A/N: Happy New Year, errybody!
"Two, keep the Beowolves contained to the center of the room with your glyphs."
"Yes sir."
"Three, Four, and Five, assist Two by locking down the Beowolves in melee to keep them off our back line. Five keep me appraised of our new friend's reboot process."
"Of course, Captain!"
"Six, coordinate the MECs and take down high-priority targets, starting with the Death Stalker. Freya, if things start getting hot for the melee fighters, jump in and do your thing."
"Understood."
"Seven, you're the doctor's point of contact. She says that this Grimm stuff latches onto bio matter, and we'll run out of bullets long before the aliens run out of corpses, so it's up to you and Vahlen to figure out a way to contain the infection. We'll do our best to keep the Grimm off of you while you work, but the occasional smoke or flashbang would certainly be helpful if you find yourself with a spare moment."
"I won't let you down, Actual!"
"Alright everyone, let's move!"
Ruby finished handing out orders not a moment too soon, as the first batch of Grimm finished forming seconds later. The aliens managed to pull off a horrific ruse, and several unsolved mysteries were starting to fall into place ever since her team ambushed the wandering Sectoids ten minutes ago. As expected, her operatives had killed the enemy squads with extreme ease. In fact, Ruby wondered why the aliens even bothered to field them at all when she knew they had much more dangerous soldiers like Floaters or Mutons. The Sectoid corpses provided her answer, however, when she saw black mist seeping out of their battle wounds. Matters got worse once Vahlen got on the comms and had her conversation with the two teams about Grimm essence latching onto corpses and growing into full-fledged monsters.
The image caused Ruby's mind to flash back to the live video feed Strike Five provided during their boarding of the alien Harvester. Jaune found multiple Sectoid bodies scattered in the various corners of the main room. While some of their wounds certainly resembled claw marks inflicted by the Nevermore Jaune's team encountered, more of the injuries were far more grotesque and completely unlike any evidence of Grimm Ruby had ever seen. The sight she now held before her made Ruby realize that those wounds weren't caused by the Grimm in the Harvester, they were the genesis of the damn creatures. Some way, somehow, the aliens determined a way to inject Grimm matter into Sectoids without killing them, and could now use the small creatures as carriers for the infection. Not only could the aliens ensure the Grimm matter was delivered to the exact location they wanted, but the Sectoids could also serve as effective suicide bombers by releasing their contagion upon death at the hands of XCOM operatives.
Amusingly enough, Weiss's old habit of double-tapping her fallen foes proved to be useful once again. Ruby paid attention to the Sectoids her partner executed, and noticed that the resultant Grimm were somewhat weaker than the rest. Maybe it did something to the structural integrity of the host? Ruby didn't know, but she figured Vahlen would appreciate the extra info after they all came back from the op.
Blake, Yang, and Penny charged to meet the Beowolves head-on while Weiss rained ice upon them, corralling the beasts into an area of her choosing. The powerful thump of discharging heavy weapons filled the room as the squad's MECs opened fire on the still-forming Death Stalker. Ruby sighed as she watched the shots inflict only minor damage even though the creature was still in its 'infant' stages. Perhaps Vahlen should have spent some time analyzing the Death Stalker's chitin shell after the St. Louis op, because it certainly seemed better than any armor available to Bradford's agents.
Fonseca dashed off to the console on the far side of the room. Since XCOM didn't have any way of directly neutralizing the Grimm essence yet, Vahlen needed all the help she could get on the matter, and that included any documentation left by the aliens in their data banks. Not only that, but there was the matter of the clear chambers standing behind the consoles that opened up almost as soon as the Sectoids released their payload. While they looked empty, it didn't take a genius to figure out what was actually inside. Thus, Fonseca prioritized finding a way to shut off the flow of additional Grimm essence before he searched for clues to help Vahlen develop a countermeasure to the Grimm's rebirthing process. The squad's Guardian MEC stomped after Fonseca to make sure no Grimm had the opportunity to take advantage of the preoccupied Medic.
"Try to flip it!" Blake called out to the MECs, "The underside has no armor, and is a lot more vulnerable."
Talos stowed his rifle and punched his fists together as he deployed the suit's Juggernaut plating, "Understood. Moving to engage."
"This one doesn't seem to have a stinger, so it should be easy to handle." Weiss observed. Indeed, Ruby noticed the same thing when the fight began. Ruby didn't know if there was something wrong with this particular Death Stalker, or their stingers didn't develop until later. Either way, it meant one less thing for her team to worry about.
Talos, fully encased in his additional armor, came to a halt in front of Ruby. A pair of shots from Eight's Reflex Cannons quickly pulled the scorpion's attention on the MEC. With black tar still oozing off of its nascent form, the Death Stalker skittered towards the waiting pilot. It raised one pincer and lashed out at Talos, who deflected it with an armored punch.
"You'll have to do better than that." The Archer sneered before stomping on one of the Grimm's mandibles with a sickening snap. The Death Stalker shrieked in pain before desperately swiping with its other claw. It latched onto the Devastator's leg, and Ruby heard the sound of grinding as the creature tried to crush the alloyed metal. A point-blank shot from Talos's shotgun tore through the arm of the clamped pincer before the pilot reared back his arm and activated the Kinetic Strike Module to crush the exposed joint.
In what seemed like a final bid for survival, The Death Stalker started to bang on the MEC's frame with its stumpy tail. The pathetic sight of the fleshy appendage bumping into Talos's hardened armor almost made Ruby feel bad for the creature.
"This is child's pla-SHIT."
The last time the Death Stalker's tail reared back, a familiar golden-orange bulb punctured through the end of the tail, and Talos had just enough time to raise his arm to block the stinger. The sharp weapon embedded itself firmly into the MEC's armored plating, and the Death Stalker began to use its remaining claw to once again attack the MEC. Ruby's fellow huntresses were too busy keeping the Beowolf population in check to help dismantle the tail, and Ruby saw sweat dripping off of Fonseca's brow when she focused her enhanced vision on the Medic to check his progress.
"All MECs, target the stinger!" Zhang roared. Rather than assist them with bringing down the armored target, the Colonel made better use of his weapon's high rate of fire by hosing down the Beowolves.
Ruby looked through Crescent Rose's scope and took aim at the joint keeping the stinger attached to the Death Stalker's tail. She breathed out and squeezed the trigger, feeling a slight recoil as her weapon's new gauss technology shot a hardened venom round straight into the monster's exposed flesh.. She watched as the caustic acid packed into the round began its work of eating away at the monster's hide. The Death Stalker redoubled its attack on Talos, apparently trying to work through the pain by taking it out on the shaken MEC. A pair of Particle Cannons boomed, and two more hits rocked the Death Stalker. Even so, the stinger remained firmly attached to the tail. With so many team members focusing on a single target, the Beowolf population was starting to become a problem.
"Five, we could really use Gidjit's help right about now." Ruby commented, popping off another shot at the Death Stalker.
"System reboot is at 97 percent, Captain!"
Considering how long the Cyberdisc had been rebooting already, Ruby didn't want to count on its help with Talos's current problem. The sound of rending metal brought her attention back to the fight, and Ruby saw Talos's plating begin to buckle under the Death Stalker's clawed assault. She cursed before switching Crescent Rose to its scythe form. While it helped for her to stay out of the thick of things and assess the flow of combat from a removed position, this situation called for Ruby to get her hands dirty. A few quick Dust shots gave her the momentum she needed to careen through the air and deftly land on Talos's shoulder. A swift slice from her scythe proved more than enough encouragement for the Death Stalker to disengage from the MEC.
The two support MECs continued to assault the Death Stalker while Talos pulled out to assess the damage done to his suit. Ruby hefted her scythe and prepared for her dance with the Grimm. She easily sidestepped the first stinger strike and rolled under the followup claw swipe before getting to her feet and slashing at the exposed black flesh on its arm. When the stinger came down for a second time, Ruby buried Crescent Rose into the backside of the tail and let herself get pulled over the Death Stalker's body as it yanked the appendage back in surprise. She ripped her scythe out and landed neatly on the floor behind her foe before attacking with an upward slice that left a deep cut along the length of the Grimm's rear.
"Captain!" Zhang called out. Ruby looked back in time to deflect a swipe from an Alpha Beowolf. She groaned in frustration at the monster's untimely arrival.
"Freya, handle the Death Stalker."
"Of course."
Ruby vaulted over her foe as it lunged in for another strike before countering with a sweep to its legs. The Beowolf howled in pain, but remained standing as it spun around to face her.
"Actual, the tide of Beowolves is starting to push us back." Blake commented, "They keep crawling up from below, which pretty much confirms our biomatter theory about those tubes."
Ruby gritted her teeth, "Yang. Grenade. Now."
"Yes ma'am!" Ruby caught the explosive, primed it, and rolled it under the Death Stalker. The Grimm was too distracted by its battle with Freya to notice the danger before it detonated in a ball of fiery plasma directly beneath its most vulnerable stretch of hide. Ruby returned to her fight with the Alpha. She fired Crescent Rose square into its chest and let herself get propelled back to put some distance between herself and the wolf before dashing at lightning speed back into melee range. She alternated between a few rapid strikes and backing off, using her superior speed to remain one step ahead of her foe.
She was just about to dive back in to deliver a few more slices to the Alpha when a plasma grenade rolled to a stop at its feet and vaporized the monster in a cloud of green energy. The hairs on the back of Ruby's neck stood on end, and she turned to look at the source of the attack. Floating behind Zhang and fully unpacked in its Assault Mode was Penny's Cyberdisc friend.
"Gidjit is fully operational and ready to assist, Captain!" Penny called out.
Ruby breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe they could actually turn this battle around now.
Jaune slowly crept down the hallway. The air itself seemed to be waiting with bated breath as he inched forward, sword and shield ready to counter any ambushes. His team had already suffered two such surprise attacks, and Ren was trying his best to carefully ration his medical supplies. Currently, Nora accompanied Jaune at the front, Pyrrha kept an eye out from the rear, while the MECs covered the flanks to round out the protective 'box' Jaune built for the squad's squishier operatives, with Ren keeping a closer eye on the wounded.
The first skirmish with the Grimm had finished almost as quickly as it started when additional reinforcements failed to appear after the initial wave. Chatter over the comms from Ruby's team told Jaune that their Grimm situation showed no signs of slowing down. Staring at the corpses of Grimm at his team's feet, Jaune wondered why his battle turned out different from Ruby's. A quick examination of the delivery tubes revealed that they were, in fact, sealed once more, a detail that his team missed during the heat of battle. After regrouping, Blue Team began its approach down the next hallway. The first ambush happened about halfway to the next room, with MacAuley as the unfortunate victim.
Although his Corsair Armor protected the Engineer long enough for the hunters to rush in and take down the Beowolves, MacAuley still suffered substantial injuries. After Ren finished his work with the wounds, MacAuley learned that he could no longer aim very well. Ren estimated that a week's rest in the medbay would get him back into fighting shape, but the mission needed to be finished first.
"I was always a shit marksman, anyway." MacAuley commented, trying to make light of the situation, "At least I don't have to aim the Arc Thrower from fifty yards away to repair a fuckin' MEC, and Valkyrie can handle the grenade tosses."
The second ambush happened a few minutes later when a pair of Seekers locked down Beagle and Ortega. As the team turned around to engage the new threat, a pod of Chryssalids dropped down from the rafters further ahead, intending to catch the operatives off-guard while they dealt with the Seekers. The MECs dealt with the Chryssalids while the precision strikes of Ren, Pyrrha, and Jaune pulled the Seekers off their teammates.
"Lieutenant." Gizmo said curtly, and Jaune turned to see what the problem was while Nora finished off the Seekers. Black mist coalesced around the dead Chryssalid corpses, and the operatives of Blue Team found themselves face-to-face with a pack of Beowolves led by an Alpha. The team managed to come out of that scrape with only minor cuts and bruises, but Jaune began to see a pattern in the alien tactics. Consequently, his operatives found themselves in their current formation with Jaune leading from the front.
"Have you ever seen Grimm set up ambushes before?" Jaune asked Nora.
"Except for the ones Blake and Ren said they found back in St. Louis, nope." Nora answered, "But it could be some kind of trick the aliens are pulling. I know we're pretty sure they can't directly control the Grimm, but I wouldn't doubt that they've got other skullduggerous tactics up their sleeves."
Jaune snorted, "Nora, I don't think 'skullduggerous' is actually a word. But yeah, you may have a point there. Or maybe these Grimm have actually learned ambush tactics. After what we've already learned about the Grimm, I don't think I'd be particularly shocked to find out if that's true."
With a shrug, Nora slung Magnhild over her shoulder, "Either way, they still die after a judicious application of Old Faithful."
"Nora, you never call your hammer 'Old Faithful.' "
"Except I just did! Whatchu gotta say to that, eh?" Nora countered with a grin.
"Contacts ahead." Ortega interrupted, his extra ears twitching, "Sounds like Beowolves."
Jaune's grip on Crocea Mors tightened, and he pushed a little more Aura into strengthening his Semblance, "Odd that they're giving themselves away, when they were totally quiet before. No matter, form up, team. I'll go in first with Hammertime and Gizmo. Vulcan and 3-13 will provide ranged support while Ares stands guard with D.O.A. in case this is another feint. Keep your rocket hot, Beags. Hopefully we won't need it, but-"
"Rockets are like condoms, yeah." Beagle finished
Jaune stared at the Captain, "I… what?"
"It's better to have one and not need it, than need it and not have one. Come on, how have you not heard that before?" Beagle asked in annoyance.
Shaking his head, Jaune motioned for Nora and Gizmo to break off from the group and follow him. Nora switched Magnhild to its launcher form while the MEC readied her segmented blade. The trio ran up the ramp and found themselves squaring off against a pack of six Beowolves.
"Easy pickings." Nora said with a grin. She came to a halt and took aim while her two squadmates continued charging forward. With a bang and a whistle, two pink contrails streaked past Jaune and exploded in the face of their enemies. The Grimm staggered from the blast, but held their ground. Jaune and Gizmo took the last few steps between themselves and the pack at a sprint, with the former's Remnant physiology allowing him to keep pace with the latter. The Beowolves roared and both sides collided. Gizmo crashed into the lead Beowolf before firing her drifter jets to boost the MEC's maneuverability. Jaune deflected the opening strike of his target before continuing past it to skewer the one behind.
With a giddy yell, Nora joined the fray with a downward smash from Magnhild, and the fight began in earnest. The first thing Jaune noticed was that these Beowolves fought with slightly more combat finesse than the ones they'd battled in the past month. More than once, Jaune sliced through thin air as his target dodged the blow. They weren't coordinating as a group, much to his relief, but the added difficulty still annoyed him.
"Squad, move across the lower platform and try to flank. Three, Four, stick with them to ward off any potential ambushes." Jaune ordered between sword blows.
On the bright side, Nora and Gizmo seemed to coordinate wonderfully. Despite the battle being their first together, the MEC pilot quickly adapted to Nora's explosive combat style. Jaune watched his friend roll under a Beowolf swipe before getting launched into the air with the help of a knee hike from Gizmo. After Nora slammed her hammer down into the steel floor, the Pathfinder used the momentary stun to jet boost over the huntress's crouched frame and pulverize one of the monsters.
Ortega's crisp voice came through Jaune's ear piece, "Lieutenant, we have Thin Men on approach."
"Open fire, with the Marksmen leading off. We don't need them making things more complicated." Jaune answered, deflecting another clawed swipe with his shield before rolling back to let Nora safely drop in with her hammer. Three of the Grimm lay dead with the other not far behind. With any luck, he could wrap up with these Beowolves and help-
"Lieutenant!"
A salvo of green plasma whizzed past Jaune's face, though he quickly realized that he wasn't the intended target. The shots struck one of the Grimm carcasses, which started to glow white-hot before exploding in a gory mess. Jaune yelled in surprise before running to Nora's defense when he saw his teammate get tossed through the air from the blast. He heard the Thin Men fire again, and a second corpse exploded seconds later. Jaune quickly helped Nora to her feet before capitalizing on the sudden adrenaline rush he felt by pushing his newfound energy into his Semblance.
"Systems damaged, but I'm okay." Gizmo reported amidst the black smoke rising up into the air, "Visual acuity has been severely reduced."
Jaune gritted his teeth when he saw that the Pathfinder was right. Whatever the Thin Men did to those Beowolves, it completely scattered their essence. While the smoke screen would dissipate soon, he didn't want to give the remaining Grimm a chance to take advantage of the temporary smoke screen.
"Nora."
"One step ahead of you, boss." She answered, Magnhild locking into its launcher state, "You might want to clear out, Gizmo."
Jaune heard the familiar sound of the Vanguard's Jetboot Module firing up and nodded at Nora. A green explosive sang out and disappeared into the black fog before exploding in a flurry of galeforce wind. Through the dissipating mist, Jaune saw a Beowolf lunging at him with hatred burning in its eyes. He yelped and raised his shield to block, grunting as the full weight of the Grimm slammed into his defenses.
"Actual, I'm seeing Grimm essence reforming on the bodies of the dead Thin Men." Ortega reported.
"It's like they're using the exploding trick to simultaneously get one last shot out of their shocktroops and recycle the essence for the next wave of fighters." Pyrrha analyzed, "Bad news for us, but it's an effective tactic."
Jaune sighed, "Then we need to clear out the rest of the aliens before we can put an end to the Grimm. And I have a hunch that the big man calling the shots will be waiting for us at the end."
"Yup." Beagle agreed, "If there's one thing these alien fucks aren't good at, it's changing up their base layout. We just gotta keep pushing forward until we hit the Command Room way at the end."
Jaune heard the sound of plasma hissing through the air before a Thin Man wheezed its last breath in a puff of acid.
"All alien contacts are down." Ortega reported, "We should eliminate the Grimm and push on before more arrive to detonate them."
"Agreed. I want Three and Four to move ahead with Gizmo and engage any hostiles that try to approach. The rest of us will deal with the wolves before joining you. Let's move!"
As it turned out, Gidgit proved to be a mixed blessing. Ruby didn't quite understand the details of how Penny reprogrammed the Cyberdisc, nor did she understand what her friend meant when she talked about some 'processor bridge' that allowed her to keep the robot fit for combat, but that didn't really change the results. Once Gidgit finished rebooting, Penny pulled back from the Beowolf melee and reverted to her ranged weaponry. The two robots then rained fiery death upon the Grimm below. The downsides became apparent when the Grimm struck by Gidgit began exploding.
"Well that's new." Yang commented dryly, "Because exploding Grimm is exactly what we need right now."
"Five, have Gidgit hold fire against the Grimm. Something must be wrong with its weaponry."
"Or it's an intended side effect, Actual." Annette's voice crackled over the comms, "The Field Commander is receiving new intel from Blue Team that the aliens seem to have the capability to detonate Grimm with weapons fire. If your new ally was outfitted with this capability before the mission…"
Ruby nodded, though Annette couldn't see it, "Understood. Five, Gidgit is not to engage Grimm hostiles until we have a chance to analyze its weaponry. The Grimm's permanence is our one advantage in winning this fight. Blowing up the corpses will just mean the same stuff will keep coming back until our ammo vanishes."
"Copy that! Sorry he couldn't be more helpful."
"Well, I wouldn't mind watching it try to make an Ethereal explode." Ruby joked as she lined up another shot, "Until then, he can just watch the show."
With Gidgit back out of the equation, Red Team's battle continued as before, and Ruby once again felt her squad getting pushed back. Every now and then, she stole a glance at Fonseca, who remained hunched over the console each time she looked.
"Any time soon would be great, Otter."
"I wish I could tell you this was easy, Captain, but it's not." He retorted, "Unless you'd like to try your hand at it…?"
Ruby laughed, "No, that's alright. The problem is that I don't know how much longer we can hold this position for you."
"I do." Zhang commented, "Not very."
"Well that's just great," Fonseca said, throwing his hands into the air, " 'No pressure, Otter, but the lives of the entire team rest squarely on your shoulders. Have fun.' "
"Pretty much." Yang agreed.
"Well here!" The Medic shouted before priming a Flashbang and chucking it into the middle of the room. It detonated, leaving the Beowolves stunned for a few precious seconds. Blake and Yang tore through as many as they could while the distraction lasted, and Zhang's MEC team hammered the masses from above.
Zhang grunted in approval, "That probably bought you about thirty seconds. Nicely done."
"Oh, fuck you too!"
Ruby sighed before closing her eyes and mentally focusing on Fonseca. Once she established a psionic link with the Medic, she slowly filled the connection with positive energy and calm emotions before whispering into his mind.
You can do this, Fonseca. Don't worry about Zhang and focus on the task at hand. I believe in you.
She saw the Medic relax from across the room. He glanced back and made eye contact with his Captain and gave her an almost imperceptible nod before turning back to the console. Ruby watched as he attacked the controls with renewed vigor, and the sight inspired her to fight harder against the Grimm as well. Shot after shot rang out as the huntress searched for targets to satisfy her bloodlust.
"C'mon guys!" She shouted, feeling a surge of confidence wash over her, "We've got this!"
The rest of her team must have felt it too, because they threw themselves against the Grimm with an unholy vengeance. Glyph after glyph appeared as Weiss twirled Myrtenaster like a conductor would their baton. Every few seconds, the revolver of her sword locked in a new dust cartridge, and the Grimm's suffering would switch from ice to fire, or lightning to elerium. Ruby struggled to track Blake, who moved with the speed of shadows as she cut through her unsuspecting victims with Gambol Shroud. All of Yang's injuries and pent-up rage burned within her, and she delivered blows backed by the force of a hundred burning suns in the middle of July. Zhang roared as he called out targets for the MECs, who hammered the Grimm with no mercy. Even Penny, with her adorably cheerful voice, sounded terrifying as she shouted at the Grimm, "Not one of you is going to survive this!"
Ruby heard the telltale click of her gun running dry, and so she switched Crescent Rose into its scythe form before dashing into the fray.
"Weiss, with me!"
Her partner nodded and propelled herself off of a glyph to join Ruby down below. Sword and scythe at the ready, the two of them stared down a fresh pack of Beowolves.
Weiss glanced at Ruby, "So what's the plan?"
"Shock and Awe." Ruby answered with a grin. Myrtenaster's barrel spun until the yellow dust clicked into place, and a large glyph blinked into existence above the Grimm. Lightning erupted from Weiss's magic and arced down to the Beowolves below. An instant later, Ruby took off, dashing through the pack as she sliced at her victims along the way. A yellow platform appeared in front of Ruby once she reached the back of the mob, allowing her to throw herself back into the thick of combat without missing a beat.
"To your left!" Ruby heeded her partner's warning and crouched low to duck under a swipe before bringing Crescent Rose up to eviscerate the offending Beowolf. Lightning continued to lash out at the standing Grimm, keeping them distracted while Ruby slowly whittled them down. Every so often, Ruby felt a particle round slam into a Beowolf behind her as the MECs also took advantage of Weiss's lightning storm. In that moment, dodging and weaving between swipes while hacking and slashing in response, Ruby felt an emotion that she hadn't remembered feeling in a long time.
Content.
This is what she was meant to do. Here and now, facing off against the black horde, Ruby found her true calling. Her life's work stood before her in the form of the Grimm, and with Vahlen's help, she'd erase that evil from existence. First on Earth, and then on Remnant. She just had to finish this business with the aliens first.
"DONE!" Fonseca shouted triumphantly. Indeed, the delivery tubes groaned as they slid back into a shut position. With the essence supply cut off, it only took a few minutes of fatigued ferocity to put down the last of the Grimm. Ruby stood over a mound of Beowolves, gasping for breath as she took in the carnage all around her. She could barely see the floor anymore, such was the quantity of corpses and tarred gore piled in the room.
"Status?" She asked between breaths of air.
Zhang grunted as stood up, flexing a bloody arm as he tested it for damage, "We're alright. Talos took a beating, but his Juggernaut plating did its job well enough. I suffered a few scrapes myself keeping some of the bastards away from Otter, but it's nothing that a day or two with Vahlen can't fix." He winced as a piece of his Titan armor fell to the floor, "Shen might be a bit upset, though."
"I doubt it." Ruby said with a laugh, "He's probably just happy you're alive. Five, how's Gidjit?"
"No additional damage suffered!" Penny happily reported, "He is eager to return to base and be of use to the XCOM initiative."
"We'll let Vahlen worry about that, but only after we've finished up here. Three? Four?"
"Fine." Blake responded, "Though we may have been a little too zealous towards the end there. Our Aura's pretty depleted at the moment."
Yang nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I don't know how you did it, Rubes, but something you said made me really want to beat the hell out of those Beowolves."
"I told you your new abilities would deliver the best ass-whooping those aliens have ever seen, Captain." Annette chimed in, "I unlocked your potential for what we call Psi Inspiration here in the Corps, but it seems like you also had a bit of Adrenal Neurosympathy mixed in there as well."
"Well, whatever it is, it felt really good." Yang said, "I ain't even mad about the Aura."
"Alright team, let's rest and regroup before we go looking for more trouble." Ruby ordered. However, before she could so much as even reload Crescent Rose, she felt the familiar sensation of something trying to claw its way into her mind. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, and Zhang gave her a concerned look.
"It seems like trouble came looking for us. Captain?"
"I… it's here…" She whispered.
The New One returns, as we have foreseen. We suggest that it submits peacefully, or the consequences will be… grim.
After Jaune's team put down the remaining Beowolves, he regrouped with Pyrrha and Ren. Thankfully, they encountered no contacts while Jaune and Nora handled the Grimm, and the team proceeded relatively unhindered through the base. MacAuley's occasional grunts of pain filled the silence as they progressed..
Jaune glanced back at the Engineer, mild concern on his face, "You gonna be alright, Mac?"
MacAuley nodded, "I'll be fine, boss. Shoulder hurts like hell, but I imagine working in the Elerium Mines for our Ethereal Overlords would hurt a lot more."
Beagle snorted in amusement, "No such thing as Elerium Mines, dumbass."
"Yeah, well, there could be if we let the aliens win."
"Command Room's up ahead." Ortega noted, "Strange that we haven't encountered more resistance."
Pyrrha shook her head, "It's not strange if there's a trap set. We've already discovered a few new tricks and strategies the aliens possess with regards to the Grimm. Who's to say they aren't saving the best for last?"
"Then we'll just have to be ready for whatever they throw at us." Jaune said, determination written all over his face, "We're not leaving here until every last alien is dead. Alright, standard formation. MECs in the rear and hunters up front. 3-13, you're hanging back with the 'bots while Beagle and Mac are running midline. Once we get a better picture of the battlefield, we'll change tactics accordingly."
The team wordlessly agreed and moved into position around the door leading to the next room. Jaune, Plasma Dragon locked and loaded, held his hand up and counted down from five. At zero, he slipped through the archway with Pyrrha at his side. Nora followed close behind with Ren while the latter activated his Ghost Armor and faded into nothingness.
"Contacts." Jaune called out before opening up with his gun. Indeed, a horde of Grimm lined the walls of the room, and they charged forward at the first sound of plasma flying. Pyrrha moved forward while firing Miló, each shot expertly aimed at her target before she pulled the trigger. A small object flew into the room from behind, and Jaune shielded his eyes as MacAuley's flashbang went off.
In the two seconds of disorientation caused by MacAuley, Nora fired off a cocktail of grenades from Magnhild. Shrapnel from some of the explosives ripped through the weaker Grimm while a chemical mist coated the rest in corrosive Chryssalid venom. A crack echoed through the room, and Ortega's Gauss Long Rifle tore off half the face of an unlucky Beowolf. Like thunder after a bolt of lightning, three MEC rifles boomed as Gizmo and her squadmates took their first shots at the enemy.
Blue Team moved forward into the room, the Grimm falling to their inexorable advance. Still, for every Beowolf that Jaune's team cut down, another would crawl out of some dark corner or up from beneath the platforms to join the fight. He wondered if this was the kind of situation Ruby's team faced when the Grimm fighting first broke out, an impossible scenario that seemed to have no end. Well, he'd find a way to end it, or his name wasn't Jaune Arc.
"Beags!"
"Yep!" The Captain's rocket launcher roared, and the clumped mass of Grimm trying to claw at Nora and Pyrrha scattered across the room. Jaune leapt up to an elevated platform ahead of the team to better assess the fight, and that's when he saw them. Three Ethereals stood patiently along the back of the room. The moment they saw him, they each unfolded two arms from beneath their crimson robes and purple energy began to pool in their palms.
"Ethereals!" Jaune shouted down at his team, "We've got Ethereals in the back! MECs, cover the ramp so that everyone can move up to my position. We need these guys taken out now."
Jaune looked back down at the Ethereals, and his jaw almost dropped. Rather than use their purple charge to launch a psychic lance (as he expected), they seemed to be drawing Grimm essence from the monsters around them. He watched as they psionically stripped nearby Beowolves into ribbons, and the essence flowed like little threads towards the Ethereal masters, weaving themselves into a dark armor for the aliens.
"Everyone, focus on my target." Jaune said, doing his best to keep the panic he felt from creeping into his voice. He hefted his Plasma Dragon, and his teammates followed suit with their own armaments. On his mark, the operatives opened up with a withering fusillade of plasma, gauss, and Dust directed at the central Ethereal. Though the alien put up its psionic barrier, it couldn't deflect every attack Blue Team threw at it. Slowly the Grimm armor began to break, and Jaune wondered if this battle would be over sooner than he originally thought. Of course, that idea crossed his mind before the other two Ethereals began to funnel Grimm essence into their comrade to bolster its armor.
"Well, there goes that plan." Beagle sighed.
From behind, Jaune heard the sound of rending metal before Gizmo called out, "Grimm are starting to overrun our position, Actual."
Jaune knew he needed a plan, and he needed it five seconds ago, "MECs, fall back. Ortega, hitch a ride. The rest of us need to attack the three Ethereals simultaneously. Ren, Nora, you're on the left. Pyrrha, you're with Beagle on the right. MacAuley, with me. Move!"
The operatives sprang into action. Ortega leapt onto Vulcan's back while the MECs leapt over the swarming Grimm and dashed to relative safety. Nora leapt off of the platform with an exhilarated yell while Ren once again dropped into cloak behind her. Pyrrha gracefully jumped to the ground level before dashing off towards her own target while Beagle fired his rifle to distract the Ethereal. Jaune vaulted over the alien console in front of him, and hit the ground with a grunt before the voices started.
The New One's allies arrive, with as much violence and force as we have expected. They survive our experiments and pitfalls, and now stand before the puppeteers.
As chaos reigned all around him, Jaune glared at the Ethereal, "I've heard about your dirty mind tricks, alien. You have a lot to answer for after what you did to Ruby."
Bravado. A useless trait that we have seen commonly exhibited by our enemies. The outcome is always the same, however: bend to our will, or become erased.
Jaune roared and charged at the Ethereal. A psi lance slammed into his shield, and Jaune almost stumbled as he gasped for breath. He'd survived against plasma bolts and a Sectopod's death beam with his Semblance-enhanced shield, but the psi lance had an effect that the others did not. Perhaps because his soul now extended to his shield, it was still affected by the hit?
Another lance connected, and Jaune choked from the pain. He saw the Auric glow encasing his armaments begin to flicker, and his eyes widened in a mixture of shock and fear. Such power… how could he overcome something that possessed such an immense force of will. In the background, he heard MacAuley call out to Beagle. But wasn't the Captain busy helping Pyrrha? Dust, he hoped the others were alright.
A third lance struck him, this time straight to the chest, and Jaune fell to his knees against a small bulkhead. Again, the alien's voice filled his mind.
Disappointing. Given the… fortitude of the Red Slayer, we expected her brood to be just as powerful.
Jaune tried to steel his mind, to resist the Ethereal's incredible power, but he felt like a blade of grass in the face of a hurricane. How did Nora and Ren handle these? How did XCOM? He groaned as he felt the psionic energy ripple throughout his body.
Jaune gasped as he felt something get jammed into his side, and liquid fire seemed to start flowing through his veins. He looked down to see a Combat Stim injector pressed up against his skin, its red-colored contents almost fully drained. He followed the hand holding the device up to its owners face, and saw MacAuley looking back at him.
"It's not over 'till it's over." MacAuley said, echoing Jaune's words from a few days go, "Show that lanky fuck who's boss, Jaune. Spoiler: it's you."
Fiery strength surged through Jaune's limbs, and Jaune gripped his sword and shield as he once again projected his Aura to encase them. His muscles still ached from the Ethereal's opening strikes, yet the red Dust MacAuley pumped into his system helped Jaune find the strength to move in spite of the pain. He stepped out from behind the bulkhead and resumed his charge against the Ethereal. The alien fired another psychic bolt at him, but Jaune's renewed willpower shrugged it off. With an adrenaline-fueled roar, he drove Crocea Mors straight towards the Ethereal's gut. Its psychic barrier tried to resist the blow, but Aura guided Jaune's sword as he felt it cut through the alien's flesh and he drove it up to the hilt against the alien's body.
The Ethereal unleashed a psychic scream, its body consumed in a forceful blast that launched Jaune backwards and slammed him back against the bulkhead. When he shook off the disorientation from his crash, his ears were met with the most beautiful sound he'd heard all day.
The sound of peace and quiet.
Ruby gritted her teeth as the Ethereal glided into view, its psionic presence causing almost everyone else to buckle under the pressure. Ruby almost did, but she focused on the lessons Ren taught her about balancing her Aura with her psionics and just barely managed to remain standing. She glanced over at Blake and Yang, both of whom were now on the floor wracked with dry heaves. Weiss had fallen to one knee, using Myrtenaster to keep herself balanced while she clutched her head with her free hand.
The Earth operatives looked just as bad. Fonseca passed out completely while Zhang fell against a wall, taking shallow breaths. The MECs tried to remain upright, but collapsed after a matter of seconds. Ruby recalled Vahlen mentioning something about the MEC process negatively impacting an operative's willpower, which could also explained why Weiss seemed to be handling the psychic assault better than Blake or Yang. While Ruby hoped Penny's robotic nature would provide her with natural resistance to the mental attack, she seemed to be struggling to stay afloat.
"P… Penny?" Ruby asked, struggling to form words.
"It's Gidjit." Penny answered, her voice likewise strained, "I think the Ethereal possesses knowledge on ways to exert control over Cyberdiscs, and it's attempting to do so with Gidjit. It's taking almost all of my attention to keep my bridge with him intact and keep the Ethereal out."
Ruby nodded in understanding. If the Ethereal succeeded in rending control of the Cyberdisc away from Penny, her team would be in serious trouble. She wondered if this psychic force was a focused attack, or just some passive ability this Ethereal possessed. She'd never experienced anything like it before, and so she hoped that the sensation would pass if she could just get the damn thing distracted for a fraction of a second. She leveled Crescent Rose with the Ethereal's head and fired a few shots. The alien's psychic barrier deflected the rounds easily, but Ruby's main goal was to draw the creature's attention away from its psychic wave. When she felt no change in her growing headache, she realized she needed to employ more drastic measures.
In an instant, Crescent Rose unpacked into its scythe form, and Ruby rushed the Ethereal. At least, she tried to rush it, but the end result felt closer to a jog. She raised her weapon high into the air and attacked the Ethereal with a wide, upward swing. The Alien simply reached out and caught her blade before it could do any real damage. Through her shock, Ruby noted a psionic barrier protecting the Ethereal's hand from her weapon.
Such impertinence. While the New One's willpower is notably improved, it still tries to defy fate.
With a psionic blast, the Ethereal sent Crescent Rose flying across the room. Ruby, still struggling to fight off the psionic pressure, failed to hold onto her scythe and heard it clatter to the floor far behind her.
Without your implement of destruction, what are you?
"I'm still a force to be reckoned with." Ruby growled. She felt anger begin to bubble up within her and rather than suppress it, she fed it and let it grow. She took that raging hatred and channeled it towards the Ethereal standing before her. She felt fire flow from her very soul as she poured all she had into the psychic counterattack. For a moment, she noticed the Ethereal stiffen as it attempted to resist the attack. In that instant, she felt the pressure lessen on her mind, though only by a little. Still, the fruits of her efforts provided ample encouragement for Ruby to keep up the onslaught. She dug deep within herself to open up the vaults of contained hatred that she kept sealed away for so long and used it to strengthen her rage and resolve.
She remembered the numerous faces of soldiers she befriended at XCOM who died to the invaders. She remembered Biggs, Bolts, Vance, and every other name on the memorial wall that represented the lives of those who would never see their world break free from the alien host. She thought of Blake, forever scarred by this war, and the hundreds of millions of common citizens who lived day to day in constant fear of being next in line for an abduction. She felt the blazing cauldron of her soul spill over as she formed all of these memories into a deadly weapon and drilled it straight into the psyche of her Ethereal foe.
Seconds later, however, she felt the scalding-hot rage pushed back into her own mind, and she felt her mental strength begin to buckle from the firestorm of psychic will thrashing within the confines of her skull.
Such strength! And yet, how can the New One expect to bend others to the will of her abilities when she falls victim to its power?
Ruby tried to break off the attack, to let go of the rage and let it dissipate, but she found herself unable to. Something kept her tethered to the mental assault, and she felt it begin to slowly tear her head apart. She cried out from the pain, and try as she might to force the burning attack back out of her skull and send it at her foe, the Ethereal's mental resolve and finesse far outclassed her own. Even as she felt her consciousness begin to slip away, she heard the click of a pistol's hammer locking into place.
"Captain Ruby Rose is like a daughter to me, you alien bastard." She heard Zhang growl, "A bond forged in the fires of combat and tempered with the kinship of survival."
A shot rang out, far deeper than any pistol Ruby tested in Shen's labs or the firing range. The brief respite to her mind offered by Zhang's attack allowed Ruby to glance up and get a look at the Colonel. There he stood, beads of sweat running down his face and both hands gripping a pistol far tighter than what would normally be considered necessary. The strained look on his face told Ruby that the Ethereal's presence still weighed heavily on his mind, and the action of standing and firing a gun proved a monumental task in and of itself. The pistol was unlike anything Ruby had ever seen at XCOM. It looked larger and heavier than any sidearm manufactured in engineering, and intricate designs of inlaid gold ran the length of the barrel.
"You mock my daughter, try to break her spirit…" Zhang winced before hissing, "Then I shall break you first."
His hand cannon barked twice more, and the Ethereal recoiled with each hit. Ruby drew some sense of satisfaction in knowing that her mind war with the alien prevented it from deflecting bullets as it usually did. A pair of thin hands appeared from within the Ethereal's robes, and purple energy pooled within their palms. Just as Zhang cocked his pistol to fire again, the psi lance hit him square in the chest and blasted him off his feet.
"Zhang!" Ruby cried out. Even as she feared for Zhang's life, Ruby felt it: the psychic presence slowly receding. She knew that, despite every fiber of her being wanting to make sure Zhang would be okay, she needed to capitalize on this advantage. Failing to do so would be to spit in Zhang's face and tell him that he risked his life for nothing. The pain from her first failed attack receding, Ruby focused once more on the Ethereal, channeling all her emotions into a mental spear before thrusting it into the alien's mind.
The alien hissed from the pain of Ruby's assault, and she felt it try to muster enough willpower for a counterattack. Ruby's mind lashed out again to stymie the Ethereal's efforts. Zhang's physical wounds against the alien were a godsend, as they weakened the psychic powerhouse to the point where Ruby had a fighting chance at defeating it. She drew up some her Aura and tempered her mind blade with the essence of her soul. The two forces clashed at first, but Ruby wielded her soul's force with the gentle tranquility taught to her by Ren. Soon, she felt the Aura weave itself in with her psionic energy, and Ruby stabbed at the Ethereal's mind once more.
Just as the initial shock of Aura and psionics merging wreaked havoc on Ruby months ago, the Ethereal did not enjoy the feeling of Ruby's Aura entering its essence. The alien screamed, clutching its head with two hands as it began to glow a bright purple. Ruby shielded her eyes as the Ethereal exploded in a final burst of psychic energy before the Captain contacted Annette.
"Central, this is Actual. The Ethereal has been dealt with, and we require immediate evac. Colonel Zhang has been gravely wounded, and will need medical attention upon our arrival at HQ. The rest of the team could probably do with a full evaluation as well."
"Understood, Actual. We hope to see everyone back at base safely." Annette answered.
"Yeah…" Ruby muttered, "Me too."