Music Choices: Extraction by Christoffer Moe Ditlevson, Faith Arise by Edgar Hopp, Volatile Reaction by Kevin Macleod, Arrival by Edgar Hopp
Author's Notes: My ass out here making character sheets and maps for this shit, gotdamn. But yea I decided to do an experiment, and uh, played this out like a D&D encounter. Anyways, more notes at the bottom.
Eclipse
Chapter 65
The Hunter's Moon
Part VIII
Raven paused in the rank darkness yet again, straining to hear, and to see, further than her limited senses allowed. All she heard was the drip, drip, drip of the pipes nearby and the occasional squeak of a rat. The sewer tunnels beneath Vale were well maintained at least; she'd certainly seen her fair share of far worse in Mistralian Settlements, but still, it's not like it was ever a pleasant experience.
Considering the circumstances, she'd rather be wading through centuries old shit-water than crossing a nice cat-walk, if it meant that her friends were safe and not potentially dead due to her own weakness; and if her girlfriend wasn't having a….well, Raven wasn't entirely sure what to call it.
She had never seen Summer like this before, had never felt Summer feel this way before; and going off what Tai's bond kept flickering her way, he hadn't either. Her boyfriend was, like herself, extremely concerned. Not just about Summer, obviously, he was very much afraid for ARSN; but he was scared for Summer too.
Summer's reaction to Verdant kidnapping her sister and friends had been to literally summon eldritch entities that Raven had no concrete knowledge of to curse him, before rallying the rest of STRQ to go hunt him down. She had listened to their plan, which Raven was well aware was lacking in detail, and despite this still accepted it, before sneaking off campus and instructing Raven to open a portal to her once she had arrived at ARSN's last known location.
The rest of STRQ was now following Summer's nose as she trailed their friend's scents through the sewers; their typical banter was dead silent, concern and unease weighing heavily between them. Occasionally, Raven would share a look with Taiyang or Qrow, before the pair would glance at Summer in mutual worry.
For the most part it seemed like Summer was running on an entirely different frequency than normal; there was a ferocity buzzing in her frame, in her eyes - little glints of silver and song-light kept bubbling about the edges of her aura as she tried to stay cool. At any moment Raven expected her girlfriend to catch the scent and charge ahead of them, leaving them all behind. Raven kept her fingers wrapped around her hilt, trying to stay focused on the present moment.
Suddenly, Summer paused, her ears flicking as she sniffed the air, making a face at the stench of the sewage before rallying.
"We've passed them somehow," Summer muttered, turning back, silver eyes trying to pierce the darkness as she followed her nose. "The trail stops here, but there's no entrance."
Raven eyed the tunnel walls, already searching for tell-tale scratches or Semblance glyphs or markings, being well versed in smuggler tricks; her twin was similarly hunting along the walls, his keen eyes studying every surface before pausing, running his pale fingers over the granite.
"Found it," he said quietly. Raven moved over to her brother's shoulder, squinting at the tiny inscription of thieves cant. She did not recognize the dialect, considering this was a regional dialect, probably from several hundred years previous.
"What's it mean?" Tai asked, staring nonplussed at the scribble. "Secret door?"
"Yea, but it's also the password," Qrow insisted, scratching the back of his head as he bit his bottom lip in thought. "Ahhhh, I know this! Come on brain, work with me!"
He shook his noggin as if trying to rattle the memories loose.
"You know ancient Valish smuggler's cant?" Raven asked a little skeptically, eying her twin. "When did you learn it?"
Summer prodded the marking curiously, though the fire didn't go out of her eyes and she kept running her fingers along the wall, trying find tell-tale cracks in the wall.
"We had a cousin, Rae, he uh….he used to live near Vale. And he taught me some signs when I was little, I remember - I meeeember - come onnnnnnn!" Qrow bounced on his toes, glaring at the mysterious little symbol. "This is how he found it, he saw these marks - there will be more throughout the entire sewer, actin as directions and waypoints! It's how smugglers mapped out the underground without gettin lost in the labyrinth's they made with their Semblances - WAIT!"
Qrow's face lit up enthusiastically, gesturing with both hands as if performing a magic trick.
"Laguz!"
A Semblance glyph materialized on the wall, burning vermillion, and a portion of the wall 'melted' away; a small, dark tunnel had been carved out with a Semblance at some point in the ages past. STRQ stared into the dark tunnel, Qrow's victorious expression refusing to fade even when faced with a sketchy pit.
"Ta da!"
"Ok. I'm on point," Summer hopped over the small gap and into the tunnel, having to crouch as she scurried forwards, lighting up the tunnel with the soft silver glow of one of her mirrors.
The other's paused, their faces worried, as they followed after Summer yet again, hunching over to avoid braining themselves on the low ceiling.
"Whose short ass went and made these fucking tunnels," Taiyang complained, scooting along behind Raven, who was following Qrow.
"I'm assuming they wanted to be discreet," Raven murmured, her eyes adjusting to the pitch as she crept along slowly.
"Discreet yea, but why would they want to practically be crawling on their elbows in a sewer though, is my fucking question here-"
"Keep your voice down, man," Qrow whispered soothingly, glancing back at them. "It ends up here."
Raven tensed, watching a pair of fluffy ears in the dark as her partner straightened and stood upright; the tunnel widened ahead of them, giving them enough room to all stand and not be squished against one another. There was another door with more markings next to it.
STRQ gathered around the door one by one, listening carefully as they tried to hear or detect anything moving inside the space. Summer sniffed lightly around the door, nodding a few times, her night eyes flashing as she snuffled cautiously.
"This is it," Summer whispered, her face serious. "I don't hear anything moving inside. But all four of them came through here."
"And Verdant?" Raven prompted quietly. Her partner met her gaze in the dark; Raven resisted the urge to swallow nervously at Summer's expression.
"Yes. His scent's all over this place," Summer observed, turning to glare at the door. "Though most of it is old. He's masking himself currently, I think. It's why I didn't detect him when he was creeping around on campus."
"We need a plan of attack," Qrow drawled quietly. "There's no way he won't have traps and shit all over the place -especially since this place probably came with a shit ton already installed since it's a Dust smugglers hide. Probably where they stored most of the Dust cargo."
"How can you tell that?" Taiyang prompted curiously.
"See that snowflake?" Qrow pointed out the sketching by the door.
"Yea, for the Schnee Dust Company? Is that smugglers cant for Dust?" Tai squinted. "That's not very secret-y of them."
"Nope. That used to be the symbol for Mantellian Dust smugglers, actually," Qrow insisted, tapping the ancient snowflake. "Way before they went corporate, way before they were on the right side of the law, they were helping smuggle in supplies to the people in Vale. Guess they were kinda good, once. Or maybe had good intentions."
Summer eyed the snowflake dubiously, an extra layer of caution settling across her expression.
"I'm not entirely sold on that," she muttered, and Qrow winced a little. "Let's get this door open, and see what's waiting for us. If it's a total ambush, Taiyang, I want you to portal us back to the train-tracks."
"Got it," Tai agreed, taking up a ready stance.
Raven brushed over her bonds, checking on the emotional states of her teammates. Summer finally met her eyes, saw her concern there, and softened her expression a little, aware that Raven was worried about her. Then she nodded at Qrow, who read the inscription aloud with a gentle rasp.
"Fehu."
The door melted into the floor, it's activating Semblance glyph glowing an ominous, stove-top orange before cooling. STRQ paused on either side of the dark void of the entrance, exchanging cautious looks; after a beat, Summer raised her hand to signify that they should wait, and stuck her head around the corner, ears raised as she tried to detect any threats. She quickly whipped backwards and nearly slammed into Raven as the purr of automatic weapons fire buzzed inside the room. Dust rounds blurred past them and slammed into the carved stone on the opposite side of the tunnel, blowing chunks of debris loose.
There was a very tense, long pause, as they waited for something else to happen; when no one came charging out the door shooting, Summer started talking again, looking irritated with herself more than anything.
"So! There are two auto-turrets in the ceiling, maybe twenty-five feet from the door," Summer informed them, pulling a mirror piece out and angling it carefully as she tried to see more. The turrets did not try to shoot the mirror piece. "...Make that four, actually, there's two more behind them. Looks like they have Hard Light shielding around the important stuff, leaving the barrels exposed. I don't see Verdant or our friends yet, but there are a couple of….containers? To our left, and going further in."
"How high up are the turrets?" Taiyang asked, glancing at his girlfriend. Summer flashed the mirror piece carefully, trying to determine the height.
"Fifteen, twenty feet?" she hazarded. "Not high, but their reaction times are fast as heck. I don't think we can shoot them all from here either, since our ranged capabilities are, um-
"Fuckin limited," Qrow grunted glancing at his own weapon as well as Summer's.
Tai and Raven nodded ruefully.
"-limited compared to those turrets, yes. I'd say I could take a few of them out by myself, but I don't know how tough their shielding is, and the way it's laid all out in there it's going to be a challenge. And that's without knowing any other little surprises he has waiting for us."
"Gonna be like a bullet blender in there," Qrow drawled, taking a peak at Summer's mirror. "Those aura piercing, you think?"
"No, or they'd have punched through that shitty wall behind us and straight into the water-main," Raven shook her head, staring at the damage. "That's standard fire Dust rounds for automatic weapons."
"Can they track aura?" Tai wondered, taking two focal points out. "Maybe we can just portal past them?"
He expertly chucked one of the focal points into the dark room, moving quickly so as not to get his head blown off. The turrets buzzed, and his focal point was shot out of the air, the marble bursting apart. He pouted a little, disappointed.
"That's a yea to trackin aura then," Qrow muttered, before exhaling heavily. "Sheewww, this is gonna hurt."
Raven's face grew pensive, clearly lost in thought, before she nudged her boyfriend. Tai perked up.
"What if you throw a whole shit ton of focal points in there and open up multiple portals at once?" Raven suggested. "If they're targeting aura over motion, then they'll shoot the portals and can end up shooting each other if you position them correctly."
Taiyang beamed, already digging out more marbles.
"Great idea babe - when in doubt, add more portal!" Taiyang crouched, preparing to fling more marbles. Raven still looked stuck at being called 'babe', her ears bright red, as Qrow continued to squint suspiciously into the room. "The answer is always gonna be more portal!"
"Hold up - after you get those set up, what if I fly in to scout it out and hit anything sneaking around in there with my Semblance?" he suggested, glancing at his teammates to gauge their reactions. "I could drop more points down, or hell a mirror piece for Summer; and hitting me when I'm smaller, with my Semblance is nearly impossible, trust me."
"I want to keep my pieces on me currently, and I'm really not sure about that, Qrow," Summer eyed the room's dark reflection.
"Well, we need to make a fuckin move. He knows we're here now, and already knew we were comin cuz you cursed his ass," Qrow insisted irritably, while gesturing. Summer gave him a flat look at that comment. "So, team leader, do you think I should scout for more danger, or not? Cuz otherwise, we're goin in totally blind, and ah. That's gonna fuck us. I already know it."
Summer's eyes narrowed a little, though more in thought than in irritation at his flippant tone, and finally made the call.
"Yes. I want you to do a flyby with your Semblance. First sign of anything fishy though, and we're in right behind you; I've also left a mirror piece by the train line. So if worst comes to absolute worst, I will bail us out through the Mirrorways."
Raven opened her mouth in protest, before realizing Summer meant Raven and Taiyang being unconscious - or worse - would be the only reason she would drag them all through the fun-time halls of music and dread. Considering Rihanna's ward was now defunct, they once again had no protection against the Mirrorway's magical assaults.
"Aight," Qrow shifted and fluttered up on Raven's shoulder, preparing to dart through the door.
Taiyang repositioned himself, taking concentrating breaths, as his golden aura started flowing up and down his limbs in a martial technique Joan had taught them all in first year; it allowed him to temporarily boost his reflexes and natural speed, and he had been improving his mastery of it over time.
The golden waves started slowly, like a heartbeat or the ocean tide, before speeding up, increasing their frequency. Until, suddenly, Tai whipped around the door frame and threw his focal points, moving as fast as he physically could; his precision, considering the circumstances, was astronomically good. He flung six focal points into the center of the turrets, activating them where they'd have the best chance of redirecting bullets and hitting a turret.
Two focal points were shot down immediately. However, the remaining four opened successfully; two between the first two turrets, who began shooting the portals and instead of at Taiyang, and thus each other. The remaining two points opened with a cheerfully loud 'WHUB!', one closer to the center of the turret nexus, the other next to it's designated turret. The bullets began to fly, but the positioning of the portals' directions prevented either turret from actually hitting one another.
Summer took this fraction of time to duck down by Taiyang's hip, white petals floating to the ground as she brought Sol's pistol to bear on the second visible turret, whose shielding was being chewed away at by the rapid gunfire of its neighbor, and aimed. She fired, the Fire Dust round exploding heartily against the Hard Light shield; that, combined with the furious assault of it's neighbor, and her own heavy caliber rounds, the shield of the second turret was already done for.
Taiyang was already pulling back behind the door frame to get clear, and to give Qrow room to fly out, as Summer aimed and fired at the neighboring turret, whose own shielding was taking a beating. Orange and red blossomed over the canopy of blue-light, that was beginning to warp and fluctuate in the tell-tale signs of distress.
Meanwhile, behind Summer and Taiyang, Qrow and Raven were trying to spot anything else in the room that could be a threat; but other than the obvious turrets, they could see nothing of note in the darkness, the light of the Dustfire being too weak and sporadic to reveal anything else worthwhile. As Taiyang pulled back to give Qrow room, the scythe wielder pushed off his sister's shoulder and took flight; Raven made the decision to shift into her own second skin, determining that it would be wisest in the darkness to be a smaller target, and that flight would give her an advantage.
Qrow wove through the open door, skirting above the dark floor as the gunfire from the turrets blazed in the air above and in front of him, ricochets bouncing off into murky room, leaving brief, little comets of light in the shadows.
His eyes searched fervently for any sign of further entrapment or figures, man or wolf; he saw nothing. Until, directly below his flitting, black form, a deep indigo glyph illuminated, and he was pulled directly to floor with crushing pressure; Qrow instinctively shifted back into his human form to prevent his wings from being shattered from the pressure, but he could barely get air back in his lungs to shout out a warning.
"Fuck!" he shouted in pain, unable to push himself up or get his legs under him. His aura flared from the pressure, protecting his joints. He felt as if he was in a bullhead that had gone into a nosedive, and he was glued to the chair from the force of it. "Ah - glyphs!"
Taiyang's response was immediate, followed directly by Summer. As the turrets continued to snarl and chew into one another, Tai portaled in on his partner's left, avoiding the trap-glyph and ducking down next to Qrow; he laid his hands on him, getting as good a grip as he could considering the glyph was trying to drag him down as well, and braced with his legs and heaved. Qrow moved a little, but mostly remained exactly where he was, letting out a yelp of discomfort.
Tai, seeing the closest turret starting to turn towards him instead of his portal, flared his aura, grit his teeth, and fucking heaved a second time; with a shout, he pulled Qrow free of the trap, the pair nearly toppling as Summer blurred over their heads, a streak of furious white that laid into the closest, now unshielded turret that had been primed to shoot them.
Summer swarmed the nearly defunct turret, ripping it apart with Sol and Mani before it could fire on the boys, all while dodging a hailstorm of bullets from the other, shieldless turret across from her. Instead of going on to it, however, she went straight for the third turret fifteen feet back, that currently had all its shielding and was now firing her way and not at the portals Tai had set up.
As Summer shot across that space, having pushed off the sparking, crumpling remains of the turret she'd killed, an Aura piercing round whistled right past her head, practically tickling her ears, before it slammed into the top of the second shipping container and punched a fist sized hole in it as the Dust ignited on impact. Another round followed immediately after the first, this one also missing as Summer fully engaged her Semblance; the round soared viciously through the cloud of white petals and shot between the second and third shipping container, ricocheting twice due to the angle and thick metal sides, before slamming into the wall behind them.
Summer didn't even pause, already having her tiger-hooks out as she went for the third turret, her aura up as she took several standard Dust rounds straight on.
"RAVEN! SNIPER! YOUR RIGHT CORNER!" Summer shouted over the cacophony.
Summer hadn't really needed to say anything, to be honest, because Raven was already in flight towards the sniper's position. She'd watched the first round nearly take Summer's head off, and with little hesitation as she glanced down at the still vulnerable Tai and Qrow, determined the sniper was the greatest known threat to them all at the moment; and took off out the door towards the closet right corner, where a stack of ancient supply crates were stacked in a mound.
Her wings were silent in the dark, but she was buzzing with energy, taking in everything in her field of vision. From this position, she could see several traps on the floor, more of those nigh invisible, dark glyphs - likely carved with Gravity Dust - lined out on the ash-grey granite; there were three that she could see in the air, including the one Qrow had triggered.
One was close to the crates she was approaching, and she made care to avoid flying over it, deducing it was triggered by aura proximity. As she banked, she spotted a dark figure hiding amongst the crates, positioning themself with a black sniper rifle and trying to target Taiyang, who was currently shielded by Qrow.
In an instant, Raven knew that this person was not Verdant from their shape and height, recognizing the figure immediately despite them wearing a fucking party mask; and that Verdant was forcing this person via his Semblance to try to take down Summer and Taiyang, but was currently unwilling to let them shoot either her or Qrow.
She also knew, going off the ancient, snowflake insignia on those piled crates, that there was a potential chance that they were full of Dust in some form or fashion. Which, if so, meant that mountain was a deadly explosion waiting to happen; getting into an actual fight on top of them would be suicidal, and was probably a trap in and of itself. Verdant had perhaps hoped to lure one of them over here to get blown up. She was gambling on the idea that she was not one of his intended targets.
Making a decision, Raven landed on a crate above the sniper and shifted skins, changing her blade coating to Ice Dust, ready to draw if necessary. She also opened a portal to Summer, above and behind herself just in case she needed to cross over to her, or vice versa.
"More Glyphs on the ground! Front of the containers, and behind me!" Raven shouted out, moving to place herself between the sniper and her teammates, blocking them into the corner. "These crates are full of Dust, watch your weapons fire!"
The sniper had popped up, their left hand drawing the gun at their hip and pointing it directly at her face; their right hand had been damaged, apparently, and Raven felt a sick twist in her stomach as she stared into the mocking party mask that Verdant had deigned to taunt them with. She couldn't see her friend's eyes, but she didn't need to see them to know that behind all this? Natalia was suffering greatly.
Despite that, Nat's frame radiated a potent deadliness, the variety that only an aspiring Witchfinger could really manifest. If they fought in earnest, and Raven held back even a fraction? She knew the other girl could and would best her, if Nat herself was not holding back. Her only chance of not being forced to seriously hurt Natalia was the other girl somehow throwing Verdant's grip off.
"Nat?" Raven started calmly, her voice carrying despite the hailstorm around them. "It's going to be ok."
There was the briefest twitch, as if the hand holding the gun had seized, the muscles stiffening awkwardly.
Meanwhile, as this was playing out, Qrow had pushed to his feet finally, cursing blackly as he tried to get his bearings after being flattened like a feathery pancake. He heard his sister call out about more glyphs, and did a paranoid check around himself and Taiyang; and spotted several more. One in front of the second shipping container door, one below the second turret, and obviously the one he'd been peeled off of.
He glanced at his partner, who was standing at his back, preparing more focal points.
"There's another glyph to my left, and one under the second turret!" he shouted out, engaging the pistol function on his sword-scythe.
Qrow knew he wasn't a stellar marksman, but he was technically a lucky one, at least compared to whatever he was shooting at. He prefered close to medium range combat, so he could use his Semblance and scythe's reach against his enemies; but he knew he could make a few good shots at close range.
As the remaining, shieldless turret aimed his way, Qrow fired off one of his explosive Dust rounds, and struck it right on the 'snout'; the turret disappeared behind a flower of orange and yellow, lighting up the room briefly with a hearty boom that shook dirt and debris loose from the ceiling.
He rapidly leveled his sights on the fourth turret that was firing at Summer, which was occasionally hitting its mark and bouncing Dust rounds off the faunus's aura as she frantically tried to destroy the shielding on the third turret; and fired his second explosive round. It hit the Hard Light shielding of the fourth turret with a loud, vibrating "VRUMMM", but the barrier remained and the turret was now targeting him.
Qrow dodged over the ground, sprinting and weaving between the hail-storm of bullets all while watching exactly where he put his feet; he skirted between a trap-glyph and the fourth turret, the bullets bouncing off the floor around his feet, most missing him by the grace of his Semblance.
Several bullets made their mark, however, bouncing painfully off his aura, until he passed under one of Taiyang's portals; and the turret luckily started targeting the closest aura-possessing target once again, which was the portal. He let out a sigh of relief as he posted up by yet another trap-glyph, bringing his weapon to bear defensively.
Taiyang, erstwhile, was busy dismissing several extraneous portals, when he suddenly stumbled, having been struck by Qrow's Semblance while his partner was fleeing the maelstrom of bullets chasing after him; Taiyang's blue eyes widened in shock as he caught himself, hands braced on the floor in front of him, a half-hair away from the trap-glyph to his left, the one in front of the storage container. He glared at the trap, pushing himself to his feet nimbly, before tossing down a focal point on top of the glyph, and another on its closest neighbor.
"More portal," Taiyang muttered, nodding sagely to himself. The two glyphs now had connected portals in their centers, and while it didn't seem to break them, if anyone got pulled, they'd be shot out of the neighboring portal to freedom.
Having defanged the most immediate trap-glyphs, he tossed two more focal points at the fourth and final turret that was harassing his partner; one he richoted off the extended wall behind Qrow and opened in front of it's barrel, while the second he opened directly beneath it. The turret began to promptly shoot itself in the ass, and after several vigorous seconds of this treatment, blew its remaining shielding to sparkly bits. Taiyang grinned a bit cheekily at his handiwork.
Across from him, a still airborn Summer suddenly dipped, slowing down long enough for her aura to get clipped by another round, before blurring again, surrounding her target in a maelstrom of white.
"HE'S GOT NAT'S SEMBLANCE UP!" Summer shouted, her face streaked with free-flowing tears as Natalia apparently tried to literally depress her reaction time. Summer also knew that this in itself was just a warm up. If Natalia hit Summer, hell hit all of them, with the full weight of her Semblance? They would all likely collapse on the spot, all the will to fight or carry on draining out of them faster than black hole hurricane effect created by a swarm of Apathy.
They would lose, and likely die, if Natalia struck now; and despite her own agonized feelings on the matter, Summer could not let that happen.
So, she called it.
"RAVEN, STOP HER!"
Raven took a slow step towards her friend, and Natalia's finger twitched on the trigger, the pistol still trained at Raven's head. Raven narrowed crimson eyes at the motion, deducing that Natalia was fighting desperately against Verdant's hold. And possibly winning at the moment.
Instead of drawing her blade, she tried to meet her friend's eyes behind the grinning mask.
"Come on, Natalia, you don't take shit from pigs," Raven prompted fiercely, stepping closer, watching that struggling grip. "Fight. Him."
The hand shook. The shoulders shook. The figure heaved, panting pain.
And with an agonized snarl the figure doubled in front of her, throwing the gun to the side and out of range, before ripping the mocking party mask off. Raven as her friend glared fiercely up at her, blood running from her nose from the force that Verdant was exerting on her in an attempt to crush her will with his Semblance. Her mouth had been taped over, apparently to prevent any slips of communication, and she clawed it off furiously, grim eyes burning with indignant anger and desperation.
"Explosive trap. First container. Don't open door," Natalia grit out, her teeth bloody from the red mask coating the lower half of her face. She was pointing at the first container. "Dust golems. In floor."
"But where is he, Nat?" Raven asked intently. "Where is Verdant?"
"Don't know. Gah, too strong!"
Raven eyes widened at that, and before she could move, Natalia had pulled a syringe from her black, cargo pocket and, snarling defiantly in Mantelese, injected herself with it. The gunwoman dropped like a sack of flour, and Raven darted forwards, her eyes betraying her fear.
The injector had apparently contained a powerful sedative, one that was likely intended for Raven or Qrow, should they confront Natalia like this; and Nat had, instead of being weaponized against her friends again, chosen to knock herself out instead. Raven pulled her friend quickly away from the crates, laying her near the door, and stood up, her face cold and eyes burning with the promise of storm and bloodshed.
On the other side of the smuggler's den, a vermilion glyph manifested on the ground between the third and fourth shipping containers, and the ground puddled and warped like soft-clay; a giant fist shot out of the mud-pool, followed by another, and out of the floor hefted something large, rocky, and covered in jutting spires of copper colored Rock Dust. The entity flashed with more vermillion glyphs, and suddenly charged with frightening speed at Qrow, who was directly across from it.
Qrow barely had time to react as it came at him, swinging it's big fists, the Dust crystals flashing with aura ignition each time it tried to punch him. It swung over his head as he ducked, and almost managed to sucker punch him as he dodged, but luckily, missed.
As Qrow found himself on the receiving end of this blitz, another identical glyph had appeared ten feet away from him, and a similar creature emerged, wrenching its body up out of its pit with incredible strength and landing on surprisingly nimble feet. This one tried to attack him from behind, and likewise missed as Qrow, seeing it's form in his periphery, parried it's strikes with his sword.
On the third strike, the Rock Dust golem grabbed his sword mid-strike, the blade sinking into the rock a fraction, sparks flying. The entity stared down at him in dumb, silent menace; Qrow cocked his head at that, his eyebrows raising.
"Huh. Mkay," he grunted, and popped up, pushing off the golem's chest with both feet and pulling his blade free . He shifted mid-flight, and the crashing fist of the second golem missed his feathery form and nearly toppled over, as he flew under its swing, landing ten feet behind the closest golem and shifting back, spinning his sword into its scythe form and taking up a martial position that would allow him to defend against multiple attackers. "YO, we got mud people or some shit!"
"Copy to mud people - woah!" Taiyang started to acknowledge, before taking a sucker punch to the back of the head. His aura had barely engaged in time as one of said mud people got the drop on him, coming up behind him from between the first and second containers. "Mud people got hands! Watch it!"
Summer, having finally dismembered the turret and it's shielding, it's sparking bits falling to an oily death on the granite below, sees Qrow facing off against the Dust creature alone; she also sees Raven dragging Natalia to the safety by the door, and Taiyang engaging with another Dust golem nearby. Qrow is currently being approached by two towering mud people, and doesn't have a portal out in case he gets overwhelmed.
So, Summer launches herself at the golem across from her, streaking like a comet through the dark; she sees the trap glyph under her ignite at the very last microsecond and diffuses herself as much as possible. The song of gravity slammed her in the gut, trying to pull her by the navel down to the floor and pin her mercilessly; but she flared her aura, and with a furious snarl, pushed.
The trap-glyph's invisible talons failed, but hers did not; and the little faunus slammed into the Dust golem with all the force of a speeding truck. The Dust Golem nearly toppled from the sheer fury slamming into it, but managed to warp the granite-ground beneath its feet, anchoring itself as its Dust crystals sparked with aura.
Summer spun, sweeping her tiger hooks towards the creature's ankles, attempting to snag it's feet and break it's anchored stance; the points of her hooks sank in and stuck into the rock, until she blurred, ripping a chunk of rock and mud loose. Again, the creature staggered, but did not fall, widening its stance as it swung at her wildly, missing by a mile.
Summer leapt over the creature's head, landed on its back in a blizzard of white, dug her hooks in, right where the eyes should be; and tore it's square, blank head clean off. It fell like a bowling ball and rolled across the floor, before the Dust crystals jutting from its body sparked and another head warped and molded out of its body with a crunching-growl.
A thick hand darted back, grabbed Summer by the ankle and ripped her off its shoulder; she broke free of its grip and landed in front of the Dust Golem, her tiger hooks splayed in a defensive stance and she pressed forwards on one foot, her ears flat and silver eyes glowing in the dark.
Across the room, next to the entrance, Raven shifted skins once again, gaining height as she searched in the dark for the one responsible for all this. She saw Summer tearing her golem a new one, her partner's teeth bared in fury as she literally ripped apart stone and mud; nearby, Taiyang was making a monkey of his own opponent, while Qrow was standing his ground. Her wings flapped as she hovered, searching feverishly, her anger fresh and driving her hunt; and in the dark room, which flashed with aura and Dust and song of metal, Raven saw a shadow move.
It was on top of the last shipping container, approximately fifty to sixty feet away from her position near the door. It wasn't a human shape, that brief shadow; nor Grimm, no. She knew what it was.
To her right was her hovering portal, linking her to Summer across the small battlefield, and Raven swooped through it; her wings tore through the air as she drove over the vacant sands of the dimension between her portals and out the other side. She flew past Summer fighting the golem, banked around her brother and his own battle, avoided two more trap-glyphs hidden side by side on the floor; and in mid-air, shifted back into human form, bringing her sword down in an surprise overhead strike as she plummeted down on the shipping container where Verdant had been hiding.
The beast's eyes were wide surprise, stunned that she had managed to locate him in the dark, while using an invisibility feat; he'd crossed his monstrous claws and caught her blade, but she snarled viciously and triggered the Ice-Dust coating it, freezing his giant paws together. Her right foot hit the top of the container, and she got her footing, bringing her blade back and slashing it across his ribs, lighting up his Aura.
She doesn't hesitate, and pulls back, her left elbow bringing her blade back before driving forward, aiming another slash against Verdant's exposed right side. However, the other shifter had apparently recovered from his surprise, and broke his claws free of the ice with a roar, before swatting her strike away with enough force to make her bones shake. Raven repositioned herself, taking on an offensive stance, grinning viciously at the beast's loathsome expression.
Behind them, Qrow's defensive perimeter was being tested by not only one, but now two Dust Golems. Another had burst from the floor between the fourth and third container and charged directly towards Qrow; however, the second it got within seven feet of him, Qrow's scythe whipped around his form and nearly swept it's head off it's shoulders. He spun gracefully with the motion, bringing it back around striking the approaching Dust Golem he'd been squaring off with, slashing it across it's upper torso.
The newest Dust Golem stagger, it's crystals and glyphs glowing as it 'healed' the cut at the base of its neck; the other golem tried to come at him again, and was similarly rebuffed as Qrow spun his scythe like a vortex, sparks flying as he drove his attackers back skillfully, before returning to his previous martial stance, eying his opponents with a smirk. His reach was actually longer than the Golem's and in this position, he could defend himself for a long time, letting his Semblance decrease his opponents effectiveness until he went on the attack.
Which, having seen his twin fly overhead and go after someone on the container behind him, he deduced now was as good a time as any; if Verdant and Raven were facing off, she would need back-up soon, or at least not have to worry about mud-people coming after her flanks on top of that.
He swept his scythe out, and the strike was deflected by the first Golem to have attacked him; however, Qrow rolled with the momentum, redirected, and with a lot of luck, managed to actually sweep the Dust Golem's feet out from beneath it before it could anchor itself. He immediately sank the tip of his scythe into the coppery Dust crystal in it's upper right shoulder; it sparked with aura and died, and the arm of the Golem disintegrated.
"Hey, aim for their Crystals!" Qrow shouted, sweeping his scythe around to parry another attack from the other Golem.
"How are these things even using Dust Crystals?!" Taiyang shouted in frustration, dodging another jutting of rock that his Golem had summoned from the floor.
Grimacing, he came in low, Aura rolling up and down his limbs in another martial technique - this one having learned from Nwyfre - struck the Golem at multiple points, driving trails of his Aura into its dense form, searching out weaknesses, glyphs, or other tell-tale signs that might tell him how his opponent worked. He struck a core of Aura and his eyes widened in shocked understanding as he disengaged.
"There's people inside!" Tai shouted roughly, anger breaking out across his face as he realized it was very possibly his friends in some of these creations. "They're the fucking battery packs!"
Summer's eyes widened as she stared up at the Dust 'Golem' across from her. She couldn't smell anything, or hadn't, but a horrible instinct whispered in her ear, telling that she knew who the battery pack was for these things.
"Sigyn?" she whispered, a chill running through her. The Dust Golem did not respond, only continued to try to attack her. "Don't strike the centers! Only target the crystals!"
Summer's eyes rounded as a wave of rock rippled under her feet, and she barely avoided being snared; she engaged her Semblance, blurring left, and whipped her tiger-hooks into the nearest copper crystal. With a desperate growl, Summer tore the Dust crystal free entirely. The Dust Golem staggered, it's Semblance glyphs flickering as it's 'circuitry' was disrupted by the removal of the crystal.
"Hang on! Hang on, sis, it's ok! It's gonna be ok!"
Meanwhile, Verdant and Raven continued to clash on top of the final shipping container, the warg saying nothing as he defended himself from Raven's furious strikes; before suddenly sweeping out and knocking her prone, before leaping away, dropping down and disappearing into a hidden hatch in the nearest corner.
Raven nearly gave chase before pausing, realizing this was very likely a trap and that chasing after him alone was what he wanted. The swordswoman looked back at her teammates; both Qrow and Summer were engaging their Golems and working to dismantle them, either by removing the Dust crystals or other means. Taiyang was facing off against only one near the first container, which apparently had an explosive attached to it somewhere; it was also close to the pile of Dust crates. Should the explosive go off, it might trigger the Dust and send the entire room up in a devastating explosion; if Verdant had a remote trigger, he could wait until he'd lured both Qrow and Raven down the rabbit hole and then kill everyone who remained in the room with such a trick. However, if one of the twin's stayed, it was very probable that he wouldn't pull the trigger.
Splitting up was, as ever, a very dangerous gamble; but Verdant wouldn't wait for them to break all of his toys before coming after him. He would either flee, or summon more assistance and traps, continuing to weaponize their friends and make them hurt them. Taking him down as soon as possible would stop the onslaught of fresh mindfuckery, and his Semblance was genuinely the biggest threat to them all at the moment, possible bomb included.
"Verdant's fled through an escape hatch!" Raven shouted down to the others. "I want to pursue him, but it's probably a trap! Summer, what should I do?!"
"We can handle Sigyn! But his Semblance has to be eliminated as a threat! Keep Kindred Link open to me, and fall back if needed!" Summer ducked two strikes towards her face, ducking around as she tried to stay ahead of the Dust Golem and get at it's remaining crystals. "Keep an eye out for Argent and Reinhardt, he's probably going to weaponize them as well!"
"No! Veto!" Taiyang called out while still wrangling his Golem. "Raven!? Do not pursue him by yourself! Please!"
Qrow chimed in as he slid across the floor, stopping a hair's breadth from the trap-glyphs nearby.
"Let me come with, hold up!"
"Not both of us! He might blow this whole room, there's an explosive rigged to the first container! It'll go off if we open the door, but he might also have a remote!" Raven countered. "I can disarm the bomb maybe and then pursue him-"
"I will handle the bomb!" Summer declared, tossing mirror pieces down as she dodged another strike. They skidded over by the first container.
Taiyang let out another distressed noise, and Raven made eye contact with the blonde.
"Tai! Come with me!"
Taiyang gaped in surprise for a moment, floundering.
"But what about-"
"Bro, we've got this!" Qrow insisted, deflecting several punches and kicks with his scythe. "We aren't going to be separated, you literally both have fuckin portals! Leave a point down for contingency and go! We'll be right behind you!"
With a quiet curse, Taiyang tossed a point over to Raven and engaged his Semblance, portaling to her in an instant and briefly confusing the shit out of his Golem. He dropped a focal point on top of the shipping container, and with a final look back at his partner and girlfriend, turned towards the escape hatch with Raven.
"I love you both! Please be careful!" Summer called, fracturing another Dust crystal. Her Golem was looking on the verge of collapse.
"Love you-" "I love you-" "Fuck you both!"
Raven snorted at her twin's parting words, flipping him off briefly as she and Taiyang brushed hands for comfort; and gave chase, pursuing the beast into the unknown.
Author's Notes cont: So that was fun! Lol. Anyways, for any other writers out there who also enjoy boardgames, playing out a fight scene like an actual encounter in a game can be really fun, but also a lot of extra work, at least developing sheets/creating a homebrew set of rules or just transposing existing classes onto your characters in a way that translates. It can definitely help you though to see a map drawn out and moving your characters and their opponents around, if you have a scene with a lot of extra moving pieces.
Like a fuck ton of portals, trap glyphs, and turrets.
It's also really fun to leave some of what happens up to chance, or see the character succeed against a challenge without your direct help/influence, or just being a little bad ass all on their own is pretty satisfying.
Anyways, next chapter should be the finale for the Hunter's Moon segments; see ya'll next time. (Now I gotta go play some Minecraft finally, cuz I've been waitin on that update weeeee)