[Scuttle]
The six Atlesian scouts were done with thier mission, knowing how much equipment was stored in Fort Clark left them with the task of reporting the findings.
On the exfiltration they were all alert, Hackler was thumbing some kind of home cooked grenade, the rest had firearms with thumbs close to safties and Weiss herself scanning thoroughly with the sixth sense that was her Semblance.
The atmosphere was best discribed as charged, there was always that underline of fear when in the unknown but the spoils of this particular adventure was promising and raised hopes to mingle with that odd desperation when survival instincts were in full effect.
Ending up at the main entrance once again they had two members of the squad poke out and sweep the tarmack for any new threats that could have roamed or followed them into the military complex.
There was only the debris of crashed bullheads and ground crew vehicles. The same as when they left it.
The forward duo call out "Clear" before the other four start to jog out to the open road, exposed and out of any sort of cover.
Weiss was rear guard, they would have put her in the middle but the teleporter was higher priority, keep the failsafe safe as they liked to say.
Her eyes weren't doing the majority of her job, Weiss had her semblance do most of the heavy lifting, feeling out her surroundings for any sudden movements or attacks.
She was aware of things like the gentle sway of the leaves in the breeze and the shifting of pebbles under the groups boots, or even the slow spin of a nose mounted gun of a bullhead wreck-
The early warning was too little too late, Weiss was waiting for a Grimm or even multiple to dash at them from outside the large perimeter, not a non-grimm and closer range threat.
"Move!" That one word wasn't even completely out of her mouth before the first of the large caliber ammunition tore through the ranks of the scout group.
Aura was up and running the whole time for sneak attacks exactly like this one, but there were more crashed Bullheads joining the bombardment of the groups position. The overwhelmingly powerful and plenty fire got through the weakest and most exposed members Aura just before the teleporter was done pulling them back.
The feeling of vertigo as the teleport sent them twenty seconds worth of space into the past was intense and left them all staggering for a sense of stability.
They found themselves back in one of the many hallways of the storage building, Weiss was looking around and checking out what the ambush achieved.
The gurgled exclamation from Hackler was above all a rather raw sound, it was less what one would attach to a sound of pain and more anger. Moving over Weiss crouches down next to him and checks the damage.
There was overwhelming amounts of said damage, blood loss was extreme, Aura depleted and holes the size of golf balls scattered everywhere with one hitting an arms joint, almost dismembering it completely.
He was doing better than the rest of the forward group... Two already dead members lay still and lifeless on the mossy floor, Weiss personally didn't know much about them, they were relatively new to the group, and she didn't trust easy any more, but it was still a shock to her system.
Weiss looks over to the teleporter and sees that she managed to get out alright, best get her to doing something useful again "Medical kit!"
Immediately her backpack was being unloaded, filled with support equipment and survival gear for situations exactly like these. Weiss nods and geta to her feet "Thanks, get to work on Hackler! I am going to get to the bottom of this mess!"
Turning and running for the entrance Weiss focuses, she knows for certain there was no pilots, any human movements would have been picked up easily long before the guns got to wind up... So how are the bullheads doing this!?
The machinery involved seemed wrecked, or more specifically the on board computers would have been degraded by the weather, so it was dubious to assume there was some kind of autopilot, AI or hacker involved...
Narrowing in, she scans the inside of the bullheads, feeling out the built up dirt and plants, no doubt let in by the damaged hulls with gaping holes.
Wait, those plants were moving? And why is there a large pulsing... thing? She needed her eyes on this at once, Wiess never liked this feeling of blindness.
Using her semblance to check if any of the bullhead guns had firing lines on her exit comes up surprisingly clear, they must have little to no control of where the bullhead hazardously crashed and therefore couldn't really cover every exit and entrance perfectly.
Peeking out the same exit from earlier and tucking back in just in case reaffirmed her semblance analysis, you needed to basically be out in the open for them to have any kind of coverage on your position.
Taking more time on the next peak, she notices all the guns swiveled towards her as much as possible, but stop short for various reasons like obstacles such as rubble being in the way or jamming of the guns horizontal turret drive.
Feeling a lot safer she was about halfway during the process of cracking open a bullhead mystery, but thier speed boat docked in the bay... Exploded.
In a shower of white frothy foam water the boat was engulfed, never to be seen again. In its place Grimm spewed forth, a well known sea variant with similar looks to a lobster and whale hybrid.
The giant claws and bulky body was enough to fear, but its sonar attack and armored carapace were a tuff strategic hurdle, not to mention the quantity of the high quality horde.
This was going to be a bit of a harsh battle for an already injured scout group, they needed backup, and fast.
Flicking her hand out she used her palm to focus on communications with the fleet out in deeper waters, using the Glyph Morse code directly to her sister.
After the shortest possible call for help using codes and pre determined phrases to shorten the tedious process of Morse, Weiss pushes out, she needed to know of all the threats they faced.
Summoning her knight to take out two guns stopping her advance from a few bullheads down the runway she makes progress like that, it was almost like a puzzle game, involving potential high caliber chaingun fire.
Getting to the desired bullhead, one with the side wide open -must have been open before the crash even- Weiss pulls out her throwaway sword and readies for an attack before stepping in. Vines? Thorns? Who knew.
Turning to her right there was the cockpit door, with obvious Grimm matter coating it, seeping through the cracks in the shabby wreck.
Grimm matter, that looked exactly like moss, even some fungul shapes like mushrooms along with completely alien shapes only attributed to them Grimm.
Has she every said how much she dislikes Mushrooms?
Bringing some Aura to her legs and back, she rears for a kick to break the flimsy door down. It goes flying with the squelch of compressed Grimm matter with it.
Nothing came to greet her, the cockpit was dormant, there was slight movements where the door landed, being pushed up and down slowly like a chest breathing air, but other than that, nothing at all.
The disturbed air was shifting with obvious dust and decay- wait, fungal Grimm? That sounds like a nasty way to get into the air, Weiss quickly rips off a sleeve and makes a temporary mask.
Moving further, the ground almost feels like its grabbing her, gripping the soles of her shoes to the floor of "moss."
Just stepping with a little extra force gets rid of the problem and she thinks nothing of it, with one goal in mind.
The bulb.
The moss around it, on the dashboards and controls were now squirming, hopefully in fear as Weiss neared the disgusting sight.
Flipping the door off the object of interest Weiss finds a disturbing sight.
Its corded and twisted, crude and unrefined, nothing like the brains we know and love, it had red glowing veins flowing out into the moss and towards the bullhead controls before dispersing into the mass of fused machinery and Grimm.
A parasitic Grimm? There was an awful lot of those nowadays... With both the zombies and this machine moss now making two more Grimm in that category that Weiss was uncomfortable with. Nobody would blame or disagree with Weiss for thinking zero would be a nicer number.
Holstering the sword Weiss gets her gun, it was nothing like Rubys, or even Yangs, it was an atlas laser rifle, the stock standard of all Atlas infantry equipment.
It was precise, her semblance making the hard light accuracy mean something, the fact its common means lots of spare parts to find as a bonus.
Reliable, piercing and elegant. The Rapier of the gun world.
Stepping out before firing was a smart idea, the brain bulb burst in probably the most toxic explosion possible, not waiting around Weiss makes her way back to the group again, satisfied with her knowledge.
Be that as it may, she still had to worry about a school of Grimm, not particularly fast but almost unstoppable.
She could have been able to win a long drawn out battle of a thousand cuts, but with the Bullheads constantly out to get her every move? Unlikely.
Every time Weiss would dodge there would be seconds where she needs to scan for firing lines, increasing risk and danger for when she eventually fails to account for one of the many threats.
But her worry quickly smoothens back down, for the bay starts to heat up, water puddles left behind by the Grimm that had already splashed out the ocean start to turn into a thick mist.
Theo and the fleet were not too far out to help. The island in the first place wasn't far from the continent of Sanus and the harbor faced inwards towards the mainland leaving a large channel for the fleet to lay in reserve.
The ships themselves were mostly small civilian fishery trawlers and such, but the crew themselves had a few ranged options to help out directly.
The barrage that followed was mostly made up of lightning, they no doubt were keeping most of the crew ready for the next part of this mission to Vale, it wouldn't make sense to use everything they had on some lobsters.
The water was a good conductor for the lightning attack, easily allowing it to jump on the wet surfaces and air, lowering cost and heightening the effectiveness.
The combo was deadly and effective, the Grimm numbers steadily dwindled as they cooked like any normal lobster should.
The faster ships were already arriving in the harbor, further laying some small arms fire into the injured Grimm.
They had this all wrapped up now, the supplies were theirs... At a steep cost, it was hard to find anyone still alive out in the world so the population they had now wasn't going to be drastically changing unless Vale was somehow still alive.
Weiss had studies from before she was a hunter floating in the back of her mind, about genetic bottlenecks and how Remnant has always struggled in that regard. She shakes it all away, those worries were for the future, survival was more important.
It was only a few minutes before they were picked up by the fleet and startred to loot Fort Clark.
Once everyone was aboard and the injured were taken to the infirmary Winter called a debriefing.
"Weiss, what happened? Your role was to be an early warning system, yet your team got surprise attacked, resulting in the deaths of two members and not to mention a critically wounded potential third casualty." The atmosphere was intense, the captains bridge was very much a hostile environment right now.
"The Grimm were uniquely disguised as fungal matter, without line of sight all I could feel was more plants." Winter, having the same semblance and knowing the finer workings of it, understands the slip up but would still have to reprimand Weiss later.
"We are busy preparing a Grimm sample for inspection, I would like for you to get acquainted with this new threat." There was a quick and sharp nod between them before Winter squeezes all knowledge of the incident out of the surviving members.
Theo and Weiss loiter off to the side, catching the tail end of the reports and findings in Fort Clark.
"You haven't yet released the samples right?" The question Weiss throws at Theo was sharp enough to get him to straiten his back, seems like she wasn't going to be calming down for some time. Things like this have happened a lot for the past five years but it never becomes easy to accept, especially when you were responsible for them, even if indirectly.
"No, not yet" short and to the point responses would probably be for the best right now.
"Good, I don't want it anywhere near our equipment when its opened to the air." Theo had some guesses as to why, but didn't feel like it was wise to ask a game of twenty questions right now.
They spent the next half hour watching as the fleet loaded all the new Oxjaws, equipment and supplies into the remaining sea worthy ships.
When Weiss spoke next it was calmer, but not by much "I am going to call it a day early, need my rest for tomorrows treck."
Theo nods dumbly, not knowing what to say or how to make her feel better about the situation, the only silver lining was the goal they died for in the first place after all...
Weiss was nowhere to be seen, she hasn't come out of her room since the disaster that was the scouting mission two days ago.
They have been loitering just off shore repairing and doing maintenance on all the "new" equipment they found in Fort Clark, checking what parts are still usable and whats not worth keeping on the harsh journey to come.
"Good to see some of us still have sleeping schedules worth anything" the comment made by Winter was directed at Theo, it was no doubt because he woke up so early.
He was not going to admit It wasn't because of any sense of duty out loud, but there was no lying to himself in his head. He was restless towards the near future, a path cutting through the heart of Sanus with no large bodies of water to be seen made an ever growing sense of dread.
Going from probably the most powerful person in their little society to basically useless was a harsh contrast.
The clang of another food tray rung out through the eating bay, looks like another sleepless member joins the party.
Looking up, Theo was surprised to see Weiss in all her gear and glory.
Winter turns her way and addresses Weiss "Ready? We are going to be beaching in about an hour" Weiss nods mutely, not even glancing Winters way.
Winter takes the opportunity to run her mind out loud "we expect to hit the biggest Grimm hordes a day into the trip, we should spend every second up to that point getting familiar with the new vehicles."
At that, Weiss actually looks up from her bland meal "do I get a gunner seat?" Winter smirks under her reply, no doubt setting that up "oh sure, do you want rapid fire or a larger gun? Because you have a lot of options."
Weiss' food seems to be forgotten in the past, swiveling in her seat now to face Winter directly "how big we talking?"
Everyone smiles at that, loving the sense of normalcy seeping back into the atmosphere "oh, not too large, just an experimental anti Goliath class weapon Atlas must have been testing at Fort Clark."
Even Theo was now interested, having no idea what Winter was talking about.
"What!? Winter! Why didn't you say something sooner!?" Weiss was actually looking betrayed, no doubt injecting some acting skils into the afair.
Winter shakes her head dismissively "If I recall, somebody didn't leave their room or even talked to me, but regardless, let us call it a surprise."
Weiss waves her hands in her own dismissive motion "not important! What is important is that you tell me what it is!" Theo stealthily covers his mouth by taking another bite of food to hide the mirth he has so desperately needed.
"Okay I suppose It wouldn't hurt to spoil it" Winter makes it sound like a totally planned exchange.
"I personally don't know all the finer science behind the technology, but the engenieers were helpful enough to supply a simplified explanation, It uses electromagnetism from two rails to pull and throw a dart of metal at high speeds." The explanation left Weiss waiting for more "wait... Is that it? What kind of joke is that?"
Winter blinks "I don't think you understand Weiss, its really, really high speeds." She didn't look impressed "What, you mean like a bullet? Wowww" the fake words of sarcasm was at the very least amusing to Theo, even if it was poor taste, both of them weren't as picky when it came to humor these days.
"Looks like you are going to need a demonstration in the end, let's get going shall we?" Weiss was already half out her seat when she remembers she hasn't even taken a single bite of breakfast.
Looking down at the bland meal with a frown she makes her decision to eat on the move.
"So these darts, how much of them do we have? I would hate to run out of this experimental ammo." Winter looks smug "worry not, we not only have a lot, but many different types that we assume still needed to be tested."
Weiss mulls over it a little "best keep those in reserve just in case, don't want to cause damage to the system just because we used the untested ammunition" Winter doesn't respond with words, just nodding at the sound logic.
Winter looks back to make sure both of them are following her before continuing "The real reason we like this weapon is that it doesn't run on the same dust as the laser weapons we know and love."
Theo pipes in just to get the conversation flowing, since Weiss herself was busy eating away at her breakfast "Hmm, I can get the appeal of using a weapon that doesn't cut into the others' supply."
Winter smiles a small thing and continues "Its not the only one either, we have guided missiles for both ground and air targets, but in short supply." Theo wonders if Hackler knew yet, he would have a field day with those.
Speaking of Hackler "how is Hackler holding up?" Weiss flinches and winter frowns, not the reaction Theo was hoping for but should have expected nothing less.
"You know how it is, his Aura almost guarantees a recovery, but its up to him to see how whole he will be when all is set and done." Theo curses himself under his breath, that was obvious and he shouldn't have let his mouth run like that, since its also obvious that its a sore subject for the both of them.
Weiss who was playing with her food uncomfortabley decides she was done with this line of conversation "Enough of that, he should be fine, tell me about our plans, I haven't been to any of the meetings the past two days"
Winter takes the opportunity for what it is and gets Weiss up to speed "we are going to be going directly South until we reach the foot of Mount Glenns mountain range, then head South West to Vale proper" she pauses to check if Weiss has any questions, to which Weiss does indeed have a query "so why not just directly to Vale from the start?"
Winter nods at that and explains "there is not only a large lake directly in the path, but the Grimm blockade was landing on the shores to the West of that, leaving us with only one option really, taking the Southern gap, also known as the long way around, in hopes of dodging both."
Weiss goes quite and thinks it all over while Winter continues "we estimate a three to four day journey, assuming we only make camp twice and there are no holdups."
None of them speak for some time, making their way to the back of the ship to were a nice open rear deck and Oxjaw awaits.
Just as they make it outside Weiss drops her two Lien "Thats pretty risky, leaving us cramped between the mountains and a large Grimm army, who I personally assume have the same destination as us."
Winter acknowledges her easily "we have been revising the plan for the past two days and haven't seen a better option, its this or directly sail through the blockade by sea."
Her voice made it clear to Weiss how bad that last option was "No worries, it was just an observation, I trust your planning."
The conversation crawls to a stop has the door swings out with a creaking echo, giving access to the fresh and open sea air.
The conversation died for one reason, the pure lack of words to describe how Weiss loved the hardware presented to her, you would think she was Ruby geeking out over her scythe.
This was no scythe. The Oxjaw parked hazadly on the open deck of the ship was standard, but the turret placed on that hull was beautiful, the most Science Fiction thing Weiss has seen other than synthetic humans like Penny.
It was clearly some kind of double barreled canon, with a lot of sharp angles and a bulky rear filled with all the hardware required, Winter said something about electricity, so Weiss assumes dust to power convertion.
"Wow" was all she could get out at the moment.
Winter was poker faced "thats a single canon, both barrels are used to guide the rods with precision at speeds previously unheard of, for ranges so rediculous we won't ever be needing to fire that far.
Weiss was almost too scared to ask, but caves to curiosity in the end "how fast and how far are we talking exactly?" Winter breaks her poker face with a small anticipating smile "travels at Mach five and reaches ranges up to one hundred and sixty kilometers."
Winter watches with an ever growing good mood as Weiss struggles to form words "You... I mean... You must be joking." Weiss even looks over to Theo for help, checking if he was in on the joke, much to Winters amusement.
"Quite the opposite actually, some would even say I am being deadly accurate" Weiss herself doesn't catch the reference, too busy trying to get all these statistics into perspective.
Coming to a conclusion Weiss hands her food over to Theo and beelines for the Oxjaw, needing to personaly inspect them, already noting that they look ready for deployment after the engineers finished preparing them yesterday.
The other two quickly follow, staying close enough to listen in on Weiss' slightly crazed mutterings about something neither of them could pinpoint.
Weiss ended up climbing up over a track and its connected suspension to reach the hull, where she then helped herself with a glyph to cheat having to use the rungs like a normal person.
Standing next to the gun in all her small glory made the machine look monstrous, Winter was going to use that later to comedic effect for certain.
"How exactly did we do maintenance on these? Its not like the engineers we have are from the military academy or anything." Winter nods at the good question "lucky for us, the Oxjaws are designed for easy maintenance to the point that the engineers actually said a car mechanic could do a good enough job..." Weiss gives her a carry on motion, edging her to continue. "As for the Railguns, even Fort Clark's engineers didn't know a thing about them, the user manuals and step by step maintenance guides were all still in use, we liberated them and all the documents on the scientific theory behind the technology. Fort Clark was no doubt going to be studying, as well as adding to those theoreticals with field test reports."
Weiss doesn't even reply to the long winded explanation, going back to ogling the elegantly designed equipment. It was a source of pride to know her nation was once capable of such feats... A long time ago, its felt like decades since she parted from her old life of a huntress in training.
Has it really only been five years? So much has changed.
It was some time later, when the sun was high enough to consider well past sunrise and the rest of the ship was waking up did she realized she lost focus and must have missed Winter and Theo leaving her to her own devices.
At some point she had sat down, leaning against the side of the turret with her back in a nice comfortable position, the cold metal reminding her of Atlas.
The memories being less comfortable.
Getting up she decides to give the Oxjaw a hefty pat, whispering nonsensical reassurances to the soulless machine.
She had a random thought on the climb down, one of a future without machines of war and decay, one without the need to fight Grimm or each other... It was a strange thought, it felt alien, Remnant has never had a time of peace as far as she could remember.
She was almost at the door when a voice calls to her "And where exactly do ya think yer goin'?" The accent immediately marking it out as the lead engineer.
Weiss replies as she turns, being familiar enough with the man to have a casual conversation "I was thinking of getting another meal, rumor has it we aren't going to be stopping much for the next few days."
"Didn't think ya heard much rumors on this ship, being all locked up in that room o' yours all the time." Weiss colours a little at being called out "yeah, it was winters morse..."
"Ha! Close enough, that's a rumor in ma' book, so ya gonna get in or what?" Weiss thanks the gods that he isn't like Winter or Theo and just rolls along with the direction of this conversation "what? You just stopped me from opening the door did you not?"
"Not that! This!" The motion executed by the rotund indevidual made the Oxjaw look like a prized horse.
Weiss looked around a bit before asking the obvious question "what? Why? We aren't leaving yet?"
"Do ya want ta test this gun out or not lass?" That got her moving fast as he got the rear ramp of the Oxjaws crew compartment lowering he explains the situation "Yer sister advised ya for the job of testing this sucker out."
On one hand Weiss supposed that was thoughtful, but on the other, untested equipment?
"Uh...thanks?"
The response he gave to that was light-hearted in tone even when said loudly and to the point "Save that for ya sister! I want ya results!" It was followed by a handbook being practically shoved into her hands "ya spend the mornin' in that turret and we talk again when we have ta make the landin'!"
She didn't have time to respond before the ramp starts to close and he makes a hasty retreat, probably to eat his breakfast.
The crew compartment Weiss was left in felt cramped, but not because of a lack of space, just that most of it was filled with bunk beds along the walls, shelving units and compartments. Most of the space was used efficiently and left the room feeling cramped even when you could move freely.
The far end had another door, smaller than the ramp behind her and led to the driver and gunner compartment that had all the equipment she needed to get familiar with.
It was going to be a long morning, thats for sure, reminds her of school studying. She admits its a little different when your life is depends on it but her top academic achiever muscles were going to be flexed all the same.
The next few days was -putting it simply- insane.
The Grimm were too much, thousands in number and increasingly thicker as the got closer to Vale.
Theo grabs onto the bunk to stabilise himself after a Grimm rams them from the side and starts running through points like the fact larger Grimm are slower than the Oxjaws, all to calm down.
That being said, they were racing directly through the horde, the larger ones didn't need to catch up if the group of humans came to them.
It was all chaos of the highest order, guns never stopped firing, loaders never slowed, the horde was ever shifting and roaring so loud the guns were backdrop.
This was the hardest part of the journey, they spent an extra day than what was planned to reach this point, but they got here with freshly repaired tracks and parts for the delay.
The lake was ahead on the horizon, thier left flank had the mountain range and the right was the Grimm blockade landing zone. It was a tight squeeze.
There were mostly Beowolves for fast targets, but for every two packs of Beowolves there were a swamp of Vine Crawlers and even some local flying variants to support them.
The rest of the larger Grimm were only a threat for the Oxjaws up front, having to spear through them with the Railgun fire.
The Vine crawlers were the worst, being closely related to a tumble weed in design was annoying to kill, they still don't know where the core is located, seemingly random for every single one.
Small arms fire were useless unless you got a lucky shot, having no armour means there was a small chance you could kill the core directly, the larger guns were pretty much the same but now could tear enough limbs off to slow them down or cripple them outright.
Theo wonders if the Grimm could even see at all, rolling like that must be harsh. On second thought... He didn't actually care, let all the discomfort flow through them.
The speed at which they travel was surprising, the tentacle-like limbs having small spikes for traction as they roll around, those spikes were also very sharp, having torn into a hunters Aura pretty badly earlier when he was using his ranged semblance on the back of the Oxjaw he was riding with.
Another reason they were still alive at all right now was because of the farmland, it was flat with minimal orchards in the immediate area, leaving a killzone were Grimm couldn't sneak up on them and they didn't have to swerve through trees.
Theo was desperately trying to list everyting great about this scenario but it was looking more doomed as they progressed, corpses damaging tracks slowly with some half alive Grimm clinging for dear life, even one of the Railguns had to stop firing, having melted through the barrels integrity and had it shatter during a charge up.
Not to mention on top of all of this there was the ammunition shortage, reports on dust levels were so low nobody thought they would make it, railguns were resorting to weaker shots to ration out charge and barrel integrity.
Some of the faster hunters were getting out to run alongside the convoy in melee, having helpful semblances to catch up.
All in an effort to get through the horde, still so thick they couldn't see through the entire right flank, the horizon was purely a wall of Grimm darkness.
They needed an escape. They weren't going to make it.
The radio crackles, increasing the volume of everything by at least a factor of two "Theo, I need you to get to my Oxjaw right now! Before we pass the lake!"
Scrambling to the communication system next to the inner door he wonders if the damaged airiel on the roof still works at all "roger that! Making my way there!"
How exactly would he transfer over? That Theo didn't know, he would have to resort to jumping across as far as he could tell.
Opening the door he makes his way into the driver and gunner compartment, the legs of said gunner visible and rotating with the rest of the turrets deadly motions.
"Driver! Get me near Oxjaw seven!" The very busy and tired driver nods "Next stop, Blue Back Boogie it is." Theo shakes his head at that, there were thinly hidden rumors of the crews giving all the Oxjaws names, and obviously they gave the Oxjaw with Winter and Weiss in a ridiculous one, just to mess with them.
"Yeah, whatever keeps you sane!" and Theo wasn't joking, he didn't care what the crews did to keep this hell ride from dragging them six feet under, as long as the methods worked.
The next minute was spent even more ruffly than usual as the driver cared less and less about a safe trip and more about a mission involving high command needing an asset moved fast.
Going back into the crew compartment Theo gets to the roof ladder and starts climbing, let's hope this reckless driving kept the Grimm off his vulnerable ass.
The hatch swings open and immediately the noises of Grimm and guns strengthen again, as if directly challenging him to exit the relative safety of the Oxjaw.
He wouldn't call himself a coward, but there certainly was a fear factor in this, after all, he didn't have more than a dinky rifle with a single magazine.
Theo requestred to have less than they offered, thinking someone with extra skill could do more with the ammunition and a reliable gun.
Peeking his head out resulted in a faceful of Grimm bits, a bone from an explosion further ahead went directly for his forehead.
His Aura flared to protect his neck from the whiplash and sharp splinter, his hold on the rungs fail as his head hits the back of the hatch.
The floor was not kind either, having landed badly on his folded leg. Great, not even outside and his Aura was being consumed to keep him alive and mobile.
Frustrated, Theo feels a strange yet familiar sensation, the feeling of his semblance surging, the nearby lake shifting in his minds eye.
The intercom cuts through the brewing storm "Kid! You better jump on over now! Our turret ain't built for this front line bullshit!" It seems they arrived at Blue Bac- Oxjaw seven.
Focusing and getting his anger under control Theo goes for that ladder a second time and aims to be a little more successful this time.
Gun raises out the hatch hole first, followed by a low shoulder and tilted head peeking with one eye into the oncoming horde.
Seeing no flying bones or major threats immediately, Theo pulls the rest of himself out all in one motion, rolling and staying low to the deck, not wanting to be thrown off the wild ride.
Just as Theo was about to get up to make his way over to the second Oxjaw riding nearby to his left, his own Oxjaw ramps a small Death Stalker corpse and sends him into the air.
Floating for a moment he ruffly lands with the Oxjaw directly into another corpse that slows them down tremendously.
His fist hits the hull and Theo screams over the noise "drive properly you old man!" The faint wiff of a laugh echoes through the hatch, soft enough to be his imagination.
Looking over to his left he sees that Winter was standing on the deck of Oxjaw seven with her replacement sword at the ready and a sharp look in her eyes "Jump! I'll catch you!"
Uh... Did he have to? But it did kind of sound like an order.
Oh gods he was so going to get revenge for this! His run and jump was weirdly assisted by another ramp at just the right time, allowing Theo to be confident that he would make it... If not for the fact that both Oxjaws had to swerve apart.
A Goliath corpse was heading towards them at great speeds, already dead but decomposing at a slow rate, or was the body just that big? It sure looked huge at this very moment!
Theo clearly saw how this was going to play out, he was going to miss the landing thanks to it swerving away and he would survive the harsh landing on the ground just to be consumed by the horde of Grimm closely behind their heels.
Life balancing on the edge, Theo panics and flails aimlessly in the air. Not helping the situation in the slightest.
Then the glyphs spawn, dozens of them spread evenly to stop not only his momentum but to keep him upright without letting him slip away.
Then the blessed disks start moving. Fast.
He goes from falling one way to what feels like falling sideways towards Winter, he can't believe he forgot this.
Weiss had once told him a story of when she was kidnapped and held ransom after crashing a Bullhead in a fight with Grimm, of how there were parallels to be drawn between the situations on the Atlas train and that story.
She used this same technique inside the Bullheads storage compartment, keeping the glyphs moving at the same speed as herself and the Bullhead she was in at the time.
It sure helped him here, Winter, who had the same semblance as Weiss, was abusing the speed of the Glyphs, clearly not under the same natural laws that govern a physical object
Wrapping him around the Goliath corpse and towards the back of the Oxjaw he gains on them fast, feeling increasingly nusiated.
The ramp opens just in time for him to be let go with enough force to send him colliding with the far door. Lovely landing.
The ramp sweeps back up and closes not a moment later, along with Winter dropping down from the roof hatch.
Theo was wide eyed and staring up at the hand extended to him "You crazy bi- I mean- you godsend! That was a beautiful save!" His wording changed a lot when her eyes narrowed.
"We have a job for you and we can't waste time, we aren't going to make it as is, we need a force multiplier." Theo understood that they were in a dire situation, but come on, theres no need to act so miserable when there was no hope of escaping anyway, might as well go out with a laugh yeah?
He should become a philosopher.
Winter looked like she could read his thoughts and was shaking her head in disappointment.
Okay, maybe he needed some more time and wisdom before becoming his dream job.
"How may I serve?" Theo cringes at the wording he used, it just slipped out.
"We are going to be using your semblance to make a field of ice to slow the Grimm down, then use the surrounding farmland for some crazy idea Weiss and Hackler came up with.
The explosive expert? What on Remnant? Those two didn't like each other at the best of times, Weiss would always go on about a lack of elegance or something.
"I have a strange feeling about this." Theo was even more worried when Winter looked like she agreed to the sentiment.
What were they getting themselves into?
"Where are they anyway?" Winter motions to the operating room "Weiss is the gunner and Hackler is on communications relaying the plans to the rest of the convoy."
Theo nods at that "makes sense Weiss would be on that thing, so what are the plans exactly?" Winter hesitates for a long moment before giving a single word answer "Fertilizer."
Theo can honestly say he wasn't expecting that "What?"
Winter pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration "apparently, our immediate future relies on the potency of fertilizer, or as Weiss called it; ammonium nitrate."
Theo stares blankly "Anything else I should know?" Winter nods gravely "you are going to be triggering the device for us, using your absurd range to heat water to above ninety degrees celsius within a high presure container."
"Great, just great, luckily I will be far away from this... Plan... When it goes down" Calling it such left a bad taste in Theos mouth.
"So should I even ask what exactly happens when it reaches that temperature?" Winter shakes her head "better not, just know I only understood it to the point that I vaguely remember explosions involved."
"Oh no" Theo moans "we are so doomed."
Winter grabs his shoulder firmly, looking down at him while crouching, looking very much like a consolating mother "indeed, but you are an important part of this plan apparently, and my part of this plan is to get you up to speed and ready, so why don't you get to the roof and ready us a nice ice ring for when we pass the lake?"
Theo groans and gets moving, not liking the amount of times he needs to get to the roof of an Oxjaw.
Hopefully this time doesn't have to do any jumping.
The second attempt at roofing wasn't as bad, the driver managed to swerve a Vine Crawler just before it hit them, or more likely, the vulnerable Theo on top.
But other than that scare it was as smooth as you could get in the heart of a Grimm horde.
Just as Theo was about to start his mission a Wraith made itself known, floating down and out the cloud cover, hovering there and waiting for them to get closer to the choke point.
Poking his head into the compartment Theo shouts to Winter "we got a Wraith at twelve o' clock! Why isn't it already falling out the sky!?" Winter has a look of disgust on her face "we are out of missiles and the Railguns can't aim that high! The guns can't elevate passed twenty degrees!" This was bad, really, really bad.
A single Wraith was enough to stop the convoy in theory, it was just above the choke point of the lake, turning right along the lake shore would be a death sentence in of itself, but so would be trying to driver under the countless strong tentacles designed to snag and pick up anything that dare traverse under it.
The mountain to the left stoped any hope of skittering that way to escape as well.
Stopping and reversing? There were many insane things out there like murders, dads named Jacques and psychopaths but that idea alone trumped them all.
They were one obstacle away from getting their plan in full swing, but it seemed like the one obstacle they couldn't just brute force with weaponry and every hunter in the convoy was running on Aura reserves at best.
Then we hear Weiss jump out the turret and call out to the back of the drivers seat "what are you waiting for!? Give me your best ramp! I am taking this smug Grimm down!" When she turns back around to get into the turret to resume the execution of Grimm Theo catches the look on her face from his position from this hatch.
It was feral, she seemed to have gotten too much gunner time again.
When Theo asked Winter about it last time she gave some kind of excuse, saying an old partner loved guns and she has been trying to remind herself of those times, but Theo wasn't fooled. Weiss was loony... Or maybe just addicted. It was hard to tell.
Then the meaning to her request sunk in, making Theo panick, he was still on the roof of the Oxjaw! Just as he was going to dive down the hatch of safety the latest Grimm corpse became a makeshift and shoddy ramp.
It wasn't too big, nor did they have too much flight time, but it was just enough for Weiss to wing a shot off, her semblance helping with the correct timing as well as keeping the airborne Oxjaw stable with a few well placed glyphs.
It was still frightening for Theo, who had to experience the whole thing without a proper handhold.
He ended up holding onto the back of the angular turret armour for help, the high pitch firing was the least of his worries, having all his hair stand on end and a huge tingling feeling going through his already low Aura reserves.
He didn't actually lose much at all, but the very fact he lost any at all was scary when so exposed to the horde.
Once the ruff landing was done, almost throwing Theo off his spot at the back of the turret in the process, they kept on at it, trying to catch up with the other three front line Oxjaws with the Railgun modifications.
The Railgun shot was devastating, the big and well armored Grimm got punctured harshly, cracks spread out from the impact site like lightening across a cloudy sky. The sound was aptly similar to the crack of lightening as well.
The infamous Wraith drops out the sky, dead from a single shot of the powerful Railgun.
This was it, the home run.
Concentrating Theo got to work converting the lake into mist, getting the already moving wind made by all the hordes dust clouds to wrap around to move said mist into their path.
It was going to be close, he started to freeze it over before they even got there, knowing how slow the process would be compared to being in Atlas.
He started with both edges of the chokepoint, those being the foot of the mountain and the shore of the lake, then started to pinch it further towards the dirt road they were harazardly following and using as a reference as to not get lost.
He could already see some Grimm coming from those angles tripping up and slowing down, sometimes even injuring themselves on other Grimm spikes and armour.
It made passing the chokepoint feel like a breeze, having only forward to worry about. Theo not wasting time, immediately covered the hole in the ice sheet they left behind.
It was somewhat working, letting them get a much needed breather.
He kept at it, freezing the shallow parts of the lake just in case, then the oxjaw formation starts turning to the right slightly, aiming for some kind of farm warehouse district.
It wasn't too far, the farmers seemed to like being close to the lake, Theo could imagine why.
They come to a stop, killing the odd Grimm every now and then, inbetween setting up a very temporary camp.
The camp was to do much needed quick repairs, cook, drink, or have a bathroom break. Having had no time for that for the past day and night.
In Weiss and Hacklers case. It was constructing this plan they had, for Theo, it was mastering it in the time they had.
The bigger more dangerous Grimm would catch up to the frozen defense in a few minutes, all the space they made being used up for a last ditch effort.
Apparently they just needed to transport as much of this ammonium nitrate stuff to the choke point as fast as possible, sounded simple enough but that left the people previously in those crew compartments have to wait for the Oxjaws to do the job without them taking up space.
It left many people feeling awfully weak and exposed, almost nobody had Aura to spare and all the area damage semblances like the lightning guy from last battle was spent earlier when passing the Grimm drop zone where it was thickest.
Luckily the surrounding Grimm were at what people would consider a normal level for an outskirt town, having smaller packs of weak Grimm peek out sometimes.
They got twenty minutes before the larger Grimm was seen in the distance, giving them five more minutes at best, and that was time for them to exit the blast radius not stick around.
With everyone mulling around for the Oxjaws to get back from the latest drop off Theo was fidgeting furiously.
What if he messed up? What if the ammonium nitrate didn't even do what Weiss and Hackler thought it would?
Just before he was going to pull his own hair out the Oxjaws pull up next to the group "Everybody hop in! We ain't stopping until Vale!" Hackler was pretty energetic for someone close to being hospitalized.
Nobody took time to pack up the temporary camp, it was all things they could loot from Vale like pots and cutlery.
A few minutes later Theo and Weiss were on the roof of another Oxjaw, this time with binoculars and sweat building up fast, he kept himself busy buy cooling said sweat down for fun.
"We wait for the last moment, we want as many Grimm near that choke point as possible." Theo nodded "makes sense, plus being far away from the explosion is nice" Weiss looks at him "it shouldn't be that big, plus we got these straps to hold onto just in case."
Weiss' words did a lot for his peace of mind.
He watched through the binoculars as the horde slowly tried to cross the ice, the smaller making slow progress as the slipped around aimlessly, the problem was the Goliath sized threats stomping through the ice and wrecking the meek defense, allowing the rest to follow easily.
It was just as the horde obscured the view to the packed crates for about a twenty seconds did Weiss drop the command "do it!"
He has been keeping the water in the explosive at ruffly fifty degrees for some time, but he pushed as hard as possible now, spiking tempretures as fast as possible with as much pressure as possible, throwing all his Aura into the boxy explosive.
It worked.
Too well.
After reaching what Theo estimates was ninety degrees celsius it went off, chain reacting with all the crates next to the device into one huge force.
The explosion that followed was loud and large, so huge that it punched through the low hanging clouds and had a shockwave big enough to reach them in no time, haveing Weiss and Himself hold onto the straps with Huntsman strength and still feel like it was less than ideal.
An Oxjaw slightly closer and on uneven terrain was even flipped on its side.
Then the corpses started to rain, smaller ones like Beowolves, but still shocking.
"What the hell was that?!" Weiss was asking the question but it really should be him asking her.
She quickly got up and down the hatch to relay that it was a major success and that they need to go back for the crew of the flipped Oxjaw.
Brining back his binoculars Theo scouts the damage, but couldn't see much through the mushroom cloud of dirt and water vapor.
That was insane.
It was big enough that Theo was sure the sound traveled all the way to Vale, which was a good days worth of travel away.
He drops down the hatch soon after they turn around, wanting answers "so can somebody tell me what just happened?" Hackler had a huge smile on his face from his position in the bunk beds "oh boy, that was brilliant! We must have neglected a part of the equation, but it sure worked in our favor!"
Madman.
"Surely fertilizer alone wasn't enough to do that?" He looks to Weiss who just got off the intercom for answers.
"We added dust, but it was still way more effective than even our furthest predictions." Theo held his fingers pressing into the side of his head "how much do we know about this ammonium nitrate anyway?"
Both Hackler and Weiss look at each other shrewdly but it was Weiss to reply "uh, as for previous historical encounters, we may only have a small documented explosion to work our predictions off of."
Theo was just shaking his head at this point "well, I can't say it didn't work, but please tell me next time when we work with unknowns? Yeah?" Winter nods from the doorway and makes it clear she was on Theos side.
Turning back into the operation room Winter gets on the air "Well, everyone not driving or on turret duty, better get some sleep while you can! We will be getting to Vale in the morning!" Weiss swore she could hear the cheering through the hulls of the Oxjaws.
Weiss better get some rest herself, she had been doing gunner work for far too long, the only thing keeping her going was adrenaline at this point.
There it was, Vale, in all its glory, peeking through a few trees split from the main emerald forest off to their right.
Weird red stripe aside, it looked almost exactly like Weiss thought it would, with broken walls and a general empty look.
Weiss' fears of finding her teams corpses was both irrational but born from a harsh reality, an odd mix that sent her mood into an even worse turmoil.
She wouldn't find any corpses but the chances of her team being alive was slim at best, Weiss was never very religious but she preyed to anything willing to listen that there were at least answers for her here.
Theo, who was sitting to her left was still, senseing the urgency, the angst and the suspense all in one thick cloud of despair and hope.
"Five minutes until contact! All personnel to combat stations!" The sound of Winter on the intercom drifts up but Weiss ignores it, Theo on the other hand fidgets with the rifle in his lap, not knowing what they would face and expecting the worse.
He ponders getting into the Oxjaws crew compartment but cuts the thought out, he would figuratively stand with Weiss against this unknown.
"So you think we are going to find anyone? Or just more Grimm like in Fort Clark?" Weiss frowns at Theos question, not knowing what the answer was herself, so she says as much "I don't know, but I hope we find any sort of humanity."
"I agree, I imagine Atlas was the worst when it came to surviving the inital days of the apocalypse, so its reasonable to assume Vale is better off when it comes to population, even if slightly." Weiss considers that for a moment as they reach the walls of Vale, using the main entrance that was open and destroyed completely.
"You may be onto something there" and she meant it, that boosted her hope, combined with passing the walls at the same time made for a strong mood, she just needed to figure out what it was exactly.
She activates her semblance, curious and cautious as to the maze like city and all its hiding spots.
Immediately she feels the group moving just outside the line of sight, Moving from one wreck tothe next in the road.
Winter was already on the job, alerting the convoy as to not panick anyone with a twitchy trigger finger.
The group shows themselves and she notes the few individuals in the surrounding buildings, keeping an eye on the convoy from above, passive, for now.
The group leader, something strait out of Weiss' textbooks on history shouts out to them "State your business in Vale! We won't bite unless bitten!" She supposes that was a fair greeting, the weirder thing was that it was a vaguely familiar voice... Maybe an important figure from her past life as an aristocrat, they would be the type to dress up as Vales royal kights.
Standing up she walks around the turret and onto the roof above the drivers compartment to reply "We come from Atlas! This convoy has been on a long and treacherous journey, looking to make a life for ourselves in the ideal climate of Vale!"
She hopes that her past life of negotiations gave her an edge for this type of thing.
The leader looks around and back to another member, justifiably shocked at how far they have traveled.
Weiss seeing the opotunity, adds to her case "We wish not to interrupt your lives! We just request shelter for but a few days, then we can then be on our way!" They would travel further down the coast and set up a settlement there.
What followed was not what Weiss expected at all.
The leader motioned for his men to lower their weapons and spoke again "Are you Winter Schnee?! My name is Jaune Arc and we welcome you to Vale!"
If there was anything Weiss knew for certain, it was that these next few days were going to be very interesting.
So I think its clear that I felt bad about the wait you lot had to endure, having put in the extra effort for this girthy chapter. Heh. Glad to announce that I am back after the biggest break in routine in a long time.
Just want to add that I will never abandon this story, I worked way too hard on the plot just to quit.
hope at least some of you enjoyed. I can't promise next chapter will be out soon, its going to be the end of Arc 1 and is pretty important so no rushing it yeah? (whats that? Any% speed run potential?)
Have a pleasant day/night.