Music Choices: Danger! High Voltage by Electric Six, The Beautiful People by Marilyn Manson, The Hand That Feeds by Nine Inch Nails
Eclipse
Chapter 24
The Raid Part V
The Forever Fall Forest, which lay to the North of Vale and was considered one of the Kingdom's greatest attractions was, in Rosemary's opinion, supremely creepy. Especially at night. Yea, she knew it was kinda pretty in the daylight; but when she looked at those trees she didn't just see pretty autumn leaves. She just saw an eternal state of decay, one that never came to an end. Forever Fall wasn't simply beautiful, it was cursed; at least, that was her theory.
Rosemary had, admittedly, always had a rather overactive imagination.
The others, of course, totally made fun of her for it. Accept Allwyn. He understood that, when you'd been through some of things that they had, you got a tendency to see scary things in the shadows. You might wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, all because of a sweater draped over a chair. And that didn't mean you were a 'fraidy cat', just, you knew that sometimes, it wasn't a sweater draped over a chair; sometimes the shadow really, actually was something that wanted to eat you.
Their transport shuddered as it rolled over another rough patch, and the others swayed gently in the back. Rosemary's caravan was headed for a specific set of coordinates, where a squat set of concrete buildings had been erected years before and promptly abandoned. Below these nondescript hovels was a secret entrance to a miles long reinforced tunnel, which led to a shiny new containment facility where new shifters would be housed and trained. Said facility would, hopefully, be getting its first guests tonight.
Rosemary was almost jealous. The new place was actually really nice and comfy. They even had a rec room - where was her rec room, Verdant? This was an injustice! Was a pinball machine that much to ask for?
"Rosie? Long range comms just dropped," grunted one of the men in back, fidgeting with his gear.
Rosemary smiled as everyone in the transport began doing last second weapons checks. They had expected this, and compensated for it! Their short range comms had the option for frequency hopping, to make them resistant to jamming. The downside to this was only the caravans would be able to talk to each other and the facility ahead of them, and not the palace itself.
"Alrighty! Get ready to say hello, everybody!" Rosemary sang over her shoulder. "Capture is priority numero uno, so stay non-lethal unless signaled otherwise-"
Her pep talk was interrupted when something dropped down on top of their transport. Something extremely heavy. Rosemary hesitated for a moment before chuckling.
"What, is there an Ursa up there?" she asked Rye with a laugh, who was seated in the bucket seat behind her. Rye had access to their radar and peripheral camera systems, and was supposed to be aware of when people or Grimm were trying to get the drop on them.
However, going off of Rye's expression, she was pretty confused herself.
"Uh-Hold on."
Rye switched from the tell-tale green glow of the radar monitor to the black and white of their topside camera. Her eyes widened as she scratched her cheek, a bewildered look on her face.
"Ummm, Rosie? I don't know what this guy is. It didn't show up on radar either - yooo, what the fuck are you, dude ?"
Rosemary leaned over her armrest to look at the screen as Rye helpfully tilted in her way. She immediately pursed her lips in thought, aware that everyone was either looking at her or up at the roof.
"Ittt….looks like a big cat? Maybe?" Rosemary cocked her head at the strange, blurred form of the Grimm.
For a brief inexplicable moment, she was reminded of some fleeting shadows from early, early childhood. Scary stories people used to tell their scabby little faces around the cookfires, and nonsense rhymes you hummed under your breath in the dark.
Here comes the smiling man~
He's a cat with two pale hands~
"Is it a Sabre?" Rye tapped at her screen, brown eyes squinting. "Why didn't it - screw it. It's roadkill now. Bravo, come scrape this fecker off us."
"Bravo comin to scrape that fucker off, aye. Here, kitty kitty!"
It was already odd that any large Grimm were in this region due to its proximity to Beacon and several Hunter lodges. However, Sabre's were typically not this big. That, and they weren't native to the continent, typically hanging out near Mistral or Mantel. Rosemary had never seen one before in person; as she stared at the screen, she saw it's face whip around towards the IFV riding several vehicles behind them. It was smiling.
No. No, it was grinning .
"What the-" Rye started, staring at her view screen, when the SUV at the front of the caravan suddenly launched itself skyward. No, it was straight up snatched into the air. Screaming broke out over short range comms.
The cat Grimm disappeared the moment they took their eyes off it. One second it was there on top of them, and then it was gone; gunfire and screaming broke out again. Only, from inside the transport that had been carrying Bravo team; blood gushed across the transports windshield, from the inside. The armored vehicle's wheels suddenly wrenched to the left, and the transport took off into the bleeding trees.
"SHIT," Rosemary cursed. "Anchor us, Tommy! Everyone swap to Dust rounds! Olson, Frith, Marie, go live! Get these things off of us! Rye, find whatever the hell just yoinked our car!"
Tom, their driver, brought their ride to a crunching halt before activating the Gravity Dust anchors beneath the carriage and near the wheels. The whole transport glued to the ground, reinforced 'claws' sinking into the soil and rooting itself; behind and in front of them, most of the other vehicles were doing the same, save the SUV which suddenly fell back down atop of one of the infamous red trees.
The vehicle had been ripped apart, despite being built to handle most middling Grimm assaults. There was no one left inside. But there was nothing in front of them, either, that could have picked the damn thing up. Rye was frantically trying to get the entity responsible on radar or camera, but so far was having no luck.
Olson, Frith and Marie, or alpha team, were the most physically skilled trio of Semblance users in the caravan. Unlike the rest of them, who had been scooped up out of poverty and the wilds due to their magical talents, these three had been headhunted specifically for the King's Service from various professions; including the military and Hunter academies.
The trio were already standing in the center of the transport, hanging onto the hand holds in the middle of the roof and armed to the teeth. They were out the back, the door snapping shut behind them within seconds, weapons ready and aura's blazing.
"What is that noise-" Rye started, rubbing her ears in pain.
At first, Rosemary wasn't sure what she meant, until just like that, she heard it, too.
It was….music?
The noise was surrounding them, enveloping the fabric of the forest; weaving through the air, the leaves, the soil, their bones, their very blood. Whatever it was, it sounded both painfully familiar and heartbreakingly alien. She both loved it and she couldn't stand it; all the hairs on her body were standing on end, and her second skin was clawing frantically at her human reservations. She wanted to turn tail and flee into the forest, before -
Rosemary shook her head frantically, shaking off the influence that was driving her up the walls of her own mind.
"Is that, a Semblance?" Rye shouted, covering her ears. "Dustfire, it fucking hurts!"
Others in the transport were being affected by the frightening music; nosebleeds were breaking out like mad. One guy looked like he was beginning to seize, the person next to him trying to lay him down on the floor while squinting in pain.
Outside was a confusing mess of unnatural noise, lights, and screaming. The cameras were having trouble tracking anything, and their short range comms were gone too, now; in fact, all anyone could hear was the music, even over the radio.
A body slammed into the front of the transport. It looked like Frith, but he was bleeding as if he'd tried to claw his own eyes out. Olson and Marie were nowhere to be seen, and their tell-tale Semblances and weapons-fire were dead silent. He was alive, but screaming like an animal. Then something dragged him underneath their transport with a violent crunch.
Rosemary had to think of a solution, now. If they stayed put, this sound was going to disable most of her team; but if they started driving forward, there was a chance of getting yoinked into the stratosphere by whatever was lurking up there. She was aware enough to know she'd let her people roll right into some kind of trap; and if Alpha was already dead, then they were all going to-
"TOMMY! GET US OUT OF HERE!" she shouted over the music. "We're sitting ducks right now!"
Tommy swallowed thickly, wiped the blood from his nose and cheek (his eyes were bleeding!) and started the process of lifting the transport's anchor points. Rosemary took the data pad from Rye, who was foaming at the mouth and seizing.
"ALL VEHICLES, ROSEMARY - DRIVE!"
Two more clunking sounds as they uprooted themselves, and Tommy floored it; behind them, two other vehicles followed, swerving around the wreckage and whatever else lay in the road. Rosemary leaned forwards in her seat, sweating and bleeding as she panted, trying to focus.
"Allwyn! Bellicose! Do you copy!?"
A tree fell next to them, as if an invisible hand had shoved it over. Tommy kept his eyes on the road firmly. The music had dimmed, and the rest of the people in the transport were starting to recover somewhat; though their eyes were wide and shiny, staring in horror at their own blood coating their clothes and hands.
A crackling voice finally answered her.
"Rosie?!"
"Allwyn!" she had to keep her voice from cracking as a swell of emotion crashed into her. "Something is attacking us! We can't reach the chain of command, we're being jammed!"
"-osie, who? Who is attacking you? Is it the Branwen?"
"We don't know! We can't see them! I think it's Grimm, really crazy Grimm - Alpha and Beta teams are missing, presumed dead-"
"What?!"
Somebody in the back of the transport - the guy who had started seizing earlier, Eric - started shrieking wildly, his limbs going rigid. Rosemary whipped around, as multiple members of her team started backing away from the shaking man. He was foaming red at the mouth, and his eyes were turning red, likely from burst vessels. He was screaming in a variety of languages she didn't know.
"Restrain him!" she shouted, waving at her frozen colleagues. "Now - Right now!"
They had fortunately come well equipped to restrain people, afterall. They weren't sure what was effecting Eric, be it Grimm, Semblance or some other unknown power; or if he was about to attack them. However, it took four of them to get his arms and legs into anti-aural cuffs, and their medic was frantically trying to dose him with a sedative. Eric was doing his best to tear his friends skin off with his teeth, howling like the damned.
" Rosie! What the fuck is happenin?!"
"Something like a Semblance is hurting us and I think it just drove Eric totally crazy," Rosie rattled frantically, her eyes going back to the road. Tommy was white-knuckling the wheel as more trees were felled around them; it sounded like some huge, invisible beast was chasing after them through the haunted forest.
"It's ok, Eric! Eric, fuck's sake, it's OK!"
"RRRRRRRRRaaaaache!" the man shrieked, and tried to sink his teeth into the medic's arm. "RRRRRRRRAAAAAAA!"
"Oh Dust, he's trying to eat them," Rosemary whispered.
"Fuck it, new plan! Forget everything else! Get to the tunnel, get to the facility and shelter in place-"
Tommy swerved as the ground in front of them seemed to collapse, crushed by an invisible fist. Behind them, the remaining IFV flew into the pit, throwing several armored people into the air; instead of falling back to the ground however, they stayed airborne, as if grabbed by a dozen invisible hands. And were promptly torn apart.
"HOLY-"
"Blood for blood, welps!" Eric screamed, dislocating his arms as he tried to tear his body free from the restraints and other Service members pinning him. "BLOOD FOR BLOOD!"
Eric continued to lose his shit, even as they dosed him as high as they dared with sedatives; meanwhile, Rye was still unconscious, and several of the others were beginning to eye her suspiciously. Rosemary nodded, and they cuffed Rye, too.
Tommy, gods bless him, was hunched over the wheel, sweating bullets as he drove like all their lives depended on it. The buildings that they were headed for were only a kilometer away at this point.
"Rosie?!"
"We're a kilometer out!" she yelped as another tree was ripped out of the ground and flung at them. "OH my gods, what is this thing-"
"Why don't you come find out, niflings?"
Rosemary felt her heart jump into her throat as she looked over her shoulder. Rye was grinning at her manically, her nose and ears bleeding; she was bleeding so much, her teeth were pink. She'd been cuffed by the neck, wrists and ankles into the bucket seat, which were fortunately designed to restrain prisoners in such a way. Her eyes were such a dark red, they were nearly black.
Rye started chuckling, then cackling hysterically, a wild, demonic laugh. She didn't stop, even when the medic tried to sedate her as well; Eric had been wrestled into his own bucket seat and restrained properly as well, and was no longer shrieking or trying to eat the people holding him down.
"PULL THE CAR OVER, TOMMY! " 'Rye' cackled wildly, all teeth and wild rage. "WE JUST WANNA TALK!"
Tommy stoically set his jaw and continued to drive undeterred, despite the maelstrom chasing after them. One of the men in the back, who Eric had taken a chunk out of, pointed his gun at Rye; dried blood coated his face like a horror mask.
"Woah, Bernard! Stop it!"
"Who are you!" Bernard bellowed, spittle flying. "WHAT the FUCK are you!?"
"Bernie! Put your fucking gun down!" Rosemary shouted back at him.
Rye was shaking her head back forth, grinning viciously as she pushed forward as far she could, the tendons in her neck popping out as she tried to push her forehead into the barrel. Then her face fell, her eyes returning to normal.
"Son? Is that you?" 'Rye' whimpered in another voice entirely.
Bernard gaped in sheer horror, lowering his pistol somewhat.
"Mama?"
"Baby, how could you?" 'Rye' cried feebly. "How could you work for them?"
Rosemary was nearly besides herself with fear and frustration.
"Gods dammit Bernie, that is not your mama!"
"Don't you remember?" 'Rye' sobbed pitifully. "Don't you remember what they did to me?"
Bernard was shaking like a leaf, barely clinging onto the handholds as his companions tried to sit him down and take the gun out of his hands.
"Don't you remember what they did to your family?"
"I-"
Tommy swerved to the right, gravel peppering the trees as the transport approached the buildings. In the macabre forest behind them, a cacophony of crashing trees pursued them. They would not have much time to drive onto the camouflaged platform, activate it, and then descend into the tunnel; it would be an extremely close call.
Bernard's jaw was working frantically, his eyes blown out with panic as he stared unseeingly around at the people he'd known most of his life. He was panting, heaving, his skin pulled taut. An animalistic rage broke out across his features, and he changed skins there and then into a huge brown bear.
"SEDATE HIM-"
Bernie roared and gutted the man closest to him, his jaws latching onto an arm and pulling it free of its owner. Screaming bloody chaos ensued in the back, other people shifting skins to get away from the beserked bear or to fight him; the entire transport was replaced with a menagerie gone absolutely, bug fucking mad. Meanwhile, 'Rye' was howling with laughter at the chaos.
Rosie engaged the force field that separated the back of the transport from the front, segregating herself, Rye and Tommy from the animals that were tearing each apart in the back. Rosemary reached under the dash, pulled back a small plastic covering and jammed her index onto the button hidden there; a white gas immediately began to fill the back of the transport, a last resort that would render the occupants completely unconscious for several hours.
"AWWOOOOOooooo AHAHAHAHAHA!" ' Rye' howled, slamming her head backwards.
Rosemary and Tommy exchanged horrified looks as they barreled into the clearing, followed by the lone SUV that had survived along with them so far. However, they didn't hesitate to slap the button that keyed the elevator; the leaf covered platform began to descend rapidly below the soil, carrying the murderous load of wild animals who were starting to finally pass out.
"Rosie! Answer me, fucks sake-"
"Allwyn! We've reached the underground!" Rosemary replied, her voice strained from all the shouting. "We've sustained a lot of casualties-"
"From who?"
Rosemary's voice cracked as she keyed the radio.
"Ourselves!"
Tommy didn't even wait for the elevator to reach the floor; as soon as he could, he floored it and the transport leaped into the tunnel, followed by the SUV. With the two vehicles clear, the elevator reversed directions, melding back with the tunnel's ceiling behind them.
Her hair was plastered to her cheeks with sweat and blood, and she kept looking in the side mirrors, praying that nothing had managed to follow them down here. All she saw was the headlights of the SUV, one of which was covered in gore. Panting, she turned to look in the back at the mauled, unconscious bodies of her colleagues.
"Psssst. Rosie. Hey."
Rosemary eyed 'Rye' fearfully. The other woman was beaming bloodily at her. Her eyes were Grimm red.
"...What?" Rosie asked compulsively.
"Wanna see something gross?" 'Rye' rasped. "Bet ten lien I can make this one swallow her tongue whole."
Rosemary teared up, which promptly delighted whoever, or whatever, was controlling Rye.
"Leave her alone, you son of a-"
"Don't," Tommy grunted, his knuckles bone white. "Don't acknowledge it."
Rosemary sniffed, wiped her eyes and forced herself to look away.
"Awww! Don't be like that! Aren't we friends yet, love?" 'Rye' purred.
There was a long pause.
"Murderer," Rosie muttered under her breath.
" Slave catcher ."
Rosemary's eyes opened in outrage.
"OH, I am NOT-"
"Oh yes you areeee~ "
"What did I fuckin say!" Tommy bellowed. "Don't talk to it!"
Another pause. The only sound was the quiet hiss of the radio, and above them the shitty fluorescence of the tunnel lights.
"Pssst. Hey."
Rosemary and Tommy both ignored the thing in the backseat.
"...You lot got any good music?"
Sullen, frightened silence hung in the air.
"What, come on? You've got to have something ."
Rosemary swallowed anxiously, and tried to hail Allwyn. Nothing but static greeted her, a menacing hiss.
"Should I pick then?" 'Rye' teased. "Mmm, right! Let's see."
Their radio turned on and started playing the screams of everyone who just died brutal and confusing deaths.
"Ooh, that's a bit much isn't it!" 'Rye' shouted over the cacophony. "How about something jazzier, if I can find it-"
Tommy angrily reached out and turned the stereo off. It turned back on. He turned it off. It turned back on. He turned it off.
It turned back on.
Rosemary took her gun out and shot the stereo.
"Well that's just fantastic, Rosie!" 'Rye' bemoaned. "Now no one gets what they want! Typical!"
Rosemary glanced down at the data pad in her hands. They were five minutes out from the facility.
"That's fine! No, no it's fine, I brought my own instruments actually," 'Rye' carried on, settling back into the bucket seat. "May I present 'Nails On a Chalkboard: The Remix'."
An impossibly loud gouging sound started up, rending backwards from where they were towards the ass end of the transport. Rosemary's eyes shot wide as she realized what that was. She pulled the topside camera up on the screen.
The big cat Grimm was still on top of the transport, and had apparently never left. It was now gleefully sharpening the meat-hooks it called claws on their roof; and despite the several inches of Titanium armor plating between them and it, Rosemary was genuinely nervous. It was leaving behind hefty gouges after all.
The bigger problem was that they couldn't bring that fucking thing anywhere near the facility. They had to get it off them, and then seal it behind one of the barriers. Maybe if they could ditch it, 'Rye' and some of the others would recover.
Tommy and Rosie shared a look, and after a deep inhale, the driver threw the emergency brake. Rosemary slammed against her seatbelt, as inertia sent something huge and yowling flying over the top. Tommy didn't wait, pushing the emergency brake back into place as he accelerated their ride towards the demented thing crouched in the middle of the tunnel. Behind them, the SUV had barely managed to avoid ramming them, and now had people firing out the windows at the smoking, constantly shifting figure.
The Grimm ink coalesced into something smaller, almost humanoid. Right as their bumper was about to plow into it, they lurched again, as if Tommy had thrown the emergency brake once more. The back end of the transport was heaving into the air, as if being lifted up by a giant hand. Tommy shifted gears, glancing in the side mirrors.
The other survivors in the SUV were still firing, but were now targeting something else. Rosie could not for the life of her see what had a hold of them, but it was dragging them backwards now. The fiendish cat was leaning on their hood, grinning ear to ear; steam rolled from its mouth as it panted, claws puncturing the side of the transport.
It was staring her in the eyes, with devilish pupils.
"Heeeere, kitty kitty," it growled, before chuckling wickedly at the joke.
Rosemary couldn't take it any more. Whether it was because the musical attack had frayed her mind like that of her colleagues, or due to watching said colleagues go mad and nearly eat each other alive, she couldn't say. However, upon seeing a Grimm speak, her wits had had enough. Whatever was left of her own consciousness made the executive decision to flee. Her last human action was opening her own door, before shifting skins and dashing out into the tunnel.
The dark little cat dodged along the tunnel walls, yellow eyes wide, finally able to see what had been besieging them. Whatever it was, it wasn't Grimm. It was so much worse. Because Grimm were at least a part of the natural order of things. But this? She had no idea what this was.
Instead of the black, white and red of a Grimm, the entity was all green, black, and silver. Whereas Grimm lacked intellect and agency, this being clearly had both. It looked like some amalgamation of plants and animals, both living and dead. Silver bells hung from its antlers and mossy fur, like the stars at night; and she knew instinctively that that's where the maddening music had come from.
The being wasn't currently visible on the physical planes to human eyes, because it was straddling the hedge between the spirit realms and the mundane; it was like a bridge, and beauty and chaos followed after it. Everywhere it touched spread silver currents, like spiderwebs that could both heal and destroy.
Rosie the cat watched in spiky furred horror as the entity pulled the screaming survivors out of the SUV with limbs like tree roots, wrenching them apart grotesquely; she had lost the ability to flee, even though it was currently her most powerful instinct.
Something hooked her back paw and she mewled pitifully as the root pulled her off the ground. The entity scooped her up like a feather, pulling her around to look her in the eyes. It's face had attributes of both predator and prey, and it's eyes were black with silver pupils. It stared at her thoughtfully, cocking its head.
She expected it to eat her. She really did. And instead of being able to do anything about that, all she could do was scrunch her ears flat and close her eyes.
"The free people do not belong in your cages."
Rosemary trembled. It's voice was like the music, both maddening and wonderful.
" You will stop stealing our children."
Her eyes squinted open hesitantly.
"You will stop coming onto our lands and punishing us with your laws. Or," it twisted it's head as it appraised her, a bit like an owl. "We will return the favor. And send your Kingdom back to the dust from which it came."
Rosie swallowed, her tongue dry.
"Understood?"
Rosie nodded.
"Good," the being set her down. "Now. Run back to your master."
And she fled.
Author Notes: Do not piss off the Jiani lmao