A few minutes later, the plan was ready to go into action. Winter and Novus waited at the doorway, ready to run out. Julius and Hector were hidden at the corner of a hallway, ready to create confusion.
"Ready?" Julius asked.
"Are you?" Hector replied. Then, Hector went invisible and, walking up to a group of Imps, punched one in the shoulder. The Imp, thinking it was one of the others, screeched and smacked the second one, leading to a beautiful brawl between the two, with the third one joining in. Meanwhile, Julius teleported in another group of monsters, and shot a few in the backs, teleporting away before they saw him. The same result happened, and Hector and Julius did this with multiple groups before they were all practically destroyed. A few Grimm were killed as well, but there was still a good number that survived.
"Dang. I can't believe that actually worked," Julius laughed.
"That armored guy was right," Hector said, "That was pretty hilarious to watch."
"Eh, kinda." Julius admitted, walking over to the lab door and knocking on it, signaling Winter and Novus to come out.
"See, told ya," Novus said.
"It certainly was efficient on our part," Winter said.
"Yeah, well, we're not done yet," Julius replied, "We still gotta get to that door."
"Follow me," Winter said, "I know how to get there."
She turned and ran down the hall, the other three running after her. As they ran, it appeared that their "distraction had worked better than expected; it appeared that most of the other creatures had seen the fights break out and then decided to fight each other as well, leaving only a few surviving Grimm. The ones that survived, however, were very tough, and it took a group effort to bring each one down, until Novus decided to bust out his new Torch and use it on the Grimm, incinerating holes through their faces. It was a brutal sight to watch, but it was clear from Novus's laughter that he was enjoying every bit of it.
Finally, they reached the corner to the hallway the target door was at.
"So far, so good." Hector said, "We just need to get past these Grimm here."
Julius peeked from the corner to see what was there; it was huge huge pack of Beowulfs, but leading them…
Julius widened his eyes in recognition at the lead Grimm; a large, spiky Alpha Sabyr. His mind flashed back to when this same creature attacked him when he was a child. He clenched his teeth in anger and drew his sword.
Winter noticed this. "Julius, what are you doing?" she whispered.
Julius seemed to ignore her and simply said, "It's payback time." Before walking out into the hallway.
"What the hell is he doing?!" Hector whispered in surprise.
Julius walked up until he was about ten feet away from the Sabyr. It had seen his approach by now and was looking at him as he walked up. Then, it too had a flashback in its memory. This was the one whose protector had wounded it a long time ago. It had been sent to kill the boy then, and now it was going to finish the job.
"Remember me?" Julius asked. The Sabyr narrowed its eyes, growling deeply. One of the Beowulfs ran up to attack, but the Sabyr roared at it, telling it to stand back. Turning its attention back to Julius, it crouched to the ground, then it did something Julius never expected.
"You…." It growled. Julius stepped back in surprise; it spoke to him?! No, it didn't speak, he could UNDERSTAND it.
"I'll tear you apart, just like I was supposed to years ago." It said.
Julius raised his sword. "You can try."
The Sabyr charged, attempting to pounce on Julius, but Julius teleported to the side, swinging his sword across the Grimm's flank. The Sabyr stumbled, wounded, but not dead. Julius sheathed his sword and then, whipping out his pistols, began firing wildly into the Grimm, each bullet connecting with its target. The Sabyr was beginning to regret challenging the boy; he had become far too powerful since it last tried to kill him. In a last desperate attempt, the Sabyr lunged through the bullets, biting down on Julius's arm.
Seeing this, Winter stepped forward, only for Novus to hold her back.
"What are you doing?" she demanded, "He's gonna die!"
"Watch," Novus said, noticing Julius's free hand go to the sword on his back. Julius chuckled in amusement, confusing the Grimm.
"I hate to break it to you, pal," Julius taunted, "But you got that arm last time."
The Sabyr looked to see that Julius's metal arm was in its mouth, not ready to see Julius drive his sword through the creature's body, killing it. As the Sabyr disintegrated, the other Grimm looked at Julius in fear; how had a mere trainee killed their strongest. Julius simply looked at them and raised his sword.
"Anyone else?" he asked, but the Grimm continued to stay back. Julius shrugged and said, "Your funeral" before jumping into the horde, slashing everything in sight until nothing was left. The other three watched from the corner in surprise.
"Wow," Novus gasped, "Never seen him like that before."
"Something's definitely up," Winter replied, "I've never seen a Huntsman openly fight the Grimm like that."
"Well, while you guys are standing there theorizing," Hector said, deploying his blades from his arms, "I'm gonna help him out." He said before he ran into the Grimm, slashing into them and impaling any who tried to sneak up on him with his tail. Winter and Novus followed a few moments later, clearing out any Grimm that tried to run away. Within a few minutes, there was nothing left of the Grimm but floating dust.
"Well," Hector said, "That went faster than I thought."
"Shouldn't be THAT surprising," Julius said, sheathing his sword, "Take out the Alpha, and the rest are easy pickings,"
"You seem to know a lot about fighting Grimm for being a student." Winter observed.
"It's a long story," Julius said, "Let's focus on the mission. Remember?"
"Right, right" Winter said, annoyed her own words were used against her.
"Control panel's right there." Novus said, "Think you can get us in, Winter?"
"It shouldn't be too hard," Winter said, walking over to the panel and beginning to type into it. While she did, Julius, Hector, and Novus stood outside the door, weapons ready. Then, Julius noticed Hector's arm blades and jumped back in surprise.
"Are those your faunus parts?" he said. Hector shook his head and replied: "I was a chameleon faunus. These came from a super soldier experiment the White Fang was working on."
"I thought genetic modification was illegal."
"It is. The White Fang just don't care."
"Why am I not surprised?"
"I got it!" Winter said, and the door slowly began to open as Winter rushed to join the others, her rapier drawn. Novus brought out his shotgun and cocked it. "Here we go."
("Cyberdemon" by Mick Gordon starts playing)
Just then, they felt heavy footsteps thudding on the ground as something came near to the door. Before anyone could ask anything, a massive hand suddenly shot through the door, grabbing the four and pulling them inside the room, throwing them to the other side. Julius teleported to his feet, while the other four recovered pretty quickly on their own.
"What in the crimeny Christmas was that?!" Julius shouted.
"I think it had something to do with that" Hector said, pointing to where the door was. The four widened their eyes in fear at the massive figure that stood before them; it was a bulky monster of some kind with four eyes, a serious underbite, and, most interesting, cybernetic parts implanted onto certain parts of its body.
"Oh no…" Novus gasped to himself.
"What is that thing?" Winter said, feeling the most fear she ever felt in her life. The creature looked each of them over, then noticed Novus. Eyes narrowing in recognition, it let out a massive roar and raised its cannon arm.
"SCATTER!" Novus shouted, and the four split up just as a massive energy beam fired at where they were standing.
"What the hell is that?!" Hector said.
"Cyberdemon" Novus replied, loading his rocket launcher, "It's one of the enemies of where I come from. Go for the blue glowing dot on its chest. Destroying those should weaken it enough for us to deal a killing blow."
"Easier said than done!" Winter said, "how do we get close to it?"
"Cover me!" Julius said running forward. Before anyone could respond, he teleported right in front of the Cyberdemon, whipping out his shotgun and firing into the monster's face, causing it to stumble back a bit. Julius then tried to grab the blue part Novus had pointed out, only to be smacked by the monster's fist and sent flying back across the room. Winter ran over to where he landed and helped him up while Novus began firing rockets at the Cyberdemon, running around to avoid its attacks in the process.
"Are you alright?" Winter asked.
"Owwwwww…." Julius groaned as he stood up, "That thing hits HARD."
"We'll need to play this a bit smarter." Winter agreed, "I have an idea."
"I'm all ears."
"Novus and I can keep it distracted from here. You and Hector are the only ones who can get close to it to do any real damage."
"I think I know where you're going with that." Julius said, "Alright, keep me covered."
He teleported over to Hector, who was hiding behind a stack of crates, and got his attention.
"Winter and Novus are gonna keep hitting it from here," he said, "You and I need to get in close to do some more damage. We're the only ones who can get close to hit it without getting hit ourselves."
Hector peeked over at the Cyberdemon, now distracted as Winter summoned light birds that flew around its head while Novus was shooting his Gauss cannon at exposed parts of its body as they appeared. Then, he ducked back behind the crates.
"You might be right," he said, "I'll go for the head, you get that power source."
Julius nodded and the two ran out, Hector turning invisible. A few moments later, the Cyberdemon began whipping its head around in confusion as Hector began striking at its face with his tail and arm blades. Seeing his opportunity, Julius teleported in front of the power. Core on the monster's chest and drove his sword into the spot above it so he could hold on, causing the Cyberdemon to scream in pain. Using his metal arm, he drove it into the blue light, grabbing the core and pulling it out as hard as he could. As he fell back down, Winter summoned a glyph to catch him and helped him down safely.
"Thanks," he said. Winter nodded. Hearing a groaning sound, they four turned to see the Cyberdemon, its core removed, collapse face first onto the ground.
"It worked," Hector said, "But I think it's still alive."
Novus holstered his gun and cracked his knuckles. "I can fix that."
Before anyone could say anything, he ran up, broke one of the Cyberdemon's horns off its head, and the drove the horn through the monster's face, removing most of its head. As the monster dissolved, Winter looked at her tracker.
"Energy level's going down rapidly. I think we fixed the problem." She said.
"Thank goodness," Julius said, stretching his arms, "That was kinda rough."
"My question is how did it get here?" Novus asked.
"Not sure," Winter admitted.
Just then, a beeping echoed out through the facility.
"Warning! Initiating self-destruct sequence." Said an automated voice.
"Oh, come on!" Hector shouted in frustration.
"We need to get out of here now!" Julius added.
Novus raised his heavy assault cannon. "You know the fastest way out, Winter?" he asked.
Winter nodded. "I do, but there's no telling what else is in that area."
Novus cocked his gun. "Leave it to me."
As they burst out of the doors, the scene switches to an FPS point of view from Novus as he leads the other three through the halls towards the landing pad, Winter calling out directions from behind. They turned corner after corner, Novus gunning down any Grimm or Imp that crossed their path as they ran through. Julius and Hector did the same with their own guns. After what seemed like forever, the four finally made it out onto the landing pad where the transport was waiting for them. The scene switches back from FPS.
"Hurry up!" the pilot called. Julius teleported into the plane, quickly turning around to pull the others on board.
"Go now!" Winter ordered, and the ship took off into the sky just as the facility exploded behind them.
As the transport doors closed, the four collectively breathed a sigh of relief.
"That was…" Hector began to say.
"Awesome." Julius finished.
"Not the word I would have used, but okay."
"The important thing is that we made it out alive." Winter said.
Novus shrugged. "I'm just glad we finally got some real action."
Julius couldn't agree more. "Goodbye, creepy cyber monsters. Hello, quiet dorm room and amazing sisters."
"Don't forget about Blake," Novus said.
"I was just about to say that. Boy we have a lot to talk about when we get back. I'm sure you and Penny do too."
"Oh yeah, we do."
"Wait," Hector said to Julius, "You know Blake?"
Novus chuckled. "They're dating actually."
Hector raised an eyebrow. "Not what I thought you were going to say, but okay."
"How do you know her?" Julius asked.
"We were former partners in the White Fang before I left," Hector explained, "I had no idea she defected too until recently."
"It must take a lot of courage.. leaving the White Fang." Winter said.
"I was actually fine leaving the White Fang. What was hard for me is that I also ended up leaving my twin sister as well."
Julius cringed. "Ouch. That sucks."
"You have no idea." Hector replied, his tone carrying a hint if guilt as he remembers the event.
Julius began, "Actually, I might…"
Just then a call came on through the coms. Winter picked it up.
"Winter," Came Ironwood's voice on the other end.
"General, we completed the mission and are on our way back." Winter said.
"Good, because we need all available forces in Vale City right now! A large force of Grimm has entered the area through a broken subway tunnel."
"What?!" Winter gasped.
"WHAT?!" the other three shouted from behind her.
"We need you down here, now!" Ironwood continued.
Winter nodded, keeping her composure, "On our way." She said, hanging up. Then turning to the pilot, "Full speed to Vale City! Hurry!"
Julius cracked his neck. "Looks like the fun isn't over yet."
"Apparently not." Hector said.
"Well," Novus said, cocking his shotgun, "I still got some left in the tank. Let's kick some ass."
The transport then tore off through the skies and towards Vale City.
Author's note: I know that fight seemed a bit quick, but make no mistake. This is not the last we have seen of the Cyberdemon.