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Chapter 53: The Conspiracy
Team FADE were following Velvet Scarlatina through the ruined city of Eisenstadt Siebte on foot, the Rabbit Faunus having argued that they were less likely to spot any traces of the missing Scavenger Guild treasure hunters they were searching for if they were driving as well as noting that the Grimm that filled this city were more likely to hear the muscle cars' engine than the sound of footsteps; the way ahead lit by torches for the benefit of Eagle and Diamond who lacked the advantage of Faunus night vision. So far their search had passed without incident, the only sounds being those of their footfalls and the sleepy grumbling about the cold of Diamond who had relieved Felix on guard duty the night before; only to be partnered with Raffia whom she had given serious consideration to kicking off of the roof on at least a dozen occasions. Brushing a few stray strands away Diamond rubbed her eyes and focused, the Axolotl Faunus was far away right now along with the rest of Team GORE and Coco Adel; she needed to focus on the task at hand. Peering around and adjusting her grip on Lex Talionis in its' sniper rifle form she searched for anything out of the ordinary, in this case anything that seemed less desolate that the majority of her surroundings, she found none but one thing did strike her as odd
"You've been leading as in a straight line, seems like you know where we're going?" she asked Velvet, keeping her voice barely above a whisper.
"There's only two ways into the city" Velvet reminded them, her voice equally hushed
"And we made our base camp at one of them" Diamond surmised, Arctus was the first to catch the implications and his eyes widened in surprise
"You think the Scavenger Guild airdropped in through the Grimm hole?"
"Seems like the sort of thing they'd do" Velvet shrugged "Those subcontractors they hire tend to be a bunch of dumb-asses" behind her Eagle tried to suppress a sudden fit of giggles as Felix gave an affronted glare but chose to remain silent. It was perhaps another half an hour of carefully making their way through the abandoned subterranean hive before they caught sight of something in the distance
"Tents" Felix breathed
"They just set up outside?" Arctus raised an eyebrow "I mean, outside of the buildings not…." he trailed off while Velvet's eyes narrowed
"They wouldn't leave the place completely unguarded" she murmured taking a few moments to consider her options
"Eagle, have Sentinel scout ahead and check the floor for traps. Diamond cover the droid" both girls gave a nod of understanding and their surroundings, an empty pavilion surrounded by ruined businesses, were filled with the echoing sounds of Eagle's shield shifting into its' droid form and Sentinel's mechanical yet expressive beeps and chirps. All present winced at the noise but after several moments with nothing to indicate the arrival of any creatures of Grimm they returned their attention to the mission, Eagle prompting Sentinel to trundle forwards towards the half a dozen tents, grey with an urban camouflage design.
"Don't be a landmine, don't be a landmine, please don't be a landmine" Eagle almost whimpered under her breath as she watched Sentinel carefully inch closer to what could be identified as a rough perimeter of the Scavenger Guilds' encampment. There was a moment of panic bordering on terror when Sentinel pushed a piece of debris aside and triggered a series of electrocuted tripwires to be pulled taut around the perimeter, lightning arcing and crackling around them; the moment ended when one of the wires smoked and snapped, its' severed halves glowing orange allowing Sentinel to make his way into the camp itself and let out a series of sounds that indicated that it was safe
"Those were some badly rigged traps" Felix noted "Definitely not the same stuff your brother uses" he added to Velvet as she and Team FADE made their way towards the camp, the Rabbit Faunus made a non-committal noise before giving them instructions
"Look around, see if you can find anything. I want to have a look at something" the four teens did as they were asked and split up, each busying themselves with a different part of the base camp which they now saw included a trio of small quad bikes and several stacks of crates intended to carry ammunition and supplies, this was the first indication that something was amiss
"Velvet" Diamond called over to the Faunus who was currently inspecting the trip-wire as loud as she dared "Something's not right here; all these crates are empty, no weapons, no ammo and no rations….but they wouldn't have relocated and left the tents"
"That trip-wire shouldn't have burned out the way it did, that debris was on top of it holding it down; it was actually running before we got here" Velvet informed her, confirming her suspicions
"But if they ran into trouble why didn't they call for help?"
"Scroll signal is non-existent down here; they'd need a signal booster like the one on the APC" Arctus answered, joining the conversation as he exited one of the various tents and holding up a twisted and blackened device whose original form was hard to discern though he had managed to make an educated guess "And it looks like theirs was broken" seeing this Velvet's eyes widened and she made her way over to Arctus and Diamond
"Any other signs of a struggle?"
"No blood and no bullet holes that I can see" Arctus answered with a shake of the head
"Um guys?" Felix waved them over to the trio of quad bikes that had presumably belonged to the Scavenger Guild
"What is it?" Velvet enquired, Felix gestured to a collection of ropes bundled near one vehicle
"It looks like they used a pulley system to get their stuff down here-"
"Safer than parachuting in" Arctus noted
"Exactly, but this is all that's left of it….someone's pulled down the rest of the rig"
"Oh I'm getting a bad feeling about this" Diamond muttered
"Yeah me too" Felix agreed "'Cos that's not all, someone's cut they fuel lines and there's no stains under these quads; they've been siphoned" there were several moments of tense silence as Velvet, Felix, Arctus and Diamond gazed at each other silently considering the implications of their discovers before being abruptly joined by Eagle who arrival made them collectively jump
"I've found something"
"What is it?" Velvet demanded as she followed Eagle back in the direction she'd joined them from, a sense of urgency creeping into her voice. Eagle gestured to one of the buildings nearby; its' roof and one of its' walls having being torn asunder although the amount of rust present indicated that this was not a recent development. It took Velvet a moment to spot what Eagle was pointing at, but when she did her eyes widened, a red cross had been spray painted onto a wall
"That's not the only one" Eagle added seeing Velvet had followed her gaze "I checked that one out and there's another one further down the road….I think it's how the Scavenger Guild were finding their way back to camp, I mean maps of the city aren't reliable any more"
"I think you're right" Velvet agreed, before gesturing for the rest of Team FADE to join them
"What's the plan?" Felix asked, twirling Hack and Slash in his hands
"We follow these markings" Velvet nodded towards the sign that Eagle had found, her expression becoming serious "Keep your eyes open and weapons ready….right now, we have to consider the possibility that Grimm aren't the only threat in this city"
The air outside the truck was freezing, a condition only worsened by the fact the vehicle was moving at a speed greater than one would assume possible given its' monstrous size; resulting in a frigid wind whipping around Team NEON who were taking currently situated atop the first trailer of the land-train as per Villsvin Stein's orders, a situation that the students were far from pleased with
"So how much of this is Stein punishing us for Heely slapping his friend and how much of it is just the fact that he's a bit of an ass-hole?" Olivine asked, her usual chipper tone sounding delightfully sarcastic in this instance as she brushed snow off her shoulders and made to de-ice her tactical goggles yet again. Sensing her discomfort Ether stopped using a Fire Dust crystal sculpted into a pick both strum and defrost the strings of Ghost Reverie.
"Probably about fifty fifty" he snorted as he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer; he was hardly comfortable in Atlas's climate himself and found the idea of sharing body heat appealing to say the least.
"If he thinks acting like an annoying child will force me to back down he is sorely mistaken" Helios interjected with a huff as he folded his arms before adding a murmured afterthought "My sister would have had more success" Villsvin Stein himself, while being figuratively burned in effigy was riding in the cab of the Ansturm, the gargantuan truck pulling the land train as he had been since they had arrived at the first stop on their voyage in the early hours of the morning; Wiedergeburt, a settlement that had by good fortune, strong leadership and sheer force of will prospered and grown into the icy continents' first open air city since before the fall of Mantle in the great war and if rumours were to be believed would host at least some of the matches in the upcoming Vytal Tournament; Villsvin had instructed Team NEON to assist with the unloading of the relevant containers before conveniently vanishing from sight
"We've gotta meet your kid sister Heely" Olivine smiled
"Yeah, just to prove that you didn't just spring out of the ground wearing armour and a scowl" Nyanza snorted from where he was perched nearby, holding onto the edge of the trailers' roof while using his far superior senses to pick out anything approaching the land-train through the perpetually swirling flurry of snowfall that obscured their view which could be described as beautiful in harsh and imposing way, Atlas and the continent of Solitas as a whole was a mixture of pure white and overcast steely greys.
"One day I will" Helios assured them, green eyes twinkling with a rare mischief "She would most likely traumatise you all"
"Are your family going to come to the tournament?" Olivine asked
"Very unlikely" Helios sighed "My Mothers' place is leading my people and they have never travelled en mass out of Anima"
"Yeah well we can be lonely together" Nyanza shrugged, his tone suddenly unusually morose "My folks aren't gonna have money to be able to come over here"
"Are you okay man?" Ether asked, Helios without giving the matter conscious thought made to sit beside his partner only to stop when he saw Nyanza's pale mint green eyes glow with the telltale light of his Semblance; the redheads' tone instantly became serious
"What do you see?" seemingly unperturbed by his partners' seriousness the feline merely shrugged as he drew one half of the Pharaoh Mafdet, shifting the tonfa into its' long barrelled pistol mode as his usual joking nature resurfaced
"I spy something beginning with….boom" with that he snapped off a trio of shots, followed by a pause before two more shots; their reports muted to echoing cracks
"Pack of Beowolves, caught their eyes as they turned and starting heading our way" he explained nonchalantly; the gunshots however had obviously been loud enough to be heard from Villsvin Stein's relatively comfortable position within the drivers' cab as within moments Helios's Scroll received a call and answering it invited the older mans' irritated tone
"What the hell was that? You kids better not be shooting bottles off the back of the truck or any other dumb shit like that" Helios merely stared at the device nonplussed for a moment before forming a reply which while not strictly offensive made his opinion of the Atlas native clear
"We spotted Grimm, I assume you're aware of them? No need to worry yourself or come out into the cold, the scary monsters are gone now" the other members of Team NEON stared at Helios is stunned silence with wide eyes, with the exception of Nyanza who was curled up on the roof of the trailer in a silent fit of laughter. Villsvin himself audibly growled at the extremely thinly veiled insult
"The whole aloof bad-ass routine was boring before you were born kid" he shot back "besides the point, keep an eye out for more Grimm….I doubt we'll see too much out this way though, we're not too far from our next stop"
"And that would be?" Helios asked, clearly annoyed
"Some irrelevant shithole, think its' called Machen-Rustung or something like that. You'll be able to see it when we get a little nearer" with that the call ended, leaving Helios to glare at the Scroll as if he could strike fear into the Hunter they had been partnered with through the device
"This imbecile could never hope to be a Hunter in Anima, he wouldn't survive" he gave the Scroll one last disparaging shake of the head before pocketing it and falling into a comfortable silence with his friends, less affected by the cold than they were owing to an upbringing that had involved trekking through frozen forests each winter. Eventually a sound reached their ears, Nyanza noticing it first and Helios soon after; the sound of engines slowly growing louder than the howling winds around them
"They're coming from ahead" Helios noted, indicating for Nyanza to focus his attention in that direction; he did so straining his ears and peering intently
"There's a lot of 'em, I can make out about a dozen pickups and a few….I wanna say modified quad-bikes" there was a brief pause before the Faunus's eyes widened and he turned to Helios
"Call Stein, he needs to know what's coming….They're all wearing White Fang masks"
The Shadow-Stalkers had attacked again, catching Team GORE as Coco led them towards the first of many buildings they were aiming to plant explosive charges on. Circling them as they made their way on foot through several levels of the hive city whose roads may not have withstood the weight of the Nashorn-N2 APC, moreover the vehicle was being used as a communications hub so that the two teams could stay in contact. The raptor Grimm had attacked in far greater numbers this time, rushing out of seemingly every inch of darkness that Team GORE's flash-lights' failed to illuminate this time was different to the Grimm's previous attack though, for one simple reason; Coco and Team GORE knew they were coming. Without the element of surprise the Shadow-Stalkers were reduced from nightmarish apparitions that snatched up even trained Hunters without warning or trace to merely another creature of Grimm, albeit a highly dangerous breed owing to their intelligence
"Damn it!" Coco spat as one of the pack she'd levelled her Mini-Gun at seemed to sense it was being targeted and slipped back into a shadow between buildings; this followed the pattern that had been set early in the skirmish wherein the Grimm used their agility and speed to avoid the heavier weapons before they could be brought to bear. Thankfully the students she had been entrusted to care for were seemingly savants in the art of close quarters brutality; part of the darkness was illuminated as Onyx crushed a Fire Dust Crystal between his teeth before unleashing his Semblance, the mineral turning the concussive force of his roar into an expanding crescent shaped wall of flames which incinerated a trio of Shadow-Stalkers and momentarily exposed where the rest were lurking, information that Team GORE exploited with ruthless efficiency; the Grimm which turned towards the source of the flame hissing and spitting in defiance had their moment of distraction taken advantage of by Hellion who hurled her throwing knives between their armour plates, the Ice Dust crystals mounted in each blade causing the monsters' to freeze solid as their effects spread. Spinning and beating a Shadow-Stalker back with the barrel of her weapon with enough force to collapse its' skull Coco saw Raffia and her eyes widened in shock as she watched Axolotl Faunus fight; he was soaked in his own blood which had spilled from wounds that had already healed while his swords were reduced to near invisible flashes as they tore Grimm asunder with each wild slash, the whole berserk display being complemented by his demented cackling only serving to unnerve the fashionista; though when a lone Shadow-Stalker rushed him from behind and prepared to leap on his back Coco still reacted quickly enough to aim Satani Arbor and open fire, bullets ripping through the Grimm and leaving nothing but obsidian mist in their wake.
"Where's Carcharodon?" she barked
"Fixing your mistakes" Raffia snapped back before she could demand to know what he meant, or give him a firm slap upside the head for his attitude a series of pained yelps and screeches could be heard, the sounds coming from one direction and then the next in a clear direction until eventually a Shadow-Stalker was hurled through a ground floor window in two fading halves, each of which struggled and thrashed independently; it was at that point that Carcharodon stepped into view, his body rippling like water as it melted trough the wall, Grimm mist trailing from the blades of the Red Waves as his dark eyes sought out his next victim, pausing to linger on Coco's weapon
"Some fights require the stomach to face your opponent head on" Coco's answer came in the form of her aiming and firing at a second story window directly above him, the flicker of movement she'd seen being revealed as a Shadow-Stalker preparing to leap down and attack the Shark Faunus from above
"All fights require you to keep your eyes open kid" Coco noted dryly with a pointed glance over her sunglasses. A roar of exertion from Onyx as Jotun Fang cleaved the final Grimm in two signalled the end of the battle; Coco looked at the students whose care she had been trusted with and found herself unable to prevent the small sigh that escaped her; Carcharodon looked aloof, detached and almost bored with the inconvenience, Onyx was wearing a manic smile and his eyes had a dangerous gleam to them, Hellion was stroking her pet now that the bird had returned to wherever it had hidden during the fight and the fashionista wasn't even sure where to begin with Raffia's physical or mental condition
"Students" she huffed with an irritable glance "Come on we've still got work to do and trust me I want to be here even less than you do" she gestured to the bag of explosives they had taken from the APC before leaving their base-camp which Onyx picked up and hauled over his shoulder
"Then why are you?" Carcharodon demanded, his voice quiet but demanding "Why not stay wherever it was that you got that tan if this mission bothers you"
"The first target is that way" Coco pointed down what remained of a once busy street, the rusted shells of cars being used as a makeshift barricade in the distance, she took a few steps in their direction only to realise that Team GORE weren't following her, having halted at a silent gesture from Carcharodon who spoke again
"Why did you take this mission?" he asked again "Either give us a reason to trust you or we'll find our own way out of this city and leave you here. I have no more blind faith to give" Coco balled her fists and took slow deep breaths while mentally counting backwards from ten; the sheer gall of the Shark Faunus combined with his attitude, that of someone who was used to giving orders and having them followed made him hard to deal with but Coco also understood on some level that he was questioning her out of loyalty to his team and that was something she could understand and respect, as such she chose to give him an answer.
"A favour to General Schnee, Velvet and I were part of her Black-Ops unit in the war and she promised to help us with something important if we took a training mission for her" Coco saw that the teens were listening so she added "Menagerie has a lot of small settlements now and no Hunter Academy, it's going to reach a point where we won't be able to convince enough Hunters to emigrate so we'll need to build our own. Me, Velvet, our partner Yatsu and a couple others are going to build Menageries' first Hunter training academy….so yeah I took this mission because there was something in it for me, not because I wanted to come back to this war zone that I still have nightmares about; is that okay with you?" Carcharodon nodded silently before turning to his team
"Hellion use Marauder to scout ahead, Raffia guide her while we move forwards, Onyx stay close to me. I'll cover you and Coco in case anything too fast to be shot gets close" with that he fell into step beside Coco who swept the area with her Mini-Gun, as they advanced she turned to him and asked in a conversational tone
"So what's the deal with you kid? You clearly think this whole Hunter gig is beneath you….Trust has to work both ways" she thought Carcharodon was going to ignore her until he eventually rasped out
"We're in a similar position to you, we made a deal" his tone made it clear that he would divulge no more than that; Coco debated the idea of talking to Onyx, the Puma Faunus seemed less secretive, before dismissing it as they clambered over the destroyed cars blocking the way and finally reached what had once been a police station
"This is the first stop" Coco informed them "Things in here need to be buried so start planting those adhesive Nano-bomb charges onto the walls, one stop closer to going home to my guys"
"Boys? Plural?" Onyx waggled his eyebrows suggestively at that the tone
"Hmm I could have sworn you and the Rabbit were together" Hellion noted, Raffia having alerted her to return her senses to her body. Coco rolled her eyes before making a snap decision and withdrawing her Scroll and finding a picture that had all of her little family in it
"Velvet and I are together, have been since we were your age" she explained before gesturing to one of the other two people in the picture, a giant of a man whom everyone else seemed to be using as a pillow; the fourth person was a child who bore rabbit ears clearly inherited from velvet atop his head and sported a skin tone that matched the large man "The big guy is Yatsu, we were all on the same team together. When Velvet and I were thinking about having a kid we went to him and asked if he could help y'know….he didn't want to father a child he wouldn't play a part in raising; that was kinda when we all realised we all loved each other and were going to spend our whole lives together one way or another. So that's why little Fox has a Dad and two Mums"
"I can respect someone who would brave these ruins for their families' sake" Carcharodon murmured, something Coco assumed was the highest praise the Shark Faunus could give willingly.
"Now let's stop getting emotional and start a firework display" Raffia giggled almost gleefully, the expression sliding off his face when the ground lurched beneath their feet
"Now what?" Onyx demanded, slinging the bag of explosives aside and readying his axe.
"I'll find it-" Hellion was silenced by a wave of Coco's hand
"It's coming from under-" Coco was in turn silenced when part of the street they had made their way down exploded outwards, sending the stacked chassis of cars tumbling downwards as something tore its' way from the hive city level below. Its' full form hadn't yet come into view but it was already clear that what ever this Grimm was it dwarfed the Shadow-Stalkers, Coco gave a lopsided smirk as she sidled back towards the monster, weapon at the ready
"Well aren't you a nice big target for me to hit….prepare to die"
Conditions on the roof of the land-train could only be described as chaotic, the White Fang had initially tried to force the Ansturm to a stop by having one of their pickups collide with it head on, this had failed with horrific consequences for those inside the smaller vehicle; the pickups and quad-bikes that remained, each crewed by a team of masked Faunus wearing a white jacket over a black uniform were fitted with what could best be described as a harpoon gun. Steel screeched in protest as the harpoons tore through the armoured hulls of the land-trains' trailers and the snow-chain coated, deep grooved off-road tires of the various vehicles struggled but ultimately failed to gain any traction on the compacted snow, spraying the powdery substance behind them and leaving deep tire tracks in their wake as they were dragged alongside the far more powerful vehicle.
"WE'VE GOT INCOMING!" Ether called out, shifting his guitar into its' axe form. Eyes widening in shock as the dozens of pickups and quads sped outwards, pulling the steel cables the harpoons were attached to taut and allowing armed White Fang fighters to clamber along them; a boarding action
"Stop them!" Helios demanded as he readied Olympus Enforcer in its' sword and shield form before turning to Nyanza and muttering "We could use some good fortune" Ether tuned them out as he saw an insectoid Faunus scurrying along the nearest steel cable, some kind of bulky almost antique laser rifle slung over their back. Ether gave a bellow as he swung his weapon down on the cable, it gave way with an audible twang and there was a moment where he could see the terror in the grunts eyes behind their mask before they were sent hurtling downwards into the snow, narrowly avoiding a grisly fate beneath the trailers' wheels. Behind him the sound of Olivine deploying Buster Bravo served as brief warning, he turned around in time to watch her unleash a devastating salvo at the ground ahead of a pair of quad-bikes, a cloud of superheated steam erupting from the various impacts and causing the drivers to veer violently off course, ripping away the harpoons they had fired and sending the White Fang fighters climbing along them crashing downwards with screams of fear. It wasn't enough, there were too many attackers clambering onto the roof where Helios and Nyanza were waiting with weapons drawn
"Remember lads, we've just gotta hold 'em in place!" the leader of the group bellowed, masked like the others though his tail gave away that he was a Squirrel Faunus. The first wave of attackers to successfully board the land-train, almost a dozen in total rushed towards them, an esoteric variety of older weapons at their disposal
"What do they need to pin us for?" Nyanza demanded, an answer reaching him in the form of a several thuds and metallic tearing sounds as more harpoons found their mark, this time fired into the back of the cab of the Ansturm, another group of attackers already preparing to traverse the cables with power tools in hand; realising their intentions Nyanza snapped off a trio of shots at the group charging him and Helios before calling over to Ether
"HELP HELIOS, I NEED TO GET TO THE CAB!" seeing his team leader raise a question eyebrow while crouching behind his shield he added "They're gonna try and separate the cab" with that he sprinted forwards, Ether using his Semblance to close the distance and reforming his body from its' mist like state in the midst of the White Fang and wreaking havoc while Helios charged into battle. Nyanza tapped into his Semblance as he saw a ring tailed Lemur Faunus bounding deftly across a steel cable, without thought or hesitation he raised his pistols and fired only for his eyes to widen in horrified realisation at what would happen next; the cable snapped at the Faunus attempting to make their way onto the land-train instead tumbled beneath its' wheels.
"Oh my Oum" he whispered, blood pounding in his ears and hands trembling, too stunned to realise that the White Fang grunts who had already made it onto the cab catch site of their comrades demise and draw their weapons until the first bullet whizzed passed his ear
"FUCKING KILL HIM!" a feminine voiced Rattlesnake Faunus screamed as she aimed a machine gun, only to be dragged free of the Ansturm and hurled over a dozen away into the snow by something Nyanza didn't see. The new combatant quickly revealed themselves
"DON'T JUST STAND THERE KID!" Villsvin Stein roared as he barrelled into view, clutching onto a fuel tank and swinging his shoulder into the chest of an attacker with crushing force before unleashing his weapon, Maelstrom on another; the barrel and stock of the assault rifle had collapsed and the ammo drum had slid forwards, combining with the bayonet which had fanned out into several thin blades; both of which were now attached to the rest of the weapon by a chain forming a morning-star. Stein dragged a grunt from their feet and quickly rendered them unconscious before bellowing up to Nyanza who was yet to move
"GO, HELP YOUR TEAM! I'LL HANDLE THIS!" Nyanza whipped around to see that Olivine had collapsed her weapon and was currently pinning a White Fang to the roof of the trailer, Ether was weaving between a small group of well armed but obviously untrained attackers and picking them off one at a time with ruthless efficiency while Helios was forcing back at least half a dozen opponents, including the Squirrel Faunus leading the attack; yet Nyanza didn't move, instead he looked down at the pistols in his now shaking hands before a deafening booming sound caused his head to snap up again. Helios had picked an attacker of off the ground by the throat and used his gravity warping Semblance to slam them into the trailer they were fighting on with monumental force, using everyone's momentary shock to sweep the legs out from under another grunt; yet still Nyanza found himself unable to charge into battle beside his partner.
"Time to go!" the Squirrel Faunus called to the few remaining White Fang grunts "The job's a bust!" with that he fired a few pot shots from a heavy duty pistol that looked to be antique before hurling himself over the side of the land-train into the bed of a waiting pickup which sped off, its' windows shattered as Helios shifted his weapon into its' Tommy-gun form and opened fire, the remaining grunts following his lead.
"Nikos, that'll do" Stein called out as he leapt onto the roof of the front trailer, several unconscious White Fang grunts slung over each shoulder "Everyone okay?" everyone gave an affirmative response except for Nyanza who merely grunted and holstered his weapons before hiding his hands in his pockets where he could ignore their trembling; something which Helios saw but chose not to draw attention to
"Good" Stein breathed out "Fucking hell, White Fang….I thought this lot were over and done with"
"So what do we do with them?" Ether asked, weapon still in hand
"Throw 'em in our trailer" Stein sighed before gesturing ahead "I can see Machen-Rustung in the distance; the police there are already gonna be waiting for us to arrest them….they'll probably round up the rest of 'em soon enough as well"
"We're putting them where we sleep?" Helios raised an eyebrow
"Scared they'll steal your blanket and teddy bear?" Stein snorted back "We've got bigger problems right now"
"Such us?"
"These weapons" Olivine offered, reaching up to place an arm on Helios's armoured shoulder in an attempt to calm him
"Exactly" Stein grunted, kicking an odd looking rifle that one of the grunts had dropped "Look at this shit, it's flashy and expensive, hell some of it looks custom made….but it's all old and rusty. It looks like the kinda shit the Scavenger Guild deal with"
The monstrous Grimm had withstood every attack that Coco and Team GORE had thrown at it thus far, a fact that made the fashionista's eye twitch beneath her sunglasses every time she thought about it. At its tallest point the monster was roughly fourteen feet tall with a body roughly twice the width of a car; its' entire back covered in the chitinous bone armour common to all creatures of Grimm, protecting its' sloped wing casings, abdomen and thorax. Six legs with countless joints, each wider than a mans' chest jutted out from the Grimm's massive from supporting it and behind layers of armour the things head, disproportionately small could be seen, inky black with six unblinking glowing eyes and a pair of constantly moving antennae. The thing was armed with a devastating weapon, the means by which it had torn its' way up from the city level below; its' skull was protected by a horn which curved upwards while its' thorax grew outwards into a monstrous bone spike adding an additional six feet to the things' considerable length, the horns could act both as the prongs of a gigantic pincer or lock together and form the tip of a spear like implement which had already torn down one nearby building. Coco had called the Grimm a Titan Beetle when had initially ordered Team GORE to bring it down and the monster was currently living up to its' name
"We might have to fall back and rethink this!" Onyx offered as Jotun Fang in its' artillery piece mode failed to pierce the things' armoured carapace, while the maelstrom of bullets Coco was unleashing continued to patter off of its' shell harmlessly, Hellion had chosen not to waste her throwing knives in a futile attempt.
"Negative we have to take this thing out now!" Coco demanded
"Its' legs!" Carcharodon called out "Its' legs are unprotected, cripple it first and we can kill it later!" with that he used his Semblance to melt into the ground and reappear between two of the Titan Beetle's limbs and crossing his arms over his chest, bringing his blades around in wide arcing slashes which while they failed to sever the Grimm's legs they did draw its' attention
"Hang on!" Onyx roared as he watched the Titan Beetle kick Carcharodon aside and begin to turn on him, shifting his weapon into axe form the Puma Faunus rushed forwards with a furious yell and cleaved through a forelimb. His victory was short lived as the Titan Beetle whipped its' head around and sent Onyx crashing to the floor, his weapon falling beyond his reach a moment later Onyx was being hoisted into the air by the Grimm's pincer and crushed, his Aura beginning to flicker out of existence as he thrashed and struggled
"Help him!" Hellion demanded, beside her Raffia drew his swords, only to be held back by Coco
"I've got this" she assured them and rushed forwards, collapsing her weapons and drawing a jagged amber coloured crystal that had been fashioned into a rudimentary blade, lightning Dust. With Onyx in its' grasp the Titan Beetle was too distracted to pay any attention to Coco, its' priorities changed the moment she stabbed one of its' eyes with the crystal causing it to hiss and click its' mandibles at her in agonised fury before attempting to swat her away with its' remaining forelimb
"That all you-" Coco's taunt was cut short as the Grimm simply swung its' head and hurled Onyx's limp form at her with enough force to send them both crashing through a nearby wall
"Just us then" Raffia spat as Carcharodon re-emerged from the ground beside him; Hellion drew a pair of knives and the three of them prepared to face down the Titan Beetle which was regarding them malevolently as the lightning coursing over its' body ceased
"I think this would qualify as extreme circumstances" Carcharodon hissed, eyeing Raffia's swords which had once belonged to the Atlesian Specialist Kafsi Asteri
"I agree" the Axolotl Faunus chuckled
"Do you hear something?" Hellion asked before turning around, her jade eyes widening as she saw a pale blue form easily twice the size of a person sprinting towards them, its' footfalls oddly muted as if the thing were not quite real
"STAND CLEAR!" Velvet's voice bellowed from the hard-light replica of an Atlesian Paladin as it surged towards them weapons at the ready, behind the glowing azure construct Hellion could see Team FADE preparing to join the fray
"Take cover" Carcharodon rasped out, placing a hand on her shoulder and pulling her aside as Velvet opened fire with the Paladins' plethora of weapons, blasting smoking gouges into the Grimm's carapace. The Titan Beetle's reaction was stunning, its' horns locked together forming a giant bone spear and its' wing casing opened, with a deafening buzzing sound which echoed throughout the abandoned streets it launched itself forwards at blinding speeds with a whoosh of moving air
"NOW!" Velvet ordered as her hard-light constructed disintegrated into countless glowing fragments allowing her to roll aside. The gloom was then pierced by firelight as Team FADE took their positions, Felix's body glowing with golden flames and burning magma as he entered his Balrog state, Arctus crushed a glossy black Gravity Dust crystal in his palm and conjured a Glyph which launched Felix towards the oncoming Grimm like a missile. Carcharodon, Hellion and Raffia were left momentarily dumbstruck as the two collided in front of them, the Grimm's momentum utterly halted by Felix who was now locked between its' pincer like horns but far from being crushed like Onyx he was forcing the horns growing from its' skull and thorax apart, slowly causing hairline fractures to form along their chitinous surfaces while Arctus, Diamond and Eagle opened fire with everything they had
"I will NOT be upstaged and rescued by the likes of him" Raffia spat indignantly, the words leaving a foul taste in his mouth; he rushed to where the Titan Beetle struggled with the Lion Faunus and combined his two swords, the shorter laying flat along his forearm and mechanical bands secured it in place and the longer reaching outwards as its' blade separated along the centre and expanded with several intricate components becoming visible as the weapon began to glow
"Stand aside" the Axolotl Faunus sneered; Felix let out a guttural snarl, barely capable of speech in this state but Raffia understood the shake of the head he gave and merely shrugged in response "Suit yourself" with that he fired the laser lance, unleashing the full might of an Atlesian warships main weapon on the Grimm in a single burst; what the experimental weapon had in power it lacked in sustainability and in mere seconds the light faded, revealing that the right side of the Titan Beetles' skull had been completely sheared away and a hole large enough to crawl through had been bored through its' entire body. Felix gave one final roar of exertion and a disturbingly wet tearing sound not only ripped the Grimm's thorax spike away but widened the hole Raffia had blasted into to and tore the entire back carapace and upper body away, ripping the Grimm in two before dropping to the ground and reverting back to his natural state, gasping for breath as he sunk to his hands and knees amidst the rapidly dissipating remains of the Titan Beetle. It came as a shock to everyone present when Carcharodon was the first to step forward and pull the Lion Faunus to his feet
"Yay for teamwork right?" Felix managed to pant out
"Teamwork?" Raffia scoffed "You added nothing to the battle that I-" he was silenced by Carcharodon cuffing him around the back of the head before simply giving Felix a bemused grin
"Yay for teamwork" with that the Shark Faunus handed Felix over to his own team and turned his attention Velvet who approaching him with a concerned expression
"Where's Coco?"
"She and Onyx should be inside that building" he pointed to the wall that the pair had been knocked through; silently nodding Velvet made her way through the partially collapsed wall, the students following
"Coco, Onyx?" she called out nervously
"We're okay" Coco's voice assured her "But you need to come and look at this" something about her tone made Velvet hurry forwards into the next room where she assumed that Coco had moved an injured Onyx to safety. What she found made her mouth hang open and eyes widen as she came to an abrupt halt
"Oh my Oum" Diamond gasped from behind her
"I think I'm gonna be sick" Eagle could be heard rushing back out into the street. Onyx leaned against a wall clutching ribs that he suspected had been cracked by the Grimm while Coco was crouched on the ground, positioned between several dimly lit shapes and the entire floor of the room was covered in bloodstains. The shapes were bodies, their hands tied behind their backs and their misshapen heads covered with bloodstained sacks
"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you didn't find anyone at the Scavenger Guilds' camp" Coco whispered, her voice hoarse and appalled.
"We'll have to inform Atlas's council about this" Velvet murmured as she nodded "This wasn't the Grimm, this was murder" bile rose in her throat as she stepped between the bodies and surmised that the blood on the floor was the result of the Scavenger Guild being knelt on the ground and shot in the back of the heads, a mass execution
"Why do it here though?" Felix asked, trying to make some sense of the situation "Their camp was miles away"
"To keep Grimm away from the camp while it was being looted" Diamond surmised, all eyes turning to her "Whoever did this wanted whatever the Scavenger Guild had found down here, took all their supplies as well. Attacking their camp would have attracted Grimm so they had them tied up and dragged out here then killed….Grimm sense fear"
"Oh my Oum" Arctus whispered, screwing his eyes shut and forcing himself not to think of the last dead body he'd seen, that of Neon Katt "I need to get out of here" Diamond gently squeezed his hand while Coco and Velvet shared a look
"Velv you're mission is officially over-"
"I'm not leaving you down here" Velvet interjected "What's your situation?"
"We were about to rig the first target before we were attacked"
"Okay" Velvet nodded in understanding taking a moment to consider her options before turning to Team FADE "Change to our mission parameters, we assist Coco and Team GORE while looking for any traces of the attackers or undocumented entrances to the city; then we get the hell out of here"
"And the bodies?" Carcharodon rasped, his tone surprisingly one of concern "Are we leaving them here?….Surely even here you don't just abandon your dead?" there were a few moments of heavy silence before Arctus, the only native of Atlas spoke up
"You're right we don't; in Atlas we cremate….Who's got Fire Dust?"
Authors Notes:
Okay so that was a thing, if this chapter was any more dark and gritty it would be a DC movie.
Two more chapters left of Vol.4
Vol.5 will have new outfits (Because winter clothes are not optional in Atlas)
Anyway let's summarise:
Okay so the Killer-Bee is sitting this chapter out, but I did bring the car for a reason….which we'll see next chapter. I promised upgrades after all.
Diamond being from Mistral does not like cold, funnily enough the people from the Anima tribes (Team GORE and Helios) cope better due to living without things like central heating; Team GORE are from the north of the continent and are actually pretty comfortable in Atlas.
Being partnered with Raffia must be nightmarish.
The Scavenger Guild are the people who tried to loot weapons out of the Exclusion Zone in Vale, they will do pretty much anything for money.
Indirect shade throwing at Team FADE and CLIR for Vol.1 antics.
Outside is a weird concept in the Atlesian hive cities, there was a line in Downward Spiral where (I think) Gangrel said "You always remember the first time you saw the sky".
After rigging traps with Flax Scarlatina everyone else must look like an amateur.
Yeah looking at that camp and not just leaving is like being a white high school kid in a horror film.
Olivine and Ether are adorable and the ship name "Gunmetal" is still funny to me, they are admittedly background characters though.
So Atlas now has a city that's actually outdoors and we'll have some tournament matches there, with the tension between the settlements and the council on top of everything else what could possibly go wrong.
Stein is definitely the sort of guy who treats students as free labour.
Helios adores his sister really and we will see her again.
I love how far Helios and Nyanza have come as partners.
Sarcasm from Heely, you know you fucked up.
Helios is having to learn an important lesson, sometimes you have to work with utter dicks and its' illegal to beat them with a broom.
The White Fang may officially be over but everyone still knows what their uniforms look like.
Yeah Team CFVY are on foot as well (I imagine that they rigged their own perimeter defences before leaving) because it actually helps the two teams stay in contact….and also you don't drive something that weighs roughly the same as a tank through an abandoned hive city.
Team GORE are used to having the element of surprise and being able to chose how and when an attack happens, they were caught off guard last time, that's all.
Onyx using Dust with his Semblance needs to be a thing I do more often, he used an Ice Dust Crystal on Helios but the idea of him literally breathing fire on Grimm was too good to pass up on.
Raffia doesn't block.
Carcharodon is the master of the dramatic entrance.
Yeah Carcharodon sounds like a dick but be fair, he's been stabbed in the back enough times to not trust people.
Team C_VY are going to build an Academy with help from Winter (And others) on Menagerie, can you imagine being taught weapon maintenance by Velvet.
Also Coco has nightmares.
Raffia needed to guide Hellion because while she's using her Semblance to see through Marauder, or any other animals eyes she can't actually control her own body.
The Nano-bot rounds that Felix had in first year, Coco has the heavy duty bomb versions.
And there's a little catchup on Team CFVY post the Downward Spiral, Cross-Hares has become a poly relationship with Yatsu and they have a kid together.
"Prepare to die" - Coco Adel.
The way I had the boarding scene described in my notes was "Mad Max Fury Road: On Ice".
Olivine could have shot the quads themselves but she was going for non-lethal.
A Squirrel Faunus leader, remember last chapter.
Remember Ether and Helios's Semblance work kinda similarly, Car's body is effectively a liquid and Ether's can become a gas; but Ether can't phase through walls like Carcharodon can.
Yeah Nyanza just killed that guy.
Oh look Stein actually did something.
So Chestnut got away….but considering who was supposed to picking up the Dust he now doesn't have, is he really any better off.
The Scavenger Guild camp was raided and the White Fang happens to have the kind of weapons that the Scavenger Guild were dealing in, coincidence? I think not.
The Titan Beetle is a Hercules Beetle Grimm.
"Cripple it first and kill it later" an insight into Carcharodon's mind.
The Grimm just beat a mother-fucker with another mother-fucker.
Yes Velvet's weapon just did that.
The Titan Beetle has a rocket tackle.
Admit it, that was one hell of a combo attack.
Raffia you amazing shit-post of a Faunus.
There are no words for the absolute moral outrage Raffia has towards inadvertently performing a team attack with Felix.
And that's where the missing Scavenger Guild are.
Also it's worth noting that a methodically done mass execution as a means to an end is NOT the work of the Cult of Taurus, it doesn't have the insane over the top feel to it.
Thank you to Araniladin, SumoSnipe, iSassenach, TigerRose, ShadowAlex2000, Funlander, FleetOfWarships, FluffyFirefly and Ferrous for their reviews on the last chapter.
I would have loved to write the bitching between the two teams but honestly I felt it would have detracted from the pacing of the chapter.
All squeal and pay homage to the bunny girl.
The lack of Team CFVY in canon is unforgivable.
The inside man was the penguin Faunus yard marshal.
Catch on? At this point even Stevie Wonder can see it.
I appreciate the DnD commitment, I'm in four games with the same group of friends.
I did not create all the additional lore and world building in The Downward Spiral just to not bring it back.
Battle-Cat and Tamagotchi ships are coming people, don't worry I will deliver.
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.