CHAPTER 2: Shit Gets Real
Blake's vision was blurry upon opening her eyes, her highly evolved ears hardly picking up on the sound of heavy breathing over the ringing in them. Her vision focusing, she yelped in fright to see herself in the centre of a ring of corpses. Lifeless bodies of White fang and slowly dissolving Grimm alike being illuminated by the flames slowly consuming the train. WEISS! Blake's scattered thoughts homed in on the memory of her unconscious friend as she searched the faces of the dead around her, thankful that the heiress wasn't amongst them.
"WE- "Blake had attempted to call her friends name only to scream as a hand wrapped around her mouth muffling her.
"Be quiet you dunce or else you'll only cause us more trouble." The heiress whispered into her ear, her harsh tone she calming the assassin of team RWBY. If she can be Snotty then she's fine. Her subconscious reasoned. Nodding that she understood, Weiss let go of her and quickly pulled her into a hug. "He's hurt." Weiss said in hushed whispers before leading her back into the trains control room.
Lay on the floor was the bloodied and beaten Denzel Sterling. "I woke up to find that he was killing anything that got too close to us. Brutal but effective, especially considering that the white fang was so scared of the Grimm they were basically a beacon of negativity for them to hone in on." Weiss crinkled her nose as the sight of his curled fists. The variety of scents in the blood meaning that the blood wasn't his own.
"He didn't seem to like the other guys in the train either after that mask he wears cracked." Blake replied in thought.
"What do we do, we can't carry him and fight even if he was protecting us." Weiss reasoned as she looked to her team mate.
"We don't owe him anything." Blake replied, already feeling guilt burn in her ribs as he groaned in his sleep. He'd die if left here, she knew that this was a death sentence. But her and Weiss came first. "I'm sorry Denzel." She said sadly as she jumped off of the train. Weiss following behind her with her head down and fists clenched. Obviously she wasn't feeling great about this either.
"Good luck."
Blake thought she had heard coming from the room behind her. Stopping momentarily, she remembered the last time she had heard those words. She had just severed the train links and left Adam behind. Expecting him to scream abuse at her for leaving she was astonished to hear him say the words before turning around and preparing to return to camp.
Bound in Null Stone cuffs was a groggy Den, Blake dragging him along by his chains as he walked forward as fast as he could, despite his body screaming to stop.
"So I'm a prisoner then?" Den called out to the two women in front of him hoping for an answer. Scowling when the only reply was that of a Beowulf in the distance. "Can I ask for the charges." He called out only to unleash a feral growl as Blake yanked harder on the chain causing him to stumble forward.
"Oh nothing serious." Weiss spun around with a voice and face too sweet to be serious. "Just you know, the terrorist acts you assisted in, Assault, Theft since you actually had the train, pretty sure bomb making is illegal and oh how could I forget. The mass murders of countless members of the white fang!" She screamed before shutting up as the Beowulf howled again.
"Self-defence, it was abandoned, I had no clue they were there and very enthusiastic helping of self-defence." Den replied before he mused. "Though I suppose you've got me om the terrorist thing. By the way how's Adam?" He asked, arrogance dripping from his voice as Blake bowed her head in shame and anger. So he had recognised her on the train. No doubt he was one of the high ranking members of the fang.
Weiss, acting in Blake's defence, spun around again only to scream in panic as Den was casually walking along directly behind her arms liked behind his head with the confines of the chain no longer binding him, the Null stone cuffs being dragged along the floor some metres away. "The city's that way sweet heart." He smirked before walking past her, winking as he went.
"How did you get out of those cuffs!" Blake demanded as she pointed Gambol shroud at his back.
"Easily." Den replied as he continued to walk, apparently unbothered by the gun pointed at him, raising his right hand and promptly dislocated his thumb before pushing it back in. "Let that be a lesson to you girls if you're ever in a pickle."
"Then why are you walking with us calmly." Blake demanded once again.
"Sorry but right now I'm in front of the two of you, you're walking with me. Otherwise, I have to get back to the city for personal reasons." He finished. "Afterwards whatever the council wants from me I'll oblige." Den shrugged before turning to look at his fellow Faunas. "And whilst we're on talking terms, you should know that just because you have a cache of dust doesn't mean you have to use it, its predictable." He grunted before casting an eye to Weiss. "And you need to stop holding back." He smiled. "You should have beaten your own opponent, you're a Schnee, you should of summon-" Den stopped as he looked at Blake for a moment before turning back to the other huntress. "I'm assuming you catch my meaning." He finished his lecture as darkness bathed the tunnels, the power keeping the work lights functioning cutting out.
"Dammit!" Blake cursed as her eyes rapidly adapted, whilst her and Den would see clearly as primarily nocturnal Faunas, the heiress wouldn't be so lucky. If they were assaulted by Grimm right now…
"Blake!" Weiss whisper yelled. "Where is he?" She flinched as Den rolled his eyes a few feet from the heiress, touching her shoulder cautiously.
"Not ran off yet." He replied. "Come here." He tacked on as he guided her hands to his own shoulders, ducking down to carry her on his back. "lead the way." He invited as he looked towards his fellow faunas. Having no choice but to let him carry Weiss she nodded, if she carried her then Den was free to attack them both. Despite the apparent lack of aggression towards them right now that didn't mean he wasn't deadly.
After walking for several minutes in silence Den spoke up. "I smell burning." He grunted as he broke into a light jog, Weiss almost falling off as she bobbed up and down on his back, her blush obvious even in this lighting.
Vale was in flames. Grimm ran rampant in the streets attacking anyone they could, the city guard desperately trying to hold off the horde until hunters could arrive and quell the tide of black fur and slobbering fangs.
"Dear girls, I wish I could say it was fun." He smiled as he removed his hands from under Weiss' thighs. "If I don't make it I need you to tell Ozpin that JDGE was wiped out in service to vale, and then tell CFVY the same." He coughed as if clearing his throat before he leaned his head back and inhaled. A ten-second-long howl full of mourning and sorrow breaking through the din of gun fire as every Beowulf stopped to turn towards the sound, howling back before approaching as fast as they could, easing the pressure on the military. "Leave a clone, take her and run." Den snarled as he grabbed Gambol shroud and removed the dust cartridge. "Call for help, and try to call your team, it may be your last chance to do so." He finished before he charged forward, dust cartridges in hand as he ducked under a swipe from and Alpha and tackling it to the ground, jamming his thumb into a bullet hole that had been left in the beast's shoulder, its howls of agony increasing in volume as it began to swell up at an alarming rate, Den quickly back tracking as the remaining Beowulf's fell on their alpha and began tearing it to shreds in an attempt to claim its rank. A loud explosion rang out as blood and fur flew everywhere before the terrain became misty with Grimm smoke as they began to decay.
"He inserted flame dust straight into it!" Weiss giggled in shock.
"He literally turned it into a bomb and changed the field to his advantage!" Blake noted as she crinkled her nose at the smell of burning flesh.
"We should go." Blake said as she grabbed Weiss who made a clone of the two before they stepped onto a glyph that launched them into the air and behind the military's defensive line.
"I'm going to call Ruby." Blake yelled as the noise of gunfire suddenly seemed louder then she could ever remember it being. Almost instantly the reaper answered.
"Hey Blake! How are you?" the leader casually asked even as the familiar sound of her sniper fired.
"Surviving." She responded. "Where are you?" The question was met by a series of rose petals appearing in front of her, their leader still talking into the scroll as she answered. "I was only down the road, guess you couldn't hear crescent rose over all this huh?" She smiled as she hung up. "Where's Yang?" Ruby asked as Weiss smiled and hugged her partner.
"Probably where she shouldn't be and causing trouble." She said affectionately as both her and Blake froze.
"She's with Den isn't she?" Blake face palmed before opening her Scroll yet again and calling the brawler.
"Hey Blakey!" Yang cheered as she swung her arm at a Beowulf's face, releasing a shotgun shell and bowling it back into three of its kin. Her new comrade rapidly capitalising as he skewered them with a piece of rebar, bending the end so they couldn't pull themselves off. "Might not be the best time for it but I've met someone." She cackled as even the masked man she had found cutting off the retreat of the prey rolled his eyes at her. No wonder he was acting undercover in the white fang though, if the mist was something to go off he had already killed his fair share before she arrived.
"Dammit Yang." Blake giggled through the scroll in relief. No doubt deciding that if she could joke around she was okay. "Are you with Den?" Her partner asked as he looked over and nodded at the question. Faunas hearing is so cool. Yang thought as she confirmed to Blake that she was.
"Were having CFVY and JNPR sent to your location now, just hold on for two more minutes and we'll cut our way through to you." Blake surmised as she hung up.
Den had taken to wielding two pieces of rebar as if they were swords as he turned to Yang.
"Aim for the legs, we'll never kill them all but we can make them crawl over their crippled brethren!" he snarled as he blocked a horizontal slash and stabbed his opponent in the thigh using his free hand, ducking under a new assailants attack forcing it to cleave his previous combatant in two before he jammed both pieces of metal into its throat, forcing aura into his legs as he ran forward into the horde, using the corpse as a battering ram and meat shield to bowl over those in his way and defend against those who would otherwise impale him.
"Got you!" Yang yelled as she shot her gauntlet to the closest Grimm, not as much as knee capping it as blowing its leg clean off she cringed and repeated the action as she was slowly pushed back.
Blake herself had taken to ushering civilians to safety within a church, standing guard in the rafters making sure nothing could get in to harm them. A lone Boarbertusk getting too close to the door before it would be struck with a hook and yanked into the rafters, a single tusk being the only thing to drop down again before it vanished from existence. Something that Ruby was quick to grab as she zoomed forward and jammed it into the eye of an Ursa Major, a glyph appearing in front of the young girl as the beast lashed out in pain rather than cowering and pawing at its wound as the lesser Ursa variant would have done.
"All power, no brain." Weiss muttered, Cardin momentarily being pulled to the forefront of her mind.
Den grunted as he blocked a two handed strike from another Alpha, his arms struggling to push back as the Alpha began to release a raspy chuckle. To his horror he noticed the very slight yellowing to the beast's mask. The tell-tale sign of an ancient Grimm was not a welcome sight as sure enough the beast snapped its teeth mere centimetres from his throat as it continued to apply pressure in the threat of skewing him upon its claws. Inhaling he blew his breath out through his mouth, a thick red mist billowing out as he did so. The ancient Grimm narrowing its eyes at what it expected to be a semblance only to scream in pain as the faunas lent forward and grated the upper and lower sections of his mask together, creating a spark and igniting the dust he had blew into both of their faces.
"Aura is a wonderful thing." Den smirked as he backed away unscathed from the exchange, the Grimm however was lay down suffering as its fellows once again tried to claim a ranking position in the pack.
Engines rang overhead as several forms dropped from them, a ginger girl giggling as she slammed a hammer into one of the mob's head, crushing it and killing it instantly. A long haired young man shooting into the crowd with a young woman with long red hair. A blonde man ran up to him and attempted to block a strike with a shield before crumping to one knee as another ancient being made an attempt at his life. "Next time it strikes reinforce your body with aura and then let out a small shockwave in its direction, knock them off balance." Den snarled as he turned to another trio of the beasts. Jaune nodding hesitantly before tucking behind his shield again, forgetting to reinforce his body and falling to his knee again under the force of the blow he let out a larger shockwave to compensate, quickly lashing forward with Crocea Mors to lose balance as he hit nothing. "Or do that." Den commented as Jaune looked to see at least 12 smouldering corpses, their upper halves totally eviscerated.
The field of corpses Jaune had accidentally created was enough landing space for CFVY to land. Fox charging to an Alpha and causing it to implode using his semblance to make bombs. Coco and Yatsuhashi mowing down everything that moved. "They always were strong." Den muttered as his ears twitched upon his head, quickly spinning around to kill what had gotten behind him to stop still as he saw her.
"Den?" Velvet asked him as he eyes widened, ears stood tall on her head.
"Hey…Velvet."
