Chapter 41…

Asher growled under his breath as he broke into a controlled slide, maneuvering himself into cover. He had followed the posted signs that adorned the corridors of the bunker in an effort to find the reactor room. It had taken a few minutes of precious time to navigate but Asher was successful in his endeavor.

The grey eyed boy was standing in the doorway that led to the massive reactor chamber. The massive dust-powered device was bolted in place in the center of the expanse. Catwalks made from old metal zigzagged around the central reactor like an intricate spiders web.

'Careful now!' The stranger warned. 'Five on the left and two on the right! You have an opening!'

Asher heeded the strangers advice and propped himself up to fire his pulse rifle. The energy based rounds rocketed towards the fixers who were busy affixing explosives to the massive generator. Two of the shots hit true, striking one soldier hard enough to leave him sprawled on his back; Asher wasn't sure if he had taken another life or not…

'They have the numerical advantage… I would suggest you relocate yourself!'

Asher gripped his rifle and stood up in a flash, his legs a blur as he darted away from cover. Bullets whizzed past his body as he came to a sudden stop, pivoting on his heel and sprinting in the direction of his enemies. The brown haired boy kept his fast pace and used his semblance to dash forwards in quick succession, quickly closing the distance between himself and one of the soldiers.

Asher dropped his rifle and tackled his enemy around the waist, bringing him down so hard that the entire catwalk rattled and groaned. The grey eyed boy took a bullet to his aura as he savagely beat the man into unconsciousness with his fists.

Not wanting to get riddled with lead, Asher imagined a door and left the plane of Remnant.

'You're getting the hang of this!' The stranger cackled in a low tone. 'Strike from behind or the sides! Remain unpredictable!'

In his ghostly state Asher quickly approached the remaining three soldiers, who were frantically searching around for him. Asher crept up behind the furthest one and imagined a door, instantly re-entering the plane of Remnant. Asher reached down and snatched the man's pistol out of its holster; the man didn't even have the time to react before Asher pressed the barrel into the back of his neck.

It was a case of "grand theft semi-auto", plain and simple… the man was dead and Asher was gone before the body hit the floor.

Outside the bunker…

Rust and Sage had never seen Mauve fight with such ferocity before.

Verdant had been pressed into a defensive position, holding his burly forearms up to block Mauve's brutal flurry of blade strikes. The gangster slammed his backfoot down to hold his ground and retalited in the form of a shoulder charge, forcing Mauve to leap away for her own safety.

"Mauve!" Rust howled in shock at the sudden display of violence. The large boy hoisted Ruination up to rear up a strike and charged into the fray, Sage hot on his heels.

Mauve was silent, her eyes hard and her lips drawn into a tight line. She twirled her blades in her palms and lengthened them into short swords before sprinting back towards Verdant. She slid across the snowy tarmac to dodge a hail of bullets and held her blades outwards to execute a spinning strike against Verdant's legs, but the gangster just kicked her away.

Verdant growled under his breath, whipping his head around to find the cutting edge of Ruination only inches from his neck. He reacted with lightning speed, holding up his forearm to block the axe with his aura and holding up Asher's rifle in his free hand to continue firing at Mauve. Rust tried to pull Ruination back but Verdant twisted his wrist to grab the shaft of the weapon, allowing Rust to pull him along. The imposingly tall gangster skidded to a stop and savagely smashed Rust in the nose, causing the large boys already battered aura to flare up.

Rust howled in pain but continued fighting. The shotgun built into Ruination rattled and roared as Rust squeezed off several shells in Verdant's direction.

Meanwhile, Sage was desperately trying to get Mauve's attention. The lynx girl was recovering from Verdant's retaliatory kick, exhaling puffs of cold air as her meager amounts of aura repaired any damage. Sage was at her side, holding her down as she struggled.

"Stop it!" Sage roared, the sounds of battle raging in the distance. "Mauve, get a hold of yourself! You're going to get yourself killed!"

Mauve snarled something incoherent and swung her gloved fist upwards to sloppily uppercut Sage's chin, making the wolf boy stumble back and giving her the chance to rush forwards again.

Meanwhile…

Asher leapt off one of the higher catwalks and flew across the gap to reach a lower one. He rapidly jammed his finger against the trigger of his pulse rifle as he flew through the air, sending a flurry of inaccurate shots at the targets below.

The soldiers he was firing at scattered to avoid the energy rounds and threw themselves into evasive tumbles. The only soldier who remained standing was the least lucky of all as Asher landed on top of him in a jackrabbit kick, splaying the man onto his back with Asher on top; Asher quickly smashed the butt of his rifle in the man's face for good measure.

Asher used his semblance to avoid a shotgun blast and left the plane of Remnant. Taking the opportunity to reposition himself behind the confused soldiers. He re-materialized behind one and wrapped his arms around his neck, using his superior strength to wrestle the man over to the railing and throw him over the edge.

The soldier screamed as he fell, landing on his neck in a wet crunch and remaining still.

"Their numbers are dwindling," the stranger growled as Asher phased himself off Remnant to avoid a hail of gunfire. "Keep it up and we'll be done here soon…"

Asher huffed in non-verbal agreement as he phased back to Remnant, lifting the pistol he had stolen to eye level.

Back outside…

"Sage!" Rust called as he avoided an ice shot from Asher's rifle. "Anything you can do about these missiles?" The tall boy pointed his hand upwards to the sky, which was steadily growing brighter and clearer as morning approached. The blinking red lights of the large missile towers glowed like evil eyes as they continued to hold back the team's Atlesian reinforcements.

"Maybe?" Sage gasped out, his chin still sore from Mauve's punch. The lynx girl in question was currently dancing around Verdant's strikes. "We need to regroup! Rust, flying wall?"

"The target!?"

"Guess!"

Sage sprinted forwards and felt wind building up around his legs, courtesy of Rust. His legs burned as he sprinted faster and faster, propelled by the cone of wind that was now surrounding him.

Sage whistled loudly to get his uncle's attention and leapt off the ground, curling himself up into a fetal position and pressing himself against his shield. The wind propelled him to near bullet speeds as he struck his uncle square in the chest; the tall gangster choking as he was winded and was left stumbling backwards. The faunus boy grit his teeth, lashing out an arm to grab a struggling Mauve by the neck of her catsuit and using his semblance to rebound back towards Rust.

The two landed into a violent tumble at Rust's feet. As soon as they hit the ground Mauve was up again! Trying to jump back and attack Verdant immediately! Sage caught her by her ankle, clamping on with his hand and not daring to let go.

Mauve thrashed around and pried at his hand, her amber eyes still wild. Rust used his far superior strength to keep her at bay, clamping his own hands on her shoulders and locking her in place.

"Let me go you idiots!" Mauve hissed in a tone that was unlike her, her teeth bared. She wildly smacked the flats of her blades against Rust's arms to try and convince him, but the taller boy was unmoved. "He k- killed him! I'm gonna murder him!"

"I know that!" Sage snarled, feeling emotion well up in his chest. "He was my friend too, Mauve! But you're going to get yourself killed if you keep rushing in!"

"FUCK YOU, SAGE!" Mauve roared in his face, spittle flying from her mouth. "THIS IS YOUR FAULT! LET ME GO OR I'LL KILL YOU TOO!"

"Please, Mauve!" Rust pleaded, now struggling to keep Mauve still. "Just listen-"

An unpleasant noise escaped Mauve's throat as she spat a massive glob of spit directly onto Sage's face.

Sage could hear the roaring of blood in his ears, he quickly reached up to wipe the spit away.

"This is your fault," Mauve whimpered, her eyes red with rage and frustration.

No more words could be shared… an explosive round landed right at their feet, courtesy of Verdant.

In the reactor room…

The reactor was clearly very old and quite unpleasant to look at.

The dust based power generator reached all the way up to the ceiling, a long blast chamber made from interlocking metal segments. Large, long tubes of plexiglass wreathed the massive structure, glowing with the liquid fire dust that kept the lights on.

The base of the structure was covered in small bricks that were clearly foreign objects. The bricks were all wired together, each individual block was coloured a wispy grey.

Asher hummed in appreciation as he held one of the bricks in his hands. He had heard about this stuff- plastic explosives, a relatively new type of munition that was reportedly far better than dust based firebombs.

Verdant Bulwarks had some connections, these explosives couldn't have been cheap.

"I am unfamiliar with these devices. What do they do?"

"It's an explosive," Asher muttered, turning over the lumpy brick in his hand.

"That's the bomb? It looks like a brick… where's the dust?"

"You've been off Remnant for a while…"

"I have already established that, yes," the stranger responded, sounding confused.

"Nevermind," Asher grumbled. The grey eyed boy turned his attention to the wiring, Asher was no expert but it looked to be incomplete. Asher dropped the brick of plastic explosive and reached up to dismantle the mess of wires. "I should take these with me… they could come in handy…"

"Up to you… but don't dawdle for too long."

Back outside…

Sage coughed into his sleeve as he quickly forced himself into a standing position, his ears still ringing from the high explosive round. The faunus boy heard a groan to his left and snapped to attention, seeing Mauve still lying on the ground, her weapons not too far out of her grasp.

The faunus boy threw himself in front of Mauve and held his shield aloft to block a quick burst of gunfire that would have killed her. Sage could see Verdant's snarling face from a distance, his uncle was in the process of reloading Asher's rifle.

"What's our plan, Sage?" Rust spoke weakly, Sage snapping his gaze up to spot his taller teammate, who was struggling up to his feet.

"His semblance," Sage growled back. "As long as he's standing completely still his aura is nearly invulnerable!"

"What?" Rust responded. "How does that work?"

"That's why we can't hurt him," Sage explained out the side of his mouth as his uncle began to pull back the firing bolt, goading Sage into speeding up his explanation. "AS LONG AS HE'S STANDING STILL WE CAN'T DO A THING!"

Sage held up his shield to block another hail of bullets his uncle sent in his teammates direction, richoting them back towards his uncle. Verdant quickly realized his mistake and stopped firing, strapping Asher's rifle to his back and breaking into a charge.

Sage heard the shuffle of snow behind him and his eyes bulged when Mauve sprang up into a standing position, whatever scraps of aura she had left working overtime to keep her standing. The lynx girl wordlessly whirled her blades and jumped around Sage's shield to meet Verdant halfway.

"Rust! Just try to destroy the missile towers!" Sage yelped, his legs scrambling to keep up with his team leader.

Rust blinked in confusion and looked upwards to the missile towers, which were still keeping their reinforcements away. The large boy muttered under his breath and hefted up his battleaxe, glaring daggers at the devices that had crashed his bullhead.

Rust reared back his arm and threw his axe in a spinning arc, the wind carrying it upwards to shear off the tops of two of the missile towers.

Meanwhile, Sage jumped in front of Mauve to block another shot that would have killed her. Verdant snarled and pointed Asher's rifle low in an attempt to fire at Sage's ankles. The faunus boy slammed his shield onto the ground and activated the anchor, the bottom of the shield drilling into the concrete tarmac.

"Mauve! Get back!" Sage snarled at the lynx girl, who was still behind him. He yelped when his team leader roughly grabbed him by the shoulder, her sharp nails digging into the flesh of his neck.

"No!" Mauve hissed, her eyes watery with tears. "I'm going to kill him!"

Sage growled under his breath and detached his shield from the ground. He swept his grenade launcher off his back and emptied the weapon, ricocheting the grenades in Verdant's direction to buy the two of them some time.

"Fine!" Sage hissed back in Mauve's direction, feeling her grip on his neck lessen. "But work with me here! You can't do this alone!"

"I heard what you said about his semblance…"

"Then let's do this… are you with me?"

The cold look in Mauve's eyes made Sage shudder in fear, but she shot him a nod before breaking cover. Sage reloaded his grenade launcher with practiced hands and activated his shield's mobile firing mode; the top and bottom halves retracted to cover his chest, providing Sage with a mount for his launcher.

In the meantime, Rust was busy cleaning up the last of the anti-air defences. His axe throwing technique had sheared off the tops of four of the towers, knocking the missile racks to the ground.

The screeching sound of a missile lock captured Rust's attention and he pivoted to face one of the last two towers. The missile rack swiveled on its base and the red light on its targeting camera blinked malevolently.

Rust held out his hand and channeled his semblance as the first volley of missiles fired. The large boy concentrated hard and used the existing wind currents to steer the missiles in the direction of the other remaining tower. His redirect of the attack was successful and the tower he was targeting was destroyed in a plume of fire.

Rust grit his teeth as the hot wind produced by the explosion ruffled his clothes and burned his eyes. The towering huntsmen targeted the last tower, roaring and throwing his axe one last time…

Sage grit his teeth, using his semblance to redirect his uncle's hard fist into a glancing blow. He ducked under a strike from the much larger man and swung his mobile shield into the back of Verdant's left knee. The gangster howled in indignation and stumbled, giving Mauve a chance to brutally slash him across his chest before darting away.

This wasn't a tactic that couldn't be kept up for very long. As long as Verdant stood still his already massive aura reserve would be bolstered by his semblance, giving him an almost impenetrable defense. With enough time they could chip that defence down to nothing… but they didn't have time, Sage's two teammates were already running on fumes.

Unless they got Verdant to move… fighting him was like using a pickaxe to level a mountain range. Was it possible? Yes… but it certainly wasn't desirable.

"Damn you!" Verdant howled, drawing a pistol from his coat pocket and firing wildly in Mauve's direction. The lynx girl used her superior agility to cartwheel out of the way, dodging all of the bullets. The gangster didn't have a chance to follow up when Sage smashed his small shield into his back, drawing Verdant's attention away from Mauve.

"You brought this on yourself!" Sage roared as he jumped away, keen to put as much distance as possible between himself and his uncle. The faunus boy kept his shield in its compressed form as he broke into a run. Verdant, filled with rage and frustration moved to follow him.

Sage watched as his uncle broke into a sprint to try and catch as Sage weaved around the ruined missile towers.

Perfect…

Mauve leapt from the sidelines! Roaring like an injured tigress and raking her twin blades across Verdant's torso. With his semblance and his aura reserves now vulnerable, Verdant's chest shimmered as his aura repaired the damage.

Mauve jumped away as Verdant's large fist smashed the ground where she was standing. The large gangster growled and whipped his gaze around the area, the air still thick with snow flurries.

For the first time in the last half hour… the tarmac fell almost silent.

Verdant crept around cautiously, reaching a hand back to pull Asher's rifle off his back. He primed the weapon and switched to its secondary fire mode, holding at aloft and scanning the area.

"Where are you three?!" Verdant howled in rage, his sharp blue eyes scanning the area. He narrowed his eyes and tried his best to see through the thick stream of snow flurries. "Come out!"

More silence…

Verdant sniffed and cautiously reached into his pocket to fish out his radio. He held the small device aloft and lifted it to his ear, flicking a small button to activate the device.

"You there?" Verdant spoke cautiously, still scanning the area. "Where is my extraction?"

After a few worrying moments of silence the radio crackled to life. "Affirmative… were coming in fast from the west."

Verdant looked in the direction the pilot had indicated, seeing the barest signs of a bullhead's running lights breaking through the gloom. His relief turned to white hot rage when an armored black boot slammed into his cheek.

"Now!" Mauve Tempesta roared, transforming her blades into pistols and jumping back to assault Verdant with two magazines worth of hollow-point rounds.

Verdant held his ground and planted his feet, grimacing as the bullets plinked off his aura. As long as he held his ground he would be fine…

An axe smashed into his back…

Verdant roared in rage and spun around to catch the hilt of Rust's Zephyr's axe, just like he had done before...

A shield smashed into the top of his head… his own nephew jumping away to cover Mauve Tempesta again.

Hiding behind the missile towers? Clever…

Verdant held Asher's rifle up in one hand and emptied the magazine in Sage's direction, forcing his nephew to cower behind his shield and protect Mauve. Still having a firm grip on Rust's axe, Verdant pulled the large boy forwards and tried to whack him with Asher's rifle, but was unsuccessful when Rust twisted out of the way.

Rust brought his head down against Verdant's for a headbutt, the two men howling in pain as their aura's flared. Verdant planted his feet and re-activated his semblance in the nick of time, feeling dozens of bullets slam into his aura as Sage and Mauve opened fire behind him. The gangster gripped Rust by his jacket collar and spun them around, forcing Mauve and Sage to stop lest they hit their friend.

Verdant released Rust, jumping up into the air and delivering a flying kick to said boy's face. This served two purposes, the first one was to incapacitate Rust, the second was to let Verdant gain some distance. The green haired gangster ducked behind one of the ruined missile towers and quickly reloaded Asher's rifle.

Verdant tried to duck out of cover when a roar of rage caught his attention. Mauve Tempesta came sliding around the missile tower, her twin pistols transforming back into blades. The lynx girl blocked a frantic stream of gunfire with a slice of her blades and then kicked off the pillar to get over Verdant. She landed on his shoulders and wrapped her powerful legs around his neck, screaming like a banshee and slamming her blades against his weakening aura.

Sage ran in from the front as Verdant tried to buck Mauve off like a bull. The faunus boy transformed his shield into its mobile version and spun around to brutally strike Verdant on his knees.

The hum of the bullhead was getting louder and louder… he needed to be on that ship.

Verdant roared in indignation and fired blindly at his nephew. He dropped Asher's rifle and activated his defence again, feeling all of Mauve's strikes now glancing off his hardened aura. He reached up his brawny hands and brutally pried Mauve's legs apart, pulling her off his shoulders in the process. Verdant held Mauve by her ankles and spun the screaming girl in a circle to gain momentum, forcing away Rust and Sage.

Finally he released her in the direction of Rust, the boy was forced to drop his weapon so that he could safely catch his teammate.

This was his chance… the bullhead was right over top.

Verdant grabbed Asher's rifle off the ground and fired an explosive round at his nephew's feet to stun him before rushing forwards, slamming so hard into Rust's Zephyr that he knocked the absurdly tall boy onto his back, Mauve was sent tumbling down with him.

The bullhead leered perhaps twenty feet overhead, the running lights that decorated its hull glowing in the low light of the morning sky.

"GIVE IT!" Verdant roared as he gripped the sides of Sage's massive riot shield. Mauve Tempesta tried to rush forwards and stab him again but he smashed his foot into the lynx girls side to force her back. With a colossal heave he lifted Sage off his feet and slammed the smaller boy onto the ground.

Verdant hissed when he felt a shotgun blast smash into his back, once again dropping his aura to lower levels. Now that his nephew had spilled the beans about how his semblance worked, he could no longer rely on it. The gangster spun around to grab Ruination's axe blades, the edge biting into his hand; he heaved Rust Zephyr forward and held his arm out straight for a vicious clothesline that left the large boy sprawled out.

There was no time to waste… unfortunately, no time for killing either…

Verdant turned over his groaning nephew and used his impressive strength to rip the hardcase that contained the crown off his belt. Verdant clenched it tightly in one hand as the tow winch of the bullhead landed in the snow next to him, the flight crew he had hired frantically yelling down and urging him to get in.

Verdant tucked the hardcase under his left arm and held Asher's rifle in the same hand. He grabbed the winch line with his right and squeezed tightly, feeling his shoulder socket flare in pain as he was hoisted off the ground and towards the cargo bay of the waiting aircraft.

Verdant was ten feet off the ground and could already smell freedom. He inhaled deeply through his nose, feeling the cold air of the tundra sting his nostrils.

He was now within four feet of the cargo bay doors, one of the flight crew was reaching out to him.

"Hey asshole!" A new voice roared, a voice that belonged to a boy who should have been dead.

All eyes turned to the large steel door of the blacksite, which was now wide open.

Asher was standing in front of the entrance, a pulse rifle in his hand and a mysterious duffle bag slung across his back. His eyes widened when he saw his teammates, all of whom were still very much alive!

"Mauve!" Asher called, his grey eyes widening as he stumbled forwards in shock. Rust!?"

"Asher!" Mauve screamed with elation, tears now fully streaming down her face.

Verdant was still hanging from the winch with one arm, his arm growing steadily more tired. He turned his gaze upwards to peer into the shocked and confused face of the flight crew member who had been helping him.

"What are you looking at!?" Verdant snarled, seeing the man snap to attention. "GET ME UP THERE!"

Asher looked away from his battered teammates and back up towards an ascending Verdant. Even from a distance Verdant could make out the look of pure disgust on his face.

"THAT'S MY GUN, ASSHOLE!" Asher roared as he raised his pulse rifle.

Verdant prepared his aura to block the strike… but the shots weren't intended for him.

The first energy round struck the flight crew member… the man fell forwards and out of the craft, his body carried away by the wind and crashing into the ground below.

The next volley of shots slammed into the bullhead's fragile wing-mounted engine. The flying craft groaned and teetered dangerously as it began its death spiral, alarm klaxons blaring.

Verdant howled in rage, releasing his grip on the tow winch and letting gravity pull him down. He slammed into the ground feet first, the aura infused strike kicking up snow and cracking the concrete tarmac.

Verdant peered upwards and watched with gritted teeth as his escape craft spiralled off into the distance, disappearing into the snowy wind.

The sounds of several guns cocking caught his attention…

Team MARS was on their feet again, battered and injured but still ready to fight…