Edge of life
Chapter Thirty Three
Rise and Fall
The trap was set.
It had taken quite a bit of effort to get everything set up exactly how Solus needed it to be, with the frankly shitty time-frame that he had Solus thought he had done rather well in turning this particular valley into a snowy death trap.
The merc had also stopped by the directors facility and injected himself with just a few drops of the extremely powerful drug the Director had created for his subjects use, it was called 'venom' and as the name implied it was super poisonous if used incorrectly. The effects of the drug were quite noticeable as for a short time it dramatically increased all bodily aspects of the user, as it was now Solus could probably stand a decent chance at winning an arm wrestle with his power armour.
Unfortunately Solus couldn't have more than a few drops of the volatile drug at a time, the reason for this was because the drug put a massive strain on the heart. Any more than a few drops and his heart would likely explode and he would die instantly.
And he couldn't let that happen, despite how much he may want it.
Currently Solus was situated between two of the largest mountains in the Ever Winter mountain range northern Atlas, like the name suggested it was constantly below freezing here, the highest recorded temperature in this part of the world was about -10 Celsius. The lowest temperature was -87 Celsius, at the moment though it was a cosy -32 and there was a light drizzle of snow coming down.
The valley was the perfect place for Solus to launch his attack, the only way to gain entrance by land was through a narrow crevasse between two towering ice walls. And at the other end of the valley was a sheer cliff that would kill anything that fell down there, so it was basically a V shape.
The 'operatives' that were coming were no doubt privately owned hunters or even artificial monsters like what he had seen in Vacuo and more recently Vale, so Solus had spared no expense when he was getting all he would need for this undertaking. His wallet was a great deal lighter but that was fairly irrelevant considering the amount of money he had been given just to get here.
The whir of a vehicle broke Solus out of his thoughts, a white coloured armoured jeep just came out of the only land entrance to the valley, the vehicle was hardly a car and more resembled a tank but Solus was undeterred.
Within moments the first stage of the trap commenced, several white camouflage spikes sprung out through the snow they were buried in and speared the jeeps wheels, bursting the tires and rolling the car through the icy snow. One of the occupants, presumably the driver, was thrown through the windscreen and onto the snow, Solus couldn't help but notice something was wrong… being thrown through the air like that should have dazed a person more, but this guy looked around franticly and began reaching for a nearby rifle that must have been thrown clear with him.
Solus didn't give the guy a chance though, despite the thick camouflaged snow suit he was wearing Solus was on the down man in an instant, stomping his arm into the snow Solus was about to speak when he noticed what the man was wearing.
Power armour.
Granted it was a cheap knock off by the looks of it, the hydraulics and wires were still visible in some places as well. The whole set couldn't hold a candle compared to the armour Solus had used as Argentum Mortem, but the contraption doubtlessly still provide an immense boost to the power of the user. Solus was suddenly very glad that he had set up so many traps in the valley, this wouldn't be easy. "Tell where Shirou Schnee is!" Solus barked as he jammed the barrel of his aged sniper rifle into the grey armoured man's unprotected face.
"Shirou Schnee? How would i know that!?" The man lied.
Solus grunted and said "wrong answer fucker, you-"
Before he could finish his threat the second operative, also wearing knock off power armour, tackled Solus from nowhere. The merc was sent flying and his gun slipped from his hands and fell into the snow, the second guy picked himself up out of the snow and charged at Solus with his fist swinging.
But Solus nimbly dodged the blow with a neat side step and punched the man on the back of his head forcing the attacker to the ground. But he was undeterred, he pushed himself up off the ground and charged at Solus once more, this time unleashing a flurry of powerful attacks that forced Solus onto the defensive. But just as Solus was about to be overwhelmed by the attacks he activated his semblance and forced his muscles to expand giving him greatly boosted strength.
With his semblance boosting his power Solus ignored the incoming strike to his gut in favour of viciously palm-heeling the SDC operative in the throat, the other man staggered but Solus offered no respite whatsoever. With both hands Solus grabbed the man's head and forced it down on to his knee, further staggering the man.
Again the operative staggered but Solus was having none of it, the merc harshly did a strong spinning kick that sent the other man flying into the snow quite some distance away.
Solus was feeling more alive than he had in years, he could feel the venom running through his system and boosting his natural power greatly. The feeling was almost euphoric, the adrenaline was so high that he felt like he could do anything, he felt like his power was endless and that nothing could stop him.
But despite that feeling Solus didn't lose control of himself in the slightest, his shattered mind was like a fortress and clamped down on the errant emotions and want for violence. The huge urge he felt to go pummel his enemy was overshadowed by common sense demanding he stay at range where he had the advantage.
Before the operative could get his bearings Solus pulled a small detonator from his belt and clicked the small red button, there wasn't a massive explosion instead there was a small detonation near his feet that sent a massive spin-up minigun into his waiting hands.
The gun started spraying bullets within seconds, peppering the area in front of Solus with a hail of lead and dust rounds. The armoured target was very nimble despite his heavy armour however, even as Solus was tracing his with path with the mighty gun. The operative ducked behind a mound of solid ice, the mound began to crack and break the moment Solus focussed his fire. Despite his firm control over his actions and emotions Solus couldn't help but let the maniacal laugh escape his lips as he attempted to gun the bigger man down.
The massive gun clicked empty and Solus ditched the weapon in an instant by throwing it into the snow to be forgotten. The operative seized the chance and pulled a pistol from somewhere in his armour and began firing on Solus, but the merc dived towards where he dropped his sniper rifle earlier. He neatly plucked his weapon from the snow then took cover behind another mound of ice.
Solus shifted his gun into its assault rifle form, he only got a few shots off before he had to duck a attack from the first operative who was only now making a reappearance, the armoured man swung a large needle like device that something between a short sword and a syringe. The man made several more swipes with his curious weapon but with his drug enhanced power Solus battered the needle out of his hands and into the edge of the cliff.
The man frantically leapt after it and caught the tool just before it tumbled over the edge.
Solus was unable to avoid the tackle that came from the other guy though, both men tumbled through the now and wrestled each other for dominance. Solus was still clutching his gun in his right hand even as the man tried to wrest the weapon from his grip, a few bursts of lead escaped the weapon but Solus used it as a distraction to worm his fake leg up onto the other mans armoured chest. With a grunt the merc kicked out with all his strength and sent the bigger man soaring backwards into the snow about 10 meters away and near where the first man was.
Solus rolled backwards off the ground and jammed his rifle over his back making an X shape with his sword and his gun. The merc smirked as he pulled another detonator from his belt, both the armoured men looked at the device warily and spoke at the same time.
"Is that a-?"
"How did he-"
Whatever else they were going to say was cut off by the massive explosion behind them, the huge wall of the valley shattered into hundreds of massive pieces and began raining down on all three men. The two SDC operatives charged at Solus in both an effort to escape the falling ice and to re-engage him.
The man with the needle weapon reached the merc first, he swung a downwards stab at Solus but the freelancer smacked the weapon aside then kicked him in the knees, sending the armoured man face first into the snow and the needle weapon stabbing into the ground.
The other man leapt over his fallen comrade and swung a vicious downwards punch that clipped the top of Solus' head, the mercenary pushed backwards to avoid the next attack but was unable to gain his footing in time to really compensate properly.
The armoured man swiped the needle sword out of the ground and swiped at Solus across the chest, the merc was unable to dodge completely and the weapon tore through the front of his snowsuit and left a thin red line across his torso. Instantly he felt slightly woozy, the weapon must have been poisoned to cause such an effect.
But the effects of venom in his system were still far too powerful for him to be slowed down, his vision sharpened once more and in nick of time he dodged a huge chunk of ice that crashed down right where he had been standing. The first man kicked the huge slab of ice at him at hit slid towards Solus with great speed.
But Solus nimbly jumped onto the ice, the small victory was short lived however as another huge slab fell onto the other side of the chunk Solus was standing on sending him catapulting into the air. The mercenary pulled his rifle off his back and into firing position, as he soared through the air he sprayed lead at his attackers.
Some of the round connected with their targets but most went wide, Solus was was ready for this however. As he was landing the merc rolled out of the way of another icy pillar that crashed into the ground, but before it could topple over Solus punched it with all his semblance and drug enhanced might. The huge slab of ice rocketed towards the man with the needle sword and clipped him on the top of his head when he tried to dodge, sending him sprawling into the snow.
The second man used another slab of ice as a catapult and launched himself into the air towards Solus. The merc responded by leaping with a semblance enhanced leap and caught the man midair before he could reach the arc of his flight.
Using the bigger man's momentum against him Solus caught him around the jaw and with his other hand around the operatives leg, basicly ragdolling him over Solus' shoulders.
With gravity aiding him Solus pulled down hard on the man as they landed, the only thing that prevented the man's spine from shattering was the armour he was wearing, but Solus wasn't done he released the man and before he could hit the ground kicked him harshly in the back and sent him tumbling through the snow.
The man with the needle sword appeared from behind a snow dune and using a pistol shot at Solus several times. Most of the shots connected, draining his aura but not actually hurting the merc yet. In haste to escape the shots Solus rolled behind a mound of ice, he only had to glance out from behind his cover to know what he would do next.
The freelancer kept his back to his cover and lashed out in front of him with his gauntlets shattering the ice shelf they all stood on, making it detach from the rest of the valley and begin falling into the chasm below.
As soon and he felt the ice he stood on begin falling Solus bolted towards the edge and leapt towards the stable ground. But the SDC operatives weren't finished yet, the one with the needle sword and the pistol shot at Solus as he was in the air and unable to dodge. The shot pierced through his tired aura and burrowed into his shoulder as he was in mid air, sending him crashing into the ground with blood leaking from his shoulder.
The operative with the wounded back called out frantically as he saw the ice shelf he and his comrade were on falling rapidly "oh my god RUN!"
Both operatives broke into a run towards the safe side of the ice shelf, but the man with the injured back couldn't move quickly. He was visibly staggering through the snow as he tried with all his might to move his legs. The other operative didn't share the same issue though, he ignored the cries to slow down from his partner and bolted away.
Just as he reached the edge he leapt as high as he could, but it still wasn't high enough. The ice shelf had fallen too far and he was unable to reach the top, but luckily for him he used the needle sword to jam it into the stable ice on the other side. He was safe but the other operative wasn't so lucky as he screamed profanities as he disappeared of the cliff entirely.
Solus was just staggering to his feet amidst the blood stained snow when the surviving operative charged him with a downwards swipe of the poison needle sword, despite the pain in his shoulder the freelancer used his wrist blades in a X block above his head. Quickly with his faltering strength he backhanded the armoured man across the face then with his injured limb gave a downwards slash that dug deeply into the armour but did little actual damage other than spin the bigger man around.
Using the momentum of his attacker against him Solus slid across the ice and cut another deep gouge through the armour through the stomach this time, the armoured man bent over in pain as the blade only just scraped his skin. But Solus didn't relent, with a grunt of exertion he swung his wrist blade around and drove it deeply into the un-armoured gap between the arm and back.
Despite the intense pain Solus felt he couldn't help but smirk in victory as the man bent down further.
But what the mercenary didn't realise is that the operative had pulled the pin from a grenade just as the blade drove into his shoulder. The shrapnel bomb went off with a mighty boom and sent both men flying in opposite directions, Solus tumbled through the snow and left a bloody red trail as he rolled. The operative was spared from the shrapnel due to his armour, but he still felt the concussive force of the explosion.
The scarred merc lay near motionless in the snow as blood leaked out of many small and large wounds littered across his body, it took him a few moments to come back to his senses but when he did he had only moments to react the the operative that was bearing down on him.
The SDC operative had recovered far more quickly than Solus and had moved to get to the merc while he was injured, so the man reached down and grasped the battered and bleeding bounty hunter by the throat fiercely and hauled him up to face level.
All Solus could do in the armoured man's grip was flail in a vain attempt to escape. But the effort was for naught when the operative plunged the needle sword into his gut.
Screams of pain bubbled out of Solus' mouth as he felt the poisoned sword in his stomach, he could feel the poison running through his system but before it took total hold of him the merc roughly fumbled around for his scroll and managed to press a small red button that had appeared on the screen.
But then the poison became too much, a almost comforting blackness overtook his vision and he knew no more.
Team RSYB were in their dorm, all of the girls were troubled over the disappearance of their only male teammate. Ruby had told them what happened and while Yang was mixed parts angry and upset and what Solus had said and done she couldn't help but feel a bubble of concern for the thick headed merc.
Not that she'd ever admit it Blake was also feeling some level of concern for her teammate, it wasn't because he was a nice guy or anything, no definitely not that. but because he treated her and other faunas as absolute equals, there was no discrimination at all. Blake could respect that he hated everyone equally.
Ruby had cooled down a bit and could see that something had been off about Solus when she had spoken to him, something had happened in Vale to set him on edge and the 'job' he mentioned had just come at a really bad time.
"Where could he have gone?" Blake asked "i don't really want to fight another Kraken to get him"
The sisters didn't laugh at the small joke, instead Yang said "the damn fool is going to get hurt again i just know it"
Ruby went to say something but was cut off when all their scrolls went off simultaneously indicating a new message, the girls all shared a glance at the odd timing of their scrolls but checked their messages anyway.
It was a video message from Solus, it was flashing with a urgent sign. Ruby looked at hers for a moment before saying "wait, i'll plug mine into the TV"
The other girls accepted this and allowed Ruby to Plug her device into the small television they shared. As soon as the connection was made the previously black screen burst into life and showed Solus standing in ankle deep snow surrounded by huge walls of ice and snow. The merc was wearing thick camouflaged thermal gear, he looked a little worse for wear but otherwise seemed fine.
"If you are getting this message that means something has gone wrong" he started with his eye not quite meeting the camera "as much as i hate to admit it i need help."
The three girls shared a worried glance "before i left i discovered that the mission i was hired for is a trap, the entire thing was engineered just to capture me. I believed i could handle it, turn the trap around… but if you're all getting this than that isn't the case"
Light snow began to fall around Solus as he continued "i really hate to admit it but i need you to come find me, i'll still be alive otherwise you'd be getting a different message. But i need you to go to my last known position, which will be enclosed at the bottom, and bring my stupid ass back to Vale. And Ruby? Im… sorry."
With the last word said the image fizzled out and left the screen just with a series of numbers, Solus' last known location according to latitude and longitude. It only took a moment for Blake and Yang to decipher the code and gasp in shock that their wayward teammate was near the polar regions in the far north of Atlas.
Ruby sighed deeply and thought about what to do next, she could go and try to save her partner but risk herself and her remaining teammates, or she could do nothing.
Within a fraction of a second the choice was clear, determination gleamed in her silver eyes as she stood to face her sister and friend "get your coats girls, because we're going to Atlas"
There was no room for argument in her voice, it was a order that brooked no question.
Blake stepped forwards "i'll work on getting us a bullhead"
Ruby nodded then turned to Yang "Yang get as much supplies as you can, we need to be fast"
The girls moved off to their respective tasks, they would save their teammate, and nothing would stop them.
Many years later
A woman with silver eyes and a red cloak eyed the deep violet purple portal before her, her gaze was like steel. She stood with her back ramrod straight and didn't seem weighed down in the slightest from the mass of weapons she had on her person.
On her hands were shotgun gauntlets that had used to be a beautiful golden but now were little more than a sickly yellow worn by time. On her left hip sat two swords, one was in a gleaming silver sheath and had two yellow arcs on it. The other sword had a gleaming silver blade and thick red rim as well as a trigger on its handle.
On her right thigh a faded black cord was tightly wrapped around a extremely worn black pistol that was locked into a small blackish grey blade and cleaver. Sitting in the small of her back was a red collapsed scythe that had chips in its fading paint.
The only other person in the room was a thin pale girl with only one arm and a huge burn scar across the right side of her face, she had pure white hair and looked like she was very sick "the portal is open" she said weakly.
The other woman didn't say anything, just nodded silently.
There was a loud boom of thunder from outside the small room, the howls of the ever encroaching Grimm drew nearer. "Your sure this will work?" The woman in white asked.
The silver eyed woman nodded then finally said "he is the key... "
The crippled sighed but accepted it "very well then… it has been an honour Ruby"
The older and more scarred Ruby nodded "the pleasure is all mine Weiss"
No more words were said, the elder Ruby walked through the swirling violet portal. There was a thunderous crack as the vortex closed and Weiss was left alone.
An alpha beowolve burst through the steel door to the room, salivating hungrily when it saw the defenseless Weiss.
The elder Schnee girl only smirked at the beast though "it doesn't matter, for my death i save so many more"
The grimm lunged, and then Weiss was no more.
A/N
And so ends the second arc of Edge of Life. as i mentioned last week there will be a 2 week break until i post the next chapter, sorry.
So as per usual this chapter is as complicated and no doubt raised even more questions, don't worry all will be explained in the third arc when shit gets real.
So i finally got to the part i hinted at way back in chapter False Immortality with all that binary, that was future Ruby and Weiss at the end there and something has happened to the other members of RSYB since future Ruby has all their weapons. Your theories and speculation would be greatly appreciated guys, i didn't get many reviews for last chapter so i'm really hoping a get plenty of feedback for this one.
So let's go onto the reviews... All three of them…
Smithrooks:
Thanks for reviewing.
Yes that is the fate that poor Raven met, i actually had originally planned for Mortem to kill her but that just seemed like too much.
As for how Kira died... well it won't be what you're expecting. And yeah, i have a list of power levels of all the characters (both dead and alive) and Kira is indeed higher than Mortem. Although she isn't even close to the number 1 spot, or number 2 for that matter.
You'll see why Ravens death was necessary for the plot soon, a lot of big reveals are coming up and some of them are rather... difficult, but i'm sure everything will work out in the end.
Always a pleasure.
Wagner:
Thanks for reviewing.
I dare say that Solus will be too busy to train Ruby for quite some time haha. and Yeah i'll transfer your vote.
dudebladeX:
Thanks for reviewing.
I never thought that Alcohol would be so popular, i figured it would only get 4 or 5 votes. But hey, i can see the humour in it.
Now lets take a look at the final results for the poll.
1st is Ruby with 29 votes.
2nd is Alcohol with 18 votes.
3rd is Raven with 15 votes.
4th is Yang with 12 votes.
5th is Cinder with 11 votes.
Tied for 6th are Velvet and Pyrrha, both ladies having 7 votes.
Tied for 7th are Kira and Blake, both ladies having 6 votes.
Tied for 8th are Summer and Goodwitch, each having 5 votes.
9th is Nora with 4 votes.
Tied for last position is Weiss and Coco, both ladies having 2 votes each.
So Ruby wins the poll, good for her. The real answer on who Solus will be paired with is… lol no, i'll tell you all next chapter haha.
As always please leave a review, reviews are what motivate me to write more.