RWBY is property of Roosterteeth, I only own my characters.
Chapter 37
"Alex, wake up." The EDC soldier was roused from his sleep by Luna's voice. "The pilot's calling for you." He pulled his head off the top of his forearm. He'd fallen asleep while looking for other likely spots for the Order's base.
"I'm up..." He said groggily. Luna smacked him on the top of his head.
"You need to sleep in an actual bed."
"Yeah...I know. Ruby told me pretty much the same thing."
"She's right, you know. Why didn't you get some real rest?"
"I can't sleep knowing Vortex and who knows what else is loose in Remnant." He shook his head. "You said something about the pilot?"
"Yes, he's waiting for you." Alex pushed himself out of the chair he had fallen asleep in and stretched. He followed Luna the short distance up to the cockpit of the Albatross. He stepped through the open hatch. The sun illuminated the bright green trees beneath the aircraft.
"What's the situation?" Alex yawned.
"Mornin' to you too, Major." The pilot nodded. "As for what I called you up here for..." he pointed out the window. Alex caught sight of several pillars of black smoke rising from within the trees. "Sergeant Averin asked us to reduce our speed until you made a decision."
"What is it? A forest fire?"
"Long range sensors were picking up radar contacts on the ground and radio chatter, so that Blake girl says it's probably some sort of frontier town."
"Well, if it is, we can't leave innocents in harm's way, can we?"
"No, sir. Bringing us back up to full speed, letting our wingmen know we're headed in. You'll want to gear everyone up, it'll be about ten minutes to arrival."
"Miss Vio, what do we do?" A small Faunus child tugged at the sleeve of a woman with wolf-ears. The woman had hair dyed a vibrant purple, and was currently in the process of unjamming a rifle. A cracked and discarded white mask lay at her feet.
"Just stay put, little one. We'll keep you safe." Multiple grunts could be heard as a group of the woman's fellow White Fang held the doors of the building they were in shut. Vio's group had fallen back with the Faunus citizens of the frontier village to the town hall, the only building strong enough to hold back the claws of the Grimm-like creatures outside. Even though the metal double-doors were barricaded and braced by eight individuals, they still creaked and shook as the things outside attempted to gain entry. Even if they did break through, the large atrium in the entrance would serve as a funnel.
"What kind of Grimm are these?" One of Vio's fellow White Fang asked aloud.
"I guess these must be the things that Erwin was warning me about." Vio grit her teeth as the doors let out another metallic groan. "I wish he'd explained more before..." She shook her head. Whatever force that had captured her friend had probably killed him, but now wasn't the time to dwell on such things. Footsteps came down the staircase behind her.
"Ma'am! There's a new one! It's way bigger and much nastier looking!" Vio followed the White Fang member up the stairs, passing through the crowd of townsfolk huddled as far back from the door as possible. Upon reaching the second floor, she looked down at the horde crowded outside the buildings. Erwin had been right, these things weren't Grimm. A Beowolf would fight an Ursa over territory. Nevermores wanted nothing to do with Deathstalkers. These things were organized. All sorts of variations worked together. She spotted the new one her comrade had spotted.
It was large, as big as the dragon-looking ones, but it had no wings. It's head was horned, and spikes ran down its back. Even creepier, was that it was vaguely humanoid, aside from the long, bladed tail swinging behind it. It reminded Vio of the illustrations of demons she'd learned about as a child. The thing's head snapped up to look at the second floor. It looked straight at her. Vio shivered as the thing took lumbering steps forward, causing the ground to shake under its weight.
Then it did the worst possible thing, the beast readied itself and jumped at the side of the building. Its arms ripped through the walls of the town hall, opening huge gashes for the smaller one to enter.
"Back downstairs! Now! We need to hold them off!" Vio instructed the other White Fang. She ran down to the first floor two steps at a time. "Make a circle around the townspeople!" Her comrades all gave nods of affirmation and fell into formation. They raised their weapons at the slowly expanding holes being widened by the horde's claws and fangs. The Faunus next to Vio's hands shook violently, causing his rifle to sway. Vio put a hand on his shoulder. "We've got this." He nodded, his shivering calming slightly.
"Here they come!" The walls of the town hall cracked and creaked, giving under the sheer weight and punishment they had been subjected to. The creatures spilled in through the opening. The children huddled with their parents screamed.
"Open fire!"
Vio wasn't sure what had happened initially. He vision was suddenly filled with dust and smoke as the roof about thirty feet in front of her and the other Faunus collapsed. As the smoke cleared, she caught sight of something that made her freeze. Two humanoid shapes, each standing around twenty feet in height, stood in the middle of the atrium, both holding triple-barreled weapons larger than a person. Two normally sized people dropped down onto the giants' shoulders from the floor above. Vio vaguely noted that the giants must have dropped through the roof. One of the normal figures held a finger to the side of their helmet.
"We're in. We'll hold the interior, you all get the rest." The voice was female, though there was still enough dust in the air that Vio couldn't make out any details. "Yeah, got it. Landric out...Alright boys, start shredding!" The two giants' weapons spun up with loud whirs, the huge firearms were leveled at the creatures, who had slightly retreated upon the arrival of the hulking figures. With a roar, the beasts rushed forward, only to be cut down by the giants and the two figures riding on them.
"Ruby, watch your right!" The girl jumped back at Alex's warning, a Fenrir biting the air where she had been standing. She unfolded Crescent Rose's blade and hooked it onto the Shade at an angle. With a recoil assisted pull, the scythe ripped the beast in half. A snap of a branch behind her alerted her to the presence of another Shade. As Ruby spun to face the Shade behind her. She hadn't seen this one before, but Alex had been teaching her and the others about the different types of puppets at the order's disposal. From the description, Ruby determined the thing that had sneaked up on her was a Spire. She had to admit, it certainly was an odd-looking creature. Sharp shards of black material hovered around a central red crystal, creating an approximate skeletal form.
Before Ruby could dispose of the Shade, a blast of a shotgun shattered the Spire's core, causing it to vanish in a flash of shadowy mist.
"Thanks, Alex!"
"No problem, Ruby." The EDC Major had swapped his rifle out for a spare shotgun from their arsenal. It was a rather sleek design, with a thin frame and an adjustable butt. Alex had slapped a high-capacity drum magazine onto the weapon, to allow himself full use of the gun's automatic setting if needed. Luna fired a short burst into an oncoming Fenrir, back pedaling to where Ruby and Alex stood.
"There sure a lot of these things..." She commented.
"This is nothing. Back on Earth, this would barely qualify as a scouting party."
"That's a frightening thought." Luna shivered briefly, before the trio returned to firing at the horde. "How did you hold off that many?"
"With a lot more heavy weaponry than we've currently got-" He stopped as a large Shade was thrown down the road, crushing others underneath its weight. The beast was missing an arm at the elbow, and a long slash ran through its left eye. Charles came strolling casually down the street, Winter and Weiss trailing right behind him, looking somewhat bored. The Bloodline turned to Alex.
"Oh, there you are. I figured you might need a hand, but I was delayed by our friend here." Charles snapped his fingers and the large Shade was consumed in a pillar of violet flame. "Didn't think the Order had enough members and time to make Behemoths."
"Behemoths?" Ruby asked. Alex hadn't mentioned the type of Shade.
"That thing Charles just killed." Alex explained. "They're one of the toughest Shades to get rid of. They're tough, they're fast, and they can jump. Like him, I didn't think the Order would have the time or manpower to decide to make any of them. Was it just that one, Charles?"
"The team at the town hall ran into another one, but the Vanguards shredded it. I think that's all of them though."
Ruby noticed the sour look on Weiss' face, "What's up, Weiss?"
"He keeps killing everything before Winter or I have a chance to even raise our weapons..." The younger Schnee gestured to Charles. Her sister stifled a laugh. "We've just been following his trail of destruction."
"Sorry, girls. I'm used to fighting on my own." The Bloodline rubbed the back of his head and grinned sheepishly. "I'll make sure to hold back a bit." Alex shook his head.
"Let's keep moving."
Blake, Firo, and Dimitri had used their armors' jump packs to set up on the roof of a building. Firo was picking off Shades with a marksman rifle, while Dimitri sprayed his machine gun into the horde below them. Blake's handgun didn't have the most effective use in this situation, so the two adults had assigned the student to being their spotter, calling out priority targets.
"Miss Firo, there's a Wyvern perched on the roof two buildings to the right." Blake informed him, a pair of binoculars held up to her eyes. The girl heard the crack of Firo's rifle, and watched the flying lizard's head explode. "Mr. Averin, a group of Spires is moving into position on the roof of the building across from us." The Russian nodded and turned his weapon onto Blake's targets. The Shades were destroyed under a hail of bullets.
"Good eye."
"Thank you-" Blake pulled the Russian away from the roof as her ears twitched under her bow. Two sharp legs snapped closed on the wall Dimitri had been set up on. Firo whipped to the side, firing three rounds into the head of the spider-like Shade that had crawled up the side of building. The beast fell from the wall as it died.
"Thanks, Blake." He breathed.
"You're welcome." She smiled. "That was an Arachnid, right?"
"Yeah. Little bastards can turn invisible like our active camo. That's probably how it got up here. Good thing you heard it."
"Well, someone has to watch both of your backs." Blake grinned.
"And I can't think of anyone I rather have looking out for us." Dimitri pat her on the head.
Yang and Carbon protected Ryland as he worked on setting up an auto-turret.
"So...you're sure that thing won't shoot us in the back?" Yang asked casually as she smashed a Fenrir's face in.
"Oh ye of little faith." Ryland replied, clicking the last piece into place. "We're good, get clear." Yang and Carbon moved behind the turret as it sprung to life.
"Hostiles detected. Engaging." The turret whipped back and forth, spitting precise bursts into the Shades. Ryland loaded an iron slug into his prosthetic arm and leveled the limb at the center of the road.
"Fire in the hole!"
After an hour of combat, the EDC forces felt they had satisfactorily cleared the town of Shades. Alex and the others gathered at the town hall, where the civilians had been holding out. He stepped past Landric's fireteam, who had held back the Shades with the two Vanguards. They had dropped the exosuits through the roof of the town hall so the machine's wouldn't have to fight their way through the horde.
Alex felt a small tap on his shoulder, alerting him that Dimitri was as his side. As the two of them stepped forward, a Faunus woman with vivid purple hair stepped forward.
"Are you in charge here?" Alex asked.
Vio looked over their saviors. Humans for the most part, though she had spotted at least one Faunus among them. That sole member had looked...happy. She had been speaking to one of the men standing in front of Vio and a black-haired girl. Still, looks could be deceiving, and Vio wasn't about to trust a bunch of Humans. They were the White Fang after all.
"Are you in charge here?" One of the soldiers asked her. He appeared young to be the leader of this group. Was he a representative? Vio's guess was that these soldiers' Officer was likely on board on of the aircraft hovering above the town.
"By extension, yes." She said. "What is it your leader wants?"
"We don't want anything, we just saw that people were in trouble and came to help." Vio scoffed. "Is that so hard to believe?"
"I've never once met a Human who did something for free. I'm sure your boss wants-"
"Uh...Lady? Not to burst your bubble or nothing, but you're talking to the Bossman right now." A young soldier with light brown-slightly-orange hair cut her off. Vio stared at the blond man in front of her. "I mean, I know he's got the whole 'looks-younger-than-he-is' thing going on, but still-"
"Ryland." The large man behind this "Bossman" said warningly.
"Shutting up now." The boy raised his hands defensively.
"My apologies." Vio said, turning back to the blond man. "What is it you want, then?"
"As I said, nothing."
"What, you expect me to believe that you don't want the glory of capturing members of the White Fang." She tested.
"You were defending the people of this town, and we're not affiliated with any of Remnant's armies. That's enough for us. It's not you we're hunting."
"Is that so?" Vio's posture relaxed slightly. "So what were those Grimm? It's like they were organized."
"They're not Grimm. They're called Shades, and the person making them is who we're after."
"I see..."
The two forces went their separate ways, the EDC loading back on to their aircraft, and the White Fang leading the Faunus civilians to a trio of hidden Bullheads.
"Hey," Alex stopped before he stepped onto the Albatross. The purple-haired wolf Faunus stood a short distance away. "What's your name 'Bossman'?"
"Alex. Alex Greene."
"Well, Greene. I'm Vio." She paused. "Never thought I'd say this to a Human, but...thanks."
"You're welcome, Vio." Alex nodded. "Keep your people safe."
"Will do. Good luck finding the bastard responsible this."
Erwin stretched as he sat up in a real bed. Vortex had done something unexpected and let the Faunus boy out of his cell. He still wasn't allowed any communication devices and Zephyr had been assigned to watch him, but it was better than being stuck in an eight foot cube. Another condition for his release was that he was not to try to escape. Erwin hadn't been planning on taking that course of action anyway, he wasn't suicidal enough to try it.
Zephyr theorized that part of why Erwin had been let was so that Vortex didn't have to worry about the boy dying in the cell while most of the Order's soldiers was out searching for Void Dust. Despite the fact she was technically his warden, Erwin found Zephyr to be good company. She had a rather cheerful personality, and seemed genuinely interested in learning about Remnant and sharing stories about her home.
The pair had taken to meeting in the mess hall. There wasn't exactly much else to do aside from talking to each other. The two of them had just finished discussing a question Zephyr had regarding how Dust was used to power engines in Remnant. The door of the room hissed open and none other than Roman Torchwick and his multicolored companion.
"Oh, so there are still people here." Roman sighed and sat down a short distance away, his female companion sat across from him, her head whipping around as a Fenrir passed the closing door of the mess hall. Erwin decided to try to start a conversation.
"...Are you afraid of the Shades?" He asked. Great. No tact at all in that.
"Neo finds them unsettling." Roman answered for his silent companion. "You're that White Fang kid, right?"
"I'm Erwin, yes."
"I heard you got locked up, this your new handler?" Roman gestured to Zephyr.
"Lord Vortex let Erwin out as long as he behaves." Zephyr explained. "I'm just hanging around."
"Is that so?" Roman quirked an eyebrow. "So, Kid, how about you? You find the Shades cuddly?"
"No." Erwin admitted. "I find them frightening as well."
"Well, we agree on something then." Roman said.
"Yeah, they are pretty creepy." Zephyr said thoughtfully. The other three occupants of the room turned towards her with varying looks of surprise on their faces. "What? We have giant spiders! Gross!"
"It just-" Erwin started.
"-I don't think any of us expected someone from the group that makes the things to say that." Roman finished.
"Well, I tried to convince Lord Eclipse to let me make cute Shades back home. She shot me down though..."
"You're a weird one." Roman said. Neo and Erwin nodded.
"Hey!"
Deep in the forests outside Vale lay a Dust research facility founded by the Schnee Dust Company. Without warning, the site had gone dark and been assumed to be overrun by Grimm. Large stores of Dust were supposedly held with the facility, so Vortex had sent a pair of Order soldiers to see if any Void Dust was still stored there.
The two Acolytes had found the site with little trouble. The first thing they noticed was the complete lack of damage to the outside of the facility. Not even a single window was broken.
"So much for it being overrun." one of the scouts commented.
"Come on, let's just see if there's anything to salvage inside." His female companion replied. They two walked up to the door of the building, the first scout using his superior strength to dig his fingers into the entrance and force it open. The metal groaned and creaked as it was torn open. A horrible smelling mass fell through the door.
"GAH! What the hell is that?" The male scout jumped back as the foul lump fell to the ground with a splat.
"Is that...a person?" The female scout gagged.
"What's left of one, anyway..." The body was horribly mangled, and smelled as if it had been rotting for the last few weeks. They looked into the hallway behind the corpse. The walls were covered in dried blood and long slash marks.
"What the hell..." The two scouts stepped into the hall. They followed the corridor down, passing more rotting bodies, or more specifically, parts of bodies. The pair stopped as they heard a bone-chilling sound. Whistling, accompanied by footsteps. From the darkness of the hallway in the distance, a figure in pitch-black armor strode out. A clear crystal gleaming in his hand.
"Oh, company! And Order soldiers at that. Well, come on then. Bow before Lord Chaos."
A/N: It begins. Sorry for the later than usual update. Thanks to the awesome people leaving follows, favorites, and reviews!
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