The fight against the Kahn Makyr was going rough for JRHD. After a brief shootout, she had conjured electric fields all over the ground, forcing the team to play a very dangerous game of "The Floor is Lava".
Novus hid behind a pillar on a raised platform, taking potshots with his guass cannon. The others were firing their own guns, but Kahn Makyr simply deflected the bullets with her wings.
"This isn't working!" Hector shouted, "We can't hit her from back here!
Julius cracked his neck. "Then we need to get up close."
He then ran towards Kahn Makyr as Summer channeled her own power through his arms, sending him flying forward, his sword raised and wreathed with silver energy as he gave an angered yell.
…
In the Atlas Medical Facility, Penny flies through the hole in the wall of Fria's room in an attempt to punch Cinder. However, Cinder catches her fist with her Shadow Hand and then, using the arm's stretching ability, flings her through a nearby pair of double doors. Cinder starts to walk into Fria's room, only to be impeded by Winter Schnee's flock of small Nevermore summons.
At the tail end of the flock, Winter charges toward her, swinging her sword at her. Cinder does a back handspring to dodge it and a subsequent attack, then sidesteps a thrust from Winter. She then uses her Maiden powers to form a pair of black glass swords to block as Winter swings her own sword down at her. She steps forward, pushing on Winter's sword and keeping their weapons locked together.
"You Atlas elites are all the same!" Cinder said as Winter starts to push back, and Cinder breaks her swords free of the lock. Cinder begins swinging her swords at Winter, who blocks the strikes with her own sword. As Winter attempts to fight back, Cinder parries her attacks "You think hoarding power means you'll have it forever, but it just makes the rest of us hungrier".
She kicks Winter hard enough to send her flying, causing her to slam into a wall. One of Penny's swords flies past Cinder's head and stabs into the wall that Winter was slammed into. Cinder looks at the sword, then toward the doorway she had sent Penny through.
"And I refuse to starve"
Suddenly, the ground turns to ice around her feet as Khione, her helmet equipped, rockets forward, kicking her into the wall.
"You may refuse to starve" Khione said, "But you've become far too drunk. You lack restraint."
Cinder glared at Khione. "And you lack foresight. Why else did you and your sisters simply give your power away to others?"
Khione doesn't answer as she grits her teeth and jumps forward, bringing her sword down for Cinder to block with her own, putting the two in a blade lock.
Suddenly, Penny rockets toward Cinder and begins swinging and spinning her swords at her, only for Cinder to detach from Khione and block the attacks. Penny recalls her swords and then sends them flying forward to stab Cinder, who jumps, spins and swings her swords to dodge and deflect Penny's. Behind Cinder, Winter withdraws her smaller sword from within her main one and charges at her. Cinder leaps and spins over Winter, blocking the attack with her own swords. She flips back to dodge Penny's swords, then blocks another attack from Penny before jumping and flipping over Winter to dodge her. Cinder blocks a strike from Winter, who then blocks a strike from Cinder.
Cinder then leaps and stands on Winter's large sword to dodge Penny's attack, then kicks Winter in the face, knocking her to the floor. Cinder jumps and kicks Penny, knocking her over, as well. Winter charges toward Cinder, who leaps and flips over her, leaving Winter standing in front of the entrance to Fria's room. Penny moves to stand beside Winter. Angered, Cinder activates her Maiden powers, drops her swords and screams before emitting a jet of fire from her feet to rocket herself toward Winter and Penny…only for Khione to rush forward and grab her by the neck, effectively stopping her.
Cinder struggles against the warrior's iron grip, but it proved in vain as Cinder growled, "I have come too far to be stopped by some toy!"
Suddenly, Khione's eyes under the helmet begin to glow a blue/white. "I am no toy."
Cinder's eyes widened as a pair of glowing angelic wings sprouted from Khione's back as she lifted Cinder into the air.
"I am Khione, commander of the 4th Legion and the first Winter Maiden. And I didn't give up all my power!"
With that, Khione turned and threw Cinder through the wall, sending her flying outside and forcing her to use her own magic to hover. Growling in anger, Cinder looked to see Khione fly out towards her. Yelling in rage, Cinder shot forward as well, and the two clashed, sending out a small, explosive shockwave through the sky.
…
Neo, Jaune, Nora and Ren continue running through the dormitory hallways, with Oscar trailing behind them.
"Hurry, we gotta lose them!" Jaune said.
Panting in exhaustion, Oscar continues slowly running after them while the three round a corner and stop. There, they see three soldiers, who take notice and run after them. Jaune, Nora and Ren turn and run back down the hall they came from, running straight past Oscar, who had just caught up. Oscar turns around and follows them. The three round a corner ahead of Oscar. Once he reaches the corner, he rounds it, runs down that hallway and rounds another corner, only to find he has lost sight of his friends.
He stops and looks around, panting "Guys?".
"They went this way!" A Guard said.
Neo's hand appeared and grabbed Oscar, pulling him into the hallway.
Oscar screamed at first, but then calmed down when he saw who grabbed them.
"Thanks" he sighed. Neo put a finger to her lips before disguising herself as an Atlesian soldier and running back out into the hallway, just as the other soldiers ran in.
"Where'd they go?" the lead soldier demanded. Neo shrugged and pointed further down the hall, away from where Oscar and the others were hidden. The other soldiers promptly ran in that direction, then Neo turned to face the others and gave a wink.
Jaune smiled in return, only for that expression to change into panic as he saw something materialize behind her.
"Neo, look out!" he yelled. Neo turned around, only to get backhanded as a Dread Knight appeared from a portal behind her. Neo flew back, hitting the wall, breaking her disguise, but not her aura. The Dread Knight advanced towards Neo, but Nora rushed forward with a yell and smacked it aside with Magnhild.
"Eyes on me, ugly!" she taunted as Jaune and Ren appeared next to her, their own weapons drawn.. The demon glared at them, becoming angrier as it senses Sentinel blood among them before raising the blades on its arms and unleashing a war cry. Suddenly, it became stunned as an invisible force held it in place. Nora and Ren looked confused.
"What just happened?" Ren asked, "Jaune?"
As he looked over to Jaune, he saw that Jaune was in a look of complete shock. As Jaune watched, he could see the shimmering form of a familiar warrior standing in front of him, holding her arm up and holding the metal arm back. Jaune couldn't believe his eyes; it was…Pyrrha!
Pyrrha turned back to Jaune and smiled.
"Hello again!" she said in his head.
"But…how?" Jaune asked.
"I'll explain more later."
"Hey, you!" cried a voice behind them, the soldiers had come back, alerted by the Dread Knight's roar.
"What the hell is that thing?!" yelled one of the soldiers. Suddenly, Neo flipped over it and jammed her umbrella blade into a chink of the creature's armor, stunning it. She then frantically motioned for the others to run, which they wasted no time in doing, though Jaune had to get dragged along due to his still being in shock. As they ran past the Atlesian soldiers, Neo and Nora shoved them into the walls before continuing on, though all was being watched by an orange, holographic dog, hiding in the shadows. As the group run off, the dog snarls and turns away.
…
Back outside Fria's chamber, Cinder crashed right onto the roof, cracking the pavement as Khione threw her with a blast of magic. Khione then landed on the same roof and walked towards a now weakened but still plenty enraged Cinder.
"I told you" Khione said, "You lack restraint; you've used up too much of your power."
Cinder simply stared daggers at the maiden. "Shut up!"
Just then, Winter flew up, riding a holographic Manticore.
"Well?" she asked as the Manticore landed.
"She's weakened. How's Fria?"
"Unharmed. I can handle it from here."
Khione looked to Winter and nodded her assent before flying back in with Penny and Fria. Winter approached Cinder; her sword drawn…not realizing Cinder had conjured a black knife under her back.
…
Jaune, Oscar, Nora and Ren are resting inside the training room. The lights outside have turned red, and the lines for the grid on the floor are white.
"I'm sorry" Oscar said in a sad tone.
"Don't be" Jaune said.
"We weren't ready to become Huntsmen" Ren said bitterly.
"That's not true!" Nora argued.
"Ironwood has the Staff, and we almost lost the Lamp!" Ren shouted.
Jaune stands up "Ren, that's enough".
Their communication devices emit a transmission sound, and Hayden's voice comes through "Hello? Anybody there? Can you hear me?".
"Our Scrolls? Doctor!" Jaune excitedly brings out his Scroll, grinning at the private group chat that has opened.
Maria laughs triumphantly "Finest mind in Atlas!".
"Maria! What are you doing?"" Nora asked.
Pietro's voice came next. "We're in Hayden's secret lab here in Atlas. Where are you?"
"The academy training room. We slipped away from some soldiers and a demon of some kind; Neo helped us, but it won't be long before they-" Nora yelps in fright as bullets begin flying toward her. Jaune, Nora and Ren gather behind Jaune's shield, which projects a Hard-Light barrier.
Jaune notices that Oscar is not present "Oscar? Oscar!"
A barrage of bullets pelt Jaune's shield, causing him to duck back down behind it Oscar speaks over communicator "Sorry, but you all need to go on without me".
"What are you talking about!?" Jaune demanded.
"There's something I have to do alone" Oscar said.
"Do what you must" Hayden said, "The rest of you, I'll have VEGA direct you to our location, but you must hurry."
As if on cue, a door to the nearby hallway opened on its own. Seeing no other choice, Jaune, Nora, and Ren took off through it.
…
Inside Fria's room, Penny looks to Fria, who is starting to wake, and approaches.
"It'll be okay" Penny reassured, "We will keep you safe."
"I-I had a job to do. I was supposed to protect the power of the maiden until I was ready. I worry I may have lost track of time. But you can tell James that I'm ready now" Fria said.
"Ma'am, if you do that..." Penny began.
"I'll be gone" Fria said as she looks down at the two girls and smiles "I know I have a hard time remembering, but I remember that".
Penny stares at her sadly. Khione also looked saddened, but then gained an idea.
"Penny" she said, "Cinder cannot gain this power, and Fria is dying."
"Then take it" Penny said, "It's your power."
"I will not." Khione said, "I swore an oath not to restore my power until the right time. However, I can choose who it goes to. Right now, there's only one person I'd trust enough."
Penny noticed Khione was looking right at her. "No. I can't Winter was supposed to have it. I'm not even a real girl."
Khione warmly smiled as she took Penny's hand. "Yet if what Novus has told us about you is true, you have more humanity in you than I've seen in most people here, especially Cinder. I believe in you fully. The question is…do you trust me?"
Penny couldn't help but smile and nod as Khione guided her hand to Fria's. The maiden then closed her eyes in concentration as a blue shimmer appeared between Penny's and Fria's hands.
…
Back with Team JRHD, Novus and Hector were almost out of ammo as Julius teleported around Kahn Makyr, getting hit after hit in with his sword, but even with Summer's assistance, the attacks weren't doing much. Annoyed, Kahn Makyr swiped her hand at Julius, sending him flying to the ground.
"It's hopeless" she said, "There's only one way you could ever hope to overpower me" she then chuckles, "but you already know what that is."
Julius Summer said, You have to do it.
Julius growled in anger, "I can't. You know what will happen! What if I become something else? What if I become a monster, like Salem."
Here, Julius was on the verge of tears as Summer appeared in front on him, lifting his face to meet hers and caressing his cheek.
"You will NEVER be a monster, Julius" she said, "She may have created you, but you're MY son. This is your power, and I will be with you, no matter what happens. I need you to trust me."
Julius closed his eyes before leaning up and hugging Summer's shimmering form. Summer hugged back.
After a few moments, Julius pulled back. "Yes, I trust you."
Summer nodded. "Then go all out. Hold nothing back. Show her just how powerful you are."
Brushing away the last of his tears, Julius stood back up as Summer's form faded. Then he faced Kahn Makyr again and hefted his sword, and angered expression on his face.
"I do know how to stop you" he said, "And right now, I'm willing to risk it if it means you're gone!"
With that, he shot forward again, channeling his magic through his sword and bringing it down on Khan Makyr's projected shield. The two locked and stayed there for what seemed like a long time, with Julius amping up the magic quickly, despite the fact that he could feel the tingling crawling all over his body again.
"Just give up!" Kahn Makyr ordered, "You will not win; I will have this world's souls, and for added measure, I'll take the one of your dearest's first."
The thought of her touching Blake was the last straw; Julius drove everything he had into his blade, and it flared with red energy.
"SHUT UUUUUUUUUPPPPPP!" he screamed. Kahn Makyr could see his human eye turn blood red…and realized her mistake.
In a massive flash of light, Khan Makyr's shield shattered like glass and she was sent crashing hard to the floor, a red gash all down her body.
The electricity on the ground dissipated as the rest JRHD ran up to Kahn Makyr, who was now crawling away, Julius standing in front of her. As he turned to face them, they could see his skin and turned bone white and the iris of his normal eye was blood red.
Hector cautiously held his gun up. "That still you, Julius?"
Julius looked at his hands, then felt his face as he looked around. "I…I think so. My mind feels unchanged!"
See what happens when you trust me? Summer asked.
Julius couldn't believe his good luck and simply burst out laughing before pumping the air with his fist.
"Love the celebration, kiddo" Roman said, "but we still got a problem."
Julius managed to calm down and turned to Khan Makyr, who couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"Impossible!" she gasped.
Julius pulled out his pistol and aimed at her head. "Apparently not."
"You have no idea what you've started" Kahn Makyr, this is merely the beginning."
Suddenly, a red flash erupted around the Kahn Makyr, and when it was gone, so was she.
"Well, that could have gone better" Hector said.
"It's over now" Julius said, "So it doesn't matter."
Suddenly, a blue portal opened where Khan Makyr once was.
Novus listened to something in his helmet and chuckled. "Hayden, you sneaky bastard. That's our ticket out of here."
Julius rasied his sword and put his jacket's hood up over his head; better not to frighten the others immediately with his new appearance.
"JRHD" he said, "Let's roll!" and the team then charged through the portal.
Winter is thrown through the roof and slams into a wall. She has a black eye, her hair is down and the legs of her pants are torn. She lies on the floor, groaning in pain, while Cinder drops down and walks over to her with a black glass knife in her hand. A single snowflake drifts past Cinder's face, distracting her. More snowflakes swirl through the air, and Cinder hesitates before turning to look as Penny turned from Fria's body and opened her eyes, green flame coming from them. Khione stands next to her, her weapon in hand.
"She is ten times more worthy than you will ever be" Khione said, causing Cinder to seethe in anger as he own eye lit up in flame.
"Winter!" Cinder turns to look up at the observation room, where Ruby Rose and Weiss are standing. Upon seeing Ruby, Cinder gasps, not seeing to portal open up above her as Team JRHD dropped through it, then Roman bashed Cinder over the head with his cane, sending her sprawling to the ground. Cinder quickly gets back up, seething with anger, but then notices Julius, his face now hidden in the shadow if his hood. Julius raises his hand, red lightning crackling around it, and Cinder barely had the time to block before he unleashed a devastating barrage of electricity from his hand. When the smoke cleared, only a gaping hole remained in the wall.
"Winter" Weiss jumps down and goes over to Winter, who struggles to sit up.
Winter glares at Weiss "What did you do?".
Penny looks to Fria, who isn't moving.
"Is she…gone?" Penny asked Khione.
"Not completely" Khione replied, "She's a part of you now."
Neo, Jaune, Nora and Ren are seen running into a hidden room where Yang and Blake are the first to meet them.
Winter props herself up against a wall "I suggest you all surrender and comply with the General's orders".
"We can't do that" Weiss said sadly.
"Then... I suggest you run" Winter said.
"No, you're hurt! I'm not going to leave you like this" Weiss refused.
"You're not leaving me. I'm giving you a head start" Winter touches her fingers to the communication device in her ear "This is Special Operative Schnee in need of immediate medical assistance. Send reinforcements, over".
Winter lowers her hand, and Weiss stares in shock before gaining a serious expression "We all have to carve out our own way".
Suddenly, a portal opens up in the room and Blake runs out.
"Come on! We gotta go!" she shouted. JRHD immediately ran through, Ruby, Khione, and Weiss follow after. Penny looks at Winter and then looks away before getting up to follow Ruby. Winter looks somewhat surprised, then looks away in thought, frowning.
As the others entered the room, Ruby looked around, "Where's Oscar?"
"Oscar said he needed to do something on his own..." Jaune answered.
"I'm gonna go find him" Novus said, "Vega!"
"Opening a portal now" VEGA said as another poral appeared, Novus running through it. He appeared in the Relic vault, where Oscar was confronting Ironwood.
"James, this will only make things worse." Oscar pleaded, "Please, stop this before it gets any worse."
Ironwood sighed, "My friends call me James. To you…it's General."
Ironwood pulled out his pistol in an attempt to shoot Oscar, but Novus dashed in front of him just in time as the bullet hit him in the side, going through his aura and wounding him.
Novus groaned in pain as he pressed a hand to his side, already turning red before turning to Ironwood. "You're going to regret that."
"I doubt that." Ironwood said. "It's time to take matters into my own hands. I no longer need you."
Ironwood prepared to fire again, but Novus grabbed Oscar and said, "Hold on!" before hitting a button on his gauntlet, and the two disappeared in a flash of blue lightning as the tether activated.
But while all this happened, Qrow, and Robyn were arrested… but Anton was nowhere to be seen. After their ship crashed, Tyrian managed to break free, but with Anton being the voice of reason, the four huntsmen …only to be arrested themselves minutes later as Atlesian solders arrived, giving Tyrian his chance to escape, though, on Robyn's orders, Anton chased after him. Ironwood was informed that the Winter Maiden's power had been taken from them, much to his complete rage.
Back in the lab, Ruby was looking at Julius. "Why's the hood up? It's not that cold in here."
Before Julius could answer, an alarm went off in the lab. Hayden and Pietro immediately looked at a monitor, and Pietro gasped in shock.
"What is that?" he asked.
"She's here" Hayden grimly said.
On the monitor, a constant flicker of red lightning reveals a strange silhouette in the storm clouds. Soon, an enormous Monstra, a whale-like Grimm, slowly drifts out from the clouds, accompanied by a massive army of flying Grimm, along with winged demons called Gargoyles. Atop the whale's nose stands Salem, who smiles confidently.
As he watched the monitor, Julius clenched his teeth in anger.
…
Novus and Oscar appeared in a different room, this one lit by blue torches. This didn't go unnoticed as two Sentinel guards approached them.
"Halt!" said the first, "Who are you?"
"Uh, isn't that the Novus Sureya?" asked the second. The first got a closer look at Novus and said. "Oh shit, it is. Sorry about that. Wait, you're wounded. Get a medic!"
The other guard ran off as the first grabbed Novus and supported him on his shoulder. "This way. You with the cane, you're coming too."
Oscar followed behind as the guard walked through a series of hallways, where they were quickly met by other soldiers, one of them being the medic.
"What happened?" one of the guards asked Oscar.
"Ironwood shot him. He was aiming for me, but Novus saved me at the last minute." Oscar replied.
"Ozma?" asked a voice behind him. Oscar noticed the other guards immediately stand to attention. Confused, Oscar turned around to face the newcomer, and widened his eyes in surprise.
Standing in front of him was none other than the Doom Slayer.
Let me know what you think so far!