A ringing sound filled my ears as my eyes slowly creaked open. Still on the ground I looked around the cabin. 'What... why does everything look different.' I thought as I slowly pushed myself to a kneel. I continued to look seeing all the various crates thrown and disheveled about. I then realized why everything looked rearranged, I was kneeling on one of trains walls, the train had been derailed and thrown on it's side. I placed my hands on both sides of my knee and pushed up, as stood up I immediately lost my balance and fell into the wall. 'Damn it my aura's probably shot' I thought as I pulled out my scroll, the screen was shattered and now no use.
'Gotta get communications with somebody, anyone..' I slowly moved along the wall as I was still shaking my head clear of the probable concussion I have. 'But that was something I could worry about later, I have to find the others.' I reached the door that connected me to Roman's cabin as I finally got my footing. I pulled it hard as it was jammed and the door fell off the hinges. I looked inside but all I saw was rubble, either Roman got through in time or he's under it all. 'Shit, that way is blocked where do I go now, I can't go back because of the...'
"Damn it... the Grimm." I said to no one but myself. 'Wait the others... If I'm trapped here that means they are too... We have to go back.. All the way to Mountain Glenn. It was literally miles we traveled. Now miles be even more against a bunch of pissed of Grimm. Not to mention that it was straight line. This is bad, really, really bad.'
'Okay think Dezmond, think.' I berated myself as I checked my ammo. Okay I have six 20-round magazines for my sniper, and eight 15-round magazines for my pistol. It's going to have to last the duration. Okay step two, I need to find backup, if there still alive...' I thought as I heard banging on the roof-err side door. I drew my pistol and took aim at the door and awaited the beasts on the other side.
"Please is anyone in there you gotta help us!" I heard a voice yell.
I grabbed the handle of the door and yanked it open to see a two White Fang members carrying another wounded member. Behind them I could see two more members firing at some oncoming Grimm. "Hurry get in here!" I yelled as the helped the wounded member in, one of them immediately started treating the injured member and the other ran out to help cover.
"Thank Oum it's you sir." The injured one who I realized was Perry said. "None of us made it out of the tunnels before they were sealed sir. Luckily the majority of the Grimm blew right past us, but the one's that fell off the train I don't think... I don't think they made it sir." Perry said as he began to cough a bit of blood.
"Damn it, how many of our brothers are still out there?" I asked.
"I don't know, it-it's chaos sir. We're just fighting for survival at this point, I heard gunfire further down the tunnel. Supposedly some of the Paladins are still up further down but everyone is disorganized." Perry said as he gritted his teeth from the other member applying pressure on his chest wound.
"Just take it easy, I'll do what I can with what I can and secure the area. We're not dying trapped in these tunnels." I said as I stepped outside of the train. What I saw was a disaster the rest of the train looked like a junkyard, it was completely derailed and flames were ablaze everywhere. I could see shadows running through the aftermath White Fang and Grimm alike engaged in combat.
"Alright listen up!" I told the three remaining members who stood guard. "We are now in damage control. We are going to move down the tunnel combing through each and every train for any survivors, any that can fight will move with us as we our objective will be to set up a perimeter and the edge of the train. Any wounded will be brought to to our location and treated with any means we got. Once the perimeter is established we adjust from there. We don't have time to be thinking that far down the road so let's move!" I finished as the members simply nodded in response.
"Alright everyone on me!" I said as slowly started moving through the wreckage, Mortem in it's pistol form at the low-ready. I clambered over a couple of dust crates and looked ahead. It was quiet a little to quiet for a war zone. 'Hopefully anyone still out there has taken shelter and is trying to wait this out. We reached a train cabin that was thrown upside down and looked for an opening. "Cover me I'm going to check inside." I order as I shifted I raised my pistol, I fired three rounds and on the last round the locking mechanism gave out and I slid the door open. When I opened the door four panicking members had their rifles trained on me.
"Oh thank Oum!" One of the female faunus said out loud.
"Are any of you injured!?" I asked the group.
"Y-yeah... Marshall is hurt, h-he's been out since the crash." The same faunus said as she showed me the downed member.
"Okay two of you go and help get him to the front of the train. We got guards and a cover for the wounded. The other two come with us, we're setting up a perimeter and helping the wounded." I told the new group.
"Okay Jasmine and Mark go get Marshall to safety, Reggie and I got this." The boar faunus of the group said.
"Got it." Jasmine said as she and Mark carried their fallen brother.
"Alright let's go!" I said to the team of now five members. I took point as they followed me through the wreckage. I checked another door on the next cabin, as I pulled it open flames shot out. "Crap!" I yelled out as I fell on to my back. The cabin was ablaze inside and if there was survivors they have perished now.
"Sir are you okay!?" The member know as Reggie asked. I rolled over onto my stomach and pushed myself up I checked my gear. "Yeah I'm fine just got careless." I said as motioned for the group to keep moving forward.
We then heard gunfire just up ahead. "Everyone move! Double time!" I belted out to my group. As we cleared another cabin a small group of four members were firing at a pack of oncoming creeps. All they had was pistols so the creeps were using their numbers just to barrel through. One of the members fell to the ground as a creep jumped on top of him. I leaped from the train and as the creep went started to close my blade pierced it's cranium. I withdrew my blade and ran towards to oncoming horde. The first creep leaped at me as I faked left and as it closed in I spun to the right and out of the way. The next creep went to ram me with its head but I jumped high and came down with my blade and stabbed through the back of it's neck. The beast crumpled as it slowly started to turn into ash. The six remaining creeps now aware of the threat stopped their bull-rush and started to circle me.
"Who's first!" I yelled at the Grimm as I was waiting for them to make the first mistake. The creep to my front was the first to move as it charged me. I readied my blade for the killing blow and swung in a downwards stab, as my blade pierced it skull the sounds of half a dozen weapons took my attention as the group of Grimm around me fell. I looked up to see my group weapons still pointed at the creatures.
"EAT IT GRIMM!" One of the members yelled as he double tapped one the slower dissolving creeps.
"Thanks for the assist, but we still have a long way to go." I said as I shifted my estoc back into it's pistol. "Let's go." I finished as I again took the lead.
"You two check that cabin!" I told them as I pointed to a cabin that managed to stay upright. The three other members and myself covered them as they busted down the door. The went in and came out a couple seconds later with two more members.
"Got two sir!" Reggie yelled as he helped two faunus out of the train.
"Got it, you two!" I pointed to the newcomers. "Stick with us and fan out, the more survivors we find the more efficient we can cover ground." I finished as they nodded and fell into the small fire squad we acquired.
'This is taking too long, we have to find a way to clear out these Grimm faster.' I thought as continued to clear out damaged cabins. "Alright we have to speed this up! We need these Grimm cleared out yesterday. You all permission to fire at will, as you've seen from all the downed trains packed with spare dust we'll have more than enough for ammunition." I told the group of now seven soldiers.
All of a sudden a the sound of metal scraping and shearing caught our attention. We looked ahead to see a pile of train cabins slowly start to shift and buckle. "Everyone get on line and focus fire!" I said as the group spread out and trained their weapons on whatever monstrous Grimm was moving the trains. I holstered Mortem and reached to my back and shifted SnapShot from it's stored form and chambered a round of Burn dust and took aim. The train cabins were slowly creaking as they still were moving. Suddenly they were thrown towards us as we dove for cover. I landed on my stomach and looked up to see the offender as the debris was clearing. "Well dust be damned..." I said letting out a breathe as two damaged but operational Paladins stood from the epicenter of the cabins. I looked to my left and right to see if everyone was okay.
"By Oum we a have a chance now!" One of members enthusiastically yelled. We closed the distance to the Paladins as the pilots saw us an opened the canopy.
"What's going on? One second I'm forcibly blown off the train the next second I'm smothered by it!" The pilot questioned.
"We hit the wall connecting the tunnel to Vale, for whatever reason the wall has been resealed and now our only choice is to go back and regroup at Mountain Glenn. With you two the last part will be a hell of a lot easier. What's the damage on your mechs?" I asked the pilots.
"The shoulder missiles are disabled on my suit, as well as the proximity radar. I'm basically down to eye sight on this machine." The first pilot said.
"My arms are jammed from shifting into the gun-systems, but I have front radar scanning. My missiles are still good to go." The second pilot said as he was still running system checks.
"Alright I want you on point then, you can the targets before we can and we'll engage them before they can get close to you. Alright you five move up with the Paladins and help secure the area, Reggie your coming with me to comb through the cabins."
"Got it." The faunus said as he ran to my side. We clambered through the destruction as we neared another train car. I took aim as he stood to the side of the door grasping the handle, he looked to me and I nodded before he pulled the door open. I stepped in and focused on the right of the cabin with my rifle ready as Reggie took the left side. A Beowolf caught off guard turned and ran towards me. I pulled the trigger four times, each round hitting its mark as the Beowolf was thrown into the wall and began to dissolve. I heard several bursts of gunfire behind me and as my side was clear I turned around to see two dissolving creeps.
"Right clear!" I called out.
"Left clear!" Reggie followed suit.
"S-slate?" I heard a voice call out from the left side of the cabin. A couple of crates shifted as someone stepped out from behind them.
"Reign?" I asked to as she ran up to me and pulled me into and embrace.
"Oh thank OUM! I thought I was done dead." She said trying to hold back tears, her masked was broken laying in pieces on the floor.
"What happened?" I asked Purpura.
"W-we headed out to stop those huntsman that were attacking the train. I-I was knocked back into the train by one of them and the next thing I know the train collided with something and I was knocked. My weapon was knocked from me when I felt back into the train and when I woke up I hear growls, I didn't have anything to defend myself and I ran behind these crates and hid. If you two didn't show up when you did I-I.."
"It's okay we here now, but we're not done yet. There's likely others that need help too and we have to keep moving. Are you okay to fight?" I asked her.
"Y-yeah but I don't have a weapon." She replied.
"Here take mine, it's based of some older Atlesian rifles. You remember what I showed you from our recon?" I asked as she nodded.
"Are you sure?" She questioned in return.
"Yeah I trust you, you're a good shot. Here take my mags." I said as I opened up my pockets and handed here my 5 remaining magazines. "You got sixteen left in magazine currently, and each holds twenty. You ready?"
"Yeah let's do this!" She said with a change of demeanor as she fell in behind Reggie and I. We stepped out as we heard the Paladins opening fire, we looked into the distance to see the oncoming pack of Grimm being ripped to shreds by the missile volleys and energy blasts from the mechs. 'We'll have no problem holding the line now, we still need personnel though.' A group of six white fang members hurried past as as three of them were aiding the other three back to the front of the train. 'Speak of the devil.'
"Alright on me." I said as drew my pistol and took point with Reign to my right and Reggie on my left.
"Boarbatusk nine o'clock!" Shouted Reggie as I took a knee and allowed Reign to fire over me. We all opened fire on the Grimm but my pistol and Reggie's rifle had little effect as the round were deflected by it's armor. Reign opened fire with Snapshot and the explosive rounds of the Burn dust caused the Grimm to stumble as it tried to approach us.
"Purpura keep it suppressed! Reggie break left and I'll flank right!" I yelled as ran to left of the Grimm, Purpura still firing keeping the beast from gaining any momentum. I hopped over some rubble and I began to fire at the Grimm's unprotected side, after five rounds the Grimm fell to it's stomach and went still, disintegrating shortly after. I heard footsteps behind and turned around to see an Ursa swinging it's giant paw. I fell to my back and felt its claws scrape against the front pouches of my vest. I aimed my pistol and fired the remaining ten rounds into the face of the Ursa major, the rounds mostly annoyed but they did their purpose in buying me some breathing room as I rolled backwards to my feet and dove once more to the right. I switched to my estoc and as I was clear from friendly fire Reign and Reggie opened fire on the bear Grimm. Their combined fire overwhelmed the Grimm and left it weak it leaning heavily on its arms. From my crouch I ran towards the Grimm with my blade drawn, it threw a weak claw but jumped over it and landed on the beast back, avoiding its armored spine. I thrust my blade into the back of the Grimm's neck and it finally keeled over with a small groan.
I jumped off the Grimm and walked towards my two team members, I shifted Mortem back into it's pistol and dropped the magazine and inserted a fresh one. "Alright we're almost near the edge of the train wreckage, most of the Grimm should be cleared out but keep your head on a swivel, we didn't get this far to blow it."
'I made a mistake.'
Neo's words echoed in my mind as we continued clearing the cabins. 'I hope she's got out of this okay, it seemed she got out of here before the train hit but there's always the nagging feeling that something happened. Forget it, get out of here first, worry later. That's what she'd tell me, keep your emotions in check when in battle.' I thought as I took in a deep breathe and let it out.
The sound of gunfire coming from the mechs once again filled the air, we kept moving forward as just two salvageable train cabins remained, the rest being too torn apart to support life. We past one of the wrecked cabins when I hear something from the debris shuffle.
"Slate..." I heard a weak voice call from the debris as I saw Bane under it.
"Hey help me out you two!" I yelled as I tried to push off a large piece of concrete slab pinning him under. The two ran beside me as we flipped the piece of debris off Bane only for our jaw to drop at the scene.
Four pieces of rebar ran through his chest leaving him impaled to the ground, blood was still flowing from his wounds as he laid still not to cause anymore pain. "Bane..."
"I know..." He said weakly as he removed his mask revealing a heavily scarred face. He looked like he was in his late twenties from what I could tell, one of his scars ran through his left eye, leaving it white and likely blinded. Blood ran from the short black stubble of his forehead. "My time has come, it's your time now. I looked down at you when I first met you due to you being a human. But time and time again you fought for our cause, throwing yourself into the fray for our people. It has given me hope, that maybe one day our people can finally coexist. Do whatever it takes to lead our people to that peace." He said between breathes as he started to cough up blood.
"For a better tomorrow." I said as he reached into a pocket in one of his legs and pulled out a set of ID tags and a picture." Here he said as he weakly handed me the belongings. "Give this to my son Natus, he lives in the city of Old Guard in Mantle with his Uncle. The address is on the back, t-tell him I'm sorry, that his Mother and I loved him very much..." He choked out as his arm went limp.
"Bane! BANE!" I yelled as I shook him, trying to delay the inevitable. It was too late though, another comrade of mine was gone. I looked to the picture and saw a younger Bane, scars at this time not present, with his wife. A short canine faunus as black canine ears drooped over her long jet-black hair, her hair blocking her azul eyes. In her pale arms was a small child no older than four. He had blue eyes and short black hair and tanned complexion like his father. My other hand was clenched to the point of nearly drawing blood as I placed his picture into my vest pocket and looked to his ID tags.
'Bane Bellum'
"Slate we have to keep moving." I heard Reign say as she grabbed my shoulder. I nodded and stood up pocketed his tags as well. We continued moving towards the last two train cabins only to discover they were empty. As we cleared the final cabin we ran towards to Paladins who were on guard, watching down the tunnel.
"Status report." I said as I reached the group of now eight members and two Paladins.
"Having seen anything in the last ten minutes or so sir. Just on cleanup duty now, nothing we can't handle." One of the members ran up to me explaining the situation.
"Alright now we have to focus on getting out of here. It's at least 15 miles straight shot back to Mountain Glenn. While we were clearing the cabins I noticed one of the cabins was still upright and on the tracks, everyone one foot is going to head back and help get the wounded into that cabin. Once everyone is secured into the cabin I want the Paladins to clear out any debris separating that cabin from Mountain Glenn. Just knock it off the tracks and out of the way. We'll lock the gears into neutral and one of the mechs will push it back towards Mountain Glenn while the other takes the lead and covers us. It's going to be time consuming but this is the only way the wounded will be able to make it back. Any questions? Good let's get to work."
After about an hour we handed everyone loaded onto the cabin and we were rolling slowly but surely towards Mountain Glenn. "Nothing on radar." The lead pilot Brick called out over his mech's loud speaker.
I looked over the wounded as they were being treated by one of our White Fang members who luckily was one our combat medics. He was currently removing a bandage on Perry's chest and replacing it with a clean one. After he finished treating Perry he walked over to the wall a let a sigh. "How are they doing?" I asked as the boar faunus looked up sweat pouring down his face.
"They're all stable, once we get back topside I can actually fully treat them. But for now they'll make it." He said as he looked over the wounded.
"Glad to hear, keep up the good work." I said as I walked over and took a seat next to Purpura who was doing her best to stay awake as her head bobbed downwards every few seconds.
We sat silently as we let the realization of today hit us. "26." I said out loud.
"What?" She asked as she looked up at me.
"26. That's how many of us made it. A whole division of 217." I said as looked ahead. "And now 26."
"Was this worth it?" She questioned herself as much as me. She looked up to me expecting an answer. But this wasn't an answer I had. 'Was it worth the lives of nearly 200 hundred of our brothers and sister? What had we really accomplished besides causing more chaos. Sure now we would be taken as a true threat but at what cost? If this was the way to coexistence then I don't know if I can take part in this anymore.'
"It's never worth it, nothing is ever worth losing the lives of our own. Everyone always wants to be the hero but they forget about the ones that fall before that hero ever gets their chance to claim glory. So is it worth it, my answer is no. We made ground today but this loss is far to significant to warrant a celebration or victory."
"So what do we do now?" She asked.
"Go home, spend time with your loved one's. Their is 191 of us that will never get that opportunity again. After that do what you think is best. Continue with the White Fang or go your own way." I said as I stood up and looked over our wounded.
"I have no home to go to Dezmond. Why do you think I'm with the Fang in the first place. My home was taken from me by the Grimm. I lived in a small town just on the border of Mantle. We were attacked by the Grimm in broad daylight. No help or relief was sent for us by the Kingdoms, so when the White Fang showed up I took their offer and joined. That was almost ten years ago, almost ten years since I've last seen my family. So wherever you go, I'll go. You saved me and I won't even think about leaving until I return that favor." Purpura said as she stood up with her arms crossed in defiance.
"Then let's go." I said holding my hand as she took it and shook.
"For a better tomorrow." She replied.
AN: And finally I got the time to finish this chapter. I hate leaving everyone on a cliffhanger for so long as I intended to get this chapter out much earlier, but work left me with zero time to write this week. Finally I've wrapped up Volume Two, this time at the beaten side's perspective. Some would call that day a success but others weren't so lucky. There will be a bit of aftermath to clear up the following chapters as I felt like Volume Three glassed over that a bit in order to get to the Vytal Festival they were teasing for so long. (Can't really blame them for that.) I look forward to writing the Third and Final Arc of this fic. Until then -MidKnight209