Author's Note: Shortly after my posting of No Brakes, my little sister – happily married – gave birth to a baby girl. Chloe Grace: my niece. On September 16th, I became an uncle.
Upon a short bedside table, a scroll came to life, the activated screen providing a pinpoint of light in the darkness. Soon, a techno tune cut through the silence.
"Ursa, Ursa~
Ursa, Ursa, U-ursa~"
The snores of the occupant of the bed broke off with a snort and Jaune rolled over, blinking and rubbing at the sleep from his eyes to squint at the brightness. He fumbled for the device, somehow managing to get a grip on the thin frame before his thumb tapped against the screen, putting an end to the ringtone. He held it to his ear and groggily answered, "Hello- gah!"
A blast of static got him the rest of the way awake as he jerked the scroll away from his ear. He flipped it around, still adjusting to the brightness as he tried to make out the identity of the caller.
[Ruby Rose]
His friend's portrait hovered over her name, Jaune able to make out the smile on the young Rose's face before he noticed the indication of the call suddenly ending after only a few seconds.
"Ruby?" The continued darkness of his team's room should've made it obvious but Jaune tapped on his scroll to be sure as the electronic display for the clock came up. Why's she calling at this hour?
After some deliberation, Jaune attempted to call her back. He didn't even get through before the notification came up to show a failure to connect.
He again viewed his scroll, this time with a frown. He was awake enough at this point to remember that Ruby and her team should be out on their mission at this point. Why was she trying to contact him?
Had they possibly ran into trouble?
To soothe his own conscience, Jaune tried one more time to contact Ruby…and again when that proved to be a failure. Still nothing. Doing so with any of the other members of Team RWBY was met with the same results.
Technical trouble? They had all been warned previously that their missions could send them out into areas where reception wouldn't be that great, leaving them out of contact with the school until they could establish a proper signal. Those instances should be limited for the first-years at least, and they had the added protection of veteran Hunters to boot.
With some reluctance, Jaune placed his scroll back on the table. When a minute passed on by and it didn't ring, he rolled over to put his back to it. They're probably fine.
The nagging feeling that had developed kept him awake and refused to go away. He shifted restlessly, occasionally glancing back at the inert scroll to no effect. Trying to convince himself that no more calls meant that they weren't desperately in need of help proved to be useless.
They're fine. He dropped his head onto his pillow, focusing on his need for sleep. We're going on our own mission and I can catch one last wink of sleep before-
There came a sudden, excited 'whoop!' that he knew too well. There was the loud sound of feet landing hard on the floor, followed by the quick footwork that was aimed towards the window, and the early light of dawn spilled into the room.
"Iiiiiiit'ssss morning!" came Nora's happy call.
Jaune groaned into his pillow.
With the Nora-alarm at its loudest setting, there was no reprieve for any of JNPR, especially when the girl bounced towards each of their bunks, excitedly shaking each one awake while singing, "It's mission day~ Get up get up because it's mission day~"
Any attempts to tune her out were met with more shaking and more lyrics. Unlike scroll alarms, there was no off button for Nora.
The mission that they had selected was to begin earlier than most for today. After they showered and dressed, they made their way to the cafeteria for a quick breakfast, it being emptier than usual at this hour but the staff were up and Nora still got her pancakes much to her delight.
Despite their need to get ready though, Ruby's call stayed at the back of Jaune's mind, leading him to poking at his waffles with a fork, his appetite not with him today. His scroll weighed heavily in his pocket but no matter how much he wished it to, it didn't vibrate or notify him in any way about an incoming call. When JNPR eventually dumped their scraps and piled up their dirty trays, he couldn't help but pull out his scroll and check on the off chance that he somehow missed the signs of a new message.
"Jaune, what's wrong?" Pyrrha asked, his second having been throwing looks his way but only now choosing to vocalize the worry in them.
"I got a call from Ruby," he revealed, shoving his scroll back into its resting place.
"Is everything okay?"
"I don't know." They had left the cafeteria behind at this point, his team taking a path to the airpads where their designated Bullhead rested. "I lost the signal as soon as I saw it was her. You think that she might be in trouble or something?"
Pyrrha tilted her head in thought. "This was when?"
"Some time before we all woke up." Well, before Nora woke everyone else up to be precise.
"She could've been calling to say how their mission was going," she suggested.
"At that hour?" Jaune wondered but found some merit in it. Him and Ruby were alike in certain regards, mostly when it came to living their dreams as Huntsman and Huntress. If he had been put in her place – him being the one to have awoken from his first day on a mission while she was the one at Beacon sleeping -, he would be just as eager as she would to call and make a report no matter the hour, confident that she would love to hear every single detail. "I mean, yeah, I guess she could've but…"
"I'm sure they're fine."
"You think?"
"Probably a butt dial!" Nora chimed in, skipping her way to the airship.
"Team RWBY has always performed exceptionally in the field," Ren added at their rear. "We should be focusing on our own mission."
"We're going to be deputies!" his partner cheered.
None of them sounded worried and Jaune tried to take some reassurance in that to quell his worries. Maybe it's just all the Spruce Willis movies…
JNPR had gone on a marathon last night to commemorate their upcoming mission, influenced by the latest film to be released featuring his favorite action star. Quite a number of them involved the protagonist making a call to some other character, only to be cut off which turned out to be a sign of big trouble that was right around the corner.
Movie tropes, he tried to explain away. That's all. Instead of those, he followed Ren's advice to focus on their mission. Maybe we'll get deputy badges. Junior detectives are overrated anyway.
The imagery of a badge polished to a sparkle pinned to the right spot next to his chestplate didn't last as long as he would've liked. "I've just got this feeling…I don't know."
Pyrrha stopped when he did, examining him worriedly. "Jaune…"
If she was going to say anything else, she was interrupted when they all heard a distant siren. Jaune looked up towards Vale that lay at the horizon, and that bad feeling he had been having all morning got significantly worse when he saw the large plume of smoke that was issuing from the center of the city.
A second siren joined the first, this one much louder and much closer as it was coming from Beacon. Nora threw her hands over her ears and grimaced upon encountering something that was louder than she was.
"We're changing the mission!" Jaune made sure to shout so that they could hear him and waved towards the Bullhead. "Everyone on board!"
He got to the boarding ramp but didn't enter right away, instead waiting and making sure that his team all got in first. After Pyrrha and Nora entered, Jaune stuck out a hand to stop Ren. "Ren, we'll make it out to that village another time."
The stoic boy nodded in understanding, knowing that this unexpected change in circumstances took priority. Jaune hadn't gotten the full story, but the reason that JNPR selected their specific mission for that specific village was at the insistence of Ren and Nora. He had been holding his questions for when they actually got there, but Jaune had picked up enough to know that it was important to them.
His hand fell away, clearing the way for Ren to disappear inside the Bullhead. Only then did Jaune enter, running up to the cockpit where the pilot and co-pilot waited for an order that he was quick to give.
"Take us into the city!"
A powdered doughnut hung from Sun's tail, the monkey faunus nibbling off the rest of it before washing it down with a gulp of coffee. He still wasn't done though as, after licking his lip, he licked off some of the powdered residue from the fur of his tail.
"Dude, that's gross," Neptune complained next to him, the display making his glazed doughnut unappetizing.
"What?" Sun shrugged. "It's like licking it off from a moustache."
"Yeah, but people shave those." There was a pause as an idea came to Neptune. "Hey, you know what-?"
"I'm not shaving my tail, Nep."
The ungodly hour that they were forced to wake up from had bred second thoughts about Team SSSN's selection of assignments, the sun having yet to rise by the time they had gotten to the airship and made the journey into Vale – a trip which they couldn't remember in their half-asleep state. The two crime specialists that they met up with had been waiting for them at the skyport, Sage and Scarlet going with one while Sun and Neptune went with the other. The arrangement, as was explained to them later, was that the whole sleuthing and detective stuff would be a little awkward if you had everyone together in one giant group.
The detective that they went with had turned out to be a pretty cool guy. As soon as Sun and Neptune had gotten in the back of the unmarked car, the detective at the wheel had turned around to face them, taking a particular interest in Sun. "You know, some time ago I remember hearing about a faunus stowing away on a freighter and giving a couple our guys quite the chase around the city. Monkey faunus, with blond hair and a tail."
"Oh, really?" Neptune had questioned in his best nonchalant manner possible. "Strange coincidence, that."
"Yeah," Sun replied in the same way. "Coincidence."
"Coincidence, yeah," the detective echoed. "Style of dress was described as a white open shirt, blue pants, and red bracers."
"Uh…a very big coincidence?" Sun suggested, growing increasingly uneasy while Neptune silently cursed at his partner. They're supposed to be spending a few days on an assignment with a detective of the VPD and he never thought that he might be recognized for his stunt no matter how much time had passed?
The detective was still staring at them with a lifted brow.
"Is this going to be a problem?" Neptune questioned, discreetly checking to make sure that the doors hadn't been locked. They were in the back of a cop's car.
"A problem?" The detective barked out a laugh. "Hardly! Burnie and Joel? Assholes, the both of them. We're still not letting them hear the end of it!" He faced forward again. "Come on, I'll treat you boys to breakfast."
The two partners glanced at each other, Sun eventually grinning and giving a thumbs-up in open approval. Vale had just gone up another notch in their books.
That was how they ended up in this doughnut shop, one favored by VPD personnel, so they were told, for their free coffee and refills with the purchase of discounted doughnuts for cops. After Sun and Neptune flashed their junior detective badges, the deal became extended to them. Ending up eating at some new food joint was becoming a trend that they were really starting to enjoy.
Neptune was admiring the shiny bronze of that sleek badge when a sudden quake had it and the entire shop shake, the badge jumping on the counter but remaining on top. The plates that he heard breaking told him that the same luck didn't apply to others and he actually caught sight of one waitress who tripped and fell, shattering a hot pot of coffee upon a table which spilled on a couple patrons who yelped and jumped from their seats.
"What was-?" Sun started to question before a loud siren began to sound throughout the city. It caught everyone else's attention, customers immediately peering out the windows or leaping from their seats to run out of the shop to see what the commotion was about.
The Huntsmen-in-training watched it all go down…and then slowly gave each other looks of suspicion. It was Neptune who said, "I'm going to give you three guesses as to who could possibly be involved in that."
Sun was already grabbing his own badge with his hand while his tail scooped up Neptune's and deposited it on his partner's lap. "I don't need to be a nerd to only need one."
Together they rushed out the door and saw people already looking and pointing to something in the distance. What they found was a thick cloud of smoke to their west, reaching up high into the clouds.
"That does tend to be RWBY's calling card," Sun mentioned.
"Boys!"
The call brought them to the detective standing next to the open driver door of his car, waving frantically to the two of them.
"Shotgun," Sun spoke first.
"Shot- dammit!" Neptune cursed.
With a merry laugh, Sun ran over and dove into the front passenger seat. After a brief moment, his tail stuck out, clutching a signal light which he adhered to the roof of the car. It immediately began flashing red.
That's just awesome, Neptune couldn't help but comment before getting in the back.
"Temperature at sixty-six degrees," the voice from the android's speaker unit informed. It was an odd mix – deep and authoritative, but tinged with a nasal overtone that was nonetheless meant to sound what Cardin could only assume to be friendly. "Winds north-northeast at five to ten miles per hour. A beautiful morning with sunrise at six-fifty AM."
"If I wanted details on the weather, I would've looked it up," Cardin returned gruffly. "Are you a combat android or a weatherman?"
"This unit can serve a variety of functions," the android informed, immune to the leader's aggravation. "While my primary is for combat, my sensor package is optimally capable of collecting data on environmental conditions for battlefield analysis or otherwise." A moment of silence, then, "A beautiful morning, isn't it?"
Cardin quietly grumbled, wondering if he could get away with a slight push that would have the android falling from the fifty meter height from the top of the wall to the ground below.
When CRDL had selected Perimeter Defense, no one had thought to mention that they would be having company. It was only when they had been delivered to the southern wall that an engineer had approached them with a troupe of newly-minted AK-200 androids. Other than watching over the perimeter while engineers examined and fixed any deficiencies on the wall, an added assignment was for the members of CRDL to watch over and critique on the androids.
At three of the four directions of the kingdom of Vale, there were the natural barriers that were key to its existence. The oceans to the west, the mountains to the north, and a mix of both that partially covered the east until one ventured more into the south. This was where the southern wall came in: high and solid enough to deter the largest known specimen of the Grimm while bristling with hidden weapon emplacements and other defenses.
It was the only direction that the Grimm could hope to attack Vale from so, logically, no expense was considered too great to make sure that they would never be able to breach it. Constant reinforcements were made, from the materials used in its construction to the weapons that could activate at a moment's notice – from artillery pieces both on and behind the wall to lob explosive munitions to Dust-powered cannons. A wide stretch of no man's land had been cleared between the wall of human civilization and the forest of the Grimm beyond, leaving any approaching monsters to be completely exposed to the fire that would come their way if they dared to trespass…and managed to get through the minefield.
This included robotic sentinels. Until recently, the AK-130 androids had been the mainstay that would be stored within out-of-sight bays. That job, as it turned out, had been handed over to the 200s.
For all that the Atlesians had done to make their androids 'friendlier', Cardin was mildly surprised that they hadn't included digital faces on their visors. Since conversing with his assigned android – designated B-141 -, he half-expected some dumb emoticon to appear on the plain black expanse at its head. More annoying than fearsome and Cardin was regretting this whole thing.
Now, one may wonder as to why Cardin Winchester chose this rather boring mission – if one could really call it a 'mission' – in favor of the others. To put it simply, the leader had gotten tired of getting his butt thoroughly handed to him.
This was not strictly speaking of his team's latest defeat in the sparring arena to one Pyrrha Nikos. This included another little incident that had occurred around the end of first semester.
"So, you're Cardin Winchester," a steely voice accused.
There was no point in showing defiance, not in the position that Cardin was in and he didn't even try. He was down on his knees, brought to that position by the mountain of a man that had gripped him by the shoulder and pushed him down. It was the first in a long, long time that Cardin had felt so diminutive and it didn't help that he could sense the giant's presence standing behind him even if he hadn't said a word or made any kind of motion since then.
Before him, seated atop the desk of the lecture hall that he had been ambushed and pushed into, was a girl. Not just any girl, something which he had been enlightened to shortly after his capture. She sat there with one leg crossed over the other, a slight tilt at her head as she examined him. The black shades hid her eyes and her lips were smoothed over in a line, but there was no mistaking the utter contempt that exuded from her.
She was taller than most girls but nothing in comparison to Cardin if he was standing. Nonetheless, she carried herself with such a presence that made it more than just her positioning that cowed Cardin into obeying the quiet order that he was not to move or even speak unless she allowed it. She didn't need her friend with the freaky eyes to make the situation any more frightening, the white-eyed boy standing dutifully next to her and staring straight ahead.
"I've heard quite a bit about you," she continued. "A bit late, I'm afraid, which is most unfortunate. For you."
Cardin swallowed thickly, unable to speak. The silence that followed was oppressive and his heart jumped when she uncrossed and crossed her legs again, this time setting her elbow on top and resting her chin in her palm. Those black lenses never strayed from him and the disdain didn't so much as lessen.
"You don't seem like a particularly smart boy – a given, considering where we are right now -, but I think even you have realized at this point as to why you're here. This concerns a certain teammate of ours: Velvet Scarlatina." Leather-clad fingers drummed against her cheek. "I'm sure that you've picked up at least her name with how long you've been…acquainted with her."
Another round of silence, and Cardin could feel the blood draining from his face.
"I thought so. See, here's the problem that we have here, Cardin. We of CFVY have a rule that we expect others to follow." Her lip curled menacingly. "Don't. Touch. The bunny."
How she snapped off each part with building tension had Cardin desperately trying to defend himself as he shouted, "I didn't know!"
Coco frowned at him, the drumming ceasing. Her hand moved, fingers pinching at the bridge of those glasses in order to pull them down. Hard brown eyes glared down at him, and Cardin preferred them having been hidden. Exposed, he could get a better measure of the scorn that they had been suppressing while they inspected him. The amount had him shaking.
Coco pushed her shades back up, hiding them again to his immense relief. "I believe you. You're a first-year after all, so you probably didn't know. And Velvet is just too kindhearted for her own good to mention anything to us or you."
Cardin nodded vigorously. "Yes, yes!" He may just get out of this alive.
"Unfortunately, ignorance won't save you."
That building hope was viciously trampled. Next to Coco, Fox stared directly down at Cardin, those white eyes boring into him. A vicious grin split across his features, the white of his teeth standing out just as jarringly as his eyes against his dark skin.
"Oh, don't worry," Coco assured with a similar expression. "Messengers tell a better tale when they're alive. Thank you for volunteering to deliver this one." Her chin rose a fraction in order to look above him. "Yatsuhashi."
That big, heavy hand fell and seized Cardin by the shoulder.
"Let's make sure that we send this one off with a message that his fellow first-years will never forget."
Between the Ursa, Nikos, and that incident that ended with students finding him babbling incoherently within the middle of Beacon's courtyard in nothing but his underwear the next morning, Cardin was ready to take it easy. Slink away from the attention of his fellow students for a while and attempt to start fresh.
"Alert: Grimm detected!" B-141 brought a hand behind its back, retrieving the rifle clamped there and pointed it out from the wall. "Remain calm and please seek shelter!"
"What?" Cardin stared at the Atlesian Knight and then where it was pointing its weapon. "Where?"
"Warning: Grimm in the area!" The android remained in its combat stance but its speaker continued blasting its announcement. "Threat at approximately five hundred yards! Remain calm and seek shelter!"
Five hundred yards. During the ramblings of the engineer while giving CRDL a tour of the wall, Cardin thought he remembered that distance being spouted out as what was between the wall and the forest. He scanned along the edge of the forest, staring hard as he tried to locate this Grimm.
It took a few seconds – filled with 141's repeats of 'Grimm detected!' – but Cardin was able to pick out a black silhouette that stood out from the forest's greens and browns. Lanky in appearance, and it slowly prowled along the edge. A Beowolf? Hard to tell at this distance, but there seemed to only be one.
They had been informed that sightings of Grimm remained common. It had been decades since any major presence had been seen but there were still the spotting of loners that would either disappear and never be seen again or return with their pack and sniff around the perimeter. Attempted incursions were uncommon if not rare and never to such a degree that any of the emplacements needed to fire a shot. Either a Grimm triggering a mine or a deployment of androids would be enough to vanquish them or at least turn them away.
They consisted of very low-tier Grimm though. Beowolves, Ursai, and Boarbatusks that were still too curious for their own good and hadn't wizened up like their more experienced variants.
That didn't stop 141. "Grimm detected! Remain calm and seek shelter!"
"Oh, shut up," Cardin spoke angrily. "It's just one."
"Grimm detected! Remain calm and seek shelter!"
"Yo, Cardin, what's up?" came Russel, his teammate arriving with his own Knight. "Bucket here said that there was a threat detected and had me come over."
"Bucket? You named yours?"
Russel shrugged. "Better than B-143. B for Bucket."
"Grimm detected!" Bucket announced, grabbing its own rifle. "Remain calm and seek shelter!"
"Great, now they're both doing it," Cardin griped, feeling a headache coming on as he rubbed his temple. "Are we going to have to listen to this every time a single one comes alo-?"
The quake was enough that, even so high up, Cardin and Ruseel felt a noticeable shudder of the wall. They heard the siren first, which led them to seeing the smoke that began to rise somewhere from within the city.
"Now what's going on?"
"Grimm detected!" the two androids announced in unison.
"Alright, look!" Cardin whirled around on the two. "We get it! There's a Grimm-"
There was more than one. Instead of a single black silhouette, there was now an irregular line that was formed along the edge of the forest. And it moved, a collection of black fur broken by white bone spikes that rose and fell like a tide as they shifted.
That was until it swept in. Out from the forest they came, charging through the plane. Soon, Cardin could see that there were Beowolves while the thick bodies of some Ursai lumbered amongst them.
"What's got them so excited?" Russel asked, viewing the approaching Grimm with bewilderment.
"Who cares?" Cardin retrieved his mace and directed it towards a nearby deployment elevator. "We're going to down there!"
"Wait, we?"
"There's not that many of them! Get Dove and Sky on the line and tell them to meet us down there! We're going to do some actual hunting for once!" With that, Cardin began bounding towards the elevator, Russel hesitantly following him while fumbling for his scroll.
"What about them?" Russel asked, one hand holding his scroll to his ear, the other pointing towards the androids.
"Grimm detected!"
"Who cares?" Cardin waited and then slammed the steel gate of the elevator down once Russel was through. "They can keep going until their batteries run out."
The brutish leader slammed his fist on the control panel and the elevator began to descend down the length of the wall and towards the ground. For quick deployment, the elevators had been built outside the walls to deposit the defenders while the main gates were sealed with reinforced doors. Halfway down, a different noise managed to be heard over the sirens. Thudding explosions, one followed by another, and when Cardin reexamined the charging Grimm it was to see a flash of light and fire blossom within the first ranks, tossing Grimm – or rather, Grimm body parts – up into the air.
"Tell whoever's in charge to turn off the mines," Cardin ordered next when Russel was about to put his scroll away. Another elevator nearby was also dropping down, containing the other half of CRDL.
"You want me to do what?"
"Turn off the mines!" He waved his mace threateningly at his much smaller teammate. "We'll be able to handle this perfectly fine! I'm not going to have machines do our job!"
The stringy Thrush hastily obeyed beneath the threat, not that Cardin expected anything less. When the going got tough, they always needed a good punt to get them along. That was always how it's been – from when they got lumped together during initiation to that fated trip at Forever Fall. Especially because of Forever Fall, when Jaune Arc had shown them all up. The abandonment from his team and what came afterwards was an event that he would always despise for the rest of his life.
"They're turning them off now," Russel reported soon after, the detonations coming to an abrupt halt. "They get too close though, and the outer perimeter will come back on and they'll activate the cannons."
"We won't need 'em," Cardin dismissed.
Russel looked at him uneasily. "Cardin, man, you sure about this? The defenses probably could've handled them fine without us. Could've just stayed up on the wall and watched the show."
"Oh, I'm sure you would've been happy with that, Thrush. Get as far away from the Grimm as possible. Hide and let someone else do all the work for you."
"I didn't mean it like tha-"
"Of course you did!" Cardin thrust the head of his mace, stopping short of striking Russel. "I'm sick and tired of our team being seen as scared weaklings! Arc, Nikos, CFVY – they've walked all over us. I refuse to let such mindless animals do the same. Not again. Not if I can help it. We're doing this, even if I have to throw you off this elevator and land right in the middle of them!"
There was no room for argument and Russel didn't dare try. Instead, he unsheathed his daggers and began inspecting the revolving cylinders built in each to make sure they were full on Dust.
They rode the rest of the way down in uneasy silence, Cardin trading the sight of his cowardly teammate for the mass of black that was coming towards them. As he saw from the wall and reaffirmed now, the group wasn't that big. He and his team could easily take care of it.
The elevator came to a rest and the door slid up, Cardin being the first out. Nearby, Dove and Sky were leaving theirs and coming to join them.
As well as some others, one of the AK-200s suddenly slamming down next to CRDL, quickly followed by a couple more. Cardin looked at them with a hint of shock and, to confirm what he thought just happened, he looked back up the full height of the wall. Apparently his idea to push one off the wall wouldn't have done much, going by another pair of androids that jumped off and came down for a hard landing. They all had their rifles out, all pointing towards the incoming Grimm.
I'm not letting them take all the credit! Cardin seethed. He held up his mace and waved it towards the Grimm. "CRDL, let's do this!"
Without another word, he ran forward, his teammates hesitating only for the amount of time necessary to understand what would happen if they didn't follow his order before racing to catch up. To Cardin's satisfaction, they were already far ahead of the AK-200s by the time the machines started moving to engage with them.
It didn't take long for Cardin to get close enough that he was able to make out the individual features of the Grimm that formed this band. As he suspected, mostly Beowolves but there were a few Ursai in the mix. And Boarbatusks, two of them suddenly speeding ahead of their brethren, their bodies contorted into rolling balls.
Cardin raised his mace, his Aura focusing towards the head, and swung it down. A shockwave produced from the striking of the ground was blasted ahead to meet the Boarbatusks, hitting and then sending them flying up, the swine uncurling from the balls to thrash wildly in the air, their squeals interrupted when they dropped back down. Dove and Russel each took a pig, the former's sword stabbing deep into the belly of one while the latter's dagger disemboweled the other.
The big leader continued on until he met contact with the first rank of the Grimm. His mace swung left and right, catching a Beowolf at each in their sides and flinging them away, before bringing it back up for an overhead swing that crushed the skull of an Ursa.
Sky joined in second, halberd sweeping the feet out from under another pair of Beowolves before the curved axehead came down to cleave through both of the fallen lycanthropes. Finished with the Boarbatusks, Dove and Russel entered the fray. For previously being labeled as a coward, Russel seemed eager to join now that battle was underway, throwing a dagger into the throat of a Beowolf. While it collapsed, he reached and pulled the dagger free before targeting an Ursa. His blades being empowered with some Burn Dust, he performed one of his aerial somersaults, coming right at the Ursa's chest where his daggers cut several lines deep into the muscles, the heat of Nature's Wrath giving them a cauterizing effect.
Dove moved with an impressive display of acrobatics, ducking under the paw of an attacking Beowolf and flipping over a charging Boarbatusk. He pointed his sword at the Beowolf he passed, firing the built-in gun to deliver some slugs that buried into its hide before he pivoted on his feet and cut down another with his blade.
Cardin silently declared that this was how it was meant to be. To have his team unleash their might on these animals and to be commended for their prowess in combat. To not be a laughing stock at Beacon. The efforts of his subordinates spurring him on, Cardin turned to smash some more skulls.
That was when he saw over the rest of its kind, it was an Ursa of impressive size with a field of bony spines protruding from its back. It singled out Cardin and the bear-like beast roared in challenge.
It was an Ursa Major.
Cardin found himself flashing back to months ago. Instead of the green fields that were around them, he was instead lying in the reds of Forever Fall. Weaponless, defenseless, and completely at the mercy of a Major just like this one.
He felt the fear then – the helplessness – and he felt it now at being in the presence of this monstrous foe.
But it didn't paralyze him – it didn't even get the chance to. For as soon as he felt his muscles begin to experience the numbness that would have him cowering beneath it, Cardin remembered everything that occurred after that day at Forever Fall. The shame. The humiliation. And a great and powerful rage that desired to rectify how his team became known as such a cowardly bunch.
It was that rage he directed at the Major and he answered its challenge with a battle cry of his own.
Outraged at his gall, the Major eagerly met him. Lifting high onto its back legs, the Major swung one of its enormous paws, tipped with its two-foot claws, right at the leader.
Not this time! Remembering how such an attack had disarmed him, Cardin made sure to inform this one that it would not happen twice. It wanted his weapon? It could have it!
His mace collided with the incoming paw, and it was the Ursa that became bereft of one of its weapons when its bones splintered against the weight of the mace, three of its claws breaking free. The howl of rage that the Ursa had sounded became one of agony.
Cardin pressed his advantage. Ducking beneath its defenses, he swung hard at its midsection, what had to be its ribs being next to be pulverized by the mace. The howl became a choked wheeze, the Major hunching over, and he dashed past it and whirled around to hit it again, this time in the back.
Against his weapon, even the spines stood no chance, the solid head breaking through and Cardin dared to believe he broke its spine. If the first blow didn't, then the second one he followed up with definitely had to.
It was the Major that was powerless this time, and Cardin took immense pleasure from it. Against the devastating blows, the beast had fallen completely onto its stomach, unable to move its broken body. The weak cry that it uttered Cardin was sure was one that begged for mercy.
He gave it what it asked for – one last swing of his mace that crushed its skull.
As he stood over his conquest, he saw that his team was mopping up the last of the Grimm. By then the AK-200s arrived, firing with their rifles, but what they ended up shooting and finishing off were the mere scraps that his team had deigned to leave them.
Planting his mace into the ground, Cardin could see it in the faces of his subordinates when he looked upon them. The looks of success and boosted confidence. This was how it was supposed to be!
This, he was sure, was the turning point for Team CRDL.
"Grimm detected!"
Cardin whipped around towards the androids, the entire lot having shouted it all at once. Their visors stared at a point past him, their weapons raised. He turned around to see just what it is they saw.
It was the Nevermores that came first. A small flock, not much of a threat – until, with a beat of its great wingspan, one that was ten times their size flew out from the forest, partially blanketing the prematurely-declared victors in its shadow. A Giant Nevermore.
"Grimm detected!"
Having drawn closer to the forest, Cardin was able to see another Ursa Major trudge out towards the edge, knocking over a tree while it do so. At each of its side, a few Minors accompanied it. Not too far away, off to its right, was a new pack of Beowolves, this time with an Alpha at the head. Then there were the Boarbatusks, the Creeps…
And way behind their lines, there was the loud trumpet of a distant Goliath.
Next to Cardin, Russel quietly spoke, "That's a big…everything."
What had once been a door came crashing inwards, now hardly anything more than a pile of splinters. The large bulk of an Ursa lumbered on in soon after, not quite fitting through the frame which was forced to bend and give way against the beast. With one last push it forced its way into the shop, the few spikes that were on its back scraping along the low ceiling.
Outside, the chaos went on. Terrified screams which were answered with inhuman howls and a second Ursa stuck its head through the widened entryway, catching the same scent that the first did and what had led it here.
Every Grimm had been incited into a frenzy once they passed through the breach. Having been denied access into Vale for so long, left to wander in the wilderness to prey on what scraps they could locate, getting into the heart of human civilization had driven them into such a state of fury when they became assaulted with the urban landscape, the jumble of scents that tainted the air, the abundance of prey – and the fear. Everything that was attributed to their most hated enemy.
It was the fear that the Ursa could practically taste. While its unholy kin continued their rampage, chasing after the prey that fled from them, it had picked up on an opportunity that convinced it to stray from the rest. Its head swung left and right, seeking for a source amongst the shelves and other displays filled with wares. It sniffed at an array of colorful fabrics on one shelf and a slight bump was enough to send one display tipping and scattering beads across the floor.
In between the noise of the display shattering and the beads rolling, the Ursa picked up another sound that had it swinging around. The half-choked whimper was a sound that it instinctively recognized as belonging to potential quarry. With a couple ungainly steps, the Ursa reached a counter, clawed paws gripping the edge, and it hoisted itself just enough to look over the other side.
The mother had been clutching a small bundle against her chest from which the whimper came from. Pressed against her side and attempting to hide their face was a young girl. They shared identical traits, particularly the ears that were just as red and just as woolen as their hair. When the Ursa's hideous visage came into sight, the daughter screamed while the mother was petrified with fear, holding so tight to the baby that it began wailing in her arms.
Sighting the trapped family and the noises made by the sheep faunus threw the Ursa into a rage. Its roar drowned out the scream and it began to scramble the rest of the way over the counter which buckled beneath its weight. It became driven by a singular urge: kill!
Yet the howl of its brethren – one loud with pain before it petered and died out – managed to break through the murderous haze. It looked back, found the still body of the second Ursa with wisps of smoke trailing from it as it began disintegrating, and it was but a moment before it saw Blake with her Gambol Shroud pointed and ready to do the same to it.
The challenge made the Ursa forget about its defenseless prey as it rounded on her. Instinct had it begin standing up on its back legs, intending to offer a more menacing profile, but it made it halfway there before the ceiling of the craft shop got in the way.
That moment of distraction was all that Blake needed. She charged at the half-standing Ursa, the compact building leaving no other viable attack option than to attack head-on. With her Semblance propelling her, she came beneath the shadow of the Ursa, her sword stabbing deep into its stomach, and with her one hand positioned against the blunt edge at the back to offer the proper leverage, she pushed her weapon up, opening up the Ursa from its stomach all the way to its chin.
It was dead before it even hit the floor and Blake had already moved from it to the counter where the family of faunus remained huddled together. "Come on, let's go!"
With the massive Ursa disintegrating behind her, smoke curling around her black form while she pointed at the entrance with Gambol Shroud, the family hesitated as, for just a moment, they were unsure of whether to be just as frightened of her as they had been of the Grimm. Sense eventually returned for them. Enough, at least, for the mother to stand with one arm remaining locked around her still-crying baby while the other seized her whimpering daughter by the arm and pulled her to her feet.
"It's not safe here," Blake said, and jogged out to the exit. "Follow me!"
She made sure to be the first out to check that the way was clear. As it turned out, the roar that greeted her upon returning to the streets told her that it most definitely wasn't and a look over revealed a Creep already lunging at her. She barely stepped aside in time, teeth snapping past her, and a quick slice with her sheath beheaded the Creep as it went by.
"Go!" she ordered her charges, pointing down the street that would lead them away from the plaza. "Run! I'll hold them off!" She didn't wait to see if they obeyed, already focusing on the rest of the Creeps that were bounding over.
At her silent command, Gambol Shroud switched to its pistol form and she wasted no time to aim and fire at the Grimm. From right to left she swept it in front of her, one shot immediately following another as she coolly dispatched three of them in short order. The muzzle of her weapon swung further left and Blake fired at what she assumed was a fourth.
It wasn't a Creep but a Boarbatusk spinning towards her and her bullet deflected off its heavy armor. The mistake cost her, Blake taking the brunt of the attack that knocked her down. An attempt to stand was interrupted when she was forced to hold both her sword and sheath in front of her, stopping a pair of tusks from goring her as the Boarbatusk pressed down on her. Her arms shook and struggled to keep it back, the Boarbatusk so close that she could count every single razor tooth that lined its mouth as it snarled at her.
Before she could enact any plan to get it off her, a scream had her whipping her head around. A Creep had gotten by her and, to Blake's horror, it had pounced on the sheep faunus girl while she had been running away. She was on her stomach, the Creep's foot on her back and keeping her pinned in place.
"Mama!" she cried, tears streaming down her cheeks and reaching desperately out to her mother.
Blake broke her sword away from her struggle with the Boarbatusk, using just her sheath to keep the tusks at bay. Even as her blade flipped back and revealed the muzzle of the pistol again that she pointed at the Creep, she knew she was going to be too late. She could see one of the Creep's toe-claws already raised – long enough to easily pierce through the girl's spine or even her heart – and her continued fight with the Boarbatusk was throwing off her aim. Her finger touched the trigger but she hesitated, in danger of just as likely shooting the girl as she would the Creep.
A blue bolt suddenly flew in, catching the Creep right in its face. Its entire head froze, ice encasing it and stretching to do the same to half of its body, stopping just short of its legs. The Grimm stumbled off the faunus girl and fell over, its legs kicking and tail thrashing.
Weiss came in close and finished it off, shattering its frozen half with a blow from Myrtenaster. Its unfrozen lower half went motionless.
Blake turned her pistol on the Boarbatusk, tucking it right beneath its unprotected chin and firing a shot. It didn't have a chance to squeal. One moment, snarling and fighting to bring its tusks down on her. In the next, Blake was dragging herself out from beneath its dead weight.
Coming to a stand, it was to see Weiss pulling the sheep faunus up and using a glyph to enhance a jump that brought the two of them in front of her mother. As soon as she let go, the daughter flung herself into her parent's waiting arm, sobbing into her chest.
"You're safe now," Weiss assured gently and nodded back down the street where sirens and flashing lights of VPD vehicles were approaching. "Just a little farther and the police will be able to take care of you."
Even with the daughter's cries, Blake's hearing was able to make out the repeated tearful thanks of the mother as she fled. Weiss just smiled and saw the family off with a bow of her head. It was because of the reprieve that they established that had Blake taking a few seconds to stand and stare, observing the scene of the heiress to Schnee Dust not only saving but treating the faunus with such courtesy.
Unfortunately, it was only those seconds she was granted before she refaced reality. The street that she was currently at was one of two that led out of the plaza. It meant only two avenues of escape; for the civilians who were trying to flee from the Grimm, and the Grimm who wanted to spread throughout the rest of the city.
"Were they the last?" Weiss asked, appearing next to Blake, Myrtenaster still in hand as she got down to business.
"The last that I could find," Blake answered, leaving it at that. At this point, with the majority of the civilians having already evacuated and them currently standing at the edge of the street before hitting the intersection, the only ones that would be left wouldn't be alive. "I thought you were covering the other street."
"I was. The police arrived and I left it to them while making sure that they were sending some over to form a perimeter here. From what I could gather, four precincts are enroute which includes their special units."
Blake glanced back and saw the cars from earlier stopping and forming a line to completely block off the street. Men and women in the uniforms of the VPD were scrambling out and the faunus thought she managed to spot the mother and her two children being ushered behind the line.
She entertained ditching her position and returning to the plaza but such a thing was dashed when she and Weiss spotted their next obstacle: a small pack of Beowolves. These were not like what they had fought in Mountain Glenn – reckless and unorderly – as they were loping forward with a clear sign of purpose. Blake saw the cause when she spotted a Beowolf that towered over its packmates at nearly twice their size, its experience marked with a greater number of vicious spikes jutting out of it.
It was an Alpha. While its pack ran ahead on all fours, it stood on two to better bark unintelligibly at them, urging them on.
An experienced pack with a clearly-defined leader. Rather than remain at the plaza, the Alpha had ushered the other Beowolves into breaking out into other areas of the city to seek additional prey. Blake couldn't let it simply run on through, not when the VPD were still setting up their perimeter.
Neither could Weiss, the member of white already moving to intercept. Getting right in their way, a glyph formed at her feet, a blue Dust cartridge glowing. It was dimmer than usual, the cartridge beginning to run low on power, but it was enough for Weiss's spell. When she slashed at the approaching Beowolves, a giant blade made of pure ice materialized and followed the motion made by her rapier. Unlike her shorter Myrtenaster, the twelve-foot ice blade reached and cut through four of the Beowolves with ease.
Weiss was ready for more, slashing up with her rapier this time and sending another Beowolf over her head and transitioning into an accurate thrust that speared the heart of the next. Blake wasn't leaving her to do all the work, the faunus speeding around Weiss and taking over as she sliced across the stomach of another, leaving it for her teammate to finish off so she could address another foe.
This Beowolf was already slashing with clawed fingers, but Blake twisted away just enough that the sharp tips missed by an inch. She answered with a dual-bladed attack, sword and sheath each cutting diagonally and engraving a deep X into the center of the monster's torso. When it collapsed, it was to reveal the Alpha striding forward, growling at the delay that the human and faunus were causing.
Blake was about to engage it as well until there came an order from Weiss. "Blake, get away!"
She obeyed without thinking, diving to the side. As soon as she was clear, gunfire erupted, bullets filling the space she just evacuated.
The Alpha was forced to take a step back at the amount of firepower that was sent its way. It held up a hand in a futile defense, fingers being blown away while bullets created holes in its palm. Such devastating effects occurred all over its jerking body, spikes being shot to bits while flesh and muscle tore apart against the barrage. The last few shots shattered its bone mask and the Alpha fell, shortly followed by the remains of its pack.
The show of force had come from the solidified cordon of the VPD. Plainclothes and uniformed officers and Blake could make out the more armored specials that had their rifles braced atop car hoods and roofs within the line of pistols and shotguns. They were already reloading, preparing to deal with any more threats that would appear.
The line would hold well against small forces of weaker Grimm like the Beowolf pack, but Blake knew that the police were not equipped or trained enough for anything more. Grimm were a threat that fell to Huntsmen and Huntresses to exterminate and there were procedures for incidents such as this. If Grimm were ever able to breach the wall or find some other way to enter the city, it was the job of the police to form a perimeter and keep them contained while Hunters went in and cleared them out.
They were following procedure to the letter – not just the police but Team RWBY.
"I think they're set up well enough," Blake commented. "What do you think?"
"I think it's time for us to return to our partners," Weiss responded seriously.
As important as their parts had been, Weiss was unhappy and Blake shared the feeling. Once the shock had worn off, RWBY had acted to deal with the invading Grimm. Launching themselves at the host, putting themselves between the Grimm and the innocent citizens of Vale, RWBY had killed enough of the beasts to open a window for everyone to make a run for it.
They had been holding out fine until Ruby had noticed that not all of the Grimm were sticking around to fight her team. Whether due to being smarter or the mass of fleeing humans and faunus being more attractive targets, specimens like the Ursai and the Alpha had gone around to give chase while RWBY was distracted with the rest. That was when she gave the order for Blake and Weiss – their faster members – to go and make sure that they wouldn't escape from the plaza and spread.
Which left Ruby and Yang to take on any new arrivals by themselves.
There was little room for debate, though it didn't stop Weiss from loudly protesting before she eventually obeyed. Blake secretly wondered if Weiss had been thinking that Ruby's choice of sending her at what she thought to be the 'easier' assignment was due to how beaten up she had gotten during her fight with the faunus lieutenant. Unfortunately, there was no use denying that Blake and Weiss were the better pair to give chase and prevent the Grimm from getting access to the rest of the city while also protecting the people until the police arrived.
They're here now. "Let's go," she said, she and Weiss making a beeline back to the plaza.
They could hear the gunfire and howls originating from the plaza, a sure sign that Ruby and Yang were still giving the Grimm all they got. Even without those, Blake only had to touch on that spot that was Yang within her heart to know that her girlfriend was still alive. Going by Weiss, the same went for Ruby. They both had gotten a taste of what it was like, losing someone that had managed to get so close to them, and their haste was undoubtedly influenced by that with how the sisters were currently facing a life-or-death situation without them.
Yet even as they raced to their partners, Blake couldn't help but look around. They actually did it.
The corpses of the slain Grimm had disintegrated completely at this point but there was nothing that'd be able to erase the damage that they had wrought as easily. The crafts shop wasn't the only place to be damaged as Blake didn't think there was a single building on this street that hadn't been broken in some way. She and Weiss were forced to navigate around a car with Blake nearly tripping over a fallen lamp post a moment afterwards, kicking up glass from shattered windows in the process.
The White Fang did this. Whether they were ordered to or not, they had to have known that this was exactly what would happen. They had known and…they still did it.
The sheep faunus crying beneath the clawed foot of the Creep would forever be imprinted into Blake's mind and would always come up when she thought about the Fang. They had been willing to have her die – to let some monster hunt her down and devour her. The one who had saved her life was someone that the White Fang labeled as their enemy and who they claimed held no decency.
The White Fang and the Grimm – there was no difference. The Creep in her mind wavered and was replaced with the lieutenant that embodied such mindless hatred, equal to that of the Grimm.
"Innocent?" the malevolent specter questioned, the revving of his saw as terrifying as the growls of the Creep. "There is no such thing."
Are you behind this, Adam? Blake thought. Was this what you wanted?
She feared for the future. No matter how this day would come to an end, she feared for what would happen afterwards all the same. All she had to do was look around and ask herself how anyone could possibly forget and go on as normal after something like this.
There would be consequences. Ramifications that would change the very world as they knew it. For now though, Blake focused on making sure that Yang would still be alive for then.
The Grimm came clawing out with such feral fever. They bellowed their fury, going mad as soon as they breathed in the air – polluted with the urban environment and the negative emotions belonging to humanity. They clawed at the edge of the breach as they pulled themselves up, all eager for slaughter.
"Fire!"
Half the skull of a Beowolf instantly vaporized, the edges of the wound steaming as it fell back into the hole. More of the high-caliber rounds were fired, blowing through armor and flesh in order to create gaping wounds that ended whatever Grimm that popped up. Despite the power behind it – enough for a round to pierce through an Ursa and go on to strike against the armored snout of a Boarbatusk - , the rate of fire wasn't enough to keep up as for every Grimm that was sent back into the breach to never return, four more were scrabbling up to the surface.
That was until the bright yellow flares came streaking in to combine with the onslaught. Catching one Creep straight on, it and two more of its kind were blown off their feet, the detonation consuming the first and shredding the others.
Yang's arms violently punched at the air, continuing her barrage to create a wall of fire to keep the Grimm back. Next to her, with Crescent Rose planted in the ground, Ruby was using more systematic precision for her kills, the barrel of her rifle shifting left and right to snipe whatever Grimm was braving through her sister's shelling.
For a moment, it looked like they were actually succeeding in holding back the Grimm. That was until a giant scaled wall curled around the hole, blocking off the volley of fire. Neither Ruby's penetrating bullets nor Yang's exploding shells managed to break through, damaging and burning the scales but they remained steady against them.
Damn snake! Yang cursed, breaking off her attack and cocking Ember Celica for the inevitable renewal.
The obstruction lifted away, the head of the King Taijitu visually scanning the two Huntresses but making no move to attack, not even for revenge for the mild wounds made on its body. Instead, it simply remained back as the next wave of Grimm – given a suitable amount of time to climb out and assemble thanks to its intervention – to charge forth at the girls.
"Yang, loading!" Ruby called, the empty magazine of her scythe dropping.
"Got it!" Taking position that was better in front of Ruby, Yang intercepted the first Grimm that came at them. Lifting her arm up, a blast from Ember Celica created a devastating elbow drop that knocked the face of an Ursa into the concrete. She turned to her right, attacking with a punch that caught a lunging Creep and launched it away with a blast from her gauntlet, and then shifted to her left to slap aside the descending claws of a Beowolf before attacking with a series of jabs straight into its stomach. The brawler could clearly feel how the Grimm's middle collapsed and turned into mush beneath her fists until it could no longer hold up the Beowolf which crumbled.
By then her original target, the Ursa, had lifted and shook its head, clearing itself of the daze from Yang's elbow. She restored it with a kick across its face before an uppercut sent it up and over back into the lines of the Grimm.
Yang cocked her arm again but knew without looking that when her spent shell was ejected from her gauntlet, there was no new one to replace it. "Loading!"
There came the flap of her sister's cape over her head and Crescent Rose came down, the weight of the heavy blade more than enough to stab through even the back armor of the Boarbatusk that had sought to use Yang's need to reload as a suitable distraction to get in close. The Boarbatusk squealed as its legs collapsed, unable to handle the mass of the scythe that now made up a good third of its insides. Ruby used the corpse as a brace to fire a round, blowing off the leg of a Beowolf before removing her blade from the dead Boarbatusk to decapitate it.
Yang already grabbed a couple rolls of fresh shells and she tossed them up into the air. The plates of Ember Celica slid back - her left gauntlet ejected the last two shells that still remained –, the rolls fell and wrapped around them, and the metal slid back to the front to set them.
They weren't partners but they were still teammates and, most of all, siblings. That gave them plenty of cohesion that they were able to apply as they fought, both of them familiar enough – perhaps even more so than their first-year partners - with each other's styles to fight as one. Beneath the wide swings of Ruby's scythe that halved whatever Grimm that came, Yang slunk in with arms up, fists immediately punching and whittling away what survivors that Crescent Rose left behind or devastating any who dared to try to get to Ruby during that second between swings.
It was part of what went into Ruby's decision for her and Yang to attempt to stem the flood of Grimm. Between Yang's strength and Ruby's Crescent Rose, they were more of the heavy-hitters when compared to Blake and Weiss who's abilities were better utilized for blocking off and killing any that tried to escape deeper into the city.
Some had gotten by which Yang had noticed but relinquished any thought of giving chase. She and Ruby needed to prioritize their efforts and the area around the breach was to be their center of attention. They had to trust that their partners would be able to complete their job until help arrived.
And when would that be? Yang wondered. The average response time for police and Hunters to come in with such force to the handle something like this? Whatever the real answer was, somehow Yang figured that it wasn't going to be fast enough.
It was down to her and Ruby and their job would be much easier if it wasn't for the giant snake that watched over the battle. The entirety of RWBY had killed enough of the initial numbers of the Grimm that she and Yang would be able to – they hoped – hold out long enough for either the return of the WB members or the arrival of reinforcements. Since then, they've managed to restrict the majority of the Grimm from advancing far from the breach.
But they had no idea how to close the hole, and the Taijitu was there to make sure that it wouldn't. Yang had to admit, it was both eerie and frustrating to deal with a Grimm that actually had a brain. The black snake was hanging back, watching over the breach like a sentinel. Any attempt for Ruby and Yang to get close resulted in it acting and the two of them couldn't handle it and the rest of the Grimm. Even if it wasn't attacking, it was still smart enough to know when it could help such as that recent display to shield the Grimm and let them gather for another massed assault.
A brief glance at their entry into Vale and Yang could see the large pincer of a Death Stalker extending out, the giant scorpion beyond struggling and attempting to force its way through. An obstruction for now, but Yang feared about what would happen if it broke through. They had been lucky enough to only have the King Taijitu which was keeping back, but if something like a Death Stalker entered the battle then there was no way that she and Ruby would be able to endure for very long.
A stinger of a much smaller Stalker – being only slightly larger than a Beowolf - sought to strike her down. Yang angled her body away, the stinger just missing her, and before it drew back she grabbed the attached tail and heaved.
The Stalker was hissing with pincers swinging and clacking as Yang swung it over her head and slammed it back down. The segmented legs thrashed about, the Grimm trying to right itself, but Yang leapt forward and put all her strength into her punch that sunk her fist into the exposed underside, a point-blank shot from Ember Celica within blowing it apart.
Yang didn't have time to celebrate her victory as a sudden swipe caught her in the side, throwing her away from the disintegrating remains. An Ursa – Yang suspected the one before, going by the cracks in its bone mask made by her elbow – trudged towards her, roaring.
"Yang!" The call preceded the crescent-shaped blade that came from behind the Ursa, hooking it by the shoulder before a shot and recoil had it cutting diagonally all the way through. The splitting of the Ursa's halves revealed Ruby, looking at Yang with wide, concerned eyes.
Yang shot her fist out, firing a flare that flew over Ruby's head and right into the open maw of the Beowolf that had been ready to take a bite out of her. "I'm fine! Just-"
The ground tremor attracted their attention. The giant pincer that Yang saw before was joined by a second, both of them pushing and clawing at the edges of the breach, widening it. Once it had done so enough, the Death Stalker scuttled on through.
"Back!" Yang shouted, the Grimm that had been stuck and waiting behind the scorpion all climbing over each other in their rush to enter the city, the widening of the hole enough for them all to come in. The word of the city's vulnerability must've spread because Yang saw more formidable Grimm coming through. A pair of Beowolves that had been scrambling out were pushed aside so that an Alpha could enter unobstructed. Following it was one…then another Ursa Major.
There were too many. Way too many. Yang and Ruby were immediately forced back and Yang caught a glimpse of the fear that was beginning to set in on her sister as she swung Crescent Rose at the horde, each Grimm she cleaved not even given the chance to drop before they were immediately trampled over by a score of the dark-spawned monsters that were eager for her life.
Yang didn't dare close in, afraid to even try to stand against this latest wave with the risk of being washed away by it. She fired with her gauntlets, trying to cover her and Ruby's retreat as they backed away. Their backs nearly pressed up against the stage that was at the center of the plaza, a carpet of Grimm separating them from the breach where more and more were flowing in without pause.
"Ruby, time to shine!" Yang suddenly yelled.
Ruby paused, understanding the signal. "Got it!" The red Huntress leaped up onto the stage to take her position. She bent into a crouch and drew Crescent Rose back, the tip of the scythe pointed behind her, and held still.
That last hit should've been enough, Yang hoped. The bangs that hung in front of her face began to glow, red beginning to consume the purple of her eyes. It wasn't enough energy to give her the strength she desired but maybe…
Ruby shut her eyes and pulled up the hood of her cloak before giving the command. "Enabler!"
A black shadow had been falling over Yang, made up of the dozens of Grimm in their abominable forms that rose up with every intention of falling and making the light beneath them disappear.
But that light grew brighter in the face of the darkness. As Yang rose her arms up, irises at full crimson and her mane igniting into a blaze, her golden Aura formed around her. She drew on the energy that she had collected, feeding it into her Aura, and when she thrust her arms down, the brightness multiplied and exploded outwards.
A solar flare ignited within the hideous faces of the Grimm. A collection of inhuman shrieks were sounded and that darkness pulled away from the light as its minions were blinded. Beowolves clasped their paws over their eyes, Boarbatusks and Creeps madly shook their heads, tusks and stubby heads hitting whatever was near them, and Ursai struck blindly at an unseeing enemy.
Yang braced herself against the stage, stopping herself from collapsing altogether when her light was extinguished, hair and eyes reverting back to their normal state. She did her part though, the ranks of the Grimm temporarily lost in chaos.
There was the crack of a high-caliber sniper rifle and Yang felt the touch of rose petals descending on her. A trail of them had formed, starting at the stage and disappearing into the mass of Grimm.
Any Grimm that were near those petals died spectacularly.
Yang caught glimpses in the gaps between them. A red, hooded reaper that spun in their midst, cloak curling around her form while her wicked blade did what it was best designed for. A group of Creeps came apart against the fury of Crescent Rose. A nearby Boarbatusk lifted its tusks up towards the sound of slaughter and if it wasn't blinded it would've been able to see how those same tusks split in two…right before the rest of it did the same.
The scythe hooked behind the neck of the Beowolf, Ruby using it to swing up onto its shoulders with the blade repositioning so that the edge was against its throat. Another shot from her weapon had it slicing clean through its neck, Ruby being launched up, and a second discharge had her flying back down, spinning both herself and Crescent Rose. When she dove past a standing Ursa, multiple bloody lines suddenly ripped all along its hide, the beast moaning pathetically as it collapsed out from Yang's sight.
This was Ruby's element. Part of it was exhaustion but there was this awe that had Yang watching as Ruby fought. When she next glimpsed that little girl who had once looked up to her with such admiration, what she saw was a visage that was still young but hard with determination. Teeth gritted together, and silvers as sharp as the steel that crossed in front of them as Ruby cut, sliced, and paused for that split second to cycle the bolt of her rifle to load the next shot that was used to transition into another series of slashes that cut down any Grimm within reach like blades of grass.
A marvelous display, but as much as it amazed Yang, it also inspired her. She was not going to let Ruby do all the work.
Yang hoisted herself up onto the stage, a crazy idea coming to her when she surveyed the Grimm. She found a perfect helper: a Creep that was beginning to regain its sight and it lifted its head up towards her. The blonde jumped off the stage, her feet landing right on its head.
She heard the Creep growl beneath, and she tensed her legs in preparation for when it shot its head and legs up to fling her off. Yang pushed off it at the same time and fired both gauntlets to give her the boost needed to send her several stories into the air.
While Ruby dominated on the ground, she'll provide support from above. She put Ember Celica to work, a barrage of flares launching from the dual barrels and impacting down on the Grimm.
Yang pumped both gauntlets, about to unleash another salvo until there came a flapping of wings followed by screeches – directly behind her.
Where did they come from!? Yang thought when she saw the three Nevermores already falling upon her. Each one half her size, they came at her with talons bared and she held her arms up in a vain attempt to defend herself. They scratched at her gauntlets, hair, back – all of them fighting to get to her.
The struggle forced Yang into an uncontrollable fall, tumbling towards the ground.
Once, Blake had witnessed Yang streaking towards the ground and striking like a meteor. Now, she was seeing her partner falling. No control, just a flailing of limbs that kept up all the way until she hit the ground.
"I've got Yang!" she said to Weiss. Even as the words left her mouth, she knew that they were unneeded as Weiss was already pulling away to get on a direct course to where Ruby was.
Grimm were already gathering where Yang had landed; a couple Beowolves and Creeps forming a ring around a Yang-sized crater. An Alpha forced its way through so that it could stand and look directly into it to try and locate her.
Like a rocket, Yang shot right out and subjected the Alpha to one of her uppercuts, sending it reeling back a couple steps. Coming to rest at its legs, Yang lashed out with another devastating punch, the knee that she aimed for twisting unnaturally with a loud snap of bone that was replaced with the Grimm's howl of torment.
The brawler pulled an arm back to deliver the finishing blow but was interrupted when a Creep suddenly leapt forward, teeth clamping around her armored forearm and pulling her away from the Alpha. Unexpected, but Yang took it in stride, pivoting on her heel to address it with a hammer blow delivered by her unencumbered fist. The downward force got its teeth to shatter against her gauntlet and the Creep let go before collapsing.
More Creeps were already taking advantage of the distraction to close in around her. One jumped at her, its clawed feet looking to grasp and bring her down, but Yang met it in the air with a kick into its stomach, knocking it away. Another came charging in, intending to ram her with its head but she sidestepped, grabbed it by its long neck while passing, and used its momentum against it when she lifted it up off its feet and spun the two of them around, using the Creep to slap aside a couple more of its companions before she let go and hurled it into a Beowolf to send them sprawling.
Instead of immediately centering herself for her next opponent though, Yang stumbled as if she hadn't quite recovered from the spin, dangerously teetering on one foot. She was floored completely when one Creep used that moment of unpreparedness to leap on top of her, its claws seizing her by one shoulder and the back of her jacket. Its jaws were already snapping to try and bite into something while she fell, Blake unable to see if it was successful because more Creeps piled on, Yang disappearing beneath their mass.
"NO!"
With its destroyed knee, there was not much for the Alpha to do other than to attempt to awkwardly turn towards the source of the scream. Blake hopped onto the mangled remains of its limb and the Alpha was howling for a different reason when its arm suddenly separated from its body, Gambol Shroud slicing it off at the shoulder while Blake vaulted past. She didn't finish it, letting it writhe in agony where it fell while she came down on a smaller Beowolf that didn't notice her approach until sword and sharpened sheathe were lacerating its back around the spikes that lined its spine.
Blake kept sprinting ahead, overcome by a need to get to Yang. The blade of her sword bent and formed into its sickle and the faunus hurled it towards the Creeps that were her next obstacles. She dispensed with them just as ruthlessly, tugging on the attached ribbon and turning her weapon into a razor-sharp whirlwind that shredded the Grimm.
She returned the sickle to her hand but didn't reform it into its sword, aiming for the writhing pile of Creeps. She aimed high, firing her pistol and shooting off the Creep on top and began making her way down to clear them off of Yang.
She didn't have to get rid of them all. The Creeps were suddenly flung away, Yang throwing them off as the brawler rose to her feet. One Creep was still on her back, jaws tight on her shoulder, but Yang gripped it by the edge of its skull plate, peeled the Grimm off, and pounded it headfirst into the ground. When she let go, it didn't get up, instead beginning to disintegrate where it lay with a broken neck.
Much like before, Yang stumbled instead of straightening, dropping down onto a hand and knee with her head bowed.
"Yang!" Blake cut the head off of one Creep that her partner had thrown and had been trying to get up before she reached her. Dropping next to her, Blake's first priority was to check her shoulder. Despite the torn sleeve of her jacket, it was only the leather that had been damaged.
"It's okay," Yang assured in a breathy tone and Blake agreed when she didn't even see any signs of blood on her girlfriend. "My Aura held up, if only barely."
"You're exhausted," Blake said. Yang's breaths were coming out ragged and droplets of sweat slid down her reddened face. The faunus hadn't thought anything of Yang's condition beforehand, having thought that, when Yang had rejoined her and Weiss on the train, her fight with Neo hadn't left her worse for wear.
She didn't have time to ask, only to assume, and Blake realized she had been wrong in doing so. She remembered enough that Yang had barely gotten any sleep when this whole mess started so she could only imagine the state she was in right now.
"We're all tired, Blake," Yang countered, still taking in needy breaths. "I'm not any worse than the rest of you and I don't have time to nap here."
That bravado that was meant to keep people from needlessly worrying about her was a quality that Blake loved but she could see that Yang was reaching her limits. If they weren't reinforced soon, they may all be finished.
"Take one anyway." Blake returned to her feet, her weapons tight in her hands. "I'll take the next batch." She ignored Yang's complaints as she gripped her dual blades, taking a ready stance against the snarling Ursa coming at them, flanked by more of those Creeps.
Orbs of crackling blue energy suddenly streaked it, detonating in a line in front of the incoming Grimm to throw up dust and debris. The Ursa skidded to a halt along with the Creeps, the monsters staring warily at the destruction while they growled menacingly.
A timely gust of wind blew aside the dust, revealing Neptune who was back-to-back with Sun. They both struck a pose with Sun's staff and Neptune's gun resting against their respective shoulders.
"Nobody move!" Sun ordered and flashed a bronze badge at the Grimm. "Junior detectives!"
Neptune brought up his own. "We have badges, so you know it's official!"
A strange lull fell over the battle. Blake and Yang stared dumbstruck at the two, danger momentarily forgotten. Their looks were shared by the Grimm, the Ursa having tilted its head stupidly at them while the surrounding Creeps looked at each other. No one seemed to know what to do.
Eventually the Ursa remembered, its roar bringing its fellows back to their senses while it swiped at the two Mistral students.
Sun and Neptune ducked under the paw, Sun immediately striking back by using the tip of his staff to essentially poke the bear in the eye before ducking, Neptune coming up with his rifle and firing another pair of orbs into the Ursa's face, its head disappearing in the dual flashes of blue light.
"You know," Neptune said, switching his weapon into its trident form to spear a Creep. "This feels really familiar!"
"Except with Grimm!" Sun contributed, batting away another with his staff. "And we had breakfast this time!" The only sounds to be spoken next were a crescendo of bangs from Ruyi and Jingu Bang as Sun split his staff into his gunchucks, spinning both and unleashing a storm of shots that obliterated any Creep that got close.
Blake left it to them for now, reprioritizing Yang who was attempting to stand back up. "Hold still."
"I can still fight," Yang protested.
All the familiar places indeed, Blake mentally commented, it now being her who was laying a hand on her tired girlfriend to set her back down. "I'm not going to stop you, Yang. Just give me a second to try something."
Yang obliged but Blake knew she would have to work fast before Yang got impatient. Keeping her hand on one shoulder, Blake set Gambol Shroud down in order to grasp the other.
It had been a while but Blake still remembered. She could only hope that their bond had become better attuned to one another in order for this to work. She closed her eyes to better concentrate, focusing on the part that was Yang that was imprinted deep within her heart. Her Aura flared to life around her and she directed its energy through their connection, intending to bolster Yang's with it.
She felt Yang's muscles tense beneath her fingers before they relaxed. The faunus opened her eyes after another second to see Yang's Aura having similarly formed around the brawler. Faint at first, but a portion of Blake's black Aura seeped in. It existed briefly before Yang absorbed it, darkness feeding light to strengthen it as the yellow outline around Yang became a few shades brighter.
"Don't give me too much," Yang broke in, grabbing one of Blake's wrists.
Blake was already letting go, her Aura receding. "I won't. That should be enough." She bent down and retrieved Gambol Shroud and brought herself back to her feet.
Yang joined her albeit more slowly, the blonde looking at her turned up palms with wonder just as her Aura was vanishing. "Woah. That actually worked."
It wouldn't do much for the exhaustion, something Blake had mentioned earlier, but she could see how it recharged Yang in a different way as she lifted and rolled her shoulders while her hands clenched into fists. The few contusions that Blake had noticed before on her skin had vanished, the minor injuries along with the aches and pains being cured with the Aura boost. It'll refresh Yang in that way but, most importantly, her Aura levels had been upped enough that she would be protected for a little longer.
I just hope it's long enough, Blake prayed, already surveying the plaza to see how things were going. Sun and Neptune were still fighting, giving them fresh fighters but they needed more.
Blake then searched for and found Ruby and Weiss. The red and white partners similarly reunited, they had taken to what higher ground the stage offered. Weiss had made it even harder for the Grimm to ascend onto it by creating a short ice wall along the edge, complete with jutting icicles with sharp points. A few Grimm had impaled themselves in their haste to get to the Huntresses, one Beowolf still valiantly reaching for them despite the frozen spikes that were through its torso.
Ruby and Weiss each covered a flank of the ice wall. Any Grimm that wanted to get around it and onto the stage were sent back down by either the thrusts of Myrtenaster that pierced through vitals or the slashes of Crescent Rose that viciously dismembered them.
That was until an Ursa Major barreled on through the ice wall, its thicker hide enduring against the ice.
The Huntresses simultaneously flipped backwards, establishing space between them and the Major. Weiss reacted first, lifting Myrtenaster up and making a spinning motion with the tip. Miniaturized versions of her snowflake-shaped glyph materialized above her head and after making a gesture towards the Major with her rapier, they shot towards the Grimm.
Around its neck and front legs, the snowflakes transformed into shackles that bound them. Like a conductor, Weiss turned Myrtenaster up and the shackles obeyed, forcing the Major to stand on its hind legs. The muscles of the creature visibly flexed, trying to break through its restraints, but neither of its trapped limbs or even its head were able to make the barest of movement.
It was wide open and Ruby accepted her partner's gift with no hesitation. A blur of red shot straight towards the trapped Major and a moment later its bottom half fell away, its top half still suspended by the glyphs before Weiss dispersed them and it dropped onto the stage.
The damage was still done, Grimm using the space once taken up by the ice wall to climb onto the stage with Ruby quick to address them.
She was the only one who was. Instead of joining her, Weiss fell to a knee, the tip of Myrtenaster stabbing into the stage floor to keep her from collapsing as she leaned against it. It took a couple swings for Ruby to realize she was missing her partner and she spun around, reaching and calling out to the tired girl.
The King Taijitu chose that moment to intercede. Having stayed back to cover the breach the entire time, the Grimm suddenly surged ahead, its long body coming between Weiss and Ruby before addressing the latter, the snake displaying its long fangs as it hissed at the scythe-wielder.
It was singling out Ruby. As one of the fresher and deadlier of the human resistance that had impeded the Grimm thus far, the Taijitu was separating her in a bid to kill her quick. While the snake hissed at her front, the rest of the Grimm were at her back, Ruby looking at the monsters all around her with no help in sight.
That was until there came a thundering boom, followed by a battle cry that was arguably just as loud. "YEEEEEEE-HAAAAAW!"
Nora came arcing into the plaza, standing on the head of Magnhild with one hand on the shaft for balance while the other was raised over her eyes to better see the Taijitu that rotated around at her approach. Target in sight, a grin split across Nora's face and she squeezed the trigger of Magnhild, encouraging another explosive blast that boosted her towards the black serpent while she twisted around in the air to bring her weapon into play.
"SMASH!"
Fragments of bone flew everywhere, the King Taijitu's bone mask splitting under the impact of the heavy hammer. It made it all the more devastating when Nora triggered another explosive shot, pink fire and smoke swallowing up the snake's head at the point-blank detonation that cleared Nora away from it. Upon dispersing, there were very little distinguishing marks that could identify the mangled remains that were left as a head. A weak hiss – or just the sound of air escaping – was issued from it and then it and the body it was attached to fell, crushing what unlucky Grimm that happened to be under it.
Nora touched down next to the assembled JNPR at the edge of the plaza; her partner Ren with bladed pistols locked and loaded with Pyrrha and Jaune Arc with their swords and shields at the ready.
Right on time! the blond leader cheered, Nora's explosive entry the perfect show for his team's arrival. The heroes have arrived! Exceedingly pumped, Jaune lifted Crocea Mors, an order at his lips-
"Let's move!" Pyrrha commanded, Ren and Nora following her lead as they all leapt into battle.
"Smack!" Nora cried, suiting word with action as she sent a Creep sailing with her weapon. The more quiet Ren didn't offer words but his efforts were no less effective, kicking a second Creep directly in its face before swinging the attached blades of Storm Flower around to gouge deep into the back of a third. Pyrrha bashed her shield into an overseeing Beowolf and lashed out with her javelin, stabbing deep into the stumbling beast.
Crocea Mors lowered, Jaune grumbling a little at what was the superseding of his command. He shook it off. Nope, it's fine; no time to waste after all!
Squaring his shoulders and bouncing on his feet to get him pumped, Jaune rushed in to join his team, feeling like he was living in one of his grandfather's stories during the Great War. Monsters having gotten through the gates, assaulting the good people of Vale, and then the big heroes arrived to drive them back.
"Okay, who's first?" he called, eager to make his first true mark as a Huntsman by defending this great city.
An answer came in the form of a loud thud as something big landed behind him. He froze in place, able to distinctly feel the hot breath of something poised right over him. Slowly, he turned around.
The Ursa roared right in his face, the bear-like Grimm standing fully upright so that the difference in size was made very clear to the human.
"Ooo-o-okay!" Jaune sputtered, a small jump of fright backing him from the Ursa. "You're first, huh?"
The Ursa took one step towards him, fangs bared as it snarled at him.
Jaune chuckled nervously, taking a retreating step in response. "Okay, no that's fine."
The Ursa continued approaching him, each landing of its foot marked with a growl-tinged breath. With its head cocked, a tongue licked at the tips of its fangs as if it was able to taste the boy's unease. Savoring it…and wanting more.
"Totally fine," Jaune tried to say confidently even as he was taking yet another step back. "Done this before…done this before."
This was hardly the biggest Grimm he had come up against, having stood up against a Death Stalker with his team during their initiation, and then assault an Ursa Major solo – the upgraded variant at least double the size of a regular Minor like this one.
So why was he suddenly so scared, his shield and sword unmovable in his hands?
Because this really was happening. When seconds ago he was ready to dive right on in, his and the Ursa's proximity made it abundantly clear that this was the moment he had been searching for – with lies and deceit, and then months and months of grueling training and hard work that made it clear as to just how insignificant he was in comparison to his friends.
This was where he would truly define himself. When people looked back on this as they told their stories, would they recall it as the first step that Jaune Arc made to become the hero he had set out to be, or the fool that had deluded himself with heights that he could never reach? Would the trust and the efforts that his friends had given to him pay off, or go to waste?
"You're a leader now, Jaune. You're not allowed to be a failure."
Jaune took one more step back but no further. His knees bent, lowering his stance, and he brought his shield up to create the protection that he was taught. Low and wide.
With his shield at the front, the boy brought his sword to the back. He breathed deeply, settling his nerves and strengthening his stance. Ready, not tense.
His last breath came out in a roar as he swung. Having viewed him as a cornered morsel, the Ursa did nothing to stop the sword from slashing across it. It cried out in stunned pain.
Jaune spun his wrist and sword around and cut again. No waste of strength and momentum – use everything he had. Energy used in each sword swing was transferred into the next, creating a string of attacks with one instantly followed by another. He felt the subtle resistance as Crocea Mors met and sliced through the burly body of the Ursa and then he was bringing it up, around, and making a return trip.
There was no room for the Ursa to counter, the Grimm howling as it was ravaged as strike after strike after strike landed with its cries overpowered by the continued yells of Jaune Arc. It was when Jaune needed to stop and regain his breath that he stopped, returning Crocea Mors to stand ready behind him while his shield remained in position, staring over it and at the Ursa.
The Grimm stood where it was, arms limp at its sides and staring straight ahead.
And…it falls.
The Ursa remained where it was, entirely still. Not even breathing.
Annnnnnd…it falls.
It was still standing.
….And it-
The Ursa tipped and fell over backwards.
Woohoo!
Ruby hopped over the corpse of the King Taijitu in order to put it between her and the Grimm, Crescent Rose adhering to the clamp on her back as fighting was sent to the back of her mind. "Weiss!"
Her partner had attempted to rise to her feet but fell short. She was still using Myrtenaster as a crutch, Weiss slightly hunched over it, and there was a slight trembling of her legs. As soon as she reached her, Ruby slung an arm around her shoulders to take some of Weiss's weight.
Weiss was already tugging on her arm before it even settled. "I'm fine, Ruby. Just need a moment to catch my breath."
She needed more than that. Out of all the members of RWBY, it was Weiss who could tax herself out the easiest when it came to her bladework and Dustcraft. Though the time at Beacon had been steadily increasing her stamina, this was pushing it. With them this close together, Ruby could see the windows of Myrtenaster's cylinder and how at least half of the Dust cartridges loaded within were running low.
How many spells had she been casting along with all that they've been through today? Ruby had seen how quickly she casted her ice wall and then her glyphs to immobilize the Major in such short order and she could only wonder just how many others she had used when she had been chasing and keeping the Grimm from leaving the plaza.
And I thought I gave her the easier job. It was part of the reason as to why Ruby sent her away and Weiss must've picked up on it enough to be insulted. But Ruby had been thinking as a leader and as a leader she thought Weiss was more suited elsewhere – not just by her skills but her condition as well.
It was by thinking as a leader that Ruby began to lead Weiss away from the Grimm and she could feel her feet scrabbling to find enough purchase to stop her while she cried, "Let go, I can handle it!"
"JNPR and SSSN are here to help," Ruby tried to explain calmly but was broken with grunts as she held onto Weiss, practically dragging her struggling partner. "We can-"
A shadow passed over them which was quickly followed by another, putting them on alert. One hand blindly reached for Crescent Rose while Ruby did her best to orientate to what she saw was a possible threat. Nevermores?
Despite her exhaustion, Weiss had brought her rapier up, the slender steel covering them both. Ruby feared that she was going to cast another spell but she didn't. When the leader did see what it was that was flying above them, her hand froze when she gripped Crescent Rose, stopping just shy of freeing it from her back.
Those weren't Nevermores.
Everyone eventually had their attention drawn to the sky, including the Grimm. While the shadows could be missed and even ignored, the same couldn't be said when a formation – one lead craft with flanking pairs - of the aerial arrivals flew in low, engines loud in the ears of those present while jet wash sent small gusts down below.
There were at least five of such groupings that started filling the air above the plaza but with how they twisted, banked, and maneuvered as they checked the skies and formed a perimeter, it was hard to keep track of the exact number.
What became the center of everyone's attention though, was the slender nose that passed over the edge of the plaza. It cut through the air space, making way for the rest of the Atlesian dreadnaught to glide over the battlefield, eclipsing the rising sun as it took a position over the city.
Hunters and Grimm alike were transfixed by it. For the humans and faunus, it was a show of force that they had yet to become accustomed to despite how three of these warships had been a constant sight since their arrival. However, this was the first where one had arrived with the intention for battle.
For the Grimm, they recognized the technology of man but for how much hatred it should encourage, they instead remained in place with uncertainty. Instincts demanded they attack but how could they possibly hope to do so against machines that were up so high and so massive in size?
From within the bridge of the dreadnaught, General James Ironwood took in his audience. Standing tall within the center of the circular bridge, the general examined the assorted holographic monitors and displays provided before tapping against one screen that showed a view of the plaza, magnifying the image so that he could better make out each and every member of the soulless species that made up this invasion of one of humanity's most treasured cities.
He couldn't believe it himself when the sirens blared, shortly followed by an emergency transmission from his fleet. A dropship had already been enroute to fetch him from Beacon and during the transfer to his flagship he had been engrossed in his scroll and the constant updates that were being sent to it as his forces gathered intelligence of what was going on by contacting Vale's council, the VPD, watching broadcasts from VNN, and the recon flights that they had sent out to investigate.
All sources pointed to one thing: the city had been breached.
It was only seeing the proof right in front of his eyes that Ironwood had to relent to it and he was able to piece together the clues as to how this happened. One look at the rift that had been opened up in the ground and the train that laid next to it, and he could make a very educated guess.
As shocking and terrible as the whole situation was, the tactical mind of the general had to give a small iota of recognition to the thinking that led to this. Using an old subway tunnel to send a train crashing through the sealed and buried entrance and open up a path for the Grimm to go under the walls, bypassing the primary defense that had kept Vale free of their presence for generations.
However, the general recognized and despised the sort of person that was needed to come up with such a plan. This action was equivalent to an attempt at genocide where something of its nature had only ever been attempted during the height of the Great War – when tyrants and madmen had willingly pursued every option that was available to them in a last-ditch effort to either retain their holdings or let them burn around them.
This was exactly the kind of thing and the kind of people that Ironwood had wanted to prevent from rising ever again. As a general of the most powerful military, he had strived to use his position to fulfill his sworn duty to protect the peace. As of this morning, he had failed to do so.
But by the end of the day, he intended to reestablish it.
"Maintaining position over the plaza," came the navigations officer.
"Weapons at full charge," came a voice from the weapons station.
"We are not to fire under any circumstances," Ironwood immediately replied. Their military doctrine was very clear when it came to firing within a city and any officer who dared to break it would be subjected to severe punishments unless they provided a very, very good reason to do so. There were also friendlies down there, Ironwood having spotted the Huntsmen and Huntresses down below. "What's the status of our other ships?"
"Last communiqué had them at an ETA of one minute to reach the southern defensive wall," the officer responsible for communications returned.
Ironwood nodded. The two dreadnaughts that he had ordered to the wall would not have the same problem. Once they were beyond the city limits, they would be free to exterminate the Grimm attacking there with extreme prejudice.
That would only be one piece of the presentation that he was crafting here, and he made sure that he would be at the center of the stage to conduct the main act.
"General, dropships are in position and ready to deploy the 200s at your order," reported ops.
Though Ironwood only had to glance out the viewing window to see a portion of them, he devoted a look to the screens that were broadcasting a better picture from the flagship's external cameras. Once the immediate area had been designated as clear of airborne targets, the Atlesian fighter/transports had gathered around the dreadnaught and spaced themselves out to cover above the plaza.
And so it begins. Stifling the urge to smile, Ironwood instead clasped his hands tightly behind him and made sure that his back was presentably straight.
He almost wished that Penny was in one of those ships, ready to be deployed with the rest of the Knights, but a memorable performance was one that did not waste all of its wonders in one shot. Her time would come, and the part she had to play was the most important of all. If this was to be the first act, then Penny was the finale that would win the crowd over. As to what she would be winning them over to…
Well, all in good time. That was to be for another, much grander stage.
"Deploy the Knights."
The deployment order was transmitted from the flagship and passed around to the assembly of dropships. The pilots obeyed, the rear ramps of the airships dropping down to reveal their passengers.
The ships were built based on the Atlesian military's growing reliance on mechanized warfare. Ordinarily, using such small vessels as transport ships would end up with numerous complications, the first and most important ones involving the comfort of the passengers. Trying to jam a squad of soldiers into the passenger compartment would leave very little room to move and would be outright dangerous if the ships attempted to maneuver in a combat zone with such limited space.
A squad of androids, on the other hand, was a different issue altogether. When the ramps lowered, it was to reveal a total of eight AK-200s standing shoulder-to-shoulder in two tightly-packed rows of four with rifles held across their chests. Comforts meant nothing to the androids and the absence of any accommodations created more space to house these machines that could remain standing in the hold for however long they needed until they were ready to be deployed.
What the Atlesians got was a versatile fighter/transport. Fast and highly maneuverable, they could fly in, unload their troops, and fly out or stick around to provide air support with the paired chin guns, their then empty holds further increasing their maneuverability. Along with their speed, they were small targets when compared to the bigger Bullheads. They were not as durable, but if one was to be shot down the only real lives that would be lost were that of the pilots.
There was also one other advantage that came with the nature of their passengers: there was no need for any kind of landing strategy whatsoever. All they had to do was jump.
Devoid of fear, the first pair of androids in line made the small hop out from the passenger bay and into empty air with the next pair immediately stepping up to repeat the action. This was done throughout all of the gathered dropships until over one hundred androids were freefalling towards the plaza.
They righted themselves just before they made landing. Though having fallen from hundreds of feet in the air, they hit feet-first with no signs of damage taken, landing in a crouch before coming to a stand. After shouldering their rifles, they began firing.
They did not fire projectiles but bolts of energy produced from an internal, Dust-based power cell. More shots, less power, but against such massed fire, the Grimm fell to it just as readily. One Ursa roared and attempted to swat at the yellow bolts that struck it, burning holes through fur and flesh. The Knights targeting it kept up their fire until the Ursa's struggles weakened and then stopped when it fell over, succumbing to its wounds.
Their targeting program matched the Grimm to the profiles stored in their databases while simultaneously identifying the Huntsmen and Huntresses that fought with them as friendlies. Guns turned and fired, Knights hitting Grimm with pinpoint accuracy. When one android targeted a Grimm, other nearby Knights linked their firing solutions together with it to create maximum efficiency as they all targeted the same specimen.
It was not just their numbers that made them so effective, as demonstrated by one Boarbatusk. Its rolling attack smashed solidly into two Knights, throwing them off their feet and knocking them to the ground. When it uncurled from its ball and looked for new victims, it suddenly began squealing as energy bolts struck at it, the androids it had just smacked into having picked themselves up and resumed firing, the only visibly damage being the dents in their armor.
A Beowolf charged at a Knight. The android tried to bring its rifle to bear but the Grimm seized it by the arm and held it away while lifting the claws of its one paw up, ready for a strike. When it sought to bring them down though, the android responded in kind, gripping its wrist.
The visage of the Beowolf snarled into a featureless visor. Muscles and servos fought against each other as the two became locked in a power struggle. They were evenly matched.
This was opposition that the Grimm were not used to. Unfeeling machines that were not only as strong as them but were attacking in numbers that were close to matching theirs. The tables were turning but not coming totally around just yet.
The breach, after all, was still open.
Ruby had remained immobilized at the stage due to fascination as she watched the entry of the Atlesian military; from the small fleet of airships that filled the skies to the AK-200s that came raining down and became locked in battle with the Grimm. Going by how quiet Weiss was, her partner had been just as captivated.
That was until her voice suddenly rang out and Myrtenaster shifted. "Ruby!"
Ruby whipped her head to where Weiss was presenting Myrtenaster and saw an Ursa on top of the black corpse of the King Taijitu, its sight locked solely on the pair. With a roar, it leapt off and fell towards them.
Before Ruby could react, there was a short whine which turned into a loud chatter of guns firing. A hail of bullets hit and then passed through the Ursa, shredding it and turning its descent into an uncontrollable tumble that had it falling just short of its intended targets.
Ruby saw the source of the help a moment later: an Atlesian ship, but one having flown so low that it was able to target and kill the Grimm with its chin guns. Smiling, Ruby waved up at it and the pilot waggled the wings in return before drifting to another part of the plaza to help.
That was until it was pulled out from the sky.
Though the Ursa had brought it into Ruby's view, the young leader hadn't noticed the anomaly that was nearby: the Taijitu's body was still present. It hadn't disintegrated as it should when Grimm were slain.
It was still there, and it moved.
From the breach, there came a loud hiss and then another head of a Taijitu – this one colored white – broke free. Its target was the low flying airship and before the pilot could react, the Taijitu opened its mouth wide and the tip of the vessel's tail disappeared down its throat while its fangs pierced into the metal.
The dropship jerked and then the pilots worked to try and free themselves. The engines tilted until they were pointing straight down and they roared as they were put at maximum burn. It gained some ascension, the Taijitu's head lifting with it, but with the violent pull the Grimm not only brought the dropship down again but its body twisted, pulling the dropship further along towards the edge of the plaza.
The Grimm crashed through a building, bringing the airship with it. There was the squealing of metal, the engines quieting as they went dead, and when the Taijitu pulled itself free it left behind the warped fuselage of the vessel behind in the wreckage.
Oh, right, Ruby thought when the serpent turned towards her and Weiss. Two heads.
Nora had only killed one half of the King Taijitu. The other was still alive, and it was angry.
Ruby was already retreating with Weiss when it began slithering towards them, extricating more of its white-scaled body from the tunnel. The maw of the creature went wide again, presenting its fangs and the gullet beyond.
A quartet of Atlesian Knights leapt onto the stage, already firing as they moved past the two Huntresses and placed themselves between them and the Taijitu. The Grimm shook its head as the bolts connected but the roar it made was not so much one of pain as it was of annoyance before its attention became focused on the androids. It snatched one of them within its mouth, shaking it madly while its fangs bit deep, and when it flung the Knight away it was with the android's body as a broken mess.
It was enough of a distraction for Weiss and Ruby to get clear of the stage and towards a small space that was currently free of combat. To Ruby's relief they were met by Yang and Blake, both of them alive if worn – Yang more than Blake.
"You guys okay?" Yang asked, concern sweeping over the red and white pair.
"Fine," Ruby replied, maintaining her grip on Weiss. She jerked her head to the stage. "But we have to do something about that."
Yang and Blake looked back to see the Taijitu using its body to sweep aside the last remaining Knights. Unlike its twin, it didn't seem interested in guarding the hole as it began moving away, desiring instead to join in on the battle. It dragged its dead half behind it, the literal dead weight not keeping it from sliding off the stage and reaching the next grouping of Knights. Like the ones before, the androids turned and fired, but their weapons were inadequate to pierce through the scales.
Even with her tired state, Yang still had it in her to make a quip. "Don't they know not to send robots to do a Huntress's job?"
"It's going to be tough to take down, even for us," Blake commented.
That Ruby agreed with. While the Taijitu began crushing the Knights beneath it, she saw a flash of green which turned out to be Ren, the boy firing both his pistols to join in the salvo of the androids. Though the small rounds of Storm Flower were just as ineffective, the Taijitu was clearly more interested in the human.
Nearby, Nora had scaled a roof that brought her at the same level as the Taijitu. While the Grimm was distracted by her partner, Nora stood ready, waiting for the right moment, and when it came she launched herself from the roof and towards the Taijitu's turned head, Magnhild held high.
"SM-!" Nora began until the snake's head jerked away, Nora flying harmlessly by, and then it returned to bat the hammer-wielder into the ground.
The Taijitu wasn't going to fall as easily as its twin. It was prepared now.
"Any plans?" Yang asked.
"We'll think as we go," Ruby replied, mind working furiously to try and come up with something as she took in their current strength. "The three of us will take care of it. Weiss, you should-"
"No."
Ruby gaze jerked to Weiss and found the heiress giving her a look that was as sharp as her tone. "Wha-?"
"I said no," she repeated fiercely.
"But Weiss, you-"
"You are not going to tell me to stay back and leave you to do this, Ruby Rose!" The arm that was around Ruby's shoulders tightened, keeping the leader in place of the scathing look that Weiss fixed her with.
The vehemence surprised Ruby and it extended to Yang and Blake, the other half of RWBY glancing at each other with confusion. What they couldn't possibly feel but what Ruby did, however, was that beneath Weiss's fierceness was something else. The strength in her grip was fueled by something more than the heiress's typical anger that one would think was coming from being insulted at the suggestion of being left out.
It was something that was very familiar to Ruby, but it broke off when Weiss let go and pushed away from her. Standing straight and features hardening into a neutral mask, the fencer surveyed her teammates, any signs of her previous weaknesses well-hidden.
"I'll take it out," she insisted with a delivery that dared any of them to argue.
Yang and Blake both turned to Ruby who was staring at her partner. Weiss greeted her with cold eyes, jaw set, and lips in a thin line.
Ruby slowly nodded. "We'll set it up then."
After a quick discussion of the plan they moved out with Yang taking her usual frontal approach. With the Taijitu at the vanguard, the Grimm had been slowly regaining ground, and the brawler found a small crowd blocking her off from the Taijitu.
An abandoned car and some creativity fixed that. Yang drove her fist into the hood, lifting the back up, and her next punch was directed into the roof to send the car flipping end-over-end into the assembled Grimm, crushing or smacking them aside to clear her way.
She couldn't help but donate a moment to flex her fingers. She was still tired but, she had to admit, the Aura boost that Blake had given her was helping. Hopefully it would last long enough to deal with this challenge.
Yang took off down the path that she cleared but then had to stop short. Off to her right, a Death Stalker was coming towards her, pincers clacking menacingly. Cursing under her breath, she rotated to face it, fists coming up in preparation.
Instead of making the rest of the way to her, the Death Stalker halted and began squealing, its body jerking wildly. Yang blinked in confusion until she saw a figure of red and bronze come out from beneath it, Pyrrha having come up behind and slid under the Death Stalker, creating a collection of cuts with Miló where the exoskeleton didn't cover. When she came upright, she brought up Akoúo̱ and blocked one of the pincers that the Death Stalker swung towards her.
The other cocked in preparation and then swung towards her back but it was similarly stopped, this time by a triangular-shaped shield.
"We'll take care of this one!" Jaune shouted over to Yang, he and Pyrrha back-to-back as they kept the pincers from reaching either of them.
"Are you sure?"
"Of course he's sure!" While the Death Stalker was distracted by the JP pair, Neptune dropped down onto its back, weapon in hand. It was in its glaive mode, the single blade crackling with energy, and he stabbed it down. He must've spotted a chink in the Death Stalker's armor or the energized metal must've actually broken through because the Death Stalker began shrieking in renewed pain. "They've got me!"
"And me!" Flipping over Jaune and Pyrrha were three of Sun's brightly-colored clones. They converged on the Death Stalker, leaping at its face, and the Death Stalker squealed as they exploded against and blinded its many eyes. It scurried back, Jaune and Pyrrha chasing after it with the real Sun soon following right behind them.
Yang couldn't help but chuckle and gave them a quick salute. "All yours, then!"
She resumed her sprint towards the Taijitu and in the middle she purposely passed where she saw Nora had been knocked into the street. Much like Yang, Nora was climbing out from her own crater.
"Ready to take part of our world-saving adventure?" Yang asked once she reached her.
Nora had been rubbing at her head with a pained expression but at hearing Yang's offer she immediately forgot about her pain as she grinned manically and clutched Magnhild. "I thought you'd never ask!"
"Good!" Yang cocked Ember Celica. "We're the distraction!"
Nora didn't need to hear anything else, Magnhild transforming from its hammer to its grenade launcher mode. Standing next to each other, Yang and Nora let loose, yellow flares and pink, heart-stamped grenades streaking towards the Taijitu.
The heavy weapons proved to get a reaction out it when two of Yang's flares managed to explode near its face before one of Nora's grenades hit. The force of the detonation was like a punch that knocked its head to the side before it spun to them, unleashing a roar.
Leaving Nora to keep firing, Yang started to drift away from her, still firing an occasional flare. Like she expected, the Taijitu started tracking her while it ducked its head beneath another of Nora's grenades.
Yeah, I'd be afraid of Nora too, Yang thought. As it was Nora who had killed its twin and nearly did the same again to it, she had assumed – correctly, it appeared – that the Taijitu would be more inclined to tangle with her.
It may not be the dumbest move for it to make but it was still pretty dumb to think that Yang would be easier prey.
After she gained a bit more distance from Nora, the Taijitu chose to strike, head snapping down and jaws opening wide to devour Yang. Yang pointed one gauntlet behind her, firing off a shot, and that added speed was enough for it to just miss her, the Taijitu's head slamming and burrowing into the street. Yang started skidding to a halt, pointed her other gauntlet in the opposite direction, and the next bit of recoil had her flying back towards it.
It had just extracted itself from its self-made imprint in the middle of the street when Yang reached it. Her blow wasn't anything like Magnhild but it was enough to send it crashing through the display window of a bakery.
The Taijitu pulled out from the window, glass shards falling off it. It tried to relocate Yang but what it found instead was Ren who sprinted by, the attached blades of Storm Flower slashing across the side of its face. Hissing in pain, it switched to him, leaving it open for Blake, the cat faunus descending from above with the sword portion of Gambol Shroud unsheathed. Her feet landed on top of its bone mask first, followed by the point of her sword which embedded itself into the thick layer of bone.
That was where Ruby came in. With everyone focusing their attacks at its head, it was she who attacked its body. She triggered her Semblance, streaking in as a red blur with scythe and rose petals trailing behind her. Racing alongside its white body, her scythe blade broke through and dug deep into the scales before she proceeded to drag it behind her as she ran, spiraling around the long body with Crescent Rose creating a split along the length of the Taijitu.
The Grimm thrashed and roared, shaking its head and body. Blake flipped away but her sword remained stuck in its skull plate, the ribbon flapping like a flag as it lifted away, raising itself to its full height in a bid to get out of reach of the assaulting Hunters. It was successful in removing Ruby who similarly leapt away.
"Weiss!" she called.
Her partner's glyph appeared in mid-air, right over the thrashing Taijitu. It spun with its usual elegance, but there was an addition to the smooth lines that were woven so intricately.
They were charged with electricity, visible bolts dancing and sparking along the Schnee crest like a thunder cloud. At the center they gathered, coalescing together…until they formed into one giant lightning bolt that struck down with a deafening boom.
Yet even then they all heard the Taijitu when it screamed. Striking the hilt of Gambol Shroud like an improvised rod, the lightning coursed through the entire length of the snake, its coils becoming wreathed in electricity that skipped along its scales. Tendrils arced through the long, bloody trench that was made by Ruby and the Taijitu's eyes exploded as the power of Nature's Wrath fried it from without and from within.
Its inhuman screech ended and the only reason its body still stood and twitched was because of the remaining charge that flowed through it. When it finally bled away, the giant form collapsed and, this time, it wouldn't get up again. According to the wisps of darkness that began exuding from it, the only thing left for the monster to do was disappear.
After spending over a week with nothing but Grimm, Coco Adel had intended to spend her day off with them being entirely absent. Sleep in late, enjoy a long, hot shower to better expunge the griminess that she could still feel from her team's extended stay in the wilderness despite last night's scalding soak, and then hit the city on a different kind of expedition – one that involved visiting the top five of the ten best-listed clothing stores to be found in Vale.
It was the sirens of Beacon Academy that announced that each and every step of her planned time off was about to become so thoroughly undone. Not only was she forced awake much earlier than she intended, but she had to skip her shower.
To say she was unhappy was putting it politely.
To say it again when she realized her team's haste to get dressed had led her to donning the same clothes she wore yesterday was a gross understatement.
Then there was the biggest irony of all. She was getting her wish in regards to visiting Vale, currently being jetted there by a Bullhead. However, she was not going there for her shopping extravaganza.
She and her team were being sent to fight the Grimm that were currently rampaging in it.
With all these events in mind, she surprised even herself with this calmness that accompanied her when she decided to move to the cockpit. She decided to make an amendment to that. She wasn't 'calm' so to speak but more…apathetic. One theory she currently entertained was that her emotions had become so utterly devastated that they had reset to a passive setting so that she was able to retain her sanity.
Whatever the reason, it made her voice exceptionally steady when she queried, "What's the status?"
With the pilot focusing on the actual flying, it was the co-pilot who answered. "Reports coming in now from local police forces and elements of the Atlesian military that are onsite." He pressed a hand against the side of his helmet, listening to what Coco suspected to be those reports. "Confirmed presence of two Hunter teams codenamed RWBY and JNPR along with members of SSSN. General Ironwood has reinforced them with combat androids and close-support airships."
Coco expressed a "Tch" that she was wasn't really concerned about them hearing at the mention of the Atlesians. The report of their intervention bred a flicker of annoyance. Call it her professional pride being stung but having spent enough of her years defending Vale and its outlying territories with her fellow Huntsmen and Huntresses, there was an established feeling of ownership that was noticeably vexed at the idea of foreigners doing what was their job.
It wasn't that she hated Atlesians or anything – what was the problem was that it was the military. If they had been Hunters from Atlas then there would be no grievances, but the fact that it was the military bothered her. They were always showboating with their big ships and boasting of their next great achievement coming from their overreliance on technology and she didn't like the idea of them getting more fuel for it.
Can't help but notice they only mentioned androids and not their own Hunters, she thought sourly. As a leader though, she knew when and how to put her personal feelings aside as she did so now when she asked, "How did the Grimm manage to get in the city in the first place?"
"The exact circumstances are unknown," the co-pilot informed her. "What has been confirmed is that some sort of tunnel had opened in the central plaza and is being used as their method of entry."
Coco felt a portion of her insides grow cold, this bit of information breaking through her apathy. The central plaza? Such is the nature of this cruel irony; that was supposed to have been her first destination of her planned spree. It better still be in one piece when I get there or- "Get us there as fast as you can!"
"Roger!"
Disturbed, the fashionista retreated back into the passenger cabinet where the rest of her team was assembled and they all looked to her for an update on the situation. She put her own concerns off to the side to better address them. "I've just been told that the Grimm managed to get into the central plaza of Vale through an underground tunnel. Other than the Atlesians, other Hunter teams are already on the scene, including JNPR and RWBY."
A pair of brown bunny ears shot straight up from the line of her teammates. "RWBY and JNPR?"
Coco's expression softened at the worried face of Velvet and she immediately attempted to soothe her concerns. "I haven't been told much about their status but they are fighting there and I'm sure we'll arrive in time to help them."
"I hope so," the faunus murmured, her hands wringing together while her ears bent low with concern. "I spoke with RWBY as soon as we got back yesterday. They're supposed to be on their first mission and I said that they were going to be fine."
Coco felt for her. They had all taken a liking to them – RWBY and JNPR. She had spotted the members of the former come up to speak to Velvet and Coco was happy to see the display of friendship that had guarded their adorable bunny girl during last semester. CFVY owed the two teams and if it was one thing that they took pride in it was that they always paid their debts.
Well, that and enforcing Rule Number One.
"Your fears are misplaced!" a bombastic voice suddenly broke out. "RWBY and JNPR both carry the qualities of true Hunters-in-training, something of which I can personally attest to! If there were ever a pair of teams that could triumph over something as this, it would undoubtedly be them!" There was a merry chuckle followed by, "No offense to present company of course!"
"None taken," Coco replied, smiling a little at the interjection.
When CFVY had gone rushing into the first Bullhead to arrive, they had done so with Peter Port coming along. The man stood proudly with chest jutting out and hands at his hips in what Coco could guess was his image of a heroic stance. The blunderaxe that she would always see on a mantle in his classroom was instead at his back, the professor spoiling for a fight and having made several comments to convey his eagerness for it ever since they took off.
Velvet obtained some reassurance from his words and a hand took that moment to lay itself on her shoulder, easily engulfing it. Instead of being intimidated, Velvet turned and smiled at the owner.
Yatsuhashi nodded, face stoic but eyes gentle.
Coco peered out through one of the airship's viewports to check their progress. They had been following the river route and she happened to look out just as they reached where it flowed into the city. Between the tall buildings, she could see the streets that were filled with people running about like ants and she could easily pick out the emergency lights of police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks all heading in the same direction.
She caught something out of the corner of her eye and the frantic voice of the pilot suddenly blasted through the Bullhead's intercom. "Brace yourselves!"
She grabbed the safety handle a moment before the Bullhead suddenly banked, her feet briefly leaving the floor. Something big and black passed across the viewport she had been looking through and the Bullhead shook in response to sudden turbulence.
"Splendid performance!" Port praised. While the rest of CFVY had practically dived for the safety handles, their professor had somehow remained in place, his poise not even shaken. "My compliments to the pilot!"
When the Bullhead centered itself, it was Velvet who looked out and identified what missed them. "A Giant Nevermore!"
Coco looked back out the viewport again. Two of those Atlesian airships streaked past, their chin guns firing as they chased what she soon confirmed was a Nevermore of that variant.
"We currently have sightings of three Giant Nevermores," the pilot reported from the front.
Three? One was uncommon enough, but three? All the fighting is attracting the bigger ones, and I doubt those came out from the tunnel. "What's the situation at the wall?"
"Southern wall is under attack. Team CRDL had been stationed there beforehand to engage and I've been informed that Team KORL and Team RUST have been delivered to reinforce them. As of right now, the numbers of the Grimm aren't anywhere near enough to penetrate the wall."
KORL and RUST were both veteran teams, similar to CFVY. Coco was confident that they could handle it together. Although I kind of hope they were a bit slow in getting to CRDL…
No, she didn't mean that…not one hundred percent anyway. The members of CRDL were a bunch of jerks but even she couldn't bring herself to honestly wish for any of them to get seriously injured. They needed some adjusting of their attitudes and if CFVY or anyone else did it enough they might turn out to be somewhat decent.
"We're being transmitted a flight path from the Atlesian flagship that's clear of hostiles," the pilot spoke again. "On approach to the plaza." A few seconds went by and then, "Opening side bay doors."
The armored doors slid open as the Bullhead reached its destination. The one that opened behind Coco offered the best view of what was going on as the airship came to a hover and she rotated around to get a look, Fox stepping parallel to her while Velvet crouched down between them to begin searching for her friends.
They've been busy.
What drew her attention first was the dead Taijitu, the last vestige of its linked bodies disintegrating. All around it, the creatures of Grimm fought with squads of AK-200 androids, bestial roars being answered with the chatter of rifles. Somewhere within the two mobs, Coco could see the colors of red, green, pink, yellow, blue – the bright hues worn by the various Hunters that fought together
Coco's gaze didn't stay long on the fighting as she lifted her chin up, her sunglasses concealing the frantic searching of her eyes as she examined the line of buildings, silently pleading that- Son of a bitch!
It lay there in ruins. Her initial reaction was to deny it but she's been to it so many times and knew it so well that there was no mistake that the pile of debris was what she feared it to be, a letter S standing awkwardly on top as if to taunt her.
It was Sohls. Ranked second but to Coco there was no other clothing store that could surpass it no matter what anyone would say to her. Not with all the great deals that it provided along with it being a fashion industry favorite where the latest lines of famous brands would always be featured there first.
She had feared she was going to miss the fifteen, twenty, thirty event because of the lengthening of her mission and fortune had granted her with the thirty percent off deal. Lana Marine was to introduce her new line of ensembles.
Coco brought her sight back to the battle and she deliberately tilted her head at an angle that produced an ominous pop from her neck. Let's make some music.
There was no need for her to say a word. A few glances passed around, a nod of her head, and CFVY leapt clear of the Bullhead and fell towards the anarchy.
~RWBY Soundtrack – Caffeine~
Likewise, there was no need for her to give a command when they landed. She and her teammates had fought together for too long that they instinctively knew their roles and how best to complement each other. As soon as they touched down, Fox and Velvet took their positions at the front, the speedier members bounding forward. Coco followed with a languid but confident strut that kept her position at the middle.
Yatsuhashi hung back, guarding their rear, and it was he who received first contact. Coco heard the growls that had her looking over her shoulder to see five Beowolves having arrived to prey on one of the new arrivals, brandishing claws and fangs at the big Huntsman.
They've got him surrounded. The thought was devoid of worry and a corner of Coco's lip tipped up as Yatsuhashi, unperturbed, took his time to reach back and grasp the long handle of his sword. She faced forward again. Dumb mutts.
There were the collective barks of the Beowolves, signaling their attack, which were interrupted by an enormous crash that came half a second before the ground quake. Coco lightly gripped her beret to keep it in place when she ducked her head down and one of the Beowolves went flying right over her, whining the whole while.
Fox and Velvet had engaged a group of the Grimm by this point. With a performance that did her heritage proud, the bunny faunus was hopping from one Grimm to another. The golden plates at her toes and heels were put to good use as Velvet sprung up to kick the head of Beowolf hard enough to send it stumbling back, and when she fell it was to drop her heel on top of a Creep, its hard head unable to stand against the power behind the blow that drove its face into the street.
She flipped over to another target while Fox took over. A curved blade severed the muscles in the leg of the Beowolf that Velvet stunned, toppling it over, and the dropping motion of Fox's elbow drove the pointed tip into the beast's throat. Wrenching it free, he rounded on the recovering Creep, slashing along the side of its long neck and cutting almost all the way through, leaving a thin strand of sinew to connect its head to its body that got it to bounce and roll when it collapsed.
Coco soon saw that a possible reason for Fox and Velvet's pickings – and maybe their haste – was due to the figures of red and white that were crouched nearby. Rather, the red one – Ruby – was crouched. The white-themed Weiss was down and resting her back against the trunk of a tree that had been cut down. Myrtenaster was resting nearby while its owner panted for breath.
Coco watched with some curiosity at how Ruby was holding tight to one of Weiss's hands with both of hers. The young leader's eyes were closed and Coco needed a moment to distinguish the red of the girl's Aura from the red of her cloak. It was not restricted to surrounding her as, at their joined hands, her Aura was spreading from her to Weiss.
Is she…?
She was. Red became pink which then turned to white. Coco began to make out Weiss's Aura and the reason she hadn't been able to see it before was because of how faint it had been. It was gradually growing stronger and Weiss's panting was lessening in intensity.
Coco's foot paused in mid-step when she was hit with the realization of what she was seeing. By then, Ruby opened her eyes, her and her partner's Auras vanishing, and she noticed Coco staring at her. Silver eyes widened in surprise and her jaw hung slightly ajar.
"Take five, girls," Coco advised, passing them a short grin. "You earned it."
"I, uh, sure!" she babbled, Coco unable to help but find it cute with how embarrassed the young girl looked even when in the middle of such a mess. Next to her, Weiss opened her scarred eye and gave Coco a weak wave of confirmation.
With the Grimm in the immediate area clear, Fox surveyed for a new target and found it in another grouping of the dark-spawned beasts. In particular, the Ursa Major that stood out among the rest. The Huntsman shot towards it, leaving even Velvet behind.
Though they were partners, Coco could still be impressed with just how much savagery that Fox would put in his assaults. In contrast to Yatsuhashi who possessed a serene state of mind despite the great strength he possessed, Fox's style was fitting to his name: swift but unrelenting – nimble but brutal.
That was the best way to describe it when Fox struck, the way he wielded his two blades akin to the clawing of an animal with a viciousness that exceeded that of the creatures of the Grimm. His scarred lips were pulled back, the gnashing of his teeth nearly animalistic as he tore into the Major that was helpless against his assault.
He finished by connecting the knuckles of his gauntlet into the chin of the Ursa, sending it up. Fox drew his fists back, holding them at the ready, and when the Major returned back down he thrust both forward and they hit the Grimm in unison.
He put his Aura behind that one. The Major had been shy of touching the ground when it was hit and it actually remained suspended. An unnatural distortion of its body occurred, an Aura-produced shockwave of concussive force channeling through it. Yet it didn't seem to do any lasting harm when the delay passed and the Major was thrown back into the middle of its brethren.
That was until its muscles bulged and swelled, its torso expanding like a balloon. And like any balloon that went beyond its limits, it popped with body parts flying everywhere.
Including its numerous spines that turned the Grimm around it into pincushions. Creeps, Beowolves, and Ursai fell with a few collecting as many as four or five of the spines that pierced into them.
Effective, although Coco wished that Fox gave a bit more thought into style and she wasn't just referring to the rags he typically wore. A volley of spines came her way and she casually swung her handbag to slap them aside. Nearby, Velvet shrunk away from a couple that tumbled towards her but was saved when Yatsuhashi stepped up to her, putting his armor-clad shoulder between the faunus and the projectiles which bounced off of it.
"Nice hustle, Fox," Coco complimented. Her critiquing aside, she couldn't argue with the results and she conveyed her appreciation with a pat on his butt when she strutted past him. "Good job."
He threw her a look but said nothing. Picking up on the subtle weight in her stride, he deciphered the message it carried and obediently hung back.
His leader needed to express some rage now.
A Beowolf was too kind to volunteer itself as the first of Coco's victims. An Alpha to boot, its jaws big enough to easily eat the glamorized girl whole but it chose to try to inspire fear with a heavy rumble that Coco felt vibrate through her body while the dagger-sized fangs snapped in her face.
She simply stood with a hand on a cocked hip, unimpressed. Her glasses slid down, revealing brown irises that were smoldering with a fury that had remained hidden till now. "You destroyed my favorite clothing store." She pushed her shades back to the bridge of her nose, turned her head, and spat a wad of saliva off to the side. The creature wasn't worth her spit. "Prepare to die."
She was insulted with how the Alpha raised a paw – the action done so slowly that she suspected that it was making another attempt to create and savor some terror from what it saw as prey before it killed it. She made it abundantly clear as to who the real prey was as, when the claws came down, her handbag came up, meeting and then knocking it away with such strength that the Alpha was taken off balance, leaving its groin open for a kick made directly to it.
Its reaction was the most human-like that Coco had ever seen, clutching where it had been hit while it dropped to its knees, moaning in pain. She bent forward, waiting until those soulless red orbs lifted and became locked with her black, empty lenses. Now the one that was being looked down upon, the next rumble that was produced from the back of the Beowolf's throat was significantly small and uncertain.
Coco felt a measure of fulfillment which was eclipsed when it was her who was swinging an attack down, her handbag pounding its head into the street. There was a brief moment of resistance before it gave way beneath the fashion accessory, the monster's skull caving in on itself.
A good start, but she wasn't close to feeling better. Fortunately, that was when the Alpha's pack came to avenge their leader. She let them do all the work of closing the distance and she carried out a similar fate to the rest of them, each unfortunate Grimm witnessing a deceptively harmless tote coming straight for them before a great force measuring in several tons struck and sent them flying with shattered bones.
The latest one she battered spun with the hit and she made sure that the point of her heel dug deep into its spine when she kicked it away. In the wake of the Beowolf though, she came face-to-face with a Death Stalker, its stinger already snapping forward and which she dodged away from.
Velvet appeared at her side, clutching her own combat tote that had the symbol of her stitched heart emblazoned on the side. She bent into a ready position, hand hovering over it as she focused on the Death Stalker.
"Hey!" Coco held a hand to stop her. "You used all semester building that up."
Velvet blinked at her with bewilderment but obeyed, relaxing her stance while her hand fell away from her tote.
"Don't waste it here," Coco added, strolling back towards the Death Stalker. Besides, she was still far from satisfied.
There was a flick of her wrist that was timed with a pulse of her Aura directed to her handbag. The sides of the tote suddenly slid up while the bottom dropped, unveiling an enormous drum magazine. Six large gun barrels extended and linked together. What was just a handbag a second ago became a minigun, its size comically huge when compared to the one who hefted it.
But level it she did and Coco squeezed the triggering mechanism that had formed in the handle.
The six barrels spun, emitting a low whine which evolved into a roaring chorus of two-thousand rounds per minute as they fired. With the protection of her shades, the flaming muzzle flash didn't inhibit her sight and her strength allowed her to brace against the recoil that resonated through her bones in a more powerful and gratifying manner, hair and clothing whipping behind her.
The results were as glorious, a trench being chewed across the entirety of the plaza before it reached the Death Stalker. It didn't' stand a chance, the barrage bursting its exoskeleton apart and its exposed insides blew up into tiny pieces. Coco began sweeping her gun to the right, exterminating the remains of the Beowolf pack just as easily.
Much more inviting targets came into her view. Up above, those three Giant Nevermores that she had been informed about earlier came flying over, looking to partake in the center of the action.
What they found was their doom as Coco effortlessly hefted the barrels up. She drew a line from tail to beak of the center one, the high-impact, high-speed rounds cutting like a knife that split the Nevermore in two. A quick left-to-right motion sent dozens more drilling into the bodies of the other two which jerked and went limp.
Ah, Coco inwardly sighed, relaxing on the trigger and basking in the pleasurable trembles of her form that came after firing her weapon for such an extended amount of time. It never got old, and there was the addition to the tremors beneath her boots that occurred when the dead Nevermores came crashing into the city somewhere behind her.
She felt a little better now, but she still had plenty of ammo left and there were still more Grimm to kill. She strolled towards another section of the Grimm-infested plaza, her team falling in behind her as their objective for today was to make their bad day good again.
Coco wasn't the only vengeful woman on the warpath, and any Grimm that strayed too close were as brutally taken out. One Creep unwisely chose to make a charge at her and found itself crashing right into an invisible wall before being violently thrown back, a flash of purple being the only sign of its attacker.
Out of all the…
A snap of a crop towards a Beowolf had its head turning and then spinning around once and then twice, its neck making the appropriate sounds of a crumbling vertebrae until its snout was pointed one way and the rest of its torso another.
Methods they could've used.
An Ursa wailed at the immense pressure that came down on its back, any attempts to stand being instantly proven useless when it and a section of the street it was standing on collapsed a good meter down.
They dared to do something like this?
Glynda Goodwitch stomped towards the plaza, not even giving any Grimm that desired a piece of her a glance before the tip of her crop thrusting in their direction sent them either flying or their bodies being twisted and bent in such gruesome fashion.
Either that blind or that stupid, a Beowolf loped into her path to bar her way. It bent low, baring its fangs at her. The professor had her crop half-raised when, instead of a telekinetic attack, a tiny missile of pure fluff suddenly appeared and impacted against the Grimm, knocking it out.
The unexpected sight was the only thing that gave Glynda pause as she stared incredulously down at a furry, triangular head with a snout tipped with a wet nose. The dog – a corgi, she recognizing the breed – stared up at her with its watery eyes and hanging tongue before greeting her with some happy barks.
What's a dog doing here?
"The pet of our own Ruby Rose!" a familiar voice answered as if the person could read her mind. "Quite a faithful companion, although I suppose it should be expected."
"Bartholomew!" Glynda stated as her fellow teacher approached, the man appearing unharmed. "Where are the girls?"
"Doing what they're trained to do of course." He waved his torch to where the worst of the fighting was. "Last I saw, they were all alive so no need to fret!"
"Indeed, no need to fret," Peter Port agreed, joining them while surveying the landscape in a way one would if they were out on a safari. "Barty, it appears it is you I find at the center of the action this time!"
"I can attest that this was not a planned occurrence," Bartholomew admitted. "It seems our malcontents are rather resourceful."
"Not the word I would use," Glynda replied agitatedly. "Can we please focus on putting an end to this?"
Bartholomew nodded sagely. "Why yes, that is probably our more immediate concern at this very moment. I think what needs to be done is pretty self-explanatory."
Glynda's response was rather dry as the overturned train and the subway tunnel it came out of was well in their sight. "Indeed."
"Then we shall leave it to you, Glynda my dear!" Port produced his blunderaxe and held it high before regarding Bartholomew. "My fellow Huntsman, shall we act as the gentlemen to escort the lady to her destination?"
Bartholomew smiled and tapped his torch against one of the axe blades. "I am always eager to contribute in the maintaining of chivalry as our most integral part of history."
"Then tally-ho, I say!"
Glynda sighed with exasperation. Near her feet, the corgi tilted his head at the Huntsmen before staring up at her and sounding a questioning yip.
"You get used to it," she replied, leaving out the part of just how long it took her to get to that point.
The flow of the Grimm had begun to ebb with the latest arrivals being a pair of Beowolves. Port set the barrel of his blunderaxe on top of a forearm and pressed the stock against his shoulder to steady his aim. The particularly loud report was typical of such an archaic weapon as well as the flaming steel ball that left the flared muzzle, punching a hole right through one of the wolves. The other he came in close to finish, spinning his weapon around in his hand so that he could cleave it in two with the axe portion.
The way clear, Oobleck stepped to his friend's side, both of them now at the mouth of the hole. Pointing his torch down, a spray of fire filled the subway tunnel, the cries of the Grimm soon following.
With the horde being temporarily held at bay, Glynda made use of the window that her coworkers provided. She pointed her crop towards the breach, her Aura briefly flaring as she activated her Semblance.
She took care of the train first. The locomotive itself had to weigh nearly a hundred tons and that wasn't counting the cars that she would have to move with it. However, something like size and weight were inconsequential when it came to the developed Aura of a full-class Huntress. In addition, it was a Huntress who had plenty of practice at cleaning up such messes during her career at Beacon.
The telekinetic power of her Semblance stretched out and she mentally seized the locomotive. With immense concentration she started to move it. The screeching of the train sliding against the ground alerted Bartholomew and Peter, both of them backing away so as not to get caught when the train was forced back through the subway tunnel, blocking and potentially crushing what Grimm that were inside and in the way.
When the plow at the front sank back into the tunnel, that concluded what was actually the easy part. The more difficult part was when Glynda turned her efforts towards the chunks of concrete and other debris that were scattered around.
Her Semblance went beyond simply moving objects as years of training and honing it had allowed it develop to greater heights. By encompassing her control around the pieces of an object that was broken, she was granted with a clairvoyance that allowed her to intuitively know how the pieces had once fit together. It was like a puzzle with each piece that she touched fitting themselves in her mind to create what had once been whole.
Once she had the completed picture in her mind, it was all about constructing it in reality.
The chunks nearby mirrored the train, sliding towards the hole. The ones that had been blasted farther away were lifted and then hovered over. Glynda's brow twitched, the only sign of the mental strain that she experienced as she sorted each fragment – from as small as a palm-sized stone to as big as an automobile. She laid them out over the breach, fitting them together so perfectly that the edges fused together as to her will, the pressure that was forcing them to do so restoring their very structure.
When Glynda lowered her crop, the street had been restored with nary a sign of the breach that had ruptured it – all smooth and unbroken pavement.
It was over.
Over inside the city. Outside, Cardin Winchester was still fighting for his life.
He held up his mace in defense, spotting a Beowolf bounding towards him. Shortly after he spotted it though, a lengthy cord suddenly whipped out from nowhere, it being so long that it wrapped around the Beowolf several times over, binding it. The Grimm fell over, struggling against its restraints.
The cord held and, before Cardin's eyes, it started to glow red and at such intensity that he needed to feel the heat to understand that it was actually superheating to the point where it was red hot. The Beowolf began howling, fur burning away.
And then the cord got so hot it burned through the beast, splitting it into several smoking pieces.
It shortened and retreated into a handle, revealing it to be a whip wielded by one of the members of KORL. The light of the heated whip faded as did that of an active Burn Crystal, one of several that were loaded in the cylinder of the handle that identified itself as an example of the Multi-Dust Action system that had been adopted by a number of Hunters with Russel being one with his daggers.
Nearby, another trainee of the reinforcing Hunter teams – RUST – was also fighting. A fox faunus with red shoulder-length hair and ears that had fur of the same color. She had the string of a bow drawn back, a slitted pupil looking down an arrow as she aimed. The head of the arrow glowed similarly to the whip, but it was green instead of red and the crystal that was powering it was actually a small gemstone that was stitched in the glove of the faunus's shooting hand.
She released the arrow, the projectile flying through a crowd of Grimm. It struck an Ursa right in its forehead, the arrow piercing the bone mask and its brain. It was not just the Ursa that died though as, during the arrow's travel, razor-sharp gusts of wind had followed in its wake. They blew and cut through nearby Grimm like steel, easily a score falling to the magic of Nature's Wrath.
With two veteran teams boosting the ranks of the defenders, the Grimm were dropping like flies. But there were still more and more, the defensive cannons of the wall firing both explosive and energy-based munitions that were lobbed towards the forest where more Grimm were arriving from.
And then there was the Goliath. Having been lumbering towards the wall, it had only now gotten in range that the artillery began hitting it. Explosives blossomed along its hide and armor but when the smoke cleared the damage was shown to be negligible. The Goliath itself didn't seem to feel them, only raising its trunk and letting out a trumpet that shook Cardin to the very core while motivating the Grimm in their assault.
They were doing fine now, but Cardin feared of how that could change once the Goliath reached them. How can we possibly stop that?
By having humanity deploy their own awesome creations against that of the darkness.
They flew over the wall side-by-side with a generous distance between them – the Atlesian dreadnaughts. With the air clear and the smaller escort airships making sure that it would stay that way, the two warships were unmolested as they stabbed dominantly ahead, leaving the city and its defenders as they took firing positions at either side of the main bulk of the Grimm horde.
Coming to a hover, the dreadnaughts tilted a few degrees to better direct their flanks down towards the rampaging monsters. Along their hulls, a brief light show was performed along their surfaces, signaling their weapons charging.
They made it rain fire. Columns of destructive energy in a massed fire barrage poured down on the Grimm.
Cardin had heard the stories and he couldn't help but stand transfixed at seeing it for himself. This was an aerial bombardment, something that which was made famous by the Atlesian air fleet but had drifted off into obscurity during the eighty years of peace that had followed after the last major battle that involved their use came to an end. This was probably the very first time that these warships were able to perform in such a way.
And a terrifying performance it was. Those energy beams vaporized everything they touched. Where one blast hit, numerous Grimm were consumed in the following explosion – their silhouette seen for a brief instant before they vanished completely. They burned through the grass and vegetation and shattered the ground before burning whatever was beneath that.
The bombardment didn't even last a minute, the dreadnaughts systematically wiping out each and every last Grimm that was trapped within the killzone. When the fire ceased, what was left behind was the charred and broken wasteland that contained no sign of life whatsoever.
The only thing left to stand and observe the destruction was the Goliath. After making a slow sweep of its head to inspect the damage, it gazed up towards the hovering warships. Its trunk lifted and it blared in defiance.
The dreadnaughts fired again.
Even a Grimm of such might as the Goliath stood no chance. The second salvo hammered into it and the behemoth ducked its head while its titanic legs braced, trying to weather through the storm.
The fire was concentrated at its back. All along it, the bone armor boiled away, creating gaps that sucked up the energy that drilled into its hide. Beneath the fire came the pained roar of the Goliath.
Inevitably, its back broke.
What would've been an exceptionally loud snap of bone was muted by the continued bombardment, but there was no missing the sight of how the Goliath folded in on itself as its back broke in two. But the attack didn't waver, not even when the energy beams began burning through the beast's belly, having managed to drill through it and incinerate its insides.
The dreadnaughts only stopped when all that became left of the Goliath was a boiling, black hunk of meat with two warped pieces of ivory that had been its tusks jutting out from it. Only then was the battle officially considered as over.
Author's Note: Just gonna start off by saying that credit for CFVY's Rule Number One of not touching the bunny was from a snippet written by Jacky2734 who wrote a scene of CFY confronting Cardin in a manner similar to what I wrote. Of course, I asked and received permission.
Now that that's done…..HOLY *BLEEP*! Geeeeeez! Between No Brakes and now this just…..gawd! GAWD!
Brain: I hurt. I hurt so bad.
Just…just…no more action scenes. I don't wanna do 'em anymore! There's only so many ways and so many words in the thesaurus that I can use to kill Grimm in such variety! *sobs pathetically for a few minutes until he finally gets his act back together*
Anyway…woooow. I wanted to write a big finale so here we are. Obviously a couple notes need to be made, such as my scene with CRDL. Originally, it was gonna be much shorter where I do have CRDL on the wall, a whole bunch of Grimm appear, and they decide to crap their pants. But that idea changed when I thought of just what it would be like to give CRDL an action scene. Remember, despite all the flak CRDL gets, they are Hunters that managed to get accepted into Beacon even if their current achievements aren't exactly…ya know…great. Once I thought of what it would be like for Cardin to be greeted with a Major again and facing his fear...it was just too much of an opportunity to pass up. As for thinking of having some Grimm attacking the wall, I was rewatching Volume 2 and upon seeing all the Nevermores flying around – especially THREE Giant Nevermores -, I thought of there possibly being Grimm that were attacking the wall. So that's where the idea came from.
And, yeah, I decided to make the AK-200s speak. The 130s spoke in Blake's trailer and I'm assuming that by Atlas making them less scarier, they probably might make them more people-like with…words…and…words *frowns and slaps himself on the head*
Brain: Let me rest damn you! I'm too tired to think of anything but dribble!
The writers did mention in the commentary that there was the idea to give the AK-200s emoticons but they tossed it out. So, yeah, I thought giving them a voice would be fine if only because the Atlesian engineers wanted to make them more friendly to people. As for the Atlesian dreadnaughts, especially the ones that killed a Goliath, I took a bit more liberties. Again, this was influenced by the commentary where the writers wanted the ships be like Star Destroyers from Star Wars…so I decided to have them take part in a Galactic Empire past time of BASE DELTA ZERO!
As to why I wanted to kill a Goliath…that was mostly because of how, ever since their appearance, I constantly see fans posting about how one would go about killing a Goliath. So I decided to take a shot of how you would go about killing one.
Now we go inside of Vale. Yes, I probably made the King Taijitu a bit more of a threat then what we've seen it as in previous examples – what with Ren killing one by himself – but I decided to make it a bit tougher to give RWBY, JNPR, and SSSN a boss to kill….which was also an excuse for me to blast Rules of Nature in my headset while writing its death. That track is my go-to track for boss killing and I couldn't help it. As for my decisions to drastically changing the battle plans that were involved – RWBY separating and all that – that, again, was mostly me trying to get a more final battlish feel by doing it this way and giving RWBY a bit of danger. The main complaint of Breach – and one I share – is that it didn't really feel that suspenseful given that you had GRIMM INVADING THE CITY so I hoped I presented in a way that was better.
Coco was really really fun to write. I need to write more Coco. And in case anyone is wondering about my use of Enabler...don't read anything into it. It's like how RT used ship names in the other team attacks: they acknowledge the pairings but this isn't confirming anything. I acknowledge the existence of Enabler but I'm no fan of it. That is all.
Anyway, I'll keep the rest short. A lot of things happened in the past few weeks, including some announcements like Yang – I don't care if Tifa is probably realistically better than her, I WANT YANG TO WIN DAMNIT! - getting her Death Battle and, oh yeah, RWBY Volume 3 starting on October 24th. Now, I am going to try to get the final chapter up before Volume 3 starts. The epilogue – which I have already thought up in my head - is NOTHING like this chapter was so despite only having like ten days to write it…I think I'll be able to do it. I work better under pressure anyway, what with me being that college kid who waited until the night before his term paper was due to complete it all in one night. I'll mostly be novelizing scenes – such as Ozpin, James, and the Council followed by Cinder and her troupe – but I will be adding extras. This'll include some scenes between our favorite pairings…with one having to do with why Weiss was acting the way she was in this chapter.
So, again, holy *bleep*, this was a helluva chapter to write. Even if you readers don't agree with all the changes I made, I hope you enjoyed enough that this chapter was worth it. I certainly hope this 26k monster was worth it anyway.
