Chapter 26: Mark Temple Part 5

Remnant, Continent of Anima, UNKNOWN LOCATION

POV: Dexter Grif


Premise: Atlas may be safe, but the fight has only begun…


A portal opened up in the middle of a thick forest as Dexter Grif landed on the hard grassy ground. The orange soldier grunted in pain slightly as got onto his feet. Just as the portal behind him closed.

His comms started to go off, and Griff quickly responded, "Hello?"

"Grif!" Sarge shouted at him, "Where in Sam Hill are you!?"

Tucker then spoke up, "Yeah what gives!? Running off after hearing Raven's name! Temple's part of this whole thing! We need to work together!"

"And we will!" Grif replied, "Just hear me out."

Tucker sighed through the comms, "Fine, what is it?"

"When we met with the parents, Tai and I spoke about Raven." Grif explained, "He said that her brother was tracking her whereabouts. I have a rough sketch of where Raven could be, but it's fifty-fifty."

"If Temple's after Raven, and he has Ruby and the others. Then they'll be there as well." Locus muttered

Surprisingly, Ironwood responded, "He's right, we can remove both Temple and help Raven."

"Alright, then." Grif replied, "But Raven's mine to deal with."

"Copy that." Tucker said to him, "Transmit your location, we'll send you the information Jacques had on Raven's location."


POV Change: Schnee Manor

"Copy that." Tucker said to Grif, "Transmit your location, we'll send you the information Jacques had on Raven's location."

Tucker then got off comms as he looked at his team. It was then that Carolina spoke.

"I can't believe those assholes are here!" she shouted

"Well, it's obvious that Temple is now in collaboration with Salem." Ironwood muttered, "But that now raises the question: How did they meet?"

"And how did the Blues and Reds find a way to Remnant." Simmons added

Tucker then chuckled, "Hey...umm...is this a bad time to say that I got a call from Dylan earlier about the destruction of their transport…?"

"Wha-ah! No Tucker." Caboose said to him, "That not bad at all really-"

"YES THIS IS A BAD TIME YOU IDIOT!" Simmons chimed in

"When were you going to tell us?" Wash asked him

"After yeeting Jacques." Tucker replied, "I thought they were dead, so why not."

"Ok, I kinda see his point." Doc muttered before O'Malley took over

"Dammit! If they escaped earlier while we were still on Chorus, I would've beaten them to oblivion and back! Haha!" O'Malley shouted

Carolina then spoke up, "What did Dylan tell you?"

"Not much." Tucker replied, "But she did get a picture from a still intact camera."

Tucker then showed everyone the picture. It was of the mysterious tail."

"The fuck?" Simmons muttered

"That's not enough information." said Wash, "Does Dylan have any more pictures?"

Tucker then got a notification on his HUD, "Looks like it."

Several pictures then emitted from his helmet, they showed either a man with the tail or of their ally Atlus.

"Is that Atlus?" Donut questioned

"The fuck was he doing on the ship?" Doc added

"I know that guy." Ironwood spoke up while pointing at the screen of the man with the tail, "His name is Tyrian Callows, a madman with a kill count higher than an Ursa Major and a Saybre combined. He went on a killing spree across Anima, including murder, assault, and kidnapping. He was captured by a joint Atlas-Mistral mission, but as Tyrian's transport ship was flying back to base, it was attacked by Grimm. Since the entire crew was killed and Tyrian's body wasn't found, he was presumed dead. That was, until the body of a huntsman that was fired from the mission was found."

"So Salem sends Mac Gargan after the Blues and Reds." Simmons muttered, "Obviously they got their hands on that special dust. But what the hell was Atlus doing there?"

"Perhaps we could call him?" Donut suggested

The Reds and Blues all looked at him, along with Ironwood.

"Ok, we can do that." Tucker replied

"I'll get more information on the location of Raven and send it to Grif." Ironwood announced as he left the room

"Alright, we'll call Atlus, then hatch a plan to get RWBY and the gang back." Wash replied


POV Change: Vernal

Vernal, Raven's right-hand woman, leaned against the pole of a makeshift tent that was within the Branwen Tribe's campsite. She remained quiet, minding her own business until she noticed a figure walk right up to the tent. To her surprise it was Grif, one of the members of Red Team she fought a while back. Curious as to how he got inside their camp, she stood straight and stared at him.

Grif on the other hand, was more demanding, "Raven! Raven I know you're here!"

Vernal folded her arms as members of the tribe surrounded the orange soldier in defense. With Grif looking at them before setting his sights back on Vernal. Suddenly, Raven herself appeared, emerging from her tent with her mask on.

"Grif." Raven muttered, "What a surprise."

"Raven." he replied, "Been a while."

"Indeed it has." said Raven, "Are you here to arrest me?"

Grif shrugged, "You...could say that. It's more of a 'I'm here to rescue you' scenario."

Raven chuckled, "Rescue me? From what exactly?"

"You know who I'm talking about." Grif replied before leaning to look over Raven's shoulder, "Isn't that right Temple?"

Just then, Temple himself emerged from the tent, a pistol drawn and pointed at Raven. Several sim-troopers and Space Pirates even emerged from hiding and pointed their weapons at Grif.

"We really need to stop meeting like this Grif." Temple said to him, "I mean, can we at least make a plan one day? Grab coffee? Donut? McDonalds?"

"Cut the chatter." Grif hissed, "You know why I'm here."

"Oh, straight to the point I see!" Temple chuckled, "Very uncharacteristic of you Dexter, I thought you were the lazy one of your team."

"Yeah? Well at least I have honor." Grif retorted, "Where are they?"

"Oh, I hid them far from the camp." Temple replied, "I'll make sure once Raven here is dealt with as lil-old Salem wishes. I'll deal with your kiddos and kiddettes."

Raven looked at Grif, "What is he talking about?"

"Oh, you didn't tell her?" Grif asked Temple

Temple started blankly into space, "Fuck."

"Way to go dude!" Buckey shouted from inside the tent

"Shut up Buckey!" Temple retorted, "It's not like you're doing any better!"

"Temple's holding Yang, and our friends hostage." Grif explained to Raven, "Same as you."

"Yang?" Raven questioned, "She's here?"

She then turned to Temple, "You brought her here!?"

"Uhm…" Temple muttered before looking back at Grif, "Oh it's on now!"

Temple then pointed his gun at Grif, who just stared at him.

"Come on man." Grif sighed, "Really? You and I both know you can't pull that trigger. You wanna know why? Is it because of pain? What comes out? Or is it because I look like someone. Someone from your past?"

Temple tightened his grip on his pistol while staring at the orange soldier…

BANG!

Temple fired a single shot at Grif, but for some reason, the bullet just went through him without leaving blood or a hole.

"What?" Temple muttered as he looked at his pistol, he then fired several more shots at Grif, and they all reacted the same.

"Man, you just don't think now do you?" Grif muttered before disappearing

Temple realized it was a hologram, and upon it disappearing, the bandits that were surrounding Holo-Grif decloaked, revealing themselves to be the Reds and Blues. They immediately pointed their weapons at Temple, who was now joined by Buckey, Gene, Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald.

"Who-ha-ho! Temple chuckled, "Looks like we have ourselves a Mexcian stand-off!"

"It appears so." Wash replied

"We're only gonna ask this once." Carolina said to him, "Where are our friends?"

"Some place safe." Temple answered, "But you won't be getting them."

"Perhaps...we can come to an arrangement then?" Donut suggested

"There will be no arrangements." Cinder sneered, "We keep the twerps, and the yellow one will give me the Fall Maiden powers."

"Yeah...I'm not doing that." Kai replied, "I think I'll keep it."

"You know what?" Temple muttered, "I think an arrangement can be made! After all! Both sides are evenly matched!"

"What!?" Cinder shouted, "We can stop them."

"No, you can't." Tucker replied, "We have a godly advantage over you."

"How is that?" Buckey questioned

Caboose then stepped forward with an odd-looked weapon in his hands.

"What?" Temple stuttered, "How did you-?"

"Oh you know about this?" Sarge asked him, "Open it."

Caboose fired a shot off to the side and a pink portal appeared. Out stepped Atlus Arcadium Rex, with his golf club in hand.

"No!" Temple cried

"You…" Atlus growled at him, "Ready to serve penance?"

Temple quickly got on comms, "All units, stand down. Retreat back to base. Felix, Meta, bring the prisoners."

"What are you doing!?" Cinder shouted, "We can stop them! Emerald! Mercury! Kill them!"

"Hey! If you're so obsessed with ending us, why not do it yourself?"

"Maybe I will…" Cinder sneered, but to her surprise, her associates stopped her

"Maybe we shouldn't Cinder." Emerald stopped her, "We're outnumbered and outgunned."

Cinder growled in realization as Felix and the Meta appeared with RWBY and JNPR. Temple gestured for them to be released. Both teams quickly joined their peers.

"You ok?" Caboose asked Ruby

"I'll be alright." she replied

Tucker then spoke up, "And now for the last two."

Temple sighed in frustration and released both Vernal and Raven, he then took out a teleportation grenade.

"I will make this clear." he said to them, "This isn't over."

He then activated the grenade, disappearing along with the rest of his cabal.


POV Change: Labyrinth

"So...do you like your new cell?" Grif asked Raven who was stuck behind a magic barrier

"This won't hold me forever." Raven declared

"Hey, be lucky we let your pal Vernal leave to lead your tribe Mom." Yang retorted, standing next to Grif

Raven sighed, "Yang, you don't understand-"

"Oh I understand enough." Yang cut her off, "You will pay for leaving me."

"And you'll do it our way." Grif continued, "Since you hurt Yang by leaving her, "Now you will feel pain."

"I can take it." Raven retorted, "I'm strong."

"No, you're a coward." Grif replied, "I hope you like Labyrinth."

Raven's eyes suddenly filled with fear, before she started banging on the barrier. Grif then let the room along with Yang. The two then met up with the Labyrinth himself.

"Is that all?" he asked them

"Don't overdo it please?" Grif asked, "We don't want to kill her."

The Labyrinth nodded before walking away.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about your mother." Grif said to Yang

"It's alright." Yang replied, "Who knows, maybe she can be redeemed"

"Yeah, maybe she can."


POV Change: Evernight Castle

Salem slammed her fist on the table as her disciples all stared at her

"You were supposed to kill them!" she shouted at Temple, "Why didn't you!?"

"First off, the plan was to give our enemies a 'slap in the face'." Temple retorted, "Second, we were outnumbered and outgunned. We were in on position to do anything!"

"How dare you speak to our grace that way!" Tyrian shouted

Zip it Mac Gargan!" Temple hissed

Salem then intervened, "Enough! I will give One. Last. Chance. To prove yourself Mark. If you fail again, you won't know what you're in for."

Temple said nothing as he left the room. But as the door closed behind him, he smiled viciously underneath his helmet.

"Please, you won't know what you're in for 'your grace'." Temple sneered as Gene suddenly approached him, "Do you have it?"

I do." Gene replied as he held up a vial filled with red liquid

"Good." Temple replied, "It's time we took control…"


POV Change: Schnee Manor

"Let me go! Agh! How dare you hold me like this! What's rank and number!?"

Jacques screamed as he was hauled to an Atlas prison transport, as dozens of news reporters, military personnel, and his own family watched.

"Whitley! Whitley called our lawyers!" Jacques begged his son

Willow then put her hand on Whitley's shoulder to show him that she had control over the SDC now.

"Nnnnnooooo!" Jacques shouted until the door to the transport were closed


POV Change: Beacon Academy

"With the revelation of Jacques Schnee being responsible for the hackin of th election along with an assassination attempt on Atlesian higher ups. The SDC patriarch was arrested with no chance of getting bailed. Robyn Hill, the second candidate for the Atlas Council was voted in effective immediately as Jacques replacement, where she promises for better cooperation with Atlas and Mantle, along with helping her home city rebuild. As for the SDC, Willow Schnee has taken up the reins of her father's company. No further word has been said from the rest of the family. As for the rest of the world, James Ironwood has been recalled to reclaim his position as Headmaster and General of Atlas Academy and the military. Atlas and Mistral have also agreed to rejoin the Coalition. No word has been said by the Reds and Blues as of-"

"Hey guys."

The Reds and Blues all stopped and looked at the news report Lopez was playing as RWBY and JNPR approached them on the balcony they were standing in.

"You guys alright from your imprisonment?" Sarge asked them

"I'm not the same person I was before Sarge." Nora jokingly said in a gruff voice, "I'm all institutional! Wait, is that prison pudding!?"

Everyone laughed at her joke before resuming their conversation.

"So...Ruby told us that the reason you guys came here was not only to see us, but to...save us?" Blake asked them

Simmons rubbed the back of his head, "Yeah, Caboose had a dream, you were all dead, Cinder was here, Beacon was on fire, etc."

"Will, you off on all of that." Jaune muttered, "Cinder did try to attack Beacon."

"And she'll probably try again." Ruby added

"Which is why we need to be ready." Wash declared

"They will all taste oblivion!" O'Malley shouted

"[We will not let them cross the border!]" Lopez added

"Not to sound like down or anything." Weiss spoke up, "But this seems almost impossible. Trying to stop something you think is about to come?"

"Well…" Tucker muttered, "Lucky for us...we are the impossible."

Everyone then stared off to see Amity Colosseum high above the clouds, while Wash and Sarge looked down to see new Coalition troops ready to be deployed to combat Temple, the White Fang, Cinder, anyone. High above in his tower, Ozpin looked at Amity with a smile on his face as well.

"Let the games begin…"


THE END