Welcome back everyone to another chapter of Everything Going Horribly Wrong! lol
I actually got a chapter done in less than a week this time. Nice.
Anyhow, I'd to thank Vostok2142, Baoh joestar, Nordlending, noone297, jin0uga and Sugarflier for leaving a review last chapter! I'm glad you all liked the Cardin segment from last chapter. Whenever I write anything that's sort of topical like terrorism or anything Lance related I sort of get a little hesitant, not too sure how you all will react to me killing characters or depicting situations like the one Cardin dealt with.
As always, I hope you enjoy this chapter, thanks.
XLII
The Fall of Vale: Part 2
It must've taken years of planning to ensure this moment in history. But in reality, it took less than that. The Iron Nail would know, he was there for every meeting. He and the rest of the high ranking White Fang members had sat down with a trio of foreigners with deep pockets and high aspirations and hashed out this little invasion of theirs in a matter of months. Entire days were spent in a cramped tent, coordinating White Fang troops and laying the foundation of Vale's fall from grace. Everything detail meticulously thought, hinging on the success of each other.
The Iron Nail had overseen most of their day to day operations. Acquiring land and food supplies out by the country side. Not to mention he'd also acquired the very Grimm that they dropped into the city below. And he'd done so without question, using the barest minimum of resources to accomplish their grander goals. Brothers and Sisters had died for this day to come. All the while The Iron Nail lived on, enduring scars that could never heal.
But it was never enough. The loss of even one of their number had deemed the operation a failure, no matter the degree of success. And as punishment, The Iron Nail was stripped of his status as Adam's elite enforcer and assigned to a lesser member of the organization. So now the once feared Iron Nail found himself in the present, chaperoning some young upstart, as they made their way down into the engine room of the grand Amity Colosseum.
"Keep up!" Captain Pangolin shouted over his shoulder to the men that followed him. "We're on a time table!"
There five of them all together, The Iron Nail, Pangolin and three others whom the veteran hadn't the chance to know. If it wasn't for the fact Pangolin seemed more interested in pursuing a promotion up the relatively small chain of command, The Iron Nail dared to liken this moment to days long gone. With his team standing right beside him.
"Troia, Maulla, Gregory." The Iron Nail uttered his fallen comrade's names under his breath. They'd all died in a cave, slaughtered by an Ursa one lowly farm boy had disturbed. And their deaths had haunted the once revered White Fang Lieutenant since then.
But they hadn't died for nothing, The Iron Nail thought to himself as the party jogged through a dimly lit hallway at the bottom of the Colosseum. Their being here now was in-part because of their sacrifice. They'd plundered Oakwood of what they needed and their part in the invasion completed.
And because of them, the dream lives on. A dream of a world where Faunus live not under the boot of persecution, but towering over those who'd ostracized them for centuries. That was what they died for, a world where a life time of suffering was nonexistent. And now, that dream was coming true, The Iron Nail thought. All the world will look to Vale and watch in horror, as the prideful Amity Colosseum crashes down from the Heavens. And they will know then, truly then, that The White Fang, that Faunus, are not to be trifled with.
And with those final thoughts, The Iron Nail's mind grew silent and clear. No longer was he lingering on dreams of possibilities spoken to him by elders long ago, or fixated on some vendetta for a lone Thrush. He was at peace in the here and now, focused and willing to do whatever was necessary to accomplish their objective.
The party made a turn down another hallway, following Pangolin's lead. And then down the hall they could see it, their objective defined by black bar on door. 'Engineering Room', it read. Pangolin smiled, as did the others, it was almost over for them.
"Let's go!" Pangolin barked to his men before rushing down the hall.
"Not a step further!" A voice called out, causing the White Fang to stop in their tracks. They turned to find the source of the voice, finding a peculiar group of Huntsmen down the hall. It wasn't their presence that surprised the White Fang members, they'd expected some form of resistance, but rather, it was the members of that comprised this group of Huntsmen that caught them off-guard.
"I told you there'd be bad guys down here." Revy Linnaeus of the Vacuan Team formerly called 'TREK' said over shoulder to the others.
"No one argued with you." Nindo Bloom, the katana wielding member of the Mistralian Team GRNN, remarked.
"Quite." Ezekiel Jupiter of the sole Faunus member of Team DNCE muttered, crossing his arms in a judging manner.
"Let me guess," Darnell Blacktop, the leader of the Atlesian Team DORK said taking an aggressive step forward. "You were going to sabotage the engines and crash the colosseum into the city."
"Hmpf." Pangolin scoffed as he stepped apart from his strike team. "Aren't you the clever Homo sapien?" The White Fang Captain then turned to his men and pointed to their opposition. "Deal with them."
The Iron Nail may not have enjoyed the fact he was taking orders from someone he had otherwise deemed ill fit to lead, but he couldn't ignore his call to action. This too important, much more so than any of his feelings. So he held his reservations and stepped forward along with the rest of his fellow revolutionaries, while Pangolin ran for the engine room, willing to die so that the dream could live on.
The assembled Huntsmen darted forward, weapons in hand as they aimed to push past the White Fang line and prevent Pangolin from accomplishing their goal. The White Fang soldiers picked their targets, aiming to fight them one on one in order to slow them down. They all ran forward, meeting the Huntsmen in the center of the hall.
Revy leapt forward with her pole weapon and attempted to use it to vault over their line. But one of their number possessed the hind legs of a frog and jumped to tackle her in the air, blocking her advance. Nindo broke out his katana and aimed to assist Revy, only for his sword strike to be blocked by a fiery scimitar. The blade wielding White Fang forced Nindo away and pressed on, opting to take their battle elsewhere.
Darnell stepped forward, sidestepping the ensuing sword duel and producing a silver handgun. He took aim at The Iron Nail, intending to take out the most imposing figure in the room. He pulled the trigger, sending a high caliber dust round traveling towards the Lieutenant. But The Iron Nail activated his semblance, coating his entire body in organic metal. The round his forehead, exploding on impact, but dealing no real damage. The Iron Nail balked at the attack, half tempted to laugh it off.
The Atlesian Huntsman then attempted to fire off another shot, only for his weapon to explode in his hand. Darnell recoiled in pain, falling to the floor. What was once a hand was now a bloody stub. The Huntsman looked up at his wound, a mortified expression on his face, all while the third member of The White Fang strike team towered over him, a smoking sawed off shotgun in his hand.
The shotgun wielding revolutionary pressed her foot on Darnell's chest and aimed downward, intent on finishing him off. But before she could get off the shot, Ezekiel ran up with his spiked brass knuckles and socked her across the jaw with all his might. The woman's weapon discharged, striking the ground Darnell instead of his face, all the while the force of Ezekiel's punch sent her flying backward with several of her teeth scattering onto the floor.
Glancing over his shoulder, The Iron Nail watched as his compatriot skidded across the floor. He fought against the urge to run and aid her, opting rather to turn his attention to her attacker. There, kneeling beside Darnell was Ezekiel, doing his best to keep the Atlesian from bleeding to death. The Iron Nail studied the young man for moment, his hands reaching from his holstered hammer and sickle. But he stopped suddenly, noticing Ezekiel's beaver tail.
"You are Faunus." The Iron Nail addressed the young plus size Huntsman. After ripping off part of his own shirt to bandage Darnell's wound, Ezekiel stood, turning to face The Iron Nail fully. "Our argument is not with you." The Lieutenant said, removing his hands from the hilts of his weapons.
"So you claim." Ezekiel said in a distrustful tone. "And yet you've brought war to Vale."
"The hallmarks of this fractured society must burn before we can raise utopia." The Iron Nail, taking a step forward and deactivating his semblance. The coat of metal faded away into his skin and he opened his arms wide willing to embrace his fellow faunus. "An end to discrimination, an end to prejudice, an end to human run world."
"I am from Vacuo." Ezekiel declared as the battle raged at his side between the rest of the White Fang and the rag tag group of Huntsmen. "I know what it is like to be discriminated against. I have felt the same pain and the same shame as any other of our kind." He shook his head.
"Then join us, Brother." The Iron Nail implored as he continued to step forward, hoping that he could sway Ezekiel to the With Fang cause.
"You are not my brother. You're a terrorist." Ezekiel scoffed, raising his arms high up, giving the eye-patch wearing Lieutenant a good look at his bloodied brass knuckles. "Vale isn't perfect, there is still prejudice. But it is not Vacuo. It is not my race for which I am judged most," The DNCE boy said, gesturing to his rather portly frame. "But rather my weight."
"And that is a privilege I will gladly lay my life down for." Ezekiel glared.
The Iron Nail paused in his advance. While the rest of the strike team fended off the other Huntsmen to limited success, here he was attempting to convert one man to their cause. But Ezekiel would not see reason. And that pained his heart.
"I am sorry to hear that." The Iron Nail spoke, meaning every word. He reached for his hammer and his sickle and raised both weapons and charged at Ezekiel.
"White Fang!" General Ironwood shouted. "Everyone take cover!"
On the southern landing pad of Amity Colosseum, the few remaining Atlesian security forces made their stand, fending off attacking Grimm while buying time for the civilians to be evacuated via Airship. It was a task easier said than done, the night had presented numerous surprises for the good General and his men, both flesh and mechanical. He'd seen Grimm rare only to forests on the country side of Vale and their condition was anything other than typical.
And the White Fang were a different matter entirely. The radicalized Faunus attacked in teams of four, approaching from opposite sides. The Atlesian Knights were caught in the crossfire, as were the civilians. Cover was in high demand, as Ironwood and his few forces were forced to use pillars and the bodies of downed robotic companions to fend off attack parties.
Evacuating the civilians was becoming an exceedingly difficult task by the minute. The moment they'd find reprieve, another wave of Grimm or another team of White Fang would swoop in to take their place. And Ironwood's attention wasn't firmly here in the firefight. It was up there in the clouds, where some vagabond had taken one of his ships and now proceeded to lay waste to the city and his fleet.
"Transport away!" An Atlesian lieutenant shouted over the roars of stampeding Boarbatusks. Ironwood afforded himself a brief moment to look back and watch an Airbus take flight, half expecting it to fly clear of the city entirely. But instead, the Airbus descended, flying off to the northern east coastline.
"Lieutenant, where's that ship headed?" Ironwood shouted, confused by the ships flight direction.
"Huntsmen are directing all civilians towards a designated safe zone, sir!" The lieutenant replied as he returned fire on a pair of White Fang.
Hearing that bit news, Ironwood couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He had to remind himself, that even though they were caught off guard, there still capable professionals out there keeping the city from falling. And for that, Ironwood was thankful. It meant he could divide his time as he saw fit, and take back his ship. But before he could do so, the General must make it off the colosseum. Which was becoming more and more unlikely.
"Where are they coming from?" A Private shouted as another pack of malnourished Creeps came running at them.
The few remaining Atlesian Knights turned their attention on the Grimm, blasting them in a coordinated strike. But with their attention deviated from the attacking White Fang, the radicals struck, annihilating the last of the robotic defenders with concentrated weapons fire. The shrapnel from the robots found themselves imbedded in the ceiling, against pillars and in some occasions in the sides of nearby cowering civilians.
"They're breaking through!" Another Private shouted as he attempted to drag a wounded civilian behind a pillar. But before he could, a Teflon arrow courtesy of a White Fang crossbow struck the side of his helmet, piercing it. The Private let out a surprised cry before collapsing against the impact and dying on the floor.
Ironwood turned his attention to the opposite side of the landing strip. The White Fang were aggressively pushing their way through the Atlesian defenders, cutting them down with relative ease. The few remaining Atlesian soldiers divided their already thinly stretched force to accommodate the assault, but Ironwood could already see the inevitable conclusion drawing near. All he had to do was turn his gaze to the Airbus attempting to take off.
The Airbus engines burst to life, propelling it into the air. The pilot spun the ship towards the sea and attempted to jet off. But seeing the transport attempting to flee, the numerous White Fang soldiers turned their guns and took aim. A volley of high velocity dust rounds and explosive arrows among rocket propelled grenades struck the Airbus. The left tail rotor exploded, the main cabin caught fire. General Ironwood's eyes went wide as the ship crashed into the landing platform before skidding off, still propelled by the remaining engine, until it fell over the side.
Over forty souls were lost in that instant. The General somberly thought. Ironwood was a man charged with the protection of his Kingdom. He'd spent a lifetime climbing through the ranks of the Atlesian military to earn that honor. But here in this moment, he doubted he could save these few frightened civilians. The enemy was closing in from all sides, closing in for the kill. And all the General could do was stand, officer's pistol in hand and do his best to delay death. He took aim at the closest White Fang soldier, his finger on the trigger.
But he never pulled it. He was too caught off guard by the appearance of forty fresh heavily armed Huntsmen running to the rescue. "Students!" Ironwood shouted, surprised by their intervention.
"We've got this General!" Jaune cried out as he stabbed his sword into the air. The Huntsmen let out a unified battle cry and leapt into the fray.
"Gunners on our left!" Sun called out machine gun toting White Fang soldiers over the sound of his shotgun weapons discharging into the face of an attacking Beowulf.
"I see 'em!" Coco whipped out her machine gun and tore through the nearby columns used by the White Fang for cover while Neptune and Nadir provided suppressing fire, discouraging the radical group from attempting to shots on the CFVY leader.
"Rocket guy to the right!" Nora exclaimed as she tackled a civilian to the floor, saving him from being struck by enemy ordinance.
"I got him!" Roy shouted. The BRNZ boy reeled back an arm and then flung one of his saw blades forward, ricocheting it off the nearby walls to strike the Rocket wielding White Fang.
"Beowulf! Beowulf!" Gwen shouted as an Alpha Beowulf bashed its way past a pair of Atlesian soldiers and charged through their lines.
"Hey you!" Ren called out, momentarily distracting the Alpha Grimm. The Beowulf looked over its shoulder to see the JNPR ninja running towards it at full speed. Meeting the challenge, the Beowulf charged to face him.
"Argh! Fuck!" Fox cursed as a high velocity dust round pierced through his shoulder, blasting out the other side and striking the Alpha Beowulf Ren fought, momentarily stunning it. "Sniper!" The blind CFVY member exclaimed.
"Ruby, May, deal with that guy, please!" Ren angrily cried out to the pair of snipers as he slid on the metal floor, stopping until he was beneath the stunned Beowulf. Ren turned StormFlower upward, aimed at the Grimm's exposed underbelly. He pulled the triggers of his dual auto pistols and riddled the beast until it was nothing.
"On it!" Ruby said, speaking for not only herself but the Vacuan sniper. Both Ruby and May took up positions behind a column and quickly got to work. "He's by the far pillar." Ruby called out the enemy sniper, catching the glare from his scope. The Huntress took aim and fired. The dust round streaked through the air, leaving a trail in its wake and struck the column the White Fang sniper hid behind.
Ruby grunted in dismay. She then looked to check Crescent Rose's sights, wondering if the rocket locker's landing hand in some way thrown them off. The Vacuan sniper watched the younger girl for a moment, slightly puzzled at her actions. But then, she shrugged and without a word, May turned her gun on the White Fang marksman and put a round through his barely exposed head.
"Nice shooting May!" Ruby turned to her sharpshooter in arms with a gleeful expression and a thumbs up.
"Eh." The Vacuan sniper shrugged, as if it were nothing.
"Keep up the pressure!" Pyrrha shouted as she, Brawnz and Nolan met a pair of sword wielding White Fang soldiers head on.
"Protect the Civilians!" Scarlet shouted to Sage, pointing to a number of civilians who'd been forced into the open by the attacking Alpha Beowulf. The broadsword wielding member of SSSN acknowledged his leader's and ran to their aid, using his mighty weapon as a shield to protect them from harm.
"We've got Creeps inbound!" Marie-Anne bellowed from her vantage point atop a parked Airship.
Danny Matchstick turned to face the oncoming horde of Creeps, walking through the crossfire of White Fang and Huntsmen attacks. He reached for his gun holsters, removing a pair of similarly designed pistols and readied himself.
"Bet you I can kill more." Danny turned to find Reese standing by his side with a sly grin, her hoverboard weapon deconstructed and in its dual bayonetted revolver form.
"You're on." Danny shot Reese a kind smile. The two Huntsmen then turned their dual guns on the Grimm horde.
"I could use a hand here!" Octavia cried out as she dueled a sword wielding White Fang soldier. The Faunus lunged forward, preparing to deliver a killing blow. But a dust tipped arrow struck his blade, exploding on impact and shattering the metal. The Soldier turned to find Nebula standing there, her crossbow trained on him.
"He's all yours." Nebula smirked before turning to rejoin the larger battle. The White Fang soldier stared in confusion, puzzled by the NDGO leader's words. But he soon realized she wasn't speaking to him and turned to find a malicious grin firmly planted on Octavia's face. The fiery Vacuan raised her blade and slashed him across the chest.
"Suppressing fire!" A White Fang soldier screamed as he ran directly into the heart of the defending Huntsmen guns blazing.
"Pfft." Arslan scoffed, clearly unimpressed by the White Fang soldier's assault. "You call that fire?" She said mockingly as she took a step forward. She reeled back and arm and charged her aura into her fist. "This is fire." She muttered before throwing a punch into the air. A ball of flame shot forth from her knuckles, striking the White Fang soldier and engulfing him in flame.
A Beringel thrashed about, smashing the ground and swatting several Huntsmen and civilians with the backs of its hands. "Concentrate your attacks on the Beringel!" Bolin barked as he and Yatsuhashi and Neon raced to meet the rampaging Gorilla styled Grimm head on.
The eccentrically dressed faunus girl on roller blades ran circles around the Beringel, earning an angered roar in response from the towering beast as she dodged its attacks. With the Grimm distracted, Bolin ran in from behind alongside Yatsuhashi and together they struck at the back of its legs. The Beringel toppled over at the loss of support and fell flat on its face. And before it could get up, Yatsuhashi brought his mighty sword down on its neck.
"They're sizing up for a final push!" Flynt shouted as he dragged a wounded Atlas soldier out of the line of fire.
The assembled Huntsmen turned their attention to their right, finding The Grimm and White Fang rushing together. Some stood in awe at such a display, never before had any of them thought it possible for Grimm to willing work in tandem with faunus. But it wasn't that at all, rather, two warring parties setting aside their differences to vanquish a common foe that was all. All the Huntsmen had to do was look into those murderous red eyes for confirmation.
Their enemies drew closer, amassed like a mighty wall charging forward. Not even their combined firepower could fell their indomitable presence. So the Huntsmen readied themselves, collecting their thoughts for the inevitable melee.
But they never came blows. As it was, a gust wind picked up at the heart of the amassed forces. A gust of wind that quickly spun and spun before picking up the power to suck all the Grimm and White fang into a tornado. The Huntsmen and civilians watched in awe as they were carried off over the side. They cried as the wind dissipated and they all fell over off the platform, left to plummet to the city below.
Slowly, the Huntsmen turned to see Dew standing off to the side, her wind elemental spear casually extended forward and an unimpressed expression on her face.
"That all of them?" Pyrrha inquired, cautiously checking the surrounding area.
"For the moment anyway." General Ironwood said, quickly earning the assembled Huntsmen's attention. "I owe you my thanks, students. Without you, we all would have surely perished." He said, gesturing to the hundreds of Civilians and unarmed academy students, all of whom smiled with gratitude for the Huntsmen's intervention.
"Thanks aren't necessary, General." Flynt said coolly as he brandished his trumpet over his shoulder.
"We're Huntsmen." Arslan firmly said as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"It's our job." Jaune said
"What's going on up there?" Ruby pointed out into the open sky. Up in the moonli night Grimm waged war on Atlesian warships while the fleet's flagship rained hell down upon the city and its sister ships.
"Some vagabond has seized control of my ship." Ironwood cast a glare upward. He had a sinking suspicion of just who the dastardly villain manning the ship's weapons could be. "I need to get up there and take back control."
"We'll back you up." Coco said, taking a step forward and raising her gatling gun.
"That'll be unnecessary." Ironwood said as he signaled to the remainder of his troops silently telling them to continue with the evacuation effort in his absent with a simple hand gesture. "Besides, the city appears to be in dire need of help. Help only you can provide." He said, turning his eyes to the city below, under siege by an army of Grimm.
With that said, General Ironwood turned and marched his way up to a parked Atlesian Dropship, leaving the assembled Huntsmen to the task of getting down to the city.
"Well, you all heard the man!" Jaune shouted from where she stood at the front of the mob of Huntsmen. "Let's get down there!" He said, earning a chorus of eager cries in response. The assembled group of Huntsmen then raced off down the platform, where a vacant Airbus awaited them for use.
"You've really come into your own, Jaune." Pyrrha commented as she jogged beside Jaune.
"Thanks," He said, smiling slightly. "I learned it from watching you."
"Mind if we tag along?" A voice called out, causing Jaune and Pyrrha to slow their pace. The odd half of JNPR looked to their left, finding a pair of their fellow Beacon students approaching.
"Any help is appreciated." Jaune said before nodding to the awaiting Airbus. "The more the merrier." He said before he and Pyrrha set off to rejoin the others.
Serin lingered momentarily, as did her companion Tobias. They'd arrived late, unable to turn the tide of the battle. But the deaths of the White Fang would be avenged, so she silently swore. So they brandished their weapons, holding in their inner rage and moved to join the Huntsmen in their voyage to the city below, fully intending to strike back in the name of Faunus everywhere.
On the complete other side of the colosseum, Russel found himself a moment's reprieve. By some miracle he'd given The Ursa the slip and now held his back against a steel support column, his right hand covering his wound and his eyes glancing out to the chaos ensuing out in the city below. What would have otherwise been a lovely view of Vale was muddled with burning buildings and the cries of panic.
Russel watched with dread, knowing he could do little to help. Without any doubt the stadium was being evacuated, but here he was nowhere near the extraction point. Escape from this death trap of a colosseum seemed more and more unlikely with every passing moment. And The Ursa was still out there, along with whatever White Fang soldiers and Grimm remained. But for the moment, he was alone. There was no death beast nipping at his heels, no walking soup can monologing about inequality between races, nor was there any friend he could turn to for aid. It was just Russel standing with the night and all that came with it, such as the chilling winds and chilling sounds of distant cannon fire.
But he wasn't alone. Russel turned, to the sound of a nearby door being shoved open, followed by the tired sounds of panting. Glancing over the side of the column, Russel looked to see the source of the noise. And much to the Thrush's surprise, he found his teammate Dove, taking a moment to catch his breath.
"Dove?" Russel called out to the youngest member of CRDL. Dove froze where he stood and slowly turned to face Russel. Where was once a look of desperation was now replaced by one of relief.
"You scared the crap out of me man!" Dove exclaimed before hobbling over to the column Russel stood behind. "Oh, Russel, you don't know how good it is to see a friendly face." Dove said, unable to help himself but let out a shaky laugh. "What happened to you?" He asked, noticing Russel's blood stained clothing.
"Ursa." Russel said simply. The Thrush then glanced at Dove's bloodied shoulder. "You?"
"Team STAG." Dove said bitterly. "They killed Nero. Iliad, Lambert and Oum knows how many more."
Russel couldn't help but bite his lip at the news. The all faunus Huntsman team had always seemed particularly militant, but he'd never truly paid them any mind. After all, how could he? They were Huntsmen like himself, or at least they claimed to be. How could anyone fathom White Fang members infiltrating Beacon. But as the thought registered in Russel's mind, memories of that one Sunday afternoon with Blake was brought to the forefront of his mind.
"Fuck." Russel murmured, realizing that if Blake could have attended Beacon without alerting the school of her ties to the faunus terrorist organization, then any other White Fang operative could have done the same.
"Hm?" Dove raised a brow at his teammate's swearing.
"Nothing, nothing. Just feeling stupid." He muttered. "Well I'm glad you got away Dove." Russel spoke honestly as he reached over to further inspect his comrade's wound. By the looks of it, Dove had been overreacting. The youngest of CRDL hadn't been shot after all, rather, the bullet nicked his shoulder.
"There he is." A foreign voice said, earning the pair of CRDL member's attention. Russel and Dove turned their attention back to the door Dove had kicked open. There, stepping out of the doorway was Angela Revear and Michael Geist of Team STAG.
"There they both are." Angela corrected her teammate as she aimed her blood stained katana at Russel standing behind the column. "Oh, I wish the others could be here for this."
"I see you didn't quite lose them." Russel remarked, not at all fazed by the turn of events. "I'm counting only two mutts, where's the Head Bitch?" He questioned the pair of White Fang infiltrators tauntingly.
"I'm gonna cut out your fucking tongue and give it to her for a present." Michael threatened as he produced a pair of stiletto blades from his jacket.
"So you admit she's a bitch?" Russel smirked.
"Now would be to time to call in our weapons." Dove said as he discretely removed his scroll from his pocket.
Russel nodded and drew his scroll from his pants pocket and began to dial up the prompt. Seeing Russel attempting to call in his rocket locker, Michael reeled back one of his arms and threw his stiletto, piercing through the device's screen. Russel just stared at the thin weapon as it protruded from his scroll, a disbelieving look on his face. "You cheeky fuck." He swore before removing the blade from his scroll and pocketing the device once more.
Michael scoffed before reaching into his jacket and removing another blade. "Drop dead you fucking hick."
"You first you sick demented assholes." Dove shot back in defense of his teammate. A rocket locker then suddenly crashed through the roof, landing behind the CRDL boys. Dove pocketed his scroll and turned to reach into the locker and retrieve his sword. Turning back to face the mass murderers, Dove raised his gun sword and took aim.
And then without a word, the pair of Angela and Michael raced forward, weapons ready. Dove pulled the trigger of his underslung pistol and rocketed a dust round at their adversaries. Angela leapt forward with her katana, cutting the bullet in two and causing the halves to shoot off in different directions and explode in the free open space behind the pair of STAG members.
Russel darted forward, holding the stiletto in his hand like an icepick and met the pair head on. Michael leapt ahead of Angela, marking Russel as his opponent and slashed at the Thrush with his blades. Russel blocked with his own and kicked Michael back. Before anything could be made of the STAG member's loss of footing, Angela came to Michael's rescue and forced Russel back.
In comparison to Russel's knife, Angela had the capacity to launch long range attacks and fended him away. Michael then picked himself off the ground and flung one of his knives at the approaching Dove. The youngest of CRDL swatted the stiletto out of the air with his sword and charged ahead. Michael then threw off his jacket, revealing his wearing a vest carrying some ten knife pouches. He took his jacket and flung it at Dove as a distraction to replenish his knife supply.
Angela struck at Russel, but he leapt forward into a roll, completely dodging it and closing the distance between them. He quickly shot upward, cutting Angela across the chest with his knife. With Angela momentarily stunned by his attack, Russel afforded himself the chance to glance over to Dove's current situation, where he found the younger man fighting a simple jacket while Michael prepared to release a flurry of knives upon him.
With a grunt, Russel quickly flung his knife at Michael, impaling it through his left hand. The STAG boy let out a pained wail as he dropped his blades, too busy attending to his wound. But with Russel distracted, he was unable to protect himself from Angela. The sword wielder cried out sharply, she reeled back a fist and socked Russel across the jaw, completely spinning the Thrush around and knocking him down onto the floor.
"Gonna kill you, Russel!" She shouted before thrusting her blade forward at Russel's back.
But before Angela could make contact with the Russel, Dove came swooping in to save his teammate, striking Angela's blade with his own. The duo then engaged in sword play, trading blows which were then blocked by the other. They clashed, forcing their swords against the other and leaned forward until their faces were but mere inches apart.
"You killed innocent people!" Dove screamed in Angela's face.
"Innocent?" Angela laughed mockingly. She then reeled her head back and then threw it forward through the clashing blades and struck her forehead against the bridge of Dove's nose, causing the CRDL boy to shout in pain and stumble back. "Nobody's innocent." Angela muttered coldly before taking the opportunity to strike at Dove. He quickly raised his blade to deflect Angela's attack. But the force behind her blow, coupled with his disoriented stance, was enough to force Dove onto the defensive.
"Vale and its people are just as much guilty for the atrocities committed against Faunus as any other Kingdom!" Angela shouted as she delivered another powerful blow against Dove's sword, forcing the young man closer to the edge of the platform. "You are all children of a fucked system! Everyone I've murdered today has more blood on their hands than I do!"
"Argh!" Dove shouted in pain as sparks skittered off the latest clash between their blades and struck his cheek, burning him. The young Huntsman winced as he once again blocked another of Angela's strikes. "You sure about that?" He snapped back. "Iliad never killed anybody." He said, momentarily glancing at Angela's blade and seeing Iliad's blood. "The only one guilty of atrocities here is you."
"Ugh." Russel groaned as picked himself off the floor. He turned his attention back to Michael, who stood there taunting him.
"You winded already? From one punch? Pathetic." Michael said as his aura quickly healed his hand wound.
"You'd be winded too if an Ursa used you like a chew toy." Russel shot back as he turned his attention to Michael's knife pouches. As it currently was, The Thrush was unarmed. But he planned to remedy that.
"Hmpf. Excuses." Michael scoffed as he drew another pair of knives from his pouches. The STAG boy then ran forward, intent on finishing Russel off. He jumped into the air and then slammed his blades downward full force onto The Thrush.
But Russel upwards, grabbing Michael by his forearms and wrestled with him for dominance. Russel gave it a moment of struggling before seizing up his legs, planning to fall backwards and bring the STAG boy with him. And so he caved, bringing the unsuspecting White Fang infiltrator with him. Before Michael even knew what had happened, Russel pressed a boot to the guy's gut and flipped him over his head.
Michael landed hard onto the cold steel floor. But that wasn't enough to keep him down. He soon picked himself up and turned to meet a waiting Russel. He prepared to have another go at it, rush Russel from the side and exploit his injury sustained from The Ursa, but before he could, Russel held out his hand revealed six knives in-between the fingers of both hands.
Seeing the display of knives, Michael quickly looked to his vest of pouches, finding that one had been opened and emptied. "How did y-?"
"Didn't you ever hear of sleight of hand?" Russel said as he raised the blades to throw. "And for my next trick!" He shouted before flinging the blades at Michael.
Angela lashed out against Dove, taking exception to his words. And despite his opponent's ruthless assault, Dove held on as best he could. But that didn't mean anything to Angela, not while she forced him closer to the edge of the platform with every sword strike. Eventually Dove would be forced to die by her blade or fall. Either way, she was content with her victory.
Dove soon found himself taking another step back, but he found nothing to support himself. He quickly reeled his leg back and stabilized his balance. He didn't need to look back to know he'd run out of walking room. So he kept his attention firmly on Angela, who now cracked a wicked smile as he was right where she wanted him.
"This doesn't change anything." Dove met Angela's stare.
"This doesn't change anything? But it does." Angela affirmed, closing the distance between them and clashing her blade with Dove's. "With every one of yours dead, truly then can a peaceful world be achieved." She said before swinging her sword back and striking at Dove with all her might. "This is how you change the world."
The force of the attack had knocked Dove back, and just like that he was falling over the edge. And there stood Angela peering over the side in victory, wanting to watch Dove plummet to his doom. But even in the face of death, Dove didn't surrender. He reached out in one last ditch effort and grabbed onto Angela's arm. The infiltrator was taken by surprise at the action and with all his weight pulling against her, both Dove and Angela went over the edge.
"Dove!" Russel shouted out for his teammate. He quickly spun around and flung a knife he'd taken from Michael into the STAG boy's knee, felling him, then ran over to the edge of the platform. Russel peered over the edge, looking for any glimpse of hope that Dove may have grabbed onto something off the side that the boy had survived. But he couldn't see Dove, nor Angela. From this far up everything thing was indistinguishable with the surface, it all just meshed together.
Out of Russel's view, Dove and Angela plummeted to their deaths. The STAG member let out a bone chilling scream as she flailed about. Dove, on the other hand, was silent. The youngest of CRDL was too busy thinking of his family and his friends to scream in terror.
"Damn you Dove! Damn you!" Angela cried out as she spiraled out of control in midair.
Dove thought of his supportive Mother and Father, thinking that maybe he should have called a bit more regularly. He thought about the life he led up until this point and the decisions he made. And then he thought of Beacon and the few friends he made in the form of his team. He'd never seen much action up until The Vytal Festival. And then he thought back that moment in the competition. That moment when he was thrown through the air by Kafka. He felt weightless then, almost as if he were flying…
…Just like he did now. And then Dove stopped falling.
"For every one of us, a hundred of yours will die." Michael sneered as he pried the blade from his knee. The White Fang infiltrator picked himself off the floor and walked to the edge of the platform where Russel currently stood peering over.
Russel shot a glare over his shoulder and tightened his grip on the knife in his right hand. He had no response to Michael's words. He'd just watched a teammate, arguably a friend of his fall of the side and plummet to his death. That wasn't a way to go, he thought to himself. Dove didn't deserve that.
But while Michael went into full blown monologue about the ruination of Vale and ascendance of all Faunus kind, the boy was left unaware to the sound of heavy clawed feet thudding against the floor. Russel looked past Michael, loosened from his thoughts from the all too familiar sound. And there standing off to the side was The Ursa.
The Grimm looked to Russel, shooting the Thrush a glare before turning his eyes to Michael. The Faunus stopped with his speech and turned to see The Ursa standing there. He let out a laugh and shot a smile at Russel. He didn't have to say a word to get his message across, Russel could already tell he was outnumbered, that he didn't have the firepower nor the skills to take on both Michael and The Ursa.
"Guess this really isn't your night, huh?" Michael cockily said before lunging forward at Russel.
The Ursa did the same, racing forward to clash with the pair. Russel welcomed them, raising his blade in icepick fashion. He took a step forward and clashed his blade against Michael's. But with Russel busy deflecting Michael's attack, he was unable to counter The Ursa, who swiped him with its claw and sent him flying back over skidding closer to the wall.
Michael then turned on his heel, turning his back to the night sky and readied to run off after Russel. But then a looming shadow cast down over the boy, causing him to freeze. Slowly, Michael turned his head to look over is shoulder in wonder of the source. And there stood The Ursa on its hind legs towering over him.
"Argh!" Michael cried out as The Ursa pounced him from behind. The faunus struggled, attempting to break away from the Grimm. But The Ursa was relentless, it held him in place and brought its free claw down on the young man, proceeding to tear into him.
Russel watched in horror from afar as The Ursa mauled Michael, just as it had done to those White Fang soldiers in the cave at Oakwood. The Ursa momentarily halted its assault on the faunus boy and looked up, meeting Russel's stare with its own, as if to tell Russel that it'd be gunning for him next. Which has always been the case, hasn't it? Ever since that day in Oakwood.
But Russel wasn't in the forests of Oakwood anymore. He was in the city of Vale, a city he loved. He wasn't that little boy anymore, the one who'd fallen from the tree and landed into the sights of a godless beast. He'd grown up since that fateful day. He was a Huntsman now. The Ursa wasn't some devil emerging from his nightmares, it was his prey.
So he pulled himself off the ground, producing two of Michael's knives in each hand and stalked forward. The Ursa had just about finished ripping the STAG boy apart. Russel could hear a few incomprehensible words leave Michael's mouth, surprising him to find the guy hadn't died yet. But Russel was thankful for his perseverance. The Ursa was so distracted with killing Michael it didn't even notice Russel approaching from the front.
Russel leapt forward, his quick movements catching the Grimm off-guard. It quickly whipped its head up from Michael's body to register Russel's attack, but before it could even comprehend what was happening, Russel shoved the blade's into The Ursa's eyes. The Ursa let out a pained screech, all the while Russel produced another pair of stilettos he'd taken from Mchael.
The Thrush leaned in, completely dodging The Ursa's desperate lashing out with its claws and got in close. He stabbed forward, piercing the Grimm in the gut. The Ursa let out another pained wail and attempted to strike at Russel. But with its vision impaired, The Ursa hadn't even been close.
Russel removed the blade then side stepped another attack. The Ursa got onto its hind legs, deciding to use both of its clawed hands in its desperate struggle. But Russel was already too close, its attacks completely missed the CRDL boy. Russel took both knives and then fiercely stabbed The Ursa, shouting bloody murder and all manner of curses, fully exercising his vast vocabulary of swear words.
But with every wound he inflicted on the beast, two would heal. The reality was that The Ursa could take whatever damage Russel could dish out, but the knives he'd stabbed into the Grimm's eyes remained in place, unable to properly heal with the blades piercing into the sockets. And that gave Russel some advantage.
If The Ursa had a heart, Russel would have stabbed it by now. He kept on cutting away at the damn monster, punching it and even kicking it. He slashed upward at its throat, downward in its nether regions and he kept on going. The Ursa flailed about, despite its apparent regenerative abilities, it still felt the pain of every one of Russel's attacks, and that was something the Thrush decided to us to his advantage.
There was no possible way he could kill The Ursa with the tools he had at his disposal. Maiming it was a short term solution, such as him stabbing it in the eyes. But there was one thing he hadn't had at his disposal before this day: Gravity. So Russel kept on the pressure, stabbing The Ursa in its fat gut and forcing it back by slamming his spiked shoulder against it, all in an effort to toss it over the edge.
But in his desperation to rid himself of The Ursa, Russel had forgotten just who it was he was dealing with. The Ursa wasn't some run of the mill Grimm, it was beast unto its own. For instant, it was a fast learner. Without its eyes the Grimm was forced to endure copious amounts of pain just to estimate Russel's relative location. And now, with it so close to the edge, it had found him, standing right within striking distance.
So The Ursa reached out, blocking Russel's attack with its protected claw, breaking the knife in two. It then quickly backhanded Russel, sending the young man flying across the platform and striking Dove's rocket locker, tipping it over completely. With Russel momentarily indisposed, The Ursa took to the task of remedying its vision by raising its claws to its face and scraping the knives out.
"Oh will you just fucking die?!" Russel shouted angrily before slamming his fist down onto the toppled over rocket locker's launch button.
The rocket locker then shot forward, skidding against the metal floor. The blinded Ursa was then struck by the locker, knocking it off its hind legs and causing it to fall forward onto the locker. The rocket powered box then shot off over the side of the platform, carrying with it The Ursa. The Grimm flailed its limbs wildly in freefall and let out a petrified roar that rang like music to Russel's ears.
Russel fell backward, landing on his back. He panted, exhausted from the effort.
"Russel!" A voice sounding a lot like Dove's called out to The Thrush. Russel opened his eyes and sat, he looked over the edge of the platform, afraid that somehow The Ursa had clung to the side and tormented him with the voice of his teammate. But much to his surprise, Russel didn't find The Ursa, but rather, he found Dove. And he wasn't hanging off over the side, he was ascending upward on nothingness.
"…Dove?" Russel said, near speechless at the sight of Dove rising up through the air.
"I can fly!" Dove shouted to the heavens. "I can fly!" Russel's jaw dropped as he watched Dove fly up, passing by and hover above him. "I told you! I told you!" Dove exclaimed gleefuly. "Cool though, right?"
But Russel didn't respond. He just stared up at the CRDL boy in disbelief. "So uh…I saw an Ursa skydiving…" Dove said awkwardly as he noticed Michael's mauled corpse. "Is that why he looks like that?"
"…You can fly?" Russel asked, completely disregarding Dove's question.
"Yeah, cool right?" Dove said excitedly.
"You can fly." Russel muttered.
"Yeah." Dove nodded.
"You can fly!" Russel shouted, a wide grin on his face. "Like Superman!"
"No, no, no!" Dove shouted, pensive look on his face. "Not like Superman! Superman sucks! I swear you're doing this just to spite me!"
"Well that's what you get you jackass!" Russel shouted as he snapped his last stiletto's blade of and flung the broken knife at Dove, which harmlessly struck his chest and fell back down to the floor. "Anyways, I'm glad you're not dead."
Out in the distance, a flaring explosion caught the boy's attention. Dove and Russel looked to the night and witnessed The Atlas Flagship tear apart the last corvette hovering in the sky. A series of smaller explosions ran through the corvette as its engines caught fire. It then began to nose dive and plummet to the residential district of Vale.
"Holy shit." Dove cursed in horror. "Those poor people…"
"You've gotta get down there." Russel said as he stared out at the flaming fireball, watching it crash down into the surface of the world.
"Me?" Dove questioned. "What about you?"
"You just got your semblance, Dove. There's no way I'm gonna let you carry me down there." Russel smirked. "Don't worry, I'll catch a ride on a ship or something. Now get going, they can use a man who could fly."
"Heh." Dove scoffed before taking flight down to city below. Russel turned his back to the night and marched in search of some way off Amity Colosseum.
Up above a rooftop in Vale, Cinder watched as the cried out. The symphony of terror brought a please smile to the woman's face. Everything was going according to plan. All she needed now was her servants to return to her so that they made proceed with the next phase of her plan.
And just as the thought of Mercury and Emerald crossed her mind, the duo appeared, climbing a ladder off the side of the building onto the roof. Cinder couldn't help but find it amusing, the world really did have a sense of humor.
"Mistress." Emerald bowed as she and Mercury made their presence known.
"You're just in time, my dear." Cinder said as she glanced over to the flaming corvette crashing into the residential district of Vale in the distance. "Contact Roman, it's time." She ordered Emerald before turning to Mercury. "Patch into the video feed."
"Already done ma'am." Mercury said, earning a jealous look from Emerald as the thief sent off a message to Roman's mute assistant onboard The Flagship. Mercury raised his scroll, hitting the record button on its video function. He then turned it on a group of civilians down below being escorted by Atlesian Knights to the designated safe zone.
"Good." Cinder smirked to herself. Up above on the Atlas Flagship, the recently freed kingpin of crime himself Roman Torchwick acted on her orders. And with the flip of a switch, all the robotic soldiers suddenly froze in place, their visors turning into a particular shade of red as their new orders were beamed into their heads.
"The show is about to begin." Cinder said as the robotic soldiers turned their guns on the men and women they'd been tasked to protect.
The whole 'Dove can fly' thing actually comes from Peter Pan. I always wrote Dove in mind as being the Kid of CRDL, often acting childish and being the least mature of the bunch. And I think I did a fine enough job laying the foundation in earlier chapter for the reveal of his semblance.
This is also the first time we get into The Iron Nail's head, which is important. Because he's a man who truly believes in The White Fang's cause. Even so much as back when he first appeared, I didn't want to write him as some sort of mustache twirling villain. He's a revolutionary with a dream he'd be willing to die for. But he also has rules, as seen with him attempting to talk with Ezekiel, the only faunus member of my OC Team DNCE.
My favorite part of this chapter, though, would be the fight with all the Huntsmen showing up. Because realistically, I'm never going to get the chance of writing all of them again. So it was just full on highlight reel moments with everyone. And that's just fun. Everyone gets a heroic moment whether it be pulling a wounded civilian out of the way of killing a Grimm. It was just fun to write.
Next chapter will be out sometime next week, hopefully. 'Til then, later days!