Kuo Kuana, Docks
November 8th, 2330 Local Time, 2552
Nathan was already familiar with the Grimm attack alarms thanks to the routine drills that were done across all of Remnant, so when the klaxons sounded and a Dumb AI warned the public to get to safety, he immediately knew what was going on. His whole squad threw off their covers, leapt from their bunks, and scrambled to throw their boots and helmets on, since that was all that they kept outside of the armory.
Outside, they could all hear Captain Clark screaming into the Barracks of some of the other Marines. "Get up, all of you, we're under attack! Make your way to the armory and pack heavy!"
Nathan's mind was far too filled with adrenaline to fully process what Clark was saying, but his training took over and guided him by instinct alone. Whoever was attacking them had picked the perfect time to do so, right after the bulk of the UNSC's forces had turned in for bed, and while they were all still exhausted.
"You heard the man, let's move!" Jorge said. He was already wearing his Mjolnir, so he had very little preparation to do. The rest of the squad was only just behind him, looking fairly ridiculous since they were wearing maybe a fifth of their overall armor.
He emerged from the Barracks to find several dozen Marines in the same state as him. All confused, all wearing boots, a helmet, and battle dress uniforms, some of whom were armed, and some who were a bit groggier than others after having been woken up. The sound and hurricane of wind caused by Hornets flying overhead, followed by the screaming of dumbfire rockets, was more than enough to wake them up.
Amidst it all was Captain Clark, similarly only wearing his helmet and BDUs, but also carrying a bullhorn. "The Grimm are attacking from the coast! The Huntsmen can handle the city, we're gonna handle the docks for them! Now get moving, gear up and head to your emergency stations, sharpish!"
A random Grimm attack? So soon after hitting the White Fang, I find that hard to believe, but they wouldn't attack their own city, right? Nathan thought as he followed his squad to the armory. There, he grabbed his rifle, the rest of his armor, and enough spare ammo to keep him firing until sunrise. It was difficult to say if this was a planned attack without knowing more, the Grimm were an ever-present threat after all, and the people of Kuo Kuana didn't have the walls of Vale or Atlas to protect them.
"Squad, listen up." Jorge's voice came over TeamCom. Somehow, he sounded as though he was in complete control of the situation, despite having woken up around the same time as the rest of them. "Once you're armed, make your way down to the Thunderchild's berth and help us clear the moorings."
"Are you kidding me? Stan wants to launch it?!" Fairfire demanded. "We're barely halfway through the upgrades, is he crazy?!"
"Maybe, but the guns are online." Jorge admitted, much to Nathan's surprise, he'd seemed like a very by-the-books officer so far. "Either way, be there."
Maybe he's not too confident in Stan's plan either… Nathan thought.
Once they were all kitted for war, the five helljumpers and their Spartan leader sprinted down the docks past rows of docked ships. Between the shadowy hulls and the thick clouds overhead, Nathan could catch glimpses of massive explosions out to sea, which momentarily banished the darkness around them. Whatever was coming, the Hornets were clearly determined to put a stop to it, and weren't having much success.
By the time they arrived at the Thunderchild's berth, the crew had already cleared most of the moorings, and Nathan could see a great plume of smoke rising from each of the ship's funnels. They hastily assisted with the last few moorings, and once the last was cleared, Jorge led them up the gangplank. "Everybody aboard, now!"
"What the hell is going on, Lieutenant?" Yu asked.
"We don't know why the Grimm are attacking, if that's what you're asking. Either way, we've got to fight them off." Jorge answered. "Nathan, come up to the bridge with me, we'll need your Semblance. Fairfire, take the rest of the squad and post yourselves up behind the main turret on the main deck, prepare to repel boarders, and make sure your hearing protection is on!"
Nathan took the opportunity to ensure his own hearing protection was in, and enabled noise-dampening on his helmet for good measure. He was well accustomed to firing weapons that tore through the sound barrier like an energy sword through would a Grunt, but his rifles were handheld. The ones on the Thunderchild were twelve-inches in diameter. Protecting his hearing was something that demanded some extra attention.
Nathan followed Jorge up to the bridge, where he saw that Stan and his crew were preparing to set sail in a surprisingly calm and rehearsed manner.
Crewmen relayed important information while the officers issued orders and scrambled to get the ship ready to travel and fight. It was, in a way, a bit like a UNSC ship going to action stations. On a video feed, Nathan saw a number of shirtless men in the lower decks shoveling something vigorously into a large, roaring fire, presumably fueling the engines.
"Captain Stanforth, are you sure that this ship is ready for action?" Jorge asked.
Shit, even he's not confident. Nathan realized, feeling a bit of dread at the revelation. Usually, if a Spartan thought something was a bad idea, it probably was.
Stan did little to ease his mind as he dismissively waved his hand. "Don't you worry there, Lieutenant. We sailed this ship without all of this fancy tech before, and we'll do it again! This ain't our first rodeo, you know!"
"I'm not doubting your crew, Captain." Jorge tried to appeal to the man. "But we've taken apart half of your subsystems, and they haven't been put back together yet!"
Stan gave a Spartan a smile that was somehow both inspiring and terrifying. "That's the funny thing, Lieutenant, we've sailed her while she's half broken before too! Now, are you and your Marines here ready to help with the boarders? I dunno if you've ever fought Grimm at sea before, but uh, they get pretty grabby."
"I've done my research, my squad is making preparations as we speak." Jorge said, before gently nudging Nathan forward. "This is Private First Class Nathan, my marksman. His Semblance gives him enhanced vision, I suggest you make good use of him."
Stan's wild grin grew even wider, if that were even possible. "Well, why didn't you say so! Come on son, you can man the scope!"
"Erm, I don't think I'm qualified to operate that, Sir." Nathan somewhat sheepishly replied, but still he followed Stan to the other side of the Bridge.
Stan, however, had clearly heard all that he needed to hear. "It's easy Son, just like a pair of really big binoculars! Just look through there and let us know what you see!"
Nathan experimentally peered his eyes into what resembled a submarine's periscope, and found that what Stan had claimed was surprisingly true. It was like a gigantic sniper's scope with some very impressive magnification rates. "Oh, wow, you weren't kidding. You wouldn't happen to have a spare one of these that I could have, would you?"
Stan heartily laughed. "Sorry kid, this one's mine! I bought it from some posh-ass museum up in Atlas, as if those dirtbags were using it!"
Stan turned around to face one of the other officers on the bridge, his expression doing a complete shift to one of strict professionalism as he did so. "Helm, how's our steam?"
"We're good to go, Captain!" The Faunus Officer replied.
"Then get us moving, we've got a battle to win!" Stan declared, before tugging at a rope dangling from the ceiling, and blaring the loudest horn that Nathan had ever heard. It must've woken up the entire city.
Oh, I have a bad feeling about this. Nathan thought as the Thunderchild lurched to life all around him, and set forth for war.
Meanwhile…
Avalanche Cove, Menagerie
It took every single ounce of willpower from Vermillion not to strangle the life out of the stupid human thug whose throat she had between her fingers. Alas, he was one of Roman Torchwick's stupid puppets, and she didn't have the authority to kill him, not yet at least.
"You rotten idiot! You brought an entire army of Grimm with you! That's our home that you've just put in danger!" She screamed, before reluctantly letting the idiot breathe and fall to the ground in a heap. "What the hell is wrong with you? Did your idiot boss not teach you how to keep a low profile?!"
Or drive a ship… Vermillion silently added, looking at the beached cargo ship that she found herself standing beside. Atop the deck, Adam and her White Fang Commandos were offloading boxes of Dust onto the beach and into the Jungle.
What was supposed to be a calm and quiet mission to pick up Roman Torchwick's long overdue shipment of Dust had turned into an utter crisis. It was all thanks to the boastful, stupid, Human crew of the ship that was carrying said Dust.
In order to remain away from the UNSC's and Atlas' watchful eyes, the crew had decided not to use standard trade routes. This meant that they drove headfirst straight through every Grimm Hotspot on the High Seas between Menagerie and Anima, frankly, it was amazing that they were still alive at all.
When the Humans had arrived at Menagerie, one of them had the "brilliant" idea to shake the Grimm off onto Kuo Kuana, where the UNSC would then deal with them. How they'd managed to convince themselves that the White Fang wouldn't promptly have them hung, drawn and quartered for such an act was another question entirely. They had barely even put up a fight before Vermillion and her subordinates had every last Human in chains.
"Speak to me, coward!" Vermillion spat. The Human did not reply, only quivering and mumbling to himself in fear, a horrible stench indicating that she'd made him soil himself, pathetic.
Adam leapt from the deck and onto the ground beside her. "Give it up, Vermillion. There's nothing left to be gained from these fools. We've got what we need, let's get it back to camp."
Vermillion gestured towards the sound of cannon fire in the distance. "Adam, I know what the mission is, but we have to stop the Grimm. That's our people who are under attack out there!"
Adam shrugged. "The UNSC and Huntsmen will deal with the Grimm, there's no need for us to get involved."
The typically calm way in which he spoke was usually reassuring, but now, Vermillion found it infuriating. Was Adam really about to just throw aside Kuo Kuana for the sake of some Dust? "Are you really so quick to turn your back on the Faunus?!"
Adam's calm demeanor vanished as he glowered at her. "Do not mistake my words, Vermillion! If I believed that our people were in any true danger, of course I would insist that we go and help, but they aren't. The Huntsmen alone can handle the Grimm, but with the UNSC to back them up? If we even tried to help they would gun us down on sight, let alone what might happen when they realize we were here. They're probably already planning to blame the whole thing on us, anyways."
She paused, Adam did raise a decent point. Kuo Kuana was well-defended even without the White Fang, and while it did sting a little bit to admit that, it also meant that she and Adam could carry on with their mission. Even worse, if they were caught here, the people of Kuo Kuana might get the idea that the White Fang were responsible for leading Grimm into the city, which would be disastrous.
"Fine." She spat, taking her frustration out by kicking the teeth out of one of the chained Humans. "And what about these idiots?"
The prisoners looked up to Adam with hope in their eyes, only to have it dashed as Adam grinned savagely back at them. "What about them? I'll leave their fate in your… capable hands."
Vermillion couldn't help the smile that formed on her face as she drew her new spear, making sure that it was coated cleanly but thoroughly with her venom. "With pleasure."
Meanwhile
UNSC Thunderchild, Gun Deck
Beneath Fairfire's feet, the Thunderchild lurched to life, steadily gaining speed as it moved towards the mouth of the harbor. In the darkness, it was hard to see exactly what was going on, but she could see small ships darting around the coast, illuminated by searchlights and the glare of shells and rockets.
The powerful feeling of exhaustion was a powerful burden to carry, and she had to stifle a yawn as she and her squad took their positions. She'd been sleeping poorly for a while now, thanks to all the regrets that weighed her down like a pallet of bricks, and tonight, she hadn't gotten a chance to sleep at all. She briefly considered using the Stimpack in her field kit, but decided against it, she would wait and see if Jorge was going to order them to be deployed.
The thought of Jorge got her thinking about what her squad leader was doing up on the bridge, and the parting instructions he had given her. What the hell did he mean by "repel boarders?" How exactly do the Grimm plan on climbing up the hull? There aren't exactly holds for the Grimm to grab onto.
"Liz, movement in the water, look!" Meadows yelled.
One of the crewmen brought a spotlight to bear on the spot that he'd pointed out, and for just a split second, Fairfire caught the glimpse of something sleek, black, and long. It disappeared below the waves, as if aware that it was being watched.
"I don't like this…" Yu muttered, her posture suggesting that she was prepared to draw her Rocket Launcher at a moment's notice.
"Lights on the water, we've got something below the ship!" Meadows ordered the crewman, who dutifully joined the search.
A terrible chill ran down Fairfire's spine as she imagined all of the terrifying sea creatures that had been known to prey on reckless surfers back on Emerald Cove. That had been a relatively safe colony as well, which made her wonder, what exactly did the Grimm have below the waves.
She got her answer as one of the searchlights passed over something that was around five meters below the water. It was round, yellow, about twenty centimeters across…
"Oh shit-" Fairfire began to say, as the eye widened and stared up at the Humans and Faunus on the deck. The broader shape of the creature began to come into sight, revealing the silhouette of a giant squid.
"Weapons hold!" A familiar voice shouted, as Jorge dropped down onto the wooden deck from beside her. "It's too deep for us to shoot, prepare a depth charge! Onyx Team, keep your guns trained on it!"
The crewman hastily set about following his orders while Onyx Team, Fairfire included, kept their guns fixed carefully on the creature in the event that it decided to try and surface. It was following the Thunderchild now, keeping pace with them in spite of the ship's relatively fast speed.
"...Why is it just staying down there?!" Yu asked, her pitch notably higher than usual.
"That's a Strangler, it has no armor, and it knows it. If it were to surface right now, we'd blow it apart." Jorge answered. "Don't take your eyes off of it, it'll grab you and drown you if it catches you on its own."
Meadows gulped nervously, and Fairfire made a mental note to catch up on whatever briefing packets Jorge had clearly been reading.
A minute later, some of the deckhands returned with what looked like a miniaturized oil drum. They loaded it into a small mortar on the deck, and removed some kind of safety pin from it. "Depth charge is ready!"
Suddenly, a black tentacle lunged forward, reaching out towards Meadows with deadly intent. Fairfire joined Yu and Jorge in opening fire, and between the three of them, they put out enough firepower to sever the appendage outright.
"Jesus fucking christ!" Meadows shouted as he fell down on the deck. "Why me?!"
"Calm down, you're okay!" Fairfire yelled at him. She rushed over to his side, grasping his shoulder and shaking a couple times. "Get a grip Meadows, you're fine!"
The Helljumper took a few long, deep breaths, before letting her pull him back up to his feet. "Yeah, right. Sorry, I-"
"Fire!" One of the crewmen shouted, and the depth charge shot forwards and into the air, before swiftly vanishing below the waves.
Five seconds passed, then ten, then fifteen. For just a moment, it seemed like nothing would happen, before a massive geyser of water spat upwards into the air. Along with it were chunks of black flesh and the mangled remains of what must've been dozens of tentacles. Water came crashing down on the decks around them, utterly soaking them all.
"...You were saying?" Fairfire asked.
Meadows shook his head. "I was going to say that I was feeling a little tired, so that caught me off-guard."
"Stay alert!" Jorge shouted. "There will be more than that! Ready a second charge, and keep those searchlights on a swivel!"
Fairfire shook her head clear, exhausted or not, she couldn't afford to lose focus. "Aye Sir!"
Kuo Bay, UNSC Thunderchild
November 9th, 0019 Local Time, 2552
After a frustrating amount of time sailing out of the harbor, and watching as Meadows was nearly grabbed by a giant squid, Nathan was eager to get into the fight. The entire time, he'd only been able to hear the clash out in the waters beyond the sandbars, and now it was finally time to join the main battle.
"Everything set on your end, Private?" Stan asked. Nathan had noticed that he was going around to all of the different stations on the Bridge, making sure that everybody was ready for battle.
"Feeling fine and ready for action, Sir." Nathan replied.
A minute later, the Thunderchild, accompanied by a handful of armed speedboats that served as her escorts, steamed past the sandbars, and Nathan got his first proper look at the battle. An army of nightmares swam in the waters outside of Kuo Bay, led by a monster that dwarved them all, striding high above the waves on eight long legs.
What the hell is that thing? Using his Semblance to get a better look, the monstrosity suddenly became visible amid the smoke of battle and the darkness. The creature bore a faint resemblance to a Japanese Spider Crab, not unlike the kind that he'd used to catch with his family as a kid. Protecting the creature was a thick armored carapace of bone, and stretching before it were two massive arms, tipped with gigantic claws that swatted at the Hornets harassing it. The creature wasn't quite as big as the Leviathan that had attacked Atlas, but it was still bigger than a Covenant Scarab Walker.
Easily the most terrifying feature however, was the eye. A massive, reptilian orb that glowed an evil red as it cast a hateful glare at the Hornets. The bulk of the squadron was focusing their attention solely on the massive creature, peppering it's carapace with autocannons to little apparent effect. One of the Hornets tried to fire a rocket into its eye, only for the explosion to be cast aside by some kind of transparent, shell-like dome of armor that protected it.
Nathan relayed what he was seeing to Stan and the rest of the crew, doing his best to speak as professionally as possible, in spite of the mild fear that he was feeling. I think it's entirely reasonable to be afraid of something like that.
"Aye, I see it!" Stan shouted in reply. "Looks vaguely familiar, but I don't think I've ever seen one of those before… Either way, we've got to bring it down! Helm, plot a collision course, load torpedoes, and load the main guns with Armor-Piercing Rounds!"
Officers and crewmen hastily obeyed his orders as Nathan watched the creature's gaze steadily track the Hornets. The eye was almost mesmerizing, as it seemed to almost literally glow…
A beam of molten energy shot forth from the creature's eye, like the Focus Cannon of a Scarab, lashing out at the doomed Hornet whom the Grimm had picked as a target. The Hornet briefly burned, almost seeming to melt before it's ammunition detonated, blowing the aircraft into the wind with nary a sign of the pilot. Nathan's breath hitched briefly as he watched flecks of molten titanium fall down into the depths below. The remaining Hornets quickly waved off their own attacks, firing a few more rockets in retaliation, but these too seemed ultimately ineffective against the Grimm's armor.
Come on, where are the bombs, or missiles?! Nathan wondered, before he realized that the pilots must not have had any mounted to their birds when the attack came in. Damnit, they would have only been outfitted for a patrol, not this! I guess it's on us to take it down…
Meanwhile, all around the bridge, the crew was preparing to retaliate. "Helm reports our course is steady."
"Main guns are loaded and ready to fire!"
Nathan could practically feel the excitement radiate off of Stan as he gave the order. "Mr. Nathan, get me the range to that thing!"
"Twelve and a half kilometers and closing, Sir!" Nathan hastily replied, before realizing that he hadn't even used the actual ship's rangefinder. Just to double-check, he used the laser rangefinder that the UNSC had installed, and got the same result. Apparently, his Semblance worked just as well.
There was nothing he could do but wait now as the crew handled the ballistics calculations. As the moments passed, he saw his squad down on the deck through the front viewports, fighting off a pack of some kind of squid-like Grimm that were attempting to board the ship. Fortunately, whatever they were, they were no match for four Helljumpers and a Spartan.
"Guns ready, Sir!" One of the officers cried out.
"Fire!" Stan ordered.
The Thunderchild's guns spoke, launching a pair of comets towards the gigantic Grimm, both of which fell just short of the creature. They created terrific spouts of water where they landed, but failed to achieve any kind of damage.
"Damn it all! Make corrections and fire again!" Stan ordered. "Nathan, do you see anything else out there that we need to deal with?"
He shifted his gaze and decreased the magnification somewhat. There were a myriad of smaller Grimm coming in, but the Hornets and a few of the other smaller boats were taking care of them with ease. There was, however, a large object just beneath the water's surface that caught his attention.
"I see a really big eel, maybe thirty meters long? It's not attacking yet, it's just kind of swimming around beneath the water, about ten degrees to the left, five kilometers out."
Nathan saw Stan bring a hand up to his chin in deep thought, before giving his orders. "Helm, bring us about, ten degrees port. Arm torpedoes and activate proximity fuses, fire as soon as we're on course!"
"Aye, Captain!"
The Thunderchild lurched to the side, and Nathan wasn't sure what he was expecting to happen when the torpedoes fired, but the lack of any audible sound was somehow disappointing. He only knew that they'd fired at all when he saw their steady trails of bubbles moving towards the eel. Oh yeah, the tubes are underwater…
The forward guns fired again, and this time, one of their shells crashed right into the Harvestman's back. The creature let out an alien scream that seemed to almost shake the ship, but seemed otherwise undeterred.
"Good shot boys, hit that son of a bitch again!" Stan gleefully ordered.
While that was happening, Nathan kept his eyes steadily on the eel and torpedoes. When the torpedoes had gotten close, the serpent-like beast seemed to wake up to what was happening and began to swim away. For a moment, it seemed like they were going to miss, before the torpedoes inexplicably turned to chase the eel, and the moment that they collided, a monolithic implosion was created. The vortex sucked in water, nearby fish and smaller Grimm, and even a few loose bits of debris from the nearby coast. When the turbulence settled, the sea was eerily calm, as if the implosion had never happened and the Grimm had simply never existed.
"What the hell was that?" Nathan asked, mildly afraid of the explanation he'd receive.
"That was an acoustic torpedo, they can track loud sounds underwater, like those made by a big Grimm, for instance." Stan answered. "Oh, you mean the warheads? I dunno, Mags bought those, don't ask me!"
Right… remind me not to piss her off. Nathan thought. Normally he wouldn't keep his snide remarks to himself, but Stan was clearly busy, and Nathan didn't want to distract him.
Nathan turned his attention to the gigantic Grimm just as the guns roared again, once more, a single shell scored a hit. This time, it struck the beast right in the eye, and there was a terrific spray of bone fragments and shattered remains of whatever kind of transparent porcelain armor had been present. When the smoke cleared, the eye remained mostly intact, but Nathan could see that its armor was all but gone.
"The eye's vulnerable, we can take it out!" Nathan shouted, excitement creeping in his voice, before he realized the Grimm was staring at them, it's eye glowing furiously. In fact, it almost seemed like it was staring right down the periscope, right at him. "Uh, Captain, it's looking at us!"
To his credit, Stan reacted and gave the order as fast as he could. "Brace for impact!"
The beam of heat fired, but to Nathan's amazement, it missed. The lance of energy passed so close off of the side of the ship that he felt the temperature spike, and yet, when the beam died down, the ship and her crew were unharmed.
"Huh, that's interesting." Stan murmured. "Patty, get on the radio and tell those UNSC pilots that the Harvestman doesn't seem to be able to hit its shots without its lens… but tell them to be careful."
The comms officer obeyed, and soon enough, the Hornets were once again coming in to harass the Grimm. Now that its eye was exposed, they attacked with renewed vigor and a proper target. Swooping in from around the left side of the beast, the Flight Leader was quick to send a pair of dumbfire rockets straight into the dead center of its beady eye, and snuffed the monster's vision in one fell move. WIth a horrid screech, the Harvestman began to turn around and flee.
"It's on the ropes!" Nathan shouted. "Hit it while it's vulnerable!"
Moments later, the Thunderchild fired again, sending a pair of shells into the monster's flank. Half of it's legs popped off and flew into the distance, and the force of the blasts sent the Harvestman tumbling end over end, where it landed on it's back with a tremendous splash. Although it was hard to see much of the creature, even with his Semblance, he could see that it was starting to dissipate.
"It's down and out!" Nathan shouted. The crew let out a triumphant cheer, while Nathan let out a deep breath, it seemed like the worst had passed.
"Captain, I've got a radar contact down the coast, on that new UNSC set." One of the crewmen said, immediately spiking Nathan's anxiety, before their next comment brought it right back down. "It looks like… a ship? Run aground down by Avalanche Cove."
"Nathan, what do you see?" Stan asked.
He turned the scope in the specified direction, but didn't see anything behind the walls of foliage. With his Semblance however, he could make out the vague outline of a ship through the trees. "There's definitely something there Sir, but I can't quite see through the tree line. Should we investigate?"
Stan shook his head. "Negative, there's going to be more Grimm coming in before long, and we'll need to be here to fight them back."
"I disagree."
Nathan was already startled to hear Jorge's voice, but he was even more startled to find him standing in the middle of the Bridge. How the hell does he move that quietly?
"You disagree?!" Stan demanded, looking genuinely annoyed for the first time that Nathan had ever seen. Even when the squad had raided his rum stash, he'd just laughed it off, but now he seemed to genuinely be bordering on anger. "The hell do you mean you disagree?! We've got millions of people behind us to defend!"
"The Hornets can protect the city, we need to investigate that ship, it could be the source of the Grimm attack." Jorge said, before Stan could even argue, Jorge continued. "We'll turn back if anything like that crab shows up again. The pilots can radio for us if they need help."
Stan looked like he wanted to protest, but with everybody looking at him, and the pressure of the situation mounting, he waved his hand and let out a sigh of frustration. "Alright Lieutenant, we'll go have a look, but if something even half that size pops back up we're turning back around!"
Jorge nodded. "Thank you, Captain."
The Thunderchild turned to travel down the coast, and much to everyone's relief, no more giant crab monsters showed up to demand that they head back to the bay. Instead, they rounded the corner to peek into the cove, and saw a ship marked with Schnee Dust Company insignias run aground on the beach. Milling around on the shore and the decks…
"Son of a bitch, it's the White Fang!" Nathan shouted.
Jorge made the realization just as Nathan called it. "Captain, ready your weapons!"
"I hear ya!" Stan said. "Main batteries, target that ship, you can't miss it!"
The guns turned to face the ship as the White Fang started running into the Forest, and when they fired, the ship erupted in a tremendous plume of smoke, fire, ice, rock, wind, lightning, and a million other elements. The blast was so great that the Thunderchild was physically shaken by the shockwave.
"Holy hell!" Nathan shouted, trying to regain feeling in his ears. "What was that?!"
"Dust, but what were they doing with it?" Stan answered. All of that wild joy that he'd radiated through the battle was gone now, replaced with a dead seriousness as he turned to Jorge. "Lieutenant, you've fought the White Fang more than me, what do you say we do now?"
One of the crewmen interrupted before Jorge could answer. "Captain, we've got a Sea Feilong, coming up on the harbor!"
Nathan could've sworn he heard Jorge curse beneath his breath. "Head back to harbor, we have to prioritize the Grimm. Whatever the White Fang were doing here, we've put a stop to it, for now."
Somewhat reluctantly, the crew of the Thunderchild turned for home. Nathan spared one last look at the crater where the White Fang ship had once been, and found himself deeply troubled at just how close they'd been to Kuo Kuana… and nobody had been aware of it.
Authors Notes: Because I don't have a good opportunity to explain it in the story, that big crab Grimm is called an "Elder Harvestman". I'm sure that astute readers can pick apart my inspirations, and as always, I'm happy to tell you all about the lore that I've developed for it if you PM me.
I know from the reviews on the last chapter that this chapter definitely defied a lot of your expectations, and I'm still trying to decide how I feel about that. On one hand, I feel like I did a poor job telegraphing what was happening (even if Roman sending Dust to the White Fang was addressed in a prior chapter) and ending it on a cliffhanger like I did probably wasn't the best idea.
Then again, I guess this story is all about learning how to write, so maybe there's a lesson that I'm just not seeing to be gained from all this. I'm currently leaning towards "it's okay to defy audience expectations, it can even be a good thing, but the actual story has to still make sense and be good."
Let me know what you guys think, both about subverting expectations and the chapter.