Author's Note: Warning; ton of words, around 12,720 words. Lots of fights. Probably should be read in sections.
The Heroes and The Queen
Revenge, Peace, Arrogance, and Survival
Chapter Nine: The Exhibition Of Fire
It was not long before the other teams began to touch down.
The Grimm soon congregated towards their location. Their fearsome wrath agitated by their presence fueled their relentless assault; But for the huntsmen, they were ready, eager to meet their match and exceeded it.
Olga hummed casually while carrying her trusted ax behind her back. The open and flat field in the middle of the forest made everything clear and bright. An Alpha Beowolf targeted her ahead of the pack as it emerged from the obscure tree boundary.
"Oh, the big bad wolf coming to see me? Oh dear." Olga feigned sincerity.
The large and jagged Alpha ran, and stop short of the huntresses-in-training. It got up from its four legged stance, and before it could finish its intimidating roar Olga swung the ax blade into the lower jaw splitting it in two.
"My, what a big mouth ya had." she smiled.
She continued to stay fain while the still living Grimm struggled to escape. Olga arched her back and pulled the ax, and then took a great, horizontal swing towards the Beowolf, launching it back to the forest.
"Face better Grimm locally in Atlas." She remarked.
The other Grimm banded together, intending on making her pay. The Faunus let the ax-head rest on the grass floor as she eyed her seldom friendly partner move in with her rocket launcher armed. "Looks like thirdly scrubs heading our way, can Ya handle it?" Olga said to her.
Luvia kept her mouth shut. She leveled her eyes toward the green reticle. "Targets acquired." an inculcated saying that she would always utter in these kinds of stress states.
With a press of the trigger she swayed the launcher from left to right and set off a series of propelled rockets decimating the pack in a cloud of glowing explosions that surely announce their location to everyone in Emerald forest.
The explosions weren't enough to kill them all. One survivor was launched towards them. Still committed to fight no matter what; it showed its claws and fangs as it plummeted.
Olga looked up. "Ya gotta give them credit for not giving up."
"I got it." said Luvia.
She raised her arm towards it and focused. Her body bathed in a purple hue of her Aura. Only a few feet the lone Beowolf dropped like a stone.
It struggled to get up, it wasn't given much of a chance. Luvia reached for her short-range shotgun, and fired twice only to leave it still alive much to her chagrin.
Olga sighed, lugging her ax. "I got it." opening the trigger safe-guard she fired at the Grimm after it gave them one last defiant roar.
The air crackled from rail-gun, and the headless body fell to its side.
After all was said and done, they both reloaded their weapons. Luvia started to head off towards the general direction of the glen; she and Olga knew exactly where it was, and hope for her own sake that Theresa would make it there with Jane's help.
Her partner followed behind, silently glaring before she spoke. "You~ are a reckless one aren't you~? A maverick."
Luvia stop and shifted her side towards Olga; both silently and hostility looking at one another.
"Yes?" Luvia said. "What would you have me do?"
"Don't rock the boat." Olga told her straightforward.
The passive advice ran sour. Luvia shot her daggers as her anger build up.
Olga looked away. "Before we even entered Prometheus, we both knew what was really up. We are both strangers in the same boat."
"We both have our reasons don't we Olga?" Luvia frowned.
Olga sadly nodded. "We are both struggling; juggling our pasts and futures by walking the same path Ya and I. But we have to keep moving despite on how we feel about it."
"Yes." Luvia said with half-hearted smile. "I'm at least glad I am not alone."
"Huh, I don't think I've ever seen Grimm like that before." Ruby said curiously.
The prodigy was as much a "creatures of darkness" buff as she was a weapons one. Although both weren't mutually exclusive: Ruby did like to find out how better she could crack their defenses.
Meanwhile Blake stood poise and concentrated on the new foes at hand. To her there was no doubt that the Grimm were not be toyed with.
Taking out her weapon she spoke. "Whatever they are, we have to take them out quickly."
But first they needed to know what the hidden foes even look like. The bushes shook slightly as a pair of long tails poked out of them. They swayed tauntingly, worse and most intimidating was the scythe-like hooks at the end of them that could rival Crescent Rose.
'Seen better.' Ruby smirked.
Not up for the waiting game, Blake aimed Gambol Shroud and fired at them; to her shock, it was anticipated.
A blob of black goo shielded and absorbed every bullet, in which the blob landed and splattered on the ground.
Both huntress-in-training turn to see the Grimm reveal itself.
It hissed at them from its long and scaly, black and white snout. The humanoid-lizard creature stood upright on its hind legs which had its own bony bladed accessories on the back-ends. From the bushes, the other two Grimm emerged, the red-eyes fixated menacingly at both girls, the third one at their flank swiped the air with its long and sharp claws.
The huntress had no idea what they were up against.
Regardless, they were in a standoff and their foes were Grimm which meant that they had the same agenda as the rest of them. A minute into the uneasy silence, one of two Grimm in front inhaled and fired the black goop at them. Without hesitation, Ruby quickly moved up and swiped away the goop like a home-run hit.
Unfortunately, for her own brand of horror, Ruby lamented on how yucky and harmful the black stain was on the blade. "oh man! I hope it washes off."
In between her leader's dramatic cries followed by her trying clean the goo-unsuccessfully-with a small cloth and the Grimm slowly making a calculating formation towards them, Blake tried to focus. The Faunus girl knew of these kind of Grimm before.
It was no secret that Adam was still on her mind since yesterday; trying not to make the same tragic mistake of keeping her fears bottled in again she divulged everything to Yang about her former mentor. True to her character, the partner told her not to worry about it and that her allies would have her back if he tried something funny.
But the more Blake thought about him the more it invoked memories. One of the civil and prominent aspects about him was his encyclopedia-like knowledge of Grimm. Him being originally from Atlas he would inform Blake on the regional Grimm that hailed from there. Having the knowledge pass down to her, she remembered this particularly cunning Grimm.
"Tarkos." she said to herself.
"What?" Ruby blurted out while focusing her absolute attention on cleaning her poor baby.
As if answering to its name one of the Tarkos sped in a blink of an eye and weaponized the scythe tail at them. Blake halted it with her sword blade, then held it in place with her shadow clone, the real her appeared above ready to cut it down. In quick sessions the other ones fired their black glob at her.
An angry Ruby decided to risk her scythe again and catch the attack. "Worse Grimm ever! yuck! just die!"
Using her semblance she sped towards them, confident that her speed would make easy work of them. But the agile creatures dodge, and scythes clanged against each other pushing Ruby back. In the confrontation fiery sparks flew from the impacts.
It didn't go unnoticed.
The ongoing enigma of the Grimm's intelligence has always been a speculated one. Some types have been shown accelerated their thinking process over the years faster than others.
Blake eyed the older alpha of the Tarkos, which was identified by its larger size and protruding jagged spines. Unlike the others, it was giving the burning embers a studious look, it then screeched twice at its subordinates.
Like agreeing to some command the two others arched their backs and lobbed black blobs into the air above Ruby and Blake. The blobs quickly fell down with its heavy weight. Ruby, who was still mildly angry, followed and made her counterattack.
"I got it!" she shouted as her scythe aimed the ground, she fired and was instantly propelled into the air. Ruby swiped horizontally, using the momentum of another shot made her into a human propeller which blended and flung the black goop away.
Landing back she boasted with a confident smile. "See, nothing to it."
However her silent partner was anxious still. The pack leader had a thinking look to its face. Blake's eyes widen; She finally realized what they were planning. She remembered something else that Adam had told her about their tar goo: it was flammable.
The Alpha Tarko was planning on it. It sped towards them with its boney bladed tail baying to be struck. To Blake's horror, Ruby eagerly obliged. "I've got it!"
"Ruby no!"
But she was too late, the scythes struck and ignited sparks that were going to set the area around them into a sea of flames. Thinking quickly before the embers landed, Blake used her shadow clone to boost out of the impact area where she turned around and used Gambol and shroud to lasso the ribbons around the unaware hot-headed leader.
Blake pulled her close just before they were singed by the fire ball. Looking relieved Ruby turned her head, "Thanks Blake, you really saved my bacon there."
The silent partner shook her head. "I know these Grimm are smarter than any other we've faced, but please pay close attention."
Ruby smirked. "Oh, I did." she pointed twice.
Blake looked at where she was pointing. Whether it was her imagination or not, it was first time she saw panic on a Grimm. The pack leader behind the two other started walking backwards before it fled the area; evidently giving up to fight another day.
"The smart ones know when they are beat." Ruby said. "and the stupids ones are easy to take care of."
Feeling like she should sit this one out, Blake watched as Ruby challenged the remaining Grimm.
The young and inexperienced approached with confidence; they arched their back to lob another attack. The red-hooded leader simply put her right foot back and dug it into the ground as far as she could. Using her semblance she unearthed a huge mass of dirt that not only countered their tar attack, but threw it back and blinded them.
The Tarkos panicked, whirling around and swinging their scythes around recklessly ended up sealing their doom as they mistakenly cross paths, and decapitated each other simultaneously.
The deafening hollering began to grow louder as their foe approached. The huntress-in-training of JNPR felt the ground shake and the grass weave beneath their feet.
Pyrrha held her shield up and spear ready to strike. The usual chipper Nora didn't have her smile, she was calm and collective, aiming Magnhild steadily.
Recollecting her standard Mistral hunting techniques Pyrrha examined their surroundings. They were definitely boxed in, the floor sparsely littered with dead trunks, and behind them was a huge mossy stone wall; they were literally between a rock and hard-place. If you consider a giant Grimm a hard-place.
Aside from the open and canopy-less top, she sought the wall itself as possible advantage rather than a detrimental one. She hoped.
"Big boy is coming!" Nora shouted.
The big ape-like foe came in full view as the sun light and branch shadows draped over its black and mostly white armored body. Once red eyes met them it burst into the area, splitting wood and leafs asunder.
It kept charging full speed without stop. Both girls just barely jumped out the way as the limbs of the towering Grimm past them, all the way into the wall. But it didn't matter to it; being a versatile creature it went from charging the ground to charging the vertical wall. The climbing limbs pushed off against it, landing on its back where it made use of the extra set of limbs on its back.
Pyrrha had already deep disdain for the Grimm. A Mistral champion worth her salt would stay on the heels of Grimm study and keep tabs on any new Grimm-kind. The Silverwock was a relentless and choleric creature that was extremely difficult to kill with its hard, armored shell protecting its torso.
The fish-like face of the Silverwock showed its fanged jaws at them with a deafening roar.
While Pyrrha own weapons were almost ineffectual she felt herself lucky to have a partner who had the right tools for the job. "Wow, these Grimm are getting uglier by the day! Eww, I'ma just blow it up now!"
Nora pointed the grenade-launcher, and lobbed four grenades at the creature. It let out a roar as it raised its thick forearms and smashed the ground uprooting a large wave of dirt that caught and muffled the explosions. Catching her by surprise the Silverwock smashed right through the still falling dirt.
Realizing that it was stampeding too fast for her to dodge Pyrrha leapt towards the creature's head with her shield pushing against it. Akoúo buckled under the force, using her semblance to held her in place, the Silverwock violently thrashed around, trying throw her off. With a growl Pyrrha jammed Miló into the right eye making it screeched. The attack fueled the anger causing a successful thrash that threw her off.
The crying Silverwock moved back and forth trying to get the still lodge spear off its eye. Even Nora would have to say that was pretty gnarly. Meanwhile Pyrrha tried to focus on retrieving her spear; it didn't take long for her to get it back.
After having stop moving the Grimm looked up and let out a single mournful howl. The huntress covered their ears at the deafening call which beckon another Grimm for help. From the nearby bushes a lone Alpha Tarko leaped towards the Silverwock in need, it gnawed and pulled the spear off the eye.
Free from the infliction, both Grimm set their sights on the huntress.
Still unharmed, Pyrrha remedied to change that by pulling the spear-which was still in the jaws of the Grimm lizard-towards her. The Tarkos was stubborn and clamped down on the weapon; unfortunate for it, Pyrrha didn't mind as she amplified the semblance, and dragged the resisting Grimm along with the spear. The force was enough to break the hold and the fangs; once she gotten Miló back into her possession she whirled around, and stabbed the Grimm through its head.
The Silverwock roared once more as it charged in an irate fashion with its secondary forearms making a grab for them.
Nora smirked as she met the challenge she lugged over Magnhild in its hammer form, and used a powerful explosive hit to unearth the entire ground underneath it. The move was enough to sent not only the creature flying towards them, but tossing both Nora and Pyrrha on their backs. Taking advantage of the underbelly soaring over them they both switched to their launcher and rifle forms respectively and fired at it.
The smoking and bullet riddled Grimm landed on the back which now became its chest as the other set of limbs served its purpose. The armor around it started to break and flake away.
Getting up they both contemplated on their next move. Looking around Pyrrha found a temporary safe-haven inside a fissure on the mossy wall.
"There!" she pointed out.
Without a moment for hesitation they both ran towards the shelter as another charging bout from the Grimm made it for them. Both girls shook from the impact as the Silverwock tried to bite into it, seeing as it couldn't make in there, the Grimm tried to reached in with its stubby fingers.
"Bad monkey!" Nora annoyingly push it off with the hammer's shaft. "I think we're stuck in here Pyrrha."
Wanting to not agree with her, The huntress-in-training closed her eyes and tried to think of a way out; at least until warm light started to peer into them. Looking up immediately she could see a large enough hole with clouds passing by the sun.
"We can escape from there." she said.
Nora nodded. "Oh! I remember climbing between stuff like this with Ren."
She instantly jump with her hands and boots on each side, with each hop she was making progress up. Nora looked down, "Come on! its easy!"
Following the lead the redhead made her way up, just dodging the fingers of the persistent monster. Its good eye followed them from crevice as it started to lumber towards the stone wall and climb up. Nora was the first to pop out from the hole, she then grabbed Pyrrha's hand and hoisted her up just in time before the giant hairy hand slammed the hole close.
As the Silverwock climbed to the top the huntress made their last stand. The stone area was flat and wide enough for them to battle, but it left no other advantages for them. "Bad news," Nora said. "I'm almost out of ammo, three grenades, that's it!"
"Until we get to the supply drop at the glen." Pyrrha clarified. She also had around the same amount.
To ensure an optimal stress test, all pairs were to have limited supplies until they were replenished at meeting point. It was frustrating, they had to prove themselves worthy she guessed.
"It's stupid." Nora annoyingly pouted.
"Agreed."
The massive head of the Grimm appeared before them, making its huge lumbering body onto the surface, as it did large plates of the hide armor started falling off. Both girls glance each other with a knowing look; they had the same idea in mind.
"Nora, you said you had three left right?"
She took a glance at Magnhild and counted with her fingers, moving her lips along as well. "Yup!"
"Okay! On my lead!" Pyrrha ran before she could give the Silverwock a chance.
First she punctured a small impression into the hide with her spear and changing it to its rifle form she fired; making the crack bigger. It didn't even notice the attack, at least until Nora came in slamming her hammer on it and fired an explosive impact which made it cry and stumble back.
They switch, and Pyrrha attacked the now noticeable crack, a second blow from Nora made the plates break even more. After one last switch from the spear and rifle shot, Nora, with all her might slammed it again and fired with emphasis. The upper body of the Silverwock ruptured, and exploded into several large pieces. Its severed legs walked backwards before they fell off the cliff with a thunderous thud.
Pyrrha let out a relieved sigh.
"Neat!" Nora smiled. "I think we should call our attack 'Hammer and Nail'." tapping her finger on her chin she turn to her partner. "You're the Nail part."
"See Theresa, we're riding with style!"
Jane patted the messy black fur of their ride. In her own humble opinion, it was a stroke of brilliance by the use of her "unique" Semblance. "With this Ursa we don't have to waste energy and we'll cover many grounds."
Both huntress-in-training managed to tame the "untamable" with the use of Jane's semblance. After all, a Grimm is pretty much an empty vessel. Even though she was in full control it still made Theresa worry; riding on top of an enemy of all kind so casually would cause that.
"Jane…"
The blue-hooded girl saw and heard the anxiousness in her partner. Her duty as a leader made sure to assure her teammates, "Aww come, I have it completely under control Theresa!" Jane said cheerfully.
Despite that, Theresa held her leader's waist extra tight.
"Hey, I think I hear someone just ahead." Jane pointed. "Onward ho!"
"Wait!" Theresa protested. "I think anybody in the right mind might see us riding a Grimm in a bad light."
The controlled Ursa rushed ahead under Jane's command. It plowed through the big shrub, the debris scattered around Jane who didn't mind while Theresa was protected by her back. On the other side they met with two Haven students waiting for them.
Mercury had his legs mid-kick stance towards their direction. Next to him with a calm and cold stare was Cinder standing stoically.
"Hallo friends!" Jane waved.
After a minute of silence Mercury scoffed and smirk, Cinder glared silently at Jane before she shifted her eyes at Theresa. For an instant there was a hint of familiarity for the two. For Theresa there was an inexplicable headache, her pink-eyes wince, taking another look at Cinder triggered fragments of a forgotten memory. Suddenly, meadow and fairy came to mind.
Feeling like this woman might have an answer for it, Theresa looked directly at Cinder while she held her forehead from the flinching pain. "D-do I know you?"
Cinder's amber-eyes widen before they narrowed. "No," she hastily turn to leave. Cinder then glance back to say: "You don't." amending emphasis.
"Wait! Don't you want to travel with us?" Jane said excitedly.
The antagonistic woman turn back to look at the girls; a wave of nostalgia crashed. Something that she hasn't felt for more than a decade. Going to regretful frown to an angry scowl to counter Jane's smile she turn to her subordinate. "Come Mercury, we are leaving."
Without question they both left and slowly disappeared into the obscure flora.
Jane shrugged. "Oh well, They're loss."
Deep down the remembrance of the amber-eye woman still pestered Theresa thoughts. Brought back to the real world by a couple of taps from her leader, she said: "I think the designated destination is close enough." jumping off the controlled Grimm Theresa was urged to do the same.
"You go on ahead; I got to take care of some business." Jane said.
With a nod her partner left, and the leader waited until she left. Jane sang a merry song as she looked back at the Grimm. The glow in its eye reverted back to its malicious red. Coming to its senses the Ursa started growling before a fist and forearm went through its head.
Yang didn't like where this was going. The chorus of clicking and chirping from the webby den of the woods drove her to the edge.
"Ain't nobody tell me about Grimm spiders." she said.
"They are creature of darkness that revel on our fears; what do you expect?" Weiss said. "Sunshine and kittens?" going with a snide. In truth she was scared as she was.
"Whatever!" Yang cocked her gauntlets. "I'm not scared, I'm gonna squash some bugs."
"Arachnid."
"They are Grimm." Yang argued.
"Well, yes; you are correct."
A shadowy multi-legged creature suddenly jumped and landed on the tree branch making it sway, and the trunk vibrate slightly. The Grimm lifted its front legs to reveal its twin, yellow retractable-claws at them. After its hostile stance, the spider screeched and arched forward its abdomen and fired a silky river of web near Yang's feet. Faster than she could anticipate the Grimm pulled itself to her using the strong string of web; it sliced at Yang on the way, drawing a flow of blood on her arm.
"Argh!" she yelped.
"Why you!"
The cat-size spider drew its fangs in vain before the shadow of Yang's boot covered it. The Grimm was squashed, and stomped into oblivion over and over again. Seeing the legs twitched repeatedly was hard to stomach for Weiss; she step back a few feet, hoping that flying entrails wouldn't get on her dress.
"Enough Yang! Its dead." Weiss said.
"You did what you said and 'squashed' the…" It suddenly occurred to her that she have seen this variety of Grimm before. "Wait," she drew Myrtenaster. Suddenly they were in the company of scores of them coming in droves from the forest.
"More?!" Yang vented her frustration.
Weiss stood next to her for the battle at hand. "They're Hy-Foebias: a hive-mind group of Grimm."
A loud screech emitted from the seemingly dead Hy-Foebia, to their horror it started moving its legs and claws again, coming back to live to join the rest.
"What the?!" Yang said.
"And they don't die unless all of them do."
"Oh you gotta be-!" A group of Hy-Foebias aimed a strong rope of web that bonded Yang's forearms together. To her horror they started dragging her towards them. She kicked the ground and dug her heels, trying desperately to stop as she struggled. Weiss aimed the rapier and clicked it to fire Dust in an effort to burn the web off.
The Hy-Foebias then aimed a strategic attack on the weapon, and yanked it off her hands and into their possession. It caught her by surprise, but the resourceful huntress had alternative means to fight. She reached behind her back to the bag containing her Dust ammunition; the vials were fragile, and she aimed to use the volatile substance as a crude attack. Again the Grimm saw through her plan, and bound her hands together before she could use one.
Seeing Yang being slowly drag into the dark den of the spiders drove Weiss to struggle with all her might; she couldn't forgive herself if she let anybody down.
Her hand slowly opened against the web, with the fire Dust vial dancing on her fingertips she flicked it up, she whirled around, and kicked as it came down. The vial flew towards the group of Hy-Foebias gathering around Myrtenaster. It blew up; scattering the flaming spiders. Weiss then ran towards the rapier, using her foot she kicked it up and she spun around, the blade of the sword cut the web around her hands freeing her.
Grabbing the weapon out the air she turn, and fired at the group of Hy-Foebias freeing Yang as well. They both regroup as the Grimm did too.
"I have a plan of sorts." Weiss said.
"Yeah? Lay it on me."
"First; how well arm are you?"
Checking Ember Celica and remembering the count on her ammo bag Yang said: "Enough."
"I wouldn't trust a broad answer, but I would trust you as much as you have disdain for these horrid creatures. Anyway, what I know is that Hy-Foebias are practically vulnerable to electric shocks."
Yang grinned. "I get what you're saying." she took out a belt of ammunition and tossed it high in the air. "Do it."
Weiss nodded as she clicked Myrtenaster to the lighting Dust. Channeling her Semblance she created a Dust glyph in front of Yang. The blond then fired through it, the rounds carried the properties of the Dust as they hit the individual Grimm. Yang ran dry and held her arms up, she caught the falling ammo and replenished. After all one hundred of them were stunned and unmoving Yang had a delighted smile as lifted her boot.
"Well, have your fun ridding yourself of your phobia." Weiss smirked.
"I am not going to like this." Jaune lifted his shield.
It would have been something to remember. A scene out fairytale of old; a knight fighting a dragon. Unfortunately, the real thing is much more chaotic, and not as romanticized. The still-training knight sweltered behind his shield as the Wormhorn (coined by Ren) shot a stream of fiery vapor onto him.
Jaune glanced at the battle taking place next to him. The shots fired by Ren weren't enough to pierce the hide, but were enough render the leathery wings useless. The leader was amazed on how nimble and quick his stoic partner was as he dodged the long stinging tail of the Grimm. But Ren was pushing his luck; all because of him. Jaune struggle against his own while Ren did his best to handle both giant dragons by himself. It already has taken a toll on Ren.
The stinger slammed against him, throwing him to the ground. At the Wormhorn's mercy Ren saw the Stinger hover over him.
Jaune saw that he was needed, he yelled as he struggled to push back the heavy fire off of his shield. With light feet he had escaped the fire, and ran to Ren. His shield was up as the red stinger bounced against it, he then slash it away. A heavy breathing Ren saw an opportunity; he gathered all the Aura he could muster into the right palm of his hand and charged at the bulky and jagged head of the dark Dragon. A stream of pink sparks surrounded it before the head exploded.
The massive body toppled before them. Exhausted Ren too did the same.
"Ren!" Jaune crouched next to him. "Jaune…" he weakly pointed. The knight turn to see the other Grimm pounced on them both. Quick thinking led to Jaune raising his shield which was now lodge between the massive jaws, it salivated and didn't let go. The hunter then persuaded it to let go as he stabbed the lower jaw.
Next to a down Ren, Jaune gritted his teeth, pushing back and hoping it wasn't the end yet.
But in almost all dark moments like this; there is always a light, or a high-caliber round. The left eye of the Grimm exploded from a shot from a far. "highya!" a voice shouted as she planted her sharp scythe near Crocea Mors.
"Ohh! a Dragon!" Ruby turn to Jaune with a jealous smile. "Some people get all the luck."
"Ruby?!" Jaune said relieved and surprised.
"Who else? I'm not going to let a fellow leader die on my watch!" she smirked. "and neither is your partner, right Pyrrha?!"
"Right!" her voice shouted from afar.
Spear aimed forward Pyrrha imbedding it into the Wormhorn's remaining eye. It howled in pain before she jump down, changing into her weapon into its sword form she join the other two. Both Jaune and Pyrrha exchange smiles.
"Pyrr-"
"Jaun-"
They both spoke at once; interrupting one another. Sharing a shy smile, Jaune spoke first: "Thanks."
Pyrrha nodded. "You don't have to."
The dragon tried to lift its head, the entire body was paralyzed from the wound as they tried to dig deeper in order to stop it. Then the head jolted down. A familiar blond bruiser landed on top of the wide head. "Oh no you don't big boy. Just because I don't have ammo on these beauties." she slammed the head with both her bare fist. Yang then looked down, and winked at the trio.
"Either we make to the glen together or we die together." she said.
"I refuse to let you all die here!" icy voice called out.
"Same here!" a stoic one said as well.
Both Blake and Weiss jumped in and stabbed the jaw with their blades. The giant Grimm looking worse for wear, couldn't handle anymore damage. "My hammer can't go boom, but," one last voice called out. "I'll still bring your doom for hurting Ren!" a flying Nora nailed it right in the forehead.
Ren weakly called out to Jaune: "Now, do it now Jaune."
The knight drew the sword from the jaw that was still held down by everyone else, and with a mighty swing Jaune slashed the neck, severing the head with a loud thud as it landed.
It was the end of the green glen where it set the beginning of the final stress test. What it was the hunters did not know for sure; at least for some. And others had something else in their minds.
The open field bordered by trees, some ridged hillocks, and of course the misty glen that define it was enough for Olga and Luvia to find shelter and peace.
They were the first to arrive, but not for long; a boorish group of guys came in right after. The Faunus sense that were not overly friendly to her; the feeling was mutual. The mutual hate piled on as Colorado and her partner, Emerald, arrive too. Soon their team was complete by the arrival of a smooth talker and his leader with hidden attentions.
Whatever peace that Olga and Luvia had was coldly interrupted by Cinder who they avoided eye contact with as she smiled devilishly.
Still half an hour pass and still no sign of the others. Olga kept pensively looking every few minutes at the forest hoping to catch a glimpse of the two. She clenched her teeth, dug her nails into her elbows, and buried her black boots into the ground, muddying them up. The company here didn't felt right.
Looking at Luvia twiddling her thumbs, Olga would wonder if the same fears dwelled. Maybe she has grown attach to her team assigned to her.
Olga's wolf-ears twitched. A welcome sight for sore-eyes as Jane and Theresa emerged from the forest. Olga waved them in with a toothy grin while Luvia sighed and the color return to her pale face.
The dark-chatelaine wouldn't expressed it, but beyond the profession, she did grew fond as them, if only because they were in the same boat. The bubbly Jane skipped merrily to them, no problem expressing her mutual relief. As the dust settled they waited a little more, and started to wonder when the Beacon students that they befriended would come.
They didn't have to wonder for long. To the more quixotic of the Atlas team, Theresa saw them like a scene of a storybook, all eight appeared from the forest looking slightly worn, but definitely heroic.
With all five teams succeeding the initial journey, the ones in the helm decided it was time to start the much anticipated challenge.
First the Atlas airship which was overseeing their progress now hovered near them. With a loud blast, They fired their precious cargo pods of full of renewed ammunition onto the empty field. The five diamond-shape objects peppered in a circle, all teams approached the pods with their team names adorn on them.
As they gathered, RWBY began to speculate on what they were going up against. Weiss brought up that they might fight a more advance mobile armor; Yang yawned at that notion. "Been there, seen that, beat that." she said. While her little sister ran wild with ideas of powerful robots and Blake brought up possible idea of exoskeletons Soldiers. Both which made Yang yawn again.
"This better be worth it." inserting the shotgun belt around her gauntlets.
Blake kept her eye train on the sky as the Airship flew towards the glen. "I'll guess we'll find out soon enough."
Like a foreboding omen the entire area was drape under a shadow, The giant ship hovered over the valley and covered the sun. Moving to its side, another round of loud blast sounded off, four rounded tear shape pods landed down at the edge of the cliff. Digging into the ground; each of them were big enough to house a humanoid, there was an uneasy silence as they all assembled.
Gears on each corner of the drop-pods started to spin rapidly with a whining, whirring sound, then a sharp pop as they rose and stopped.
All of the hunters eyes were drawn to them as the pods immediately opened up like a blooming flower; a misty vapor concealed what was inside.
Much to their surprise the silhouettes of four girls started outlining the vapor. A gut feeling started making Ruby uneasy; somewhere in the back of her mind, the familiar features of the girls couldn't have been a coincidence. All four girls shared the same freckled face. Looking around she saw that a fellow leader in blue noticed something too.
All four girls, like standing sleeping beauties, didn't move an inch.
It soon changed.
On the left the leader, Titan started opening her cold, black eyes. The bright Eos shared a stoic face.
Next to her was Xoanon, who had a woodsy air to her. Chin-length dark green hair and two sets of green bows tied around each of her pigtails giving it a "tree branch" look. To add to the theme she wore a lighter green top with detached sleeves that covered all the way to her forearms, a skirt of the same color went over the dark-brown spandex shorts and knee-long brown socks and brown sneakers finished the "Tree" theme.
In a myriad of brown, red, and white, a blank face Sepia inspected the situation. Her hair was a mixture of bright red and brown splotches that draped over her shoulders, braided and adorn with red and brown bows. Wearing what look like a casual and brisk attire of a frilly white top with red coattails, a long scarf with tassels which was a blend of red and brown and light blue shorts with low-cut red boots.
Black, Orange, Green, and Red eyes scanned the area until they met the sights of the bewildered hunters.
Weiss was the first one to speak as the others gawked. "Are they?" Still not believing the sight, she couldn't find a word.
"Hunters?" Ruby scratched her head.
Blake's bow twitched, from far away she could hear the "Girls" talking among themselves, their speech was somewhat understandable, but it sounded "robotic" was the word she tried to find.
"Bfft! Just a bunch of girls!" Yang chuckled. "This is what we've been waiting? What a lousy day."
As if feeling themselves challenge TEXS in choreograph sync, they all scowled, making a fist and punching their open palm with a loud crack, rolling their necks before they keeled down.
The hunters would finally meet the challenge to end all challenges as the group of super-powered androids created a sonic boom as they rushed towards them, from there they jumped fifty feet in the air.
Eos Aura manifested itself in a blue hue, she directed the hue to her hands, and tapped them against each of her sisters backs. Xoanon crashed back into the ground, the girl then slapped the ground which erupted it with an explosion of land and dirt, Soon a gigantic tree rose over the field. The flaming Sepia generated burning balls of fire on her hands, and ignited the tree which became a towering inferno. And finally drawing her fist back Titan struck it; sending flaming chunks and sharp splinters showering towards the hunters.
"Me and my big-"
"Yang don't just stand there!" Blake fired her rounds.
"Fire!" Ruby and Weiss did so as well.
The descending firestorm kept coming, a large chunk scattered Team CRDL around after their weapons prove ineffectual, They weren't the first as RWBY found themselves on a path of larger debris heading for them.
Gun-ho and protective of her team, Yang went ahead of them, firing her gauntlets and using them to take the brunt of it all. Each hit gathered energy, but soon she was overtaken by a large burning branch that brought her down to the ground. The force of it made her yell out a painful cry, the scorching heat was overwhelming her, out of the corner she could see her sister and team coming only be stop in their tracks by another branch. 'Better plan, plan next time!'
Yang gritted her teeth as she struggled to move the branch. "C-come on! Move!" And it did just that; although not by itself.
"Don't worry friend! I won't let a worthy rival like you fall." a bubbly voice called out from the hot smoke. She saw Jane move the branch slowly, lifting it off Yang's body before she effortlessly toss it away. "Thanks." she said to Jane.
The smiling Jane nodded before it turn into shock expression. "Watch out!" The warning was too late as Titan rushed in, and grabbed both girls by their collars, jumped and somersault them before smashing both to the ground.
Team JNPR hurried towards them along with the rest of RWBY and JOLT. The rest of the androids joined the battle. Both Pyrrha and Ruby shot at Eos, it was a useless as she dodged the bullets like a phantom before meeting their bladed weapons with the blunt hit of her feet. Nora pushed back by shooting her grenades at her. Eos just punted it straight up, Xoanon appeared, jumping off of Titan's back, she kicked the grenade back towards Nora, Ruby, Pyrrha; the explosion forcing them away.
The rest of TEXS started decimating the rest of the teams, forcing them into retreating to the forest.
Titan strung up both Yang and Jane, they twisted and turn in an effort to escape. Cold black eyes examined closer; it gave Yang shivers. "Just what are you?" Yang asked Titan as she smiled.
As the headmaster of Beacon, Ozpin was given rights to oversee the stress test. It felt more like he was forced to take role of an overseer, to him the Atlasian knights guarding the doorway seem more like an intimidation gesture, the fact that he was asked to exercise a participating eye along with the Vale council sealed it.
Ozpin kept a stiff lip and calm face, he knew that TEXS weren't exactly your usual girls. Each close up of the girls on the holographic terminal brought up a sorrowful memory. Closing his eyes he already made peace with the memory; but it didn't make it easy.
On the same connection Ironwood noticed it. "Oz-"
"Tell me General, if I'm so bold to ask, does Dr. Victor know about this particular set of girls?"
On the screen Ironwood looked shock. "How did you-?"
The headmaster smiled. "Let's just say, long ago, a little blue fairy told me."
Ironwood tried to compose himself; the shock expression turn to a bewildered one then into an angered one. His mouth hanged open just as a call from Dr. Carnelian interrupted him. He gave Ozpin a half-angry, half-anxious look before the screen went black.
Ozpin just took a relaxing zip of his steamy coffee, and reclined into his chair, and reminisced about happier times.
The screen on the terminal of Titan went dark.
Ruby's head bobbed in timing with every period of distance gunfire. The sounds of tree trunks joining the louder sounds made her travel faster; much to the complain of her partner. Weiss tried to keep up the pace; unnerved by all of it.
After the attack of TEXS scattered everyone into the forest, the girls reunited among the chaos. Weiss kept herself calm and tired to keep her emotions under her command, but it wasn't easy as the sounds got louder and closer.
Seeing as Ruby was leaving her behind Weiss huffed and jogged ahead. Weiss felt a bit empathic; The leader in red was shaking like leaf; Probably scared out her wits Weiss thought. After all this was an enemy that they'd never face before, she pondered if they even were human.
'Some Atlas military experiment run amok?'
Shaking the thoughts away, she decided to divulge a few encouraging words to her partner. "Ruby?" she tried to get her attention before a loud pop from an explosion made them both shake, but Ruby would still not turn.
Weiss tried again. "I know the situation might be perturbing, but we should not falter to this." She smiled, gently getting her attention by placing her hand on the cape draped shoulder.
Ruby slowly turn around, but it wasn't a face Weiss expected to see: She was brightly grinning.
"I am excited for the challenge too!" she said.
Her partner tried deeply let her head fall off as it tilted from disbelief. "What?"
If there was any doubt on Ruby wanting to be a hero it would gone now. For her they were awesome opponents that were so fast, strong, and even had cool semblances. Something that a worthy hero would easily prevail. And she intended to achieve just that.
A wavy mouth Weiss still stared at her while still trying her best to function. "Seriously, what?"
"Come on Weiss, we're fighting for our livelihood, bring your 'A' game."
Finally composing herself she spoke, "Look, I'm no stranger to a challenge, but may I remind you that only four of them were handling all twenty of us with ease?!" she shouted.
Ruby shrugged, not the least afraid. "Yeah I know, but we're in this fight to win it. Besides, its a sanction one, it's not like they're out to kill us, right?"
After those choice of words, they heard a series of pain yells and gunfire close by. Both girls turn just in time to see two members of team CRDL flying past them.
They both raised their weapons as two girls from TEXS ambled by, Sepia and Eos, first unaware of them got ready for their own battle stance. Sepia generated a small fire ball from one of her hands, next to her Eos shook briefly as she was bathe in a blue Aura; putting her hand on her sister's back Sepia's fire ball amplified to a huge state.
Quickly acting, Weiss flicked her rapier and stabbed the ground causing a huge wall of ice. It was to buy them time to make a decision; it only bought them two seconds. The icy mound started steaming until the center of white ice turn orange and exploded as the two girls jump through.
Ruby wasted no time attacking first.
She ran ahead, jumping and swinging back her scythe in an effort to cut down (No pun indented) their Aura. Sepia just stoically stared up and effortlessly grabbed the scythe blade causing Ruby to stop mid-air. Shock and surprise on her face as she was drawn closer, close enough that Eos gave her a curious look. In the same instance Eos with a finger radiated with her Aura lightly tapped Ruby on her forehead.
"Defeated." bright colored girl said in a soft voice.
Suddenly for Ruby everything become a sudden blur and the sounds become distorted. Sepia gently moved Ruby back on the ground. Panicked, she used her Semblance to run; only to really run fast. "Whoa!" she said as suddenly the girl started running faster than she could from before. There was a sonic boom as she cut a massive path across the forest and beyond.
"Ruby!" her partner yelled out before just dodging a fire punch from Sepia.
"You will not take me so easily!" Weiss said defiantly.
Clicking the revolver, she made a glyph underneath her unaware opponent. The glyph created a growing mass of rock that encased Sepia's feet, trapping her. Changing the Dust again, Weiss created a cocoon of glyphs around her, they were all lighting Dust. The shocking bolts buzzed and hit her with a powerful hits that lasted a minute. Weiss hoped it was enough to take her opponent's Aura down.
It didn't.
Sepia wasn't damaged or looked worse; without trouble broke away from the stone shackles. "It tickles." An electric arc traveled around her cowlick.
The huntress looked with mouth agape; if Yang was here, she would be here with a tired, stale pun.
Eos took advantage of her stupor, and lightly tapped Weiss with her palm. Symptoms of a very large headache started coming and she fell to her knees with a powerful pain. Without calling them, a huge wave of glyphs started appearing around the area.
Weiss grunted and groaned. Standing next to her, Eos gave her sympathetic look. "The effects will only last approximately ten minutes." she said. "Please do not move, the pain will go away soon."
Eos started walking away, behind her Sepia looked down and shared the same face as her sister. Oddly, she started petting Weiss's head. "There, there, the pain will be gone; you fought well." a small awkward smile appeared before she left to join her sister.
They both shared a look and nodded before jumping up and beyond the treetops.
Not too far away: the two strongest huntress took on the ruthless leader.
On the sea of treetops a large explosion of leaves and trunks erupted as all three were sent flying towards the sky in their battle. Out of the forest they flew past the moderating Bullheads containing their seniors; Professors Goodwitch, Port, and Oobleck were very much worried about their seemingly one-sided battle. They were deliberating whether they would need to intervene.
"Really! What the heck are you?!" Yang shouted past the whistling high-winds.
Titan didn't speak as she acceded along with them.
Jane covered her eyes; trying desperately not to look down. "I wasn't made for high places!" The blue-hooded leader tried to gather her wits. "I mean born! I wasn't born for this!"
As they started descending, the fight started again. Jane drew her broadsword while Yang was ready to knock some heads.
Titan coldly gazed at her as Yang fired, only to have the taciturn girl slap the molten pellets back towards Jane, peppering her with the friendly-fire. "Sorry!" Yang shouted. Jane went for her own attack, charging up the lighting Dust embedded in the sword. She fired an electric shock only for Titan to do the same thing and directed towards Yang. "I apologize!" Jane said.
Going for a double attack, hoping to break her guard, Yang went for a bone-crunching punch as Jane slash down her broadsword. Effortlessly, Titan grabbed both her fist and her blade with bare hands. For a second her usual emotionless face showed a taunting smile at Yang before Titan forced both of them down to the ever increasing ground.
Plummeting at incredibly high speeds, they had only a few minutes.
Yang growled, "If we live I'm so going to kick her-!"
"Let's do that after we live!" Jane shouted.
"Yeah!" Yang thought about it. "How?!"
Formulating a plan in a span of a second, Jane drew one of her short swords. "Don't worry friend, I have a plan!" mustering her own monstrous strength and adding her Aura she tossed the sword down; cutting the air as it landed on the ground. She soon teleported to its place and chucked her broadsword high towards Yang, teleporting to it, Jane grabbed Yang just in time before they both crash back down.
They rolled a few times, coming to a complete stop on the soft grass floor.
The girls were huffing with a smile, relieved that the whole ordeal was dealt with; at least until something occurred to Yang. "I-I wonder where that...her went?"
"I…" Jane huffed. "Think-"
In a thunderous entrance, Titan landed in between them destroying the ground and tossing them back to the air. Titan slowly turn her head to Yang and glared.
Yang spoke: "Oh...you gotta be kidding...me!"
The ruthless android grabbed Yang and Jane's forearm and toss them both back into the sky.
Yelling as they were flung, "We're still in the air!" Yang said.
"Still?!" Jane screamed.
Titan then leapt skyward and blasted after them.
Luvia regain consciousness just in time see herself nearing the edge of a small waterfall.
She struggled to hang on, but the slippery rocks were an obstacle; worse, it hit some sharp rocks near their base that caused a gash and a sprained ankle. The shallow stream below splashed as Luvia fell; causing her Aura to deplete into the red. Managing to get up to the pebble bank, she tried to sort the situation out.
The last thing she remembered was she and her team sans their leader, and Jaune with his team fighting a powerful opponent. The opponent, using an extraordinary semblance she created living roots that whipped the area around them apart. Jaune cut and block more than a few. Out of Dust grenades, her other arsenals prove useless against the fast moving roots; Jaune, seeing the urgency told her to stay behind. Right then a big root smashed against his shield, and she was pushed off into a fast moving current; fortunately it peter out halfway after she was knocked out.
Tired and Aura low, Luvia always knew she was physically weak, the only way to compensate was to be a walking armory which being the heiress of a Weapons company was easy for her. She was never cut out be a huntress; just the same, she never wanted to be one in the first place. But her parents insisted otherwise.
Unraveling her green bow, she used it to cover her bleeding thigh. The situation became worse as she heard a monstrous growl. A Boarbatusk found Luvia in her vulnerable state, it stampeded towards her. Her Aura was still low, any other weapons would useless so she had no choice. Using her Semblance, it caused the Grimm to lose speed.
It slowed down, but it was able recover it speed and regain the rush. The hurt huntress tried her best to move out of the way, but the closing Boarbatusk made a hit inevitable.
"Y'ahh!" a voice yelled out.
Jaune gallantly, in Luvia's eyes, charged in and blocked the tusk head. He then slashed at the head with a heavy and dull blow that knocked it away. The Grimm laid on the ground, seemingly dead.
The knight turn around with a smile. "Luvia, you okay?"
Blushing she nodded. "Yeash," she stammered out, shaking her head out of embarrassment even in a time like this. "I mean yes. I'm alright except for a gash on my thigh."
"Really?" he rolled his finger around his messy blond hair; trying to stimulate some thoughts. "Do you mind if I take a look? I might have something remedy it."
The CEO, prone to isolationism by circumstances, was now about the let this peculiar boy whom made her feel flustered, look at her wound. Madly blushing Luvia gave her consent. Jaune himself wince, it wasn't a big or deep gash, but was a long one. Pulling out a small brown bottle, he turn to her, "This might sting a little."
"If it means making it better then proceed." she said.
Taking a small tap he rubbed the salve across the gash. He chuckled and spoke in an effort to alleviate the pain. "Heh, I'm always accident prone myself. So my mom concocted this in order to save me the trouble of going to the local doctor."
She smiled. Glad that at least someone had a normal mother, "Smart woman. Anyway, may I ask what happen back there?"
"Huh? Last time I check we were winning. So they decided to sent me to try to find you while they finished it. I feel like it's my fault, I mean I did push you."
"No, we were push Jaune," looking away, feeling unusually hot. "You fought bravely."
Luvia congratulated him on his efforts, it made the knight bashfully say his thanks, both unaware that the Grimm was not defeated. It was just knocked out and now it was angry. Snorting at the sight and stomping its hoof, the beast charged in a rolling attack. Jaune heard it coming, he whirled around and blocked again, leaving the underbelly exposed in which Luvia used her healed leg to slash the belly with her bladed heels.
The now dead Grimm body landed back down.
Jaune chuckled. "You know, we make a pretty good team."
"Yes...a Team." a thought clicked behind the blushing smile.
Titan was determined to hunt down the hunters that alluded her.
Yang and Jane had managed to give them the slip. To her it simply wasn't acceptable; she was made better for this. Her objective was clear, to the defeat the hunters for her creator's approval. Just to defeat them and not kill, right? Thoughts and assessment plagued.
Somewhere in her more 'living' components tried to tell her otherwise. Her Aura was actually dictating what she should do; against the protocols place by her chief creator.
She tried to stay in her objective, but she couldn't find anything besides animals and Grimm for miles. Suddenly she detected an Aura that was familiar and similar to her own; earlier, she detected another one, but now this one seem so much closer.
The sound of a twig snap alerted it to its owner. Titan whirled around to see an amber-eyed woman.
"So," Cinder said to Titan. "Another was made."
Titan looked confused. "Y-you-" she stuttered. "Aura? like me?"
Cinder walked closer to her. "Yes little droid, but you seem weaker than the other. Let me remedy that."
In a blink of an eye she disappeared. To Titan's surprise she appeared behind her, a sudden pain originated behind her back as she lost feelings. Fear and sadness appeared as her mind withered away, losing control of her individuality.
Cinder smirked. "This might cut my years, but I need you to be strong, just in case I fall."
"Now, go kill. My friend."
Weiss stumbled out of the forest and back into the field where the battle started.
True to Eos words, the nauseating feeling started going away. Adjusting her eyes she could see the leaderless TEXS waiting in a standoff against the rest of the teams; including two of her own.
"Weiss!" Blake and Yang called out.
"Eh?" she started tripping forward, her teammates made sure to grab her before she fell. They carried her over to a safe spot, Blake tried to quell her ailments while Yang felt antsy; Ruby was still nowhere to be seen, and the fact that her partner came alone did not help.
Blake guided Weiss up to her feet; She insisted she was fine, if still wobbly. It didn't last long as Yang wanted desperately to know where Ruby was. "Weiss, have you seen Ruby anywhere? When is the last time you saw her?!" she asked curtly.
Weiss pushed away. "Ruby was with me when we were ambushed by two of them. One of them used an amplifying Semblance which made ours stronger, but it made us confuse and hard to control. The last time I saw Ruby she ran off blindly into the horizon."
The fuming sister wanted more answers, and she was looking for someone who can provide her some. She ran towards TEXS, armed and ready. "HEY! Which one of you messed with my little sister?!"
Before one of them could answer, Titan landed from above in front of her. "Me. My team; my command."
"You!"
"Yes. Me, Titan, which means you belong under my foot."
"Oh yeah?!" Yang flared up. "Care to live up to that!" She drew in a powerful fist to Titan; she simply pushed down Yang's wrist and balance herself up, and stomp her boot onto her face.
"Yes, I can." Titan smirked as she applied pressure. Being under her heel, Yang would say that she "Walk right into that one", if her face wasn't currently squashed. She cocked her gauntlets and fired; it was enough push herself off from under Titan.
Yang saw the surprised look on her face, and took advantage. She did sweeping kick towards Titan's ankles; it felt more like kicking a truck to Yang. Regardless, she ignored the pain as Titan fell down, the blond bruiser delivered a massive blow to Titan's stomach causing her to dig into the ground.
It didn't take much for Titan to recover, at the same time she was no longer smug and was getting visibly angry, much to the delight of Yang. "How about some fire?" The impatient girl didn't wait for a conformation as she lighted up the crater.
A futile attack as the android saw the pellets slowly coming towards her, easily plucking them off the air like berries off a bush, faster than Yang could see Titan collected them all. The smirking brunette let the pellets flow off her clenched fist; the same fist then crashed into Yang's face.
Fast moving punches cut through Yang's defenses which worked to her advantage. With the extra strength given to her, she grappled one of Titan's forearms and with her gauntlet she fired to lift themselves up, while on the air Yang did a down kick that smashed Titan back down into the crater.
This time, she didn't give Titan the opportunity to get back up. Getting on top of her, she pummel her face with series of punches. The hits were nothing to Titan, it just made her angrier. She retaliated by wrapping her legs around Yang's waist, and tossed her away.
The android was done; she wanted to kill her now. Faster than the blink of an eye, Titan grabbed Yang by the collar as she was flying. Horrifyingly, she started choking Yang.
Her allies saw it, and rushed over to help; hoping to get there in time. Even Titan's sisters were stunned at her cruel act.
Titan took a sadistic pleasure in watching the lilac eyes water.
"GET OFF MY SISTER!"
Out of the woods, a thunderous roar rang out as Ruby came running towards them. She smashed into Titan which made her let go of Yang. Ruby pushed against the android creating a large trail of bare ground until Titan finally pushed back. The red-hooded leader tried to push again; unfortunately, Ruby was pushing against an unmovable object.
An annoyed Titan then grabbed her cape and tossed her off the cliff for certain death. Shock, the rest of TEXS saw this and ran to save her. Eos used her Aura on Xoanon who created a large tree trunk that grew out of the glen walls, Sepia then jumped on the trunk, catching Ruby before she fell off the edge. Sepia with Ruby in her arms used the trunk as springboard to jump back into the cliffs.
The sisters gathered around Ruby. Much to her surprise they were deeply concerned about her well-being, they weren't at all like her leader. "Are you okay?" and "Are you alright?" were the few if repetitive things they said.
"Yeah, heh, Thanks." Ruby smiled. She couldn't help but feel a familiarity from them.
The rest of her team with their own concerns pushed aside the girls to get to Ruby; Yang especially, hugging her tight. "Y-yang!" the little sister squirmed, Yang then looked back at the girls with smile.
"Thank you." she said sincerely.
"What are you doing!" Titan came marching towards them. "Kill them!" she barked to her sisters.
Eos hesitantly walked towards, in an effort to disarmed her. "Titan, it goes against protocol, we must admit defe-" she was silenced by Titan's hand around her mouth.
"No. I will take control." A orange Aura grew around Titan. Eos was let go from the grasp, her face was now in a trance state, wearing Amber-eyes she awaited orders. Titan then sped towards her two other sisters who were too shock to move and did the same.
All three were ordered to attack the other teams and prevent them from intervening.
Eos used her Aura to power up her sisters. Then Xoanon put her hands on the ground, Soon the whole field started shaking around the rest of the teams. All of them lost their balance as level ground they standing on suddenly became an incline; behemoth-size roots started to lift the land at an angle, All airships made sure to avoid emerging ground. Sepia then proceed to create a border of scorching flames at the base to prevent them from leaving.
Titan now had contented on her face as she watched her sisters work. These emotions weren't artificial like last time, no more protocols, she was going to enjoy making them suffer.
Amber-eyes narrowed. "I am going to ki-!"
Ruby hit her mid-sentence with the blunt head of Crescent Rose sending her back a few feet away. Thanks to Eos she still manage to tap into the power-up and made sure to put it full use.
Blake came in next to Ruby; she used her ribbon to tie it around Titan's ankles. "Ready?" Ruby said. With nerves of steel for the impending ride, Blake put her arm around Ruby's shoulder, holding on tight. At her nod they both span around the confuse android; now her legs were completely wrapped.
"Pull!" Ruby shouted. Both girl yanked the ribbon back with all the might; it send Titan spinning around at high speed like a quarter on its edge. A smile gleamed from Ruby as Titan became discombobulated.
Weiss huffed; she detested an unfair match, but what must be done, must be done. "Let's just finish this."
Ruby giggled. "Yeah, yeah, heh, just four shots!"
Her partner then summon an ice glyph, while she aimed her rifle and fired. "One!, Two!, Three, and Four!"
Each ice shot trapped every one of Titan's limbs, immobilizing her. By the time she was able recalibrate her sense of vision, Titan's eyes widen in schock.
"Ready Sis?" Ruby said to Yang as the little sister carried-with a wince-her older sister on her back. "Oh yeah! Do it Ruby!"
"Strawberry-Sunshine Piggyback ride-mach punch!" they both yelled as they launch with a sonic boom.
The blow on Titan caused a misty explosion upon impact from the ice vaporizing. After the dust settled, the leader of TEXS collapse forward, battered and smoky body lying face down.
RWBY came up and surrounded her.
While the others gave each other worry looks, Yang examined Titan and was relief that she still kind of alive; relief that she was better than her because she wasn't a killer. She wondered what drove her to this or maybe, who? Yang looked up past one of the descending Bullheads to the Atlas airship. She didn't know what, but she had a bad feeling about them.
"Not…"
The team turn to Titan who was steadily and weakly rising.
All had the same look of shock-Ruby more so. For good reason; Titan's chest, left arm and part of her right cheek was without skin. It revealed a silver alloy body underneath.
"W-what the heck are you?" Yang said.
Titan collapse once again before an answer could be given. Ruby was shaking, 'Another? Penny...'
"Guys, we've got company!" Blake warned.
The rest of TEXS, who were still under Titan's control headed right for them. They all readied their weapons until a voice called them from behind. Walking away from the landed Bullhead, they were glad to see the wrathful senior huntress was on their side.
Pushing up her glasses Goodwitch said: "Ironwood has no idea how much trouble he is in." she said to herself.
Goodwitch then pointed her wand at the androids."And this test is over!"
Using her semblance she raised Team TEXS and slammed them together; knocking them out quickly and undramatically.
Later That Evening
The Atlas airship sailed in front of the sunset over Vale.
General Ironwood had mix feelings concerning the outcome. Indeed he wanted the war to end, he wanted no more weapons being made and fired. He hoped for a day when the Grimm would be gone and no longer walls would be needed to be built so all people would prosper beyond without conflict.
But peace wasn't so easy and free. He knew that.
Part of him sought the Synthetics as guardians that would take up the mantle from the Hunters. With the Synthetics they will never tire in keeping the peace; after all, he was a hunter himself, and life in the military only progress the hardship of keeping the fragile civilization in harmony.
But in some ways he was glad that the huntsmen have prove themselves, they banded together, and even though it wasn't a total victory they did survive and win against a powerful force.
In the back of his mind he had concern towards the idea of the Synthetics. It was a Pandora's box; who knows what they were really capable of. Especially in the wrong hands. The outcome for that peace would not justify it.
He only trusted Dr. Victory to make a perfect human. He worked hard and sacrificed so much to bring Penny to life because he still believe that she needed save the world, that his beloved, late granddaughter would save the world.
An Atlas soldier called to him, looking away from the big arch window, a call from Dr. Carnelian was waiting for him It seems he finally made it to Atlas to meet his superiors from Program Legacy. Ironwood truthfully didn't know much about the private organization. His friend didn't give him consent, but he trusted him enough.
On the other line Dr. Carnelian has told him while the stress test was noted as failure, it open doors for future improvements, and that Project Legacy has thank them all for participating.
"Goodbye for now James. There still work to be done for both us." Dr. Carnelian said to him from a cold and grey corridor. "Thank you for your service, and I hope to see you in calmer times friend."
Putting back the phone handset back to the wall terminal. He hanged his head in shame. Every time he would call him from the headquarters felt like he was stabbing his old friend in back, worse stabbing Dr. Victor too. Every possible negative emotion filled him and made the man ill.
Dr. Rick D. Carnelian would often wonder if he really was doing the right thing. This world was not for Fairy-Tales; not for heroes waiting to save it or misguided rebels aiming to fight for it. The work he and his colleagues held diligently would save the world from any wrong, but at a very steep price.
The driving question when face with it was: Did the end justify the means?
He exhaled a loud sigh and he turn around to look at the mural on the wall. One of a beautiful woman in an elegant white gown with a spear held between her and her left arm, wearing an ancient helmet. On the other a close book engrave with an ancient word for "Peace", Waves of Yellow and Teal surrounded her.
Dr. Carnelian reflected on the meaning of Peace.
The organization firmly believes that the war cannot be won by conventional means. It's against nature for it to be stop with just treaties and fickle promises, old wounds won't heal and hate will never forget, all people will never be equal when certain ones are in power. Peace will only be achieve by force pacifying if both Humans and Faunus are to live in a world of absolute peace.
At least that's what the Director has told him.
It was time to report to her on the results of the Team TEXS stress test. He still felt ill on betraying both men who gave him the opportunity to achieve greatness. Dr. Victor, the quirky man who wanted safeguard the world who was like a father to him. James Ironwood who took him under his wing during the military years and has forever been a close friend.
He looked back at the mural again.
Program Legacy was just a public name. He couldn't tell them who really worked for.
Under the mural displayed the true name: Athene
The same mural was decorated on the tall wall of a enclosed sterile white room. In the middle of the room under a much more intense bright light. A small team of Humans and Faunus dressed in white, worked together and scrutinized over a sleek alloyed body. The mechanical body was the size of normal teenage-girl; it was the latest of many, and not the last.
On the opposite of the room, they and their work was overseen from a large window. Behind the thick glass a brown-hair woman in a grey and white coat marked with red stripes sunk into her worn chair. Under her glasses the stress in a form of dark-brown bags under her eyes became obvious. The holographic monitors around the panel buzzed and waved as she let out a frustrated sigh.
The Director was under the weigh of the world. Waiting for the results was excruciating; it became more evident as streams of blood started coming down her forehead, passing the old red wound on her left cheek. She wiped it off before company came.
She then turned around as the 'swish' of the metal doors opened.
Two men were standing there, First was a middle-age man with short-blond hair and brown eyes clad in the typical lap-coat and the little Owl emblem that was the organization's symbol; he had stern rough look to him that went hand and hand with the graze on the right of his lower jaw. Then there was Dr. Carnelian who had a disappointed and nervous look; which didn't inspire anything good about the results.
The Director shifted her eyes at them individually. "Dr. Carnelian, I assume that the stress test has failed."
He reluctantly nodded. "Yes, Androids: Eos, Xoanon, and Sepia did well to follow orders, but Titan, as we suspected, was noncomplying. Which led to the likelihood of some of the huntress-in-training being expose to her true origins."
This raise an alarm inside the Director's head.
The man next to Dr. Carnelian chuckled. "Of course, unlike the others, Titan was created by the Aura of the Alpha test subject, the 'behavior' comes to no surprise seeing who she is." he said zealously.
It earn the ire of her. "Do you find this epic blunder amusing, Dr. Evergreen?"
"Our lives' work, the sacrifices we've made in order to uphold the Athen Foundation?" she said short of shouting.
Dr. Evergreen shook his head. He kept his smirk. "No, this just a minor setback. I heavily doubt anything will come out of this. I will assure you Director, I fix any loose ends."
The Director narrowed her eyes. "Then I hope I can trust that you will safeguard any secrets. That being said, we have less than a month before the tournament. Then and there we will show the people the fire we have created."
She then turn her eyes to Dr. Carnelian whose head dropped. "Do you have any second thoughts on this matter Dr. Carnelian?"
He slightly jumped, feeling melancholic, he said: "N-no, I just worry about the exposure of Athen to the public, my betrayal to my dear friends that I had to lie every time I see them."
The woman seem to understand the feeling. She stared at him for a good minute before she spoke, "I know that feeling all to well. I...I admired Dr. Victor for his work and I give my countless thanks to General Ironwood for saving my family. But we need to make sacrifices in order to safeguard the world once and for all."
"When in doubt, I look at the Athen Foundation's motto: "In the darkness, we will give our brothers fire."
He nodded understandingly as Dr. Evergreen started to leave. Dr. Carnelian spoke once more about a report he missed. "We have another abnormality during the stress test, not one of our own, but there were sightings from our operatives of Grimm not native to Vytal."
Hearing this, the leaving Doctor left with an inhuman and large grin.
Author's final Note: Yeah, sorry for the large chapter. Writing fights and plot does that.
So yeah, Athen, aforementioned in chapter 3, is a very real-behind the scenes-threat rivaling Cinder and the White Fang as antagonist. And not the last.
How will Ironwood and Penny's father handle the fact that their friend is not what he seems?
I hope you like the chapter and the fights weren't exhausting and that they flowed right. Tell me if you see any errors.
Until next time, Review if you please.