Edited as of (8/3/19)
PB: Da-Awesom-One
MISSED CALL
-Mariel Braun-
"So you think those stories about Trappers are true!?" Kelly shouted over his shoulder as we made our way through the sandstorm, his voice muffled as he covered his face to avoid the worst of it. "Say they bathe in the blood of their enemies! Former Huntsmen gone rogue! Ha!"
I just picked up the pace trying to ignore the banter. The storm was so fierce, it had actually started to hurt after just a few seconds, at least enough that we'd had to bump up our Aura's barrier, in any case, and was more than capable of scouring the bones off of an untrained Human.
'What sort of insanity would sway people into actually wanting to live out here!?'
"Will you just get that door open!?"
The broad-shouldered man shrugged to himself, shooting me a devilish grin as he keyed open the door with a hiss. "And pay attention! Keep your guard up!" He gave me another tiny smirk, the same he'd had back when we were still Team ALMD years back in Atlas.
The same that always seemed to win me over in the end...
"We're trained Specialists, handpicked by Ironwood himself for this mission! If anything, the Trappers, or whatever the hell's back here, should have their guards up!" He clapped his fists together with a small pulse of Aura that made me roll my eyes as I followed him inside, thankful for the short reprieve from the weather.
'Still, would a little paranoia on his part really hurt?'
His words did fill me with a certain confidence one would expect with the record we had. Be it Grimm, White Fang, or Red Hand, we were more than capable of taking on anything that came our way, and coming out ahead.
It was then I realized, at the same moment he did, the state of the car we found ourselves in. Trained reflexes and survival instinct rushed to the forefront as pistols leapt into my hands from the lining of my sleeves, my eyes scanning the space for the slightest sign of movement, while Kelly's arms were wrapped in a fierce orange light that burned like fire, and had his hair crackling like flames with barely-contained energy.
The cabin itself, a living quarter for off-duty crew, judging by the bunks, was now more charnel house than place of rest. Sheets, and even some bunk frames were rent and scattered about, as if the storm had somehow bypassed the thick steel walls and torn apart the inside. The crew and some soldiers - what was left of them, anyway - were similarly strewn about, broken, and, in many cases, charred, blood coating the walls and even parts of the ceiling.
"Bastards..." Kelly breathed low and measured, stepping further into the room, examining the body of a slain Atlesian, the youth's face a mask of horrified shock and pain as he clutched at his bleeding chest even in death. "This wasn't the work of a soldier. This... This is Grimm-worthy."
I could only nod my head in agreement, fearing I might vomit from the smell, even with my higher than average constitution. They certainly hadn't died well. They were likely taken by surprise. Even the guards and their drones, if a sparking AK-200 unit's head was any evidence. It had been fast...
A sudden intake of breath had me rounding in an instant, staring down my sights surprised at the quivering figure. A girl with long dark hair, which hung wildly about her face, clad in the baggy coveralls of an engine tech, which I noticed, even in the red light of the alarms, were covered literally in blood. "P-please..." she raised similarly blood-covered hands to shield herself, voice barely above a squeaking whimper. "Please d-don't hurt me! I-I...!" She dissolved into sobs, flinching away as I took a step forward, only to pause, Kelly's hands on my weapons.
"Mari, calm down. You're scaring her," he said firmly, relaxing his Aura as he approached. The woman cowered away from him, muttering apologies again and again, only seeming to relax when the energy about his arms faded, and he knelt down in front of her. "It's alright. We're Huntsmen. We're here to help. Are you hurt?"
Ansel always was the more empathetic of the two of us, knowing how to keep people calm in a crisis. It was one of his more endearing qualities. He genuinely cared. It's what had made him a good Huntsman, and had served him even more during his time as a Specialist. I busied myself with something slightly more useful, searching the car for any signs of who, or what had done this.
"N-no... It all happened so fast. Grayson was at the door, and suddenly he...! He...!" She broke down into his chest, shocking him with the sudden contact as he tried meekly to respond, glancing my way for aid. "I just... I-I just...!"
"Um... There, there. It's alright. You're safe now."
"Please... P-please..." She was hugging him closer now, like a child to a parent. The poor thing.
He patted her on the back awkwardly as he tried to look suitably heroic. I couldn't blame him. The girl was beautiful, if a bit on the young side, barely out of her teens. She looked like a student, really. There was also something... almost disarming about her. I couldn't quite explain it. How had she...?
The Scroll at my hip blinked with an abrupt whirring, my heart skipping a beat as I compressed and slid one of my pistols back up my sleeve, and practically tore the device off my belt in my haste to check the alarm I'd rigged, just in case the enemy managed to slip by us, or worse, managed to fight their way from the front. According to the Scroll, the AKs were in combat, and losing badly.
"Kelly, bring the girl if you can get her moving, but we need to... Kelly?" I turned around, surprised to find that the girl had vanished from sight, as if she'd never been there. Kelly was still on his knees, head slumped forward. "Hey, Kelly... Ansel, talk to me! Where'd she...!?"
In horror, I recoiled as my partner slumped forward, revealing an expression of stunned disbelief staring sightlessly above a new red smile carved across his throat, his front coated in his own blood. The emotional part of me was screaming, tears already running down my face as a man I'd loved since I was seventeen lay on the floor in front of me. Dead.
The rational part, however, the one tempered and forged by years of brutal experience, had my pistol back in hand before the dropped Scroll had even hit the floor, eyes scanning the immediate space, teeth clenched painfully.
"P-please... Please die for me." I spun with all the speed my Aura could afford me, firing off a handful of heavy shells in the direction of the sound, before something embedded itself in one of the mattresses I'd just filled with holes, letting loose a strobing glow more potent than a dozen suns, searing my retinas. I reeled, and suddenly she was there, covered in Hans' blood and vitae, all with a feral grin on her face. Like a predator leaping atop its prey, primed for the kill.
I brought a hand up, trying to focus through the pulsing pain, yet unable to get a clear shot. She weaved a hand towards the barrel, pushing the weapon aside to fire harmlessly into the ceiling, before grabbing my arm. Pain coursed through the limb beneath her grip, her fingers many times stronger than their delicate appearance suggested. The pistol clattered to the floor from numb fingers before the girl stabbed into my side with a shuriken. My Aura was unable to focus properly as the shock of Kelly's death, and the sudden searing pain in my swiftly-numbing arm, took their toll.
I wasn't out yet, however. Not by a long shot. I kicked her away fiercely to the floor, bringing other my weapon up to paste the little witch's skull to the wall, along with the others, I now realized, she must've killed.
'A trap!?... Hans dies to a damned TRAP!?'
My finger tightened around the trigger, so close to victory. But suddenly, I was assaulted with something completely unexpected. Sympathy... Concern for the individual in front of me, the malice I'd sensed gone, only to be replaced by the terrified girl we'd seen before, as if the two were totally separate of one another. It only gave me pause for but a moment, though, sadly, that was all she needed.
With one last pitiless smile, the girl pulsed with what could only have been Aura, and my side exploded, both literally and figuratively. The small bladed weapon she'd stabbed me with moments before detonated, destroying much of my chest and midsection in the process.
The pain was short lived, thankfully, my nerves already dulling as I lost whatever sensation I had beneath my neck, reducing the excruciating experience to a dull, if constant ache in seconds. Nothing worked right. I couldn't feel my body, like a puppet with its stings cut, though I could still sense something draining... My consciousness dimmed with each passing moment...
I didn't watch as she picked herself off the floor, and plucked up my discarded Scroll with a short "tsk" as the screen was covered in the blood on her hands... I didn't hear her laugh as "Carson did his job..." No... I just stared into Kelly's face, feeling more afraid than I ever had in my life...
Soon... I wouldn't feel much of anything at all...
-Benjamin Carson-
I've witnessed Joel Ambrose in combat dozens of times before. In training, on assignments against the beasties, and more than a few of his sparing matches with Max or others. And when they so often happened, I always placed a safe bet on him coming out ahead.
All in all, I should probably have a good read of him. Especially considering the fact that, at one point, I still thought he might turn on us, and had done my best to learn all I could about his rather direct fighting style. I should have at least been able to hold my ground.
'Yeah, right...'
I grimaced swiftly, ducking to one knee to avoid a spinning swing from Psycho's weapon, feeling the rush of air as its blade passed mere millimeters above my hair, only to have roll flailing back to avoid an outstretched palm strike that could have ended the fight right there, sparks flitting across its surface my skin in places.
I'd seen him fight, yes... But watching him go through the motions, and actually fighting against the white-haired bastard were completely different things entirely. A fact that had become abundantly clear the second after this fight had begun and I'd already taken about a half dozen strikes.
'Guy's a godsdamn monster!'
My sides, arm, and the left side of my jaw were already numb just from blocking alone, the man's Semblance making every hit feel like a follow-up from a stun gun. This on top of everything else from bruised bones, to what felt like pulled muscles. And that creaking...gods, is he punching through my bad arm?
'Ah hell!? So fast, and that force...!?'
I threw myself to the side to avoid a back swing that grazed my Aura by a hair's length and left a sizable dent in the side of an iron brace in the offing, the smug killing machine having the gall to stretch his wrist and flex his fingers afterwards, bouncing in place, storm blue eyes fixed on mine with harmful intent.
'Yeah, eyes on me...not for long!'
My own hand and tugged a glass vial from one of the pouches at my belt, and tossing it to the floor at his feet, the container shattering in a sudden cloud of billowing, purple, foul-smelling smoke that filled the cabin in an instant, much to the Huntsman's alarmed cursing.
'...heh, I've got my fair share of tricks, too!'
The concoction was an old Badlands blend for the momentary quick getaway. It was moderately effective against Grimm, though too disruptive for anything but a fully-coordinated team capable of navigating it.
Keying my goggles to heat tracking, I clenched my teeth, the former Trapper showing up clear as day in a haze of red, hunched over while coughing into his palm as his head twitched about wildly. Sidestepping from my original position as softly as I could, I raised my pistol reluctantly towards his legs, finger on the trigger, and...
'SHIT!? Is he even human!?'
I don't know if it was the rustle of my poncho, or the short exhale of breath as I fired that gave me away, but the Huntsman's head twisted towards my direction the instant I pulled the trigger, jerking to the side, forcing a clean miss that cratered the side of the crate.
'Are you serious!?'
Placing my incredulity aside, I fired again and again, his staff almost seeming alive as it spun in his hands and weaved to deflect whatever shots the guy wasn't avoiding himself, all the while he charged at me, intent on closing the distance, where he would hold the advantage. Something I wasn't about to let happen. Not if I could help it, anyway.
Really, the only three things that were keeping me in the game past the first minute was the fact that, despite his earlier words, the big guy hadn't been fighting all out. 'He's kept the knives tucked away, at least...' Another reason was that I had way better eyes, my Draw giving me just enough time to read my opponent before he could move, and respond to it in kind.
'Problem is...' I rolled out of the way of a falling staff, squeezing off a few shots before he was on me again and again. Weaving or deflecting my punches, turning each block into another hit cracking against flesh or metal at speeds it took my Semblance to notice let alone respond too... 'I'm havin' trouble keepin' it up!'
Slowing things down like this was hard enough just to squeeze off a single perfect shot. Using it repeatedly in bursts like this was taxing on a whole different level, while Ambrose didn't even seem winded. Knocking aside a metal punch before turning the defensive action into a strike that knocked the air from my lungs that became an elbow smacking up underneath my chin.
Block into counter, counter into strike, then back again from the top in a myriad of formless unpredictable motions at lightning pace.
'Just put me a few thousand yards away, and we'll see how this plays ou...!' The Huntsman paused mid-strike, leaping back, before raising a bladed edge towards me. 'Crap!' I pushed my Aura to the limit, forcing my head to the side to avoid the blade shooting forth from the staff like a silvery bullet, watching as the blade pierced the far wall of the car, trailing a long silvery wire behind it. That was way too close.
Then I realized the wire had gone taut... "Give me a friggin' break!"
I looked back to see the Huntsman sliding fast towards me, dragged along by the rapidly retracting line. I tried to bring my weapon up, but I couldn't get a clear shot, the large man barreling into me with a high-speed knee to the chin that put me on the metallic floor gasping for air from pinked teeth, my head pounding.
Next thing I knew, I had a bladed point digging into my throat, and a tall shadow standing over me. "Just stop this already, Ben. Please." Psycho ordered, digging his foot into my chest even harder, ribs creaking under the pressure. "By the blood...We don't need to do this!"
"T-then don't! Just back off, and lemme take the damn thing!" Ambrose spared a glance towards the large briefcase that I'd been forced to drop after a few seconds, along with the main body of my weapon if I was to have a hope of winning in mobility. "Reika's life depends on it! Doesn't that mean anything to you!?"
"Of course, it does!" He shouted back angrily, his hand gripping his weapon just a bit tighter. "But you told me that the Red Hand - specifically a Trapper named Virgil - put you up to this, with her as bait! But I know him! I can tell you now that if you don't succeed, Reika might be harmed, but not if she has a use to him! On the other hand, I know for a fact that if Virgil and those like him get their hands on this, people will die! Probably by the thousands, if not tens of thousands!" The words drawn through gritted teeth. "I can't weigh all of those lives against hers! I won't!"
"And what if it was Blondie bein' held captive, huh!? Or your brother!? What would you do then!?" I countered, making him hesitate slightly, and lose focus just long enough for me to take my chance. Grabbing the staff in my artificial arm, I forced it to the side and yanked, pulling him down with it as he tried to hold on, while my other arm raised the pistol in my hand.
Joel was damn good, and in any normal fight at this range, he would've had me dead to rights. But one fact still remained that played to my advantage. 'I was much better at fightin' dirty...'
He saw the move coming, of course, already letting go of the weapon, and knocking the pistol away from his face in a blow that almost dislocated my wrist. Exactly how I wanted him to, the weapon now right next to his ear. "Sorry 'bout this, Boss. I really am," I apologized, even as I squeezed the trigger, and fired one off inches from his head with a *CRACK.*
As planned Trapper let out a pained cry, stumbling back off balanced while pawing at his ear. Tossing his Storm Circuit away, I scrambled towards a patch of railing designed to keep some of the large boxes in place, tearing away a long pipe with one sharp augmented pull, and tossing it into my fleshy hand.
'Hollow... Perfect...'
Joel recovered faster than I expected however, making a run for his weapon, but doubled over again as I slammed the bar down hard on my metal limb. A keening wail vibrating throughout the space from the contact, and had him writhing around groaning. A nerve pulsing above his eye, teeth gritted as he tried and failed to block the ringing hum.
Even I hadn't expected it to be quite this effective.
"Like I said, sorry," I repeated with genuine remorse, dashing forward before my teammate could find his bearings, using my metal appendage to knock him aside like a rag doll with Aura-enhanced strength. The former Trapper grunting as he slammed up against the wall, reeling once more as I brought the impromptu bell toll down against a large pipe next to me with a deafening *CLANG.*
"Bloody little...!" Joel spat a glob of blood from his mouth and clutched at his skull, shaking his head out as the sound disoriented him. "THAT HURTS, DAMN IT!"
His hand shot up, my Semblance the only thing that allowed me to bring up the pipe to knock away the knife sailing for my throat with a burst of Aura that almost put me on the ground from exhaustion.
In that short time, the former Trapper had already bounced off the wall and was on top of me, avoiding my awkward swing easily. Blue eyes flashing as he brought a bone-shifting haymaker crashing into my side like a hammer that made me drop pipe and pistol both, gasping. My Aura flared up in an attempt to divert the worst of the electricity, though it still felt as though every nerve in my body was on fire.
Another two more punches to the pressure points in my leg and tendon and a final three to my sternum and I felt my knees begin to buckle. Stumbling forward, I tried to push him away, but the white-haired Huntsman shook out his head, stepping back of his own accord.
"Agh... Son of a bitch... W-where'd you learn that nasty little trick?" he asked, swaying somewhat with a small smile on his face to mask the irritation.
"Goodwitch's class, when that Mercury kid put ya on your ass, hehe..." I laughed. Even that little action made me want to vomit, my arm's fingers jerking as my flagging Aura tried to compensate. "Should've remembered it makes ya go all kill mode... My bad."
"It sure gets points for ingenuity, using your arm like that. You really are a clever one, aren't you?" a light voice crooned softly from behind me. Looking around, I saw Sienna stepping from the shadows, red hair disheveled, and light green eyes glinting in the fluorescent lighting of the car, juggling the head of one of the newer drone models between her hands deftly. "I, for one, am very impressed."
Even from a few dozen feet away, I could easily tell she just felt... different, somehow. Rather than comforted at seeing her okay, my heart was pounding ice water into my veins. Something was wrong. Dreadfully wrong.
"Sienna?... What're you...?"
She stepped further into the light, bringing the dark red stains dotting her clothes - which weren't the ones she had when we got here, I might add - into stark relief, even as she tossed the head aside, picking up Psycho's weapon to examine it in her hands. Her bloodstained hands...
"Hey, wait up, you're...!" My breath caught in my throat. The blood... It wasn't hers. None of it was. "You're... W-what's goin' on?"
She ignored me, striding forward until she was beside me, mouth curved in the same smile I'd seen when I was consoling her. But this one was still different. It was darker, and so terrifyingly cold. The eyes that had been so afraid now were sharp and focused, like a predator, and fixed on...
I glanced at Joel, who stood staring at the young Huntress in a mixture of disbelief, sadness, and... fear? 'Not just fear... The guy's terrified!'
"Heeey, Joel!" she purred, like the name was velvet on her tongue, her smile widening at the sweat dripping down his face as cool green met uncertain blue. "Long time no see! Been at least a whole year, right?"
"...Liz..."
-Maxine Argus-
"Gah! Stop running so I can hit you already!" I shouted in frustrated anger as my axe passed through thin air yet again, narrowly avoided by the slippery asshole, who was darting around the room like a fly that wouldn't just let you squish it. My axe suddenly felt weightless as I brought it around to block the broad-headed arrow flying towards the small of my back.
"Would anyone in their right mind actually listen to that!?" he called back snidely, eyes narrowing as he fired off two arrows at once. One deflected harmlessly off of Cerberus' blade, while the other tore a gash in my leg. "Why don't you just be a good dog, and play dead!" My resulting cry blasted him off his feet with the force of a small semi-truck, putting him on the ground in a bedraggled heap, stunned as what appeared to be the very air itself was fighting him. "W... W-what the hell are you, you monster!?"
I threw the axe in reply, the blade likely hitting home, if it hadn't been for a sudden, jerking motion of the train that threw me off balance.
'What the!? We're speeding up!?"
"Thanks for the save, commander." Robert - or "Arrow Bitch" in my mind - got to his feet, with a shit-eating grin likely plastered behind that mask, judging by his visible eyes. To my brief joy, though, it seemed to have faded as quickly as it had come. "...You drew Ambrose and that one-armed blonde rat to the cargo cabin!? But that's where...! You promised me a shot at the traitor, Virgil! A very personal shot! That wasn't the deal!"
'One-armed blonde?... Carson's here!?'
And judging by how this guy was talking, he was wrapped up in all of this, same as the rest of us. I cut him off as he stared wide-eyed at my axe flying to my hand, gripping the handle so tightly, I could hear the metal start giving way, threatening to snap entirely.
"What do you mean by that!?"
"W-what do you... It matters little, but that bastard killed my brother, and I want my...!"
"Not that! I couldn't give less of a shit about whatever pissing contest you have going on with my partner! I want to know why it's so important that he and Carson are in the cargo cabin! Answer me!"
Unfortunately, it seemed my little rant had only pissed him off further, as well as the laughter I could only just hear over his earpiece, yellow eyes blazing as he drew back his bowstring, three red Dust-tipped arrows in hand.
"You degenerate scum! DIE!" he screamed loudly enough to bruise my eardrums, firing with the intent to kill... and freezing as the arrows hovered in place a foot away from him, before dropping harmlessly to the ground. At least I thought they did, before they exploded, sending the Trapper flying back to hit the wall with a crash, slumping to the floor stunned, or unconscious, with what was definitely a busted leg.
'What else did he expect? Compared to blocking that Paladin, catching a few piddily arrows is child's play... Should try and figure out the mix for those arrows, though. That blast was impressive.' I thought triumphantly, before remembering the wounded cat in the corner, now a lot paler, with his head hanging limply to the side. 'Crap, Bastet!'
"Hey! Wakey wakey, c'mon!" I was at his side in an instant, bending down to slap at his face, relieved to hear him cough weakly, his eyes opening slowly. "That's it! You're gonna be okay now." I called out over my shoulder, trying to get the soldiers I'd left behind's attention. "Hey, we got wounded in here!"
"D-doesn't feel 'okay...'" he wheezed, a weak grin on his face before moving a hand to his side. "Your bedside manner sucks a bi... Ah!"
"Try not to move too much, but keep pressure on it," I ordered sternly, trying to draw on what limited medical training I had to see what I could do. My specialty was not exactly stopping pain. The arrow had pierced his side, but thankfully it didn't look like it had hit anything too vital, at least. The bleeding looked to have either stopped, or slowed.
'Which is good, right? Bleeding's generally bad, I think. Maybe... Damn it.'
"This'll hurt a bit, sorry." I fought down the shivering impulse as I tipped him forward to check his back, the Faunus grunting in pain at the sudden motion.
'C'mon, get a hold of yourself, Maxine!'
A blood-covered arrowhead was sticking out somewhat, but seemed to be blocking the worst of the bleeding, and seemed whole enough. No shards, then, at least none that I could see. "Okay, I'm no doctor..."
"R-really? Never would've guessed." He paled even more at the glare, muttering a rushed apology before I continued.
"Like I was saying, I'm no doctor, but I'm pretty sure things will only get worse if I try to take it out. Still, you should have a decent shot of making it, at least."
"Yeah... Ah!... M-maybe... Maybe I'll leave that call to the medic... But I-I appreciate the diagnosis..." He coughed lightly, glancing forlornly at his not-so-lucky crewmates. "I better be making hazard pay for this mess... What happened to the Trapper? He dead?"
"Not so much, animal... But her friends definitely are going to be soon, if not already... Just need them distracted for just a bit longer..." a low voice called from the other end of the room, the Trapper having torn of his mask to glare menacingly at the two of us. "Would've preferred putting him down myself, but as long as he goes, I guess I can learn to live with it."
"What're you...!?" I started, getting to my feet, axe in hand, just in case this guy was going to somehow stay in the fight, but it seemed he was good and stuck. The mad smile didn't leave his face, though.
"Better get back there soon if you want to catch one last glimpse. 'Cause you aren't seeing either of your mates again, dog!"
I snapped, the next few minutes a flurry of screams and pain that left the man on the ground whimpering loudly, and me rushing out as soon as the medics arrived, pushing my Aura to the limit in an attempt to reach those idiots in time.
'It's a trap! It was always a trap!'
The mission had had three major objectives, according to what Lancaster had been told.
1. Obtain the prototype using the subject acquired the night before, while using his friend as leverage. Scuttle the train's cargo car.
2. Subdue and abduct Faraday. Unharmed, if at all possible.
3. Kill the traitor, Joel Ambrose, on sight.
"Shit!" I snarled, barreling through a pair of hapless soldiers too slow on the uptake. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT!"
I was in such a hurry, I didn't stay behind to see the smirk building across the little shit's bloody face as he pressed a small detonator in his sleeve.
"Gotcha..."
-Joel Ambrose-
(LOCATION UNKNOWN – Several Months Ago)
"Trapper Ambrose, take a left at the fork up ahead at the door on the immediate right," an artificial-sounding voice called into the earpiece as I moved through the uniform matte grey halls, doing my best to follow its directions. Rounding the corner, I found a pair of surprised White Fang guards in the door-lined corridor, accompanied by a larger bastard toting a big gun around on his hip. "Eliminate targets properly before proceeding. Marking." Small red triangles appeared on my H.U.D, located on the chest of each contact directly overlaying their hearts. "Proceed."
"Really? So glad you marked them for me!" I grunted, dispatching the smaller two with a pair of knives and a quick charge from my Semblance, even as I charged the big guy, who was still struggling with the strap of his gun, beady black eyes attempting to follow my weaving form.
'Way too slow!'
"Happy to oblige, Trapper Ambrose," Locke replied, the sarcasm tinging my voice lost upon the so called "intelligence," even as I swept the big Faunus' legs out from under him, silencing him with a quick stab from Circuit right to the marked heart, treated silver easily piercing the cheap armor he wore. "Please proceed ahead on the highlighted route post-haste."
A yellow line marked out my path, leading behind a large metal door that a minor application of Aura let me kick off its hinges. The other side revealed another long corridor, along with an imposing, plate-armored form even bigger than the corpse behind me hefting a massive hammer over his shoulders.
'Crap...'
"Greetings, Trapper!" He brought the weapon around, slamming the head to the ground with enough force to crack the concrete at his feet. "Are you ready to meet your death, as so many of your comrades have before you!?"
"Little overdramatic, aren't you?" I mocked, taking a quick stock of my opponent, noticing the bloody head of the weapon he held, which likely pointed to why Third Squad had gone dark a few minutes back. He was a Boar, or a similar type of Faunus, judging by the tusks protruding from his Grimm-like helmet, and a full head taller than me, with enough bulk and metal to fill the hallway with ease, making my lean form almost childish in comparison.
"It's strength of spirit that matters in a fight between Aura users, not the strength of body. A bigger opponent just means more weight to throw around. Weight to be exploited."
Mom's old combat teachings rang sharply in my head, giving me small measures of relief, and hellish fury in turn. The lesson had taken place back before my growth spurt, when I was just a pipsqueak going up against those titans in sparring courses, the bigger lugs having taken a liking to throwing me around.
'And still useful even today.' I grinned beneath the mask I wore, assuming a low stance with my staff held before me. 'Guy like this, must be some sort of big shot with all that fancy armor... Let's take him down a peg, shall we?'
"You'll pay for your insolence with your life, Human!"
He charged, thundering towards me with a speed that belied his armor's weight. Definitely an Aura user, then. Sprinting at him head on, I tossed a trio of knives his way, the sharpened silver bouncing harmlessly off his armor in a shower of sparks.
"Hah! You'll need more than toothpicks like those to pierce my hide!" he bellowed, bringing his hammer around in a swing that would've taken my head off my shoulders if I'd been a second slower, which cratered the wall, sending shrapnel clattering off my Aura. "You're faster than you look! I like it!"
"Like hearing yourself talk, huh!? Dead men shouldn't speak!" I replied, compressing Circuit into its dual knives form, sliding past him to strike at his hamstring, but found it was just as heavily armored.
'New plan, then. Where's he got no armor?'
I dodged another close swing, having to leap to avoid him crushing me with his bulk alone. I used the opening to dart behind him, and relied on my Aura to slam him face first into the wall with a monumental grunt of effort and straining muscle that surprised him, certainly.
His armor was full-bodied and spiked to keep my hands off, so my Conduction was out the window, and only the joints lacked the protection. All targets in motion made my knives a bit of a problem, especially in close quarters like this.
"Spirited! I like it!" He reached out, grabbing a fistful of my hood, before slamming me into the wall hard enough that I saw stars. I fell to my knees, coughing while he stood over me, weapon raised high in execution style. "But this is the end! DIE!"
I saw my chance, and took it with pleasure, curling up on a knee, and pushing outward, stabbing for his throat even as the staff extended outwards again, the blade piercing upwards through the small slit between helmet and gorget, and stabbing deep into the jugular. The giant let out a wet gurgle of pained surprise as he reached for the staff. His weapon fell with a loud *thump* while his body was held up only by my own strength, though even with my Aura, the guy was a heavy bastard.
"Told you," I whispered, modified voice sounding demonic even to my ears. Aura was a damn good armor when used right, but like any protection, it had its weak spots. Most included were the eyes, joints, and underneath the jaw, surprisingly enough.
Gripping my staff tightly, I let out a grunt of effort as I hefted the dead weight before me, peeking behind the body at the bulky door beyond. "Alert the others that I've reached the central control room. Have them converge here."
"Most assuredly, Trapper Ambrose. Good luck."
That synth voice was way too cheery for this type of work. The nature of it being very bloody and frightening, at least for the uninitiated. The White Fang troops attempting to barricade themselves inside the room learned that all too well when I crashed through, body in tow, flattening a pair of hapless guards where they stood with a squelch.
"COMMANDER!"
"Sir, no!... NO!"
"Kill him! Kill the Trapper! Long live the White Fang!"
I looked down at the body, even as the guards rallied themselves. I merely whistled to myself as they charged me with swords, and a host of other weapons in hand. 'Huh, so he was the one in charge?... Nice!' I let out a vicious battle cry, dashing forward with my staff weaving and stabbing to and fro, knives flying with abandon, each finding their mark...
"I can't do this anymore, Joel! We can't do this anymore. Look what they've done to you! Think about what you're doing!"
I closed her words out, faltering a step, and almost taking an axe to the gut for it. 'You don't need her. She rejected you, even though everything you've done was because of...!'
At the corner of my vision, I saw my comrades enter the room at a full tilt. Virgil, a force of nature, carved any soldier that came too close to ribbons in moments, both swords in hand. Briar, meanwhile...
"Having fun!?" she laughed, flipping over one of the terminals, leaving two burned out troopers in her wake as her hands shot forward again, taking two more down. They clutched at their throat as she let loose her little throwing blades, which she called her "Thorns." "'Cause you better...! Ambrose, watch your back!"
I reacted a moment too slow, feeling the edge of a bladed weapon skate across my Aura, and thud across my back. My barrier held, but the blow still sent me forward with a cry of pain. Rage coursed through my system at the lapse, the mistake of getting distracted... Spinning around, I swung my weapon blindly in a wide arc with a snarl. The sudden warmth of something wet splashing against my mask, followed a pained cry, signaled an end to the unlucky fool that had thought to catch me off guard, all while another's hand scrabbled away at my shin, my boot square on his neck before a sharp jerk put an end to his struggling.
The rest of the fight from there had been flurry of screams, steel, and blood, with the three of us alone left standing at the end... Well, Virgil and I were standing. Briar was perched on the side of a console, kicking her feet idly.
"Hell of a party, this go around. Some of them even managed to put up a decent fight."
"Certainly bracing," Virgil added conversationally, almost as if he were commenting on the weather, and not the carnage. His faceless mask glanced my way as I stormed for the exit, sparks literally flying off me as I let my anger go. "And special commendations to Joel for taking the leader's hea...!"
"I don't want to hear it!"
"Better leave him alone, Virg. Boy's probably just pissed that he let a no-name grunt sneak up on him... Or maybe he's still sore 'cause his little girlfriend dum... Watch it!"
She fell back to avoid the knife that sailed above her, by only an inch at that. She rolled into cover behind a terminal, as a shuriken ejected itself from her wrist guard, and formed in her hand. It was one of her Thorns, and an ice type at that, judging by the glowing white crystal present in the center. She glowed with a steadily shifting Aura. "You wanna go, Ambrose!? Fine! Marigold isn't here to save your ass this time!"
"Bring it!" My hands went to my sides, Aura flaring as the world entered that sense of vibrancy yet again, ready to draw more knives, and finally spit the spiteful little...
"Calm yourselves, the both of you!" The field commander stepped between us, a sword raised to either side pointed at the two of us, his face front and center, though I was well aware that he was more than capable of keeping "eyes" on the both of us simultaneously. Judging by the uncomfortable prickling on the back of my neck, he most certainly was. "We've won. There's no use fighting amongst ourselves, is there?" That's when he turned to each of us, drawing on just enough Aura to sense, and make it clear that if we didn't stop, he would make us stop.
'Damn it...!' I stowed my weapons and let my Aura fade, the world feeling just a little bit darker. I glared at the other Trapper one last time, before marching from the room.
"C-congratulations on your mission, sir! Fun night ahead?" one of the braver recruits spoke up as I stalked past them in the hall while heading to the barracks, bottles in hand. He paled visibly when I looked back to face him, before his smarter fellows dragged him off, and muttering as if I couldn't hear them.
"Damn Trappers... Practically worse than the animals..."
"Inhuman, the lot of them."
"The hell were you thinking? That lot's twitchier than Grimm!"
I'd heard worse in my time since joining, though thankfully the mask or my height usually did a good job scaring them off. But of course, you always had the newbies or the overconfident types who couldn't keep their mouths shut. According to Virgil, I was too lax with them, and needed to enforce more respect.
"What would our parents think, Joel? We can't...!" I snarled loudly as Natalie's voice rang trough my skull, sending the trio scrambling away, probably thinking it was because of them.
Sighing, I lowered my hood and tore the mask off, taking the first breath of fresh non-filtered air I'd had in what felt like months. I took a long draft from one of my prizes, grimacing at the harsh taste, and how my stronger than average Aura immediately leapt to work on trying to burn away the edge.
'This is gonna be a long night...'
I ran a hand through my short-cut white hair as I moved through the base, earning my fair share of looks either due to the bottles or how young I was. At least until they saw the mask hanging at my belt, and backed off. Being a Trapper was hard and dangerous work, but at least we had a few perks, including the power to clear some officer's barracks for some personal space.
'Well... Not officially. But I'd love to see the guy that says no...' I chuckled, the gallows humor quickly dying as my back ached painfully. 'The hell is wrong with me?'
I was almost back in the general emptiness of my room when I heard something echoing in the room across from mine... A sound I'd never thought I'd hear in a place like this, especially considering who that room belonged to. Crying - sobs so quiet, I probably would have missed them if my Aura wasn't acting up on its own - were being issued from Elizabeth Briar's quarters. Briar, the same girl who could torture smugglers and White Fang soldiers without blinking an eye. The one person that had dogged me throughout training, especially after the incident with...
"What do you...!? A-Ambrose!?"
I finally came back to myself mid-knock on open air, surprised to find myself standing in front of a shocked and confused-looking Briar. Her hair and face were damp, as if she'd just hopped out of the shower, though she probably just washed it in the sink to hide the stains and excuse her eyes. She was wearing little more than overlarge purple and black patterned shirt and short shorts, her armor and what little additions she'd added to it strewn about haphazardly around the space. Her mask lay next to the door, as if it had been thrown.
"Remnant to Ambrose! There any particular reason you're moping about on my doorstep!?" Unsurprisingly, her voice didn't shake at all, though I could tell by the slight red in her eyes I hadn't just been hearing things.
'The masks we wear, huh?'
Not having much mind to formulate a decent answer, I just held up the bottles, giving her a rueful look as I clicked them together. "Shame to drink alone, don't you think? Need the company?" She stared at them and then to me, mouth opening, before pursing into a thin line as she realized what had drawn me here, looking angrier at herself more than anything else.
"No... But it's not like I had much else to do tonight. And if you're offering..." She pulled me in by the lip of my chest plate, checking the hall as she did so, even as she slipped a drink from my hand,
'Always was faster than me... At least Fortuna always said so, anyway.'
"...And I've always wanted to know, if his Semblance really is as powerful as he says, does that mean the guy can see through clothes!?" a red-faced Briar wondered aloud, tossing back an empty bottle to join the pile, apparently digging into her own stock tonight to keep the night going. It was an hours-long affair, spent complaining about assignments, superiors we didn't like, etc. "I mean, it's possible, right!?" She glanced at her clothes nervously. "He could be watching me right now!"
"Not sure if he can, or not. Hard to believe he'd spend time on it, though. He seems like the type that has better things to do," I chuckled, swishing around the contents of my glass.
"He doesn't seem the type, but you see, that's how he gets you!" she joked, giving me a good shove that threatened to send me off the bunk when she saw me laughing. "Shut up! I'm seriously tempted to report his ass to the Commander. Even the thought's giving me the creeps."
"You're drunk."
"Nope, just delightfully buzzed." She fell back on the bed, kicking the air and giggling to herself.
I shrugged, tugging at the collar of the tank top undershirt I'd been wearing beneath my armor, having thrown the chest piece aside, and had the upper layer zipped down and hanging at my belt "Good luck with that. Let me know how it goes."
She nodded, curling up so that her chin rested on her knees, hair littered around her face. "...Y-you didn't have to do this, Joel," she murmured shakily, staring at the mask sitting across the room. "I didn't want your charity, or your pity."
"Wasn't offering much of either, but Marigold asked me to keep an eye on you for her, so that's what I'm doing." The young girl broke out into a fit of giggles, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "Nosy bitch" before falling silent again. "So... you gonna fill me in, or do I have to guess?"
"...It's Edward..." she said after a few moments, arms clutching at her knees a little bit tighter. "He made Trapper today... Passed his final test with flying colors, or that's what they're saying at least."
"Oh..."
Damn. No wonder she was stressed. The girl had almost gone AWOL a few months back when she'd been informed her little brother had been accepted as a trainee. She'd been reprimanded, and his status pushed through regardless. But she'd never given up the hope that something might go wrong, and he'd be denied.
'Though considering his circumstances, that might've been too much to hope for.'
I shivered, a move that didn't go unnoticed by the other agent, her eyes narrowing. "I'm sorry."
"Idiots... He shouldn't be anywhere near combat, especially with a condition like his!" she growled venomously. "But instead of helping him, they're taking advantage of it!"
"...Have you tried appealing to the...?" I closed my mouth before I could finish the dumb question. Of course she'd appealed to the Commander on this. She was the one that brought Eddy's "issue" to them in the first place, looking for help.
"...I never wanted this life for him," she lamented, grabbing for another glass I'd just poured, downing the contents in one go before trying to disappear into the folds of her shirt. "I joined up because it was the only way they'd risk taking him in. They said my abilities, once developed, would be uniquely useful to the organization. I.E., they just needed someone good at lying, but skilled enough to get out of a sticky situation."
"Well, you've got the lying bit down, at least..." I said, trying to steer the subject away from where it had fallen. "You managed to convince me you were this sad, in-over-your-head trainee that stumbled into the training, remember? Managed to fool me into using myself as bait for those traps, so you could pass with flying colors."
And earned me a nice gash across the thigh I still carried today.
She laughed into her knee, gazing mischievously at me. "That supposed to hurt? Can't help who I am, Ambrose, especially if it gets me far. At least I'm proud to admit it, unlike you."
"I beg your pardon?..."
"One of the main reasons I hated your guts, even after you took me down in front of the instructor and almost got us all washed out, was the thought that you could be a real monster if you just slipped the leash Natalie had on you. That you could be someone to admire as an equal."
"Huh?" I raised an eyebrow. "And what do you mean by that, exactly?"
"Think about it, big guy." She wrapped a fist on her head. "You say you joined up to avenge your parents, but it was really to keep Corbell out of trouble, wasn't it?" I stiffened as I sensed rather than saw her eyes on me, feeling her Aura shift again to one of intimidation and control. She'd always been good at playing people. It was that, rather than just her own skills in a fight, that made her terrifying and dangerous. "Problem was, once you got a taste for blood, she saw the real you. Wasn't so happy, then, was she? Little Nattie got scared of the big, bad wolf in sheep's clothing."
"Shut up..." I spoke dangerously, but she wasn't intimidated. She never was. "I'm not just some killer that...!"
"Of course you are! We all are!" she shouted back at me, crouched over me in an instant, having pushed me back, her finger pressed deeply and painfully into my chest. "Put whatever grand notion or goals you like to try and justify it like the others, but don't fool yourself into thinking you're some hero for justice, fighting to protect the weak innocents from the scary White Fang! Not after some of the things we've pulled."
"So what do you suggest!?" I still had enough instinct to grab at her arm before she could pull back, flipping our positions. I managed to pin both arms to the mattress, feeling her words like physical punches to the gut as I leaned in close, my Aura sparking. "I get to be the villain in my own mind, while those monsters keep spouting off equality, tormenting innocent people, and even other Faunus if they get in their way!? How is that any better!?"
"Being the villain's all a matter of perspective, isn't it?" she said calmly, verdant eyes staring up at me. Really looking at me. Even her Aura had settled into some measure of stability. It wasn't deceptively calming, or a trick. Just natural, truthful... And beautiful. "Believe what you want. As for me, I'm going to keep doing what I do best: lying and killing monsters just like the Huntsmen. Either until we make it so that Remnant doesn't need us anymore, or 'til they crack, and give us medals for saving them the trouble of doing it themselves. Whichever comes first."
She grinned, leaning upwards, molding her body to mine pulling me down with her, my heart pulsing in my ears with every ragged breath as I felt her lips nip at my cheek playfully, moving steadily towards my ear.
I could stop this here, and push her away. Activate my Semblance, and pretend this night never happened. Go my own way... But I didn't want it to stop.
"So... what are you going to do, Joel? You gonna finally slip the leash?..."
(Present Day)
"Ben, get away from her right now!" I called to my teammate as she drew closer, pushing down the well of fear that rose up for later, even as my hand went for a knife, focusing on just how to get out of this.
'Of course she'd be here! Why wouldn't she!?' It was unmistakable. Even though the disguise changed her appearance, not to mention that annoying Semblance, I couldn't help but see her through it. 'Not like she was trying too hard to hide, anyway. A decent wig and different makeup. Just enough to fool Ben into going along with her!'
"'L-Liz?'" the rogue stammered, backing away warily, having picked up on the atmosphere. "You two... You know each other!? Sienna...!?"
The fake redhead looked his way with an apologetic smile on her face that didn't fool anybody. "Right. I'm sorry we were never properly introduced, but I had to keep up appearances for the job. You understand, right?"
Ben's eyes widened, looking to me, then back to her in shocked disbelief.
"Besides, you looked like you were having so much fun being the hero, I almost didn't want to have to break it to you. 'Oh please, Ben, won't you save my little sister? I can't do it without you! She must be so scared!'" she pleaded, her voice the same yet, completely different in tone, as everything about her changed down to how she felt, exactly like a mask. Even I felt a twinge at my heartstrings, and I was used to the act. "...Elizabeth Briar. Trapper Agent, and very close friend of your leader over there." She shot me a coy wink. "Sorry to disappoint you, but you've played this game before, right? Nothing personal."
"Nothi... Nothin' personal!? I'll show you 'nothin',' you little...!" He brought his pistol to bear on her, but hesitated just a second as she smiled at him, just long enough for her to weave inside his guard, strip him of his weapon, and then toss him like a rag doll against the side of a heavy metal crate with a crash. "Damn it... You bitch!... Ack!" She silenced him with a harsh kick across the face, raising his own pistol to his skull as she turned to face me, watching the knife that had appeared in my hand.
"Uh, uh, uh!... Put that away, or Handsome here loses two of the few redeeming qualities he's got left," she threatened softly, smiling as I did as she asked, before pointing Circuit my way. "And the spare; the one in your glove. Come on now." I frowned, tossing the spare aside reluctantly. "And the other one."
'That dirty...!' I internally screamed as I did as she asked.
"There, see? Doesn't that feel better?"
"Liz, listen to me!" I cried as she walked over to the metal case, kicking aside Ben's rifle, which eliciting a groan of anger from the blonde, before looking her prize over. "You want me dead, fine! Just get it over with!"
"Ambrose!" the sniper gasped, but I trailed on, ignoring him. He made to stand, but the infiltrator made sure he sat back down with a shake of the pistol in her hand.
"But you have to know what'll happen if that thing leaves this train! How many people are going to die, especially if Virgil really is the one behind all this! You can't honestly expect me to believe you're okay with that thing going off!?"
"I am, actually. And hopefully, it takes out a lot of White Fang when it does, and even more as we keep making them. Once the newbie gets off his ass, and fetches our doctor, that is." She looped my weapon in her belt and bent down, struggling to pick up the case, before applying her Aura to the task. "They won't be able to ignore us anymore after we pop off a few of th...!"
A blast split the air, threatening to send us all off balance as the front half of the car buckled, an explosion separating us from the rest of the train, along with a few more towards the back. The train which slowly trundled on ahead, while we lost speed.
'Blast!'
"That... That idiot set them off!?" she snarled angrily, before realizing I was already in motion, dropping the pistol as I jumped at her. Her wrist guard spat out a small circular throwing star with a Dust crystal inlaid inside, and tossed it, the weapon just grazing my Aura overhead as I ducked, leaving a great patch of ice as it exploded behind me.
Before I could get a good hold of her, however, she twisted away, just out of reach, and slammed the heavy case into my side with a blow that sent me further into the train, right next to Ben.
"It's too early! Damn it, Lancaster...!" she simmered, staggering to the large opening to peer back at the steadily retreating train, tearing at the wig and clips she wore to release her shoulder length, purple-dyed hair. "Aw, well. Doesn't change much, I suppose."
I saw Ben shoot me a look, and I moved at the same time he did. I went for Liz while he dove for his heavy rifle, which had slid off to the right of us in all the confusion.
Pushing myself to the limit, I ducked and weaved past her throws, the number of which was restricted due to her hand on the case. She was shocked, and more than a little impressed by the ones that were seemingly shot apart or deflected away by covering fire in showers of flames and ice. My hands drifted to my waist, but I hesitated, hands straying from my knives. I was so close, I could see the momentary flash of fear in her eyes as I reached out, which followed shortly by the triumphant smile, my hand freezing over her heart at the sudden familiar cry of pain from behind me.
"You've gotten faster..." she whispered just loudly enough for me to hear amongst the chaos and rushing winds of the valley, the Bullheads flying above, and the train itself still roaring, "but not fast enough." I spared a quick glance over my shoulder, and caught my breath in my lungs at the sight of Ben bent over his rifle, clutching at one of her "Thorns" that lodged itself deeply in his thigh. A red crystal flashed at its center, even amongst the fast darkening stain.
'Damn it!'
"Back off and let me walk, and I swear I won't blow off another limb, and a bit extra besides." A quick curse sounded from the rogue, face paling at another flash from the weapon when he tried to pull it out.
"Try it. You have to know that if you do that at this range, I won't hold back, and you won't be able to avoid me," I said, knowing the second the words left my mouth that they were hollow.
She knew that too, and didn't even bat an eye. "If you'd told me that a few months ago, I might've actually believed you." She cocked her head to my hand with that sly grin I knew so well. "As things stand, however, I'm just not seeing it." My eye twitched angrily, and if anything, the smile only widened. "Besides, I don't think you wanna test who's faster at drawing on their Aura... Or do you?"
"Please..." I said to her, face-to-face, her eyes staring back at mine defiantly. "Don't do this. It doesn't have to be this way."
"You're right. It doesn't," she replied curtly, pushing herself forward so that my hand was physically over her heart now. "Come back with me... Back to the Hand. Even Virgil thinks you'd be an asset to us again. A bit of time and a mask would be all you'd need, too, until you could prove yourself again to everyone else."
"Right. After everything I've done? I seriously doubt it," I said sarcastically, pulling my hand away with a growl. "I didn't exactly leave on the best terms, not to mention everything that's happened since then. Trappers attacking in broad daylight, bringing in civilians and hurting police. This mess!" I motioned to the case in her hand. "I can't be a part of it... Not anymore. I never should've in the first place. We're in the wrong, Liz!"
"You don't understand! Virgil's trying to change things, Joel. I mean really change things! He and the Commander want to make being a Trapper something to be proud of. Help us use our talents to protect Remnant in the ways only we can again. Maybe we could even...?" She faltered as I shook my head firmly. She laughed to herself shortly after, but there was little sign of mirth in her eyes. There was only anger, focus, and what almost seemed like regret. "...I heard about your new leash from our eyes and ears in Vale, but that's not what's stopping you, is it? It's your new piece of meat. The blonde, right?" Her voice hardened to something akin to a snarl. "You have to know she won't accept you in the end. Not when she sees what you really are, Trapper."
"I know what I am, Liz... And so does she." I took another step back, gazing back at her sadly, my eyes almost giving her a pitying stare. "I'm a Huntsman-in-training at Beacon Academy. No more, no less. And I'm going to stop you. You, Virgil, Violette, and the rest of them. On my honor, I swear it!"
"...If that's what you want to tell yourself!" She lashed out in an instantaneous flash of Aura as a Thorn appeared in her hand, her finger crushing the delicate crystal within, before she struck outward with a flaming swipe at my throat.
I fell back with a grunt of pain, clutching at a searing burn that now marred the side of my now barren neck, staring blankly at the burned-out strip of the tracking collar clutched in her hand. The rest of it clattered lightly to the floor at my feet.
A rappel line fell from outside the slowing train car, one that Briar wrapped her arm around firmly, giving me one last fleeting look. "Just remember this, Joel... I gave you a fair chance." And like that, she was gone, pulled away and out of sight, bomb in hand, leaving me alone, clutching at the side of the ravaged car.
I would have stood there staring at the retreating aircraft even longer, if a pained voice hadn't spoken up. "Ps... Psycho?"
I lurched out of my reverie, sprinting back to Ben, who by this point had managed to staunch the bleeding, at least. Thankfully, it seemed Briar had better things on her mind than detonating the crystal. Or maybe she couldn't do it from this distance? Regardless, it was probably the luckiest break we'd gotten all day.
'They took it. They took the bomb!' I forced the thought from my head, Ben taking priority.
"Did she... What the hell just happened!? Sienna...!"
"Briar," I corrected him, examining the leg.
'Good, it didn't clip an artery. Really lucky...'
"You just got duped, courtesy of the Red Hand. She got her hands on the prototype bomb."
"A bomb!? They...!? No... Reika... They told me they'd let her go if I... She seemed so...! Fuck... FUCK!" His head slumped back, eyes screwed up in anger, aimed more at himself by the looks of it. "How could I've been so stupid!?" I gave him a sympathetic look, shouldering his rifle, before hauling Carson to his feet while acting as a support. "Damn it, Joel, I screwed up. I screwed up big time!"
"We can talk about it later! First, we have to get you back to the...!" I paused, hearing the telltale whirring of Bullhead engines whirling above us, then off to the side... "GET DOWN!"
I pushed him back to the ground roughly, the rogue crying out in pain from his leg. It was, however, a far cry better than if he had stayed standing, as a flurry of Dust-tipped machine gun fire tore through the car, punching through steel like tissue paper, and tearing massive rents in the walls.
'Of course they wouldn't leave the job half-done!' I kicked myself mentally at the slip up, flinching back to avoid a round that bloomed in front of me. After a few seconds of sustained fire, the shooting ceased. The two of us coughed weakly, raising our heads slowly from the pile of dust and shattered debris that had fallen on top of us.
"Maybe they left?..." Ben said hopefully. Hopes that were soon crushed as the car shook around us, deafening booms shaking the train.
Something - missiles most likely - smashed into what was undoubtedly the ridgeline beneath the track that was all that held us from a very long trip down. A terrifying sense of vertigo shot through me as the car began tilt and lurch to the side. All the while, rubble the size of Ursa rained down from above, threatening to cave in, even through the reinforced roof of the train.
"Me and my big mouth!" I heard Carson whine.
I put what Aura I could spare to the limit, sparks pulsing across my limbs as I grabbed hold of the bandit's poncho, dragging him kicking and shouting with pain and surprise towards the edge, even as the tilt of the car became less of a feeling, and more of a reality. Crates and shattered boxes slid across the floor, almost crashing into us a half dozen times in the few seconds it took to get to the torn-out ledge.
We paused as I saw the Bullhead move above us, sending another volley of missiles that devastated the rock face above us, causing an avalanche of rubble sliding like a tidal wave towards our half of the train at speeds impossible to escape in time.
"Well, fuck me, then..." Ben muttered, looking up at the oncoming death in stunned disbelief, before turning to face me, face shifting stoically with a sigh and a shake of his head. "Son of a bitch..."
I didn't know what to do, stuck here as we were. My Aura was depleted, and I was weaponless and injured... I'd been in rough patches before, but even at my direst moments, there had always been something I could do. An enemy I could fight, or an obstacle to overcome...
A flashing, reddish light emanating from the back of the far-flung train, a far-flung scream of heart-wrenching effort, and a fiery crash sounding from up above were the last things I registered before the oncoming tide smashed into the back half of the train, sending it and the two of us hurtling over the edge of the ravine, and towards the cold rapids below.
-Yang Xiao Long-
"Back off!" I shouted, slamming fist first into overeager Grimm number twenty-four. It had just crushed one of those new droids, and I managed to get it before it could sink its jaws into a screaming woman clutching a small child, blasting it into the building next to us.
'This is happening. This is actually happening!'
I waved off the mother's thanks, saying something clever like "Just doing my job, ma'am," or "All in a day's work." I then told her to get to a shelter, or at least indoors, as fast as she could before rushing off to the next place I heard screaming.
'These things just don't let up!'
That they hadn't. CFVY and Atlas' reinforcement had taken out a good majority of the Grimm coming out of or congregating around the Breach, but a fair number had already managed to work their way further into Vale before they'd arrived.
'Gosh, this is for real! This is actually happening right now...!'
The nightmares had pierced into the heart of Vale, and more and more would continue to come until the opening Torchwick and the White Fang had made - the hole we should have stopped from ever happening - was sealed again.
'If I'd beaten that smiling, little... Could I have stopped this!?'
I wonder if this is what Joel and the others that lived outside the Kingdoms had to deal with, the constant threat of Grimm at your doorstep.
'And then there was that woman in red...'
No. I couldn't dwell on it now. Not on that, what we could've done better, or what was already too late to change. Instead, I had to focus on dealing with the problem at hand. Like crushing that Beowolf's skull, for instance, before it could call to its fellows in the downtown districts.
'And that makes twenty-five!' The number helped me focus, and kept my mind off of everything else that could possibly be going wrong.
I'd just finished mopping up the last of the pack when I heard that characteristic hiss, the shifting of scales on earth, and saw the dark shadow that fell across me as an enormous, shifting, snake-like Grimm loomed over me, accompanied soon after by its pale white twin, their red eyes glistening with bloodlust. I had no time to wonder how a large Grimm like a Taijitu had managed to slip past the Atlesians and Beacon forces before the dark head was practically on top of me, unhinging a jaw wide enough to swallow me whole, reminding me sharply of the Nevermore from Initiation.
"Not happening!" I screamed loudly to catch its attention in full, sidestepping the beast with the sort of instinctive, inhuman grace and speed only Aura could provide, before unloading a shotgun-shelled punch to the side of its head as it passed. Of course, in my haste, I made the amateur mistake of forgetting that it could still counter, specifically by using its second head, which I had also forgotten. I found myself off balance when the white half struck from my blind side.
'Damn!'
"Watch your head!" a booming distorted voice called over the clamor. I looked up to see a bulky, roughly-humanoid shape flying overhead to smash into the Grimm's triangular head, dragging it to the ground in a crush of concrete and jagged metal that cratered the street, and threatened to send us into the sewers.
I actually gaped when the dust and debris finally cleared enough for me to see my savior, stunned to see that it wasn't a Huntsman or Huntress as I had expected, but some kind of robot, standing at least eight feet tall, and bedecked in white armor plating with red accents that was armed to the teeth. It sported what looked to be some type of cannon on one shoulder, and a missile launcher on the other, along with a machine gun on par with Coco's affixed to its right arm, which was currently using to turn the Taijitu's head into pulp upon the ground, before turning to face me with helmeted gaze.
'It's not a robot... It's a person! In armor!' I realized with a start as it leveled the cannon over its left shoulder in one hand, and fired with a deafening *BOOM.* The shell whistled past me to catch the other half as it tried to sneak up on me, obliterating its head in a shower of gore, leaving only a lifeless, already-dissolving stump.
"Targets eliminated... Allison, be sure to archive a note that the cannon shells tend to list thirty millimeters to the left. Probably a scratch in the barrel. Negligible, but no point leaving it alone if we can help it," the voice said again, the helmeted head sweeping the perimeter of the battlefield, before resting on me.
"Uh... Hey there." I waved awkwardly, shielding my eyes as the armored man used a small burst of what looked to be some kind of propulsion device to leap from the crater he'd made, landing in front of me with a heavy thud, towering over me as he straightened up. "Um... Thanks for the save, big guy. Not sure what would've happened if you hadn't shown up."
"You probably would've died," he said rather bluntly, leaving me taken aback, and frankly a little annoyed, though I kept my face leveled. No use arguing with the giant scary robot man if I could avoid it, especially after seeing what he just did to the Grimm back there. "Try to be more mindful in the future, Miss Long."
"It's Xiao Long. Why do people always...!?" I began defensively, before looking back at robo man askance. "Wait... Have we... met somewhere?"
He shook his head, the blue visor covering his face depolarizing to reveal a pair of blue eyes. Very familiar blue eyes. "We haven't, but you've certainly met my brother. Jacob Ambrose. A pleasure. Joel's told me a lot about you."
"...O-oh!" I blushed, trying my best to pass it off as exhaustion, not that that was too difficult. It had been a long day of constant fighting, and my head was still pounding from the crash and the lack of sleep from the night before. "I-I didn't expect... That's, uh... That's a nice suit you have there," I said, wincing at how dumb it sounded. But hey, I didn't really expect my first impression to be so... bloody. I did my best to wipe what was left of the Taijitu off my person awkwardly.
The young man raised an eyebrow, but examined a robotic hand all the same, looking thankfully more amused than annoyed. "Thanks. It's one of the prototypes for the Paladin, but it was scrapped due to costs of production. Thankfully, when the call to deploy went out, the tech officer had one primed and ready to spare." He kicked a hefty leg at the stump beside us. "This is my first live sortie fighting the Grimm outside of simulations... It's definitely a different world out here. And Joel willingly does this for a living?... Though I guess if it meant stopping things like this..." he added almost as an aside, shaking his head. "I can see the sport in it, anyway."
"Well, take it from me, newbie, you're doing just fine!" I laughed in an attempt to jump him out of his little mood, rapping a gauntlet clad fist on the hull of the exoskeleton. "Took that Taijitu down like a pro. As for, Joel, well..." I wasn't sure if mentioning his brother was the best thing, judging from the sudden look in his eyes, but I carried on hopefully. "In my opinion, he'd be proud. Very proud."
"I... Thank you for the praise, Miss Xiao Long. From what I've heard, you're quite impressive yourself."
"It's Yang. Just Yang. I think we're good on the whole first-name basis thing. Joel aside, you did kind of just save my life a minute ago," I chuckled, giving him a cheeky smile that had him blushing red even through his visor.
'Aw, he's kinda cute.'
"O-of course..." He bowed slightly, a move that was almost comical for the large suit to pull off, before turning and checking something on his screen. "Speaking of my brother, I'd have thought he'd be here with you. Busy?"
"He's on a mission in the Badlands right now," I replied, missing the shocked and annoyed look crossing his face as I pulled my Scroll from my jacket, and was thankful to find the small device still intact on his end. "He'll probably flip out once he hears about this! It's better if he knows we're all okay." I brought up Joel's number, Jake letting out what seemed to be a snort at the contact photo, which was taken when my boyfriend was sleeping and I'd been feeling a little artistic. "...Hey, Sparky! What's... Huh?" I brought the Scroll away, staring at the holographic screen in confusion.
A big red NO SIGNAL sign flashed, with an audio message playing over and over every time I tried. "We're sorry. The address you've dialed is unavailable at this time... We're sorry. The address you've dialed is unavailable at this time... We're sorry..."
'Joel...?'
-END
-OC Voice Cast Introduced this Chapter-
Elizabeth Briar - Brina Palencia
A/N: And Ben and Joel were lost never to be heard from again…or that's what's on everyone else's' mind at the moment. Are they actually goners? Well if you think about it I've already pretty much brought down a mountain on these guys and they didn't bite it so I doubt half a ridge and a few hundred feet of open air to land in cold Grimm infested rapids would come close to cutting it.
In other news that chapter certainly came out longer than I expected because I never know when I can post nowadays between work and school. This stories pretty easy though and a lot of it kind of just wrote itself for a bit though stuff did change like how had the template of what I wanted to happen but I ended up moving Liz and Joel's past up a bit because I wanted to focus on action in the later chapters without the forced flashbacks and I thought it served as introduction enough. No cute dates for these two or sappy declarations of love, it sort of just happened between the two when they were at their worst. Sorry their first meeting in this story was a bit rushed but admittedly their situation sort of demanded it, train and attempted theft going on and all.
My descriptive powers are less than ideal at times so for those wondering about her weapon she's remarkably similar to Joel in terms of throwing things as they had the same teacher but instead of knives her wrist guards eject little collapsible shuriken that unfold in her hand ready for her to use. The lights indicate what kind of Dust is embedded in the center for her to trigger at will allowing her to shock, blow up, or freeze whatever she's dealing with at range. That's not all she can pull off though and that Dust trick she used to burn off the collar is just one of her little surprises. Her brother Ed is another fun one but he won't be making an appearance for quite a while thankfully, I've already attempted to kill off two characters this arc I'm not looking to clear the roster just yet.
And finally Jake's suit's heavily based off the HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL Mark I Prototype Armor from Halo Legend's story Ghost, Personal favorite and I've wanted to use it in a RWBY story for so damn long now and it just made sense as a feasible prototype for the Paladin for him to use to make him stand out.
As always feel free to leave a comment or a note and I hope to have the next chapter out soon. - Mojo