A.N. (11/24/21) - Here's another chapter!
Argus (31) - Allies Attack
No matter what, it was impossible to ignore the sight of the emerging robot.
When it first appeared, Rin couldn't quite believe her eyes. The enormous Atlesian mech was as tall as the entire base and had a stocky build almost as wide as it as well. It had a rectangular cockpit where the shadowy figure of a person controlling it could be seen through the glass panel. As it took another step forward, it was as if the entire island shook from its weight as the thick limbs met the ground.
As if things weren't bad enough already. Although, what were the odds that the robot was actually on their side? Rin didn't keep her hopes up though, her heart already dreading the idea of fighting such an opponent.
Even though it was just a bit past midnight, many of the citizens of Argus were awake due to the growing riots. All of them noticed immediately when the Colossus emerged from the rock spire of the Argus base. Many of them paused what they were doing to gaze at the giant mech moving about. Nobody was panicking yet, but it was only a matter of time they realized that the robot wasn't under the control of the military.
Naturally, as the ones closest to the robot, Rin and Pyrrha were able to witness the moment it began to lift its arm.
Pyrrha realized it first. "It's going to aim at us, move!"
No other words were necessary, it was everybody for themselves. Friends and foe alike all scrambled out of the way as the cannon mounted on the mech's arm pointed their way. The large arcs of electricity running along the barrel of the weapon showed what exactly was going to hit them if they didn't move out of the way fast enough.
BbBBbRrRRRrZZzZtTTT
The attack was less of a mass of lightning and more of a focused energy beam that smashed into the building they were at, causing the walls to collapse and forcing everyone to run faster. Absentmindedly, a small part of Rin thought about the applications of converting that much electricity into mana to power her experiments. The more logical side of her brain told her to pick up the pace and run faster.
"Why are they shooting at us?"
"How should I know," Pyrrha cried out. "Maybe they just saw the hole and thought it was a good idea. Wasn't that woman earlier the leader of the White Fang? Maybe they were aiming for her instead."
To be fair, it made sense. From an outsider's point of view, it was a perfect opportunity to take out the faunus figurehead while she was downed and unable to move. Now that she thought about it, did Sienna even make it out of that alive? Rin wasn't paying attention when everyone was forced to flee the area, and she doubted Pyrrha did either.
Speaking of which, her face contorted to a frown. Mercury and his father somehow managed to escape, with the older man grabbing his son's body at the last second and fleeing the opposite direction.
"Rin!"
At Pyrrha's cry, Rin saw through the glass that the Colossus was slowly aiming at them. Which was impressive, given that said glass was a wide narrow window that should have made it difficult for anyone to spot them from the cockpit.
"Behind me!"
There was no time to run, Rin immediately stood in front of Pyrrha and grabbed one of her emergency hard-light dust crystals. Throwing it in front of her, the shield immediately formed right as the entire area exploded.
BBbBBrRrRRRzZzZTtTT
A blinding light illuminated the entire corridor, and Rin was forced to reinforce her body so that she could hold her ground.
When she regained his focus, she was standing at the rim of a crater. Only the spot the two were standing at remained intact, a bell-shaped curved area untouched by the attack. Floating in front of her was a glowing blue barrier, still holding up despite the attack it just blocked.
Still, she sweatdropped.
What the heck, making me waste one of my supercharged mystic codes already! She dismissed the shield to save the remaining energy in the crystal. I was hoping to save these for later, not use them up now on some miniboss!
"How did they notice us?" Pyrrha cried out.
"I don't know?! Maybe they're tracking our heat signatures or something."
It wasn't often brought up, but the use of Aura normally increased the user's bodily temperature in response to how much Aura was being used to protect them. Since Aura was another form of energy, it was even possible to tell when a huntsman was about to use their Semblance based on the change in their thermal output. This paralleled how magic circuits also increased the temperature of the user, with a magus having a unique heat distribution due to the various circuits covering most of their body.
"Are they targeting us specifically?"
"Who knows, does it matter at this point?" Rin replied. "We need to do something about it before it attacks us again"
"What's the plan now?" Pyrrha asked.
"Well, there are two options." Rin dodged as a piece of debris fell from the ceiling. "We could head back to Sanctum and hunker it out with everyone else. If the Allies are crazy enough to pursue us into the city, then every single available huntsman will no doubt be forced to attack it."
"That's a bad idea," Pyrrha immediately replied. "If we bring that into the city, the civilians might get caught in the crossfire."
"Then our only other option is that we can stand our ground and try to fight the giant robot ourselves." She jumped over a collapsed wall. "And I don't know about you, but I'm not liking the look of that cannon. Sure, I can probably block a few of its shots if needed. But while I'm not exactly afraid of its weapon, I do still respect its power and ability to destroy."
"There is something I can do," Pyrrha hesitated. "If it's made of metal, I might be able to affect it with my Semblance. I usually keep it under wraps, but in this situation…"
Rin blinked before her eyes widened. Holy shit, she completely forgot about Pyrrha's ability to control metal. From her memories of the show, Rin was pretty sure that Pyrrha had enough strength to do so as well. After all, her ability was strong enough that she was able to lift multiple huge gears and throw them at Cinder.
"How close do you need to be to affect the robot?"
"I'm not sure," Pyrrha bit her lip. "But most likely within reaching distance of it. It will take all of my concentration to affect it, so I'll need you to watch my back while I try to use my Semblance."
"Done."
Both girls stared at each other. Pyrrha had a strange smile on her face, and Rin couldn't help but comment on it.
"What's with that look?"
"Did you know? It's already an hour past midnight, meaning today is Saturday?"
"So?"
"That means it's been exactly one week since we first talked to each other," Pyrrha answered. "Weird to think things would get like this only a couple of days later."
Rin smiled. "Move out on three?"
"Why wait?"
Both girls nodded before they sprinted into action.
}-{
Sienna dragged her injured body down the corridor while pressing a hand on her injury. Her Aura was broken, and it would take a while to recover enough energy to heal herself.
She was lucky. Injured as she was, she was only barely able to escape the attack radius of the mech. Even now, her ears were still ringing from how close she was to getting hit.
Pressing on her communicator, she tried to contact her companions. "Roll call, who is still active?"
"All teams except team three are present and accounted for," was the response. "Most of the opposition has been defeated. But with that giant robot of theirs going berserk, it might be wise to cut our losses early."
She gritted her teeth at the answer, but couldn't help but agree. "Start the timer on those charges, we're retreating."
"Understood."
She ended the call and paused as she noticed a puddle of blood nearby. Morbid curiosity forced her to go near it, and she saw that it was an Atlesian soldier who had their headshot through.
Grimacing, she blinked as she realized something. The guard was here in an area where none of her men should have gone through. So there was no way he died due to her group, which meant that somebody else must have killed him.
It couldn't have been Marcus either, the man clearly favoring his blades instead of firearms. And those two huntresses arrived right before her eyes, also unlikely to have had the opportunity to do this.
That meant that this was probably an Atlesian soldier not under the control of the Allies.
"Human or faunus, it doesn't matter." She sneered. "They kill anyone that opposes their way."
Well, she could get behind that line of thought. After all, if granted the opportunity she wouldn't hesitate to slip a blade into the ribcage of that assassin that fought her.
The sound of a gunshot going off caused her to tense up. A voice echoed from somewhere nearby, and her ears perked up to listen to their conversation.
"Oh, you won't be getting off easy." It was a man's voice, his tone taunting and cruel. "Once again, we thank you for finally telling us the access code. It took - what - the lives of nine of your loyal people before you cracked? Honestly, I was betting on lucky number three."
"G-Go to hell…" a weak voice rasped, and Sienna recognized her as Specialist Cordovin. "Y-You all deserve t-to be down there…"
"Hey, you're not exactly pure of heart yourself." The man chuckled. "Did you see the look on that last soldier's face? Oh, how her face turned to horror when you refused to save her life. Wasn't she the one that broke the straw on the camel's back? We didn't even need to drag in another person before you caved in."
"S-Shut up…"
"It's your fault they all died. Not just that, but you're responsible for being too incompetent to stop this entire thing. All the soldiers we had to kill just now, that's on you. To sacrifice their lives only to have it all be in vain. What do you think their last thoughts were as they heard you state their sentence? I bet they thought you were an even worse monster than we were. If there is a hell, I hope you won't be down there with me."
"I-I'll kill y-you…"
He laughed out loud. "Oh, please. What can you do when you're confined like this? You can't even get up, much less touch me. I'm not afraid of you."
"Then how about me?"
Right at that moment, Sienna decided that she had enough. The soldier barely had time to react to her words before she wrapped his arm with her weapon and released a large surge of electricity through his body. He screamed as his entire body convulsed, and he fell to the ground a second later. Pulling back her weapon, she thrust it forward so that the blade stabbed into his neck, killing him on the spot.
She took a step forward and checked the older woman. "Are you alright?"
"Y-You…" Cordovin's eyes widened as she took sight of her. "W-Why did you…"
"Even death is preferable to bondage," Sienna muttered. "But I figured that you would want revenge instead. No one should be treated less than a person like this."
Cordovin had a complicated look on her face as Sienna freed her from her restraints.
"He's right," she suddenly said. "My soldiers, everyone that trusted me to lead them in times of need, I failed them. And now, the Colossus is under the control of a madman leading a gang of other madmen. I'm responsible for all of this."
"Normally, I'd welcome the opportunity to tell Atlas soldier off for being incompetent." Sienna grimaced. "But this, the blame lies solely on the human supremacists. You're a soldier, so act like one and get to fixing your problems."
Sienna saw Cordovin giving her a strange look. "Why are you helping me?"
"I'm helping myself," Sienna replied. "I'll support anything that better the cause of faunuskind, and that sometimes means taking out the monsters that are willing to kill us. We may be enemies, but both of us have bigger issues to deal with."
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend, huh?"
She shook her head. "We are not friends, but we don't necessarily have to be enemies. At least, not while that robot is attacking everyone."
Cordovin stared at her with a strong gaze, then held out a hand. "Then as the leader of the Argus Military Base, I formally ask. Will you and your organization cooperate with us until our common foe is defeated?"
Sienna took the hand and shook. "Gladly."
}-{
"Wake up, boy!"
A harsh slap caused him to open his eyes, and Mercury found himself staring at the infuriated face of his father. Scrambling to his feet, he staggered once more as another slap met his face. Mercury blinked the tears that formed at the corner of his eyes, the pain somewhat worse without his Aura taking the brunt of the damage.
Great, his father was in one of those moods.
"That damn bitch," Marcus clenched his teeth. "Forcing me to use that woman's gift this early, and for nothing! How? At that moment, I should have had the equivalent of five huntsmen in Aura quantity. How did those two children deplete my reserves so fast?!"
Mercury kept science. His father wasn't talking to him, but rather himself. Adding to the conversation would only get him a beating in return. Marcus didn't want a conversationalist, he wanted a punching bag. Or at least something to vent his frustrations onto.
"Damn it." The older man kicked the wall. "Fuck. I should have tried to take her Semblance the moment I saw her. If only the requirements for using it weren't so specific."
A black light covered the older man's arm for a second, before flickering away.
Even as Mercury hated everything about his father, he still tensed when he saw that. The light was simply that terrifying, giving off an aura of danger and malice. His father had a very powerful Semblance, and a dangerous one. Yet, it was always something his father kept under wraps. Instead, Marcus seemed to favor his physical skills and assassination techniques over perfecting his Semblance.
"Boy!" Mercury blinked as his father addressed him. "You're useless at the moment without your Aura. Head back to Merlot without me and wait for further orders."
"Yes, father."
Despite the feeling of annoyance towards the man, Mercury was happy that he was dismissed. This job was a lot weirder than his dad's usual ones. Instead of simply killing off his targets, his client wanted him to help in the research of multiple Semblances. If it wasn't for the large reward, Mercury doubted that his father would have accepted a job like this.
No, it wasn't just the reward.
That strength, abnormal even amongst the most powerful of huntsmen. His father was not always that strong. Normally, he relied more on trickery and deceit to fight in battles. But ever since he went to Vacuo, something about him changed. He was more careless and more liberal with his usage of the other abilities he didn't normally use.
Sighing to himself, he began to leave the area. Whatever the situation, it wasn't his problem. No, all he wanted to do right now was rest after the sound beating he got earlier.
He had enough for the day.
}-{
Throwing several gems, several bursts of fire exploded on the Colossus and obstructed its view. While it was distracted, Rin landed on the ground in a sprint and kept running. As she ran, she placed a single gem on the ground and began running in an arc circling her opponent.
"That's one."
Meanwhile, Pyrrha started to climb the side of the base so that she could get a higher vantage point. Once she was behind the robot, she held out her arms and activated her Semblance.
A humming sound came from the robot as its limbs suddenly locked in place. But a few seconds later, it staggered out of the control of Pyrrha and continued to move.
Pyrrha stumbled. "It's too much, I can't control it all at once."
"Then just focus on the cannon," Rin cried out as she dodged several missiles that shot towards her. Dropping another gem on the ground, she shouted towards Pyrrha. "Take out the arm, and that should be enough!"
Taking her advice, Pyrrha used her Semblance to target the area connecting the torso and the arm where its weapon was mounted. A loud tearing sound came from it, and the two saw the arm fall to the ground.
A third gem. "Pyrrha, get out of there!"
The other girl didn't need telling twice, already on the move as the mech's other arm crashed into her previous position. Pyrrha gave out a battle cry as she stabbed her sword into the arm, hanging off of it as it began to move about.
"Rin!" Pyrrha held on for life as her body was flung left and right. "I could use some help here."
Rin pulled out several more Dust crystals. "Hang on, I'm coming!"
"Not like I have any other option," Pyrrha snarked.
Throwing several gems towards the mech's legs, an earthen spike formed and smashed into its legs. The Colossus began to topple over as it lost its balance, with Pyrrha still hanging off its arm.
"Pyrrha, check if there's a power source keeping the hard-light shields active. It should be in the back."
"Got it!"
Pyrrha balanced herself on the leveled arm and began running up along it. Placing the final gem on the ground, a total of four gems surrounded the Colossus based on the four cardinal directions. Realizing that she was done, Rin grabbed four more Dust crystals and threw them in front of her.
-Start-
"—Set."
Several gems flew into the air and towards the Colossus.
-Ten-Count Ritual-
"—Jormungandr."
Two large magic circles suddenly formed as the entire body of the Atlesian mech was restrained by the spell. Unlike Pyrrha's earlier action, this restraint was something it was unable to break. Using the vacuum compression capture formation, Rin made sure that the Colossus wouldn't be able to move no matter what while Pyrrha acted.
"Now!"
Pyrrha cried out as she threw her arms out, and her Semblance activated once more. This time, she targeted the power source located at the back of the mech, causing the entire hard-light shields system to fail.
The surface of the robot flickered, similarly to a huntsman's Aura shields being broken. Seeing this, Rin pulled out the majority of her remaining gems and threw them out.
-Fourth Stage Barrage-
"—Four Style Shoot"
It was her strongest attack yet, and the results showed. The force of the explosion caused the entire torso to separate from the legs, and the entire thing began to fly through the air until gravity took hold of it. Rin noticed Pyrrha quickly jumping off of it right as it crashed into the ground, causing a small crater to form as its weight dented the floor beneath it.
The robot remained unresponsive, and they knew it was over.
Took a while to write this, to be honest.
Again, here's some more Rin and Pyrrha team-up. From fighting an assassin to fighting a giant robot, quite a jump. If you couldn't tell, the guy piloting the Colossus was the man in charge of leading the Allies that took over the base. Since he's more of a minor antagonist than a major one, I didn't include his perspective.