanned every inch of forest for movement. The forest was eerie, dead silent minus the light sounds of fabric friction, soft footsteps, and the light breeze. It was uncanny, uncomfortable, and definitely unnatural. It was almost a relief when the group suddenly stopped in response to a bush in the distance rustling from movement. All eyes were in the bush, waiting for something to come out. Time seemed to stretch as they waited, when what came out was a little badger.

  The little critter that happens to be the Wisconsin state animal waddled its way into the open and continued onward, not caring about the heavily armed and armored men just feet away from it. One of the soldiers joked as it waddled away. “Heh, must be a honey badger.” The group then returned to the scan, moving slowly and letting the badger continue on without issue. It was a little weird that the only creature brave enough to enter this area was a humble badger. Then again, it might have been less bravery and more apathy. Even if it wasn't physically a honey badger, it was definitely one in spirit.

  Then after a bit more walking, the group had to stop again as there was more rustling. Anderson rolled his eyes, the motion unseen inside his helmet. “I swear if it's that badger again, I'm going to lose my shit. I am too on edge for these false alarms and I'm about to crash out and throw hands.” Then they spot it in the distance. Just the hind legs poking out from some brush. Tan, white spots, little bushy tail with white on the underside. It was a deer, a whitetail, common in Wisconsin.

  Anderson froze, gun aimed at the animal, expecting it to be the target Cryptid. The animal backed up until it could all be seen. It looked, at least from this distance, to be an ordinary whitetail deer. That was, until it stood up its hind legs to expose its belly. A belly that opened up as if being unzipped. Ribs came out of the wound almost like teeth as what looked like entrails dangles out line a floppy tongue. Anderson made a face of disgust. “I'm what in the hell is that?”

  The bit dear let out a sound, as if responding to Anderson's question. It was a strange, unnatural sound that Anderson couldn't quite describe. It was like a distorted deer call mixed with the sounds of gurgling and other distorted noises. “yeah…. I'm not exactly going to be upset if we don't take this one in alive.” Everyone trained their weapons in the not-deer, ready to act. As soon as the thing so much as twitched, the entire team would open fire. Anderson wasn't sure why but looking at this creature made his skin crawl. It's not like he hadn't seen Cryptids look like twisted versions of animals before, but for some reason this monster specifically was setting off some instinctual response.

  Anderson's muscles tensed and he checked to see if the others felt it too, seeing they were all just as tense. It might not have been for the same reason, but Anderson took some comfort in the knowledge that he wasn't alone in his unease. The monster took a step forward, its leg muscles tensing and bulging as it readied to go into a sprint. As soon as it took that step, everyone fired their guns at it.

  The monster made a surprised yelp as several overcharged electric blasts rocked its body and practically cooked the thing alive. The thing hit the floor with a thud, the same of burnt flesh and fur wafted through the forest. “Well that was easy.” One said before taking several steps forward to jab the thing with his gun. “I think we might have overdone it though. That's one crispy critter.” Anderson couldn't let his guard down though, something was still off. His hairs still stood on end as if to tell him the danger wasn't over yet. “Private, distance, now.”

  The warning came too late as a slimy fleshy pink tendril snapped out like a whip and grabbed the soldier. The corpse lurched to the side and out of its open abdomen came a strange insect or bug-like creature. This thing looked like a combination between a trilobite, a spider, and a scorpion, with surprisingly thick chitin. The parasitic Cryptid was about twice the size of an average house cat, dwarfing even the Maine Coon. The thing pulled itself to the private at high speed, latching onto him and causing him to scream and flail before falling to the ground and rolling on the floor.

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  Anderson had to make a difficult choice. “Roast it, count that man as an acceptable loss.” There was little hesitation as overcharged shots were fired at both the man and parasite until both stopped moving. The tension finally eased and it was like Anderson and his team let out a breath they didn't know they were holding. The Cryptid was dead, all that was left was collecting the corpses for transport to the lab. The collection car was loaded with the deer, the man, and the parasite. Once loaded Anderson radioed in a quick report. “Target eliminated, one casualty, zero injuries.”

  Hammer radioed back. “Cool, now turn in the corpses and get your ass over here. People are one well made insult away from starting a full on riot. I'd rather not break out the tear gas and start using my taser on civilians.” Anderson chuckled and radioed back. “Yeah, I'm on it.” His team then started the drive to the NexGen laboratory to drop off the corpses. The drive was smooth, with little traffic at night outside the main roads and near city hall. The crew got to the lab and dropped off its samples without so much as a single incident or stop.

  Anderson then made his way to city hall to help Hammer. Anderson opened up with a teasing greeting. “What's the matter Hammer, can't handle a few unruly citizens?” Hammer filled his eyes. “You know, it's a lot more complicated when you can't just shoot the problem away.” Suddenly Hammer stood up straight and shook a little as a shiver went up his spine and his hair stood on end. “Anderson… Do you feel that?” Anderson made a confused expression under his helmet. “Feel what.” Then one of the other soldiers tapped Anderson on the shoulder before pointing up.

  Everyone looked up at the sky as what looked like rips started forming in the sky. “What is that?” Someone asked, as people started to panic. “The end of the world as we know it.” Anderson whispered before he started issuing orders. “Weapons free, if you don't got a gun, get the fuck out of here, if you do have a gun then aim for anything and everything that appears from the rifts.” Then suddenly the radios chirp alive, a familiar voice broadcasting on every radio Anderson felt a strange sense of safety at hearing the voice.

  “This is Black Eagle civilian consultant James Holden, broadcasting to all open channels. A.P.B. We have a mass incursion event. I repeat, all points bulletin, we have a mass incursion event. Order an immediate curfew for any and all non-combatants. This is not a drill, I repeat this is not a drill. The eyes of Phobos are upon us.” Then every radio and television station declared a state of emergency as air raid sirens blared, immediate curfew for anyone and everyone who was unarmed while all armed people were effectively deputized as militia. This event was likely world wide, but now wasn't the time to think about that.

  Cryptids started manifesting, some coming out of the rifts, any wild Cryptids already present started acting up. Although Anderson couldn't help but notice that the Cryptid civilians seemed to be completely fine. Not only that, they were even taking shots at the wild Cryptids coming at them. Hammer handed his pistol to a civilian as he held up his rifle. “If you have a spare gun, hand it to someone without.” The other Black Eagle soldiers started handing off sidearms to civilians as everyone from armed civilians to police to military joined together to fight off the threat.

  The previous problem seemed to melt away as these two groups of civilians who were ready to throw hands with one another were now joined together against a mutual threat. A threat that continued to escalate as yellow lightning started to strike the ground and more rifts started to open. Hammer felt an extremely high level of anxiety, his body still remembering the infestation he once suffered and the feeling of fear that permeated his body. This feeling now was even more intense. Even as the courses of wild Cryptids liked up the unease didn't settle down.

  In fact, it seemed to only escalate. Just like the situation. They were holding off the waves of monsters, they were winning even. So why was he still so nervous and anxious about everything? Then he looked up at the sky, at a large rift right where the moon should have been, where a section of clouds opened up to reveal a large eye with a yellow iris looking down at them. The eye of Phobos was literally looking at them. Red lightning started joining the yellow lightning as red ribbons of energy flowed about with the yellow and more Cryptids started to manifest.

  Another rift, opposite to the eye of Phobos, had the clouds part for a similarly large eye with a red iris. This was an entity similar to Phobos. As Phobos was the collection of fears, this was a collection of hatred. échthra. Two god-like entities from beyond our world and understanding were now eyeing our world and looking to drown it in their primal emotional energies. This was the worst case scenario that Pitch had talked about, and everyone was filled with a sense of unfathomable dread.

  There was nothing the Black Eagle could do against the two primal entities, so both Anderson and Hammer ordered them to focus on the wild Cryptids that were attacking people. Then the radio chirped again, this time it was a local broadcast. “This is General Jiryu Ishwada, Commanders of the Wisconsin division of Black Eagle. I am running a high priority package to DC. Requesting air support. I can't give orders outside my division let alone my branch, but if you want this nightmare to end, you'll volunteer your time and your lives to my mission. Godspeed everyone.” A civilian private jet that had been modified with weapons then launched from the local airport.

  As soon as it was airborne a team of fighters rushed in to provide cover fire against flying Cryptids and escort Ishwada to DC to deliver his package to Pitch. Whatever it was, had to be important if Ishwada himself was rushing to deliver it. Anderson and Hammer focused on their own area, keeping civilians safe and escorting anyone who was still unarmed to safety. Things looked bad, apocalyptic even, and despite the National Guard and military being deployed it still felt like all they were doing was maintaining a stalemate and fighting a war of attrition.

  Anderson and Hammer even went as far as handing out spare higher end weapons from the vehicles to Black Eagle soldiers and handing the basic rifles to some of the civilians just to have more weapons shooting at the Cryptids. S.W.A.T and riot police tossed suppression tech such as tear gas into enemy clusters that were far enough away from unmasked civilians to avoid collateral damage and friendly fire. These paired with flash bangs and smoke grenades were used to disorientate and slow down the enemies to buy more time for rounds to be fired.

  Any and all kinds of weapons were used, even improvised ones. Explosives, flamethrowers, someone even launched fireworks at the monsters. It was chaos as everyone fought desperately to push back the hoard of wild Cryptids. Hammer and Anderson both started silently wishing that Pitch was there, he'd definitely make quick work of the monsters in his true form. Then again, it was probably just as bad in DC. This wasn't a local event like they were used to, this was potentially global. All they could do was hold the line and wait for things to settle down.

  The chaos only seemed to escalate after the arrival of échthra who, like Phobos, was looking down on our world as their worlds leaned into ours. The rifts in the sky continued to grow, replacing the clear star filled night with stormy overcast filled with unnaturally colored lighting as ribbons of light and energy softly flowed around and spawned new Cryptids to join the incursion and the aggravated local Cryptids. Hammer, feeling the strange sensation due to his past trauma, wondered why the Doppelgangers and other Cryptid civilians weren't driven wild or mad by the entities.

  One could muse about how much more human these Cryptids were, or about the amount of hybrid or anomalous DNA one had in them. One could muse about free will, or nature versus nurture, or even Cryptid evolution resulting in these Cryptids not registering as the same as the more wild ones being spawned and controlled by these primal entities. Now, however, wasn't the time to muse. Now was the time to fight for survival. Such musings could wait till after the crisis was over. Hammer was pulled from his inner thoughts when the sky started to change again.

  Tendrils started to firm in the clouds, the two primal entities in the sky were taking shape, becoming more solid and capable of personal action. The storms seemed to rage harder, the ribbons flowed more freely and the number of them increased. The Cryptids were spawning faster, and things were once again escalating. Hammer found himself praying for a miracle. He knew in his heart others were doing it too. Anderson gave Hammer a knowing nod. “I'm putting my faith in Pitch, I know he'll find a way to end this.” Hammer couldn't help but smile. “Me too buddy, me too.” Other Black Eagle soldiers nodded in agreement, they all had faith in Pitch.