III
187.M4224-69, Landing Zone Primus'Jaune! Pyrrha!' Ruby whispered as loudly as she could as she and Weiss were crawling towards them behind rows of manicured hedges. Pyrrha turns, smiling for a moment, smiling that they're alive before placing a finger on her lips
'Thank goodness you're okay!' Ruby continues in her loud whispers before covering her mouth apologetically.
'We have to go!' Weiss firmly whispers.
'Is there anyone missing?' Jaune asks.
'Not as far as we know, everyone is being evacuated.' Weiss explains. 'We came to get you two to come with us.'
'C'mon, Ren and Nora are waiting!' Ruby interjects.
'They're okay?' Jaune asks, and Ruby nods emphatically.
'But Cinder…' Pyrrha looks up at the tower.
'We couldn't get to her even if we wanted to.' Jaune begins looking back through the bushes to the growing ring of defenders at its base. 'And that's if they haven't killed her first.'
'Pyrrha, she will be brought to justice later. We have to get out alive now.' Weiss coldy states.
Pyrrha looks up at the tower once more. They are right. She concedes to herself. But leaving things like this, up in the air, the powers of the fall maiden lost, it all felt like a betrayal of the trust she was given.
'Very well.' She sighs, crawling away from the bushes and beginning a hasty retreat. It all feels wrong to her but she understands her hand is forced.
'Great, let's go!' Ruby commands in a fashion as she and the others lose no time in following Pyrrha.
One by one they then stop their crawl behind a burning Atlesian war walker. Pyrrha leads them in sprinting across the road to the obscurity of the built up areas beyond, perhaps driven by a suicidal fatalism.
In some back lane behind a dumpster they gather, one by one as Pyrrha takes up her shield Akouo and her xiphos Milao and readies herself for whatever they may face on the way to the evacuation point.
'Maybe it's better if we just run-' Jaune begins before looking at the grim determination in Pyrrha's face. '-then again…' He backpedals in a voice an octave higher. 'Maybe it's better if we're ready for trouble too.'
He's scared. To him, Pyrrha has always been kind and warm; but this- this is cold. He had never seen her so dead to everything before. So numb to the world.
'Okay! Okay!' Ruby rushes them. 'But we do everything together! Okay?' Jaune and Weiss nod in agreement with her.
'Okay?!' She asks Pyrrha, snapping her out of her numb staring straight ahead.
'Sorry Ruby. Yes… ...I won't let you down…' Not again. She mentally adds.
'Good.' Ruby smiles at her nervously and they head off into the uncertain darkness of the night.
(Next)
'What the actual fuck is all that?!' Roman screams, his obscenity laced demands echoing through the warehouse's large expanses.
'Do you honestly think this was part of the plan?!' Cinder snaps back, looking at him with a murderous gaze.
Neo narrows her eyes and begins walking forward to place herself between Roman and Cinder. Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai, Cinder's minions, remain leaning against crates. Mercury with crossed arms, Emerald with her hands on her paired pistols. Despite their casual stances, they were ready to intervene if Cinder required them to help her fight Roman and Neo.
'All this danger, all this effort! For nothing!' He goes on with his usual dramatic flair, but this is all explosive, angry passion, there's none of his trademark charm.
'It wasn't a total loss.' Cinder begins. Her voice lowers to calm him down.
'Have you lost your mind?!'
'Sush, Roman. Listen, don't talk.' Cinder commands, raising a hand as her eyes begin to be engulfed by fire. Roman grunts in an exasperated fury and reluctantly obeys. Neo remains vigilant, her hand firmly on her parasol handle.
'I've seen this enemy up close. Yes, they are well equipped but they are human. They can bleed. Not to mention, they aren't just our enemies. They are the enemy of everyone in this city.'
'And?!' Roman interrupts.
'For now, we got what we really needed to get. The rest can wait.' Cinder continues, returning to her softer sultry voice, as she tries regaining control of the situation.
'It's a damn mess out there!'
'Yes my dear Roman…' Cinder continues as she walks up to him and caresses his cheek. '...but it isn't our mess. We're going to blow this warehouse and then we will leave. Let our enemies fight each other.'
'Fine by me. I've had enough of this place anyway.' Roman says, not recoiling from her soft touch. Neo also assents by removing her hand from the parasol. Emerald and Mercury don't object either, none of them would want to remain in the dying city.
(Next)
'Jaune! Pyrrha!' Nora shouts happily at the evacuation point as she runs and tackles both, almost bowling them both over.
'We're glad you're both okay too.' Jaune laughs as they hug Nora back. Ren smiles a little as he clutches his injured side.
'Ren?!' Pyrrha exclaims.
'I'm fine, I'm fine.' Ren reassures them. 'Let's get out of here.'
'Over here!' Yang waves from the waiting aircraft. 'C'mon already!'
'We're cooooooming Yaaaaang!' Ruby yells as she runs past with Weiss.
'Okay bud, let's go.' Jaune says to Ren as Ren puts his arm over Jaune's shoulder and allows Jaune to take most of the weight as they make their way to the craft. Nora flanks Ren's other side. There's no way she is leaving his side now, in this condition.
In the aircraft the teams face each other sitting at opposite sides on the seating that runs along the sides.
'So what now?' Jaune asks.
'We can't leave the city, they need us, but we have nowhere to go…' Ruby thinks out loud. '...not in the city, but Patch is nearby. Patch is safe. My dad will know what to do.'
'Yeah, dad will know. He always does.' Yang agrees, holding Blake tightly.
'We wouldn't be imposing would we?' Pyrrha softly asks.
'No, not at all.' Ruby says.
'We can rest, we can recover and we can use it as a base for what happens next…' Yang adds, looking into Blake's yellow eyes with a desperate hope. Blake weakly smiles back, her hand holding Yang's with what strength the badly injured Faunus could muster.
Despite the fierce roar of the engines as the craft fires up its jets and takes off, for Blake and Yang, there's no one else but those two in that moment.
(Next)
'Glynda- I may call you Glynda right?' Palatine Corinthus asks.
'If calling me that is the worst thing that happens from now on, that will not be a problem.'
'Pardon?' Palatine Corinthus asks, looking up at her with menacingly narrowed eyes. The Palatine didn't like her sullen tone. Now that she had what she wanted, the Professor was less amenable. An attitude the Palatine resolves to correct at a later date.
'That won't be a problem.' She says.
'Between you and I, away from other ears, you may call me Athanasia.' The Palatine adds, hoping it will lure her into complacency and eventually willing collaboration.
'Noted.'
'I know you want to go about your business with all speed. Go and marshall your people in whatever defensive arrangement you think is best. It is prudent and for now, I won't keep you much longer.' The Palatine can't help but admire such a magnificent specimen of humanity. Glynda is beautiful by any measure. And a classical beauty too. Back in the days before man had first left the embrace of ancient Terra they called women like her "supermodels". Women who made quite the lucrative living from their looks alone. Striking poses before the rememberancers of that time.
'Thank you.' Glynda turns to leave.
'And I trust you will return when possible so we may begin our culture exchange?'
'Yes. Talking would be a welcome change from the other way we are having an exchange of cultures outside.' The Professor coldly retorts.
Palatine Corinthus can only laugh and dismiss the Professor with a condescending sweep of her hand. She was in error but at least the woman had some wit to her. What an assert she could be to the planet's compliance efforts.
With the Professor soon gone, the Palatine turns and goes to a window where she can observe the battle going on below. No, not a battle, a massacre. A battle implies the defenders are putting up anything like a fight.
'Spearhead Corinthus, status report. Status of objectives and casualties.' She calmly but firmly and clearly commands down her comm system.
'Zero casualties, sweeping the skies.' Sister Superior Bellora reports back.
'Zero casualties, objective secured.' Sister Superior Isskar reports back, other squads of Battle Sisters, Retributors, Repentias and Celestians also report back as soon as they can.
'All vehicles fully operational. Contributing to operations clearing the courtyard of daemons. The perimeter is secure.' Sister Superior Hadrian responds.
'Emperor be praised! Organised resistance has officially ended. Remain vigilant, remain faithful to the God-Emperor of Mankind!' Palatine Corinthus smiles to herself. To a woman the sisters of the Order of Our Martyred Lady were more than willing to die for the Imperium. Even amongst other orders they were notorious for their reverence of the dead and the ferocity that they would exhibit in avenging the fallen in the battlefield. But the Palatine took pride in the fact that she had lost very few sisters since ascending to her first command. Truth be told, it went beyond a commander's pragmatism at wanting to preserve the integrity of their units. In times of quiet contemplation Palatine Corinthus had her doubts and feared that she was too attached to her comrades. That it may be detrimental to her faith and soul.
'Wha-?' Palatine Corinthus looks out towards the wharf district, a massive, booming explosion dragging the Palatine from her internal prayers of gratitude to the God-Emperor back to the situation at hand. Prayers she had been humming for some time now as the moon begins to slowly descend and a morning sun is soon to take its place. What she can see is a gigantic ball of multicoloured fire. Nothing she commanded could on its own create such oddly beautiful pyrotechnics. Nor did the weaponry of the fleet.
'Cocytus!' She snarls into the comms.
'Palatine?' Zephyrim Superior Melanthe Cocytus answers curtly. The Palatine thanks the Emperor that the Zephyrim Superior has not yet lost her ability to speak in an intelligible manner from constant communion with the Emperor. Though she is remarkably taciturn.
'That explosion by the wharves. I require an immediate investigation into its nature.'
'Yes, Palatine.'
(Next)
'So, like I explained, it is better if we all take our separate ways to the designated meeting point.' Cinder explained. 'At the secluded rural tavern no one will question us or our purpose there and we can all move on together. Understand?'
'Gotcha.' Roman said, a little of his usual flair and conceit returning. The others nod. Emerald looks sad that she has to part ways with Cinder, even if it is only a few days at most. Maybe even a little scared.
'Come now Emerald, you and Neo have least grounds for concern. With your unique skill set, things should go well.' Cinder reassures her.
'Yes, Cinder.' Emerald sighs, she will obey Cinder but she isn't thrilled about all this. She is scared, she had never seen anything before like she has seen tonight.
'Well Boss…' Mercury begins. '...no point hanging around is there?'
'No. You should all go.' Cinder says as her eyes and her hands are wreathed in yellow flame.
'And you?' Roman asks, looking back.
'Go.' She smiles at him. 'I will make a distraction.' As they see her walk towards the massive reserves of dust that they had spent months stealing and hoarding, they had no illusions about what Cinder had planned.
Mercury has no desire to linger. He feels no attachment to the place or his comrades in fact, he breaks into a run through the dark lanes between the warehouses that are quiet as the grave at this time of night.
Behind him, there's an explosion, massive, almost deafening. But spectacular as it may be, it is not enough to compel him to turn and look. Through the last darkness of the night Mercury's mechanical legs take him though dark and abandoned avenues that exist between stacked shipping containers.
(Next)
Zephyrim Squad Cocytus formed a very loose circle around the wharves section at Zephyrim Superior Cocytus' command before they closed in on ground zero of the explosion. Zephyrim Superior Cocytus watches a shadow shift rapidly as she closes in on the explosion site from the north. Her cold blue grey eyes narrow like those of a beast of prey as she mentally calculates the shadow's trajectory.
'Should you apprehend any terrorists, take them alive if possible…' She commands through the comms. 'If.'
Putting her power sword in its sheath, Zephyrim Superior Cocytus leans forward and puts her jump pack into full throttle mode as she charges her prey from above. As she expected, her quarry is a man, a tall man who is weaving and zigzagging amongst the shipping containers and various other obstacles in this area.
'Halt! Terrorist!' She shouts as she closes in on the mysterious, grey haired terrorist. From the air she falls on him, slamming him into the ground as her jump pack powers down. He grunts like a beast as she tries to restrain him. But he has a strength she didn't anticipate. He is strong enough to throw her off and sprint away. Back footed for but a moment, Zephyrim Superior Cocytus reorientates herself and chases after him, empowered by her armour. In his desperation he takes many sharp turns and throws things in her path but she keeps on his trail with inhuman speed and determination.
'Halt!' She reiterates. She closes in but is compelled to cross her arms as he spins and kicks. Each contact with her armour makes a loud "clank", he must be some sort of servitor. Like some sort of dancing remembrancer the grey assailant spins and kicks over and over with some grace. He seems a grim man, clothed head to foot in blacks, greys and metallic colours. And though he seems young and vigorous he has grey hair too.
'Coward!' She growls as she defends against a flurry of increasingly confident kicks. The assailant starts to think he can kill or incapacitate her before running off. As she blocks him, she watches his patterns and encourages this error.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" The metallic strikes against her vambraces ring out in the late night. Inside her helmet she smiles with a devious patience as the mysterious assailant gets closer. He will make his mistake soon enough. That one kick is what she waited for, what she wanted. The servitor missed his mark and he was too slow to pull back.
Fingers gloved in strong machinery close around the robotic limb and grasp tightly like a vice. With a speed that wipes the smugness from the enemy's face Zephyrim Superior Cocytus swings the assailant and beats him against the brick wall with her machine augmented strength. Before he can finish a groan she spins on a heel smashing him into the brickwork. He thrashes about in a desperate futility like a fish dragged into a fishing boat. It doesn't help him at all as he continues being beaten until his aura cracks and he goes limp. The cracking of grey energy makes Zephyrim Superior Cocytus drop him in a sudden shock. He hits the ground ungracefully and lays sprawled out unconsciously.
She stands above him, observing him for a moment. His outfit looks ridiculous to her. His shoulders are armoured and so are his forearms, the rest of his outfit is some mix of training tracksuits and some kind of archaic faux-futuristic design from millennia ago. She notes its ability, or rather lack of ability to protect his vitals contemptuously.
'Zephyrim Superior?' The comm cackles.
'Here! The terrorist is apprehended. Alive and incapacitated. Close in on my position!'
(Next)
General James Ironwood had little time to grimly savour the death and dissipation of the grimm. A solid drumroll of half a dozen explosions signal fire in his direction and General Ironwood instinctively leaps aside. He rolls and lands in a prone position behind a corner. He watches cautiously as a squad of black, armoured soldiers sweep past. He doesn't know who they are. God of Darkness knows, they aren't Atlesians. He snorts. They aren't Valean either. Not by a long shot!
He slows down his breathing and holds his large pistol close to him at the ready. One of a pair called Due Process. While his speciality was figuring grimm, he had experience fighting the White Fang, experience he was tapping into now.
'Vale is lost…' He grunts as the enemy passes. The skies are owned by alien aircraft, the ground is in the process of being lost. He looks for an avenue of retreat.
'Atlas! I must get back to Atlas!'
The seasoned commander rises a little and sprints off into the darkness. Despite his age he maintains a solid sprint until he stops behind a burning Atlesian Paladin. He figures the fire will obscure his body heat to sensors the enemy employs and smoke will obscure the clear path laser guiding systems need. As he tries all the local communication channels, one after the other, he has figured correctly that he is hidden from the enemy's notice.
'Dammit!' He snarls. He tries every contact he has. They must either be dead or cut off. Any other time he would have gone into a cold fury, frozen in anger. But not tonight. He had seen his world and all he knew turned on its head in a matter of hours. Any doubt or incredulity such news would normally have caused had been nullified by seeing the catastrophe with his own two cold, sapphire blue eyes. Well that and the need to get back to Atlas. His training is kicking in. All the hardship and focus exercises he endured as a cadet, it is all coming to him now.
It's only me now, one left from what was hours before a whole army. He figures. As he calculates the amount of darkness left to hide amongst, he thinks on his retreat to Atlas. The forest! Between here and the sea! It will cover my escape! He calculates with the icy resolve of a machine. A chill terror grasps at his heart, even if he gets back to Atlas, his air forces and best units have been lost. Here in Beacon. Atlas, he knows, will be vulnerable to the same fate Beacon is befalling.