[Devastate]
The void was all consuming, who were they? Did they have a name?
The inky blackness shifts and allows for dim lights to glow, there were flashes now, seeming to fight through the darkness to reach their eyes.
Shapes start forming in the new light, of Man, Beast and Machine.
The scene escalates, reaching a climax where deaths on all sides give way to-
Jaune woke up with the mother of all migraines.
He didn't remember any drinking, and no medication, he didn't even eat anything funny... Oh well, looks like he is just going to have to deal with it.
He was alone in bed, back to how it has been for far too long, thankfully what he had thought was a migraine is already subsiding, Gently fading into obscurity.
Jaune needed to freshen up, getting out of bed and opening a curtain to feel the morning sun he then makes his way to the bathroom for a quick and cold shower.
They would have warm water later when the sun rises properly, having constructed solar heated water tanks. Basically just painting them black then putting them inside an insulated box of highly reflective material like mirrors or tinfoil then make a window on the side facing the suns hottest position in the sky.
It worked, but only after its been sunny for a few hours, leaving him with the cold water for now. Regardless of temperature it still helped speed up the headaches retreat, as well as get himself all nice and refreshed for the day to come.
It had been a few days since they planned to raid Patch, The engineers had to repair another bullhead along with the one they trahsed in Hell.
That was still his favorite name for that land, it had a nice ring to it.
Jaune took his time to drip dry as he serviced his weapon and armour, not feeling a rush to do anything today, they would be doing everything much later in the cover of darkness.
The darkness was good for them in many ways, it kept the Bullheads safe during approach and it wouldn't overly hamper them in combat with multiple awareness semblances and even a Faunus number advantage.
It was sad to say, but there used to be a bias against Faunus in the hunter community, racists tend to hate "inferior" people in powerful places. It left the retirement island of patch lopsided in favor of humans.
Despite how sad it is, it helped the plan. They had Rubys confirmation that there were few potential Faunus on Patch that could surprise them with any night vision.
They were playing it safe and assuming Predators can track emotion too, so Rens semblance was going to cover them until reaching combat as well.
It was going to be a full stealth mission, complemented by being enacted via the trained hunter gatherers and scouts.
Even during the calming and methodical action of cleaning his equipment, a deep sigh slipped out Jaunes weary mouth.
In all honesty Jaune hated when they had to fight, he was getting sick and tired of all the worrying and intense battles... It added onto his urgency to end the Grimm threat... Eventually anyway.
Jaune had no illusions of being completely free of Grimm over night, but if he could just somehow stop the repopulation, the seemingly endless waves, the future generations could then have some kind of real hope.
Lost in thought Jaune didn't even notice he was cleaning his chest plate a second time before his stomach interrupted the mind games with a gurgle.
Right, food was important.
Jaune had been slacking on eating recently, he needed to keep an eye on that. What he didn't need was to weaken due to a lack of food.
Getting up and donning his fresh gear, Jaune heads out to slay the enemy of his stomach, a dastardly foe that goes by the name of Hunger.
After three floors he took the first zipline to the next building over, it was your duty as the one who used it to be the same person to reset it for the next traveler.
Jaune wouldn't be the leader known for avoiding rules, so he got to work using the crude rope "pulley" system to hike the device back up the line.
It was cathartic in its own way, and Jaune quickly found himself moving on in a better mood for it.
The cafeteria wasn't exactly empty, but it had nobody he wanted to talk to. So Jaune didn't stick around and took his food for a walk outside.
He ended up following his ears, talk and sounds of tinkering a few buildings away led him to find an Oxjaw workshop.
They weren't planning to accommodate Atlas and the tech they brang, but Vale had no shortage of empty ground floor rooms to convert into parking slots.
This one in particular had been part of some kind of shopping district, it was a simple matter of taking out shelving units and using the open space.
Surprisingly Jaune found Pyrrha, Weiss and Ren chatting away in front of an Oxjaw. The vehicle had a nasty looking canon of some kind, Jaune would be the first to admit his gun knowledge was lacking, but even he could tell this was some experimental stuff.
Heck, it somehow looked even more futuristic than the rest of Atlas' tech.
Stepping into the building he picked up the tail end of the conversation "-but, turns out my semblance is great for aiming the Railgun!" Weiss had quickly picked up on Jaunes entry due to looking past her little audience.
"Nice of you to join us Jaune, sleep late?" He almost chuckled at that, but instead gave her a warm smile instead "You could say that, I also spent some time on maintenance."
Her eyes drop for a second to inspect his work, then met his eyes once again, having to look up to him when he stood closer.
"Not bad work, you clean it often?" Juane nods and answers while moving to inspect the Oxjaw behind them "Oh you know how it is nowadays, everything needs to be cleaned regularly or it breaks."
She nods back with a solemn frown "the apocalypse wasn't kind on anyones gear, I feel sorry for the mechashift users."
He was about to respond with more idle chatter when Pyrrha speaks up "oh Jaune, did you know this Oxjaw uses electro magnetism? I was talking with Weiss, we eventually got to the topic of trying to use my semblance to replicate its effects!"
Jaune thought back to the Vale defense with raised eyebrows "oh really? and how far did you get?" Pyrrha was behind him so Jaune could only hear the excited response "Well, nothing practical yet! But the theory is sound!"
Taking in the sight of the Oxjaw -in all its boxy glory- Jaune thought back to how it punched right through any armored target on the battlefield.
What would happen if Pyrrha could do the same? A more "mechanically" reliable and agile platform for such a weapon? But most importantly, doesn't even use the scarce amounts of dust they had left.
Jaune didn't pull any punches and made his expectations known "This is something I would love to see in the future."
Pyrrha responded with confidence and a hint of excitement "Oh I do too, next time I am saved by my own semblance it won't be by accident."
Jaune knew a long story for what it was and didn't probe for now.
"Well, good day to all of you, I am going to be talking to people all day it seems." Jaune pat the shoulder of Ren as he left "Let's hope Patch is kind on us."
The small trip to Patch was mostly uneventful.
The mood difference between himself, Ren and the rest of the crew was stark.
Jaune personally wouldn't say they were calm, but in comparison to the other people on board the average person could definitely think so.
Ruby was the worst off as far as Jaune could tell, Her thoughts as clear as day in the dimly lit cargo bay.
Ruby had ended up pulling multiple favors to ensure the first house to be searched was her own. All to find her father, if his body was still alive and kicking that is.
The worry was carving deep furrows into Rubys face, that her eyebrows were following into and forming an angry expression with.
Probably cursing the Grimm or perhaps even herself in some way.
Jaune could very well imagine her saying that if she was conscious during the tipping point she could have helped more. Even when she was the whole reason they didn't crumble immediately during the first attack.
Regardless, Jaune hunkered down for the rest of the flight and hoped they were stealthy enough in the dark. The idle com chatter between the two Bullheads keeping everyone company and updated on the estimated time of arrival.
It didn't take long to arrive, the distances involved being negligible for aircraft.
After the pilot notified them everyone got to work with last minute checkups, calibrating gear, rightening straps and in some instances even setting up long term semblances.
Jaune held out his hand for sombody doing just that, a Vale citizen with a semblance similar to his own.
His name was Dave, or more commonly, Drawback Dave, having been the punchline of many well meaning jokes about a discount Jaune.
It was a weird semblance, having about half an hour of effective time after Dave applied it by hand. But its effects were to only slightly enhance a secondary part of ones semblances.
Some had very powerful reactions to it like Ruby, who had many aspects to her semblances. While on the other hand people like Jaune received a marginal increase in Aura manipulation effeicency
It was always helpful no matter how little of an effect though, so everyone held out their hand, welcoming any advantage they could get their hands on.
The intercom on the side of the door beeps once before speaking "Thirty seconds until drop."
Jaune remembered something at the last second.
"Wait Ruby! What is your dads semblance?" Across from him Jaune saw her face morph into confusion like he had said something stupid "He doesn't have one!"
That... Was slightly scary... Ruby had said something about her father being the leader of his team? And not to mention the photo left on her medical bed had been unarmed even when everyone else in the photo had their weapons... That must be some scary combat ability and iron will.
"Anything I should know!? Any tips?" Ruby laughed at Jaunes questions over the surrounding noises and thumbed up "yeah, he has a lot of aura!"
Jaune wanted something a little more helpful than that "More than me?"
Ruby shook her head in what looked like a mix of pride and glee "You don't seem to understand Jaune! More than any hunter in history!"
...
Why did she fail to think this was vital information during the planning stages?
The Bullhead drifted to a stop and dim red lighting switched to green as the doors open, revealing the murky darkness of the surrounding forestry encroaching on the Rose household.
Altitude wasn't high at all so no landing strategy was technically required. Yet the breaching team had one anyway, for maximum surprise tactics.
A weight manipulation semblance mixed with a hammer wielding iguana faunus spelt doom for the roofs integrity, being able to double or half anythings weight regardless of size or volume meant his already comically massive weapon fell strait through and took out a large chunk of degrading support beams and even a structural wall.
Any falling debris were of no concern to him either.
Immediately there were follow ups, speed orientated hunters were using the new hole as an infiltration point, spreading out and covering as much ground as possible to find any targets.
There were more than expected, Jaune forgot Predators were going to be aimlessly wondering patch, meaning there could be any number of them anywhere regardless of property owners.
The first opponent was taken down within seconds, dismantled in the dark by a dashing duo of black panther faunus and Ruby herself.
The Predator would have been killed just like that, if not for the groups mission profile of taking them in alive.
That was where Jaunes team came into play, support and confinement.
Dropping next, Ren and himself had a hugely different strategy, Jaune having the extra weight and landing with a large thud and roll, while Ren simply landed on his feet and bled off the significantly less momentum by crouching and throwing out a hand between his feet.
The second Bullhead could be heard dropping off team Bravo for a perimeter defense while they work.
The third and last drop from Jaunes own Bullhead involved Doodle, the drawing semblance guy, he would be helping with the containment and transportation of the Predators.
Jaune hated to use cages, but it was honestly the easiest and safest way to do this without hurting either side.
By the time the three total Predators on the top floor were brought together the shock team was already wraping up downstairs.
Ruby being part of that team calls out to Jaune after what sounds like a small explosion going off "Jaune! You want to see this!"
Nodding to his team before departing Jaune hurried down the stairs, half the steps were broken but his flashlight attachment highlighted all the tripping hazards before anything could sneak up on him.
Reaching the origin of Ruby's voice ended up leaving him in the living room.
First thing he noticed was the obvious corpse of one of the panther faunus. Next was the several hunters and their weapons trained on somebody sitting on a couch.
Making his way to Ruby, Jaune gets a better view of who she -along with everyone else- was watching.
It was her dad. Taiyang.
He looked almost human, being a Predator means your body is mostly intact, but your clothes, hair and general civil nature deteriates over time and natural elements degrading away everything not protected by Aura.
Taiyang looked homeless, while sitting in his own home, on his own couch.
"Did he kill Ja-" Ruby shoots Jaunes question out the air with a quick "He didn't kill anyone, my dad hasn't moved at all."
Yet, he was certainly moving, intensely shivering to be exact. With clenched hands on knees and a paradoxically neutral face.
Taiyang was resisting? This left the begging question of how Taiyang did it when everybody else was lost to madness?
...But it was something they could fight after all?
The iguana infiltrator moved in to secure Taiyang, but Jaune holds up his clenched fist to stop him.
"Don't interfere, get Doodle down here and proceed like Taiyang has already been subdued." As the faunus nods and moves to get the team down here Jaune explains to Ruby, who was looking at him with a skeptical face.
"We don't know how much control your dad has, any sudden jolts or interruptions could cause a physical reaction that tips the balance of control towards the Grimm." Jaune didnt know anything for certain, in fact, all of what he said was complete bullshit. But if there was anything he knew about Grimm, it was that they were kings of primal instinct and raw muscle and wouldn't be letting anything slide towards that end of the spectrum.
They would be doing this in the most sterile way possible.
There were a few normal zombie corpses -probably civilian spouses to the retired hunters- littered around the living room along with some subdued Predators trying to resist capture but couldn't do anything thanks to not having Aura reserves left.
It took a few moments of distant sounds of combat outside before Doodle came into the room, immediately getting to work sketching the Grimm occupants.
Once he got all of them on paper he started to draw the cages and restraints, metalic looking material being printed around them at the molecular level, binding to wrists and ankles seamlessly.
Doodle did Taiyang last, when all the other Predators were safely taken care of.
Jaunes temporary police radio crackles up and a voice is heard for everyone in the room "Sir! Taking a lot of flack out here! We got the whole god damned patch population closing in on us! We need to leave ASAP!"
Jaune didn't waste any time and gave the call "alright, start the staggering retreat, we're almost done on this side of things."
There were a few of the infiltrators standing idle so Jaune gave them orders "Let's move people, get these Predators to the second floor and ready for transport!"
Everyone involved was on the move now, Doodle even fixed the rundown stairs for extra access and safety.
Ruby stayed close to her father through the whole process, who was actually staying -mostly- calm and reserved, for a Predator anyway.
Even so, the restraints were getting a thorough testing. But the thing about these restraints was that even if the material may be semi-fictional, it was temporarily but chemically bonded with you, meaning aura flowed over it as if it was apart of you.
Making for a very real situation of fighting against yourself, having you break your own aura to even try rip off the bindings.
Except if you were to run out of aura your inhuman strength is gone too, making for a near impossible escape.
Talking about escape, the Bullhead came in extra low, almost landing amongst the rubble for evacuation.
Ruby assisted everyone with the small jump required to get into the Bullhead, while a few chains were used to hook and pull up the cages into the cargo bay.
Once on board Juane received a transmission from the co-pilot "Sir, Bullhead Bravo is receiving fire from ranged semblances, is critically damaged and has to pull back to an offshore position."
Jaune cursed under his breath but ultimately planned for this "radio all Bravo squads and tell them to high tail it towards the emergency cliff evacuation site!"
Thier own Bullhead was already turning for that exact location, going to be fortifying the place for a safe pickup.
The real hard part was for the Bravo squads, having to reach them through enemy territory.
"Sir! I need an Aura replenishment before I can build anything else!" It was Doodle, having had continuously used his semblance since landing.
Jaune wordlessly donated aura in response.
They didn't take long to find the cliffs, they swung up next to it and opened the cargo bay for Doodle to sketch up a perimeter.
Jaunes semblance was a bit touchy with Doodles own, since there was no kind of attack or instant ability to buff, it left them with something completely different, yet hopelessly more powerful.
It allowed for more changes per drawing, with less accuracy and detail required for it to work.
With Jaune there Doodle could almost do anything he wanted, including but not limited to entire landscape or structural editing.
While his pencil was furiously scribbling over his page he shares his thoughts out loud "I miss the digital stuff so much, I could actually edit my own work as the battle evolved! Now I have to rework an entire battlefield if a single explosion goes off and decides to leave a crater!"
Jaune didn't know much about arts but it sounded like a ruff predicament to be in.
"At least you don't have to worry about that right now, having no active battlefield." Doodle nods absently and tries finishing the setup before said field is filled with retreating and fighting hunters.
The half pre-drawn cliff was quickly set up, the plan was to give the area walls and a bunker system leading off the cliff, where the escapees would jump into Bullhead Bravo hovering in wait.
"Okay, ready to print!" Jaune nods and pumps in extra Aura as the process of summoning was about to require a lot of aura all at once.
True enough -just like when they helped Ren in the buggy- the semblance was near instant, displacing air with a loud clap and a small shockwave due to its size.
They couldn't see much in the dark without a search light, so Jaune got to fixing that, best team Bravo know where to run to even with blood and grit in their eyes.
"Deploy the flares!" Immediately there were multiple people on the job and using their hunter strength to throw flares into strategic locations amongst the maze-like bunker formations.
Already they could see and hear the battle coming closer, the sounds of firearms almost as loud as some of the destructive semblances.
There was a lightning bolt shaped red glow starting to manifest back at the Rose household, tall enough to be seen over all the trees. Jaune didn't want to know how that semblance ended "We need to hurry up! Anybody not here in five minutes is being left behind!"
He received multiple radio acknowledgements from team Bravo, leaving Jaune to believe they still had control over the situation and weren't just desperately running in the dark for their lives.
Before Jaunes timer even got to two minutes the first of team Bravo was arriving, being made up of mostly barrier-class semblances with a few brawlers mixed in for close support.
The other Bullhead came in closer, ready for its crews hasty retreat.
And hasty they were, throwing up defenses as they sprinted through the walls gateway, diving and navigating inbetween the artificial cover.
The gate was merly a glorified hole in the wall, but had a slab of fake concrete ready to be dropped in its place.
It didn't slow the Predators down much, but getting out of line of sight usually meant most semblances were less effective.
"Okay, let's move on, Bullhead Bravo can catch up in its own time, we are just sitting ducks being of no help here." The pilot didn't hesitate to follow the orders he's been wanting to execute all night.
They lost some altitude as the Bullhead turned on the spot harshly, getting them below line of sight and stealthy amongst the pitch black waves.
"Sir, team Bravo is right behind us now, I think we got out all right." It was the Iguana faunus -Rex- who had said those damning words, probably not as paranoid as Jaune, who firmly believed in karma and a few of Murphy's laws.
They had managed to fly for about a minute before the red bolt started screaming, with what felt like the anger of a god.
Jaune got out a small "Not good" before it increased for a second then went deathly silent.
His radio crackled on and the panicked voice of the second Bullheads pilot sounded out "we're losing airspeed! Its got some kind of suction effect!"
Jaune thought fast, knowing these seconds were key "Perform an emergency landing! Water should give us more resistance!"
Bullheads weren't exactly designed to be a sea plane, but the engines were high enough on the frame for it to float without damaging the engines, and because it was VTOL it didn't need pontoons to take off again.
"Roger that!" Jaunes own pilot must have been notified from the other or perhaps made the call himself, for he dove down a second later, not slowing down much until the last few seconds, where he used the back of a breaking wave to actually pull them like some kind of veteran sailer.
"Remind me to give this guy a raise when we get home!" Ruby laughed along with a few chuckles in the crowd, but the mood was too suppressing for it to last.
Again Jaunes radio received a panicked hail "We hit a wave badly, and request immediate assistance! It tipped the aircraft on its side!"
The dragging coming from the red portal ended suddenly, and with it an explosion that wiped the island clean, trees, houses and the bunkers they set up all destroyed in the electrical storms that followed.
The other worldly "implosion" didn't reach them but the shockwave almost sent Bullhead Bravo upright, but didn't quite make it.
Jaune needed to fix this fast, or the aquatic Grimm would sink their fellow hunters.
"Rex! Doodle! We are going to be saving our comrades!" Jaune got two nods before bringing up his radio and spoke fast "get us above Bullhead Bravo and open both side doors!"
The engines shift to thrust directly down as they leave the water, doors open next and the salty winds greet them face first, the engines artificially increasing water spray around them.
"Doodle get me a drawing of Bullhead Bravo attached to a lot of chain, Rex, how full is your Aura?" Doddle didn't respond and got to work right away, while Rex answered quickly "Below half, took a nasty hit from a Predator earlier during the breaching."
Jaune nods, having not used his semblance or aura much for a few days, meaning he had built up a hefty reserve "Not bad, I am still good for another top up and then some extra."
Rex just shifts uncomfortably "Sir, you do know I require constant skin contact for my semblance to work right?"
Jaune took the moment to raise morale "scared of a little water are we?" Any reaction was discarded as Doodle spoke up "Done sir!" Jaune was surprised, that was quick, even for a pre-drawn scenario.
"How? Never mind, get to work printing it out and make sure its secured well! Rex, we slide down the chains and half the weight of Bullhead bravo!"
The situation evolved fast, but Grimm were in the bay already, by the time Jaune and Rex were in place they had to deal with a few canon fodder Grimm. Human sized and similar to coelacanths in shape.
It felt like chopping up jumping salmon to Jaunes recently sharpened sword, but he had to be careful, if one managed to unbalance him there would be another in its place to push him into the icy depths.
And to saying that was a death sentence is an understatement, greater hunters than he have fallen in battle due to a similar fate.
"Rex! Focus on your job, I got you covered!" The Bullhead they were on didn't rise at first, the main group of chains were collected then tied together at the top of the Bullhead (that was on its side currently) so it took a moment to right itself up.
It was almost -almost being the key word- fun to hastily move up the side of the Bullhead as it tilted up.
But at the last second where the hull curves Jaune lost his footing, the metal on wet metal not giving the best grip for this situation.
Jaune would have slid all the way down the slope of the Bullhead and into the water if not for the chains, that separated into a finer mesh of interlinked fence to distribute weight.
Jaune didn't think it was possible to grip something so hard in his life, and just when he was about to start climbing his way back up to the top again did a Grimm jump out the water.
It was another one of those coelacanth Grimm, it bit into his leg and thrashed wildly, determined to get him off the safety of the Bullhead.
"Shit!" Some of its teeth got into the weak spot in his armour, located at the back of his knee. It was draining Aura and breaking his armour down over time as well.
Not to mention it hurt like Hell!
Rex was already trying to help "Give me a clear shot!" Jaune could see his warhammer being held at the ready and started to position himself under the strain.
Jaunes leg was brought up to his right and he hooked his knee spike and foot into some of the chain fence to keep it from coming back down. It was no easy task, with a fish almost bigger than himself it was only possible in this situation thanks to Aura.
His eyes were being sprayed by the water kicked up by the Bullhead engines, so it was hard to see the technique used by Rex but whatever it was worked wonders.
Jaune felt extra chunky water for a moment as the Grimm took it's time to smoke away after being smashed to bits, also the warhammer was imbedded into the hull now. Just below his leg. Fun stuff.
Rex pulled out his weapon and then helped Jaune up "Not every day people can say they helped save thee Jaune Arc."
True enough he supposed, he was no pushover these days.
Jaunes radio was badly damaged in his fall, having been on his left hip at the time, so Rex's calls out for him instead "We need that weight reduction to get Bullhead Bravo out the water ASAP! Radar readings are picking up a school of flying fish! They surfaced out of nowhere!"
Seems they couldn't get a break could they? These Grimm are specialists in suicide bombing, exploding as they fly into you.
Those would make short work of the chains and themselves standing out here in the open, exposed.
Rex placed a hand onto the top of the Bullhead and got to work, they started lifting all at once, but Jaune could now hear the distant sound of splashing. It was going to be close.
They took up a position around the main chains, holding on with one hand each while they both used the other for their respective tasks of semblance usage and defending said semblance, For Jaune that meant his shield, because having better protection was more important right now.
"The Grimm seem to be coming from the South, stay behind me Rex, keep that semblance going for as long as possible." There was no return comment, but then again, there was no need.
They were pretty high now, Jaune would be surprised if one of them could manage to get them at this altitude.
The pilot seemed to agree, now adding some speed towards the Vale heading.
They made it, Jaune could now see the hundreds of small red dots flying and diving into the water far below, the red glowing eyes all Grimm share.
From here on out it was just a short but cold trip to Vale, with the Bullhead engines and radio chatter keeping them company.
"You guys still good down there? Jaune held out his hand for the radio and spoke for them "no worries here, just get us home safe and sound."
He was relatively safe and sound, but not quite home yet, Vale Central Hospital was needed to be overseen by himself, the nurses felt safer working with Jaune and his small hand picked team watching over the Predators.
The Atlas engineers were working with Dime and Penny, who were setting up one of the operating rooms with working power and tools.
Dime had built a temporary copy of her own energy core as a means to get it all working... Penny was looking at the cables with unhidden anger that Jaune was slightly impressed by and even a little scared at... having something like a robot look so hateful rubbed him the wrong way.
Jaune needed to ask Dime about that later, but for now he had a task to make sure all the Predators weren't regenerating Aura.
It was a simple task, taking a needle and pricking the skin on their arms would tell you if they had aura.
The Predators seemed to regenerate the ethereal force at a reduced rate, so Jaunes regular checkups usually resulted in nothing. Any built up Aura was also squeezed away by a hunters grip, if required.
And yet, none of this applied to Taiyang.
Jaune ended up standing in front of his ballistic glass room, built mostly to keep things like sound out and Taiyang in his meditive state.
His eyes have yet to open, so it didn't really matter what the walls were made of, as long as they did their job of dampening noise.
"What makes you so special? The only difference between you and any hunter is just your large aura pool." Was that some kind of clue to how a the Predator parasite functions? It felt too obvious and vague to even base any theories on.
Ruby walks up to Jaune, joining him in the task of staring at Taiyang like he would spill the meaning of the universe and all its problems.
Jaune made the first comment "I am so tired, I hope we get these tests over with soon." Ruby nodded absently, probably tired aswell but felt her dad was more important than a late night sleep.
"Thankfully Dime and Penny don't need sleep the same way we do, makes this night owl procedure safer." Her words were said while her hand was gently placed on the barrier between herself and her father.
Jaunes idle mind stumbled and brought a taboo subject up by accident "your father makes me wonder how many others survived, you know, outside of Vale and Atlas."
"Don't even bother, I have already done enough thinking for the both of us, places like Menagerie and Vacuo didn't last long I bet." Jaune avoided the topic of Menagerie like the plague, half of team RWBY disappeared after heading that way "what about Mistral?"
Ruby gave him a side look from the corner of his eye "Probably a few die hard hunters still living out there, you know how it is in Mistral, them and fighting go hand in hand."
She didn't sound very enthusiastic about the conversation so Jaune left it at that, he can't imagine she cared much for non-family related locations.
The night was agonizingly slow and had many hours of waiting impatiently, but at last, they were approached by a messenger sent by Dime.
"The operating room is ready, they requesting for the first Predator." Jaune was about to move to fetch just that when Ruby grabbed his arm.
"Listen, Jaune, I know you trust Dime for saving Pyrrha, but as far as I am concerned my dad isn't going close to her until I know she is doing what she says she is." Jaune understood where this paranoia was coming from, many times people had infiltrated their group just to turn into a psychopath down the line when nobody expected it.
"Okay, thats fine, I was going to offer you the last slot in the line anyway, giving Dime the most experience with the least understood patient." Ruby frowned at his wording but knew it was her best bet, it was this or lose him forever to the Grimm.
They both nod, coming to a silent agreement before continuing down the hallway to the closest batch of Predators.
Trying not to be more biased than he already was Jaune pointed to the closest cage, they quickly check the Aura levels before unlocking and firmly freeing the Predator.
She had very pale skin and dark hair, not very uncommon but was still the only defining factors other than her clothes, but even those didn't give her much character anymore, since they had to give her a medical gown thanks to her old clothes being in such a sorry state they were practically falling off.
"Jaune, I hope this works."
"Me too, me too."
Arriving with a half Grimm thrashing in his arms, Jaune felt the stares of everyone in the operating room.
Jaune needed to impart something before they started "Dime, please treat them as humans, I know its not going to be a very controlled procedure but I just ask you make the bindings as comfortable as possible."
They maintained eye contact for a few seconds, her eyes managing to betray nothing but determination while it felt like she in turn was peeking right through his thoughts.
"Worry not Jaune, I will minimize suffering." That was all he could ask for.
There was an awkward silence after that, Ruby and himself weren't sure what to do, sit calmly? Unlikely.
The Predator was secured and the main light was burning down harshly into their eyes and the pure white sheets around her.
The first order of business was finding the parasite, they thought it was in the head somewhere, but that was backed up by nothing substantial, they would need to perform full body CAT scans and a MRI scan to fix that lack of understanding.
Remnant and Vale itself had managed to get some very high tech medical equipment from atlas, Aura study passively pushed for multiple scanning tool developments and readers that resulted in the other medical machines to catch up as a side benefit.
As a result there was minimal bulk involved in the machines and anything too big had the option to fold away like some kind of mechashift weapon.
It was all refined and thanks to Dime, in mint condition, it was just a matter of finding one working component of everything. She could then replicate it into the required area.
Jaune was close enough to hear her comment to nobody in particular "Feels odd to be in control of a monitoring system again."
He held his tounge, not wanting to interrupt concentration.
The Predator was starting to get agitated, more aggreesive. The lack of Aura not helping it in its attempts to escape.
Well, that is until the right arm snaps under all the wild thrashing, forearm breaking badly and exposing bone to the air in a gory display of bone and blood.
Dime was the one to react in time, clamping a hand down on the arm before it could hit a nurse who had used the operating table as a grip, having panicked and slipped slightly on the slick blood.
Jaune was half way to the table when it got under control, now standing awkwardly in the middle of the room as he watched dime construct a new set of safer restraints for the Predators arms.
Dime looked up just for a second to give orders "Start the scan, don't wait any longer." Penny nodded and started up the machine.
They lower from above, packed with all the sensory equipment required in arching limbs that curve over the Predator.
The monitor attached to Dimes left arm started getting feedback and the image was coming through in real time.
"Nothing yet." It was the worse case scenario then, the machine had started at the feet and made its way up, not finding any anomalies in the torso means there was only really one more place it could be.
Just as the machine swept over the neck Dime started talking and studying what she found at the same time "we found it, or at least, some of it."
Jaune steps as close as possible without being inside the operating space "what do you mean some of it?"
"It appears to be a root system of some kind, probably connected to the main body further up." Jaunes neck felt weird after just hearing that.
"So what, like a nerve system? Grimm wouldn't need to steal resources from the body to eat like a normal parasite." Dime nods at his observation "it seems to be targeting the spinal chord."
Well, guess they knew how it controlled the body in some ways.
The MRI scanner had continued during the conversation, giving them a look at the brain now.
One of the nurses actually gasped.
Jaune couldn't see the screen and was waiting as patiently as possible.
"Okay! We are going to have to perform an emergency operation, the parasite is actively harming the brain as we speak!" Jaune never knew Dime had it in her to act so emotional, he assumed this side of her was the one to save Pyrrha.
He hoped Dime could be as effective this time around.
"Its nestled around the brain stem, get me the cutting tools!" She was no qualified doctor, but she had the steadiest hands between them and as a result was their best bet.
Obviously they didn't make her go into this blind, they had visited many library's and even other minor hospitals in search of topic related information and even one guide.
They were also kind of hoping Dime learnt as quickly as she did with other tasks.
So it was of no real surprise when it didn't exactly go splendid, the patient died before the Grimm even did much but probe the brain. Thanks to the hasty cutting tools doing more than what was strictly required of them.
Instead of standing in silence like everyone else, Ruby talked up "So what did we learn?"
Dime responded, but she was obviously distracted "We forgot Aura was the only thing stopping them from being a normal zombie, tell the others to stop taking out their Auras. Or we won't have any Predators to work with by morning."
Jaune can't believe he didn't see that mistake, obviously the Aura must have been stopping the Grimm to brute its way into the brain, and that naturally doesn't work when you subdue them.
Wait.
Taiyang.
"Guys, I think I know why Taiyang is still in control." He had Rubys attention just before she left the room to warn the others that they were killing the rest of the patients.
"So we all know that you need your Aura to go down in a fight to become a Zombie, but what if Taiyangs Aura regenerated so fast the parasite didn't have time to get anywhere?" Ruby nods "he did have the biggest Aura pool to date and naturally the fastest regeneration to go with it."
Jaune nods in thanks and continued "So if the normal Predators have their parasites far enough away from the brain to survive even this long... Then Taiyang should actually have his parasite at a relatively safe distance."
Dime jumps into the conversation "In other words, it gives us more time to set up a trap, cut below the brain stem and wait for the Grimm to try push past."
Jaune crosses his arms and frowns gently "Exactly, but, thats only good for Taiyang, what about the others?"
The whole plan after all was to get more population and Taiyang alone wasn't that.
Dimes features were so alive, it was hard to believe she wasn't human when she looked and sounded so concerned "I know what I did wrong, I'm going to be more steady and methodical this time around."
Everyone nods in agreement and with reformed resolve, most for different reasons than Jaune, but it wasn't like he only wanted combatants either, these were retired hunters after all, most would be used to help around Vale with the mundane tasks at worst, and extra Vale defense at best.
Ruby carries on with her task of getting the next Predator and sending the aura depletion warning out.
It was going to be a long night.
They had good news, and bad news come morning.
Good news is that only one other patch citizen died due to Grimm parasites.
Bad news is that none of them would be doing anything for Vale, instead, the city has a mental asylum now.
turns out that your brain being fringed by Grimm for five years leads to uncontrolled PTSD, Aggressive mood swings and in some cases a damaged nervous system resulting in loss of senses or even total limb control.
Leaving Vale with the husky shadows of the hunters they once were.
But all that was over now, Jaune had requestred that his team get some rest before Taiyang is operated on, it was an excuse so Jaune could get Ruby to sleep too, he thought her having a good days rest before seeing her father again would be best regardless of the outcome of the procedure.
It was also to delay him having to address the situation of his failed plans, having no bulked army or extra home defense.
And they had really needed it, having reports of increased Grimm activity on Vales horizons, the time Atlas had made for them is running dry it seems, the supply line slowly but constantly dropping off fresh bodies.
It was driving his tactical mind crazy just trying to come up with a solution, hiding under Vale wasn't always going to work, this was exactly why he wanted to take the fight to them, this would never last.
Forcefully closing his eyes Jaune tried to get his mind to shut down and sleep, even tired, he struggled to slip into the sweet embrace of rest.
There was a moment in that twilight between the land of dreams and the living where his combat instincts kicked in, and he tried to bolt up into a sitting position in his bed.
Only to be forcefully dragged into unconsciousness.
The abyss was back, the murky waters of defuncted reality shifting over all five of their senses.
They were dulled and suppressed, a mere spectator to the scene unfolding before them.
Everything shifted suddenly and yet only some things were different. They could now make out better textures and noises.
There was a figure next to them now, not having recently appeared, but feeling more like they have always been there from the start.
There were no words to be spoken between the two of them, for neither had facial features, instead, they wore porcelain masks as skin.
The one they assume is responsible had a mask of many eyes, all shifting colours at a speed they couldn't pinpoint, never being able to remember which was what colour seconds before.
Just as eternity stretched for too long did they point out ahead of them both.
Following the desired direction lead them to understand. The army they desired was never meant to be searched for, because it had yet to be built.
This time when Jaune woke up, there was blood under his nose, and his Aura had run dry.
Not to forget the even bigger migraine and sweat soaked hairline, making the blankets feel stuffy and undesirable.
It wasn't leaving as fast as the last migraine, but the memories weren't leaving either, and what beautiful memories they were.
Jaune wasn't sure if that was just one crazy ass dream or the gods themselves speaking to him. But one thing Jaune did know, was that he had a new plan rapidly forming.
Jaune only barely noticed the time as he got out of bed and into some simple light clothes.
He had slept through the day and through the following night, having his old clock tell him it was two hours earlier than he had gone to bed.
It took Jaune a little longer than he cared to admit to work that out, almost thinking he had time traveled in his very cluttered and pained state of mind.
Moving swiftly, Jaune didn't waste time with morning routine, he had to find Dime.
Now that he was a little more awake he realized Penny was going to need to be there as well, hopefully the duo was together like usual.
Jaune found them both walking between the infirmary and the dorms they lived in, the hallway of the tunnel dimly lit green due to the bioluminescence creep on the roof.
He didn't waste any time with pleasantries "We need to talk." But before Jaune could say much more, Nora rounds the nearest corner and skips over seemingly in a happy mood.
It quickly dampens down when she comes closer "Jaune! You look like shit! What happened?"
He really needed to impart this plan before the memories were gone, he didn't want to risk the same thing that happened last time.
"I don't know, Nora, But whatever it was helped us out big time." She was interested now, so was Dime and Penny.
"Dime, if I remember correctly you made a copy of your own power source to run those medical machines, could you do that again?" She was nodding absently as she replied "As long as I have a working core to base my new construct on it should run."
"And how about copying your own body as a whole?" She paused before speaking again "I realize where you are going with this, but it won't work, these metal clones won't have my mind and will be as useful as mere decorations."
She nails the coffin "No aura or semblances either, and dumber than those Atlesian knights I hear about."
"But, what if you or Penny remotely controlled them?" She shakes her head "there are very little communication devices still alive that could make that effective."
Jaune was desperate.
"What about those Penny subroutines!? They could follow basic commands couldn't they? You two would just need to code in some basic attacks and tactics!" Both looked away, Dime had a huge blush as well.
Nora spoke up quietly "I think you just told them to repopulate Jaune."
His mind comes crashing to a halt.
"What?"
"I said-" Jaune waves her reply away "I know what you said, but isn't this different!? They won't be the same as Penny or Dime when it comes to intelligence..." Nora mutters under her breath "just like normal babies."
Jaune hadn't caught that last snippet but thought better of asking Nora to repeat it.
Dime spoke up hesitantly "I wouldn't mind..."
Penny on the other hand was less inclined "and what, these clones are going to be used as soldiers in this warpath of yours?"
"Actually, I was thinking we could use the atlesian knight as a base instead, but yes." Penny still looked dubious but he could see she wanted to give her subroutines bodies of their own.
"They would all die along with yourself in the long run regardless of your choice, when Vale gets over run." She frowned at that, not being able to dispute it.
"but this way we save as many as possible, along with human and fanus lives." Penny was nodding along now, agreeing before her words were even spoken.
"In an effort to free us all, I think we should do it." Her mind changed fast, but Jaune wouldn't question a gift like that, no matter how odd.
"Okay. Okay. This is big, we are going to need to redesign the atlesian night to run on power cores not Dust, but it should work." Dime was absently looking down at her chest, where the thrum of the core could be heard slightly if somebody was to strain their ears.
"I can get Ruby and Weiss to pick out weapons for the army, we haven't touched the Adel buildings that had no loot, they were some kind of testing facility with a lot of documents and blueprints, you could use those to make the weapons." It was no longer a conversation and was really just Jaune thinking out loud.
Dime cuts in "I will run out of Aura pretty fast, a power core is very unstable and needs Aura to keep from exploding in the long run, I thought you just wanted them temporarily."
Jaune pauses and mulls it over.
"Could you unlock the Aura of the sub routines if you made them smarter? So you wouldn't have to use your own aura to keep them running?" Penny replied to that easily "thats a tall order Jaune, it would take me days to edit a single one to that level of sentience, even when copy pasting most of my own code to cut corners."
Jaune was at a loss there.
Or was he? He brought up his hand to rub his chins growing stubble -he had gone a few days without much care for it- and thought about it again.
Before Jaune could come up with another answer Nora made a comment "Not to mention her semblance would be building them too, so its never going to work with her having so many jobs."
Thats it. Semblances.
"My sister could maybe help you Penny, her semblance increases mental speed and capacity, but there could maybe be problems there considering your nature and the fine print of the semblance." Penny tilts her head inquisitively "I would gladly test this out."
Jaune was on a roll, it helped when you were convinced it was possible due to some crazy masked person in your dreams.
Dime was still over worked, too many jobs...
Hold on.
"What are we doing? Theres an obvious solution!" Dime and Nora looked pretty interested in this obvious thing he claimed to have.
"Dimes an Aura transfer machine! We just need to top her up with other hunters." Jaune didn't stop there "And we are thinking about this all in the wrong way, Dime doesn't need to build these knights at all."
Now he had their attention "Jaune, the whole point is to build them."
He nods with the smugness of somebody with the answers "we don't need Dime to build the knights if she builds something to do it for her."
The stunned silence was sweet, but before they worded anything else Jaune finished "Dime could repair and repurposed a factory from the industrial district."
Nora was the next to speak, the crazy being familiar and making her quick on the uptake "Jaune, the logistics for something like that is simply- how would we even get enough material to feed this factory anyway."
Jaune crossed his arms, still smug "Beacon has the highest amount of high quality scrap metal, right next to the ocean as well, meaning transportation is simple enough."
Dime wearily adds her two cents "Hes not wrong."
Nora adds hers "simple enough? Jaune there's a huge cliff! Not a beach or bay! Remember?" He scratches the back of his hair absently "Oh right, I am sure we could create some kind of elevator or crane..."
Penny finally added her own two cents "or maybe, we can kill two birds with one stone, create the Bullheads for the army transportation to then fly the supplies back to the factory." Nora ended it off for her "...to then make said army! Its genius!"
Jaune shook his head "dust is a problem, we won't get many trips out of them."
Everyone went quite at that.
Except Dime, who seemed to have found a solution "Unless... we could create Bullheads that run off power cores?"
It was a final blow to the plan, everything they needed was there, waiting to be enacted.
Nora summmed up the situation for them all "Can't believe we are going to try building an army and its mode of transportation with a few semblances, bullshit infinite power cores and scrap metal."
Jaune ends the summary off "all because I had some kind of vision in my sleep."
The strange looks he received was worth the comedic effect, in his humble opinion.
Arc two about to get real busy! let's fricking goooo!
So funnily enough, I haven't been receiving any notifications for follows/favorites even when multiple people are doing just that... But regardless, thanks for stopping by and hope y'all enjoyed.
Until next time comrades, 70% signing out.