The Long-Awaited Reveal
Hello everyone and welcome to the latest, albeit surprisingly short, chapter of the Adventures of Team WA! And for a quick guest question: I think I'd very much love to see Salem react like that, and as for team WA's parent's reaction to what's to come, we'll arrive there soon enough in the upcoming chapters. Now then, onto the story!
Night: The City of Mantle
Tobias Ursario had been there during the fall of Beacon, fighting in the city of Vale alongside his wife Jen. And much like that time, the fear and panic in the air was so strong it was palpable, even with both of them in an airship. "Are you really sure this is the best idea?" The pilot called back to them.
"We need to stall as many of them getting into the city as possible," Tobias answered back as they slid open the side door to reveal a mass stampede of Grimm on the icy landscape below them, "and the air fleet won't be able to target them once they're in the city, so this is about all we've got at the moment."
"Don't worry," said Jen, "it's not the first time he's dropped himself into a Grimm stampede!"
"That's not as reassuring as it sounds," replied the pilot, "but either way this is as close as I'm going to get without risking some of them hitting the ship."
"Close enough," said Tobias as he focused on drawing out and controlling his negative thoughts and feelings. 'It's not about holding onto them,' he reminded himself as the power of the aura shadow began to flow through him in a familiar but still not entirely welcome way, 'it's about letting them flow freely as a part of you.' He opened his eyes then before leaping down into the charging herd of megalioths, sabyrs, beowulfs and other assorted Grimm. He bounced off the head of one of the large mammoth Grimm before speeding through the murderous crowd, bobbing and weaving like a ghost as he quickly reached the front before pulling well ahead of them all.
He stopped right at the breach in Mantle's walls as he turned to face the approaching horde, crossing his weapons in front of him as he took a calming breath. 'Been awhile since I used this move on such a scale, but this is about the only moment I won't have to hold back,' he mused as he clicked his teeth together, causing blue sparks to fly out of his mouth. 'Cerulean Blaze.' A roaring blue inferno seemed to erupt out of nowhere as the lines he ran caught fire and scorched several of the smaller Grimm while injuring or at least confusing the larger Grimm.
Tobias let out the breath he'd been holding and readied himself as the aura shadow faded. He'd always loved that move, laying down a trail and then extending his aura like a heat wave to ignite it, even if it did require the aura shadow to reach maximum strength. But, powerful as the blaze was, there were still plenty of Grimm approaching as Jen came shooting down from the sky and slammed her fist into one of the charging megalioths, her strength further enhanced by the power of her rage mode as the massive Grimm was knocked over onto some of its compatriots, causing them to dissolve away into dust. "That's one group down," said Jen, her eyes still red as she moved back by her husband, "and only a thousand more to go." Similar, but less successful scenes, were playing out all over the outside and inside of Mantle.
Within the city itself, what soldiers there were along with security androids were doing their level best to hold off the Grimm while trying to maintain an orderly evacuation to the shelters, and only partially succeeding. It was in the midst of this chaos that Wayne, Aegis, the Ace Ops and teams RWBY and JNR fought. Currently, Wayne was tearing through a number of sabyrs with quick, precise movements of his sickles before connecting his right weapon to his wrist wire and flinging it out in a circle, cutting down a line of them in mid-pounce before pulling the weapon back to his hand. Aegis, meanwhile, was adopting his usual, more forceful approach.
The half-bear Faunus was currently engaged in a fight against a few Ursai, one of which he decapitated with a flaming single-blade ax before slamming the back end of his weapon into the stomach of one behind him and swinging up to also take its head off. The last one attempted to lunge at him, only for Aegis to simply move to a crouched position and fire off a blast of energy dust right through its chest, dissolving it shortly afterwards. "Get to a shelter, quickly," Wayne called out to the civilians who'd been hiding in the alley behind them as he switched his weapons to SMG mode and shot down a few smaller Nevermores. The collection of humans and Faunus didn't need any encouragement as the group quickly rushed to safety.
"So how many people are those shelters designed to take again," asked Aegis as he punched and shattered the face of a charging sabyr before elbowing another one which had tried lunging at him from behind.
"Not enough," replied Wayne as he decapitated a Beowulf, "before Beacon, the protocol would've been for the air fleet to evacuate the city and bring those not in a shelter to Atlas. That's why more were never built, at least according to Maria."
"Jeez, Ironwood can't spare at least a few ships," said Aegis with irritation as he used a spiked stone club to smash through three Sabyrs attempting to attack a pair of children. "We don't need the entire air fleet, just enough to ferry the remaining civilians out of this warzone."
"I'm sure he'll realize that eventu-hello," said Wayne as his and Aegis's earpieces buzzed. "What is it General? You want us to what? But we-I see. Then you have a plan? I guess that's the best we got then."
"Alright, maybe the man does know what he's doing," admitted Aegis as they headed off to an airship which had been sent to pick them up, carving through every Grimm they encountered along the way. 'And if we do our part, it can work,' thought Wayne. He just hoped it was worth leaving their posts at the city for.
A Short Time Later: Another Section of Mantle
Jen slammed her fist into the charging megalioth's chin, causing the charging Grimm's head to snap upward as Tobias slid underneath it and sliced open its stomach with flaming tomahawk blades, killing the large monster as they ran down the street towards the nearest shelter. Wayne's father quickly reverted his tomahawks to pistols to shoot down a few of the smaller Nevermores attacking civilians while Jen leapt off the roof of a truck and slammed her fist into a Teryx, causing it to careen off course into the street and break its neck before disappearing. They continued this pattern of shooting and knocking down Grimm all the way until they got to the nearest shelter, which turned out to be full. The reason they knew was that a number of civilians were all standing next to Mantle's wall, trapped as the blue lights of the city continued to turn red and signal the arrival of more Grimm.
"This is bad," said Tobias, "the shelters are gonna be full very soon and even with the other military huntsman we can't hold off a siege like this and keep protecting the civilians."
"Call in extraction," said Jen, "if Ironwood isn't going to move the air fleet then we're just gonna have to start commandeering the ships and use 'em oursel-." Her plan was interrupted by the sound of every screen in Mantle suddenly flickering to life. And to everyone's surprise, the screens showed the last two anyone thought would be standing together in the same room.
"People of Mantle and Atlas," said Robyn Hill as her visage took up the screen, "I know you're frightened, but I am here right now with General Ironwood and we both have a message for you." The camera panned out so that everyone could see that Ironwood was indeed there, clasping his hand with Robyn's to show that he was telling the truth. "What you are about to hear may sound unbelievable, but I assure you, all of it is true."
Ironwood took the lead then. "Outside of our city lies an ancient and terrible evil," said the Atlesian General, "the evil responsible for the destruction of Beacon, the attack on Haven and most recently, the numerous tragedies in Mantle. The name of this powerful evil, is Salem. Her only goal is to divide us, and turn us against each other. She tricks us into destroying ourselves by inciting hatred in our hearts to lure in the Grimm, and bring about our own self-destruction."
"And she does not work alone," said Robyn, "even now her minions are within the walls of our city."
"Arthur Watts, Tyrian Callows, and the mercenary Exo," continued Ironwood, "these are the individuals responsible for the recent murders in Mantle, the framing of its protector and the sabotaging of the heating grid. They wish to incite fear and panic, but we cannot give into it because that is exactly what Salem wants. Instead, every single one of us needs to stand and fight back, together!"
"I don't believe it," said Tobias as he sliced through an Ursa, "he was actually convinced to let the cat out of the bag."
"And none too soon," agreed Jen as she punched away another Beowulf.
"These reasons I have just revealed to you all, are why I was forced to divert so many resources from Mantle," continued Ironwood, "For what is known as the Amity Communications Tower. Currently, the tower has been completed and is ready to launch. So, In light of these events, the council and I have decided to divert all forces from Amity to aid in repelling the Grimm and the evacuation of everyone in Mantle to Atlas."
"And I fully support this plan," said Robyn Hill, "Now is the time to stand together to defeat this threat!" A cheer rose from the city then as the citizens of Mantle finally felt hope for what must've been the first time in a long while. And while this was good news for the majority, there were a few who didn't find it terribly appealing at all.
In the Back Alleys of Mantle:
"He was remodeling Amity Arena into a communications tower," said Watts as he looked at a hologram of the project, "how in the world did James manage to get something like this past me?"
"RAAAAAGH!" Raged Tyrian as he punched a nearby wall, cracking it with his fist. "The Grimm were supposed to destroy all of our enemies, not bring them together!"
"I feel like an 'I told you so' on not letting us kill Robyn, doesn't quite cut it in this instance," added Exo, who was currently leaning against another wall.
"Just wait," said Watts as he flipped through some of Atlas's data, "Our tin soldier may have found his heart again but he's lost his mind in the process. Obviously we need to keep their attention on Mantle for as long as possible, and there still exists a way to sow even more chaos."
"And just what can we do to bring about more chaos than a Grimm invasion?" Questioned Tyrian while pointing his tail at Watts.
"As I said there is a way," replied Watts as he threw up a projection of the Atlas security drone command center, "a good bit of security was drawn away not only from Amity Arena, but away from here as well. Enough that one of you could easily slip in and use your scroll to insert a new override program I've been writing."
"So we're going with the android hacking trick again," said Exo as he pushed off the wall, "Oh well, we've basically been trying to recreate Beacon with every other kingdom. And since I already scouted the layout, I think I'll handle that."
"Which leaves you to deliver a bit more chaos down here," said Watts to Tyrian, "I imagine you already have an idea or two on how such a feat might be accomplished?"
"Now that you mention it," said Tyrian as he glanced at the feed showing Robyn Hill, "I do have teensy little idea I've been cooking up."
About the Same Time: Above Mantle Air Space
"Do you really think this is okay?" Questioned Aegis as they flew up to Atlas.
"Ironwood made the right call in sending the airships down," said Wayne, "He can afford to spare two huntsman with the number of civilians in need finally decreasing."
"But we don't even know if this'll work," said Aegis, "we could be returning to the big city in the clouds to find nothing."
"We'll find something alright," said Wayne, "as long as those three are still on the loose, no one's truly safe, even in Atlas."
"In that case we'd best step on it," said Aegis, "and hope we make it back in time."
"I wouldn't worry too much," said Wayne as he saw a green streak flying across the sky, "our friends can handle themselves."
Atlas: Android Command Center
'Security really is a lot lighter now,' thought Exo as he placed a mark on the outside wall of the building before moving towards a maintenance shaft he'd taken note of on his last recon of the place. 'Sure I found a few ways in, the problem was that security was so heavy that setting off even the slightest alarm would've brought a small army down on me. Now it's just yours truly and,' he jabbed his sword into the side of the door and grunted as he managed to pry it open, 'a few stragglers.' He sheathed his weapon then and proceeded to crawl into the shaft, for once glad he had some of Doctor Watts's codes transmitting from his scroll to shut off the perimeter alarms.
It took a few minutes, but he finally found what he was looking for as he approached a vent which seemed to lead into a side hallway. Taking a quick look and a sniff of the surrounding area told him that only a couple robots were beneath him, easy pickings. He pulled out one of his signature throwing knives and dropped it through the space in the vent where it landed between the two automatons. They barely had time to react as the mercenary appeared and decapitated them both with a swing of his sword.
'I hope they left at least a little bit more for me than androids,' thought Exo as he continued down the hallway. Upon turning the first corner, he encountered three more androids, which he took out before they could fully raise their weapons with a throwing to knife to the head of each of them. That encounter only slowed him down long enough to collect his knives.
He would continue on to encounter similar resistance like this every few turns down the corridors with the android groups ranging from two to four. But the numbers didn't mean much to someone who could toss a knife and appear in the center of the group and decapitate them all with just a few swings of his blade. It was satisfying in a way, but not as satisfying as seeing the pained grimace on an actual person's face when their head is separated from their neck. Which was something the mercenary was starting to wonder about as he entered a rather large room filled with numerous monitors and other assorted projects. The training room for new recruits in Atlas's cyber security division, he realized. 'I've cut my may through a few dozen drones, but where are all peop-?'
Exo was stopped in his tracks as a wall of glowing blue hexagons suddenly stopped him at the other entrance, hard light dust. "Exo the mercenary," said an all too familiar and infuriating voice as the wolf Faunus looked up to see two of his least favorite people sitting in the rafters of the ceiling, "so glad you could make it." Aegis and Wayne dropped down to the floor then with their weapons drawn.
"Well this is a little new," remarked Exo as he drew his sword, "you actually set a trap for me this time around. Come to think of it, if you two are here then that probably means, all the others are also heading into traps right now."
"You're not quite as unpredictable as you think," said Wayne, "Once we discovered who you were working with and what your goals were, all we needed to do was throw up some bait. Even as we speak, both Tyrian and Watts are heading right where we want them to be."
"You're getting just a little ahead of yourself on that," said Exo as he undid a pack he'd been carrying and laid it on the floor before taking a stance with his sword, "you may have gotten me here, but I won't go quietly. And even if you win this battle, the war is just getting started."
"You can tell us all about it, behind bars," said Aegis as he and Wayne also took their stances. It was a tense few moments but then, as if some signal had been given, the three fighters all charged at each other, ready to fight for the future of two cities.
The Grimm invasion has begun, the lines have been drawn and the players have all been brought into the light. Now how will it all play out? That question and more shall be answered next time, until then, feel free to leave a comment or review about what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters. Be sure to stop in next time as the Ursario brothers take on their mercenary Nemesis, and encounter a few startling revelations. 'Til then.
