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I am making no money from this.
Chapter 11: Scavenger Hunters
A week had passed since the trip to Forever Fall and Team FADE were spending their Friday evening enjoying the warm weather while it lasted, relaxing on the roof of the Academy; having moved away from the usual spot above their dormitory that Arctus and Diamond had taken to hanging out on, to no small amount of teasing from their friends despite the fact that nothing had happened between them. Currently the four of them were overlooking the outdoors training area where a team of fourth years were training and putting on a frankly impressive show
"I'm not even sure I want to know where you keep getting drinks from, but I needed that after today" Diamond noted as she stretched out and made herself comfortable laying on a blanket spread on the roof, empty containers that originally been filled with food from a Mistrali take-out discarded alongside bottles of beer
"Me too" Felix grunted from his position laying on his chest, studying the technique of the older students below while soaking up the heat from the last rays of the setting sun. The Lion Faunus had been noticeably less irritable since coming out to his team "I don't know how Team NEON can go out on a Friday night straight after combat class"
"I wonder if that's why Aunt Nora pushes us so hard on a Friday, just to stop underage students from going drinking?" Eagle mused between sips of her orange juice, the taller blonde apparently didn't drink alcohol
"Shame it doesn't do anything to Ether and Olivine's unlimited stamina" Arctus grumbled bitterly causing Eagle to spray her juice everywhere and Diamond to give him an astonished look while Felix cackled in a way that could best be described as maniacal
"What? I know I have better hearing but surely you can hear that...Performance?"
"Yeah I just wasn't expecting you to be the one to say it" Diamond laughed, playfully punching her partner on the shoulder. A few moment's later Felix's scroll began to audibly vibrate, the Lion Faunus dug the device from his pocket and saw that the caller was Corvid, answering the call led to his ears being assaulted by the sound of music playing in whatever bar or club she was currently at
"Hey Fluffy"
"One day you'll call me that and I'll hang up" he growled, the only answer he received was an amused snort and the sound of his sister moving to a quieter location, presumably a smoking area outside
"Right now I can actually hear your whinging, I might have an um….unofficial mission if you want to tag along tomorrow?" they way Felix's eyes seemed to light up should have concerned his team-mates a lot more than it did
"I'm listening"
"There's a company Team CLIR did some work for while we were in Mistral last year, call themselves the Scavenger Guild. The New Vale branch got in touch, said they've got a basic tag for recovery job….two hundred Lien each if we split eight ways, you in?"
"Why does this sound like it's probably a lot less legal than you're making it sound?" Felix chuckled, positively beaming at the idea of going on a mission with his sister
"Well they're the sort of people that have business meetings in the shadiest bars on ground level so if you can hear our Mums' voices screaming 'NO' that's probably why" Felix suppressed a snort and cast a glance at his team-mates, all of whom looked intrigued despite not being able to hear half of the conversation
"We'll meet you at breakfast tomorrow"
"Smart choice, see ya Fluffy" with that the call ended. Diamond raised an eyebrow
"What did you just sign us up for?"
"Two hundred Lien each….Ever heard of the Scavenger Guild?"
"Oh those grave robbers" Diamond gave an unusually distasteful look at the mention of them, before realising that Felix and Eagle seemingly knew less about the organisation than she did "They pick through old battlegrounds for anything they can sell on"
"What like arms dealers?" Eagle gasped, utterly appalled, Diamond shook her head
"Nah, I remember seeing one of them in Anquan-Jia selling the dog-tags of Mistrali soldiers who died at the battle of Menagerie for twenty Lien a piece, if you die with a weapon in your hand the Scavenger Guild will come and prise it out at some point"
"They have a branch in Atlas" Arctus added "I mean obviously they would, the siege of Lower Atlas, the battle at the Bio-Domes, the destruction of Eisenstadt Siebte, plus all the stuff the Freelancers tend to use….anyway. They sell a lot of stuff back to the military or to museums and private collectors, I actually think it might be where Aunt Winter got the plasma cell for my weapon considering it's practically antique….I've heard they recovered the tanks on display at the Atlas Institute of Warfare and Defence as well, it's a little bleak but not criminal"
"They sold a weapons grade plasma cell?" Diamond's eyebrows shot into her hairline "That's definitely criminal, that's some gangland shit dude"
"Not if you're selling it back to an officer in the Military and there's no firing mechanism attached" Arctus countered, knowing several generous handfuls of random regulations and the corresponding loopholes through his various relatives lines of work
"Did Corvid say exactly what the job is?" Eagle asked, her hesitation written plainly on her face. Felix shook his head
"She didn't say much, just that it's a basic tag for recovery job….Come on it's Corey, it can't be anything stupidly bad" his friends took a few moments to process the information. Diamond was the first to speak up
"You know this is going to involve breaking into the Old Vale exclusion zone right? It's literally the only place there's gonna be anything that's so big it needs to be tagged for recovery instead of just picked up" Felix honestly hadn't considered the where and how of the matter, but he supposed that he should have. He wasn't thrilled about the idea of returning to the site of his initiation but pushed his concerns aside
"So are we going?"
"You're going with or without us aren't you?" Diamond sighed, seeing Felix nod she gave her answer "Fine someone has to be the voice of reason here, I'll come"
"If you're going then I'm going" Eagle informed her partner bluntly
"Fuck it, if I wanted an easy life I'd have stayed in Atlas and worked for the SDC" Arctus chuckled before clinking his bottle against Diamond's "Here's to drunk decisions"
A Boarbatusk exploded, leaving nothing but wisps of darkness behind it as a revolver fitted for high calibre rounds discharged.
"Nice gun, it got a name?" Felix enquired as Rusty Blackwatch blew smoke from the barrel of the weapon before spinning it on his finger and holstering it
"It's High-Noon" Rusty answered, Iris's partner and the fourth member of Team CLIR stood at just over six feet tall and had broad shoulders and weather-beaten skin that appeared leathery before its' time. His chestnut hair was a tangled mess beneath the Stetson he wore, matched by his scraggly attempt at a beard. He wore faded black pants tucked into boots with ornate spurs affixed to the heel and held up by a belt with 'BAMF' inscribed onto it, body armour of an older Atlesian model covering his chest was obscured by a ragged poncho; the hand not currently resting on the holster was clasping the hand of Lux Lumière as teams' FADE and CLIR made their way through the ruined and deserted streets of Old Vale's exclusion zone, Sentinel trundling along beside Eagle as usual while the blonde in question cast furtive glances at Iris. They had arrived at one of the heavily armoured gates set into the perimeter wall, intended to allow Hunters and medics to intervene if a student of Halo Academy was ever injured in the field. The guards at that particular gate had been bribed by the Scavenger Guild, giving the teens entry and a time to return by followed by a warning that failure to do so would result in them being greeted by the next shift who had not been encouraged to be discreet.
"Okay Corey, what are we here for?" Iris asked, her tone implying that this foray into a highly restricted area irked her. Corvid gave a grin and indicated to a duffel bag dangling from the Omega Wing which was currently in its' aerial drone form, hovering beside its' owner
"The Guild have managed to get a hold of some pretty clear aerial photos of this part of Old Vale, a few miles that way there's a downed Atlesian ship that no organised group has picked clean yet, doesn't mean nobody beat us to it but there should still be something"
"So what are we tagging?" Felix asked "If they've given you a bag of transponders they must have something in particular they want" Corvid had the decency to look sheepish for a brief moment before answering
"They've got a buyer, a museum who wants us to tag any salvageable weapons batteries"
"Oh my Oum" Arctus's already pale complexion lost what little colour it had "I'm gonna get shot for treason"
"It'll be fine" Corvid shrugged "It's been here for twenty years, if the Atlesian military wanted it back they'd have come and picked it up"
"Oh but that's not all is Corey" Iris sighed, rolling her eyes as she turned to Team FADE "She wants to raid the ship for some restricted parts, that's why she brought you along; so it gives her more time"
"Hey come on they're getting two hundred Lien a piece!" Corvid insisted
"Dude, what is wrong with Patch?" Diamond demanded
"Really lax law enforcement and not much to do, we tend to get creative when we're bored" Felix answered without missing a beat before turning to his sister "What are you looking for?" he silently hoped the answer wasn't as damning as it was seeming it might be
"The wings and weapons on the Omega Wing actually stretch further than I can project my Aura, the Atlesian ships that took part in the battle of Vale had forcefield generators"
"You're going to steal a full forcefield generator?" Eagle asked in something akin to awe as Sentinel trundled alongside her, Mini-gun performing wide sweeps of their surroundings
"No, way too big" Corvid replied with a shake of the head "I need a few specific parts out of the control panel and probably a couple of the coils, it should be on the engineering deck….hopefully the engine won't have leaked" Diamond let loose a wordless groan of frustration
"Oum I sneak into concerts for fun, this is just ridiculous"
"Sorry for this" Arctus mumbled
"Is it dis-concert-ing?" Corvid asked with a snort, drawing a groan from everyone present
"And on that note" Felix breathed out, shaking his head disparagingly at his sisters' pun "Let's go and loot a warship"
The eight students stared at the sight before them, the ruined ship was gigantic. After twenty years of abandonment even Atlesian Steel had begun to rust and the occasional birds' nest could be seen built into the various wounds in its' armoured hull. The ship rested at an angle at the end of a deep gouge that had been torn into the now cracked and moss-covered tarmac, destroyed buildings that it had crashed through marking the trajectory of its' fall, as they looked at it they noticed that the greatest visible damage, other than the collapsed prow and missing rear nacelles were a series of wide tears in the hull that resembled claw marks
"Uncle Lie told me stories when I was a kid about a Dragon that attacked Vale and how Ruby Rose stopped it….you think that's what got this?"
"Probably" Arctus shrugged "My uncle Rover was injured fighting that Dragon….looks like he wasn't exaggerating how big it was" Felix and Corvid were silent, both studying the warship intently
"Those missile pods are empty and rusted through, won't even be worth the time to disconnect 'em" Felix noted dispassionately
"The main Photon accelerator would have been under the prow as well, even if we could get under this wreck it probably got ripped off in the crash" Corvid added, pursing her lips "Still, those laser batteries are pretty much exactly what we're looking for if we can get 'em loose" the Lion Faunus nodded in agreement as he examined the weapons in question before turning to his team-mates
"Diamond, Arctus you two are probably best suited to it; see if you can pull those guns off, we'll separate the ones worth taking and tag 'em. Me and Eagle can keep watch while Corey loots-"
"Recovers-"
"Loots" Felix reasserted over his sisters' objections. Arctus and Diamond shared a look
"Okay so how're we doing this then?" the Bear Faunus asked his partner
"I'll get up there and disconnect 'em, use your Glyphs to lower 'em safely. No point breaking the stuff we broke in here for"
"Um, Corvid….how are you getting in?" Eagle asked "Those claw marks are pretty big but I don't think you'll be able to slip through"
"Oh don't worry, Rusty's got a way around that" she nodded to her team-mate who stepped forwards, hands gliding over the surface of the hull. Stopping when he found a small crease between two armoured plates
"Momma always said I'm rotten bastard just like my Daddy" he noted with a bitter laugh that the more astute members of Team FADE noticed caused the rest of Team CLIR to wince before activating his Semblance, known as 'Degradation' a pestilent green-brown mist formed around his hands and rust spread from the point of contact across the metal like roots burrowing into soil. Moments later the Vaccuan hunter ripped the panel free, the metal shattering against the ground as it was cast aside
"You got the touch, you got the power. After all is said and-"
"Okay no" Iris huffed, cutting off Corvid before her murmuring could evolve into full blown singing "Rusty's Semblance is not an excuse for you to sing the soundtrack from that movie with the robots"
"Power Metal needs no excuses" Corvid countered
"Smartest thing I've heard all day" Diamond smirked. Lux shook his head at his partners' antics
"Please Iris, just check for targets before Corvid's singing actually attracts the Grimm" Iris chuckled softly as she drew her weapon a hefty morning-star named 'Venus Rising' as she activated her own Semblance, a subtle blue glow pulsing from her palms and eyes, the spiked head of the weapon detached and was carried forwards into the breach by Iris's telekinesis; the shaft of the weapon extending into a Bo Staff.
"See anything?" Corvid asked, Iris fished for her Scroll and annoyed look crossing her features
"The jamming in here….it's isn't just during initiations. I can't get a signal" seeing the confused expressions Team FADE wore Corvid explained
"Iris has a camera mounted in the head of her weapon, we send that in as a cheaper and easier to repair alternative to the Omega Wing"
"And now we're fighting blind" Iris grumbled
"Ah well, let's go" with that said Team CLIR made their way into the remains of the ship, Corvid throwing the bag of transponders to be attached to the weapons to Arctus while her team-mates were drawing their weapons and taking care to cover each other; leaving Team FADE outside.
"I can't help but feel like we've been left to do all the actual work" Diamond pointed out
"Yeah, perks of being the older sibling I suppose" Felix shrugged as he began to make his way up the steep incline of the angled hull
"As an oldest child I can confirm" Arctus sniggered, Felix tuned them out and turned to give Eagle a hand, his partner collapsing Sentinel onto her arm and following him in his search for a better vantage point. A few minutes later the pair were perched atop the ruined vessel scanning the burned out buildings for any trace of Grimm while Arctus and Diamond worked below, the Mistrali using her Semblance to hang upside-down and remove their prize from its' position on the ship and lower them onto waiting Glyphs while Arctus stole glances at his partner whenever he thought she wasn't looking.
"Not gonna lie, this place gives me the creeps" Felix murmured "Me and Corey have borrowed stuff from scrapyards before and used to hunt Grimm down in the forest but this is different somehow"
"Wish I had a cool older like sister like Corvid" Eagle sighed "I mean I've got cousins, all my Aunts and uncles and then all the honorary Aunts and Uncles, the Arcs are a big family but it's not the same"
"Still sounds nice though" Felix noted with a soft smile "Corey is awesome, scarily awesome and we'd never been apart until last year when she came to the Academy but I don't really see any of my extended family, I only used to see Arctus a couple times a year. Most of the time it was just me Corey and our Mums"
"It was just me and my Grandparents that actually lived in the house" Eagle explained "Everybody else just used to visit. My Mum sent me to live with them when I was three, said it'd be better for me….kinda wish I knew my parents mo- Oh my Oum I am so sorry!" Eagle's hands flew to her mouth as she realised she was complaining about her relationship with her parents to someone who had been given up at birth
"Don't worry about it" Felix muttered with a shake of his head, nudging his partner gently when he saw her mortified expression "Seriously, it's fine. I might be adopted but Yang and Blake Xiao Long are my parents, how we came into each others' lives doesn't change that" the Lion Faunus's voice became slightly choked as he repeated something that Blake had once said to him. Discreetly wiping his eyes Felix returned to scanning the ground below; his superior vision spotting something that Eagle missed, a dark shape moving through the shadows.
"Almost got it?" Lux asked as he twirled his twin rapiers in his hands, glancing over his shoulder he saw Corvid still carefully disassembling machinery that he made no claims to understand. Team CLIR had split up once inside the ship; Rusty and Iris departing for the ships' bridge, making a stop at the armoury on the way while Corvid and Lux were planning on heading to the hangar after they were done in engineering.
"Al-" Corvid removed the spare screwdriver clenched between her teeth "Almost" a few moments filled with tense muttered cursing passed before she rose to her feet with a victorious smirk on her face and the last of the components she needed in her hand
"I don't know why I bothered hoping for a quiet year" Lux sighed "I thought with no Vytal Tournament this year and the Centenary celebration at the end of the school year it might be less hectic this year"
"You don't have to be here Lux" Corvid sighed
"I kinda do, you're my partner….impulsive dumb-ass that you are-"
"Okay two things" Corvid interrupted, knowing Lux was only joking but at the same time having dealt with more than enough of his attitude since the team was formed "One I'm a Xiao Long we don't do the safe easy option, we do the stuff that gets talked about in history lessons afterwards. Two, you're making a couple hundred off of this so don't act like you're doing me a favour Lux" the slender teen raised his hands in an apologetic gesture
"Okay, okay. You're my team leader and partner, just 'cos I think you rush in sometimes doesn't mean I don't trust you Corey….Hell you proved it last year"
"Thanks, means a lot to actually hear one of you say it" Corvid admitted with a laugh "And let's be honest two hundred is probably nothing to you, you're not Schnee rich but still….damn" this drew a laugh and shrug from Lux. The Lumière family were new money, the already reputable construction firm owned by Lux's father and uncle having apparently been located far enough from the centre of Vale to avoid the worst of the fighting, leaving them in prime position to be chief among those helping to rebuild the Kingdom and make fortunes in the process. Corvid had been blown away at the sight of the penthouse suites Lux lived in
"I never did thank you for spending so much of the summer at my place….it meant a lot to Rusty, I mean it Corey you didn't see what he was like when he thought he was gonna have to go back to Vaccuo" Corvid's expression darkened at the memory. Corvid didn't know the specifics of Rusty's home life and if Lux knew he wasn't telling, what she did know was that the titbits of information Rusty had dropped over their first year painted a bleak picture of the situation. Lux had told her that he was open about his sexuality to his family, they had no problem with it but they may have taken issue with him inviting his boyfriend to stay for the entire summer. Corvid had simply said she and Iris would spend as much time with them as possible and give them an excuse in the form of training.
"It's nothing Lux, seriously I'd have done it for any of you"
"And that's why you're team leader" Lux smiled, his expression becoming one of concentration as he listened intently "Hey can you hear something" Corvid focused, eventually hearing what her partner had, muted by the hull of the ship-
"Gunfire. Outside, go now!"
Felix emptied his clips and reloaded at inhuman speed before continuing to fire on the obscenely large pack of Beowolves that had poured from seemingly every doorway and dark place in the vicinity, easily countered trickles at first before a wave of living darkness broken only by bone armour and vivid eyes descended upon their position. Beside him Eagle had deployed Sentinel and drawn her sword, the droid unleashing a maelstrom of fire into the mass of Grimm while Diamond reached their position and readied Lex Talionis in its' rifle form
"Dude don't be stupid! Just get up here!" she called down to Arctus, her voice panicked. The Bear Faunus was currently balancing atop one of his Glyphs, which flickered precariously as he focused his energy and attention on a second, larger Glyph which was supporting the weapons he and Diamond had managed to detach from the ship.
"Don't worry, I've got this" he tried to assure her, sweat dripping from his brow as he cast his eyes around, searching for a safe place to deposit the laser batteries, eventually settling for a nearby roof and using the Glyph he was riding to reach his team-mates
"Was it worth it?" Diamond demanded before pulling him into a brief hug "Don't worry me like that big guy" Arctus managed to catch his breath and draw Gefroren-Erbe, firing burning plasma into the horde
"I just wanna make sure we at least get what we came for"
"He's got the right idea"
"Darn tootin'" the voices announced the arrival of Iris and Rusty, High-Noon dispensing death in the form of high explosive rounds into the Grimm while Iris launched the detached head of Venus Rising into the beasts, the dense spiked metal ploughing through bone armour with ease in a wide arc before returning to her. The pair sprinted across the hull towards Team FADE, the air being pierced by the screeching of an airborne Grimm
"Because of course it attracted more!" Iris spat furiously "We didn't find anything either, total bust!"
"Now I wouldn't say total!" Rusty roared, his Vaccuan twang becoming more pronounced "I got a hankering fer some dead Grimm and would ya lookie here!" the source of the screeching above made itself known, a single Nevermore which Sentinel opened fire on
"Have Sentinel focus on the Grimm on the Ground!" Felix ordered Eagle "Arctus, box it in with your Glyphs so Diamond can pick it off!" his team acted on his instructions and within moments the Nevermore was being riddled with holes. Over the cacophony of gunfire another sound could be heard, metal screeching against metal below them. Felix stopped firing and peered down to see Lux and Corvid forcing open a hangar door before clambering out and scrabbling towards them
"Nice of you to join us sis" Felix noted dryly as he returned to firing, faltering slightly as the nervous expression on Corvid's face
"The Omega Wing can't transform down here, I didn't realise the signal jamming was that strong. Stay here I need to get something out of the bridge" with that she sprinted in the direction that her team-mates had arrived from before Felix could warn her that it would be fruitless.
"Where in the Sam Hill is she….and what in tarnation is that!" Rusty indicated to a form perched atop one of the roofs
"That's another Beowolf" Felix snarled before firing a quick volley at the monster which is surprisingly rolled to avoid, the Lion Faunus's eyes widened as he managed to pick out gouges in the Grimm's flesh and bone from their previous encounter
"It's an Alpha!" he roared "The Beowolf pack is following it, everything else is following them!"
"Well something followed them that can make the floor shake!" Eagle pointed out frantically. Felix realised the truth of her words, stomach plummeting as only one kind of Grimm capable of such a feat immediately came to mind
"Everybody run, get on the other side of the ship! Put some distance between us and the Grimm!"
"What about you?" Eagle demanded
"I'm waiting for Corey….Go, I'll be right behind you" Eagle reluctantly followed the orders, she, Diamond, Rusty, Lux and Iris making their way over the highest part of the crashed vessel and disappearing from view
"That means you too Arctus!"
"Not a chance" his cousin answered firmly "She's my cousin" the argument was rendered moot as Corvid's form could be seen clambering free of the destroyed bridge of the ship and sprinting towards them holding something aloft
"I got it! let's-" she was cut off as the Grimm causing the tremors made itself known, a monstrous Goliath shattered nearby buildings as it charged through them on a collision course for the ship.
"GO!" Corey screamed, Arctus crushed a Gravity Dust crystal in his palm and created the strongest Glyph he could muster, it shifted from glowing ethereal white to pure obsidian as it interacted with the Dust and launched the trio forwards, moments before the monstrous behemoth stampeded through the ship.
The eight of them had run, as fast as their Aura enhanced muscles would carry them in an attempt to get clear of the Beowolf pack attempting to drag them down through sheer weight of numbers, the Goliath had seemingly sealed its' own fate as something within the ship exploded, consuming it in fire. After what had seemed like an eternity but had in reality been mere minutes they had managed to find somewhere to take refuge, a building with broken upper windows and reinforced ground floor doors. Upon making their way inside they had realised their makeshift hideout was an abandoned police station, much to Corvid's excitement
"So are you gonna tell us what you're planning?" Felix grumbled as he watched his sister worked on whatever it was she had pulled from the bridge of the warship as well as a disparate collection of items she'd managed to find in the evidence store-room.
"We can't go back the way we came, we won't make it in time so we need another way out" before Felix could ask how that related to the various components she was busying herself she continued "Military comms can get through the jamming, I managed to get one from the bridge but it needed a few new parts"
"And the giant claws?" Felix raised a disbelieving eyebrow
"Surprisingly yeah I managed to get something from those, I'm still keeping 'em though" Corvid snorted, she had no idea who Malkavia Pitch was or why the mechanical talons dubbed 'The Nightbringers' had found their way into the police's possession but seeing them Corvid decided that maybe the Omega Wing did need a melee weapon after all. Felix watched his sister work for a while longer before leaving her to it and heading into the atrium of the station and swiftly up the stairs to join the others who had taken firing positions in the windows
"Any sign of the Beowolves?" he asked as he approached
"We've seen a few prowling around" Diamond answered, Arctus sat to her left with his eyes closed. The amount and size of Glyphs he'd been throwing had taxed him "Not sure if they're still looking for us, doing whatever Grimm do when we're not fighting 'em or they know we're here and they're just waiting us out….No sign of that Alpha" Felix nodded at her assessment of the situation
"Well the building we left the laser batteries on should still be there, Corvid got the parts she was looking for and she's found enough parts here to cobble together a comm that can actually get through the jamming. Sit tight, we're getting out of here" hearing the conversation Lux made his way over
"Knew we could count on Corey, she's something else that sister of yours….still, Grimm might be the least of our worries" every member of Team FADE fixed him with a stare that was equal parts curiosity and dread
"Dude what else could possibly go wrong?" Diamond demanded, Lux gave them a lopsided smirk
"If we call for evac then we've gotta explain to Goodwitch what we were doing in the exclusion zone….I might actually prefer our chances with the Grimm" a soft chuckle from Arctus got everyone's attention, the Bear Faunus sat forward, opening his eyes
"Not necessarily….Eagle isn't the only one with some cool honorary Aunts and Uncles"
The various aerial platforms hovering over New Vale had detected the explosion within the Old Vale exclusion zone and word had gone out to all available Hunters in and around the city, determining which of them would be able to assist a rapid response team. Rover and Artemis Tan had been amongst the first to answer the call, the veteran protectors of Vale were now currently sat side by side surrounded by men and women in tactical armour, forming the scouts and should it be deemed necessary the vanguard, the Bull-Head they were passengers in speeding towards the remains of their former home. Rover was running countless scenarios in his mind, determining the best course of action; as one of the very few individuals capable of competing with Ruby Rose in terms of speed, arguably the only living thing faster than the Red Reaper his train of thought travelled a good deal faster than most, however it was disrupted when he felt the slow motion vibration of his Scroll in his pocket and slowed his perception down to normal levels
"Hello who's this….Arctus, hey kid haven't heard from-" Artemis watched as her husband of twenty years' face was robbed of all expression, his tone shifting from jovial to one she almost never heard him use with family, businesslike and efficient "I know where that is, what's the situation on the ground? I need numbers, wounded? Civilians? Type and number of Grimm?….okay, don't worry I'm already on the way" with that he ended the call and found his wife's mismatched eyes boring into his questioningly
"So apparently Arctus takes after Gang so much he just couldn't help but find a Grimm infested city to stuck in" he explained, his Faunus attribute the tail of a Husky standing erect behind him as he rose to his feet "Eight students, Corvid and Felix are with him and her weapon doesn't work because of the jamming, it's only Beowolves down there but it's a lot of 'em by the sounds of it"
"Oum damn it" Artemis hissed through clenched teeth "Okay how are we doing this?" Rover considered for a moment
"They're at the Vale Central police station, pretty easy place to hold. I'm gonna drop down and make my way there as soon as we're inside the exclusion zone. Use your Semblance to guide the pilot to us….or do you wanna come with, been a while since we stomped out an entire pack together" Artemis allowed herself a laugh
"I doubt it'll match the battle of Menagerie somehow….besides, honestly I feel ill, not sure I'd be able to stomach the ride" Rover shrugged and planted a brief kiss on her lips before drawing his weapon, Malis-Canis in its' short handled axe form, the weapon had served him well since his time as a student. The next thing he deployed however was relatively new, steel bands around his wrists, knees and shoulders expanded outwards forming gleaming, chrome coloured light armour plates; the Aura regulator integrated into his chest glowing a more vibrant shade of green as a featureless mask formed around his face, an homage to the scorched and otherwise damaged mask that Rover still kept at home
"Gonna wish me luck babe?" he asked, Artemis grinned and help up her hand revealing that she had already been applying the lipstick for their pre battle ritual, finishing she pulled Rover down and kissed the armour covering his left cheek, her lipstick leaving a clearly visible mark
"Go get 'em"
Teams FADE and CLIR had made their way onto the roof of the police station, after contacting Rover Tan, a former member of Team GRAP, Arctus's fathers' team, they had learned that there were already transports inbound. The Grimm were massing below them, their ranks replenished by more of the monsters filling the exclusion zone
"Any sign of the Alpha?" Diamond asked "If I can put a round through its' skull this would be a lot less stressful" indeed the lack of airborne Grimm was discomforting, there should have been Nevermore present. It almost seemed as if the Grimm, despite their bestial nature had a plan.
"Nothing" Arctus lamented "It's probably here somewhere, just hiding in one of the buildings….To be honest I'm just keeping an eye out for my uncle-" a dull booming sound echoed through the streets
"Dude what was that?" Diamond demanded, Arctus merely smirked
"That would be my uncle breaking the sound barrier, keep an eye out for gold lighting"
"Blink and you'll miss it" Felix snorted, Diamond and Eagle shared disbelieving looks while the Lion Faunus turned to Corvid "Sis, Arctus's uncle is on the way"
"You heard him team, lock and load. Prepare for evac" Corvid hauled the bag containing various devices she'd acquired over the course of their excursion over her shoulder while giving the Omega Wing, which hovered beside her a dirty look and Felix was sure she would start planning improvements to the drone at the first opportunity. Lux, Iris and Rusty readied their weapons around her
"I can see gold lightning a few streets-" Diamond found herself cut short as Rover Tan arrived before she could finish speaking, leaving a trail of dissolving Grimm in his wake as he slung his axe back onto his shoulder mounted holster. Arctus beamed at him
"Hey Uncle-"
"So which one of your dumb-ass friends thought this was clever" the Canine Faunus's irritation was readily apparent despite his face being hidden "Just so you know if Weiss hears about this then you're on your own"
"Yeah I kinda figured" Arctus sighed
"We have Bull-Heads heading our way" Rover explained to those unfamiliar "My partners' Semblance allows her to see peoples' Aura, considering we're the only people here and I made an entrance we shouldn't have to wait long. But if there's an Alpha here then this lot will go on the offensive as soon as the Bull-Heads show up" Rover indicated to the admittedly diminished pack of Grimm below.
"We're ready for 'em" Felix assured the older Huntsman
"Let's find out" Rover chuckled as the sound of approaching aircraft reached the more sensitive ears of the Faunus present, the Grimm clearly heard it as well as their snarling took on a much more intense edge and the pack rushed at the police station, leaping at the walls and struggling to scrabble up the vertical surface only to meet violent ends in the form of the various blades and firearms levelled against them
"Is it just more or does it feel a lot easier now?" Eagle asked as she skewered a Beowolves' skull, the tip of her sword bursting from its' lower jaw while Sentinel unloaded into the rapidly declining mass of beasts
"Perks of having an actually qualified Hunter on the job" Rover answered as he paused in his own onslaught
"Well that and they don't have air support and a living battering ram this time" Felix noted as he shifted Hack and Slash to their sword forms and brought the blades screaming into life. He tore through the next trio of Grimm to draw near before a voice from above sounded out
"Everybody on the Bull-Heads!" Artemis bellowed before aiming her own weapon Hakai Suru in its' sniper rifle at a Beowolf and firing
"I had that" Rover noted as the monsters' skull exploded
"I know"
"Corey go, get on first Arctus's Glyphs can cover everyone else me and Eagle can cover him" Felix pointed to the Bull-Head that Artemis was firing from, Corvid looked ready to argue for a moment before seeming to realise that she wasn't actually adding anything to the fight and begrudgingly launching herself into the rear of the craft with one Aura fuelled leap, her Team-mates and the Omega Wing behind her, closely followed by Diamond who took up a firing position alongside Artemis.
"Not bad kids, you're pretty well organ-"
"Look out!" Diamond yelled down to them, cutting Rover off. The three members of Team FADE still on the roof turned and saw what she was warning them about, the Alpha had joined the fray; leaping from the window of a nearby building onto the roof of the station and rearing up to its' full height
"I've got it" Felix murmured, twirling his swords
"We've got it" Eagle corrected him, Sentinel collapsing back into shield mode on her arm while Arctus positioned himself on his other side and prepared to create a Glyph. With a shrieking howl of defiance and feral rage the Alpha Beowolf lunged forwards, barrelling into a Glyph which sent it skidding along the surface of the roof. Eagle charged forward, sword drawn with Felix right behind her. The Alpha struggled to its' feet, attempting to raise itself from all fours to its' hindquarters; halted by Eagle's blade piercing through its' left shoulder as she stabbed downwards
"Felix now!" the Lion Faunus rushed forwards and swung his blades in a wide arc, tearing the Grimm's skewered limb away and eviscerating the end of its' muzzle before kicking it off of the roof, into the remains of its' pack. They were amazed to see that the thing still didn't dissipate, merely howling in agony as it attempted to stand
"That is one tough mother fucker….I'm almost impressed" Felix begrudgingly admitted before making to leap onto the waiting Bull-Head.
The Bear, a bar situated in one of the seedier parts of the ground level of New Vale, an area already considered disreputable was as usual filled with individuals of varying degrees of notoriety; all of them attracted by the allure of cheap drinks, a meeting place that law enforcement knew to stay away from and the iron fist of Melanie Malachite keeping things peaceful. In one dimly lit corner of the bar Corvid and Felix Xiao Long sat at at a table with one other individual, Mousey Clip an individual who was physically unremarkable in every way which was how he liked it, easily identifiable people tended to get caught after all
"Here's the money as promised, though next time don't bring your hanger on Xiao Long" he drawled to Corvid, while giving Felix a pointed glare as he handed over a brown envelope
"This big cat is my brother, he helped me pur-loin that Atlesian tech we've left lying around for you" neither Felix or Mousey could help the small groans that escaped them as they caught the pun
"And caused one hell of a scene, whatever it was you did is gonna have patrols over and around the exclusion zone doubled-"
"For a couple of weeks at most" Corvid waved him off, knocking back her drink before continuing "Besides I brought Fluffy along because Team CLIR are gonna be on our first mission of the year soon. If you need something finding or securing, well his first car won't buy itself" Felix's eyes widened at that and he couldn't help but puff up his chest slightly with pride at the fact his sister was treating him as enough of an equal to take over her 'unofficial missions' while she was away. Mousey regarded him once more before nodding
"Alright, I'll talk to head office. Tell 'em that the beacons were planted but hold off on recovery for a couple weeks and that your brother is on our list of subcontractors" the Xiao Long siblings clinked their glasses with the Scavenger Guilds' chosen representative in a toast to their arrangement, unaware that they were being watched the entire time by a pair of Faunus; one slender with Dragonfly wings gracing her back, the other a gargantuan mass of muscle who carried an axe. The pair turned to each other
"Carcharodon will want to hear about this"
Rover Tan was sprawled across the sofa of the home he and Artemis had made for themselves in one a decidedly middle class area of New Vale; Scarlet David-Vasilias had offered to cover his patrol for the night and it was not as if the Canine Faunus needed money desperately any more. Absent-mindedly he adjusted his position and made himself more comfortable, the Aura Regulator whose light shone through his flesh and clothing was still a constant source of discomfort for him, though much better than the alternative. The living room door creaking open got his attention and the expression on his wife's face caused him to sit bolt upright. So many emotions played across Artemis's face it was impossible to discern them all but the way her hands trembled made him more than a little uneasy
"Babe?" he croaked out, slowly a small smile crept across her face before growing into a look of pure joy as she held up the small item in her hands, Rover's heart leapt into his throat as he dared to hope for the briefest of moments before Artemis confirmed the news that the pair had waited over a decade to hear
"It's worked, Antonia Arc's people actually did it" tears spilled from the feline Faunus's eyes "Rover I'm pregnant"
The Alpha dragged its' ruined body through the streets of the Old Vale exclusion zone, its' snarls reduced to agonised whimpers as thin wisps of obsidian smoke leaked from its' wounds. The dimming light in its' blood red eyes seemed to flicker back into life as it reached its' destination; a bubbling pool that spread across one of the countless blasted streets, one of the countless small spawning pits that had manifested in Old Vale. The Alpha, intelligent compared to its' brethren knew that it would die soon if it didn't reach the pool and forced itself forwards step by agonising step until it collapsed face first into the viscous liquid, body convulsing for a few moments before finally laying still; anyone who knew nothing about the nature of Grimm would have thought that the Alpha had drowned, they would have been terribly mistaken. Pinpricks of crimson filled the night as the Beowolves that had followed the Alpha watched, some unknown instinct compelling them to stay and witness what followed. The surface of the spawning pit being broken as the Alpha leapt onto its' hindquarters screaming in victory as its' body began to heal and change. Its' arm and snout regrew in moments, causing indescribable pain. Armour plates grew thicker and more jagged, spreading over the Alpha's chest and the uppermost portions of its' digitigrade rear limbs in a cruel and twisted parody of an ancient paladin. The Grimm grew taller and more muscular, fangs and claws extending even further as front paws reshaped, developing opposable thumbs. As the jutting spines adorning its' back extended the Alpha seemed to sag, panting as the transformation ended. It cast its' malevolent gaze around its' pack mates before howling to them, as the Grimm neared the Alpha did something that would have terrified anyone who saw it more than the transformation had. It spoke
"I….I Phobos! I Alpha! I LEAD GRIMM!"
Authors Notes:
This chapter, was an absolute slog to write.
Also planning out the story one School Year at a time was proving to big of an endeavour, I know what the overall arc for each year is going to be but breaking it down chapter by chapter I'm going to handle it the same way Vol.1-3 did, three arcs for one school year.
I think I'll have the three 'Arcs' of year one coincide with the three missions Team FADE are sent on.
TigersAndRoses has sent me some fan art of Team FADE (And Sentinel) and oh my god it's amazing.
Let's summarise:
Slight hint that people outside of the friend group are actually starting to think Arctus and Diamond are already dating due to them being pretty much inseparable.
Nora would 100% run her underage students into the ground so they're too tired to go and sneak into clubs, she's Chaotic Good like that.
Eagle Arc, six foot tall, sword lesbian drinking an orange juice….In my head it was a Capri-sun.
Think of the Scavenger Guild like Hannibal Chow in Pacific Rim.
Felix doesn't consider the specifics because he has an idealised version of his big sister in his head. Seriously look at the way her team talk to her then compare it to the almost reverence he, and to a lesser extent Arctus has.
"It's High-Noon" that is all.
Xiao Long puns are back, also Diamond's inner city kid street-smarts meeting the insanity that is Corvid on the search for something shiny and explosive could provide me with hours of entertainment.
Ruby has become so bad-ass she's passed into myth before she's reached forty.
This is why I didn't show Felix and Rusty's sparring match, I was saving Rusty's Semblance for this.
Yes that was a reference to the 1986 Transformers Movie.
If you're telekinetic you don't actually need a dedicated ranged weapon, you can just throw anything nearby at your target. Which is why Venus Rising breaks apart.
I had feelings when I wrote that scene with Felix and Eagle.
Centenary celebration….casual bit of foreshadowing.
And that's why Corvid was away for most of the Summer. She was taking care of her Team.
"Darn tootin'" Yes Rusty turns into a walking cliché sometimes and even though he's obviously based on McCree I hear his lines in Yondu from Guardians of the Galaxy's voice...And sometimes Android 13 from Dragonball Z Abridged
Corvid would have deployed Omega Wing while still in the air during her initiation so she didn't realise that she wouldn't be able to use it in armour mode.
Malkavia Pitch and her weapons the Nightbringers, now that's a reference to Downward Spiral you didn't expect to see.
I think I'm going to make a theme of Corvid upgrading the Omega Wing more and more over the course of being a student.
Would you want to explain that situation to Goodwitch?
"So apparently Arctus takes after Gang so much he just couldn't help but find a Grimm infested city to stuck in" Where is the lie?
"I had that" "I know" come on, it wouldn't be Rover and Missy without that line.
That Alpha will not fucking die.
Melanie Malachite owns her own bar, Miltia inherited the Patch branch of Juniors' when he went into politics but Melanie inherited the Syndicate.
Team CLIR going on their first mission soon, means Team FADE will be going on there's not long after.
Yes that was Onyx and Hellion in the bar, they were looking for weapons, they just found them.
Scarlet David-Vasilias….Yeah you read that right.
If that made you squeal good. Antonia Arc, Eagle's Mum actually managed to find a way for Rover to be able to have kids, something that was supposed to be impossible after the Aura regulator was built into his chest….What Rover gave in return will also serve as a plot point around year three.
Bet you weren't expecting THAT ending.
Thank you to TigersAndRoses, FleetOfWarships, Ferrous, MariamTheLibrarian22, ShadowAlex2000, Svette117, FluffyFirefly and ShadowWolf for their reviews on the last chapter.
I'm glad the general consensus is that I didn't butcher the coming out scene, I seriously didn't want to mishandle that. Yeah Diamond would have been 100% chill with it as well, she's chill about pretty much everything.
Older Students? HA! Nora cackling sends Goodwitch running in terror.
Eagle was originally almost a filler character, then she took on a life all of her own.
I think most people have forgiven Team CRDL for being ass hats, but Nora as someone who knew Jaune isn't willing to forgive his old bullies.
I am actually struggling not to make Corvid OP, that's why we haven't seen her Semblance yet.
DO IT! Write your own story, you only get better through practice.
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.