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Chapter 113: Six Weeks
Following the twin breaches of New Vale's defences and the media of New Vale had, under no small amount of pressure and coercion collectively explained the situation away in a manner that seemed utterly plausible; stating that the initial attack on the docks were aquatic Grimm forced away from refugee ships to Mistral and once they had made landfall the chaos and charged emotions of the attack had drawn massive amounts of Grimm from the east.
Six weeks had passed since the twin attacks and within Halo Academy and the sprawling Hive City below something approaching normalcy had returned, allowing the citizens to try rebuild or simply continue going about their lives as the recovery effort took place around them; if one were to look out of a window from anywhere but the lowest reaches of the Hive City the would see that the sky above the Kingdom was almost clogged with the fleet of airships of all sizes and classes carrying thousands of tons of supplies such as Dust, building materials, entire pre-fabricated buildings and a legion of construction vehicles modified to function within a Hive city; a swarm of smaller transport craft flitted between the airships, the ground and the aerial platforms incessantly and at night their engines lit the darkness, especially those ships of an Atlesian origin which had been refitted to use SDC made Eco-Dust and gave out an eerie green glow.
New Vale had been beaten and bloodied, yet it remained unbroken and at that very moment, only a few minutes before the bell signalling the end of her current lesson, Eagle Arc had far more immediate concerns.
Nora Valkyrie had nominated herself as the blondes' sparring partner in a match without weapons or Semblances and as skilled as Eagle was, her honorary Aunt was a fully qualified Hunter with decades of experience who operated on a different level entirely.
"Ow!" she exclaimed as an unexpectedly acrobatic kick caught her square in the face and sent her spinning to the ground. Nora gave Eagle the courtesy of allowing her to stand before the barrage of blows recommenced; she leapt as she launched a left hook which Eagle blocked only for the older woman to pivot at the waist and drive her knee into her ribs and follow up with a narrowly avoided elbow to the temple
"Focus, focus" Nora chided as she forced Eagle backwards one hastily blocked punch at a time; each blow shaking the ground of the arena within the coliseum like classroom "You're distracted, your footwork is off today"
"Sorry" Eagle ground out through clenched teeth, managing to knock Nora's fists to her sides "I'm just worried about-EEP!" her explanation was cut short as Nota took full advantage of the opening that Eagle had presented to her, driving home her issue with her nieces' performance by simply kicking Eagle's out from under her and leaving her student in a crumpled heap on the ground
Just as the bell rang.
"Class dismissed!" Nora called out and the sound of chairs being pushed back, notebooks being closed, backpacks and jackets being donned and the dull buzz of conversation filled the room whilst the diminutive redhead pulled Eagle to her feet and gently patted her back
"You'll be fine" she drew out the last word before gently pressing her index finger against her nieces' nose upon seeing the glum expression Eagle wore
"Boop" Nora grinned "Seriously, you've got nothing to worry about. Let me know how it goes"
"Thanks Aunt Nora, will do" with that Eagle made her way out of the classroom, climbing through ascending layers of seats before reaching the door which led out into a hallway which was still populated with a mass of bodies as Teams FADE, GORE and NEON had chosen to wait for her and she soon found herself patted on the back and congratulated by a dozen voices for lasting as long as she had against Nora; Felix handing over her sword and shield just as Hellion gently grasped the front plate of her armour and pulled her down into a kiss
"Impressive as always little canary" they made their way towards their dormitories to change and deposit their weapons; the lesson that followed a combat class always allowed a degree of tardiness for this reason and they felt no need to rush; idle chatter passing between the twelve of them as they made their way turned towards the subject of plans for the evening as the Professors had, following the relief efforts for Arcadia and fighting in the capital city, chosen to show mercy and issue less assignments.
"Charity gig" Ether grinned, announcing that he and Olivine would be preoccupied for the night "Money for families of those dockworkers….besides it's always nice t bring Creatures of Grin out of hiatus"
"Sweet" Diamond grinned "Me and Arctus are helping out near the east wall for a few hours….we'll try and make it to your set?"
"If you're gonna be busy I get it" Eagle whispered in Hellion's ear understandingly before peppering her cheek with kisses; ever since the revealing that they had received a vessel and as such a home to call their own Team GORE had spent every available moment working to make the ship seaworthy again, stripping parts from other hulks lining the Broken Coast, taking tools and equipment from the academies' until Goodwitch threatened to ban them from it and Raffia had even brazenly suggested simply stealing supplies from the reconstruction effort until he had been overruled.
"Work has come to a standstill, we need parts that we don't have….robotics" Carcharodon rasped before Hellion could answer, a measure of distaste filling the last word. Eagle had helped Team GORE on their, as yet unnamed ship several times which Hellion assured her meant that her team-mates saw her as close to family as it was possible for someone born outside of the tribe to be; the Frost River Tribe's connection to their ships was a spiritual thing after all.
"You should come with us" Nyanza laughed "Me and Heely are helping Fluffy train his little brother; he might have more potential than those first and second years that follow you around like little ducklings" it was obvious from his tone that the bushy tailed Feline Faunus was joking, yet Carcharodon merely shrugged and both Felix and Helios were left oscillating between wide eyed disbelief and fighting the urge to cuff Nyanza around the back of the head when the grey fleshed and brooding Faunus spoke
"I just might" The rest of the ground of friends were left chuckling at their antics and as Onyx announced that if he couldn't work on their ship then he would probably train Eagle turned her attention back to Hellion
"So if you're not busy tonight….You know I've got-"
"I know" Hellion assured her "I'll come with you if you need moral support"
"Thanks, I appreciate it" the blonde smiled and as she wrapped an arm around Hellion's waist, feeling the Dragonfly Faunus's wings brush against her, she found herself finally able to relax somewhat.
If only the pounding in her skull courtesy of the sparring match would fade.
"This is place is still a shit-show" Rhodium Torchwick declared as he and Corona entered what had become Ozymandias's work area within the abandoned pharmaceutical company he had taken residence in following the destruction of Rhodium's Nightclub. The bizarre and eclectic mixture of a laboratory, workshop and operating theatre which the Doctor currently occupied had been rendered spotless and orderly to an excessive degree and Rhodium assumed that Ozymandias's living area was similarly clean; yet the rest of the building had simply been left as it had been found, with the only difference being the crates of raw materials and finished narcotics waiting to be sold that had been deposited in the more open spaces.
"Unfortunately so, I've had neither the time or inclination to decorate myself as I've been rather busy and I presume that your people are similarly preoccupied" the slight muffling of Ozymandias's voice ended as he removed his mask and regarded them with his remaining eye
"So it's ready?" Corona asked, the Mantis Shrimp Faunus both eager and apprehensive in equal measure as she scanned the more clinical and sterile areas of the room for the reason she had come here
"Indeed it is Miss Corona" Ozymandias nodded, his usual grandfatherly tone becoming apologetic as he added "I must warn you that this will not be a pleasant experience, it will be painful….though I suppose less so than the events that caused-"
"Oz, stop talking" Rhodium growled in warning; forgetting his suspicions and simply addressing the man as he would any of his underlings in they irritated himself or Corona
"Of course Mister Torchwick" Ozymandias flitted between draws as if searching for something; a feigned scatter-brained confusion that Torchwick was utterly unconvinced by. Presently he withdrew what he had been looking for and presented it to his two guests; an unadorned metal case which was opened to reveal a prosthetic right forearm, minimalistic and pristine white plating over gleaming chrome
"Looks like one of the newer Atlesian models" Corona noted "Thank you"
"Well I did have a hand in designing some of those models and happen to have the key elements of the design committed to memory….Naturally I've made it a little sturdier to accommodate your Semblance, unfortunately without making it larger and sacrificing your balance somewhat I've had to leave out several other options in terms of integrated weaponry and-"
"Thank you" Corona repeated as she gave Rhodium a glance; a silent conversation passed between them in a series of slight changes of expression and both of them agreed that the cybernetic limb would be stripped down and checked for any sort of listening devices, explosives or other malicious alterations before they returned to the apartment they shared.
"You ready babe?" Rhodium asked, reaching out to give her flesh and blood hand a gentle squeeze in spite of their present company
"Yeah, let's do this"
"The procedure will only take a few moments, the preparations have already been made. Miss Corona if you wouldn't mind sitting down….I would rather you didn't collapse" biting her tongue the Faunus did as she was asked and presented the connection cap that had been fitted over the stump of her arm
"Ready when you are" she assured Ozymandias, the doctor merely nodded in silence whilst examining the connection point for a moment, he took the limb and fastened it in place; each of connection points sliding into a place with a slight hiss and pop, next he opened a panel hidden on the arm and began manually adjusting internal controls just out of view. Eventually he looked up at Corona and said simply
"Brace yourself"
She never had chance to do so; the pain was immense and like nothing Corona had ever felt before, tears spilled from screwed shut eyes and she was barely aware of Rhodium attempting to calm her; it was as though her arm had been returned to her but every single nerve ending had been set ablaze and struck with lightning individually with her Aura doing nothing to prevent it, beneath this blinding pain was the unsettling sensation of something crawling both on and beneath her skin along her arm, travelling towards her spine and then her neck before finally reaching her skull.
Then the pain vanished, stopping in a single instant that left Corona as stunned as the pain itself had as she tried to readjust to her surroundings once again.
"Hey, hey you're okay, you did it" Rhodium assured her, having been talking to her the entire time in a desperate attempt to draw her focus away from the pain
"My apologies, the initial feedback from a first time connection is something that Poly-Tech has been trying to overcome for years with very limited success" Ozymandias explained; Corona merely waved him away before coming to a stunned halt as she realised that she had done so with her right hand and a fit of near hysterical laughter overcame her
"Shall we leave Miss Corona to adjust for a moment?" the Atlesian scientist offered, though in truth it was an instruction as he was already gently ushering Rhodium out of the room; a gesture that would have seen a lesser man stabbed simply for daring to shove the redhead. Moments later the pair were stood upon a somewhat rickety and untrustworthy gangway, peering down at drugs what were waiting to be collected
"I'm seeing less boxes than I want" Rhodium noted flatly, demanding an explanation without needing to raise his voice
"My apologies, the Eco-Dust that's become a key component of our most reliable variety of Booster has been hard to come by these last few weeks….Atlesian shipping companies are buying all of the SDCs' stock before I can have any brought in; though we are still a long way from a….I believe I heard one of your people refer to a lack of product as a drought"
"Doesn't need to be a drought to slow us down, any amateur knows to reload before the pack's gone" Torchwick growled, annoyed at the lack of productivity before deciding to try and wheedle some information out of the scientist and assuage his concerns
"Thought you might have just been busy with you're own projects and slacking on the job" he shrugged with an air of indifference "Y'know the one you were gonna send Nickel out to work on"
"Ah but unfortunately the same problem has struck again" Ozymandias's tone was good natured despite the grimace that crossed his burned and disfigured face "A rather unique component of utmost importance was lost during the breach and locating it is proving difficult"
"Well that sucks, let me know if you want me to send a crew out to look for it" Torchwick offered "What's the project anyway? You had notes and diagrams all over the old bunker but I never really got a good look at most of 'em"
"That won't be necessary" Ozymandias answered hastily enough to all but cement Torchwick's suspicions that he was involved in something far more sinister than their drug dealing enterprise before quickly adding "The project itself is probably not of any real interest to you….I'm merely answering some scientific questions that Atlas decided should be left unanswered"
"Try me" Torchwick grinned wickedly as he leaned against the railings, attempting to coax something out of the scientist that might betray his intentions or reasons for doing whatever he had done. Ozymandias remained silent and for a moment Rhodium thought he was merely deciding how best to phrase his answer, it soon became clear that Ozymandias was eyeing the mobster up with suspicions of his own
"Okay I think I'm ready, let's go….Thanks again Doc" Corona broke the steadily building tension just as the idea to reach for a weapon invited itself unbidden into Rhodium's mind
"You're quite welcome, I'd hate to see a Huntress wounded in times like these" sensing that he would get no more out of Ozymandias Rhodium left with Corona, unable to stop himself from throwing one last question over his shoulder
"Where's Nickel? She's been feeling sorry for herself long enough, it's about time she earned her keep" Ozymandias's answer came with a hint of a chuckle
"I do believe she said something about retail therapy"
Nickel Polendina made her way through streets that had been spared from the attention of the Creatures of Grimm when the monsters' had rampaged into the city before being halted by the sealing of the blast doors and counter attack; making her way towards a small park situated close to the apartment that Torchwick's lackeys had acquired and decorated for her, with her home being situated in an area of the city populated primarily by college students the park was likely to be empty and Nickel was unbothered and uninterrupted as she went about her business, pausing only to examine her own reflection in the window of a parked car before hopping over the fence surrounding the park and making herself comfortable on one of the swings.
Nickel's appearance had undergone several changes, not all of which were the response of the bout of shopping she had recently returned from, naturally paid for on a stolen credit card. Her outfit was a pair of simple pale grey sweatpants and a noticeably oversized sweatshirt, both of which were plastered with logos and decals written in fonts that would be at home in a comic book and jarringly bright orange and neon green colours, the same colours as the mismatched laces in the new, blindingly white sneakers she wore. Her left hand was covered by a single black glove and around her neck was a studded choker, partially obscured by a lowered dust-mask which had been decorated with luridly coloured flowers which were presumably some art students' idea of a joke; her eyes were hidden behind sunglasses with tinted lenses and heart-shaped frames whilst her distinctive coppery hair had been dyed an almost platinum colour, pale silver with the faintest hints of blue or purple sheen not dissimilar to Corona's natural hair colour.
Nickel looked unbelievably tacky and was relishing it, both for the twisted amusement she got from the juxtaposition of her appearance and the brutality she excelled in and more importantly the fact that she could no longer be mistaken for the obsolete model who dared to live a happy and fulfilling life whilst Nickel had been consigned to her fate.
Yet it was still a disguise despite being a statement of her individuality; the dyed hair was to mask where it had been singed and burned by Felix Xiao Long's final gambit, her baggy sweatshirt was loose enough that her remaining photon weapon could be deployed without rolling up her sleeve and both it and her single glove were to hide her left forearm which had only been partially recovered; the limb had mobility and sensation yet was utterly devoid of the outer layer that mimicked soft tissue which covered her body, the dust-mask was to hide the fact that whilst enough of the synthetic epidermis had been sourced to repair her face the skin around her mouth looked wrong in some hard to describe way whenever she spoke and the sunglasses were a simple yet effective way to mask the fact that her eyes were now two different shades of green, the left being a pale minty colour rather than the emerald it once been as an exact match had been impossible to find.
Nickel wasted little time considering such unimportant details and quickly took to the task at hand, producing a notebook with a vibrant and sparkling cover which once opened was revealed to be filled with dozens upon dozens of technical drawings and cross sections with frantically scrawled annotations, many of which had been simply scribbled out entirely; she took a pencil and within moments her hand had become a blur of movement as design after design was drawn
"This aint it chief, this aint it either, neither is this…." the android muttered under her breath as schematics were drawn and quickly disregarded at an impossible rate, the pencil never once piercing the page despite the speed at which Nickel worked until she finally halted with a sigh, kicking her legs out to gain some momentum on the swing she was currently sat on.
"Where to even start" she grumbled, the sword she melted in her fight with the Lion Faunus who took her wings was only ever intended to be a temporary stopgap whilst she worked on something that she could truly be proud of and now that she had scrap taken from Corvid Xiao Long's Omega Wing she had a more clear idea of what was needed, yet problems persisted; the project seemed to simply be too big of an undertaking and unless she could find something that would act a basis to work from things seemed unlikely to change.
"Fuck it all" Nickel huffed, almost giving in to the urge to hurl the notepad away from her; such urges were why she was currently not permitted to work in Ozymandias's laboratory, there had been an incident a week ago wherein one of Torchwick's lackeys had interrupted her concentration and found themselves with a fractured skull. Instead she merely stared upwards, seeing only the ceiling of the hive level above her. She noted that it wouldn't make much difference if she were outside with the way that the airships and transports filled almost the entire sky
"Nickel you're a genius!" she exclaimed to herself as an idea struck her and her pencil flew into motion once again, several more pages being filled before she reached for Scroll and dialled
"Hey chief!" She exclaimed, bouncing happily on the swing "Tell the fuck boy I'm gonna need to a borrow some guys and a truck….I'm heading out to the Jagged Mountains for some hiking"
"Still can't believe how fast they're getting the perimeter wall rebuilt" Arctus noted as he and Diamond took a break from helping to unload supplies from a nearby shipping container, their Aura fuelled strength making them a great asset to the construction crew they were assisting as they could simply lift and carry things that an average person would need a crane or forklift for.
"It's a priority that they can't afford to cut corners on; it sounds harsh but there's not much point rebuilding anything inside the walls until the breach is sealed or it'll just be open to attack again" Diamond noted from where she sat nearby, perched on a now empty crate as she tuned the bass guitar that Arctus had bought for her eighteenth birthday; she had brought the instrument with her as the pair were planning on heading to the charity gig Ether was performing at later that night and the guitarist had suggested a jam session afterwards.
Arctus's impressed state was warranted, within six short weeks the damage to the perimeter wall had been largely repaired, the general structure had been restored and work on the eastern gate which had been the target of the Grimm's attack was almost completed, allowing roads which had been closed for over a month to be reopened. The defences and weapon emplacements along the wall would take a while longer and work within the surrounding areas of the city was ongoing.
"It's amazing what a sense of community can achieve" a new voice noted, before adding with an amused edge "Well that and all the Council bigwigs pumping Lien into making sure everything looks good as new; the Vytal Tournament is coming to New Vale next year and they don't the place looking like a war-zone" Diamond and Arctus turned and were greeted by the sight of a middle aged woman with dark skin, braided hair and facial scars earned as a militia fighter in the retaking of Vale from the Grimm in the war against Salem. It was a sight that Diamond and Arctus hadn't seen in quite some time
"Miss Pardus!" Diamond exclaimed happily, both she and her partner rising to their feet as if unwilling to be seen as idle
"Come on now, you haven't worked for me in over a year; it's just Hickory to you" their former manager from the Mercy Foundation soup kitchen and homeless shelter grinned
"It's been way too long, how is everyone?" Diamond asked animatedly, her former employer frankly reminded the sniper of her mother in a pleasant way
"Well there's quite a few more souls with nowhere to call home right now" Hickory sighed, quickly adding "But this might be the incentive the Kingdom needed to get certain things in order"
"New home are being built?" Diamond surmised
"A lot of 'em" Pardus nodded "Xiong might be a scumbag but he loves his city in a way that the rest of the council don't he's strong arming 'em into building enough to house everyone….and then that Torchwick boy is having his businesses help out in any way they can as well"
"They're competing against each other" Arctus snorted, unable to keep a derisive note out of his voice
"And they're welcome to keep at it" his former employer chuckled "Much rather them have a pissing contest by doing something constructive than going to war and hurting those who're already suffering the most"
"Let's hope it stays that way" the Bear Faunus shrugged
"It probably won't, let's just hope it lasts long enough to not just rebuild but make things better than they were" Pardus paused, a wicked grin crossing her scarred face before she added "But that's enough of that talk whilst you're on a break; how've you both been….I'm noticing a distinct lack of a ring on this young lady's finger boy" the stern tone the words were delivered in was enough to leave both Arctus and Diamond sputtering as they tried to form a coherent sentence; with Hickory laughing all the while.
"Things are….things are okay" Diamond finally managed to answer "Just training and helping out where we can"
"Glad to hear it, you're good kids" Hickory nodded sagely "I suppose you'll be having another crack at the tournament when it comes around….Oum I thought I saw some horrible things in the war, but what happened in Atlas was evil; I assume you're friend is okay after that?"
"Felix is doing alright" Arctus nodded, he tried to talk about the final battle with Celeste Lupus and her White Fang as little as possible "And yeah we'll probably enter the Vytal Tournament again….although it'll be our last year at the academy so it kinda depends"
"Let's just hope that nothing else happens to New Vale between now and then" Diamond added; Hickory merely laughed
"Let's hope so….but really what are the odds of another attack"
Nyanza performed an impressively high jump, carrying himself over Carcharodon's blow aimed for his chest and made to drive his knee into the Shark Faunus's mouth; with a sneer that displayed a mouthful of jagged fangs Carcharodon simply reached out and grabbed Nyanza's leg, dragging the feline downwards whilst driving an elbow upwards into his chin with a dull crack before following up with a chop to the collarbone that sent the smaller Faunus staggering away and choking
The children watching the sparring match went wild, all of them cheering for their preferred combatant
"Y'know if Nyanza can pull off a win he's gonna be insufferable for weeks" Felix noted
"Would you rather your brother were a fan of Carcharodon?" Helios replied with a knowing grin
"Oum no….he's way too young for an Emo phase that severe" the Lion Faunus scoffed in a mortified tone, Helios responded by wrapping his arms around the shorter mans' waist from behind and planting a series of kisses along his neck; enjoying the brief moment of peace whilst their young students were preoccupied. Astra had become decidedly more popular at school upon revealing to his classmates that his half-brother was a Hunter who would be training him and the young Deer Faunus had been accompanied to his first lesson by roughly half a dozen friends who wanted to participate as much as possible; much to Carcharodon's surprising enjoyment.
The current sparring match had been started by one little boy asking a question that seemed almost inevitable in hindsight, that being 'Who would win in a fight?' Helios calmly reminded Carcharodon of their encounter in the Vytal Tournament which Nyanza had taken as an invitation to make sly comments and pointed asides until the Shark Faunus finally challenged him to single combat without weapons or Semblances.
"Come on Nyanza!" Astra cheered as the Hunter whose exploits he followed as if he were a sports star rolled aside from an attack, only for it to be revealed to be a feint when Carcharodon caught the feline in the cheek with a spinning heel kick as he attempted to rise to his feet and leaving him sprawled on the ground
"Feel like we should break this up before Car forgets it's only for show?" Felix suggested, becoming slightly concerned despite the distraction that was his boyfriend
"Probably" Helios admitted "But interfering in single combat is frowned upon" the point was rendered moot as Nyanza rose to his feet on shaky legs, tapping the ground as he did so in a sign of submission
"Alright, you take that one" he mumbled, words slurred a little as he massaged an already swelling cheek. The group of children were chattering animatedly between themselves, several of them boisterously trying to recreate some of Carcharodon's more punishing attacks
"I've seen the….cartoons the Kingdom shows children" the Shark Faunus rasped the word out with scathing contempt "If you learn nothing else today, learn that they lied to you….Jumping around and shouting will do nothing to save you, ask Nyanza"
"Oum damn it" Felix muttered before calling out "Okay kids we're gonna wrap it up for today; we've gotta catch a flight back to the Academy….and Nyanza is probably gonna need some painkillers"
"And remember, don't try this at home" the feline added in a rare moment of sensibility.
"Okay me and Heely will make sure the kids get home safe; we'll catch up with you two later" Felix suggested Nyanza and Carcharodon nodded and said their goodbyes before leaving; a moment later Felix and Nyanza were leading the group of children away from the park within the Hive Complex and towards their homes; the redhead keeping an eye on the children whilst the Lion Faunus spoke to his brother
"So how was your first lesson?...And sorry it took so long, the doctor told me I couldn't really do anything for a few weeks"
"It was awesome" Astra beamed happily "I just wish Nyanza had won though….your other friend seems a bit mean"
"Yeah, yeah he can be" Felix laughed "But you did good today kid, really good….can't wait until I can start showing you the more advanced stuff and maybe unlock your Aura for you when you're ready"
"That's gonna be so cool!" Astra's words were almost a squeaking gasp as the possibilities seemed endless to him "What about weapons, I want a really cool one that transforms like yours"
"That's a long way off yet" Felix warned him "It's gonna be a few years before you're at that point" he couldn't help but chuckle at the annoyed grumbling that escaped the younger Faunus.
"Your brother is right, they're not toys" Helios chimed in
"Exactly, you make a sword or an axe and use it wrong you're gonna end up with robot bits like me" Felix chuckled
"You don't have any….wait" Astra's eyes widened "Are you gonna get a new tail?"
"Soon" Felix answered "I'm going to see the doctors about it this weekend, my sister is gonna get a new eye as well 'cos the Grimm hurt her pretty bad"
"Is it gonna have like a laser or something built into it?" Astra was almost bouncing with enthusiasm at this point
"Maybe not a laser….but I'm sure I can get the doctors to build something cool into it" Felix's expression flickered as a thought her had trying to keep from his mind surfaced "Still a little worried though, I've heard that getting cybernetics is painful"
"You'll be okay, you're super tough" Astra smiled up at his brother
"He's right you are" Helios added with a smile, kissing Felix briefly which only prompted the young Deer Faunus to mime vomiting much to his friends amusement.
Felix merely rolled his eyes, he had been the younger brother before after all and he assumed that this was some form of karma.
Schnee Manor was largely quiet, a common state of being for such an extensive property which housed so few people; Athena-Jade was currently in her room following a training session with her father after she had finished her homework whilst Coral was still making steady headway with her own work with Weiss's assistance. The Slate family's adopted daughter had initially been given extra support with her schoolwork which also translated into extra homework due to the education she had missed out on living in a White Fang base; however as time went on Coral's teachers had begun to note that the girl was almost frighteningly gifted in some areas, her affinity for mathematics and the sciences had led to her being given steadily more difficult work by teachers who wished to see her achieve her full potential.
Gangrel Slate was sat on the sofa, attempting to relax as the movie that was being shown on television seemed to slip through his consciousness without leaving any impression at all; he had been so absorbed in his own thoughts that when he sensed movement beside him he almost jumped before realising that it was Weiss, his wife using her Glyphs to make her way over the sofa before sitting beside him and resting her head on his shoulder
"I remember this movie" she noted with a fond smile "Isn't this the first movie we took Arctus to see?"
"Oh yeah it was" Gangrel gave a toothy smile at the memory before his expression flickered a moment later "Have you heard anything from him lately?"
"No" Weiss admitted with a sad shake of the head "Give him time Gang"
"Arctus, Blake, Ruby & Penny…." the Bear Faunus trailed off; with Corvid Xiao Long being brought into the fold and the breach on New Vale it seemed inevitable that Corvid and Felix would tell each other all they knew and that the rest of Team FADE and their families would soon learn as well.
The results had been predictable, Arctus had been as understanding as possible with his father; telling Gangrel that whilst he accepted that some things needed to be kept secret, keeping things like the existence of Pantheon and Nickel Polendina had cost lives and the way Qrow and Winter's shadowy group had been using people as pawns was deplorable, the two had not spoken since. Blake had been far less forgiving, his sister in everything but blood had been outright murderous in her fury; assuring Gangrel that if her children were ever placed in harms way because of his lies and secrets again she would kill him herself. Ruby and Penny had merely kept the silence and were seemingly making good on their promise to leave New Vale.
"You know that I think you made a mistake with Project Legacy, you should have told Ruby and Penny immediately" Weiss sighed "But Blake and Yang will let it go eventually….Felix himself isn't angry about it" there were no secrets in Gangrel and Weiss's marriage and the Bear Faunus was thankful that he had her support and advice when he needed it, he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer
"How was work, you look exhausted" he murmured
"Busy" Weiss admitted with a small yawn "Research projects have had to be stopped, we need every available person working on production just to keep up with demand after the Breach….Whitley hasn't stopped grinning like a maniac in weeks; I don't think he's left the office in that long either"
"He's finally cracked" Gangrel chuckled
"You're barely handling any better yourself" Weiss noted with a suddenly stern expression "You barely sleep when you're at home, what's wrong….It's not just about Arctus is it?"
"That's part of it" Gangrel admitted honestly, he hated that his work was yet again damaging his relationship with his son but with a slow sigh he admitted "It was Kafsi's funeral"
"Oh" Weiss blinked, she knew that the Specialist who had perished in New Vale was someone whom Gangrel largely disliked but that he also still blamed himself for her death
"The only people there were officers who had to be there" Gangrel murmured "She had nobody….she's gone, nobody is going to miss her and the gears of the war machine keep turning. I think Arctus was right; we use people"
"Oum I'm sorry" Weiss murmured, unable to stop herself from comparing the late Kafsi Asteri to Neo Politan; both of them had lived their lives with singular devotion to their chosen cause.
"I'm sending Donner to New Vale"
"Is she….I know she took the loss of her eye hard" Weiss didn't want to make any undue inferences about members of Gangrel's retinue but she was unable to shake her doubts about the woman who had always been something of a berserker.
"She's passed all psych evaluations" Gangrel assured her "She isn't going to be taking up Kafsi's old mission unless asked by Rover and Missy; they think they might have a plan. Donner's going to be accompanying the research team that's going to be working on Pantheon; she'll answer to Goodwitch"
"Hopefully those scientists can figure out what exactly is going on" Weiss murmured, whilst she herself had declined Winter's offer of a seat at the table and a place in her secretive group, choosing instead to help Remnant in other ways she was still well aware of the threat posed by Pantheon as a seemingly intelligent Grimm even before one considered the fact that the terrorist Ozymandias Eldritch seemed to be interested in using the monster for some unknown purpose.
"Hopefully" Gangrel murmured, something clearly remaining unsaid until Weiss gently nudged him and prompted him to talk to her
"I'm thinking about resigning once this is over" the Bear Faunus admitted simply, continuing once he saw his wife's stunned expression "Chiffon's ready for the role and I….I can feel myself changing, the decisions that I'm having to make; I'm becoming everything that I hate….I just don't know what I'll do if I step away from the Specialists, Oum knows I'm too old to get back out in the field"
"I'll support any decision you make, you know that" Weiss promised as she nuzzled into him and for a moment Gangrel allowed himself to believe that things might just work out for the best.
Outside of the Hive Towers of New Vale the weather was turning unpleasant, light showers having persisted and grown into a downpour soaked Eagle to the bone and left her hair and T-shirt clinging to her; the blonde having removed her leather jacket and held it over Hellion to keep the Dragonfly Faunus as dry as possible whilst the two of them made their way through the unpaved streets of New Hope towards the Arc family home
"You're going to make yourself ill little canary" Hellion noted
"I'll be fine" Eagle replied with a serious expression "Besides….I was raised to treat a lady right" she could only keep a straight face for a moment before giving in to a fit of giggles; Hellion reached up to cup her cheeks and kiss her gently
"I love you" she breathed out softly against Eagle's lips; such admissions were somewhat infrequent but they never failed to make the blonde utterly melt
"I'm still sorry that I forgot about the changes to the flight times, we might miss our first class tomorrow and-"
"And that will be completely fine" Hellion assured her; the flights to and from the aerial platforms which hung above the city had been changed and many of them had been cancelled whilst the repairs to the city were being undertaken to allow the airways to be cleared for more airships carrying resources to arrive during the night. Fortunately there was a late night bus which travelled to some of the settlements beyond the walls of New Vale including the village in which Eagle had been raised and despite the lateness of the hour she saw that there was still light in a downstairs window of her grandparents' home.
The two of them made their way onto the porch though as Eagle turned to Hellion, intending to ask for her keys which were in the pocket of her jacket; the Faunus promptly pulled her down into another kiss, this one far more fierce, her hands running trailing down Eagle's well muscled back as she took her lower lip between her teeth.
"Thanks for the jacket" she grinned at a blushing and heavily panting Eagle when they finally broke apart; the taller woman awkwardly fumbling for her keys with a shell-shocked demeanour before finally letting herself into her childhood home and leading Hellion in by the hand.
"Eagle, I was wondering who it was at this time of….For Oum's sake girl get yourself a towel, Craven! CRAVEN! Turn the heating up and get some towels, these girls are soaked through!" Ivory Arc called back to her husband as she entered the hallway
"Hey Grandma" Eagle gave her a loose and brief hug, not dampening her clothes too much "We missed our flight so we came here"
"Well that's no problem at all" Craven Arc's gruff voice said simply as the man himself made his way into the hall carrying several think towels for Eagle and Hellion to bundle themselves up in "We've got plenty of empty rooms, we'll fix one up for Hellion"
"Oh that won't be necessary" the words were out of the former raiders' mouth faster than Eagle could stop her and it was hard to tell who was more red-faced in their embarrassment, Eagle or her grandparents.
"There will be no tomfoolery under my roof" Craven eventually said, clearing his throat and leading everyone away from the hallway whilst evidently trying to expunge what he had just heard from his memory; a task that Eagle decided to assist him with
"So um, I've got good news and Hellion knows 'cos she was there but I wanted to tell you first?"
"Oh?" Ivory Arc raised an eyebrow
"I passed my driving test!" Eagle announced with a broad smile "First try and everything" Eagle soon found herself pulled into a tight hug, despite still being rain soaked by both of her grandparents
"Congratulations, I'm so proud of you" Ivory cupped her eldest grandchild's cheeks "Look at you, all grown up now"
"Well in that case we've got something to show you" Craven grunted a small smile tugging at his own lips "No sense waiting 'til morning now, we're all up so come on" with that he led the way through the entirety of the house, limping on his prosthetic foot as he went until finally leading them into the back yard and into the garage. Eagle almost dared to hope and when the light was turned on she was rewarded, the garage was filled with something rendered indistinct by the flickering lightbulb and the sheet that covered it, yet the blonde knew that there was only one thing it could be
"You didn't" she mouthed out "Oh my Oum thank you, thank you so much"
"We didn't want you spending that money your mother gave you on a car, we paid for the children, we'll pay for you as well" Ivory told her firmly
"Now it's not as flashy as what your partner drives, we're not rich….but it drives" with that Craven pulled the sheet away and revealed the car that he and his wife had bought for their first granddaughter
"I love it" Eagle's eyes were bright and she was giddy with excitement. The car was small, undeniably old and in serious need of some care an attention. It was streamlined in oddly round sort of way which combined with its' large circular headlights gave it the appearance of a car that a child might draw; its' paint had once been a brilliant white, Eagle took one look at the scratched, dented and rusting metal before her and promised herself that she would restore it.
"It's an old Volt-Wagon Scarab" Craven told her, clearly immensely happy that Eagle liked the gift as much as she did "They don't make 'em like this any more, this is from when they used to make tanks as well….Man I bought it from swears that that dent is where an Ursa couldn't get through it"
"Now I'm not sure I believe that" Ivory chuckled "But it will certainly get you around, so you can come home and visit whenever you want" Hellion gave a sly smile, jade eyes twinkling as she saw the way Eagle's face became focused; examining the car with rapt attention
"I know that look" she purred "You're already thinking of how you can improve it, make it faster and stronger"
"Maybe" Eagle answered coyly, still unable to stop smiling from ear to ear
"Well with Eagle that goes without saying" Craven laughed "But if you're gonna make your car as much of a weapon as anything else….then you should name it like you name your weapon as well"
"Agreed" Hellion nodded, a somewhat hypocritical statement considering that she had never named her own throwing knives. Eagle considered for a moment before her grin became fierce
"The Lightning Bug"
"I don't think it'll go fast enough for a name like that dear" Ivory laughed, Eagle merely maintained her determined and confident expression
"Not yet"
Authors Notes:
So Welcome to Vol.9, the last third of Third Year
This felt like a slow start after the end of Vol.8 but I wanted to give myself some breathing room 'cos I think things might move pretty quickly this volume; there are quite a few ends that will need to be tied up before we move into Fourth Year which is what everything has been building up to.
With the bad news coming out of Rooster Teeth as of later it looks like we won't be getting a Gen: LOCK season 2; with that being said are there any good stories for the fandom that people can recommend? You all know my tastes, shipping is fun but I like it in the background of a larger plot.
Speaking of other Fandoms, by the time this chapter is posted I will have posted at the very least the prologue of my Power Rangers story Aegis; it will be like FADE in that it's OC centric but features many of the canon characters.
Anyway let's summarise shall we:
The general public can not be allowed to know that the tides of monsters trying to eat them are being led by something intelligent.
Yes I know I speed up my reconstruction times, it's a Sci-Fi setting and honestly if we were being realistic then some parts of New Vale would still have Grimm lurking around in them from the fall of Vale twenty years ago.
Yep, third year students have gotta try and fight the professor….by fourth year they're expected to be able to hold their own.
Halo Academy doesn't have the Rocket Lockers from Beacon, just because they're dumb and only ever existed for one purpose in canon, if Ruby didn't need a way onto the Atlesian ship in Vol.3 they would never have been written into Vol.1.
Yep Team GORE are gonna get that ship up and running, luckily Hellion is dating someone who knows a fair bit about robotics; also yeah Car, Onyx and even Raffia have pretty much accepted Eagle as extended family at this point.
Nyanza was joking, Carcharodon wasn't….that boy could be a teacher one day, as long as they let hit backhand his students every now and then.
"I've had neither the time or the inclination" Ozymandias is so close to just telling Rhodium to fuck off.
So Corona's got a new arm that her Semblance won't shatter; it doesn't have any weapons built into it like Kafsi's had but oh well….also that pain, Corey and Felix have got that to look forward to.
Torchwick is really not good enough at the subtle wheedling out of information to try it with Oz.
Also, Oz wasn't technically lying….he is missing a vital component for his plans, that component being Pantheon.
Somebody suggested Nickel dying her hair, congrats you got it. On the whole I wanted her new look to have a "Tacky but I love it" feel….the sort of thing that Billie Eilish would wear.
"Obsolete model who dared to live a happy and fulfilling life" getting more and more of Nickel's thought process.
Nickel's going hiking in the Jagged mountains, to get something for her weapon….now what crashed in the Jagged Mountains in Vol.7 that might be of interest to her.
Diamond is right, gotta build the wall first.
I had her guitar in the scene randomly, just because I'd actually forgotten that the occasionally plays bass.
The Vytal Tournament is coming to New Vale in Fourth Year….of course that's entirely contingent on other things not causing a problem.
The idea of Junior and Torchwick having a proxy war by trying to out-charity each other instead of violence is amusing to me.
"Let's hope so….but really what are the odds of another attack" and that ladies and gents is the sound of Murphy's entire legal team reaching climax.
Come on, you know that Nyanza wouldn't be able to meet his actual fans without getting cocky and saying something that started a fight.
Honestly the whole scene with Astra was there just to be there, that subplot isn't integral to the story at this point.
So Athena-Jade is a brawler and Coral is potentially the brains of the Schnee/Slate kids.
Yeah Gangrel, Qrow, Antonia and even Goodwitch are all pretty much on everyone's shit-list right now.
So Gang is going to be giving up his position and Ruby and Penny are leaving New Vale; whatever else happens, Vol.10 is gonna start with the heroes being missing a few valuable assets.
Eagle is adorable, that is all.
"Oh that won't be necessary" Hellion has never even heard of chill.
And that's what Eagle was distracted by at the start of the chapter, she's got a license now.
Yes Eagle's car is a Volkswagen Beetle….think one of the newer models; the Killer-Bee was based on a newer model as well, it's Sci-Fi and they have airships; work with me.
And yes she's gonna modify it enough to deserve the name "Lightning Bug"….but it won't have a cannon like the Killer-Bee did.
Thank you to SumoSnipe and DizzyDwarf for their reviews on the last chapter.
I mean I didn't specifically say his nose was broken but let's be honest, his whole body was a mess.
The thing is it's not just Felix, Arctus very nearly died in First Year, Felix lost his tail and got skewered in second year so the question is really just who's next?
I mean I wouldn't say "Done" as such, everyone is pissed off but they've still got the authority and the resources so besides Ruby leaving and Gangrel thinking about throwing the towel in it's pretty much business as usual.
It's big enough to be a mobile base of operations for a couple of teams.
Yeah Pantheon is still around….they have a critical purpose left to fulfil.
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.