My camera, my soul

My camera, my soul.

Fort. Sector 4.

About a mile away from the westward exit.

409 AF.

A massive bang was heard. Then another one. Then yet another one.

It was as if bombs were being detonated, one by one. Crash after crash after crash. The shockwaves from those collisions travelled far and wide.

Huge crashes could be heard from a distance. Anyone with ears in that area would know. However, Fergus didn't need ears. He had something far better. A camera.

"Check in, guys. Sector four. 13:00 hours. I'm still too far away from it, but the destruction is obvious. The explosion earlier was real. And it's not a mutant attack either. Or a dreadbeast. This is...a human enemy, folks! Or...rather an esper enemy?"

His sights were set on the two dots from a kilometre away who seemed to be duking it out. One was moving like a blur, while the other was mostly just standing still and smacking that one away. From the distance, it was difficult to see them, or follow their movement. He could just move closer- but that would be an unnecessary risk, since the views were already shooting past the roof. His tools were the cause of course. The gift from god he held in his hands.

Fergus held his camera as though it were as precious- no, even more precious- than his very life. Because it was. 100 gold coins worth, Flagship- made, 2ft long, smart video camera. F30VX4-his pride and joy.

Most journalists could only dream of having what he had, yet somehow some of them were still more successful than he was. But it didn't matter at this moment. This story could catapult him to being the foremost journalist in the Fort. And there was hardly any danger involved.

Fergus smiled for a moment, his eyes relaxed and blissful. Suddenly, his expression turned dire. His face was pale, and he looked as though he wanted to say something but his mouth just wasn't working normally, so it came out as grunts and indecipherable gibberish.

"....um. Uh. What the hell is that?" He managed to say, his eyes bloodshot.

Tara stood right in front of him, wounded in multiple places. The girl with the bloody face was inches away from his head, bending down so their faces were level. She was expressionless, and that was in and of itself a problem.

"What did you just say?" She looked so calm but the tone of her voice said otherwise.

"..erm.. umm..." Fergus was tongue tied again. The views were increasing at a crazy pace. He could see it on the screen from the corner of his eyes 15000 views. 18000 views...

'Who knew so many people would tune in to watch me in my final moments?'

A loud voice sounded like thunder. A man emerged from the disaster area, with tattered clothes and a righteous anger like no other. He also had a somewhat plump figure.

"Let him go!"

The man charged right at the little girl with the speed of a train. The camera could barely catch his movement as he crashed into her, sending Fergus flying and crashing into a piece of debris.

Tara got up from the ground, fresh blood spewing out of her head and chest. Her mouth curled again in a creepy grin.

"It seems like you get faster and even stronger when you're playing hero. That's new."

"Why aren't you dead yet, little girl?"

A vein bulged on her head as her expression turned dark.

"Why you!!" She flew at him for the umpteenth time. The girl practically vanished and reappeared right in front of the man with her legs slamming his throat. The resulting crash nearly made him go deaf. But he got a good look at his saviour's face for a brief moment.

A quick glance at his camera told him his views were sitting at 25000 already. More than half of the Fort's population was watching this.

And it was confirmed...

Tapping the microphone icon, he spoke out the words in his head.

"It's him! The missing head of the Sage's esper team has been found! And he's here fighting against an unnamed rogue esper! It's diamond!"

He laughed a bit, coughing out a warm liquid as he did so. It tasted like iron in his mouth, but he didn't give it much attention. More importantly, his career was at it's peak. He was doing a video coverage of a fast paced, blood pumping esper fight between the most powerful espers in the Fort since the first Terror attack. Even death won't stop him from covering this.

'Fuck you, Jasmine! Look at me now! I'm in the big leagues!'

Raising his camera once again, he clicked on the ultra mode button. The greatest camera in the Fort had what it took to follow a fight his eyes couldn't. Now he just had to hope his hands wouldn't fall off from all the turning he has to do to keep his camera on them.

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Meanwhile, in sector 3...

Mabel glanced at the skies with a worried look.

'That explosion...'

"You might want to see this, Miranda."

The lady coughed, giving the android a death glare.

"Don't call me that. It's Mabel."

"Well, Mabel. Take a look at this. Live footage from sector 4." Brenda held a 7-inch tablet in her hands and brought it down to Mabel's height so she could see it.

"What?!" She shook with disbelief written all over her face.

"You know, for an experienced impersonator like yourself, you show quite a lot of emotions."

Mabel coughed again. Then she shook her head slowly, steadying her breathing as well.

"You have quite the personality too, for an android."

"That's more like it. Now, I assume you know a lot more about this than I do?"

"Yeah. I don't get what's going on with Caitlyn. She should've worked her charms and kept Diamond at her place."

Brenda gave her a funny look.

"That is not the individual I was referring to. I am actually talking about your daughter. She's fighting for her life out there."

Mabel gave the robot a funny look of her own, before gradually switching to a smile.

"No. She's just having fun."

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