Chapter 13: There's Fire
A/N: Sorry for being so flakey everyone. Moved (Again) and finally got everything set up to get back to writing. I'm going to try my best to get back on track and not leave you guys hanging in the wind again.
All of Team RWBY was still in shock as they watched the Beowolf dissipate to reveal the control panel that was wired into the Grimm's spine and brain with tubes running throughout the body. Grimm were known to die in captivity and their bodies fading into shadow when they die. The fact that someone seemed to be able to integrate their technology into the beasts to turn them into a functioning soldier. The Vault Hunters were poking at the new Ursa Eridium skeletons since it was the second time they'd encountered this.
"Gaige, see what you can find out about the devices in the wolves. Zer0, see where those things came from. Radio back when you find anything out." Axton ordered since they were on a mission. They were here to investigate strange Grimm sightings, and this definitely counted as being strange. They needed to figure out where they were coming from, and definitely who was behind them. He went on "Everyone else, set up a small perimeter. No need for us to get caught with our pants down again."
Ruby had overheard Axton's orders and agreed with all of them. They were here to do a job, and they were sure as hell weren't going to back out now. She added "Blake, you should head off with Zer0 since you're stealthy like him. Weiss, see what you can do to help Gaige. There's probably Dust components in there. Yang, you and me are going to be joining the perimeter. I'm going high."
The three nodded as they split, Blake catching up with Zer0 before the two of them disappeared into the darkness. Weiss went over to Gaige and knelt down next to her just as the young red head started to work the front panel off. The front panel was connected by wires and tubes of different colors and thicknesses, Weiss pointing at the power source being a tube of shock dust while Gaige pointed at the amplifier being a shard of Eridium.
"Looks like this device is using the Eridium to enhance the Dust, only using a small bit to power this device." Weiss pointed out. Once she heard about how the SDC was using Eridium with their power supplies, she'd started looking into them more at the local sites. A single bottle of Dust enhanced with Eridium was enough to power the shop for an entire month. She went on "And these wires hooking up to the brain must be the receiver for whatever orders they had to carry out."
"All very logical points, Princess." Gaige agreed as she poked at the different wires on the panel. That's when she noticed the odd symbol on the motherboard, almost like it was a brand. It was the letter 'M' inside of a hexagon with a rod and circle coming out of the top, then two more coming at a diagonal going from high right to lower left. Gaige tilted her head since it didn't seem familiar to her at all, so she asked "Recognize that symbol?"
"No… I don't. Let me take a picture." Weiss replied as she pulled out her scroll. She could possibly pull a reverse image search on it or show it around to see what people knew about it. It was doubtful that someone was just buying components and having them shipped to a ruined city. That would just be stupid.
"Smart move."
O00000O00000O
Zer0 and Blake snuck through the shadows of the ruins, tracking where the beasts had come from. It was an easy enough job since the Grimm didn't exactly worry about leaving tracks with their claws scratching at the ruined asphalt and the Fire Ursa's scorched paw marks. Zer0 let Blake take the lead so he could see what she was capable of. He was pretty impressed with her abilities to navigate complete darkness as well as keep her movements so quiet he had to really focus on her to hear anything. They followed the tracks for nearly twenty minutes until they finally arrived at a large tunnel opening, like something that would lead down to a subway tunnel.
"I'll call up the others. Let them know where we ended up" Blake replied in a hushed voice. The last thing she wanted to do was make enough noise to draw any Grimm to their position. Zer0 nodded as she gave the call, moving away from the tunnel as to not create an echo. He peered down the tunnel with his sniper rifle, seeing that it went deeper and turned. Blake returned once the call was made and reported "Ruby said wait here for the rest of them, but something tells me you aren't going to do that."
"Correct." Zer0 stated as he started moving down the tunnel, his visor switching to night vision automatically. He didn't want them to get caught up in an ambush when it could just be him, and he could just slip into Deception and get away. Blake waited at the opening for her friends, who arrived within a few minutes. Axton looked around and sighed, coming to the obvious conclusion.
"He didn't wait, did he?" Axton questioned.
Blake simply shook her head and headed down the tunnel with all of her friends behind her. They walked down a path that was similar to a subway entrance, only this one came out to an entire underground city, complete with crumbling buildings and ruins just like the city above them. Maya questioned "Is this an entire underground city?"
"Yes, it is." Weiss answered. Team RWBY had been here before, tracking a White Fang group that planned on using the place as a staging ground for an attack on Vale. They planned on using the underground railway that ran from here to Vale, blasting holes to draw in Grimm to attack the city. She went on "When the above ground city failed, they citizens fled underground… it also didn't work."
"Damn… this whole thing just seemed cursed." Maya remarked as she looked around, spotting Zer0 just a little bit below them, staring through his sniper scope. She took out her scroll and contacted him "See anything?"
"I see many Grimm. All of them are augmented. This is not normal." Zer0 replied as he watched. There were Beowolves and Ursa moving crates around like they were worker ants with their unseen queen giving them orders. The others made their way down, slowly spotting the same thing he was seeing. They were about to formulate a plan when an Ursa hit a crate too hard and broke it, causing the contents to spill out. It was the thing all of them had dreaded; Eridium.
"Damn, just can't seem to get away from the stuff." Yang commented as they spotted the purple mineral. It seemed like everywhere they went. This stuff was popping up. Salvador grumbled just loud enough for everyone to hear.
"That means there's either a vein around… or some Eridian ruins." He complained. The last thing they needed was more ruins after they just finished with the last one. Axton chimed in as the Grimm cleaned up the mess.
"Doesn't matter. This is a simple clearing mission. If we're lucky, maybe we can find out who is behind this." Axton called out as he pulled out his Dahl rifle, checking his ammo count. Everyone nodded in agreement, checking their weapons before jumping down from their hiding spot to the ground. The fight started almost instantly with the Grimm spotting them and charging them. Axton immediately tossed out his turrets, sticking them on the high ground of some collapsed buildings and boulders. The turrets immediately locked onto the charging Grimm and unleashed a barrage of bullets and rockets, turning the front lines into pulp. As more started to rush through the smoke, Axton took a knee and started popping their heads with the burst fire on his rifle.
The Beowolves were easy pickings, their heads popping like balloons filled with too much water. It wasn't much different than shooting psychos coming at him, waving their buzz axes and screaming about stripping flesh and salting wounds.
Salvador took on the Ursas, both the flaming variety and the regular kind since Axton had a good handle on the Beowolves. He pulled out his Conference Call shotgun and his Vladof Fire Topneaa Rocket Launcher. He blasted the shotgun, letting one Ursa take the brunt of the first blast, but spread the side shots between the other Ursa. Once they were softened up by the shotgun, he unloaded his rocket launcher and blasted them to smithereens. He laughed as they Grimm were either exploded, ripped apart or burnt to a crisp.
Krieg rushed into the fray, catching many of the Grimm off guard, appearing through the smoke with his Meat Bicycle raised. He brought his axe down on the first Beowolf he found, damn near cleaving through its head as he took the beast to the ground. He ripped his axe out and rushed the next one, slamming the buzz saw blade into its chest and tearing it open. The beast howled as its eridium blood poured out of its body while Krieg continued his rampage.
Zer0 was right behind Krieg, pulling out his Maggie Jakobs revolver as well as his katana. While Krieg was a mosh pit of destruction, he was more like a ballet of murder. His moves were quick and deliberate as his katana slashed limb after limb off of the Grimm. The beasts howled in pain, at least until their heads or power sources were destroyed by the buckshot-like rounds he fired from his revolver. He would dance between the Grimm's swings, usually taking off the arm that swung at him, or taking it down at the legs.
"Come on girls! Let the boys have their fun!" Maya called out as she Phase Locked an Ursa, pulling many of the enemies out of her way to clear a bath. The guys could handle a bunch of cannon fodder, but they needed to get to the real source. She went on "We've got to find the source!"
Gaige, as well as Team RWBY, agreed and followed Maya, letting the Grimm head for the massive battle that was happening. The girls stuck to the edges of the buildings, Grimm passing them by as explosions rocked the cavern. They followed the side paths, noting where the Grimm were coming from, until they came to a large tunnel that looked like it was recently excavated. Weiss immediately spotted what they were digging out.
"Look, there are slabs have veins the same color as the eridium." Weiss pointed out, seeing the obviously structure like stones. How long was this here? They didn't notice the tunnel last time they were there, but then again, they didn't exactly spend a lot of time exploring the ruins when they were here.
"Shit. If this is here, that means we're probably staring down another key fragment." Gaige cursed as she checked her weapon. If this really was a key receptacle, then it meant that someone else was looking for the fragments; looking to open the Vault.
"Guessing that means someone else wants to open the Vault?" Yang questioned. She knew the Vault Hunters were looking for the key fragments, but it didn't seem like they were too happy about someone else doing it too.
"Yeah, and that's a no go."
"This Vault on Remnant needs to stay closed. There's something really bad inside of it and we need it to stay closed." Maya interjected as she stepped forward, her heart starting to race as she thought about what was inside. Last Vault gave her a horrible vision of destruction and had a massive Guardian that nearly took down a mountain to stop them. She took a deep breath and faced the others "So we need to go in and get this fragment before our enemy does."
All of the girls nodded and readied their weapons as they headed into the tunnel. Thankfully this one wasn't as deep as the last one, but ended with the same kind of door that Gaige and Maya saw back in Atlas, complete with the handprint at the center of the massive door. Maya shuddered as she approached it, dreading touching the center and getting another horrible vision. She slowly reached out, placing her hand on the center to cause the runes along the door to flash a bright purple. The shock threw her back as another vision forced its way into her mind.
This vision was similar to the last one she had, but instead of a hand reaching over a burning Vale, this one had a Vault arch shadowing the city. Her vision suddenly took her through the streets closer to the arch, Maya seeing that there was a humanoid figure walking out of the Vault with burning red eyes. The figure filled Maya with dread and fear as its arms raised and the flames intensified. Maya returned to reality with Weiss and Ruby at her sides with panicked looks on their faces. She panted hard, trying to get her heart rate down as the door started to open up.
"There's… someone… in the Vault…" Maya gasped as she slowly sat up. It seemed like this Vault was similar to the one the previous Vault Hunters opened. It was a prison to hold someone inside, and whoever they were, they were a threat to all of Vale, hell, probably the whole planet.
"What do you mean someone's in the Vault?" Ruby questioned. She remembered that the Vault Hunters said it could be a prison, but the last one held a giant monster.
"It's a prison, and whoever is inside, they Eridians thought he was dangerous enough to warrant his own Vault AND some pretty intense warnings."
"Then it sounds like we have to make sure to keep the thing closed." Yang barked as she cocked her shotgun gauntlets. Everyone agreed and pushed into the tunnel, getting absorbed into the choking darkness. Thankfully it didn't last as long as the last one, crystals becoming clear as they emitted light. They made it to a large chamber full of crystals, as well as another large Eridian statue in the back of the room that was on its knees with its head hung low and arms chained up. This one was different however, instead of the neck chain being broken it was whole and the right arm chain was broken.
As they group approached, a female voice called out to them. The last voice was deep and commanding, but this one was sharp and piercing, like needles being stabbed into every nerve on their bodies. It exclaimed "You must leave. Forget this place, and the thought of the Vault. It will only bring ruin."
"Get ready! That means another Guardian boss!" Gaige called out as she raised her weapon. Everyone followed suit, ready for whatever was coming their way. A fire started just before the face and started to spread out to open a portal. This one was not as large as the previous one, opening enough for something the size of Krieg to come out of it. The Guardian started to float out of the portal and was much different than the last one they had faced. This one was similar to the Spectre Guardians, very thin limbed, but had a purplish hue to its body and stood upright rather than hunched over.
Blake noticed that the arms of the creature had bright purple wrappings around them, similar to the way she wore her ribbons for Gambol Shroud. The portal closed and the Guardian landed on its feet, the bright purple eye moving to them. The Guardian spoke "You have chosen the death of your planet. You have been warned… and now I, Ballista, will eliminate you."
The Guardian raised its arms and opened its hands, a powerful aura emanating from it. The girls were stunned as two more Guardians that looked almost identical to Ballista slid out from its sides, only these were more like purple holograms. Ballista and its clones snapped their wrists, the purple lights coming off of the arms and cracked like whips. The girls all raised their weapons, causing Ballista and its clones to shoot off into different directions, the main guardian using its whips to grab the crystals on the ceilings as anchors. The clones flanked them, swinging the whips and snapping on two girls each. Weiss and Yang were knocked to the left of the cave while Maya and Blake were yanked to the right.
Maya and Blake were the first ones to take on their Guardian clone, the being rushing them with blistering speed. Blake barely had enough time to block the swing from the whip with her own weapon, causing a shower of purple sparks. Maya, however, was less fortunate and took the strike of the whip directly to her shields and knocking her flat on her ass. She grunted as she landed, suddenly feeling something wrap around her ankle and yank her. She was flying through the air and connected with Blake, the Guardian using her like a weapon and slamming her to the ground.
The two girls scrambled to get up, rolling aside as the Guardian jumped into the air and landed where they were. Maya had to think quick, using her Phase Lock on the Guardian, hoping that it would work. Luckily the Guardian was small enough that it could work, trapping the Guardian in place. Blake responded in kind, swapping her weapon to its kusarigama mode and swinging it, the blade connecting with the shield of the Guardian. Maya joined in, swapping to her shock SMG and started unloading, quickly breaking the shield as Blake's weapon came back around and slashed through the clone, causing it to dissipate.
Yang and Weiss were next as their guardian jumped between them and swung its whips. The two girls raised their weapons to block it, but ended up getting wrapped in the whips. Yang had both her arms bound together and Weiss had her arm locked to her weapon. The Guardian clone suddenly snapping its whips up, launching them into the air and then suddenly yanking them back down, slamming them into the ground. But the attack didn't end there, the Guardian started to spin and pick them up. It flung them around like rag dolls, slamming them into the walls and back into the ground.
Weiss finally had enough of this, using a quick moment of downtime between slams to suddenly conjure a black glyph around the clone. This was her locking glyph, holding the Guardian still so it would stop smacking them around. Yang took the opportunity to rush the Guardian, using her bound hands to smack the clone in the face. Weiss went for the removal of the whip, spinning her weapon's cylinder to fire and burning the whip off. She didn't stop there, swapping to her lightning Dust, and launching a massive bolt of electricity into the clone.
Yang noticed that something broke on the Guardian, so she went for broke and jumped up, bringing both her fists down on the clone's head and causing a sickening snap. Once Yang hit the ground, the clone vanished as well as the whips binding her.
Gaige and Ruby were left dealing with the main Guardian, Ballista. The main one was much quicker than its clones, coming down with lighting speed. Lucky for Ruby, she could match its speed and jumped out of the way as it came down. Gaige was not and got a gut full of kick that sent her flying back. Ballista took the opportunity to snap its whips, knocking Gaige right back towards it.
Ballista was about to give another kick, but Ruby fired a round behind her to launch her forward, slamming her scythe into the Guardian and knocking them back towards the statue. Sadly, Ruby didn't account for Gaige flying back and the two colliding into one another. Ballista recovered quickly, swinging both whips and cracking into both of them to send them rolling. Gaige was tired of this already, swinging her arm up and summoning Deathtrap to give Ballista another target to deal with. Deathtrap immediately locked onto Ballista and fired its laser, putting the Guardian on the run.
"Ruby, I have an idea." Gaige groaned as she got to her feet. This Guardian was fast, maybe too fast for both of them to deal with. Ruby could keep pace, but Gaige was a sitting duck. She went on "I'm going to force it to come to me. Once that happens, it'll give you an opening to strike. Sound good?"
"Sounds perfect." Ruby cheered as she readied her weapon. She shot off, ready for the trap to spring. Gaige aimed her Bandit SMG and started shooting ahead of Ballista, trying to cut it off and force its path. Luckily the Guardian fell right into the trap, redirecting its path back towards her. Deathtrap cut off an avenue of approach that went to Ruby so Ballista was going straight for Gaige. Once that happened, Ruby flew forward with another round fired from Crescent Rose. She judged her speed correctly, spinning her scythe and connecting it with the Guardian.
Ballista was caught off guard by the attack, getting knocked back. Ruby used her Semblance to catch up with the Guardian and strike it once again. She proceeded to play ping pong with the Guardian, smashing and slashing until Ballista's shield broke. It bounced off the ground, Ruby coming down for one final strike, connecting her scythe blade at the Guardian's midsection and slicing it in half. The Guardian's pieces fell to the ground with a dull thud, finally leaving the room in silence after all of the gunfire.
The body started to burn away, causing a bright light to start to appear just like in the other Vault. Everyone shielded their eyes from the light when there was a loud cracking noise followed by the sounds of rocks falling. Once the light faded, they looked to see a pedestal with a floating block, and the chain that was around the Guardian statue's neck was now in pieces.
"Well… that was a pain…" Yang groaned as she rolled her shoulders. Getting tossed around like a toy was not her idea of a good time. She watched as Maya approached the pedestal and grabbed the key.
"Alright, we've got what he need. Now let's head back to Beacon and get this thing locked up like the other one." Maya groaned as she stashed the fragment away in her inventory. She hoped the guys had everything handled up top as she led the girls back to the ruined city.
O00000O00000O
Somewhere, in a remote location, a man a stared at a wall of screens at a desk with a keyboard. Many of the screens held charts and graphs while others had heart monitor like readings on them with many of them flat lined now. He was an elderly man with disheveled gray hair, a matching mustache and beard and prominent eyebrows. His left eye is robotic and glows red and around it were noticeable claw marks, likely from his Grimm experiments. His right arm was also robotic and was dark and metallic and has red inner circuits.
He wears a light gray jacket with a high collar and a red shirt underneath. On each sleeve of the jacket is a dark gray hexagon shape. He tapped a few keys on his keyboard and brought up an image, enlarging it so it took up all of the screens. He folded his hands in front of his face as the woman with blue hair and tattoos appeared on the screen as she walked out of the cavern. He grumbled to himself as the image froze "So… you're the key to this. Looks like we need a… face to face conversation."
A/N: And there we have it! Once again, sorry to ghost all of you. Hopefully I can get my life together enough to get some more chapters out to you on a better schedule. As always, PM or review with any thoughts, comments or concerns. Until next time!