Chapter 21

Operation: Gravedigger - Part 01

A/N: I apologize for such a long absence, dear old friends. I'm here and intend to upload way more often. Will also be updating minor issues such as name mistakes (drowsiness...) and formatting and layout mistakes throughout the previous chapters. A lot of stuff has happened in my busy little Marine life. Music recommendation is 'Panic Room' by Au/Ra. Love it. Hope you enjoy this chapter.-

-It's been a few months since I've started working for Akamuro with my new team. About a month in, I was invited by Ruby to join her, Jaune, Ren, and Nora with going to Haven Academy... but I've had to work for Akamuro. It's not that... I didn't want to go with them. I just owe her father for my arm... and I'm helping out more people than if I joined Ruby. I did, however, give her group one of my batteries converted into a portable charger.

I'm helping Black Lotus with developing technology for helping fight against the Grimm and generating approval from the council members who've been watching our progress. If we can earn approval for Akamuro that they allow him to make more groups, then this company can truly become a security-providing force for the people of Remnant with just as much operating potential as Atlas, without the same tainted image as them after the Fall.

I'm standing in front of Akamuro with my armored teammates in his office. He tells us, "Take a seat so we can begin."

We do and he immediately gets into it, "This... may be the most difficult mission you've ever been assigned. The council... has asked me to pull up names for three more teams to start missions like yourselves. Following this job... you guys will have much more breathing room."

Godwell is just as to-the-point as ever, "And the job, sir?"

He responds, "You... have to clear out an area in Anima."

Godwell's eyes bulge, "Of people!?"

Akamuro chuckles, "No, no... hehe... Godwell... It is an area overwhelmed by the presence of Grimm."

Nebula asks, "So... is it smaller than Vale?"

He nods and adds, "Yes, but the area consists of a forest full of Grimm and a few surrounding settlements that have been overrun."

Esper is confused, "But doesn't that mean that the Grimm will just keep coming? How will we know when our mission is done? When the Grimm stop?"

Our supervisor nods, "I understand your concern. We will be watching through your visors. The council knows that you won't be successful. They will keep coming. The council just wants to get a gauge of what you're capable of and an idea of what they should expect from three more cells like you kids."

I nod my comprehension and ask, "So... this is the last thing we need to do before they approve?"

He nods and I ask, "Then do we have any special gear we're testing out this time?"

We've been given various tools and equipment during the past few jobs, from gravity field guns, chemical grenades, to prosthetic limb mods, some more handy than others.

Akamuro nods, "Yes. We've been reviewing each of your prosthetics' data and we've made you each improved versions. They each come with more features, better efficiency, and less data spikes: the reason for your sudden bursts of pain and malfunctions. Those, however, have been tested for you. You should not face any sort of complications at a rate higher than what you're used to... As negative as that sounds..."

We nod and become a little bit excited. The more comfort, the better. After that, Akamuro pulls out a remote and presses it. The lights dim and a hologram appears out of the table, "This is the area you will be operating in. Don't worry about staying in one place and bunkering down. You can flee and move around. Just stay within these bounds."

I feel my gut churn a little as I see that within the area of operation is Kuroyuri. I ask, "Where are we deploying?"

He points to the green area between Kuroyuri and two other settlements in the bounds, "You will be deployed there. Make your way to whatever settlements are nearby and kill as many as possible. You will be in the vicinity for seventy-two solid hours. Don't be afraid of disengaging any combat. Literally ANYTHING you do is being evaluated. Just stay alive and kill a ton of Grimm."

We nod confirmation and he turns off the hologram projector, "Go to the medbay. They'll rig your new prosthetics."

We follow his order and head down the different halls until we reach the medbay. When we enter, I notice sets of prosthetics on stands. We're greeted by a few technicians and surgeons who seem excited.

Guess they really enjoy their work.

Each of us is taken up by a pair of surgeons and one technician into different parts of the room.

The male surgeon in my group asks me, "Can you disengage the limb?"

I nod and take out the battery in the forearm, disabling all weapon systems. They unlock the limb from its base and remove it before replacing it with a new, identical-looking one. I reload the battery and the technician tells me, "Decreased the thinness of the projector lenses with better reinforcement and magnification, so more energy will come out when firing or using the other modes. Also, improved the processing systems which means less energy drain upon all forms of use."

I flex my arm and don't feel a difference, but if I'll figure it out based off of my use, then we'll see. I look to my companions who are getting a feel for their gear and they seem excited. It all better work. We're gonna be deploying into combat soon. I give my team a nod and they follow me to the quartermaster's.

When we arrive he hands me a belt with four compact circular devices. He tells me, "These devices spin and create additional charge in your batteries while they're inside of these."

I nod and load it up with my batteries. He tells Nebula, "Hand me your launcher."

She nods and does and he pulls out a screwdriver. He undoes the component for the launcher's trigger mechanism and replaces it with an identical one that has a tertiary trigger, "Now, you can fire, switch between modes, and lastly, detonate any midair projectiles."

He pulls out a small energy machine gun and tells her, "This'll protect you when your launcher is unavailable, overheated, charging, or inconvenient."

Godwell comes over and he hands him an interesting device, "Your sword's data has helped us accurately replicate the technology it has into a defensive form. Here" he hands him a sort of metal circle with straps attached, "That device goes on your back and will allow you to create energy fields to protect your rear while you use your sword for your front."

Godwell puts it on, commenting, "I feel like an armadillo..."

The quartermaster holds out a sword sheathe to Esper and she hands him her old one. He tells her, "That sheathe has a motorized mechanism, allowing you to pre-eject it for quicker draw speeds or even launch the weapon, causing blunt force trauma with the handle."

She attaches the sheathe to the carrier strap on her waist and the quartermaster gives us waist pouches and thigh packs that hold supplies for the following seventy-two hours. Our pilot crew picks us up from the quartermaster's and leads us to our ship.

When we get on the ship, I fall asleep as quickly as possible. It's going to be one of the few times any of us can sleep these next few days.-

-I'm woken up several hours later by Esper shaking my shoulder, "They announced that we have a minute."

I nod and slip on my helmet, seeing everyone prepping and checking their gear and the ramp opens up in the back, a pilot coming on the speaker, "Drop zone coming up in 30."

We all get up and hold handles on the walls of the ship for balance. The lead pilot yells, "Go! Now!"

We each run out and jump, dropping through the freefall. Nebula is the first one to use this time to spin through the air and flip at her leisure. Then Esper, then Godwell. I decide to ignore the red recording circle in my visor and join in on the fun with them.

As we approach the lower altitude of our freefall, we prepare for landing. Nebula prepares her launcher in its blastback cannon mode, Esper ejects the spheres in her back and uses two to support her feet while she grabs the last one to levitate down.

Godwell and I use dispersed energy to catch ourselves. We look around and I pull up the map on my visor. I turn toward the direction of Kuroyuri and tell them, "Kuroyuri is the closest. We'll lock down there and prepare."

My team confirms the order and we head toward the village.-

-After a few minutes of approaching the village, we encounter our first Grimm. It's a Beowulf Beta and Esper fires her blade at it. The blade's hilt strikes its forehead and it's stunned, one of her spheres hitting it in the same spot as well, attaching to her blade in mid-air, severing its head.

Godwell comments, "We're still half a mile out from the village and here's where we face our first Grimm? Fuck... gonna be hard getting there."

For once, Nebula agrees with him instead of calling him something related to an idiot, "Yeah... I don't like the looks of it."

I make sure my weapons are charged and loaded, "Well... it's our job. We'll make it."-

-We press on, their numbers and frequency steadily rising. We dispose of them quickly and with little disturbance. We're the most serious that I've ever seen. In short time, we arrive at the village entrance.

I see banners sporting Kuroyuri's emblem and chills run through my body by the sight.

My parents died here.

I clench my grip around my rifle and see how populated by Grimm this place is. Not as much as Vale, but it's still a load of them. I tell my team, "We will try to remain as safe as possible, moving around or holding up, either way, we're killing."

I calm down and let the frustration pass. I'd rather not endanger my teammates by being reckless.

We approach slowly, trying to avoid detection, but a stray, medium-sized Nevermore flying overhead spots us and screeches, indicating our presence to the rest of the Grimm in the village.

Nebula is the first to engage. She fires twice and we watch her projectiles go. The first hits the front of the gathering crowd of enemies, leaving a nice gap. The second explosive is in the center of the space created and Nebula pulls her newest trigger. The explosion exploits the carnage left by the first, sending broken bone wide before it can dissolve away, tearing apart a bigger radius than the first explosion.

I yell, "Blitz them!"

Godwell charges forward, boosting himself with his legs, and swings his blade like a massive pendulum, severing several Beowolves and Ursi in two. I take the left side while Esper takes right. I sever the head of a Beowolf and slice another in half with a scissor attack. I dodge an Ursa and embed my arm's blade in its chest, rotating my hand 180 degrees before firing a dispersed blast in the cavity.

Esper takes the right-hand side and slices down an Ursa before being met with a Wringer. She generates a hologram and the Wringer falls for the decoy. All it takes is one move. It reaches an arm for the hologram and its particles disperse. She uses the distraction to get close and drive her blade through its throat.

Nebula rejoins us, her one-handed SMG drawn and roundhouse kicks away a Beowulf before spraying down two others, "This is gonna be fun!"

I look around and see several more approaching Grimm in the distance. It's not enough to overwhelm us for now, but it could if we idle. I yell out, "Esper, you and I will cut a path to the right! Nebula, use your launcher to keep the left suppressed, Godwell, protect us!"

They confirm and Esper comes up to my side, launching her blade with the trigger, killing a Red Hood by crushing its skull's exoskeleton, catching the handle and moving to slash through three Beowolves in one move.

I charge my body up and the batteries on my back rotate faster, generating a low whir. I zoom to each of four Beowolves with both my left arm, Amon and my knuckle bracer, Barbados, charged, leaving large cavities in their bodies as I punch clean through them.

I zoom to a Wringer and punch through its limbs as it tries to grab me. After they're destroyed, it screeches and tries to make a last-ditch effort to use its tail to grab me. I charge Amon's energy blade and slash through it before impaling its chest and moving on to my next targets.

Nebula uses her launcher to clear distant groups while she uses her kicks and SMG for close combat. As Nebula dodges around, she uses the body of her launcher to block other blows.

The same Nevermore from before screeches and tries to dive-bomb Esper but Godwell charges over and severs it in two with swift judgement. I see a church ahead and see that the front doors are open a crack. I yell to the others, "Get in the church, Esper first, me second, then Nebula and Godwell. You two will be holding them back until I give the word."

They confirm and Esper dashes in front of me, slashing through a few Grimm that get in our way. I prepare Amon and Amber King to fire energy beams and shoot down smaller Nevermore that come our way. Godwell takes a few energy swings behind us and duplicates them along with the projectiles that Nebula's launcher makes. Esper makes it into the church first and passes word through our headsets, "It's clear!"

I nod and make it into the church myself and tell Esper, "Give me a boost!"

I jump and she uses her orbs to lift me up to the church's rafters. I tell the other two, "Get in! I'll snipe any that try to slip in with you!"

They do and a Beowulf Alpha and two Nevermores get in by jumping and flying over them. Godwell keeps the door shut while Nebula takes aim at the enemies. I yell as I shoot down the Nevermores with Amber King and Amon, "No! Don't fire in case you miss and give them an opening!"

She growls and draws her SMG and charges the Beowulf. It grabs one of the pews and smacks her away cleanly, Nebula hitting the wall hard. Godwell manages to barricade the entrance and charges the Beowulf himself, blade poised and ready. He takes a vertical swing and it sidesteps, Godwell too slow to recover. It grabs him by the arms and begins to pull them away from his torso, trying to tear him apart.

I take aim and see three laser beams sever its wrists before Esper dashes past with a loud 'SHING!' sound. Godwell lands on the ground and steps aside, avoiding the headless carcass that falls forward before dissipating.

I drop down from my spot in the rafters and we lightly celebrate. I tell them, "We've secured the main area of the church, but we still need to check the rest, make sure that if there's a hole in a wall somewhere, we can barricade the door leading to the compromised room if we can't seal the hole itself. Esper with me. Nebula with Godwell."

They nod and we split up to investigate the church.

Esper and I go through several small classrooms while Nebula and Godwell go through the other areas.

Partway through our sweep, Esper goes through a door leading to a room with small confessionals. She walks through and checks each of the five and stops at the third, "Hey... Munsell. Can I tell you something?"

I nod, taking a look around, "Sure thing. Go ahead."

Esper tells me, "This is a little embarassing... but..."

I give her a gesture to go on and she does, "I really... love..."

My breath catches and she continues, "...being away from the base for once. Actually going out and experiencing this with you guys... Even though it's a messed up part of the world... I still get to be a part of it... th-the world, I mean..."

I chuckle at dodging that bullet, "Oh. Okay. Yeah. I get what you mean."

Esper asks, "Is it wrong?"

I'm confused, "Is what wrong?"

She keeps moving through the room and clarifies, "That I enjoy being out of the base."

I shake my head, "I don't think so. You've been cooped up there so long. It's only natural."

Esper turns around to face me and asks, checking the size of a hole in the wall to the outside, "Why are you here, Munsell?"

I'm even more confused than before, "Huh? What do ya mean?"

She grabs a nearby cabinet and shuffles it over the hole, "I mean, you don't need to be doing any of this. I'm pretty sure you were in a good spot before any of our missions."

I tell her as we head back to the others, "Yeah... You're right about all that. I'm only here... because I feel alive when I'm doing something. Not just boring everyday stuff, like going to the mall, or going out on dates. I love this," and gesture around us, "the violence. The fighting. The thrill. I don't know if it's because of all the bad shit that's happened to me till now or because I actually enjoy all of it, but this is all normal stuff to me. The way it should be... For me, I mean. Do you get what I'm trying to say?"

Esper giggles, "Yeah. I get it. I've met my share of former Huntsmen and Hunresses who were part of the staff... They were the same way, doing it because they wanted something to keep them busy that... a normal life doesn't offer. I wish I had an opportunity like you to experience more than what I've known."

I chuckpe as we walk back to the main area of the church, "Well, maybe you can if they implement the new teams."

Godwell and Nebula are waiting for us and I ask, "How's it all looking?"

Godwell answers as Nebula looks through the walls with her eyes, "We secured the other parts of the church but the Grimm are still out there."

Nebula adds, "They're gathering in all directions around us. They seem to be waiting for an opportunity. We shouldn't stay here too long."

I nod, "Thanks for the update. Godwell. Map, please."

He nods and pulls out a small holographic projector and displays our mission's current layout. I pull out a laser pointer and point at out location, indicated by a dot, "We're here. In a church. We need to figure out the best route we can take. We need to decide now if we're just gonna go from here to another position or try our luck on the move."

Nebula's first to voice her opinion, "Being indoors restricts my main weapon. While being able to see the Grimm without them seeing us is a nice advantage, my vision won't do anything to physically stop them once they decide to attack."

Esper seconds the notion, "I would be able to generate holograms for distraction."

Godwell grabs his blade and shifts it a little, "Then I'll keep you guys protected."

I smile behind my helmet, "Well then. I guess we're going with 'on the move'. Godwell, map, please."

He pulls out a holographic projector that shows the map in 3D, everything a green silhouette and I pull out a laser pointer.

"This," I indicate our location on the map, "Is the church we're currently in. We'll need to figure out the best route for us to take."

We're all focused on the map for the next few moments but none of us come up with anything. I clap my habds together and sigh, "Alright, we can come back to this, we have time after all."

Nebula's the only one still focusing her attention on it. She motions for my laser pointer and we watch entranced as it fervidly dashes from location to location, Nebula rapidly whispering to herself but some pieces of it becoming louder, "Then this way... No... Esper'd... and then I'd... Godwell's too fat... Munsell and... I always..."

Just when we think she's found a path, she looks up and through the walls, realizing her plan wouldn't work. I clap my hands together, "It's fine. Take a break, Nebula."

She shakes her head and takes the projector from Godwell, "I would, but I have bad news. We have outdated information. Every route I plan starts off great but gets ruined by inaccurate starts."

I nod my understanding and ask, "Then... does anyone else have any ideas?"

They're all quiet at first, but Esper breaks the silence, "Uhm... I do..."

Nebula and I give her permission and she continues, unsure, "We could... go through... one of the main gates? There'd be less... Grimm, since there... would be a path. Not as much forest for them to hide in... right?"

Nebula has a hand on her forehead trying to think of how we'd execute it, "Yeah, the goal's pretty good, but we'd be in the open. And a majority of the buildings here don't go beyond two stories, so anywhere we could go, the Grimm could surely jump and follow."

I chuckle, "But there's the fun, Nebula. Majority of the time, what do we do? Improvise. We can't deploy an accurate route? Fine. You plan out the best route there from what you know and we'll follow your directions. The moment it starts to deviate from your plan, we'll improvise. Sound good, everyone?"

They nod and I tell them, "Great. We'll rest for a bit. Sleep shifts as usual, two and two, since it'll be a short rest."

They nod and I tell them, "Nebula, Godwell, you guys get first sleep shift, since you guys will plan our route and coordinate."

They pull some pews together and arrange their gear for their short rest, all of us turning off the recording on our gear. Never been a problem before. Everything's dull right now, so whoever's watching wouldn't be gaining much.

After a while I sit away from them with my back to the wall and pull out a little notepad, removing my helmet. I discover that Esper- also with her headgear removed- is sitting next to me, asking, "What's the notepad, Munsell? Gear check? Plans? Environment notes?"

I chuckle, "No. It's... a song."

She's interested, "Oh. Didn't take you for the song-writing type. Why a song?"

I reply, "Because, it helps me take my mind off things."

She chuckles, "Wait, taking your mind off the lifestyle you like? That seems ironic."

I chuckle, "Haha, yeah, you're right. It's not that I want to not think about this stuff, it's that..." I pause, not wanting to say that it's Nadeshiko, "Thinking about her is something I like a lot more. The reason I do what I do, I learned recently, isn't because I feel I owe Akamuro. It's for her. What I'm doing is to help keep her safe. I know she can handle herself but I just want to make the world a better place for us."

Esper is quiet, "Oh. That's... pretty sweet, Munsell. So... is the song for her, then?"

I nod and she further asks, "Do you mind if I look?"

I'm hesitant at first but give the okay and hand it to her, Esper reading lightly out loud,

"She has the power to cure.

She has the power to break.

And now I don't know for sure,

What exactly's at stake.

I lost her good side.

I'll go, if she wants me.

I lost her tonight.

I'll stay, if she wants me.

I'm scared to lose her.

My Nuclear Flower.-

-Her glow, made, me warm.

Now without her, I'm torn.

But that's alright.

Now I can't whine.

Because I'm no good.

Because I'm a fool.

Because I want what's best for you.

I'll leave if you want for good.-

-But please don't forget me.

Because we were a team.

A secret kept, between.

A secret kept, unseen.

Nuclear Flower.

That is what you were.

That is what you were to me."

She hands me back the notepad and asks, "Why... does it sound so sad?"

I shrug, "I haven't really... been honest with her... about a lot, recently... We've been drifting... kind of..." I sigh, "I just... really want her to know she's still on my mind. That she's important to me. I want to sing it for her, but we haven't really had an opportunity. I don't know. I've messaged her a few times... but no response. I don't feel like giving up but it's damned hard, Esper. What do you think?"

Esper tells me, "Maybe... she's busy? Doing her own thing? I would say not to give up, if you really think she's worth it."

She gets up and dusts off her armor, "Well, I'm going to go do a tour. I hope you get the answers you're looking for, Munsell. Hey, maybe she'll send a message sometime soon."

I chuckle, "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Esper."