Beowolves scampered back from the path, retreating under a hail of gunfire.
Reed added fireballs from Halmvoulge to the barrage. He had to admit, despite his complaints about the quality of the average Guard, the drills and exercises were perfect for a defensive wall. One Guard may not be a force to be reckoned with, but with a three-deep line of them all firing at once, the results were pretty good.
Seraphina stood behind him, knives held loosely in her hands. Her weapon was not suited to this kind of fighting, and gun-spears were in short supply, so she stood ready to support any breaks in the line.
"Argrom damn you, Reed!"
Turning, Reed saw Phaedra stalking towards him with hammer in hand. For a second he actually thought she was going to attack him, but she strolled past and slammed her hammer into the ground. A slab of dirt rose from the ground and turned over, extinguishing a shrub that a flaming Beowolf had set alight in its retreat.
"It's bad enough that I'm on fucking forest fire detail instead of forging," she said, glaring at him, "I don't need you adding to my work load."
"Um…" Reed said, "Who's Argrom?"
"Local forest god that the old bastards up in Tani worship," Phaedra said with a dismissive wave. "I've been swearing so much since this boring shit started that I got tired of the Hermit and the Maidens."
Phaedra stomped further down the line, a steady stream of curses and expletives rolling from her mouth. Reed turned back to survey the dense forest that lined the road. The trees had a few new scars from poorly aimed shots, but the Grimm appeared to have been routed.
"Who'd have guessed that the Guard is actually decent at what it does," Seraphina remarked. She put her knives back into their sheathes, then pulled a sling off her back and slid her arm into it. She'd recovered enough from the fight with Manggi to be of use to the expedition, but she still favored the side that had been hit by two slugs and half a dozen strikes to the ribs.
"We'll see how they hold up," Reed said pessimistically. "A small pack of Beowolves is not even close to what we will be facing at the Support Tower."
"Probably true. Still, for all we know the Grimm may have left after taking out the tower. Unlikely, but you never know."
"Mmm…" Reed hummed noncommittally, studying the muscled girl marching beside him out of the corner of his eye. Despite the emotional turmoil of the previous day, Seraphina had greeted him that morning in good spirits.
Well, good for her. She wasn't bubbly or ecstatic, but that would have been more odd than if she was depressed. More than anything she seemed… self assured. Instead of hunching her shoulders like she was trying to go unnoticed she walked straight and tall, boots striking the dirt road with rhythmic, muffled thumps. Her eyes, which normally flicked back and forth like a cornered rat, moved in smooth, unhurried arcs, taking in the entirety of the forest around them. She even had a small smile that hadn't left her face all day.
She caught him looking at her and raised a questioning eyebrow. "Something wrong?"
"Not wrong," Reed said, still looking at her. "You just seem different today. And not the way I expected after yesterday."
Seraphina shrugged. "I'll admit, the fight with Manggi was unpleasant. After leaving the gang I honestly hoped to never see him again, and hearing him talk I can't believe I was ever involved in something so vile."
A sad look crossed her face, but she shook it off. "At least now I have closure. What I did to him doesn't even begin to make up for what I have done to countless Faunus, but at least he won't be doing any more damage anytime soon."
Reed smiled, reaching out and gently patting her shoulder. "You've turned over a new leaf, Sera. You have your whole life to tip the scales, and I will help anyway I can."
"I'd tell you two to get a room," Chase said, "But I'm not sure where you'd find that out here."
Reed started, cheeks growing warm as he glanced sheepishly behind him. Chase was rolling his eyes, while Abbey did a poor job of hiding a smirk behind her hand. Delphin, for his part, merely looked on impassively.
He'd completely forgotten that, as members of his squad, they followed two steps behind him at all times. It was going to take a while to get used to people paying constant attention to him.
Seraphina leaned over and whispered in his ear, "I figured something out during yesterday's fight. Watch this."
She turned back to Chase and lifted an eyebrow. "That's big talk from a guy who hides in the back and takes potshots. How good are you, anyway?"
Chase bristled, glaring at Seraphina through his sand-colored bangs. "I'll have you know I'm an excellent shot."
"Oh yeah? Bet you can't hit that boulder down there. That's, what, 100 yards?"
Chase glanced over his shoulder. "Oh please, that's eas-"
Turning back, Chase found the glowing red snout of Seraphina's semblance inches from his face. He let out a garbled cry of surprise, falling backwards onto the dirt road.
The bear disappeared, a grinning Seraphina taking its place. Abbey snorted in laughter, then clasped her hand to her mouth to muffle the sound. Reed chuckled, and even Delphin's mouth twitched up in something resembling a smirk.
"Guess I asked for that," Chase grumbled, accepting Abbey's hand as she hauled him to his feet.
"Since when can you control when the bear appears?" Reed asked as they resumed marching.
"Like I said, I figured it out yesterday. It has a… trigger is the only word I can think to describe it. Kind of a gut feeling. I just have to recreate the feeling I had that day on the road patrol, then let that feeling take over."
Reed tried to pry her for more details, but she just smiled and refused to elaborate.
A strong gust of wind passed over head, diverting their attention. Looking up, Reed saw the Huntress Kiwidinek Kadir flying a slow circuit over the caravan. Air burst from the glowing green ends of her scarf, keeping her aloft as she surveyed their surroundings. Twin khopesh, crescent swords favored by the desert tribes of Vacuo, were held loosely at her sides, and Reed could swear he saw sparks crackling along the length of the blades.
Looking down, Reed saw Tamus making his way through the Guards towards them. He snapped a crisp salute, and his squad belatedly followed his lead. Tamus nodded to them as a group before turning to address Reed.
"We're over due for a midmorning rest. Sergeant Tanners wants you to go inform the captains that we will be stopping in fifteen minutes. Four squads from each regiment are to be assigned perimeter duty for the duration of the stop, make sure to pass that along as well."
Reed felt a knot of apprehension form in his stomach. "Excuse me, sir, but wouldn't it be better for the sergeant or you to pass along the message? I mean, are the captains even going to listen to a private?"
"Gerstein is a racist and has a personal vendetta against Tanners," Tamus said with a shrug. "Can't hurt to try sending someone else. As for Captain Argento, it doesn't matter who delivers the message, the trick will be getting her to listen at all."
"Understood." Reed groaned inwardly as Tamus started making his way towards the back of the regiment, where Tanners stood conversing with the rearmost squad.
"Well that sounds like a bucket of fun," Chase said sarcastically. "Should we all go with you?"
"No, stay in formation," Reed said with a sigh. "I will try and make this as quick as possible."
Reed wove through the neat ranks of Sergeant Tanners' regiment, which made up the rear-guard. Captain Collins had abstained from joining the expedition, "graciously allowing" the sergeant to take his place as head of his regiment. Reed had snorted upon hearing that. He doubted Captain Collins would have been any use once the fighting began, but he had more difficulty imagining the immensely fat captain marching for several days.
The expedition was composed of three regiments, and the line where one ended and the next began could not have been more obvious. Walking out of Tanners' Guards, Reed entered a disorganized clutter of Guards surrounding the expedition's one vehicle, a large hover-truck carrying the majority of their supplies.
As Reed walked through them, he was shocked to see flasks being passed around, with no attempt at discretion. Despite the early hour many of the Guards appeared to be well into their drinks, faces red and voices boisterous as the called out to him.
"Oi, laddie, who're you?"
"Doesn't matter, do it? Join us for a drink!"
"He's too young for alcohol, isn't he?"
"Whatever, when I was his age I coulda drunk you all under the table!"
"When you were his age you weighed more than an Ursa."
"Hey, that ain't fair. I only weighed two-thirds of yer normal Ursa, I'll have you know."
Reed waved aside the invitations awkwardly, scanning the crowd for anyone that looked like they were in charge. After having no success with that, he picked someone out of the crowd that appeared to be sober and asked where he could find Captain Argento.
"Up top," the man said, waving dismissively at the hover-truck. From his position Reed could just make out the tip of a tricorne hat and a feather waving in the breeze atop the vehicle.
Grasping the ladder on the truck's back door, Reed began to haul himself up. He wondered what kind of person Captain Argento was, allowing her subordinates to drink themselves silly in dangerous territory.
Cresting the top of the truck, a slim woman came into view. She wore a Town Guard uniform that looked too big for her, her feathered hat was pulled low over her face, and an abnormally long rapier was laid on the roof next to her.
She was also fast asleep.
Her head was cushioned on a bedroll, and gentle snoring could be heard, muffled somewhat by the hat. Reed cleared his throat loudly, but the woman didn't so much as twitch.
"Excuse me? Captain Argento?"
There was still no reaction. He reached down to shake her shoulder. The movement shifted her hat, revealing a pair of open, unfocused gray eyes. Reed pulled back, somewhat unnerved when the snoring continued unabated.
"Captain, we are going to break for the midmorning rest shortly. Sergeant Tanners asked me to remind you that each regiment needs to assign four squads to perimeter defense."
The glazed eyes slowly focused on Reed, and she groaned as one hand reached slowly up to push the hat back over her eyes.
"What a pain…"
Her voice was so low that Reed could barely make out the words. He understood now why Tamus had said it would be difficult to get her to listen.
He crossed his arms, frowning down at the snoring woman. It was disturbing how normal this behavior seemed to him now, after several months with the guard. The captains especially seemed to take their positions for granted, each of them wholly unsuited for the responsibility of the position.
Well, there was nothing else for it. He had tried to be diplomatic. He unslung Halmvoulge from across his back and rested one end of the staff on her side. He then proceeded to poke her repeatedly.
"Captain. Captain. Captain. Captain. Captain. Captain."
The woman tried to ignore him, attempting to squirm away from his incessant prodding. When she reached the edge of the roof and almost fell off she finally conceded, sitting up and slapping away the staff.
"By the Hermit, fine! I'm up, I'm up, stop your Grimm-begotten jabbing."
Argento stretched, the sleeves of her too-big uniform sliding down her arm. Reed was surprised to see that her arms were lean and muscular, not at all what he expected from someone so obviously lazy.
Looking at him, her eyes narrowed. "Who're you? What do you want?"
Reed repeated the instructions, frustration straining his voice. He'd already waisted too much time on her, and he still had to deal with Captain Gerstein.
Argento nodded distractedly, slowly sliding back down onto her back. Reed gave her another swift jab to the side.
"Ouch! Fine, fine. Maidens, you've got a lot of balls for a lowly private."
Once he was sure Argento would make the necessary arrangements, Reed hopped off the truck and made his way to the head of the expedition force.
Gerstein's Guards were just as unorganized as Argento's, but there was an obvious difference. Every single Guard in Gerstein's regiment looked like they spent every spare moment in the gym. Man and woman alike were massively muscled, strutting down the road with chests out and arms swinging.
They looked to have the collective intelligence of a juvenile Creeper.
The captain marched in the center of his troops. He was big, even by comparison to the gargantuan group. He was glaring up at Huntress Kadir, and didn't notice Reed until he was right next to the man.
"Captain Gerstein." Reed saluted, trying his best not to convey any sarcasm in the movement.
"Eh?" Gerstein looked down and his eyes narrowed. "Ah, it's you. The Grimm-begotten private that upstart Tanners insisted on bringing to a top priority meeting. What do you want?"
Reed relayed the information Tamus had given him. Gerstein snorted in disgust.
"We've only been marching for four hours, and that slacker's men already need a break? What a joke."
His gaze returned to the sky, anger clouding his face upon locating the Huntress that had replaced him as head of the expedition.
"We should be marching straight to the tower, none of this rest bullshit. But what do I know? I've only been in the Guard longer than that little Grimm-turd has been alive."
He refocused on Reed. "Well, what the Grimm are you still doing here? I got the message, scram kid."
Reed gave the captain a stiff salute, then turned and marched back towards the rear-guard.
"Oi! Aoki, wasn't it?"
Reed turned to stare over the crowd of Guards settling down for their breakfast. Near the back of the expedition he located Ivory, the woman with the massive horn, waving him over. He headed in her direction, the rest of his squad following shortly behind.
As they drew closer the rest of Corporal Tamus's squad of Faunus became visible seated on the ground. Tamus himself was absent, but that wasn't surprising. Since the start of the expedition he had become Sergeant Tanners' shadow, never leaving his side for more than a minute.
"Pop a squat, kids." The woman took her own advise, dropping to the ground with a puff of dust. The winged man next to her lifted his food above his head, making an indignant sound that resembled a squawk.
"Whoops, sorry Skittles. Everyone, you remember Private Aoki, right?"
Next to Skittles, a young woman with a mane of quilled hair snorted. "Yeah, the kid with the death wish."
"What the Grimm is that supposed to mean?" Seraphina said, eye's narrowing at the woman, who for her part seemed more interested in her food than any of them.
"It's okay, Sera," Reed said, sitting down next to a tall, thin man whose name he didn't know.
"I'm Private Reed Aoki, but you can just call me Reed. The one with the temper is my second-in-command, Seraphina. Then there's Abbey, Chase, and Delphin." He motioned to each in turn, and they all nodded to the group before sitting down.
"I'm Ivory," The horned woman said, nodding back to him. "I'm Tamus' second. The one without any manners is Spines. This big lug is her brother, Skittles, and that's Camo." Spines ignored the introduction, while her brother flapped one over-large wing at them.
It was Reed's first time seeing the last member of Tamus' squad. He had a calm, slightly bemused expression, and a large pair of furry ears laid flat against the back of his head. He reached a hand out to Reed.
"Card Mov," he said, and Reed shook the proffered hand. "Though most people just call me Camo. Nice to meet you." He turned and nodded at Chase. "Nice to see you again, Chase."
Chase started, looking at the man in surprise. "Um, yeah, nice to see you too…"
Reed raised an eyebrow at Chase's reaction. Camo chuckled softly next to him. "Sorry, kid. I prefer not to meet people for the first time in the middle of a stressful situation. Under pressure I tend to be a little…"
"Mean?" Ivory offered.
"Terrifying?" Spines said, Skittles nodding in agreement.
"I was going to say short-tempered," Camo said, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.
"'Shut it kid,'" Ivory suppressed a grin as her voice dropped to a mocking baritone. "'Take this and reload.'"
Camo's cheeks tinged red, but he gave a self-deprecating smile as a chuckle ran through the group.
"So how long have you all been in the Guard?" Abbey asked. Even seated on the ground she appeared to be having a hard time staying still. She fidgeted constantly, changing positions every few seconds and randomly digging through her bag.
Ivory pursed her lips in thought, eyes unfocused. "Maidens, I guess its been more than five years now for me. Time sure flies, it feels like just yesterday I was a recruit."
"I joined last year," Camo said, before taking a bite from his field rations.
"So you were in the same batch of recruits as Corporal Tamus and Sergeant Tanners?" Reed asked, his interest peaked. "What were they like as recruits?"
"Well…" Camo said hesitantly. "I joined under slightly unusual circumstances."
Ivory snorted. "By the Hermit, man. You gotta learn to brag a little." She turned to Reed, gesturing as she explained, "Camo here single handedly stopped a pack of Creepers from breaching the wall. It was late at night, and the Guards on wall duty were, um… asleep. They didn't notice the half dozen or so Grimm until they had started climbing the wall.
"Camo lives in an apartment on the edge of town. He saw the danger, picked up his rifle, and shot the first couple Creepers to crest the wall. The gun shots woke the Guards, who raised the alarm and repelled the remaining Grimm. After that he was given special permission to join the Guard immediately, without going through training."
"You make it sound like more than it is," Camo said, head down as he picked at his food. "I only killed three of them, the Guards took care of the rest."
"Only three," Seraphina snorted. "You killed more in the span of a couple seconds than most Guards get in their first year."
Camo shrugged, not looking at them.
"What about you two?" Chase said, in an obvious effort to move attention away from the embarrassed Faunus. "Skittles and… Spines was it?"
"Two years," Skittles said shortly, his face twisted in obvious effort. He looked at his sister, as if expecting her to continue the explanation, but she was glancing pointedly in the other direction.
"Spines," Ivory said, gentle rebuke in her tone. "Care to join the conversation?"
"Not particularly." Her voice was hard, and she refused to look at any of the members of Reed's squad.
Ivory sighed. "Sorry about her. She's shy around new people."
Spines glared at her. "You know that's not true, Ivory. I just don't see the point in getting chummy with some shitty humans."
Reed looked at her in surprise. Seraphina bristled next to him, but it was Chase who spoke first.
"What's that? You gotta problem with us being human?"
Spines whirled on him. "Yeah, I do. The lot of you are rotten to the core, and I want nothing to do with any of you. As soon as Skittles and I save up enough money we are moving to Menagerie. You can take this infected continent."
Skittles glancing awkwardly between Spines and Chase, making calming gestures at his sister. Seraphina's hand struck the ground in front of her and she glared at the woman.
"If humans are rotten, then why the Grimm did we risk our lives to save a Faunus family?"
Spines met Seraphina's gaze without flinching. "Your one to talk. I know about you, every Faunus in the Guard does. The half-breed who despised her mixed heritage so much she hunted down Faunus for sport."
"Hey, Sera's changed!" Abbey exclaimed, waving her hands in a placating gesture. "I didn't know her back then, but I've seen how much her past bothers her. Plus, you have to have heard how she changed. Reed protected multiple Faunus from her gang, as long as he's around-"
"Ah yes," Spines interrupted. "Reed Aoki, protector of Faunus. That's all a facade though, isn't it? Really you just want to ditch the Guard and go to Beacon. You're not a guardian of the weak, you're just a child with a hero complex."
Ivory looked on in horror as the conversation totally derailed. Reed's squad glared daggers at Spines, while Camo and Skittles looked like they wanted to sink into the ground. Seraphina looked like she wanted to tackle Spines, but Reed put a restraining hand on her shoulder.
"You are well informed regarding our pasts," Reed said, forcing his voice to remain steady and calm. "But you've put together the information wrong. You're right, I didn't want to join the Guard, it's not exactly most people's preferred career path. You are also right when you say that protecting Faunus is not my primary motivation for becoming a Huntsman.
"You see, I don't want to protect just Faunus. I want to protect humans too. I just want people to live in peace, to not feel like they have to fight each other based on something as inconsequential as appearance."
Spines looked thoroughly unimpressed by the speech, and an awkward silence fell over the group. It lasted for the remainder of the rest, everyone's eyes downcast as they finished their meal. Finally it was broken when Tamus walked by, his voice booming over the crowd of seated Guards.
"Rest is over in ten minutes. Pack up your stuff and be ready to move."
Reed excused himself from the group, striding into the trees to find a spot to relieve himself.
As Reed slipped through the trees a flash of movement caught his eyes. Necessary ablutions forgotten, he slipped through the trees as quietly as possible. Multiple times he thought he lost the figure, only to catch sight of something disappearing around a tree: a boot, the hem of a coat, the shining wood end of a staff.
The clearing came so suddenly that Reed almost stumbled out into it. He caught himself, bracing on a tree, and just barely managed to remain concealed in the shadows. To his surprise, Sergeant Tanners stood alone in the clearing. His gun-spear, an elegant piece of swirling metal that put the Guard weapons to shame, was held at ease in one hand, with the tip pointed at the ground and the haft crossing diagonally across his back.
Just when Reed began to wonder what the sergeant was doing out here alone, a rustling began in the trees behind him. He pressed himself flat against the trunk, worried that someone would catch him spying on Tanners, but no one appeared between the trunks. Rather, the rustling was in the leaves of the treetops, and moments after it passed over Reed the Huntress Kiwidinek Kadir dropped into the clearing.
"Huntress Kadir," Tanners said, bowing respectfully to the woman.
To Reed's surprise, Kiwidinek Kadir laughed at the gesture.
"Felix, we've been working together for months. How long until you loosen up a little? If you can't stop the bowing, can you at least call me Kiwi? I've asked about a dozen times already."
Tanners mouth twitched slightly, a gesture that conveyed mild amusement quickly hidden. "I can consent to Kiwidinek, anything less would be an insult to one of your station."
"Ugh, you are impossible. You even pronounce it right. How am I supposed to be annoyed with your formality when you are one of the few people in the region who can actually say my full name?"
Reed gawked from his hidden vantage point, mind racing. The two bickered amicably, each obviously familiar with the other. What did the Huntress mean when she said they had been working together for months? At the expedition meeting neither had given any indication that they had met before. What had they been doing?
"Will our Hermit-loving friend be joining us?" Tanners asked, and Reed snapped out of his reverie. "It feels weird to meet without his sour face reminding us of the problem at hand."
"He's busy," Kiwidinek said with a shrug. "A trio of Deathstalkers crested the ridge to the west less than twenty minutes ago. We agreed that while so many Guards could probably handle them, it would be better not to risk any casualties so early in the expedition."
Tanners sighed and nodded. "If it was anyone else I would be worried about those odds, but that man is a force to be reckoned with. I almost feel bad for the Grimm. Regardless, it's actually good that he is indisposed. I have information of a sensitive nature, and I would prefer it be for your ears alone."
Kiwidinek raised an eyebrow at that, but did not object.
"Tell me something first, Kiwidinek," Tanners continued. "We haven't had a chance to talk alone since we lost contact with the CCT Support Tower. You've been observing and thinning the Grimm in the mountains, what happened two nights ago?"
"The Grimm were more agitated than normal," Kiwidinek said. The humor in her voice was gone, replaced with worry and concern. "I was certain they were about to move on the city. I pulled out my scroll to contact you, when suddenly they started to move en masse. Not south towards Adigiar, but west, in the direction of the Support Tower. I tried to call you, but…"
"Let me guess," Tanners interrupted. "Even though the Grimm had justed started moving, the signal was already down."
Kiwidinek narrowed her eyes at Tanners and nodded. "Whatever took down the tower, it wasn't the Grimm."
"For the past several months I have been wandering the city at night," Tanners continued, "Ears open for anything that could draw the Grimm in such numbers. I knew it couldn't be anything obvious, otherwise they would have rushed the city long ago. It had to be something hidden, something that was slowly building to a crescendo.
"Two nights ago, I picked up an encrypted signal. I don't know what exactly it was, but I traced it to an abandoned building in the slums. That alone was unusual. The slums are packed to bursting these days, but even the homeless of Adigiar were giving this place a wide birth.
"Despite my best efforts to enter unnoticed I must have triggered some sort of silent alarm. I heard a loud crash from a room at the back and the signal immediately cut out. I broke down down the door in time to see a shadowed figure slip out the window, leaving a broken radio receiver behind."
"Is there a reason you are beating around the bush?" Kiwidinek asked in exasperation.
"I'm trying to give you all the information," Tanners replied calmly, "Without tainting it with my own bias. Nevertheless, I will speed this up. I pursued the figure through the streets, all the way to the Town Guard Headquarters. I lost them at the entrance, but this was abandoned on the threshold."
Tanners reached around and pulled something from his waistband. A gleaming white mask, stylized with red accents, caught the morning light. Reed stared at it, feeling like he had just been slugged in the stomach.
"It appears that the Town Guard has been infiltrated by the White Fang."