Disclaimer: RWBY Characters, places and terminologies with the exception of the Original Characters, belongs to Rooster Teeth Productions.
"SECOND ROUND, STUPID FREAK!" Quinn yelled at the Chimera as he charged against it for the front. The Grimm tried to ram against him by using its goat's horns, but the big guy stopped it by holding them. He used some of his Semblance to increase his weight against it.
Neo took the chance and jumped over Quinn to attack the goat's head directly with her umbrella. She impaled on the left eye, the pain made it react quickly and using the snake's head to attack Neo. She moved out of the way, making the snake biting the goat by accident.
Sure things were pretty difficult, Quinn did strikes against the lion head but it wasn't enough to slow it down. The Grimm started to return the attacks back with huge swings with its claws, the big guy blocked the attacks but some of them were sending him fly across the hallway.
Neo used her Semblance to trick the snake's head but she was still getting caught as three pairs of eyes were still following her. No matter how many tricks she would use, it can detect both from all angles.
"Just. Die. Now!" Quinn was getting irritated of the situation. "We need some space; I can't use my explosives in this kind of place." Quinn grabbed Neo's arm and started running down the hallway. The Chimera chased them after; it was shooting fireballs at them. "Dammit, this freak can do that too!? That thing is definitely NOT an ordinary Grimm."
Neo tackled the doors to open another path while Quinn used his weapon to implant some detonators on the walls and floor along the way. The small lady backed him up using Roman's cane to shoot at the Chimera, slowing it down a little. The monster kept destroying everything on its way until the hallway got smaller the further they went.
Those two arrived to what appeared as a lobby, they moved stuff around to block the door where the Grimm was going through. Already hitting the entrance, they used their backs to hold it and preventing of going inside. Already in position, the big guy pressed the red button on his weapon. *BOOM* Detonating the hallway with the Chimera still in it.
Everything was shaking after the explosion, the big guy decided to get look through the door if the Chimera was dead, with disappointing results. "You have to be fricking kidding me…" He said between teeth, on the crumbles he was able to see the Grimm still moving. It was trying to move everything off it, all the pressure couldn't let him stand.
"This is great; I don't know what the hell that thing is made of. That abomination looks like a Manticore without wings and more heads than what it should be." Quinn started complaining, much how Neo was getting annoyed of hearing him. "None of our weapons can do any damage to it; we need something bigger and potent." The aircraft's' alarm was at full volume, bringing an obnoxious sound that both fugitives were getting tired, especially the big guy.
"The hell with that alarm, I can't hear my own thoughts." Neo agreed on his comment, she was covering her ears while still looking at the hallways' door. "I can't believe this damn place still has enough power to…" In a brief moment of silence, Quinn started to get into deep thought, as something brought inspiration while doing a huge diabolic grin all over his face.
"That's it!" He exclaimed in a Eureka moment with the small lady confused of his behavior. "This place still has power; I do remember seeing the reactors being active back at that room." Quinn began looking at directly to Neo's eyes firmly. "Listen up, since we can't damage that thing with explosives or any other conventional projectile, our only solution is to bring that freak of nature to the reactors and BAM! We got one crispy Grimm at the order."
Neo was really interested on the plan; it was a simple solution but still complicated to perform it. "Tough luck, though. Since the reactors are still damaged, you'll have to activate them manually. I'll have to distract it and bring it to the exact point, and for Dust's sake, don't try to cook me when I got to that part. Understood?" Neo nodded without questioning anything more, that plan was good AND she wouldn't need to deal with the Chimera.
The small lady started heading to the control room, leaving Quinn to face the hideous Grimm alone. He was able to hear the door being tackled with monstrous force. 'Come on, I'm ready for you…' He was thinking while holding a strong grip on his weapon and taking deep breathes for the worst.
After three loud tackles, a gap between doors was revealing the Grimm's claws still trying to get in. It became silence; the creature stopped and started looking at the gap with a mean eye. Its sight was focusing on Quinn as he was standing on the middle of the room with his weapon ready.
The Grimm's horns pierced the entrance, finally getting into the big room while roaring at the big guy. "Let's dance." He grinned while doing the first swing on the lion's head. The Chimera fought back by trying to bite him but wasn't enough as Quinn held the open mouth by the fangs. With one hand holding the upper fangs and a foot on the jaw, he transformed his weapon and aimed directly inside the mouth.
It swallowed the missile; Quinn closed the mouth and punched the lion's head to make it step back away from him. He detonated the missile on its stomach.
*KABOOM*
The Chimera was roaring in pain. While it did a significant chunk of damage, it wasn't enough to stop it from attacking Quinn. The snake head went after him with speed like a whip; he guarded the attacks and pulled it from the neck like a rubber band. The Grimm started charging with the goat's head and Quinn started to transform his weapon, with minor inconveniences.
*CLANK*
"Oh for the love… now!?" His weapon got stuck on the middle of the transformation, leaving in a manner that neither can shoot nor hit properly. The handle was right on the middle on such awkward position that became useless. He tried to force it but he didn't bother anymore since he needed to deal with the Chimera first and not ruining his weapon.
The Grimm did ferocious swings on the big guy, ducking and stepping out of danger. He already was accumulating a lot of energy from blocking its attacks he had to deactivate his Aura for mobility. He couldn't afford to get hit by it. "This is going to suck."
Neo was still running towards the engine room, jumping and crawling through small spaces. On her way, she briefly stopped while looking at her surroundings. It was quiet; felt that something deep on her mind forgot to recall something important.
Slowly started hearing metal clashing on the floor and walls, single pieces of metals above Neo were falling on her. She moved out of the way, seeing that one last thing has to be exterminated. The metal shreds were combining and growing on each second until forming a humanoid appearance. Neo was looking it from behind, it slowly turned around to see at the small lady.
A Grimm mask was on the humanoid's face.
It moved on gruesome and aggressive movements by stretching the limbs made of shreds by attacking Neo. It made violent swings on her, only by her using her Semblance to dodge the attack and keep moving. She could notice all the sharp blades surrounding the Geist's physical body. It was dangerous to fight it and the best option was to get to her objective first.
It started chasing her by just extending its body like a spring with larger length. Neo tried to shoot it with the cane, but the Geist moved the mask on sudden movements that were hard to aim. The Grimm responded with his own attack, throwing blades at her from all directions. She blocked most of them with her umbrella but taking her sight out of the Grimm gave it the advantage to sneak from bellow and wrapping up on Neo's ankle.
It was painful how every metallic part was stabbing her leg around. She was on agonizing position, yet couldn't scream. She tried to shoot once more at the Grimm's mask, but it was still avoiding them. She started bleeding and crawling on the floor while trying to get away from it. The Geist pulled her pack to it making it more painful as how her leg was being cut even more.
Neo started to breathe in and out on an alarming rate; the chill sensation was coming back at her while seeing her cold breath coming out of her mouth. That is when she started noticing something. From the tubes above her, she noticed those were leaking some cold mist out of them. Could it be Ice Dust still on the tubes? She was wondering to herself but already got the idea what to do.
The small lady held the cane and aimed at the tubes, shooting three times and breaking them. All the Ice Dust was sprayed on the Grimm, starting to freeze and getting unable to move. Neo took the chance and freed herself from the monster. Her right leg was badly injured but was better than losing it. She took off her jacket and wrapped around her leg to stop the bleeding. She was out of Aura, needing some time to regenerate it and able to heal herself. Neo tried to examine the Grimm's body, only to notice that the mask was gone. The Geist escaped again.
It didn't matter for the moment; she was limping while getting close to the engine room. While opening the door, Neo saw the control panel still active and functioning. Next to it was a wide broken window which was letting her to see the reactor still active. She started to adjust the functions and hoping it still can turn on.
"Activating reactor, current charge at 0%" The computer said on the usual monotone voice.
Neo sat for a moment to see her injury, looking pretty bad. She took a small jar full of Fire Dust from one of her pockets. It belonged to Quinn; she took it without him noticing. She took off her boot and exposing the wound. By slowly pouring the Dust on her wounds, she was feeling a burning sensation inside on an extremely painful way.
The wound was catalyzing, no longer bleeding but still unable to move fast. "Charge at 25%" Neo heard the computer's progress. She started thinking of everything that has been happening on the last couple of months: Vale getting destroyed and being overrun by Grimm, getting arrested by Atlas Military, losing Roman, and now probably going to die. Everything up to this point was just for the fault of two people for all calamities on her life: Ruby Rose and Cinder Fall.
If Neo ever gets the chance to make it out of alive, the first thing would be finding some Roman's contacts at Mistral and getting some payback on those two girls. Of course, her chances of survival were slim to none.
Neo started to hear noises outside of the window, as some sort of stampede was heading towards the reactor. She tried to stand and see what was going on, only seeing some crumbles falling.
She saw a big figure falling from the ceiling, landing in front of the reactor. "Stop moving!" Neo recognized the voice, certain brute was yelling at full volume. "Stay still, you damn freak!" Quinn was riding the Chimera by holding the horns with one hand and the snake's head with the other.
Neo wasn't able to feel but amusement as how hard to understand the situation. The Chimera went against a wall, trying to get Quinn off its back. The big guy activated his Aura to block that damage and using his own weight to slow down the Grimm. Even though, he lost some balance and fell to the ground.
The Chimera had still enough will to fight more despite who much it endured with a single person for so long.
"Neo! Can you hear me!?" Quinn shouted at her, trying to confirm if she was still on the controls. "Whatever if you are there or not, try to press the button when is at full charge! I will keep him busy as much as possible until then!" Quinn rolled when the Chimera ramped against him.
He used his weapon despite malfunctioning, on the way he was handling on an upside down that resembled as a tonfa. Every blow Quinn landed on the Grimm was fast and bone-crushing, it felt practical than swinging it like he always did as he tried to use boxing. "Huh, neat." The big guy said while admiring the results, but still not useful due how the weapon was still broken.
"Charge at 50%" The computer kept telling the reactor's progress. Neo backed up Quinn by shooting the Chimera with the cane. It tried to defend itself with the snake's head; the small lady took cover under the control panel while avoiding bites. The lion's head was shooting fireballs from its mouth; Quinn had to activate his Semblance to block them.
It wasn't enough for the Chimera; it ramped against him once more by leaving him unable to react quickly. Quinn used his on weight to stop the Grimm by holding its horns. Despite having the same kind of force, the Chimera was still able to drag Quinn against a wall. "I'm getting tired of this crap, give me some space dammit!" While still between the wall and the Grimm, Quinn put his foot over the goat's head and still holding the horns.
His Aura started to glow as the surrounding was getting heavier to a point that the Chimera was trying to backing off. "Get wasted!" Quinn finally unleashed full charge which not only sent the Chimera away from him but also ripping off the horns. The big guy was finally able to move properly, he rushed against the Grimm and impaled both horns on the lion's eyes. It screamed in pain, completely blind but still relentless.
"Charge at 75%" They could feel how the reactor was almost getting to its maximum power. While Neo was shooting at the Chimera, some of the hanging cables inside the room were moving towards her. On a flash, two cables were wrapping around Neo's neck as trying to choke her. She was looking behind her only to notice a Grimm mask on the wall.
The Geist was still not done to kill her; she tried to reach her umbrella to free herself again. Her arms were too short to reach it; things were getting worse to those two each second. She wasn't able to reach to control panel either, and things will go worse if she can't do that.
"Charge at 80%." Their time is almost reaching its limit; they can't afford to stay much longer if the reactor gets to the final stage. Neo tried to see her surroundings for a quick way to kill the Geist. The cane was the only thing that could save her but still far from her. Neo tried to resist the cables by slowly pulling them while reaching the cane.
"Ugh, what a pain…" Meanwhile, Quinn still had to deal with his own problems too. He already knew that fighting alone against the Chimera was a bad idea. All his reserves of Aura were almost reaching zero and not even his Semblance could help him to defend more. The Grimm attacked with the snake's head once more like whip, leaving the big guy on his knees.
He was on a corner badly beaten with a mean streak. The Grimm won't let him leave the room when the engine would be at full charge. Both people are struggling to deal with two different Grimm at the same time. The Chimera leaped towards Quinn, trying to eat him whole while Neo was trying to reach the cane.
"Charge Complete, Warning: Reactor Overheating." From the sound of it, Neo and Quinn knew they had almost less than a minute, unless they want the whole place to blow up. Quinn was thinking while holding the Chimera's mouth with nowhere to escape. Nothing on his mind could come up with a good idea, except one. "I'm going to hate myself on the morning for this."
He launched himself inside the Chimera's mouth, letting himself eaten as a whole. It looked as a suicidal tactic that no sane man could think about.
Neo kicked the cane, shooting by itself on one of the cables that almost landed to her neck. She finally got free and pressed the button on the control panel, making the engine to release a ginormous blast on both places.
The Chimera was being burn alive because it was on the center of the room while the rest of the fire went to the controls where Neo was. She took cover under the panel while the Geist was being destroyed as well. Both Grimm were suffering a slow death as the flames were engulfing the whole area with Neo avoiding it and Quinn still inside the Chimera.
Chimera: Fried to Nothingness.
After several minutes of agonizing heat, the Grimm vanished into black smoke when the reactor turned off, with Quinn still painfully intact. The place was under heat with hot steel all over the place. He tried to get back on his feet while looking the aftermath. "Well…it went quite messier than expected. Neo! Are you still alive!?" Quinn yelled, hoping a response even if he knew she was a mute.
Through the window, he was able to get faint noises. The big guy rushed to there and jumped to get inside. There were a crumbles above the controls, he moved them out of the way as fast he could. "Come on, you can't die on me now…!" He was desperate; the last thing he would do was to pray if she was still alive.
One by one, he started to see her underneath but incapable to move. After removing carefully all the metal above her, Quinn was able to free Neo but her eyes were shut. "Oh please, don't die on me dammit!" Quinn started to check her pulse, there was but she wasn't breathing.
He procced to do CPR without exceeding his own strength, it was a delicate process to expulse all smoke from her lungs. For a moment he hesitated to do mouth to mouth process, but it wasn't the time or place to complain. After every tragedy and conflict, he wouldn't lose a life again as long as Quinn was still alive.
Neo started to slowly open her eyes and breathe properly as she coughed uncontrollably. "Oh crap…I…I thought you…you…were…" As Quinn tried to find the proper words, Neo was touching her lips, as she felt an odd sensation. She looked directly at the big guy with an angry look and punched him on the jaw. "Owww, what the hell was that!? Is this how you thank me for saving your!? Damn, it hurts." The big guy was holding his jaw, annoyed of how things were for him.
Despite punching him, Neo was absolutely not mad at him, partially. She started hugging him after everything they went. She got did nothing but crying, something Quinn cracked a smile. Of course, after a whole minute holding his arm, he tried to take her off him. "Alright that's enough, I know we are alive but could you stop? We must leave this place now." The small lady did what he was telling to her. She let his arm go, but was unable to stand on her own.
"Your leg, it looks like crap." Neo frowned as how insensitive his comment was. "Let me help you then." He let her climb on his back, doing a piggyback ride. She got her arms over his shoulders while holding both of her weapons. Quinn got his weapon on the left hip while carrying the light-weighted lady. He walked outside of the room, going to the empty hallways inside the airship.
The place was finally quiet, no more Grimm trying to hunt them. They were able to feel fresh air coming ahead of them. Quinn didn't stop rushing towards the exit he saw a small crack on a wall. There was some light from outside and the crack looked fragile enough to make an opening. He putted Neo down for a moment and started punching it with all his might. Each strike makes the crack bigger until the last punch finally created an exit. They were free at last.
"Fresh air, can you feel smell it? After almost a goddamn week, we are out of the cage!" Quinn stretched his arms while admiring the forest. They were far from the city of Vale, still on ruins from certain parts. People were still living there after the Fall of Beacon months ago. Quinn helped Neo to sit over a rock while trying to treat her leg with medicine and bandages. "If doesn't look good, tough luck because I'm not a fricking medic."
After a couple of minutes of trying healing her, Neo's leg was feeling much better. She tried to stand for herself but lost balance rather quickly. Still needing more time to recover for both of them, they would need to get some supplies and new clothes from the closest town. Quinn sat on the ground, looking at the sky with satisfactory expression; it was weird for the small lady seeing that brute smiling. "What are you looking at?" That was short lived.
"So, what are you going to do now that we are free? I doubt you have anything to do here." Quinn asked to Neo, she replied by pointing to the big guy. "What? Oh nononono, no, alright? I won't let you come with me at Mistral, understood?" No matter how much he refused, she started making puppy eyes. He tried to ignore her, but it was useless as that remind him of someone with the same look.
"Screw it, whatever, do whatever you please. Mark my words; we are going to travel together until we set foot on the continent of Anima. After that, each one of us will take different paths." Neo nodded without any objection. Quinn let the lady climb on his back again for another piggyback ride, they went east on an empty road while getting away from Vale.
While traveling, Quinn started looking out of the distance a huge tower, said tower was what left of Beacon Academy with the Dragon Grimm still petrified. Neither Quinn nor Neo could understand how that monster ended up like that. One thing for sure, its presence was the only reason other types of Grimm kept surrounding the area. Who or whatever caused that sure must be the most dangerous being in Remnant.
Meanwhile, somewhere on the woods without able to pinpoint the exact location, a young man with a black cowboy hat stopped on the middle of the road. He turned his head to look what has behind him; there was nothing on the road. "Is everything alright?" A girl with long red hair and green eyes asked to the guy. They were accompanied with a husky between them, as she was barking and moving the tail.
"It's nothing, just my imagination." The guy said as it was nothing, but he felt like someone was following them. They kept walking while carrying backpacks and cases. The dog was barking while going ahead of them as she was guiding them.
The tree leafs were flying to the direction of the wind. On the tree branches, there was a mysterious figure hiding among the woods. This person was wearing pure white clothes and a gas mask resembling to a plague doctor. Whoever the figure was, nothing good will come on the future for the travelers.
To be continued, on Days of Spring…