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Chapter 96: Pantheon
It seemed that Team FADE's mission would take a little longer than anticipated, the revelation that they may in fact be within close proximity to a Spawning Pit having required them to alter their initial assessments and plans. The freight train that the students and their more qualified counterparts had been assigned to had been moved from it's former position standing stationary on the tracks with Grimm infested forests flanking it on either side, to a train station located in a small village nearby whose location would put its' inhabitants directly in harms' way in the upcoming mission to eliminate a Spawning pit.
"Still don't get why people would wanna live out here" Diamond muttered, her voice barely audible above the sound of the Killer-Bees' tires against the loose gravel that constituted roads in this backwater settlement and its' growling engine
"Seriously" she continued "I know there's crime in cities and living there is expensive, but at least there's a big wall and gun emplacements between the people and the Grimm"
"Can't farm or mine in a city" Foggy answered simply from his position in the passengers' seat; it was now early afternoon on Wednesday meaning that Team FADE had remained in this area for roughly a day and a half longer than expected and the older Huntsman had slept little in that time, offering to take extra shifts on watch duty so that the students could rest and the dark rings beneath his eyes suggested that it was a decision he was currently suffering for.
"Is Corona at the train?" Felix asked as the village, barely large enough to be deserving of the title, of Gnarledwood came into view; the settlement certainly lived up to its' name if nothing else. Perhaps thirty families called the village home and seemed to have survived against the Grimm through sheer obstinate defiance alone. As the Killer-Bee passed through defences whose inadequacy would be laughable were the situation not so dire Team FADE saw that they were in fact being bolstered as well as possible; the rows of sharpened wooden stakes which reached over a dozen feet into the air and whose surfaces bore gouges left by the claws of Grimm that the locals had repelled were being reinforced with sheets of iron and steel supplied by the engineering crew Team FADE were assigned to protect and the limited, yet surprisingly high quality weaponry available within Gnarledwood was being set up in a manner that suggested the villagers were preparing to find themselves besieged by the creatures of Grimm relatively soon.
"If she's not helping rig this gear up then she'll be at the bar" Foggy replied "Looks like her conversation with the chief went well though"
"Not like they had a choice besides listening" Felix noted "The Grimm are gonna be coming whether they prepare or not" as he finished speaking he brought the Killer-Bee to a stop outside of the small and ramshackle tavern in which they expected to find Corona, as he did so he caught sight of a group of children pointing excitedly at his tail which he quickly tucked under his sleeveless jacket and out of view, treating the children to a stern scowl
"They're not pointing at it 'cos it's missing a piece" Foggy assured him, spotting the way the young man hid the mangled appendage
"They were pointing at me too" Arctus confirmed "They've probably never left this village….we might be the first Faunus they've ever seen"
"And people think Patch is sheltered" Felix muttered bitterly as the five of them entered the bar, the Lion Faunus's eyes quickly being accustomed to the gloom within and picking out Corona, the Mantis Shrimp Faunus's distinctive colouration making her easily identifiable.
"We've been scouting out the area, looks pretty much like what we expected to see" he announced as he led his team over to where Corona sat, poring over maps and clearly deep in thought
"I saw our guys helping bulk up the defences" Foggy noted grimly "I take it they're not evacuating"
"No" Corona sighed with an annoyed shake of her head "The chief that runs this place is a stubborn son of a bitch, besides even if we put 'em all on our train New Vale has shut the line down; we'd be stuck at the next junction"
"They've what?" Diamond demanded, utterly aghast
"No freight or passenger trains are coming down this line until we get rid of the Spawning Pit, it's been deemed too much of a risk" Corona explained "Which means we've gotta do this quickly and do it with no room for error"
"Well we might have found something that can help" Eagle informed the brightly coloured Faunus
"Yeah" Arctus added "I've seen a pit before, when it gets blown up it spits out one last Grimm….something big and nasty. You've got defences set up and the artillery pieces on the train so any packs of Grimm should be manageable-"
"But dealing with the big one is gonna be difficult" Eagle finished before pointing at a seemingly unremarkable location on the map "This is where we think the pit is. We've been scouting around this area and we've found an old disused road here that should actually lead directly to it"
"Okay" Corona looked nonplussed "So you can get in and out after you've rigged the charges, how does that help….oh" her eyes seemed to gleam with excitement as a notion occurred to her
"The Stinger" Felix grinned "I'll park the Killer-Bee as close to the Spawning Pit as I can safely get then we just shoot whatever comes out of it the second we get chance. All the villagers are gonna have to deal with is a few packs of Beowolves that get sent running by the explosion"
"I like the way these kids think" Foggy admitted
"They've got some flair" Corona agreed, shooting Team FADE an appreciative smile "Okay, I know we need to get this done ASAP but there's no sense in rushing so much we make mistakes. Foggy take a few hours to get some rest, you look like you're gonna pass out; you kids get something to eat on me….I'd still suggest heading out before nightfall though"
"I take it you're not coming with?" Diamond asked, raising a single silvery eyebrow in questioning
"Those artillery pieces on the train aren't fully automated, someone's gotta hang back and operate 'em" the explanation seemed to satisfy and Team FADE nodded in understanding before departing in search of food whilst Foggy left the bar, presumably returning to the train. Corona cast her eyes around and assured that there was nobody paying any particular attention to her before she palmed her Scroll and dialled
"Rhodey….yeah the Chief of this shithole is happy with those guns, you're okay to start bringing in the shipment for loading, I'll tell you when the coast is clear. Cover story for why we're not going to Vaccuo is in place….Don't worry about it, he'll be here when we start moving. Pleasure doing business" she collapsed her Scroll and returned it to her pocket before waving over the bartender and ordering the most expensive bottle that they had.
Corona was about to be a very rich woman after all.
"Is this the glorious future you saw for us when enlisted us as Hunters?" Raffia sneered as he sidestepped an oncoming Grimm and held out the longer of his two swords, allowing the monster to impale its' own skull as its' own momentum carried it onto the blade.
"I imagined that your complaining would eventually end, perhaps I was too optimistic" Carcharodon replied in an utterly bored and flat tone, an impressive feat considering that he was in the process of disembowelling a pair of Grimm with his arm mounted blades
"Being the hero to these people was galling enough" the Axolotl Faunus ranted, swords tearing through obsidian flesh with ease and leaving nothing but ephemeral wisps of darkness in their wake "But this is just insulting"
"As entertaining as this conversation is!" the stern voice of Artemis Tan intruded on their conversation "Will you please focus on your job!" Carcharodon let out a low his of irritation whilst Raffia spat out a curse in his native tongue before the pair of them complied and redoubled their efforts towards the task at hand.
Team GORE's mission had thus far only taken them as far as the foothills and the barest ascent of the Jagged Mountains. They had been granted a far newer and much better equipped transport by the staff of Outpost Thirteen, they had also been assigned a co-pilot which Team GORE had seen as nothing short of an insult to their abilities or a thinly veiled questioning of their trustworthiness. Thus far their approach had been for Artemis to use her Semblance which allowed her to see the Aura of any living person from the air, searching one section of the vast amount of ground they would no doubt have to cover at a time before deploying to the ground to perform a more thorough inspection. Artemis had noted that an unlocked Aura would shine far more brightly to her than an unlocked one, meaning that whilst she would be able to track Team GORE or another Hunter with ease an untrained civilian was a little harder to hone in on, a matter made all the more difficult when one considered that these hikers had been stranded in the mountains for a considerable amount of time and whatever meagre amounts of untrained, unharnessed Aura they had at their disposal had most likely been depleted almost to the point of death.
After over a day of searching they had, almost miraculously, managed to find the group of intrepid yet woefully unprepared hikers and Artemis had immediately ordered the co-pilot to circle back around to their location and land so that they could be taken to safety. The elation Artemis had felt upon realising that they would be able to save living breathing people rather than simply recover bodies had been somewhat marred by a pair of harsh realisations.
Firstly the group of hikers, all of whom were traumatised the point of babbling incoherence; were missing several of the people reported to have made up their group and the torn clothes and visible injuries those present sported, along with the dried blood many of them were encrusted with, gave the feline Faunus very little reason to believe that those absent would be found.
Secondly they were in the process of being chased. Artemis and Team GORE had found the survivors in a valley between two of the smaller foothills of the Jagged Mountains, the location living up to its' name with sharp rocky outcroppings jutting from the steep inclines and little growing from cracking ground beyond moss and particularly tenacious weeds. As Artemis had desperately tried to calm the survivors Team GORE had become aware of a pattering, rumbling sound and Carcharodon and ordered Hellion to use her Semblance and send Marauder into the air so that they could see what was coming.
That decision had proved fortunate as it had allowed them to prepare for the stampeding herd of Chargers that had poured over the hills and into the valley like a furious tidal wave of belligerence. Chargers were Mountain Goat Grimm, relatively small and compact things that reached barely higher than ones' elbows if one were to discount the pair of curled, thick horns protruding from their skulls. The entirety of the Chargers' forequarters were masses of bone white armour with very little flesh exposed and whilst they were stockily built their powerful legs tapered down to surprisingly small hooves which seemed to be able to turn and balance in almost any circumstance; allowing the Grimm to skip around attacks with a gait that seemed comically at odds with their murderous intent, bleating maniacally as they went.
"I don't know why Atlas want a live Grimm" Raffia raged as his Semblance subtly dragged a broken and dislocated wrist, a parting shot from a dying Grimm, back into place "But I hope it causes the animal great pain"
"Is that you bleating or the Grimm?" Onyx grunted gruffly as he swung Jotun Fang in a wide arc, the battle axe tearing through several of the monsters whilst behind them Artemis and Hellion protected the hikers, cutting down any Charger that slipped passed the maelstrom of blades that was Onyx, Raffia and Carcharodon with sniper rifle and throwing knives.
"GET DOWN!" Carcharodon barked before using his Semblance to melt into the ground, Raffia and Onyx leapt aside frantically as they heard the roaring engines of their Bull-Head; a moment later the craft tore through the air, swooping low and opening fire with a pair of high calibre chain guns that had been designed specifically with swarming Grimm in mind.
"Perhaps" Carcharodon rasped out pointedly as he rose from the ground, body reforming and solidifying as he spoke "Next time you could warn us when out air-support is about to make an entrance?"
"I had my hands full" Artemis answered simply as she and Hellion began loading the still terrified hikers onto the transport, the older woman instructing the co-pilot to return to base whilst she and the students continued searching for those who were unaccounted for. After a while Team GORE watched the Bull-Head leave and Carcharodon stared at Artemis with his pure black eyes, the older Hunter being sure that if the Shark Faunus had eyebrows one of them would be raised
"You know as well as I do that we will find nothing but corpses"
"Half eaten ones at that" Raffia grumbled
"We're not looking for the Hikers" Artemis explained "Could you make any sense of that they were saying?"
"We were a little preoccupied" Onyx answered, Hellion pursed her lips and considered; she and Artemis had been a lot closer to the civilians than the others had and the Dragonfly Faunus tried to piece together what little disjointed fragments she could from the terrified screams
"Wings, four arms, killed several of their group….big"
"Exactly" Artemis nodded, her mismatched eyes hardening "That doesn't sound like a Charger to me"
"You think they were describing the Grimm Atlas wants us to search for?" Carcharodon asked
"I think there's only one way to find out"
Felix gripped the Ursa that he had been stalking silently from behind, channelling a small amount of his Aura and Semblance in order to shatter the monsters neck with a single sharp twist. He ducked behind a tree and hid himself from the view of a nearby Beowolf which was itself soon dispatched by Eagle, her left hand wrapping around its' lower jaw and holding its' muzzle shut while her sword slipped slowly through its' back and emerged from its' chest, piercing the place where a heart should have been.
Foggy had led Team FADE to the assumed location of the spawning pool, having instructed Felix to leave the Killer-Bee some distance away whilst they cleared out the Grimm that for whatever reason had chosen to skulk around the sight of their creation rather than set off out into the forest in search of something living to consume. This kind of combat was something that Team FADE were not well versed in, each of them simply preferring grandiose and flamboyant displays of power and skill to dispose of the creatures of Grimm rather than sneaking and hiding but the need for this approach was understandable; one wrong move could trigger the semi-sentient Grimm Spawning Pit into action and leave them swamped by an endless tide of nightmares made flesh and so the four teens carefully applied lessons that they had learned from Professor Cimmerian in her lessons on 'Ungentlemanly Warfare' and executed their targets with meticulous precision. There was a barely audible creaking of dead wood in the bare tree above and a lone Ursa raised onto its' hindquarters, sniffing the air and growling suspiciously. A moment later its' head and torso fell to the ground separately, Diamond using her Semblance to stand inverted on the limb of a dead tree and having used her glaive to decapitate the Grimm in a single motion.
"Coast is clear" a tense whisper from behind made Felix to jump, his tail standing upright as his hands flew to his swords instinctively
"Don't creep up on me like that" he muttered to Foggy, the older man having been slipping between the trees and despatching Grimm himself.
"Coast is clear" he repeated slowly as he gestured to the forest around them, the trees here were dead and the soil was was and almost powdery as if every possible morsel of life had been sucked from it; it had thankfully stopped raining though and the air was refreshing. Felix glanced through the dead trees and saw his team-mates move cautiously into view, Eagle moving out from behind a tree whilst Diamond leapt down from another. Arctus making his way towards them, taking a wide curving path and eyeing something with deep concern whilst carrying a rucksack over one shoulder.
"Definitely a Spawning Pit" he whispered with clear trepidation as he neared them
"You saw it?" Diamond asked
"Just the edges" the Bear Faunus nodded in confirmation
"Okay, I'm gonna get a closer look" Foggy announced "On my say so Felix you'll run back to the car and prep your laser battery. Eagle, Arctus, Diamond you'll be helping me prime and set the charges. I can't stress enough that we will get one shot at this….if you knock anything into the pit, or don't set the charges right then we're all gonna die" the words were sobering, not that any of the students were feeling particularly lively or excitable at that moment.
"Okay" Felix breathed out "Okay yeah, rig the charges, don't touch shit, blow the Pit and fry whatever comes out with a laser….simple enough right?" the nonchalant tone the Lion Faunus delivered the comment with was enough to make Foggy snort and quickly muffle his laughter whilst Diamond rolled her cherry red eyes, Arctus sighed and shook his head in resignation and there was an audible slap as Eagle's palm collided with her face.
"Yeah, simple. Good luck" Foggy nodded and with that Felix made his way in the opposite direction to his team-mates who themselves began to fan out.
Only for his Scroll to vibrate in his pocket after he had taken only a few steps.
"It's Corona" he hissed out frantically as he retrieved the device, catching sight of the disbelieving stares his team were treating him to as he did so
"Bad time to call, we're right on top of-"
"Felix I need backup!" Corona's voice was a frantic yell, loud enough for the rest of Team FADE to clearly hear what was said. More importantly they could hear the sounds of gunfire, howling and snarling Grimm and panicked screaming clearly over the speakers
"What happened!" Felix demanded
"Beowolf pack, hundreds of the fucking things….they came out of the trees on the far side of the village, the trains' guns can't reach most of 'em. Some of the engineers were still working on the fences and the idiots manning the gates refused to close 'em until everyone was in-"
"There're Grimm in the village?"
"Yes!" Corona replied "I can't cover everyone at once Felix, I need you to drive back here-"
"On my way!" with that Felix ended the call and stared at Foggy in tense silence for a moment before making a decision. The longer the Spawning Pit remained the greater the threat it presented became; the choice was obvious "Stay here, I'm going back"
"Kid, you've got guts but we need your cars' weapon here and you won't make it on time"
"Got it covered" Felix answered, heart hammering in his chest as a plan rapidly formed itself "Eagle, have you ever drove before?"
"Um, I've parked my Granddad's pickup truck a few times as a kid and Uncle Flax let me take the wheel once when-"
"It'll have to be enough" Felix interrupted, unable to hide the slight wince at the thought of what was probably about to happen to the Killer-Bee despite the situation "I'm gonna drive halfway then leave the Killer-Bee in the road with the keys; when you've rigged the charges use your Semblance to get to it and bring it back to deal with whatever comes out of that pit"
"Okay" Eagle nodded, puffing up her chest with pride and mentally preparing herself for a mission that had just become more difficult.
"Felix" Foggy sighed "We'll be there as soon as we can. You tell Corona I'm coming"
"Got it" with one last silent exchange of support from his team-mates Felix turned and bolted towards where the Killer-Bee was parked.
The Lion Faunus steeled himself as he ran, privately promising himself that two Hunters against an oncoming tide of Grimm would be enough. It would have to be, the alternative was something he refused to accept.
"I fucking hate this guy Uzi, I mean who even is he?"
"He's not from the block like us so why is Rhodey letting him run shit?"
"Some fucking science teacher, how the fuck has selling drugs been gentrified….I blame you selling records to middle class kids Uzi"
"Man shat the fuck up" Uzi growled, the dissenting voices came from members of the entourage that accompanied him as he made his way through Rhodium Torchwick's warehouse; a group of small time thugs and delinquents with delusions of grandeur who had been organised and given far greater scope than they could ever have hoped to achieve on their own by Rhodium Torchwick. Whilst Vert had a cunning and flair for the ostentatious that the redhead mobster appreciated and Moss, formerly of the short lived Team MUCK had been a capable fighter, the rest of the team were simply lapdogs and hangers-on to far more successful gangsters, as such it was they who had found themselves lumbered with the task of finding and renovating a suitable living space for Ozymandias's as yet unseen contact.
"Whatever man" one of the thugs, commonly known by the alias of 'Clout' grumbled "All I'm saying is if we're gonna be a fucking painting and decorating firm then you may as well just cancel ya next mix-tape and admit you aint about that life"
"Bitch I've been making Lien and running up in Melanie Malachite's spots; shit I've been beefing Hunters and the law hasn't touched me, the fuck do you mean?" the grumbling fell silent as the group reached the door to an office, behind which they would find Ozymandias Eldritch. Vert knocked and waited
"Come in" the usual warm grandfatherly tone that Vert knew better than to trust sounded out and Vert led his cronies into the office where Ozymandias Eldritch sat comfortably, plague doctor mask removed to show the horrific injuries his face had suffered. Vert had vowed the moment he had left the post office where he had fully expected to be murdered that he would never allow himself to be alone in a room with this man again, Ozymandias gave a knowing smile and Vert realised that the old man knew or at least suspected everything, how utterly terrified of him Vert was, how the presence of the mad scientist had been the source of concerned mutterings throughout Torchwick's criminal empire and that the motley assortment of gang members Vert had brought with him were simply there so that the thug could feel a modicum of security, the realisation sent a chill through the younger man and left him feeling bare.
"We got word from Torchwick" Vert began, puffing his chest out and squaring his shoulders "He'll be back in a day, two at most; he'll go back to running things from there….and we want our cut" Ozymandias's remaining eyebrow was raised at the display of bravado, then the scientist merely grinned. Vert's plan to surround himself with cronies had backfired somewhat, whilst the thug had no desire to aggravate him he could not afford to look week in front of his peers and had thus trapped himself in a situation he had no desire to be in.
"That will depend entirely on the quality of-"
"No it won't" Vert snapped quickly "We gave your fucking hit-girl or whoever she is an Oum-damned apartment, now you better pay us for our work and hand over our next shipment….Rhodey aint gonna be happy when he finds out you're not letting people sell his drugs" Vert delivered what he believed to be his trump card with a smirk and a chorus of snickering passed through his cohorts; it had become apparent in Torchwick's absence that Ozymandias may have been an undisputed genius capable of making high quality narcotics seemingly on a whim, but the older man had no understanding or interest in the politics of crime. While the drugs had flowed freely the workers of Torchwick's organisation had been left with very little in terms of leadership and Ozymandias had been willing to withhold supplies from their intended recipient until tasks that he had deemed more important were completed
"I am well aware that Mister Torchwick will be rejoining us soon, just as he is aware of everything that has happened during his absence" Ozymandias's utterly calm reply robbed Vert of much of the cocky swagger he was attempting to manifest
"His business venture in Vaccuo has proven successful and he will be returning with a considerable amount of firepower with which he plans to secure his control of the Kingdoms less than legal industries" the scientist noted, the information matching what Vert himself had heard and lending credence to Ozymandias's claims "Your money and next consignment is in the loading bay downstairs, speak to….oh I don't know, all of your little friends have such ridiculous names for each other" the power play was obvious, there was no doubt that Ozymandias knew the alias used by every single gang member who frequented this warehouse, he just wanted to make Vert chase down the money and goods he was owed.
"About time we got some good news, feels like we've been taking Ls since you got here" Vert spat, giving voice to a sentiment that had been gaining traction.
"Indeed" Ozymandias nodded "It's also fortunate that Mister Torchwick is returning when he is, I've received word from my contact from Atlas; she will also be joining us within a day or two" Vert could sense that the announcement was simply bait that was being dangled in front of him and as such he refused to take it
"Yeah whatever man, just make sure these packs you hook us up with aren't light and don't make any more Hunters OD" with that Vert turned and left, his cronies following him out of the office. Ozymandias watched them go and vaguely wondered if the young man was capable enough that his hostility would make him a threat to be removed at a later date, eventually he decided against it. The voice in his mind almost cooed in satisfaction and the mad scientist was reminded that whilst Torchwick's criminal empire being well armed and equipped would be useful the true benefits lie with what Project Snare would be bringing with her when she joined him.
Plans needed to progress and it was time for the disembodied voice that tormented his psyche to be granted a body of her own and nothing but a Grimm would suffice.
Team GORE had been trudging across the harsh and unwelcoming terrain of the Jagged Mountains for hours with nothing to show for their efforts but several encounters with small packs of Grimm, the latest of which the Faunus team were in the process of dealing with; all of their usual ferocity proudly on display
"This has quickly started to lose its' appeal" Raffia noted dryly as he thrust the longer of the two swords that formed the 'Blazing Avenger' through the hind leg of a Beowolf as it reared up, stabbing his shorter blade into its' gut and dragging upwards in an unsettling display of brutality
"You've mentioned" Hellion noted as one of her knives was plunged into the eye socket of a Grimm "Several times"
"If Atlas want a live Grimm then there's no reason why we can't simply remove the limbs from one of these and be done with it" the Axolotl Faunus added hotly as he slashed away the forelimbs of another snarling monstrosity; only for dull crack to sound out and the Beowolf to fade away, its' body losing cohesion and disintegrating outwards from an exit wound in its' skull
"That's all of 'em" Artemis panted, rising her goggles and wiping sweat from her brow with one hand as she leaned against her weapon with the other.
"Do you not listen?" Raffia hissed "I was going to-"
"Deliver the wrong Grimm because you're bored and want to go home" Artemis regarded the miniscule berserker with an irritable frown "Grow up"
"I will cut your tongue out!" Raffia spat taking several steps towards Artemis, who held her ground with grim determination and a silent challenge until Carcharodon hoisted his team-mate off the ground, one hand firmly around his neck
"We welcomed you back, you promised me your loyalty when we decided to become Hunters" the Shark Faunus had no need to directly threaten or accuse, his icy tone was enough to imply both on its own and Raffia let out a single sibilant hiss before falling silent, head bowed.
"Hellion, scout ahead with Marauder, Onyx cover her" he turned to Artemis "Which way?" the Feline pursed her lips; whilst she agreed that Raffia's extremely volatile personality needed to be reigned in especially in a locale as infested with Grimm as the Jagged Mountains were, she was still not fond of the almost habitual violence and intimidation Carcharodon used to achieve order; once again she found herself wondering exactly where Gangrel had found these clearly broken teens. Dismissing the matter for the moment she pointed in the direction she intended to search
"We go deeper into the valley" she instructed
"All of the Grimm we've fought except for the Chargers were moving towards it" Carcharodon noted shrewdly, a detail that Artemis herself hadn't picked up on straight away and wondered how long the Shark Faunus had been keeping to himself
"Exactly" she nodded "Let's go see why"
The five of them marched deep into the craggy and barren valley formed between a pair of equally lifeless and rocky mountains; Artemis knew that there were forests beyond the mountains but they were evidently quite some distance away. After almost an hour of searching which passed almost silently, Team GORE seemingly able to communicate utterly silently when the need arose and none of them deigning to speak to their assigned Hunter, something caused one of the students to speak out
"Do you smell that?" Onyx growled, pupils narrowing to slits as the hairs on the back of his neck prickled
"I've been tracking it" Carcharodon confirmed "We're getting closer to whatever it is"
"You mean that sour, sickly smell that feels like frost in my nostrils?" Raffia added as he wrinkled his nose. Artemis took a slow deep breath and several moments to consider, mismatched eyes eventually widening in shock; the scent was both familiar and exactly as Raffia had described
"Get Hellion back here" she ordered sternly, gesturing to the Dragonfly Faunus whose body was being directed Onyx whilst her mind oversaw events through Marauder's eyes
"What is it?" Carcharodon demanded
"Tremor-Somnium" Artemis answered, readying her weapon "It's a pheromone Atlesian Freelancers use to draw Grimm away from populated areas or into ambushes"
"The Grimm from the mountains don't wander towards the Kingdom's defences too often" Onyx noted "Could it be that they use this Tremor-Somnium to keep the numbers down? We might just be smelling some that leaked out of a canister" the Puma Faunus looked proud of himself and his reasoning, which Artemis admitted was sound; Raffia however was less generous
"We don't get that lucky" he scoffed
"He's right" Artemis sighed, scanning their surroundings for any sign of an attack "I don't think we're the only ones looking for this Grimm"
"Movement" Hellion cut across the conversation in a harsh whisper, knives finding their way to her hands in an instant as the sound of displaced stones tumbling down the rocky surface of the mountain echoed faintly through the valley
"Could be an ambush….possibly a sniper" Artemis murmured, though her Semblance found no Auras hiding behind any of the boulders or outcroppings
"No cover down here" Onyx noted as he readied his axe
"Nothing for it then" Raffia's face morphed into a feral smile before his voice rose to a bellow "COME OUT AND DIE WITH YOUR PRIDE COWARD!" Artemis was about to unleash the full breadth and depth of her scorn on the young man, before she could do so however the sound of stones being displaced echoed around them again leaving her stunned that such a ludicrous approach had worked.
She was stunned in a far less pleasant way when an inhuman shriek of murderous rage seemed to come from everywhere at once; followed by a black shape leaping from behind the limited cover available. Whatever the monster that sailed towards them in a controlled glide was it had clearly been stalking them since they entered the valley and there was no doubt whatsoever that this was what Gangrel had asked her to track and locate, yet warned her against engaging.
The Grimm was bipedal and stood at roughly ten feet tall despite its' hunched posture and the fact that its' legs were digitigrade like those of a canine, ending in feet with three taloned toes splayed wide and behind it a winding tail, longer than the abomination was tall coiled and flexed, the three pronged claw at its' tip snapping threateningly. Its' thighs, broad and oddly angular, almost streamlined chest and the extremities of its' upper limbs were encased in bone white armour that seemed to have naturally grown to resemble the armour of some historic paladin; whilst the first noticeable detail about its' upper limbs was that there were six of them. A trio of shoulder sockets arranged in a roughly inverted triangular formation were set into each side of the Grimm, the limbs set towards its' back were a pair of large membranous wings which hand controlled the creatures descent and now lay folded along its' back, the pair at the downward point of the triangular were roughly humanoid and seemed oddly delicate save for their clawed digits; the third pair of limbs however were clearly intended solely for butchery, three long thin and serrated curving talons adorned each; resembling a collection of cruel scythes. A row of swept back spines protruded from the base of the things neck, leading towards its' head which was monstrous in the extreme; vaguely canine and skeletal as was expected from the creatures of Grimm, though black flesh was visible around each of its' four blazing red eyes, giving the bone coloured mouth from which a pair of tusk like protrusions jutted the appearance of a mask. The top of its' head was adorned in a wide crest which fanned out and curved around its' skull where it tapered into a pair of horns, seemingly serving to protect the Grimm.
Team GORE stared in stunned silence for a single moment which seemed to stretch for an eternity as they found themselves confronted by a horror far beyond anything they had ever conceived of
"Artemis" Carcharodon rasped out, even his characteristically stoic facade wavering "What is that"
"I don't know" the Grimm itself, which had been regarding them with obvious malice did something which only served to send a fresh wave of cold dread through the Hunters.
It introduced itself.
"We are Pantheon" and with that it attacked.
Felix was drenched in sweat, gasping for breath and clutching at a stitch in his side by the time he reached the recently fortified perimeter wall of Gnarledwood and skidded to a halt in confusion.
There were no Grimm.
"What the fuck" Felix mouthed out, his words lost beneath ragged and heavy breathing as he took in the sight in front of him; the gate was open and the sentries were in place, watching the Lion Faunus with baffled amusement from their positions in the intact and undamaged watchtowers. Felix stared for a few more moments before letting out a furious snarl and sprinting towards where the train stood idle, he wanted to know exactly what Corona was thinking by dragging him away from the mission at such a critical juncture.
"CORONA!" he thundered as he leapt into one of the carriages, slamming its' door shut with a resounding clang before stalking towards the head of the train
"CORONA!" he called out again, pounding his fist against every available metallic surface as he went "CORONA WHERE ARE-"
"Right here" she answered calmly as Felix entered another carriage and found the Mantis Shrimp Faunus leaning casually in the opposite doorway, fiddling with her Scroll absently
"What the fuck were you thinking?" he demanded "There's no Grimm here, what's going on?"
"The mission changed" her eyes darted to her Scroll as she sent a message, moments later it became apparent that the message had been received as the engines of the train rumbled into life and the massive vehicle lurched into motion, heading back towards New Vale rather than continuing in the direction of the Vaccuan border "It's a shame about Foggy; he was a good guy….but that's why he's gotta go, he wouldn't take this kind of work"
"What have you done?" dread coiled in Felix's stomach whilst rage forced his hands into white-knuckled fists, his heart hammering in his chest all the while.
"Defused about half of the charges your team took to the Spawning Pit" she answered nonchalantly "It'll be enough to do some real damage but not enough to destroy it completely; it's gonna get really messy….exactly the kind of justification I need to turn this train around, in that kind of emergency the train yard won't be paying too much attention to what gets offloaded. Even with his mind racing a mile a minute with the implications of her words the Lion Faunus needed a few moments for the revelation to sink in, disgust and rage battled for dominance once it did
"You sold your partner out so you could smuggle?" he demanded
"No I sold Foggy out for Lien" Corona grinned evilly as she stepped forwards and turned to face him. Felix realised in that moment that he desperately needed to get off of this train and warn his team; his deep blue eyes darted to the door at the side of the carriage from which he would be able to leap down to the ground and Corona's own turquoise eyes narrowed as she noticed this
"You won't make it" she stated firmly whilst reaching into her tailcoat for her weapons, when her hands were withdrawn she was wearing her spiked knuckle-dusters whose points had been hollowed out to contain minute rotating Dust cylinders.
"Come on I'm not some cartoon villain, I wouldn't tell you my whole plan if I was gonna let you get away" Corona strode forwards slowly and purposefully, tailcoat flapping behind her dramatically as she did so "And besides you're worth too much to let get go; Torchwick put a lot of Lien on your head" something snapped within Felix and he lunged at the treacherous Huntress, golden Aura flaring into life around him as he leapt into the air with the intent to deliver a single monumental blow.
He never got the chance.
Corona chose that moment to display her own Semblance, a feat that she had named the 'Hand of Destruction' when she was much younger. In a single fluid movement she struck out with her open palm as Felix neared her, the moment her hand connected with his midsection a boom of rapidly decompressing air shook the carriage and a flash of brilliant white light like a miniature sun blinded the combatants. Felix however had more pressing matters, namely that the blow had sent him hurtling back into the previous train carriage, leaving the doors between the two crumpled and torn free of their hinges and the Lion Faunus struggling to drag himself to his feet despite the fact that simply breathing had become a struggle.
"All these guns and all the ammo and flammable, explosive gear in these carriages" Corona sighed, her tone dripping with sarcasm as she swaggered calmly after her opponent "Good luck using your Semblance without blowing yourself up" Felix let out a wordless roar of rage and forced himself to overcome the waves of pain coursing through his body, rushing towards Corona for another exchange of blows. The Lion Faunus stopped short and launched a powerful spinning kick only for his opponent to react with skill and precision, turning at the hip she blocked the strike by driving her right elbow into his shin; then launched forwards and through a punch at his right bicep. The combination of Aura enhanced muscle, the spiked of the Knuckle Duster and the Gravity Dust accelerating the blow to dangerous velocity left Felix's right arm hanging limp and the younger Faunus unable to react fast enough as Corona's follow up right hook to his face sent him spinning and her spinning heel kick caught him between the shoulder blades; sending him crashing to the ground again.
"Stay down" Corona sighed dispassionately as Felix struggled to rise once more, she saw him shift his weight a moment before he attempted to sweep her legs out from under her as he leapt to his feet. Her response was to leap over his leg and lash out, driving her armoured boot into his cheek as he turned to face her.
"Fuck you, you're not gonna get away with this" Felix spat, specks of blood flying from his mouth as he did so
"Uh yeah, cute and cliché" Corona brought her boot crashing down on the side of his head and Felix's world was reduced to a blurry and barely comprehensible haze of pain and dizziness; his last clear sight before he finally lost consciousness was that of the Mantis Shrimp Faunus producing something that, if he were more cogent he would have recognised as an Aura dampening collar.
The battle between Artemis Tan, Team GORE and the seemingly aware Grimm that had named itself as Pantheon raged on with ferocious intensity; yet all that the combined efforts of the Faunus had achieved thus far was to grant them an appreciation for just how difficult to kill this particular monster was.
"Marauder!" Hellion screamed in a frenzied panic as her familiar was almost torn from the sky by Pantheon's claws in a failed attempt to dive and blind the Grimm. The Dragonfly Faunus littered the ground around Pantheon with over a dozen daggers which were thrown at blinding speed; an acrid black smoke pouring from a small canister hidden within each of their handles. Pantheon let out an inhuman snarl as their senses were assaulted, the fog obscuring the enemy from view and rendering scents useless; a single flap of their powerful wings dispersed the pungent smog somewhat only for the Dragonfly Faunus to burst through the smoky veil with a fresh pair of knives at the ready and a look of furious determination in her eyes. Hellion drew close and stepped into Pantheon's guard as the monster attempted to impale her with twin downward stabs of their clawed limbs; her hands moved with lethal grace and speed as her first strike tore through the Grimm's flank and gut, the second found its' way under their arms and into the side of their chest and both were quickly ripped free and thrust downwards into a barely exposed piece of obsidian flesh between the armoured plates of Pantheon's thighs.
"YOU WILL PERISH!" the monster screamed, their voice a cacophony comprised of countless hate filled shrieks. Hellion attempted to press her advantage with the intent to blind the Grimm or if possible bury her blades in whatever it had in place of a brain; Pantheon proved themselves equal to this as their lower and more humanoid pair of arms lashed out and caught her wrists
"What?" Hellion gasped, whilst simultaneously wincing in pain as her wrists were bent and twisted until she released her weapons; her eyes widened and mouth fell open as she watched the Grimm begin to regenerate its' injuries with a black liquid bubbling up from the wounds, clotting and healing them in seconds. Then the air was knocked from her lungs as Pantheon's three-toed and vaguely avian foot collided with her chest and the Grimm smashed her into the ground
"Release her!" an enraged Carcharodon demanded, the Shark Faunus bursting from the ground behind Pantheon and dragging the blades of the Red Waves across the Grimm's back and tearing through the membranes of their wings
"DIE!" Pantheon howled back, their tail launching towards the Shark Faunus's face at blinding speed and moving as if it had a mind of its' own; forcing Carcharodon to parry and grasp at its' trio of jagged prongs, wrestling with the clawed appendage to prevent it closing around his skull.
"CAR, GET HELLION OUT OF THE WAY!" Onyx's voice boomed out, a fraction of a second later the thunderous report of Jotun Fang echoed throughout the rocky valley and forced Pantheon back a single step. It was all that was needed and in a moment of clarity Carcharodon engaged his Semblance once more, slipping free of Pantheon's grasp and taking Hellion who had been freed from beneath the Grimm's taloned foot with him. Onyx barrelled into Pantheon with Earth Shattering force and made to swing his double bladed battle axe at the monsters' skull.
"No!" Pantheon hissed simply, bladed upper limbs launching forwards and catching the shaft of the gargantuan weapon. The Puma Faunus merely gave a wide predatory smile which revealed to the Grimm a large and roughly cut chunk of Fire Dust that Onyx had clenched between his teeth.
Then Onyx Roared.
The towering Faunus's Semblance combined with the effects of the Dust turned a blast of concussive force into a gout of flames that reduced portions of the ground around them to glowing magma and the Grimm's tar like hide to a steaming and bubbling, almost liquid state as the Grimm shrieked in agony.
"I never thought one Grimm would be a worthy-" Onyx's boastful taunt was cut short as Pantheon's boiling hide was healed with the same haste as their earlier wounds and the abomination hurled Onyx aside, his weapon clattering to the ground several feet away from where he fell. The Grimm stalked closer as Onyx rose to his feet and raised his guard warily, preparing to face Pantheon in unarmed single combat.
Then a single muffled gunshot blasted a crater into the Grimm's chest
"Don't. Touch. My. Students" Artemis demanded, each syllable shaking with rage. Pantheon staggered as they turned to face her whilst the feline merely shouldered their sniper rifle for a moment to press a button on a small controller on her belt that none of Team GORE had noticed before. The effect was instant, Pantheon collapsed to their knees, struggling defiantly to rise
"What did you do?" Onyx asked in something close to awe
"High capacity immobiliser round, it's a mix of Gravity and Magnetic Dust; remotely activated.
"Then let's take this things' head and go" a reedy voice that could only belong to Raffia insisted
"No" Artemis answered simply, a moment later adding "Atlas wants this one alive for study and considering it can talk I can understand why….let me call in our air support back at-"
"WATCH OUT!" Hellion called out in warning. Seconds seemed to pass in slow motion for Artemis as she watched Pantheon plunge a three-clawed limb into their own wounded chest and simply tear a chunk of flesh and armoured carapace free, which the sniper realised with detached horror had contained the fragments of the immobiliser round. Pantheon bounded towards her screaming in murderous rage and bladed limbs outstretched and time continued to crawl when Artemis saw something in the corner of her eye that defied all logic and only served to send a fresh wave of dread crashing over her.
Raffia was moving to intercept.
The Axolotl Faunus lunged at the Grimm that was easily twice his size, his short sword tearing a gash in the monsters' still healing chest which he attempted to follow up by impaling Pantheon with his larger blade. Pantheon's retaliation was swift and horrific; Artemis's mismatched eyes widening as she watched the Grimm grasp him in both pairs of bladed upper limbs, their jagged edges sinking into the flesh of his right hip and left shoulder before lifting Raffia from the ground and tearing him in half at the waist in an explosion of blood and viscera.
"NO!" the anguished scream came from several sources at once and Artemis was barely consciously aware of making the decision to shift Hakai Suru into its' naginata form as she sprinted towards Pantheon
"DIE YOU SON OF A BITCH!" she screamed as she leapt into the air, intending to stab downwards with her weapon. The blade of Hakai Suru found its' mark in Pantheon's chest, though it did far less damage than she would have liked and an instant later a lance of burning pain shot through her left shoulder; a glance revealing that one of Pantheon's bladed appendages had skewered her in a non-lethal but exceedingly painful way. Artemis forced as much power as she could into her into her right arm, hoping to drive her weapon deeper into the Grimm's torso and at least distract it from it's attempts to fend off attacks from the remaining members of Team GORE.
Then for the second time in a matter of moments Artemis caught sight of something that beggared belief.
Her Semblance, an easy way of keeping track of the Aura her students had at their disposal showed that not only did Raffia Dirge still cling to life, the bisected berserker was in fact still fighting fit; risking a glance downwards almost caused her to vomit in unmitigated disgust as she saw the two halves of his body being stitched back together in a grotesquely accelerated way whilst his pale pink Aura enveloped his body.
"Still not in favour of being the hero" Raffia quipped through clenched teeth before combining both of his swords into their experimental laser lance form. Artemis had the foresight to tear her weapon out of Pantheon's chest before Raffia plunged Blazing Avenger into their abdomen and fired; sending the badly wounded Grimm scurrying back and forcing them onto the defensive until they could regrow the limbs that had been burned away.
"REGROUP!" Artemis ordered as she pulled Raffia to his feet, stunned and impressed that he could even stand. Fumbling in her pockets she finally managed to retrieve her Scroll and hurriedly sent a pre-written message to a contact that Gangrel had specified, the message's contents were almost entirely codewords though it would convey what Artemis needed it to, a moment later the device buzzed with a reply
"Atlas knows we're engaging the target" she informed the bloodied, battered but still unbeaten students "The Baba-Jaegers at the Outpost will be here ASAP"
Artemis only hoped that the help would arrive in time.
Authors Notes:
So, we're now well and truly into the Volume Seven finale and it feels like all those seemingly unconnected threads are starting to take shape and where this story is going, not only in regards to Third Year but for the Fourth (And final) year arc.
But trust me I've still got plenty of surprises.
But since I don't want to spoil anything that far in advance, let's summarise shall we:
Diamond is a city kid through and through, imagine Felix and Eagle rolling their eyes if you like.
"Surprisingly high quality weapons" should have been a hint where this was going, even back in First Year Torchwick moved goods by paying off the places deemed to inconsequential to send a team of Hunters to by supplying them with guns and muscle.
Ah the casual ignorance you get in places that are so backwater that they've never actually met any minorities…..
Look at how far Team FADE have come, actually doing recon, planning things out and having workable strategies now.
Corona's excuse does actually fit with canon, the two Hunters guarding the train in Vol.6 operated the train's defences by Scroll.
I love that even Carcharodon "Mysterious and taciturn" Gore is utterly done entertaining Raffia's complaining.
Come on let's be honest, if you go hiking in Grimm country with no weapons or Hunters then eventually natural selection is gonna take its' course and someone is gonna get killed.
In my mind the Mountain Goat Grimm are just fucking hilarious, a bleating and screaming living battering ram that skips around and is made of condensed "Fuck off".
You knew just Hellion's description that it was gonna be bad right?
Bushwhacking Grimm like that is definitely not Team FADE's forte but they're learning and adapting.
"Don't knock anything into the pit"….if you read the Downward Spiral then you'll remember that Team CFVY learned that one the hard way.
Felix did what he thought was right and tried to save everyone….exactly what Corona was counting on.
The scene with Vert and his crew wrote itself, as cliché as it sounds I know from experience that "Real recognise real" and Vert is being taken for a joke by Rhodium and Oz; even his own crew can see it.
Oz stole/unleashed Project Legacy, Project Legacy is supposed to be bringing a Grimm specimen captured by Project Snare, Oz has a female voice screaming in his mind and has done ever since he became the Wizard, part of his plans involve giving this voice a body which needs to be Grimm in origin….are you getting it yet.
So 'Someone' used pheromones to draw Grimm into a valley….just remember that there's a Freelancer base stocked with those exact pheromones on the other side of the mountains (From Vol.1) and that one of the Baba-Jaegers noticed an odd loss of altitude and had some handling issues as it flew over from Atlas; where Project Legacy was.
So, meet Pantheon….this was one of the antagonists that I created early in the planning stages of this story (Almost two years ago now, Jesus) along with the Cult of Taurus and someone else who'll you'll be meeting next chapter.
Felix should've just turned and ran back the way he came, obvious set up was obvious.
Y'know that thing that Mantis Shrimp do where they lash out so fast it creates light, heat and a vacuum...scale that up and you've got Corona's Semblance.
An Aura dampening collar you say? Is that the sound of a Chekhov's gun being fired, remember that lesson Felix had with Professor Cimmerian.
A little thing to notice is that Phobos only used "It" as a pronoun whilst Pantheon uses "They/We", consider this a sign that Pantheon is more self aware and intelligent.
So one of Artemis's rounds is basically a less powerful, less versatile and very temporary version of Helios's Semblance.
So….Raffia just made a move that would have been suicide for anyone else, to save a Hunter; he's slowly coming around to the hero thing.
So, Baba-Jaegers are inbound and they'll be bringing the Project Snare containment unit….the only question now is how big of a trap is it?
Thank you to SumoSnipe, Keromenson, DizzyDwarf, Funlander and iSassenach for their reviews on the last chapter.
Who would be insane enough to give Team GORE their own transport?
Well, we are meeting someone new next chapter.
Nope, Foggy is completely out of the loop and is being left to die along with Arctus, Diamond and Eagle.
I honestly hadn't considered Rhodium & Corona as a ship but "Hard-boiled" is a great name for it.
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.