Eve and Nina looked in horror at the massive creature until Eve snapped out of it. "Oh no, Ben!" She peered back down and was relieved as well as slightly confused to see him still moving as he winched his way toward them. Once Ben reached the ledge, he clambered up and retrieved his grapple. With his arm reattached, he signaled for the girls to follow as he started running along the bridge toward the cliff.
Eve caught up and matched his pace. "Are you… okay? You went haywire the last time we saw a Grimm."
"I don't know why, but yeah, I think I am. Let's just get the hell out of here before that changes and my body locks up again."
"That's an idea I can get behind, now try to keep up!" Nina shouted as she sprinted past them. Eve picked up the pace as well, leaving Ben behind.
"Sonova bitch!" Ben huffed as he tried to keep up with little success. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the nevermore was preparing to launch an attack. He turned back to warn the girls. "Heads up!"
Nina and Eve looked back just in time to see the oncoming barrage of feathers. They split apart to avoid them as the feathers pierced the ground along the bridge. Ben spun and planted his feet as he knocked aside any feathers that would have hit him. The nevermore passed overhead and started making a wide arc to hit them again.
Ben turned back around and started running again. "You guys alright?"
"We're still alive." Eve replied as she helped Nina up.
"Then let's keep moving."
The team stayed together as they made their way to the end of the bridge. "Over here!" Ben called out as he ran to the start of a trail carved into the cliffside. The nevermore was on top of them again and launched another barrage. Ben and Eve teamed up and deflected everything within their striking range as Nina tried to come up with a plan from behind them.
"We don't have any cover if we start up this path!" She yelled.
"It's our only option, he's coming in for a landing here. Both of you, get up there!" Ben replied.
"What are you going to do?" Eve asked.
He grinned. "I never plan that far ahead, now go!" Ben picked Eve up by the back of her vest and tossed her up the trail into Nina's arms right as a gust of wind hit them from the nevermore landing. It shrieked and looked to the girls on the trailhead.
"Hey! You big ugly sumbitch! Come get some fresh meat!" Ben taunted as he jogged away, slapping his ass at the beast.
Nina watched him wide eyed. "He's insane!"
The nevermore took the bait and started chasing Ben. It easily caught him and brought its beak down to snap at him, but he spun and punched it aside. It quickly recovered and rammed its head into Ben, flinging him toward the cliffside.
Nina and Eve watched in awe. They were desperate to help but Eve was the only one who still had ammo. The nevermore would tear her apart if she went in close, so a long range attack would be her only option, but she risked hitting Ben in the process. She anxiously waited with her swords at the ready, looking for an opening to strike.
The massive beast was on top of him almost instantly, but he rolled out of the way right before it crushed his head into the ground. Ben rose to his feet just in time to find the nevermore's open mouth coming at him. He tried to step aside but it managed to clamp down on his right arm. "Shit!" Before he could try to smash it over the head with his left, the nevermore lifted him up and started shaking him around.
Eve launched a fire blast into its back, knocking the bird off balance which allowed Ben to plant his feet next to the edge of the cliff and ram his anchors into the ground.
He looked to Eve and shouted. "Hit it again with everything you've got left!"
"Are you sure?"
"Just do it!"
"You asked for it…" She whirled and sent a massive fireball at the nevermore's back, pushing it toward Ben, who in turn pulled its head and wrenched it off of the cliffside behind him. The nevermore refused to let go of his arm, so he struggled to hold up the weight of the toppled creature until the ground gave way beneath him. "Crap…" He groaned before he was pulled down into the abyss.
"Oh no…" Eve bolted for the edge with Nina right behind her. Right as they arrived and peered down, the nevermore flew upwards past them with Ben trailing behind it at the end of his winch line, laughing maniacally the as he whooped and yelled. "YEEHAW!"
Nina sighed. "You've GOT to be shitting me."
Eve screamed. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
"Hold on! I'll be with you ladies in a minute!"
Nina grabbed Eve. "Let's get up this trail, they're going to the top."
Eve followed as she grumbled to herself. "I'm gonna kill him if he doesn't kill himself on that thing."
Ben winched himself closer to the Nevermore since his arm was still trapped within its beak. Once he was close enough, he clambered his way up and onto the nevermore's back. 'Alright, now I'm here, what's the next move, genius?' Ben thought to himself. The nevermore flung itself at the cliffside in an attempt to scrape him off, but Ben shielded himself with his free arm and managed to stay on.
Eve and Nina arrived at the top of the trail to be met by Professor Ozpin and Glynda.
Ozpin greeted them. "Congratulations ladies." He looked to the trail behind them. "Where is your teammate?"
Eve growled. "King Dumbass is hitching a ride."
He cocked an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
As if on cue, the nevermore rocketed toward the sky behind the girls with Ben clamped onto its back.
"Oh, I see." Ozpin stated as he took a sip from his mug.
Ben saw the group below and shouted. "You guys may want to watch out, this thing is pissed!" He tried to ram his claws into the beast to kill it, but he couldn't get them more than a couple inches in. With that failing, he resorted to hammering it in the back.
Nina studied the creature and looked for a weak point anywhere on its body. Ben's claws were barely able to breach the surface of its thick hide. Then she saw something, there were jagged scars on its neck from a previous battle. 'Bingo.' She thought to herself.
"Go for its neck Ben! The skin isn't as thick there!"
"That's a novel idea! How do you suppose I do that? It's all I can do to stay on this thing!"
"I can't think of everything for you!"
Ben grumbled. "Thanks a lot, now how the hell am I supposed to attack its thro…" He stopped short when he noticed his winch line still out and he smiled wickedly as an idea came to him. Ben let out more winch line and spun an eye loop into it that he lassoed around the nevermore's neck. As soon as he started winching in, the bird opened its mouth and released his arm, causing the makeshift noose to start slipping. He quickly spun a loop the opposite direction and put that around its neck as well, creating a clove hitch knot that he continued to winch tighter around the beast's neck.
Once it started choking, the nevermore spun wildly to shake Ben loose. But the knot held tight as he continued to apply pressure. Once the lack of oxygen kicked in, they began to lose altitude. Ben pulled harder, and as the winch line began to cut into the bird's throat, it lost consciousness and tumbled toward the ground.
Eve covered her mouth. "No…"
'This is why I hate flying.' Ben thought to himself as he spiraled downward on the nevermore's back. The knot was pulled too tight to get it loose and jump, so a crash landing was in the works. As they tumbled, the bird's wings would spread out from time to time and slow their descent slightly. Ben took notice of this and grabbed onto one of the wings with his free hand to try and control their descent. It took a bit of trial and error, but he managed to make them glide upright as they fell, albeit with a continued slow spiral.
"Clear the way!" Ben yelled as he neared the ground. Everyone scattered except for Ozpin and Glynda. The nevermore crashed to the ground in a cloud of dust that blew past the steadfast teachers. Once the dust cleared, Ben could be seen rising from the corpse of the beast reattaching his arm. He finally noticed the teachers in front of him and froze. "Uh… ta-dah?"
Several moments ticked by until Ozpin finally broke the silence. "That was… impressive, young man. Very unorthodox, but impressive none the less. Congratulations, your team has-" He was cut short by Eve, who stomped past him and marched up to her teammate.
"Hey E-" She punched him hard in the face.
She grabbed him by his shirt collar and pulled his face down to her level with her eyes brimming with tears. "Don't you EVER tell me to do something like that again! Do you have any idea how worried I was? I thought that I had killed you! You big… dumb… MORON!" She emphasized each word by pounding on his chest as she buried her face in his shirt.
He rubbed his sore face. "Eve, I…"
She silenced him with a glare. "You're not alone anymore, you know? We can help you now, don't you trust us? I don't want to see you trying anymore of that macho lone-wolf bullshit trying to get yourself killed, are we clear?!"
Ben's shoulders sagged in defeat. "Yes, I'm sorry. Are you two alright?"
Eve continued her glare for a moment, then sighed and finally blinked as she wiped away her tears. "Yeah, we're fine."
Ben smiled, relieved. "I'm glad."
Ozpin cleared his throat. "As I was saying… Congratulations, you have all returned with the item that you were tasked to retrieve.
"OH!" Nina jumped as she realized that the rifle was still slung across her back. She removed it and presented it to the older man, who held up his hand.
"I've noticed that you have become quite fond of that weapon, young lady. How would you like to keep it as a gift for passing this test?"
Nina gasped. "Are you serious right now?!"
He smiled knowingly. "I am quite serious. You displayed remarkable skill with that rifle, it would be a shame to take it away from you now."
Nina jumped and cheered, and then she began to hug the rifle in an amusing display of affection. Ben snickered at the sight until Eve jumped up and slapped him in the back of the head.
Glynda finally broke her silence after studying her scroll the entire time everyone else spoke. "Despite your success during this test, you also had some troubles that I noticed. Ben, do you have any idea as to what happened that caused your body to lock up in the way that it did?"
Ben stiffened at that. "I'm not sure ma'am, I believe my A.I. might have malfunctioned."
"I see, then what happened to change that? And why did you act so recklessly when you started moving again?"
He looked to the ground. "It's… complicated."
Glynda's stare was unwavering. "In that case, here's what is going to happen. In addition to training your team, we need to keep an eye on you to find out why that happened and what to do to keep it from happening again. An incident like that could cause you to be a danger to your team and everyone around you. Allow me to introduce your instructor." She called out, seemingly to no one in particular. "You can come out now, Mr. Braun."
Eve, Nina, and Ben looked around but they saw no one else in the vicinity. That's when they heard him speak.
"Of course, ma'am."
Ben turned to where the voice came from to find a man who wasn't there a moment ago, and who seemed to have appeared out of thin air. Mr. Braun, as they now knew him, looked to be in his 20's, was barely over five feet tall and fairly stocky, with dark skin, brown eyes, and shoulder length black hair pulled back into a ponytail. He wore a pair of camouflage pants and matching long sleeved shirt with dark armor over his chest and shoulders. The color of the camo seemed to change and match his surroundings as he walked toward them. He also carried an intricate looking long bow slung across his back.
The newcomer grinned. "Good afternoon. I'm Tanner Braun, and I'm going to make sure you guys don't get yourselves killed."