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Chapter 54: Coming Home
It had been days since the failed attack on the Schnee Dust Company owned land-train carrying Dust into the mining town of Machen-Rustung and the Faunus who had been given the dubious honour of organising and leading the attack was cautiously making his way back to his home for the first time following his failure. Chestnut new that many of the men and women he had led had been captured by the Hunters guarding the shipment and doubtlessly handed over to the authorities, they would most likely be moved to a prison in one of the hive cities where the Kingdoms' officials could interrogate them at their leisure; he also knew that several had died during the attack but his shame and grief battled each other they both completely dwarfed by the sheer unrelenting terror seeping into his bones like the freezing weather itself. In the days between then and now Chestnut had been lurking around the periphery of the settlement he called home in the futile hope of catching sight of anyone he could identify as a member of the Cult of Taurus despite having never met the elite group of enforcers before; sleeping in doorways and alleys mercifully without being spotted by anybody whose relatives he taken on his ill-fated mission and subsisting on whatever food he could scavenge.
After days of such a pitiful existence Chestnut had decided that enough was enough, reasoning that the Cult of Taurus must have come for him and since left without being seen or simply assumed he was among the dead the Squirrel Faunus crept towards his home in the dead of night; eyes darting around and scanning the darkness nervously as he reached the small two bedroom house situated in a row of identical buildings. He winced at the sound of of snow crunching beneath his boots, horribly loud in his ears and realised he would have to find a way to cover his tracks before he left; his numb fingers almost dropped the key as he fumbled trying to unlock his front door, too scared for the strangeness of his home being left seemingly untouched by the authorities to register. Closing the door gently behind him Chestnut let out a slow hushed breath and waited for his eyes to adjust to the gloom as he saw no sense in turning the lights on and potentially throwing away his one chance to leave with his life. He first took a few moments cautiously creep through the ground floor of the house, ensuring that there were no attackers waiting to block his path when he made to leave; upon finding no such individuals he slowly made his way up the stairs taking to avoid those which creaked underfoot and took slow and silent but deliberate steps towards his bedroom, a small hopeful smile finding its' way onto his face as he drew nearer. He'd made it, the Squirrel Faunus had been skimming a little off the top of union contributions at the foundry he worked at for over a decade and kept them in a duffel bag under the floorboards to ensure there was always funding in place in case either he or another member of his cell needed to disappear and now it was simply a matter of taking that money and whatever he could pack in two minutes and getting out, he could sneak onto a coach between the settlements and the hive-cities without drawing too much attention and use one of his fake passports to get himself to Vaccuo where he would never be heard from again; with a plan of action in mind Chestnut opened the door to his bedroom.
"Hello Chestnut" what little colour had remained in his face after so long in the cold promptly vanished at the sound of the smokey, hypnotic and distinctly feminine voice "We've been waiting for you….Do come in"
"I-I can explain, I swear….there were too many Hunters I was only told to expect the one I-I"
"Come in Chestnut" the hypnotic voice was a little more insistent this time and the edges of Chestnut's vision became blurry and indistinct as his attention was forcefully focused on the speaker, everything else fading away until, with a terrified whimper he stepped forwards into his bedroom fighting to keep control of his bladder and remain standing as his knees shook. The speaker was sat on his bed, face totally obscured by her mask. As the effect her words had on his sight subsided Chestnut let out another whine of fear, stood behind his bed flanking their obvious leader were a pair of Faunus with their faces partially obscured by bone white masks, the first was tall and carried himself with an almost regal bearing that was at odd with the oversized sword slung across his back, the other almost defied description, shorter and stockier than the first but infinitely more monstrous; their terrifying visage somehow worsened by the fact that they were eating a ham and cheese sandwich from what Chestnut recognised as one of his own plates, as if the mundane act underlined the horror.
"You were given a task, blessed with the opportunity to serve" the hypnotic voice started speaking again "You were given this in spite of your lack of faith in the cause-"
"I swear-"
"Shh, I'm talking now" Chestnut's vision faltered again as she raised a finger to where he supposed her lips were in a shushing motion "You have constantly questioned the leadership and wisdom of the high commander, constantly demanded more as if our cause exists to serve you and nobody else and now, when given a chance to prove that you are in fact a true believer you leave your people either dead in the snow or at the mercy of our human oppressors, only to scurry back here planning to run" to highlight her words one of the two Faunus flanking her threw a duffel bag onto his bed, one Chestnut instantly recognised as the one containing the money he needed and his fake passports; something that the Squirrel Faunus noticed through the haze of terror clouding his mind almost caused him to burst into hysterical laughter; they had cleaned his room, perhaps the whole house.
"Do forgive the impropriety" the leader of the groups' tone was almost amused as she seemed to sense what Chestnut had noticed, slowly growing colder as she continued "But we have been we've been waiting for you to return for some time now and unlike you Chestnut we don't allow ourselves to fall short of the High Commanders' vision….and besides, one would assume it's better to die with your affairs in order" hearing his fate discussed in such final terms prompted Chestnut to do the only thing that seemed feasible to him at that moment, he turned and made to run only to be halted and sink to his knees as he realise that he had been trapped. The hypnotic effect of the female Faunus's Semblance fuelled voice had been a distraction while the fourth member of the Cult of Taurus moved into the position, crawling along the ceiling in a truly inhuman fashion and scuttling down to the ground, silently closing the door Chestnut had entered through. A moment later the two Faunus flanking their leader made their way across the room while the woman with the hypnotic voice rose and followed them at a leisurely pace
Chestnut never heard the footsteps or the weapons being drawn.
All Chestnut heard was her voice when she started to sing.
Velvet was pulled into a brief and gentle hug by Coco who quickly planted a kiss on her cheek as Team FADE followed the Rabbit Faunus into the perimeter of their base-camp which was formed by an extensive series of traps that had been set around the ruined supermarket they had been operating out of.
"How're we looking?" Velvet murmured quietly "I wanna be out of this place" Coco gave her an understanding nod and another quick kiss, this one brushing against her lips before she answered
"Nano-bot Charges are rigged, having your team helping cut down on the time. There's gonna be nothing worth salvaging when we leave this place….Just need to break down out camp, so maybe two hours give or take"
"Help Team GORE out" Velvet instructed Team FADE, eyes narrowing a little as she watched Eagle gravitate towards Hellion. While she may have lived on Menagerie Velvet still spoke to her brother Flax enough to be well aware of who Team GORE really were and be more than a little concerned at how obviously head over heels the blonde was for the Dragonfly Faunus, even if it was adorable to watch. She was forced to focus on more immediate matters by Coco
"What about on your end?" Coco paused anger creeping into her expression "We both know that the authorities are gonna try and write this off but did you guys at least find anything that could give us an idea of what happened to the Scavenger Guild team?"
"Nothing" Velvet sighed with a shake of her head; Coco's anger was understandable; when they had used the communication system onboard the Nashorn-N2 APC to contact Atlas they had been met with a wall of bureaucracy and general disinterest; the Scavenger Guild had entered a sealed city to loot, what happened to them was seemingly considered to be of less consequence than destroying the entrance at the docks and the known weapon caches, Coco and Velvet had been ordered to proceed with their mission.
"Fuck" Coco growled, succinctly capturing both of their feelings
"Yeah" Velvet muttered "It doesn't make sense, how can someone do 'that' and steal everything the Scavenger Guild had without leaving any kind of trace-" she was interrupted by a derisive snort which upon turning towards the source of the sound was revealed to have come from Raffia, the Axolotl Faunus had obviously been eavesdropping but before either Huntress could scold him for it a more pressing matter presented itself, a pair of red eyes in the darkness nearby
"Grimm" Velvet whispered
"I see it" Coco nodded, without warning the monster charged forwards hissing and snapping; the lone Creep was soon halted by one of Hellion's throwing knives being neatly and painfully lodged between the bones of its' leg, then being utterly shredded by gunfire from Sentinel at Eagle's behest. Seeing the problem was dealt with Coco turned her attention back to Raffia, who was now smirking and seemed to be on the verge of a fit of his demented giggling
"Something funny kid?"
"The idea that you thought you'd find clues when you couldn't spot a Grimm that close" the diminutive berserker finally burst out laughing with those words, self control seemingly utterly beyond him as he fixed both Coco and Velvet with a mocking sneer "You should have us do the hunting, we would have found something-"
"Yeah I bet you would" Felix spat "All things considered you're lucky you've got an alibi or you'd look like prime suspects" the Lion Faunus was furiously stalking towards Raffia until Carcharodon stepped between them
"Are we breaking this up?" Velvet asked in a concerned tone, one constant that had remained from her own time as a student was that while she could obliterate Grimm without hesitation violence between people was something she found unsettling
"Honestly….nah" Coco replied with a shrug "Not yet, kinda feels like they need to get it out their systems"
"Fine" Velvet huffed, staying but standing ready to intervene if things got out of hand. Members of both teams rose from the traps they were disassembling, seemingly having the same idea as Carcharodon stepped in Felix's personal space and loomed over him while the Lion Faunus rolled his shoulders back, clearly spoiling for a fight
"I will explain this to you once" the Shark Faunus's voice came out in a low ragged snarl, increasing in menace but never in volume "My people raid, we take what we want by besting those who have it in combat. My tribe have raided the Scavenger Guild before and it was done fairly, our fighters against theirs….what happened to those people we found was cowardice, nothing more and I will not be called a coward"
"Kidnapping seems pretty fucking cowardly to me" Felix growled back "Eagle's Mum wasn't a fighter and as for the Scavenger Guild, well it's not like you haven't got a reason to want them gone"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa everyone calm down" Velvet gently pushed the two apart and stepped between them "Nobody is accusing anyone of anything here" Carcharodon's void like eyes narrowed as he stepped around the Rabbit Faunus and tried to close in on Felix
"Calm down knuckleheads" Coco ordered, neither teen seemed to pay her any mind
"What reason could I possibly have to wish those people dead" Carcharodon rasped
"Well when they had the Hunters in that shipping town turn on you you wiped the place out-" Felix stopped, his deep blue eyes widening as he saw a matching expression on Carcharodon's face and comprehension dawned on him "You didn't know?"
"We knew that someone must have persuaded that village to turn against us, to murder our people, women and children included" Carcharodon whispered, his usual composure tenuous as his voice shook with unfathomable rage. Hellion, Onyx and even Raffia remained silent as they processed what Felix had unwittingly told them
"But we never knew who it was that gave them their orders" the grey skinned Faunus finally breathed out "And now we do….thank you Felix, truly. We will remember this"
"That's enough!" Coco barked "Everyone get to work, I want this base-camp broken down in an hour and a half tops!" hearing their orders Carcharodon stepped away, leaning down to murmur something in Raffia's ear that made the smaller Faunus scowl and glare in Felix's direction; the Lion Faunus for his part suddenly felt an icy weight in his gut that only intensified when he looked over to his team-mates and saw their wide-eyed and almost fearful expressions. Felix realised as he moved towards them that he may have just said something that would have consequences far outside of his control and there was little he could do about it.
In the days following the attack on the land-train outside of Machen-Rustung Helios had noticed a change in his partners' behaviour that he found troubling and had been waiting for an opportune moment to talk to the feline about, that moment had seemingly presented itself. The land-train had stopped between two more of the destinations they intended to deliver Dust to in order to make some minor repairs; the damage to the cab of Ansturm caused by a pickup truck colliding with it had been fixed free of charge by a mechanic in Machen-Rustung as a show of gratitude and the various holes ripped into the trailers by harpoons had been patched up, but the vehicle was apparently old and needed maintenance on a fairly regular basis, Helios had heard the driver complaining about specific parts but the jargon meant little to him.
"Nyanza?" Helios called out, his tone soft as he climbed into what amounted to Team NEON's quarters for the duration of their mission, the first of the land-trains' gargantuan trailers, its' interior effectively forming a small apartment complete with a living area, small but functional kitchen, a considerable amount of supplies, both tactical and medical as well as several beds in an area of the trailer that had been soundproofed to allow its' occupants to sleep despite the noise the land-train made. Hearing no reply and seeing that his partner was not sprawled on the couch that had been secured to the floor Helios reasoned that he would find Nyanza in his bunk, where he had been spending a lot of time since the attack. The redhead had asked Stein if he knew what was bothering Nyanza as the leniency the older man seemed to be showing was at odds with his previous attitude, Stein had merely answered that Nyanza would talk about it when he was ready, something that only worried Helios even more.
"Nyanza" he called again, quieter this time as he stepped into to soundproofed and enclosed area of the trailer that could generously be referred to as a bedroom, it took Helios a few moments to adjust to the sensation as it always did before he caught sight of Nyanza; wrapped up in blankets and staring at seemingly nothing in particular with dark rings around his eyes suggesting that he hadn't slept well for the last few nights
"Are you ill?" Helios asked as he sat near next to him
"Nah man" Nyanza croaked out, refusing to meet his eyes. Helios waited a moment for his partner to elaborate, when it became apparent that he wasn't going to do so the redhead placed hand on his shoulder
"Talk to me Nyanza, what's wrong" the Faunus slipped his shoulder free of his grasp and looked away, remaining silent. Helios fought the urge to clamp down on both of Nyanza's shoulders and force him to at least look at him, instead exhaling slowly before continuing "I'm your team leader….and you're my friend, I need you to tell me what's wrong to be able to help you"
"You can't" Helios's eyes widened a little at Nyanza's tone, his voice cracked and he sounded close to tears
"Nyanza-"
"I killed someone!" the admission silenced Helios and words seemed to fall of Nyanza as if he were unable to stop them "When those guys in White Fang masks attacked, the ones that tried getting on to the cab, I didn't think I just shot at the cables and when it snapped….fuck man I watched that guy go under the wheels, I'm a fucking murderer man" there was a heavy, oppressive silence for several moments that seemed to stretch on for far longer before Helios answered
"No, you're not a murderer. You're a Huntsman"
"I didn't sign up for this shit man! I just wanted to fight monsters, get off of Patch and buy my parents a house, I didn't want to kill anybody!" Nyanza was openly crying at this point, shaking as tears streamed down his face
"I won't say what you did was the right thing" Helios started, frankly clueless as to how to handle the situation "But I won't condemn you and nor would anyone else….We were under attack, they came armed and prepared to kill people; you had to react and you did what you could"
"I don't think I can do this any more" the feline hunched forwards, bushy tail wrapping around himself as he wiped his eyes "I'm thinking about dropping out….Halo probably has a load of people who didn't quite make the grade to get it, they can get Team NEON a new fourth-"
"Don't leave" Helios's voice was barely above a whisper, but insistent nonetheless "Team NEON without you isn't Team NEON any more. Killing someone is hard Nyanza, it's supposed to be….people who can do it easily are not people to be trusted" Nyanza made to object but paused when he saw the way his partner absently traced one of the many scars marking his body, momentarily lost in his own thoughts. Instead he simply mumbled
"I don't know if-"
"If you can't do this then we will take other missions" Helios countered softly "I'll speak with the head of Atlas when we return and ask them to send us on missions focusing on dealing with the Grimm"
"I'll think about it" Nyanza finally sighed, voice weak "Thanks man….I think I'm gonna talk to the student counsellor at Atlas when we get back, try and figure out if this is what I wanna do"
"I understand" Helios nodded, wearing an expression that suggested he truly did which Nyanza wanted to question him on but decided against
"Until then" Helios rose to his feet "I think you need to get out of this trailer, it isn't doing you any good being stuck in here alone"
"I dunno man-"
"Olivine and our driver need someone else who can work with machines if we want to get moving again, I don't see Stein offering his services do you?"
"Fair point" Nyanza grinned, some of his usual sarcasm creeping back into his tone as he followed, wiping his eyes again and as the two of them made their way back out of the trailer he gently nudged Helios's shoulder
"What is it?"
"Just do me a favour and stop dicking around with Felix and ask him out"
"I-" Helios's sputtering was cut off before it could start
"Look you're a good guy Heely, a really good guy. You deserve someone like Fluffy who'll make you happy….besides there's a betting pool on you two now and I need to cash in."
Team FADE were crammed into the Killer-Bee once again, Velvet taking the passenger seat while Felix drove and Arctus, Diamond and Eagle shared the back seat. Any tension remaining after Felix and Carcharodon's early confrontation had faded as they made their way out of the ruins of Eisenstadt Siebte, the Nashorn-N2 APC being driven by Coco following close behind them
"There's definitely something in that water" Felix muttered as he chanced a glance downwards, their vehicles were traversing the artificial roads built into the sides of the vast caverns that freight ships had once sailed through; below them murky water rippled though whatever lurked in the icy depths had thus far chosen to remain hidden from view.
"As long as it stays down there we don't have a problem" Velvet assured him, a dull thud behind from behind alerting them to one of Team GORE throwing the last of the explosives out of their transport, intending to destroy a sizeable portion of the road into the city as they left, the cave system being far too large to collapse in its' entirety. After driving a while longer the first rays of weak light from outside reached them, indicating that they were finally close to the surface, a sign that was met with tired smiles from all present before Velvet's Scroll buzzed in her palm and the Rabbit Faunus answered, putting Coco on loud speaker while motioning for Felix to bring the car to a stop
"Okay I'm at the edge of the remote detonator's range and we're clear of that last charge" the fashionista informed her, her voice almost a purr as she added "So let's blow some shit up"
"I love you but you really do put the maniac in pyromaniac….fire away" Velvet giggled before turning to Felix "Be ready to step on it….Coco usually get the mix right on explosives-"
"Usually?" the Lion Faunus demanded, eyebrows vanishing into his hairline
"We'll be fine" Coco snorted, having heard his concern "By the way say hi to Yang when you get chance, haven't spoken to her in years….anyway, FIRE IN THE HOLE!" hearing Coco's unusually excited, almost giddy exclamation Felix stepped down hard on the accelerator and sent the Killer-Bee racing ahead while a quick glance into the rear-view mirror revealed that a large section of the steel bridge-like artificial road they has been traversing had been ripped away and engulfed in flames, debris from the blast careening into the water below and it was a safe assumption that dozens of larger explosions were occurring in tandem throughout the ruins, destroying anything that might entice treasure hunters and explorers into the ruins.
"Well damn" Diamond noted as she turned to see the explosion
"Erm….guys" Eagle pointed downwards towards the water below, voice laden with concern "We might have just ticked something off" Felix dared to take another glance downwards and saw that the movement the icy depths had become far more urgent and taken a unified direction while the first hints of something resembling a fin could be seen breaching the surface, bony white in colour
"Velvet we've got a problem!"
"Get clear of the caves and get ready to take it out" the Rabbit Faunus ordered, her previous cheer vanishing "Coco make that crate you're driving go faster!"
"Working on it!" there were several frantic, tense moments before the muscle car burst out into the snow covered open space beyond the caverns, spraying the powdery substance as it came skidding to a halt and the passengers leapt out drawing their weapons as they waiting for the battle that now seemed to be inevitable
"Okay everyone behind me, I wanna get a good look at what we're dealing with!" Velvet barked out as she created a glowing replica of a hammer that Eagle recognised as Siegebreaker, her Aunt Victoria's weapon; Velvet quickly shifted it into its' shoulder mounted rail-gun mode.
"Here they come" Arctus noted, his voice tense as he readied Gefroren-Erbe in its' sword form and a moment later he was proven correct as the APC came roaring into the open, slowing to a halt near to the Killer-Bee its' rear hatch flying open allowing Team GORE to leap out
"SKREEEEEEE!"
The deafening screech seemed to tear the air asunder, before the monster that the sound preceded tore its' way into view. Its' form was that of some long extinct predator, bipedal and slender despite the obvious power its' frame possessed; from the tip of its' snout to its' wildly thrashing tail it was perhaps thirty feet long and stood at a little under twenty feet in height if one didn't take into account the gigantic, swept back bone blades which appeared almost like talons growing from its' spine with a translucent layer of Grimm flesh so pale as to appear a deep violet rather than the usual black stretched between them forming a sail of sorts. The spikes tapered off as they progressed along the tail which ended in a large fin, its' powerful legs were birdlike in appearance and covered in chitinous armour plates, armoured ribs could be seen over the obsidian flesh of its' underside, its' relatively small forelimbs tucked close against them and its' long, narrow skull was almost entirely encased as it tapered down almost to a point while countless jagged fangs jutting from the sides of its' jaws as if its' mouth couldn't hope to contain them all. The Grimm regarded the assembled Hunters with its' twin pairs of glowing red eyes for a moment before letting loose another hateful shriek, gobs of a viscous purple substance flying from its' maw caused the snow to evaporate with a foul stench on contact.
"Scytheback" Coco noted dispassionately, naming the creature as she exited the APC, Satani Arbor unfolding in her hands "Fast, powerful, amphibious and its' got corrosive spit….this is gonna be a pain in the ass"
"How're we handling this?" Velvet asked, preparing to open fire at a moment's notice
"Fan out and hit from the sides, force it to split it its' attention….The more we huddle up the worse that spray is gonna be" the Grimm by some bestial instinct seemed to sense that its' quarry was planning to strike and with another ear-splitting screech surged towards the group and their now empty vehicles
"Go! Scatter!" Coco bellowed as she and Velvet opened fire, sounds of heavy weapons filling the air as the Scythe back closed the distance between them and opened its' jaws wide as it lunged, intending to snatch up one of the Huntresses only to be brought to a crashing halt as it collided with a Glyph from Arctus, the Bear Faunus having remained close by despite his orders
"Not bad kid but not what I asked for" Coco noted as she continued to tear gouges into armour and rip through pitch-black flesh
"Got a plan" Arctus grunted out, as he crushed an Ice Dust crystal in his palm and fed the mineral into his Glyph, its' surface changing from a pure white to a shimmering pale blue as ice crystals began to spread along the snout of the Scytheback, slowly forming a block of solid ice around its' jaws
"Hit it now!" Velvet ordered the students "Hit it while it can't use its' acid spray!" the first to react were Team Fade, machine gun fire courtesy of Felix wielding Hack and Slash pattering against its' hide while Eagle deployed Sentinel and set the droid to work with its' larger calibre ammunition
"Go to your team….and good work" Coco slapped Arctus's back and the Bear Faunus sprinted towards Diamond, shifting Gefroren-Erbe into its' plasma pistol form and firing one handed while simultaneously creating a series of Glyphs around the Grimm which rampaged towards them and calling to his partner
"FIRING PLATFORMS!" the sniper nodded in understanding and began leaping from Glyph to Glyph in a display fuelled in equal parts by her natural athleticism and her Semblance, in some cases hanging suspended from the bottom of a Glyph as she shot at the Grimm which tried to swat her away, lashing out with its' tail as it struggled with the ice encasing its' snout; steam beginning to billow from between its' jaws.
"This isn't working!" Felix called over to Arctus "We're not doing enough damage"
BOOM!"
"COME HERE YOU SCALY BASTARD!" Onyx's berserk roar seemed to serve as an answer to Felix's problem as the Puma Faunus aimed and fired Jotun Fang in its' artillery mode, acrid black smoke rising from each point of impact. Beside him Raffia drew his swords and began combining them into their experimental laser lance form, the weapon still as yet unnamed; though he never got the chance to unleash the weapon as the Scytheback's acid finally managed to eat through the ice holding its' jaws in place and with a furious shriek ait doused the surrounding area in the vibrant purple spray, Onyx managed to leap aside but Raffia's cheek, shoulder and chest smoked and burned on contact
"Raffia!" Onyx bellowed rushing to pick his friend up and carry him out of the Grimm's reach, his stomach lurching as he saw that one of the caudal fins sprouting from the Axolotl's Faunus skull had been entirely melted away and his eye was a milky orb devoid of pupil and iris, with a hiss of pain Raffia focused his Semblance and his pale pink rippling Aura engulfed his body, taking the shape of his injured body parts as they rapidly regrew and regenerated. Team FADE watched this happen and collectively decided they needed to act. The Scytheback was currently distracted by Coco and Velvet who had lured it away from Team GORE and their vehicles with massed firepower but their weapons were taking little, if any toll on the beast.
"Eagle, load Sentinel with incendiary rounds! Arctus, launch me!" Felix ordered, a feral smile coming to his face as he crushed the Fire Dust crystals he had on his person, golden flames engulfing him and powering him as he activated his Semblance. His team-mates followed his instructions and a moment later the ground around the Scytheback was set ablaze, causing the Grimm to turn its' attention towards them, just as Arctus conjured a Gravity Dust infused Glyph and much like he had done in their battle with the Titan Beetle, fired Felix forwards. With a primal roar Felix shot forwards, using the same flames that had distracted the monster to provide additional power to his Semblance he finally absorbed enough heat from his surrounding to enter his Balrog state. The Scytheback staggered back several paces, the chitinous armour of its' ribs breaking with an audible crack; in response the monster swung its' tail at the Faunus who in defiance of all logic simply caught it and used his Semblance fuelled strength to spin, pulling the Grimm from its' feet before swinging it around by the tail several times and throwing it into the distance where it landed with an earthshaking thud.
"Okay, don't ask me to do that again" Felix gasped out as he reverted back to his natural state, knees buckling. As Eagle rushed over to help him to his feet, Arctus and Diamond close behind Coco yelled words that seemed to make everyone's hearts stop for a single moment
"THAT THING'S NOT FINISHED!" as if to underline her statement the Scytheback let out an acid-spraying shriek as it righted itself and began charging towards them again, its' body beginning to show signs of the onslaught levelled against now in the form of countless cracks and gouges in its' armour and the fact that the end of its' tail had been torn away and reduced to a burning stump by Felix's attack.
"Spread out and fire!" Velvet demanded as she created a copy of the Atlesian Paladin and charged towards the Grimm, delivering a series of punches which landed with booming impacts before the Scytheback recovered and lunged the construct, its' jaws snapping dangerously close to the hard-light cockpit the Rabbit Faunus was controlling her construct from, even as countless weapons tore into its' flank
"Careful!" Coco demanded "Don't hit Velvet!" watching the replica battle-suit grapple with the monster as it struggled gave Felix an idea and he turned to Carcharodon
"Can you help her hold that thing in place….I've got some upgrades to try out" the Shark Faunus looked up from his position behind Onyx where he was attending to Raffia while the Puma Faunus fired on the Grimm and silently nodded. A moment later Carcharodon had melted into the ground and moved across its' surface like a living shadow before re-emerging between the legs of the Scytheback and grabbing, slowly sinking back into the ground with obvious difficulty as he dragged the Grimm with him, forcibly trapping it calf-deep in the rock beneath the snow. Seeing this Felix bounded towards the Killer-Bee as fast as his still shaky legs would carry him and brought the engine roaring into life before frantically reaching under the steering and unfurling a mechanism that had been added over the summer, a trigger. Turning in his seat he saw Velvet abandon her construct in order to pull Carcharodon to safety, the Shark Faunus swaying from exhaustion; at the same time the trunk of his car opened and the upgrade he had been waiting for an opportunity to test came whirring into life, 'The Stinger' a laser battery taken from an Atlesian warship during Team FADE's first year which began to target the Scytheback as it powered up, ethereal green light beginning to emanate from within the barrel of the weapon. Without preamble Felix squeezed the trigger and the weapon discharged, ripping through the still trapped Scytheback until nothing remained before the destructive light flickered and faded, the weapon retracting into the trunk as Felix sunk back in the drivers' seat wearing a satisfied grin.
"Nice shot kid" Coco noted as she, along with everyone else trudged over to where their vehicles had mercifully remained undamaged in the battle
"Yeah I think you're gonna have to tow me the rest of the way though" he sighed, exhausted
"Oh my Oum that was so cool, was that the upgrade you added over the summer? You've gotta let me have a look at the design 'cos that was super awesome!" Eagle's words came out in their usual rapid fire, excitable rambling way and behind her Felix noticed a soft smile form on Hellion's face; he paid it no mind instead turning to Raffia whose burned and melted flesh had healed, and was now supporting Carcharodon
"My one's bigger" he chuckled, nodding to the smaller Faunus's weapon. There was a round of laughter at the comment, relief and fatigue washing over the Hunters before Carcharodon cut through it as a thought occurred to him
"You're an imbecile" he snorted "Why didn't you just use that weapon straight away?"
At the rear of the heavily armed fortress that was Atlas Academies' main building there was a far less grandiose structure, its' exterior comprised of thin metal sheets though the interior was thankfully well lit and at least heated to above the freezing temperatures outside. While the Academy had its' official launch pads and terminals situated a short walk from the main entrance the facility at the rear was the hangar in which its' own small fleet of Bull-Heads was stored, this was also where lessons for older students who wished to learn to both fly and maintain the craft were held, as was currently the case.
"Oum damn it" Iris snapped as a small cog she had been attempting to fit into its' proper place within the inner workings of one of the Bull-Heads' left thruster bent out of shape; her pale eyes glowing with the light of her Semblance in an uncharacteristic display of anger
"You okay?" Corvid asked from her position working below her, Iris hopped down from the step ladder she was balanced on and let out an annoyed sigh, flexing the fingers of her golden prosthetic as she did so
"My whole arm keeps seizing up" she admitted "It's this cold, it's messing with the workings"
"See if this helps" Corvid removed the yellow scarf that had once belonged to Yang Xiao Long, an accessory that she was almost never seen without and wrapped it around as much of Iris's cybernetic limb as it would cover before she turned towards the vast array of tools and supplies towards the rear of the hangar "I'm gonna grab a few more parts, between your arm and Rusty dropping things we're gonna need spares"
"It's colder than a witches' tit in a brass bra" the Vaccuan gunslinger defended from where he was working nearby "I can't feel my Oum damn fingers"
"That's so sad, Iris play Despaci-snow" Corvid snorted, receiving a chorus of groans from her friends in response. Chuckling to herself she made her way through the hangar at a comfortable pace, noticing that their teacher had left the hangar for some reason and giving nods of recognition to some of the other teams working on their own craft, many of whom she knew from her time as a transfer student at Haven Academy during her first year; the final Bull-Head had had its' repairs entrusted to Team CNBR, whose leader was conversing louder than was strictly necessary with his partner
"Hey Nitro, seen any chicks you wanna ask to the dance?" Nitro himself, a slightly odd looking young man was currently hanging suspended from one of the wings in a blatant misuse of a safety harness who merely shrugged when he heard the question
"That chick with the gold arm is kinda hot" Corvid merely snorted at that while continuing past them, she knew Iris's tastes and he fell spectacularly short of them; Cinnabar's response however forced her to halt
"Suit yourself, thought I might ask Dee Dee if she wants to come-"
"You know damn well she's dating someone" Corvid interrupted, her tone calm but firm as she stepped towards him "And I made it clear that you need to back off" Cinnabar's tattooed hands balled into fists as he squared up to Corvid, refusing to be intimidated by someone roughly a foot shorter than himself
"Not sure where you get off giving orders like you're someone that matters" he spat "But that fuck boy she's hooked up with is clearly a rebound. Dee knows what she's missing and I doubt your little friend on her team is providing it" Cinnabar had no chance to react as he was forced against the hull of the craft his team were working on, though with his experience as a tournament fighter he wasn't completely helpless; when Corvid's hand clamped around his windpipe he drove a fist into her inner elbow and successfully blocked a fist aimed at his gut
"I'll say this once and I'll say it slowly because your hairspray has clearly leaked into your brain" Corvid snarled out "Diamond is dating my cousin, they've been together for a while now and they're happy. If you interfere my little brother will probably crack your skull, touch him and so help me Oum I will hang your body from a flagpole with your man-bun" Cinnabar silently placed a heel against the hull of the craft and forced himself forwards, throwing Corvid off of him and as she prepared to retaliate she was forced to a stop by Lux who had obviously come to see what was taking her so long, reassessing the situation she also realised that while she had been focused on Cinnabar the remaining three members of Team CNBR had been circling around preparing to rush in if things got out of hand. She silently fumed but allowed herself to be led back towards the Bull-Head Team CLIR were working on, entering the passenger compartment from the rear before wheeling on her partner
"Oum's sake, I should have used my Semblance and let that son of a bitch break his own leg trying to throw me off"
"No" Lux reasoned, trying to keep his expression neutral even as his lips twitched at the thought "You should have just left it, you can't just start fights in class and expect to get away with it"
"He's a sleazy prick and he's trying mess with Diamond and Arctus!" she shot back
"And that makes him an ass-hole but they're more than capable of taking care of themselves"
"I know, I know….I just…." she trailed off, giving an annoyed growl "You're an only child Lux you don't get it"
"Then explain it to me"
"I look out for people, it's what I do" Corvid answered simply with a shrug, it was the simplest way she could explain it; for as long as she could remember even before the two of them had been adopted together she had looked after Felix, upon becoming part of her family that instinct had simply grown to encompass her cousins; following her mothers' footsteps and becoming a Huntress was a perfectly natural choice for her as it felt like something she was simply meant to be doing. The tension was relieved when Corvid's scroll vibrated in her pocket
"Mind getting those parts? I never got a chance to pick 'em up" she asked
"Sure" Lux quickly replied and Corvid watched him leave, briefly stopping to explain to Iris and Rusty what had happened. Turning her attention to her Scroll she withdrew the device and opened it, revealing that she'd received a text message from Felix
'So the Stinger works….Problem is it emptied the tank in seconds and I wanna have a look under the hood and see if it burned anything out' she re-read the message a few times, a smirk forming on her face as she typed out her response
'I'll Bee waiting to Insect the damage when you get back….Hi've got ideas on how to improve it'
Authors Notes:
Okay so one last chapter to get through, tying up the last of the lose end and setting the stage for the rest of our time in Atlas (And also so long-term plans) and Vol.4 will be over.
Stay tuned 'cos I've got more fun stuff planned….and I'm having fun with it, seriously the imagining how the Scytheback scene would play out was great.
There might be a late update/change to my upload schedule coming….I know I seem to keep saying that and it doesn't happen but I'd rather give people a warning in advance just in case.
Also I'm still planning a Transformers story, I've got a three volume/season plan and the basics of some OCs, I've also planned out the first few chapters so I could start work on that at any time.
Anyway, let's summarise:
Chestnut you silly boy, you should have just run and kept running….They would have caught you eventually but still.
Reading the scene back, there are traces of a good person there, Chestnut wanted the best and genuinely though he could make things better by being part of the New White Fang.
Okay, the way this scene was written was deliberately to not give a description of the members of the Cult of Taurus….but you will get that, next chapter.
Her Semblance isn't hypnosis exactly, but I'll explain more later.
I've said before that the idea of the Cult of Taurus was based on the Decepticon Justice Division from the IDW Transformers comics but it's not a 'Like for like' adaption'; their leaders' mannerisms are definitely lending from Tarn a little bit though.
There's something just a little bit more unnerving about the kind of villain who does normal shit like sing to themselves, make a sandwich or clean up before/during a killing spree.
There were two Semblances being used in this scene the voice and how the fourth member of the Cult was able to stay hidden….and no they don't turn invisible.
The little cute Cross-Hares moments are always fun to write.
Velvet isn't really Eagle's aunt even though Flax is Eagle's uncle by marriage….but she's still worried, and yes; everyone can see Eagle has an adorable crush.
Atlas will always be Atlas, finding some missing treasure hunters would be a nice bonus but the mission was always to seal as much of the ruins as they could and halt the flow of weapons coming from old military/police/White Fang stockpiles making their way onto the market.
Raffia is a dick, people seem to like him for some reason and assume he's like Nyanza; no Nyanza is a good kid with a slightly messed up sense of humour, Raffia just enjoys messing with people.
Coco would definitely let them have a fight for a while before she stepped in.
Interesting look into Shadow Cadre/Frost River Tribe morality "It isn't stealing, it's trial by combat".
Oh dear, Felix you just fucked up badly. Remember that Mousey gave that little bit of information away in Vol.3….so now we can add the Scavenger Guild onto Team GORE's hit-list right after the Cult of Taurus.
Remember, none of Team NEON saw what happened, only Nyanza and Stein know about the White Fang grunt going splat under the wheels.
I feel like I had to write this scene, these characters are kids who signed up to fight monsters; I don't want them to be able to just kill someone casually with no real downside to it.
"Team NEON without you isn't Team NEON any more" remember when those two couldn't stand each other.
Oh and Helios, tracing one of his scars and zoning out….yeah there's a reason. I was gonna have Helios and Nyanza have a moment, but then I realised I can have him have the moment with Felix later for all you Battle-Cat shippers.
Don't worry Nyanza is staying.
You know damn well there's a betting pool and that every member of Team FADE, NEON, CLIR and probably a few of the other Halo students are in on it….hell Team GRAY from Haven know them, they'll be in by next week.
Seriously those caves are massive, if you can get two freight ship next to each other and have them comfortably sail through the caves I don't think a bag of dynamite or C4 is gonna be enough, but it will blow up what the caves lead to.
You know Coco loves explosions, you just know it.
Yes I made a Spinosaurus Grimm….You have no idea how tempted I was to call it a Sickle-back and make puns, if Team CLIR were in this scene I would have.
Arctus getting more versatile with his Glyphs, he's no Weiss yet though.
Diamond Dust combo, because I feel like Diamond hasn't had enough chances to be bad-ass this volume.
Onyx is a treasure, that is all.
I do need to give the experimental laser lance a new name.
Nope, used the laser lance last time; not using it again.
Remember, Felix drains heat from his surroundings to power his Semblance and he needs a lot to fully enter his Balrog state; he can't just light up and go.
Also yeah, he tried the same trick again. It was never gonna work I just thought the idea of five foot nine Felix swinging a whole dinosaur by the tail and throwing it was funny.
Velvet went full Pacific Rim.
Carcharodon also getting more versatile with his Semblance….though I don't expect him to do that to a 'Living' opponent any time soon.
And there it is, the Stinger….I've been waiting all volume to fire that Chekhov's gun.
The return of the Eagle ramble, it has been missed.
Car makes a valid point.
I mentioned before the teams left New Vale that Team CLIR were taking a Bull-Head operation class.
Corey let someone borrow Yang's scarf, that's how much she loves her team.
You know damn well Rusty thought Vale was cold when he moved from Vaccuo, Atlas is a literal frozen hell to him.
Despaci-snow….I'm not sorry, not even a little bit.
Yes the N of Team CNBR is called Nitro, their a team of douches.
Yeah I'm setting Cinnabar up as an antagonist for Vol.5 prior to the tournament itself in Vol.6, think of him as Adam level creepy with Cardin levels of ineffectiveness.
Notice that he actually managed to hold his own against Corey though.
I felt like Corey needed a little fleshing out, 'cos at the moment people love her but she's "Felix's super bad-ass big sister that he takes his problems to" Also we haven't seen enough of Team CLIR so far in second year.
Yes that was a triple barrelled pun, nothing like ending a chapter on a high note.
Thank you to SumoSnipe, Araniladin, iSassenach, FleetOfWarships, TigerRose, Bulletproof Vanguard, Ferrous, FluffyFirefly, ShadowAlex2000 and Funlander for their reviews on the last chapter. Also shout out to Funlander for leaving the 350th review on FF Net.
We'll just assume that the White Fang cell had only really managed to infiltrate the factory and more working class parts of the settlement and the police were honest.
I mean Aura and anime logic boosts survival rates but yeah, those falls were not enjoyable….especially when the Ansturm truck was described as two stories tall, that's a fall from a moving house.
Onyx and Felix having a moment over the Stinger needs to happen.
You call it trauma, I call it character development.
What if I told you I literally plan on starting Vol.5 with the shopping trip, winter outfits are a must (But I feel like I might switch back to their main outfits for the tournament….or give them new ones just for that).
I don't feel like Coco would feel a need to earn Team GORE's respect, she took the job as a favour; the kids can either like her or not (Although there's more to their motivations that we'll be seeing next chapter).
Anything coming out of Florida is terrifying as it is, it doesn't need to be a Grimm.
Thanks, I had to plan out how those transitions were going to work….Dungeons & Dragons isn't the only time splitting the party is a hard work.
Nice might be an overstatement lol.
I kinda feel like Rooster Teeth are holding out on us with Grimm designs, that being said I don't get why people thought the Titan Beetle was so weird, its' literally just a Hercules Beetle taking to its' unnatural conclusion (Which is a phrase I'm coining) it's no weirder than the Lancer in Vol.5 was.
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.