With thanks once more to RoyalPsycho and MS Void for their assistance.
OBEE
Volume 1
Chapter Three: Grim(m) Catacombs.
September 5th, 1460 of the Vytali Calendar.
Under-Temple of the Revanchists, the Valley of Death.
Edmund landed in a heap, groaning at the feeling of hard ground under his head. He opened his eyes, before sitting up with a groan. Aura might protect him from splitting his skull open on a hard floor, but unfortunately it didn't protect him from feeling like he'd split his skull open on a hard floor, which in some respects was almost as bad. He tried looking to see if there was anything around - this effort was somewhat stymied, however, by the fact that there was no light whatsoever to see, except a small pool where he was standing, and a glint of something metallic in the distance.
Edmund frowned, wondering if it was some kind of mirror. He'd seen something of the sort in a movie once, about how underground buildings used mirrors to light up entire rooms from one small light source. At once, Edmund brought Aggressive Negotiation out, considering moving the mirror with a round, but he paused before firing. There was a chance he would damage it, or that his shot would not cause the desired effect.
Trial by fire, he thought, lowering the weapon and raising his hand. He focused, trying to make it move without touching it… and then, to his surprise, it did. Light bounced from the mirror, before bounding across the room, lighting up the corridor - and the face of the auburn-haired boy from before, looking faintly bemused at Edmund standing there with his hand outstretched. The boy's obi and kimono were dirty, and his armour was scuffed and dusty, as though he had landed about as gracefully as Edmund had. Edmund vaguely wondered how much dirt he had on his clothes.
"Were you trying to move that?" the boy asked, motioning to the mirror.
Edmund lowered his hand shamefacedly. "Uh… yeah. Kinda."
"I see," the boy said thoughtfully. "So… your semblance is telekinesis, then?"
Edmund sighed. "It's supposed to be, yeah."
The boy frowned slightly. "Didn't work?"
"Obviously," Edmund replied, slightly irritable.
The boy winced. "Sorry, is that a sore spot?"
"Obviously," Edmund repeated, feeling a touch of his sister's usual prickly attitude flaring up in him.
"Ah well," the boy said with a soft smile, but he said nothing more, for which Edmund was grateful. His failures weren't something he enjoyed thinking about.
The other boy's smile faded slightly as he looked around, taking in the dusty suits of armour, chained to the wall as they were.
"I'm certainly glad that we were able to turn the lights on, in any case," he said after a moment. "This doesn't seem the sort of place one should wander around in the dark - certainly not the sort of place one would want to wander around in the dark."
"I… guess not," Edmund agreed, looking around with a frown. "Is there such a thing as a place someone would want to go to in the dark?"
"Oh, I dunno," the boy grinned. "The desert, maybe. It's surprisingly beautiful at night."
Edmund shrugged at that. "What do you think's down here?"
"As to that, I can't say," the boy said with a shrug. He held out a hand. "Obadiah Kane."
Edmund frowned. "Kane, like…?"
"The headmaster, yes," the boy said with a wry smile. "He's my father. And you're Edmund Walker, right?"
"How'd you know that?" Edmund asked.
"I overheard your conversations with Mr Juan, or rather your sister's," Obadiah replied with a shrug. "Actually, I suppose not many people didn't overhear the latter."
Edmund snorted. "She can be… pretty loud."
"Quite," Obadiah said with a small grin. "And Mr Juan certainly seems to have taken a liking to you and your sister."
Edmund couldn't help but smirk at that. "Yeah… not sure Elena's all that happy about that."
"Well, perhaps," Obadiah shrugged. He looked around. "In any case - we've a task ahead of us."
"Yeah," Edmund said, frowning. "Do you know anything about the artefact we're looking for?"
Obadiah shook his head. "You know everything I do. My father's always been rather… tight-lipped about school matters. Not that I blame him - telling me would have provided me with an unfair advantage."
"I guess," Edmund said. He sighed. "Whatever we're looking for, it isn't going to be where we came in though, is it?"
"I suspect not," Obadiah agreed with a slight nod. "It would have helped had we known what we were looking for, but I suspect it will be made clear with patience and perseverance."
Edmund laughed briefly. "I wish I had your confidence."
Obadiah simply smiled. "I got that from patience and perseverance, too."
Nox Skye kept his arms folded as he watched the monitors they had set up. Most of the partnerships had already formed, and Nox was paying especial attention to those of Elena and Edmund.
"Well?" Quinn's voice drifted over to him, as the headmaster walked over from speaking with another teacher. "How goes it?"
"Ben Juan and Elena Walker, Edmund Walker and Obadiah Kane," Nox replied blandly. "Not terrible. Not brilliant, especially in the case of the Juan boy, but not terrible."
"I dunno, I think Obadiah will be good for Edmund's confidence," Quinn said with a soft smile. "They seem to be working well, building a good rapport."
"We'll see," Nox said shortly. "The Juan boy still concerns me."
"Why?" Quinn asked, frowning slightly.
"You know why," Nox replied, his voice taking on a harsh tinge. "I do not believe in 'honourable thieves'."
Quinn sighed. "Well, I think the boy shows potential, or I wouldn't have allowed him entry. You do trust my judgement still, right?"
Nox chuckled, the sound echoing oddly through his helmet speaker. "Quinn, I say with complete certainty, you may be one of the only people left in Remnant that I do trust."
Quinn smiled at that, but before he could say anything else, he was interrupted by a low droning from over the horizon. Turning, he saw an airship coming in to land, bearing military colours.
"One of yours?" the Headmaster asked Nox.
The armoured warrior merely crossed his arms and waited as the airship finalised its landing sequence. A few moments later, a landing ramp descended and an officer in an olive grey uniform approached the two.
"Commander Skye, sir!" the officer said, standing at attention. "We have an urgent report requiring your attention!"
Skye made a lazy hand motion. "Proceed, Captain Jarrod."
"A group of isolationists has gathered in one of the Faunus slums, Patriarch," the officer - Jarrod - said. "We believe they may be attempting to prepare an armed insurrection, or a riot."
"An armed insurrection," Nox repeated, sounding unimpressed. "Are they confirmed to have weapons?"
"Frankly, sir, the reports barely confirm that they're even there," Jarrod said apologetically. "But we felt you'd wish to know this information."
Nox nodded slowly. "You were correct, Captain. We shall soon know." He looked to Quinn. "My apologies, Headmaster. I must go."
"Agreed," Quinn said with a nod. "Good luck, my friend."
Nox nodded, and without another word he marched off, Jarrod following with a nervous expression. Quinn watched him stride off, his mouth quirking upward at the side in a bitter smile. Nox Skye, always perennially on the move, fighting to build a better world.
I wonder if he'll ever really find it, Quinn thought, before turning his attention back to the screens. There was still an initiation to oversee, after all, and it was proving to be most interesting.
"So, what do you think we're looking for?" Juan asked, as he and Elena made their way down one of the lit corridors. Many of the corridors had mirrors installed in the walls that reflected light - with one mirror in place, light seemed to flood the structure.
Elena sighed irritably. "If you mean the 'artefacts', I don't have a clue."
Juan clucked his tongue. "That's helpful."
"You are more than welcome to suggest anything," Elena said irritably. "Partner."
Juan shrugged, ignoring the venom in Elena's tone. "I don't know much about these old temples. I don't think anyone does, outside of people who live in the things."
"You're going to live in Shade, which is practically the same thing," Elena pointed out.
Juan simply shrugged.
"Shade's different," he said without elaborating.
Elena sighed. The temple's corridors were still all lined with the same suits of chained up armour. It did make one wonder precisely what the point of the suits was: as mere decorations, they seemed rather more… grim, for want of a better word, than anything she knew the Revanchist order normally used (from what little she retained from far-too-expensive imported tutors, most of whom had been too busy droning on about Vale or Mistral's great achievements – or, Gods help her, Atlas' – to give a long-forgotten and long-overlooked piece of Vacuite history the time of day).
"What's with the chains?" Juan asked, echoing her thoughts. He poked one of the suits. "Doesn't exactly add to the look."
"I guess it doesn't," Elena agreed. "But I don't know: maybe it's a representation of how our minds are chains for our bodies and how we can push past our limitations." Juan threw her an incredulous look, and she shrugged. "Read a book once."
Juan snorted. "Guess it's not all that important, anyway." He turned to move away from the suit.
And then an armoured gauntlet grabbed his wrist.
"What do you think is down here?" Edmund found himself asking as the two boys walked through the corridors.
"Grimm, no doubt," Obadiah replied quietly. "After all, this is meant to be a test of our skills."
Edmund grimaced. "Great. That's something to look forward to."
Obadiah threw him a look. "Sarcasm?"
Edmund sighed. "I'm just not big on fighting Grimm on their home turf. Or at all, come to think of it."
Obadiah raised an eyebrow. "And yet."
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Edmund grimaced. "Career options are pretty poor, what can I say? Besides, what with Dad being –" He paused, catching himself. "Dad being in the military, he kinda had expectations."
"I see," Obadiah said, not commenting on the other boy's hesitation. "So it was this or military service?"
"More like, it's this then military service," Edmund chuckled. "Huntsmen training and the new order military aren't exclusive, certainly not after all of Nox Skye's reforms."
Obadiah nodded non-committally. "I see your point."
There was a slightly awkward pause, and Edmund found himself contemplating his new partner. He was seemingly almost lackadaisical, his stance easy, his hand resting idly on the hilt of his extendable katana – and yet Edmund couldn't help but feel as though he was more alert than he let on. He felt his hand twitch on his own weapon.
"You alright?" Obadiah asked without looking at him.
"Yeah," Edmund replied, too quickly. "Just… this place, y'know. Makes me feel… edgy."
"I know what you mean," Obadiah replied. "It's like…"
There was a clang from behind them, and the two boys turned to see something - a dark, humanoid shape - moving behind them.
"Hello?" Edmund called, but the figure didn't answer.
Obadiah frowned, before taking his weapon off of his belt. He extended two fingers out on his left hand and pointed them at the figure in a guard stance.
"Who goes there?!" he called out.
The figure didn't answer for a moment. Then, slowly, it reached for a sword girt at its side and drew it, before pointing it at the two in a sloppy mockery of a challenge.
"What is it?" Edmund asked, drawing Aggressive Negotiation out and aiming it at the figure.
"I don't know," Obadiah said slowly, his own weapon extending out before a pulse of blue energy lit along the entire blade. He held the weapon up one handed, still extending his other hand out, two fingers extended outward in a warding motion.
The figure kept walking towards the two boys, sword still held out in challenge, before bringing it to an equally sloppy two-handed guard above its head.
Suddenly, a bullet ricocheted off of the figure's head, making it stagger. Obadiah glanced at Edmund, who fired again, the figure staggering backward again.
"It's not human," Edmund observed quietly.
Obadiah nodded. "Agreed, but -"
Suddenly he was forced to bring his blade up to guard as the figure lurched forward, its plain metal sword clashing against the plasma-edged blade with a flash of sparks. Obadiah's eyes widened in shock as the figure came into full view - a faceless suit of armour, clanking and clattering as it clumsily swung at him again. He parried the next clumsy blow, but the sheer force drove him back.
"Possession-type!" he snapped out. Edmund stepped back, the sight of the suit of armour shocking him. "Shoot it!"
Edmund nodded quickly, before firing Aggressive Negotiation at the thing's head. It staggered back again, but didn't fall. Obadiah lashed out, the plasma blade carving through the armour, but that only seemed to stun it momentarily before it once again lashed out, making him block again.
"Interesting!" he commented, pushing the armour back again.
"Is that all you can say?!" Edmund said, pumping more rounds into it. It had little effect other than to make the thing stagger backward more.
Obadiah glanced behind them, in the direction they had been going before this thing attacked. "Uh, no."
Edmund frowned at him. "Well?"
Obadiah pointed down the hallway, and Edmund glanced - his heart sank, as he realised that more of the clattering walking armours were blocking the path ahead. Even as he saw that, more armours came from the other way as well.
The two boys were trapped.
Juan glanced down at the gauntlet with wide eyes, as though its very existence was an impossibility. He tried to pull away, but the thing had a strong grip on his arm.
"Crap!" he swore, bringing his pistol out and shooting at the gauntlet's wrist. The thing jerked and he pulled away, but the entire suit of armour began moving, slowly lurching from its alcove, the chains clattering around it.
Elena had backed away, her eyes widening in shock at the sight of the armour clanking and jerking about like a demented marionette. She brought Peacemaker up, aiming it at the armour and firing in the blink of an eye, but the thing didn't react apart from a brief jerking motion.
"What in the hells is this?!" Juan said, aiming his own pistol.
Elena looked around, her face going pale. "Not alone, for one thing."
Juan looked at her, before looking around them. All of the other armours had started moving as well.
"Well," he said quietly. "Shit."
"Yeah," Elena said quietly. She set Peacemaker into spear configuration. "Can that thing do close combat?"
Juan's pistol clicked, and suddenly it was a cutlass. He raised it into a guard.
"So," he said, trying to sound cheery. "You want the ten on the left…?"
"Shut up and fight!" Elena yelled, suddenly charging into the nearest armour.
She brought Peacemaker up in a vicious arc, knocking the thing to the floor, before aiming the other end and firing at the thing, point blank, shattering the helmet. The thing twitched and juddered, before remaining still.
"Aim for the heads!" she called to Juan.
He nodded, bringing his sword up, before retracting the weapon back into pistol form and firing, aiming for the helmets. Unfortunately, they were tough, the rounds pinging off of the rusted metal. Grimacing, Juan kept firing, but the things were moving closer. He dodged one blow, eyes widening at the sword that nearly hit him. Suddenly, Elena charged in, shoving the thing back, before bringing up her weapon and firing it again, blasting the thing's shoulder and head apart.
"Your gun isn't hard-hitting enough," she said with a scowl.
Juan glared right back at her, before stepping back as she moved to engage the rest. More of the things moved forward, and Elena began weaving between them, using Peacemaker to knock them off balance and drive them back. With a frown, Juan reloaded his pistol, choosing a different set of ammo, before aiming his pistol at another armour and firing. This time, his round blasted the armour's head clean apart,and the thing fell to the ground like a stone.
"Better?" he asked Elena with a cocky smirk.
She rolled her eyes as she battled through another one. They were making decent progress, but more of the armours were appearing all the time - and they didn't have unlimited ammunition.
