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Chapter 106: Hunter Killer
"TARGET THE GOLIATH!"
"THE SMALLER ONES ARE SLIPPING THROUGH!"
"WE NEED BACK, REPEAT WE NEED IMMEDIATE BACKUP!"
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!" the screams of terror from the civilians fleeing their homes near Arcadia's perimeter, the barked orders from squad leaders and gunner crews all of whom were struggling to keep their composure in the face of the monstrous horde assailing them and the wailing sirens and evacuation orders being played over every speaker in the city were all overpowered by the roaring of gunfire which in turn seemed only to serve as to punctuate the roars, howls and shrieks of the Creatures of Grimm as the monsters flung themselves at Arcadia's defences in a maelstrom of chaos.
"Corey what do we do?" Lux asked, turning to his leader and hoping that she would have the answers and the conviction to see them through this; catching only a glimpse of her wide-eyed disbelief before the helmet of the Omega Wing slid into place and her battle-suit wrapped itself around her
"Captain Frost?" despite her worries Corvid forced her tone to remain calm and even as she spoke into her headset "Captain Frost, this is Corvid Xiao Long, Team CLIR are at watch-point seventeen; give us the big picture, where do you need us?"
"Xiao Long!" the Garrison Officer's barked reply sounded grateful; which alone gave Corvid an idea of the scale of the attack
"They're hitting us hard" Captain Frost snarled "Aerial attacks are coming from everywhere but their ground forces are focusing on the main gates to the North and East. Narrow, focused attacks; they're limiting how many of our weapons we can aim at them at once….I've never seen anything like this!"
"We'll be at the north gate within minutes" Corvid assured her "They're about to have some air support"
"Xiao Long we need more people focusing on the evac-" Frost fell silent, though in the final moments before the communication ended a synthetic voice urgently blaring the words 'CODE RED' could be heard. Corvid wasted only a fraction of a second on fear and confusion before forcing herself to act turning to Lux, Iris and Rusty; the four of them were stood atop the perimeter wall with their weapons drawn and hearts hammering in their chests; and whilst they could see they glowing eyes of their enemy below and watched as their obsidian forms were illuminated when the destructive energies of the walls' heavy weapons were released on the larger monsters, Captain Frost's assessment was proven correct; the Grimm were ignoring vast swathes of Arcadia's defences in favour of attacking strategic points.
"You heard me!" Corvid barked "Let's go, north gate! We need to hold the line and cover the weapons batteries!"
"You got it" Iris nodded and without hesitation the four Hunters surged towards their objective, Corvid taking to the air and speeding ahead; a feral war cry escaping her as she soared upwards and activated the Omega Wing's forcefield, colliding with a flock of Griffins that were circling above the wall and preparing to make another pass at the defenders; the Grimm were reduced to smoke and atoms and she tore through them, a series of well placed shots from her rail-guns picking off the scattering remains of the flock as they tried to flee before she landed on the rampart and saluted to a soldier whose uniform denoted that they held some authority
"Oh thank Oum" the soldier breathed out, wiping blood from a cheek that had been torn open by a Griffins' talons "Our Hunters are at the east gate, it's closer to the Dust refinery and if that gets hit-"
"Do you have wounded?" Corvid demanded, taking the soldier by the shoulders and gently forcing them to focus
"Dozens" they admitted with a laugh that grew dangerously close to hysterical
"Order your walking wounded to take the critically injured and fall back to a triage, then co-ordinate with the evac effort" the soldier nodded and began disseminating the orders among their troops just as the rest of Team CLIR arrived; satisfied that the evacuation effort had people who knew the city working on it and that the injured soldiers were removed from the front line where they were both at risk and provided the Grimm easy targets Corvid turned her attention to the soldiers still holding the line
THOOM
A dull buzzing sound filled the air and was swiftly followed by a discharge of light and burst of air that cast everything in a pale green glow and forced Corvid to use her Semblance to keep her balance; for several seconds after the photon cannon fired a static crackling permeated the atmosphere
"What's your status?" Corvid demanded of the chief gunner
"Goliath down Ma'am!" a quick salute was snapped off "But the smaller ones behind it are hugging the wall; we can't fight 'em properly!" Corvid scowled and took to the air once more, shocked to see that the Grimm were indeed employed a disturbing level of strategy; rather than be mowed down by high calibre Gatling guns and multiple laser batteries the smaller Creatures of Grimm had trailed close behind the Goliath and now that the lumbering behemoth was gone they were attempting to claw at the gate or scale the walls; dozens of monsters so close that the walls' weapons couldn't be angled downwards far enough to fire, any Garrison members who dared lean over the wall to attack the beasts soon found themselves the prey of swooping airborne monsters.
"IRIS FORCE 'EM AWAY FROM THE WALL!" Corvid bellowed with authority "LUX, RUSTY COVER THE SOLDIERS! GARRISON, GUN THOSE BASTARDS DOWN!"
"What're you gonna do?" one soldier called out
"Rip 'em out of the fucking sky!" Corvid snapped back before leaping off of the wall and embedding the trio of blades mounted around her right arm into the skull of a Nevermore that had been on a collision course for one of the Gatling guns. Pivoting in mid-air she watched with pride as Iris's eyes glowed cyan when her telekinetic power was unleashed, Grimm that had begun to scale the wall were hauled and flung backwards by the unseen force and many cases utterly crushed by pressure comparable to deep seas, those that survived the initial attack were cut down as Iris aimed her Cybernetic arm and deployed a forearm mounted double barrelled shotgun that Corvid had helped design and integrate; the booming report of Iris's weapon served as a rallying cry and the perimeter wall was soon alight with the flickering flashes of the Garrison soldier's weapons.
"INCOMING!" the screamed warning from below made Corvid turn and open fire without hesitation, despite her horror at what she saw; almost a dozen of the largest Nevermore she had ever seen were descending upon the wall with singular intent and each of them grasped in their talons a snarling and heavily armoured Ursa
"Stop right Bear!" Corvid snarled, her weapons systems locking onto the airborne Grimm only for her shots to be sent wide as something crashed into her with unspeakable force and sent her hurtling through the air desperately trying to regain control of her flight. She caught a brief glimpse of the Grimm that attacked her, a monstrous thing with vast bat like wings and many limbs, all six of its' eyes glowing hatefully; then her attention was forced towards the wall as two things happened in quick succession.
Firstly a series of explosions ripped through the ramparts, leading to a terrible crescendo as a falling Ursa ripped through the photon cannon; screams rang out only to be swiftly silenced as those Grimm that had survived their landings began tearing through the Garrison fighters.
The second thing was another Goliath, this one was by far the largest yet and faced no resistance as it stampeded towards the now undefended gate.
"NO!" Corvid readied her weapons and dived, a quartet of shots tearing grievous wounds into the flank of the Goliath before the many limbed, winged Grimm collided with her once again and forced her to reorient herself, the Omega Wing's display flashing several warnings about the condition of her forcefield which were promptly ignored. A soldier on the wall had seen the Goliath and seemed to be readying a grenade, a bellowed warning on their lips
"GOLIATH! GET CL-" they fell backwards a moment later, silenced as a trident hurled from above burst through their torso and exited their back. The grenade exploded a moment before the Goliath hit the north gate and with a trumpeting roar of victory Arcadia was breached.
"NO!" Corvid hurtled downwards with everything the Omega Wing had; her team had been on the wall, as had dozens of soldiers and now as the Grimm began to stalk and slither through the wreckage she could see none of them.
"DIE YOU BASTARD!" a grief stricken scream escaped her as she clutched the rear leg of the still rampaging Goliath and began firing at the Grimm from point blank, her Semblance rooting them both to the spot even as its' trunk thrashed against her with enough force to shatter stone.
Then it stopped and a cyan light shone from its' skull, which Corvid now saw had been completely caved in; Venus Rising, Iris's gargantuan mace having collapsed the bone.
"SHIELD YOUR EYES!" Lux's voice warned her, a moment later everything went white and a high pitched shrieking filled the air; as the effects of Lux's 'Flash-Bang' Semblance began to die down and her ears stopped ringing, the tell-tale thumping report of Rusty's pistol 'High Noon' could be heard and when Corvid could see again she was relieved to see that her friends were bloody, bruised and burned but mercifully still alive
"Garrison are falling back" Iris informed her, the haunted look in her eyes making it clear what her next words would be "Heavy casualties, almost total"
"Orders Little Lady?" Rusty asked, his old nickname for Corvid being used without thought
"Should we fall back?" Lux asked, his twin rapiers fending off both heads of a King-Taijitu in tandem; Corvid calmly relieved the monster of both heads before answering with cold, murderous ferocity
"We stand our ground and hold the line!"
Nickel Polendina had been tasked with ensuring that Ozymandias's plan was enacted and that the Grimm horde currently assaulting the gates of Arcadia was allowed to pass through and make their way deeper into the territory of Vale; she was also to ensure that the sentient Grimm which referred to itself as Pantheon went unchallenged or at least unharmed and it was for that reason that she had attacked the seemingly unrelated Schnee Dust Company premises to the east of the city.
The SDC Refinery was a vast facility whose volatile and explosive wares combined with its' proximity to one of the largest thoroughfares into Arcadia made it a key location that was to be defended at all costs. A sizeable portion of the Hunters present within Arcadia at any one time were stationed at the refinery and Nickel intended to ensure that none of them made the decision to follow their conscience or sense of duty and defend the walls.
By simply killing them all and making sure that none of them ever left the refinery again.
"Please no! Pl-" a pained voice begged, words coming in strangled gasps as Nickel held the Huntress against a wall with a single hand tightening around her throat until her Aura flickered and failed in a flash of mauve light; the copper haired android gave a gleefully sadistic smile as she raised her right arm, components sliding away and rotating as streams of light streamed into the palm of her hand, then Nickel's Aura began to ripple with instability and her eyes glowed as Booster began to course through her systems
"No, no, no, no, no-" the Huntress whimpered as Nickel clenched her fist, photon accelerator still charging with a low humming before she simply drove her fist into the woman's skull, discharging the weapon as she did so over and over again until the air was filled with scent of smoke, blood and burning flesh whilst blood and gore boiled and sizzled against the android's fist.
"Who else bouta catch these hands?" Nickel demanded, her voice reverberating through the empty loading bay she had cornered this particular victim in as she cackled with horrific delight before collapsing the weapon integrated into her arm and made her way deeper into the refinery; hoping to find some more entertaining resistance.
As she stalked through a narrow and dimly lit corridor whose walls seemed to be made entirely from pipework and conduits she heard the sound of footsteps drawing closer and moments later a trio of Hunters came barrelling towards her with weapons at the ready; Nickel quickly realised that these were most likely the team-mates of the Huntress she had killed moments before and decided that she would very much like to exterminate the entire team.
"YOU MONSTER!" the first Hunter, a tall and muscular woman screamed in rage as she aimed a gigantic weapon; it seemed to combine a Gatling gun with a photon weapon larger than Nickel's own, however the Booster coursing through the androids' systems robbed any advantage the Hunter may have had. Nickel's wings scraped against the walls as she deployed them, she and the Hunter both fired their photon weapons at the same moment at Nickel relished the look of confusion and fear on her next victims' face as the two beams of light collided with each other. Then she flew forwards, feet barely an inch above the ground as she closed the distance, the Hunters' weapon sparking and smoking as it began to overload under the strain of the exchange before finally exploding in its' users hands; Nickel saw a flickering Aura and capitalised with ruthless efficiency, her sword was drawn from her back and with a single flash of the blade the Hunter's body fell to the ground in two halves.
"TULIP!" one of the two remaining Hunters screamed before charging in Nickel himself brandishing a pair of cudgel like weapons
"Grit no!" his surviving team-mate warned; it was no use as Nickel sunk her sword into the pipework of the wall and simply caught the Hunter's arm at the wrists and twisted his arms into place, treating the man to a cruel smirk before forcing his elbows upwards and breaking his arms with sickening cracks, following this up by ripping her sword free and bending a severed pipe out of place, then clutching the man by the side of the head and driving his neck onto the pipe with gory results.
"Now you" Nickel gestured to the sole remaining Hunter with her sword as she retrieved it, absently wiping the blood of her victims off of her face as the Hunter trembled, their weapons clattering to the ground
"I surrender" he whimpered, sinking to his knees
"I don't care" Nickel laughed "Now let's see….I killed two Hunters at the gate, two Hunters at the security checkpoint, your whole team and a shitload of guards….who's left buddy, where're they hiding?"
"Captain Steel; guarding the main reactor the powers this whole place, got an entire detachment of Atlas Knights with-" the Hunter fell silent, a stunned and pained gasp escaping him as Nickel's sword punctured his chest; the android unleashing a burst of her photon weapons at his motionless form to ensure that he was truly dead before continuing.
Nickel encountered almost no resistance as she stalked towards the main reactor, nothing more than a few security guards with dreams of heroism that were swiftly ended; a frown crossed her face as she saw that the entrance to the refinery's main power supply had been sealed, it's controls destroyed and the door itself seemingly welded shut from the inside. An annoyed huff escaped her as she realised that the Booster she had enhanced her already impressive capabilities with was beginning to wear off and she had no more to replace it with; resigning herself to this fact she placed a foot against the door where the two halves were welded together and prepared to use her full strength
"Some-"
She kicked
"BODY ONCE TOLD ME THE WORLD WAS….rude!" the android gave a demented laugh as she stepped into the now vacant doorway, the blast door sailing across the room only for her to become the target of dozens of weapons whose opening salvo pattered harmlessly against her
"Take that bitch down!" Nickel turned to the source of the command, a silver haired feline Faunus was leading the promised detachment of Atlesian war machines whose weapons were doing very little to Nickel; though their existence deeply offended her.
"And like that you've managed to bore me, dicks out for you" she snarled, sheathing her sword and unfurling both of her photon accelerators as she pointed both arms at the main Dust reactor, a cylindrical construct several stories high from which a pulsing cyan glow shone
"Oh Oum no!" the sole remaining Hunter roared, drawing a sword and rushing to stop her, seeming to realise what was about to happen as ethereal green light streamed into Nickel's hands
"Too late" Nickel laughed before firing, the reactor being breached with such force that it was nearly torn in half. Wasting no time she deployed her wings and took to the air, smashing through the roof of the building and continuing upwards until she was sure she would be clear of the blast; turning to face the refinery she watched with glee as the explosion ripped through it, chain reactions of all forms of Dust being ignited resulting in a fireball that reached several hundred feet into the air and sent a shock wave out in all directions; providing the final blow to the defenders of the east gate and allowing the Creatures of Grimm to swarm into the city from a second breach.
"Well, press F" Nickel snickered to herself before surging through the air in search of Pantheon, after all her mission was not yet over and she still needed to ensure the sentient monsters' survival.
And also steal some particularly choice weapons from deceased Hunters, particularly the Omega Wing.
"Goodwitch has left for the Council….ships should be inbound within minutes, there was a news crew in Arcadia for a hover-board race and" Nora visibly shuddered "Even if we get there now it's gonna be bad"
"It is" Qrow nodded solemnly, stood without the hunched and frail stature he affected in public and clutching Harbinger in its' scythe form as he, Ren, Nora, Scarlet David and Jasper Cimmerian gathered on the airship terminal of Halo Academy; Dove Bronzewing whilst having combat experience did not live on the campus and time would not allow them to wait for him, with both Goodwitch and Ren absent Professor Peach had assumed responsibility for the students
"What's our ETA?" Professor Cimmerian enquired, methodically rechecking her shotgun, knives, grenades and the more esoteric tools of her trade with unnerving calmness.
"Captain Gayl of the Tempest is already en route, she's sending us a transport. We should be in Arcadia within the hour" Qrow answered; Dew Gayl whilst not directly involved in the shadowy cabal of hidden protectors that Qrow and Winter led, had on more than one occasion liberally interpreted her orders or ignoring protocol in service of the greater good or simply to save lives without the hindrances of the chain of command; as such when Qrow had contacted her to warn that Arcadia was about to be attacked the Huntress turned Captain had immediately ordered her warship steered towards the settlement and promised Qrow that she would aid however she could.
"I believe that's our transport" Ren nodded in the direction of an approaching Bull-Head, flickering lights adorning its' wings making it visible in the darkness.
"Good, once we land priority is-What on Remnant?" Qrow scowled, only to let out a resigned sigh as the familiar forms of Team FADE marched towards them; a panicked Neptune Vasilias gesturing frantically as he attempted to make them return to the campus
"What are you doing?" Ren asked as their transport landed, suspecting he already knew what the answer would be before Eagle started to speak
"We were watching the hover-board racing in Arcadia when the broadcast went dead, there's a Grimm attack isn't there? We went to your apartment but you weren't there and-"
"We're coming with you" Felix interjected, speaking in a tone that made it clear he would hear no argument as he stared intensely at his great uncle
"Absolutely not" Qrow looked from his great nephew to his daughter with a mixture of pride and utter frustration
"Not a debate" Felix snapped, stepping into Qrow's face "Corey is in Arcadia, we're coming"
"Felix" Nora attempted to soothe "This isn't a mission, this is-"
"A breach" Felix snarled "I get that, I fought in the last one, my sister is there. Which part of this are you struggling with?" without waiting for an answer he barged passed Qrow only to find his way barred by Professor Cimmerian, her cybernetic eye narrowing as she regarded her student
"Stand down Xiao Long, I will use force if I have to"
"What the hell?" Diamond demanded, Team FADE collectively readying themselves for whatever came next
"EVERYONE CALM DOWN!" Qrow barked, voice trembling with fury before he grabbed Felix by the shoulders and physically marched him several paces away from Cimmerian
"Corey-"
"Is one of the best Hunters that this Academy has ever produced Felix!" the grizzled veteran snapped "And yes, she is in danger right now but I would never be able to look either Yang or Blake in the eye again if I responded to that by allowing BOTH of their children to be harmed"
"Oum damn it all Qrow, stop coddling him" Cimmerian spat "Xiao Long you're a good Hunter, surely you understand that your sister is not what's important right now!"
"Jasper-" Qrow warned
"NO!" she barked "Ruby Rose is currently working on a mission off of the continent, which means there are no miraculous victories against the odds in store for us! Every minute we waste here is a minute that Arcadia is deprived of Hunters that it desperately needs. Every minute we waste here means more people die, now STAND DOWN!" Felix visibly sagged, hands falling limply to his sides as the words hit him like a wave of icy water
"Arctus, Diamond take him back to our dorm" Eagle ordered, crimson eyes hard as she assumed command before gently assuring her partner with all the conviction she could muster "Corvid is gonna be fine, it's Corvid" there was a single tense moment where Felix seemed to consider resisting but instead allowed himself to be led away
"Eagle, you need to stay here as-" Ren warned only to find himself cut off as Eagle flung her arms around both him and Nora
"Stay safe" she whispered as she hugged them, her illusion of being in control shattering as tears fell from her eyes; she then turned to Qrow "Dad-"
"I'll be safe" he promised her "I'll bring them back….And don't do it Eagle"
"Huh?"
"You're thinking about using your Semblance and tailing us" Eagle's eyes widened and she stared at Qrow in unabashed confusion
"I-"
"It's what I would have done….definitely what Raven would have done. Don't do it" Eagle nodded, silently promising that she would stay behind. With no more to be said and every second being of vital importance Qrow led Ren, Nora, Scarlet and Jasper Cimmerian onto the waiting Bull-Head which a moment later took to the air; the veteran Hunters making their way once more into the breach.
Flesh-Seeker flew from Pantheon's grasp, the muscles encased within the bony, living weapon convulsing and its' singular blazing eye narrowing as it adjusted its' own flightpath; allowing its' jagged blades to tear through the skull of a Garrison fighter, their armoured helmet being of no consequence, Pantheon held out the hand that they had hurled the weapon with and Flesh-seeker responded by bracing itself in the ground, the points of the trident adjusting to allow it stand and seemingly leap back into Pantheon's outstretched palm. The dead soldiers' few remaining allies in the area were cut down without mercy or hesitation, Pantheon's tail lashing out gripping a mans' skull in its' three pronged claw, crushing it with ease whilst the scythe like claws of their upper limbs tore bodies asunder, painting the once pleasant streets with gore.
A deafening explosion ripped through the air and Pantheon saw flames extending into the sky before windows that had remained unbroken in the conflict were shattered and several abandoned cars were rocked by the force of the shock wave despite the distance from its' apparent source. The sentient Grimm regarded this development with interest for a few moments before ensuring that there were no more threats close by, then allowing themselves to slip into the darkness of the Grimm hive mind; following the twisted web of psychic connections to learn what had happened at the east gate; a great sense of satisfaction overcame them as they peered through the eyes of one of the thousands of Grimm now pouring into the city through the freshly made hole in its' defences, a Beowolf which promptly found itself fired upon by a military vehicle which was in turn sent hurling through the air by a larger monster. Pantheon retracted a little and allowed themselves to see the larger picture; thousands of Grimm had been lost already, though their demises were nothing in comparison to the wave of living darkness that would wash over Arcadia as more and more Grimm were drawn to it. More importantly the cities' defences had been all but annihilated allowing Pantheon to raise more armies from the Spawning Pits that they controlled and have them march deeper into the Kingdoms' territory with impunity through the opening that had been created. Returning their senses to their physical form Pantheon scoured the broken city for fresh targets, skulking further away from the now destroyed north gate until a low, warping sound from above demanded their attention.
"You" Pantheon snarled at the sight of the Huntress with the metal wings whom they had already needed to move aside previously; deciding to remove the problem more permanently this time they took to the air with a flap of their powerful wings and surged towards their target; Flesh-seeker flying out again and striking the Huntress in the back, though she wasn't impaled something within her armour was clearly damaged as the translucent sphere of energy that enveloped her flickered and failed. Pressing their advantage Pantheon collided with the Huntress, talons scoring deep gouges into her armour as Flesh-seeker returned to their hand; the two of them grappled and fought in the air until Pantheon felt the cold pain of a trio of blades being forced into their abdomen, followed by one of their wings and an upper arm being reduced to mangled and twisted stumps by shoulder mounted rail-guns, Pantheon responded by whipping their tail beneath the Huntress and clawing at her back and once they found purchase, hurling her away as they both fell to the ground.
"COREY!" Lux screamed as he rushed over to provide cover to his recovering ally, his twin rapiers gutting a Grimm that dared draw near as he did so; she and Pantheon had fallen at opposite ends of a ruined street which Team CLIR had been pushed back to as they were forced to concede more and more ground to the tide of Grimm. Seeing the monstrosity that had attacked Corvid attempting to rise Rusty opened fire, punching several holes in the beasts' bony carapace until Iris took a much more destructive approach and used her Semblance to levitate a nearby truck and hurl it towards the Grimm; a well placed shot from Rusty striking its' fuel tank and resulting in a fiery explosion
"What on Remnant was that thing?" Corvid demanded as she rose to her feet, the display of the Omega Wing warning her that her shield generator was damaged, she was low on ammunition for her rail guns' and that the battle-suits' wings had been left slightly misaligned by the crash landing which would almost certainly limit her agility in the air
"We!" a voice that sounded like a multitude of hateful spirits speaking in unison declared "Are Pantheon!"
"What the fuck?" Iris mouthed before deploying her arm mounted shotgun and simply firing at the form that emerged from the flames, to little discernable effect. Pantheon was missing a wing and their upper right arm, their left wing was torn and crushed, their bony carapace had been cracked and broken in countless places, most noticeably the angular fin like protrusion on their chest that their external ribcage tapered out into.
"Fall back!" Corvid barked as Pantheon's body began to spasm, though the Grimm never once broke its' stride; gouts of viscous black tar-like liquid erupted from its' wounds like pus before congealing into thick strands of muscular fibres which weaved themselves into limbs as the monster healed itself
"Go!" Corvid ordered seeing that her team had made no effort to run "Now!"
"You're not fighting that thing alone Corey!" Lux shot back in disbelief
"Corey come on!" Rusty demanded "We all need to get out of here"
"WE NEED TO TAKE IT OUT FROM THE AIR!" Corvid bellowed, keeping a watchful eye on Pantheon's advance and speaking more quietly "The airship terminal is an evac point, our Bull-Head is there. Get to it, get back here and we'll rip this thing apart; I'm gonna keep it busy for long enough-"
"Corey you can't!" Iris gasped
"Who else can?" She demanded "Go!" she demanded firmly. Lux nodded in understanding, the idea terrified him but if anyone would do what Corvid was planning then he was sure that it was Corvid herself
"Come on Iris, we need a pilot" he urged her. A moment later the street was empty save for Corvid and Pantheon; six glowing and hateful eyes boring into a featureless mask whose visor obscured Corvid's face. Blades were deployed and a Grimm in the form of a parasitic trident was hefted; Pantheon let out a guttural snarl of fury towards the human that had killed several of their horde and Corvid regarded the monster which had orchestrated this nightmare, conducting the Grimm like a skilled maestro and overseeing the breach of Arcadia. The ground cracked beneath them as they lunged at one another with all their might, a single word screamed from both of their lips with primal fury
"DIE!"
Team GORE had been in one of New Vale's many bars, this had naturally been Onyx's idea which Raffia had equally naturally agreed with; it had been Carcharodon's idea however to insist that Hellion joined them, stating that despite their acceptance of Eagle Arc, the blonde was after all a capable and courageous fighter and seemed almost entirely incapable of deceit; it was still somewhat unhealthy for Hellion to spend all of her time with Eagle. Carcharodon had then admitted that frankly the rest of Team GORE were worried that she was growing distant from them. The four of them had been providing a running commentary on the hover-board racing taking place in Arcadia, much to the amusement of the bars' other patrons who had no context for the extreme distaste for anything the team of Faunus held anything of Mistrali origin in; merely listening into the stream of consistently vile and creative insults levelled at the riders with a result of more than one person choking on, or spraying their drink. This had come to a halt and a chilling silence had fallen over the bar when the reporters and camera crew on the ground had taken the initiative to interrupt their scheduled broadcast and announce that Arcadia's defences were being assaulted by a Grimm horde of unspeakable size; the first howls and roars to be heard inside of the city had come moments before the cameras stopped.
Team GORE hadn't waited, upon seeing that a Grimm force was attacking from the north they had made their way out of the bar, each of them certain that this was somehow connected to the monster they had fought at the Jagged Mountains, which lay to the north of New Vale's territory. Following the coastline from the docks Carcharodon had led them to someone he expected to have a vested interest in this information and who would possibly be able to lend her assistance; she was after all an Atlesian Specialist.
"There's nothing we can do from here" Kafsi Asteri informed them bluntly as they stood inside the watchtower that she had made her base of operations; it's interior seemed underwhelming to the Faunus who had expected something more from her after their time in Atlas.
"You're an Atlesian warrior!" Carcharodon rebuked her venomously "Your place is in battle, as is ours; we should leave for Arcadia at once!"
"I have no way to get us there!" Kafsi barked back "I came to New Vale on civilian transport to draw less attention, the Hunters I'm in contact with are already in the air! There is nothing we can do!"
"Would you be so eager to give up if it were one of Atlas's settlements under attack?" Raffia spat, giving the Specialist a knowing look before turning to Carcharodon "We should return to the Academy, no doubt they will be sending fighters"
"No doubt they will have already sent them" Onyx growled "We should take a vehicle, all things considered I don't think the Kingdom could blame us"
"Would we make it?" Hellion asked seriously, her wings fluttering in agitation
"Almost certainly not" Carcharodon admitted before turning to leave "But we're going to try anyway; the beast we fought at the Jagged Mountains cannot be allowed to live any longer"
"Stand down Operative Gore" Kafsi ordered coldly, the Shark Faunus turned and regarded her cold fury, liquid black eyes narrowed
"Excuse me?" the rasped question was received as it was intended, a warning of extreme violence
"Hunters already aware of the situation are already en route, the target; Pantheon will be dealt with. Your presence will complicate matters and possibly compromise both my position and that of several Hunters and police officers. The operation cannot be risked"
"People are going to die!" Carcharodon snared, physically trembling with rage as Kafsi manifested the worst and most hated traits of the Hunters that roamed the fringes of Anima "And your concern is-"
"People are going to die regardless" Kafsi cut across him "Ozymandias had Pantheon freed after you had captured it with Project Snare; if he is somehow influencing or directing this Grimm then we must focus our attention here! The Grimm can be delayed but never stopped; stop wasting your efforts and direct your attention to stopping Ozymandias. The operation outweighs all other priorities"
"You remind me of people" Carcharodon rasped out as he drew close enough to hiss the words in Kafsi's ear "People that massacred my tribe, children and all because they were cowards who would never face us in battle. You're willing to sacrifice thousands to the Grimm and hold up one man as a justification….and just like those people you convince yourself that you're some kind of hero, because you're a Hunter. You disgust me Specialist"
"I can see why Commander Slate is fond of you" Kafsi shot back, words clipped and tone acidic "I will contact you when I have an objective that requires your skills….now get out" Carcharodon tensed and seemed to have to physically restrain himself from attacking her but eventually turned and beckoned his team to follow him
"One day Huntress" Raffia spat whilst gesturing to the swords that had once belonged to Kafsi herself
"Perhaps" Kafsi replied calmly, waiting until they were out of her temporary home and out of their considerable earshot before reaching beneath her sleeping bag and producing a small black case. Within the case, which was locked with a biometric scanner, was a laptop whose specifications meant that in reality it was closer to being a compacted version of Qrow Branwen's supercomputer; after another biometric scan, followed by a retinal scan and password Kafsi's keys began to dance across the keys of the laptop as she opened programs and frantically began typing commands. Within only a few minutes she had managed to gain access to a handful of live camera feeds scattered around Arcadia and whilst far from complete, when combined with the radio chatter she was intercepting from both the surviving members of the Arcadian Garrison and the inbound Hunters it gave her a deeper understanding of the situation on the ground. She then began hacking into the various systems of Vale's military and used the information she had gathered to begin the process of collating and updating the data at their disposal, altering and improving flight-paths and changing order to ones which would save more lives. She then began to hack into Arcadia's street signs and use them to send messages to groups of fleeing civilians, warning them of Grimm close by and guiding them to safer locations.
Whilst Kafsi had been adamant that there was nothing Team GORE could do to help the people of Arcadia, Kafsi herself had far more ingenuity, experience and equipment at her disposal and planned to use them all masterfully.
A Deathstalker with pincers and mandibles that clacked excitably began to scuttle over the wall of the Arcadian airship terminal, the wall slowly beginning to give way under the weight of the arachnid Grimm which was roughly the size of a station wagon; drawing fire from soldiers' desperate to keep the monster away from the civilian airships which were serving as triages until they eventually took to the air; the Arcadian Garrison desperate to get as many people as possible aboard before ordering the vessels to take off.
"CEASE FIRE!" Captain Frost bellowed as she caught sight of a black feathered and crimson eyed bird hurtling downwards towards the Deathstalker before vanishing in a flash of Aura, replaced by Qrow Branwen crouched upon its' back, the blade of Harbinger buried in its' skull.
"Take the shot!" he barked into his Scroll and seconds later the beleaguered defenders were treated to the sight of scores of missiles streaking downwards, fired from a warship which was rapidly drawing closer. As the missiles impacted they detonated their payload of highly concentrated and unstable Ice Dust, resulting in a wall of icy spires several dozen feet in height being erected around the perimeter of the airship terminal, fortifying it and sealing the cracks that were beginning to form. The next Hunter to deploy was Professor Cimmerian Jasper, Qrow watched her descend one of the ice spires, a plethora of landmines and other traps that she intended to dissuade the Grimm from approaching with in her hands. Soon after a Bull-Head landed on one of the few available landing pads; Ren, Nora, Scarlet David and Captain Dew Gayl striding out with weapons ready
"More Hunters and more ships are inbound" Nora called out before gesturing to the airships "Get these airborne, we can collect more evacuees with our ships"
"Who's the commanding officer here?" Qrow barked as he collapsed and sheathed his weapon
"I am!" Captain Frost of the Arcadian Garrison marched out to meet him, weapon cradled against her chest with her right arm whilst her left hung limp and useless. With forces spread thin and Creatures of Grimm pouring into the city, to say nothing of the aerial attacks, the Garrison headquarters had been abandoned; Beringrel scaling its walls and attacking from various points within the building, Frost had escaped but had been injured in doing so.
"What's your situation, where are your Hunters?" Qrow demanded urgently
"Something got into the Dust refinery, we lost two teams of Hunters and the chief the entire security team when it exploded; Team VOID and a couple of hired guns were stationed at the east wall, they reported casualties before we lost contact-"
"Team CLIR?" Qrow's eyes were wild "The students!"
"Last reported at the north wall relieving injured Garrison" Frost admitted, head hang low "A few minutes before it fell"
"No" Qrow collapsed, sinking to his knees beneath the crushing weight of those words "No, not Corey, not like that"
"We have more-"
"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" the solider announcing the arrival of what they wrongly assumed were more evacuees found themselves flung out of the way by a burst of telekinetic force as a trio of young adults tore into the airship terminal
"Come on, we've gotta get to-"
"Team CLIR?" Captain Frost demanded in stunned disbelief, bringing Iris, Lux and Rusty skidding to a halt
"Oh thank Oum" Nora breathed out "You're alive"
"Where's Corvid?" Qrow demanded, briefly entering his avian form to close the distance between them "What happened?"
"Near what's left of the north wall" Lux frantically explained "Some weird talking Grimm showed up, she told us to fall back and get our Bull-Head, we can kill it from the air" the brief explosion of hope that Qrow had felt flickered, being replaced by a cold heavy dread that settled in his gut
"Talking Grimm" his eyes screwed shut and every word that followed seemed to age him further "Wings, four arms, about ten feet tall and-"
"Yeah, that's it!" Iris answered
"What in tarnation is it?" Rusty demanded
"Too much for you to deal with" Qrow answered simply before beginning to march towards the transport that had brought him to Arcadia "Scarlet, take these kids and help Jasper bolster the Garrison forces. Ren, Nora head to the east wall and push the Grimm back. Gayl you're with me"
"North wall?" Dew Gayl assumed Qrow nodded
"We're gonna get Corey out of there before it's too late"
Nickel Polendina was thoroughly enjoying herself, a statement that laid bare just how inhuman and disturbed the android was. Following the destruction of the SDC Dust refinery to the east of the city she had returned to the ground and collapsed her wings; her presence in the air would raise questions and potentially expose her involvement if she were spotted, moreover whilst she had been tasked with ensuring the continued survival of Pantheon, the Grimm had no such loyalty to Nickel and the android would find herself an enticing target for beasts such as Nevermore and Griffins if she continued to fly and whilst she was more than equal to the task of laying the monsters low in their thousands if the need arose it would certainly be tiring and honestly, more than a little boring. Instead she had simply skulked through the streets, making her way towards the north gate and making a few admittedly unnecessary detours along the way until she had finally found her way into her current position; making herself comfortable on a roof and enjoying a large pizza and her first bottle of beer as she watched events unfold below.
Doctor Eldritch had proven correct in his seemingly prophetic warnings as Pantheon and Corvid Xiao Long had, almost by some unseen force been drawn towards each other and yet Nickel found herself powerless to act. Her orders were to remain hidden and not interfere directly unless absolutely necessary and risking an intervention at this point, with Pantheon being a Creature of Grimm despite their intelligence and therefore an entity of destruction would be far too risky; she could be forced to destroy Pantheon in self defence and render this entire exercise pointless, she could be forced to allow a Huntress to flee after seeing her face and render herself exposed. Fortunately despite the high stakes and the tension that came with it, the fight was at least entertaining to the sadistic android.
Corvid and Pantheon launched themselves at each other once again with all of their might, fuelled by Aura or monstrous and unnatural anatomy and colliding with such force that the ground beneath them cratered and a shock-wave rippled out from the point of their impact. Corvid attempted to tear into the Grimm's gut, the blades mounted on her right arm dipping below Pantheon's armoured ribcage only to be parried and locked in place by the Flesh-seeker which was clutched in their lower arms; Pantheon in turn lashed out with their sharpened upper limbs with Corvid' deftly catching and redirecting one whilst she dodged the other; Pantheon continued their assault by whipping their clawed tail at the humans' skull only for Corvid to weave around the blow and expertly fire both of her rail guns into the Grimm's left side without aiming, ripping away their left wing and both left arms.
"Nice" Nickel grinned, happily chewing on a slice of pizza as she lazily deployed on of her photon accelerators, just in case the situation devolved. Below Pantheon, whose shredded limbs were already regrowing hurled Flesh-seeker directly at Corvid's chest only for the Huntress to catch the weapon, both hands closing around the tridents' points
"Fool" Pantheon snarled before rushing forwards and summoning their weapon back to them, the sudden pull dragging Corvid off balance and allowing the Grimm to haul her from the ground as they leapt into the air, taloned feet closing around her shoulders and causing the support struts of the Omega Wing to audibly creak and groan under the strain, with sparks beginning to issue from several key components and warnings beginning to flood Corvid's vision with their sheer number.
"You're plan just got derail-gunned" Corvid chuckled darkly before firing another salvo of shots intended to utterly eviscerate the Grimm's upper half; Pantheon merely adjusted their grip in order to send the rounds tearing through nearby buildings before their tail found its' way behind the Huntress and began tearing through the workings of her weapons; once her struggling became too much to contain they simply grasped the armoured helmet which was connected to the rest of the Omega Wing in their tails' claws and hurled her to the ground where she bounced and skipped to a halt with a cacophony of metallic crashes; refusing to show quarter they then launched Flesh-seeker once again, only for Corvid Xiao Long to once again prove herself capable as she side-stepped the weapon whilst still rising to her feet, catching the shaft and driving the trident into the ground; even as its' bony carapace grew jagged thorns intended to lacerate her hand.
"Okay" Corvid muttered to herself as she stood "Need a plan" despite the bravado she taunted her monstrous adversary with she knew that this fight was not in her favour; her Aura was being taxed almost to its' limit and the damage to the Omega Wing was extensive, her shield generator was gone, her blades were beginning to blunt on the beasts' armoured hide, left rail-gun sagged limply on her shoulder; it's support and targeting system damaged to an extent that her helmets' display informed her had rendered it inoperable and her flight was hindered to almost uselessness at this point, the wings of her battle-suit having been bent and twisted out of their distinctive X formation at her back. She tried to gauge how much time had passed since she had sent her team-mates to recover their Bull-Head and realised that if they weren't here yet then something had happened; which in her mind reduced this Grimm from an immediate threat to nothing more than a temporary obstacle to be pushed aside so that she could find and assist Team CLIR; with that in mind she decided that it was do or die and launched herself forwards with a plan still forming as she did so.
"Fool" Corvid turned the Grimm's insult back against it as it propelled itself towards her with a flap of its' powerful wings; she planted both feet squarely on the broken asphalt and engaged her Semblance. Corvid extended her arms outwards and became an immovable object and a pillar of unmeasurable physical strength which Pantheon promptly collided with; their wings breaking in the impact and one of Corvid's bladed fists crushing the sweeping fin that sprouted from the Grimm's chest, whilst the other narrowly avoided their face and instead shattered the entire right side of the horned and armoured crest that adorned their skull. Pantheon however did not take the blow idly and even as more attacks rained down on them they crouched and coiled their muscles; only a brief hiss of pain escaping them as their tail was torn free of their body when it darted outwards to provide an opening, then they pounced. Shooting upwards Pantheon buried their scythe-like upper left limb into the propulsion system of Corvid's upper right wing and opened the claw outwards in a spray of sparks and black smoke, metal screeching in protest as damaged components were torn free; their right claw then seized the support strut of Corvid's left wing and with a sharp twist ripped the wing away entirely.
"FUCK YOU!" Corvid screamed with rage and exertion as she caught the falling sheet of steel and swung it with all her strength at Pantheon's face, visibly crushing part of the monsters' jaw; though Pantheon still rose up to their full height and loomed ominously over the human, preparing to strike. Another howl of fury escaped Corvid as she threw the ruined wing aside and stepped into Pantheon's guard as the monster lunged at her again, catching limbs and simply hoisting the Grimm over her head and slamming them into the ground with an earth-shaking boom.
"You're about to get switched Panthe-off" Corvid declared, panting and gasping for breath as she planted her booted foot on the broken remains of Pantheon's swept forward torso and aimed her remaining rail-gun downwards, preparing to shoot the Grimm in the face at point blank range
"No" Pantheon snarled simply, with a terrifyingly calm note to their voice before extend one of their lower and more humanoid arms out; Corvid realised a moment too late what was about to happen.
"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!" Nickel mouthed almost silently from behind her hands as she fought back a fit of manic giggling, giddy with excitement at the horror below. Her wings were deployed as the android had been preparing to intervene and impale Corvid before tearing her out of what remained of the Omega Wing; such an action had been proven unnecessary by Pantheon's final gambit.
When their master's hand extended, Flesh-seeker which had been left embedded in the road some distance away, contracted and fired itself like a missile, the spear tip adorning the base of the living weapon flying forwards directly towards Corvid Xiao Long who had desperately attempted to catch or deflect the weapon in an effort that may ultimately have prevented it from ripping cleanly through her skull. Nickel watched with keen interest, on the edge of her proverbial seat as the Huntress known and famed for being an immovable object staggered backwards a step, then another before sinking to her knees and her hands limply fell away from the shaft of Flesh-seeker, which had pierced the armoured visor of her helmet and reduced its' surface into a lattice of cracks and fractures before burying itself in her face.
"COREY!" a voice screamed desperately though it seemed to be utterly removed from what was unfolding below as Nickel watched Pantheon, the Grimm already healing, rise to their feet and rip Flesh-seeker free before twirling the weapon and in the same motion brutally slashing across Corvid's helmet with the prongs of the trident; shattering it completely and leaving fragments and flecks of crimson blood on the ground at Corvid's feet before she promptly collapsed.
"COREY!" Nickel turned towards the sound of the voice; an old man whom the android had been briefed and warned about approached, another Huntress at his back; the woman using her own trident to gather and conduct a localised tornado; directing the blast of wind at Pantheon and sending the Grimm crashing through a nearby wall, Qrow Branwen firing shot after shot into the hole as he rushed towards Corvid's unmoving form.
"It's time for us to go" Nickel stiffened as a hand clasped her shoulder gently
"How?" she demanded as she turned to face the masked form of Ozymandias Eldritch
"I have my ways, you know that" the corrupted Wizard cooed "Now come, your mission was a success but I felt a need to extract you as soon as I learned of Branwen's involvement….now is not the time"
"But Pantheon-" Ozymandias waived his companion's worries aside
"Is already attending to matters" as if on cue the thundering trumpet of a Goliath echoed throughout the street, momentarily drowning out the din of battle before the beat itself emerged; stampeding through buildings and blocking Qrow or Dew Gayl from pursuing as it smashed into the building into which Pantheon had been thrown. Nickel watched in silent amazement as she saw the intelligent Grimm grasping onto the undersize of the Goliath, making their escape whilst the Hunters attended to their fallen.
"You've done well" Ozymandias praised, going so far as to ruffle the murderous machine's hair playfully despite her look of unfettered rage at that contact "Pantheon's forces are now free to spread deeper into the Kingdom and your work at the refinery was exemplary, disposing of the Hunters and the evidence whilst also breaching the east gate, truly inspired"
"Alright, alright" Nickel pouted, displeased with being taken away from the carnage "I wanna come back here tomorrow though, I want that" she gestured at the demolished remains of the Omega Wing which lay scattered about. Ozymandias merely sighed
"As you wish" and with that the two of them vanished in a flash of poisonous green light which went unnoticed by Qrow and Dew Gayl as they desperately tried to get Corvid to their nearby transport before it was too late.
Authors Notes:
Yes, I'm a bastard. Now we've gotten that out of the way let's continue shall we?
I feel like I've got my groove back now, work situation is still a shit-show but I thoroughly enjoyed writing this chapter and it helped.
We're maybe two thirds into the volume, and I've still got plenty more action lined up for it.
Anyway let's summarise
If you shoot the little ones the big ones hit you like a truck, if you shoot the big ones then the little ones hit you like a tidal wave….Anyone who's ever had play against Tyranids in 40k knows that feeling.
I was pulling no punches with how bad it was; also Grimm actually having a plan of attack is a terrifying thought. Normally they'd hit the walls in a wide attack and cover as much surface area as possible; this time they put pressure on specific points and stayed out range of the majority of the defenders' weapons.
So is anyone watching "The Boys"….y'know what A-Train did to Robin; yeah that's what Corey did to those Griffins.
Corvid was clever, don't waste Hunters with a full tank of Aura on an evac job when they need to hold the line.
We finally see Iris's upgraded arm in action….Corvid said she was using some of Yang's ideas; also Iris put in some work here.
Remember the trick Phobos pulled with the Boarbatusk missile in first year; yeah think that but way bigger.
Running theme in my siege battles is "Don't be the guy who gives the warning about the Goliath, they always die"
I wanted Nickel's onslaught to be reminiscent of Ozymandias's rampage with the scalpel in second year, but more viscerally nasty….I think I achieved that.
She could have blown that Huntresses' head off, she just chose to bludgeon her until her skull caved in out of pure sadism.
The double arm break though.
Yes, yes Nickel just sang All-Star by smash mouth whilst kicking a blast door off….I honestly love juxtaposing her 'Living meme' nature with the fact she's a sociopath.
And now the Grimm have Arcadia in a pincer movement and most of the Hunters are dead.
You know it's bad when even the veterans of the war against Salem are on edge.
Qrow can't help but be proud of Felix, but at the same time come one if anything happened to him it would pretty much destroy the family.
I don't wanna hear anything about how Jasper is a bitch, she did and said exactly what she needed to for Felix to listen to her.
Eagle was definitely thinking about it.
So yeah Flesh-seeker is a living weapon that can adjust itself in the air and act like a limited homing missile as well as fly back to Pantheon like Thor's hammer.
When Pantheon attacked Corvid she had been shooting at something else and hadn't seen Pantheon coming, that's how they hit her in the back.
Okay if you google the Jaeger "Romeo Blue" from Pacific Rim, that's kinda what I imagine Pantheon's chest being like; except obviously more Grimm in nature.
I love making everything about Pantheon slightly body-horror.
Can you imagine Team GORE in a bar, it would either be a great night out or an utter bloodbath.
Look at how far they've come; from hating everything related to Hunters to wanting to be a better calibre of Hunter and protector of the people….Gotta admit Carcharodon's little speech was brutal and probably the most offensive thing he could think of to say to someone.
Come on Kafsi is a ruthless bitch….but she's also a Hunter and a Specialist.
Qrow and company made one hell of an entrance.
Okay Team VOID is a massive callback, literally from all the way back in Chapter 01 of The Downward Spiral; Gangrel mentioned them to Velvet as the only all Faunus Team he'd heard of besides his own.
Qrow hasn't seen Pantheon in person before this chapter but obviously he communicates with Gangrel and Winter so he knows what they learned from Artemis.
For Nickel not being able to join a fight must be unbearable.
Yes they cratered the ground, they went full anime.
Y'know what, I think this might be one of my best fight scenes.
Of course she had one last pun left.
I feel like people are gonna hate Nickel a lot more than they already did.
So Ozymandias knows enough about Qrow to warn Nickel….Remember that he's the wizard he has some access to Oscar and Ozpin's memories….and not just theirs, by the end of Vol.9 you'll get it.
Of course he has perfect timing, he manipulates time.
So Arcadia has fallen, Pantheon's horde are heading deeper into Vale's territory, Corvid is in dire need of a medic and Nickel is a happy little murder-bot….safe to say it's a bad day all round for the good guys.
Thank you to SumoSnipe, Funlander, DizzyDwarf and Ferrous for their reviews on the last chapter.
Yeah but he's a well meaning idiot.
Everyone deserves their alone time, problem is they live in dorms and someone always forgets a charger and has to come back at the worst time.
It won't be a mansion….I have plans.
Was the violence satisfactory?
Not to spoil too much but Kafsi is gonna have bigger problems very soon.
Well Pantheon made a move….But don't we'll see Nickel go against one of the main characters by the end of the volume….In fact, no, wait; you should definitely worry about that.
Oh come on, I can't give Eagle a clown car lol.
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.