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I am making no money from this.
Chapter 143: Underground Movement
"Y'know….this probably looks like the start of a porno to anyone watching us" Felix's comment caused Helios to perform such a drastic double take that he nearly tripped over the bucket of hot water in front oh him and promptly responded by throwing a soapy sponge at the Lion Faunus, who was quick to point out to him that the action did nothing to disprove his claims.
With Team FADE being amongst the students being formed into Qrow Branwen's new Black-ops unit Felix had found himself with a considerable amount of free time as he no longer had to attend classes which were, for the moment at least still being held for the younger students of Halo Academy, along with the now stranded transfer students. Diamond had continued with Team FADE's thesis relating to higher intelligence within the Creatures of Grimm, stating that it was still important work that needed to be done; though Felix had more than once had to console his friend after finding her crying over the textbooks that she and Arctus shared after reading a private joke or loving comment that the Bear Faunus had written in the margins. Felix himself had been utterly unable to focus on work at the moment, everything he had done up until this point seemingly trivial in the face of Salem and the spectre of the Black-ops units' upcoming foray into her domain hanging over them and so he had taken to an activity that had become something of a calming ritual for him; cleaning the Lightning Bug so that it was pristine for Eagle upon his partners' return. It was here that Helios had found him, the stubbly redhead being without his golden armour and wearing a simple black tank-top as he began to help, leaving his broad shoulders and bulging, tattooed biceps on display and making him a truly distracting sight for Felix and prompting his comments.
Throwing the sponge back at Helios prompted a brief exchange of play-fighting and bursts of laughter which ended, completely predictably with Felix on the hood of the Lightning Bug letting out a whine into Helios's neck as the redheads' fingers raked along his thighs.
Then they both heard a throat clearing behind them.
"Shit" Felix hissed out through clenched teeth as he slid off of the car and gave a guilty smile and wave to the newcomers "Hey, what're you guys doing here?" stood before them were Myrtle, his biological mother who had averted her eyes but wore an unmistakable smirk and Astra, his half brother clearly preparing a litany of teasing comments until his mother spoke first before he had chance.
"I've been worried about you….you've been distant in messages, you don't answer calls" Felix looked away at that, running his hands through his mane of dirty blonde curls which were currently loosely tied back as he tried to think of an answer
"We've been preparing for a mission" Helios murmured, seeing his boyfriends' discomfort and speaking up "The kind of thing that can't be spoken about"
"I'll come, I'll help!" Astra offered with a bright smile and the boundless enthusiasm of childhood "I've been training the way you showed me, I promise" Felix noted that the young deer Faunus did indeed seem to be noticeably less chubby though was unsure if it was merely the result of him growing taller
"Maybe when you're older" Felix chuckled, glad of the momentary distraction from his thoughts "Hey if none of the students are using it, you wanna try a real Hunters' assault course?"
"Awesome!" Astra breathed out, almost vibrating on the spot with happiness at the idea much to the amusement of both young men though Myrtle wore a slightly concerned expression; Felix turned to Helios and gently kissed his cheek
"Can you show Astra around, I'll catch up in a sec" Helios nodded and led Astra towards the stairs of the underground parking lot and out into the campus proper, leaving Felix and Myrtle staring at one another in silence for a moment
"Not that I don't appreciate the visit" Felix began with a sigh "But the lock-down rules are don't come out unless-"
"Unless it's necessary" Myrtle nodded, the Reptilian Faunus's expression becoming serious "I was worried about my son, that makes it necessary….how've you been Felix, you look tired?" she took a step closer to him and without thinking the Lion Faunus had melted into a hug, allowing himself to finally feel the crushing weight of the emotions and responsibilities he'd been trying to distract himself from.
"I don't sleep any more" he admitted, his voice cracking as words began to spill out of him "I lost two of my best friends and my cousin and no amount of telling myself we're gonna get 'em back makes the nightmares stop, even Aunt Ruby couldn't stop this and one of the toughest people I've ever met was murdered….None of this is right Mum, none of it and I'm scared because anyone could be next and I don't want to lose anybody else, I can't" Myrtle made soothing noises as she patted his back gently,
"I don't know about being a Hunter, it's a dangerous life and if I could convince you to do any other job I would" she admitted "But I know about grieving and pain and loss….Felix it's going to be okay, even as scary as things look right now and Oum knows I'm scared. You're doing the best you can but you need to take care of yourself as well"
"I know" he sighed, breaking away from the hug and wearing an expression of something close to relief at being able to be honest with himself "But I always feel like I've got to be the one to hold it together, I've got people depending on me-"
"I understand that, but being dependable doesn't forgetting about yourself" Myrtle reminded him pointedly "And you've got people that you can depend on, people that love you"
"Thanks" Felix finally managed to sigh after taking a moment to compose himself again
"Now let's go see what trouble your brother has managed to get himself into" Myrtle noted with a bemused expression, with that the two of them made their way away from the Lightning Bug, which had never looked cleaner and Myrtle quietly added "I know you can't tell me anything about this mission that you're being sent on….but promise me you'll try and visit when it's over. Astra might look fine but her worries a lot….he's a lot like you"
"Yeah" Felix nodded "Yeah. The mission is tonight so if everything goes to plan I can probably visit tomorrow or the day after, depending how much I need to sleep it off.
"Tonight?" Myrtle answered in surprise "And you're just…." she trailed off and massaged her temples, silently lamented that she would never understand the mindset that all Hunters seemed to share that made them treat matters of life and death so little caution and eventually letting out a resigned sigh as she turned to her eldest child again and spoke sternly
"At least promise me that you'll eat something before you go"
The sun had risen over the Allied Remnant Resistance Movement base that Arctus and Eagle had both been shocked to realised was in the ruins of what had once been Vale itself, though located far from where they had initially been found by Squish and Neon.
Shortly after arriving, via an immense display of Oscar Pine's power which still reminded Arctus and Eagle uncomfortably of being torn free of the Remnant they knew by Salem the entirety of the surviving members of the Mountain Glenn outpost, which had mercifully been the vast majority had been confronted by heavily armed fighters although their weapons had quickly been lowered once Squish, Neon and several other important figures within the local resistance had presented themselves; the diminutive reptilian carrying an unconscious Oscar. The leadership of Mountain Glenn and this new base, whose names Arctus and Eagle had never learned quickly convened to discuss the events that had brought them here and their plans moving forward whilst members of both bases quickly set about tending to the wounded and managing the logistics of integrating so many newcomers themselves.
Arctus and Eagle had initially helped carry injured fighters to a triage but had quickly realised that there was another task that they might be the most capable of dealing with.
The outpost they had found themselves in was large, comprised of several entire city blocks, though Old Vale as Arctus and Eagle still thought of it lacked the monolithic Hive Towers that they were used to and as well as having several watchtowers and weapon emplacements hidden with apartment buildings the entire base was guarded by a perimeter wall made of what appeared to be Atlesian steel, most likely stripped from the wreckage of a downed airship hidden beneath barricades made of ruined cars and other debris which then branched out into the surrounding streets, cutting them off and creating a maze of dead-ends and bottlenecks in which any attacking force, be they Grimm or otherwise could be cut down. After asking several people Arctus and Eagle found themselves climbing up through the floors of one of the apartment blocks, painfully aware of the suspicious looks directed at Arctus who realised just how suspicious he must look to the people of this Remnant as a Faunus whose outfit was primarily a mixture of black and white; eventually however they reached the roof of the building without incident and stepped out into the cold breeze and overcast skies before making their way to the edge of the roof and draping a blanket over the shoulders of Jade Rangifer who sat on the moss-covered ledge curled in on herself and hugging her knees.
"Hey" Eagle murmured "You okay?" the Reindeer Faunus shook her head, her expression a mixture of exhaustion, frantic panic and deep wariness, the look of someone who had been pushed to their limits.
"Here" Arctus offered gently as he pressed a steaming mug that he had been keeping warm with a Glyph into her hands "Old Schnee family recipe….or it would be, not enough chocolate or, well anything really; had to use some diesel oil"
Jade giggled at that and the two Hunters watched the weariness leave her face ever so slightly yet pushed no further, the three of them remaining in peaceful, if fragile silence as the teenage girl sipped at the drink before finally letting out a slow, shaky breath before speaking whilst keeping her gaze fixed firmly on some point in the distance so that she would not have to make eye contact with either of her new companions
"You want to know about Caliginous Null don't you?"
"We just came to make sure that you're okay" Eagle answered, pausing a moment before adding "Nobody asked us to look for you"
"It was my idea" Arctus added, directing Jade's clear suspicion away from Eagle
"Why?"
"Because you're the sister I never got to meet" Arctus answered simply, repeating what he had told her upon their first meeting as his voice became thick with emotion "In the Remnant Eagle and I are from you died before I was born but I'll be damned if I let anything happen to you here….besides, you're a kid. Where we're from kids don't have to fight in wars" several emotions played across Jade's face as she attempted to form a response, first she found herself compelled to warn the Bear Faunus against his familiarity despite the fact that he didn't seem to able to help himself, beyond that she wanted to rail against being dismissed as a child before something else caught her attention and cause her next, quietly murmured words to be tinged with hope
"You come from a place where there's no White Fang?"
"Almost none" Arctus answered "Their last real cell allied themselves with the person that sent us here a couple of years ago….My adopted sister was born in their last major holdout….their leader cut my cousins' tail off because he wasn't 'Faunus enough'" the Bear Faunus's voice and expression darkened and his knuckles cracked as his eyes flashed with anger.
"We stopped her, the team me and Arctus are part of" Eagle added, mindful to speak of Team FADE in the present tense and removing the bandanna tied around her otherwise bare left bicep to show the scar left by Celeste Lupus stabbing her arm "She got me as well though" Jade processed the information silently until Arctus found almost compelled to ask the question that left his lips
"How come you wanted to leave the White Fang?"
"Because I remember who really killed my Mum" the Reindeer Faunus snapped, the moss around them suddenly growing thorns and poisonous looking, luridly coloured barbs as her eyes flashed with forest green light "When I was five Adam Taurus took over Atlas and renamed the Kingdom 'New Menagerie'….I'm mixed, my Mum was human and Adam was clear that humans had no business raising Faunus; so his troops stabbed her in the chest and tried to take me to an orphanage-"
"Oh my Oum" Eagle's hands were over her mouth whilst Arctus's head merely hung in sorrow, this was close to the story of his own Remnants' Jade Rangifer except that his own father hadn't been present to prevent its' conclusion
"I was screaming and panicking and then then next thing I know everything went green; that's how Adam knew that the Spring Maiden was one of his subjects….so he had me captured and brought to Taurus Manor, used to be Schnee Manor and tried to raise me as his own daughter. When Neon worked her way into Adam's inner circle she promised me that she'd get me out one day"
"That's why you've never used your powers to fight" Arctus noted as he remembered something that Jade has said in the midst of the battle that had brought them here
"He already had a Maiden who could fight, Orchid Hemlock" she nodded, laughing bitterly as she continued "He said children shouldn't serve on the front lines and that I could have revenge against the humans when I was older….Instead I spent years learning to control my powers and using them to stockpile New Menageries' food supplies so that we couldn't be beaten by a siege….after seeing how powerful I could be Adam assigned Caliginous Null to be my bodyguard" she fell silent and her eyes once again became haunted and distant, Arctus paused for a moment before gently reaching out and placing a hand on her shoulder and after initially flinching away from the contact the teenager relented
"You don't have to talk about this if its' too hard" the Bear Faunus offered gently
"Yes I do" Jade countered with a shake of the head before setting her jaw and continuing, the words coming forth seemingly of their own accord as she finished her drink and continued
"He's a true believer but not one of the weird cultists that Adam sent off to reclaim Menagerie….Adam assigned him to me because he's one of the best fighters that the White Fang have, military training and he's smart….but also because of his Semblance….I mean you saw what he can do, he's a monster. anything that doesn't have an Aura just gets eaten whole, even the Grimm….Adam must have known deep down that I might try and leave because he found the one person on Remnant who can undo anything I can make and had them looking over my shoulder all the time and now he's here-"
"We can-"
"No you can't! He's looking for me and he's gonna kill everyone in his way!" Jade cut across Eagle's interruption "You saw the kind of power he's got just on his own! He was always politically savvy as well, if he's here after what happened in New Menagerie then it means he's probably the head of whatever is left of the White Fang; he has an army! Tanks, battle-suits, hundreds of trained fighters!"
"And we'll stop all of 'em" Arctus answered with a low growl "You have no idea what we've dealt with before. Pirates, gangsters, Grimm hordes, Grimm that can think, the White Fang, killer robots; you name it….This Null guy, add him to the list 'cos he isn't gonna get anywhere near you"
"You'd fight him?" Jade seemed almost awed by the sheer gall of the Bear Faunus's
"You're damn right I would" Arctus nodded "'Cos it looks like you're younger than me now….and nobody hurts my little sisters"
"Don't do that, it's not cool" Jade sighed, wrapping the blankets around her a little tighter as she gave a genuine smile that didn't seem as weary as her others "But thanks"
The mission below the city was upon them, the evening curfew and lock-down had been put into effect once more, leaving the streets of New Vale empty and swathes of the gigantic Hive-Towers vacant as the students made their way towards the access point that Qrow had specified for them and, with no small amount of apprehension and several meaningful looks between one another; finally ventured down into the darkness as the sun began to set on New Vale.
"Okay we're in" Felix's voice was a low murmur into his Scroll as he led the way, one of his weapons in its' machine-pistol form held out ahead of him as his eyes began to rapidly acclimatise to the gloom.
"I've got all of your signals" Corvid replied on the other end of the call "We're in position and we'll pull you out or give you air support if we need to….tell Onyx not to die"
"Got it" Felix answered before ending the call, Team CLIR were currently in their Bull-head flying above the route that Teams FADE, GORE and NEON would be taking, though the Lion Faunus would admit that the idea of air support was less than appealing when he knew it would involve firing missiles into the streets of New Vale to collapse a tunnel and buy the students some time to regroup.
"Corey says don't die" Onyx was about to make a joking retort when Carcharodon interrupted with an irritable, sibilant hiss
"No chatter, we have work to do" Felix growled in annoyance but admitted the Shark Faunus had a point, he led the way in silence a little longer before coming to a halt at the sight of something that was simply not right and caused the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on end whilst his stomach plummeted
"This route's supposed to be clear" Diamond noted pointedly as she sidled into place beside him, sniper rifle clutched close to her chest.
It was true, the route into the maze of underground tunnels and rat-runs which housed the cities' power supply was one which Qrow had carefully calculated using several projections of the most efficient routes of infection that the Grimm matting and tendrils could have taken to reach the perimeter wall and form the monstrous spires, based on both clear routes and locations of known Botfly Grimm attacks; whilst the whole purpose of this mission was to see just how far Salem's reach extended and how much of the Kingdoms' underground she had laid claim to the insertion point that the students had used was one that had been deemed as almost certainly free of contamination.
Yet here it was.
The same pulsing and ominously glowing tendrils of ropey, sinewy black Grimm matter spreading like roots and mould across the walls and twisting around the countless pipes and conduits that surrounded them in the enclosed space.
"Now what?" the question came from behind Felix though he was unsure of exactly who had spoken, content that Diamond was watching his back he turned to face the rest of the group and more specifically Helios and Carcharodon.
"Well we already know that Salem has taken over more of the underground than we thought….we can call it now or pull back-"
"We carry on!" Carcharodon snapped
"It might be danger-"
"Silence coward" the gaunt and pallid Faunus rasped as he loomed over Ether who had interjected, only to have Helios step closer and silently make it clear that he would physically separate them if needs be.
"We know what we have to do!" Carcharodon spat icily, growing visibly more angry with every word "We split up, we find how far Salem's reach extends and then-"
he fell silent as each of the Faunus in the group heard the sound of limbs scuttling across the ground, drawn by either the noise or the almost palpable waves of anger radiating from the Shark Faunus.
"We've got incoming" Diamond drawled "Well done dude" there was no time for any bickering to commence as the first Grimm came rushing into view, a Deathstalker with its' claws outstretched and tail in a low arch as it scraped against the roof of the tunnel, the thing came charging towards them with its' mandibles clicking wildly and was joined an instant later by countless more of its' kind along with at least a dozen screeching Creeps and one, admittedly small and malnourished example of a Dungeon-Master
The first Deathstalker had been bisected neatly in half before Felix had even managed to fully comprehend the situation.
He watched Carcharodon's shadowy, liquid form travel across the ground and the blade of one of his weapons burst up like a sharks' fin breaching the surface to cleave the Grimm from skull to abdomen before the Faunus himself surged from the ground and leapt into the midst of the Grimm with a primal, wordless war-cry and reckless abandon
"Everyone go! Get in there!" Felix finally yelled before aiming both Hack and Slash in their machine-pistol forms and firing a barrage of incendiary rounds which in addition to unmaking a handful of smaller Grimm provided plenty of heat for the Lion Faunus to absorb and channel into his Semblance, his blazing golden Aura enveloping his body as he crashed into a larger Deathstalker and proceeded to cleave its' claws away in a single immensely powerful blow; the screaming of his weapons' chainsaw blades on chitin echoing throughout the tunnel and drowning out even the sound of the Grimm.
Around him his friends fought just as fiercely with their years of experience coming to the fore as each of them cut down their nightmarish adversaries by the dozen; Hellion and Diamond worked incredibly well in tandem with the Dragonfly Faunus using throwing knives tipped with Ice Dust crystals to freeze Grimm solid and suspend their bodies in mid-air, creating temporary platforms for the Mistrali sniper to position herself on, her Semblance bending physics to her will as she flipped between the frozen Grimm, walls and ceiling all whilst carving a path through the monsters with Lex Talionis in its' glaive mode.
Onyx and Olivine were a pair of juggernauts and the Dungeon-Master was little threat against their combined might; Buster Bravo and Jotun Fang in their ranged modes ripped chunks from the Trapdoor Spider Grimm until it reared up on its' remaining legs and attempted to pounce on them, at which point Onyx held it at pair with his weapon its' axe form whilst the diminutive weapon shifted her oversized weapons array its' melee mode and began pummelling away at the things underside until the Puma Faunus brought the Grimms' face level with his own and used the sonic roar of his Semblance to crush its' skull entirely.
Ether had used his Semblance to position himself behind Carcharodon and despite their confrontation only moments earlier the two had fought back to back and tore through the monsters around them until they had created enough space to begin a counter-attack in earnest, leaping from one another's blade and using their Semblances to ensure that every Grimm they despatched was out-flanked.
Felix found himself distracted by a much larger threat as a new Grimm slithered into the tunnel, a King-Taijitu whose massive serpentine form could barely be contained by the tunnel as it reared up and made to strike the blonde Faunus with an ivory coloured skull, fanged maw opened wide.
The things' momentum was robbed from it in an instant.
"Felix now!" Helios yelled, inverting gravity to keep the Grimm's head floating harmlessly above them; Felix nodded and with a quick slash decapitated the first head only for the King-Taijitu to whip around, thrashing dangerously in the confined space and bring its' second, ebony coloured head rushing towards the two of them.
Felix acted without thinking.
"Heely now!" he called out as he rushed towards the redhead and used the shield that had once belonged to Pyrrha Nikos as a springboard, as he watched Felix backflip over the head of the King-Taijitu Helios knew exactly what the Lion Faunus intended and shifted his Semblance, magnifying Gravity to a crushing degree and sending Felix, whose Aura glowed around him crashing down through the Grimm's skull like a comet.
"Think that's all of 'em" Felix noted with a satisfied smirk despite the severity of the situation as he emerged from the acrid smog that the Grimm had been reduced to, using his swords to waft it away from himself
"Right, so before we were rudely interrupted…." Diamond trailed off, shouldering her weapon
"We have a job to do" Carcharodon rasped out, clearly unrelenting in his determination; something which those around him suspected was far more to do with his own grief and anger. Felix remained silent for a moment before nodding slowly as if in understanding
"We need to get an idea of what Salem is doing down here….but we're not at full strength any more, none of our teams are" he raised a hand to silence Carcharodon who looked as though he might argue "So we split up and we do our job, but we stay close enough to back each other up"
"Agreed" the Shark Faunus nodded after a moment of consideration, calling Hellion and Onyx to his side with a gesture and preparing to depart; Felix felt Helios's hand on his shoulder and the redheads' breath on the back of his beck as he murmured
"Are you sure about this….Team FADE are missing-"
"I know" Felix nodded, seeing the obvious problem "But it'll be okay" the two shared a meaningful look before hugging briefly and departing; the Lion Faunus falling into step beside Diamond
"You okay down here?" the question was asked quietly and cautiously yet Felix saw the way Diamond's eyes darted to her engagement ring before she answered, though when she turned to face him he was relieved to see that her cherry red eyes were fierce and determined
"Yeah….we're gonna get 'em back Fluffy, both of 'em. This is the first step" Felix nodded silently and privately hoped that she was right.
Arctus was honestly unsure of what time it was, his sleep schedule had been erratic and irregular ever since being forcibly ripped from his own timeline and thrown into the one that he and Eagle had found themselves in seemingly at random and being confined to a cell for days on end had done nothing to impose a more regular schedule upon him. His predicament had only been worsened by the White Fang striking Mountain Glenn as the dead of night had faded into early morning, by the time he and Eagle had left Jade, content that the Spring Maiden was safe and, if not happy at least secure it had been mid morning and the Bear Faunus had finally slept for an indeterminate amount of time. Once awake he had learned that Eagle had chosen to make herself useful, likely in an effort to both distract herself and dispel some of the suspicion that the two of them were being regarded with by finding anything mechanical that she could turn her hands to; Arctus had decided to follow her example and had taken up a position in one of the ruined buildings which served as a watchtower and was currently perched on the ledge of a broken window with Grimmiger-Henker laid across his lap in its' laser weapon mode whilst he tried to gather his thoughts, which had naturally led to him withdrawing the Scroll that had been returned to him and staring longingly at pictures of Diamond.
"Y'know not paying attention at your post is a punishable offence, especially the day after we got attacked….luckily for you I know that feeling" Squish released his Semblance slowly, his eyes and leering, toothy grin becoming visible a moment before the air rippled like water and the rest of the Reptilian Faunus became visible.
"Don't creep up on me like that"
"Don't get ideas" Squish snorted in disdain at the reproach "I'm still keeping an eye on you and your friend….even if you did come in handy last night"
"Thanks, I guess?" Arctus shrugged and Squish merely made himself comfortable sitting close by, yellow eyes focused as he examined the weapon still on the younger Faunus's lap.
"You've reworked that before" he stated matter of factly "What did it used to be?"
"Same sword, plasma weapon instead of a laser though"
"They let Hunters run around with plasma weapons where you come from?" Squish demanded incredulously
"They do if your Dad is the head of the Specialist Branch"
"Oh bullshit!" Squish exclaimed whilst letting out a cackling laugh "Gang and Weiss Schnee hooking up is one thing, Gang working for the Atlas military? Now you're just making shit up" Arctus chuckled in response and gave a simple shrug, deciding that if his honorary uncle refused to believe him then he wouldn't try to convince him; instead the pair of them remained silent for a while and it became clear that Squish was concerned by something and seemed to be unsure about whether or not he should broach the subject.
"You okay?" Arctus asked gently, testing the waters as he was unsure how Squish would react to a more direct line of questioning; fortunately he seemed to be glad of someone to share his concerns with and answered a disparaging sigh before adding
"Oscar's out cold….It's gonna be days before he wakes up, maybe weeks" Squish scanned the ground below them as if expecting an attack "The Fang have had Vaccuo for years, we've got two of the biggest targets on the White Fangs' shit list here, we're stuck in place and effectively surrounded….and then there's you and your friend, which is a can of worms I refuse to open"
"Jade said that she wasn't the only Maiden Adam had?" Arctus asked carefully, concerned by the sheer scale of the threat presented by such an opponent
"Yeah, luckily one of the things Neon was good at was playing the different factions of the Fang off of each other….if Adam's really gone then we might get lucky and Null and Hemlock won't work together, they both wanna run the show themselves" Squish shook his head again
"Orchid fucking Hemlock, she runs Vaccuo….word is she killed the guy who used to run that branch herself. You have never seen a crazier bitch, Vaccuan wet season came and she started turning the rain into freezing spears; word is she levelled Shade Academy and built herself an ice palace on top of it, keeps the frozen bodies of her enemies on spikes. Can't even get close enough to assassinate her, not with Wukong and Scarlatina as bodyguards….Oh let me guess you know them too?" Squish rolled his eyes at Arctus's expression only for the smirk to slip form his face as the Bear Faunus continued to look utterly appalled
"Just….don't tell Eagle about that, please?" Squish arched a scaled eyebrow and was about to ask why not and then the old joking adage about everyone being related to an Arc somehow occurred to him and he found himself wincing in the sympathy for the blonde Huntress despite himself. The two of them settled into a silence that was not entirely peaceful once again and remained that way for a few minutes before Squish spoke up once again.
"So I spoke to Jade" Arctus replied with a wordless grunt, deciding that the older Faunus would have be more clear about what exactly he was getting at.
"Apparently you're doing the whole protective older brother routine now" the reptilian snorted "Promising to help fight all the bad guys, as if that's how shit works here….the bad guys won ten years ago kid, even without Salem"
"Yeah well it's an older brother thing, can't help it" Arctus shrugged, looking away if not in embarrassment then in irritation
"Uh huh, I didn't think you'd be planning on sticking around is all….not once Oz wakes up" Arctus's eyes widened at that, in their prior conversation with Oscar, Arctus and Eagle had been so focused on clearing their own names and warning him of threats that might yet come that the idea that the powers of this Remnants' Wizard could send them home had somehow been overlooked; then the Bear Faunus found his stomach plummeting. He would give anything to return home, to wake up next to Diamond again, spar with Felix, tell jokes to his sisters or be fussed over by his mother but the fact remained that this Remnant had people in it that he found himself unable to face the idea of simply abandoning; Squish for one and Jade for another.
"We don't know if Oz can help yet" Arctus answered, deliberately dousing his own spark of hope so that it couldn't cause him more pain later
"But we both know you're gone the first chance you get….and hey, I don't blame you; she's cute" Squish gave a salacious wink before adding "Shame though, I was just starting to like you; you've got some of your old man in you even if you're no Gangrel Slate….you're more like the bear minimum"
Arctus let out a groan at that, realising that no matter what timeline he was from Perdu 'Squish' Callows would always be exactly the way his father had described him.
"I don't want to be the one to say it, but we're both thinking" Diamond's voiced was hushed and Felix could see the fear that she was holding at bay, the same creeping sense of dread that he was struggling with himself and knew without a doubt what it was that the sniper was reluctant to say.
It been over an hour since the Black-ops unit had made their way beneath the city of New Vale and split up into various teams with them periodically checking in with both one another and with Team CLIR who continued to prowl between the cities' massive structures in their Bull-head and with each reporting identical findings it had become increasingly hard to ignore the every more likely conclusion that Salem's domain reached under the entire city.
"Where are we? Roughly I mean?" Felix murmured, readying both of his pistols whilst Diamond quickly checked her Scroll.
"The main road between towers seventeen and eighteen….I'd say the nice part of town but nothing's nice on the ground floor" she noted, her usual ire at the poverty and injustices inflicted on those in the lower parts of the Hive Towers was somewhat muted, which Felix wholeheartedly understood as he nervously eyed the throbbing and twisting tendrils which crawled and burrowed along the walls of the tunnel they were inside, which was fortunately notably wider than the one in which they had fought the earlier Grimm horde.
The pair were blasted from their feet faster than either Felix's Faunus senses or Diamond's well trained reflexes could prepare for.
Felix's head spun as the dull burst of a sonic boom reverberated through the tunnel and he struggled to reorient himself after being flung painfully to the ground, scrabbling to recover his dropped weapons before his eyes widened in fright at the sight of black rose petals drifting slowly to the ground
"Dee call the others! I'll hold her off!" he yelled as he flung himself to his feet and shifted Hack and Slash into their sword modes and planted himself between his team-mate and their attacker; whose right forearm made of Grimm matter and the hefty executioners' axe that she unslung from across her axe were each far less terrifying to Felix than the fact that she wore his mothers' face.
"You'll stop me?" Yang Branwen cackled "You're lion" faster than the eye could follow she shifted End-Times into its' shotgun form and fired directly at Felix's chest only for the shot, by the Chimera's own choice or simple luck to have been a Fire Dust round whose flames fizzled out of existence as Felix's Semblance took effect, his golden Aura rippling and flaring around him as the heat was absorbed. Yang cocked her head in confusion for a fraction of a second before realising what had happened and allowing a sinister smile to cross her face
"Oh I want that" she grinned, the taloned fingers of her monstrous Grimm prosthetic drumming against her weapon as she shifted it back into its' axe mode.
"Come and get it then" Felix challenged, vaguely aware of Diamond calling for assistance from Teams NEON and GORE behind him as he activated his own Semblance and pushed it to its' fullest extent, the Aura Regulator within his prosthetic tail activating and igniting Dust reserves stored within it whilst his body took on the appearance of magma, the criss-crossing veins and glow of his eyes becoming pure, blinding white whilst the flames that engulfed him were tipped with blue.
"Yep, really want that….it's a 'hot' commodity" the Chimera chortled before activating Sun Wukong's Semblance and unleashing a pair of clones made of pure Aura at the Lion Faunus only for them to be destroyed in an instant, the first crushed into incandescent fragments of light by Felix whilst the other was gunned down by Diamond
"Help is on the way" she assured her team-mate before taking a knee and lining up another shot.
Felix and Yang locked eyes for an instant before charging at each other and colliding with a booming impact that shook the entire tunnel that they were in.
Diamond tried to get a clear shot but found it all but impossible, the two of them fought a near incomprehensible level trading blows and moving at inhuman speeds as they traded blows that would have ended a lesser opponent whilst wreathed in flames and falling rose petals until the Chimera ducked under a blow from Felix that would have torn her head from her body and drove her palm into the ground, causing jagged spikes of rock to erupt upwards only for them to be reduced to a molten slag as the blazing Lion Faunus charged through them like the unstoppable force that he was and sent her skidding backwards again with a kick to the chest.
The two fighters were apart for a mere fraction of a second, yet Diamond exploited the opening to the fullest and snapped off several Lightning Dust rounds that left arcs of electricity crackling as they coursed over the Chimera's body.
Diamond hit the ground again, bouncing and rolling to a stop as Yang Branwen extend her palms out in opposite directions and let out a pair of sonic booms from from her hands with a scream yet Felix, fuelled by his Semblance simply powered through the onslaught yet as Diamond pulled herself into a crouch and tried to shake away the pounding in her skull and ignore the dull ache in her chest and back she saw that the flames enveloping him were slowly flickering and fading and knew that he was flagging; a fact that quickly proven as the Chimera managed to gain the upper hand in their next exchange of blows, once again using Sun Wukong's Semblance to throw the Faunus of balance before hurtling towards him with Ruby Rose's and delivering a spinning heel kick that sent him crashing to the ground some distance away, his body reverting to its' natural state. Time slowed to a crawl as Yang rushed towards his prone form and Diamond heard a scream come her own mouth as she leapt into the air, petals trailing behind her and axe held overhead for a killing blow.
Then gravity was amplified and Yang was sent crashing towards the ground with enough force to crater it as Helios came bounding into view, his own dark Aura swirling around him, a moment later Ether had plucked Diamond away and pulled her back behind Felix just as Olivine unloaded everything at Buster Bravo's disposal and sent the monstrous abomination staggering backwards with her Aura flickering around her; yet still the Chimera remained on her feet and prepared to charge again.
Only to be left reeling and clutching a bloody gash torn into her face as Carcharodon erupted from the ground to deliver a vicious backhanded blow and then proceeded to kick her back several paces. Onyx and Hellion were the last of the group to arrive though their presence was no less for it as Onyx used a roar that made the air itself tremble to fling the twisted Huntress away from his friend to land in a crumpled heap where Hellion's barrage of Ice Dust tipped knives froze her to the spot.
"ENOUGH!" Yang burst free of the ice that had encased her, hair and eyes blazing in a way that Felix recognised instantly as being her own Semblance before the glow quickly subsided and was replaced by her Aura manifesting around her and taking on the appearance of a thick, viscous liquid before the heavily bleeding wound that Carcharodon had ripped into her face knitted itself shut as she used the Semblance she had taken from Raffia Dirge.
The effort plainly causing her great discomfort, dark veins becoming prominent across her flesh for a moment and thick, almost tar-like blood trickling from her lips as her breathing was reduced to harsh ragged gasps.
"All those nice Semblances….you're just not worth the trouble right now" she gave them a twisted leer completely at odds with the pain she was clearly in "Call me a bargain 'Hunter'" with that she stored her weapon and drove her Grimm arm into the vast mass of tentacles covering the nearest wall and by some unspeakable form of control was able to compel them to burst into a more active form of growth, masses of vine-like appendages erupting from their surface and reaching across to the opposite wall to create a solid wall of vines over a meter thick whose outer surfaces began to sprout segmented, chitinous armour and thick, jagged thorns.
"I'm going after her, this ends here!" Carcharodon rasped, taking a few sprinting paces and preparing to dive into the ground with his Semblance only to come toppling to the ground as Diamond crashed into him
"LET GO OF ME OR I WILL-
"You can't beat her on your own!" she snapped into his face furiously as she dragged him to his feet "We can't lose anyone else! Your team can't lose you!" at those words the rage and cold, festering fury left Carcharodon in an instant and instead he simply felt numb; obsidian eyes glancing with a lost look about them from the blood staining the edge of the Red Waves to Onyx and Hellion before driving his fist into the nearest wall with enough force to crush stone and letting out a wordless roar but finally, ultimately relenting.
"We need to get out of here" Felix mumbled, voice heavy with exhaustion
"Agreed….no doubt the Grimm will be here in any moment" Helios nodded as he pulled the Lion Faunus to his feet and held him close; Felix, fumbling slightly in his aching weariness caused by the overuse of his Semblance withdrew his Scroll and quickly contacted Corvid.
"Corey, we need an extraction point…..we ran into the fake Yang" he paused, his sister clearly speaking before shaking his head "No, we're pulling out ASAP….call Qrow and tell him that it's all infested; Salem has taken over the whole city from underground"
"This is actually kinda cool, in a really horrible way" Eagle mumbled under her breath and to nobody in particular as she meandered through streets that the Vale branch of the Allied Remnant Resistance had managed to make look something other than bleak and desolate whilst at the same time using her Scroll to keep track of where she should be in her own Remnant.
She had started out helping to fix several generators and other more mundane pieces of machinery that had found their way to a makeshift workshop that had been set up within the settlement; using it as an opportunity to ingratiate herself with the population of the Resistance and gain some sense of understanding of how this new Remnant she had found herself in functioned on a practical, day to day level, partly of simple pragmatism and partly, she could easily admit to herself because thinking about the things she could control stopped her from worrying about the far larger problems looming over her. Eventually she had been asked to deliver something to a small school that had been set up in one of the buildings and had initially been shocked to learn that there were children here but soon realised that it was likely the case that much of Remnant had been reduced to ruins and that there was simply nowhere safer or more suitable for the children to be. It had taken her far longer than she had initially thought to find the makeshift school as Old Vales' layout was far less intuitive than she was used to, even before being bombed to oblivion and hastily repaired with whatever was available the buildings of the Kingdoms' former Capital were laid out in a far more random fashion than the well organised, three dimensional grid of the Hive-Towers; owing to the fact that it had been allowed to expand naturally. After eventually making the delivery the idea had occurred to her to familiarise herself with the layout of the settlement as a whole, which had in turn led to her idea to see if the tracking system of her Scroll was still working; it flashed several error readings and was entirely unable to locate any of her friends or give information about their Aura levels although eventually she was able to find her current location, although the map that her position was displayed on was one of New Vale where apparently she would be stood in the middle of the main road that ran between several Hive Towers that had never been built here.
Then she felt it.
Her knees wobbled and the air left her lungs whilst her eyes began to sting as a painfully familiar presence came to her; the tears were streaming down her face in an instant as she could almost here Hellion's low and husky voice on the wind, and strained ears desperately to make out the words to no avail; the Dragonfly Faunus wore no perfume but Eagle found the scent of Hellion's body filling her nostrils and for a moment could almost feel her lover beside her before the sensations began to move away from her.
She chased after it.
Eagle tore through the streets, crying and near frenzied as she followed the where the feeling led, rushing down several side streets and hopping over makeshift barricades without a second thought or care for the angry yells that followed her before finally coming to a halt in what had once been an alleyway and sinking to her knees as the ghost of Hellion's presence slipped away from her, heading upwards and out of her reach as if the Dragonfly Faunus had climbed into an aircraft or ascended up through the layers of a Hive-Tower. Hot tears spilled the floor as Eagle struck the floor with a wordless cry which soon devolved into sobbing as she curled up against the nearest wall and remained there for an indeterminate amount of time before becoming away of a contrail of rainbow coloured light streaking towards her.
"People said they saw you freak out and bolt….what's wrong?" Neon asked as she held out a hand which Eagle didn't take and instead simply curled in on herself further still and forced an answer out through her tears
"I just wanna go home"
What little sun pierced the steely grey skies of Atlas was as weak as ever despite its' glaring harshness and did little to thaw the compacted and glistened mounds of snow which had been shovelled away from the thoroughfares of the military base carved into the side of one of the Kingdoms' enormous mountains, one of many like it yet one whose activities were deemed highly classified. It was not the same base at which Adam Taurus had slipped aboard the Gespenst and he, like his new allies found himself following Gangrel Slate as the towering Bear Faunus led the way towards their destination; Adam found himself looking determinedly straight ahead and trying to keep Blake out of his line of sight, the loss was one that he forcefully insisted to himself he had grieved and healed from as much as he could; the fact of her holding onto her wife whilst the two exchanging loving and meaningful looks still felt like a blade being twisted in his gut however and he didn't have the fortitude to convince himself that it didn't; this left him focused on Gangrel and Weiss which was arguably no better.
"This is it" Gangrel finally informed them, having led them to a launch pad which seemed far too vast in size for what currently rested on it and whilst Yang let out a low whistle of appreciation seemingly in spite of the sombre mood and seriousness of their mission Adam merely arched the eyebrow on the burned and scarred side of his face.
"We definitely don't have ships like that in my Remnant" he noted, clearly begrudgingly impressed as he took in the sight of the craft that would carry them to New Vale. It was far smaller than any airship, yet roughly three times the size of a conventional transport such as a Bull-head or the later 'Manta' models employed by the Kingdom of Atlas and kept only the slightest similarities and holdovers in its' design from other aircraft. Its' hull was a glossy black which added to the sleekness of its' arrowhead shaped nose and wings, each point fitted with a moving thruster which was currently directed downwards and emitting the vaguely sinister green glow of Eco-Dust whilst behind the arrowhead shape a further two propulsion systems could be seen; beneath the wings and nose several weapons could be seen and not all of them were of designs that the Faunus militant was used to. All in all it appeared as if the design for Atlas's transforming Baba-Jaeger drones had been repurposed into a more traditional troop carrier
"We don't officially have ships like this here either" Gangrel grunted gruffly "This is a prototype, stealth capabilities of a Specialist warship compacted into a smaller frame and more than twice the firepower of a standard fighter; more importantly its' got big enough fuel tanks to get us across the ocean and hopefully over those Grimm spikes around New Vale….looks like we get to give it a test run"
"And I wonder it would have been used for before our current problems reared their head?" the Bull Faunus's voice was low, smooth and dripping with an accusation "Atlas prevails, some things never change I see-"
"Just be quiet!" Adam might have expected Weiss or Yang to be the one to round on him with such acid in their tone but he was completely unprepared for Blake, with half of Ember Celica on one arm and a black bladed katana which loosely resembled Gambol Shroud slung across her back to step directly into space with her golden yellow eyes fierce and their pupils narrowed to slits
"Get any ideas about conspiracies and how Atlas is some great evil out of you head, you ruined your own Remnant and you tried to do the same here!" he found himself physically pushed back by the force of her jab at his chest "This is a mission to save a Kingdom full of innocent people from someone you had no problem with helping when it suited you; right now my children are the ones holding the line against Salem so decide whether you're really on our side or not right now Adam because I will happily throw you out of that transport if you try anything!"
Adam was frankly shell-shocked by the force and vitriol behind the tirade despite knowing everything that his counterpart here had done and had been done in his name; after a moment to compose himself and remove the slack-jawed expression from his face he merely nodded in silence to which Blake responded by turning on here heel and stalking away towards the transport
"I love it when she's feisty" Yang noted, the offhand comment a thinly disguised barb which she wasted no effort following up on, instead quickly catching up with Blake. Both Gangrel glared at Adam and the Bull Faunus found himself almost certain that one of them would attempt to add their own warnings which he found his temper rising to the surface at the thought of, only for the situation to be forcefully solved by the sound of the whirring servos and hissing pistons of a Cybernetic leg struggling with the hatefully cold weather
"General" Adam fought to keep the sneer from his voice as Winter strode by him without acknowledging his presence whilst Gangrel, finding old habits returning to him now that he was back in his Specialists' uniform snapped off a quick salute. Weiss however closed the distance between them and brought a momentary look of paranoid panic to her sisters' face when she pulled her into a crushing hug.
"The girls-"
"Are with Whitley, he's explained to them as best as possible what's happening. They'll be okay" Weiss found herself brushing tears from her eyes at that, which Adam had the decency to look away from.
"Good, just promise me that if anything happens to Gangrel and I…." Weiss trailed off and Winter wore a momentary look of defiance as though she might protest and claim that no harm would come to them before nodding as he eyes filled with pain and sadness and she was forced to accept the realisation that the worst fates imaginable for her family were all entirely possible and that she would have to be the one to remain behind and see that the grand machine of the Atlesian military continued to function,
"I promise" she nodded, pulling Weiss into a crushing hug of her own and adding "But promise me that you'll do everything to make sure I don't have to" both Weiss and Gangrel nodded before departing and Adam made to follow them, only to find Winter's hand clasping his shoulder in a vice grip.
"If you're planning on giving me a warning then don't" he snarled, Semblance crackling around his fists for an instant before dissipating as the General shook her head.
"You've been dead here for twenty years Adam and I think we both understand why Adam Taurus can never return to this Remnant" the Bull Faunus nodded, the idea of another group of cultists rallying around his image was abhorrent to him "So when this is all over and you've done your part to keep Remnant from Salem….nobody will look for you if you were to just vanish; maybe see Menagerie or retire to Vaccuo" Adam couldn't help but laugh at the notion of such a peaceful life and found himself replying with the scornful bitterness that had been his custom for so many years
"I think I'd weep if I saw what humans have been allowed to do to the homeland and we both know that I've never been the sort to slip peacefully away into obscurity" he gave Winter a truly evil smile before adding "I was planning of joining Blake's coalition….who knows, I might even run for office somewhere; perhaps Lower Atlas" with that he strode towards the transport which Gangrel was clearly in the process of preparing for take-off and left Winter behind him desperately trying to work out if he was serious or not.
Perhaps she might come to a decision on the matter before he did.
Authors' Notes:
So this chapter had a showdown with one of Salem's two remaining generals and yet it still felt like filler.
But I promise you that we are slowly moving in the right direction; the pieces are in place and coming together.
Also we've got a character we haven't seen for a while coming next chapter, one you'll enjoy seeing again.
That being said, let's summarise shall we:
Look I'm right, it does look like a porno or a Village People video….people like to imagine Felix as a twink because he's short but he's not; so it's two ripped guys getting soapy over a car that totally isn't a Volkswagen Beetle.
I promise we're gonna get some Diamond in the next couple chapters, it feels like she's being sidelined.
Ah enjoy that salt in the wound, nobody is really coping here any more.
And the cock-blocking continues.
Yay for Myrtle and Astra….They've been sidelined as well so I brought them back just to remind people that they still exist.
Don't worry Heely will show him the laser tag setting or something, he isn't gonna throw a literal child into a Qrow Branwen deathtrap.
"The lock-down rules are don't come out unless-" LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK!
"One of the toughest people I've ever met was murdered" as much of a rivalry as Felix and Raffia had, Fluffy probably never imagined Raffia actually dying on the job the way he did; it's just not supposed to happen.
So Arctus and Eagle are still on the same continent, which let's be honest another showdown with Null is inevitable.
So the base is roughly the size of a small village or town to give it a sense of scale.
Hate to say it but Arctus is definitely gonna get some racist stares in a world that Adam ran a good chunk of for a decade.
"Where we're from kids don't have to fight in wars" Insert the LA Noire 'Doubt' meme here.
Jade might not be a trained fighter, and is way out of her depth but she's definitely got the spirit.
If you read Downward Spiral you know Jade's story, this Jade didn't have a Gangrel, Velvet or Neon to intervene.
"Weird cultists that Adam sent off to reclaim Menagerie" the Cult of Taurus from the main timeline are definitely in that group.
So Caliginous Null isn't just some random squad leader, he's a guy with a lot of clout.
Arctus got to have a bad-ass moment.
There's serious and then there's "We will literally fire a missile at our own streets" serious.
So Qrow thought that Salem might have only taken the most direct routes towards the edges of the city to create the Grimm spires, apparently not.
Dungeon-Master, the Trapdoor Spider Grimm from initiation….yay for callbacks.
Car gets the best kill-shots.
Everyone breaking out the tag-team moves, and almost all of them combinations of people we haven't actually seen before.
King-Taijitu really should show up more, I'm hoping we get an update on them in Vaccuo.
There's the thing, Car is clearly more interested in getting revenge than the mission and everyone knows it.
Unsure of what time it is because our sleep schedule is fucked….we're all Arctus now.
Of course he was looking at pictures of Diamond.
Squish has decided on what he's willing to accept and tolerate and no part of that involves Gang working for the government.
Take Squish's exposition as a sign that we're not gonna get my Winter Maiden from Downward Spiral making a comeback here….although I'm sure you remember the way she fights and how she handled mob violence, the whole ice palace thing really isn't that far out of what she was already doing.
Sun and Velvet are both White Fang here though.
Let's be clear Arctus isn't conflicted about leaving at all; he's gonna go home at the first chance he gets but that doesn't mean he just wants to abandon everyone to their fate.
Squish is making puns again.
Does Yang showing up for the double take down like that count as a jump-scare?
Let's be honest if she didn't accidentally charge his Semblance up for him then it would have been one-sided.
Yang Branwen's puns are just not as good as Yang Xiao Long's.
Remember that Felix's Semblance doesn't just make him strong, it makes him an unstoppable force to mirror Corvid's immovable object which means that a lot of tricks just get straight up overruled.
She might have a lot of Semblances to choose from, but remember she can only use one at a time which means she can be overpowered.
So she's caused physical pain by using Raffia's Semblance….again, just take a note of that it'll be important later.
So, we'll call that a draw then.
Okay so there was a lot of scene setting in that scene but it's the first proper look at a resistance base we're getting; Arctus and Eagle spent most of their time in the last one locked in a cell.
So Eagle was on a main road, between where two Hive Towers should be when she felt Hellion's presence….Hellion was feeling Eagle's presence in the direction of Mountain Glenn whilst they were still there….there's a reason it's those two.
The differences between my Adam and canon Adam are staggering and the scary thing is that in Downward Spiral he was no less evil than canon Adam, he was just twisted in a different way.
Atlas has a new toy….because they have such a history of not getting scrapped completely.
It was originally gonna be Weiss that chewed Adam out, but it felt like Blake doing it worked better.
Winter does not like unexpected hugs.
Winter is practical and realistic, she knows as well as my readers do that someone is going to die….the question is who?
Winter gave Adam an official 'out' for when this is all over and he basically threw back in her face; because he's Adam.
Thank you to SumoSnipe, Funlander and LDOLDAL for their reviews on the last chapter.
From what little experience I have of Tarkin I feel like Null is a bit less cerebral and more direct.
AJ learned to be the older sibling from Arctus….and you're damn right she's learning to brawl from Yang, but don't for a minute think Blake hasn't got some tricks to teach her as well.
As for Chimera Vs Car….I have plans.
I feel like we're gonna have a few more set-up chapters to sit through but the pay-off will be worth it.
Nope, it was a Locust Faunus and if anything inspired by the scene where Devastator eats a desert in Revenge of the Fallen….my only real Jo-Jo experience is a PS1 beat 'em up game I played at a friends' older brothers' bedroom recording studio back in the 2000s' whilst the whole room was hot-boxed.
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.