Chapter 44: Cat and Mice
Sergeant Merope was having none of this, this simple hunt was fast turning into a shit-show and to make matters worse Clegen was going to get on her arse about it. She looked up at the giant slab of Mantle meat, he looked back through his visor and said nothing. That silence was a blessing, Merope knew that when this was all over he'd nag her till their tour was done, but Clegen for all his faults was a consummate soldier.
When she got the call from their target That bitch! Clegen said nothing. When they made it back to camp to see that their Target had ruined their knight support, stole their supplies and incapacitated their rookies, Clegen said nothing. When another Atlas dropship had to be diverted from supplying another search party to pick up their wounded, Clegen said nothing.
And now that they were back on the hunt he was as taciturn as ever, his mind focused on the mission ready to back whatever play Merope decided to go with. He was a perfect subordinate when on the job and unhealthily mocking when off it.
He nodded back to her and they continued what felt like another pointless search. Checking on her downed men had taken time and was rather pointless as far as Merope was concerned, anyone could see that they both would need a hospital stat, getting their diagnostics at base camp before calling in an evac was a waste of time. In fact, it was an hour and thirty-five minutes worth of waste.
Since the dropship had lifted off and an order of resupply with it had been sent out Merope and her squad of 6 had been methodically sweeping each and every building the target might be hiding in. Squad groups keeping in pairs as it swept each and every room and crawl space. It was monotonous work, all planned out at base camp; they'd start from the easternmost point and begin sweeping west towards where the bulk of their forces were. If they were spotted ahead of time who cares, the target could run, flee from them, right into the jaws of the Atlas military.
It was a good plan, but it did little to mitigate Merope's ire as she kicked open a ruined door and she and Clegen swept it only to find that it was, like the last hundred, clear.
"Clear" Clegen said in his low Rumble.
"Clear" Merope echoed him. 2 clicks came over her comm-bead alerting her that the other groups had also cleared their rooms. They returned to the hall with the other pairs and continued the sweep.
"Where is she dammit?" the team Dedicated Marksman hissed through clenched teeth, evidently just as frustrated as Merope. "She's fucking with us"
"Probably calling her Grimm-buddies to set up an ambush for us," the Explosives expert said only half-joking. The Target's legend had spread through the ranks since the Vytal festival incident and sometimes Merope wondered if that legend was infamous or just famous.
"Quiet the both of you or you'll bring the Grimm yourselves" she spat back at them and Clegen gave them a reproving look. They climbed a set of stairs that were half rubble and were presented with another hallway.
"Sweep and clear, the usual" Merope whispered over the comms.
They were in an apartment building, with little homes that once happy inhabited places but now only had evidence of lives that were suddenly snatched by the fetid Grimm. This room was no different, rubble over the floor, a little stone island in the kitchen and a small window, they were on the third story and could see a fair distance. Merope and Clegen swept the corners.
"Clear" Clegen said, as Merope noticed the bathroom door. She motioned towards it and nodded.
"Cle-" Merope began to say as she took a step towards the door and was greeted with a soft click as her foot hit the ground. "fuck"
Clegen heard the click as well and instinctually he started to move toward Merope, she stopped him with a raised hand.
"Careful we don't know how many more are in here" She brought her finger up to her comm-bead and pressed it. "E-tech, need you to clear out the others and come look at a mine I have under me"
"Roger!" the Explosives expert replied. This was strange it was the first booby-trap they'd encountered yet in their pursuit it had been such smooth sailing thus far that she had gotten careless, let her frustration drive her. This bomb was almost slid under her foot as she reached her peak of fed-up-with-this-shit attitude.
She gestured to Clegen, sure not to shift her weight too much. "Clegen, retrace your steps back, show the E-tech where you stepped and get out of here"
"Got it boss" his basso tones replied.
It wasn't long before the Explosives technician was awkwardly squatted next to Merope gently pushing out the rubble, to find the mine underneath Merope's foot. The whole situation was particularly stressful, which was why the rest of the squad were on Grimm-duty on the lower levels.
"Yield?" Merope asked as if she were wondering about the weather tomorrow, you need to keep calm and keep the Grimm at bay.
"Low Yield, could kill an unaura'd person but at most it'll damage your aura." That was both good news and bad news, it meant Merope could just take the brunt of it and move on, but that she couldn't take all these hits forever.
"Can you disarm it?" Merope asked not looking at the E-tech, glancing down would offset her balance and set it off. The tech scratched his head while Merope focused her attention on the window, trying to spot the Atlas Airships in the sky.
Oh, I'll get you for this Bitch. She thought and that thought brought her calm.
"Maybe, it's all cobbled together, kinda haphazardly, but I think I can." He stood up and Merope turned towards him, the E-tech stretched out his back grunting from all the squatting he'd been doing. "Unless you just want to muscle on through it Sarge?"
"Not on your life private!" she grinned at him and he chuffed back before squatting back down, Merope was about to turn back to the calming window when something caught her eye, crouched in the bathroom doorway was a tiny Ursa. Merope had to resist the urge to spring away, to shout or to even turn herself towards the beast. If she told the E-tech he might flinch and get them both injured.
It just stood there crouched looking at them, then the adrenaline died down and the details started to filter into Merope's brain, it had blonde hair, exposed arms of corded muscle and Human red eyes behind that mask.
That bitch! Merope Thought as her target lifted her shotgun gauntlet right at her and fired.
Clegen
The boom upstairs was loud, it shook the dust from the ceiling around Clegen and the rest of his remaining squad. They all stared up towards the room that SGT. Merope had last been in and Clegen felt the dread inside each one of them. The black smoke of some recently downed creeps was mixing with the dust and the whole affair was getting emotionally upsetting, Clegen didn't need to be an empath to read the room.
Keep them focused on the mission and off their emotions. Sometimes he thought that the emotionless automatons were blessed with their lack of a human soul. He lifted his fist and gestured for his men to arm up and follow after him in an orderly fashion, they needed to make sure that Merope and the E-Tech were ok.
The rest of the squad formed up, weapons at the ready as they marched up the staircase. More noise and scuffling reach their ears as they marched. Something more than an explosion was going down, he raised 2 fingers into the air.
Double-time!
They cleared the 2nd-floor landing and were greeted with an emerald green glow-stick waiting for them in the main hallway, the dust was thicker here, almost opaque and the scuffling noise had ceased. Clegen could hear the guns of the soldiers around him shaking in their grips as they eyed the doorway. The shaking worsened when a noise struck their ears
Footsteps. Clegen's own hands had begun to shake so he took in a deep breath and steadied himself and focused on what he could hear, he wasn't like the specialists or huntsmen, he might have had an aura but he couldn't figure out how to focus it or nothing. But he was a damn good listener and as he listened, he could hear something or somethings being dragged across the floor. Then it emerged from the doorway.
Stepping into the green light the Target, looked every part the Grimm, the Grimm mask, the burning red eyes, and the black clothes. Clegen could almost see the fear sweating off his men as the Grimm-woman stepped further into the hallway unafraid of the weapons trained on her. She was dragging 2 items with her: SGT Merope and the E-Tech. She just stood there in the hall staring at the Atlas soldiers all who had, admittedly shaking, guns trained on her. She took in a breath it almost sounded like a sigh.
"That's four!" her voice came out a rumbling growl and his men fled, Clegen was alone. The most shameful part was he wanted to flee with them, but he was a loyal soldier and he wouldn't leave his CO behind, especially not in the maw of a Grimm. His weapon did shake, but he kept it trained on his Target.
"Let them go" Clegen ordered through gritted teeth. The Grimm-masked woman looked up as if she'd only just noticed him standing there. And against all his expectations, she dropped Merope and the E-tech's unconscious bodies to the ground, Merope let out a groan as her head hit the ground.
"You lost," the woman said in a softer voice. She gestured to SGT Merope. "Take'em and bug out, you're out of supplies, outgunned and if you give me a few seconds, outnumbered. Walk away! And maybe the dropship will be able to get you before the Grimm do."
Clegen considered, though not for a very long time. He nodded, lowered his weapon, his target jerked forward and he stumbled back in shock only to hear a giggle escape her. The chuckle turned into laughter that whittled down after a bit.
"Sorry about that, always liked giving people a little jump" she took a step back into the room, waving an absent hand as she walked. "They're all yours"
Clegen rushed toward Merope checking her, a few bruises here and there, her weapon's magazines were missing and she was unconscious but nothing life-threatening. He turned just in time to see his target sprint right at the open window and crash through it whooping as she was flung into the air. The sight stunned him for a second but after shaking his head, he lifted Merope with one arm and the E-tech with the other and started marching downstairs alone.
I'll have to talk to the boys about the punishment for desertion.
Coco Adel
Coco Adel was a pretty experienced huntress, all things considered, She'd fought admirably during the breach, didn't do so bad during the Vytal festival and had been hitting the heavy Grimm hard after the incident. She'd built a reputation around herself she was a huntress who took the tough missions without complaint and looked great while doing it.
She wasn't the only one who looked great, team CFVY was styling as usual as their bullhead soared over the ruined cityscape of Mountain Glenn. Velvet was in her usual brown affair, Fox had added a bit of anti-shrapnel armor to his vest and Yatsu was just rocking his light tea green. They looked like they'd just walked off the cover of huntress magazine, one of the less risqué covers that is.
"Where should we land?" she shouted over the roar of the Bullhead.
"How about over there?" Fox shouted pointing in a random direction, despite herself Coco followed the blind man's finger only realizing her mistake after she'd already looked.
"You're such an asshole man." She replied punching him in the shoulder, he grinned and rolled his shoulder.
Velvet snapped a picture of the ruins from up above. She looked over Anesidora's screen and heck even Coco leaned in to get a look. It was a far more complex weapon than most but at the end of the day, it was also a damn fine camera. Velvet zoomed into a tall half-built sky-scraper with solid groundwork.
"How about here?" she said with her delightful accent.
"Works for me" Coco turned to the rest of the team, pointing to the Skyscraper in the sky-line. "Alright team CFVY that's our LZ, we're gonna be making it our nice and cozy home for this mission, so I hope you all packed a good toothbrush, prepare to drop fellas!"
They all nodded back to her and she could see their auras start to hum as the prepared to jump. When the Bullhead was right overhead they lept, the wind rushed through Coco's hair and she let out a whoop of excitement as the girders and stone of the building rushed up to meet her. They landed perfectly, all almost posing as they struck the dirt.
"Alright Guys fan out secure the area and let's get hunting"
"You got it Coco!" they all replied.
Oh, what would I do without them?
It took longer than anticipated to clear the Grimm out, mountain Glenn had always been teeming with Grimm even at the best of times, but they had eventually carved out a base of operations atop the building. Other Bullheads and dropships flitted through the air like flies over carrion, each dropping off or picking up someone on the traitor's tail. Velvet was snapping pics of the ships and the surrounding landscape, no doubt both for her scrap-book and to give them a good starting point from which they could begin their search.
From up on the skyscraper they could see all sorts of people milling about in little pockets throughout the city; huntsmen teams here, Atlas action squads there even singular bounty hunters on the hunt. It was as mixed a party as you could hope for, dust Coco could have sworn she saw a Vale New Network helicopter land nearby.
"All this to watch us catch the traitor" Fox muttered right next to her, staring blankly, as he always did, at the skyline.
"What are you talking about? you can't see shit" She chuckled as fox punched her in the shoulder.
"I can hear the dropships soaring through the sky idiot!" he grinned in her general direction but not strickly at her, Coco had gotten used to his lack of sight very quickly. "Sides VNN has a great Radio station, can't wait to listen to them singing our praise."
"Would be a nice change of pace?" Coco said with more than a hint of bitterness, the media in Vale, dust in all of Remnant, had not been kind to the students of Beacon following the Vytal festival incident. They always seemed to forget that the savior of Vale Pyrrha freakin Nikos was also a Beacon student, no they credit that to Sanctum academy. Beacon and it's students get hit with the stain of brutal, psychopaths courtesy of one Yang Xiao Long.
Needless to say, Coco, team CFVY and most of Beacon were not happy with such an association.
The difference is I'm going to set this right. Coco's fist tightened around her handbag Gianduja so hard she was worried she cracked a knuckle. Coco turned towards the Rabbit Faunus who was staring intently at her camera.
"What is it Hunny-bun?" she asked teasingly, she also made a conscious effort to loosen her grip on her machine-gun handbag. Velvet did not lookup. "Velvet?"
Velvet just tilted the camera towards Coco and what Coco saw did make her jaw drop open. Standing in the concrete of the building staring straight at them was a blonde-haired woman wearing a Grimm-mask. She looked as if she'd been looking straight up at Velvet through the Camera. It was damn unsettling.
"Oh she's trying to start something isn't she?" Coco said, looking down at the part of the city where Yang had previously been. "Team suit up, we've got a Rendezvous with the traitor, let's show these Atlas posers how Beacon brings in a criminal."
It didn't take them long, Yang was leaving behind a considerable trail as team CFVY tracked her through the ruins of Mountain Glenn. Had this been anyone else the trap would have been easily activated, but Coco was no fool and neither was her team. Though it was becoming increasingly tricky, Boobytraps of all sorts were laced everywhere and half of them looked of Atlas make.
What the hell? Did Atlas set this up? Has she already made a thorough map of their little pitfalls? Coco thought as her heeled foot caught onto a tripwire and she fell forward only to be caught by Fox.
"Thanks, Fox"
Fox smiled looking past her before stooping down to where she would have fallen and poked the floor, the rubble rumbled and caved in falling down a deep pit no doubt heading into the unter-city below mountain Glenn. The Unter-city was rather infamous, and with the low light down there, it would put both Yatsuhashi and Coco at a disadvantage.
But Fox and Velvet will be completely at home. Coco thought. I doubt Yang brought night vision goggles with her.
"Think she went down there?" Fox asked nodded towards the general direction of the hole.
"No," Coco said after a while. "I think she'd using it to get around faster but I don't think she's down there. Keep an eye out for any other entrances to the Unter-city though."
They'd been on Yang's trail for 45 minutes when her first strike came. The worst part was what they hadn't heard. One second they were just in a dark alleyway, at night alone and then Suddenly Yang was there, silent as the Grave shoulder-checking Fox. She blitz attacked him, with her shoulder buried right into Fox's the solar plexus, followed vicious right hook right into his left temple, before she swept his legs out from under him. And like that she was off once more.
Coco barely had time to shift gianduja into Minigun form, by then Yang was already bounding away through the darkened streets. Fox staggered for a few seconds, clearly shocked and stunned from the Sudden attack before falling to his knees.
His aura wasn't raised. Coco realized, they'd been in pursuit of Yang for a while now and every booby trap they'd encountered either was spotted ahead of time or had a delayed reaction so that Aura activation was possible before any damage was done. She lulled us into relaxation. Bitch!
"Alright team Aura up!" Coco shouted. Fox Gripped his chest and wheezed in a breath, his aura flashing around him.
Dammit, he's out of it! Coco thought before motioning for Velvet to join her.
"Yatsu watch Fox till he's back to Full Strength, Velvet you're with me" Coco didn't need to see Yatsuhashi's response, she knew her team would stick by her orders and soon she and Velvet were in hot pursuit.
"Team SSSN gave a combat-report on Yang, remember what it was?" Coco asked not breaking stride being sure to make careful sweeps of each and every corner since apparently, Yang was now moving soundlessly. "Was moving silently in those reports?"
"No, guess she's got a few more tricks up her sleeves." Velvet answered, running ahead of Coco, also making more detailed visual scans of each and every corner. Velvet's Faunus sight made her the ideal point man, Coco was just double-checking her partner's fantastic work. "Sun said, she's got explosive types of dust, target's knees-"
Coco couldn't help but scoff at that, and Velvet gave her a less amused nod.
"-Her aura focus skill set is comparable to Sage's that or her aura's increased massively over the past 2 years."
"What do you think?" Coco asked kicking open an adjacent door and giving the empty room a quick sweep. She always valued Velvet's tactical input a good leader should always consider subordinates.
"I think we should assume it's a little of both, just to be on the safe side" Velvet Answered loading an Ice dust shard into her camera. "Oh and she'll try for emotional targets as well"
"Well, that shouldn't work since we never hung out that much" Coco laughed as they stepped into a set of crossroads. "Although hitting Fox the way she did, did get my blood pumping."
Then a flash of Yellow appeared in Coco's eye and she saw her, running through the streets away from the pair. It didn't take long for Coco to charge her dust rounds with her semblance: Hype and start firing at the target. Enhanced by Hype The bullets were flying twice as fast and twice as hard at the Traitors retreating backside And yet Yang kept dodging and ducking out of the way of the shots as they sailed at her.
"Velvet!" Coco shouted. The Bunny Faunus focused her aura to her legs grabbed into her camera and ran off after the target. Yang was ducking and diving, moving incredibly nimbly and she skirted by Coco's rain of bullets but Velvet was fast overtaking her.
Pulling her hands away from her camera Velvet drew out a net of blue light dust and Flung it at The traitor. Yang rolled away from the net but in that instant, she was knocked off balance by a barrage of Grainduja's Dust ammo, she skidded with her momentum and crashed into a wall denting it.
"Cross-hairs!" Coco shouted sheathing her minigun and running up to Coco, focusing her aura on her semblance. Velvet readied herself focusing the Ice dust into her light net-construct when Coco reached her and gave her a smack on the rear, the power of Hype coursing through Velvet and into the dust she was utilizing. Velvet made a slight Yip before spinning and flinging her Hype enhanced dust net right at the slowly rising Yang.
The net struck the traitor and imbedded itself in the walls swiftly growing a layer of ice crystals on and around the Blonde. Yang's aura fought against the ice but all she could do was press herself deeper against the wall as the Net turned into a cage of ice crystals. Coco let out an exhausted breath before sauntering up to the restrained Yang.
"Nice hustle out there Velvet," She said, loading a few more rounds back into her mini-gun and she meant it, the capture went off perfectly. Velvet planted her feet right next to Yang and leaned down to look at her, she was just as the wanted broadcasts had described her; A Grimm mask atop her head, Grimm Ember Celica on her wrists, a dark black tank top hid the girls from view and a constant glare was on her face. "I'd say its good to see you Yang but I hate to lie in front of team-mates"
The traitor just glared at Coco and stopped her struggling against the ice crystals.
"You've had us tail you for a couple of hours now what gives?" Still no answer. Coco stood up stretching her back to show her dispassionate opinion of Yang's silence. "Aren't you supposed to be giving me some junk about how I stabbed you in the back? How my team are losers? Something to get a rise out of me?"
Again she got nothing. Coco sighed.
You know what might as well play her game if she isn't going to. Coco thought.
"You know Yang for a second there, after you got captured I was actually on your side," Coco said in a sympathetic voice. "I thought I was seeing shit too when I went up against Mercury and Emerald"
"Coco?" Velvet said.
"But the difference was I didn't have a mental breakdown and drag the whole school's reputation through the mud!" Coco Snarled at the restrained Yang who's face only showed shock.
"Coco!" Velvet Reprimanded.
"No!" Coco shot back pointing a finger in Yang's face. "This Traitor has spent the last 2 years whining about her suffering not giving a damn what it did to the rest of the school, and now she's flaunting it for all of Vale to see" Coco stooped down to look Yang eye to eye. "So Ms. Tough-girl, How'd you like our team attack?"
Then Yang smiled and Winked at her and her eye turned from Red to pink.
"It's got a great name!" a voice shouted from Further down the Alley, Coco and Velvet whirled towards the noise only to see Yang stretched out in a runner's ready position, her fingernails dug into the asphalt like claws and a Grimm smokey darkness surrounding her. "But not much power."
Suddenly the Restrained Yang form shattered and a Small pink, white and brown woman slithered out of the ice-net like a snake shedding its skin.
"Baked Alaska!"Rumbled from behind Yang's mask before she shot-out like a shell from a tank.
Bounty Hunter
This ain't gonna be a quick job but it is gonna be a rewarding one. Loholt thought as he placed yet another, moderately illegal piece of tech on another roof, he opened up his scroll, the signal was crap here but he was able to pick up his sonic disruptors scattered throughout the broken city. He smiled all 8 of them were registering green and ready to go, and all sonic disruptors were pointed towards the shopping mall, the shopping mall that the bounty was last seen heading towards.
How Loholt got to know that despite not being apart of the Atlas military structure, isn't something they'd be concerned with once he brought this subject in. Honestly, Loholt was banking on them overlooking a few things not the least being his hacking into the Atlas military coordination channel.
But they never really cared how the job got done so long as it's done. Loholt tapped the disruptor with his little Warhammer and took a deep breath as it finally clicked green and started to hum. The damn things cost a fortune and were what some people would call "Highly experimental" and "goddamn illegal".
What the boombox-shaped things were was something called Grimm Agitators. Some mad egg head up in Atlas had looked for a way to calm the Grimm with some sort of Sonic harmony and had accidentally ended up with the opposite effect. With what people had said about this scientist though Loholt figured he may have gotten the side-effect he was after. After that nerd vanished suddenly the blueprints ended up online for anyone to try and Make, and anyone in the field to buy.
Would have been pointless when hunting Grimm since all it did was piss them off, but when a target was buried deep in Grimm territory and "brought back alive" was more of a suggestion, they were damn effective.
When they fuckin work that is. Loholt thought to himself, watching the Mall, till he saw a flash of Golden hair through one of the windows. Loholt smiled, The bounty was right where he wanted her, and there were plenty of Ursa in that mall with her. Just gotta let the Ursa's do the work then, I'll swoop in and finish the job.
Somedays he could get gruesome but hey Morals don't put food on the table. He pressed the button on his scroll and the Boomboxes started thrumming a low beat that seemed harmonious enough. It took a second but soon he heard it the telltale sound of Ursa roars, he smiled, he'd lure them out with tree sap soon enough and then snatch up his bounty. He idly tossed the jar of sap when another noise hit his ear; a human scream.
Well, it was mostly human, it was a scream that had the vague hints of humanity to it but was overshadowed by the noise of screaming Grimm. Although victorious Loholt felt a chill run through his spine to mix with and spoil his victory.
Got Yah. He thought, grabbing hold of his Warhammer and flinging the jars of Sap this way and that so that acquiring his target wouldn't require fighting through a legion of Ursa.
It took a second for Loholt to clear his mind as he waited for the Ursa's to exit, he knew a few would be drawn to the scent of the sap, but the bigger more mature creatures would stay inside far more invested in the kill. But Ursa could be handled, and so long as they weren't Alphas they could usually be outrun. The few that remained would be worth the effort if it meant he could cash in this bounty.
The hallways and thoroughfare of the abandoned mall were as dark and as dreary as could be if Loholt were the type of person to linger on such things. He was sure that if he thought about the empty toy store, the creeps in the dried fountain and the signs reading 'Daycare' he'd have trouble sleeping for a few nights. Instead, he blocked those images from his sight, kept his ear to the ground and listened. It took a few tries and drew him close to one too many Ursa but eventually, he heard it; the sound of flesh being eaten.
He couldn't bring himself to grin, the situation was a little too grim despite the enormous payday that was heading his way, the idea of a human being being eaten was always disturbing. He turned the corner towards a sporting goods store and saw them, piles of Ursa's shifting into Black smoke where they'd been slain. He tightened his grip on the Warhammer.
His bounty was tough and had managed to take a few of the bastards with her before she died, but the few that remained must have been some beasts. The chewing noise got louder. He saw it a huge dark shape shaking slightly as it tore into something, it was a big Ursa. Loholt reached for his scroll, a small blip of the Grimm-agitator might be enough to pain the Grimm with it's agitating waves and grant him enough time to zoom in and take out its knees. After that, all he'd have to do is collect his bounty.
He blipped the scroll. A loud shriek echoed in the room and the big black shape fell to the ground, the Ursa already turning into smoke. Standing where the Ursa had been a moment ago was his Target, White mask on her head, Grimm gauntlets on her wrist and a chunk of smoking Ursa flesh in her jaws.
"AHHHHHHH!" She cried as her red eyes stared daggers at Loholt. Unconsciously he pressed the button again and the noise stopped. The woman was breathing hard and fast as she stared through him. "That Hurt!"
"Uh…" Loholt struggled for words and the uninjured bounty's red Grimm-like eyes twitched at him, the dust? her fingernails had grown too they were like Ursa claws. Loholt then noticed just how many dead Ursas there'd been and he felt a twinge of fear. "…Sorry"
"It's like a shot of Adrenaline pushed right through the eye without anesthetic," she said through tight teeth, Before taking a shuddering breath. "Drop the scroll and leave, don't run or instinct might take over, just walk away."
The Scroll hit the ground and Loholt made tracks, he prayed that he'd get out of these ruins intact.
Journalist: Glas gloman
Glas Gloman had been a reporter for the Vale news network for close to 10 years now, he was an on the scene reporter, dealing with the crazy incidents that sprung out on the people of Vale every other day. He reported on the breach, the Vytal festival incident and even did interviews with the huntsmen on the borders of beacon afterward. Glas didn't get the cushier interviews with Beacon teachers or Atlas officials or most of the run of the mill stuff, more often than not he was thrown into dangers path and told to make a story out of it.
Glas often thought that his boss just hated his guts, mainly because he lacked an Aura. And as adventurous as he was, he would have greatly preferred to have an invisible forcefield surrounding him while he was on duty. Hence the armed escort for him and his cameraman.
"Are you alright sir?" the Atlas soldier asked him once more, eliciting a groan from his less than a professional cameraman.
The new blood lacks professionalism it seems. Glas thought, turning back to the officer his chest locked tight within his body armor. It was a tightness he'd long since become accustomed to.
"Perfectly alright" he responded all professional smiles, though it was getting harder and harder to pull off as the day went on. This hadn't been the first building they'd swept, dusty it hadn't been the 10th. Now and then Glas would ask one of the soldiers a question regarding -Long and they'd give him some half-hearted answer that told him one thing.
They were scared witless. Glas had to figure that made sense, few people were able to get out of Atlas' clutches and actively mock them on live television. Plus there were… other rumors as well the kind parents were supposed to tell their kids at night to keep them well behaved.
The Sergeant raised his fist and the line of soldiers stopped in their tracks, Glas stopped though his cameraman bumped into him; not paying enough attention. The room was quiet then a bit of dust fell off the ceil and a tiny footstep could be head upstairs, not loud enough to be Grimm.
The Sergeant made some quick motions with his hands and his crew started to move out, information, the Atlas soldier turned to Glas and the Cameraman.
"You two better stay here" he whispered. Glas nodded back, this wasn't the first time an off noise had sent them after something and left the press behind, this would likely be more of the same. "She's about 2 floors up, you'll be safe here"
The Atlessians ascended the nearest staircase and headed upward. It was about a minute before the first shots rung out. The Cameraman flinched at the noise while Glas merely lifted an eyebrow.
"Phillipe" Glas said looking around finally spotting another set of stairs a bit further into the building. "Start rolling."
"It's Filis he said powering the camera on and removing the cap(). "Didn't they tell us to sit back?"
"They recommended it, they didn't command it" Glas pointed out switching on his mike marching towards the extra set of steps, Filis following in lockstep behind him. "Start rolling"
There was Rubble everywhere, the floor was almost impossible to see as the two of them picked their way through the building and up the staircase. The further they climbed up the louder the shotgun shells and laser retorts sounded. They had only climbed to the middle floor again seeing Rubble strewn all over the floor when the sounds abruptly stopped. Glas and the cameraman froze, Filis was shaking.
"The sounds of battle have ceased" Glas whispered into the mic. "We're going to progress further up to get a better picture of whats-"
Glas lifted his foot and was about to take a step when a shape flew out of a nearby set of stairs, hands raised palms out. The shape had a Grimm mask and was cloaked in a ragged kimono tailored with Grimm-bone markings, a noted favorite of the Mistralians. She was looking right at Glas.
"Stop! Don't move!" She snarled and Glas dutifully froze mid-step. Filis let out a little shriek and froze as well. "Good"
Then Glas saw something strange, the Grimm-masked woman started walking towards him, stepping daintily around the rubble that littered the floor it what seemed like a rather odd pattern, until she was within arm's reach of him. Then she bent down and shifted the rubble away from where Glas had been about to set his foot. Beneath the dust and the rubble was a small mechanical shape, with red dusty shells poking out of it. Glas had reported on enough White fang attacks to recognize an I.E.D when he saw one.
The woman turned a nob on the small bomb before throwing it into a pocket in her kimono.
"Wouldn't want reporter bits to splatter all over the place?" she said with an evident grin before lifting her mask further up her head to expose her face. It was a pretty face, filled with a life and energy that few people naturally possessed. She extended her hand towards Glas. "Yang Xiao Long"
Glas took her hand in his own. "Glas Gloman" he replied, giving the hand a firm squeeze, Yang squeezed back it was the type of handshake that was strong but not overly forceful, though Glas could tell that she could rip his arm clear out of its socket if she wanted to.
Yang looked past him at Filis then down the hallway.
"I'm actually amazed you both made it this far"
"How do you mean?"
Yang pointed down the hallway and stairs. "That entire way is crisscrossed with my dust-bombs."
Glas felt the bottom drop out of his stomach, he turned back towards where he'd come from focusing on the ground and sure enough if he looked carefully he could see, the glint of dust crystals peeking out from crevasses and cracks on the floor. He gulped audibly.
"Just lucky I guess"
"Well come on I'll lead you, fellas, out of here," Yang said jumping past him and Filis and again daintily walking down the hall. "Follow my steps exactly."
They did, and if Glas was being honest with himself he too was amazed that he'd survived up until this point, the damn building was crisscrossed with booby-traps be they landmine or tripwires. He wondered if he had some sort of good luck semblance without even knowing it, and without an aura to power it. Only once did he trip only for Yang to shout out a hand and catch him before he fell face-first onto a fire dust mine.
"Thanks," Glas said as Yang gripped the back of his shirt before pulling him up.
"Don't mention it" Yang said in that calm casual way that the sporty popular girls always did; with a confidence that you would mention it and often. "We're just one more step then we're in the clear."
Glas was thankful to step foot on safe ground once more. Yang wagged a finger in his face.
"Yer Atlas boys will probably be down in a few minutes. So don't wander off again alright?" Yang gave Glas and Filis a gracious deep bow before turning and starting to walk away.
"WAIT!" Glas shouted at her louder than intended. Yang paused in her walking, turning her head back was a gleeful glint in her eye as if she'd expected Glas to try and stop her. Glas cleared his throat. "W-w-would it be possible to get an interview? You know to get your side of things?"
Glas knew that Filis hadn't shut off the camera since they ventured up the stairs, and no matter what -Long said he'd have more than enough footage to make himself famous if he snagged this interview he'd be a household name. -Long stood there for a few seconds, considering his offer. She looked up at the upper floor of the building no doubt where Glas' Atlas escort team was busy recovering.
"Alright ask your questions," She said resting her fist on her hip and giving him a sharp grin. "I'm all yours"
Specialists
It was already going to hell in a handbasket. Atlas' plan of a huge sweeping motion throughout the settlement had gone downhill, once it became known that she was utilizing the unter-city for transport. The searching through each building was met with a string of increasingly more numerous booby traps. The Bounty hunters were bringing in illegal tech that was endangering the lives of Atlas personnel. The Huntsmen and huntresses all seemed to have a bone to pick with the Target and were ignoring Atlas orders.
"It's a madhouse" Clover Ebi muttered his finger brushing against his good luck pin. He missed Ace ops and their operations in Atlas but when the General calls the general calls. Now he was a leading member of the Tyr-Operations-unit the specialists of specialists. Each squad within the unit combined a group of people specifically tailored to deal with a certain target and he was considered a favorite for any of those squads.
A Hulking giant with a dust empowered giant flail approached Clover as he stared out over the city, his name was Bremer and he'd been a part of the very first retrieval mission.
"The reports have been correlated boss," Bremer said in that strange falsetto voice of his, which was made all the stranger by the thick neck protectors blocking the view of his mouth. "Nothing concrete yet but We're hopeful."
"We might be the only ones" Clover answered only half-joking, the morale had been declining since this hunt had begun, it was one target in an enormous city, and the target was by no means a chump. That low morale had brought in more Grimm.
"I wouldn't say that" Bremer piped up nodding towards the true leader of this expedition, Clover took a deep breath. "She seems more than giddy with this turn of events"
The Fall maiden was kneeling in a meditative position looking over the city a distant look on her face as her cadre of swords floated behind her in an ever-expanding halo of blades. She took a deep breath in and her eyelids fluttered like she'd smell the sweet scent of victory already. For all his luck Clover felt unlucky to have been given this assignment. It would be difficult to hold her back or cover up whatever mistakes she made, it would take some serious luck for that to work.
I suppose that's why they picked me then.
"Has Neon returned from the scouting mission yet?" he asked Bremer who shook his head. "when she does we'll-"
"when she does" the fall maiden interrupted him, her eyes opening wide and turning back to both Clover and Bremer staring through them with her different colored eyes. "We move out."
Clover wanted to protest, say that more grunts on the ground would be an asset they could utilize, he wanted to say setting out without analyzing Neon's information was vastly premature. He wanted to say this but knew better.
You can't rely on good luck, you have to temper it with skill and a good team… and you have to know when not to pick a fight.
"Understood," he said inclining his head to the fall maiden.
"Good" she purred and a fire lit behind her eyes. "You may survive us yet"
Author's Notes.
I've been enjoying the latest RWBY episodes and liked a few characters so much to add them into the fic, I wont get bogged down with cameos like that, so don't worry. Please leave a review if you can and leave a theory I always love to hear them.