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Chapter 25: Maze
The air was freezing and filled with countless falling snowdrops, mounds of white powder coated the ground. The scene would have looked peaceful anywhere other than the Exclusion Zone, the traditional image of a winter wonderland had long since been replaced by one of frozen desolation. The pitch black sky was filled with shapes, their forms illuminated by nothing more than the bloody glow of their own eyes. Nevermore, the flock of avian Grimm flew silently, each of them clutching the haunches of a Beowolf in their talons. The Grimm swooped low, passing over the roofs of buildings whose inhabitants had abandoned them over a decade ago; as they did so they released their cargo, the Beowolves perching themselves on rotten beams and cracked tiles. The pack had landed in something that could almost be described as a formation, a loose circle surrounding a specific building whose roof remained whole and whose windows and doors were barricaded. The Nevermore returned to their previous higher altitude, a lone pair of eyes watching as they circled their target
"Good" Phobos growled, the Grimm that had once been a mere Alpha Beowolf turned its' attention below to where the prey was hiding. Phobos had felt the death of each Grimm slain by the Hunters like a sharp needle in the back of its' mind but had after a while been unable to locate them, the trail had gone cold and there was no pervading sense of dread or anger to follow. Eventually whatever force was hiding the prey from view had faded and a faint but persistent panic had reached the senses of the Grimm, in such a starved environment where they subsisted on the distant emotions of the mass of life beyond the walls that faint trace of panic had been a beacon, and Phobos had felt his packs' urge to flock to it.
The air around him was filled with the misting breath of panting Grimm, their primal bloodlust radiating off of them in waves that were almost palpable; one stepped forwards, the claws of its' forelimbs sinking into the edge of the roof as it made to pounce, Phobos grabbed the beast by the back of the neck and hauled it back
"No" the word was growled quietly for fear of alerting the prey inside, the Beowolf snapped angrily at him, the Grimm were utterly incapable of understanding speech but when Phobos spoke meaning was conveyed through the link the packs under its' command shared. The insubordination caused Phobos to grip the smaller Grimm by the throat and haul it from its' feet, the fact Phobos walked on two legs combined with a vastly increased muscle mass meant the Beowolf was dwarfed by its' leader
"Wait" the Beowolf was set down, gently enough to prevent any sound. Phobos reached into the mental bond with the packs, waiting for the precise moment to begin the hunt. Finally the moment came, another Nevermore approached from the same direction as the Beowolves had though this one was not carrying a Beowolf and it didn't swoop low; this Nevermore was carrying a Boarbatusk and as it neared it climbed higher until the crimson of its' eyes were faint pinpricks. Then it released the Boarbatusk, the whooshing of the air around the sturdy beast as it plummeted would be too little too late to serve as a warning and Phobos watched with vicious delight as the smaller Grimm curled into a ball of spinning armoured plates. The roof of the building below collapsed under the force of the Boarbatusks' impact and the air was filled with howls and snarls from the Beowolves and the shrieking of the Nevermore as several spikes of fear reached their senses. With a single howl and point downwards Phobos led the charge, the Grimm on the roofs and those overhead surged downwards as one.
The hunt had begun.
Following their defeat of the Rat-King Team FADE had continued to work alongside Penny to track down whatever had been wreaking havoc on the New Vale power grid, with little success. The only fruits of their labours thus far had been several more encounters with smaller Grimm and more destruction forming the clues to an obscene parody of a scavenger hunt. Eventually the five of them had set up camp for the night in a section of the tunnels that mercifully did not intersect with the sewer system. Currently Arctus and Diamond were finishing their watch, being relieved by Felix and Penny while Eagle lay sound asleep in one of the sleeping bags Penny had brought in surprisingly compact pack; the blonde would be taking the last watch with Sentinel as company.
"Hey, you wanna borrow my jacket? it's sleeveless but it's something?" Arctus asked Diamond, seeing that his partner and girlfriend was shivering within the confines of her own sleeping bag. Rather than answer straight away she cast her eyes over to where Felix and Penny were and saw that their attention was elsewhere, when she turned back to Arctus she gave him a mischievous wink
"I've got a better idea big buy" with that she slithered quietly out of her sleeping bag and made her way over to him, catching on Arctus unzipped his own sleeping bag allowing her to make herself comfortable draped across him; legs wrapping around his waist and arms sliding around his neck as she nuzzled into his neck
"Much better" she murmured sleepily
"Are you sure-" Arctus found himself silenced with a slow kiss, he also found his body reacting in ways completely outside of his control and if Diamond's smirk was any indication she knew exactly what kind of effect she was having on him as her breasts pressed against his chest
"Yeah, I'm sure" she returned to making herself comfortable on his chest, an infinitely easier task than falling asleep on the cold damp floor would have been, just as Arctus's arms wrapped around her waist and he gently pressed his lips against the top of her head Felix's affronted voice rang out
"Are you two serious right now?"
"Fuck off dude, we're not even doing anything!" Diamond snapped back without even bothering to look up
"Seriously, just trying to keep warm" Arctus added, giving his cousin and team leader the closest thing to an apologetic look he could manage, considering that he was honestly perfectly content with the situation.
"Leave them be Fluffy" Penny's use of her nephew's nickname got his attention, Felix turned and saw her wearing a gentle smile as she continued "I happen to know for a fact that your parents shared a sleeping bag while on missions"
"And that is a mental image I could've gone my whole life without thanks" he grumbled as he ran his hands through his hair, dislodging countless dried flakes of whatever filth he'd been submerged in during the fight with the Rat-King. Penny giggled softly at the response before offering out a large packet of beef jerky which Felix gladly helped himself to a handful of. Silence reigned for an indiscernible amount of time, the soft breathing Felix's sensitive hearing picked up informing him that his team-mates had fallen asleep cuddling, which was admittedly cute. Eventually after what the Faunus guessed to have been at least an hour he turned to his companion
"Hey Aunt Penny, have you got any idea what we might be looking at? I mean you've seen some pretty out there stuff right?"
"Honestly Felix, it's hard to say. There are so many factors that could allow a Grimm to enter these tunnels and they occupy so much space it could be almost anything. Although the probability of a Shadow-Stalker pack or Infinipede is low enough to be negligible"
"What makes you think that?" he asked as he leaned against the nearest wall, instantly regretting the decision when he realised it was as damp as the floor
"Infinipede generate an electrical charge that they use as a ranged weapon. If one had grown large enough to leave the damage we've seen so far then the power outages would be several times larger than what they have been" Penny explained, the Grimm in question being almost exclusively native to Atlas and so removed from Felix's experience. Her expression darkened as she continued "As for Shadow-Stalkers, we'd be looking at a far greater level of damage and it would be targeted attacks on key points of the power grid and sewer system"
"Whoa" Felix breathed out, momentarily stunned "So Uncle Gang wasn't just making Shadow-Stalkers up then? I kinda thought they were an Atlesian bedtime story, something to scare kids into behaving" Penny's response was an uncharacteristically dark chuckle
"A lot of people in Upper Atlas use them that way. People who grew up in Lower Atlas, like Blake and Gangrel, know better. One pack of Shadow-Stalkers down here would mostly likely lead to something comparable to The Breach" Felix was floored by the calm assertion. The Breach was considered a key part of New Vale's history, a precursor of the war that started with the battle of Vale
"Weren't you at the breach?" Felix asked curiously, he'd asked both of his mothers about some of the more famous battles they'd been present for, he suspected that the accounts they gave him as a child had been heavily sanitised
"I was, I was a transfer student from Atlas at the time, preparing to compete in the Vytal Tournament. Team CPIA were part of the second wave of Hunters to arrive, Teams GRAP and CFVY were the first, Team RWBY were on the train that Adam Taurus used to bring Grimm into the Kingdom" her gaze grew distant for a moment "There was a moment where I thought I'd lost Ruby, she was holding the line inside the Breach itself, there were so many Grimm pouring out…." she trailed off, leaving a heavy silence between them. Eventually Felix spoke again, eager to dull the boredom of keeping watch
"How come we've never met any of your old team?" he saw his aunts' expression falter "Unless it's personal or something-"
"It's okay" Penny sighed "We were just never as close as most teams. The only one I ever felt any sort of connection with was my partner Ciel. When I was injured by Pyrrha Nikos, accidentally, right before the battle of Vale started I was actually incorrectly reported as killed in action. It was a long time before I managed to contact Ciel; she took it hard, she was angry at me….we haven't spoken since"
"Oh, that sucks" Felix was quiet for a moment before dots seemed to connect themselves in his mind "Wait, Nikos? The Pyrrha Nikos with a statue at Halo?"
"Precisely, she was a sensational friend" Penny nodded a hint of sadness creeping into her voice
"There's a Nikos studying at Halo now" Felix informed her "Like a distant second cousin or something, he's partnered with a guy I went to Signal with….I wonder how their mission's going"
In the early hours of the morning, when the students of Halo Academy were yet to rise and given the season so to was the sun there were still a handful of souls awake on the prodigious campus which hovered above New Vale like a watchful sentinel. One of those souls was Nora Ren who had slept little the previous night and would freely admit it was due to the absence of her husband. Nora was far from concerned, she had every faith in Lie Ren's abilities and those of the team he was leading; Helios Nikos in particular, the Mistrali was a clear prodigy and Nora thought it a shame that he would never have the opportunity to meet her old friend whom he idolised, Pyrrha would have loved him. The fact remained however, Nora had become accustomed to sleeping either beside or in close proximity to her husband since they were children, there was something indescribably wrong with the thought of drifting off without her hand in his or his arm around her waist. Currently she was debating heading into the campus gym and getting a head start on the day before her first lesson, it always seemed to surprise the students to see her training alongside them for some reason and their reactions were usually entertaining. Another option was to head to the cafeteria, her residence on the campus had a well stocked kitchen and she was perfectly capable of making her own breakfast but Nora silently she decided she would not 'ruin the good name of pancakes' by attempting to find Ren's elusive secret ingredient yet again. Her predictably somewhat hectic thoughts were interrupted by her Scroll issuing a rather unique ringtone, the autotuned sounds of a plethora of baby sloths. A ringtone reserved for Ren.
"Hey, how's the mission-"
"Nora, Nora we need immediate evac! Get to Goodwitch, Olivine's injured. Nikos and Angora broke off to buy us some time, Get DeGrasse and Arashi out and I'll double back for them!" Ren's words came out in a series of strained gasps indicated he had only briefly stopped running as fast as his Aura and muscles would allow, something that concerned Nora far more was his tone. Ren, calm and unflappable Ren, sounded terrified
"What happened?" Nora demanded, suddenly much more awake as fear and adrenaline coursed through her
"We found the Grimm that took out the cameras, Alpha Beowolf. There's something different about this one….It's smarter, it co-ordinated an attack" there was a moment where Nora could hear one of Team NEON, presumably Ether Arashi reporting in. When Ren spoke again he sounded if anything more tense "We've been taking cover, Ether just spotted a Nevermore overhead….they're hunting us. Tell Goodwitch"
"On it" the moment the line went dead Nora, who was thankfully already dressed grabbed Magnhild and sprinted through hallways, leaving lights flickering in her wake and the televisions, Scrolls and other electronic devices of anyone currently awake and using them in the domiciles she passed to suffer from momentary interference. Eventually she found Professor Goodwitch where she knew the older woman would be; sitting cross legged several feet in the air in a combat training classroom as she caused every piece of furniture in the room to levitate, an exercise Glynda had used to hone her abilities since her time as a student of Beacon. The levitating furniture came crashing to the ground, Goodwitch herself landing only slightly more gracefully as Nora hurtled into the room
"Nora what on Remnant-"
"REN NEEDS EVAC, HE HAS FIRST YEAR STUDENTS IN THE EXCLUSION ZONE! AUTHORISE THE YASHIMA PROTOCOL!" the miniscule redhead bellowed, Glynda's expression went from shocked at Nora's plea to horrified at the situation to rigorously imposed calm
"I'll contact Dew Gayl, her ship is always on standby. She'll send someone faster than any of the other aerial platforms. If she isn't leading the strike team personally then you have full authority to take command"
"The Yashima Protocol?" Nora insisted. Goodwitch sighed and shook her head
"I can't authorise that Nora, not for a lone team….as much as it pains me to say it, the Yashima Protocol is for code red emergencies only" with that Nora's eyes narrowed and fists clenched as she turned on her heel and stalked towards the terminal where she silently hoped their would be a transport within the next few minutes. As she exited the main doors of the academy she nervously muttered to herself
"This is not happening"
"No way!" Eagle exclaimed, wide eyed with awe "Ruby Rose actually invented those?"
"Yep" Penny nodded, popping the P in a way she'd unintentionally learned from the scythe wielder being discussed. Team FADE had returned to their mission, logging the seemingly infinite instances of damage caused by whatever monster it was they were searching for while simultaneously keeping their eyes open for any sign of the Grimm itself. Eagle had chosen to fill the silence in the way that to her seemed to be the most sensible option, barraging Penny with questions about Ruby. The news that Ruby Rose had been the one to take Poly-Tech Nanobots, one of Antonia Arc's personal favourites amongst her inventions; tied with the 'Arc Reactor', and turn them into a form of ammunition and that she was currently working on a project that involved integrating them with forcefields had left the blonde utterly awestruck.
"That's so cool"
"Ruby is sensational" Penny nodded, smiling from ear to ear while privately deciding she was going to tell Ruby and Qrow exactly how much of an inspiration Ruby was to the girl, it may hopefully help ease some of the inevitable tension when the truth about her parentage was brought to light.
"Aunt Ruby's a bad-ass" Felix chuckled "Seriously, one of if not the most famous Huntress in the world, master inventor and weapons designer, she bakes the best cookies and used to let me and Corey stay up late when she was babysitting us"
"Hey" Arctus called from slightly further ahead where he and Diamond stopped to examine something "We've got more damage over here" Penny quickly made her way between the blonde teens and took in the several feet long gouge in the wall
"Whatever it is it's got some really big claws" Arctus noted with a concerned glance
"I don't think this was claws" Diamond answered as she studied the wall intently; Penny cocked her head slightly and motioned for the silver haired girl to continue
"There's only one mark, that's been the case with most of the places we've seen" Diamond explained, Penny nodded in agreement "The places with multiple marks have all had overlapping gouges, like something hit repeatedly. On top of that anything with claws this big wouldn't be able to move through the tunnels, it'd probably be trapped in the places where the sewers and power grid connect….I think we're looking at something with either horns or a really big tail spike, way bigger than a Deathstalker stinger"
"Very well reasoned" Penny was genuinely impressed, from what she'd seen thus far Diamond Sustrai-Black had the makings of an expert scout or tracker, skills that any Hunter would need.
"I'll log the damage" Arctus noted
"Hey big guy do me a favour and shine some light on this" Diamond asked, the Bear Faunus created a small Glyph in his hand, casting more light than his Scroll would have.
"This was done recently" Diamond said bluntly, Penny had reached the same conclusion
"There's still dry dust in the gouge, it would be damp by now"
"So which way then?" Felix growled eagerly, he and Eagle having caught up
"We continue on" Penny answered "It must be heading in the same direction as us or we'd have either seen or heard it by now" with their course agreed on the five of them began moving once more, Eagle quietly deploying Sentinel. Almost half an hour passed without incident before they reached what could best be described as a focal point, several tunnels and their attendant masses of cables intersecting
"We're not splitting up" Felix stated firmly
"Agreed" Penny's emerald eyes narrowed in suspicion "Whatever we're tracking has been here, we just need to determine-"
RAAAAAAAARHH!
The air itself seemed to be torn asunder by the bellowing roar, though the sound did little to help the Hunters as it reverberated in the tunnels so much that it's original location was a mystery
"Think we determined something" Felix noted as he readied his swords, Penny drew her own blades a fraction of a second before the wall beside her exploded and something trampled over her in its' furious onslaught, the copper haired Huntress frantically rolled aside as Sentinel opened fire at whatever beast was lurking within the cloud of dust and falling rubble.
"Sentinel stand down!" Eagle ordered "No point firing blind"
"Let it come to us and be ready to surround it" Penny murmured
"I'll hold it in place" Arctus suggested as the beginnings of a Glyph formed in the hand not holding his broadsword. Then the Grimm came into view, lumbering from the cloud of debris its' arrival had left on its' hind legs and its' knuckles like a gorilla would. At full height the beast would have perhaps reached fourteen feet in height, currently it was hunched over as ceiling of the tunnels was too low to accommodate such a size. It was made of the same obsidian substance as the rest of its' kind with chitinous bone white armour enveloping its' torso in a series of overlapping plates that bore an uncanny resemblance to a knight's armour. it's forelimbs were encased disproportionately large and muscular, the forearms and fists studded and scarred masses of armour, one only needed to look at them to imagine the catastrophic effect of its' blows. The Grimm's head was larger than a mans' torso and bovine in appearance, smoke billowing from its' nostrils while bloody eyes regarded the Hunters, the bone armoured skull was complete with a pair of horns each easily six feet long, the clear cause of much of the damage that Team FADE had found
"That" Penny dispassionately informed the students in her care "Is a Minotaur" before Felix could demand to know how that something that size had managed to sneak into the tunnels the Grimm charged, and all thought not related to survival were pushed aside.
Team NEON's situation following the roof of the building they were using as shelter being blasted apart could be summed up as a disaster using good fortune to propel itself.
They had been lucky that the Boarbatusk had only crashed through the roof and not utterly collapsed the building, even more so that it hadn't directly hit any of their sleeping forms, good luck pushed itself even further when Nyanza, who had been awake and alert at the time managed to place an armour piercing round directly between the Grimm's eyes.
Then the disaster had struck again when Ren led the shell-shocked teens out of the remains of the building, directly into a waiting mass of Grimm. The five of them had fought tooth and nail to break free of the tide of teeth and claws that washed over them, the moment they thought they were free of the Beowolves a flock of Nevermore swooped overhead, their bladed feathers burying themselves in the ground around them while at the same time the Alpha Beowolf entered the fray, the thing was unnatural, it walked on two legs and Ren had watched it direct its' pack with a series of gestures before he attempted to remove it's head, the Grimm parried three attacks before knocking him back with ease.
Good fortune had shown itself once again when Olivine and Helios managed to clear a path, the golden armoured teen tearing Nevermore from the sky with his manipulation of gravity while the minute Huntress deployed Buster Bravo and laid waste to everything in her path.
The small victory had turned to ash when the Alpha proved it's ability to think by singling out Olivine as the greatest threat and lunged under her guard, it was a small mercy that the mechanical exoskeleton around her right arm had Ether a few moments to intervene before the Grimm's fangs could tear his partners' arm away completely; as it was the exoskeleton was ruined leaving the weapon unable to fire and Olivine's right arm was a twisted and bloody mess having been broken with a sickening crunch.
In the moments it had taken the Alpha to reorient itself after Ether had managed to hurl it through a window Team NEON had fled, Helios giving the order to split up. Ren had stepped in as the senior Hunter and their teacher but Helios had shouted him down, telling him to take Olivine and use his Semblance to hide until he could get her to safety; he was going to give the Grimm a false trail to follow, Nyanza had stepped up told the scarlet haired boy in no uncertain terms that he wasn't going anywhere alone, they were partners and that was final.
Such were the events that led to Helios and Nyanza flitting from building to building, heading in a vaguely consistent direction, both were exhausted, aching and carrying several small cuts and bruises from their engagements with small groups of Grimm
"They still on our tail?" Nyanza panted out, wiping sweat and grime from his brow as the first rays of weak winter sunlight crept through the shattered window of the first story room they were currently taking refuge in
"Of course they're still on our tail" Helios growled "It's just whether or not we can see them"
"No sign of 'em yet" Nyanza muttered as he peered below, searching for any sign of the living darkness that was the creatures of Grimm moving through the shadows
"Now we have to concern ourselves with our escape" Helios sighed "I wish you'd stayed with the others Nyanza. Surely you realised I was never intending to double back and regroup; it's too much of a risk while Olivine is injured"
"Thought you might say something like that" Nyanza gave a grim chuckle "Noble and stupid, textbook heroics….y'know they wouldn't give you a statue if you got eaten by Grimm down here right?"
"Then why did you come? I highly doubt a last stand is your style?" Nyanza casually cuffed the taller teen around the back of the head, smirking at Helios's utterly stunned expression
"You're right it's not, but friends don't let each other do dumb shit alone. I've got a plan"
"You….You have a plan?" Nyanza chose to ignore the disbelieving tone
"Ren's Scroll is military spec, he can get through the signal jamming in here. We don't have to meet them for evac, we make our own way out and contact him. There're gates scattered around the perimeter of the exclusion zone"
"You forget the small inconvenience of us being hunted"
"Nah" Nyanza's smile became something truly evil "The walls are covered in giant artillery pieces, we let the Grimm chase us out into the open. We'll get lucky and avoid the shelling, they won't" Helios stared at his partner in silence for several moments
"Nyanza you're a lazy, degenerate irritant sometimes; but never let me convince you that you're not one of my best friends" Nyanza would never admit it, but hearing that from Helios meant a lot to him. The feline merely rose to his feet and rolled his shoulders back, pistols finding their way to his hands
"Come on Heely, nobody dies today. Let's make a break for it" the redhead nodded and the pair of them leapt from the window down to the ground and immediately sprinted in the direction of the edge of the exclusion zone. They must have made enough noise to attract the Grimm as before long the shriek of Nevermore sounded behind them and above, Helios made to turn and employ his Semblance against them; Nyanza called to him
"Keep running, I've got 'em" without looking the bushy tailed Faunus fired his pistols over his shoulders, pale green eyes glowing with the light of his Semblance; each shot found its' way to a vital area of a Grimm, throats, eye sockets and wing joints were blasted apart with ease as the pair of them continued to run
"I see the wall!" Helios exclaimed as the towering fortification came into view, the street coming to an abrupt halt almost quarter of a mile before the wall; piles of rubble and debris indicating where building had been shelled to deny cover to any Grimm that approached "No sign of a gate!"
"We'll have to hug the wall!" Nyanza shouted back, then a movement in corner of his eye caught his attention "Ah shit, Heely we've been flanked!"
"I see them" Helios shifted Olympus Enforcer into its' Tommy Gun form as the pair of them reached the last of the standing buildings, the pack of Beowolves leaping into view snarling and thrashing. They'd been on the streets to either side of the one Helios and Nyanza were fleeing down. Before Helios could fire the ground beneath the first Beowolf exploded with a deafening explosion that left nothing remaining of the Grimm but wisps of fading darkness
"Damn those are some big guns!" Nyanza gasped, barely able to hear himself over the ringing in his ears as he and Helios stumbled hastily through what had quickly become a killing field; the Faunus's Semblance keeping them from sharing the Grimm's fate. Nyanza's eyes widened as he watched a Deathstalker that had against all odds managed to scuttle close to them through the barrage, claws and glowing stinger poised for the kill
"HELIOS!" He called out, giving his partner just enough warning to turn and increase the gravity acting on the monster to such a magnitude that it's exoskeleton shattered and it's own stinger was embedded in its' back. Nyanza's momentary lapse in concentration cost him, a Beowolf pounced and was shelled out of existence barely a foot away. Helios watched in horror as his partner sailed through the air, collapsing in a crumpled heap some distance away. He sprinted through the shelling, caring nothing for the fact that without Nyanza's Semblance he was utterly exposed to the artillery's wrath
"Nyanza? Nyanza can hear me?" he skidded to a halt, returning his weapon to it's sword and shield form
"Can barely hear anything" the now dust covered feline croaked out before a coughing fit racked his body while his Aura visibly flickered before failing "Think that cracked a couple ribs, still too lucky to die though" the weak laugh that escaped Helios died out quickly as he saw a lone figure striding purposefully towards them, the Alpha that had savaged Olivine
"Think you can take it?" Nyanza choked out as he tried and failed to rise
"On it's own, probably" Helios answered "Here and now…." he trailed off with a shake of his head. As if it had heard the admission the Alpha charged forwards, sprinting at them rather than bounding on all fours like its' pack-mates. The chorus of artillery deafened Phobos to the sound of the trio of Bull-Heads approaching behind it; one of the remaining Nevermore however did manage to spot them and dived to intercept the first salvo. Phobos was sent skidding across the cratered ground as the avian Grimm was obliterated in an explosion of pink mist. Nyanza and Helios both gaped in surprise
"Letting Grimm chase you into a trap, gutsy but could've been executed better. Now let's smash!" was how Nora greeted her students as she landed in a crouch, having leapt from the first of the trio of craft.
"The others are safe, they're en-route to Halo right now" Ren added as he landed beside his wife. Then in unison Magnhild and the Storm-Flowers were unleashed, cutting through any Grimm that managed to weave between artillery shells. Phobos struggled to it's feet, letting loose a primal roar of rage and defiance before turning and bolting deeper into the exclusion zone, the rest of the Grimm following in short order.
"Are we going after them?" Helios demanded. Ren shook his head gently
"We're not risking any more injuries. We know what the target is now, New Vale's defence force can perform bombing runs"
"We might have to have next years' initiation in the Emerald Forest, but hey nostalgia am I right?" Nora beamed before turning to the pair of students; Helios and Nyanza braced themselves, preparing for the litany of reasons that they should be reprimanded. Both of them were stunned when the small woman gently hauled Nyanza to his feet before pressing a fist to each of their noses with a weary grin
"Boop"
The Minotaur simply refused to die. Penny had regretfully informed Team FADE early on the fight that she hadn't encountered one of these before, they were not native to Atlas. With no recorded data and strategies at their immediate disposal the five of them had been simply unloading with everything they had, to frighteningly little effect. Another problem was that, while far from agile or graceful the Minotaur was fast; it's momentum and sheer strength allowed it to plough through walls with ease, giving the Grimm an advantage in terms of mobility.
"OH COME ON!" Eagle demanded with an incredulous gesture more suited to losing a round of a video game than their current life or death battle as Sentinel's munitions pattered harmlessly off of the thick armour ridges on the monsters back and flank as it turned. She and her team-mates alongside Penny were still in the nexus point formed by the meeting of a dozen or so tunnels; each of them trying to deliver a decisive blow. Eagle's failed attack was followed by Penny firing one of her laser pistols, the searing beam of light narrowly avoided the Minotaur's eye; the result being that the beast was merely infuriated rather than blinded. It faced them and let loose a deafening roar as it charged
"SCATTER!" Felix bellowed, Diamond sprinted directly at the Grimm
"Arctus, platform!" compliance came in the form of a shimmering Glyph between herself and the Minotaur which Diamond leapt onto and somersaulted from, her feet touching the ceiling and engaging her Semblance. Dimensions were inverted around her and Diamond crouched down allowing the Minotaur to pass over her head, shattering the Glyph effortlessly. Bringing the scope of Lex Talionis to her eye and snapping off a trio of shots, the scream of rage and pain confirming that she'd found her mark between armour plates. She collapsed and replaced her weapon as she sprinted along the ceiling towards the Minotaur, which was now tearing the walls apart in its' attempt to turn and face her. Diamond managed to grab its' horns, her Semblance extending to the Grimm and warping dimensions around it; as the floor became the ceiling it fell upwards with a crash that caused the dim lighting to flicker and sent clouds of dust into the tunnel.
Yet the Minotaur still lived.
"Dude really?" she demanded, the Minotaur's response was to thrash wildly; throwing Diamond both from it and the ceiling. The Grimm fell to the ground with a crash as she rolled to a stop and struggled to return to her feet several feet down the tunnel
"Oh shit" she dead-panned as she realised from the way the Minotaur was positioning itself that it was going to charge, and there was very little room to escape
"GET AWAY FROM HER" The Grimm turned at the noise. Saw blade Glyphs ricocheting from the tunnel walls striking it in several places, managing to score grooves in its' bony armour confirmed the identity of her rescuer
"What're you doing?" Diamond demanded
"I've got a plan" Arctus assured her. The Minotaur turned, smoke billowing from its' nostrils as it charged the Bear Faunus. Arctus shifted Gefroren-Erbe into its' plasma gun form, time seemed to slow to a crawl for Diamond as she watched him stand his ground and fire twice; the weapon reducing tissue and bone to a glowing molten mass. As the Minotaur reached him, horns levelled at his chest Arctus was suddenly no longer there, instead he was being pulled back by Sentinel's arms retracting on their cables while maintaining their grip on him. Diamond almost cheered, then the Minotaur lashed out, it's bony fist connecting with Arctus's skull and sending him crashing into a wall, he was dragged across the floor the rest of the way to Sentinel where he struggled to rise.
"Stand back!" Penny ordered as she took in the horrific plasma burns inflicted to the monsters' chest and left shoulder "It can be hurt but it's still dangerous. Leave this to me" she charged forwards and weaved under a wild assault from the Grimm, her pistols becoming swords in her hands and finding their way between armour plates; inflicting damage in small but continuous amounts. The Grimm's retaliation was brutal and unexpected, it brought it's face close to Penny's and as the copper haired Huntress made to fall back it let loose an ear piercing shriek, breathing a jet of fire that engulfed her as it did so
"TRY THAT WITH ME ASSHOLE!" the furious bellow was followed up by Felix ploughing into the Minotaur with all the strength he could muster, swords sheathed as he delivered a right haymaker to its' burned flesh. The Grimm staggered back, roaring in defiance before giving the Lion Faunus exactly what he'd asked for. The focal point of tunnels they fought in was bathed in flames once more. The Minotaur felt something akin to shock or whatever such monsters felt in its' place when a figure wreathed in golden flames with skin made of molten rock stepped through the inferno. The fire stopped and it made to gore Felix with its' horns but found itself unable to do so, against all logic the Faunus caught the protrusions and used them to hold it in place, the Minotaur attempted to rise to its' full height but couldn't
"Felix! Hold it still and we'll take it down!" Diamond called to him from where the rest of the team had regrouped. The Minotaur thrashed and brought its' monstrous fists down against the floor of the tunnel, Felix's Semblance-clouded mind realised what was about to happen a moment before it did; the Minotaur had enough primal cunning to understand that if it couldn't get its' adversary off of the ground then taking away the ground would suffice. The floor cracked and as the Minotaur surged forwards, Felix slid backwards. He fought the Grimm every inch of the way until eventually his back collided with the opposite wall and his Balrog state failed. Exhaustion washed over him as the Minotaur drew back and as he tried his best to prepare for the inevitable he became vaguely aware of a cyan light growing in intensity behind the Grimm
"Huh, light at the end of the tunnel" Felix allowed himself a small smile, it seemed fitting somehow to go out with a pun that his mother would have loved. The Minotaur lunged forward, it never reached him. Felix watched in stunned silence as it stumbled forwards, thrashing in pain, roars reduced to hacking gasps and sputters while Arctus stood triumphantly on its' back; blood trickling from a gash along the side of his head and his sword buried in the Grimm's armour, the blade glowing cyan. It took Felix several seconds to make sense of what happened
"You can use the plasma cell while it's in sword mode, I forgot about that" he managed to croak out as the adrenaline began to wear off and tremors shook his body while the Grimm finally began to fade away "WHAT THE FUCK TOOK YOU SO LONG?"
"I got bounced off a wall man" Arctus mumbled, rubbing the back of his head and looking bashful as he sheathed his sword. Whatever scathing retort Felix intended to give was halted by Eagle and Penny sprinting over to him, Diamond not far behind.
"Are you okay?" his Aunt demanded, seemingly unperturbed by the fact that she was covered in scorch marks
"I thought you were gone….I don't wanna lose my best friend" Eagle mumbled, lower lip quivering until Felix pulled her into a hug
"I'm good, probably never gonna look at bacon the same, but I'm good" Felix tried his best to still his shaking hands "Mission accomplished right?"
"Almost" Penny nodded as she pulled her nephew into a hug the moment Eagle let go "You performed sensationally, you should all be proud of yourselves. The only thing left to do is log the rest of the damage caused by the Grimm….Including this whole area"
The response to this was a mixture of groans, muttered curses and hysterical laughter.
The small boat moved through the foul waters of the sewage system silently, it's engine having been muted some time ago. Eventually it slowed to a stop and the trio travelling aboard it disembarked. The poor lighting offered by the weak bulbs was little challenge to Faunus senses
"This place is vile" Hellion grumbled as she stroked Marauder, the bird perched on her armoured left forearm and preened itself
"But it will take us to what we want" Carcharodon rasped out from behind his hood. Finding an outlet for water that wasn't recycled had taken the Shadow Cadre some time, but once they had, positioning their stolen ship in place and using one of the lifeboats to enter the sewers had been child's play; to make matters easier for them Onyx had managed to ingratiate himself with the other sell-swords renting their services, there was apparently something about the axe wielding feline that drew people to him.
"Raffia, wait here" the Shark Faunus ordered, seeing his smaller companion's incensed look he cut off the objections before they could form "I would do this alone if I could. Know that I don't doubt you're capabilities, I never have. I need you to guard our escape, we can swim if this boat is sunk but our cargo can't"
"And you need Hellion as a scout" the Axolotl Faunus spat bitterly "Fine….It's not as if there's going to be anyone worth pitting myself against anyway" Hellion and Carcharodon shared a glance, both of them trying not to roll their eyes; their smallest companions' martial pride was always something of a sore spot
"Take Marauder" Hellion held out her arm, the bird of prey hopping onto Raffia's shoulder. She answered his questioning stare "I'll use my Semblance of the rats, there're bound to be thousands down here….I'm not risking him in a firefight"
"We'll be back soon if all goes to plan" Carcharodon breathed out
"Then we get our weapons and we can move on" Hellion added, the Shark Faunus gave her a feral smile that displayed his rows of jagged fangs as he produced a map from the folds of his cloak
"Then justice for those we lost" he paused, taking a moment to centre himself "It's time to begin"
Authors Notes:
So I said I was going to take a break this week, nope.
Woo that was intense.
Second mission down….and much like the first mission, it's only going to go downhill.
I've signed up to a RWBY OC Secret Santa project, so there may be a week with no chapter at some point, but at the very least I'll have the Vol.2 arc finished by the end of the year.
So let's summarise:
See that's why Phobos is scary, it has his pack airdropped in silently.
If anyone needs clarification Ren's Semblance masked them from the Grimm, Ren took first watch. The reason Phobos found them eventually is because Ren fell asleep when Nyanza took over.
Boarbatusk bombshell….that was a thing that my mind produced.
Diamond Dust will always be adorable to write, seriously they were never going to get X-rated in a damp tunnel underground with Penny literally only a few feet away; just cuddling for warmth.
In The Downward Spiral, Blake and Yang do in fact share a sleeping bag during the Mountain Glenn mission.
Infinipede and Shadow-Stalkers are another Downward Spiral call back, readers of that story know that Penny is not exaggerating about the Shadow-Stalkers. They are lethal.
Penny still uses the "I was only injured, the reports of my death were an error that couldn't be corrected while the CCT was down" to explain away how she's alive after her original body was destroyed.
What if I told you we will see Ciel Soleil in this story, you won't guess where.
"Wonder how their mission's going" Uh huh, any excuse to think about Helios.
Pyrrha would have loved Helios. He's a little antisocial but we can work on that.
Domestic Renora is always fun to write.
Nora's ringtone for Ren. I demand RT make it canon at once.
Glynda's morning routine is to levitate a classroom, just 'cos. Could sort of be considered a callback to when I showed Winter's training routine in Downward Spiral.
The Yashima Protocol, fans of Evangelion will recognise the reference to 'Operation Yashima' and considering what Nora's Semblance is, you should have a good idea of what's gonna happen. We'll see the Yashima Protocol in Vol.3.
Since a reviewer asked what Ruby does in her spare time I answered, She's a Huntress and takes on covert missions for Qrow so she doesn't get a great deal of time off; but when she isn't working she's being a great mother to Summer and TJ, baking (Like Summer) and inventing, because I wholeheartedly believe that if Ruby wasn't a Huntress she'd be some sort of scientist or engineer.
Remember in initiation that Diamond could tell that another team had passed through the area she and Arctus were in because the shell casings on the ground hadn't corroded, she's got an eye for detail.
Yeah, I decided one Greek monster wasn't enough. Have a Minotaur.
Team NEON honestly had no hope of winning a fight against Phobos and it's pack after being caught off guard like that, escape was the best option.
Helios and Nyanza bonding, sort of.
Helios's plan is actually one Adam Taurus used to escape the Emerald Forest in The Downward Spiral.
Note that other Grimm nearby will actually kamikaze themselves to save Phobos.
Diamond charging straight at the Minotaur was pretty bad-ass.
Arctus & Eagle/Sentinel tag team move was also pretty bad-ass.
If you're emotional about the fact that Felix was perfectly ready to go out with a bang and a pun, good. You should be.
Arctus hasn't actually done the plasma sword trick since initiation where he used it on the Dungeon-Master; it actually burns out some of the workings of the weapon, so he won't have a plasma gun until he gets back to Halo to repair it.
Oh you thought this was going to end happily? You haven't been paying attention.
Thank you to FluffyFirefly, Arkanes Shippou, TigerRose, FleetOfWarships, Ferrous, ShadowAlex2000, JollyTheImmortal, SumoSnipe and Araniladin for their reviews on the last chapter.
The whole thing about the "Faunus dies first" is actually a play on the "Black guy dies first" trope in horror films, which is what Diamond's muttered comment was about.
No no no, Helios's light session is a few hundred push ups and sit ups IN FULL ARMOUR.
Chekhov dual wields (Although I think I peaked in The Downward Spiral with Yang making a pun about Chekhov, in an instance where the Chekhov's gun, was also a literal gun).
Hope that answered your question about Ruby.
No I think Felix's hair-trigger will be something that's addressed a few times over the course of the story as he grows and matures.
If the Rat-King was underwhelming it's because it wasn't the actual boss of this level, it was just an idea I had that I wanted to fit in. I hope the Minotaur was more to your liking.
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.