I do not own anything.


Chapter 49-Hellfire Pt.2

Central Station Rooftop, 3:25 PM...

"DUCK!"

When Chicahua broke the synchronization it hurt, like having a bolt of lightning suddenly passing through one's brain. Neil, for a number of reasons, had actually grown used to this feeling thus he was able to respond to it quickly enough. Without even really knowing what was going on he dropped to his knees, biting back the pain inside his skull. Mere seconds later he felt the tops of his head heat up and the temperature around him skyrocket in ways that were deeply unnatural. Snapping his eyes open he saw an oncoming object cloaked in red and orange flames. Hearing the demonic shriek immediately told him what it was.

The Nevermore closed in on them by the second, its flame-covered body taking on something of an arrow shape as it sped towards them with great speed. Ramming its enemies was something every Nevermore knew how to do by instinct, even a glancing impact was enough to leave an ill-prepared Huntsman with at least a broken arm or a leg, add fire to the mix and it would be a one-hit KO. For a second the oversized bird's eyes met the fierce orange of the knight's Faunus comrade; it saw no fear in them, only cold indifference. Shrieking in fury it sped up with the intention of turning the two teenagers into simmers on its flaming wings.

With a steely calm face Chicahua threw out his left hand, sending out his razor shield which glimmered in the light caste by the Nevermore.

SLISH!

"On your six!" Neil cried pushing his teammate aside just in time to see another flyer, a flaming Wyvern, approaching them. Beagalltach slay outstretched in his hand, the blade opened up revealing a glowing gun barrel from which a cackling blue plasma beam shot forth. Despite his head still hurting the scar-faced teen's aim was dead-on, hitting the growing fireball within the Wyvern's mouth caused the attack to explode prematurely resulting in an explosion that consumed the Wyvern's entire head. In addition to that it also illuminated the approaching forms of the other Grimm, drawn to the two by their previously flaring Auras. "Company!"

His calm face twisted into a feral snarl as Chicahua quite literally whipped out Sprekelia and swung the whip-sword in wide arcs while Xolotl continued traversing the sky, cutting apart anything it came into contact with.

It seemed with the break in the storm the newly arrived Grimm had decided to go after the sudden squall's orchestrators. More and more flame-covered black masses came at the two boys forcing them to push their backs together. With their prey coupled so close together the various flyers gathered in circle cutting off any hope of escape for the two teenagers. Within the jaws of the demonic birds and reptiles flames built up into searing fireballs they readied to expel at a moment's notice.

"Neil?"

"You do it, you need the energy more than I do." The gray-haired youth replied with his eyes closed in concentration. So engrossed with their supposedly cornered prey the Grimm had taken their eyes off the developing storm cloud above their heads.

Just as all the Grimm launched their attacks Chicahua spread his wings out, his entire body glowing with life energy. Across his body various tribal tattoos came alit turning him into a mass of burning light that drew in all the attacks. Like a vacuum it sucked them up and condensed into his wings which burned hotter than the flames of the Grimm. Shocked a handful of the Grimm fell back now cautious of the Faunus.

It was in that window of time that Neil struck, his eyes snapped open revealing his furious bluish-gray orbs. In the sky the storm cloud exploded releasing multiple bolts of lightning downwards towards the Grimm. Each of the empowered monsters were speared by the bright-blue bolts, sometimes more than two. The flames coating their bodies instantly died as whatever passed for a life force for the black demons was extinguished. Their death cries were pitiful and their bodies disintegrated into black mist while their shattered masks fell to the rooftop, breaking apart on impact.

An uneasy silence settled over Neil and Chicahua as they took the moment to catch their breath, Neil more so than his teammate. Fully rejuvenated the Eagle Knight stood proud and strong on the station roof top overlooking the base-turned battlefield. On his end Neil could feel his breathing coming out a little harder than usual, something he expected whenever he used his Semblance for something on the scale of creating a super storm. Unfortunately he couldn't replenish his strength the same way his teammate could. Kneeling on one knee he attempted to silence the residual pounding in his head.

"Not to sound pushy, but are you almost finished catching your breath?" His long-haired friend called.

"Heh, so it's that bad huh?" Neil responded with a small smirk. "Fine, just give me another minute and I'll be right as rain."

"I'll do you one better." Chicahua stated walking up to him while reaching into one of the many leather pouches he kept on his waist. Kneeling down he presented his comrade with a collection of green-dotted blue berries, each no bigger than his thumb. Chicahua frowned when he saw Neil scowl. "Don't start."

"You know how much I hate those things. How the hell do you eat them? Is it a Faunus thing?"

"No, it's a 'I want to live' thing, now hurry up and eat them." He pressed.

Realizing there was no point in arguing Neil grabbed the handful of strange colored berries and downed them. Immediately he felt his stomach lurch in protest, a feeling greatly resembling vomit rising up in his throat only to settle back down and churn his stomach like a blender. Though his taste buds were screaming in horror Neil could feel his strength returning to him. The headache he'd been battling quickly faded as did the disgust in his stomach. Already knowing the process Chicahua took his teammate in arm and headed for the edge of the rooftop. Knowing the process Neil held onto his friend's shoulder as he took the skies carrying him with him.

It was only after their feet had left solid ground did Neil notice one thing he hadn't before about his teammate-his entire body was shivering like a leaf.


Central Airfield, 3:33 PM…

While this was probably one of the most intense battles of Nora's life it was also one of the most exhilarating. Everywhere she looked death seemed to be around the corner claiming two or three lives at a time while continuously seeking out new quarry. Nora happily offered the reaper as many as she could, her beloved silver hammer rose and fell shaking either the earth or breaking the bones of anyone unlucky enough to be in her line of sight. Of course while she was having the time of her life her childhood friend and partner was rapidly reevaluating his life choices starting with why he decided to get out of bed this morning.

Ren knew they hadn't managed to change the course of the battle, not in any meaningful way. When he saw the giant airship begin to lean to the side with smoke bellowing from one of its hauls he knew their enemy had a backup plan, it was foolish to assume they didn't.

Oh, and when the Grimm showed up he definitely knew their enemy had thought things ahead. Multiple streams of fire tore across the field just as countless bolts of lightning had done earlier, only this time the targets were the base's defenders and Beacon personnel. The later of the two was quick enough either to dodge or shape their Auras into protective barriers, the former weren't on the other hand. Their death cries mingled together into a chorus of fear-inducing noise that reminded Ren all too painfully of his village's last moments. Shutting out the memories he attempted to do as Nora did-lose himself in the fight until it was all he could think about, the problem was they were losing.

The oncoming firestorm was heralded by dozens of ear-piercing shrieks and roars that chilled the heart of every soldier and Huntsmen on the battlefield.

Wyverns and Nevermores swopped down like vultures, killing anyone unfortunate enough to be within range of their landing, be they defender of mercenary. Wisely the soldiers who'd come with them began to pull back allowing the Grimm to press the field, spewing fire at everything that moved.

"I'm going in Ren!" Nora shouted raising Magnhild high while dashing towards the line of flame-coated monsters still wearing that near maniacal grin on her face.

"Uh, shouldn't you be going after her? Trying to stop her?" One of the soldiers beside Ren asked staring at the charging girl as if she'd just descended from the sky.

Despite the stress mounting inside of his chest Rena actually found it in him to laugh; it was actually kind of relieving being able to get some of it out. "Trust me, she's survived worse than this."

Nora charged through the onrush of flames without a care in the world, her Aura protecting her from the flesh-searing heat that had brought an end to countless others. The Grimm realized too late what they were dealing with was a fighter who knew how to handle herself, and enjoy herself.

She took a Wyvern's head off in a single swing, then flatten a Nevermore's when it made an attempt to spear her on its beak. Jumping at the last second she narrowly avoided the tail swing of a second Wyvern who then attempted to snap her up in its fiery jaws. For a reward it got a Dust grenade to the face, the resulting explosion propelled Nora further into the sky which gave her a good view of the mass of burning black bodies now eying her with well-deserved irritation.

The hammer-wielder's Aura manifested as pink lightning once she began channeling it into her beloved weapon. "Be happy guys, you're about to be witness one of the greatest Thunder Drops in history!"

Two shots was all it took to turn her into a cartwheeling mass of electricity and power that couldn't be stopped by the dozens of fireballs that the Grimm lobbed at her.

BOOOM!

Ren felt the ground beneath his feet vibrate upon Nora's ground impact, and his hair literally stand on end from the electrical discharge. Fire and lightning, what a combination. He mused running towards his teammate at full speed upon seeing the various flaming silhouettes approaching her. "Nora, down!" Ren called channeling his Aura into Storm Flower's dual blades.

Nora remained crouched over in as the smoke and ash fell away to reveal a dozen Beowolves and Ursa ready to jump her. If they could have seen the shit-eating grin on her face they would have rethought that move. Ren used her back as a spring board, like a graceful assassin he spun in midair, keeping the trigger on Storm Flower pressed while unleashing the pent up power of his weapons. Bullets and energy slashes tore through the Grimm, almost all of them going through multiple black bodies before stopping. Even if they didn't die they were repulsed long enough for Nora to make a three-hundred and sixty degree spin that completely pulverized their black bodies.

"Up front!" Ren yelled throwing his guns forward like boomerangs. Directly in front of them was a charging Boarbatusk almost the size of a tank. The twirling SMGs hit their mark in the Grimm's eyes both blinding it and enraging it. "Now!"

Taking the lead Nora raised her hammer high ready to deliver a knockout blow to the Boarbatusk as the distance between them shrunk by the second.

But the Boarbatusk had other plans.

Releasing a battle cry it curled itself into a tight flaming ball that sped towards Nora at top speed, and then it exploded right in front of her.

Even if she could withstand the blast, the suddenness and proximity threw Nora back into the arms of her partner. "You okay?" He questioned.

"Who me? Come on Renny, you should know by now it'll take more than that to keep me down!"

Ren was about to reply when he heard his Scroll beeping, digging into his pocket and wiping the sweat from his brow he read the messenger.

Nora knew something had happened when she saw the cool façade her friend had up collapse instantly. "What?"

"We're falling back."

"Fall back? But we're winning!"

CRACK! CRACK!

The two had a second to look at each other before simultaneously jumping away as the ground beneath them erupted. Both fell into a crouching position with their firearms trained at whatever new enemy was set to emerge from the depths of the earth. In seconds their enemy did emerge, but Ren and Nora were too stunned to open fire on it.

It looked like something out of a horror movie, a gross mixture of rock and metal held together by a disgusting oil-like substance that leaked out of any possible outlets. Standing at just a little over seven feet it easily towered over Ren and Nora, the two teenagers put together barely having half of the strange creature's size. Its four limps resembled tree trunks given their size and shape, five large metal spikes sticking out at the ends acting as fingers that dripped more of the black liquid. Within some of the cracks of the construct they could see orange and red glows that caste eerie light on the rest of the body. Speaking of the body the way it moved was stocky and slow, a given since the creature seemed to be made of the hardest materials it'd been able to find. There wasn't a visible head, at least not one instantly recognizable, only a small hump where the head should have been. That and a very familiar white and red mask.

"Grimm!" Ren screamed squeezing the trigger of Storm Flower.

The first year's bullets easily bounced off the Geist's body as if they were nothing but flower petals. The sound that came from the Geist's arm was a sickening combination of metal sliding and liquid squishing back and forth. Ren saw a bright blue light from the end of the hole in the Grimm's arm, and then the plasma beam shot forth like an arrow.

The long-haired male bit back a hiss of pain feeling the beam graze his right shoulder, it had torn through his Aura and cooked his flesh like raw meat. Falling to his side he saw Nora leap into action with Magnhild held high ready to flatten the unholy golem. "Nora, wait!"

Right before his eyes he saw the Grimm's other hand reconstruct into something resembling an axe then it met Magnhild in a thunderous clinging of steel. The edge of the makeshift weapon began to glow a bright blue that superheated the air around it and Magnhild. Nora cursed realizing somewhere down in the depths of the underground the Geist had gotten its head on some type of plasma weaponry and was now using it against them. Her curses grew louder when she saw the black liquid-like webbing begin to cackle with red lightning.

"Nora, break off now!"

"Yeah, no shit!"

The Geist got off one inhuman roar before the field of plasma exploded from within its body tearing up the ground around it. Its entire body disappeared behind the curtain of red plasma that superheated the air even more than it already was forcing the two teens back even further. Through the plasma wall it lashed out at Ren with its axe arm, the horrid limb extending almost ten feet thanks to the black substance that composed the Geist's original body. Rather than take a chance Ren skillfully rolled to the side letting the blade impale itself in the earth. He was about to go for the extended limb when he felt a chill run up his spine.

Just barely turning his head he saw the row of soldiers taking aim at him, assault rifles and if he had to guess rocket launchers. He didn't have much time to scream before all of them squeezed the triggers of their weapons and he took off running.

Nora screamed when she saw her friend's body go sailing through the air, his Aura shield flashing and breaking as he rolled along the ground like a ball. Looking at the soldiers with righteous fury she fired on all of them hoping it'd be enough cover for her to move in, but in doing so she forgot about the Geist who most certainly hadn't forgotten about her. Unlike Ren she was fully able to dodge the plasma beam that it fired at her, then get in close enough to at least take a whack at the weapon with Magnhild. She swung again only to find her attack repulsed by the toughness of the steel and concrete form of the Geist, the reinforced body it's created by using the resources of the base's underground.

Admittedly Nora didn't have much a plan after she stumbled back from her failed attack, but she wasn't longed to continue the battle at hand.

"Miss Valkyrie, we're pulling out!" A voice from behind her barked. Feeling the familiar cold chill against the back of her neck Nora made no argument as she fell back into the dark void behind her.

The next time she opened her eyes she was lying side by side with Ren, who'd lost nearly all his upper body clothing and was nursing what appeared to be a burned left arm. Looking around she saw a collection of other soldiers and students in similar conditions, some of them worse off. Amongst them saw the brawler and ninja of Team RWBY. "Yang! Blake!"

"Did you see the airship we downed?" Yang asked trotting up to them. Like Nora she was breathing hard, but she wasn't out of breath just yet. "What happened to Ren?"

"Geist," he groaned attempting to heal his wounded arm with his remaining Aura. His head was still ringing from the blast and the constant heat and explosions certainly wasn't helping. "They must have infiltrated the bottom level of the base during the start of the attack. If so then we're at a bigger disadvantage then I originally thought."

"Which is exactly why we're pulling back to the transit station." Professor Foley concluded walking up to the gang of four students. Like his students the dark-haired teacher had taken a beating, his coat was completely gone revealing a white undershirt that had nearly been torn to shreds, no doubt in fending off Grimm. For one reason or another the professor's entire right arm had been hastily bandaged up, Blake alone could smell the burning flesh protruding from the wounded limb but chose to keep quiet about it. Blood continuously trickled down the left side of his head from a nasty wound that looked like it had come from a too close for comfort bladed weapon. "We underestimated the enemy as well as overestimated ourselves, we're falling back and regrouping with everyone else."

"So much for a major offensive." Yang huffed still a little sore from her and Blake's crash landing into the ground. They'd just barely avoided being burned alive by the Nevermore hot on their tail upon escaping the airship.

Holding out his heads Professor Foley concentrated on opening five black portals which lead back to the only safe zone they'd managed to establish. It was clearly causing him pain as his breathing became visibly harder and his knees began to buckle under the pressure.

Cutting through the air like a knife was a feline roar that made almost everyone jump out of their skin.

"Shit, I thought I'd at least be able to keep that thing down long enough for us to escape." Foley bemoaned.

"Keep what down?" Blake asked not liking what she was hearing.

All at once all eyes went to the far left where the mercenaries had made way for a new arrival, a hulking figure that shook the ground like an elephant. For a minute the students believed somehow the enemy had a Goliath with them as extra firepower. As the beast drew closer they found they had something of equal danger, if not worse.

"Oh you've got to be joking." Blake snarled dropping into a crouch like the over-sized feline before her.

The Nemean roared a challenge at the assembled students as it took center stage before them, the mysterious soldiers hanging back with their weapons at the ready in case things went south for the Grimm. Standing at almost five feet with a mane of literal fire the students knew whatever luck they'd been running on might have just official ran out. The ember eyes of the Grimm looked between the students and the black portals which countless wounded were rushing through, in that instant its choice of prey was decided upon.

"Hey, pussy face, over here!" Nora screamed firing a volley of grenades directly into the Nemean's path halting its advance. Meeting its furious roar with a defiant grin Nora unfolded Magnhild and held the weapon in an offensive manner. "That's right you overgrown kitten, why go after the weak and helpless when there's a real challenge waiting for ya' right here?"

"Two challenges." Yang corrected bashing her fists together while stepping beside her orange-haired friend.

As one would have expected the flame-empowered Grimm leaped at the two girls with every intention of ripping them apart limb from limb.

"Professor," Ren called placing his uninjured hand on the older man's shoulder.

"Heh, should have known you'd stay here to look after a senior like me then enjoy your youth like those two." The former thief chuckled.

"I believe I can be of more use here backing you up then fighting with them. Just focus on keeping the portals open." Ren countered, it'd been some time since he'd used his Semblance, now seemed to be the perfect time to use it since it wasn't too hard to figure who the master of the portals was and how open a target he was.

Ever since coming to Beacon Yang and Nora had always dreamed of going up against the fiercest of Grimm the world had to offer. A Nemean stood pretty tall on each of their lists for obvious reasons, managing to kill one would be the first step they took on the path to become the Huntresses they always dreamed of.

Now, fighting a powered up Nemean in the middle of an under siege military base, with the lives of countless people including their teammates and classmates hanging in the balance? It wasn't exactly what either had pictured, but they'd be damned if they missed the opportunity.

The very first thing they noticed off the bat was blunt damage of any kind was not only nullified, it was next to impossible as the second they got close the Nemean's flames would flare to unimaginable levels turning them away. Of course that also meant the lion Grimm could continuously stay on the defensive by lunging and clawing at them, forcing them to fall back further and further.

Yang was done running, glancing back at the others who were still evacuating then back at the Grimm she formulated a plan, one that would have her sister screaming her head off and her other teammates questioning her sanity. "Hey, Garfield! Over here!"

Having just failed at impaling Nora on one of its claws the Nemean turned back to see the gold-haired female baiting it. The animosity emitting from the girl was too much for the Grimm to ignore thus it charged at her full speed.

"Uh, Yang?" Nora called?

"Are you crazy?" Blake shouted from across the battlefield.

"Just trust me!" She shouted as the Nemean pounced on her.

Beneath her the ground shattered when her fists made contact with the Nemean's flaming paws. Yang felt her entire body lock up as all her strength went to keeping her and the Grimm deadlocked in a power struggle she knew in her heart she wasn't going to be able to win without exerting all of her strength. Her muscles were already straining under the insane pressure they were under just keeping the enormous lion at bay, never mind the searing heat that the Grimm projected which left Yang struggling to keep her eyes open through the sweat rapidly pouring down her forehead. The Nemean roared above her showering the upper part of her head with embers, were it not for her already flaming hair she would have had flaming eating away at her sculpt. Just the mere thought of such a thing happened seemed to annoy her, realizing that she kept the image in her head and used it as fuel.

The Nemean roared and raged at the continued resistance of the blonde it was up against, humans weren't supposed to be this tough to defeat, especially ones just barely out of puppetry.

Taking her eyes of her enemy for a second she saw Blake and Nora moving into position behind the Nemean, who remained blissfully unaware of the other two girls. Yang felt herself grin when she caught the tight black fabric of Gambol Shroud wrap around the back legs of the Nemean. "Now!" She shouted to the other two girls pumping all her of her Aura into her arms.

Alone Blake didn't have the power to pull out the flaming Grimm, Nora, on the other hand did. The Nemean let out a startled cry when its back legs were suddenly yanked out leaving it off balanced. Yang took one step forward putting herself directly underneath the Nemean's head. Her right fist rose in an upwards lone directly into the Grimm's chin. Even with fifty percent of the force behind the uppercut absorbed the Nemean still felt a considerable amount of pain from the attack, it doubled when Yang delivered a second uppercut in exactly the same spot.

While the Grimm was stunned Blake jumped on to the back of the Nemean wrapping Gambol Shroud around its expansive neck. By instinct the flames surrounding the Grimm flared, but that was exactly what "Blake" had been waiting for. The doppelgänger glowed bright blue before exploding in a massive cloud of cold air and energy that completely covered the Nemean. Before the sub-zero cloud had settled Nora was charging at towards the now frozen Grimm with Magnhild charged with energy.

Through its frozen eyelids the Nemean saw the incoming girl ready to end its life with one swing of her mighty hammer. What was once indifference changed into roaring anger that reignited the flames that had consumed its body. "RRAAAAAAAHHHH!"

All three girls were thrown back by the fiery explosion that not only shattered the frozen prison Blake had created, but broke the ground beneath the Nemean. Where the four-legged beast stood was now nothing but a swirling mass of black and red flames with the Nemean's lion-faced mask being the only recognizable part left.

"Oh come on!" Yang screamed banging her fist against the ground.

It snarled at them before literally blasting off towards the portals which the others were desperately trying to escape through. With the speed and force of a rocket it blasted through one of the portals, burning alive the two upper classmen who'd been about to enter as well as disrupting the portal itself. Over ten feet away Foley cried out in pain at having the mental connection severed, worse, Ren cried out as well feeling the recoil from the Professor's agony. The Nemean continued shooting across the field ramming and burning through anyone that stood in its way before ascending into the sky.

Now well and truly worried Nora fired shot after shot at the Nemean as it began its steady descend back down to the ground, its size steadily growing as it drew closer and closer. The task grew incredibly difficult when she heard the sound of guns blazing behind her followed by the slow cracking of her Aura by waves of bullets. Along with Blake and Yang she hit the ground as the soldiers who'd been docile during the Nemean's rampage now opened fire with gusto on the defenseless soldiers. With everyone still off balance from the Nemean's attack as well as their escape route cut off the mysterious invaders took the opportunity to attack in full force gunning down anyone they could.

Damn it Foley, get your shit together! Now's not the time to be sitting on your ass! The dark haired professor barked attempting to clear his head of the pain plaguing it. In one sweeping gaze he knew if he didn't act everyone who'd accompanied him, soldiers and students, were all going to die, either by bullets or by fire. Catching the flaming Nemean in his sights he conjured up his remaining strength to summon up one more portal.

With its rapid speed the Nemean couldn't do anything expect snarl in rage as it vanished into the black void that opened up in front of it. Barely a heartbeat later and another portal opened up, right above the advancing line of mercenaries.

BOOOOOM!

Not taking any time to mull over his little trick he focused his remaining energy on opening up one last portal. "Everyone through, now!"

Nora grabbed Ren and practically threw him through the dark abyss before jumping in herself. Blake looked between her partner and professor before jumping through as well.

"Yang, go through now!" Professor Foley screamed as it became apparent they were the last two left.

"Sure thing tech, but you're coming with me!" She responded grabbing the older man by the waist and running towards the rapidly shrinking portal. After everything she'd been through she was running on her last reserves of energy, when they got back she'd have to take a break or else she wasn't going to be any good to anyone. Beneath her feet she felt the ground beginning to shake again; this time it didn't feel like an emergence and more like an earthquake. "Oh this day just keeps getting better and better!"

"Heh, and to think it's not even sunset yet." Foley chuckled seconds before the two passed through the final portal which had shrunken to the size of a car door.

For once Yang was happy for the sudden burst of cold that came with jumping through Professor Foley's portals, it was refreshing compared to the hellish heat she'd endured while fighting. Sadly it was only momentary as the feeling ended as soon as it began. Her face kissed the hard cold pavement leaving a slight ringing in her ears.

Voices blurred together in her head and her vision was foggy, figures and colors blurring together preventing her from getting a clear picture. Slowly it all began to clear, when it did she was honestly surprised to find a familiar pair of indigo-colored eyes staring back at her.

"Nice entrance Xiao Long," Cardin Winchester whistled. His normally well-kept hair was disheveled and a blue bandage had been hastily wrapped around his head. "Got to say, as far as badass entrances go that's probably the worst one I've ever seen, you may have actually beaten out Arc."

Despite the aching pain in all parts of her body Yang found herself laughing. "Ah, Cardin, I'm happy to see you too. How was your trip to the train station?"

"…Exciting."


Transit Station Three, 3:22 PM…

As shameful as it was Cardin was knocked out when the first of the explosions happened, his head had hit the tiled floor and he was out like a light. Of course when he woke up it only added to his already foul mood. He woke up to the sounds of explosions, shouting, and the smell of blood. The smell is probably what fully jolted his body awake, it was the first sign that something was very, very wrong. As it turned out that was putting it mildly, during his little nap not only had all of the transit stations been attacked, so too had the main base, oh and one set of warheads had been successfully stolen. Needless to say as soon as he had feeling his arms and legs Cardin wanted to find something to hurt.

He had a wide pick of what he wanted to choose from so in the end he decided to go to town.

Everything seemingly faded into a nonstop dance of violence and death that left him wondering if that blow to the head had unscrewed something within him. Either way, it kept him alive and served its part in putting down as many of the unknown attackers as he could. Given that they'd murdered countless soldiers, their own comrades, without a second thought Cardin didn't feel much regret when he painted the inside of the station with their blood and organs. At least none of his enemies made things easy, a great many of them didn't go down without a fight. He was slashed and pounded on, his Aura deflected most of the blows, but he could still feel small amounts of pain cutting through his shield. It didn't matter too much as Cardin was too hyped up on adrenaline and rage to care much for the injuries, only a fatal blow would be enough for that. His vision deteriorated into until all he could see where those firing at him and those no, everything took an extreme backseat so his mind could solely focus on bringing as much pain as possible to his enemies.

Eventually the blissful rampage he'd locked himself into came to an end when he found himself staring down a giant of man carrying a hammer whose head was almost as massive as his upper body. The soldier's visor glowed bright red as if challenging him, for a response Cardin lit his mace and took off keeping his weapon low. His opponent took several heavy steps towards him steadily raising his weapon for a downwards swing he was prepared to parry then follow up with a counter attack. He could almost taste the victory on his lips until he heard the two back-to-back explosions.

Boom! Boom!

Using the hammer as a crunch the massive soldier fell down, his legs little more than mangled burning pieces of meat. Cardin stopped dead in his tracks confused at what had just happened. Suddenly two single-edged blades came through the chest of the soldier, not a second later and they erupted in white-hot flames further adding to the man's pain. The redhead heard a disgusting gurgling sound then nothing at all as his body went still and the blades slid out. As the armored mercenary collapsed on the floor he was left staring at the annoyed form of Professor Bennet.

"Ever heard of kill stealing?" The teenager jabbed.

"Ever heard of caution? Honestly Cardin, there are some days I think you're trying to get herself killed." She replied sheathing her twin blades on her hips. "Still, impressive work, your father wasn't half the human bulldozer you're becoming."

"I'll take that as a compliment." He grumbled suddenly feeling light headed. Feeling a soft hand on his shoulder he wasn't surprised to find Russel had caught up with him and was now supporting his massive form.

"Dude, when are you ever going to give us a chance to beat your kill count?" he joked softly leaning his partner into a sitting position.

"Well Rus, that'll happen when you guys are actually able to keep up with me." He joked before his face became passive. "It doesn't sound so bad now."

"Well while you were off on your little rampage the rest of us managed to get our shit together and fight back. For now we've got this station back, but we don't know shit about the others. Worse yet, we've lost communications with Fort Lennox and the town." Sky explained.

"So in other words shit's hit the fan?"

"Yep." Professor Bennet admitted. "Hope you've got some steam left over because we're going to need it."

Before the mace-wielding knight could answer his team's resident lance user was on him examining his still bleeding head. It was something of a surprise it hadn't healed and he was still feeling a minor bit of pain from the wound. He supposed that could be chalked up to his tendency to devote all his Aura usage to attacking and defending instead of healing. Not exactly a safe tactic, but it was how he used his Aura. Sky said something about bruising then tore off a piece of cloth he'd been keeping one of his pockets then wrapped it around Cardin's ehead.

"Just don't go bashing your head against the concrete will you?" He offered pulling back. "We all know you're hard headed, but even yours can still crack."

"Noted," he said tugging at the cloth. At least it'll keep the blood out of my eyes when I'm fighting. "So Professor, now what?"

The "what" in question was something Cardin should have expected-damage control. The survivors of the attack were split between tending to the wounded with what little resources they had, trying to put out the various fires tearing the station apart, and raising anyone they could on whatever devices they had on hand. Long story short, they were completely and utterly helpless.

"Remind me, why did we take this mission?" Dove bemoaned slumping up against the wall while dozens of people buzzed back and forth in front of them.

"We didn't, our names just came up on the mission register." Russel corrected looking equally disappointed. "Then again, I think something must have gone wrong because there's no way guys like us should have been sent on a mission like this!"

Though he remained silent Cardin agreed, something was definitely wrong with this entire picture. Freshmen teams are sent to guard Vale's newest and most dangerous weapons because Beacon is conveniently strapped for fresh teams with Grimm attacks and White Fang incursions happening all over the kingdom. The minute transportation starts the entire base gets attacked throwing everything out of whack just long enough for a successful theft of the warheads, not to mention a chance to destroy what is basically one of Vale's toughest forts, and its top weapons lab. It didn't take a genius to figure out all of them had been played, badly. Despite not having any control over the situation Cardin found himself grinding his teeth the more he thought about it. Someone at the top should have seen this shit coming! I mean come on, what's there to miss!

"At least we're safe here." Sky muttered. "From what the techies have managed to pick up the main base is a warzone. Apparently somehow a lava vein opened up setting the whole place on fire, if that weren't enough it's crawling with unknown soldiers and Grimm that are killing everything in sight."

Hearing those words all three boys felt stones drop in their stomachs. Each of them pictured the scenario Sky had just described, and needless to say what they all thought of left them feeling greatly numb.

"Okay, I think I wanna stay here." Russel stated suddenly feeling his knees go limp.

"You realize there's a chance what's tearing apart the base might just make it here too right?" Cardin challenged raising an eyebrow. Under his gaze his partner practically resorted to the fetal position cursing himself for getting out of bed this morning. Seeing him resort to such a shameful display set something off in the knight. "Gah! Screw this!"

"Cardin! Cardin! Where are you going?" Sky called watching him storm away pushing aside anyone who got in his way. "Listen, we know you're frustrated bu-"

"Don't ask me to sit here on my ass!" He screamed with such force it turned more than a few heads. All three of his teammates looked at him shocked at the level of fury brimming on his face. "Dove, get your ass over here, now!"

Snapping to attention the dirty blond followed him with Sky and Russel joining him. Their leader pushed his way through the crowd down endless flights of stairs and through countless response teams struggling to make sense of the situation. In a short matter of minutes the four boys were standing before a smoking rail car that had miraculously survived the firefight. One by one all their heads turned to Cardin whose eyes remained dead set on the rail car.

"Can you hotwire it?" He finally said without looking away.

Dove took in a heavy breath while looking over every each of the rail car. He wasn't liking what he was seeing, but from what he saw he guessed it was still drivable. "You sure you wanna do this boss?"

"Not like we have a choice." He answered.

The sound of clapping made all four teens turn around to find the dark-skinned professor they'd latched themselves to making her way over with a duffle bag slung over one shoulder. "That's the spirit Cardin, I knew you were hard headed but not a coward."

"Don't you have anything better to do?" The Winchester snarled.

"I'm a teacher, what sort of teacher would I be if I let you boys rush off into an obviously dangerous situation?"

"Uh-uh, so what's in the bag?" He responded.

Dropping the dark green bag and unzipping she revealed the collections of explosives and armor she'd salvaged from fight. "Just shut up and take what you think you'll need. We're going to be wading into a warzone so best be prepared."

Wordlessly each teen dug into the bag picking what they wanted from what she had to offer. Her guesses about who went after what seemed rather spot on within the first seconds. Cardin took up as many explosives as he could, latching at least two belts around his waist along with a standard issue sidearm.

"Sure you don't want something a little stronger?"

"Not exactly a gun person if you couldn't tell, besides, as long as I have my mace I'll be fine."

Accepting his answer she looked to the other three boys. Unsurprisingly Russel went for the knives, he seemed to have quite a thing for small blades that didn't slow him down. He didn't take any firearms either, no doubt they'd do nothing but slow him down given his nimble and quick fighting style. That left Dove and Sky, the sole team members who used firearms. While unwilling to abandon their main weapons they did take secondary weapons, a high-powered rifle for Sky and a few pistols for Dove. One by one each of the four stood up, having completely discarded their winter wear leaving all of them in nothing but the armored vests she's procured for each of them. Annuli had to admit, out of the four Cardin looked the best since he was the only one who had any actual muscle on him.

"Dove, I hear you're the tech-savvy one so would you please?" She finally said stepping inside the car.

Once all five of them were inside Dove whipped out his Scroll and got to work bringing what power remained back online. Minute by minute the lights and systems in the rail car came alone, not long afterwards and they felt it slowly beginning to lurch forwards.

"Quite the teammate you've got with you, shame you guys spent the first months of the year being dicks to everyone." As she expected Cardin didn't grace her with an answer, nor did he give her any indication he'd even heard her. "Are you worried about the others?"

"Why the hell should I be?"

"They're your classmates Cardin." She stated.

"Alright fine, I'm just trying to be an upstanding Beacon student! Isn't that the best way to atone for what I did?"

Sky looked to his Mohawk-haired friend who was twirling one of his knives. He was whistling while doing everything in his power to avoid looking at the two. "Uh, Professor, if you're trying to get Cardin to play nice, you're going about it the wrong way. Usually when you try to get him to admit he cares about someone he just gets really grumpy."

"Ah, that just proves he does care about everyone, I knew you had a heart in there!" She laughed slapping the redheaded boy on the back.

Stomping over he grabbed Dove by the straps on his vest and barked at him, "Can't you make this thing go any faster?"

"What, you're not enjoying the train ride?" Russel joked.

Seeing the anger in his leader's eyes Dove tried to come up with an answer that would at least placate the knight before he blew a hole in the car. "U-Uh, n-no-not unless you, w-well, actually sorta, kind of, but I wouldn't recommend it."

"Gah! Fine!" He let go of Dove then stomped over to the cracked window and crossed his arms.

"Ah, he' just like his father, always pouting when he has to admit he actually cares about another human being." Annuli chuckled alongside Russel and Sky. "Does he put up this much of a fight when any of you are in danger?"

"Heh, usually he's not as grumpy as this. Perks of being childhood friends." Russel laughed.

"Just out of curiosity how exactly did you guys-"

All at once the entire car lurched upwards as if it'd hit a bump. The breaths of all five Beacon inhabitants caught in their throats as a chill ran down their spines causing their hearts to skip a beat. No sooner had it all started that it ended leaving the car completely silent.

"…Guys." Cardin called from the window. "Problem."

At once they all rushed over to see…something moving through the earth, no, burrowing. Looking closer the group saw multiple objects were moving through the soil, further and further away from the train tracks down south.

"A-Ar-Are…they heading towards the…" Russel stammered.

"Not a lot of other targets available Rus." Cardin growled. Something's happening in town, something that's causing a big enough panic the Grimm are ignoring us and going straight for the town. "Dove, make this thing go faster. I don't care what you have to do, just do it."

RRAAAAAAAHHHHH!

"Beowolf, a big one by the sounds of it." Annuli confirmed heading to the back of the car with Sky following behind her.

Once they got to the back they found it wasn't just one Beowolf, others had joined the first's call creating in a small pack now racing down the railroad towards them.

"How the hell did they make it onto the track!?" Sky screamed loading both his weapons.

"Somewhere along the way a hole must have been blown in the fences. Dove, take this thing up to top speed!"

"I'm doing that, but I can't promise anyone it'll be a smooth ride!"

"Doesn't matter!" Sky yelled back already looking down the scope of his halberd and firing when he saw the chance.

Unsheathing one of her swords she kneeled down holding the blade in a reverse grip with one hand on the hilt. "Boys, might want to cover your ears!" The second her scimitar-like blade touched the railway tracks sparks exploded in all directions. Sky wisely withdrew from her side knowing he was no longer needed. Her Semblance trailed down from the blade into the metal railway turning the hard steel bright red. The Grimm pursuing them didn't pay the change any sort of mind until the rail ways spontaneously combusted into bright red flames spewing debris in all directions. Despite the obvious danger the Grimm pack continued coming at the rail car, hell bent on getting aboard and ripping all of them to shreds. On the positive side the sudden string of explosions actually were propelling the car forward fast, frighteningly fast.

"Okay, this is a little faster than I wanted!" Russel screamed grabbing onto the walls as the car's speed increased thanks to the string of explosions behind them.

"Shut up Russel!" Sky barked, his face was starting to look a tad bit green.

The black bodies of the Grimm disappeared in the explosive clouds, only to be replaced by new ones who continuously strode forward with flames still licking at their bodies. They didn't get far given their mutilated bodies; that would have been fine if it were for the fact the entire fiasco was attracting more Grimm from out of the surrounding forest. Annuli knew she needed to do something fast before things took a turn for the worse.

'GGAARRRAAAAWWWWWHHH!"

"Shit," She dead panned.

Bursting through the fire and smoke was Cretan, perhaps one on the crisp of becoming an Alpha given its hulking size and bulk. Headless it charged through the explosions in a straight path towards the rail car, its amber eyes all but screaming its intent to kill them all.

"Need some help Professor?"

Annuli supposed this was her karma for making fun of the second youngest Winchester child earlier. "Maybe," she chuckled. "You think you can take this thing down?"

Kneeling beside her Cardin raising his mace, which was now glowing with bright red energy from its Dust crystal core. "Guys, hold on to something!"

When Cardin added his mace to the fray the explosion resembled that of an artillery shell exploding. The first effect was a shockwave of crimson energy traveling along the red rail way until it reached the Cretan, the bull-like Grimm completely disappeared in an ear-popping explosion that shook the ground and kicked up monstrous amounts of debris in all directions. The second effect was it propelling the rail car forwards like a rocket, all of the inhabitants flew in the opposite direction due to the sudden force. Metal screeching and tearing echoed in their ears followed by the clanging that came with steel bending and breaking.

"CARDIN, WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO!?" Sky screamed now fully terrified.

"SHUT UP AND GET YOUR AURA UP!"

Almost twenty feet away at the central station the surviving soldiers who'd been posted near the railway pointed in awe at what appeared to be a flying railway car. Quickly enough they realized it was coming at them with enough speed to serve as a battering ram and promptly fell back screaming at each other to take cover.

With all the force of a wrecking ball the car slammed into the station, tearing through the tracks into the main floor until it finally came to a stop. The thick smell of burning metal and rubber premating the station along with the sick distorted sound of metal bending and breaking.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

One of the sides of the rail car fell open and out staggered a battered and very pissed off Cardin Winchester, his mace smoking from overuse and its Dust crystal half-depleted. Utterly stunned the soldiers kept their distance unsure how to respond or if the new arrival was even an ally. Cardin for his part didn't care as he turned back to the car where he heard the tired moans of his companions. He was about to call out to them when he felt a sudden shift in the air around him. Snapping his head to the front he saw a black portal open and spit out Yang Xiao Long and Professor Foley, both of them looking almost as bad as him and his team did when the firefight at Station Three broke out, maybe a little worse.

Walking up closer he saw Yang's hair was starting to lose its blaze-like luster, a sure sign the brawler was approaching the end of her Aura reserves. "Nice entrance Xiao Long," He whistled Got to say, as far as badass entrances go that's probably the worst one I've ever seen, you may have actually beaten out Arc."

He didn't know why but he was happy she was at least able to smile and laugh a little at his jab. "Ah, Cardin, I'm happy to see you too. How was your trip to Station Three?"

Recalling everything he and his teammates had just experienced within the last ten minutes Cardin could only find one word to describe it all. "…Exciting."


Front of the Central Station, 3:53…

Cardin didn't know how he ended up fighting side-by-side with Pyrrha Nikos of all people, if you asked him he'd say it was God's way of screwing with him. He thought he'd been screwed with enough today. While he didn't particularly hate her he did still have something of a grudge against her for completely humiliating his entire team in P.E.

He supposed saving her life when a mercenary was about to take her head off could count as the first step to him getting over that.

By reflect Miló slid into its rifle form as Pyrrha spun around to face her next opponent, the last breaths leaving the Ursa she'd just impaled through the chest then nearly bisected. When she saw Cardin standing over the body of one of the flaming soldiers holding his bloodied mace she did a double take. "C-Cardin, w-when?"

"Long story short, we're the cavalry, from the looks of things you guys need it." Swinging his mace he flicked off all the blood it'd accumulated on his way up to the front of the central transit station. It was just like the mess he'd left behind at the third transit station, only with a hell of a lot more fire. Deducing the stronghold of the survivors the mercenaries had sent wave after wave at the central station, humans and Grimm, a good chunk of them coated in burning flames that turned the ground they walked on into smoldering patches of rock and dirt. Fighting his way up to the forefront where Beacon's undefeated Spartan was had been a hassle, but one well worth the trouble. Before them stood legions of flaming humans and Grimm calling for their blood. "If you're worried about your partner then fall back."

"What?"

"Don't play dumb here, we need you focused and ready!" he barked back turning to her with fire in his voice. "You're worried about him, but in case you haven't noticed we've got bigger problems on our hands!"

There was a part of Pyrrha that did want to argue, but her logical side stepped in and took control keeping her mouth shut. Standing side by side with the boy who'd tormented her partner she reloaded her rifle. "You're right, I am worried."

"If Rose is with him then he should be fine."

"Is that you way of trying to cheer me up?"

"No, it's my way of telling you to get your head in the game so we all of us don't end up dying." He shot back not wanting her to get the wrong idea.

Beneath the feet of the two redheaded students the ground began to shake again, violent tremors nearly knocking them and everyone else off their feet. Hundreds of cracks appeared in the concrete, some of which had steam and ash exploding from them deeply shocking the defenders. Cardin and Pyrrha looked at each other then at the ground.

"C-Cardin?" She muttered seeing the truly fearfully expression plastered over the knight's face.

"Heat, there's a whole lot of heat-"

BOOOOOM!

Teeth chattering and faces white they both turned to see a solid eruption of fire and lava jetting up in the far distance. The resulting heat blast that washed over the base seemingly burned all the air out of their lungs leaving them, sweating, frozen statues basking in the eruption's ominous glow.

"R-Ruby…Jaune…"

Cardin heard fear in her voice, unfiltered fear that made his heart sink deeper into his stomach. Placing his hand against the ground he could actually feel the transfer of heat moving through the underground; it left him with a multitude of questions he wasn't sure he wanted answers to. One of the most prominent ones being exactly what in the holy hell had caused an eruption that powerful. Given Pyrrha's reaction Jaune and Ruby had been sent out in that direction. That assumption led Cardin Winchester to realize for the first time in his life he was actually scared for the life of Jaune Arc.

To Be Continued…