Cherreads

Chapter 22 - Episode 21

[OPENING SCENE – SKYVAULT CITY – DAYLIGHT SHIMMERING]

The city breathes — floating highways curve between skyscrapers. Neon signs dance between translucent sky-bridges. Civilian drones pass overhead while civilians crowd at a floating mall plaza. Music plays softly in the background.

Children wear mock Vanguard cloaks, pointing at digital statues of Kael and Yuna.

Child:

"I'm Oathfire! Pew pew!"

Parent (smiling):

"Yuna would've healed your brain if she heard that."

Suddenly, gunfire cracks across the plaza. A firework display explodes — but it's not scheduled. Out of the vapor clouds, Savage Bratz burst forward on Rift-bikes and grappling jets. Dozens of them. Armed, laughing, throwing explosives into food stalls.

Civilians scream.

[SCENE – VAN HQ – STRATEGIC RESPONSE ROOM]

Echo-7 picks up alarms across multiple city quadrants. Smoke curls from Sector 2, 5, and 6 simultaneously. Each Bratz squad seems to be moving with unusual coordination.

Echo-7:

"This isn't random. This is patterned—almost... mapped."

Kael (rising):

"They're herding the civilians. But why?"

Tari:

"They're not taking anything. Not robbing. Just—disrupting."

Irion (mutters):

"Smoke screens. It's bait."

Yuna:

"Then we're walking straight into a trap."

Kael:

"We answer anyway. Suit up."

Veya (leaning against the wall, twirling her blade):

"Good. I was getting bored."

She loads her dual pistols with a smile.

Veya:

"Let's give 'em a show."

[EXT. SKYVAULT – CITYSCAPE BATTLE – MULTIPLE LOCATIONS]

—Jax intercepts a rooftop squad, delivering thunderous concussive blasts that collapse enemy lines.

—Tari snipes Bratz vehicles mid-flight, taking down enemy transports before they can firebomb a daycare tower.

—Irion maneuvers through alleyways, disabling Rift-bombs planted under transit hubs.

—Kael and Yuna charge through the main plaza, pushing enemies back and sealing the evacuation gates.

—Veya flips through a barrage of gunfire, landing gracefully behind a Savage Brat brute and delivering a stun round to the back of his helmet.

Veya (grinning):

"Sorry boys. Party's over."

She moves with precision, weaving through the chaos, guiding trapped civilians to safety while gunning down Bratz with perfect aim.

Jax (through comms):

"There's no leader in sight. Just chaos puppets."

Kael:

"They're waiting for something. Or someone."

[SCENE SHIFT – UNDERGROUND – SAVAGE BRATZ SUB-COMMAND BASE]

Inside an abandoned rail system, a Bratz lieutenant watches the Vanguard scramble through surveillance feeds. Behind him, deep in a Rift-infused pod, floats a humanoid figure — unnaturally still. Clad in bone-white armor, its face featureless.

Lieutenant:

"The Vanguard are reacting. We've pulled four out. Now. Wake it."

A scientist reluctantly turns a dial. Rift-liquid drains from the pod.

Lieutenant (chanting):

"Let the Nullborn walk."

[NULLBORN – EXPLAINED]

A synthetic organism born from Rift-reject DNA, Nullborn was forged in experimental voidlight — an attempt to craft a being immune to moral conflict, memories, and emotion. No past. No pain. Just function.

It cannot be reasoned with, and it is programmed to target only those with emotional resonance — the Vanguards' greatest weapon becomes its lock-on system.

Nullborn's Purpose:

A prototype weapon discarded by Mother Null years ago — hidden underground. Now reawakened to test SkyVault's champions before the true "Mother" arrives.

[SCENE – BACK TO PLAZA – NULLBORN ENTERS]

Smoke coils unnaturally around the main fountain square. Yuna stops. Her vines retract suddenly.

Yuna:

"Something's wrong. I can't feel... anything. Not even panic."

A tall, ivory figure walks from the haze. Skin gleaming, chest pulsing dimly. No face. No eyes. Just a slit where a mouth should be.

Kael draws his sword. Echo-7 glitches.

Kael:

"Name? File? Identity?!"

Echo-7:

"Null signature... Unknown. Code blackout. It's erasing my sensors—!"

Nullborn moves impossibly fast — it grabs Jax mid-charge and slams him into a building. The impact cracks the walls.

Jax (groaning):

"The hell is this freak?!"

Tari fires a starlight round. It curves mid-air — then disintegrates.

Tari:

"What?! It warped the sigil."

Yuna:

"It has no aura. No mind. It's a blank."

Veya (rushing forward):

"I've got it—"

She fires twin shots aimed at the figure's joints. Nullborn catches both bullets mid-air and crushes them without looking.

Veya (eyes narrowing):

"Okay. That's new."

[FULL BATTLE – VANGUARDS VS NULLBORN]

Kael swings with Ignition Protocol. The fire hits Nullborn's chest — and fizzles. No burn. Just silence.

Nullborn counters with a backhanded pulse of Rift-static, throwing Kael across the plaza.

Irion phases through Nullborn, trying to strike from behind — but inside the phased state, he sees an endless void. No thought. No echo. It stuns him.

Irion:

"There's… nothing inside."

Echo-7 tries to override it with digital projections — but Nullborn corrupts them, mimicking Echo-7's voice with eerie precision.

Nullborn (glitching):

"Emotion. Noise. Flawed pattern."

Yuna shields Jax, vines snapping violently to protect him. Tari fires two more sigil marks — all unravel.

Veya joins Kael at his side, covering his retreat with suppressive shots that distort the air around Nullborn.

Kael (bleeding):

"It's not fighting us. It's measuring us."

[NULLBORN'S ESCAPE – THE MYSTERY DEEPENS]

Nullborn suddenly halts. The Rift on its chest pulses bright white — then dims. It stops. Turns. And walks away, vanishing into thin mist.

Jax stands, coughing.

Jax:

"It left? After mopping the floor with us?"

Kael:

"It wasn't ordered to kill us. Just test us."

Yuna (softly):

"Whose test...?"

Veya (lowering her pistols):

"And why do I feel like it just passed?"

[TEASER – MOTHER NULL – FINAL SCENE]

Somewhere, far beneath SkyVault, a Rift chamber stirs. A throne built from fused bones and steel sits alone. A pale hand taps its armrest. A voice — calm, musical, terrifyingly kind — echoes.

Mother Null (off-screen):

"The data is beautiful. They fear absence. Let them learn what absence truly is."

A metal eye opens in the darkness.

TO BE CONTINUED…

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