"The external appearance of those energy-directed weapons can conceal their actual durability," Rattus said in reply to Aderyn's suggestion about trying to destroy the weapons. "Bear in mind that these types of instruments might demand highly precise specifications and industrial-strength materials to properly function."<br/><br/>"Not to mention, if these hazmat guards really are dead husks but are able to shoot down crows from such a distance accurately, then we might be dealing with something more than simply zombies here," Beth added.<br/><br/>"Rattus-san, I feel like we have not seen a lot of the Facility yet," Yukina told him, concerned. "Should we do it again, to see if we can still find more things about the place?"<br/><br/>"Please do so," He replied affirmatively. "On this attempt, we need to cover more ground for observation, which means a change in the flight path of the unmanned aerial vehicle. And we need a live feed on it. Immediately."<br/><br/>Yukina nodded. Upon his request, she made a few adjustments in the controls on remote controls on the drone, then the broadcast suddenly changed to a live feed. The whole of the Temple and the others watched carefully.<br/><br/>Raven was the first one to notice something on the feed, pointing out and saying "There's a body laying on the side of that building there. It might be dead or alive, I can't tell as I am being hindered by the limited capabilities of this machine. But it is an unmolested body. By its shape, it is a man."<br/><br/>"Switch to thermal imaging," Rattus commanded. "It will indicate about the status of that unidentified figure."<br/><br/>"Yes~" Yukina complied, making a few more adjustments. And when the thermal imaging came up, they saw in the heat maps of the body that it was still relatively warm. "The man..." Yukina realized. "It says here that he is still very much alive!"<br/><br/>"M'kay, so we hav' a man down up in t'is mo'fuckah huh?" Neo commented. "An' of y'all hab a fuckin' idea who's that nigga' dere?"<br/><br/>"It might be Bobby," Luke, the man with the crow familiars, replied. "He looks like him very much. But only Heather can really tell, and she's with Senator Madison right now, to talk with the Department of Energy."<br/><br/>"An' look at dis shit," Neo was pointing at the shambling figures of the live feed. "Dem bodies, mahn. T'ey cold. Goddamn zombies, yo'. All o' 'em."<br/><br/>"Wait, they're talking with the Department of Energy?" Beth asked Luke.<br/><br/>"They want to get support, maybe more from the Feds. It will take some time, though," He replied.<br/><br/>"Dun tell me we gon' sit dis one out!" Neo reacted. "Dem fuckin' Feds dunno shit 'bout w'at we gon' facin'!"<br/><br/>"I assure that we will take independent action against on this case, even with the coordination with the US Federal Government," Rattus said. "Neo is right, they might be ill-informed and ill-equipped to tackle this kind of hostile force."<br/><br/>Clarence quipped, "And I'm pretty sure this will be done by the time the Feds will get there. They'll just be cleaning the mess."<br/><br/>Raven, who kept her focus on the drone's live feed the whole time, pointed out another thing. "There's an creature approaching there. It seems to be a horseman, but without its head. Watch him carefully, he's attempting to storm into the Plant."<br/><br/>"Oh, there he is, indeed!" Yukina exclaimed. "It did not show any heat signatures. I will be switching to night-vision!"<br/><br/>When Yukina made the adjustment, they saw the headless horseman more clearly. It approached slowly at first at the Old Facility, and suddenly it galloped and crashed through the gates. When it got into the interior grounds of the Plant, it tried to attack one of the hazmat guards with a sweeping slash, using the sabre it was carrying. It managed to take down one but on its next attempt, one of the hazmat guards was able to fire a blue laser beam towards it. It didn't do any harm to the horseman, but  it managed to freeze it, as if it was in a state of suspended animation. The other guards followed suit, trying to subdue the horseman more securely.<br/><br/>Another one of the hazmat guards came out from the buildings of the Plant. Instead of the brace-like laser weapons that the others carried, it had bulker device that resembled a four-pronged blunt spear, attached to a pole with mechanical workings that emanated blue low lights. This spear-like implement was connected to a metallic backpack or box via cable that was carried by the guard. Despite the shambling gait of the hazmat figure, it managed to walk at decent speed and was able to reliably carry its device without the possibility of falling over. It approached the frozen headless horseman and, as soon as it poked the prongs of its spear into it, it slowly got sucked into the implement until it disappeared completely.<br/><br/>Everyone who saw the live feed had various reactions of what happened, but they all knew that they were facing something different. The mages of the Temple were left asking more questions, and the three colleagues were no exceptions.<br/><br/>"Onii-chan," Yukina called out Rattus. "...What do we do now?"<br/><br/>"It still doesn't answer how Mister Brett, if he was indeed the body we found, managed to avert the same fate," He answered.<br/><br/>"Yeah, it's a damn headless horseman, a fuckin' ghost, ya' retarded Jap," Neo added. "Mebbeh dat's what t'ey do to ghosts, spirits, suck 'em up into dat metal box o' sumfin'. It ain't got no physical body."<br/><br/>"Neo's right," Beth acknowledged. "After all, we still haven't found the bodies of anyone in the missing persons list yet. Maybe they're doing something else to them. It's quite possible that the hazmats are those the same people."<br/><br/>"It ain't makin' sense eitha'. How com' can t'ey shoot shit lik' wha' happened ta' Luke's crow?" Neo asked her.