Braylon Monocriffe had seen this scene unfold a couple of times in his life, under different circumstances. Being a handcuffed person, led by two or more 'guards' to a destination the law deemed necessary to visit, was an annoying concept to him that only served to waste everyone's time and money. On Pandora, justice was dealt with one bullet to the head and that was it. Only in his current case, he was arrested because the military thought he had a hand in the chaos that happened at Beacon. Well, he did have a hand, just not the way they think he did.
Two Dahl Marines never left his sides as they walked in the hallway made entirely out of concrete, resembling a bunker than whatever the architect meant it to be. The teenager in the middle looked mostly at his feet, thinking about what to do next, though he eyed their equipment from time to time, specifically guns. One had a Hyperion SMG and the other a Dahl assault rifle, both average in quality. You would think the corporations would supply their armies with finer equipment, until someone would remind you that their life expectancy was never meant to be more than an hour or so long in an actual fight. They would use lethal force once in their life and that was it. The human resources managers probably hated themselves more than their jobs.
That would never be the case if you were some sort of high-ranking hotshot like the man that stood next to a thick iron door, along with James Ironwood. Unlike the usual fodder, the higher ranks and specialists would always get exceptional equipment. And the higher they were on that ladder, the better treatment they got. Whether or not they earned such a thing was another story entirely. Though in many cases it was simply a matter of knowing the right people at the right time. It went something like this: get inside the military thanks to a friend, get all the good shit, get creative with the paperwork, then get the fuck out and pretend you are a new boss.
The man wore a green armor likes the Marines, though bulkier but without the helmet, instead wearing a red scarf and a beret that covered his bald head. A sword was strapped to his belt, along with a Torgue pistol, easily recognizable by the design, though Braylon had no idea what kind of pistol it was. Next to him stood Ironwood with his hands behind his back. The difference between the two men, as in demeanor so in appearance, were staggering. Ironwood, though with a frown on his face, wasn't as wary of the boy as the taller man near him, who looked like he would put a gyro-jet bullet between Braylon's eyes if the latter looked at him funny. Probably because he knew who Braylon was and what was he capable of, unlike the poor son of a bitch on the left.
Ironwood said, "We meet again. Though in much different circumstances. And not the type that might be flattering, I'm afraid."
Braylon gave him a stern glare. Were they both on his home planet, the rules would have been much different. For now, he had to play the part. Screw ups on Remnant weren't tolerated.
"Take him in."
The other man nodded to the door. His voice was deeper than Ironwood's, if that was even possible. Braylon wondered if it was his actual voice or if it was just a scare tactic. The two Marines pushed him inside a small room, where he sat on a cold iron chair, in front of a table.
"Let the handcuffs on." said the man to the two Marines when they were about to remove them. He then looked the young boy in the eyes and made something that could hardly be called a smile, because his lips barely moved upwards. "For safety reasons."
"Yup. This guy knows me. Wish I could do the same."
Ironwood raised an eyebrow, not understanding why such measures were needed. He stepped forward, coughed in his fist and started his talk, trusting the man's logic.
"I'm sure you remember me, so I will skip my introduction." Ironwood motioned at the man in green. "This is general Thaddeus E. Wilson. He leads the troops of the Dahl Corporation stationed throughout Vale." The two exchanged glances far more hostile than they had the right to be, which further confused the Atlesian. "...I guess you know him already?"
"No."
"I see." He turned around. "Well, if that's all, let us begin. The sooner we start, the sooner we will end this." Ironwood pulled out a screen that displayed a footage of Braylon's fight with AGMO-enhanced Cardin in the dormitories of Beacon. A footage recorded with a camera. While soundless, the fight still left an impression, as the two fought tooth a nail. The footage ended when Cardin punched Braylon through a wall.
"Anything you want to add?"
"..."
"The silent treatment doesn't work with me. It will only make things harder for you."
Thaddeus stood silently in the corner, eyes never leaving Braylon. He probably waited for his moment to speak up.
"General," Braylon began, voice calm and cold as ice, "this is something you don't want to stick your nose into."
"Is it now? I refuse to believe that something like this," he pointed at the screen, "shouldn't be my concern. The mess left behind certainly helps proving my point, wouldn't you agree?"
"..."
"Headmaster Ozpin has given me the custody over you for as long as I see fit. So you can make yourself comfortable. I can be sure that you'll have plenty of time to talk."
"...He did?"
That came out with way more surprise than it should have. The general would definitely interpret the slip up as a weapon to use against him. Ironwood nodded. Thaddeus continued to stare without doing anything.
"Not even Ozpin is willing to shield you from trouble, Mister Braylon. I'm going to give you a chance. Tell me, who's really behind this stunt you tried to pull off?"
"Motherfucker, you can thank God I have nerves of steel. Otherwise I'd… Don't make me repeat myself-"
"Likewise. I guess we're even."
Braylon grit his teeth in frustration. He wasn't insane enough to spit out the truth, especially to a nobody from a military he never bothered to learn about. After Ironwood realized that the conversation was going nowhere, Thaddeus decided to step in.
"General," he said, "let me take care of this, please."
General Ironwood moved sideways as Thaddeus approached the table calmly. He then backhanded Braylon in the face, much to Ironwood's surprise, though he refused to act.
"Talk, you little shit!" Thaddeus roared as he punched Braylon. "Who do you work for?! What was that red monster that attacked the academy?! Spit it out!" A second punch was strong enough to throw Braylon off the chair. They took away all of his equipment before the interrogation, so he felt the pain of falling on concrete head first. Now Ironwood decided to act. There was a slight hint of concern in his voice, though it was hard to find.
"I think that's enough."
Thaddeus rubbed his fist. Braylon's skull was hard.
"Don't you worry, general Ironwood. If this little worm refuses to talk, then I have more efficient ways to do it."
"And those would be?"
"We'll bring him to our outpost at Mountain Glenn. Trust me, general, Dahl Corporation knows how to make even a chicken sing like a finch."
Ironwood wanted to say something, but was rudely stopped when Thaddeus ordered his men to bring Braylon to the nearest Bullhead. The Vault Hunter could hear Ironwood complaining loudly, though he knew from the start it was useless. He gave them a perfect opportunity by staying quiet and that man knew it. He smiled to himself.
Thaddeus was really good at acting.
"That idiot! How did she end up like this?"
Weiss paced back and forth, arms folded, her boots clacking on the white tiles that belonged to Beacon's tiny hospital for students, waiting as her teammate Blake, who sat on a chair with a book in her lap. All the will it took to read it had evaporated.
"The monster must have done something to her."
Weiss stopped walking and stared at Blake.
"You think Braylon did it?"
"Of course not, don't be stupid!" Weiss huffed. "No human being could ever do something so horrendous! I just want to know why he hadn't done a thing to help her."
Blake nodded, "He was kinda busy with whatever Cardin turned into. I doubt he was able to help Ruby."
Unlike them, Yang immediately stormed into the room where Ruby slept on a bed, despite the many criticisms from doctors and other staff. The rage she expressed when she saw Ruby in such a bad state was a thing to behold. It was also a hard hit for Blake and Weiss. And while Yang was sure that Braylon was the cause of Ruby's current state, the other two tried their best to calm the situation and focus on their leader, something far more important at the moment. Now they were there, at Beacon's hospital, waiting for the moment the doctors would say "yes, now you can enter". Weiss thought it was the time to bring up something that happened recently.
"I'm… sorry."
Blake looked at her in confusion.
"Sorry for what happened at..."
There was no need to finish the sentence. Blake knew what her teammate talked about. Just a few days ago, she and a boy named Sun were at the docks after they heard about a White Fang meeting that was supposed to happen there. For some reason she couldn't understand, the criminal Roman Torchwick was working with those she once considered members of a family, her brothers and sisters. It all went downhill when her friends appeared, then the military not too long after them. While the Atlas military tried to apprehend and incapacitate anyone they deemed a threat, those people wearing green armor shot to kill. And they were disturbingly efficient in doing so, even if she saw no corpse that would prove such observations. Blake couldn't see what happened afterwards because her friends and she had to flee to avoid even more trouble. With all the shooting, the screams and chaos, she could only take a guess.
It was also the day where she revealed herself to be a Faunus.
"It's my fault, really. I should have told you sooner."
The conversation died awkwardly after that. None knew what to add, for the fear of messing things up again. It was now a thing of the past. Hopefully.
A man in a white coat came out. Blake and Weiss stood in front of him.
"She seems to be fine, all in all.", he looked at a paper, "Minor bruises and cuts, nothing that her Aura won't heal. No internal bleeding, no bones fractured, nothing."
They sighed in unison. Such news were very welcome for their current mental state.
"I do suggest she remains in her bed for at least two days, to prevent further complications. As for the cuts, well...", the doctor looked at them, "That's the strangest part. We couldn't identify the source. It resembles a knife, though somewhat weird."
They reminded themselves of the red monster Braylon fought against, much to their confusion. It came out of the blue and attacked one person they all knew very little about. Sure, he was a face they recognized, but it was nothing like JNPR. A complete mystery that required an explanation the moment it involved Ruby. Nobody likes to be kept in the dark when one of their closest friends are hurt.
"The wounds seemed to be infected, so we gave her proper medication. That's all."
It could be worse, they thought. Ruby could have been dead and they wouldn't be able to do a damn thing to stop it.
"Is she awake?" Weiss asked.
"Yes, but please refrain from bombarding her with questions and stuff. She needs some rest."
"Thank you doctor."
He nodded and turned around to leave. However, he stopped, confused as to why were soldiers in green armor walking towards him. The girls he spoke to peeked from behind him.
"Do you need something?" were the last words he said before one of the soldiers shot something that made him fall down. The girls jumped back in horror, thinking he was killed. Before they could react, however, they felt a needle piercing their skin. For some reason, they felt very sleepy. The last thing they saw were the two individuals nodding to each other and entering the room.
(Fallout New Vegas – Under the Stars)
Those Dahl Marines knew their shit, thought Braylon as he sat in the Bullhead between two people with their guns pointed at him. Their general specifically requested a Bullhead free of any Atlas personnel, which earned them quite a few looks. Four Dahl Marines escorted their captive into the flying vehicle, ready to turn him into a corpse should he do anything funny. Two sat on the same bench as he and two on the opposite side, with general Thaddeus standing between them. With his guns and Shield out of reach, there wasn't much he could do without receiving serious injuries or biting the dust. Looking around for anything to exploit bore no fruit. The entire damn thing had nothing he could use. Thaddeus noticed his behavior and smirked.
"Braylon Monocriffe. The Eviscerator. Heard a lot about you. Could've been a fine soldier, a damn good one. But I guess it doesn't pay off as much as being a Vault Hunter." he looked at his hands then back at him, "You're not expecting to leave without seeing what we got in store for you, huh?", he leaned his elbows on legs, "'Cause I tell you, after all the shit you gave us, seeing you die is gonna be worth it."
Braylon glared silently.
"Wonder what's going on in that head of yours right now. Probably thinking of killing us all and, take control of this damn thing, that kind of shit?" Thaddeus chuckled and nodded to himself. "Not gonna happen. Not this time." His expression changed for a moment, before touching his right ear, "We're close? Alright."
The Vault Hunter decided to look through the window behind him, which upset the two Marines. They wanted to shoot him with their weapons but Thaddeus raised a hand, as if he knew the boy's intent.
"No need. He's just taking a look at what the locals call Mountain Glenn."
Below him stood a defunct city comprised of sand and old ruins. The landscape heavily reminded him of the one he saw in that other reality, though not as hopeless and dark. Unlike there, Braylon couldn't find one living thing on the street. It was dead in every sense of the word. Or it would be, if Braylon hadn't seen something strange going on. One of the ruins wasn't made of concrete, but of some strange yellowish rock he never saw before. It was populated with a few tall and dark humanoids that carried bits of that rock around, without any particular goal in mind. Their bodies were horribly disproportionate compared to long arms and legs. Some of them glared up at him. Their eyes were purple.*
His mind raced through the sea of possible explanations to the abnormal phenomenon.
"Ain't it wonderful? Never saw something like it in all my years of service. You are different story, aren't you? That's the way it goes for your kind, the Vault Hunters." Braylon was confused as to why he saw another Bullhead flying not far away from them. He stood up without a warning, which earned him four barrels pointed at his back, courtesy of the Marines. Thaddeus continued, "Seems we reached the destination. I can finally do this." He took a Maliwan Shock pistol from one of the Marines and shot Braylon. Without a Shield, it had the effect of a taser, paralyzing him long enough for the general to bring him to the nearest doors, which the pilot opened. Cold air filled the entire airship as Thaddeus pulled the stunned Vault Hunter closer to himself. The strong air current shook the general's scarf away into the cabin. Braylon's eyes widened in shock as he saw a strange symbol inside a pentagram carved on the flesh of the neck.
"Goodbye, Vault Hunter."
Thaddeus Wilson threw Braylon off the flying airship with a kick.
Yang was the first to wake up. The disgusting odor she felt turned her stomach upside down. It also set her mind in motion, as she was known to be somewhat tough when it came to repulsive miasma. Tougher than her little sister, at least. Speaking of Ruby, Yang's head moved left and right, trying to find her.
"Ruby?…Ruby?!"
Her protective, almost motherly, instincts became quiet once she saw the little Red laying on the floor, near still-sleeping Weiss and Blake. Just then, her mind told her that the other teammates wore some strange white handcuffs, which almost resembled blocks of cement, around their wrists and ankles. She looked down and found out she had those too.
"Where…?"
"Mmmh… keep quiet over there… it smells..." the Ice Queen mumbled, before opening her eyes. Blake woke up after her. She figured her shouting did the trick.
"Good morning, Princess. Slept well?"
"Who...? Yang?"
"That's me."
Weiss sent a confused glance at her, then at Blake and Ruby.
"Where are we? And what is this smell?"
"Doesn't look like our bedroom. No idea."
Weiss scowled at her blonde-haired teammate, as it was usual from her. Blake, trying to hide her emotions under a stoic face, felt what they all did. Her bow twitched.
"We're on a Bullhead." She stated as a matter-of-factly.
Weiss turned to Blake, then back to Yang, "...how did we come here?"
"We were invited, obviously." Yang chuckled.
"Can't you be serious for just a second?!"
"Mmm… nope."
But she did become serious, and it happened when the trio saw Ruby squirming uncomfortably, mumbling to herself. The handcuffs prevented Yang from standing up, no matter how much she tried.
"What's happening to her?! Is she okay?!"
"Looks like fever."
"That's impossible!" Weiss screeched. "The doctor said she would be fine!"
"Clearly the doctor doesn't know his job!" Yang barked in frustration as she tried, and failed, to free herself. "Argh! Damn these things!"
The Bullhead shook, then the engines shut down. Moments later, a blinding light obstructed their view, before a tall figure emerged and walked up to them. It wore green armor and a helmet. They knew it wasn't an Atlesian employee.
The man (or woman?) examined them all, then motioned to someone outside. Two more men in green came and started inspecting Ruby.
"Get your hands off her!" Yelled Yang, frustrated that she was unable to stop them from taking her away. Soon it was Blake's turn, then Weiss' and then Yang's, who managed to headbutt one of them before being shocked into submission. Only after they reached the outside world did team RWBY realize where they were.
"Mountain... Glenn?" Weiss asked in disbelief, as they collectively walked behind two armed Marines. "Why are we here?" She asked them. No response.
"Where are we, Weiss?" Yang asked from behind, slightly calmer when Ruby was carried in a floating bed near her, though she glared daggers at the strangers.
"Mountain Glenn used to be the first ever attempt at an expansion from the kingdom of Vale. It didn't last long because it lacked proper defensive measures against the Grimm." Weiss spoke in her usual know-it-all voice. "But… why?"
"What why?"
"Why are we here?", she insisted, "There is nothing of interest here."
"Technically, there is." Blake added, "I read that the kingdom of Atlas came to Vale to retrieve a prototype of a flying vehicle that crashed here, along with this "Dahl"."
"About that," Weiss continued. "have you ever heard of this "Dahl Corporation" before?"
"We should?"
"My point is, isn't it strange how a company can acquire a private military? In Atlas?"
The jab seemed to go unnoticed by the Marines, who kept their composure like some kind of robots.
"As far as I know, and I know a lot, the Atlas kingdom never allowed anyone besides itself to have a military in its own territories."
"Why are you bringing that up right now, Weiss? Can't you see we have a bigger problem on our hands?"
"But this is it, Yang! First, a corporation with its own military inside Atlas and now Mountain Glenn. What could… possibly… be..."
A yellow-skinned giant strolled past them, moaning and shambling like some zombie from a horror movie. Seemingly uncaring of their presence, it continued towards its destination, leaving the teenagers in stunned silence. It was such an affront to nature that they kept staring at it even after it went far behind them.
Then a second one appeared, right in front of the two soldiers. It elicited a shriek of terror from Weiss, since she was the closest to them. With its eyes glowing and teeth grinding against one another, it stood motionless in front of the two, snarling like a dog. After an entire minute, it turned left and shambled away. Weiss became as pale as a sheet.
"Have you seen how big it was!?" Yang whispered to Blake. "I wonder if I could take one in a fight."
Blake rolled her eyes. Even in such scary situations Yang Xiao Long tried to lighten the mood. However, everyone definitely heard fear in her voice, no matter how much she tried to hide it. Blake thought about trying her Semblance to escape but that would only cause more trouble. She looked forward. Weiss remained quiet and stared at the floor. She looked to the right. Her team leader's breathing became panicked, fast, only to calm down once again.
"Our friend needs help," she said to the soldiers who ignored her, "I know you can hear me."
Something was off. The entire situation sent a chill down Blake's spine. She had the feeling of being in great danger. The stench worsened to the point of being unbearable, yet their guards ignored that too.
And then they saw the first corpse nailed to a wall.
(Iron Cthulhu Apocalypse – Distant Megastructures)
"God-damn, motherfucking, son of a whore!..."
Braylon screamed at the top of his lungs. Or as much as he could anyway, because one of them was pierced with a metallic rod when he crashed into some ruins. He had to sit down and tend to his wounds until the PDA healed him completely. Removing the rod was far harder than he expected. Whenever he tried to move it, the pain would strike him like lightning. Once he got tired of going slow, he grabbed the rod and forcefully pulled it out. He gasped soundlessly, eyes wide like saucers. The wound would soon disappear, but the pain wouldn't, so he yelled through his teeth in rage and frustration.
Oh, how he swore revenge on the man who did that to him! He would find him and kill him along with everyone who tried to stop him. He would snap his neck and crack his skull open like an egg. But that had to wait, for right now he had bigger problems. First, all of his equipment was taken away by the Dahl, leaving him with only his PDA and holographic weapons. Second, the place they threw him in was uncharted territory as far as he was concerned. Thaddeus mentioned "Mountain Glenn", so he searched that word online.
"Just fucking great. I am in the middle of a Grimm hive."
The negativity he carried around with him would be more than enough to attract them, if what he learned at Beacon was true. At least something useful from Port's endless rambling. That man would be responsible for his suicide one day, if he kept going to his class.
Walking on the streets of an abandoned city was always terrible. It had this creepy vibe emanating from everywhere Braylon looked. Doors were closed, windows were replaced by rotten planks, all buildings suffered one form of damage or another. It must have been horrible for the people of Vale when they found out that their serious attempt at expansion created a death trap teeming with nightmarish monsters. All that hope came crashing down with no survivors.
"Hm?"
The Vault Hunter spun around, eyeing every detail, be they ruins, streets, dumpsters or else. Someone was watching him, observing his behavior. Feeling threatened like a cornered animal, Braylon materialized Holo Sabre and waited. When nothing seemed to show up, he spun again, only to notice a tall shadowy figure fading after it quickly crossed a tiny bridge in the distance. Something told him he should follow it.
It took five minutes to reach the destination. From there, he could take a better look at the city, or what was left of it. A street went below the bridge, leading to a giant pile of debris made by several collapsed buildings. Bits of a crushed car could be seen sticking out of it. He could see nature starting to retake what was stolen from her in the form of scattered trees and tiny grasslands that stuck out from the crude black and gray color of concrete and asphalt.
A strange "poof!" emanated to his left, eerily similar to the one at Beacon. He had to see what was the cause for such noise, he couldn't help himself.
Right there, at the end of the bridge, he saw an Arch-Vile.
"Shit!"
This was no common Arch-Vile, however. Its skin was jet black as a shadow and its hands, raised to the sky, shone with a weird purple aura, a color shared with strange particles that surrounded its deceptively frail body, yet did nothing to hide the multiple afterimages of itself that materialized behind it every two seconds, growing in size then dispersing into nothingness. There was something stuck in its chest; something resembling a greenish pearl but with the size of a child's head. A black slit gave it the appearance of an eye. The newest weapon belonging to the countless legions of Hell sang a tune akin to the screeches of a whale, strong enough to shatter glass. **
"Aaargh! My ears!"
"Poof!" it went, ceasing to exist until the next time it would show up.
As soon as his ears stopped ringing, the young Vault Hunter heard a cacophony of monstrous shrieks and eldritch howls booming from the ruins all around him. Some sounded like they were miles away. At the same time, the Arch-Vile reappeared near some pipes and ran into one.
"Ho-lee shit."
It didn't took a genius to figure out what was happening. That demon sounded an alarm that turned every type of monster in Mountain Glenn into a frenzied, bloodthirsty bastard ready to tear him to shreds. Then it hid like a rat in its hole, though something kept nagging him to follow it no matter what.
"I have to find out where it's going."
(M.O.O.N. - Crystals)
Jumping from the bridge, Braylon spotted the first wave of Beowolves, four of them in total. The PDA immediately began pumping combat-oriented drugs into his body.
"Here they come!"
He ran behind a car, then kicked it forward with all his strength. It didn't move far, but it turned a young Beowolf into a pancake. Rather than wait for the other three to come, Braylon ran towards them, cutting two in half without problems then sliding below the fourth, chopping off one of its legs. When it fell, he grabbed the nearest block of concrete and beat its head until all the bones turned into jelly, coating the block in red.
Going uphill, then right towards the pipes, the teenager paid no attention to a Boarbatusk that chased him through the grassland. Telling himself to never look back, not even for a second, the Vault Hunter jumped over a tiny wall and into the remains of a playground. The Boarbatusk crushed through the wall, squealing angrily, attempting to ram into the human who jumped sideways. Moments later, more Grimm appeared out of the blue, as if they crawled out of the walls and ground.
"I have to kill them before they multiply again!"
Narrowly avoiding a headbutt by the same Boarbatusk, Braylon reached a seesaw, cut it in half, then grabbed a piece. When the Grimm was close enough, he brought it down on its head like a sledgehammer. Not even the white plates on its head could help preventing the head from splitting in half, brains and gore dropping out in one disgusting mix. The second piece was used like a spear against a Beowolf near the early-mentioned wall, piercing its chest and pushing through the meat until it popped out of its back, delivering a painful death.
Even the merry-go-round wasn't spared from such a fate, though it was torn out from the ground by an Alpha Beowolf and used like a frisbee, which was cut in half by Braylon with his Holo Sabre. Braylon then swapped Holo Sabre for Holo Claw to pick up a nearby garbage can more easily.
"Garbage day!"
It swatted the can away, as he expected it would do, because then it failed to defend itself against the Holo Claw that stabbed the stomach. Braylon twisted the hand and pulled the claw down. The stomach was torn open as if a knife went through a piece of fabric. It whined helplessly, as it tried to stop the small intestine from sticking out of the wounds. Braylon left it there to die from blood loss as he concentrated on a small pack of Creeps, four strong in total.
He jumped above the first, crouched and grabbed it by the tail, lifted it up over his shoulder and dropped on the second. The third Creep tried to bite him, but his Holo Claw went inside the mouth, latching itself in its jaw, which came off with a sickening squelch the moment he pulled his arm to himself. Leaving it to choke on its own blood, he focused on the final Creep. The Claw once again entered inside a mouth, but this time it was stuck into the skull. All it took was a hundred-and-eighty degree twist of the hand to snap the tiny neck.
There were more Grimm approaching in even bigger numbers. One of the biggest was a scorpion-like Grimm with a golden stinger and thick white plates covering its entire body, almost like a living tank, known as Death Stalker.*** Braylon turned and continued his marathon to the pipes, deciding it wouldn't be wise to attack such a foe without proper equipment. How he wished he had the Nukem.
"Almost there!"
The Grimm were dangerously close, but he was fast enough to reach the same pipe where the Arch-Vile hid. Ordering his PDA to activate the night vision, Braylon reached a very tiny room where the object of interest was a rusty old door that led to the service tunnels. Without thinking, he ran into the tunnels, making sure to close the door behind himself. The Grimm howled outside, unable to reach him.
"Now where the fuck did that Arch-Vile go?"
Two paths were available. Braylon chose to go left and downstairs, then forward, left, right, then downstairs again and so on. He had no idea where he was going and he definitely didn't keep track of his route. The place was built almost like a labyrinth and the only thing he heard so far were his feet hitting the metallic pavement. He was in total darkness with no weapons and no Shield to protect him. 'Bad' wasn't enough to describe his situation.
The only good news were the Arch-Vile he found waiting in an intersection. He ran up to it, ready to impale the demon with the Holo Sabre. It teleported away seconds before the tip of the holographic weapon could pierce its strange-looking pearl. He slipped on something and fell.
"Agh! Son of a bitch!" His clothes were stained with some oil-like liquid. "How many times do I have to buy new clothes, for fuck's sake? More importantly..." he looked to the left tunnel and then to the right, "Where did he go?" His ears picked up a growl, "...Is that a fucking Skag I just heard?"
Ruby gasped loudly as she shot up from the bed, face drenched in sweat and cheeks burning. She just woke up from one of the worst nightmares she had in her life. The details were kinda blurry now that she was awake. She remembered walking and then encountering Cardin, only it wasn't actually Cardin, it was the red monster he could turn into and then he attacked her and she…
"D-deep breaths… deep… breaths..."
She was still wearing her Huntress outfit, though somewhat damaged in some places (she frowned when the word "Cardin" reached her thoughts) in the form of scratches and cuts, though her awesome cape was left intact. Strangely, her wounds were gone. She couldn't see any, only tiny red marks that would be gone for a day or two. Aura was really an essential tool for every Huntress, just like Weiss would always say in one of her lectures.
"Weiss!"
That's right. Weiss was nowhere to be found. Blake and Yang were gone too. Actually, where exactly was she? Ruby remembered being in the hospital with her older sister near her. Some strange people came and that's where everything went black. Now she was sitting on a bed, inside a green tent filled with s really, really awful smell. Just to be sure, she checked if she wasn't the one emitting that smell. She was not.
"I've got to find my teammates! But where are they? And where is my sweetheart!?"
Okay, she had two, no, three things to do. One, find her team. Two, find her precious sweetheart. Three, find something to eat. Her stomach protested way more than usual. She couldn't believe how hungry she felt at the moment.
Awkwardly stepping down from the bed, then faltering towards the entrance, Ruby Rose decided to step into the outside world, to do something rather than waste precious time. But when she walked out of the tent, when her senses were bombarded from all fronts by the smell of decay, the cries of pain, the sight of headless corpses impaled on spikes like some kind of human shish kebab, her fifteen-year-old mind went into meltdown mode, dropping on her knees in stunned silence. Her silver eyes took in all the horror wherever she moved them. There was no end to it.
It happened so fast and without a warning that she had no time to prepare any kind of mental defenses for such an experience. Her eyes began watering from both shock and despair. She wanted to scream loudly, but she immediately placed both hands in front of her mouth. How could one day change so drastically, from good, to bad, to worse? Who was responsible for this?
Footsteps.
Many footsteps.
Quick, she screamed mentally, back to the tent, hide yourself! She quickly returned inside the tent as the footsteps came closer, hoping they would continue their journey without any suspicion. No matter how much she tried to focus on the footsteps (she thought she heard hooves too), her mind would keep replaying the images she saw outside, even with her eyes closed. Dead people, corpses in a pile… heads on sticks… so much blood…
Ruby released all the tears she tried to hold back. There was no point in holding them back. Father once told her about this. He talked about how sometimes bad things happen to people when they are most vulnerable. They are so defenseless against it, that they carry these bad things within their hearts and minds even years after it happened. Tragedy was something every teacher at Signal warned her about. It was one of the risks of being a Huntress. Now she knew how it felt, which made her innocent heart ache even more when she thought about all the Remnant's most famous Huntsmen and Huntresses
"...Weiss… Blake… Yang… Braylon..."
What if…
What if they all shared the same, dark fate as the rest of those people?
No, no, no, no. Her mind went in instant denial. No, she refused to believe it. She would go out there, find her Crescent Rose, find her friends and make the ones responsible for that tragedy pay. She just had to get up. Get up Ruby, she thought, get up and don't loose hope.
But her legs were heavy.
"Oh no… oh no..."
The footsteps outside were long gone, yet she refused to leave the tent. Her mind was willing to do it, but her body shook and refused to budge. She couldn't even bring herself to peek outside, not even a little bit.
Was that fear?
"...Ru… by..."
Her mind went blank.
"...Ru… by… Ru… by..."
Now she was hearing things. Her mind broke from pressure. That had to be it.
"… Ru… by… hun… ger… hunger..."
Ruby felt hungry.
Barney Diamond was, like most Faunus in Vale, a young brat who dared to dream big, even if his current life situation forbid any dream from becoming a reality. His education was somewhat poor for many reasons like: younger siblings that needed food, a sick mother and poverty. Yes, Barney was a poor boy, one of those deemed unworthy of a life by the society he didn't choose to be part of. It was as awful as you could imagine.
Then, one day, and by pure coincidence, he met the White Fang through the White Tigers. Or better, he joined the White Tigers for protection and better living conditions, but when the big brains saw his potential, they decided to put him in the ranks of the White Fang, who promised even more than the Tigers, who used to be their autonomous cell in Vale. Whatever, thought Barney, as long as he got what he needed, he would even go so far as to swallow his pride and kill his decency.
He had to be a delivery boy? Fine. He had to carry crates full of Dust that could blow up in his face? Fine. He had to help other members stuff an entire train with explosives in the middle of Mountain Glenn, easily one of the most dangerous places on Remnant, inside a smelly train station in total secrecy to prevent the military assholes on the surface to screw things up? Fine. He had to ride that train towards Vale and let it explode so that the whole city could be overrun with Grimm? Fuck it, done and done. He stopped having standards years ago.
Until he found out otherwise.
See, the above mentioned tasks were relatively easy to pull off, as long as there were no moral busybodies to stop them. Even then, was it so difficult to pick up a gun and just shoot the damn bastards? Barney thought he could do it. He thought he could take a Huntsman by himself. He was street smart, he had the guts and he had balls big enough to kill a Human. There was one thing he never thought he would have to go up against, and that was a tall black monster with purple eyes and really long arms. Or three of them. Same thing, really. He would be fucked no matter how many magically appeared.
Yes yes, appeared. These things could teleport as they damn pleased, when they damn pleased. You couldn't hit them with the sword or shot them with the gun. That was cheating. Grimm never did that, if all the damaged books he found in dumpsters were correct. Not to mention the sounds they made, all the "aaargh" and "uoorgh" and all that shit. Barney, once he understood the danger, hid behind some crates and watched as his comrades were getting slaughtered by just three of those monsters. Those that were on the train decided to remain there. The death that stuck with him the most was that of a girl he liked very much. She tried to shoot one of the three creatures, but it teleported right in front of her, sank its fingers in her shoulders and tore her in half. Really fucked up.
"I didn't sign up for this." he muttered repeatedly, until he saw a nearby wall explode as a dog-like animal fell through, scaring off the tall monsters. It was the size of an adult and had so much armor that it would make a Boarbatusk jealous. Another thing Barney never knew existed.
Life decided to test his sanity a little bit further that day. The creature, when examined carefully, seemed to be heavily wounded by what sounded like a chainsaw-wielding Human psychopath, who kept screaming bloody murder as they hacked through its soft belly, ripping out chunks of meat and organs with their free hand. The face they had while doing so made it hard to distinguish whether they were seething in anger or smiling like maniacs. He always knew Humans were messed up in the head.
The last living Faunus that still had some fighting spirit cursed loudly and aimed their gun at the human, ordering them to step back from the beast.
"Yeet!" shouted the Human as they threw an entire fucking lung right into the Faunus's face. When Barney's comrade fell down, the Human jumped on top like an animal and started slamming their head against the Faunus's until they killed the poor bastard.
"Did someone put drugs into my morning coffee? No, seriously, I wanna know."
That train of thought quickly stopped when one of the purple-eyed monsters returned, right near the crates he used as a hiding spot. Barney started panicking when it looked down on him, as if it knew he was there. It shook for a moment, screamed and smashed the crates, sending Dust crystals everywhere. Before it grabbed him by the throat, Barney Diamond, for the first time in his life, began questioning his life choices.
Skag number twenty was down. With it, the sixth pack that stood in his way was gone. The Arch-Vile was, of course, the main reason. Every now and then it would teleport to such a distance that it was out of Braylon's reach and yet close enough for him to spot it. The Vault Hunter went deeper and deeper into the tunnels as the chase intensified. Coincidentally, or perhaps not, it always led him straight into a pack of Skags, which he had to kill off. In order to survive, he would require some potent drugs that would induce rage and increase physical strength. Unfortunately, he was ambushed by a pack of Skags right when he was giving orders to his PDA, so he may have overdone it due to pressure. They were strong, some even managed to hurt him, but in the end he was the one who came out victorious. The Alpha Skag he just killed was the proof.
And now he stumbled upon the White Fang. Or what was left alive anyways, because most of them were smeared all over the station. He heard one screaming near some crates, before the "poof!" happened and they vanished, along with that monster. It was of little importance now. A demon just went up Braylon's shitlist for the what it forced him to go through.
He grabbed the dead Faunus's gun, something resembling the ancient M16, and aimed at the Arch-Vile who stood near an open railcar. Why was a functioning train standing in the middle of an abandoned city-settlement and why were the White Fang terrorists present was a thought that Braylon completely pushed aside and dubbed "not important now, maybe later". After all, any demon, no matter how strong or weak, was a top priority no matter what.
"I'm gonna fuck you up, jackass!
Before Braylon could pull the trigger, it raised its hands just like the last time. Purple fire began taking shape around him.
"Shit!"
(Robert Parker - DiscoDeath)
Braylon ran behind the Alpha Skag's corpse. When the purple fire died down and when he peeked out from behind the alien corpse, he noticed the Arch-Vile standing on top of a railcar, turning its back to him. The train hummed loudly. It was about to continue its journey. Failing to catch it meant failing to kill the demon.
"You can't run from me!" exclaimed Braylon. He ran towards the nearest railcar and jumped through a window. The two Faunus who were there stared dumbly as the entire scene unfolded. He shot them both to death. All those drugs really began showing what they were capable off. He only hoped it wouldn't last long.
"Retards."
The train left for a its final destination, known only to the White Fang...
Ignoring all the large packages under each seat, the Vault Hunter used Holo Ripper to open a hole in the ceiling, only to be blocked off by the purple fire. At least he knew where it was when he heard it screeching. All he had to do to was to go through two more railcars, unless it moved again.
The second railcar should have been filled with passenger seats, but it was turned into a giant storehouse on wheels, filled with crates full of… something he had no idea what. A rabbit-eared Faunus jumped from behind a crate and aimed his SPAS-12 lookalike at a very pissed off Vault Hunter high on drugs. The latter used the butt of the rifle to hit the former's face, crushing the nose into the skull. Braylon then emptied the whole clip into the enemy, coating the wall behind in red.
"Bet you thought you weren't gonna die today. Surprise!"
He picked up the shotgun, quickly spun around and blew a head-sized hole into the stomach of a Faunus girl. She bounced off the wall and fell on the floor. Going forward, he shot someone's entire arm off then threw them through a window. Looking through said window, Braylon tried to find the Arch-Vile. Instead he found a horde of Grimm, in the distance, chasing after the train.
"Just what I needed." he grumbled, then swore loudly as purple fire reappeared once again, immediately retreating from the window.
"Guess I have to do it the hard way."
Kicking the door down, he encountered a Faunus taller than the others, holding a chainsaw. The way they stood indicated they were expecting him.
"Human."
"Victim."
"Grr… you dare!"
The Faunus seethed in rage, raising the chainsaw threateningly. Braylon cocked the stolen shotgun. Before their fight started, they heard a loud click. The Faunus, seemingly confused, turned around to face the door, staring with a look of disbelief on his face. Braylon interrupted any complaints from being voiced as he shot the man in his back. What both of them didn't know was that the shot masked a loud "beep!" of a device hidden right above their heads...
"Never bring a chainsaw to a shotgun fight, dumbass. Even if you do, don't turn your back to them."
Braylon stopped talking when he saw the Faunus standing up, seemingly shrugging off all the hot lead that should have turn his insides into paste. Even his drugged brain realized why. "Well God damn, I just found one with an Aura or whatever the fuck. Never got the chance to see it in an actual fight," his smirk turned darker, "like I always say, first time for every-whoa!"
He got so lost in his rambling, he forgot to stay focused on the chainsaw maniac, barely blocking the attack with his shotgun.
"That! Hurt!"
"Yeah, that's what they all say."
The shotgun was at its breaking point. Should he held it like that for even a minute longer, his weapon would broke in half and he would loose his life. This Faunus is strong, he thought, almost like one of those gym freaks from Pandora who like to show off their muscles as they strolled towards you, thinking how they were bulletproof.
"Hmph."
Braylon headbutted the Faunus, who took it fairly well, then delivered an uppercut that sent him flying across the room. Aura could save its user from injury, but not from pain. Still, he got up without a problem.
"Hehe. You hit hard. For a sissy."
"...You wanna go? Fine. Fine." Braylon nodded repeatedly, then materialized his own Holo Ripper. "You wanna fucking go, little Feral pissant!? You'll choke on your own God-damn eyeballs once I'm done with you, you hear me?!"
Both challengers walked towards one another, only to charge once they were close enough.
"You," he dodged a swing of the chainsaw, "and your friends can fuck right off! You," he dodged again, "ain't got shit on me! I have more experience than all of you put together!" Braylon ducked when the blade went high, then jumped when it went low. "Too slow!" While in mid-air, the Vault Hunter kicked the Faunus with his legs, who stumbled backwards, almost loosing balance. They charged at each other once again, locking their weapons in a struggle for supremacy over the other.
Until the chain of the chainsaw broke.
"What?!"
Braylon just smirked, cocked back a fist, then punched the Faunus in the face. With two more swings of his Holo Ripper he depleted the enemy's Aura, leaving him vulnerable to a roundhouse kick that sent him sprawling on the floor. Braylon sat on his chest, placing the holographic weapon near the Faunus's throat.
"My weapon is a solid hologram made out of light that can cut through most things with so much ease that it's not even funny. The only few things that could prevent this are out of your grasp and you won't have them for at least century. And now, allow me to show you why I earned the nickname "Eviscerator"."
The Faunus finally dropped his tough guy act and began trembling like a leaf as the Holo Ripper slowly descended towards his chest. The plan was to scare him before delivering the final blow, though it succeeded faster than expected when he punched Braylon off with a fist.
"No!" he cried out, aware that one single attack would be enough to end his life, now that his Aura was depleted. He barely stood on his legs from exhaustion, a side effect from loosing the only thing that made him hard to kill. Thinking that his damaged chainsaw would save him, the Faunus picked it up. Braylon, annoyed that the comedy still went on, spun full circle and caught his victim by surprise with a swift, horizontal cut to the stomach, slicing it open.
The Faunus looked down, dropped his weapon and made few steps backwards. He felt the warmth of his blood touching his body and legs as he fell on his knees, seemingly loosing his strength to stand bit by bit. Another shock came when he felt Holo Ripper piercing his flesh between the neck and the right shoulder. It whirred like an actual chainsaw, tearing his insides for a whole minute, before Braylon drew it out, splashing the blood on the wall and floor with a loud splash. The Faunus felt his eyes getting heavier, before dropping like a rock.
"Good riddance." Braylon spat on the corpse before reaching the door. His jaw dropped when the train that was supposed to be there was nowhere to be seen. "Fucking…?" Just to be safe, he checked something out of the window. Two details freaked him out. One, the Grimm that were supposed to be really far away were about to reach the train. Two, the railcar stopped moving. He suddenly realized why the Faunus he killed was so confused when they heard that clicking noise. His own comrades left him behind.
And more importantly, what was that ticking noise?
Tick. Tick. Tick.
Ah, that could have just been the side effect of the drugs slowly wearing off, making him hear things that weren't real. At least, that would have been his poor attempt at explaining the problem. It would have worked, if he didn't have a PDA that, for some reason, forced the memory of the first railcar back into his thoughts as 'urgent'.
"Wait a minute."
The first wagon. All those seats. Packages under each seat. Packages. Ticking…
"..."
Tick. Tick. Tick.
"Oh, shi-"
Braylon heard the sound of something scraping against the metallic roof. He looked up and saw those purple-eyed monsters with open mouths ripping away the roof as if opening a can. Two of them also teleported inside the wagon, screaming and growling. He also heard the nearest Grimm.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
It wasn't time to fight. It was time to get the hell out of there. Braylon ran straight for the door, avoiding the long hands that tried to grab him, with only one managing to scratch him near the left shoulder. It hurt, but if he didn't ran then what would follow would hurt way worse. The PDA's screen repeatedly flashed a warning about his physical health. Legs began to feel heavy. He ignored it. If he stopped running, he would be dead.
Tick. Tick. Beep.
All of the wagons suddenly caught fire, expanded and exploded. Not only was the sound echoing for miles through the tunnel, it was also amplified enough that anyone caught close to the explosion became deaf, if they didn't die first. The force it emanated threw Braylon several meters forward like a ragdoll as the tunnel began collapsing. It was like being a witness to the end of the world.
First chapter in and we are already starting strong! Man, I feel pumped and excited already. Everyone is dying, the world is going to hell (may or may not be literal), bullets are flying everywhere! Absolute chaos! Just what is going on?! Keep being the loyal reader that you are (at least those who reached this chapter anyway; thanks if you are one of them btw) and you will soon have the pleasure to find out. Right, no time to talk. I have to start writing my next chapter.
Also, I am looking for a Beta. The reason is simple: increase the quality of the story.
There is no point in having ideas if you are unable to write them down. I think frequent visits to the library are already helping me. Found this one book called "Black Out" by Elsberg. I recommend it to everyone who is open to unorthodox way of following the plot.
Now I have to go. As always, please leave a comment with some feedback. It can help improving the story and increase my morale. It is something that every writer needs from time to time. Bye!
PDA Biopedia:
*Entry #111: Enderman
Type: Unknown – Riftspawn
Faction: Unknown
Description: "What a strange species this is. I feel wrong just looking at them. Definitely intelligent, that much is obvious, though I cannot understand the behavior. Why do they pick up random shit? Are they going to be a threat in the future? Only time will tell. Still better than those exploding green penises."
**Entry #112: Allegor
Type: Demon - Hero
Faction: Legions of Hell
Description: "Human, the enemy you just encountered infused his body with the essence of the Endermen, giving him unique powers. I think I understand why he did that. Most likely he was a subject to an experiment, to see if they could come up with a brand new weapon against the Doom Slayer. His first test would be an encounter with you. Make sure the results are different then what they expect them to be. And be careful."
***Entry #113: Death Stalker
Type: Grimm – Insect
Faction: Creatures of Grimm
Description: "I guess every group must have the tough guys that are really hard to bring down. According to professor Port, the Death Stalkers, even the smallest ones, have a type of armor that grows in toughness as the Grimm keeps growing. The largest specimens were immune to bullets and common weapons. Another special characteristic is the golden stinger, which is said to glow in the dark, thus attracting potential victims. Whatever the case, to me they are just another wall I have to bring down in a fight."