Chapter 10: Hunters Hunted
Unknown Location, Vale
3:00 am
Hidden within Vale's southern region, lies the outpost of a man with a history, a man doesn't care for who lives or dies. A man who collected the weapons that belonged to a series of powerful Shadow mages known as The Sisterhood of The Dark. This man was the world's most dangerous killer, the most dangerous assassin, this man was named Petraeus and he was the most dangerous killer. He was well-known for his sinister methods of hunting and his high-tech weaponry that give him the edge over his opponents and his infamous goals. He was lifting over 80 pounds of weights, when one of his monitors started to ping, so he walked over after setting down his weights, and pulled up the screen to see the prize that had gotten away...
" Hello, little Domino." Petraeus said.
He immediately walked over to his armory station and put on his armor and placed his weapon, a shoulder-mounted sniper cannon called Death's Sparrow, hopped in his vehicle to proceed with his greatest hunt yet: THE HUNT OF ALEXIS DOMINO.
Beacon Academy Transport Station
8:00 am
Alexis was expecting the arrival of her cousin Valerie, who was recently released from the hospital after recovering from being shot in the eye by her father's former employees who still sought to profit from her father's work with the implants. The transport had arrived at the station with a screeching halt, and Valerie stepped off, wearing her blue cloak and a black eye-patch over her right eye. She walked up and the first thing they did was hug each as they hadn't seen each other for a couple of days.
" Valerie, it's good to see you again!" Alexis said.
" Yeah, though seeing right isn't gonna be easy." Valerie said sarcastically.
" Oh, don't tease yourself." Alexis remarked.
Alexis proceeded to show Valerie her dorm room and introduced her to Cristof, the captain of her team CANN, which Nathan's position was filled by Neo following his death at the hands of Cantrell.
" Alexis, who is your friend?" Cristof asked.
" This is my cousin Valerie, she was just recently released from the hospital." Alexis explained.
" Hello." Valerie said.
" Nice to meet you, I'm Cristof and this is Neo." Cristof said.
" Greetings." Neo said.
Their introductions were interrupted by the arrival of Ironwood, who wanted to speak to Alexis on the sighting of Balkeith...
" Alexis, May I-" Ironwood said before noticing Valerie. " I'm sorry, who's this?" He asked.
" This is My cousin Valerie, Val, this is General Ironwood." Alexis said.
" Hello sir, Alexis told me a lot about you." Valerie said before shaking Ironwood's hand.
" It's a pleasure to meet you, Alexis, can I talk to you for a second out in the hall?" Ironwood asked.
" Sure." Alexis responded.
She left Valerie to converse with Cristof and Neo, and exited the room to speak with the General...
" What is it?" Alexis said.
" We may have found the Fourth of the Fallen Seven." Ironwood said.
" What?" Alexis said.
" One of my outposts just reported being liberated by a giant Bat-Grimm." Ironwood explained.
" That's Balkeith alright." Arcadia said.
" Arcadia said that's the right one." Alexis explained.
They concluded their conversation, and Alexis returned to Valerie while Ironwood went to speak with Ozpin. Meanwhile, Balkeith was about to meet some unexpected individuals...
Forever Fall Southeastern Region
8:10 am
Team CRDL was pinned down by hostile Grimm, and they were backed into a corner and completely surrounded. But, at the base of a Cliffside they backed towards with a Nevermore behind them. But the Nevermore was mysteriously dragged down by an unseen force, and a loud roar was heard as the Nevermore's body was thrown up and landed right in front of Team CRDNL, and Sky Lark noticed something gruesome...
" Oh jeez." Sky said in disgust.
" What is it?" Cardin asked.
" It's head man, something ripped it off." Sky pointed out.
The ground began to shake as the Grimm that had surrounded the boys immediately turned tail and ran back into the forest. The rest of Team CRDL began to boast, calling the creatures weak for running away. But Sky immediately knew something was coming towards the boys...
" Captain, you remember Professor Port's lesson on Grimm?" Sky said.
" No, I really don't pay attention in that class." Cardin pointed out.
" Well, Grimm only run...when...a much larger predator is on the way." Sky said as he turned around to see a massive hand rise up and slam down onto the ground.
The four boys quickly spun around to see the Colossus Grimm rising up and it began to stare down at the boys intently as if it was studying them...
" Quis es tu et quid hic agis? " Balkeith demanded from the boys.
" Cardin, The thing's talking man." One of Cardin's teammates said in a panicked tone.
" I can hear it, so let's not try to piss it off." Cardin pointed out.
" UGH! Must I speak in this mundane tongue?!" Balkeith explained.
Team CRDL , the supposed tough guys of Beacon, were close to the brink of pissing themselves at the fact they were speaking to a monster-sized Grimm that was seriously ticked off.
" Oh, so you can speak English ?" Cardin said.
" Yes, I just prefer not to use it as I consider it feeble and useless." Balkeith said.
" Hey..." Another of Cardin's team muttered under his breath.
" Why do you disturb-" Balkeith said before he felt a presence approach the location.
Team CRDNL turned around to see an Airship approach, and the first people to step out was Alexis and Verchaal, followed by Ironwood and Oobleck, in which the two men were amazed to see a Colossus in over 400 years.
" A Colossus Grimm, I have seen a skeleton of one of those since my childhood days." Oobleck said.
" Well, now you're seeing a live one." Alexis said in Arcadia's voice.
Alexis (now under Arcadia's control) and Verchaal approached Balkeith, and he seemed glad to be united with Verchaal, but seemed hostile towards Alexis...
" Calm yourself brother, Arcadia and this child have been bound together as a result of a science experiment." Verchaal explained.
" How can this dustling survive being bound to Arcadia?" Balkeith demanded.
" She is shadow-touched, and is an ally, she has connected with Kephreziel, Kophir, Goliath, and myself." Verchaal explained.
It took some time until Balkeith was convinced, and he took off for the mountains to speak with his brother Kophir. Alexis reverted to normal and Verchaal returned to the woods to control the hundreds of hostile Grimm that we starting to head out of Forever Fall. But as Alexis walked back to the airship with the two men and the boys, a distress call was heard on the Scroll net...
" ATTENTION, THIS IS TEAM JNPR, TEAM CAPTAIN RUBY ROSE HAS JUST BEEN KIDNAPPED BY A MYSTERIOUS ATTACKER!" JNPR member Pyrrah Nikos said.
" Get Cardin and his team back to Beacon, I'll meet up with JNPR and RWBY and get her back." Alexis said before teleporting to their location.
The airship took off with it's 6 passengers onboard, as Alexis arrived at Team JNPR's location, which was outside an abandoned dust refinery where smoke billowed from the top of an old chimney.
" What's going on?" Alexis asked.
" Some nut job incapacitated Yang, Blake, and Weiss and dragged Ruby to the old foreman's office." Jaune explained.
" Is he still around?" Alexis inquired.
" We don't know, all we know is that the chimney started billowing and everything went quiet inside." Pyrrah said.
Alexis and Team JNPR took precautionary measures as they had proceeded into the abandoned refinery and they made their way to the upstairs level of the refinery, and entered the foreman's office, where they saw a dead Beowolf lying on the ground, and Ruby tied to a chair in the center of the room.
" RUBY!" Pyrrah exclaimed.
" Pyrrah, don't, it's a trap!" Ruby exclaimed.
Eventually, Petraeus jumped down from the rafters and knocked Pyrrah out the window over looking the forest. Alexis turned to be face to face with the attacker, and a shot rang out and Alexis slumped to the floor, dropping Valthael. There was now a massive gaping hole in her forehead, and the barrel of Black Sparrow was smoking, which meant that Petraeus made the kill.
" Why did you do that?" Jaune exclaimed.
" Because hunting Shadow mages is good sport." Petraeus said, before turning Black Sparrow on the remaining kids. " Sorry, can't have any witnesses, no hard feelings kiddos?" He inquired.
Alexis's body quickly reduced itself to ash, and they all began to hear a bubbling sound. Ren turned to see the dead Beowolf's body begin to shake and rise, and then it vomited up a black material that enveloped it's entire body. The creature began to transform, hurtling off the metal headdress Petraeus had put on it, and Ren noticed immediately that one of the Beowolf's hands had become a human hand, which immediately had an idea that would explain all off it: THE GRIMM WAS TURNING INTO ALEXIS.
" What? How is that possible?!" Petraeus demanded.
" You shouldn't challenged a Shadow mage bound to an ancient Grimm." Arcadia said.
Petraeus turned Black Sparrow on her, but she raised her hand as shadow energy surrounded it, and crushed it as she slammed her hand closed. Valthael launched right into her hand, and she launched Petraeus out onto the processing floor, and used her powers to awaken Yang and the others. She levitated Nora down and she had Magnhild at the ready, and she was ready to murder Petraeus for hurtling Pyrrah out the window as she was breathing heavily and was very angry.
" I'm gonna have a "special friend" back you up, Nora." Alexis said as she summoned a portal and after it disappeared, there stood a worn-down, ragged animatronic robot that was designed in the appearance of a golden bunny. "Guys, meet Springer, It took some time, but I found him, have fun guys." Alexis said before the three turned their attention to Petraeus.
Alexis walked Ruby out as Nora, Springer, and Yang started to violently assault Petraeus, and regrouped with Ren and Jaune outside, who were waiting with Weiss and Blake for an airship to arrive.
" I really hope Pyrrah's okay." Jaune said.
" If she did survive, she'll find a way back, I know it." Alexis said.
An airship was on approach, and Nora, Yang, and Springer exited the building blood-soaked, which meant they had beaten Petraeus to death. They loaded up on to the airship and they hoped Pyrrah had survived the incident. But Pyrrah did survive, and she was going to be using the most un-expected way home...
Abandoned Excavation site
9:50 am
Pyrrah woke up in pain, her armor was a mess, blood was coming out of a wound on her side, and a girl wearing a horus helmet and a golden coat was cleaning her wounds beside her.
" Ah, you're awake." The girl said.
" Ugh, where am I?" Pyrrah asked.
" We're currently at an abandoned excavation site, the archeologists just up and left." The girl explained.
" I (grunt) need to...get back to Beacon." Pyrrah said trying to stand up.
" Not in this state, you aren't, Beacon is leagues away from here." The girl explained.
" I need to get back." Pyrrah persisted.
The girl started to get annoyed with Pyrrah's persistent demands she attempt to make the trek back to Beacon, so she immediately remembered where they are...
" What if I told you there was another way to get back to Beacon?" The girl said.
" Is there an Airship here?" Pyrrah asked.
" No, it's better that I show you." The girl said, helping Pyrrah up.
Pyrrah noticed the girl was the same height as her, and wearing black leather pants and elegant boots underneath the coat. She walked her into a large underground chamber, where the floor had started to glow...
" Where did you bring me?" Pyrrah said.
" Your ticket home." The girl said, before raising her hand as a metal object off to the side floated over to the center of the glowing floor and slammed into the slot in the center.
A loud, rumbling sound was heard as the center of the room began to spin around, and unveil a circular staircase leading underground. Pyrrah was curious as to how this was done, and decided to ask her mysterious ally...
" How did that happen? What (grunt) is this place?" Pyrrah said.
" Where we are standing is at the entrance to an Old Kingdom Teleporter Hub used for evacuations." The Girl explained.
" How is that possible?" Pyrrah asked.
" It runs on a very rare element, and all you have to do to use it, just think of where you want to go and you'll be all set." The Girl explained.
" This is incredible, I didn't know that the old kingdom was this advanced before." Pyrrah said as she rested against a fallen column.
" They had managed a great many things, advanced medicines, teleportation, transportation, and science." The girl said.
" What's your name?" Pyrrah asked.
" It's Evelyn, Evelyn Talos." She said.
Evelyn placed a series of glowing stones in the center of a couple of pylons, and pulled a lever that powered up the teleporter. She had Pyrrah think about Beacon Academy, and she carried Pyrrah and her weapons through the teleporter, only that they had arrived at Beacon's Cafeteria.
" Were you hungry?" Evelyn said.
" No, I was thinking of the infirmary." Pyrrah said.
" Well, that teleporter was a few hundred years old, so I wouldn't be surprised that our telemetry was a little off." Evelyn said.
They immediately got silent as they turned to see that they were face to face with a depressed Nora eating pancakes, hoping that it would suppress the pain she had felt when she believed Pyrrah dead. She was looking at them with both shock and joy at the fact Pyrrah was alive.
" Well, don't stand there like a popsicle, give me a hand here!" Evelyn exclaimed.
Nora immediately polished off her pancakes, and she immediately raced over to help Evelyn, who was straining to hold Pyrrah up...
This is where Evelyn Talos comes into play, as she was originally supposed to be the daughter of a bad guy for another story, but I had chosen to repurpose the characters and put them to use. Petraeus was a minor villain, and Springer was a reference to Springtrap from the Five Nights at Freddy's series, except he's a good guy. Things are going to get really interesting...