Beacon...
The dark clouds above the school and fairgrounds provided an ominous background to the hellish landscape that was now Warzone Beacon. The ruined dormitory building out of which Yang had just emerged was surrounded by combat. With her gauntlets extended, the girl fought Grimm wave after Grimm wave. She grunted as each shot she fired wore her down more... Right now, all that mattered was finding Blake, Weiss and Ruby and getting a coherent defense together... As she dropped a final Grimm, she took a moment to catch her breath.
She took stock. Three more belts of HE projectiles, five more of concussion/flak shells. It'd take her through at least several dozen more Grimm. Panting, the girl gazed around at the destroyed skyline of Beacon. The Tower that housed the Headmaster's office in the far back send a chill up her spine, its emerald light having died with the first strike... Her lip and hands trembled as she saw her surroundings, all the debris and destroyed buildings... Goodness gracious...
Breathing in, then exhaling, the girl straightened up and started her run through the ruined courtyard. She'd have to get to Ruby. To find her and help her. Maybe Amity... She ground to a halt as she saw them ahead... A squad of Atlesian mechs, their eyes red, some White Fang troops... And Grimm comin' in from behind... She swore to herself behind her breath, but as she heard a droning noise... Her jaw dropped...
Ahead of her, a dozen explosions kicked up dust. A line of hellfire struck the ground ahead. The Droids, Fangers and fucking Grimm were vaporized... And then the sound came. A deep, thrumming roar of a cannon that sent shivers up the young Xiao-Long's spine. As the smoke and debris cleared, she saw nothing... Physically nothing remained of the targets struck by the fire... The droning noise also intensified into a roar, allowing Yang to look up at a silver-hulled, fixed-wing aircraft flying in low. Two missiles detached from its undercarriage, massive weapons, going off to a target Yang couldn't paint in her head...
She stared overhead as she saw more vehicles with rotating blades propelling them forward, clad in black and with door guns that thundered, sending scarlet tracers down range. One of said vehicles stopped above, hovered and dropped ropes in front of the stunned Huntress... Soldiers swung out from the vehicle and fast-roped down. Clad in the strangest military gear Yang had ever seen, dark-blue, digital camouflage, heavy combat vests, black rifles and full-face gas masks with black-tinted visors, linked with their helmets.
One of the soldiers appeared out of the group and ran toward Yang, rifle lowered, then gave her a once-over and asked with slight worry in his voice, but also the professional demeanor you'd find in a soldier "You okay there? That was Danger Close." And he smiled behind his mask as he saw the shocked girl nod... She looked on overhead as the bird waved off and more came in, bigger in the hold, some with two propellers...
"I'm... Okay..." Yang said, looking at him now... She shook her head, clearing her mind, then asked aloud "Who the hell are you people?" almost as if out of breath. That question, among several hundred others, stood on the tip of her tongue, but right now, all that mattered to her was her teammates. The Soldier ahead of her nodded, moving his hand up to his face and unlatching the gas mask and helmet, then taking them off to reveal a handsome, pale young man with green eyes and black hair, who grinned.
"Us, darlin'? We're the Cavalry." He answered smartly.
"Lieutenant! Command's on the horn!" One of the soldiers said, appearing beside the man with a handheld phone. The Lieutenant changed his look to a stern one, taking the phone and listening in. Yang turned about as she saw more of these squadrons of soldiers rappel in from the other birds. Following said birds in were small, nimble scouts and bigger, more heavily armed and armored ones carrying actual guns and rockets.
"... Roger, command. Proceeding to Checkpoint Lima. We're Oscar Mike. Platoon 3-Charile, out." The soldier ahead of her said, before handing the comm device over and looking to Yang. She caught his gaze and blushed, swallowing as the soldier nodded to her, then asked "Hey, darlin'. Mind leading us? WE don't know the grounds of this place all that well and were hoping YOU could back us up here."
Yang nodded, then gasped as she remembered... Ruby and the girls! "Right, c'mon! We have to go!" before she started dashing forward. The Soldiers nodded to each other and all followed, mobile into combat as the other Platoons scattered to gather other survivors, wounded and such. Yang gazed about at the advancing troops as they scattered, but kept formations. Above, still more aircraft, fixed-wing and propeller-driven, flew in. Several missiles raked the skies and Yang saw Grimm Nevermores die in droves...
God, she hoped the girls were fine...
Fairgrounds.
... Blake couldn't believe her eyes, or two pairs of ears for that matter. She looked above as a dozen dozen aircraft flew in, all bearing an incredible amount of weapons. The Grimm in their location found themselves gunned down by the attacking aircraft with autocannons and weapons the likes of which she thought she'd see only in the Atlesian Military...
She and Weiss gasped as they saw them... Massive armored vehicles, with even bigger heavy cannons, advancing ahead. Their treads ground up rocks and debris underneath as they advanced at breakneck speed, more than natural for vehicles of their seeming weight and size. A cannon let out a raucous thunder and a round blazed into a Grimm Goliath's front plate... The elephant-like creature tumbled backward from the massive impact that broke bone plate and exploded inside, then started to vanish. Three armored vehicles, with sloped turret armor, top-mounted machine guns and cannons big enough to fit a human head in, moved into the Fairgrounds.
Infantry followed quickly in pursuit, with Light Armored Vehicles and IFVs trailing. Autocannons, smaller in caliber than the tanks' thundered from the IFVs and Grimm were torn to shreds. White Fang troops that tried to engage died horrible, bloody deaths as the Infantry spotted and snapped off shots with incredible accuracy. Other Huntsmen and Huntresses within the Fairgrounds found themselves greeted by friendly infantry and vehicles the likes of which none had seen before...
Blake turned to Weiss and asked, part joyful, part shocked "Are these guys Atlas?"
"No..." Weiss answered, shocked as she saw the troops move in. Two soldiers, clad in dark-blue battle dress and with gas masks, moved up to them. They gave them once-overs, before pushing around them. Weiss and Blake stared at them as the unit moved forward, followed by sixteen more soldiers bearing similar uniforms and insignia, but different... Colored emblems on their shoulders? Red White and Blue, Red Yellow and Blue, Emerald and Red, Stars and Stripes...
"What the hell is going on, anyways?" Blake asked... She saw the tanned girl known as Arslan approach, with her team.
"It seems allies have come to aid us... I'm amazed." Arslan denoted, calm.
Weiss nodded, staring at the advancing troops with an awe she never thought she'd feel... Some soldiers, with the scarlet crosses on their shoulders, moved out of the place with stretchers, carrying Atlas troopers and Civilians. The dismounted infantry gathered civilians, Huntsmen and Huntresses up and formed a perimeter. Blake and Weiss looked to each-other, nodded, then walked forward to meet some of the soldiers, stowing their weapons on their backs. One of the Riflemen stood up to welcome them, taking off her helmet and mask to reveal a young beauty of a woman with platinum-blonde hair and scarlet eyes.
"You must be the locals known as the huntsmen." The woman observed, her thick accent akin to that of an Atlesian High Society member's. "I am Lieutenant Monika Weiss, second Battalion, Fallschirmjager. We are the Cavalry." She then finished, racking the bolt of her strange rifle. She looked to her squad and urged them forward, before showing the two girls to follow. As they walked deeper into the fairgrounds, the sounds of combat intensified. Machine guns, auto-cannons, infantry weapons and about everything else in this strange Army's arsenal echoed around them. Monika started explaining "We're here to aid with the situation in Vale. We saw the city light afire the moment shit hit the proverbial fan. Scout aircraft above saw the convergence of these black creatures heading for the city, falling back for the big guns to come in."
"... Who are you people?" Blake asked, raising a brow.
Monika looked to her and, with the calmest grin, answered "We're NATO. The Cavalry, Fraulein."
"Nato?" Weiss asked "Never heard of your people..."
"We'd have been worried if you did. We aren't from Remnant, after all." The Lieutenant noted, before raising her hand and clenching her fist. All fire in the vicinity ceased and the sound of rotors came from overhead. Massive, armored VTOL craft with silver hulls moved in, their miniguns and machine guns firing as they descended. The whale-like vehicles, which Weiss had just now heard from a soldier were called 'Pave Lows', landed. Six more squads of infantry poured out, all wearing the same uniforms as the Lieutenant and her team.
"Wait, what?!" Blake snapped, stopping in her tracks.
"Yep. We're not from your homeworld, girls. As for how we know of Vale:Radiowave interception caught the name of the city, so don't worry, we ain't some omniscient beings" The soldier said, slinging her helmet and mask back on the top of her head and racking the bolt of her rifle. "Get on the Pave Lows. We'll get everyone else out of here and move in, as per order, to secure the rest of the Fairgrounds." and Weiss looked to the girl with worry. She looked up at Amity and at the Atlas aircraft overhead, overwhelmed by Grimm, receiving reinforcements from these Nato troops' aircraft.
"Don't worry. We'll have your city secured." Monika noted, her voice now modified by her mask "Get on the birds and go!"
Blake and Weiss wanted to protest, but froze as they saw Monika swivel about, raising her rifle and, with the rest of her unit, gunning down a squad of White Fang goons just as they appeared from behind a tent. They always said 'don't question the ones with the bigger guns'. Worried, the girls walked toward the Pave Low helicopters, huddling together with other Civilians and Huntsmen and watching the birds overhead move out. Sitting down on the floor, they saw Medical Crew appearing to check on them and other civilians from the cockpit.
"You think Yang and Ruby are okay?" Weiss asked with a frown... Blake nodded and gave a weak smile, before answering "Well, they're pretty tough girls, Weiss... I'm sure they'll be fine." before they heard more aircraft, their powerful engines screaming overhead and saw two missiles detach from one of the strange birds. A pair of Nevermores were vaporized by the sudden rocket strike and the aircraft, as nimble as they were, moved away...
"Oh, they'll be fine..." Blake grinned.
Back with Yang...
As the Platoon advanced with Yang in the lead, the group heard combat ongoing not far from their position. Taking cover beside some rubble created by the airstrikes, Yang saw a familiar set of red hair and bronze armor rushing toward Beacon tower... She waved toward Pyrrha Nikos, the Mistrali Hoplite goddess and the redheaded girl saw her. With a gasp, she dashed with Jaune toward them... And Yang allowed herself a small smile. At least some of her friends made it.
"Pyr, Jaune... You guys have no idea how glad I am to see you!" Yang glimmered.
Pyrrha and Jaune nodded and smiled both, before Pyr saw the Soldiers beside the Blonde. They all gave nods to Pyrrha, before gasping as they heard cries for help... They raised their rifles, to gaze upon a tall, black-clad man, with a strange emblem on his jacket's left side, a Grimm mask and spiky scarlet hair, as well as a pair of horns and a... Bloody sword... He pushed down a NATO soldier who was crying for help with his heel... Then stabbed the man through the chest. Gunfire echoed and a pair of soldiers appeared in front of the White Fang officer, but his scarlet-shining blade was powered and deflecting bullets from both rifles... And with a slash, he gutted both men as if by magic...
"Motherfucker!" One of the soldiers, a girl, noted. "El-Tee! Those were Harris, Mac and Weaver! Fucker just killed them like it was nothing! And it looked like he could deflect fucking bullets!" She then yelled... Before seeing the LT already pointing an emerald laser at the man's chest and talking on com... She grinned behind her mask, looked to Yang, Pyr and Jaune and pridefully said "Watch the show, kids! Whoever that Bullfucker is, he and his antourage's 'boutta die!"
Indeed, as a squad of White Fang soldiers gathered around the bull-head boy, they scattered around the man. He seemed to be ordering them around... Yang paused as she heard the Lieutenant speak "Hammer-2-3, I have your Anvil... Hit'em whenever you feel like... And make it the Fart of Doom. Don't waste rockets on'em." before a droning noise emerged overhead... Yang looked to the man and his White Fang goons... One of the soldiers in his command pointed up, toward where the team was, but at the sky... And moments later, just as the Bull-Boy was about to look ahead... The ground thundered and shook and Beacon Tower was riddled with High-Caliber rounds.
The explosions that Yang had seen before, when the LT and his men came to rescue her... And then heard the fateful thundering BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT from above. She watched as the titanic aircraft flew in and turned away. Pyrrha's jaw dropped and Jaune barked "HOLY SHIT, WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?!" looking to the soldiers... As the smoke cleared, nothing remained but impact craters in pavement... And Yang then heard the soldiers' cheers.
"FUCK YEAH, MOTHERFUCKERS! A-10 REPRESENTS! THE 'HOG IS GONNA CHOMP YOUR ASSES UP INTO DUST!" The female trooper yelled, cheerful...
"Sir, that may've just been a bit overkill..." Another soldier noted, slightly in awe.
"Overkill is when we're using rockets, trooper. The GAU is designed for use against LAVs and Infantry." The Lieutenant nodded. He stood up and helped Yang up, before noting "Hope the A10 don't give ya PTSD, sweet cheeks. Trust us, when she's on your side, she's a sweet bird to have around. Or 'Hog, depending on how you look at her." and he saw Yang grin.
"No, but I think my sister might just have a bit of a nerdout when seeing that thing in action." She smirked, then looked ahead at Beacon Tower's shaft, filled and riddled with 30mm Cannons. "And Beacon Tower may need refurbishment after it just got its shit kicked in by that." making the soldiers chuckle. The Lieutenant patted her on the shoulder, with a grin behind his gas mask.
"Yang...?" Pyrrha raised a brow, walking beside the girl with a fearful gaze. "Who are they?"
"Hell if I know, Pyr, but thank fuck they're here..." Yang chuckled, looking to the redhead and bearing a toothy grin on her soot-covered face. "Any other civvies or Faculty around we can rescue?" She then asked. Pyrrha shook her head and pointed at retreating Helicopters with civilians on them, whilst others streamed in to aid and deploy troops. The Lieutenant looked to Yang, then grinned and took his helmet off.
"You three can take the birds outta here." He calmly spoke. "We'll deal with what's left."
"Thanks, LT, for helping us... I didn't catch your name?" Yang said flirtatiously.
"Matthew Irons. Call me Matt, though." He grinned. Yang nodded.
"Well, Matt, it was nice to meet ya. I'm Yang. Thanks again for the help and, I guess, we'll see each other around." The blonde bombshell noted, then winked "Buh-Bye." and waved, before taking Vomit Boy and Pyrrha to the helicopter... A rocket strike hit the top of Beacon tower and sent glass shattering to the floor, much to their surprise, but the team was fine. Aura kept most of the damage away... And the Lieutenant felt one of his soldiers pat him on the back.
As the trio boarded a larger transport chopper, Troops greeted and checked them quickly, medical gear and the likes involved. Yang looked up at one of the Atlesian Battleships above as a pair of even stranger helicopters landed on it... She leaned her head back and collapsed into a seated position, being caught by Pyr, Jaune and a soldier aboard... She chuckled, then said "I'm fine, guys... Just amazed... Thanks for everything."
"Don't have to thank us." The Marine checking her once-over noted. "Let's go! We're loaded up!" and with that order, the bird took off... The dark clouds above Beacon cleared for now, a mountain lay undamaged and a dozen dozen dozen army units move around the city of Vale, establishing a safe zone within the confines of the city. Amity itself was now secure and under new management and most of the original attackers were either dead or fleeing... All-in-all... Not that bad of an operation... Six Fighters flew in with escort duty next to the transport choppers, heading for... Safety...
